Finland....part I

Yes...again...part I and then there will be a part II.....so we arrived in Helsinki around 11pm and by the time we arrived at kim's parents house it was almost midnight....and we were welcomed with a smell of fresh food...potato bake with anchovies....served with pickled beetroot....it was delicious.....of course i had to take a photo....not the best quality photo....but your mouth will start to water....

Midnight snack: Potato bake with anchovies and pickled beetroots

So throughout my time in Finland i was spoilt with good food....trying a lot of new goodies which is we all know...what i love to do...where to start.....well at the beginning of the food journey (part II will be about the sights and experience)....the first thing that i found rather interesting was that kim had his breakfast cereal NOT with milk but with rhubarb soup (cold soup)....different....not bad...but i must admit...i did prefer the cold milk over my cereal in the morning....kim's mom also baked "brown cake" (kim's favourite) and apparently supposed to be eaten with cold milk...also very delicious...it reminded me of Christmas because of the ginger, clover and raisins...and yes...i did manage to take a pic before we tasted it.....

Brown cake with milk (cute milk container, hey?)

Another dessert well known is the Runnenberger tart.....it is a famous poet in Finland that actually has his house near Kim's parents house in Porvoo...and this tart is his favourite tart.....for me they were ok....but not my favourite....but nice to try in any case....

Maybe i should move on from the sweets....savoury....i love fish...so the first night it was all different fishes...it was amazing....from smoked whole warm salmon, to crevelax salmon to different herring (in traditional red onion sauce and in mustard sauce)....all served with boiled potatos.....and a surprise....a Finnish cheese....Oltermanni....quite a mild cheese...but good...loved all the various fishes...and yes...i do of course have pics

Warm smoked salmon and in the background can see the crevelax and cheese
Herring in red onion and herring in mustard

And then the one night Katja and Kalle (Kim's sister and husband) invited us for a wine and cheese evening...and she bought Finnish cheese..the most famous of them all.....Leipäjuusto....served slight warm with cloudberry jam....its squeeky like haloumi cheese...yummie...and Aura which is a type of blue cheese....and that traditionally gets eaten on ginger biscuits...yummie....of course loved the cheeses....and some divine crackers with cream cheese....dessert....Rasmus (older son) made a carrot cake...very delicous...

Leipäjuusta

And no...that is not the end of my food journey....when kim and i went to Helsinki we tried these small deep fried fishes at a stall near the sea....again...excellento....

Me enjoying the small fishes
Small fishes deep fried with garlic sauce

And later at Cafe Ursula we ate crepes and karjalan piirakka/ karelska piroger...those i loved and raved about so much to kim's dad that the next morning he went and bought 10...so good...the ones at home kim spread some butter on top, microwaved them and a slice of cold meat....heavenly....i hAve a pic of the one we ate at Cafe Ursula....

karjalan piirakka or karelska piroger (first Finnish name then Swedish name)

So trust me....by the end of the trip i was stuffed....but tried so many new yummie things....also an old family friend made lunch for us...fresh cold shrimp served on bread....with a garden salad...just so good....food was truely divine...but i know...did we do anything but eat...yes definitely...and i will talk about that in part II....to end this blog....picture of the lunch before we left for airport.....reindeer quiche (also very good) and a cappuccino....trust me....coffee i defintely did not have a shortage...did you know that Finland is the country that consumes most coffee per capita in the world....amazing....

Reindeer quiche with cappuccino

So..cheers from me...soon you will get part II.....

 

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