Laskiaispulla – Finnish seasonal cardamon-spiced bun

Posted on by Yumi Leave a comment

あっという間に日が長くなってきました。気温も上がって0℃くらい。－20℃のときに比べたら暖かいのなんのって。日が延びたので会社から帰るときもまだ明るくて（ちなみに午後4時ごろ。ちょっと前まではその時間で真っ暗でした。）なんだか早い時間に家に帰れるという気分になってしまいますが、だまされてはいけない（笑いつもどおりの勤務時間です。昨日の大雪、そして気温の上昇・・・ヘルシンキの道路はこんな感じです。昨日に引き続き本日もとても歩くのが大変・・・雪かきはまだ間に合ってません・・・

The day lengthens and temperature goes up. It's almost 0 degrees. Compared with -20 degrees we had a couple of weeks ago, it feels pretty warm 😉 It's still bright outside when I leave work (around 4pm and it had been dark before) . Combination of crazy snow fall of yesterday and warmer temperature (I know 0 degree is not warm but compared with -20 degrees, I repeat!) made the street look like this picture. Again it's not easy to walk here. And not enough snowplow cars.

Apart from the weather, Laskiaispulla, Finnish cardamon-spiced bun filled with cream, is something seasonal. It's from catholic tradition of using up perishable food such as sugar, flour, eggs and fat. It's one of my favorite sweets and I am tempted to eat it everyday. But but but, discipline!

Anyhow, it's fun to get to know more about what I like. I will do small research about taste and price of laskiaispulla and will share it with you!

さてそんなこんなの今日この頃、雪が降ったりとけたり、固まってつるつるになったりする以外に季節のものといえば、ラスキアイスプッラ。季節限定のプッラ（カルダモンの入った菓子パンみたいなもの）で、特徴はそのプッラの間にこれでもかというほどのクリームが入っているところ。ついつい心が惹かれますが毎日食べるのは危険かと・・・

そもそもなんでこれが季節限定か、私的にはおいしいなら1年中売っていればいいのにとも思ったりしますが、これはただのおいしいプッラというわけではなくて季節限定の理由があるのです。ラスキアイスプッラはキリスト教のイースター、特に告解の三が日（キリスト教に詳しくないけどもっと知りたい人はぐぐってみてください）と深く関係しているのです。灰の水曜日から始まる断食の前にパンケーキや甘いものを食べるというカトリック教会の伝統か、受難節の断食の間、摂取を制限される砂糖や卵、そして小麦粉など腐敗しやすいものを消費してしまうということから始まったようです。

そんな背景のあるラスキアイスプッラ、今年はちょっとした食べ比べリサーチをしてみたいと思ってます。お楽しみに（笑

Cafe Carusel @Helsinki

Posted on by Yumi Leave a comment

It's snowing a lot today! It's not something special to have a lot of snow in Finland but it's a lot!!! It seems there are not enough snowplow cars in the town and it's a bit of exercise to walk on the street.

In such weather, a friend and I walked to our favorite cafe by the sea.

we were delighted to find lovely pudding at the cafe Carusel after such exercise : ) They have much better selection of puddings now than before. And cappuccino was good.

今日は大雪・・・フィンランドで雪が降ったり積もったりするのは特別なことじゃないけど、今日はほんと大雪！雪がザーザー降りなのだ。そして横殴り。そんな天気の中、近所の友達と一緒に海辺にあるCafe Caruselまで散歩。雪かきが明らかに間に合ってないようで大量に積もった雪の上を歩くのは大変。トレーニングのために砂浜で走るみたいな感じである（走ったわけじゃないけど）

