Self-care

« Headstone in plague park. It may be interesting to note that Presso had an article a few months ago about how the plague victims were not actually buried in the park, rather more towards Hietalahti. The name stuck, however factually incorrect it may be. There is some memorial text for the plague victims on the arched entrance which likely perpetuated the name. »

For the nerds who care, CPAN turned 10 years old yesterday. A decade is like a millenium in internet time. I'm still looking around for and begging weak individuals to volunteer for rebuilding the doc/ tree on the archive since it once was, and should be again, the non-module heart of the archive. Enquire within if the idea interests you at all. I also made a variation on the logo that will remain for the year which, though I'm no graphic artist, is hopefully not too horrible. Yes, we lead an exciting life.

Maybe it's the weather that finally got cold to remind us that winter has arrived; maybe it's the recipe I tried on Sunday, against my better judgement, that flopped and has put me off baking this week; maybe it's the systems at work that are driving me mad (if anyone has a spare trebuchet or tesla coil...); maybe it's the incessant news about humankind's impending demise at the hand of birds; maybe it's my cranky lower back that has kept me sleep deprived for a few weeks now, but I feel pretty grumpy.

Of course, there's nothing like a bunch of cute puppies dressed up for halloween, a.k.a. the great pupkin to cheer you up a little. I admit that I have a soft spot for pugs, especially since the giant dogs neither look as cute in nor put up with costumes their puny humans dress them in.

But even puppies can't quell my urge to rant about a burr I've had up my ass since I moved here which is that you have to go to the apteekki for everything deemed 'self-care' which includes products as humble as band-aids and aspirin. Jarkko doesn't understand why it makes me so irate that buying the most basic of products requires a trip to a separate store that isn't conveniently located anywhere near my grocery store. From what I understand, it's a tightly regulated industry that ensures that there will not be too many pharmacies clumped together so that they won't be in direct competition with one another. The basic products like aspirin and band-aids are also restricted to being sold in their shops because, unlike prescription drugs whose prices are kept reasonable by the state, the OTC products are not and so can be more profitable. So, if I'm understanding how this works correctly, it's an anti-competitive government program for the pharmacies that makes them money by keeping prices high on products that would otherwise be much cheaper (and more convenient to purchase) were they to be sold at any local grocery or kioski and marketed to the consumers as protecting them from themselves. That's some serious magic mojo.

She (Tuula Haatainen, Minister of Social Affairs and Health) said there were too many adverse factors to introduce other self-care drugs into supermarkets.

But nicotine replacement products are a different matter altogether, the minister feels.

"As one can sell health-damaging tobacco, it is advisable to sell the "antidote" too," she was quoted as saying in the paper.

Now, what blows my mind is that people seem to swallow this argument and not question the reasoning and motivation behind selling nicotine patches at the grocery but not aspirin on the grounds that it's too dangerous. Uh, wha? I come from the land of incredible bullshit spewing politicians and I dunno, but my bullshit sensor just went to 12. Perhaps this is another defining difference between Yank and Finn as the Finns are innured of going to the pharmacy for all that ails them and the Yanks are wondering where in the hell the band-aids and aspirin are in the supermarket. My guess is that the price on the patches are regulated and thus not a money maker for the apteekki.

What about other products like tampons or ear swabs? Both are 'self-care' products and both are potentially dangerous given toxic shock syndrome and perforation of the ear drum. I mean, what's so dangerous about band-aids and neosporin folks? Afraid Gran is going to try to off herself by suffocating herself with petroleum goo and adhesive strips? For a country that claims to be top in education, maybe educating citizens in how to apply a band-aid safely and which OTC meds not to take when drinking and/or drunk could be part of the "self-care" curriculum.

In spite of this not being all that important given bird flu pandemics, global natural disasters and other happy news, I really hope some elected official looks into the practise and calls the state on this stupid racket so that the next time I manage to flay a finger with a cheese slicer Jarkko won't have to walk the 6-8 blocks to the nearest apteekki just to get band-aids.

.....and later....

Someone very nice wrote to me and pointed out that band-aids are available in stores which, I swear, neither Jarkko nor I have ever noticed in our local shops downtown. I'm going to have to go look for them just to see, but either way, the example might not have been a good one due to our probable inability to find bandages and makes my rant seem a bit foolish. But, pick any random 'self-care' product like eye drops, antibiotic wound ointment, preparation H, etc., that doesn't require a prescription and is not available outside of the apteeki.

The person who wrote also pointed out that the system does work well for the purpose of maintaining selection and distribution throughout the country, including the more remote areas. I hadn't considered that, as it is an important feature, but I wasn't suggesting that the apteekis not be allowed to sell OTC products, just that many of them should be more conveniently located which shouldn't pose a threat to the remote apteekis supply or demand or to the health of the public at large.

I also don't think I explained the reason why the statement above is rather ludicrous. As a chemist, and a smoker, I keep forgetting that most folks aren't familiar with the more entertaining and dark side of science. The nicotine patch is not an 'antidote' as claimed, rather a less noxious and more socially acceptable form of a highly addictive and extremely toxic drug/poison. You might not know that nicotine is often used in pesticides or that an infant/toddler/small child could die from eating a cigarette or butt due to nicotine toxicity. It doesn't happen very often but, the fact remains that nicotine, on the grand scale of things, especially when compared to aspirin and butt cream, is a heavyweight substance that eventually leads to the death of all who use it. Deaths from aspirin and prep-H are, at least when both are applied according to the directions, not going to kill you. I doubt that anyone who smokes or drinks has the illusion that they are improving their health. The minister and whomever else thinks that the reasoning behind OTC products being sold in shops where no one asks you 20 questions upon purchasing 10 tubes of 'roid cream and 3 bottles of aspirin as opposed to cigarettes still being legal and sold alongside the patch in convenience stores is a sound public health policy probably has financial reasons for thinking this way as the facts about the substances do not match their logic or lack thereof. Over the counter drugs and products are named as such because they have proven safe to use, even for idiots, over a long span of time and the risks involved are minimal.

All the Finns I asked about this had only a fuzzy sense of how the apteekki system functions and admit that it seems draconian, but most seem open and interested in the idea of the OTC products being sold in more convenient stores like supermarkets.

permalink Ω 27 October 2005, Helsinki

Jam

« A delicious shortbread crust topped with lingonberry jam, fresh lingonberries and a rolled oat and nut streusel. Addictive. »

After picking about 20 litres of fresh lingonberries a month or two ago, I looked for recipes that I thought might be a tasty use for the fresh bounty from the forest. One of the recipes I tried was a lingonberry jam cake that I had found in a popular American Scandinavian cookbook. The first attempt failed miserably as baking it in a loaf pan was clearly wrong. The second and third attempts were also disappointing and dense. I gave up on the cake until I ran across two recipes in a small, but informative, book about Finnish berries and recipes for using them, Luonnon Marja ja Hedelmät Värikuvina. One of the recipes was clearly the same recipe as the cake that had failed, but with a very important difference; the Finnish recipe didn't call for lingonberry jam, but a macerated mixture of berries and sugar that is called a jam in Finnish which might have been responsible for the confusion in the failed recipe. It also uses a small bundt cake pan. Little differences can make a recipe great or make it fail. The cake is moist and, as so many people noted while eating a slice, tastes like Christmas with the mixture of spices.

