visiting

i could so easily adapt to this not having to go to work... if you asked right this second, i couldn't remember any of my passwords for computer at work. unfortunately there are also other things that i forget easily...

as certain someone also had some time off from work we went to visit my parents at the cottage and took the dog with us. the dog, obviously, liked to be able to run around free.

we arrived saturday afternoon and i just had to make some more of lahey's pizza. i have now, i think, found the optimal filling: thinly sliced red onions, prociutto, calamata olives, tomato and mozzarella







it had been freakishly cold during the night (-20C). certain someone and i slept in the old cottage (built some 30 yrs ago) with the dog. on sunday morning we woke up to a crisp +10C temperature, inside the cottage... the dog had done a runner around midnight and we had kept getting up during the night to take him back indoors, no luck, but more on that later.

mom and dad were all cosy in the new cottage and after such a cold (and sleepless) night we decided that soup would be good. by now you all should know how i make a soup, what's different this time is on which kind of stove the soup was cooked on. namely this wood burning one







steaming hot







as the stove was burning all day anyway, mom decided to make some oven pancake as well. why is it that mom's pancake tastes so much better than mine? could it be for finally getting to eat some with strawberry jam? the amount of butter and eggs mom uses in the batter...







on monday then, we still had to burn the oven all day... might as well take advantage of the heat in the oven and bake some brownies. the thing with wood burning stoves is that the oven temp is never quite accurate and is hard to adjust. the top got a tad bit darker than i would have liked but the brownies tasted great







there is still so much snow, i wonder if it's going to go away by midsummer?







my dad has a habit of putting things in most peculiar places, correction: peculiar things in peculiar places. i have no idea what he ever thought when he placed this thing (part of a winch??) beside the pillar in the front of old cottage. well, the things laying around do make nice still-lives...







it's amazing how diffrent the snow...







...makes everything look







now, there seems to be like a zillion things i need to get done while i still get to use both of my hands to do them with, like tons of laundry...

tomorrow at 7am i need to be at the hospital for the surgery all scrubbed clean, nails clipped, sober (would people really show up drunk?), with my own medicins (you'd think there'd be plenty in a hospital), tootbrush and slippers, with no make-up, nailpolish nor pierced jewellery. i do get to eat dinner tonight but nothing to eat after midnight and nothing to drink after 3am. they are kind enough to offer a "snack" after surgery.

if all goes well certain someone should be able to come and pick me up from the hospital sometime tomorrow afternoon/evening. let's hope i do wake up and that they'll medicate my pains away... see you once i feel lucid again...

more pulla

there seems to be a mouse at the shack, a mouse that keeps eating all the pulla i bake... and it's not me, i swear. i've posted about baking pulla before, but thought i'd share last friday's buns as they were the best i've ever managed to bake, so far. not sure if it was the moon being in the right angle, or something to that effect, but these buns came out perfect. i used the same recipe as before, maybe it was some extra butter in the dough, maybe the extra 2 minutes of kneading in the mixer, or, could it be that i'm getting the hang of it?

anyways, this time i used coconut...







...and cinnamon as fillings







ready for the second rise before baking







with coconut filling straight from the oven. the smell of baking pulla is amazing







with cinnamon and sugar. i had to taste one, ever heard of quality control?







all this went into freezer and is supposed to last for a couple of months. there might be a way to bake pulla with just one hand, just don't think that i'll be that desperate to have some. certain someone seems to think that he could do it... if that miracle happens, rest a sure, you will get the story and pictures!

new pan & crepe-style pancakes

we've been at the cottage since saturday, lots of things going on, been too "busy" to blog... here's something i made at the shack last tuesday, namely pancakes. i had bought this new pancake pan (on sale) and i wanted to try it... and mom, yes i do have plenty of pans. it's just that the cast iron pan takes forever, the bigger ones are difficult because of high rims and... let's just say that i needed a pan for pancakes and leave it at that, shall we?

for the batter you'll need ½ liter milk, 2 eggs, 3 dl all purpose flour, 1/4 tsp salt, ½ tsp sugar and some fat, either melted butter or, for a lack of better name "liquid margarine". i find it easiest to first mix the eggs and 1 dl of milk, then add half the flour, mix vigorously, add another dl of milk, rest of the flour and mix again, then add salt & sugar, rest of the milk and the fat. i usually let the batter sit for up to an hour, but it's good to go as is







batter is a bit thinner than i would use for frying on a cast iron pan







warm pan on medium heat, pour just enough batter to cover the pan, fry until the edges start drying...