そんなこんなでたどり着いたカフェ！待っていたのはご褒美。以前はフィンランドではみかけなかったような素敵なスィーツが。おいしいカプチーノと一緒にいただきました。カルーセルとかもめ食堂でおなじみのUrsulaは同じ海辺にあるんだけど、私はカルーセルのほうが好き。Ursulaより開放感があるし、オリジナルのスィーツが多いのがよいし、ピザもおいしい。そんなわけでお薦めです。Wifiもフリーだしね。

http://www.carusel.fi/in-english/

Japanese reataurant “Aya” @ Helsinki

Posted on by Yumi Leave a comment

最近友達が"Aya" という日本食レストランのうどんがなかなかイケるということをFBに書いていて、さらにその友達の日本人のみなさんも ”こしがあっておいしい”、”ちゃんとしたうどんを食べられるのはこの店しかないよね”的なコメントをしていたので、早速行きたくなったので行ってみました。暖かいうどんといえばなんだか天ぷらもの・・・というのが私の目に止まったのがかき揚うどん。フィンランド語のメニューにはベジ天ぷらうどん・・・と。デフォルトが野菜だけ、でオプションでえびの入ったかき揚が・・・もちろん、わたくしはえび入りのかき揚。評判どおりのおいしさに感動しました。ついにヘルシンキにもちゃんとしたうどんが食べられるお店が！これからは毎週通いたいと思っている次第（笑日本だったらもっともっとおいしい我が実家を含めうどん屋がたくさんありますが、ここでこのレベルはすごい！という感じ。えび入りかき揚で10.9€ というのも海外で食べる日本食としてはとても手ごろな値段なのでは・・・と思います。場所はヘルシンキ中央駅の前にあるCity center ビルの２階です。ところでおそばだったら冬でも冷たいのがおいしいですね～。天ざるとか、天ぷらがなければざるそばでも・・・そしてわさびは必須・・・　って昨日家で食べたような・・・

Friends were talking about a Japanese restaurant "Aya". They said it was pretty good and only the restaurant we can have decent udon (Japanese) dishes in Helsinki. It was true! I went there and had veggie and prawn tempura udon. I liked it a lot and think it will be my "go once-a-week" restaurant from now on. It's nice to have warm udon dishes, especially in winter (well, it's winter most of the time in Finland 😉 Usually, Japanese dishes are pricey in the other countries than Japan but Aya's price is good. 10.9€ for the veggie and prawn udon. I will try some other dishes next time! It's located at City Center building in front of the railway station.

http://www.ravintola-aya.fi/

Summer & Potatoes

Posted on by Yumi Leave a comment

Last Friday when I said, "I am going to cook new potatoes tomorrow", a friend of mine recommended me "siikli" potetoes. It's yummy and I like the texture a lot. Today I cooked it with Ghee which I made from unsalted butter, cumin seed and garlic. I didn't add any salt and pepper but it tasted nice : ) I like Finnish summer now more than before. Food is one of the reasons. We can get fresh vegetable and fruits, which I can't find very much in winter here.

フィンランドの夏が以前よりもっと好きになったかも。その理由の１つは食べ物。夏になると新鮮な野菜やフルーツがたくさん出回る。この新じゃが siikli もその１つ。先週フィンランド人の友達が教えてくれたおいしいじゃがいも。今日はこのじゃがいもを無塩バターから自分で作ったギーとクミンシードとにんにくで炒めて晩御飯。味もさながら食感がとてもよい感じ。

Bread & Butter – Kannisto Leipomo & Kirnuvoi

Posted on by Yumi Leave a comment

I can't start a day without good bread and butter. (and coffee…)

Kannisto leipomo (http://www.kannistonleipomo.fi/) is my most favorite bakery in Helsinki (not many bakeries in this country, BTW!!!) And it's located in my neighborhood : ) This morning, I went there to get some fresh bread for the coming week and it was really refreshing to walk there with some deviation to the park. Love weekend's mornings!

Yesterday, a friend introduced me the butter in the picture when we went to the Anton & Anton saying it has been her favorite. I love butter maybe more than bread and haven't been happy the ordinary butter which alsmot everyone buy at the supermarket here. So, I had high expectation when the friend introduced it to me! Hurray, it didn't betray my expectation this morning! It's much more tasty than the other one! I can't wait for tomorrow morning to have the bread and the butter 😉

朝ごはんはトーストにバター。（そしてコーヒー）　おいしいトーストとバターは１日のスタートに欠かせない。

今朝は近所のKannisto Leipomoに焼きたてのパンを買いに行った。フィンランドにはいわゆるベーカリーがほとんどなくてがっかりなんだけど　我が家の近所のこのパン屋、パン屋らしいパン屋だし、とてもおいしいパンを売っている。この店を教えてもらったときはほんとうれしかった！！！”やった　パン屋”っていう感じ　（笑　今朝はとてもすがすがしい天気でパン屋に行ったついでにちょっと遠回りをして短い散歩。幸せな朝だった。

