Finland: Sunset Time lapse

Finland: Christmas Moon

And a short movie just to try out my new camera. It's a Nikon Coolpix S33, that I got because it is waterproof and dust proof, perfect for my future trip to Asia.

Pipari or Gingerbread Christmas log

The traditional French Yule log was too boring for my taste. Nah, let's spice it up!

Ingredients: 

Frosting:

- Gingerbread cookie butter, recipe here.

For the Crème pâtissière (pastry cream):

- 4dl + 1dl milk
- 5 egg yolks
- 5 Tablespoons cornstarch or 3 tablespoons wheat flour (I prefer using flour)

- Vanilla or Cinnamon. It's up to you.

For the cake:
- 100g of sugar + 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar.
- 100g of flour
- 5 eggs (1 whole + 4 yolks + 4 white)

Note: The cake tastes better after spending the night in the fridge, so does the cookie butter. Think ahead! 

Cream:


In a saucepan, carefully bring 4dl of milk and the Vanilla or cinnamon to a boil. In the mean time, dilute the starch or flour in 1dl of milk. Add it to the rest of the milk, boil and set aside. Whisk the yolks and the sugar together until the mixture whitens and the sugar is well dissolved. Slowly pour the hot milk into the egg/sugar mixture,
while simultaneously whisking. Then, transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and cook on medium heat until the cream is thick. It is important to constantly whisk the cream while it cooks. Let it cool before using it.

Cake:

Preheat your oven to 200 Celsius.

Whisk the yolks and the sugars until creamy. Add a whole egg to the mix and stir.

Add the flour, little by little.

Beat your eggs white and carefully combine them into the flour mixture.

Spread the batter on a rectangular cooking pan and bake for 10 minutes.


Transfer the cake to a clean and humid towel, and roll it on its own. This step will help us roll the cake with the filling without breaking it. Let it cool 10 minutes, then unroll the cake and transfer it on to a parchment paper. Add the cream, then roll the cake. Cool it in the fridge for an hour. Then, simply cover the log with the cookie butter and let it set 10 minutes. With a fork, create lines along the frosting. And let your log set overnight before decorating (I will sprinkle some crushed Gingerbread over the frosting) and serving.

I made two mini logs, a lime and a gingerbread one. Nam.

Lime Christmas log or Buche de Noël au citron vert.

I made a lime version of the traditional French Christmas dessert; Yule Log. 

Ingredients:

Frosting:

- A jar of Lime curd, recipe here.

For the crème patissière (pastry cream):

- 4dl + 1dl milk

- 5 egg yolks

- 5 Tablespoons cornstarch or 3 tablespoons wheat flour (I prefer using flour)

- Zest of half a lime

For the cake:
- 100g of sugar + 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar.
- 100g of flour
- 5 eggs (1 whole + 4 yolks + 4 white)
- Limoncello 

Note: The log tastes better after spending the night in the fridge, so does the curd. Think ahead! 

Cream: 

In a saucepan, carefully bring 4dl of milk and the lime zest to a boil. In the mean time, dilute the starch or flour in 1dl of milk. Add it to the rest of the milk, boil and set aside. Whisk the yolks and the sugar together until the mixture whitens and the sugar is well dissolved. Slowly pour the hot milk into the egg/sugar mixture,

while simultaneously whisking. Then, transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and cook on medium heat until the cream is thick. It is important to constantly whisk the cream while it cooks. Let it cool before using it.

Cake: 

Preheat your oven to 200 Celsius. 

Whisk the yolks and the sugars until creamy. Add a whole egg to the mix and stir. 

Add the flour, little by little.

Beat your eggs white and carefully combine them into the flour mixture.

 Spread the batter on a rectangular cooking pan and bake for 10 minutes. 

Transfer the cake to a clean and humid towel, and roll it on its own. This step will help us roll the cake with the filling without breaking it. Let it cool 10 minutes, then unroll the cake and transfer it on to a parchment paper. Lightly soak the cake with limoncello. Add the cream, then roll the cake. Cool it in the fridge for an hour. Then, simply cover the log with the lime curd and let it set 10 minutes. With a fork, create lines along the curd. And let your log set overnight before decorating and serving. 

I made two mini logs, a lime and a gingerbread one. Nam.

 

Sprinkle some lime zest on the cake for a fancy touch. 

Photos of the serving coming tomorrow.

Lime Curd recipe

This sweet lime curd will be used as a frosting in a lime version of the traditional Bûche de Noël or Yule Log. (I will post the recipe tomorrow!) But this is a wonderful spread for crêpes or as a raspberry pie filling for example.

Ingredients:

- 3 lime: juice from the 3 and zest from one.

- 3 eggs

- 150g of sugar

- 1 Tablespoon of corn starch

- 40g of butter, diced.

Optional: frighten your cat with a lime. "Get that disgusting citrus abomination away from me hooman!"

Beat the eggs with the sugar and the starch. Then add the juice and zest of the limes. Transfer the mixture in a sauce pan and simmer on medium heat, until it thickens. Add the butter, stirring constantly. Simmer for a couple of minutes, until the mixture is thick and transfer into a glass jar. 

Store up to a week in the fridge.

