felted

there are several art exhibitions in my hometown every summer, most notably always something felted, as at one time there were 3 felt "factories". they usually coincide the exhibitions for the same weeks and you get in to all of them with the same ticket.

first off, my apologies for the artisans and artists whose names i didn't get, or forgot.

first one is by tekla piispanen, joustaisinko? / should i bend?

the title is cupping (which is an old form of therapy)

anja suhonen, ansaittu lepo / a deserved rest

anja suhonen, tahdon / i do

hannu leskinen-estola, koirankarvaviitta / cloak made of dog hair

dutch felting association felt kontakt, tiles

this particular caught my eye...

hats galore

shoulder bag

one example of wish you were here -collaboration where 16 artists from around europe studied finnish culture, tradition and nature by the means of felting and photography.

felting meets photography

local visual arts club koillisen hämeen kuvataideseura värinä puts up an exhibition every summer as well. this one is a detail of a larger piece called denim babies.

eila tiirinen, kaikki mitä tarvitset / all you need

local ceramics club has made these to be used in garden, scaring away pests

more info on finnish felting here.

paz's strawberry salad & backyard chanterelle toast

i got intrigued by chef paz's post on strawberry goat cheese salad a while back...not because i like goat cheese but because i liked the look of the salad. paz's got her idea from laylita's recipes...

i use a lot of onions in my cooking and never in the day had i done this before (trick from chef paz). soak the onions in cold water to take the bitter bite off, there's always a first and this trick worked. there is the distinct onion taste but the sharpness is gone.

olive oil and balsamic vinegar for the dressing.

castello white cheese (this link in finnish), which i think in this case was rather camembert than brie, but they both are rather mild cheeses, so same difference, i guess. i just noticed that the castello website has a lot of cheesy recipes.

made a bed of arugula, added quartered strawberries, sliced onion, the cheese and roasted pinenuts (please, pay attention to them while roasting, they aren't really that good when burned, and they do burn quite easily...) and poured the dressing over. certain someone said this is a very handy salad as the dessert comes with it...meaning the berries, but he did say he liked it. i did, too. next time i might use balsamic glaze instead of balsamico for the sweetness...and a stronger cheese. thanks, paz for inspiration, this was tasty!

the other day certain someone had noticed there were some chanterelles in the back yard.

he picked them up...

...and i made them into a stew, i guess you'd call this. started by sauteeing 1 minced white onion on medium heat, once they were translucent i added the mushrooms and sauteed further until the juices from the mushrooms started to dry out.

then i added "some" cream (please let your conscience tell you how much) and let it simmer and reduce.

toasted some bread, buttered (gasp!) it and ladled the mushrooms on it, a sprinkling of maldon flakes...to die for.

after dinner the dog supervised certain someone fix his guitar.

potato frittata

i've been reading alexis stewart's blog ever since she got it going after she quit the whatever radio blog (loved her portion of it, too). she frequently makes frittatas of all vegetarian sorts (all her food is vegetarian). while at the cottage i came across one of mom's very old cast iron pans which got me thinking...

this isn't exactly a recipe (what else is new?) but sort of adaptation of several, and collection what mom had (that needed to be used soon) in the fridge: potato, fennel, onion and ham frittata with chives.

first, crank the oven to 225C and place your well seasoned cast iron 9"/20cm pan into the cold oven. if using any other kind of pan, please, make sure its handle can hold the heat of the oven (you really don't want a smelly plastic meltdown in your oven) (trust me).

i was making this for 3 persons. i sliced 6 smallish potatoes, chopped one medium white onion, one fennel and 100gr of ham (totally optional).

cracked 6 eggs into a bowl, added 1dl of grated swiss cheese, and later on approx 2 tbsp of chopped chives.

first sauteed (with a view!) the fennel and onion until translucent, removed them onto a plate...

...browned the ham and placed it next to onion/fennel mixture.

by this time the oven and pan in it were hot. carefully oil the hot pan, place half of the potatoes on the bottom...

...then layer the onion, fennel, ham and rest of the potatoes in the pan. be careful, you really don't want any more burn marks on your hands (i didn't either)...

...then mix the eggs, cheese and chives and pour the mixture onto pan, shake a little to make it go everywhere.

place the pan into the oven and bake for 15 mins.

let the frittata rest for a few minutes before slicing it. i'm told that frittatas are good cold as well, we ate all of this warm...

campkein plays live at bar mendocino

certain someone and the band played at bar mendocino, helsinki, last night. here's one of their songs...

ps. something weird is going on in blogland...can't seem to get my layout looking the way i want...hopefully this is only temporary...