Does my ass look fat in this?

« "Back in my day, we didn't have bras. We had to hold them up with our bare hands!" I'd love to know what this sculpture on a building in Stockholm means, if anything. Maybe it's a plastic surgery hospital inside. »

Ever since I moved here, I have come to be very fascinated by the Finnish curiosity for what foreigners think of their country. A number of people, including my own father-in-law, have commented that they find my boring corner of the internet interesting because of my outsider view of life here. I suppose I find it strange because as an American I already either know what people think of the US given how many rants I have had delivered to me from those wearing Nike shoes, Levi's and a Mets baseball cap or because the US is so big that it is something different for everyone, even those who live there, which I don't take personally. And, mostly, I just don't care.

Finland seems both vain and insecure as though it were a woman asking a boyfriend, "Hey, does this make my ass look fat?", as if the answer were going to dispel her doubts about her own self-image. Or, more to the point, why do Finns care about what foreigners think of Finland when, like America and most other places, it is always a bit different for everyone? What has made me wonder about this recently is the popularity among Finns of an American Libertarian's blog, Finland for Thought.** In the US, Phil would be just another guy cutting and pasting news into his blog, as if there aren't enough of those already, but here he's considered a political pundit because, I am told, there's so little public political discourse. Of course, of the several people I asked about this, none of them discuss political issues on their blogs but find a foreigner who writes only in English with a no-big-government, no-taxes slant to be a good change of pace. Hey, who said irony was dead? What about all the parlimentarians with a blog? You know, the folks who actually represent the people in the government? I suppose politicians are supposed to be too diplomatic to offer opinions in the wrong language about issues they've not had more than 3 years of experience with just to be controversial. Well, unless they're the President of the US.

Perhaps the reason political opinions in Finland are not often spewed randomly on the net, where they will be cached by the search engines for as long as there is power to run the machines to ensure that they resurface to haunt you at some later date, is that people who can't chat up their neighbour about the weather, or even grunt and nod to them, generally aren't going to blurt out critical statements that will either find a friend or an enemy. You know, if you can't get to "Hello" you just aren't going to make it to "Fuck off" without a bottle of koskenkorva to help you get there and, really, discussing politics while bombed is a cherished American tradition that nobody wants to imitate. A very high percentage of the Finns I know say they email their political representatives and, amazingly, receive replies on issues that they have concerns about. This seems far more efficient and, frankly, more Finnish. If only Americans would even bother to vote much less email their representatives. Then again, every time I've written a politician back home, I've never received a reply. Bitching on the net and over too many beers at the pub is as good as it gets for us Yankees.

I'm guessing then that F4T is more a magic combination of from-the-hip pot stirring and curiosity/insecurity feeding which may make for a fabulously popular TV series on Nelonen. Hey, Phil, you can star in your own show finally! I'm envisioning a Finnish Hardball but with foreigners who read only what scarce local news is available in English and then argue animatedly about some random issue. :)

**Disclaimer: I know Phil and while I'd buy him a beer, I probably won't vote for him when he runs for public office. This isn't a personal attack, but a sincere curiosity. If you're Finnish, however, and feel a slight burning sensation, that's just the sarcasm missing your funny bone.

permalink Ω 30 March 2005, Helsinki

Wookie

« The first piece of constructivist public artwork in Helsinki in Ruoholahti that sits next to the bridge to Lauttasaari that many people drive past every day but likely never notice. It's called 'Vooki' [Wave] and I keep reading it as 'Wookie'. :) I'm not very fond of postmodern art, but this sculpture is interesting in that it looks different from every angle that you view it. »

I had five days in which I had lofty goals and ambitious plans for reading several books, going to see the Via Crucis and various other things that got lost in the vast sea of time, laundry and largesse. It has been so quiet this weekend that I'm happy that tomorrow signs of life will return to the city and I'll ask myself why I didn't make better use of the time off while I had it.

permalink Ω 28 March 2005, Helsinki

Warm cowpies

« A beautiful kulitsa/kulich cake in the Ekberg bakery window. »

It's Easter weekend and the weather has been fabulously warm and living up to the holiday's origin of being a celebration of spring before it was appropriated by the various organised religions [I remain ever puzzled why the faithful rarely wonder why all the major holidays coincide with equinoxes or solstices]. I've not been out to enjoy it as much as I might have liked as I've been busy cleaning the house, doing laundry and making kulitsa and pasha which are traditional Easter artery clogging delicacies from Eastern Finland. The kulitsa was dense and the pasha was a soft blob instead of the firm cone that I was aiming for. They tasted good, but I think I'll still be digesting them a week from now. If I live that long. *thunk*

I've been wanting to make mämmi, an Easter food from Southwestern Finland, for the past two years but haven't gotten around to it yet. The HS had an article this past week about a Tunisian guy who founded the Suomen Mämmiseura. I've definitely got to go see the mämmi eating championships next year.

Naturally the founder of Suomen Mämmiseura was also the jury chairman at the World Mämmi-Eating Championships held last weekend in a shopping mall in Toijala, a town between Hämeenlinna and Tampere.

Toijala is also incidentally home to "the world's largest mämmi factory", as you may learn if you see the product in the Finnish shops this week. Annual consumption runs to about 2 million kilos and the Toijala plant turns out around 3.5 million packets of the dessert to stores and kitchens.   

There were two competition categories: the "Camping" series and the "Salon" series. In each case the competitors had to eat two decilitres of mämmi in a manner that appealed to the panel of judges.

"In a civilised fashion!" stresses Ladarsi.

And if there is a book only about salmiakki, surely there is room for a book about mämmi. I'd certainly buy a copy or two. :) The HS also had an article about a mämmi making course along with a recipe that doesn't include molassas since it is considered 'cheating' to sweeten it that way. I'll try it next year....maybe. :)

This becomes mämmi

Ancient traditional delicacy was made in steaming pots helped by oven brooms

by Anna Paljakka of the Helsingin Sanomat

Greetings from a mämmi course!

The ten litre cast iron pot has never, as far as it is known, been used for anything else than cooking mämmi.

As soon as a dash of boiling water has been poured to the (bottom of the) pot which is then sprinkled with rye flour and malt, the sweet and heady smell of mämmi spreads into the room. However, several hours of work, spread over two days, awaits. The women of old didn't let themselves off easily, not in mämmi making.

We are in a traditional house at the Karjaa Folklore Society, called Antkärrgården. The participants of the mämmi course are from Swedish speaking areas and "memma" has belonged to their lives since childhood.

A wood-burning oven and two pots are being used. Two baking ovens are being preheated for the next day's bake.

Over the past weekend, birch bark pans [tuohiropponen] were made with bark that was removed from birches felled last June. It would have been wise to twist the bark into pans at that time for reasons that will become obvious later.

Can it be true that so little is needed for mämmi? Water, flour, malt, a little bit of salt, dried Seville orange peel, maybe a little bit of fresh orange peel.

"Yes, but it requires work. There is no rushing in mämmi making.", reminds the instructor of the mämmi course, a domestic science teacher, Hagar Johnsson.

The pots are stirred vigorously. "It may simmer but not boil, not even bubble," Johnsson keeps reminding us. Hot water is added carefully and once in a while a small amount of malt and flour is added, which gets swallowed by the brown, hot goo.

After three hours cooking it is time to cover the pots and leave to sweeten overnight. "Only a cheater uses syrup for mämmi.", Johnsson reminds us.

The next morning the pots are still hot, as they should be. Sweetening requires a temperature of about 50 degrees Celsisus, in which the carbohydrates are refined into sugars, Johnsson teaches us.

And stirring continues again. Now the mämmi has to boil properly to thicken.

Then the pots are lifted with iron hooks out to the stairs to cool. Now begins the insane whipping of the mämmi mass, as if exorcizing evil spirits. The idea is to get as much air as possible into the mämmi.

When the pots stop steaming, they are lifted into the snow and the whipping in high strokes goes on and on.

Inside the kitchen it looks like a witch's kitchen. The ovens are swept with a broom which has a tuft of coniferous branches at the end of a stick, much like the brooms of the Easter witches.

The best oven temperature for the success of mämmi is 180 degrees Celsius. Then one can still put one's hand into the oven and the bark pans do not burn.

