Photographing Snowflakes And A Variety of Sweet And Spicy Bites for Morning Tea In February

Because of all the snow we have had, sooner or later, we were going to start photographing snowflakes. Easier said than done and most of our efforts ended up being deleted. We got these little flakes on an old pipe near home and also some on our windscreen but nothing really impressive.

 

So we started a little research project to satisfy our curiosity about how to photograph snowflakes. Very soon Paul came home with a wonderful book full of photos of snowflakes, called - The Snowflake: Winter’s Secret Beauty. That led us to the the author's wonderful website: SnowCrystals.com. It is an interesting site not only featuring a gallery of beautiful snow photos like this one,

But also features videos showing how snowflakes form or grow. Much like little plants, adding more branches as they get bigger.

The site features interesting facts about snow, how snowflakes form, equipment required and how to photograph snowflakes and grow your own etc, etc. If it wasn’t for the fact that we were returning to the southern hemisphere before the year end, we would have been as busy as beavers building the gear (plans also on the site) needed to do the pictures.

Currently on the menu at the cafés in Finland - Runebergintorttu. Little cakes named after the Finnish poet Johan Ludwig Runeberg. A poem by Runeberg called Maamme (Our land) became the Finnish national anthem. Apparently the gentleman used to have breakfast consisting of a glass of schnapps and a small cylindrical dry cake with a drop of jam on top in a café in his hometown every morning. These cakes appear on the menu from the beginning of February to celebrate the poet’s birthday on February 5th. They contain almonds and rum with a dollop of rasberry jam surrounded by a ring of almond flavoured icing on top.

Also on the menus are Laskiaispulla - soft cardamom buns filled with almond paste or raspberry jam and whipped cream. Traditionally they are/were served on Fat Tuesday but seem to be available all month. Well, after a good few weeks of tucking into all of the above, I think Fat Tuesday could not have been more appropriately named.

Not wanting to bake what every bakery and Finnish housewife was baking this month, I made an unusual cake that combines lemon and coriander with dried figs and walnuts. It is a moist and flavourful cake and the coriander and lemon makes for a delightful surprise on the tastebuds. I do prefer dark cakes and breads with lots of flavour/spice and texture. This is one of them.

Fig and Coriander Cake with Lemon Syrup

For the Cake:
330ml Unbleached Cake Flour

120g Soft Butter

200ml Soft Dark Brown Sugar

2 Large Eggs

10 ml Baking Powder

5 ml Ground Coriander

Pinch Salt

Grated Zest of a large Lemon

125ml Buttermilk

200g Soft Figs, chopped

100ml Dark Port

½ Cup Walnuts, chopped

For the Syrup:

100ml Lemon Juice

Cut some slivers of peel from the lemon and chop into fine strips

15ml Dark Brown Sugar

60ml Honey

30ml Raw Sugar

10ml Whole Coriander Seeds, bruised in a mortar

Soak the chopped figs in the port overnight.

• Prepare a 19cm ring pan – butter and lightly flour.
• Preheat the oven to 200 C.
• Beat the butter and brown sugar till fluffy.
• Add the eggs one by one, continue beating.
• Then add the lemon zest, nuts and figs together with the soaking liquid.
• Sift together the dry ingredients.
• Add the butter mixture and buttermilk to the flour and mix through.
• Ladle into the ring pan and level the top with a spatula.
• Place in the oven and turn the heat down to 180 C.
• Bake for 30 minutes – cover the top with foil when it gets brown.
• Turn the heat down to 160 or 170 C and bake for a further 30 minutes.
• Test and take out of the oven if ready.

Combine the ingredients for the syrup and boil for 2 minutes.

Turn out the cake on a cake rack or plate and ladle the hot syrup over it with a spoon.

Let it cool before serving – it hardly needs much more that a little cream.

The flavours will develop overnight and it will taste even better the following day.

I also love fiery hot food. Watch this space.

A Few More Weeks Of Winter Fun And Other Favourites

Following a huge snowstorm in Lapland yesterday, it has been bitterly cold with most day temperatures dipping well below –10 C. We have also had more snow and that means that the endless groomed hiking and skiing trails remain in good condition, and we can ski for miles and miles on the rivers and bay. All the soccer fields at the schools are now ice-hockey rinks. The two ice-breaker ships in the harbour, Sisu and Kontiu, are kept busy to keep channels open for the ferries and shipping. Skiing north along the Vantaa river, you get to a warm water outlet near Tuomarinkartano. It is the only place along the river that is not frozen and all the local ducks gather there to spend the winter.

It can be uncomfortable to go out hiking when the temperature is dipping to –16C during the day. But skiing gets the blood pumping and fifteen minutes later, when you are surrounded by the beautiful white landscape, you cannot imagine having considered staying indoors all day. Out on the trail during the day, I keep running into small groups of kids or classes having skiing lessons. School in Finland seems to be a lot more fun than I can remember from my own primary school days. The pre-schoolers, in their down jumpsuits, look like colourful little puffballs rolling around the snow. And this little class of skiers were being encouraged to fall into line by their teachers after much hilarity trying to push each other off balance and then making snow angels.

Of course, the reward of having a mug of hot chocolate after every outdoor session, is irresistible and it just does not taste the same if you have not worked up the thirst for it outside. And if the old muscles are aching a bit, add a slosh of mint liqueur to the choccy. Don’t be stingy with the liqueur. It has remarkable medicinal qualities.

If you really cannot bear to ski another meter, then head into Helsinki City to the Pablo Exhibition at the Ateneum Art Museum. Pablo Picasso is without doubt my favourite artist and this exhibition is the biggest exhibition of Picasso’s art I have seen. It covers works from his whole lifetime and include drawings, paintings and sculptures. At the same time, an exhibition called In the Spirit of Picasso showcases the work of Finnish artists inspired by Picasso. Feeling revived from the exhibition (and yet another hot choccy - this time with whipped cream) you can cross the road and go skating in the square in front of the National Theatre of Finland.

