Juhhei! I'm a 2007 Food Blog Awards finalist!

I've just read over at Wellfed Network that Nami-nami is one of the five finalists in the RURAL category of the 2007 Food Blog Awards. How exciting and what an honour!



I must admit that I was a wee bit baffled at first, as I consider myself a 100% city girl. But then I guess my frequent mushroom forageing trips (for saffron milkcaps, yellow morels and others), my proud and fruitful forest berry picking missions (lingonberries, bog bilberries, wild strawberries, cranberries, cloudberries - all regulars in our kitchen in one form or another) and general exploratory-culinary use of wild plants (making meadowsweet cordial, enjoying nettle soup, experimenting with ground elder pie, dressing up dandelion leaves and adding chopped wild garlic leaves to salads, drinking freshly collected maple sap and sweetening my tea with either dandelion 'honey' made of dandelion blossoms or flowering quince extract), not to forget my exciting encounter with these chicks (you can see more chicken photos here) - do give my blog and my cooking a slightly rural slant :)



It's a tough competition - I'm running against very strong (and rural:) Susan (Farmgirl Fare, who won the category last year) and Ilva (Lucullian Delights, also a finalist last year). In any case, I'm thrilled and pleased to have been nominated in the first place! I am very pleased to see many of my favourite foodbloggers as finalists in other categories - there's David Lebovitz running for Best Food Blog (Chef) category, Food Blogga's Susan for Best Food Blog (New) category, Bea, Matt and Meeta (how can one possibly choose between them???) for Best Food Blog (Photography), Susan (again!) and Molly for Best Food Blog (Post), Jeanne in Best Food Blog (Writing), and Heidi, Bea and Ilva in Food Blog of the Year category. I'm sad my blogging buddies Johanna, Melissa, Kalyn, Nicky and Alanna didn't end up in the finals, but then there's always next year :)



In any case, you can go and cast your vote until Friday, December 14th. For rural category, click here, for all other categories, see here.

A recipe for meekook aka Estonian honey cake

Here's my entry for the 10th installment of Waiter, there is something in my ... (WTISIM) foodblogging event, a brainchild of three fabulous British foodbloggers Johanna, Jeanne and Andrew. This month's edition is hosted by Andrew, who has asked us to send in our recipes for LAYERED CAKES. I decided to try meekook or a layered honey cake that is available in most cake shops and is a popular birthday table option. It consists of six thin cake layers and six simple sweetened sour cream layers. Our layers were slightly thicker than we expected them to be, but the taste was exactly right.

Enjoy!

MEEKOOK aka Estonian Honey Cake*
(Meetort)
Serves 12-16
Source: Koogiraamat (Lia Virkus & Angeelika Kang), 100 Rooga

* I have a confession to make. The cake I'm shamelessly submitting to the WTISIM Layered Cake was made from beginning until the end by my dear K. You see, I had chosen the recipe and had all intentions to make it on Saturday (i.e. this) morning. But then I stayed in bed for too long, and had to rush to my penultimate photography course session at noon. We had invited K's mum for dinner tonight, and the cake had to 'rest' in a fridge for a few hours, so he had to make it himself or we'd have no cake. I must admit I was glancing at my mobile phone every now, half expecting him to call and say that he messed up, but he didn't call. And he produced a lovely cake, don't you think :)



Honey cake layers:
3 Tbsp honey

250 ml caster sugar (1 cup)
3 large eggs
2 tsp baking soda/bicarbonate of soda
360 g plain flour (600 ml)

Between layers:
1 kg sour cream
85 g caster sugar (100 ml)

Whisk eggs until pale and thick.
Heat honey and sugar in a large saucepan. When it's about to boil, remove from the heat and add the whisked eggs, stirring until combined. Add baking soda and stir again.
Add flour gradually, mixing until combined. Put aside to cool.
Divide the dough into six equal parts (it's easiest to do it by rolling it into a cylinder and then cutting into six pieces).
Take six sheets of baking/parchment paper, dust very slightly with flour.
On a slightly floured parchment paper, form each piece of dough into a ball and then roll out into a 24 cm circles.
Bake one dough circle at the time for 5 minutes in the middle of a 225 C oven until dark golden. Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking paper.
Mix sour cream and sugar.
Layer five baked circles with the sour cream on a cake stand, covering also the top cake circle.
Crush the sixth cake circle in a food processor and sprinkle on the top layer of sour cream.
Place into the fridge for 6 hours or overnight.

