Tähtitorttu/Christmas stars
The photo I posted on Christmas was of tähtitorttu, a traditional Finnish Christmas pastry made with flaky dough and luumumarmeladi, a thick plum jam. Here’s a photo series of J making them a few days before Christmas:
Basted with egg yolk
Glögg
Ah, glögg. As fun to say as it is to drink. It goes by many names—if you want to avoid scary umlauts, you can just call it mulled wine. The Germans call it glühwein, the Finnish glögi, and the Estonians hõõgvein. The word glögg is Swedish, a language that we generally avoid around here, but it’s easier for me to say than the Estonian name (any non-native Estonian speakers understand the difficulties caused by the letter õ). The basic formula is red wine heated (but never to boiling!) with sugar, cloves, cinnamon sticks, citrus peel, and other seasonings. It’s served hot, and one has the option of putting raisins and almond slices in their cup (they soak up the wine and become sooo delicious… I am definitely a fan of this option). There are a million variations in terms of what wine to use and what spices or booze to add. Bottled alcoholic versions or non-alcoholic mixes are available in Estonia.
Christmas Eve glögg on the stovetop
When the weather starts getting cold and dark here in Estonia, one thing that keeps my spirits up is the prospect that it will soon be glögg season. It’s served in just about every café and restaurant here, which is another thing I missed when back in the States. The spices and red wine smell like warmth and Christmas, the glass warms your hands, and the red wine makes you pleasantly relaxed.
My mother used to make glögg on Christmas Eve, while we waited for our holiday dinner to be ready. As a child, I seem to remember finding the alcohol fumes wafting up repulsive. Luckily for me, my mother made a non-alcoholic version from cranberry juice, which I loved. I can’t remember exactly when I transitioned over to the grown-up stuff. If somebody were to offer me a glass of the juice version now, I probably wouldn’t turn it down. But for really coping with the profound cold and darkness of an Estonian winter, the real stuff is in order.
Kohukesed, now in English
Yesterday’s post was the story of my introduction to kohukesed, whose name is unfortunately translated into English as cheese curd snack, which doesn’t sound too appetizing at all. Oh, but it is. It’s made with sweetened kohupiim, which is sort of like farmer’s cheese or quark, and covered with a firm chocolate coating. I can’t remember having been introduced to kohukuesed prior to my time as a student in Tartu. One of Tartu University’s student advisors invited me and some other foreign students to have a picnic. After we’d eaten all our salads and sausages, she announced that she’d brought something good for desert. She explained it like this: “It’s this little thing made from kohupiim and covered in chocolate. Sometimes they put other stuff in it too, like jam or a cookie. Those ones are like a little meal!” The one she handed me happened to be the one that contains both a cookie and jam (which is also the one I photographed for the post), and even though it was slightly smooshed from traveling in her bag, it was sooo good. Soft and sweet, the perfect little size, and it somehow feels healthy although it’s really not (but it is a dairy product, so it has some calcium, which is good, right?). From that day on, I bought my own kohukesed, sampling different brands, finding my favorites. My current favorite is the Leivakohuke (bread kohuke), which I thought sounded very weird until I tried it. The grainy flavors of dark bread combine with the smooth kohupiim to create something like a creamy cookie, and the chocolate coating is dark and intensely chocolatey.
I’m very happy that I got around to writing about one of my favorite Estonian foods, and in Estonian even! Hopefully it won’t take another year for the next Estonian post.
Kohukesed
When I named this blog, I was fully intending to incorporate more Estonian into it. How can it be a bilingual blog if I only write in one language? I’ve been updating (kinda-sorta) regularly for about a year now and I have written no posts in Estonian, so I either need to get started or change the name. And now, I present to you kohukesed (for those that can read it, forgive my imperfect Estonian. For those that can’t, an English summary will come tomorrow).
Kuigi ma olin Eestis käinud kolm korda enne kui läksin Tartusse õppima 2005. aastal, ma ei mäleta, et oleksin varem tutvunud kohukestega või isegi kohupiimaga. Olin Tartus olnud umbes nädal aega kui üks tuutoritest—Tartu ülikooli õpilased kes aitasid välismaalt õpilastel kohaneda—kutsus mind ja teisi inimesi pikniku tegema Tartu laululaval. Pärast kui me olime ära söönud salateid ja vorste (ja ajanud ära paar mesilast, sest mõned meie grupis hirmsalt kartsid), Ursula (tuutor) ütles, et ta oli toonud mida head magustoiduks. Ta seletas neid enam-vähem niimoodi: „Nad on sellised väikesed asjad tehtud kohupiimast ja kaetud šokolaadiga. Mõnikord pannakse teisi asju sisse ka, nagu moosi või küpsist… siis on ta nagu väike eine!” Mina tegelikult saingi seda kohukest milles on küpsist JA moosi (Jänksi küpsisekohuke), ja kuigi ta oli natuke lössis Ursula kotis istumisest, ta oli nii, nii hea. Perfektne suurus, pehme ja magus, kuidagi tundub tervislik kuigi ta tegelikult et ole (aga ta on piimatoode ja seega sisaldab kaltsiumi, eks ole?). Sellest päevast edasi, ma ostsin endale kohukesi. Ursula oli öelnud meile ka, et parim kohuke on Läti toode Karums. Need on tõesti väga head, täidis on eriti kreemjas ja rikas, on peaaegu nagu väike tükk Ameerika cheesecake’i. Aga vahel ihaldan midagi, mis ei ole nii rikas, ja ostan mingit lihtsamat kohukest. Mu praegune lemmik on Leivakohuke. Ootasin, et oleks imelik, aga see rukkileiva maitse seguneb nii hästi kohupiima täidisega ja on nagu pehme kreemjas küpsis. Ma leian, et selle glasuur on eriti hea šokolaadi maitsega ka.
Jänksi küpsisekohuke
Kohuke on üks asi millest ma väga tundsin puudu, kui olin tagasi Ameerikas. Olin neid tutvustanud mu õele ja tema leiutas (kogemata!) kohuke milkshake, mis sisaldas vanilje jogurtit, šokolaadi joogipulbrit, piima ja sünnipäevakoogi maitselist jäätist (sellist asja on Ameerikas olemas küll!).
Ma tunnen nüüd paremini, et olen kirjutanud ühest lemmikust Eesti toidust ja eesti keeles veel pealegi.