Speculoos or pipari christmas cookie butter recipe

Today, I am making a cookie butter that can be used as a spread on bread, crêpes or simply eaten with a spoon. I myself will use it in place of the chocolate topping in the traditional French Christmas recipe; Bûche de Noël or Yule Log. (I will post the recipe and photos tomorrow.)

I am using the traditional Finnish gingerbread here (pipari), because I live in Finland and I always try to find cool ways to use the local (sometimes boring) stuff. But any cookie type will do. I have a preference for the Dutch cookies speculoos, if you can get a hold of those just try them. Nam nam!

Ingredients:

- 300g of pipari (gingerbread or speculaas)

- 200ml of liquid cream OR unsweetened condensed milk. I am using an oat based cream here.

- 80g of cold butter, diced.

- a Tablespoon of vanilla sugar. 

Optional: a pinch of sea salt. It gives it a fine touch.

In a saucepan, bring the cream and the vanilla sugar to a quick simmer to dissolve the sugar and infuse the vanilla. Remove from the heat and let it cool.

In a blender, grind the cookies and sea salt in small batches, until fine. Leave some bits if you like it crunchy.

Add the cream and the butter and blend until you get a smooth texture. 

That's it, store in the fridge for up to a week.

Thai Gravlax or cured salmon recipe.

It is soon Christmas! I decided to share a few recipes that I have created for the occasion. So let's start with a nice Yule cured salmon, with a Thai touch to be more adventurous and break the routine!

Ingredients:

- 800g salmon filet

- 1 1/2 tablespoons sea salt, finely ground.

- 3 tablespoons sugar

- a sprinkle of white pepper

- Zest of 1/2 untreated lime.

- 3 stalks of lemon grass, white part only, finely chopped. 

- Chopped cilantro leaves and stems. Enough to cover the whole surface of the fish. 

You could even add a few roasted ground coriander seeds, grated galangal or why not a chopped kaffir lime leaf! Nam. 

First, clean the fish and trim the fatty parts. Cut the filet into two equal parts. 

Combine the salt and sugar. Lay a piece of plastic wrap in a deep plate and sprinkle half of the salt/sugar on it. Then place the cut filet, skin at the bottom and make sure that the salt mixture covers the skin entirely. Sprinkle the other sides of the fish with the other half of the salt mixture, so that all the four sides of the salmon are covered with salt/sugar. 

Combine the lemongrass and the lime zest.

Now, add the white pepper and cover the fish with the combined lemongrass and lime. 

Then, simply distribute the cilantro on the fish and turn one of the diced filet on the other, you know, like a sandwich, skin on the outside. Wrap the whole thing as tightly as you can. 

Cure the salmon for two days, in the lower part of the fridge. After the curing time, clean the filets with a kitchen paper and slice it very thinly. Eat on a piece of rye bread, toast or on small blinis.

Bon appetit and merry Yule! :)

Finland: Geminid Meteor Shower and Northern Lights

Tonight, I tried to get a glimpse of the Geminids. I saw a few of them, but the clouds quickly covered the whole sky. Lucky enough, that same night, we got some weak auroras in the sky. This year has been a very good year to observe them in Southern Finland. Last March, we had the chance to have a huge geomagnetic storm and crazy wild foxes all over the sky (Click here for the photos). A night to remember! 

Finland: First Snow in the South.

Unfortunately, it did not snow any more after night fall and soon after most of the snow melted away.

South East Asia: planning, map and preparations

2016 should be a good year, I will be spending a few month in South East Asia including:

Thailand

Cambodia

Vietnam

Malaysia

My original plan included a two week trip to Java, Indonesia. I was so eager to visit active volcanoes and the Kawah Ijen that I was ready to rush my stay in Thailand and Indochina. After some thought, I just decided to drop the idea. Honestly, there are so many things I want to see and experience in Thailand alone, it would have just have been plain stupid to not stay longer!

I have been planning this trip for a while now, I have made changes and discovered new locations along the search. There will be plenty more update that I'm sure of.

Update 21.12

Day 1- 4: Arriving in Bangkok, Thailand. Shopping (tent, clothes, flip flops and other stuff), eating, sleeping. relaxing. and preparing the trip.

Day 5: Getting to Siem reap. Sunset in Angkor?

Day 6- 8: Angkor temples

Day 9: Travelling to Sihanoukville by bus.

Day 10: get to Koh Rong (samloen?)

Day 11- 13: Koh Rong

Day 14: get to Kep

Day 15: get to Ko Tonsay

Day 16: Tonsay

Day 17: travel to Ha Tien, Vietnam

Day 18: Ha Tien

Day 19: travel to Rach Gia and then on to Saigon.

Day 20- 23: Ho chi minh

Day 24: Flight to Phuket via Bangkok, make it to Khao Lak?

Day 25: get to Mu ko Similan

Day 26- 27: Similan

Day 28: Khao Lak National Park

Day 29: get to Mu ko Surin

Day 30- 31: Surin

Day 32: get to khao Sok National Park

Day 33- 34: Khao Sok

Day 35: Travel to Trang

Day 36: travel to Ko Muk

Day 37- 38: Ko Muk

Day 39: get to Pak Bara

Day 40: travel to Ko Bulon Leh

Day 41- 42: Bulon

Day 43- 44: Ko Li Pe

Day 45- 47: Ko Tarutao