Here are links to my previous Waiter there is something in my ... entries:
September 2007 (SAVOURY PRESERVE): Gooseberry Chutney
August 2007 (MEATLESS BBQ): Roasted onions with blue cheese.
July 2007 (SAUCES): Munakaste alias my grandma Senta's egg & smoked ham sauce.
June 2007 (DUMPLINGS): Vareniki dumplings with curd cheese filling, served with home-made apricot jam & pistachios.
May 2007 (STUFFED VEGETABLES): Stuffed tomatoes with two types of salad - cod liver salad & cucumber and wild garlic salad.
April 2007 (BREAD): a traditional Estonian quick mushroom bread, Seenekarask.
March 2007 (EASTER BASKET): a selection of various Easter delights.
February 2007 (PIE): a great Russian puff pastry and fish pie, Salmon Kulebyaka.
January 2007 (STEW): my version (in collaboration with Anthony Bourdain:) of the French classic Boeuf Bourguignon.

Waiter, there is something in my ... roasted onions with blue cheese

Indeed. Who would have thought that the Reigning Queen of Braai, Jeanne of Cook Sister, would choose a meatless barbecue for the 8th round of Waiter, there is something in my ... foodblogging event? But meatless she chose, and I'm happy to oblige. Although we're by no means vegetarian, we don't eat much meat in our house. If faced with a rich meaty stew and a slightly lighter vegetable stew, we'd most likely opt for the later..

I decided to roast some onions. My logic was following: if my vegetable dish was to have any chances against all the roasted, grilled and barbecued meat at the braai or grilliõhtu, then it needed to be strong and bold and flavoursome. A combination of roasted onions and my current favourite blue cheese (yes, I am still raving about the Finnish Valio Aura blue cheese), and some potent herbs - thyme and savoury - would be surely shining. The onions (the white ones are famous local Peipsi sibulad or from the traditional onion-growing areas alongside Lake Peipus, the fifth-largest lake in Europe) sweeten up while roasting, nicely complemented by the potent cheese. I used thyme for red onions and savory for white onions, but I don't think there're hard rules for that..

Enjoy!

Roasted onions with blue cheese
(Röstitud sibulad sinihallitusjuustuga)



Onions, medium-sized
Blue cheese (I used Valio Aura)
Fresh thyme or savory

Peel the onions, cut off a small slice from the top & bottom and then cut in half cross-wise. Place onion halves on a piece of foil, cover with a slice of blue cheese and some herbs.
Fold into parcels, so the steam wouldn't escape, and cook on your BBQ for about 20-25 minutes, until onions are softened and cheese melted.
Alternatively, roast in a very hot oven (say 250 C) instead.



Serve as an accompaniment to grilled meat, or on its own with chunks of good bread.

Here are links to my previous Waiter there is something in my ... entries:
July 2008 (SAUCES): Munakaste alias my grandma Senta's egg & smoked ham sauce.
June 2007 (DUMPLINGS): Vareniki dumplings with curd cheese filling, served with home-made apricot jam & pistachios.
May 2007 (STUFFED VEGETABLES): Stuffed tomatoes with two types of salad - cod liver salad & cucumber and wild garlic salad.
April 2007 (BREAD): a traditional Estonian quick mushroom bread, Seenekarask.
March 2007 (EASTER BASKET): a selection of various Easter delights.
February 2007 (PIE): a great Russian puff pastry and fish pie, Salmon Kulebyaka.
January 2007 (STEW): my version (in collaboration with Anthony Bourdain:) of the French classic Boeuf Bourguignon.

