Why come to Finland....? This is why

Finland. A country that has a record of coffee drinkers per capita. We are know for our phones and race car drivers. But these are not the reasons to visit Finland. This is why.....Now you should look at the pictures.....

Finland is a country of crystal clear waters. That is why it is estimated that very fifth Finn has his or hers own summer cottage or a families one. These pictures are of my parents cottage. For my recommendation and as to why should you should come to Finland on a holiday are these cottages. They are very much in contact with the nature and it's more relaxing then your average city or beach holiday. 

It would be ideal to rent a cottage in the sea or lake side. Finland has a wide selection of lakes and there is no lake better then the other. All have their unique traits.

For the question what to do in this cottage is simple. Relax, fish, swim in the cool yet warm waters, rent a boat and just wander around the lake. Grill great foods (Finnish produces are during the summer very tasty because of the constant sunlight). Go to the sauna and if you are here during the winter, go dipping yourself into the ice waters. 

Finnish summers are also very warm and sunny, but not too hot. The summers are very pleasant. Not saying the winters are not either. Winter brings activities such as cross country skiing and other winter sports.

Finnish law also gives you the write to go berry and mushroom picking if you are just reasonable distance away from any settlement.

Finland has good restaurants also in the countries sides towns and villages. The restaurants usually use vegetables of the season and the the most fresh fishs you will ever see.

Best of all is the quiet. After a cool break from the sauna drinking cold beer on the lakeside with a undisturbed tranquility. So what are you waiting for. 

Party Paella

I made this delicious Paella last weekend. I was enjoying time in my typical....okay not typical...the best summer cottage in Finland. My families summer cottage. This Paella has everything you want. It's got pork, shrimps and chicken and all other yum yums.

about 6-12 chicken thighs/legs
100-200 grams if shrimp (just make sure they are not can or pre salted.
200 grams of pork belly sliced into slices
3 onions
5 garlic cloves and 8 for the marinade
parsley
5 dl risotto rice
1 l chicken stock
2 dl white wine
2 bell peppers (color doesn't matter in my opinion)
1 tsp of saffron
3 chili's on for paella and two for marinade
Olive oil for the cooking process for the marinade

Marinade all the protein. I used a simple marinade of olive oil (just enough that the protein is covered in it) Couple of thyme branches, garlic, chili and black pepper. DO NOT USE SALT. Salt will make the protein dry. Only use salt when you marinade for a shirt time. I evenly used abut 1 whole chili on the chicken and rest slit up among the pork and shrimp. Let them marinade for at least 5 hours. The more you let it marinade, the tastier it will get. A good hint I got while working as a trainee at a french Bistro in Helsinki. For every 12 h about 1 cm of the marinade will sink into the protein. Of course depends on the protein.

Slice the bell pepper and onions. Dice the garlic and chili. Saute the protein after the wait and season them with salt. Use the Paella pan. Remove the protein from the heat after that saute the onions, garlic and chili. wait until onions are golden brown. Add the riotous rice. Slowly add the chicken stock and by slowly I mean every 5 min about 2 dl. After the risotto starts being done add the proteins to the pan. finish up with saffron. Cut the parsley on top and serve.

Curry for the sick

I had a small flue a little while ago. While it may not be anything serious or extremely bad it's still pretty nasty. For me the ultimate food for when you sick, for example your average cold, the best foods curry or other Indian foods that a rich in spices.

Spicy food that have lots of spices for example cinnamon, turmeric and garam masala spice mixture are actually very healthy.....and to die for. There was once a over 100 year old Indian man who ran the New York city marathon. He said that the secret for his health was his diet that was rich on spicy food.

There are many kinds of ways to make curry. This is my way of doing it.

1 can of peeled tomatoes
300 grams of chicken (breast of thigh)
1 onion

3 cloves of garlic
Thumb size chunk of ginger
tbl spoon of tomato pure
can of coconut milk
tsp or 1/2 tsp of chili powder depends on how hot you want it (Kashmir chili powder I would recommend)
1 tsp of turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
5 curry leaves

Peel and slice the onions. Saute them on a pan using neutral vegetable oil. Season with salt and pepper. Crush the garlic and slice the ginger and add them to the pan. After the onion slices start to get nicely golden brown. Add the spices (turmeric, garam masala and chili powder). and dry roast them. After the spices have been mixed nicely with the onions add the tomato pure and can tomatoes. Then add the coconut milk. After the coconut milk has changed the color of the sauce add the curry leaves. Let it stir for moment. Blitz the sauce in a blender. Saute the chicken in the same pan. After they've become brown add the sauce. Serve with rice or naan bread.

Liver on a plate

Have you ever thought about eating cows liver. Well you should. It's cheap since nobody wants to eat it for some reason, but if you ask almost any professional chef they'll say it's delicious. Liver has an unique taste and its very simple to cook. Here in Finland we eat often liver (well it was common also to eat as a school lunch cow blood brownies). It's also very healthy (again this is not a fitness blog) since its filled with iron and other goodies. The cooking process is simple. You fry it on a pan same way you would a steak. Cut the liver into even slices about the thickness of your thumb. Season with salt and pepper. Place them on the pan that has heated to a medium heat. They'll cook quickly so be careful. Add some herbs like rosmerine or thyme or both on the pan and crushed garlic. ones golden brown turn over. 

