Happy birthday to me!
I have to be honest with you– today is not my birthday. My birthday is not even in this month. It was nearly three weeks ago, while J and I were visiting his parents in Liminka, Finland. On the morning of my birthday J’s mother surprised me with a cake, which we ate alongside our morning coffee.
Clearly, she knows what I like 
. The cake was two layers of sponge cake, each with a thin layer of crunchy meringue baked right on. In between the layers was freshly whipped cream and sliced strawberries, and on top were crushed toasted nuts and more strawberries. It was sooo good! Cakes with meringue always have that great contrast of textures going on, and even the sponge, which can tend to be on the dry side, was nice and soft and not dry at all. And the toasted nuts (not sure what kind they were) gave just enough of an earthy crunch to keep the whole thing from being too sweet. The strawberries were Finnish– even though strawberry season had just about ended, his mother managed to find some . Considering I didn’t even have a birthday cake last year, this was a lovely surprise and a perfect way to start my day. Also, since the cake included whipped cream, it wasn’t going to keep for long, so we each helped ourselves to fairly generous seconds (except for J’s dad– he may have had thirds!)
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.
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…
I’m a crepe
This is a shirt I have. I kinda love it, for several reasons.
The reason the shirt caught my eye in the first place was, of course, because of the strawberry. When I picked it up and read the text, I instantly loved it, because it’s wordplay (which I adore) using Radiohead lyrics (amazing). “A maasikas! You have to get that,” said my friend L, who was equally excited about it. I agreed with her completely.
The shirt is also special to me because it’s one of the last items I bought in the States before moving to Estonia in 2007. We were having a huge party at my parents’ house Labor Day weekend to celebrate my brother’s leave from Iraq, but unofficially it also felt like a good-bye party for me, since it was the last time I’d get to see my USA friends for quite a while. The party lasted the whole long weekend (Friday to Monday, oh yes), and believe me when I say that it was epic. When the last of the guests left, all my mother could say was, “Never again.”
Anyway, on Sunday the epic party crowd headed to Fell’s Point in Baltimore to do some bar-hopping and get dinner. It was during the transition from Bar 1 to Bar 2, where we had to wait for a table, that me and the other girls decided to go check out some shops briefly, and that was when I found the shirt. I can’t remember the name of the store, unfortunately, but it was right around the corner from Shucker’s. So that’s why I love the shirt– strawberry, crepe, Radiohead, and the reminder of a memorable and kind of wacky day by the Inner Harbor with friends.
A healthy dose of winter
Today brought the worst weather I have ever experienced in Estonia. I mean worst as in “extreme”, not worst as in “crappy”, because the nonstop rain in the fall is definitely the crappiest. But today there was wind and snow, and lots of it.
Looking out the window around noon, J commented about how windy it was. The trees in front of the apartment building were bending, their branches waving crazily. The wind was blowing around the snow that had fallen during the past two days. As the afternoon went on, it only got worse. New snow began to fall, and the wind whipped it around, creating ice and snow drifts against the windows. We just kept staring out the window in awe. But what fun is it if you only experience this kind of weather from indoors? Naturally, we went for a walk.
Our destination was a hotel about a mile away, where the International Women’s Club of Tallinn was holding its annual Christmas Bazaar. At first when we got outside, we thought it wasn’t so bad, but then came a gust of wind that caused us both to turn our faces away from the stinging ice and snow. When that wind smacked me right in the face, it was seriously hard to breathe. And when we reached a certain intersection where the wind always seems to be stronger (I think the tall buildings in that area have something to do with it), I had to grab onto J’s arm because I thought I would be knocked over. It was quite the adrenaline rush.
We made it to our cozy destination perfectly safely, and began to enjoy the international Christmas treats on offer. J started with a Turkish coffee (along with a free bit of Turkish delight), and then we shared a slice of wiener schnitzel. Hungry for more lunch, we had three miniature spring rolls at the Chinese table. There are no pictures of this food because it was so crowded and bustling, it was impossible to stop in the middle of it to take pictures. I’m happy it was so crowded, though, since all the proceeds are going to a good cause.
J and I were naturally excited to see that the Belgian table was selling some Belgian beers that aren’t otherwise available in Estonia. Sweet! I don’t know if I ever mentioned how much “research” J did in terms of trying new beers in Brussels, but he definitely sampled a very wide assortment while we were there and grew to appreciate the high quality and deep flavors. J bought one bottle to give to his dad and I bought one bottle for us. They gave us the Christmas cookies as a free bonus.
At the next table, Germany, I treated J to a cup of glögg , or mulled wine, which is hands-down my favorite cold-weather drink ( I must dedicate a post to it soon). The woman at the table assured us that it was made with good wine that had been donated to them. It was really delicious and well-spiced. From the Italian table, I bought two sets of tasting squares from Amadei. I’m really looking forward to doing a tasting with these amazingly high-quality chocolates.
We also got a plate of assorted Christmas cookies– I’m not really sure exactly what they are.
And of course I had to have these. J said he would buy them for me, and we got an incredible deal– we thought they were 5 kroons each, but then the woman only charged us 5 kroons for all five of them (which currently equals about 40 American cents!). Won’t they be adorable on the Christmas tree?
