As some of my readers already know, I work as a freelancer lighting and ”visual designer” in different theaters. Currently I am working at Theater Telakka, Tampere with a performance called “Petroskoi”. The same place I mentioned in my coffee listing earlier this spring. I am happy to be served good coffee every day.
Petroskoi is a town in Karelia, beyond the Russian border by the Lake Ladoga [Laatokka] and it is a home for Finnish related languages. The area has been occupied by both Finns and Russians going from west to east and vice versa and it has not been an easy spot to be. These Karelian people have been walked over for a lot, but were able to maintain their traditions and customs up to now. At the moment the same thing is happening in Karelia as it is also with the other smaller language groups in the world, the traditions are fading, people are losing their mother languages, mainstream is ruling. So, we are making a performance about that all. What it was then, what it is now and what it was in between. The history has not been very nice. We have a nice photo blog about the production in here (solvaamo.blogspot.fi) The main reason I wrote about this is that the whole thing is a production for 3 theaters combined. “ 2 in Finland (Telakka in Tampere, Vanha Juko in Lahti) and one in Estonia (Rakvere Theatre). We all have actors from other theaters and on Friday it was fun to finally meet some of the Lahti people and next week we all go to visit Rakvere in Estonia who will have the first premiere. You can find more info in here.
On Friday I was talking to the Estonians and they were amazed about some things in Finland. First, no alcohol served in certain restaurants at all. Then, also no juice. A friend of theirs asked for pineapple juice at dinner and the servant was very sorry: “ I am sorry, but Finnish people only drink apple or orange juice at restaurants.” They found it of course hilarious (because the supermarkets are filled with juice options), and now that I think of it, it is true. It is more likely to see an adult man having a pint of milk (this is normal) than having a juice. I am looking forward to Estonia to see what they have to offer. I have been there several times, but it was long ago and I think the place has changed a bit. I am definitely looking forward to have limitless free wifi everywhere, after Germany.
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The main reason I started to write was because of food. Finnish food. This came to my mind when I was preparing it, and I have been offering it previously to my foreign friends. This is something inexpensive (though a bit time consuming) and it is very traditional but it's not found really in any restaurant. Very old fashioned, yet every Finn has been eating this at home. It also relates to Russia and Karelian heritage and to Savo, where I am from. This cabbage casserole is surprisingly easy to prepare on your own at your home. Today we bought fresh new cabbage and it is just SO tasty.
Cabbage casserole
Ingredients
This goes for both vegetarian and meat eater styles, vegans can test the best combination for them without the dairy product.
1 white cabbage (or half) 500-600g
400g minced meat/ textured soy protein (any meat goes, I prefer lamb)
2,5 dl buckwheat
3 big white onions (also new onions with leaves are good)
200- 250g smetana/ fat sour cream (dairy product, vegans just leave it out)
1- 2 tbs honey/ syrup (or 1 tbs sugar)
marjoram, parsley (fresh if possible, dried does as well)
salt, black pepper, sesame seeds, sun flower seeds
(lingonberry)
Big bowl for mixing, frying pan, small pot, (for buckwheat), bowl for oven
Start with cooking the buckwheat in water for 20 min, stir occasionally. Cut the cabbage and onion in slices while buckwheat is boiling. Rinse the buckwheat and leave it for a while. Fry the minced meat with half of the onions in the frying pan, season with salt. Put the oven on to warm, appr. 200 degrees Celsius. Take the meat out when ready and fry the cabbage slices with the rest of the onions, stir well while doing it, fry until cabbage is soft and season with salt and pepper. Mix meat and cabbage in bowl, add salt and pepper if needed. Season with marjoram and parsley (a hand full of both if it is fresh, 2-3 teaspoons dry), add syrup or honey. Mix well. Add smetana, mix well. Pour all into a oven bowl, sprinkle the top with sun flower ans sesame seeds (to avoid the top getting dry/ burned) and put to oven for 30-45 min. Add some crushed lingonberry on the side.
Enjoy!
btw, if you want to see how it actually looks like, try google image search with word "kaalilaatikko". I does not look too good, but I promise the taste to be better!
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