The other recipe was called a lingonberry cake, but was more like a bar cookie than a cake. The first time I made the recipe, I read it in Finnish instead of translating it first as I usually do and accidentally mixed the jam in with the dough which gave it a weird pink colour. I made it again the right way, but both were terribly dry and crumbly. I looked for a bar cookie recipe that might be similar since I figure that the original recipe might have been inspired by cookies rather than cakes. Cooks Illustrated had a recipe that was almost an exact match except that it didn't have the egg and baking powder in the crust, it added fresh fruit in with the jam layer and it called for brown sugar instead of white for the streusel. The difference between them was pretty amazing as the shortbread crust was soft, but not crumbly, and the toppings were perfect in that they weren't too sweet and had the right texture to accompany the shortbread. They are dangerously addictive.

Raspberries or cranberries can be substituted for lingonberries depending on availability or taste. In my obsessive lingonberry jam cake baking, I also became rather familiar with all of the commonly available brands of lingonberry jam in Finland and one brand, Meritalo, was clearly better than the rest since it isn't overly sweet and it contains a visibly greater amount of fruit. As a bonus, it's no more expensive than most of the other brands.

Lingonberry Streusel Bars 

Makes: twenty-four 2-inch/5cm squares
Time: about 20 minutes prep + baking time
Source: CI

Crust:

• 2 1/2 cups or 6 dl unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup or 1,6 dl granulated sugar 
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt 
• 2 sticks or 225g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature and cut into 1/2-inch/1,25cm pieces

Filling:

• 3/4 cup or 2 dl lingonberry or raspberry preserves
• 3/4 cup or 2 dl (about 100g) fresh lingonberries or raspberries
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Topping:

• 2 tablespoons or 28g butter, softened to room temperature
• 1/4 cup or 0,6 dl packed brown sugar, light or dark
• 1/2 cup or 1,25 dl rolled oats
• 1/2 cup or 1,25 dl finely chopped almonds or pecans

 

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 375F/190C degrees. Grease a 13X9-inch/33X23cm pan and place sheet of baking paper on the bottom of the pan leaving excess along the sides as handles for lifting.
2. In bowl of standing mixer fitted with flat beater or with a hand mixer, stir flour, granulated sugar, and salt at low speed until combined. Add butter one piece at a time with mixer on low speed. Continue mixing on low until mixture is well blended and crumbly in appearance.
3. Place 1 1/4 cups (3 dl) flour mixture into medium bowl and set aside; distribute remaining dough mixture evenly in bottom of prepared baking pan. Using hands or flat-bottomed measuring cup, firmly press mixture into even layer to form bottom crust. Bake until edges begin to brown, 14 to 18 minutes.
4. While crust is baking, add brown sugar, oats, and nuts to reserved flour mixture and mix together. Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons butter with mixer on a low speed or with your fingers.
5. Combine preserves, lingonberries, and lemon juice in small bowl; mash with fork until combined but some berry pieces remain.
6. Spread jam mixture evenly over hot crust; sprinkle streusel topping evenly over filling (do not press streusel into filling). Return pan to oven and bake until topping is deep golden brown and filling is bubbling, 22 to 25 minutes. Cool to room temperature on wire rack, 1 to 2 hours; remove from baking pan by lifting baking paper extensions. Using chef's knife, cut into squares and serve. You can also try using cookie cutters to cut the bars into various shapes to make them look even more appealing than they do as plain squares.

Spiced lingonberry cake / Mausteinen Puolukkakakku

Makes: 1 cake, 12-16 servings
Time: 15 minutes prep
Source: Luonnon Marja ja Hedelmät Värikuvina

• 100g or 7 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 dl or 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 dl or 6 1/2 tablespoons creme fraîche/sour cream
• 2 dl or 3/4 cup fresh lingonberry jam (see below)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 dl or 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1. Heat oven to 175C/350F. Butter a 20-22cm/8-8.5-inch bundt pan (sokerikakkuvuoka), dust with flour and set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy and well mixed. Beat in eggs until well blended. Add spices and creme fraîche. Stir jam into the mixture.
3. Mix together flour, baking soda and baking powder and gradually add to the batter until mixed. Pour dough into prepared bundt pan and bake on lower rack for 45-50 minutes.
4. Allow to cool for an hour before turning the cake out of the pan. The cake is easier to slice if it is loosely covered, allowed to sit overnight and served the next day.

fresh lingonberry jam:

• 4 dl or 1 3/4 cups lingonberries, fresh or frozen
• 1,4 dl or 1/2 cup sugar

Pour clean berries into a dish, add sugar and stir together with a fork until the sugar has dissolved. Cover and set aside for a few hours. If using frozen berries, allow enough time for the berries to thaw completely before using.

permalink Ω 24 October 2005, Helsinki

Dearest Conan

« And our people are really, really, tall.... »

The Nyt Magazine insert featured a write-in campaign for Conan O'Brien this week after the recent Tarja Halonen look alike skit and last year's Conan O'Brien Hates My Homeland ordeal. Conan is reportedly serious about coming to visit the one EU country that seems to enjoy his show, but Nyt wants to seal the deal with an admission of intent from him. I think the cut-n-paste letter is a bit long, but cute. All comments in the [ ] are mine.

Dear Conan O'Brien,

Let us take this opportunity to greet you and to warmly welcome you to our enchanting country, Finland.

We are happy to introduce you to our homeland of 338,000 square kilometers and a population of 5.2 million. The terrain here is "mostly low, flat to rolling plains interspersed with lakes and low hills", as the CIA fact book informs.

Here you will find many sights, such as the famous Lakeuden risti" (Cross of Flatness), the much debated center point of Finland, the world's largest rocking chair [wtf? there are 3 such claims in the US, but not one in Finland], a one-line subway network [which, just like the T's red line with Arlington and Belmont, Espoo refuses to allow into their town since they don't want 'those kind of people' arriving by subway instead of bus], many skilled folk artists - and the memorial sculpture of former president Kekkonen, which can also be used as a swimming pool [and a urinal as so many of the drunks seem to do].

Many animals attract visitors, such as Karjalan karhukoira (The Carelian Bear Dog). We also have reindeer.

