happy easter!

got the little cute green bird as a gift, it's from pentik, as are the glass eggs which i got last year. metal eggs are from indiska, also last year.





was supposed to work this easter but my left wrist got sore, well it's been sore since january, anyways, sore enought that i went to the doctor's. got 1 week off, we think it's carpal tunnel and since pain killers are out, i've been treating the wrist with felden, and now the wrist is turning yellow... been also wearing a rehband support wrist band, which is great but limits movement





because of the wrist easter menu wasn't as elaborate as i would have liked it to be. this is what got done with one and a half hands, medley of kitchen machines and very little effort


for starters, hummus and oven baked eggplant and spanish peppers. hummus was easy enough: 1 can of chickpeas, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, some chili and jeera, salt and black pepper, olive oil into a blender and prrr, there it was. inspiration was from jamie oliver's book the naked chef. eggplant and peppers were done under the broiler in the oven, tossed with olive oil, tiny bit of garlic, salt and pepper, splash of apple sider vinegar. both hummus and eggplant/pepper salads were made the day before, hummus got smoked paprika and eggplant/peppers some parsley as garnishes. most difficult part was peeling the peppers and you all know that ain't hard





now the lamb... hmm, as a rule i don't eat lamb, don't like the taste too much, but my lamb, it turned out ok even for my taste. i ate it, took seconds, but there is a limit of how much lamb i'll eat, not like some other foods (ice cream and chocolate come to mind first!) this leg of lamb (finnish, from roslund) swam overnight in lemon juice, olive oil, mint, garlic (loads of it), thyme and salt. another adaptation from jamie oliver. usually i put meats in a roasting bag to keep the meat juicy. this time i didn't use one and was pleasantly surprised, the meat turned out just perfect. later on, i did realize the real reason why i like the bags, the oven needed a scrub...





the lamb got company from roasted potatoes, carrots and parsnips





dessert was a very retro and super easy fruit salad, just open a few cans (pineapple and peach), dice a pear or two, add some orange, grapes and a banana (or any combination of fruits you like or happen to have) and a spoonfull of grandmother mami's secret indredient, brandy. when i was a kid we used to go to my dad's parents for sunday dinners, fruit salad was one of the foods i remember from that time. oh, and mami's pork chops, and stroganoff... just to name a few





later on, this sour lemon cake from the latest issue of donna hay magazine was served with coffee. this must be the easiest cake, just put all ingredients into a bowl, mix, pour into cake tin and bake





this was earlier from the week, salmon soup with a tad of thai. started with fennel, leek, potatoes that were boiled in fish stock. when they were almost done, lemongrass and tom yam pastes were added, heat was turned off, 1" cubes of salmon added to the hot soup. as with any fish, you don't wat to over cook it, the salmon cooked perfect in 10 mins in the hot soup, delish!

march break

this is one of the few cakes that my dad has actually said "you can make this again". well, he likes brownie / mudcake type cake i make. according to him most my baking has "spoiled milk" in them, spoiled milk would be cream cheece, butter milk, sour cream, etc. a taste he could never single out in a cake but he just plain won't eat. this one is cranberry vanilla coffeecake. i always double the amount of topping (if not triple...)





spent a week as a nanny at my brother's house, minding the nieces and nephew. did these earrings for the elder niece





and this necklace for the younger to enhance her pocahontas outfit. we all know what the theme of her next birthday is going to be...





the kids love spinach pancakes, so do i. they are easy to make: thaw 150gr frozen spinach, mix 2 eggs with 5dl milk, add 2½dl flour, pinch of white pepper and salt to taste, 2 tbs sugar and 2tbs melted butter or vegetable oil. i always add some grated nutmeg as well. let the batter stand for 20 mins and add the thawed spinach. you get best results on medium heat on a cast iron pan like in the picture, teflon pans work as well. i serve mine with lingonberries, always. the kids seem to like sweeter jams and preserves...





my mom's all time favourite is cheesecake, most often i make raspberry swirl cheesecake . occasionally raspberries become black or red currants, or both.


had never made the miniature version before, so decided to try it this time. usually i bake cheesecake in waterbath, this version seems to turn out ok also without, just lower the temp a bit. used the convection setting of the oven since i wanted to bake all 24 at the same time





they came out looking good, although they later became little soggy in the crust. probably need to adjust the amount of raspberry puree in the next batch




this one was great, deer in lorchel / turban fungus and cream sauce with carrots. simplicity in preparing this dish is best, the cut of meat was tender to begin with, so i just browned the meat with finely chopped onion, added some flour, salt and pepper, the carrots and cream, let all this simmer for about an hour. did have some lingonberries with this one as well





who said you can't have apple pie in the winter!?! basic patee brisee and green apples with cinnamon and honey inside...




