As it is.

I could go on a political rant today, seeing as the Finnish parliamentary elections were concluded yesterday, and the results aren't exactly promising for a brighter future for Finland. The true Finns quadrupled their representation in parliament, which means that they will be taking ministerial positions, actively representing Finland in international politics. Some of their stances will be holding out funds for the Portugal bailout, restricting immigration rights, and possibly even an EU pull out all together. This isn't a blog about political rants though, so before I get upset and start telling you about the True Finns party's plans for 'culture' and 'education', I'll go switch it up a little...

The world revolves because every living being things that he is the Lord and creator of the material world. Material consciousness has two psychic divisions. One is that I am the creator and the other is that I am the enjoyer, but neither is the creator nor the enjoyer but a cooperator..... For instance, part of a machine cooperates with the whole machine a part of the body cooperates with the whole body. The hands, legs, eyes and so on are all parts of the body, but they are not actually the enjoyers. The stomach is the enjoyer. The legs move, the hands supply food, the teeth chew and all parts of the body are engaged in satisfying the stomach because the stomach is the principal factor that nourishes the bodys organisations. Therefore everything is given to the stomach. One nourishes the tree by watering its root and one nourishes the body by feeding the stomach, for if the body is to be kept in a healthy state,m the the parts of the body must cooperate to feed the stomach.... and we, as subordinate living beings, are meant to cooperate... The cooperation will actually help us just as food taken by the stomach will help all other parts of the body. If the fingers of the hand thing that they should take the food themselves instead of giving it to the stomach, then they will be frustrated. By cooperation they enjoy.
-Bhagavad Gita

What is the message here?

Thai Marinated Beef with Mixed Greens and Mango Salad

Ever since I got the cookbook 'Travels with Thai Food' by the authors of 'Spirit House,' I've been wanting to try new combinations and recipes (Thanks Ms. P!) I rarely cook by the book, but when entering unchartered territory, such as this, it's really handy to have such a comprehensive guide (and such lovely pictures).  After pouring over the book with A one night, we settled on this recipe for dinner and I went on the hunt for the grocery list.

The beef can be a fillet or any other decent quality beef. But it should be marinated a day in advance if possible. The marinade calls for: lemongrass (bruised and chopped), a large chilli, coriander, kaffir lime leaves, lime juice from one lime, galangal, ginger, sesame oil, sugar, and fish sauce. I cheat a little because I have a pre-made Thai paste that has most of the aforementioned ingredients. I would love to have lemongrass and galangal fresh, but I just wouldn't use it fast enough- and I hate to waste anything. (Lemongrass freezes just fine- though I don't have a freezer). I just added some lime juice, the oil and fish sauce and covered the beef and set it in the refrigerator.

The salad called for a variety of things that can only be found at the asian markets. Luckily, there are several in Hakaniemi and they are very close together. As it calls for a green and a ripe mango, coriander, mint and basil, watercress, garlic and lime, quite a few fresh ingredients were needed. I used Thai mint basil, rather than buy mint and basil separately (those cross breeds come in handy!) 

Watercress is a perky little green bunched into uneven sprigs, highly aromatic (though I can't quite put a finger on the scent, but it just reminds me of an Asian restaurant). I roughly pulled the leaves from the bulkier stems and put them in a strainer for a rinsing. I wasn't too meticulous however about some stems left on, as I felt this gave the base of the salad some nice crunchy bulk.

Green and ripe mango

Thai mint basil

I was a little shocked to find such a large pit in the mangoes. For some reason, I remembered more flesh. The green mango was especially hard, but it made it easier to peel and julienne. After all the greens had been torn and washed and tossed, I added the mango strips. 

 A made the tamarind dressing by chopping a few cloves of garlic, a large red chili, and a teaspoon of sugar and crushing them in a pestle and mortar, adding a tablespoond of fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of lime juice, a tablespoon of tamarind and a splash of water. Since this is rather spicy at the end, a little goes a long way, but it's definitely worth the effort.

I loved this meal, it was light and had such a variety of tastes mixed together. It might take some accustoming to the uninitiated, but basil/mint/coriander/lemongrass/spicy.....yummmm.

Guilty Pleasures Salad

Pssst! Want to know the real reason I couldn't remain a vegetarian? I.love.bacon.

I also love blue cheese and salads and dijon mustard. Truly some of my favorite things. That's why this combination makes a killer salad. A salad so good, it serves as a main course. A salad so good, it deserves a blog post. 