Finland's greatest asset is, however, the people of our noble country.

There are a number of very famous Finns. Incidentally, many of them are called Tarja by first name. Some of these include Tarja Turunen (the academically trained heavy metal and opera singer of, now formerly, Nightwish), Tarja Filatov (minister of labor, representative of the Social Democratic Party) and Tarja Lunnas (world famous schlager artist) [schlager is a sort of German pop song, not the drink].

We should not forget Kari Peitsamo who is not only the king of Finnish rock (with 45 albums sung in Finnish, English and Swedish), but also a communist and a grave digger [bet he's a blast at parties :)]. We also take pride in the 1945 Nobel prize winner biochemist Artturi Iivari Wirtanen.

Our school meals, nordic walking, high literacy scores and fine wood products are known the world over. Infant mortality is the lowest in the world. As a father of a young baby daughter, you will be delighted to hear about the paid parental leave all fathers are entitled to [of course they don't mention the several million dollar pay cut you'd get from SubTV to get that. :)]

We hope all this arouses your interest. We are happy to assist in any practical issues concerning your trip. Looking forward to seeing you!

R.S.V.P
Helsingin Sanomat
Weekly Supplement NYT
PL 85, 00089 Sanoma
Finland
Email: nyt@sanoma.fi

P.S. Thank you for your ad for president Halonen. However, we must correct one fact. The carp, although a fine fish, is not as commonly consumed as you suggest. Closer to the Finnish heart you find fish such as pike and the Baltic herring. [Also, the president's first name is TAR-yuh, not TARGE-ah. :)]

Conan is a busy guy, not to mention most Americans are hopelessly devoid of an attention span when it comes to reading something that doesn't get to the point in 3 sentences or less. My revised shorter version might be more like:

Hey Conan,

Come to Finland! The place is crawling with wicked gorgeous naked babes!

I hope he comes to Finland to do a show or three as it'd be a lot of fun, especially if they bring along Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. :)

permalink Ω 22 October 2005, Helsinki

Every Street

« My entry for 'everyone must wear facial cream' in the 2005 Fotomaraton on the Night of the Arts. The rest are in a small gallery and on the fotomaraton site where you can view the winning and losing photos. »

Have you ever noticed that just about every city block in Helsinki has at least one, if not two, hair salon/parturi/kampaamo? I noticed not long after moving here that rug shops and hair salons were likely consuming the majority of retail space in town. I could understand the lust for rugs in this climate but are there enough women who get their hair done weekly to support all of the salons? In our suburban office wasteland there is nothing useful like a dry cleaner, film drop off or convenience store, but damn if there isn't a hair salon.

permalink Ω 20 October 2005, Helsinki

Wacky Cake

« Wacky cake. The easiest cake ever. »

At some point last week I felt like making a cake for a few of my coworkers who are having a bit more stress than usual due to some stuff going on at work but I was too tired to really consider making anything of the usual variety. Then I remembered a classic cake that takes about 10-15 minutes to make and is, quite possibly, even easier than a cake from a mix. It also has the bonus of being leavened with vinegar and baking soda instead of eggs. There's no butter or milk, either. It's like a freshman chemistry lab experiment that you can eat instead of wondering how many carcinogenic compounds are in the bubbling liquids before you.

You can mix the cake in the pan, but it's easier to just stir it up in a bowl and pour it into the pan. Line the pan with baking paper, leaving enough excess paper on the sides so that you can lift the cake out of the pan when it is cool, otherwise you'll need to serve it in the pan and it does stick just enough to make serving the first few pieces somewhat annoying. The frosting really complements the cake well, as do the chopped nuts, though both are optional. The frosting will be very stiff and dry when following the recipe so count on adding warm milk or water, a small amount at a time, until it is soft enough to spread on the cake. It's interesting to note that the cake, with the frosting, tastes like both a brownie and a cake. As though a kid had mixed two Duncan Hines mixes together to get one cake with both brownie and chocolate cake flavours.

The cake originates from lean times during wars and economic lows where dairy products and other such foods were difficult to obtain. Somewhat ironically, it does resemble many of the boxed cake mixes in that they both call for oil and water added to the dry ingredients but the wacky cake doesn't require eggs. It's a tasty cake for the whole 10-15 minutes it requires to assemble and frost it.

Wacky Cake or Crazy Cake

Makes: 1 rectangular cake that serves about 12-14 people
Time: 10-15 mins prep
Source: Woman's Day Old-Fashioned Desserts [1978], as reprinted in The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century

Cake

• 1 1/2 cups or 3,5 dl sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 cup or 2,25 dl granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons or 0,88 dl vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup or 2,25 dl cold water

Frosting

• 3 tablespoons or 43g butter or margarine, softened
• 1 cup or 2,25 dl sifted confectioners' (10X) sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• chopped nuts (optional)

1. Cake: Preheat oven to 350F/175C degrees.
2. Sift four, sugar, cocoa, soda, and salt together into ungreased 8X8X2-inch or 20cmX20cmX5cm baking pan.
3. Make three wells in mixture with spoon: one large, one medium, and one small. Into large well pour oil; into medium well, vinegar; into small well, vanilla. Pour water over all and stir with fork until smooth; do not beat.
4. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until springy to touch
5. Frosting: Melt butter in saucepan, add 10X sugar, cocoa, salt and vanilla and beat until smooth. If too stiff to spread, soften with warm milk or water.
6. As soon as cake is done, transfer to wire cooling rack and spread at once with frosting. Cool cake before cutting.

permalink Ω 17 October 2005, Helsinki

Americans Abroad

« The Shanghai arcade at Linnanmäki. »

Americans, because our fine country exports such wonderful entertainment for TV and the big screen that often values money over education, get a lot of grief over a large percentage of the US population being idiots. Jay Leno has a regular segment on The Tonight Show, Jaywalking, where it's considered high comedy to ask random people on the street questions like, "Who is the current president of the US?", and laugh when they are unable to answer correctly. What's so funny about being an idiot?

When we were in Riga, I picked up a local magazine, City Paper, that had a feature that many American expats could write about their own experiences with visiting fellow Americans, with only minor changes in location. For example, the Finnish FAQ. I enjoyed the article because the author doesn't come off as some smug academic, but a regular guy who sees the culture of ignorance for what it is, ignorant. Americans often like to rebuke those who point out this particular feature of American culture as a gross generalization or a few bad apples spoiling the lot, giving examples of American ingenuity and brilliance to prove that Americans are, by and large, a smart bunch. It's a noble, and perhaps futile, thing to try and defend one's country in the face of such evidence as Paris Hilton or any number of reality TV shows that indicate the decline of average intelligence. Outside of their element, a lot of the Americans who travel abroad do seem completely oblivious and uninterested in the places that they're visiting, not just the country that they call home.

