On being a good blogger
I’ve recently started reading a bunch of new blogs* that get updated daily (and of course there are some blogs I’ve been reading forever, namely my friend Evan’s, which has been updated daily for years and oh my god I have no idea how he does it). I am reminded once again that frequent updating is valuable in the blog world. I long ago came to accept the fact that I could never, ever manage to post every day, and even my goal of twice a week sometimes seems too lofty. Does this reduce the value of the blog? Well… who knows. As far as I’m concerned, the only one who needs to be happy with my blog is me… and even that’s hard sometimes. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so when I go back and read my writing, I often think Ugh, that’s awkward… that’s so hokey… etc. I feel like, despite the fact that I have been writing this blog for over a year and a half, I still haven’t found my blog voice, and it makes me sad. Some of my entries feel forced and contrived when I read them later, because I wanted to make them structured and avoid being the other kind of contrived, writing entries like “OMG I made this and it is soooo frikkin good, fo’ reals ppl.” But… I dunno. My own personal journal is littered with LOLs and interjections. If that’s how I write for me, why shouldn’t I write that way here? So maybe I’ll give it a try… instead of forcing my writing style to be something it’s not, I’ll just write how my brain wants to and not worry about wrapping everything up in a clean, formulaic way.
Seriously, the last sentence in a post is the hardest for me. The title as well. I am not good at summing things up.
Maybe when I’m more comfortable in my blog-skin, I’ll actually start making an effort to gain more readers too. Heh… it’s only taken me nearly two years of writing on the internet to decide that I actually want people to see my blog! Baby steps. Somebody should write a book called Bloggers with Low Self Esteem. I’d buy it.
*will be added to blogroll soon. [EDIT: OK, they've been added!]
We’ve moved– Time for a salt and bread party
The reason I haven’t posted in weeks is because we moved. Not far– we’re still in Tallinn, just a few blocks from our last apartment. The new place didn’t have internet until today, and since I don’t post at work my blogging opportunities were nonexistent. But now I’m back.
Since we have a new home now, we soon need to have a housewarming party, or as it’s called in Estonian, a soolaleivapidu, which translates to “salt and bread party”. I couldn’t find once concise explanation for why it’s called a salt and bread party. Traditionally people actually do bring salt and bread in some form to the new home. Bread is a staple food in Estonia (as elsewhere) and also a symbol for food in general, so bringing bread could represent the wish that the home will always have plenty of food. I read somewhere that it is meant to bring luck as well. Salt can also represent food since it is an essential component of cooking, and I found some information about using salt to banish evil spirits, so perhaps bringing salt is also meant to keep bad spirits away from the happy home.
Our housewarming party should be in a few weeks, so bring on the salt and bread!
Sachertorte
These pictures are late! It definitely did not take J until Tuesday to finish making me this cake. 
It was on Sunday that he found a recipe and decided to try his hand at making the traditional Viennese cake sachertorte, which is two layers of chocolate cake sandwiching a layer of apricot jam and covered in chocolate icing.
Some of the ingredients are at the ready
Batter going into a silicone pan
Clean cut! The bottom layer was treated to a sprinkling of orange juice and a layer of apricot jam, which kept it from being too dry.
A success!
The cake was great. The chocolate cake isn’t too sweet so the sugary apricot jam brings a welcome brightness. The cakes were perhaps a little dry from a few too many minutes in the oven, but it seems like that’s part of the nature of sachertorte, which is why it needs to be served with whipped cream. And chocolate icing makes everything better, of course. You can be sure that I’ve been practicing the typical female habit of cutting myself just the tiniest of slivers every time I’m near the kitchen… because of course several tiny slivers don’t count the same as whole piece of cake. 
Women’s Day
Today, March 8, is naistepäev or International Women’s Day, a holiday that I was never aware of prior to living in Europe even though it ostensibly began in 1909 as a political event in the United States. Now it’s still observed in some European countries, although not in a political way– it’s pretty much like Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day, and men bring flowers or gifts to the women in their lives. Estonians seem to have mixed feelings about this event, since it is taken very seriously in Russia and was a national holiday in Estonia during the Soviet occupation. Now some view it as an archaic reminder of the occupation and Soviet influences on society. However, in Finland it’s still taken quite seriously and has no negative connotations. I take the holiday about as seriously as I take Valentine’s Day, which is to say that I think it’s fun but otherwise not a very big deal. J grew up with the Women’s Day tradition, so he will definitely be calling his mother today and he’s also baking me a cake. I certainly can’t complain about that. I’ll post pix of the finished product later!
What we made for vastlapäev (Shrove Tuesday)
Just wanted to share some quick photos of some of the yummy stuff that’s come out of our kitchen recently. Vabariigi aastapäev, or Estonian Independence Day, happened to fall on vastlapäev– the Estonian answer to Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Traditional foods in Estonia on this day are hernesupp (pea soup) and vastlakuklid (Lenten buns). It’s also traditional to go sledding on vastlapäev, and it used to be believed that the longer the slide you had down the hill, the longer your flax would grow come summer.
We didn’t make it sledding (so I guess our flax harvest won’t be so impressive this year ), but J did decide to make us some pea soup from scratch. We enjoyed it while watching the annual presidential ball on TV. Alongside the slow-cooked, bacon-laced soup we had the bread you see above, which J had made a few days before, with some delicious herb butter that J also made. The butter is to die for, impressive yet so simple to make. I made some little pig-in-a-blanket type things sprinkled with sesame seeds as an appetizer.
Piggies and homemade bread
Pea soup with bacon
Dinner was already carb-heavy, but of course for dessert we had to eat the traditional Lenten buns. Unfortunately I don’t have pictures of those, but there’s a wonderful description of Lenten buns along with a recipe and photos over at Nami-nami. Perhaps next year I’ll tackle making my own…