They do not burn, and the bark that has been drying since the last summer is severely tested, even though the pans have been moistened. Some of the pans break, and the precious mämmi falls to the bottom of the oven. The slightly too hot oven is partly to blame.

After a couple hours of slow baking the mämmi pans are covered with foil. The afterbake is important.

Mämmi is easy to freeze. When fresh it keeps like bread.

The Norwegian Ann Lise Lövli Nilsen has also arrived at the Karjaa mämmi course. She is interested in seeing how the famous mämmi that looks like dung, but apparently tastes delicious, is made.

Lövli Nilsen is told one of the innumerable mämmi jokes, the one where a Finnish Swede named Varma Koskitar received a packet from home. The customs needed only to peek at the box and read the name of the recipient. Everything was fine: the packet said "varma koskitar" ("warm cowpats" in Swedish).

There have been attempts to make mämmi more enticing for strangers by comparing it with dark beer. The ingredients and the taste are the same.

Did you know?

Hefty traditional food

• Mämmi is thought of as western Finland invention, but a sweetened grain porridge already existed in Persia.
• The ancient mämmi porridge has all the properties of a catholic fasting food. It is a nutritious, tasty morsel, and is eaten especially on Good Friday, when even firemaking was forbidden at one time.
• From western Finland the sweet and sour mämmi spread eastwards. The oldest literary mentions of mämmi have been found in the doctoral thesis of Daniel Juslenius, the professor from the Academy of Turku, "Aboa Vetus et nova", during the early 1700s. The Finnish-Latin-Swedish dictionary of Juslenius from 1745 mentions a Finnish delicacy, the mämmi porridge, made out of rye.
• A biblical connection has also been found: the children of Israel left the slavery in Egyt so quickly that they had to grab unleavened bread dough. The Jews celebrate Passover to remember that but, in the far north, the place of unleavened bread has been replaced by a traditional food, the nutritious mämmi.

Basic Mämmi

Makes: about 6 pans

• 5 liters (1.3 gallons) water
• 500g (1.1 pound) malt
• 1.5kg (3.3 pounds) rye flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons powdered Seville orange peel
• (zest of 2 orange peels)

1. Add to 1 liter of boiling water, 1 dl (1/2 cup) rye flour and 1 dl (1/2 cup) of malt. Stir well and be careful not to boil the mixture. Add flour and malt only once an hour. Stir again. Repeat until flour and malt are gone.
2. Cover the pot and leave on the stove or in a warm place for about 12 hours to allow the mixture to sweeten.
3. Add salt, Seville orange zest and, if you like, the zest of 2 orange peels. Bring to a boil and allow it to thicken.
4. Take the pot from the stove and, while cooling the mixture, whip the mämmi.
5. Fill the mämmi boxes half-full.
6. Bake at 180C/355F (electric oven works well) for 1.5-2 hours.
7. Cover the boxes well with baking paper or foil for the afterbake.
8. Serve mämmi with milk or half&half. Taste and add sugar on top if it needs it.

permalink Ω 27 March 2005, Helsinki

Vernal Helsinki

« Ice blocks emerging from downspouts and thick muddy grit on the sidewalks are the two most reliable indicators of the arrival of spring in Helsinki. »

Spring must be here as I walked around without my winter boots today. It always feels wrong, after dragging heavy boots around on my feet for six months or more, to replace them with light, normal shoes. I must walk a bit funny, too. Of course, my black pants are now brown and the shoes are slopped with muddy grit, but it's bearable knowing that summer is coming.

permalink Ω 25 March 2005, Helsinki

Where skin porn and food porn collide

It's fun to use google and see what it returns when searching for 'sticky buns' as, well, the imagination is a poor substitute for reality. When food and skin porn collide it gets fairly ugly pretty quickly. Sticky buns are likely the source of inspiration for the Finnish bostonkakku which are served like a pie rather than the individual buns. One of the guys at work quipped that it is served this way because you can feed 20 instead of 8 people.

I figured that since I was making dallaspulla that I'd make the inspiration for texaspulla and bostonkakku so that my test subjects would know just what they had been missing all these years. :) The dough is a snap to make even without a mixer and is much easier to work with than the pulla dough. The only drawback is the time spent waiting for the dough to rise. With a four-day weekend approaching where absolutely nothing will be open and we'll likely have crappy weather given that it's a holiday, what could be better than making a pan of sticky buns and eating them instead of chocolate eggs? These are, by far, the best cinnamon rolls I've ever made and my test subjects consumed them in a shark chum feeding frenzy. Two guys even asked me for the recipe.

Sticky Buns, a.k.a. caramel rolls or cinnamon rolls

Makes: 12 sticky buns
Time: ~30 minutes prep, 3 hours for dough rising
Source: Cook's Illustrated

This recipe has four components: the dough that is shaped into buns, the filling that creates the swirl in the shaped buns, the caramel glaze that bakes in the bottom of the baking dish along with the buns, and the pecan topping that garnishes the buns once baked. Although the ingredient list may look long, note that many ingredients are repeated. Leftover sticky buns can be wrapped in foil or plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 3 days, but they should be warmed through before serving. They reheat quickly in a microwave oven (for 2 buns, about 2 minutes at 50 percent power works well); they can also be put into a 325F/175C-degree oven for about 8 minutes.

Dough

• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 3/4 cup buttermilk (2 dl piima) at room temperature
• 1/4 cup (.5 dl) granulated sugar 
• 1 1/4 teaspoons table salt 
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast  (1 packet sunnuntai dry yeast)
• 4 1/4 cups (10,5 dl) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus additional for dusting work surface
• 6 tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm

1. In bowl of standing mixer, whisk eggs; add buttermilk and whisk to combine.
2. Whisk in sugar, salt, and yeast.
3. Add about 2 cups (5 dl) flour and butter; stir with wooden spoon or rubber spatula until evenly moistened and combined.
4. Add all but about 1/4 cup (1/2 dl) remaining flour and knead with dough hook at low speed 5 minutes.
5. Check consistency of dough (dough should feel soft and moist but should not be wet and sticky; add more flour, if necessary); knead at low speed 5 minutes longer (dough should clear sides of bowl but stick to bottom).
6. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface; knead by hand about 1 minute to ensure that dough is uniform (dough should not stick to work surface during hand kneading; if it does stick, knead in additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time).
7. Lightly spray large bowl or plastic container with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to bowl, spray dough lightly with cooking spray, then cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap.
8. Set in warm, draftfree spot until doubled in volume, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

Caramel Glaze

• 6 tablespoons or 85g unsalted butter 
• 3/4 cup (1,75 dl) light brown sugar, packed
• 3 tablespoons corn syrup, light or dark
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream 
• 1 pinch table salt 

1. Meanwhile, combine all ingredients for glaze in small saucepan.
2. Cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally, until butter is melted and mixture is thoroughly combined.
3. Pour mixture into nonstick metal 13- by 9-inch (33cm x 23cm) baking dish.
4. Using rubber spatula, spread mixture to cover surface of baking dish.
5. Set baking dish aside.

Cinnamon-Sugar Filling

• 3/4 cup (1,75 dl) light brown sugar, packed
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 
• 1 pinch table salt 
• 1 tablespoon or 15g unsalted butter, melted
• Raisins (optional)

1. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and salt in small bowl.
2. Mix with a fork until thoroughly combined, using fingers to break up sugar lumps.
3. Set aside.