We all have disturbing stories like this one and, while I don't suppose it will inflict shame upon those who need it the most, I remain hopeful that Americans will one day value education and worldliness that is currently so unfashionable.

A Domesticated Imperialist

How the world sees the USA. How the USA earns the reputation

by Scott Diel

"Now Riga, that's where?" The two Americans who had landed at Tallinn's Ülemiste airport had seen nothing of Estonia and were already asking about further adventures. "Latvia? Is that a different country? Does it have its own money?" I confirmed that Latvia indeed had its own money. Estonia, too, I said. "You mean they don't take dollars here?" they asked incredulously. "they take dollars in Mexico."

The Americans had a hard time understanding they weren't in Mexico. Dondé está...they tried with Tallinners but were met with blank looks. they had a hard time understanding they weren't in Russia, too. "You mean Tallinn isn't part of Russia?" one guest's friend in the USA asked through the speakerphone in my living room. "No," my guest shouted back into the microphone, "but I had thought so, too."

Proper nouns were impossibly difficult for them. Janika became Jana. Monika was shortened to Mona. Roose turned to Rosa. And they never got Mare right. It was always Mora. City names were too much, too. Stockholm was Stockton, perhaps because of California. Ahvenamaa, where they planned to visit via ferry, was known-without a trace of irony-as Antennamaa.

I showed them Tallinn's medieval Old Town, but they were unimpressed. it was impossible for them to enjoy, because everything was a competition: "Our streets are wider than yours. Our cars are bigger than yours. American women have bigger breasts." The only thing which impressed them was Lasnamäe, Tallinn's concrete, Soviet block-house neighborhood. They stood next to my car, mouths agape. It was the only time during the trip they weren't talking. After a few minutes of wonderful silence, one remarked, "They must have a real problem with gangs here, but I don't see any graffiti." I tried to explain that the apartments were inhabited by nice, normal people, most of whom didn't rape and murder for a living. But the Americans weren't listening. They hovered close to the car and snapped photos.

They took a lot of photos during the trip, ninety-five percent of them from the car window. One of the guests was grossly overweight, and he was unaccustomed to walking any distance greater than from his sofa (electric-powered recliner model remote control) to the refrigerator (five temperature zones plus icemaker). Both had trouble getting in and out of my jeep, and the larger guest talked repeatedly about the diesel two-ton pickup he owned, "It's like a Cadillac inside."

What struck me most wasn't their ignorance-ask me questions about a small far-off land, say Burkina Faso, and I can't answer them-but their complete lack of interest in learning. When I wasn't around to serve as a personal guide, they sat in front of the television. "Now, what language is this one?" they asked my wife. "Finnish? That's a language? Where do they speak that? Why can't you get CNN?"

The average American views the world through a single lens. We assume the world is Christian and white and that everyone speaks English (okay, we acknowledge a few speak "Mexican"). Except for loving God, Americans love freedom above all. And if other cultures don't love freedom, it doesn't matter, because God loves freedom, and if God loves freedom you will, by God, eventually love it too.

An Estonian friend of mine, one who routinely beats me in squash, refers to me as the Domesticated Imperialist. I'm still an American, he knows, but he believes living in Europe has smoothed some of my rough edges. I've attempted to abandon my American habit of demanding to know everyone's name and what each does for a living. I no longer ask how much everything costs. And I am trying to learn to listen. It isn't easy, of course. There's something in the genetic code of Americans which requires us to talk. To share our knowledge. To help others. To help you.

And who doesn't want to be helped?

permalink Ω 16 October 2005, Helsinki

Just make a cake

« A lakkakermakakku or cream cake with a cloudberry gelée on top. A traditional Finnish heartstopper of a dessert, the cream cake comes in many forms with many different berry toppings but all feature a generous dose of sweetened cream. »

If there is one cake you are most likely to see on the celebration table in Finland, it is a cake under a mound of whipped cream topped with a fruit gelée. The first time I laid eyes on one of these cream cakes I had to stop and stare much like I did when I first saw the vats of butter mixed with fish roe and chopped egg on the ferry to Stockholm; foods of a completely alien nature. A sweet cake layered with berry jam and cream, iced with a thick coating of cream topped with a berry gelée, the cream cake is basically a sweetened heavy cream transport protocol.

We celebrated my father-in-law's 60th birthday on Sunday and Jarkko asked me to make a cake. Coercing a type or genre of cake out of him was something of a challenge. "Well, he likes all kinds of cake." "Can you be more specific? Sweet or chocolate? Berries? Does he have a favourite? What?" Hours pass. After a bit more interrogation, we settled on the berry-cream cake. Finding a recipe for it though became something of an adventure since classics tend to have a wide array of variation and many of the recipes didn't match the cakes I've seen in the bakeries and frozen foods section at the market. I also suspect that the more modern cookbooks have shunned such classics both for their seeming banal ubiquity and for the payload of billions of grams of fat they tend to carry. I suspect, too, that food snobs judge the worthiness of a dish by how complicated the recipe is or its perceived exoticness by comparison to the local fare. Classic home cooking can be sophisticated and simple at the same time without the need for a large kitchen and a food stylist.

I decided to improvise given the lack of a clear recipe mandate. The basic cake is usually a dry sponge cake made with 4 eggs, sugar and flour that is then moistened with a heavy dose of apple juice that makes for a tough cake paired with soft cream that I generally find unsatisfying since it's like eating cream on a chewy cracker. I wanted something similar, but moist and not overwhelmingly sweet. I decided to go with a really easy plain white layer cake. The recipe calls for cake flour which is a flour with a 6-8% protein content and, in spite of the 'erikois' flour here with pictures of cakes on the packaging, it just doesn't exist in Finland (a good explanation of Finnish flours). Supposedly you can substitute by using 3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch for every cup of cake flour called for in the recipe. I've not tried this though. I used the 'erikois' flour with a 12% protein content and it worked reasonably well.

The white cake is more rich than the dry sponge, but its texture goes better with the cream and I used less cream for frosting to compensate for the richness of the cake. If you search with google for images of "vadelmakermakakku", you'll get an idea of the extreme density that the cream frosting is usually applied. The photo of the marja-kermakakku from Kotiruoka shows the decorated cream cake with strawberries, sliced kiwi and meringue cookies along with the whipped cream icing. A lot of these cakes tend to be a bit overly done in the decoration department with added sweets that really aren't necessary on an already rather sweet cake. Simple is sublime.