そしてバター。フィンランドのバターはいまいちコクとか味がないと思っていた今日この頃（今日この頃だけではないけど）、昨日友達から教えてもらったバター、Kirnuvoi。これはよかった！これで朝ごはんはしばらく安泰。

Creative, Tasty & Fun – Kokomo Tikibar & Room

Posted on by Yumi 2 Comments

Kokomo Tikibar & Room recently opened (I believe) in Punavuori impressed me with fun & relaxing atmosphere and good quality of food. I don't think there had been any similar kind of restaurant to it in Helsinki before. From the menu I browsed before going to the Kokomo, my expectation was high!!! And they did exceed my expectation.

They have thirty different cocktails in the menu. I asked if they could make non-alcoholic cocktail and the friendly waitress said they could make any of the cocktails in the menu without alcohol. Also she told me they could make something speciall for me if I told her what I would like to have in my virgin cocktail. So, I told them I would like to have some drink with berries. They also asked me if I would like to have it sweet or it sour. I told them I'd like to have something between sweet and sour and not too exotic 😉 And what I got was really creative!!! It was cocktail of cranberry, cloud-berry and cinnamon with goat cheese! Goat cheese wasn't mixed in the drink but it was served with the drink (I hope you can see the goat cheese in the picture!) and the friendly waitress told me to make sure I pu goat cheese in my mouth before drinking the cocktail as they go well in that order. I had never seen such drink but it was excellent!

A friend and I had lovey hot pot with tiger prawn and beef skewers. We cooked them in the hot pot by ourselves just like we do with nabe dishes in Japan : ) and had it with roti bread. It also came with four different kinds of sauce including my favorite wasabi mayonnaise and salad which had some Mizuna which I love!

Also chocolate cake with ice cream we had for dessert was smiley : )

I definitely go back to the friendly, creative and tasty Kokomo, again!

今日は　最近家の近所（Punavuori）にオープンしたKokomoでディナー。インターネットでメニューを見たときから盛り上がる私。

まずは30種類のカクテルが自慢のよう。アルコールの飲めない私、ノンアルコールのカクテルができるか聞いてみるとメニューにあるどのカクテルでもノンアルコールにできるし　その上希望を伝えればそれに沿ったカクテルを作って作ってくれるって。ということでベリーのカクテルをお願いしてみた。でてきたのはとてもクリエイティブなおいしいカクテル。クランベリー、クラウドベリー、シナモンの入ったカクテルがゴートチーズ添えで出てきた。フレンドリーなウェイトレスがまず最初にゴートチーズを口に入れてからカクテルを飲むように念を押していった。どうやらそうすることによってよりおいしく頂けるらしいのでその通りにしてみるとほんとにおいしい。こんなカクテル（写真を参照。チーズも確認できると思います。）見たことなかったけどおいしい！

食事はエビと牛肉のホットポット。日本の鍋のようにテーブルで料理して食べるのが懐かしい感じ　:）店の人からやり方分かるかって聞かれて、もちろん！と答える我々;-)　この鍋セットは水菜の入ったサラダと4種類のソース（わさびマヨネーズ、ぽんず、醤油、マンゴーソース）、そしてロティもついてる素敵なセット。かなりおいしかった！今までヘルシンキにはなかった感じのレストラン。