Estonian desserts: KAMA, the modern-traditional way

UPDATE 1.9.2007: You can read Johanna's round-up here!

My dear blog friend Johanna is hosting the latest round of Sugar High Friday, and the theme is local specialities. There are plenty of typical Estonian cakes and desserts I could write about, but considering that I have recently posted kama promotion packs* to some lovely bloggers across the world, I thought it would be appropriate to give the recipients some tips for using that funny Estonian roasted meal mixture consisting of boiled, roasted and ground peas, rye, barley and wheat. I've written thoroughly about kama here, and shared recipes for kama mousse with season's berries, and boozy kama & mascarpone truffles before. I think it's time to move on and give you the recipe for the authentic way of eating kama.

Well, semi-authentic. Adding sugar to kama is a 20th century thing. The really 'authentic' way of eating kama would be without sugar and accompanied with bread and salted sprats, or perhaps humble sandwiches. That's not how most Estonians think of kama nowadays, however, to whom kama drink as described below is more familiar and rather popular summer fare..

I understand it's tricky to replicate, as you need both a kama mixture and a fermented milk product (kefir or buttermilk or sour milk) for making this, both of which aren't so easily available. I guess thin plain drinking yogurt would work, too.

Kama, the traditional Estonian summer drink/dessert
(Kama, traditsioonilisel moel)
Serves 1



250 ml kefir, sour milk or buttermilk
2 Tbsp kama mixture
2 Tbsp sugar
a pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients, let stand in the fridge for 10 minutes, then garnish with berries (I've used Alpine strawberries from my container garden), bilberry syrup (see photo here) or go all modern with a drizzle of chocolate sauce (top).

Serve. Kama can either be eaten with a small spoon, or drunk straight from the cup. Use more or less kama mixture, depending on your preferences.

* Kama Promotion Packs consist of a 400 g packet of kama flour, a bag of kama breakfast cereal, a bar of kama 'chocolate' and a packet of kama 'Tootsie rolls'. Contact me if you're interested in trying it - I'm happy to send it to you, though I've decided to charge P&P from now on.

Waiter, there is something in my ... munakaste alias Estonian egg & smoked ham sauce

UPDATE 10.8.2007 - you can read Andrew's saucy sauce round-up here.

For the seventh (already??) installment of Waiter, there is something in my ... foodblogging event, Andrew has chosen SAUCE as the theme. And there's a catch, you see. Andrew wrote:

"A wide open theme I hope you agree. Plenty of room for experimentation, family favourites and the tried and tested. You can use fruit. You can use meat. You can serve it over meringue or pasta or even splash it over a chunk of juicy steak. They can be tart and fruity or mellow and creamy. It can be ethnically Estonian or lip-smackingly Kiwi; 'Sauces' - versatile and delicious. What can you come up with?"

You see, he has specifically mentioned that the sauce can be ethnically Estonian. How could I be expected to make anything else then? I mean, coming up with a delicious Caribbean rum sauce or a classic French velouté would be bound to disappoint Andrew, don't you think? I therefore present you with a truly 'ethnically Estonian sauce' - munakaste. Munakaste translates egg sauce, it reminds me of very smooth and fluffy scrambled eggs. It is usually served with boiled new potatoes and rye bread. Although I remember eating it a lot as a kid, there has been a certain absence of it from my kitchen for the last few (oh well, maybe even ten?) years. And suddenly, out of the blue, I had started developing cravings for this eggy sauce. In mid-June I had some delicious munakaste at my high-school reunion weekend away (15 years!?), and when I saw Andrew's WTISIM call, I knew this is gonna be my entry.

