i saw a real prince!

i did too! H.R.H. carl philip, duke of värmland, almost run over my toes with his fancy porche. just kidding, but he did drive by as we were waiting for the green light near dramaten in stockholm. personally i think that pictures don't serve him right, he was rather easy on the eye...

certain someon and i took one of those "a day in stockhom" cruises from helsinki on tuesday and returned on thursday. here is part of helsinki harbour from a top our cruise ship.







dusk at sea.







inside östermalms saluhall. i love to see this kind of places in any village, town or a city i visit. it's always such a shame that i can't take stuff home and cook with it. although the inventory in swedish shops isn't that much different from what we have in finland, sweden is closer to the atlantic sea and its bounty.







such a pretty assemly of veggies, and several kinds of onions...







...and a somewhat ugly fish!







we walked from the värta harbour to the old town. passing the department store NK i saw several pairs of boots like these. somehow i don't think they were made for walking...







lunch at brasserie le rouge, what a cool idea to serve bread in a brown paper bag.







my ceasar salad was very tasty. it doesn't look like much but after mindless pigging at the buffet table the previous evening and a bacon breakfast on the ship, i probably could have managed with something lighter. well, we didn't pig out at the buffet. i'll admit i ate too much, but i did choose dishes that i don't eat at home too often, like onions, smetana and roe, salmon paté, mussels...







a square in the old town near the nobel museum. i wasn't prepared to seet his many tourists, but i guess the rest of the world still considers the end of august as summer and therefore time for holidays...







guards taking a break at the royal palace







after leaving stockholm (around five o'clock at least 6 apartment building size cruise ships leave stockholm, every day), the one behind us was going to tallinn. at one point there were at least 15 guys on jet-skis jumping the waves behind our ship, fun?

anna's club sandwich roll sans chicken

i first saw anna make club sandwich roll in her "fresh" tv-show a couple of years ago and decided that i'd make it, one day.

naturally, when you make this, you will have read the recipe and have all necessary ingredients at hand...don't do like i do, forget one of the main ingredients, namely the chicken...







i followed the recipe except for the amount of yeast, which varies on so many different things. i went with the package instructions, 1 bag (11gr) for 500ml liquid.







i wanted to use sundried tomatoes that weren't in any liquid, but i did soak them in water for 30mins to get them somewhat softer.







they plumped up nicely (as i was making veggie soup, i used the water in the soup)







i took the liberty of eating one rasher of bacon as the recipe called for only 8 and there was 9 in the package... i did not nibble on the grated cheddar.







the dough almost escaped. i did have to use almost 2 cups more flour than in the recipe. the dought was still a bit on the sticky side. there seemed to be so much dough that i decided i'd make two loaves.







one loaf with bacon, cheddar and tomatoes, the other with cured ham, cheddar and tomatoes.







here hoping all goes well...







the smell of baking break is amazing. loaves looked like they were done after 40 mins







on hindsight, i think i could have squeezed all of the dough into one pan. then i might not have had the airy bubble on top. on the other hand, it tasted great. will definitely try another time, with chicken.

gardens

it seems we might get something out of the garden this summer. this is how the tomato/ gourd plantantion looked a couple of weeks ago...







there are plenty of buds like these.







this is the biggest one so far. i wish i had written down what i planted...i have no idea if this pumpkin is edible or just for halloween decoration.







bees are keeping themselves busy.







the other day certain someone called me and said there is a big yellow thing that looks like a banana in the garden...well, i was quite aware of this zucchini.







tomatoes are only now starting to ripen.







this one was very juicy, the best tomato he ever ate said certain somenone. it was a truly tasty one, i must say.







i was sad to see that something had had a bite of this one...







i've tried corn many times, this is the first they grow over a meter high!






if the weather stays somewhat warm for a few weeks, we might actually, for the first time, get to eat home grown corn!








the "herb garden" is bursting...the two kind of thyme on the right got huge, as did the mint. i had read that mint will outgrow everything, but did i believe it? nope. there are only some many mojitos one can drink...i need to look for a mint jelly recipe...







as i was weeding the thymes, i found this. i have no idea what kind of mushroom it is and i plan to play it safe and not eat it.







it looks like i will get coriander seeds as well. i planted some coriander but thought that nothing comes up, didn't for months, suddenly there are tall stalks with flowers and seeds...








this big planted had over grown spinach in it, i tore it out, roots and all. couple of weeks later i noticed something green popping up...







low and behold, we're getting a second harvest of spinach!







now quickly to mom's patch at the cottage and her tomatoes.







they seemed to be ripening much earlier than mine.







there is carrots, parsnips, lettuce, dill, parsley and beets that seem to be especially tasty...







