My need for sweet.

... and I do have a sweet tooth! I use any excuse I get to bake sweets for a crowd, or a dinner, or whenever I am invited as a guest somewhere. It's an excuse to show off at the same time as it is for me to eat these sweets, since I would never make them for just A and I.

First I made a chocolate cookie recipe modified from allrecipes.com

Chocolate Chocolate Cookies with peanuts

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups peanuts (or chocolate chips, any other nuts you like, etc.)
  

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Line cookies sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Combine the cocoa, flour, and baking soda, gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Finally, fold in peanuts or other ingredients. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until puffy but still soft. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Apple pie a la francais

Pie crust

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 6 tablespoons ice water
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 cup shortening

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder and sugar.
2. Place 1/2 cup of flour mixture in a small bowl, and stir in water until smooth.
3. Cut shortening into remaining flour mixture until it looks like coarse meal. Blend in the flour-water mixture.
4. Wrap dough and chill in refrigerator.

Vanilla pudding layer

• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon butter

In medium saucepan over medium heat, heat milk until bubbles form at edges. In a bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch and salt. Pour into hot milk, a little at a time, stirring to dissolve. Continue to cook and stir until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Do not boil. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and butter. Pour into pie crust and allow to chill.

Apple Layer

• 4-5 medium red apples, peeled and sliced into wedges
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbs cinnamon
• 1 tbs butter

Heat sugar, butter and cinnamon in a medium saucepan until hot. Add apple slices and stir on medium low heat until sugar is caramelized and apples are soft. Allow apple slices to cool and arrange in a layered fashion over the cooled vanilla pudding layer.

Basic Cake

Adapting a recipe again from allrecipes.com, I made a basic cake like the ones from a box (only better, of course).

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift all dry ingredients together, mix milk and oil and eggs, one at a time until smooth. Pour into greased cake tin and bake 175C for 35 minutes.

Butter frosting

1/3 cup butter (softened)
4 1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mix butter and sugar together. I did this by hand so it took a considerably long time to make it smooth. Add milk and extract at the end until the desired consistency.

This is in commemoration of our friend's birthday, which was a month ago, but anyway, it was fun to decorate.

easy Mexican

Ok... so it's a stretch to call this 'Mexican,' but nowadays, everyone that uses salsa and beans together in a dish calls it Mexican. I do it too.

About.com sponsors a 30 minute Mexican meals e-course in which you get an email once a week featuring a new recipe, but I think I'll wait until I am in Mexico and take some real courses in person. Hopefully that's not so far away.

This time I just had a craving for salsa and beans (unfortunately a little hard to find black beans in Finland).

Stacked Mexican Tortilla Casserole

package flour tortillas (8)
1 can tomatoes
1 can brown or white beans in tomato sauce
1 can kidney beans in chili sauce
1 cup textured soy crumble (or 1lb ground beef)
1 cup water
beef flavored bullion cube
1 onion
bell pepper (any color)
corn (from two corn stalks or half a small can)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbs paprika
2 tbs chilli powder
1 tbs cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
oil (corn or vegetable)

cup shredded cheese
1/2 cup sour cream (or creme fraiche)
1 cup shredded lettuce
freshly chopped tomatoes

Preheat oven to 175C

In first pan, heat oil 2 cloves of crushed garlic, and half of the spices. Add the onion and paprika and allow the onion to cook through until yellow and transparent. Add half can of tomatoes, water, beef bullion to the onion and pepper and allow to reach a boil. Add the soy and stir until well combined. Cover and turn heat low and allow for the flavors to combine well.

In the second pan, heat oil. Add 1 clove of garlic and the rest of the spices and cook for a few minutes on medium heat. Add both cans of beans, the other half of the tomatoes and allow to simmer. Drain the corn and add to the bean mixture. Lower the heat and allow to simmer for a few moments.

Now, spoon a thin layer of the soy mixture, followed by the first tortilla. Layer the mixture between tortillas in any order that suits you, throwing in some cheese whenever you feel like, also topping with the cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes covered with foil and another 20 without.
Serve with shredded lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream. Easy and satisfying!

