sauna, among other things

i'm at the cottage since i have a week off from work. went for a walk with mom yesterday and this little viper was minding its own in the middle of the road. must have been nice and warm on the road, i'm sure. there is something about snakes that... well, i just plain don't like them. this one got away alive








mom spotted this on the side of path in the woods, korvasieni, gyromitra esculenta. possibly deadly if not prepared properly, divine mushroom when cooked right







blueberries in bloom







picking young birch twigs, for sauna, naturally







this is vihta . the link pretty much tells how to make one and how to use it in the sauna. i've tried to take pics in sauna, the lens fogs up. besides, you do not wear anything in sauna, ever, so i think the lens fogging up isn't such a bad thing







if the previous was a "before" shot, this is the "after" shot. whipping yourself with vihta is supposed to be the cure-all for every ache, pain and mental distress







the deck by the lakeside is getting a new cover. i've taken dozens of pictures of the deck over many years. my next task is to get them all together and post the pictures, which show what time and the ever changing weather does to untreated wood







this lovely black, smelly and gooey stuff is tar







tar is put under new planks where they meet support beams to avoid rotting







dad just told that these old planks will become firewood, after 13 yrs of service. i love their texture, would love to use them to build something, if just for decoration







we so need to start emptying the freezers for fresh berries, this is made of last year's blueberries







emptying continues, this is a chanterelle pie on sunnuntai rye pie dough

pulla, buns, slap in the ear

a slap in the ear is korvapuusti and korvapuusti is a sweet pastry bun. michelle on big black dog blog has already posted the how to's on the dough. if you're really interested, read my comments on her blog on how my dough and hers differ. this piece of dough has apple sauce and cinnamon on it.





i rolled it, cut to pieces and placed on a baking tin to proof before baking







after baking, my mom makes this with cinnamon + sugar filling and that is called a boston cake







this batch has the cinnamon + sugar in, cutting into pieces







i'm using paper tins here, just make them a little different







before oven these need an eggwash







fresh out of oven







this is the slap in the ear, or the butterfly michelle has on her blog

ham quiche

went to visit a friend the other day and she offered a very tasty shrimp blue cheese pie. next day i got a craving for pie and decided to make a ham pie. confession, i used a sunnuntai frozen pie dough. blind baking it here







the filling: smoked ham, red bell peppers, leeks and grated parmesan







i added 2,5 dl kermaviili (consistency of which is like mixture of sour cream and sour milk), 2 eggs, pepper, and another dash of parmesan on top before putting all into the oven, 180C for approx 40 mins







yam!







my first thought was to serve the pie with simple green salad, but i forgot to buy some... so i used mini plum tomatoes, just as good

nettles, more than just a weed

in my attempts to clean up the garden, i noticed that the poor peonies were being attacked by nettles. i did remember to use gloves, but then i moved along the peony bed and put my bare knee on them, painfull. it seems that the new growth has a more bitter sting than late summer growth, could be my imagination as well. (and now that i've educated myself more on nettles, i know that baby nettles aren't as bad as the full grown)







i had quite a pile of nettles when i remembered that mami (our belated grandmother) used to gather nettles in early summer and make nettle pancakes, and also dry nettles to use later in the year. traditionally nettles are used to treat asthma, rheumatishm and kidney stones. it is a diuretic, it contains iron, calsium, vitamin c and protein. nettles can be used in cooking in anything you'd use spinach in. i decided to make pancakes.

i started by picking out the real weeds and rinsing the nettles, then boiling them for 5mins, cooling in the very coldest tapwater (i would have used icewater but tapwater at the schack is approx +5C at this time of year), squeezing out excess water







after squeezing the water out, you end up with bright green blob of goodness, which you chop up fine







the batter takes 6 dl room temperature milk (any milk will do), 2 eggs, 2 to 3 dl plain flour, white pepper and salt to taste (i omit salt since i cut using it wherever possible), 2 tbs melted butter (or your favourite fat in liquid form, i would not used olive oil, though). the amount of nettles in this batch was 1,5 dl. mix 2 dl milk with the eggs, start adding the flour little by little while whisking constantly, slowly adding rest of the milk, all this to avoid big lumps. when all the other incredients are mixed, add the butter and chopped nettles. the batter should be thicker than for crepes but thinner than for american type pancakes.







i like using this ancient cast iron pan, it's well seasoned and i rarely get those first batch disasters. you just need to be patient to let it warm up slowly to medium hot. you can use any size pan, cast iron or teflon or anything else. teflon has the benefit that you don't have to use any fat. this batch made close to 50 silver dollar pancake -size pancakes. i find it easiest to use this kind of pan, and faster. if using this pan, 2 to 3 tbs of batter is sufficent, fry until top sets and bottom is lightly browned.







as with spinach pancakes, i serve the pancakes with lingonberry jam

gardening

despite my wrist, the garden needed some attention. it was a lovely morning, and the dog, which, by the way, should be guarding, was not! imagine being able to take so easy at you job!?






now, that is better!







there are new buds all over. at the shack, you just need to dig a little to find them for all the weeds. here's muscari







the rhubarb looked like it needed rescuing






i'm hoping we'll get a pie out of these in a week or two. i didn't have the heart to pull out the lone tulip







lily-of-the-valley






the lovage has gone crazy and so needs to be replanted, soon







i was digging out an old flower bed and found this tiny-tiny (5 cm) lizard on the soil, i did rescue her, too







this is how the flower bed looked before







planted 2 kinds of alliums and sunflowers in it and lined the bed with old broken pots. well, had to break some more to get all of it lined











those green ones are tree onions, allium cepa viviparum and were the only non-weed plants that managed to grow in this bed