...well, at least the leaves. a rabbit has been visiting and eating only the beet leaves, sgtrange.







back at the shack...the composter is working quite well. i'm planning to start a new patch for gourds next summer, the compost will got to that patch.






ps. the white mushroom had opened up and revealed the telltale markings of a destroying angel (amanita virosa), which is deadly poisonous...now i'm afraid to remove it from the patch

orange (color) chicken

choosing the right pan/pot to make this dish is probably the hardest part...you want a pan with at least 2 inch side and a lid.







the chicken didn't make it in this picture as raw chicken really isn't that photogenic... but along with 500 gr chicken (any kind without the bones) here is what went in:

2 dl cooking cream (as light or heavy as you want)
2 nectarines (a bit on the raw side is fine)
1 sweet potato (a small one or half of a bif one)
4 medium carrots
200 gr sweet corn (in a can or frozen)
curry paste to taste (i used one heaping tbsp)







practiced my zen by chopping everything to bite size pieces.







then browned the chicken, quite lightly as can be seen before adding the carrots for a few minutes...







...before adding the cream and curry paste and let cook for 5 mins before...







...adding the sweet potato and nectarines and letting simmer for 15 mins.







when the veggies were done, i added the corn and turned off the heat, you really don't need to cook the corn, just get it warmed.







this batch serves four. i didn't bother with rice or pasta as there was plenty of veggies, but you could cook some and i bet this would serve up to 6. while eating this i thought that coconut milk might work as a replacement for the cream...

cottage food II: grilled lemon herby chicken, raspberry tart, and others

i've been back and forth at the cottage, as i had leave last week. cottage is always, well mostly anyways, about simple food. here, grilling flat chicken (martha calls it spatchcocked, how to here) while enjoying the scenery.







before you go thinking i've used semi-rotten meat...that bluish color comes from sage and thyme that i put under the skin with very thin slices of lemon.







about half an hour into grilling the birds (on medium-low) i noticed all the fat on the gridle...and remembered that there was some left-over boiled potatoes in the fridge. the chicken fat did wonders on the potatoes, just don't tell your cardiologist! total time for the chicken was about 45 mins.







made a poor man's greek salad (no olives) to go with the chicken, basil on the side. if it had been me, mom and certain someone the basil would have been in the salad (basil works surprisingly well with feta cheese), but for some reason dad will not eat "greens" in a salad...go figure.







naturally, i did make a stock from the backbones. the sage and thyme gave a strong flavor, the stock'll make a great soup later on (it frozen now).







mom then...not sure her medication is alright, the amount of energy she has, wears me out. she's been in the woods for weeks now, picking this and that, and these raspberries. the wild kind is far superior to the garden variety, so sweet and bursting with flavor. as there was so much berries, i needed to figure out what to do with them...







...and a recipe for blueberry tartlets in maku magazine gave me this idea...(it seems that the recipe isn't on the website yet.)
i made the crust with all-purpose flour and some oats, butter and one yolk. there really isn't a recipe but any shortbread type crust will do.






for the custard layer i used half of a vanilla pod, scraped the seeds and blended them into sugar with the blade of a knife, the seeds will distribute more evenly into liquid or flour. i learned this trick from tv (the great educator!), a danish cooking show called "the sweet life". like the name says it's all about the sweet goodness...now, if danish wasn't so hard on my ears...







this trick (the cling film right on the surface of the custard) i learned from anna, i think...







the crust could have been a tad thinner, other than that, perfect summer tart. the glaze was made with jelly sugar that doesn't have any animal products in it.







from sweet to savory, as mentioned earlier, the chaterelles are plentyful. here, sauteed with onions and butter (let your conscience tell how much you can use), the longer in lower heat, the better.







a slaw with carrots, white cabbage, root celeriac, flat-leaf parsley, chives and mayo.







mom's potatoes...from the ground into a pot in 5 mins, they taste amazing, but new potatoes usually do. or maybe it's the fact that mom buried fish parings into the ground with the seed potatoes...







my new favourite, giant white onions grilled on low heat, for a long time. you could use butter, but it's really not necessary, tiny amount of oil will do. i've contemplated on adding some balsamic reduction to this but so far it's just perfect as is.







i have a handy electric grill at the cottage, perfect for the onions, and keeping other (gas)grilled goods warm.