To assemble and bake buns:

1. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface.
2. Gently shape dough into rough rectangle with long side nearest you.
3. Lightly flour dough and roll to 16-inch x 12-inch (40cm x 30cm) rectangle.
4. Brush dough with 1 tablespoon melted butter, leaving 1/2-inch border along top edge; with butter remaining on brush, brush sides of baking dish.
5. Sprinkle filling mixture over dough, leaving 3/4-inch border along top edge; smooth filling in even layer with your hand, then gently press mixture into dough to adhere. Add rasins if you desire.
6. Beginning with long edge nearest you, roll dough into taut cylinder.
7. Firmly pinch seam to seal and roll cylinder seam-side down.
8. Very gently stretch to cylinder of even diameter and 18-inch (45 cm) length; push ends in to create even thickness.
9. Using a serrated knife and gentle sawing motion, slice cylinder in half, then slice each half in half again to create evenly sized quarters.
10. Slice each quarter evenly into thirds, yielding 12 ~1.5 inch (3,75 cm) buns (end pieces may be slightly smaller).
11. Arrange buns cut-side down in prepared baking dish.
12. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and set in warm, draft-free spot until puffy and pressed against one another, about 1 hour.
13. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place pizza stone (if using) on rack, and heat oven to 350F/175C degrees.
14. Place baking pan on pizza stone; bake until golden brown and center of dough registers about 180F/82C degrees on instant-read thermometer, 25 to 30 minutes.
15. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes; invert onto rimmed baking sheet, large rectangular platter, or cutting board.
16. With rubber spatula, scrape any glaze remaining in baking pan onto buns; let cool while making pecan topping.

Pecan Topping

• 3 tablespoons or 50g unsalted butter 
• 1/4 cup (.5 dl) light brown sugar, packed
• 3 tablespoons corn syrup, light or dark
• 1 pinch table salt 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract  or vanilla sugar
• 3/4 cup (1,75 dl) pecans or walnuts, toasted in a skillet over medium heat until fragrant and browned, about 5 minutes, then cooled and coarsely chopped

1. Combine butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt in small saucepan and bring to simmer over medium heat, whisking occasionally to thoroughly combine.
2. Off heat, stir in vanilla and pecans until pecans are evenly coated.
3. Using soup spoon, pour heaping tablespoon of nuts and topping over center of each sticky bun.
4. Continue to cool until sticky buns are warm, 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Pull apart or use knife to cut apart sticky buns; serve.

permalink Ω 23 March 2005, Helsinki

Growing Pains

« If only he could operate the remote control.... »

Take a teething puppy, keep his activity minimal [meaning no playing with friends in the puppy park] and reduce his daily ration of food and I can guarantee that even the most angelic puppy will turn into a petulant monster. We tried to take Otava to a nearby island on Sunday, where most of the area is a dog park, but not long after we got off the bus he started limping again, only on the other front leg. His limp became rather severe and once we got home I gave him some aspirin to help ease the discomfort a bit while I started hunting around the net for some information on what might be the problem.

I am unwilling to believe that it could be a joint abnormality and he has had no trauma or undue stress to his legs. I found something known as "panosteitis". I've known and had my own giant breed puppies for two decades and have never heard about this affliction. But, essentially, it's a result of him growing too fast. Large breed dog owners don't feed vitamin supplements and switch to adult food around four months of age to avoid the dangers of this happening. Somehow, in spite of doing everything right, he is still growing like a weed.

Panosteitis (commonly called "growing pains," "wandering lameness," or simply "pano") is associated with large breed dogs and usually occurs in dogs 5 to 12 months of age, although it has been found in dogs as old as 5 years. It most commonly affects males by a ratio of 4:1. Females are most often affected around their first heat. It is possible that the condition is partially genetic since so many German Shepherd Dogs are prone to it. However, many other factors have been associated with pano: diet, viral diseases, autoimmune problems, hyperestrogen, and vascular problems. In other words, no one knows what causes the disease. It is characterised by excessive bone production on the long bones and is an inflammation of the membrane covering the bone. Dogs will generally grow out of the problem, but it is a painful condition.

Symptoms: Favoring of legs, limping, being subdued. Pano is also called "shifting leg lameness" as it can show up in any leg and may come and go without warning. If the limping goes from leg to leg (for example, one day the dog limps on the right rear leg, and the next day, it limps on the left front), it is very likely the dog has pano.

Diagnosis: If the dog is x-rayed during a bout of pano, lesions on the area above the growth plates will be visible.

Treatment: Enforced rest is usually prescribed. Painkillers are controversial since the pup will play more without pain, and may exacerbate the condition. Some vets recommend a reduced-protein (usually an adult formula) diet.

The pathology of the disease matches the description of his symptoms almost perfectly. I've changed his food to a Nutro's low protein adult formula and started giving him 500mg of vitamin C. There's a lot of conflicting advice on the net, but the food, limited use of aspirin for the pain and reduced exercise make a lot of sense. The vitamin C hasn't been confirmed as helping, but the vitamin has a lot to do with calcium metabolism in the body so it won't do any harm at least. We'll keep our fingers crossed that it is just growing pains and that he'll grow out of it soon so we can enjoy the summertime.

On the lighter side, our new offices are very nice and my southern exposure window is terribly luxurious after years of dark cubes, although the drawback is that it is rather soporific in the late afternoon. For some reason there aren't any rubbish bins to be found anywhere in the building which is both mysterious and inconvenient.

It's Dr. Fun's Peeps Week again. I miss marshmallow peeps. :)

The photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand's Earth From the Air series will be in Helsinki from the 17th of June through the 18th of September according to today's HS. I've seen the exhibit in London and will be happy to see it again as the enlarged photos are quite amazing. This summer, the London exhibit will be getting textured photos so that the blind may enjoy them as well.

permalink Ω 22 March 2005, Helsinki

Best in Show

« A competitor at a recent puppy show in Ruoholahti peeks out from his nest to check out the local scenery. A small gallery of photos from the puppy show. »

Otava couldn't go to a recent puppy show, but I went anyway with a friend just to see all the adorable puppies. I had originally imagined that it would be an amateur sort of fun show for owners and their pets, but there were a lot of serious owners there looking for serious competition although it wasn't quite Best in Show. The Kaapelitehdas is an old cable factory with a large space inside, which was filled to the gills, and giant windows that allowed sunshine to pour in, creating wide beams and pools of bright light like stage spotlights in each ring.

There were oodles of micro-dogs, golden retrievers, bernese and leonbergers. A trio of basset hounds were a source of much amusement as they would wrap their leashes around the legs of those who came within their reach. A group of great danes gathered in a large room off to the side to keep from unwittingly stepping on the tiny dogs. In spite of the tremendous difference in size and temperament, the scuffles were few. I bought one of the programmes and noticed that many of the registered names were in English which wasn't really what I was expecting. Some of them were pretty cute and amusing, too.

• Fanny Love - Makes me wonder if he is an ass biter. It's even more disturbing if the British translation of fanny is used. :)
• Unleash Me - ...my darling, let me go.
• Love Machine - Soon to be a big hit on the stud circuit.
• Angel of Demon - A dog with a split personality?
• Simple the Pest - Complex the solution.
• Darth Vader - He probably drools a bit more than the original. It breaks the tradition of fearsome names like 'killer' being given to chihuahua's and names like 'daisy' going to the giants like this one.
• Made in Denmark - Better than Taiwan.
• I'm Your Boogie Man - I'll bet his nickname is Freddie.
• Jet Plane Pilot - "This is your captain, woof woof wooof woooooof.."
• Miss Twiggy - for a labrador no less. :)
• Intercepted Pass - Don't play frisbee with this guy.
• One Night in Bangkok - gets his kicks above the waistline, sunshine. And I thought I was the only one who saw Chess.
• Bee in a Bonnet - for a shih tzu. awwwwww. :)

permalink Ω 21 March 2005, Helsinki

Baked America

« Fresh, warm dallaspulla. It might be impossible to eat only one. :) »

On the Friday before last, I was leafing through Nyt magazine and saw a sidebar that answered a burning question I've had for nearly two years [see below]; What's the deal with all the pullas named after American locales? The bostonkakku has been around for a really long time and is essentially a cinnamon-almond filled pulla baked in a round pan and served like a pie rather than individually. Then there is the texaspulla which I assumed was named for its size. Recently the dallaspulla started appearing everywhere so I figured it was a trend. Maybe someone at Fazer *hearts* GWB or has a bakery underground supplying pulla to Finns at the Nokia offices in Dallas. I keep hoping for a fruit and nut version to be called the californiapulla. Fazer might like to know that Texas is home to 'Needmore' and 'Happy' which would make great pulla names. There's also a Boston, Texas. :)

Who invented the Dallas?

A dallaspulla there, a texaspulla here. They have taken over cafes, R-kioskis and service stations. Soon you won't find any other kind of pulla in Finland!

Who is responsible for this? We asked Fazer Bakery Head of Product Development Sampsa Haarasilta. "The Pullas were invented by our product developer Tapani Mäkäräinen."