So simple: fry up some bacon and drain it on paper towels, or use some leftover bacon. Throw together some chopped lettuce (I used ice-berg and ruccola) and tomatoes, chunks of blue cheese and add the bacon once it has cooled a bit. For the dressing, use some of the bacon fat, a pinch of sugar, salt and pepper, a heaping tablespoon of mustard (yellow or dijon) and a tablespoon of apple cider or white wine vinegar and whisk together.

The cure for the case of the Mondays

Pizza with red onions, olives, feta and garlic.

Mondays come and go. Afterall, it's just a 24 hour span of your life that society has given a name and placed ordinally between Sunday and Tuesday and what's the big deal anyway? My Monday was spent bombing a intermediate German final and finding that someone had stolen my makeup at the gym. Otherwise...The weekend flew by, it was only 48 hours, and it'll be humpday before we know it. (And I'll be missing a Joni Mitchell cover band in lieu of a thesis meeting).

After working all last week in, well, the nicest restaurant I've ever even stepped foot in, I was ready for some relaxation. Down to earth time at home. Then again, I thought, I deserve to do something nice for myself too, and be classy while I'm at it. (Most of the time I'm called 'classy' it's sarcastically and I've got a 1.5 litre beer taped to each hand, but that's another story for another Monday)

Pizza with green pesto, chevre, and zucchini.

 I was in Stockman's Hullut Paivat (Crazy Days) super sale 3 out of 5 of the days it was running, and somehow I wasn't overwhelmed and felt completely relaxed. Maybe all the rumoring about how chaotic and annoying it is has really helped to deter the masses from going. I managed to go and find exactly what I was looking for: A pair of gloves, an umbrella, lefty scissors (well actually I bought righties by accident and exchanged them the next day).... Saturday was time for me and A to finally have some quality time together, so we met up in this crazy place and went to their gourmet grocer and parted the crowd looking for the best olive oil on sale, the best coffee on sale, etc etc. So don't ask me how we ended up with 4 types of cheeses in our cart, but it happened. Normally I think rationally and might say something to A like, 'don't you remember we already have a lot of cheese in the 'frig'? But ok, we hardly ever buy such AWESOME cheese. I especially like the goat cheese (chevre) we bought. Yum. Gouda, aged Guyere, mascarpone....

We already had in the refrigerator: 2 types of blue cheese (because of lack of shopping communication), 2 types of mozzarella (because I was going to make lasagna and never did), cream cheese, parmesan, and feta. Now what? Pizza!! I know it looks like I made a lot of pizza and,  yes, I made all four pizzas tonight..... but my oven is currently the size of a microwave, so these pizzas are like individual sized and we only ate the equivalent of 3. I started with this pizza dough....

Quattro Fromaggio

 If you have any suggestions what to do with the other cheeses, or for other pizza topping suggestions, let's hear it. (Though I finished off the mozzarella thankfully)

Pizza with roasted red and yellow bell peppers and grilled chicken.

Avocado Smoothie

Running out of time with those extra avocados? I was. The simplicity of this was amazing.

Just add milk, avocado and honey (or I used organic agave nectar)

 I put it in my handy container and blended it with a hand mixer.

Walah! My food buddha approves.

Chicken Chiliquiles

Did you know that I eat meat now? No not much, but enough to supplement myself once more with healthy animal fats that allow my body to more easily absorb healthy nutrients to my brain. Without embarking on a long an unnecessary justification of my personal dietary decisions, I will go ahead and show you what I cooked up this time!

This started with some onion, garlic and jarred jalapenos.

Then I added some corn, black and kidney beans, and tomato sauce. Amounts can be modified.

Then I crunched some tortilla chips in my hands and tossed them into the pan with the veggies and sauce. Try not to over crunch the tortilla chips, but don't leave them whole either.

Add some chicken on top, either breasts or legs, or whatever you have. 

Oops, we were so hungry I forgot to take pictures of the finished product until it was almost gone!

Avocado-Zucchini Soup

So now that avocados and zucchini are both in season, I over-zealously bought a-lot. Well, at least a bag of 6 avocados cost me only 3euros, which I thought was a killer deal. Best of all, they were in varying degrees of ripeness, so I was able to use some and save some for a little later without worrying about wasting any. However, after a few busy nights of not cooking, I haven't been using them, and I started to think- hey, better use up those softies!

Did you know that avocados are full of good stuff, like oleic acid to help lower cholesterol, potassium to help regulate blood pressure, folate for your health, and vitamin E which is great for your skin? I bet you didn't also know, that botanically, zucchini is actually a fruit, not a vegetable. Cool huh?

