Ship ahoy

On Saturday, under glorious skies we took the boat to Porvoo. Getting there took a couple of hours and it was enough to enjoy the company of friends, talk, drink a beer (or two) and just contemplate the ocean, the sky, the world or whatever. I enjoyed being able to dip in and out of my own company and into the company of the usual suspects who were all on good form. Unfortunately the Cathedral was closed in Porvoo (that is the second time in two vists) but the weather more than compensated. The return journey was also a pleasure and despite the excess of drunk Finnish people in the same confined space as me it was enough for me to be out, under a warm sun and on the water.

*****

On Sunday we did some experiments in the kitchen and we can confirm the following

*Deep fried plantains are excellent in salt and chilli powder
*Deep fried radish does not work

*****

On Thursday we will be in the UK briefly so the kitchen will be closed. I hope to drink some champagne on Brandon Hill in Bristol with some friends on Friday evening.

See you on the flip side.

Tramps like us part II

"I want to sleep beneath peaceful skies,
in my lover's bed,
With a wide open country in my eyes
and these nomadic dreams in my head"

No retreat, no surrender - Bruce Springsteen

If there was ever a way of summing up how I view the world anyone who reads this would underestimate those lines at their peril.

Last night I finally saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band play for the first time. The venue was the modern architectural classic Olympic Stadium in Helsinki. For those of you who are set list nerds you can see what he played here. The show was just over 3 and a quarter hours long and 31 songs. Here is the Kitchen's verdict: Almost amazing.

The good news is that the classic material is even better live: If anyone seriously doubts that Born to Run is a classic, worry no more - it is. It sounds as good now as when it first came out in 1975. The bad news is that the good material came over as only OK.

Bruce spiced things up by taking requests from the audience. It added a pleasing wildcard element to the show, but it did mean that the show as a whole lacked consistency - energy and pacing were sometimes lacking and with the bands ability to finish and start songs on a hairpin you sometimes went from way up to way down in a second. The upside of this was it's spontaneity and the way it showcased the classics. The downside was that sometimes things seemed to sag too much even if we were being treated to sincere and emotionally literate Bruce.

However to tip it over into good concert territory was: the olympic stadium itself, the great weather (walking home at 3am in the first light of dawn was a nice end to the evening), and the fact Bruce played "Santa Claus is coming to town" as a treat for the Finnish audience because after all everyone knows Santa is Finnish. Right?

Tramps like us

Oh has the world been a busy place recently. The kitchen has been jumping with activity and some of it has been very good. Haven't been able to get a table? Sorry, you'll have to bribe the nice lady who knits down by the entrance. Get on her good side and you can have the best table in the house.


We've been cooking some very good dishes:

Thai red curry with chili tofu & sticky rice
Penne all' amatriciana
Chicken piri piri with tortilla and salsa
Risotto with borlotti beans served with cranberry and cumin mushrooms
Vegetable and tofu stir fry

All have been done simply with the minimal ingredients and leftovers. I'm pleased because a lot of the ingredients I managed to buy in the market without resorting to English (although amusing the stall holders with my rubbish grasp of their language) and nothing has been wasted. I don't like to bring politics into this blog but the recent "advice" of the British prime minister to the rich west to not waste food before sitting down to a multi course G8 super meal has left me a little angry that politicians think we are that stupid.

I have been working very hard recently in my real life job so am very happy that the kitchen has been so productive. I'm equally happy that the weather forecast for the Springsteen concert on Friday night is now very positive. I've never seen him live and am not by any stretch a huge fan but it's live music and the vibes coming from the reviews I've read are good. The band seems to have ditched promoting the new album and under the influence of our beautiful Nordic sun seem to be playing for the pleasure of playing.

We're busy plotting all sorts of things as well. We're off to the UK at the end of the month and have been sorting train tickets which has proved a nightmare. Why is it that UK rail companies cannot post a ticket within the EU? I could get on my soap box and complain about how the UK rips off its citizens and tourists but I won't (oops!). We're also off to France in August and have been buying tickets on the TGV. 1st class darling - well for £3 difference wouldn't you? Finally we're also planning a week in Barcelona in October for my dear lady wife's birthday. Oh did I mention we're going to Tallinn with friends in September. Blimey it's all getting too much.