Does he wear a stetson and boots? "No, at least not at work."

Why exactly are dallas and texas pullas taking over the market? "They have good fillings and rich dough and the taste is unpretentious. The texas has a cinnamon filling and the dallas has a vanilla quark filling."

Why is the pulla's name dallaspulla? "First came the texaspulla which was fashioned after the American cinnamon roll. Then someone noticed that there is also a city called Dallas [in Texas] and suggested we give another pulla that name."

We also asked Dallas residents if they have seen dallaspulla.

"I've not seen them. Besides, it's really hard to find quark [rahka]", says Dallas resident Heli Niemi.

See, Texas is really more like a cornbread and beef jerky kind of place rather than coffee cakes and cinnamon rolls. Tex-mex beef jerky pulla would be more worthy of the texas title. Boston is closer to the mark. I'm still confused, but I'll accept the explanation. :) I went hunting for a dallaspulla recipe since I didn't know what the filling was made of and found the original recipe from Tapani Mäkäräinen on the ruokala.tv website. It would make enough pulla for 60 people as well as the ingredients were all measured by weight rather than volume, which is a pain if you don't have a kitchen scale. So, I did a bit of research and worked on the recipe to come up with a version an average person like myself would consider making. The dallaspulla are really cheap and easy to make if you follow the recipe and have a little patience. I baked some of the new frozen Fazer mini dallaspulla as part of my research and found them dense, greasy and overly sweet. Nothing beats a fresh, warm pulla from your own oven that isn't full of E additives.

I first translated the recipe and then halved it successfully as my research subjects appeared to be too busy snarfing pulla to find fault with them. I tried a few more batches, cut the production down to 12 pulla and adjusted a few parts that I thought needed it. The first thing to go was the cardamom. The dallaspulla in its current form doesn't contain cardamom and it's such a strong spice that it wrestles any flavours more subtle than itself into submission. I also replaced the powdered milk and water with real whole milk since there's really no good reason to use powdered milk in such a small recipe.

Finnish dough recipes very often leave the addition of the butter until the dough is already in a ball and it is kneaded in last. It seems to work well, but I find it a bit strange. I prefer making the primordial ooze containing the butter, milk and sugar for the yeast at the beginning which gives the yeast a chance to feed and leaves me free to add flour as needed without having to worry if other ingredients are mixed in with it.

The original filling calls for a vanilla cream powder which someone on a bulletin board mentioned is the same as the instant vanilla sauce mix that is found in most groceries. I compared the ingredients of the vanilla cream powder and the vanilla sauce mix and found this to be correct. The suggested substitution also works well.

The flavour of the rahka filling reminded me of cream cheese but it was difficult to work with since it wasn't very stiff and it didn't bubble up like the filling appears to do in the bakery versions of the dallaspulla. I tried a few variations and didn't succeed in reproducing that effect. The original recipe also suggests piping some of the filling onto the tops of the pullas, but this didn't work well at all as it didn't brown and it turned into a chewy sort of cheese.

Since rahka/quark is not available in the US, I figured that the filling should use something American to deserve the name. I made a filling out of Philly Cream Cheese [ yet another food with an American city in the name. :) ] which is available in Finland and also makes a stiffer filling that is easier to work with when slicing the roll of filled dough. Lemon zest will add just enough sourness to lean towards the rahka flavour of the original filling and the orange is a pleasant variation. The dough itself is also very soft so if the filled roll is too soft to work with reasonably, place it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or so to firm it up a bit. The icing is a very tasty, very American touch if you're up for the sugar buzz. :)

Kierrepulla vaniljarahkatäytteellä, a.k.a. Dallaspulla

Makes: 12 pulla
Time: about 2 hours
Source: Tapani Mäkäräinen on ruokala.tv

Dough:

• 2,5dl or 1 cup whole milk
• 75g or 3/4 stick softened butter
• 1 50g yeast cake or 1 packet of dry yeast
• 1 egg
• 80g or 1/2 cup superfine sugar
• 2,5g or 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 0,55 kg or ~5 cups wheat flour

Finnish Filling:

• 50g or 1/2 stick butter
• 1 large egg
• 25g or 2 tablespoons sugar
• 100g or 1/2 cup maitorahkaa (a.k.a. quark)
• vanilla cream flour [can be replaced by mixing together 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar and 25g or 1/4 cup potato or wheat flour]

American Filling

• 8 ounces or 200g cream cheese (1 package)
• 1/4 cup or 0,5 dl granulated sugar 
• 1 large egg 
• 1 teaspoon orange or lemon zest from 1 small orange/lemon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract  or 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour 

Icing

• 1/2 cup or 1,25 dl confectioners sugar
• 3 teaspoons fresh orange or lemon juice
• dash of water to desired consistency

Directions

1. Prepare filling by mixing ingredients into a smooth paste. Refrigerate until needed.
2. In a saucepan over low heat, warm the milk and butter to about 40C/104F.
3. In a bowl, crumble the yeast into the warm milk and butter mixture. Add sugar, salt and egg. Mix together well until the yeast is dissolved.
4. Add flour gradually until the dough forms a ball. Add more flour only if it's still sticky and add only a little at a time.
5. Knead dough for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.
6. Place a towel over the bowl and let the dough double in a warm, draft-free place for about 30 minutes to 1 hour [warming the oven to ~40C/100F works very well as a proofing box].
7. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Gently shape dough into rough rectangle with long side nearest you. Lightly flour dough and roll into a 16-inch x 12-inch (40cm x 30cm) rectangle.
8. Spread filling on the dough leaving a 1cm/.5in border on the far edge.
9. Beginning with long edge nearest you, roll dough into taut cylinder.
10. Firmly pinch seam to seal and roll cylinder seam-side down.
11. Very gently stretch and roll to cylinder of even diameter and 18-inch/45cm length; push ends in to create even thickness.
12. Using a sharp serrated knife and gentle sawing motion, slice cylinder in half, then slice each half in half again to create evenly sized quarters. Slice 3,8cm/1.5in pieces from the rolls and place into a rectangular pan using a spatula.
13. Cover with a towel and allow to rise for about 30 minutes while the oven warms to baking temperature.
14. Make icing.
15. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200-225C/390-435F for about 13-15 minutes.
16. Cut pulla apart and drizzle icing over the tops.
17. Try not to eat them all in one sitting. :)

permalink Ω 20 March 2005, Helsinki

Dinner for One

« A shrine to candle wax in the restaurant Kynsilaukka, the Finnish equivalent to the Stinking Rose. »

I've begun to notice that restaurants and just about any place that offers food and tables almost always have newspapers and magazines for their patrons. These are, I presume, for those who are alone and want something to read while eating instead of staring at the walls. Given that a large percentage of the population in Finland lives alone, it makes a certain amount of sense, but I still find it odd to gaze upon a sea of tables occupied by people trying to read and stuff their mouth at the same time, something I find quite difficult to do. I don't remember too many places in the US, other than diners or breakfast houses, that would offer newspapers for the patrons.

I always used to get take-away whenever I had no companion to dine with as I viewed restaurants as a place to be social and would feel very awkward were I alone. Sometimes I would take a book with me to a local pub where I would sit at the bar, order a beer and a burger, and read a little bit until someone would ask about the book or about work or whatever just to start a conversation. I suppose I admire the wherewithal it takes to take yourself out to eat, but there's something incredibly lonely about it, too. Finns likely don't even notice the silent ones in the corner munching away over the paper and even if they did they'd likely think they want to be left alone. I suppose they have to believe that.

permalink Ω 19 March 2005, Helsinki

Purple and Green

« Finns enjoying a walk out on the grasshopper-free ice in -20C weather thanks to St. Urho. »

Today is St. Patrick's Day but yesterday, yesterday was St. Urho's Day, both of which are goofy folklore that have metamorphosed into back-to-back drinking holidays. The only Urho people think of in Finland is the former president, Urho Kekkonen, not the guy who apparently drove the grasshoppers out of Finland in mid-winter and saved the grape harvest. I asked a bunch of people about St. Urho and every one said, "Kekkonen?". There's a statue of Urho in Minnesota where the dedication plate reads:

THE LEGEND OF ST. URHO

One of the lesser known, but extraordinary legends of ages past is the legend of St. Urho-Patron Saint of the Finnish vinyard workers.