So after a bit of recipe browsing, I adapted this soup::

2 ripe avocados
1 to 2 zucchinis, depending on the size, or whatever you have
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 green chili
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 cube of vegetable or chicken broth
3 cups of water
olive oil
thyme, salt, pepper, to taste
So basically I just chopped the zucchini, onion, garlic, chilli and softened them in the soup pot with a little olive  oil. Once soft and fragrant I poured in the water and the broth cube. After boiling a while, I cut the ripe avocados, threw them in, blended it together, spiced it to taste and...... YUM! I can feel my blood pressure lowering already.

Dahl Mahkani - Black Lentil Curry

This is one of A's specialties, and I don't know his secret recipe, so I'll have to be patient with him to be a guest blogger here, as he's busy now with his own blog, coming soon on Facebook. 

Warm Asparagus Salad

I bought asparagus the other day when it was on sale and for some reason I had no idea what to do with it. I would usually make some kind of risotto, but that's the oldest recipe in the book. So I referred back to my ever handy Homestyle Vegetarian and found just what I was looking for. 

Starting with 2 red bell peppers, heat the oven to 200C and while waiting for the oven to preheat, cut the peppers into flat long pieces, discarding the seeds and core. Lay the pepper skin facing up on a baking sheet and place the baking sheet in the oven on the highest rung. It should take anywhere between 10-15 minutes for the skin of the red peppers to bubble and blacken, depending on the heat distribution in your oven. At this, take the peppers out and allow them to cool under a damp, clean kitchen towel. 

While the peppers are baking, you can prepare the bunch of asparagus. First, cut of the stumpy ends. These are usually a bit white-ish in color and very tough to chew through, even when cooked. Usually this is about 1-2 inches off the bottom. You can either cut them in half, or boil them whole. I cut them in half and put the bottom halves of the asparagus in the boiling water a few minutes before the tops, so that both halves reach the same softness and the tops aren't soggy when the bottoms are finally ready. Drain the asparagus and rinse with cold water after about 7 minutes. 

Mix together in a bowl a few cloves of crushed garlic, 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, the juice of one squeezed lemon (or two tables spoons of white wine vinegar) and 2 tablespoons of prepared pesto. Salt and pepper to taste. Whisk together. By now, the peppers should be cool enough, and you can remove the skin and dice the peppers. If you have baked the peppers long enough, the skin should peel off without much fuss. 

Place the aparagus on a serving plate. Sprinkle the chopped pepper on top, add some kalamato or black olives, and pour about half of the dressing on top, more later if you like.  A said this was restaurant quality, so I'm adding it to my list of favorites, and I'll never wonder what to do with asparagus again :)

Meringues

About twice a month, I treat myself and my sweetie to Eggs Benedict for breakfast. The Hollandaise sauce leaves me with a lot of leftover eggwhites. Being that I won't waste anything perfectly usable, and that egg whites present the perfect excuse to experiment, I kept them in the freezer for a week before I figured it out. Meringues. Let me just forewarn now, that the recipe I followed will not be used again, but the tips I learned in the process for beating egg whites was invaluable. Something I have struggled with for the last several years, without a stand mixer, I have finally avowed my revenge by doing it right. The tips were partly gathered by the Baking911 website on beating egg whites. If you don't have the patience to read through these, I'll give you the few vital basics: when separating the egg whites, don't allow even the teeniest bit of yolk into the mixture. The fat from the yolk will contaminate and impede the fluffing. Further, the egg whites should be at room temperature when beating. And third, start slowly and work your way up in speed. You don't want your arm to fall off, but slowing down after reaching soft peaks may ruin the loft. Save your arm speed for the end and give it a good burst of energy.

Meringues are a tricky thing, and a common tried and true recipe is elusive. For whatever reason, no two recipes are alike. I made these by whisking 4 egg whites with half a cup of plain granulated sugar, a tablespoon of vanilla sugar, and a teaspoon of lemon juice, until stiff peaks were formed.

The trouble is, according the recipe I followed, baking at a low temperature for about an hour, the meringues come out with a grainy texture. Let's just say, that in my opinion, a higher temperature and less time in the oven would have been more desirable. Say, next time, I may try a similar recipe, but leave it in the oven at 180 for 45 minutes. I'll let you know how that works out.

Next time I might be bolder and try macaroons, baked alaska, or chocolate covered meringues. David Lebovitz even made an icecream volcano!