My bike rides back and forth to work have been adventures as I try and find new ways and lose myself amongst the twisting turning lanes of Puistola. Today I had to follow a light aircraft from Malmi airstrip to get back on track.

The songwriting is also going well, if slowly. I have 6 workable (if still, but only just, incomplete) tracks and one song title (Killer psycho hero). My myspace page is still sitting there gathering dust waiting for tracks to be put up there. They will come I just don't know when. Maybe that could be a project for the long Finnish winter.

Only one more day until my day off. This stretch has been too hectic by far. I was thinking today that we are working at an insane pace, more hectic than when I was working for Carl Taylor in Bristol and he knows how to crack the whip. Then I realised the problem. Me. I'm the boss now and I'm the one dictating the pace. Think it might be time to pause and take stock.

The Archer

We cycled yesterday from Pukinmäki to the Didrischsen Art Museum on Kuusisaari Island to see their Henry Moore exhibition. I had no idea what to expect. I knew the artist's name and had even seen one or two of his pieces up close and not understood what the fuss was about. However yesterday I spent a very pleasant hour examining his works up close and by seeing so many of them together I caught a glimpse of something exciting and interesting in his work. The picture above is of a piece called the Archer or more soberly "3 way piece number 2 LH535". At the Didrischsen they have The Archer (LH536) in white marble and walking around and around it I was able to see all the graceful curves and arches that occupy every facet of the piece and I found myself to be very impressed by it.

The museum itself was interesting but I felt the 8€ entrance price was a little on the steep side.

We cycled home in glorious sunshine and as it was a day off we played in the garden. The boss at gardening and me at learning Finnish. I'm sure it will all pay off one day.

We ate out in the garden using the BBQ again. Taking some inspiration from Moro East (Rob & Rach - thanks for buying us this book, it has been a revelation, it took me some time to get into it because it seemed overly fiddly on first glance but now it seems a little more straightforward and we're enjoying using it for ideas and places to begin) we had put some chicken in a Red wine, olive oil, garlic, thyme and pepper marinade before cycling off to the sculpture exhibition earlier and had decided to cook it with some cous cous. To add a salad to the plate I picked some cut and come again salad leaf from the garden, added a few tomatoes and some salad onion that I then drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

To cook the cous cous I used part of my old Trangia set as it seemed like the kind of pot that would be quite happy on the BBQ. I don't want to be limited to just grilling food. I want BBQing to be about cooking complete meals. It shouldn't just be about men burning flesh! The pan worked well and I will be gradually taking frying pans and other paraphenalia out into the garden when it is time to cook outside again.

Now for the chicken;

Once the coals were giving off a nice heat deeply score the chicken & put it on.

Have spare marinade ready to baste regularly to keep it moist.

Cook for somewhere between 15 - 20 minutes turning regularly.

A man who can incinerate food on a BBQ to a carbon crisp is a waste of space - the whole point of the exercise is to cook edible and very tasty food. Fortunately for me the chicken was OK. Phew.

We have some of the marinade left over which we will use to make a gravy for another dish in the next few days.

Waste nothing and enjoy the summer.

Vertigo

Yesterday I went to the Anton Corbijn exhibition at the Tennispalatsi in Helsinki. I am of that generation musically speaking that became aware of rock photography in about 1987 with the release of The Joshua Tree by U2. Musical tastes develop from all sorts of starting points and mine now take in artists as diverse as Joy Division and Miles Davies amongst others. So it was great to see so many iconic images in one place and perhaps the best part of the exhibition is when Corbijn pretends to be many of his rock n roll heroes himself in a well executed series of self portraits. Not then for me the iconic images but the pastiches of them.

******

My Finnish classes have started again and after been really lazy with it for the last month I was pleased by how much I remembered and frustrated by how little I can actually communicate! However I know I am near some sort of the threshold (utterly useless to just plain bad? It's all progress!) so am wanting to put some effort in over the coming weeks.