Before the last glacial period wild grapes grew with abundance in the area now known as Finland. Archeologists have uncovered evidence of this scratched on the thigh bones of the gieant bears that once roamed northern Europe. The wild grapes were threatened by a plague of grasshoppers until St. Urho banished the lot of them with a few selected Finnish words.

In memory of this impressive demonstration of the Finnish language, Finnish people celebrate on March 16, the day before St. Patrick's day. It tends to serve as a reminder that St. Pat's day is just around the corner and is thus celebrated by squares at sunrise on March 16. Finnish women and children dressed in royal purple and nile green gather around the shores of the many lakes in Finland and chant what St. Urho chanted many years ago.

"HEINASIRKKA, HEINASIRKKA, MENETAALTA HIITEEN."
(Translated: "GRASSHOPPER, GRASSHOPPER, GO AWAY!")

Adult male, (people, not grasshoppers) dressed in green costumes gather on the hills overlooking the lakes, listen to the chant and then kicking out like grasshoppers, they slowly disappear to change costumes from green to purple. The celebration ends with singing and dancing polkas and schottisches and drinking grape juice, though these activities may occur in varying sequences. Color for the day is royal purple and nile green.

SULO HAVUMAKI

The only thing that's green and purple around this time of year is the vomit on the sidewalks. Honest. I found a paper online Ethnic Symbols: Their Role in Maintaining and Constructing Finnish American where the Finnish author tries in earnest to figure out what the American Finns are on about but fails.

Lastly, I will point out that the item St. Urho was ranked as the most controversial item on this list. St. Urho is the fictional Saint of the Finnish Americans who supposedly stopped an invasion of grasshoppers. It seems that there is great debate as to whether St. Urho should be considered a true symbol of Finnishness.

Finnishness? The only Urho these people think of is Kekkonen and he has a fountain. Not to mention where are the vinyards in Finland? In March? This has Hallmark Drinking Holiday written all over it. It is Finnish only in the 'hey, it's cold out, let's go drinking' aspect. :)

Another Finn in the US critques the whole St. Urho's thing which is pretty funny. There are also St. Urho's kitsch for those who really embrace the holiday. I nearly wet my pants reading the Ode to St. Urho which sounds like some Irish brogue gone wrong more than Finnglish. Arrrr, where are me lucky charms....

Ooksi kooksi coolama vee
Santia Urho is ta poy for me!
He sase out ta hoppers as pig as pirds.
Neffer peefor haff I hurd tose words!

He reely tolt tose pugs of kreen
Braffest Finn I effer seen
Some celebrate for St. Pat unt hiss nakes

He kot tall and trong from feelia sour
Unt ate kala moyakka effery hour.
Tat's why tat kuy could sase toes peetles
What krew as thick as chack bine neetles.

So let's give a cheer in hower pest vay
On Sixteenth of March, St. Urho's Tay.

And then, and then, and then...then there is the Urho carol which is tragic at best....

Urho Boy

(To the tune of Jingle Bells)

Dashing 'cross the yard
With a pitchfork in one hand,
Urho sees his foe
Munching all his land.

Grapes both green and red
Falling from the vine,
Urho has to get those hoppers
Or there will be no wine.

Oh, Urho boy, Urho boy,
The bravest that we've seen
Use the sisu that you've got
To get those bugs of green.

Hey!

Urho boy, Urho boy,
Our future's in your hands.
Stop those hoppers in their tracks
And save our mother land!

So, no, St. Urho's isn't Finnish, not in the least, but drinking holidays are always welcome around here so in that respect it might be adopted someday. And, for those Americans with their pictures taken in front of St. Urho's pub, I regret to inform you that it was named for Kekkonen. :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day :)

permalink Ω 17 March 2005, Helsinki

Going Postal

« A postcard of the Helsinki Kauppatori circa 1940. »

My mother-in-law, Eila, recently found a few more vintage Helsinki postcards at a fleamarket in the series I am particularly interested in. I'm not a professional collector, but I really would like to find out more about Suomen Kuvataide Oy, the company who printed these cards, and more about the cards themselves. I have enough postcards now that I will start putting together a postcard section for the website. There was a postcard show this weekend in the main postoffice, but we were too busy with a sick Otava to go. Part of the show, Easter Greetings, will continue through 3 April and will even be open over the long Easter weekend when everything else is closed and the streets of the city are deserted.

This is our last week in the old office building before we move to the new office building and people are either frantic or waiting around for the gears of progress to catch up. It has all the joys and expected last minute surprises that moving a big datacenter has to offer and, well, maybe a few extra just to keep things 'interesting'. I came in late on this project so my office is packed, the systems won't move for another two or three weeks and I'm just trying to stay out of the way when I can't be helpful.

I found out that I'm getting a corner office with walls of windows which amazed me since everyone else chose their offices long ago and this is one of the best offices on the floor. I looked a bit more closely at the floorplan and realised that everyone passed up the big, sunny office for much smaller and darker offices because, unlike me, they wouldn't have to share the space with anyone else. I'm so used to cubes that having only one other person in an office seems almost managerial. I thought being alone was what telecommuting was for. Solitude and privacy are such a driving force in Finland it's almost a miracle that people manage to meet, copulate and reproduce. ;)

permalink Ω 15 March 2005, Helsinki

Blue Monday

« The Kaapelitehdas in Ruoholahti. [click image for the full-size photo] For some reason the negatives returned blue from development. It has an antique, aged look to it or maybe I'm just full of shit. :) »

permalink Ω 14 March 2005, Helsinki

Wishful Thinking

« Snowclean™. Apply as needed! I have no idea what was in the barrel, but the name is great. »

I finally managed to get my permanent residence permit on Friday and was impressed that this year it only took 5 months instead of 7 or 8. Making the trip up to Malmi is one of the most depressing experiences an expat here can have. Once you get off the train and wander through the shopping mall of sorts and walk over to the police station, you enter a queue that is guaranteed to take three times longer than your least optimistic estimate. While you wait, it's impossible to really read a book since the Somali's tend to bring all of their children with them who either run around or, in the case of infants, cry for food, as well as the sweaty anxiousness of the place tends to lend little ease to even those who are just there to pick up their papers. The desperation and fear is impossible to avoid and makes it difficult to ignore all of your instincts that are telling you to make a break for it and run like hell. I overheard some loud American guy getting fussy over the long wait for his new visa after changing status and I kept waiting for his reaction to the new rule of four years residence instead of the previous two before being granted the permanent visa which he will likely be subject to since a change in status resets the clock. I'm delighted that my next trip to Malmi will be years from now.

On the topic of furriners and the welcome wagon [not] we receive at all points on the paperwork grid, Presso has an interesting article on how 1 in 4 Finns will be retired soon and, given the current birth rate, taxation rate, working population, and 1/3 of the population being openly racist/xenophobic that something is going to have to give. I will freely admit that had I not married a Finn, I'd be in the Caribbean somewhere enjoying warm days and shiny happy people. I enjoy Finland quite much, but it was nowhere on my radar of places I'd like to relocate. I doubt very much that Finland is going to attract the hoardes of white, well educated, working age people to prop up the retirement system that appears to be the current fantasy solution. Those sorts of people have many choices and many choices with less of a language barrier, a more hospitable climate and more welcoming to outsiders. Finland is far, far from the path of least resistance, even for the desperate. Considering I had a cake walk getting my papers compared to most foreigners, there are layers and layers of complexity that Finland doesn't have time to change before fiscal realities start to weigh in. My guess is that retirement age will be pushed higher or benefits lowered since having only 2 people working per retiree is a tax burden noone would abide. I do hope the government gets realistic, forgets the whole foreigner importation business and starts thinking realistically about what will likely be a very serious problem and, really, is one already.

