White explosion and culinary experiments

Hot, +27 C and sunny from Friday to Sunday evening:) 
Apple and cherry trees, together with some bushes had exploded into white blossom. The air was perfumed with the flowers of prunus padus (tuomi) and spiraea Grefsheim (norjanangervo).  This was the weekend to buy summer flowers. That was task number 1. The second task for this weekend was to try some recipes of Mindy Fox’s  salad book (Salads: beyond the bowl) that I bought in Francis F. Coppola winery  and shop in California, close to Napa valley.

We made Mexican-spiced pork on the grill with chunky guacamole and frisee and cucumber salad on Friday evening, straight from the book. Guacamole was hot (with 2 large jalepeno chiles) and plenty of cilantro. Yum!  Succeeded very well.

On Saturday, we drove to Dragsfjärd to buy flowers at Söderlångvik mansion. They have large greenhouses full of marvellous flowers. They also grow tomatoes and apples. This year they had less choice than last year, however, after stopping at each greenhouse on the way back, we managed to get all the flowers needed for seven long flowerpots and some other plants as well.

 Before planting them, I mixed the charmoula sauce for the chicken marinade. I picked recipe also from Mindy’s salad book. It is a North African fragrant sauce with zested lemon, garlic, cilantro and other spices. I used it as a marinade and it was excellent with grilled chicken thighs.

 

Charmoula sauce:

• 2 large lemons, zest one lemon and take the juice of 2 lemons
• 1 dl chopped cilantro
• 2 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• Fine sea salt
• ¾ teaspoon cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon turmeric

Mix all ingredients in a blender and marinate the chicken thighs 2-3 hours, then grill them 15 minutes. JD is our grill master and knows the exact minutes and heat required, I would probably burn the meat or cook it too long.

We had ice-cold Prosecco from the freezer as an aperitive, and Portuguese red wine Tiempo Briego from Douro valley and it was a bit peppery and in that sense a good companion to the spicy food.

Our culinary experiments will continue with Mindy’s recipes, I can recommend!

Thousand shades of green

Summer came early,  already in mid May, at least for one weekend. 24 degrees Celsius in Finland is considered heat.  That was nice continuation to our 9-day holiday in California where the temperature was 26. I still miss the palm trees and turquoise Pacific... A weekend in Kemiö was great, too. The garden and fields were dominated by green - all shades of it. The leaves appeared in a couple of days to most trees, except for oak, cherry and apple trees.

Swallows had arrived and they were busy making their nests under our jetty, as every summer.  The seagulls had finally understood to build their nest elsewhere than on top of our jetty.

The sudden heat made berry bushes to blossom, although apple and cherry trees were still waiting for more warmer days (or nights).  I am happy that the plum trees which I brought ten years ago as 50 cm saplings from my mother’s garden in Turku were now in full blossom. They have found their new home in our garden.

The composting equipment we bought last summer did their job. I distributed some compost soil to the flower benches. Butterflies, such as brimstones and swallowtails, were also busy flying around the flowers. 

The sun was so strong that we had to stay in the shadow in the hottest hours. It was lovely to take a book and read - I'm in the middle of John Grisham's Sycamore Row and it's exciting.

The herbarium  was already pushing the first edible greens: lovage, thyme and chives. I made an omelette for our Sunday breakfast seasoned with plenty of chives and some basil. Rhubarb had grown a lot since our last visit almost three weeks ago. They are best at early summer, and next weekend I’ll make a dessert from rhubarb.

 

Dirty job – but had to be done

Anemone nemorosa

Marvelous Easter weather, all sunny and warm with some 20 degrees. Time to put on shorts and sandals and watch how the nature is waking up. Beautiful!

However, there was one evil disturbing our long weekend in our paradise – a nest of snakes under our patio. 

On Sunday morning, when I went out to hang some laundry, I heard a rustle of leaves on our patio, and saw an amazing view: two large black and white zigzag-patterned vipers (Vipera berus, a venomous snake), intertwined, raising from the leaves. They were mating. Vow!

I ran inside to get my camera and tell JD. When I came back they were still there, lying, so that I got some pictures. JD came with two spades as weapons. We have not seen vipers in our yard close to the house so far, but our principle is that any snake coming into the house or the patio will be killed. We have four small kids in the family and don’t want any poisonous creatures hanging around!

So JD hit the bigger snake with the spade and nailed it, then I kept the spade steady, so that he could cut the head of the snake with the other spade. We saw one tail disappearing, and thought that the other snake escaped. After the dirty work we buried the snake and went inside. I googled vipers and learned that the female can be up to 80 cm and male 60 cm. The snake we killed (first) was 80 cm and so a female.

I went out again, to hang the laundry, and noticed that the other viper had returned on the patio.  I run quickly inside to tell JD, and pick my camera again. The spades were close by, and we got the male killed as well. This time I had to cut the head while JD was holding it with a spade. It was not nice, I can tell, but I felt that it is better than have 20 young little snakes around next summer from this couple. So, two vipers buried the same day.