*****

The weather seems to be holding so we're cooking out again and tonigh we're doing Pork Ribs which have been marinading all day in a mixture of

White wine
Olive oil
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Coriander Seed
Cumim Seed
Paprika
Lemon Juice
A Dried Chilli

There are no hard and fast rules for how much or how little you use of each of the above ingredients. It's just fun to play.

*****

I fancy a swim in the sea or a lake...the time is coming.

Busy summer

Apologies for been so quiet - I've been busy at work and a little under the weather. I missed the chance to see Dogville this week as I simply wasn't up for it. Which is a shame as I missed some good company and what everyone tells me is an excellent film. Hopefully I'll be back to my movie going and sociable best next week. I've also been doing very little cooking but am much happier now and am looking forward to the weekend and catching up with some friends.

However last week the boss and I managed to get into the garden for a BBQ and so here is a great way to cook some pork.

BBQ'd Pork
Pork loin
2 Apples cored and roughly chopped
3 large cloves of garlic –smashed and roughly chopped
A large teaspoon of grainy Dijon mustard
Salt & Pepper
2 onions roughly chopped
A good lug of Apple schnapps
Olive oil

2 whole onions for roasting on the BBQ
Sweet potatoes

Take a small roasting tin that will fit on your BBQ and will take the loin of pork.
Put in the Pork, apples, onions, garlic, salt, pepper, mustard, oil, schnapps and give a good shake and make sure everything is well coated.
Cover with foil. Make sure it is on really tightly. Now add a second layer of foil and make sure that is tight.

Put this on the BBQ and cook for up to an hour

While that is cooking put your onions on a skewer and BBQ them so that they are sweet. They should take about half an hour to cook.

The sweet potatoes also need to be wrapped in foil and put on the BBQ. They take about half an hour but this can vary with the size of the potatoes and the heat from the BBQ.

Depending on how organized you are the BBQ’d onions can be served cold as part of a salad or warm with the rest of the meal. The reason to leave the Pork in there a bit longer is as the onions and apples cook and caramelize they become really really sweet and that gives a nice little gravy to go with the pork.

The good news of course is that whatever pork left over makes excellent sandwiches the following day.

I'm trying to hatch a plan for some BBQ'd chicken with cous cous and salad if the weather here improves. The summer in Finland has definately been on the odd side so far in June and I'd like it to be a bit more stable (and on the sunny) side so that all my little foodie plans can come to fruition.

Until next time make sure you wear flowers in your hair at least once.

After the summer break....

It is always a good thing to take a holiday. Even better when you go away to get married. I've had a great three weeks away from the kitchen, I've climbed over 30 english mountains and had a wonderful (if wet) week in Finland exploring my new home.

I don't really know where to begin but can promise that there will be one or two photos of the wedding (& I mean one or two - if only to show how pretty she looked) posted here soon, and can also say to all the friends who made it to our day it was amazing to catch up with you, and to those who couldn't be there we missed you.

*****

Back in Helsinki and the kitchen has re-opened, tonight's supper was BBQ'd salmon and corn and frankly I defy anyone not to enjoy this kind of combination. Just remember people a BBQ is a great, and forgiving, way to cook food - get those vegetabables on, get that haloumi cheese on, make a nice salad, give the salmon plenty of time to cook, give the corn even longer and you will be assured of a very pleasant weekday supper with hardly any bother at all. Even better the leftovers will taste better tomorrow.

*****

Last night we had some red thai curry which was excellent. As ever I made too much (make a good lunch or supper later in the week) but the little tip that set it up nicely was I used an upside down bowl to give the rice a nice shape and I put in some fresh tomato as I served up to give it a nice fresh taste - not magic, just easy everyday cooking.


*****

On honeymoon we went into the Finnish wilderness and camped. We had to carry everything into the wilderness with us and carry it out. It just proved how easy it is to cook good food with one pan if you want to. We had - Pork and Beans, Macaroni Carbonara and Cabbage and Rice. All simple (of course) yet none of that was at the cost of taste. If yu can cook good food in the wild, you can cook it every day in the Kitchen.

*****

Off to Oslo on Wed/Thu this week, should be fun to be back in Norway. It was good to see that coming back to Finland felt like coming home after two weeks in England. Always reassuring.

Waste nothing and enjoy the summer.