October 20, 2009
I’ve found a new obsession. A new hobby. Something that probably sounds nothing like me, and until now, has been nothing like me. It’s food. Well, more-so, the making of it.
I can’t pinpoint exactly what triggered this movement. There have been many times that the thought of cooking something delicious sounded very fun, but the thrill left me pretty rapidly and all too consistently. I will say that recently I’ve been sort of stalking my friend Tim’s blog. Tim is notorious for making creative snacks and lunches that aren’t necessarily Top Chef challenging, but simple and delicious. I even remember a few times I went over to his house for lunch or dinner and was jealous of his food selection, which is usually pretty healthy and fresh. It seems he has his snacks down to a “T” at this point. To top it all off, the guy sketches and renders his lunches all the time. With a new interest in photography, he now has mouth-watering photographs of his food creations. BUT, this post isn’t really about Tim. And I certainly wouldn’t want his head getting any bigger.
some photos from Tim's photo blog
a few sketches from Tim's normal blog
The reason I mentioned Tim is that the other day, I was peeking at his blog and found a stunning image of a sandwich made out of rotisserie chicken. The caption spoke about how he buys one about every week and can use it in a variety of meals including this lightly toasted sandwich. I sat back and wondered why I never do things like that. It’s absurdly inexpensive and much healthier than frozen pizzas and grilled cheese sandwiches. I suppose you could say it was the beginning of my epiphany.
I’ve got this terrible habit of finding a food that seems easy to make and loading up on it. I could eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner. Of course, that would mean that I would actually have to eat breakfast… lunch… and dinner. More often then not, it turns out to be one or two of the three. Since I’ve been in Finland, my main meal obsession has been eggs. Yes, it’s true that I’ve always loved eggs, but as often as I eat them, I considered Googling “egg overdosing”.
Though I suppose there are worse things, there are most certainly better!
The older fellow in my Bible study, David, has offered to teach me how to make Kombucha so that I can make it in America. This has me very excited because I absolutely LOVE the drink, and it is very healthy for you. I feel like once I learn to make it, I am going to want to make it all the time. I just hope I can do it well enough so that it tastes like his.
find out what I'm talking about here
Recently, I have been researching and trying to find some good Finnish delicacies that I could take back with me along with the Kombucha. So far, no food has really stuck out as a MUST-TRY and everything is pretty doughy and fishy. There was a man outside of Tokmanni the other day at a hotdog stand where he was smoking fresh salmon. It smelled at looked absolutely amazing. If I knew anything about preparing salmon, I would have hopped in line and taken one of those bad boys home. There are a few challenges to having this new desire to cook in Finland. The first obstacle is obviously the language. It is very hard to grocery shop here. I don’t know if I’m buying sugar or flower… turkey or ham (or mystery meat)… swiss or provolone. It is all just a guess based on color, images, packaging, and ultimately intuition. You can see how shopping is unsuccessful plenty of the time. J The second obstacle is that even if you do know what you are buying based on the things I listed, you then have to already know how to prepare the food. Cause Finnish directions will not get you very far. I usually look for key numbers like, “220ºC” which is often used for pizza, “dl” which is deciliters… I think, “10 min” this is naturally my favorite indication on a package.
Also very helpful are pictures with spoons and arrows pointing out your need to stir. I think being here has improved my improvising skills. I can add a little something here, leave that out, mix it with these, serve it on that… not because I’ve become more bold, but simply because I don’t actually know the proper way to begin with. It’s been a bit freeing. The last issue is that if I would want to explore preparing foods I am familiar with, I am not guaranteed the right ingredients here. Even if they have the right ingredients here, finding them is a whole ‘nother challenge in and of itself. Likewise, if I learn to make Finnish delicacies here, I’m not guaranteed I will have all of the ingredients to make the same thing at home. For instance, I think reindeer is a bit more rare in North Carolina…
Today commences my first try at something not-boxed, -packaged, or -canned in such a final state. I decided to tackle an American favorite that I suppose I love and miss. Pancakes. Not just any pancakes… homemade buttermilk pancakes from scratch. Sounds pretty easy right? WRONG. I now understand just how difficult this may be. I accepted a few failures before even venturing to the store. First of all, I don’t know what Finnish “buttermilk” would look, taste, or act like. Yes, I said act. The food has strange tendencies, ok? So I decided I would be making my own buttermilk with whole milk (cause I know how to find that here) and distilled white vinegar. That was about all I accomplished on my shopping trip besides buying flour. Let me discuss my issues. For one, I don’t know whether or not the flour is all-purpose or self-rising. I will probably have to figure out a way to translate and try to find out. Number two, if it is all-purpose, that means that I still need to find baking powder and baking soda. I think I will have better luck finding these things downtown at Stockman tomorrow. Now here’s one of the biggest issues yet… I’m going to have to convert all of the measurements. L A simple cooking project that could take a 5-minute grocery store run and 20-minute cooking process is going to end up taking me days to perform. Luckily, I cultured my own buttermilk and put it in a glass jar and sealed it so that I can use it when the time comes. I’m going to make these pancakes if it’s the last thing I do. And then… on to conquer the world of food! Mwahahahahaha
2 comments:
haha. This is awesome Sarah. Thanks. ( head growing larger as i type)
Ill keep the food posts coming!
ha GREAT! tim probably cant even fit through the door anymore bc his head is so big. either that or he has too many ipods in his pocket he is weighed down. but id have to say, the pictures definitely made my mouth water, however, that is not hard to do. Im hoping that after this post you will stop eating crappy frozen food and eggs everyday and actually start eating like a normal human being!
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