Easier said than done. I couldn't find a suitable recipe for Estonian egg sauce it in any of my cookbooks - and there's many of them! I guess a sauce consisting off eggs & smoked greasy bacon isn't trendy at the moment, and it clashes with some healthy eating guidelines (one recipe for munakaste stated that 'obviously modern women use oil as a basis of the sauce and not smoked fatty ham', which totally misses the point, as it's the smoked ham that gives a wonderful flavour to the sauce). Eventually I called my maternal grandma Senta, who at the respectable age of 86 is a living proof that a diet consisting of frequent munakaste cannot be too bad for you (at least when combined with hard farm labour). This is her version, and mine from now on.

And I hope it's ethnically Estonian enough for Andrew :-)

My grandma Senta's egg & smoked ham sauce
(Munakaste)
Serves 2



1 heaped Tbsp plain flour
2 large eggs
300 ml milk
a pinch of salt
200 grams smoked & salted ham (see here), cut into small cubes
1 medium onion, finely chopped
chopped scallions/green onions

In a small bowl, whisk eggs and flour into a paste. Then add milk, little by little, whisking all the time. Season with salt.
Heat a frying pan or a small non-stick saucepan on a medium-high heat and add the cubed ham. Fry, stirring regularly, for about 5 minutes, until the ham starts to brown and release plenty of grease. Now reduce the heat to medium, add the onions and saute them with ham cubes for about 5 minutes.
Now pour the egg and milk mixture into the saucepan and start stirring the sauce with a wooden spoon, waiting for the sauce to thicken - this could take up to five minutes. It's important to stir all the time, or you'll end up with scrambled eggs, which isn't the same thing at all!
When ready to serve, sprinkle with chopped green onions.
And serve with boiled new potatoes and rye bread, as I said above.

Here are links to my previous Waiter there is something in my ... entries:
June 2007 (DUMPLINGS): Vareniki dumplings with curd cheese filling, served with home-made apricot jam & pistachios.
May 2007 (STUFFED VEGETABLES): Stuffed tomatoes with two types of salad - cod liver salad & cucumber and wild garlic salad.
April 2007 (BREAD): a traditional Estonian quick mushroom bread, Seenekarask.
March 2007 (EASTER BASKET): a selection of various Easter delights.
February 2007 (PIE): a great Russian puff pastry and fish pie, Salmon Kulebyaka.
January 2007 (STEW): my version (in collaboration with Anthony Bourdain:) of the French classic Boeuf Bourguignon.

BLAST FROM THE PAST
Two years ago I wrote about an essential Scottish dessert - Cranachan. Considering that raspberries are in season at the moment in many parts of the world, then this recipe is definitely worth checking out! And who wouldn't like a combination of raspberries, cream and whisky? There's even a delicious porridge version of Cranachan.

SHF # 33: Tropical Paradise and my Caribbean Banana Cake

Mary of Alpineberry is hosting the 33rd round of Sugar High Friday and she has chosen Tropical Paradise as the theme. And voila - I've got a delicious cake recipe I made earlier this year that I've wanted to blog about. I haven't been to the tropics myself (yet), so I don't have a first hand knowledge about the true nature of the tropical paradise, or what would the typical dishes be. But bananas are definitely tropical, and the Finnish recipe I used as a basis for my cake was called Caribbean Banana Cake, so that will have to do.

We loved it. The mixture is not so different from my moist rhubarb muffins, so I bet this recipe would work well as Caribbean banana & ginger muffins, too :)

Caribbean Banana & Ginger Cake
(Kariibi banaanikook)
Adapted from Pirkka 5/2004
Serves 12



3 over-ripe bananas
2 Tbsp lemon juice
200 grams sour cream or yogurt
300 ml sugar
3 eggs
400 ml plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
2 Tbsp Buderim candied ginger nibbles (optional)

Peel bananas and mash bananas with a fork, sprinkle with lemon juice and put aside.
Whisk eggs with sugar until pale and frothy.
Stir in sour cream.
Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger) and fold into the egg mixture together with the banana mush. Stir in candied ginger.
Pour the mixture into a prepared 1.8 litre bundt form and bake at 175 C for about an hour. Test for doneness with a toothpick - it should come out clean and dry.
Cake the tin out of the oven, let it cool for 5-10 minutes, then turn out the cake and cool it completely on a metal rack.
To serve, cut into slices.

