I’m a crazy person, I think we’ve already established that. One of the things that make me go completely off the rail is baking and cooking. Once I’ve started, I can’t stop – even if it means cooking 10 liters of rice porridge that will be enough for more than 100 Karelian pasties, or wrapping toffees until three in the morning. I seem to have no limits. I suspect it will be the end of me, some day. This Christmas, I feel as if my fingers have been constantly sticky.
Toffee fresh from the stove. One of only two batches that actually turned out all right this year. My head must have been somewhere else, and the toffee must have felt it and decided to go too soft or too hard just to punish me. Toffee is like a spoiled child.
Wrapping can be a nightmare. I’ve decided to hand-write the flavor of the toffee on every paper, to give the toffees a personal touch (I’m such a STUBBORN IDIOT), and that takes forever.
But they’re nice, when they’re done.
I also made Finnish Christmas pastries – they’re almost impossible to fail with. But so important, for that Christmasy feeling. This is the first year that I’ve made them by myself, without mom fussing around in the kitchen, barely helping at all. It felt kind of weird.
I baked bread, so full of nuts and seeds and dried fruit that there’s barely any bread in it.
This white chocolate covered brittle is my cousin Elmer’s favorite. There are few people who enjoy anything as much as he enjoys these. So of course I had to make them for him, despite me being short on time.
I’ve also tried tons of new recipes: a frozen breakfast smoothie, home-made muesli and galettes. AND, I’ve discovered the most amazing thing: polenta! I found a bag of it while re-organizing the cupboard, it’s something that my mom left behind and I haven’t known what to do with. So now, I googled recipes with it and tried out one of polenta patties. And god, it’s the perfect thing for a vegetarian! You just boil the thing in broth, spice it or add whatever you want (like cheese or herbs), pour the polenta into a cup and let it sit over night. The polenta will cool into a pretty solid and cohesive cylinder, which can then be cut up into patties. I grilled them in the oven, which was great, but I can only imagine what a wonderful thing this new discovery will be in the summer, when dad starts up the BBQ at the cottage. I’ll teach him to make these, and then I won’t have to eat grilled haloumi every night. I’m SO excited!
Katja Malmborg 