Cookin' and Brewin'

We've had a couple of busy weekends that have involved brewing and lots of cooking and eating. Last weekend Troy and I brewed a hefeweizen in anticipation of our friend Aaron's visit this month. Brewing takes a decent amount of time, and unfortunately we haven't done much of it in the past 3 years that we have lived in Virginia. But it's such a fulfilling process, especially now that we have a keg and don't have to wait as long for it to be ready as we did when we had to bottle it all. Here's a pic of Troy stirring the brew.
Also last weekend, our friend Dave had us over to make and eat pasta again. This time there was a huge group of people participating, making it even more fun. We drank a ridiculous number of bottles of wine and ate gigantic portions of tasty pasta and 4 different desserts. I didn't help much with the cooking, as there were already a number of cooks in the kitchen, but I did get to play with our friends Peter and Jaimee's incredibly cute little boy, Ian.

Here's Sarah and Ian.
Nick, Alli, Aurie and Peter - hard at work on the pasta.
Nick displaying the goods.
Dave and Jaimee - overseeing the pasta cooking.
Troy and Steve - standing around drinking beer.
Mmmmmm.....the reward.

This weekend I've been busy harvesting our garden. Our tomatoes didn't do well at all but we have had a number of beautiful and tasty peppers: serranos, poblanos, sweet Italian reds, and regular bell peppers too. The basil has done pretty well too.
Last night we prepared a Mexican feast with the help of Peter and Jaimee. Here they are with Ian, who kept coming into the kitchen while I was cooking and saying "HI Yissa!!" It was adorable.
Peter and Jaimee brought yummy shrimp ceviche for an appetizer.

Here's the ceviche. It was so pretty--hard to take a pic that does it justice.

It's a good thing we had an appetizer, because it took a very long time to make the chile rellenos and get all the other fixings together too. Troy made fancy blue margaritas with salty foam on top--they were fabulous. I have to admit, it was an outstanding dinner--worth the wait. I was so anxious to eat that I forgot to take a picture of the full spread!

Is it Fall Yet?

Summers always go by way too fast. It's hard for me not to get jealous of all of our grad student friends (and Troy) since they are (technically) off during the summer and I'm working. But still, summers are usually packed with fun things to do like camping and parties. I get used to having Troy around more during the summer so it's always a little depressing when the craziness starts up again.

In Virginia, it's been especially hard to adjust to the seasonal differences. It really stays hot through much of September, which makes me feel like we get cheated out of some of the summer since school has already started. I especially feel that way this year because I'm taking my first official U.Va. class. It's hard to focus (and get homework done) when I want to hang out and drink beer on the porch! I need to work on this so I'm not scrambling to get my reading done before class as I did this week.

The class is focused around learning how edit literary writing and also how to layout a magazine or small publication. I've been pretty nervous about it as I'm the only non-student in the class as well as (I think) the only non-creative writing MFA person. Kind of intimidating. But I get to create my own little publication and pick a fiction book to review. I've enlisted the help of my pal (and experienced creative writer) Catherine. Having her advice makes me feel a little less neurotic and self-conscious.

As for Troy, I'm about to tell him it's time to call it quits for the night since I need to get some shut-eye. He's hard at work on the new drum-bot and it sounds as if he's made some progress in the last hour. If it was up to him, he'd be up all night working on his creations. Someday when we own a home, I think he'll have to build a soundproof room.

Now THAT'S a Burger!

Earlier this summer I had a 17 hour day traveling back from MN. I bought Gourmet magazine-- something I typically don't do--because their recipes are a bit complicated and expensive to make. Troy has been reveling in the fact that I've been eating more meat these days (for a long time we tried to be semi-vegetarian but he craves bacon like you wouldn't believe). He saw a recipe it it for a giant Aussie burger that he was completely smitten with the idea of. The day before I left for Finland he made it for me. I have to admit that I was surprised at how good it tasted!


Here's a picture taken while assembling the burger. Some kind of spicy mayo that Troy made from scratch, pickled beets, a fried egg, and grilled pineapple. For good measure, Troy threw in cheese, lettuce and tomato. Yikes, I could hardly take a bite, because the thing was like 6 inches tall!

A VERY happy boy with his ginormous burger.

*Update: Here's the recipe in case you are interested in attempting this at home: http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/2000s/2008/07/aussieburger

Interesting Tidbits about Finland

I'm still thinking about my trip. Some interesting things I haven't mentioned yet:

• Finland has a female president (who my cousin met when she recently visited MN for Finnfest 2008 - http://www.justcoffeeart.com/announcements.html)
• Every Finnish man has to serve in the military or do some sort of civil service work for a year or more (women aren't required to do so but are able to if they so choose)
  
• When you have a baby in Finland the government encourages you to stay home in the first year by giving you money to do so (and guaranteeing that you still have a job to go back to if you are working).
  