Here's a close-up of a slice, where you can see tiny fierce candied ginger pieces:



UPDATE 3.8.2007: Click here for Alpineberry's round-up.

My previous SHF contributions:
# 15 Sugar LOW Friday: Parsnip & Ginger Cake (January 2006)
# 19 Ginger: Chocolate & Ginger Tartlets (May 2006)
# 22 Can You Can? Fake Cloudberry Jam (or gooseberry & carrot jam, if you prefer)(August 2006)
# 24 Little bites of delight: Pierre Herme's chocolate dipped mint leaves, candied orange peel dipped in dark chocolate, chocolate disks infused with chilli syrup and covered with candied red chillies, cranberry and almond macarons (October 2006)
# 25 Truffles: Dark Chocolate & Matcha Truffles (November 2006)

BLAST FROM THE PAST
Two years ago I shared a recipe for salmon with a creamy orange and rosemary sauce - a delicious dish, but the post is definitely in need of a new and proper photo!!!

HHDD # 13: Hibiscus & Strawberry Sorbet

In May I made Strawberries in Hibiscus & Vanilla Syrup, following a recipe from Chez Pim. I loved the dessert - just like Pim said, the hibiscus syrup gave a certain depth, an extra flavour dimension, to strawberries without interfering with the neat strawberry flavour. I also wondered back then, if I could use the strawberry & hibiscus pairing in other desserts, like ice creams or sorbet, for example. But, alas, as I didn't have an ice cream machine, I didn't do any further experiments with flowers (that's what hibiscus is) and berries.

I still don't have an ice cream machine, but will - if everything goes as planned - have one in a fortnight. Yet when I saw that Laura had chosen sorbet for the 13th round of Hay Hay Donna Day (as in Donna Hay, the Australian Kitchen Goddess who publishes impossibly beautiful food magazines), I wanted to take part. It would be a good opportunity to 'try' my sorbet version, and maybe - hsss! hope dies last - winning the top-notch prize in the form of The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz - a book that every foodblogger but me seems to have and enjoy*!!

The hibiscus & strawberry sorbet worked well, and it was definitely worthwhile. While my sorbet isn't as smooth-textured as I would have wanted, it tasted very strawberry-ish, looked much deeper red (and strawberry-ish, again) than it would have looked without the addition of hibiscus flowers. So here I am, pleased to present my hibiscus & strawberry sorbet as my first ever contribution to the Hay Hay Donna Day event! Keep your fingers crossed for me then :)

Hibiscus & Strawberry Sorbet
Based on Donna Hay's basic sorbet recipe and Chez Pim's recipe for Strawberries in Hibiscus & Vanilla Syrup



150 grams caster sugar
300 ml water
2 Tbsp of dried hibiscus flowers or 2 hibiscus tea bags
half a vanilla bean, cut open
750 grams fresh strawberries, pureed and strained
mint leaves to garnish

Bring water to the boil in a small saucepan, remove from the heat, add the tea bags or dried hibiscus flowers and let it infuse for about 15 minutes. Remove the tea bags, or strain the liquid and discard the soaked hibiscus flowers.
Add sugar to hibiscus infusion, place the saucepan over a low heat and stir without boiling until sugar is dissolved.
Increase the heat and bring to the boil for one minute. Stick the vanilla bean into the syrup and set aside to cool.
While the syrup is cooling, puree and strain the strawberries.
Combine the fruit puree and hibiscus-infused sugar syrup (removing the vanilla bean first), place in an ice-cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions.
If you don't have an ice-cream maker, place the fruit and syrup mixture in a metal cake tin, cover and freeze for an hour or until just beginning to set at the edge. Mash thoroughly with a large fork, breaking up the forming ice crystals. Return to the freezer. Repeat three times at hourly intervals or until the sorbet is thick and smooth.