I used 3 round cake pans that I keep around for making layer cakes. I can't recommend baking this cake in one pan and slicing it as it is a very soft and delicate cake. Round cake pans are cheap, less than 8 euros each even in Helsinki, so buy a set of 2 or 3 identical round layer pans and you'll be set. When assembling the cake, you can opt to either make the whole amount of whipped cream and refrigerate the remainder while waiting for the gelée to set, or just whip a third of the cream for the layers and the 'glue' and prepare the remainder when you're ready to ice the cake. Since I let the cake set overnight and iced it in the morning, I opted for the latter so adjust your timing accordingly as needed. There are some who prefer to use 'stabilized' whipped cream for icing, meaning that it is whipped with gelatin or cornstarch, and, unless you're going to be keeping this cake around for a few days you really shouldn't need to use any stabilizers as long as you use good cream and keep the cake refrigerated.

I opted for using cloudberries, but raspberry and strawberry are likely the most commonly found varieties of the cake, especially when they are in season. Cloudberry is not very common outside of northern climes so feel free to swap cloudberries for raspberries, cranberries, etc. and a complementary juice for the gelée. Fresh whole fruit, jam or purée can be used between the cake layers along with the cream. Just think of the cake as cream transport with a bit of cake and berries tossed in for texture. :)

Lakkakermakakku / Cloudberry Cream Cake

Makes: 1 9in/23cm cake
Tools needed: 2-3 round cake pans, baking paper
Time: Prep, about 40 mins, total, 3-5 hours depending on refrigeration time

White Cake Layers

• 2 1/4 cups or 5,50 dl cake flour, plus more for dusting the pans
• 1 cup or 2,35 dl whole milk, at room temperature
• 6 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons almond extract 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla sugar
• 1 3/4 cups or 4,25 dl granulated sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder 
• 1 teaspoon table salt 
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) or 170g unsalted butter, softened but still cool and cut into small chunks

Layers and frosting

• Lakka/cloudberry jam or 2-3dl of fresh berries
• 2 cups or 5 dl whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• almond slivers or crushed almonds for decorating (optional)

Gelée

• 2 dl or 3/4 cup cloudberries
• 2 dl or 3/4 cup pure fruit juice, e.g. apple, grapefruit
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 3 2g sheets gelatin

1. For the Cake: Set oven rack in middle position. (If oven is too small to cook both layers on a single rack, set racks in upper-middle and lower-middle positions.) Heat oven to 350F/175C degrees. Butter two or three 9-inch/23cm round cake pans, line the bottoms with baking paper. Grease the baking paper, dust the pans with flour, invert pans and rap sharply to remove excess flour. (The pan prep isn't excessive. These cakes will stick to teflon.)
2. Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into small bowl and mix with fork until blended.
3. Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining.
4. Add all but 1/2 cup(1 dl) of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed (or high speed if using handheld mixer) for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining milk to mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed and beat 20 seconds longer. (The addition of the milk makes the mixture a bit gloopy so be careful of splashing batter.)
5. Divide batter evenly between the prepared cake pans; using rubber spatula, spread batter to pan walls and smooth tops. Arrange pans at least 3 inches from the oven walls and 3 inches apart. (If oven is small, place pans on separate racks in staggered fashion to allow for air circulation.) Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 15 to 25 minutes.
6. Let cakes rest in pans for 3 minutes. Loosen from sides of pans with a knife, if necessary, and invert onto cooling racks covered with baking paper. Let cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours.
7. Assembling: Soak the gelatin sheets in a bowl cool water. Microwave the apple juice until it is piping hot. Dissolve the gelatin and sugar in the apple juice and quickly cool by placing juice bowl in an ice/cold water bath. When it is cool enough to touch, add cloudberries, reserving a few whole berries for decorative placement. Place in refrigerator while assembling the cake.
8. Fill large mixing bowl with ice water and place beaters in with the ice water. Once chilled, drain ice water and dry bowl and beaters thoroughly. Add cream, sugar and vanilla to the bowl and mix on low-medium speed for about 30 seconds and increasing the speed to medium until the cream begins to thicken. Increase the speed to high and continue until the cream has doubled in volume. Stop when the cream forms soft peaks. You can also stop using the electric mixer once it has doubled in volume and continue with a whisk until it has the right texture. Just don't overbeat the cream as it will have a bumpy, unappealing look when you ice the cake with it. Place the first cake layer on a plate and spread a thin layer of jam topped with a layer of cream. If you use fresh berries instead of jam, apply a layer of cream and cover with berries and add a small amount more cream to keep the next cake layer in place. Cover with another cake layer and repeat application of jam and cream. Cover with the third and last layer. Place the bowl of whipped cream into a cold refrigerator until you are ready to ice the cake.
9. Take a piece of baking paper long enough to run the circumference of the cake. Trim so that it projects about 3cm above the top of the cake. Apply a thin layer of cream to the outer edge of the top cake layer and wrap the paper around the cake, securing it with the cream. Check the cloudberry gelatin mixture and wait until it has begun to set a little bit before pouring it onto the top of the cake. When it has reached a good consistency, pour gently onto top of the cake, taking care that it doesn't break through the baking paper/cream seal, smooth evenly and carefully with a spatula, add whole berries in a decorative pattern and place cake into the refrigerator for a few hours for the gelatin to become firm.
10. Remove cake from refrigerator, peel away the baking paper and begin by icing the edges of the cake with an icing spatula. Pipe a border of cream along the bottom and top edges, add almonds around the sides of the cake or other decoration as desired, and place in the refrigerator until time to serve.

permalink Ω 13 October 2005, Helsinki

Lucky Dog

« Curving architecture. »

Had you asked me yesterday what the most unlikely thing I would ever expect to happen I probably wouldn't have said, "To have my dog jump out the window." No, that wouldn't even have been in the realm of possibility as, generally, dogs will burn in a fire before leaping from any measurable height. Or so I thought.

Like any normal weekday afternoon, one of us goes home between 1 and 2pm to walk Otava and give him his lunch. I was a little later than usual since I wanted to inflict the chiffon pumpkin pie on my coworkers, who actually seemed to really like it, thus deepening my curiosity about the lack of pumpkin in the local cuisine. So, about 2.30 I arrived at the door to the house and was immediately met by the woman in the travel agency across the way and a cop informing me that my dog had jumped out the window. I figured they must have had me confused with the folks next door who have a little fifi dog who would, unlike my dog, actually fit through the window. No, they insisted, they had the right person. I followed the cop around back to the yard thinking "WTF!" the whole way. I expected to find either a dead dog or a dog needing euthanasia. What I found was a rather confused and bleeding puppy sitting in the back of a police van.

I got my first, and hopefully last, ride in a police van on the way to the vet. I felt around and, in spite of the blood from his chin, he seemed rather miraculously sound. I, however, was freaking out wondering what could possibly drive a dog to jump out a window. I asked the cops if there was an intruder in the house or something but they had only just responded to the call about the flying dog so they didn't know. I asked Jarkko to go by the house and check while we waited in the vet's office to see if there might be some obvious explanation.