Otava has been sick this weekend with diarrhea and vomiting. We took him up to the vet since he had all the symptoms of parvo though he has had all of his immunizations. The vet confirmed that the symptoms are not a result of a viral infection so I suspect that it's a reaction to the anti-inflammatory they prescribed last week for his leg. He's finally better today so we're relieved after worrying all day yesterday that something was very wrong. The leg is still a bit gimpy so we're likely going to have an x-ray done of the leg in a week or three since we want to be sure it's nothing serious and that it will heal in time. I can say that having a 40kg puppy who is teething and not being allowed to go play with his puppy pals for a week or more can be very trying on the patience. He is, however, too adorable and sweet to be cross with for very long. I spent a while shopping for books on Amazon while he slept next to me yesterday...

• Suburban Safari: A Year on the Lawn ∞ An entire book about one woman's lawn. Just when I thought I'd seen everything.
• Do You Speak American?" ∞ The history and development of the American English dialect.
• A Natural History of Latin ∞ Not very useful in Finland, but still looks interesting.
• Souvenir of Canada 2 ∞ Doug Coupland's continuing off-beat Canadian guide books.
• Empires of the Plain: Henry Rawlinson and the Lost Languages of Babylon
• The Friar and the Cipher: Roger Bacon and the Unsolved Mystery of the Most Unusual Manuscript in the World ∞ I've noticed quite a few new books suddenly being released on the Voynich which, I assume, is a direct result of the popularity of the Da Vinci Code.
• Best American Side Dishes (Best Recipe) ∞ Looks too good to pass up.
• Say What?: Talk Like A Local Without Putting Your Foot in It ∞ This could be entertaining or it could suck horribly but for the price it's not too much of a risk.
• City Walks London: 50 Adventures On Foot (City Walks) ∞ These are really well done and I hope there is enough interest that they publish more cities in the series.
• Trawler ∞ I wasn't very interested in this until I saw the author interviewed on The Daily Show recently and if the book is only half as interesting as he is it's sure to be a good read.
• The Weekend Baker: Irresistible Recipes, Simple Techniques, and Stress Free Strategies for Busy People ∞ Organizing a recipe book by how much time the recipe requires is a terrific idea.
• Quick Loaves: 150 Breads and Cakes, Meat and Meatless Loaves ∞ I must be hungry with all these cookbooks looking so good.
• The Geographer's Library ∞ A novel of literary intrigue, a genre made very popular by, again, The Da Vinci Code [which I haven't read] but this one sounds less of a shameless clone.
• New York Pop-up Postcards ∞ Cleverly done postcards.
• In Other Words ∞ Exploring the world of untranslatable expressions.
• The Revenge of Anguished English: More Accidental Assaults Upon Our Language ∞ The agony and the ecstasy of the English language in modern usage.
• Mediated: The Hidden Effects of Media on People, Places, and Things ∞ I saw this reviewed on Salon and found the author's feelings about media, consumption and narcissism to be very similar to my own.
• On Bullshit ∞ Backordered. A rant on bullshit is sounds refreshingly different.
• Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World ∞ Ambitious, but possibly cohesive enough to be worthwhile.
• Type: The Secret History of Letters ∞ Where would we be without type?
• St Petersburg (Everyman CityMap Guides S.) ∞ These little map guides are amazingly compact and useful. I have one for Stockholm which is perfect for getting around without carrying some 400+ page guide which you won't read anyway. I wish they had a larger selection of cities in the series.

permalink Ω 13 March 2005, Helsinki

Henchmen in Search of a Villain

« A henchman without a villain. A gallery of Superfriends at the Super Bar »

Last Saturday, we made it out of the house for a few hours to go to a party some friends of ours where hosting at the nearby Super Bar where the plan was to have everyone show up in a superhero costume and take over. Those who arrived without a costume received a black eye mask. Super Bar is a basement bar with a superhero theme that used to be the Kaurismaki brothers' movie theatre. It was a fun time, even if only about 8 of us showed up in costume. There needed to be a few villains since the masks made a few guys picture perfect henchmen lost without their villain to hench for. I took my camera since it went with my costume and managed to get a few decent pictures in spite of the very dim lighting and having consumed a few more Mr. Fantastic drinks than I should have. :)

permalink Ω 12 March 2005, Helsinki

Summertime

« Ah, what could be better than a picnic at sunset in -20C weather? Even the puppy was cold when I took this photo on the southern edge of Lauttasaari recently. Just don't look too closely and pretend that it's summertime. :) »

permalink Ω 11 March 2005, Helsinki

So do I have time for a last smoke and a pancake or what?**

« Finnish pannukakku, cut into squares and layered with a fresh fruit compote. »

pan·cake n.

A thin cake made of batter that is poured onto a hot greased surface and cooked on both sides until brown. Also called flannel cake, flapjack; Also called griddlecake, hotcake; also called regionally battercake.

Aside from transcending cultures, pancakes also transcend social classes. They are served in the simplest households and in the grandest royal palaces.

American pancakes seem to have an almost mythological aura surrounding them since so many Americans travel around and scoff at what the locals call a pancake. Yankees with their pancakes and maple syrup were pretty late on getting into the pancake scene as nearly every culture has some kind of pancake as part of their regional cuisine. There are likely as many different varieties of pancakes in the US as there are states, too. But, America elevated the pancake to a valued breakfast food and welcomed diners serving breakfast all day and all night. Finding a good stack of pancakes with warm syrup and a side of scrapple is sometimes difficult, but the pancake is more than just a food, it's a feeling of being home. Pancakes are the basic comfort food in the US.

Some of my fondest memories as a kid involve going to IHOP after Sunday mass for a stack of pancakes topped with a smile fashioned from 2 maraschino cherry eyes, a whipped butter nose and a pineapple ring smile. I despised going to church, but I sucked it up every week knowing that I only had to suffer for an hour to be rewarded with heavenly pancakes. I was easy back then. :) Even when I was older, going to the all night diner for pancakes and eggs after drinking and dancing was a cherished tradition. Finland may have pancakes but the lack of diners or greasy spoons really is a gaping chasm in the comfort food landscape.

Jarkko attempted to make a Finnish pancake for me at some point when we were living back in Boston. He made three attempts and was convinced that the milk or eggs were too different when he failed every time to recreate his beloved pancake. I'm not sure what went wrong, but I'm pretty certain that the eggs and milk in the US aren't quite that different. Finland has a few different varieties of pankcake; the lettu, a crepe-like thin pancake that is fried on a large paella pan, spread with strawberry jam and folded, the ohukkaat, small dollar pancakes and the pannukakku, an oven baked pancake. All of these use a similar, if not the same, batter. They are served a variety of ways, depending on if they are sweet and served with jam or fresh fruit, possibly with cream, or savoury and served with meat and vegetables. Pancakes are very flexible.

I like the Finnish pancakes as what's not to love about a sweet, fried/baked treat served with jam and cream? But, there are certain foods that you eat as a child that become your basic measure of familiarity, your comfort foods, and as much as I enjoy Finnish pancakes, they just aren't the fluffy blueberry flapjacks served with whipped butter and hot maple syrup with a side of scrapple and eggs from my favourite diner back home. It works both ways though as, given the choice between both the pannukakku and the German pancake in the icebox, Jarkko goes for the pannukakku first. I wanted to solve the mystery of the Finnish pancake not working in the US and I think that maybe Jarkko just wasn't remembering the recipe correctly. Or something. :) The Finnish pannukakku recipe is quite good and I'm happy with it after sifting through about 40 different recipes on the net and in a few cookbooks I have. I'm sure that it will work just as well elsewhere in the world. I also wanted to make something American [in spite of the 'German' in the name] that might meet somewhere between the flapjack and the pannukakku. The German pancake is a baked pancake that has fruit and cream in it, as well as a caramel sauce, which are all popular standards in many Finnish desserts, but not common in the pannukakku. If I had any maple syrup around I would try that on it as well since it might swing the taste back towards home.

Pannukakku, maailman paras!/The world's best [Finnish] Pancake!

Makes: about 35 small ohukkaat or 1 med-large pancake ~1-2 cm thick or a reasonable number of waffles.
Time: about 80 minutes, including a 30 minute rest for the batter
Source: Ruoka ja Viini

• 8 dl or 3.5 cups milk
• 2-3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 dl or 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar**
• 4 dl or 1.75 cups wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 50-100g or 1/2-1 stick melted butter

1. In a bowl, whisk eggs until the yolks are broken and add milk.
2. Mix together dry ingredients. You can reduce the amount of sugar or remove it entirely if you wish.
3. Add the dry ingredient mixture gradually into the egg-milk mixture, stirring well.
4. Let the batter rest for 30 minutes.
5. Pour batter into baking pan covered in baking paper, place in a cold oven and bake at 225C/425F for about 30 minutes. The baking paper may also be greased with oil or melted butter so that the pancake relases easily from the pan.