with storebought vanilla custard

rabbit stew

this one is not for veggies. certain someone hunts, and it happened that the dog got a sniff of this little creature and the hunter was ready...





certain someone did do all the nasty stuff of butchering, taking the skin off and all that, my part was to cut and clean the meat. as the creature wasn't all that big, i was surprised about the amount of meat





the meat was in the freezer for approx 3 months, after thawing, i put it in red wine (spanish crianza, forgot the name) overnight with carrots and onions





the meat was dried and browned in cast iron dutch oven, carrots and onions were added along with a few whole black peppers and the wine





after approx 3 hrs in the oven, i fished out the solids, discarded carrots and onions, strained the liquid and put it back to dutch oven with the meat. added some cream with flour to thicken the sauce a bit, some salt was needed as well





mom made the mashed potatoes 'cause somehow hers taste better than mine, not sure if it's the amount of butter and/or salt she uses... lingonberries made the meal perfect. we did have wine with this, the same spanish crianza that was used in the marinade





prior to this i had had rabbit only once before and i was very prejudiced about how it would taste, or whether i would actually eat this at all. like a good girl i tasted some and actually liked it. this dish did not skyrocket to the top 10 i've ever done but was definitely one of the good ones

carpentry

took a course in carpentry at karjaan kurssikeskus starting in sept 2006. had seen their info years ago, but always thought that it was too far (80 km), there wasn't time, etc. finally in spring 2005 decided to apply, to my surprise i was accepted. my initial idea was to go and see how i liked it, thinking that we'd work with handtools like chisels and planes. was horrified to learn that we'd be using big machines that could easily chop off my fingers! (i'm glad to say that after 2 years i still have all my fingers in tact!)

we started at the basics which disappointed me because i wanted to make a bookcase. little did i know of carpentry, little i still know. it is overwhelming what one needs to know of wood before even deciding what can be done with each kind of wood, how to cut it, which way to plane, in which order to approach a project... after the first few lessons i was apprehending all that and having second thoughts. all that made me forget everything else (the lousy situation at work, etc) and i noticed that forgetting everything else is actually a good thing. later on, no matter how tired i was from working (i still had nightshifts at that time) and whatever, once i got to karjaa all that was forgotten. must admit we all would have had a lot more progress if we'd actually concentrated on work the whole time. we had such a great group of people that sometimes we ended up talking too much...


here is what i got done in the fall 06 semester, a tiny chair, which my littlest niece immediately claimed as hers. the chair resides at the cottage. i wanted to put a dark stain on it but several people told me that since it is made of birch i should let the grains show. i ended up putting a light colored wax that protects it from yellowing over time





this nightstand was done in the spring semester 07. again, i wanted to put a darker stain on it, i guess this works as well. you can still see the grains but it's not too light colored to stand out among my other pieces of furniture. i had to put the hinges in the summer by myself at the shack. got them level but it would have been so much easier at the workshop





after the first year i wasn't sure i wanted to keep driving to karjaa for another year. the course was on monday and wednesday evenings from 5 to 9, plus one hour drive each way, plus one saturday a month from 9 to 3. there wasn't much time for much else. somehow i ended applying for second year with the intention that i'd take the exam in the spring of 08. i got in again and to start with in fall 07 decided to make my own desing called "breakfast cabinet". it took a while for my teacher to get my idea so don't feel bad if you don't. here is the first cuts with the circular saw





from left, our teacher, classmate, me





there were certain things that we needed to learn just for the exam, which consists of three parts: written exam on carpentry as a whole plus basics of running a business, a business plan (extensive plan on how i would start a small carpentry business, including financial plans) and hands on exam at the workshop (we were given blueprints of a table which we needed to finish in three workdays). there was one guy that finished in the afternoon of the first day with immaculate results. mine is here, finished the table as per the blueprints but it still needs a stain of some sort (it's only been, what 10 months!) and passed my exam and can call myself a carpenter. can't you see how proud i am! did reward myself with a trip to NYC