Wedding Crafts

Thursday, A and I departed for Prague to participate in the wedding of two of our dear friends. The groom is originally from Prague, but has lived in Helsinki for the majority of his lifetime, and the bride to be is Swiss. The two met on a volunteer project in S. Africa. It's a great story.

Anyway, as the wedding is a destination wedding for most of the party, coming from Finland or Switzerland or elsewhere in Europe, the bride and groom have asked a few small favors and money instead of gifts, which otherwise would have to be shipped or flown back to Helsinki. This can be an expensive hassle.

Instead, we will decorate mini-bottles of alcohol, bring pass-port photos of ourselves for a guest book, and prepare to have a hat to wear whilst on a boat ride from the vineyards and the ceremony, to the park near the historic zoo in Prague. Fun and funny, our friends like to keep it light.

I made a trip to our local Tiimari, the Joanne Fabrics of Finland, to pick up some odds and ends to decorate the mini-bottles. (Mine in picture is the one with the angel wings, and A's next to it has the tux on) On the way, I stopped into a Salvation Army to see if there was anything I could scrounge up for a hat. I was hoping to find some cheap fedora for A, but this seems out of the question so last minute and on a budget. Instead, I got the idea to make either a pillbox or a bird-cage hat with a small veil for myself. Since I have matching accessories and ribbon to match A's blue dress shirt, I was looking for something baby blue.

What I bought:

Now what?

I looked throughout the internet for pictures of pillbox and birdcage hats and found some great bloggers out there into vintage fashion, from the Vintage Style Files. This site shows vintage fashion divas all about DIY, from retrofitting earrings to Christmas decorations. I wanted to remember this site, it's a real gem.

The end result:And how it looked on me at the Wedding:

No one could tell I used a bra for this hat!

All in all, we had a great time, as always, in Prague. Congratulations T and G!

Asalha Puja Day

On the full moon of the eighth lunar month, Mahayana buddhists celebrate Asalha Puja, a day to commemorate Buddha's first sermon to his newly created sangha in Deer Park, India. The sermon addressed the Four Noble Truths that explain the source of all suffering. In more literal translation, these truths are realities. And as Buddhists typically center their teachings about impermanence and what is real, this teaching is particularly fundamental to the understanding of Buddhism for those interested in learning more about this religion.

The significance of this day is that is officiates the introduction of Buddhism as a religion. When five Brahmins, or those seeking enlightenment, coincidentally met Buddha, they were keen to know what many of us would like an answer to: what are the causes of suffering and how do we end it?

1st: Change is a nomal condition of existence, and therefore inherent in any being. This includes aging, weakness, illness, and separation from loved ones.

2nd: Suffering is cause and effect! If you eliminate the causes, you will not suffer.

3rd and 4th: the solution: Find happiness by taking the middle way in life. This entails effort, for right speech, action mindfulness and concentration.

Therefore, I would like to take the time to reflect with you the day when Buddhism set the wheel of Dharma in motion!

How do we take the middle path as human beings in a modern world? First we must realize that everything we have come to know in our lives is impermanent. Jobs, lovers, family: they all come and go. We are often not in control of these phenomena. Since many Americans recently celebrated Independence day, the idea of liberation is not far off. We can celebrate our land of opportunity, but we must also be free from attachment. I suppose in this way, I must enjoy those phenomena in my life that I have been blessed with, but know that they will not last.

Since I am not as poetic as the Buddha himself, I quote here some of those teachings in connection with the Middle Way that we strive to achieve in our every day actions and thoughts.

"If we can see the truth of the causes of worldly sufferings,we will not be attached to the view of nothingness. If we can see the truth of cessation in the world, we will not be attached to worldly existence. By avoiding the two extremes, the Tathagatha teaches us the Middle Path, which is, what this is, that is; this arising, that arises…"
(Chapter 12, Samyuktagama)

"One who thinks of impermanence will understand the truth of ego-lessness.
The Enlightened One lives in the state of ego-lessness,renounces self-conceit and hence progresses towards liberation and Nirvana."
(Samyuktagama, Chapter 10)

Go with that today. Namaste.