• They have dual flush toilets everywhere, even in public restrooms (Finns seem very conscious about sustainability)
• Their diet is really very healthy - a typical breakfast would be rye bread with butter, topped with tomatoes, cucumber, and possibly cheese. There were some salad toppings that I considered a bit odd--one day I reached for little red chunks that I thought were tomatoes to put on my salad and they turned out to be watermelon!
  
• Despite the fact that the national languages are both Finnish and Swedish, Finns really don't hide their dislike of Swedes
  

Below is a menu in the elevator of our hotel - the translation really cracked me and Laura up. We weren't brave enough to try the game balls though.

Land of 188,000 Lakes

Finland very much reminds me of northern Minnesota--only there are more trees and more lakes, so it is even more beautiful. I couldn't believe all of the lakes. There seem to be lakes every few miles or so.

At the family reunion, we had the pleasure of taking a late night sauna and then jumping in the lake pictured above. If you are an experienced sauna-taker then you know how much of a treat it is to have one that is near a lake. The lake was very cold but it felt great. We went back and forth a few times and then relaxed outside our cabin with a beer. I slept so well after that!

One of my favorite days in Finland included a hike with relatives Pia and Pilvi and their families and our cousins Lee and Jon from the States too. We hiked through a bog to a lake and a little camping shelter and then had a little cookout. This is one of my favorite views on the way there. The shelter is actually on a little island and there is a floating platform that we had to get on to cross the water. You have to pull the rope to get yourself across. We went across in two groups but even still it was teetering a bit and I thought we were going to sink! It was pretty funny. 

Once on the island Emil helped Pasi start a fire and we ate yummy leftover smoked salmon with rye bread while we waited.  Then they cooked makkara (Finnish sausage) and we ate that with the most amazing mustard--I wish I had brought some of that back with me!

The shelter was really cool. You could actually camp there and there were some fishing poles too. Lee tried his luck fishing with some makkara for bait but the fish weren't going for it.

Here's the shelter.And Pia and Pauli.

And Pasi and Pilvi with cuties Lida, Emil and Lotta.  It was Lida's birthday so we sang her "Happy Birthday" in English and then in Finn too.  

This was one of the nicest days weather-wise that we had in Finland too. Pretty comfortable, not too hot or cold--perfect for hiking and eating sausages!

When we were with Mari in Kangasala she took us to an old tower to view the lakes that surround the town. Here's a view from the top.

It was windy up there! We had to stop for coffee afterwards to warm up. Finns are serious coffee drinkers. You can expect to be offered coffee at least two or three times a day, often with something sweet to go with it. I had no problem with that!

Here's a picture of us on the beach. As you can see from how we were dressed, it sure wasn't warm enough for swimming that day but we still had fun.

Finland

Sorry for my lack of posts but it has been a bit rough getting back to the grind after all of that traveling (28 hours on the way back because I wanted to fly with my sis and we got routed through Detroit).

Finland was amazing. The scenery was much like northern Minnesota, only it was more beautiful because there were more lakes and trees. It was so wonderful to reconnect with Mari and to spend time with family and learn about our ancestry.

Things that I loved about the trip:

1. Spending time with my sister--she asked me to be her maid of honor in the airport on the way there!
   
2. Meeting Mari's husband and little boy--we hadn't seen her in 17 years (boy does that make me feel old)!
3. Seeing Leo and Pia again (they are relatives that visited in 1986) and meeting the rest of the family.
4. Spending time with our cousins Lee and Jon from the states. We don't see them often and it was so cool that we all were able to go at the same time.
   
5. Playing silly games such as "throw the boot" at the family reunion. Despite language barriers, we could all laugh and have fun with this.
6. Taking saunas--especially the one at the reunion where we were able to jump in the lake. Pretty much every Finnish home has a sauna. I will miss that!
   
7. Learning more about where I came from--we have a family tree dating back to 1515!
   
8. Eating lots of salmon (especially the smoked salmon that Pasi and Pilvi made)
9. Trying new kinds of food, including: reindeer (it was surprisingly good!), lakka (cloud berries), and I think lingonberries (not sure because the name didn't translate well)

I'll be adding more to the blog as I have time. Here's a Shutterfly site I started about the trip: http://lauraandlissagotofinland.shutterfly.com/

A Cloudy Day in Helsinki

Well it's a cloudy day in Helsinki and it's looking like rain so I figured I would take time for a quick blog post. We arrived here yesterday and are here at the Hotel Helka until very early on Monday morning. We haven't had the best weather on our trip but it has still been wonderful. We have met many distant cousins and also spent time with Mari, a woman who stayed with my family for a summer when I was 15 years old.

Here are a few pictures from the trip that Laura took. She brought her laptop so I've been able to check email now and then. That's been nice. I'll write and post more pics when I have more time.

Mari, Laura and Topi in Tampere.
A roadside stop near Multia, Finland.
Mmmmmmm....smoked salmon.
A very beautiful place where we hiked with family.