There was no intruder and no obvious answer, either. The windows are about 1m from the floor and have a rather wide ledge inside for plants and whatnot since the radiators sit beneath them. Otava has never shown much interest in the windows but yesterday every windowsill had paw prints on them which suggests that he was desperately looking for a way out. He found one in the window that I leave open just a crack during the day so he can get some air as it can get warm. According to the people who witnessed this rather unbelievable event, he stepped out of the window with his front paws on the flashing and then somehow found himself down on the ledge below it. Uncertain on how to get back in, he dropped to the ground about 4m below, hitting a vent box on the way down. Jarkko's theory is that he needed to poop since he apparently pooped immediately afterwards, which is a perfectly natural reaction to such a traumatic event. I'm unwilling to believe that and think some sort of sound scared him to the point of panic, but it's just a guess. Perhaps Otava is part cat, certainly he used one of nine lives yesterday if so.

The vet barely gave Otava an exam and I had to ask them to give him something for the pain and cleaned the blood off his legs and face while we were waiting for Jarkko to return. I gather they're not very keen on the larger dogs. We'll be taking him to our regular vet tomorrow for x-rays since a dog of this size falling 4-5m onto hard surfaces is almost certain to cause some damage to the bones. His appetite is good and he seems normal with the only visible signs of trauma being the abrasion under his chin and a few mashed toenails, but I want to be sure that he hasn't dislocated or cracked any of his leg bones. Ironically, I had only just sent an email to the breeders telling them how happy and healthy his one year birthday was, along with a few pictures, before heading home to give him his lunch.

I had to run back to work to finish something and bumped into one of Otava's puppy pals on the way to the bus stop. I mentioned Otava's attempt to fly to the owner and he said he had already heard about it from a friend who had gotten an SMS. Man, this is a small town. :) So, thanks to the folks who saw him jump and grabbed him before he wandered into traffic and called the police. And thanks to the police, too, as they were very nice and rather concerned for him as well. Why he went through the window remains a deeply puzzling mystery, but next time, I hope he has the sense to use the front door. Meanwhile, the windows will remain shut.

Given the confluence of natural disasters lately and now this, I really am starting to wonder if something very strange is afoot in the grand scheme of things.

permalink Ω 11 October 2005, Helsinki

Orange comfort

« A Fennicized Chiffon Pumpkin Pie. Make your own as I ate this one already. :) »

Oh, I've got loads of stuff to write about but my thoughts are so disorganized and scattered lately that it makes it difficult to produce the goods. There are a few more food related things, Riga photos and a few fun odds and ends coming soon if I can get it together before the seemingly near end of times arrives.

Autumn, more than any other season it seems, makes me crave certain seasonal foods like caramel apples made with freshly picked golden delicious apples from Eckert's, caramel and chopped pecans. Most of these foods are either rare or unknown in Finland so when I read the recipe for Chiffon Pumpkin Pie on Simply Recipes, I felt compelled to try making it with what is available here.

Pumpkin, rather curiously, is almost completely absent from the Finnish culinary radar. In fact, the pumpkins sold at the market are labeled as 'pickling' pumpkins since pickled pumpkin is the only form you'll find around here. Latvia, on the other hand, has pumpkin in many of its dishes ranging from entrées to desserts. Why Finns never took to using pumpkin is an interesting question. My initial taste test on a few Finns was ok, but reserved, though a few really enjoyed it. But, in the absence of Libby's canned pumpkin (the expat extortion shop in Kamppi is gone), fresh whole pumpkins can be had and it's rather painless to make your own purée. Pumpkin has been on the American menu since before there was an America. Rick Rogers in Thanksgiving 101 explores just how important the pumpkin was to the Indians and the settlers and the origin of the pumpkin pie:

The Indians probably roasted pumpkin over an open fire or boiled it with maple syrup. Pumpkin pudding became one of the favorite dishes of the Puritan era. The pumpkin flash was scooped out, mixed with milk, spices, and syrup, then returned to the pumpkin shell, where it was roasted for hours in hot ashes. It is easy to see where the basic recipe for pumpkin pie filling came from. Known to the settlers as pompion (the name given by French explorers in the late 1500s), pumpkin saved them from starvation in the lean early years of their colony.

One of the first recipes for pumpkin pie appeared in 1655 in a British book called Queens Closed Open. This version represents the then-current taste for highly seasoned foods, and includes thyme, rosemary, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, cloves and apple. In 1672, an English-American merchant named John Josselyn was already calling pompion stew "an Ancient New England dish." He says to take diced ripe squash and "...so fill a pot with them of two or three gallons, stew them upon a gentle fire a whole day, then as they sink...fill again with fresh pompions not putting any liquor to them and when it is stirred enough it will look like baked Apples, this Dish putting Butter to it and Vinegar and some Spice as Ginger which makes it tart like an Apple, and so serve it up to be eaten with fish or flesh." Josselyn's "stew" would be recognized today as the pumpkin butter put up by New England cooks. Amelia Simmons included "pompkin" pie in the first American cookbook, published in 1796.

The history of the modern pumpkin pie can be dated back to 1929. In that year, Libby, McNeil and Libby bought a small pumpkin pie cannery, Dickinson Canning Company. The little cannery's pride and joy was its special eating pumpkin, now called the Dickinson variety. Eating pumpkins, very different from the Jack-o'-lantern varieties grown for their size and appearance, are elongated and buff-colored with thin walls. The Dickinson is noted for its bright orange color, creamy texture, and fresh taste. Libby's took years to develop its own strain, improving upon the Dickinson, called "Libby's Select."

I made the pie according to the recipe and it failed rather miserably. It tasted good, but the pie never set, not even after being in the freezer, which I attributed to the 1/2 cup of rum, not enough gelatin and not draining the pumpkin purée before using it. I'm reasonably certain the 1/2 cup of rum was a misprint from the Boston Globe or an overly generous Granny with a taste for rum as it seems rather unlikely that a pie with that much rum could set properly. So, I reworked the recipe a bit, adjusted some of the ingredients and changed the technique a bit to make a reliable recipe for expats here hankering for a pumpkin pie and Finns wanting to try something different. Pumpkin is good stuff, even if you can't, like myself, stand the smell and the slimy innards of a fresh pumpkin.

Chiffon pies have been said to be the "First really new pie of the twentieth century" (Rare Bits, pg. 256) and debuted in the early 1920's as "soufflé" or "gelatin" pies. In The American Century Cookbook it goes into some detail about the history of the pie.