...and the underside is golden brown, or, if you like your pancakes a bit on the darker side a bit longer. my dad likes his pancakes quite dark and crispy and insists that sparkling water be added to batter right before frying. it does make the pancakes crispy and lacy







this batter makes approx 12 pancakes (not sure how many i ate before counting them...)







these were eaten with mom's raspberry jam (as i, still, haven't made any strawberry jam...)

eggplant bake

march issue of bon appetit features "one-dish dinners, updates classics" with a picture of an eggplant dish on the cover. decided to try the dish, which has a freakishly long name eggplant parmesan rolls with swiss chard and fesh mint (phew).

anyways, printed out the recipe and took it with me to grocery store in a desperate effort to do at least once like the recipe says. as luck would have it, they didn't have even fresh mint in there, and i'm sure that they've never heard of swiss chard... as a matter of fact, i don't think i've ever seen it in finland! so much for following that recipe...

got fresh spinach instead of swiss chard, fresh basil and parsley instead of mint. low and behold, there was ricotta cheese! in addition to that i got some cottage cheese as well (i had never cooked with ricotta so wasn't sure how it would work). the eggplants then... it was almost as if some higher power had decided against me making this dish... the eggplants were so tiny that there was no way to slice them lenghtwise and roll something in them...







...so i had to slice them the other way. i don't usually bother with sweating the eggplant, this time i did. took out my colander, spread out a layer of eggplant slices, sprinkled generously with salt, another layer of eggplant, then salt... let them do their thing for an hour







then rinsed them well under running water and dried between kitchen towels







next placed the slices on oiled baking sheet and placed under broiler until nicely browned







got a nice pile of eggplant







then took out the basil and parsley, tore the leaves off the stalks and minced quite roughly







gave the spinach a bath







this blob is the spinach after a quick dip in boiling water, after vigorous squeezing. it was minced a little more finely than the herbs







made the filling in 2 batches, ricotta and cottage cheese. both got the same ingredients in them, basil, parsley, spinach, one egg, grated parmesan and ground balck pepper, that's ricotta under there, somewhere







poured half a can of crushed tomatoes on an oiled oven dish, placed one layer of eggplant slices on it, then some filling, eggplant, filling and eggplant. i would have used a slightly smaller dish, but this was all i had at the apartment. on the right in the picture you can see the cottage cheese filling, a lot lumpier than the ricotta on the left







then poured rest of the tomatoes on top







lastly, placed the sliced mozzarella on top, covered with foil and baked in 160C oven for 30 mins before taking the foil off and baking for another 20 mins, until mozzarella started to brown and bubble







it smelled amazing







after first bite i realized how much better it would have been if i had put some calamata olives in as well... this will definitely deserve another try, with the correct ingredients, even if i have to grown my own swiss chard...

beef mince soup

yesterday was a very short (and last for a very long time) day at the office. have some days of leave before the operation next week. as i know that my chopping and flipping will come to a halt for approx 8 to 10 weeks, i had to make another soup that required some chopping. oh boy, did i enjoy and need it! (chopping is my zen...)

here's what got chopped: 15 cm leek (the tough dark green parts), 1 big parsnip, 4 medium size carrots, 1/4 of medium size celeriac, not pictured 4 medium size potatoes







400 gr lean beef mince







browned the beef on it's own on a very hot non-stick pot, mine is from hackman. once the mince was getting dark brown, added the leeks to wilt them, stirred for a minute before adding parsnip, carrots, celeriac and boiling water to barely cover mince and veggies, brought to a good boil before turning the heat to medium...







took out dried lovage and dried chillies, ½ tsp of lovage and the 7 chillies. crushed the chillies before adding to pot...







...a bunch of frozen parsley stalks...







...dropped them in and let the mixture cook with the lid on for 15 mins before...







...adding the potatoes and some water to submerge everything. cooked for another 20 mins because i wanted to potatoes to break a little







took out some more of the frozen parsley to garnish the soup







no salt, no stock or buillion was needed. the chilli was quite potent when i first tasted the soup yesterday. reheated some for lunch today, the chilli had mellowed down to a nice heat







as with any soup, rye bread with cheese







the next picture falls more to the "curiosities" department. the winter has been so cold this year that the dog's paws have become very hairy. he's been with us for 4 years and this hasn't happened before







the dog is still blissfully unaware that his paws will be barbered once the weather starts warming up a bit. don't even want to think about the amount of dirt those paws would drag indoors once the snow on the yard starts melting...







...which, it seems, won't be any time soon because the plough-guy still has to come almost every day