Finns are really festive on Vappu, celebrating the arrival of spring, chasing winter away. Most of the people ( mainly students) are wearing these opiskelijahaalari(student overalls) & ylopilas lakki (student white hats). The overalls look redunkulous if you ask me.

Also, heaps of funky masks and outfits!

opiskelijahaalari

ylioppilas lakki

The crowd gathers around 18h,april 30th, where people witness the crowning of Avis Amanda, a statue located near Kauppatori. Each year, one student union gets the honour of crowning Avis Amanda with the lakki. The students are being caried on top of the statue by crane, where they crown her, in the meantime drinking and cheering from the top. The student union that got the honour of crowning Avis Amanda was from Hanken School of Economics.

And the festivites begin from there! All night long,24h. I have to admit, I loved it. The fact that Finns are happy and goofy,like never before. Now that light keeps on shining deep into the night.

The culinary junkies won’t fall short too. Vappu is the day when various finnish delicacies are eaten such as: rosetti, tippaleipä & munkki. You will find these deep-fried goodies in all the cafes and every finnish household during Vappu.

tippaleipä

rosetti

Other than this, Finns drink refreshing beverage that goes along with the sweets  called Sima. It’s a concoction of honey and sugar which ferment together. It has low content of alcohol. I have never tried it, but from what I’m told, it’s not very delightful.

Sima

On May Day, people head to the very popular areas of Kaivopuisto or Eira, located on the southern tip of Helsinki. Numerous people set up theirpicnic basquets along the parks and enjoy the sunny weather. Mind you, Kaivopuisto and Eira are one of the most expensive areas to live in Helsinki.

I hope that by now you have recovered from the hangover that Vappu gave you. You will live to tell the tale of that magical night of Vappu!

PS: Do your grocery shopping before 30.04,because markets are really crowded.

HYVÄÄ VAPUA/KLARA VAPPEN!

Vappu Celebrations in my hometown Tampere

Vappu celebrations in Finland start actually today. And what that means, at least how I see it, is that students from all the dusty and moldy study halls come out to sit on a lawn and drink. (How I know? Well I’ve been one of those students for the past four years.) Mostly beverages containing alcohol but also sima (which I think should only contain a little alcohol, considering the kids also drink it). It is made with lemons, sugar and yeast and later added with raisins. I have only done it once in my life, and that was in school when i was 13 years old, so not that familiar with the whole process. My parents haven’t made it for 20 years, after the big Sima War of 1993, when they couldn’t agree on the amount of yeast. Well that’s enough of my childhood traumas.

Tippaleipä

Other customs we have with Vappu are munkki (sort of a doughnut like pastry) and tippaleipä ( which I think its made with the same dough as munkki and deep-fried, some say it looks like a worm clump. Appetizing, huh? No really, it’s really good. Like anything deep-fried and covered with sugar.) And there might be some areal differences within Finland, but these are the customs I’ve grown up with.

And when thinking about Finnish Vappu I shouldn’t forgot balloons and serpentiini (I have no idea what it could be in English, it is paper string which you cover yourself with). And wish I had a cool explanation for it, like it is meant to repel evil spirits. But no, I don’t think so. We just like to make a mess. For some reason costumes are also a part of Vappu. Again, I have no idea why. But I guess should’n question it, because that’s the best part. And all those graduated from high school ever, wear their student caps to.. make a point..? (Oh lord, how little I know of my home country’s customs..)

This was a little insight to Finnish Vappu. If for some reason, you have questions about Vappu or my spelling or my dog and you believe I could give an answer, send your questions and I’ll try to answer. Maybe it’s the festive spirit kicking in, because it seems I cannot create any sensible sentences.

So on that note: Happy May Day/Vappu to us all!

Quite-a-hero

Det här behöver du till struvorna:

2 msk ljummet vatten
1/4 paket färsk jäst
2 1/2 dl mjölk
2 ägg
1 1/2 tsk socker
1/2 tsk salt
5 dl vetemjöl

Fritering:
kokosfett eller olja

Garnering: florsocker

Gör så här:

Blanda vatten och jäst.Låt stå ca 5 min. Ljumma mjölken till 37 grader för jästen.
Tillsätt den till jästblandningen. Vispa ihop ägg,socker och salt.
Blanda i vätskan.Tillsätt mjölet lite i taget under kraftig omrörning.
Låt smeten jäsa övertäckt ca 1tim.
Värm fettet till 180 grader. Kontrollera med en termometer eller gör
”brödprovet”(Lägg ner en bit vitt matbröd i fettet.När brödet får fin guldbrunfärg,efter ca 1 min.,har fettet rätt temperatur.)
Lägg smeten i en pappersstrut eller spritspåse.Klipp ett smalt hål eller använd en sprits med smal rak spets.Tryck ut smeten i smala ringar lite ovanpå varandra.Fritera en eller två struvor åt gången tills de är vackert guldgula.Låt dem rinna av på hushållspapper.
Sikta över florsocker.

Det här behöver du till Mjöd:

4 l kokande vatten
2 dl farinsocker
2 dl strösocker
2 citroner skal + saft
1/4 tsk jäst
Russin (ca 5/flaska)
Socker (ca 1 tsk/flaska)

1.Blanda sockret med det kokande vattnet, tillägg citronskal (utan det vita), samt pressa i resten av citronjuicen. När det svalnat till 37 grader tillsätter man jästen. Låt stå i rums temperatur över natten.