* And a book that I so badly need, considering that I'll finally - after lots of trials - will be a proud owner of an ice cream machine in a week or so :)

BLAST FROM THE PAST
One year ago I wrote how I was having a pint in a pub in Edinburgh with the then President of Estonia (as you regularly do, eh:) Here's the story and a photo to prove it.

Waiter, there is something in my ... dumplings! Curd cheese vareniki with home-made apricot jam

Oh, how time flies. It's already the sixth installment of Waiter, there is something in my ... foodblogging event, this time hosted by Johanna who, very appropriately for an Austrian, has chosen dumplings as a theme. Not any dumplings, but dumplings with filling that have been steamed, boiled or baked (but NOT fried). So dim sum, ravioli and tortellini were ok, but doughnuts, gnocchi or spätzle weren't. My instincts said that my favourite dumplings, pontšikud, wouldn't be ok, as a) they're boiled in oil, which Johanna might interpret as frying, and b) they've got no filling. To be on the safe side, I made a batch of vareniki - a popular boiled dumpling from Ukraine (read more here), stuffed with curd cheese cream and served with home-made apricot jam and pistachios. The name, vareniki, comes from the Russian verb 'to boil', so they're boiled dumplings. To me, they're big Ukrainian cousins of pelmeni, the small meat-filled Russian dumplings that I love. Although vareniki can be savoury, these particular ones are sweet - a lovely combination of vanilla-infused curd cheese filling and just a bit sharp apricot jam and ever-so-slightly crunchy pistachio nuts.

Now, the recipe below will be vague and incomplete - apologies for that. K. made the apricot jam from the Provencal apricots available at the market these days, and he wouldn't share his secret recipe (though I suspect it's something like a scant 250 grams of sugar to 1 kg of pitted apricots, boiled gently for 20 minutes until thickened). I wasn't too happy with the dough recipe, so I'll be working on improving that (it was a bit too tough to my liking, so I'll replace milk with water next time to start with). But you'll get the recipe for the filling, which was great.

Vareniki dumplings with curd cheese filling, served with home-made apricot jam & pistachios
Serves 4



Dough (work in progress):
400 ml plain flour
1 tsp sugar
0.5 tsp salt
1 egg
100 ml milk

Filling:
250 grams quark or curd cheese (press through a sieve, if not smooth)
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg

To serve:
home made apricot jam and pistachio nuts
or
any fruit puree of your choice (strawberry puree would work well)
icing sugar

For the dough, I mixed milk with egg, seasoned with salt & sugar and added the flour, mixing until combined. Then I placed it in the fridge, covered, for about an hour.
For the filling, I simply combined all the ingredients (you could also add raisins or candied ginger or grated lemon zest, if you're so inclined).
To make the vareniki, roll the relaxed dough onto a thin disk (about 3 mm thick), then cut into 8-10 cm circles. Place a tablespoonful of filling into the centre, moisten the edges with water and fold in half, so you'll have half-moon shaped dumplings. Pinch the edge together with a fork.
Place into a freezer for 20-30 minutes (vareniki can be cooked from frozen, so you can leave them in the freezer for longer, if you wish).
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to the boil, add a generous pinch of salt.
Slip the dumplings into the boiling water, 3-5 at the time, depending on the size of your pot.
Boil for about 5 minutes or until the dumplings float (they'll definitely sink in the beginning).
Take out of the water with a slotted spoon, drain on a clean kitchen towel for a moment.
To serve, place on a small plate, spoon the apricot jam on the plate, sprinkle with pistachio nuts and dust with icing sugar.

Here are links to my previous Waiter there is something in my ... entries:
May 2007 (STUFFED VEGETABLES): Stuffed tomatoes with two types of salad - cod liver salad & cucumber and wild garlic salad
April 2007 (BREAD): a traditional Estonian quick mushroom bread, Seenekarask
March 2007 (EASTER BASKET): a selection of various Easter delights.
February 2007 (PIE): a great Russian puff pastry and fish pie, Salmon Kulebyaka.
January 2007 (STEW): my version (in collaboration with Anthony Bourdain:) of the French classic Boeuf Bourguignon.

