Nestled In

Today we ate fresh (Finnish) strawberries for the first time this summer. Very tasty and sweet!

It’s been cold and raining non-stop for a couple of days now. While the world looks grey outside, inside of our home there are bright colors that cheer me up. I bought a big bag of tomatoes yesterday - they taste so good and bring a great splash of color into the kitchen. And they are in season now so they are very inexpensive, too. I always try to buy Finnish vegetables and fruit as much as possible so I really enjoy the summer season when there is more to choose from and the prices are down. I feel so guilty if I buy produce that’s been transported from another country, but obviously sometimes it’s unavoidable if we don’t want to stop eating grapes and bananas and such alltogether. But I try to balance it out with buying Finnish produce when ever possible.

Our minitomato plants on the windowsill are doing great. Lots of little yellow flowers on them. We are eagerly waiting if we’ll be so lucky as to actually see a minitomato or two this summer. We’ve been talking about moving to a rowhouse apartment in the future and my only hesitation with the plan is that most of them have such small yards. I’d love to be able to fit a small vegetable garden on our yard. I love it how gardening makes you feel so much more connected to the earth and the changing seasons. And I love the idea of tending a garden that then provides food on your plate, even if it’s just a few carrots or tomatoes. I always think there’s such an element of love in gardening, whether it’s tending a garden of vegetables or flowers.

(Tea Revives You -poster from Keep Calm, Flowering tea from Violet)

It’s my 26th birthday today! To celebrate the day I baked a cake (first ever I’ve made from scratch - I’m not much of a baker. Or a cook. Or pretty much any kind of household work person. But I’m learning). I didn’t want a big party or to go out to celebrate, a quiet evening at home with a few family members over for coffee was perfect. I got beautiful yellow tulips from my grandparents and the Kalevala Horse Pendant in silver from my mom, sister and sister’s fiance.

Here’s what’s left of the cake after the party so I guess my first cake was a success (or my family is very kind and didn’t have the heart not to take seconds).

On weekends it is allowed to sleep, relax and eat deliciously. A week ago we ate at Amarillo (my favourite restaurant - it serves Texmex food) with friends and today I baked a chocolate cake. The cake I made is almost like a mudcake and it is mainly made of chocolate, sugar and eggs. I haven’t baked many cakes before because I am quite lazy and I usually bake only muffins and pancakes and other “fast pastries”. I didn’t have any chocolate cake recipes so I had to google for them. I came across an easy-to-make recipe and the cake turn out to be delicious! We ate it with rasperries.

Recipe

Dough:

• 200 grams of butter
• 200 grams of dark chocolate
• 4 eggs
• 2 desilitres of sugar
• 1.5 desilitres of wheat flour
• 1 tea-spoon of baking powder
• 4 table-spoons of cacao powder (for baking)

Frosting:

• 150 grams of dark chocolate
• 1 desilitre of cream
• 1 table-spoon of butter

1. Melt the butter in a pot and add chocolate. Mix until the chocolate has entirely melted.
2. Whip the eggs with sugar.
3. Mix the flour, the baking powder and the cacao powder.
4. Add the melted chocolate into the egg foam and mix carefully.
5. Strain the flour into the dough and mix (still, carefully).
6. Pour the dough into a cake tin (that is greased and dredged).
7. Bake about 45 minutes at 175° Celsius.

After the cake is ready, make the frosting.

1. Heat the cream in a pot (don’t let it boil!).
2. Add the butter and the dark chocolate.
3. Stir until the frosting is even.
4. Let the frosting cool for a while and then spread it on the cake.