Add some sauteed onions on top t add to the flavor. The liver slices should be nicely cook. By nicely cooked I mean medium.....I hope you'll start eating liver. You don't know what you're missing.

Getting strong with stir fry

It's quick. It's healthy. It's delicious. You know what it is. It's stir fry.
After a workout at the gym (yes I go to the gym) I like to eat something with lots of carbohydrates and most importantly protein. It's key for gaining muscle, but enough about fitness this is still a food blog. There are many kinds of stir fries and this is just what i made today. As the sauce for my stir fry I used the famous Buffalo hot wings Asian zing sauce. It went great with the vegetables, noodles and chicken.

400 grams of chicken
200 grams of noodles. Just poor hot water on store bought noodles. Make sure they are high quality noodles.
1 cucumber
2 carrots
bucket of spring onions (only the dark green parts)
1 cabbage

Asian zing sauce

2 tsp cornstarch
4 tsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup sriracha or other chili garlic sauce
1 tbl soy sauce
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 salt
1/4 minced garlic

1. First make the Asian zing sauce. Mix the cornstarch and rice wine vinegar. Mix rest of the ingredients of the sauce in a pot on a low heat.

2. Slice the cabbage, carrot and spring onions into thin slices. Cut the cucumber into fire match size thin slices. Season them all quickly with ginger, garlic and salt.

3. Slice the chicken into thin slices. Then saute them in a wok and season them with ginger, garlic and salt. Add the the sauce, the noodles and the vegetables. Mix well in the wok. After that serve.

Moussaka....a piece of Greece

I just arrived home and I found my eggplants were going bad any day now. In our house we don't let food go to waste so we have to do something with that ingredient or use it in something. So I decided to make a delicious Moussaka. Its a traditional Greek dish that will melt in your mouth. It's nothing like a meatloaf, but more like a lasagna. It's a perfect dish for the whole family and an easy way to get your children to eat eggplant (If you have any I mean).

400 g ground beef
1 can of crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 dl of parmesan cheese
1 1/2 dl breadcrumbs
1 dl white wine (I prefer sake....I know weird)
2 onions
clump of finely diced parsley and rosmarin

White sauce
1 eggplant
4 tbl of flour
75 grams of butter
4 dl of milk
1 egg yolk
Salt and pepper for taste

Finely chop the onions and saute them in a pan with the ground beef. After that add the parsley, rosmarin, white wine and can tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper to your taste. Keep them on the pan for as long as most of the liquid has dissolved. Take it off the heat and let it cool down.

On the mean time make the white sauce by heating up the milk and combining on a different pan the butter and flour. After the melted butter and flour have combined neatly add the milk and yolk. Season them with...yes you've guessed it, with salt and pepper. The sauce should be thick so it will stay on the moussaka.

Last preparation before we start to layer out the moussaka, quickly pan fry the eggplant that is sliced into not too thick slices. Use oil and butter mixture when frying the eggplant.

Layer half of the eggplants on an oven tray. Mix half of the breadcrumbs and half of the parmesan with the ground beef when its cooled down...should be cool enough when you've finished all the other stuff. Place the ground beef mixture on top of the eggplants and layer the rest of the eggplants on top of them. add the sauce and sprinkle the rest of the cheese and breadcrumbs on top. Add a little bit of melted butter over the breadcrumbs. Put it in the oven for 45 min in 175 Celsius.

Have a great meal.

Pasta, Pizza, Tiramisu and the rest of Italy

Have you ever thought about visiting Italy. Of course you have if you love food. Italy has given the world many great foods that have become a global phenomenon. But if you are planning to visit italy prepare your apetite for four dishes. Italian typical dinner consists of four different dishes. First is the appetizers then is the pasta rice or other carb dish that is called primi piatti. Then is secondi piatti that is the meat or fish dish. Lastly is the dolce or the dessert that usually is served cold.

I have visited Italy twice and I'm going there again on september. I've been to Rome and driven around Tuscany. For my guide for traveling in Italy I suggest renting an apartment in one of the mager cities such as Rome, Milan or Naples. Almost every Italian city has large and beautiful landmarks that are nice to have been seen, but in my opinion the best thing is just to walk around the city and find a good restaurant. A good hint for finding a good restaurant is this. When there are few people on the streets the restraunt nearby are bound to be good. Avoid restraunts near the major tourist atractions.

If your not into citites I suggest renting a house in the countryside. The countryside is filled with great restraunts and the people are really friendly because they don't have to deal with annoying tourist year long. Renting a car is very recomended. It's easy to do road trips to neighbouring villages, towns and cities. Only downside is the Italian highways. Better put your seatbelts on.

The reason why I favour renting a place and not stating in a hotel is because hotel prizes are veary steap and cheap ones are low on quality. The internet is full of websites that are easy to use and you can find almost any apartment, house or even a villa for you anywhere. I suggest the website Homeaway.

Hope this helped

My first post

Hello good readers. I'm a guy from Finland and my name is Jere Pyötsiä. I want to become a talented chef and oneday own my own restaurant. I also love to travel to all kinds of places. Except tourist magnet locations that only have long beaches and best food there is a pizza. This blogs purpose is to brag about my sweet life.....just kidding. As the title says I'm hungry like a lion for new things (mainly food). I'm willing to risk it all for eating and learining how to cook different things. I post different recipes and foods and I have no spesific style I prefer of cooking.