UPDATE 05.07.2007:
you can read Johanna's round-up of all the different takes - sweet & savoury, familiar & exotic - on dumplings here.

BLAST FROM THE PAST:
A year ago I wrote about the English classic, Bakewell Pudding for Andrew's Blog Save Our Tart event.

I'm a Daring Baker

Yep, I've joined the ranks of the Daring Bakers. Couldn't help it. Back in November 2006 they all made pretzels, in December 2006 tried their luck with biscotti. I noticed them in January 2007, when they all made croissants (What a coincidence, I naively thought, all those bloggers suddenly making croissants. I wonder why?) In February 2007 it was Chocolate Intensity, in March 2007 the Red Velvet Cake. That's when I finally understood what's going on. I followed the evergrowing list of daring bakers replicating Martha Stewart's Chocolate Crepe Cake in April 2007, and the challenging Gateau Saint Honore in May 2007. The idea of everybody following exactly the same recipe and then showing off their more or less successful (usually the former) results became irresistible, and I inquired about the 'club' and was graciously admitted.

Here's a logo for the Daring Bakers - done by the ever-talented Ximena, who's also the author of my new fabulous banner.

May 2007 DMBLGIT award for originality!

Hurray! Just to let you know that this photo of beetroot pickled Easter eggs (eggs & styling by me, shooting by K) won an award for Originality at the May 2007 Does My Blog Look Good In This contest. Thank you, Scott, Trig and other judges, for this great category award. It's an honour to be included in the same post with these other foodblogger/photographers! Make sure to go and check out all the other wonderful winners!

And greetings to all of you from bonnie Scotland! After enduring the cold & wet weather in Edinburgh for a few days, we arrived today to a sunny & warm isle of Arran where a friend of mine is getting married tomorrow night. Normal blogging will resume in a few days...

EBBP: A Sweet & Scented Parcel from Meeta

I've taken part of the European Blogging By Post twice before. My first gift parcel in August 2005 was from Johanna of The Passionate Cook, who has since become a very good friend (and her cantucci with almonds & pink peppercorns have become a regular treat). My second parcel came all the way from Athens, from Shalimar of Wanderlust Sha, and contained some of the best ever λουκούμι or 'Turkish Delight' I've ever had a chance to try. Somehow I missed the next three rounds, but considering all the moving and travelling I've done, I'm not too surprised actually.

We've already reached the seventh round of EBBP. Johanna is hosting this time, and we were asked to include something related to our childhood sweets in the parcel. Just days after I had sent off my parcel to a foodblogger somewhere in Europe, I got a notice from the post office to pick up a parcel from ---- Germany!



This time I got a very sweet and very scented parcel from Meeta of What's For Lunch, Honey?, which I've been thoroughly enjoying and consuming over the last few days. I must apologise in advance, that some of the chocolates didn't make it to the photo, as some naughty sociologist ate them all in her office. In one go - how dare she!?!?

Anyway - the parcel contained some lovely food-scented candles - two red strawberry ones and two purple blackberry ones. Then there were some of Meeta's favourite chocolates reminiscent of her childhood - Mars, Bounty, Twix, Snickers and Milky Way, as well as a bar of Toblerone (which, as I've mentioned before, makes a lovely chocolate sauce together with cream and butter). The latter is also Meeta's real favourite from the lot. Additionally there was a packet of Original Halloren Kugeln with Waldfrucht-Joghurt in Vollmilch-Schokolade (alias chocolates with forrest berry & yogurt filling). There's a reason why I've taken a picture of the box rather than chocolates :)

Thank you, Meeta, for sharing your childhood sweets with me!