We were so exhausted from the sun, garden work and battle with snakes that we didn’t want to cook anything. JD fetched pizzas from Taalintehdas, restaurant Portside. They make the best pizzas on the island.

Next morning, I said as a joke to JD that I go out to see some snakes. That said, I took three steps outside and saw a viper, again, on the patio. My eyes are so used to scanning these creatures that I see them all.

This was smaller than the previous two and brownish. While we were killing this one, I saw a big black snake lying a couple of meters away from us. The smaller one was a male and the big one, again some 80 cm, must have been the female, lying there after mating. We nailed that one, too. It was hissing. Disgusting, yäk!

So, there was a nest of vipers under the patio. We killed four of them, and probably some of them managed to escape, or are still there, enjoying the lizards and mice that also like to stay there. It will be an exciting summer ahead. 

Defending territory against seagulls

We arrived at the island on a sunny Friday evening, there were three of us: JD, my youngest son who is a law student and had a spring break and I. The weather looked nice and warm, the sea was brillant, but the wind was icy.

I didn't have to cook dinner, as JD had brought sushi from Helsinki. And then we had mämmi for dessert. A great combination:)

The sun, lack of snow and some plus-degrees had made the first flowers of spring, anemone hepaticas blossom a couple of weeks earlier than normally. Beautiful blue flowers.

And the early birds – seagulls and Eurasian skylarks had arrived, too. They say that it’s one month left to the summer when you see skylarks.


When I was sitting on the bench on our jetty, a seagull tried to scare me out of its territory. Every year, a seagull builds its nest on our jetty, and that’s not a good idea, we need to destroy the nest. Funny, that they never learn. This time I tried to warn him early enough, waving on the jetty with a red cap on - trying to show him that this is our territory. Let's see next weekend if I succeeded.

As the sunny weather continued on Saturday (with cool wind), it was time for me to start garden work. I am the only one who likes gardening in this family, and I enjoy the physical exercise and being out-of-doors as much as possible. JD stayed inside surfing car models and my son was in the basement playing horror games with virtual friends.

We had hired a local man to cut trees last autumn, and he had burned the smaller branches in the garden. So there was a big pile of wood ash. I’ve heard that ash is good fertilizer. So I shoveled ash under black-currant, red-currant and gooseberry bushes, apple trees and a flower bench. Let’s see how this magic works… I also raked dead leaves, so that after a couple of hours in the garden I felt like having been in a gym. The rest of the day I was lazy, sitting in the sun, and even took a nap inside.

Sunday was rainy, doing good to the garden. I was mostly inside, and made meat-macaroni casserole (lihamakaronilaatikko) in the old style for my boys.

The first sun beams and visitors

It seems that the winter is over – before it really started. A sunny weekend with +7 degrees C attracted more folks to the house. Hank and Angie, 7-year old Sam and his father were already there heating the hot tub when we arrived on Saturday. 

I spent the afternoon raking up twigs and leaves, picking the earlier cut shoots under the apple trees and enjoying the sun after several months of darkness. The sea was already open and a couple of swans were swimming there as in summer.

Boys and their toys

The boys (over 30 years old) took their scooters out of the garage and took a ride. Little Sam practiced with his new kid-size ATV, all-terrain vehicle or four-wheeler. It didn’t take long until he knew how to use it and the three boys went driving a small country road behind the house. I was horrified, but amazingly Sam was in control of the vehicle and he was so thrilled! The kid is not yet at school.

Organic moose dinner

We had 2.5 kg minced moose meat, unfortunately it was bought as frozen and not from my brother who is a hunter. He lives in the center of Finland, and we don't see each other very often. When we visited him once in the autumn, we saw a recently shot moose hanging there. It's a big animal!!

So we decided to prepare an easy dinner that everyone will love:  mooseburgers with mashed potatoes, hot truffle sauce and cold lingonberry sauce. This food is 100 % domestic (if you don’t count the truffles and black pepper), and made mostly of local ingredients and fully organic.

Truffle sauce:

• 1 liter Puljonki’s  ready-made truffle sauce
• 2 dl cream

Pour the sauce in a kettle and add 2 dl cream, stir and let it simmer.

Cold lingonberry sauce:

• 1 liter frozen lingonberries, self picked if possible
• 1 dl sugar

Cook the frozen lingonberries with sugar and let it cool. This is far better than the jelly at food stores as they contain 50% or more sugar.

Mooseburgers (for 10-12 persons):

• 2.5 kg minced moose meat
• 2 dl breadcrumbs
• 5 dl cream
• 4 eggs
• 2 table spoonfuls of thyme
• Black pepper, salt
• Melted butter

Mix the meat well with all the ingredients and let it rest an hour in the fridge. Then make burgers on two large oven pans, spread some melted butter on top of them and cook in the oven 20 minutes in 200 degrees. Meanwhile prepare the mashed potatoes. If you want to save time and have it easy, use 4 bags of frozen Oolannin luomumuusi.