here is my breakfast cabinet, it still needs 3 drawers for the top part, some more assembly on the lower part, and i still need a workshop to do all that in. will finish it one day, you'll see. the idea for this piece is storage and a table for my tiny apt (the one i possibly move into later on after they redo plumbing in the building sometime in 2011, in the meanwhile i'm renting the apt out). the level part supported by the crocked leg (will be an actual leg with a mechanism to support the table) will fold down and look like a door to the cabinet. it kinda is, it just opens upwards instead of sideways. there will be shelves inside for dishes, cereals, etc. no matter what anyone else says, this one will get a dark, glossy stain. the chair and nightstand were made of birch so i kinda gave in because of that, but this is made of pine (no knots may i add!), the grain will show thru anyway





at karjaa workshop

firsts, other bakes and another soup

been sort of ailing lately therefore had time to sort out pics, plus cook and bake. i think that in my first entry i promised a pic of the frosted cake for the certain someone's b'day. here is, used the the frosting mentioned on alexis's blog on oct 26 -08




now you're going to think i'm all freaked about alexis 'cause here is another by her, chocolate chip cookies




one would think to take pics of the finished product, but i forgot, honestly. and then they were gone. mine came out chunkier than the ones in the pic of the link





here is a first, angel food cake from martha stewart's baking handbook

first time i ever had angel food cake was in saginaw, MI, in the 80s, made by my friend marie's mom. somehow it tasted so good, at that time i had never even heard of angel food. it took me years to find a recipe, then it took years to find cream of tartar, no one in finland knew what it was and it was always the one thing that i forgot to buy on my trips to US. then it took years and many trips to US to find an angel food cake pan. so you better believe i had great expectations for this cake!





almost couldn't get over on how many egg whites were needed...





as you can see, finished version took to looping a bit, but it tasted great, with red currant jam. not as good as marie's mom, but maybe 20 odd years had done their magic...





i used to have a great recipe for veggie lasagna that i got from a swedish magazine (forgot which one) years ago. it had aubergines, spinach, kalamata olives and the usual tomatoes and cheese in it. i tried recreating the recipe, ended up adding some zucchini





did remember that the aubergine needed to be sliced very thinly, or prebaked. thought it would be easier to mandoline them




first a layer of tomato sauce (canned tomatoes, chopped onions, basil, pepper, simmer to a thick sauce), lasagna sheets, some more tomato sauce, julienned zucchini, spinach and cream (just mix thawed spinach with low fat cooking cream, season with some nutmeg), sliced aubergines, mozzarella cheese, and some kalamata olives as well. the olives were the only salty ingredient, to my taste that was enough





forgot in which order i put the ingredients in but the lasagna turned out ok. maybe time had done the trick again because this wasn't as good i had hoped it would be, perhaps zucchini wasn't a brilliant idea. definitely need to work on this, or just keep digging my recipe archives for the "perfect" veggie lasagna





another first, yeast dough belgian waffles. i have used my waffle iron / sandwich grill to make waffles before but always used dough that had baking powder in it. now this is weird, i had great yeast dough waffles at marie's house in holland, MI, years ago. (really hadn't thought of getting all these michigan memories into one blog entry...)





never got the recipe, even bought a belgian cookbook (in french! which i don't read fluently) to get a good one for yeast dough. looks like i need to keep looking further because, althoug very tasty, these did not have the consistency i was looking for. very good for sunday breakfast with maple syrup, though





sunday lunch was chicken soup with curry. had some home made chicken stock in the freezer, used that as a base for the soup. chicken came from the freezer as well. i think i should take some pics on my pantry (at the shack, that is) for you to understand what i actually happen to have. certain someone has told me, well more than once, to use up whatever there is in the pantry before buying new stuff. i feel, however, that one needs to be prepared! this is not just my idea...





thought of using the mandoline to get smaller pieces of the veggies (celeriac, parsnip, carrot, celery and leek) to reduce the cooking time. if you have a mandolin, it pays to read the instructions, don't do what i did. and yes, i know i need a manicure




used approx one liter of stock, added another liter or so of water. 2 chicken breasts cut up to bite size pieces, bring the stock and water to a boil, add chicken. i usually start by adding celeriac, cook that for 5 mins, then carrots and celery, cook for 5 mins, add parsnip cook and cook for 15 mins. i had 2 bay leaves in, added some chili powder and curry paste at the end to season the soup. chile and curry powder added a nice indian kick to the soup




some parsley, also from freezer, as a final touch