PS I'm posting this from Edinburgh, where I've got very erradic access to email & internet. I apologise for not responding to any of your comments until next week.

UPDATE: 08.06.2007: My EBBP parcel went to Dagmar in Stockholm, Sweden - you can read what she thought of it here (as well as see some really cute photos).

Waiter, there's something (stuffed) in my ... tomatoes with two types of filling

Waiter, there is something in my ... - a wonderful food blogging event organised by Johanna, Jeanne & Andrew - has reached it's fifth instalment: stuffed fruit/vegetables, hosted by Jeanne.

My entry for this round is stuffed tomatoes with two kinds of salad fillings. It's not really a recipe, just a tip for serving nice small tomatoes. The first filling is a cod liver salad that I have written about before. The 'recipe' is my mum's, and this is how cod liver has been eaten in our family for decades. I thought that was the only way of serving this particular fishy preserve, until K simply put a canned cod liver on the table. Apparently his family simply spread the liver on a slice of bread, straight out of the can. I prefer my way, and as far as I've understood, have converted him, too :)

The other recipe for wild garlic & cucumber salad is from my local bus stop. Yes, you read it correctly - bus stop. I knew that wild garlic (Allium ursinum) grows somewhere in our neighbourhood, but I had never seen it wild, nor had I ever picked it. One late morning in early April I was standing in a bus stop, waiting for the bus to take me to town, and next to me were two elderly Russian-speaking women, or babushkas:) My Russian is very rusty, so I didn't understand much of what was said, but my sense of smell seems to work just fine, as I suddenly realised that something was smelling very fragrantly and faintly garlicky. I turned to the women and asked them about the smell, and they kindly showed me their bounty. Eventhough I had never seen 'uncooked' Allium ursinum in my life, I recognised the green leaves immediately from photos - it was wild garlic! I was given a large bunch to go with, and two recipes to boot. One of the women claimed that the best way to eat it is with some cucumber, sour cream, and salt & pepper. The other swore by wild garlic, boiled egg, sunflower oil, salt & pepper. As they both seemed to be very knowledgeable about wild garlic, I took their advice seriously and have been religiously following it. I can tell you that after I found the secret hidaway near my house, I've been eating a lot of the first salad since. I'm yet to try the other..

Stuffed tomatoes with two types of salad



about 20 small ripe, but firm tomatoes

Cod liver salad
(Tursamaksasalat)

1 can of cod liver chunks, drained (reserve the oil)
1 small shallot, chopped
1 pickled cucumber, finely chopped
1 boiled egg, chopped
salt
black pepper

Mix all the ingredients, add some of the reserved oil to make it moister, if you want.

Wild garlic & cucumber salad
(Karulaugu-kurgisalat)

a bunch of wild garlic, washed and roughly chopped
a small cucumber, washed, quartered or halved lenghtwise, and sliced
sour cream

Mix the cucumber, wild garlic and enough sour cream to bind everything together. Season with salt, if necessary (I haven't done it, as the salad has plenty of freshness and taste without any).

Now comes the tricky part. Halve the small tomatoes, scoop out the flesh and drain the juices. Stuff tomato halves with above-mentioned salads. Voila!

Other stuffed fruit & vegetables @ Nami-nami:
Baked red onions stuffed with mushrooms, feta cheese & pine nuts (March 2006)
Oven roasted pears with caramelised oats filling (November 2005)
Red peppers stuffed with spinach & mushrooms (April 2006)
Red peppers with cumin-scented halloumi cubes (November 2006)

Here are links to my previous Waiter there is something in my ... entries:
April 2007 (BREAD): a traditional Estonian quick mushroom bread, Seenekarask
March 2007 (EASTER BASKET): a selection of various Easter delights.
February 2007 (PIE): a great Russian puff pastry and fish pie, Salmon Kulebyaka.
January 2007 (STEW): my version (in collaboration with Anthony Bourdain:) of the French classic Boeuf Bourguignon.

UPDATE 1. June 2007: Read Jeanne's roundup here