The pannukakku batter is very similar for all the varieties of lettut [crepes], ohukkaat [dollar pancakes], vohvelit [waffles] and pannukakku [pancake]. This particular recipe is excellent and, perhaps, a bit on the sweet side but you can reduce the amount of sugar or remove it entirely and add vegetables and/or some sort of meat for a savory version. I also found that sifting the flour into the mixture made a smoother batter since the egg and milk tend to make unsifted flour form clumps. I used 75g of butter and thought it to be a bit on the greasy side so using the 50g instead of the 100g suggestion seems the better amount. The baking time will vary as I found 30 minutes was not quite long enough as, even though it was getting brown on top, the center was still a bit gooey.

**About vanilla sugar: Don't substitute vanilla extract for this. The difference in taste is akin to the difference between a quart of Bryer's Vanilla Ice Cream with the full bean and some other cheap vanilla ice cream. Life is too short to use fake vanilla considering that we may be the last generation to enjoy the real bean. You can make your own if it's not readily available.

Vanilla Sugar

• 2-3 vanilla beans
• 2 cups confectioner's [or granulated] sugar

Slice down the side of the vanilla beans with a knife and scrape the seeds into an airtight container with the sugar. Mix seeds into the sugar and seal tightly with lid. Let sit for 1 to 2 weeks.

German Apple Pancake

Makes: 1 10" or 25cm diameter pancake
Time: about 1 hour
Special Equipment: Ovenproof skillet
Source: Cook's Illustrated

The perfect pancake should have crisp, lighter-than-air edges and a custard-like center, with buttery sautéed apples baked right into the batter.

A 10-inch ovenproof skillet is necessary for this recipe; we highly recommend using a nonstick skillet for the sake of easy cleanup, but a regular skillet will work as well. You can also use a cast-iron pan; if you do, set the oven temperature to 425 degrees in step 1, and when cooking the apples in step 3, cook them only until just barely golden, about 6 minutes. Cast iron retains heat better than stainless steel, making the higher oven temperature unnecessary.

• 1/2 cup or 1.25 dl unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt 
• 2 large eggs 
• 2/3 cup or 1.5 dl half-and-half  [half cream, half whole milk]
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 
• 1 1/4 pounds or about .56 kg Granny Smith or Braeburn apples (3 to 4 large apples), peeled, quartered, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
• 1/4 cup or 1/2 dl light brown sugar or dark brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice 
• confectioners' sugar for dusting

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position; pre-heat oven to 500F/260C degrees.
2. Whisk to combine flour, granulated sugar, and salt in medium bowl. In second medium bowl, whisk eggs, half-and-half, and vanilla until combined. Add liquid ingredients to dry and whisk until no lumps remain, about 20 seconds; set batter aside.
3. Heat butter in 10-inch/25cm ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until sizzling. Add apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon; cook, stirring frequently with heatproof rubber spatula, until apples are golden brown, about 10 minutes. Off heat, stir in lemon juice.
4. Working quickly, pour batter around the edge of the skillet and over the top of the apples. Place skillet in oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 218C/425F degrees; bake until pancake edges are brown and puffy and have risen above edges of skillet, about 18 minutes.
5. Using oven mitts to protect hands, remove hot skillet from oven and loosen pancake edges with heatproof rubber spatula; invert pancake onto serving platter. Dust with confectioners' sugar, cut into wedges, and serve.

This recipe is wonderful if you like apple pancakes. I did notice that the baking time was a bit longer than 18 minutes. If you like firmer apples, you can reduce the initial frying time by half. If you lack a proper skillet, i.e. one with a plastic handle, you can likely use a small baking pan if you heat it first in the oven and quickly transfer the apples to it after frying them. Be sure to remove the pancake from the pan as soon as you remove it from the oven since it will stick if you leave it to cool for even a few minutes. Make the caramel sauce as it complements the pancake perfectly, but prepare it a few hours or even a day or two ahead of time as it seems that the flavour blooms after resting and cooling for a while. A scoop of vanilla ice cream is a tasty accompaniment, too.

Caramel Sauce

Makes about 1.5 cups or 3.5 dl

• 1/2 cup or 1.25 dl water 
• 1 cup or 2.25 dl granulated sugar 
• 1 cup or 2.25 dl heavy cream 
• 1/8 teaspoon table salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice 

1. Place water in heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan; pour sugar in center of pan, taking care not to let sugar crystals adhere to sides of pan. Cover and bring mixture to boil over high heat; once boiling, uncover and continue to boil until syrup is thick and straw-colored (syrup should register 300F/150C degrees on candy thermometer), about 7 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook until syrup is deep amber (syrup should register 350F/175C degrees on candy thermometer), about 1 to 2 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, bring cream and salt to simmer in small saucepan over high heat (if cream boils before sugar reaches deep amber color, remove cream from heat and cover to keep warm).
3. Remove sugar syrup from heat; very carefully pour about one quarter of hot cream into it (mixture will bubble vigorously so don't use a small saucepan), and let bubbling subside. Add remaining cream, vanilla, and lemon juice; whisk until sauce is smooth. (Sauce can be cooled and refrigerated in airtight container for up to 2 weeks.)

**As uttered by Goldmember in an Austin Powers movie....

permalink Ω 10 March 2005, Helsinki

Built to Last

« It's not your father's fortran, it's your grandfather's. :) »

The recent news about the problems plaguing Leica are somewhat disconcerting as it leaves the future of the company in question. It is likely that someone will buy them, probably Nikon or Canon, but ultimately the company and their products will change, possibly not for the better. Erwin Putz offers his observations and some speculation on the future. I appreciate and understand his remarks about the Leica's real purpose in life is to be a tool, rather than an object of desire for collectors and nouveau riche scene whores who find the Hermes MP a fashion accessory only surpassed by earrings from Tiffany. I have been regularly surprised at how many people recognise the camera and either want to fondle it in awe or think I'm crazy for dragging it around town with me everywhere I go. Cameras don't take pictures by themselves; they are meant to be used. I didn't buy it to keep in a box on the shelf. It is, perhaps, this perceived exclusivity of Leica that has created the mystique which protected it from becoming a cheap commodity.

It is, to be sure, an amazing instrument of satisfying heft in a small package which continues to impress me. Desire most often builds up expectations which then lead to disappointment. I was a little reluctant to buy a Leica having experienced this cycle of want and rejection so many times in life, but I saw an auction on eBay where a man who had purchased a Leica only months before had died and his son was dumping it on eBay which made me think that I shouldn't wait as long as his father did. Digital photography has made buying film cameras very affordable as I bid rather low and won the auction. I have not been even remotely disappointed since it arrived. I enjoy the signs of wear and tear as it only makes the camera more beautiful and uniquely mine.

Leica will move more into the digital realm, especially if they decide to sell out to one of the larger camera companies, where the technology just hasn't reached the point of matching the quality or creative flexibility that their analogue cameras with film have had for decades. If you've always wanted a Leica, an M6 or an M7 or an MP, now is the time to surf eBay and used camera shops for a decent deal since it's likely that as scarcity increases [if Leica sells to Canon, et. al] the prices will skyrocket as I've already seen them start to creep up. The new Voigtländer Bessa R2A and R3A are very tempting cameras [I highly recommend the CameraQuest dealer, too], especially the 1:1 finder, and sell at 1/5th the price of a new M7. It's a good time to be interested in film photography since the cameras you've always wanted are much more affordable and often cheaper than the 'prosumer' digital cameras which will be headed for the big magnet in the sky in three years or less. I suspect that my Leica will outlive me. :)

As an amusement for Ignatz who gives us such gems like the magic cone [NSFW] I'm using the magic of digital instant gratification to create the gripping, edge of your seat, journalistic series I have titled, Watching the [Easter] Grass Grow. Even more enthralling than a chia pet. Tune in tomorrow and every day to see if I managed to remember to water the seeds or see if anything has managed to turn any other colour than brown.

