First strawberries of the season!
So beautiful, I am almost speechless.
The weather was outstanding today. Sunny with temps up to 16 degrees Celsius, it felt like spring already edging into summer. The city felt so alive. J and I walked to the market behind the Balti jaam train station, which I had never visited before. I already knew that I wanted strawberries this weekend, as I’ve seen them for a few weeks already in the stands outside of supermarkets. One seller at the market spoke the magic words as we happened to be scanning her produce. “Maasikas,” she said in Russia-accented Estonian, motioning to the deeply colored berries, “magus maasikas.” Sweet strawberries. She made the sale and I could scarcely wait to get home and try them.
After rinsing them off, I tasted my first one, standing by the kitchen counter with my eyes closed. It was very sweet, reminding me of childhood when I ate strawberries sprinkled with white sugar. It wasn’t as powerfully flavorful as strawberries at the height of the season, but it was still really, really good for the first strawberry of the year. Magus maasikas indeed.
The Chocolate Chip Cookie Project: Part VI
Subject #6: Pagaripoisid Cookies
I was excited to find these cookies in the Kaubamaja grocery store last month because they’re actually made in Estonia, right here in Tallinn. All the other cookies I’ve sampled (other than the ones I’ve made, of course) were packaged products made elsewhere. I love that the name of the product is still “Cookies”, in English (which goes to show that chocolate chip is clearly THE quintessential cookie). These cookies had an expiration date of one month from the day I bought them, so I can only hope that these were fresh, made that day or the day before.
There were two cookies in the plastic container. The cookies are round domes, with none of the cragginess I love on chocolate chip cookies. Still, I had hope that maybe the fresh cookies would have a slightly chewy interior, or at least, you know, something good about them.
Yeah… not so much. Both the texture and taste of the cookie is chalky and floury, completely plain, with no buttery or caramelized flavors at all. The chocolate bits, which aren’t even real chocolate (ingredients: sugar, vegetable oil, cocoa (17%), soy lecithin), are surprisingly crunchy and add some texture and sweetness, but still nothing in the way of richness. Oh well. It’s nice that Pagaripoisid attempted the product, but as far as chocolate chip cookies go, they have a lot to learn.
Strawberries from Katri Antell
J’s parents were visiting last week, and when they first arrived in our new apartment, his mother handed me a white box tied with a ribbon. Inside were some pink sugar-coated spheres, and I paused for a moment, wondering what they were.
I didn’t understand all of what his mother said about them, but I did get that the company, Katri Antell, has been making these for a long time, and that they’re marzipan. That was a magic word for me– I love marzipan! I pulled one out and saw that they have little green leaf-shapes on top– they were strawberries! How sweet.
And sweet they are, literally. The green leaf on top is odd– not sugary at all, actually more floury-tasting– and the sugar coating is very, very crunchy and sweet. The plain marzipan inside is also on the sweet side– not too much almond flavor and certainly no bitter almond-ness.
I was able to find a bit more information about the company online. Katri Antell is a bakery and restaurant that has existed since 1880, making it the second-oldest bakery in Finland. It appears to have several locations, though it started as a family company. Most of the emphasis seems to be on the place as a bakery, and I couldn’t find any information about confections made by the company. But I am thinking we should drop by their bakery/restaurant next time we’re in Oulu to check out what else Katri Antell has to offer…
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter! We boiled a few eggs (which were already a beautiful brown) with some onion skins and carrot peels, which gave them a more intense, reddish color. Here’s the prettiest egg nestled in our home-grown bowl of Easter grass (we weren’t sure whether the grass could grow on paper towels and water alone, but as it turns out, it can 
).
Shiny new kitchen
So here’s our new kitchen, now that we’re all settled in.
Can you spot Mr. Potato Head?
I know I never posted pictures of the kitchen in our old apartment (which actually belongs to my parents). That’s because it’s ugly. The walls have this old coral-colored paint on them and the ancient warped cabinets, which were transplanted from another apartment, are older than the kitchen itself. There were several cabinet doors that wouldn’t stay closed unless the ones adjacent were closed, drawers that wouldn’t go in all the way, etc etc. There was a red double sink that is adorably retro, and I think my father would like to keep it after the kitchen is renovated. All the appliances (fridge and stove/oven) were new and functioned fine, but some of the outlets sucked and the light switch was hidden away in a cabinet. Awesome.
Both of my parents seemed happy that I have a newer, more stylish kitchen. “You have a real kitchen now!” commented my mother, while my father said “Looks like a cool apartment! The kitchen is especially nice. I understand why you wanted to move (ha, ha).”
I’m happy with the kitchen too. We bought an extra little “bar table” for the microwave, so now it seems we have plenty of counter space as well as places for all our pots, pans and pantry items. And I do love the light wood look. But as we all know, a book can’t be judged by its cover. This kitchen is not perfect. Look at what happened when I tried to bake off some chocolate chip cookie dough I had stored in the freezer:
What you are looking at is a cookie that is burned black on the bottom and raw on the inside. And it’s not because the dough was frozen. The parchment around the cookie is also practically burnt. I was so pissed, it’s one of the only times I can remember swearing and crying over ruined food (I had intended to give the cookies to somebody as a gift). Our oven, it has problems. As far as we can tell, the temperature regulation is somehow broken, so that once you turn it on it just heats and heats and heats, not stopping at the delivered temp or going down if you attempt to reduce the temp. I’m not sure though; we need to secure an oven thermometer and do some tests. We already told our landlord about it, and he definitely understands the seriousness of the issue– he happens to be one of Estonia’s top chefs (how awesome is that?? I was practically giddy when I found out! ). But I hope we can get it fixed soon– I can’t bake again until we do. 
Oh, and Mr. Potato Head is on top of the fridge.