"Chiffon pies were invented in 1921 by a professional baker who lived in Iowa. By beating egg whites with a fruit-flavored syrup until the mixture was light and fluffy, he achieved a filling that his mother said 'looked like a pile of chiffon.'"

It's a story I've been unable to substantiate. Besides, Knox Gelatine's 1915 booklet, Dainty Desserts for Dainty People features gelatin "sponges," "marshmallow puddings," and "marshmallow creams" - the airy mixes that would one day emerge as chiffon fillings. It only took a few more years for someone to pile them into pie shells.

Searches of several dozen early-twentieth-century cookbooks turned up a few "soufflé" and "sponge" pies, but these contained no gelatin and/or whipped cream. They were baked pies with stiffly beaten egg whites folded in just before they went into the oven.

[...]

Chiffon pies remained popular right through the '70s. Then in the 1980s when salmonella began compromising the wholesomeness of our eggs, they fell from favor. But only briefly. Savvy food manufacturers discovered that powdered egg whites, cream cheese, whipped toppings and marshmallow cream could double nicely for raw egg whites.

Thus, '90s chiffon pies are likely to contain no eggs at all. And sometimes no gelatin. There's usually no stinting, however, on whipped cream.

Finland doesn't appear to have a problem with salmonella so, aside from egg whites being pretty low risk anyway, it's likely safe to use them. I'm not dead yet. :) You can also substitute meringue powder or make an italian meringue while adjusting the sugar in the recipe to avoid sugar overload.

What's really great about making this pie is how the taste of nutmeg and pumpkin really hit me with a taste I've not had in three years or more. It can be occasionally amazing how certain flavours and scents can evoke such a powerful sense of memory and feeling. This pie would be great in spite of its rarity here, but it's even better than cheeze-its in terms of expat comfort food. :) Now all I need is a heap of roasted turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and mom's weird, but good, cranberry mold.

Chiffon Pumpkin Pie

Makes: 1 9 inch/24cm pie
Requires: Springform pan
Time: Preparation, about 1h. Total, 6h-12h(if chilled overnight)

Crust:

• 1 cup or 200g crushed piparkakut or digestive biscuits
• 1/4 cup or 1/2 dl sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
• 3 tablespoons or 42g butter, melted

Filling:

• 3 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup or 1,25dl milk
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (muscovado), packed
• 6 2g sheets or 2 envelopes gelatin
• 1 3/4 cups (1 can) or 4,25 dl fresh pumpkin purée or plain canned pumpkin
• 2 teaspoons dark rum or 1 teaspoon rum extract
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (viinikivi)

Topping:

• 1 cup or 2,5 dl heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon rum/vanilla extract
• crushed or halved piparkakut/digestives

For the pumpkin purée: Cut a pumpkin (not jack-o'-lantern variety) weighing about 2-3kg/4.5-7lb into quarters, scrape the seeds away, place on a lightly oiled baking pan, cover with foil and bake in an 325F/175C oven for about an hour to an and a half or until the flesh is very tender. Score the pumpkin with a knife after about 30 minutes. Scrape the cooked pumpkin away from the skin with a spoon into a bowl and purée with a hand blender or a food processor. Discard the skin. Pour puréed pumpkin into a fine wire sieve or cheesecloth, place over a bowl and leave to drain for several hours until it is a thick paste. Don't skimp on the draining of the pumpkin as it will make for a pie that doesn't set properly and has a slimy texture.

For the crust: Preheat the oven to 325F/175C. Butter a 9-inch/24cm springform pan. Line the bottom with baking paper.

Crush piparkakut/digestives in a food processor, with a hand blender or with a rolling pin into fine crumbs. Mix in sugar and ginger well and pour butter evenly over the top. Blend together well and press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Use the bottom of a glass to press the mixture firmly and evenly. Bake the crust for 8-15 minutes, until it is lightly browned.

For the filling: Combine nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, salt and brown sugar in a bowl and set aside. Place 6 sheets of gelatin in a bowl of cold water to soften. In a saucepan, combine the 3 egg yolks and milk with a whisk over a medium-high heat and stir with a whisk until it begins to thicken. Do not boil! Remove from heat, stir in the sugar and spices and whisk until well blended. Squeeze water from the softened gelatin sheets and quickly dissolve in the hot custard. Allow to cool for about 30 minutes and stir in pumpkin and rum or rum extract. Pour into a bowl and place in the refrigerator until it just begins to set, about an hour or so.

Once the pumpkin mixture has begun to set, put the egg whites into a dry bowl and mix on low speed until they are a bit foamy. Add sugar and cream of tartar and mix on high speed until it forms soft but firm peaks. Don't overbeat to stiff peaks or else the whites won't blend evenly with the pumpkin mixture. Fold the whites into the pumpkin mix and pour into the springform pan. Place the pan into the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or, optimally, overnight.

For the topping: Whip cream, sugar and rum/vanilla flavouring to soft peaks. Remove the pan from the refrigerator and spread the cream evenly over the top of the pumpkin layer. Refrigerate for another hour or so. When ready to serve, take a dish towel, soak it in hot water, wring out and use to warm the sides of the pan. Take a dull knife and run it around the edge of the pie before gently removing the springform rim. Pipe cream around the edge of the pie if desired, garnish with crushed or halved piparkakut/digestives, slice into wedges and serve.

permalink Ω 10 October 2005, Helsinki

Savonian Colour

« Finlandia Hall looms over the city like a giant glowing iceberg. The tower on the right is the National Museum of Finland. »

I managed to survive 3 days in the woods (a few random photos) with a few colleagues about an hour north of Kuopio in a place called Tahko which is some sort of sporting resort. I'll refrain from calling it camping since we had a cabin with not only running water and electricity, but network as well. We took a canoe trip around the lake on the first day which made me a bit nervous since the water was cold and I think I was the only one who had ever been in a canoe before. We also took a 4 hour ATV tour of the area which, in spite of being a bit of a macho sport, turned out to be really fun in the crisp, sunny autumn afternoon. The vendor took us to dinner in Kuopio one evening, at a place called Musta Lammas, reportedly widely known in Finland, and had one of the nicest meals, both in food and company, I've had in a very long time. The autumn weather has been bizarrely gorgeous and the news is reporting that it's a 'once in 60 years' kind of unusual and we couldn't have had better weather. The area around Kuopio is beautiful with the fall colours but there's also the very present paper industry with mountains of toxic byproducts and sluice ponds which mars the landscape and reminds you that books and paper come at a high price.

On our way back home, we stopped in the Kuopio market and bought some kalakukko from the definitive bakery in Finland and the Savo region, the Hanna Partanen Bakery. Finland has a formal written language, but then you find out that there are something around 80 major dialects of spoken Finnish, with the most different of them all being the Savonian dialect which you get the idea of by reading the instructions on how to eat your kalakukko.

