food

Klõpsa siia , kui soovid lugeda eestikeelset menüüd. Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and US President George Bush shaking hands in the White House, June 25, 2007. Photo: Mike Theiler, courtesy of the Office of the President of Estonia . Well, if George Bush had lunch with Toomas Hendrik Ilves in Estonia (that was in November 2006), it was only a matter of time that Toomas Hendrik Ilves would fly to the US to have lunch with George Bush in return (as he did early this week). Ilves and Bush actually met over two days, which was quite amazing considering that the first leds a country of barely 1.4 million people and the other a country of more than 300 million. Anyway, here's what they had for lunch: Click on the photo to enlarge. Photo courtesy of Eesti Ekspress . I'd be interested to hear what American foodbloggers think about this menu. Was it seasonal? Was it representative of 'American cuisine'? And if yes, was it representative of modern or new or tradition...

Careful readers on my blog may have noticed a discrepancy in my strawberry posts. I claimed here to have picked a good kilogram of the best and sweetest strawberries in the world (this doesn't include all the berries - and there were many, oh so many, let me tell you - that ended up straight in my mouth as opposed to the basket), yet I only used 750 grams to make wild strawberry jam . What happened to the rest? Well, we bartered them for 8 gorgeous fresh hot-smoked flatfish on Sunday night. And not just any flatfish, but eight lovely specimens of European flounder ( Platichthys flesus trachurus ), to be more precise: Aren't they gorgeous? They're picked by a fisherman in our suburb, and hot-smoked by a kind friend who lives just around the corner. They're still small, as their peak season is only in August.* I'll be eagerly waiting for August, as ' suitsulest ' (that's smoked flounder for you) is the smoked fish with the softest, tenderest, tastiest an...

* p. 90 in Claudia Roden 's book The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand and Vilna to the Present Day (Penguin Books, 1996). Sounds cool, doesn't it? My first challenge as a new member of the Daring Bakers was to make bagels . Not just any bagels, but Real Honest Jewish Purist's Bagels according to a recipe chosen by Jenny of All Things Edible and Freya of Writing At The Kitchen Table . Bagels, in addition to being a doughnut with rigor mortis (alias chewy and dense and just a bit hard), were the staple bread of the Jews in Eastern Europe, especially in Poland (though they originate in Southern Germany). Since then bagels - especially lox and bagels - have become the most famous Jewish food in America , and a popular breakfast dish for non-Jews as well. I've never had the New York bagels, which are supposedly the best in the world (something in the water, apparently), but I did have some in Scotland over the years. I began with the six-packs availabl...

Yep, I've joined the ranks of the Daring Bakers . Couldn't help it. Back in November 2006 they all made pretzels , in December 2006 tried their luck with biscotti . I noticed them in January 2007, when they all made croissants ( What a coincidence, I naively thought, all those bloggers suddenly making croissants. I wonder why? ) In February 2007 it was Chocolate Intensity , in March 2007 the Red Velvet Cake . That's when I finally understood what's going on. I followed the evergrowing list of daring bakers replicating Martha Stewart's Chocolate Crepe Cake in April 2007, and the challenging Gateau Saint Honore in May 2007. The idea of everybody following exactly the same recipe and then showing off their more or less successful (usually the former) results became irresistible, and I inquired about the 'club' and was graciously admitted. Here's a logo for the Daring Bakers - done by the ever-talented Ximena , who's also the author of my new fabulous...

Have you ever had wild strawberries *, also known as woodland strawberries ? No? Well, imagine the best-tasting, ripe and just-picked strawberry you've ever had, just in a very concentrated form. That's how wild strawberries taste like - like summer heaven :) In July 2006, K. and I ate wild strawberries to our heart's content ; this year we were determined to do the same and even more. In the few hours before St John's bonfire we made a quick trip to our wild strawberry fields. After just about an hour and a half we had about 1 kilogram of tiny wild strawberries between us - not bad at all, considering that we covered a very small patch of land. There were just so many strawberries around. And here's a tip to any future wild strawberry foragers: make sure to look inside larger bunches of grass and nettles - we found the 'hidden' strawberries to be considerably larger than the ones growing in sunny open spots (I guess constant sunshine - which we've got...