Amidst Summer Distractions

Well the summer weather certainly has been a distraction from my otherwise fastidious studying and recipe hunting. But who can complain about a Finnish summer in which sunshine has out performed the rain? According to my Finnish friends, this has been one of the most pleasant summers in years. Lucky me. :)
As we go to Prague in a few days for our friends' wedding, I am trying to make all of our meals from things already in our fridge. Using it up won't be easy, and some things might have to be prepared and frozen so as not to waste. With extra quark, yogurt, cheese and eggs, and a few odds and ends of vegetables and fruits, there's certainly enough to go through.

Alas, while I ought to be in the library, I have been soaking in the rays at Pikku Koski (little falls beach), or taking 8k jogs around the beautiful Töölö lahti (and consuming more than a few gnats in the process). Despite also that Antti and I have been trying to take on a summer friendly (or bathingsuit friendly) diet, I can't resist indulging on more than a few occassions.

Unfortunately, I have a tendency to eat whatever I have made fresh out of the oven, without pausing for a photo opp. This is something I need to practice the habbit of. On occassional triumphs, I have posted pictures to AllRecipes.com for the benefit of other recipe seekers out there. But now I have an additional reason to take the pictures: my own blog!

Yesterday, I made a wonderful take on the summer treat strawberry roll up cake. For this recipe, I took a basic sponge cake recipe and substituted quark for cream cheese and lingonberries and black currants in place of strawberries. Quark is more available and less expensive than cream cheese, and despite that it's strawberry season, I had a lot of extra berries leftover. I always keep these black currants and lingonberries frozen for sprinkling into my meusli in the mornings when berries are not in season, and now was time to use them up!

Finnish berry roll up cake

Sponge cake
4 eggs
1/4 cup milk (I used coconut milk for creaminess and a little flavor)
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
1 tsp white vinegar
2 tbs water

Fillling:
1 cup plain quark
1 cup mixed berries (I used lingonberry and black currant)
sugar to taste

1 package berry flavored gelatin
1 c boiling water

Starting with the pancake, separate the eggs, and mix the yolks with the coconut milk. Mix dry ingredients together. Mix egg yolk mixture with dry ingredients until smooth, minimizing lumps. Whip egg whites with vinegar and water, adding a pinch of sugar if needed. Whip until eggs hold a peak for a few moments. Fold whites into mixture, slowly to hold the volume.

Pour pancake batter into a jelly roll pan, 9X12 inches. Since I don't have one, I used a 15x15'' pan, and tried to pour the batter onto only one side. As the diagram below explains, this is not ideal. This pancake needs 12-15 minutes in an oven at 200C. The pancake should be slightly golden and spongy.

Then, mix the gelatin with boiling water until dissolved. Pour mixture, still warm, over the pancake and allow to absorb. Once cool enough, spread the quark and berry mixture evenly over the pancake, and roll slowly lengthwise. Cool until the gelatin is set.

Serve chilled with extra berries for garnish.

Weekends are for breakfast!

Since I try to be up early on the weekdays, and my roomie isn't, the weekend are my best chance to make a nice breakfast for two. With only two of us, many of the recipes aren't suitable for two people. So this one I adapted from several other strata recipes I found online. This is another great way to use up stale bread.

Individual Veggie Stratas

4 eggs
2 stale bread rolls
1 cup milk
2 slices cheddar cheese
1 onion
butter for frying
1/2 bell pepper (any color)
1/2 cup sliced zucchini
1 tsp prepared mustard
salt and pepper

Whisk eggs, milk, mustard, salt and pepper together. Sautee onion until yellow and soft, add pepper and zucchini and cook through. Dice bread rolls and mix with vegetable mixture. Divide into two soufle cups and pour egg mixture evenly over both. Top each with a slice of cheddar cheese. Bake at 200C for 30 minutes covered with foil, then take foil off and bake another 15 minutes, or long enough to melt the cheddar.


Ich liebe deutsche Küche: Quark Spaetzle

I admit, I'm a bit of a Germanophile. I love the language, the food, the Weinachtmakt, the Berlin bears.... I remember once our German friends making Spaetzle for dinner at their place in Helsinki one night. It was the first time I saw such a process- strange drops of eggy doughy goodness and lots and lots of cheese....mmmm.....