Hot party

After dinner, there was quite a party outside in the dark, in the hot tub. After several hours of heating the tub, the water stayed one hour around 37 degrees. And that's how long they stayed there.

JD and I were offered a slot before the youngsters, but we preferred the normal sauna party.

On Sunday, it was sunny again! The garden was shouting for attention, and I tried to do my best. However, after two hours sweating we had to leave. 

Reindeer feast

A peaceful weekend with just the two of us in the big house. It's a good reason to celebrate it with a good dinner.

We use to buy half a reindeer every now and then from JD’s friend in Lapland. It has been cut to pieces and besides the rump and good steak, there’s also plenty of bones and pieces with little meat. We had a big bag of those bones in our freezer. This Saturday it was time to make a stew out of those bones. I also found one tin of lobster meat in the freezer, so that was to serve as a starter in our feast.

I put the reindeer bones and meat in a big oven-proof steel pan, added water, black pepper, crushed juniper berries and bay leaves, and let it cook 5 hours in 170 degrees C in the oven. Easy, just added water a couple of times.  This is real slow food, the longer it cooks the better.

Meanwhile, I went outside to cut the new shoots of the apple trees. It was strange to do it without any snow, normally it’s done in March and there’s half a meter snow. The apple trees are very old, so they have thousands of new shoots and most of them were too high to reach even with a good Fiskars tool.

After a couple of hours with the apple trees, my neck was hurting, and I put the sauna on (electric sauna inside the house which takes one hour to heat, we don't use the beach sauna at winter time) and continued preparations for dinner. 

JD opened a wine bottle to give it some air. The Italian Regolo wine from Verona region is a nice full-bodied red wine and not too expensive. We bought it in Helsinki, as in winter time the selection in the Kemiö Alko is not so good. In summertime they will add your favorites in their selection, if you ask.

I cut three carrots, a piece of celery and Swedish turnip into small cubes and peeled some potatoes. We bought these organic grown root vegetables in Perniö K-market, as they have a good selection of local products and they are very tasty.

I sautéed the root vegetables in a cast iron pan on the stove to get some color and taste, added leek, potatoes and stock from the reindeer, and let them simmer half an hour and then put the pan aside to wait for the final stage.

After the sauna, the reindeer meat was tender and could be separated from the bones. It’s easiest to pull the meat by hand. I put the meat on top of the root vegetables in the cast iron pan, added some stock and salt, and heated the pan again. Ready! It took only six hours to get this done.

Then we sat down to enjoy the dinner. Toast with Canadian lobster, Lappish reindeer stew, Italian wine and fresh strawberries from Spain.  Not so sustainable… but the root vegetables were local. And we will eat the stew on Sunday as well.

Misty day, abandoned beauties

This time in February there’s always been snow, thick ice on the sea and real winter feeling.  But not this year. I went for my usual 5 km round with Nordic walking (= sticks), spikes in the shoes to avoid falling on icy road. You could hardly see 50 meters ahead, and you better stay on the road. 

The ice is too dangerous on the sea.

There are a couple of old small houses nicely renovated for weekend and summer use on the way. 

But this abandoned house is still waiting for someone to find its hidden beauty. He/She who fells in love with this must have a big bunch of money and patience for renovation. Anyhow, I believe that it could still be saved. There’s one old and quite big house being renovated close by, along the same road, which was in a much better condition, but its renovation has lasted already ten years. And it's no yet ready.

I found another abandoned beauty in our house in a room where I keep some plants and flowers over the winter, to move them outside in the spring as soon as the temperature allows. There was my 6-years old orchidé in full blossom. This is amazing, it never stops flowering. It was outside the whole summer, in full blossom, and then I thought it will take some rest, inside at a window, but alone without much water or care, but on the contrary – it has more flowers than ever. And this plant has never got any nutrients.

Before putting the sauna on, I made a marinade for our chicken thighs:

• 1 kg chicken thighs (with a small bone, ask your butcher to cut them, you cannot find this in supermarkets in Finland)
•  2 rawit chilis (quite hot)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 3 cm ginger
• Sesame oil, sunflower oil
• Light soy sauce

After the sauna, I put the thighs in 250 degrees C oven for 10 minutes and reduced the heat to 180 for the next 30 minutes.  I added some pieces of sweet pepper on the pan with the chicken thighs and once they were ready, cooked rice.    

This simple meal would have been enough dinner for me, but my dear JD wanted to have tarte tatin, which I made with Sikke Sumari’s recipe. And then we enjoyed all this, watching tv, and drinking Amarone. It was actually too good wine to drink with spicy Asian food, but the only wine there was left. The second glass was great. Then when Jimi Hendrix documentary film was going on, we both fell asleep in the arm chairs...