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.
Housewarming party
This past week was sooo busy, so I really appreciate the three-day weekend I have for the Easter holiday. It all started last Saturday when we had our housewarming party or soolaleivapidu (salt and bread party, literally). We spent all day shopping and preparing food for our guests. We didn’t want to only offer the typical chips and things. J got creative with frozen puff pastry, creating little sausage rolls sprinkled with sesame seeds and also some pockets filled with ground beef and taco seasoning. The latter reminded me a lot of Jamaican beef patties, but I may just be imagining it since I’ve only had beef patties once or twice in my life.
I decided to finally utilize the sushi- making equipment my mother sent me from the States. I can’t believe I’ve never mentioned sushi on the blog before, but I learned to make it over a year ago from a Canadian friend who brought his own sushi kit to Tallinn. Buying your own rice, vinegar and fish and creating homemade sushi is vastly cheaper than buying it here in Estonia, so it’s fun to do every once in a while. However, I was a little nervous, since I’d never prepared the sushi rice before.
I followed some directions I found online and the rice came out perfect (despite the fact that while it was steaming, J came over and asked “what’s in here?” then proceeded to remove the lid from the pot instead of waiting for an answer 
).
I made a bunch of different roles with combinations of veggies, salmon, and imitation crab. Some of our guests were trying sushi (and wasabi!) for the first time, but everyone– sushi novices and experts alike– seemed to enjoy it. So did I.
And of course our lovely guests brought some nice things for us as well! One friend (who came for the “pre-party” we had so that our friends with small children could come see our place as well), brought us a gift bag with the basics, saying, “May you always have plenty of these things– bread, salt, and wine.”
And we also got these from later guests:
The blue elephant is a watering can, and he came along with a measuring tape (the couple that brought it said we could decide ourselves how to divide the items). Frankly, I’m surprised that nobody started mixing drinks in the elephant before the night was over. Then there’s a packet of küüslaugupipar, or garlic pepper, which came with the cookbook Poole tunni road, or 30-minute meals (just like Rachael Ray!*). The book has a lot of great simple recipes using everyday ingredients, so I’m sure I’ll be using it for some weeknight dinner inspiration.
Overall the party was a success. In my next post I plan on introducing you to the most important room in our new home– the kitchen, of course (although the sauna runs a close second…).
* I actually kind of like Rachael Ray. Please don’t judge me.
Cookies with cashew butter
I promised quite some time ago that I would bake cookies with cashew butter to test its chewiness-creating abilities. I also promised J’s parents that I would send them some cookies after Christmas (since of course I didn’t get my act together in time to actually send them cookies FOR Christmas. Maybe next year). I sent some of the cookies along with J and hoped his parents wouldn’t mind participating in this cashew butter experiment.
I used this recipe almost exactly. Since I was towards the end of my jar of cashew butter, I didn’t quite have a full 1/2 cup left, and I filled in the rest (about one tablespoon) with the only other nut butter I had– peanut butter. The recipe’s author says that the cashew butter is so subtle that you can’t taste it in the completed cookies, but even that small amount of peanut butter did give the cookies a slight peanut buttery taste. That was OK with me, though. For mix-ins I used about 1/4 cup of lightly chopped dried cherries and 1/4 cup chocolate chips (real ones– I got a bag of Ghirardelli semi-sweet chips delivered from the States at Christmastime). I probably shouldn’t have chopped the cherries– the taste of the pieces got lost in the cookies and only the chocolate bits really stood out.
So were they chewy? Most definitely. Not in an intense caramel-chewy way, like these cookies; it was more of a lovely density and softness that really did last for days. I liked them a lot (but of course now I’m out of cashew butter ), and they received a mark of approval from J’s parents as well. I must admit, it’s always great when that happens.
Lingonberry muffins
I used my silicone bakeware for the first time! As promised, I used the muffin pan. It didn’t take long to think of what kind to make– I saw a chance to use up more of the still-abundant lingonberries in our freezer. I found a simple recipe for muffins with fresh cranberries and made a few changes. I added some vanilla and cinnamon and of course substituted lingonberries for cranberries.
I used cupcake liners in the muffin pan. The muffins were so easy to pop out when they were done, and they were nice and evenly baked with crisp tops. I put the pan back in the oven with just a few cups filled to bake a few extra muffins. There were some spots where the lingberries had been against the paper liners and their juices kind of leaked through, and the second bout in the oven turned those spots black. And I couldn’t get them off! I soaked the pan and scrubbed it, and the black spots stayed. I was so bummed, but then I tried scratching them with my fingernail, which did actually get them off. It’s just such a tedious cleaning method. I should probably double up on liners next time.
Oh, and the muffins! I thought they came out really well. I’m glad I used fresh-squeezed orange juice, as they gave a really bright flavor to the muffins. J said they could be sweeter, so next time I might sprinkle some coarse sugar on top for sweetness and texture.
In case anyone is interested, this is the recipe I used, based on something I found on allrecipes.com:
Lingonberry muffins
2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 c. soft butter
1 tbsp. grated orange rind
3/4 c. orange juice
1 egg
splash of vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 3/4 c. lingonberries
Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.Cream butter and sugar together in a larger bowl. Add egg and mix well. Add orange juice, orange rind, splash of vanilla and cinnamon and mix until combined. Add flour and mix until just combined. Gently fold in lingonberries. Pour batter into muffin cups and bake for 25 minutes.
Christmas, Part II
By the time Christmas Eve rolled around, we weren’t really in the mood for traditional Christmas dinner, since we’d already had one and enjoyed leftovers the next day. Me, J and my sister wanted something different, and since it was just the three of us, we had the freedom to choose whatever we liked. Sushi, or maybe tacos? Nope. I suggested doing a wine and cheese evening. “What about fondue?” my sister suggested. Perfect! Cheese fondue feels special and celebratory and is a far cry from a traditional meat-filled holiday meal.
We had to improvise a bit, since I don’t own a fondue pot and we weren’t sure what ceeses we’d find. We did our shopping at Prisma and decided on some strong Emmenthaler and a milder Estonian cheese (I think. This was weeks ago already, so I may remember wrong). My sister heated the wine and melted the cheeses in the heaviest skillet I own.
We tried to create a heat source at the table by placing the pan on a trio of glasses and placing tea lights underneath, but it wasn’t very effective. Every 5-10 minutes we had to take the cheese to the kitchen to reheat it, but having breaks in our eating was probably a good thing. Also, because I lack fondue forks, we used wooden skewers for stabbing and dipping.
We had a fine assortment of dippable items. Cubed ciabatta and whole grain bread, apples, slightly roasted mushrooms, blanched broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and some interesting sausage– I believe it was deer or moose. Look at the beautiful veggies!
It was an amazing holiday meal. Our cheese combination was as rich and flavorful as any fondue I’ve eaten before, and we all just had fun. We made different combinations of ingredients on our skewers (bread and sausage may have been my favorite, but the mushrooms were fantastic with just about anything), items were dropped into the cheese abyss, and of course the fondue caused us some issues as it rapidly began to cool and coagulate. And it was great. I would definitely consider doing this again sometime for a festive, social holiday meal. Perhaps I should consider shipping my fondue pot from the States?