3/4 cup plain quark
2 eggs
1 cup flour
salt
nutmeg
2 tbs butter
2 cloves garlic
1 onion
pepper

Start by boiling a large pot of water with 1 tsp salt. While the water is boiling, mix quark, eggs, flour and salt together and mix until no lumps remain. Using a spaetzle maker (or in my case, a collander with round holes) scrape dough mixture, one spoonful at a time, through the collander. Let the dough simmer until they rise to the top, scoop out with a strainer or spoon and rinse with cold water to prevent from further cooking. Continue until all batter is used.

Add butter to a skillet and heat. Cook onions until yellow, add garlic and cook. Add spaetzle to the onion mixture and continue to heat. Take skillet off heat and add cheese last, in order to avoid browning. Serve with cabbage, sauer kraut, brat, weinerschnitzle or any other food you might enjoy!

Mmmm.... cookies

While I love to cook and bake almost everything, I get truly excited about baking sweets. Despite that I always try to halve the recipe and give most of the sweets away to avoid temptations and to keep my diet on track, my samplings of new recipes is the best part (that and licking the batter from the spoon).

Today, I tried a recipe for kletsmajoor, or Dutch caramel cashew cookies from a great blogger I found recently, the Technicolor Kitchen (cool name!). I was inspired to look for a new cookie recipe, as one of my Brazilian friends here in Helsinki always comments on the first time she met me, and I had made classic 'American' chocolate chip cookies. Apparently, first impressions are long lasting, and now I am the 'cookie girl' in her mind. Nevermind, I like those kinds of compliments, because it gives me more motivation to do something I already like doing ;)

I made these to take with us tomorrow to hear AC/DC in the park around Töölö bay- lovely scenic urban park space outside the Olympic Stadium, where AC/DC will play. I've heard that if you get the right spot to picnic outside, with the acoustics of the rocks around the bay, the music can be easily heard as if you're at the show. Can't wait to 'see' them live.

These cookies turned out delish! Even A, who doesn't have the same sweet tooth I do, gave me two thumbs up for this one. Despite that I didn't roast or salt the cashews before adding them to the praline mixture, the cashew taste baked right in. Mmmmm...

Sugar cookie with bits of cashew praline (known as toffee to some). Had to take the picture fast before we ate them all. This recipe was uplifting for me, after a streak of baking failures the last few weeks. Next time I'll have a little more confidence ;)

The Audacity of Hope- Reflections

I just finished Barack Obama's 'The Audacity of Hope,' his second book, covering topics from his own life experiences as a child, running for senate and raising a family, to that of promoting a better living standard for the middle class, enabling minorities to manage their own future, establishing a working social security, health and education system in the US, and upholding the Constitution in the face of contrasting modernities.

Talk about making yourself! I was truly impressed with the simplicity, clarity and sincerity with which President Obama wrote. I highly recommend that book to anyone that enjoys reading non-fiction and history, but also to those interested to get to know more about our current President.

I especially liked his recommendations for following the Constitution in the matters of philibustering and appointing judges, as well as how to enable minorities to move beyond historical barriers. This section of the book truly inspires us to see beyond race and religion and to see one another as fellow Americans, with common values and interests. While this may sound obvious to many, in practice our subconscious attitudes towards minority equality and immigration may not be what we think it is. It's time for tolerance and unity!

This book is also available in eBook and mp3, and downloading audio books is a great alternative to the daily radio stations on your commute to work or during your everyday routines.

My First Blog!

While either my blogging adventures will become a steadfast hobby or a passing phase, I'm excited to write my first real blog!

The vast multitude of blogs available out there both intimidates me and encourages me to blog as well, as I feel I have gained so much insight and simple pleasure from reading the blogs of complete strangers. While some bloggers out there have a natural talent at writing witty and thoughtful blogs, some are downright boring and egocentric. While I don't consider my life to be anything more than ordinary, I do feel that I have learned quite a lot about a multitude of random skills and dabbled in many hobbies in my adult life that warrants a little bit of sharing with anyone interested. With that, I humbly aspire to entertain or enhance the pursuit of anyone out there like me. Anyone that finds almost any hobby enticing and any project a challenge, rather than a chore, might find some encouragement or inspiration from one average girl's attempts to tackle both hobbies and do-it-yourself projects with determination and curiosity.

In any case, I might even learn something from those of you out there, so I've only to gain from my blogging experience. Can't wait!