デザートに頂いたチョコレートケーキとアイスクリームも美味。次回行くのがすでに楽しみなのだった　:）

Tampere & the world best munkki

Posted on by Yumi Leave a comment

I visited Tampere for work on the beautiful autumn day and stayed one night there. My expectation to Tampere wasn't much. Only what I could think of going after work was ra-men (kinda' Japanese noodle) restaurant, "Hanabi". I went to eat supper there but Tampere had more to offer : ) A friend recommended me to go to cafe at the Pyynikin näkötorni as they have very tasty munkki in addition to the beautiful view from the top of the tower. It was located about 30-minute away from the city center (I am not sure about it as a friend from work and I deviated to go to some shop on the way). And it was a good exercise before eating sugary treat! The cafe was busy. In the surroundings, people were jogging, walking and motorcycling. Later I heard that motorcyclist get together at the cafe every Monday and
it's difficult to get a table. Luckily it was Tuesday when we went there though. I wondered if I should order regular size mukki or smaller one but I am glad that I got the regular size. It was super yummy and my Finnish friend told me that it was the best she had ever eaten. I thought so, too! We concluded it's the best munkki in Finland and it means it's the best in the world as we don't think other countries have munkki. I had thought munkki was doughnut before but it's not. Or do we have something similar in Japan… not so sure about it. I was tempted to have another munkki but managed not to have ;-)

The view from the top of the tower was beautiful, BTW, but I have to say, it's worth going to Tampere for munkki!!!

PS. Trying to add the link of the cafe, I realized they call it doughnut! Here's the link.

http://www.munkkikahvila.net/?page=1

I Recommend…-Japanese restaurants in Europe

Posted on by Yumi Leave a comment

Before moving to Helsinki, I thought it was non-sense to go to Japanese restaurant in other countries than our country, Japan. I thought one should try the local food! However, living in Europe, I started to check out Japanese restaurants in other countries. It's fun to try and see how good those restaurants are doing.

And I thought it would be fun to share my experience with friends.

So, here's my recommendation in Athens where I visited most recently (I went to the restaurant twice during my 1 week stay in Greece. I was eating there yesterday, actually).

Furin-kazan

http://www.furin-kazan.com/

Sushi Kaze (寿司　風）and Chirashi （ちらし）were great! A friend tried Hiyashi-chuka （冷やし中華）but she told me it wasn't as good as she expected. I spoke with one of the sushi chef and he told me which fish was good on the day and included them in my sushi set. It seems they remembered has when we went there second time and offered a pot of green tea! Thank you very much.

Healthy, Tastey and Beautiful – Macrobiotic French!

Posted on by Yumi Leave a comment

From the end of March to the beginning of April when cherry blossoms bloom in Japan, I took a two-week holiday and spent half of it in Tokyo and the other half in Honolulu. I had a chance to try macrobiotic French dinner at Merleau Pannonica at Daikanyama. It was tasty and the presentation was BEAUTIFUL! Have a look at the photos. I think they tell you a lot more than I could describe how it was like.

桜の季節、東京とハワイで合わせて２週間の休暇を取った。東京にいる間には代官山でマクロビオティクスのフランス料理を堪能。おいしくてヘルシー、そしてとても美しいプレゼンテーション！いろいろ説明するより写真でみていただくほうが分かりやすいかと・・・

Best Croissant in Paris?

Posted on by Yumi Leave a comment

July 26, 2006

I love croissants a lot. When I went to Paris in June, my expectation was quite high but I got a bit disappointed not to be able to find really nice croissants. Coming home, I heard there was a famous French bakery "Maison Kayser" in Tokyo and they have very very nice croissants. Their croissants was awarded the best croissant in Paris by Figaro(French newspaper). Just before flying to Beijing last week, I went to the bakery in Shiroganedai and bought three croissants. It was good but I still think it can’t beat the ones I ate in Northern Italy has been the best so far. Probably it depends on one’s preference… Other breads and pastries also looked good at the Maison Kayser and I’d like to try them later.

クロワッサンはかなり大好き。6月にパリに行ったときはおいしいクロワッサンが食べられると思ってかなり盛り上がった。でも実際にはそんなにすごいクロワッサンを見つけることはでくなくてがっかり。その後、東京にも超おいしいクロワッサンを売っているメゾン・カイザーというパン屋があることを聞いた。フランスの新聞フィガロ紙でパリで一番おいしいクロワッサンに選ばれた。先週北京に行く前に白金台にある店に行ってクロワッサンを３つ買ってみた。おいしいクロワッサンだったけれど、やっぱり北イタリアで食べたあのおいしいクロワッサンにはま負ける感じだった・・・残念ながら・・・。でもそれって個人の好みにもよるかな。お店にあった他のパンもすごくおいしそうだったから　ぜひまたトライしてみたいと思う。