This last week I baked my favourite loaf, again. It is a very tasty bread that lends itself equally well to be eaten with a strong cheddar, sweet preserves or just some good organic, salty butter. The recipe include toasted barley flour, cooked rice and some dried fruit, which I vary according to my taste or the stocks in my pantry at the time. The bread rises only once and is therefore also a relatively quick bake. Recently I’ve discovered some beautiful organic black rice in a local store and have been using it for everything from risotto to my favourite loaf.

Toasted Barley, Rice and Whole-Wheat Bread with Dried Fruit

Firstly, toast a half cup full of barley flour in a hot oven till just golden and it releases its flavour. Set aside to cool.

30g Fresh Yeast or 20g Dry Yeast

1 ½ Cups Lukewarm Water

1 Tablespoon Dark Brown Sugar

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon Malt Vinegar

2/3 Cup Brown Rice – cooked

1 Cup Bread Flour

2 – 3 Cups Whole-wheat Flour

Dried fruit mix:

½ Cup each of Unbleached Sultanas and Currents, or

½ Cup each of chopped Dried Figs and Dates

- Add yeast to the lukewarm water and let it stand a few minutes till it starts to froth

- Mix the toasted Barley Flour, Bread Flour, cooked Rice, 1 Cup Whole-wheat Flour, Salt and Dried Fruits.

- Add the Oil, Sugar and Vinegar to the Yeast mix

- Add the Yeast mixture to the Flour mixture and stir or beat well.

- Then add the rest of the Whole-wheat Flour a half cup at a time till the dough is too stiff to stir.

- Gently knead the dough adding enough flour to make a firm but elastic dough.

- Form into a round loaf or put in a bread baking tin and cover with a damp teatowel.

- Let it rise till almost double its size

- Preheat your oven to 220 C

- Bake for 10 minutes, turn the oven down to 180 C and bake approximately another 20 minutes. Cover with foil if the top gets too brown.

- When the bread sounds hollow when tapped, remove from the oven and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.

It is a fairly dense, chewy but very tasty loaf full of texture. I am not aware of anyone who has ever been able to have only one slice.

Twelfth Night, Winter Sculptures And Teriyaki Deer Steak

The Twelfth Night or Epiphany holiday, last Wednesday, marked the end of the holiday season and the xmas trees all came down. Last year the holiday was sunny and the frozen bay was filled with ice skaters, hikers, skiers and ice fishermen. But this year it was a grim, grey and very cold day and fewer people about, so we went and had open shrimp sandwiches at Café Ursula on the shorefront by Kaivopuisto Park.

The Sibelius monument is, for obvious reasons, one of the most visited tourist spots in Helsinki. Which is why it took us so long to get there. In summer, tourists flock to the monument, making photography difficult. In addition, you always see pictures of this particular monument taken in summer. Well, Sibelius really loved the Finnish landscape, as is evident from his music and the landscape here is covered in snow for a large part of the season. So I went back there this week to take my pictures during, what is in my opinion, the most suitable time to view the monument and reflect on the man and his music. I was not alone in my way of thinking, because as I walked away, two tour buses arrived putting an end to a quiet photo session.

It led me to look at my photos of other sculptures and structures during wintertime. Across the road from our apartment is a large centre that not only houses some cafes, interesting home and art shops, a public library and the Arabia Ceramics outlet, but also Helsinki University’s department of Art and Design. Apart from some interesting facades and wall paintings, there is a large sculpture outside which I caught on camera just after the first light snows of the season last November.

And, continuing on the automotive theme, these large calves, made from old car parts, stand next to the ramp that leads onto a major road around the city. Having taken a picture during late summer, I went back and took its winter twin and put the two together.

I am currently very much into cooking game. Previously I had some fun with pheasant and just recently, good quality Deer Steaks has been on sale at very tempting prices. So I stocked the freezer with a few portions. Surprisingly enough, these steaks are imported from New Zealand and, sometimes seem to be more easily available as well as cheaper than New Zealand lamb?! I made Teriyaki Deer Steak, sort of. Purists may not recognise my recipe as an authentic Teriyaki sauce, but it tastes delicious.

Trying To Be Teriyaki - Deer Steak

Firstly, marinate the game meat in buttermilk or yoghurt overnight. It will tenderise the meat and improve its taste.

The next day, take the meat out of the buttermilk and rinse well. Pat dry with paper towels and prick all over with a fork.

Make a teriyaki sauce as follows (enough for 250g steak).

Mix together the following:

½ Cup of Light Soy Sauce

¼ Cup of Rice Wine Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Dark Brown Sugar

Juice of a Small Can of Pineapple Rings

Then coarsely grate 50g of Fresh Ginger Root. Pack the ginger in a garlic press and squeeze the juice into the sauce mix.

Cover the meat with half the sauce and marinate for at least 1 hour.

(And the very long word just below the picture simply means Deer Steak)

Mix 5ml of cornstarch with 10ml cold water and add to the remaining teriyaki sauce.

Boil the sauce for a few minutes and set aside.

In the meantime, prepare the garnish:
Toast some sesame seeds in a dry pan and chop some chives.

When you are ready to cook the meat, heat a little sesame or olive oil in a pan.

Take the meat out of the marinade and pat dry. Discard the marinade.

Sear and fry the meat till done.

Once cooked, add a few teaspoons of the teriyaki sauce to glaze the meat in the pan.

Let the meat rest a few minutes (while frying the pineapple rings).
Slice the meat and put on a plate.

Spoon over some sauce and garnish with chopped chives and some sesame seeds.

Enjoy, then hit the ski trails.