2.Lägg några russin och sockret i några flaskor (blir ca 4 st PET flaskor). Häll den silade blandningen i flaskorna. Låt stå i kylskåp, när russinen kommit upp till ytan efter ca 4-5 dagar är mjöden klar.

Njut av en härligt porlande citrondryck!

“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.

“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”

(Carroll, L. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. 1865)

Show Kitchee a person who has non-mad dreams on a regular basis. Exactly; that task could turn out to be a tad bit challenging. Like this one time (not at band camp), Kitchee dreamt that she was eating brains; a possible reflection of a past life as a zombie? Anyway, this bracelet was created to highlight the dream aspect of Alice in Wonderland. Are we not all in Wonderland while sleeping? Sometimes the dreams may not be as pink-flavoured and as cute as this bracelet, but nevertheless, we are all doing our thing in Wonderland. Maybe people from real-life bump into each other also in Wonderland? On that note, whose brains has Kitchee been eating while in the Wonderland?!? Just saying. Anyhow, in addition to the bracelet looking cute and fluffy in a plastic beads sort of way, the mad aspect of dreams is portrayed by the charm featuring Alice shielding herself from a pack of cards and wishing for things to make some sense for a change! Well, in Kitchee’s not-so-humble opinion, since the real-life tends to make too much sense from time to time, it is sometimes interesting to find yourself limping around about the Wonderland-town, looking all rotten (literally), having carnivorous thoughts, mumbling “brainnnnns” and scaring the shiz out of people.

The bracelet is made of plastic pearls and beads. In addition to the charm featuring Alice, a watch charm, with pretty text from the book on the reverse side, was also added to give the bracelet that Wonderland feel. The silver-coloured chain measures at 23 cm in length and has an extender chain for people with thicker wrist bones. Finally, the bracelet had a ‘secret’ ingredient added. And what was this ‘secret’ ingredient? Nay, it wasn’t love, as all the unimaginative people tend to say; this piece of jewellery had a hefty dose of magical cute pink bunny fluff added to it (this starts to sound like Cuteoverload. Will stop now, pwomise).

16,90€
Can be ordered by emailing kitchee.jewellery(at)gmail.com

Det här behöver du:

100 g smör
100 g smält smör eller margarin
2 ½ dl mjölk
25 g jäst
½ tsk salt
½ tsk kardemumma
¾ dl socker
1 ägg
ca 6 dl vetemjöl

Till kokning:
Kokosfett

Gör så här:

Smält fettet i en kastrull. Tillsätt mjölken och låt den bli fingervarm (37 °). Smula sönder jästen i en bunke. Tillsätt degvätskan och rör ut jästen. Blanda i socker, salt, kardemumma och mjöl. Arbeta ihop degen. Täck över och låt jäsa en stund.

Ta upp degen på lätt mjölat bakbord och kavla ut degen till ca 2 cm tjocklek. Använd 2 glas för att trycka ut ringarna. Ett stort samt ett med liten öppning att trycka inne i ringen.

Fritera munkarna i en stor kastrull i varmt olja. Man kan prova om oljan är tillräckligt varm med en bit deg: om den pyser i oljan är oljan rätt tempererad. Lägg ner några munkar i taget. Fritera dem vackert guldbruna på varje sida. Låt munkarna rinna av på hushållspapper och rulla dem sen i socker.

Ps: Kasta inte bort det som lämnar av de små “cirklarna” i mitten.. Rulla dem till en boll och fritera samt rulla i socker! Muuums!

Recept på struvor & mjöd hittar ni här!

Imorgon är sista chansen att tävla!

TREVLIG VALBORG!

Det här behöver du till struvorna:

2 msk ljummet vatten
1/4 paket färsk jäst
2 1/2 dl mjölk
2 ägg
1 1/2 tsk socker
1/2 tsk salt
5 dl vetemjöl

Garnering: florsocker

Gör så här:

Blanda vatten och jäst.Låt stå ca 5 min. Ljumma mjölken till 37 grader för jästen.
Tillsätt den till jästblandningen. Vispa ihop ägg,socker och salt.
Blanda i vätskan.Tillsätt mjölet lite i taget under kraftig omrörning.
Låt smeten jäsa övertäckt ca 1tim.
Värm fettet till 180 grader. Kontrollera med en termometer eller gör
“brödprovet”(Lägg ner en bit vitt matbröd i fettet.När brödet får fin guldbrunfärg,efter ca 1 min.,har fettet rätt temperatur.)
Lägg smeten i en pappersstrut eller spritspåse.Klipp ett smalt hål eller använd en sprits med smal rak spets.Tryck ut smeten i smala ringar lite ovanpå varandra.Fritera en eller två struvor åt gången tills de är vackert guldgula.Låt dem rinna av på hushållspapper.
Sikta över florsocker.

Det här behöver du till Mjöd:

4 l kokande vatten
2 dl farinsocker
2 dl strösocker
2 citroner skal + saft
1/4 tsk jäst
Russin (ca 5/flaska)
Socker (ca 1 tsk/flaska)

1.Blanda sockret med det kokande vattnet, tillägg citronskal (utan det vita), samt pressa i resten av citronjuicen. När det svalnat till 37 grader tillsätter man jästen. Låt stå i rums temperatur över natten.

2.Lägg några russin och sockret i några flaskor (blir ca 4 st PET flaskor). Häll den silade blandningen i flaskorna. Låt stå i kylskåp, när russinen kommit upp till ytan efter ca 4-5 dagar är mjöden klar.

Njut av en härligt porlande citrondryck!