The shortest night of 2007 is behind us, and I'm pleased to say I had a lovely time in Lalli village in Raplamaa. Before the night's festivities began, I found my first porcini mushroom of the year (above) - an early brown birch bolete ( Leccinum scabrum , Birkenpilz) and between the two of us managed to pick a good kilogram of wild strawberries in just over an hour. Wild strawberries vol. 2007 deserve a separate post of their own, so click here to read :) After visiting my uncle in Paluküla and one of my first cousins in nearby Kädva, we returned to Lalli just in time for the traditional village bonfire celebrating the shortest night of the year, The bonfire was held on their traditional bonfire site - Sonni hill. Not the most dramatic location, but extremely peaceful and beautiful nevertheless. The party began around 9pm, and there were 14 people in total, aged 9 to 90, with couple of dogs to boot. Here's a picture taken from the bonfire site from 9.30 pm, and it...

I bought 5 kg of Hungarian sour cherries from Tallinn Central Market on Monday, which K very kindly stoned for me, making a horrible mess in the lounge! Not that I'm complaining, as wiping those red stains off the floor was a considerably easier task than manually picking through million juicy cherries.. On the other hand, he got to eat all the cherries he fancied, so he didn't complain either.. We made three types of jam : 2 jars of cherry compote to K's liking (300 grams of sugar per 1 kg of stoned fruit, simmered for 20 minutes on a low heat), 3 jars of cherry jam to my liking (400 grams of jam sugar per 1 kg of stoned fruit, simmered for 20 minutes on a low heat; photo below) and 2 jars of cherry marmalade with Amaretto and almond slices (400 grams of jam sugar per 1 kg of stoned fruit, 50 ml Amaretto, 100 grams almond slices, simmered for 15 minutes on a low heat). As the cherries were really juicy, we didn't bother adding any water to them. The jars were 500 m...

Pretty, isn't it? I guess you're not really surprised that I'm posting a recipe for a strawberry cake just a day after I posted a photo of local Estonian strawberries which are finally on sale pretty much everywhere (though I did notice - still!?! - some imported Southern European ones in some stores. Why, oh why?). K's mum's half-brother Ülo turned 60 yesterday, and K's mum threw a small party for him. I've never met the man before, but I still offered to make a birthday cake for him. He's a lone bachelor, you see, and I doubt he gets home-made, specially-for-him, cakes very often. As strawberries are currently at the peak of their season, I decided to make a strawberry cake - you cannot be more summery & festive than that, can you? The base is sponge-like, but enriched with 200 grams of one of the best marcipans available here. Ren Rå Marcipan ('clean raw marzipan') from the Danish Odense Marzipan company contains 2 parts almonds, 1 part...

I couldn't resist buying that mini colander in cream from Nigella , it was simply too cute (and no, I didn't need another colander..) And the strawberries are Estonian. Finally!

How time flies!! Remember the asparagus with coconut & lime starter and rhubarb & coconut pie dessert I served at a dinner party in May? Well, between these two courses I served a rather tasty and healthy oven-roasted salmon with coriander/cilantro . I wanted something that would connect the coconut & lime starter with the coconut & rhubarb dessert. As Dianne, one of the guests that night, doesn't eat red meat, then I knew it had to be a fish course. At the end I came up with this recipe - combination of various coriander/cilantro salmon recipes in the web, and lime is the ingredient that appeared both in the starter and in the main course dish. Coriander is not a very widely used herb here in Estonia, though it is increasingly available at some supermarkets, and can be found under the name kinza at the markets, where Russian-speaking ladies sell it (it's widely popular in Caucasus, for example - Georgian chakhohbili wouldn't be the same without it)....

