Easter lamb

I didn’t spend Easter with Satu and Riikka because I set of to Mäntyharju again to spend Easter with my family at our cottage. We traditionally spend Easter as a family because it’s a longer holiday/weekend and my dad can get off work and come visit. And it’s the perfect excuse to get together and cook a good meal.

This Easter came so late that most of the snow had melted and the weather was so nice

My dad brought us gifts in the form of food again. He brought lamb for Easter, a whole cooked beef tongue, a whole smoked eel, smoked halibut and a smoked and cured slab of BACON <3

The slab of bacon was devoured the first evening. It was great on bread and even better just on its own with a beer. Yummy!

For our Easter meal we fired up the grill and cooked some lamb and asparagus. Grilling is always a joint effort in our family Sam or my dad sets up the grill and my brother and I concentrate on the cooking whilst my mum makes the salad.

My dad brought some gorgeous New Zeland lamb chops which I marinated in olive oil, pepper, salt and loads of garlic.

My mum made a salad out of new spring cabbage. She topped it off with a generous heap of olives, feta cheese and toasted sunflower seeds.

Dad also brought a bottle of wine which made the meal complete.

Sam’s mother made some pasha ice cream which was served with mango sauce and grapes.

Going back home means catching up with all of Sam’s family too. His cousin’s children had their birthday party on Saturday and it was a fun affair. Both of Sam’s cousins have two girls plus Sam’s brother just got a little girl so birthday parties are always very pink and girly!

There were pink sugar cookies, cake, pie and lots of candy. Luckily for me there was also some savory treats like crisps and my favorite, an assortment of cheeses!

A little off topic, but I just had to put this picture of my godchild, Aino. Isn’t she adorable <3

Bacon birthday

On Thursday I turned 25 (!!!) and to celebrate I decided to have a small bacon themed birthday party. But in order to make it happen I had to have a good lunch to keep me going all day. This resulted in a sushi lunch at Maruseki, one of Tampere’s few sushi places (I think Tampere only has two proper sushi restaurants). Maruseki’s lunch includes a salad, miso soup, main course (sushi sets/grilled fare) and coffee/tea.

 

Either I’m pretty unadventurous or I’ve found something I really crave because I almost always go for the same lunch.  I go for the Shibuya which gets me 10 yummy salmon nigiris  (10,50€) Once you’ve placed your order you’re directed to get your salad and miso soup from a buffet line. So, if you’re really hungry you can basically heap as much salad on your plate as you wish. On Thursday they had basic shredded salad, sprouts, cucumber, pickled cabbage and nori. The best thing about their salad table are the salad dressings. There’s like five or six different ones to choose from. I went for the wasabi yuzu dressing. Delicious! Much better than your typical (western) creamy salad dressing. The cool thing is that you can buy the sauces to take home 100ml/2€. The miso soup is good too

After lunch I headed to Lidl to buy more bacon and some drinks for the party. All in all we bought a little under 1kg of bacon!! Then I headed on home to get ready and to finish making my bacon ice cream

Instead of having my party in our small apartment we opted for our housing companies ‘clubhouse’. They have a pool table, Foosball table, sofas, mini kitchen, ample space to party and most importantly it’s not attached to any of the other housing spaces so the neighbors don’t complain

Of course since it was my party food & drink was a top priority! I bought some chips, sour cream & onion and my personal favorite salt & vinegar (I knew this one would divide my friends opinions). I also made a fruity punch (recipe below ).

I got some lovely gifts from people which was a surprise since I wasn’t expecting anything! Again food and drink was a clear theme Satu baked me a delicious Bailey’s cheese cake which was really rich and delicious and Riikka made me chocolate covered bacon <3 (perhaps they’ll put the recipes up soon? )

I usually make a white wine sangria type punch but this time I decided I would use some of the liqueur we brought over from Tallinn last fall. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out but in the end trial and error proved to be the best way. Someone said it tasted a little like those red gummy bears

500 ml raspbery liquer

100 ml vodka

100 ml triple sec

1,5l flavored mineral water (Rainbow Breezy Lime)

1l juice (Marli Vital mustikka-arnoia… blueberry-chokeberry)

Orange slices, strawberries and lime slices for decoration.

I also made a big ice cube thing by freezing some of the juice in a silicone cake mold

Make sure you chill all the ingredients well in advance Mix in a large punch bowl, garnish with fruit slices and enjoy! The punch is a healthy 5.78%

My piece de resistance was the bacon and hazelnut ice cream. I’ve been toying with the idea of a bacon ice cream for quite some time and since I recently invested in an ice cream machine the idea finally became a reality

500 ml heavy cream

2 vanilla pods, scored down the middle

100g sugar

4 egg yolks

crushed hazel nuts

5 slices of crispy fried bacon

molasses

dash of Amaretto liqueur

1. First heat the cream with the vanilla pods until the cream is close to boiling (don’t let it boil!). Take of the heat and let the pods infuse the cream (around 20 min).

2. In a metal bowl, beat and mix together the egg yolks and sugar until thick. Remove the vanilla pod from the pan of milk and scrape out the seeds into the milk. Pour the milk into the mixture of egg yolks and sugar whilst stirring.

3. Make an improvised water bath by putting the metal bowl into a large enough pot so that the bowl fits in to it properly. Very carefully cook the mixture into a thick custard (when you can see a film form over the back of your spoon it’s ready). It should not boil! Leave the custard to cool. I put it in the fridge overnight.

4. Mix oil and molasses with the crushed hazelnuts and roast in the oven until golden (this happens very fast).

5. Put the custard into the ice cream machine. Add the bacon and roasted hazelnut bits into the mixture while the machine is churning.

6. At the very end add a little molasses and a dash of Amaretto (optional).

7. Put into a container and sprinkle some bacon and hazelnuts on top. Put into the freezer until firm then serve to hungry guests

To be honest the ice cream turned out surprisingly good. Even less bacon obsessed people enjoyed it (or so they claimed)!

All in all a fun night with good food and some excellent company <3

Thanks again to all!

-Laura