The crazy Finns!

One thing I can't understand about the Finns...they cycle everywhere no matter how cold the weather. Petra and I did a really Finnish thing today and decided to cycle into town (6km) in -20 DEGREES weather!! I have never felt so cold in my life !! Crazy Finns!
(Cycling with just jeans and no thermals was not a smart idea either...NOTE TO SELF: always, ALWAYS wear thermals!).

Petra and I borrowed some bikes from Wolfi (Austrian) and Karolina (our Polish housemate). Petra (with Karolina's bike) and I (with "Jacqueline"...i.e. Wolfi's bike) on the bridge nearby Oulu town centre.
We had to go into town to Nordea bank as Petra had to open up a bank account and I had to activate my internet banking so that i can pay my rent for this month which is due today. Even though the weather was cold, it ended up being a beautiful day, the sun was shining brightly all day! and it was still quite an experience cycling into town in -20 degrees weather!!

When we arrived back at 6pm we were starving and frozen. Wolfi came over and made a delicious "Bratwurst", scrambled eggs with salami for dinner. While Chef Wolfi was preparing dinner, we warmed ourselves with some much deserved and needed tea and chocolate biscuits!
A happy and warmer Petra, relieved to be back in our comfy, warm flat!
Our gourmet meal!
A very hungry Dori (aka ME) and Wolfi...

Runeberg Day!

Today is Runeberg Day and on this special day, Runeberg Tarts can be bought from all coffee shops and bakeries In Finland. So just before our first class Petra, Wolfi and I enjoy some coffee and a Runeberg Tart.
Munch munch...!! (Runeberg's Tart is a Finnish pastry seasoned with almonds and rum and raspberry jam is usually in a sugar ring on the tart)
Note: Johan Ludvig Runeberg was a Finland/Swedish poet, and celebrates his birthday on the 5th Febraury (today). He is held to be the National poet of Finland. Many of his poems deal with life in rural Finland.

Wolfi's Fritattensuppe!

Tonight Wolfi taught us how to make a traditional Austrian meal called "Fritattensuppe". This is a good recipe if you have any left over pancakes...in which case we did, from our Pancake Party the night before.

Step 1: Cut up the pancakes into thin strips














Step 2: Prepare a soup broth (or instant soup in our case)
Chef Wolfi does a "pre-taste" of the soup!

















Step 3: Pour the soup broth over the "fritatten"...





Amy and Petra join us...later Barbora and Jakub also join us for a meal of Fritattensuppe.

...and VOILA! FRITATTENSUPPE!

PANCAKE PARTY!

Last night Petra and I had a Pancake Party in our flat. As soon as we arrived back from town (after going to the Reindeer Fair) we immediately started preparing some of the fillings for the pancakes.
Petra knows some amazing pancake filling recipes and teaches me how to make them. I start with making a traditional Slovenian cottage cheese filling with raisins and cinnamon. Then we make three more fillings; 1 white chocolate filling, 1 vanailla sauce filling and 1 coconut/cream filling. We were tasting and trying all the filling ingredients and snacking throughout the filling making and by the time all the fillings were finished we were already on major sugar highs...Perfect! as this would give us enough energy for the "gazillion" pancakes we still had to bake for the party!

Two of the pancake fillings: cottage cheese/raisin/cinnamon filling and a coconut/cream filling!














Barbora comes and joins us at 6:45 to help us make the pancakes. We make a good team and everyone has a task to do. Petra pours in the batter, Barbora and I make the pancakes and we alternate with pouring in the oil into each others pans. Once the pancakes are ready, they get placed in a pan that is placed on top of a pot filling with boiling water to keep the pancakes warm (genius idea from Petra!).














While the pancakes are busy being made, Carolina (Polish), Batek (Polish), Amy (Saffie) and Petra taste all the fillings...wetting their appetites for what lies ahead.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm....PANCAKES! Everyone is eager to try pancakes with as many of the fillings as they can!
As a filling we also had a traditional Finnish food called "Mammi"...Wolfi and I had seen it in the shops and thought we just had to try it. One usually eats it with ice-cream and apparently (one of our lecturers told us), even though it looks rather "disgusting and tar-like" once you try it you will love it!. I hesitantly taste a half a teaspoon of Mammi....Hmmmm...not too bad!Wolfi preparing his master piece...nougat and chocolate ice-cream and chocolate sauce pancake!
Lind (Iceland), June (another Saffie:) and Evelina (Italian...suspiciously checking out the "Mammi)...
Carolina (Polish...our other roommate) and Lind...
Amy (Saffie), Fransesca (Italian) and Barbora (Prague)...
Today for lunch, Wolfi is making for us a "Fritattensuppe" (Pancake soup) from the left over pancakes...bringing some Austrian Culture into our lives!

Reindeer Fair!

Today after lunch Petra, Barbora, Jakub, Wolfi, Sarah, Patrick and I head off into town for the Reindeer Fair. The market place in Oulu town centre, is surrounded by Teepee style Saami tents selling everything from warm hats made from rabbit skin and leather (Wolfi purchased one of them... ) to Elk meat and other traditional Finnish delicacies. We also saw some local Finns wearing traditional Saami clothes...








And there were some locals performing traditional Saami dances in traditional Saami clothes...









One could even take a Reindeer sleigh ride...









After walking through the outdoor market we went into an indoor market and I couldn't believe my eyes when one of the stores in the indoor market hall was selling South African Rooibos Tea, which the Finns call "red tea"...apparently Rooibos tea is quite popular in Europe especially amongst the German's...
Far left hand corner:

"Red Tea (Rooibos) Cape Town"
"Red Tea Cape Hope"
















We ended our afternoon in "Hemingways"...a cosy pub opposite our favourite coffee hangout (Coffeehouse), enjoying some warm coffee and hot chocolate.

Carcassonne II: The bloody battle!

Tonight is Carcassonne night again and Wolfi, Jakub, Barbora, Petra, Patrick and I get together in Wolfi's flat to start the game. We end up playing until the early hours of the morning as we decide to play the game with its extension during the second round...
















By the second round, we all decide to team together to eliminate Wolfi's army...aka "the evil black plague!"
The "evil one"...


















VICTORY! The black plague is defeated!













A favourite "Finnish delicacy"...the Choc-biscuit-salami combo...YUM!

SPRING CLEANING!

This afternoon Petra and I decide to clean our apartment. So with detergent in one hand and a vacuum cleaner (that we borrowed from one of Wolfi's flatmates) in the other we start cleaning...















The vacuum cleaner that Juho (Wolfi's Finnish flatmate) kindly borrowed us...