Who would have thought that a simple root vegetable , Brassica napus var. napobrassica can cause so much confusion? According to wikipedia , - in Southern England and most Commonwealth countries, it is known as swede or Swedish turnip - in Northern England, Ireland and Cornwall, as well as Atlantic Canada it is called turnip - in Scotland, it's called turnip or neeps (and yes, it is served with haggis & tatties ) - in the United States, you'll know it as rutabaga or yellow turnip In Estonia, it's called kaalikas - not to be confused with naeris , which is turnip in the US, Southern England and most Commonwealth countries, white turnip in Cornwall and swede or tumshie in Scotland. And to confuse the matters even more, it seems that what is known as turnip in Malaysia, Singapore, and Philippines, is actually a jicama (at least in the US), known as yam bean in Southern England and most Commonwealth countries, and mehhiko naeris in Estonian. Got that?? Me neither...

My mum has obviously realised that her older daughter (that's me) is 'into such things' - wild food & edible weeds, I mean. So when she saw stinging nettles growing in her vegetable patch, she left them there for me instead of throwing into compost pile like they have done for the previous decades. When popping by for our weekly cup of coffee last Thursday (I was at my high school reunion this weekend, so we went to see her a bit earlier), she gave me a bunch of chives , some beautiful pink peonies , and a large handful of stinging (and very much so!) nettles . Stinging nettle ( Urtica dioica ) is widely available in Estonia - though not in the shops. You'd find it growing in your back garden, on the meadows and fields, and alongside your fence. Contains plenty of vitamin C, carotine, vitamin K, and considerable amounts of E- and B-vitamins. Practicioners of herbal medicine know many uses for stinging nettles, but there's also a culinary aspect to this weed. Th...

It's exactly two years since I posted my first post on this food blog . Two years and some 300 posts later, I'm still enjoying blogging immensely. Through blogging, I've met a number of wonderful bloggers face to face, including Johanna , Jeanne , Antti , and Melissa , to name just a few. I'm due to meet another great blogger, and the author of my beautiful new banner , Ximena , later this summer. And 'virtually', I've come to know many more fabulous bloggers that I'd love to meet one day. Because of foodblogging, I've become much more reflexive about what, why, when and how I cook ; I've become more aware of my food-shopping & consumption habits ; and last, but not least, I've become a much more skilled, adventurous and knowledgeable cook during these two years.. Thank you all for keeping coming back for more, leaving comments, and generally being so supportive.. Coincidentally, I've been twice nominated for the Thinking Blogger A...

All my regular readers know by now that I love mushrooms, especially wild ones . And although you can easily buy various fresh wild mushrooms at the market or preserved wild mushrooms in supermarkets, I prefer forageing for my own wild mushrooms - see here and here , for example. There's something immensely gratifying and refreshing about those long and quiet walks in the forests, and the excitement about what and where and how much we'll find is fun. In late April and early May, I came across few ladies selling morels at the Tallinn Central Market. There's nothing special about these mushrooms as such (they were on the menu in pretty much every restaurant in London back in April ), although they tend to be somewhat unknown among urban fungiphiles here in Estonia. K and his mom, for example, know loads of autumnal wild mushrooms, but had never come across morels yet. They hadn't even looked for any. When in Paluküla in early May , I asked my grandma and uncle and othe...

Remember my list of foodie resolutions for 2007 ? Well, one of the items there was to make osso buco , the Italian veal shank stew*. I'm happy to report that I made osso buco about a month ago, and it was absolutely fabulous. It was just as juicy and sweet and meaty and melting and savoury and delicious as I had expected it to be. 'My' osso buco was heavily reliant on Clotilde 's take on the French take of the Italian dish , with some tips nicked from Elise , some from The River Cafe Cook Book and some from "Daily Mail" Modern British Cookbook . Interesting mix of sources, eh :) I served it with saffron-infused boiled rice, but the traditional accompaniment would be Risotto alla Milanese . Vasikakoodid ostsin Viimsi lihapoest. Väga head koodid olid! Osso Buco ( Itaalia veisekoodihautis Osso Buco ) Serves 6 1 kg veal shanks 3-4 Tbsp plain flour salt & black pepper 2 Tbsp oil 300 grams onions, chopped finely 1 garlic clove, chopped finely 1 carrot, cut into...