Otava is a love sick puppy lately. All of the other male dog owners around the park have also been commenting that their dogs are girl crazy and we are wondering what's going on. There is a little miniature dachshund that Otava has taken a ridiculous liking to the exclusion of all others for some yet unknown reason. It's embarrassing. :) And his birthday is Sunday, not today as previously noted since I was thinking that the 9th was Friday. I'll be making him a lovely meatloaf cake for the occasion.

And Jarkko played Nyt Koodataan (Now I am Coding) last night which I thought was pretty hilarious and, even if you don't know Finnish, you can probably guess the words anyway. Supposedly it was a big hit a few years ago during the boom years but, now with the boom gone, IT has become even less rewarding than an internet bubble sweat shop.

Random internet searches for things can turn up some surprisingly unrelated but still very cool results like a page about the Päijänne water tunnel that supplies Helsinki with water, supposedly the longest continuous rock tunnel in the world. The same page also has a diagram of the Salmisaari underground coal project which is pretty interesting as well.

permalink Ω 7 October 2005, Helsinki

Deliverance

« Otava looks at me with boredom as I try to take a photo of him. »

Otava will turn 1 year old this coming Friday Sunday. It seems impossible that time has passed so quickly. The giant breeds remain puppies until they are 18 months so, though he is already about 70kg/155lb, he may grow a little bit more before he is finished. I'm thinking of making him a meat cake and having a little party to celebrate his solar year of life. He was born the day after HB died and I fancifully imagined early on that he might be HB reincarnated but, no, Otava is very different in spite of sharing many common breed traits and quirks that I've come to be unable to live without.

We went to dinner on Friday with a friend and a colleague of his visiting from the US and, as the evening wore on, my sense that I will experience extreme reverse culture shock when I go back home for a visit became rather acute. The guy was nice and all, but the only things going through my mind were; when does he breathe, can the people outside on the sidewalk hear him and how am I going to survive a few weeks of this? The first year or so I was here, before I started getting to know people, I'm sure that the few friends who suffered an evening with me having a chance to talk after spending most of my days alone thought of me in much the same manner. It's likely, too, that there are Finns who have defected to the land of freedom fries only to return for a visit and have a similar effect on their family and friends. I just have this feeling of dread that it's going to be absurdly overwhelming to reenter the US for any length of time.

Do Finnish vendors know how to party or what? A few of us from work are being taken up north for a few days for some wining and dining while the vendor shows us some of their new wares. I thought that this sounded pretty cool, in spite of my being the only female in the group of guys, but then there came the mention of cabins and canoes and ATVs. Uh, what? Cabins?! I was thinking a nice hotel and maybe some theatre or movies were going to be on offer but, no....it's all sauna and mökki. I swear, if I hear banjoes or hog calls, I'll run towards the nearest airport. Nothing like a bit of Finnish Deliverance to sell hardware.

permalink Ω 3 October 2005, Helsinki

Viking Balls

« Danish aebleskivers served with apple marmalade and whipped cream. »

In one of those half-dazed moments of information overload while lazily surfing the web, I somewhere ran across a Nordic Ware pan that had 7 semi-circular depressions in it called an ebleskiver pan. Curious and bored, I started hunting around for what an ebleskiver was and found that it is aebleskiver and a sort of Danish pancake ball.

One website proclaimed that they are "the newest Scandinavian party food sweeping the country (US, of course)." Perhaps I missed that memo. :) Hell, no one but the Norwegian guy at work knew what I was talking about and even the guy at customs looked at the pan I ordered and asked me what it was. Someone should remind Scandinavia of its own food sometime. The Norwegian at work also mentioned that they are popular for birthdays, aside from the holidays, and that the namesake of the pancake, apple slice, isn't really added to the pancake anymore.

I poked around at a few recipes since they seem to come in two different strains; yeast vs. no yeast and buttermilk vs. milk or water. Another popular technique is to add egg foam to the batter for lift which I suspect would just make them dry. I figure that since they are an older tradition, that yeast would be a bit more traditional and would be a bit better than chemical leavening. Yeast can be a bit overzealous and, even if you make the batter in a large bowl, be sure to set it on a rimmed plate or pan when placing it in the refrigerator overnight.

I tried various sorts of apple marmalade and jam in the pancakes and found that it tended to make the ball flat and gooey. The empty plastic catsup bottle, which made squirting batter into the divots dead easy and quick, is highly recommended as I tried one round with a large spoon but the pancakes cook quickly and I felt rushed to get them all filled before starting to turn them. Putting butter in the pan also tended to make them too greasy. Cooking the pancake just enough to develop a crust before turning it also seemed to work the best. Knitting needles are said to be old Danish grandmothers' tool of choice, but I used a wooden set of chopsticks from chinese take-away. Flipping them takes a little practice, but it comes along quickly.

These suckers are so good, I ate every one off the plate as soon as I took the above photo. They'll be a regular feature of Sunday mornings henceforth as the last few Sundays have started with them and I think I'm addicted now. :)

Yeasted Æbleskivers

Makes: about 64 æbleskivers
Special equipment: æbleskiver pan, empty plastic catsup bottle
Time: prep: 15 minutes, plan 12-24 hours ahead
Source: CI

• 1 3/4 cups or 4,25 dl whole milk
• 8 tablespoons or 113g unsalted butter , cut into 8 pieces
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces)
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon table salt 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast 
• 2 large eggs 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar

1. Heat milk and butter in small saucepan over medium-low heat until butter is melted, 3 to 5 minutes. Cool milk/butter mixture until it is about 43C/109F. Meanwhile, whisk flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and yeast in large bowl to combine. Gradually whisk warm milk/butter mixture into flour mixture; continue to whisk until batter is smooth. In small bowl, whisk eggs and vanilla until combined, then add egg mixture to batter and whisk until incorporated. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 12 and up to 24 hours. Be sure to place the bowl on a plate with a rim as the yeast will likely cause the batter to overflow the bowl.
2. Set oven to 95C/200F. Heat aebleskiver pan over a medium-high heat until a few drops of water thrown on the pan sizzle. Transfer batter to an old plastic catsup bottle to make dispensing it into the divots easy and quick or use a large rounded tablespoon to drop the batter into the pan. Allow the batter to cook for about 30 seconds, then grab a wooden take-away chinese chopstick, insert it near the top rim of the cooking batter and flip the pancake over in one quick motion. Let them cook for another 45 seconds or so and flip over again until the outside is a nice golden brown colour.
3. Place finished aebleskivers in the warm oven in a single layer on a baking sheet while you are making others to keep them warm and non-soggy. Serve with apple marmalade, apple butter or jam and whipped cream.

permalink Ω 2 October 2005, Helsinki