And, a couple of local photo sites that I've noticed recently; 365.fi which is a photo-a-day from a group of photojournalism students in Finland [and could someone who knows them encourage them to set-up an RSS feed of some sort?], Seppo's Photoblog is a random and entertaining photoblog and DiDaRoom which offers a nicely done view into the past and present of life in Finland in small vignettes. Ooops, I forgot to add Snapshot Asthetics as my RSS reader doesn't sort by country. :)

permalink Ω 9 March 2005, Helsinki

Lethal Lunch

« A pair of snowmen in the park. Is it just me or did there seem to be a lot fewer snowmen around town this year? »

There is one detail in the structure of the Finnish workday that remains a bit strange; lunch. In the US, few workplaces have a cafeteria and most folks either eat at their desk or drive to the nearest Taco Hell and make a run for the border in their car. Lunch is an unceremonious affair if people take a lunch at all. I spent years either working instead of lunch or eating a sandwich at my desk somewhere around 2pm. Here, lunchtime is 11am and it seems, with rare exception, that everyone heads to the cafeteria and has a hearty, hot lunch. I presume that since few people have cars that driving off the rez for eatz just isn't possible, so a large majority just eat in. Lunch still feels like a guilty pleasure even though I've grown used to the 11am schedule, but the food....well, no.

My weight hadn't changed by more than a kilogram or two in 10 years until I started eating lunch at the cafeteria at work and I'm starting to suspect that the Finnish lunch is, in fact, deadly. Actually, I don't think my diet has really changed at all, except for the work cafeteria food, for the past 3 months so it must be responsible for my expanding landscape. I had heard rumous about the Finnish cafeteria food, but the scathing reviews didn't come close to the reality. It's not an all-you-can-eat buffet and I'm not snarfing heaping globs of the grey, unidentified goo that the cook feels compelled to stand next to and reassure the diners that it really is edible and does taste good in spite of the colour. The cook also seems to love curry for those days where the leftovers are 'repurposed' by putting them into a bright yellow curry goo and served with rice. When the entree isn't grey or curry yellow, it's brown. Rice, pasta and au gratin potatoes of some variety are a fixture. It's all the food that the videos in health class warned you not to eat. I keep imagining that we'll watch someone keel over from a massive heart attack in the middle of a mound of pyttipannu topped with 2 or 3 fried eggs. You know it's a bad day when most tables have salt, pepper and/or HP sauce being passed around as they did today. I never take the dessert, often a vat of an unknown gloop, since I generally prefer a dessert with texture even if the stuff happens to taste good. And water is the only beverage since Finnish cafeterias haven't been bought by the soft drink conglomerates which leaves a variety of milk products and a slightly alcoholic beer called kotikalja that, even at 1% ABV, I just can't bring myself to drink during working hours. Perhaps Martha Stewart's next book could be on mess hall/cafeteria/prison cooking in an attempt to help prisoners everywhere get a decent meal. We can only hope.

I really must stop eating lunch in the cafeteria every day and start riding my bike to work again soon instead of sitting on the bus so that I'll hopefully be able to avoid what really terrifies me most: shopping for new clothes. In Finland.

permalink Ω 7 March 2005, Helsinki

37.25 kilograms

« An ornate iron bird adorns a cornice on a beautiful Jugend building on Kalevankatu which had its façade restored last summer. »

We had an appointment with the veterinarian on Saturday and were pretty surprised to find that Otava now weighs 37 kilograms at the tender age of five months. HB only weighed 65kg when he was fully grown so, considering that Otava has 13 more months of puppyhood, I think he's going to be a bit bigger than I had originally thought. :) We asked the doctor about a slight limp in his left front leg we noticed that morning and, after a very thorough examination, the doctor thought it might be a slight sprain and that we should keep exercise to a minimum for the next two weeks in addition to a course of an anti-inflammatory drug. Already he is pretty pissed about not being able to go play in the dog park with his friends. He's young and it will likely heal and pass quickly, but HB had a sprain when he was 9 that never quite healed so I'm a bit nervous. The real disappointment was not being able to take him to the puppy show in Ruoholahti today. I went anyway and there were quite a few adorable puppies in a wide range of breeds, but not one single Saint Bernard.

I had to giggle at a friend's response upon hearing the name of the veterinary clinic; "HauMau? Is that a vet or a Chinese restaurant?" [to explain: hau hau = bow wow, mau mau = meow meow, HauMau sounds plausibly Chinese/Japanese and it's not unusual to joke around about the origin of the white meat in your Kung Pao Chicken.]

Of the many euphemisms for vomit and vomiting, Ralph is unusual as it can be male first name. I still giggle that the Finnish word is yrjö, a.k.a. George, which is also a male name. I don't know enough slang from various languages but I'm wondering if it's common to use a male name for vomit. Guys get a bad rap in Finnish slang [nice on-line Finnish slang website] as Urpo is a male name that can also be used for 'dimwit'. :)

permalink Ω 6 March 2005, Helsinki

20 Weeks

« Otava plays with Urpo. »

One of the things I regretted as HB got older was that I didn't really have many puppy pictures to remember him as a fuzzy and playful puppy. It's easy to forget so many of the details of a life that I've had to slowly relearn all the things I had forgotten about puppies in 13 years. I noticed I had a bunch of pictures from the breeder as well as some other photos of Otava's first few months and decided to mark his upcoming 20-week milestone with a small collection of photos of Otava from 1 week to 19 weeks old. I've not been out with friends in nearly 2 months, he rarely lets me relax on the couch in the evening, his teeth are making him cranky and thusly driving me nuts, but he's an adorable, cuddly little furry monster.

permalink Ω 4 March 2005, Helsinki

Chapped

« A red granite statue in Gamla Stan, Stockholm. I vaguely remember it being marked with a date around 1914 and a name like 'sea god', but I love the pervy smirk. The sun came out for about five minutes as we were killing time in Stockholm waiting for Otava to arrive and I'm glad it was while we were next to this rather odd piece of statuary. »

Is it Friday yet? Every system has decided to be a pain in the ass this week and I've been daydreaming about collecting the parts required for building a giant electromagnet. The rather cold weather we have had lately has left me looking like a dry skin superhero (if such a superhero existed) who could destroy opponents by having all their skin crack and bleed. I'm going to have to start wearing gloves indoors just to hide my red, cracked, and bleeding sandpaper hands.

In Finland, I usually call the season very loosely named 'spring' the grit season since you don't really notice any warm weather or lack of snow, but the grit from the months of gravel being ground into a micro-fine dust is omnipresent. There's nothing like a grit tornado whipping down the street, passing by/through you and afterwards feeling the patina of grit in your mouth. If the amount of grit that Otava is tracking into the house already, before the thaw, is any indication we're going to have a very, very gritty next few months.

Otava has been particularly restless and petulant the past few days. I noticed his chew toy had some blood on it so I had a look inside his mouth and it seems he is loosing his baby teeth. I imagine that the process isn't any more pleasant for puppies than it is for humans so I'll cut him some slack when he is feeling generally cranky, pissed off and decides to gnaw on me. When the other puppy owners in the dog park ask what Otava has destroyed, after listing their own puppy's scorecard, they look at me rather incredulously when I tell them that he hasn't wreaked any havoc yet. Yet.

Easter must be approaching as we noticed the Fazer Mignon Eggs in the grocery last night. I should get a packet of rye seed and grow a plate of grass [love the mämmi dog turd. :)] since all our plants died last year in the great darkness that was the ulkoseinäremontti and a spot of green would be welcome. Repopulating all the empty pots on the window sills is an idea, too.

permalink Ω 3 March 2005, Helsinki

Number 42

« An 8 week old Saint Bernard puppy gets his 15 seconds of fame. »

In a follow-up to the recent popular feature on an archive of Estonian commercials from the 80s, the Sanomat had an article on Sunday about a similar site filled with Hungarian commercials which are completely incomprehensible in spite of Hungarian being linguistically close to Finnish. Number 42 features two adorable Saint Bernard puppies and though I've no idea what the commercial is pitching, the little furry babies are understandable in any language. :)

permalink Ω 2 March 2005, Helsinki