Hurray! Just to let you know that this photo of beetroot pickled Easter eggs (eggs & styling by me, shooting by K) won an award for Originality at the May 2007 Does My Blog Look Good In This contest. Thank you, Scott , Trig and other judges, for this great category award. It's an honour to be included in the same post with these other foodblogger/photographers! Make sure to go and check out all the other wonderful winners ! And greetings to all of you from bonnie Scotland ! After enduring the cold & wet weather in Edinburgh for a few days, we arrived today to a sunny & warm isle of Arran where a friend of mine is getting married tomorrow night. Normal blogging will resume in a few days...

I've taken part of the European Blogging By Post twice before. My first gift parcel in August 2005 was from Johanna of The Passionate Cook , who has since become a very good friend (and her cantucci with almonds & pink peppercorns have become a regular treat). My second parcel came all the way from Athens, from Shalimar of Wanderlust Sha , and contained some of the best ever λουκούμι or 'Turkish Delight' I've ever had a chance to try. Somehow I missed the next three rounds, but considering all the moving and travelling I've done, I'm not too surprised actually. We've already reached the seventh round of EBBP . Johanna is hosting this time, and we were asked to include something related to our childhood sweets in the parcel. Just days after I had sent off my parcel to a foodblogger somewhere in Europe, I got a notice from the post office to pick up a parcel from ---- Germany ! This time I got a very sweet and very scented parcel from Meeta of ...

On a gorgeous Sunday in early May K. and I walked along the paths of my - sorry, our - childhood summers . Literally. And during that walk, we packed a small linen bag with young ground elder leaves. You see, ever since buying the book on the culinary use of wild herbs & weeds few months ago, I've been discovering new edible wild plants galore. Eating dandelion greens is almost conservative now. I've turned dandelion blossoms into dark and sticky syrup, thrown milk thistle leaves into my salads, and yes, eaten enough wild garlic leaves to provide me with vitamins for months, and yes, even made a pie out of ground elder . I can see that not everybody gets excited about stuff like that - even my 87-year old grandmother was a bit suspicious of me collecting these weeds for human consumption. But luckily K. is very supportive, and doesn't mind being fed one 'interesting' dish after another. Ground elder ( Aegopodium podagraria , also known as bishop's weed ...

As of today, my old and simple banner lettering NAMI-NAMI: a food blog about cooking and eating in Estonia and beyond is replaced by this gorgeous new banner drawn by the ever-talented Ximena of the Lobstersquad blog. I hope you like it as much as I do - and I personally think it's wonderful, depicting me and my hometown Tallinn just the way I like it! I'm using a new blogger template now, so there have been other small changes to the layout. On the sidebar you'll find post labels now, as well as books I want and books I recommend . The recent comments cover now the whole blog and not just the front page entries, which is useful, as there are comments being added to archived posts, too. Please let me know if something isn't working properly or should be changed. Have a lovely weekend, everyone! UPDATE 11.6.2007 : Check out Ximena 's post as well :)

I hadn't planned to blog about this asparagus dish until next week, but then a loyal reader of mine tried my coconut & rhubarb pie , liked it, and wanted to try asparagus with coconut & lime , also mentioned in that post. Cannot keep your customers waiting, so here's the recipe. The combination may sound a bit unusual, but asparagus & lime make good friends, so do coconut & lime, and all-in-all this combination worked just well (a happy threesome, so to say). It definitely was a good choice to start a dinner which also consisted of coriander salmon and coconut & rhubarb pie . Asparagus with coconut & lime ( Sparglid kookospiima ja laimiga ) Adapted from Swedish Arla site Serves 4 as a starter 400 grams green asparagus 250 ml thick coconut milk a scant teaspoon of Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon powder grated peel of 1 lime and 2 tsp of pressed juice a pinch of salt coconut flakes Snap off the woody bits of asparagus stalks, discard. Boil the asparagu...