Easter going-ons

Hi and hope you had a happy Easter! Ours was quiet but nice. I'll get on to that in a minute.

First, I want to share a picture or two of my berry pie that I made on my day of freedom (aka day off from clinical training) last Thursday. My lovely friend came over and we made a ham and potato casserole for lunch followed by this pie.

Such a pretty pink! I got the recipe from here.

Here is how I made it (I never follow recipes exactly) and a quick translation of the recipe.

150g margarine/butter (US folks, that is 1 1/2 sticks)
1 1/2 dl sugar (about 1/2 cup)
2 eggs
2 1/2 dl flour (about 3/4 cup)
3/4 dl oats (about 1/4 cup)
1 tsp baking powder

Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl. Then add the eggs and beat some more. Mix the dry ingredients together and then add to the egg-butter-sugar mix. Spread into a pie dish. The foil one in the picture was a bit small for this recipe, I ended up having left over dough and filling with which I made little tarts by spreading the leftovers into muffin cups. (also really good and pretty).

Bake in the oven at 200C or 375F for 5-10  minutes so that the crust can set a bit before the filling. 

The filling:

2 dl sour cream (1/2 cup or so)

1 egg

1/2 dl of sugar (a little less than 1/4 cup?)

a pinch of vanilla sugar or a drop of extract, depending on what you use ;)

2-3 dl frozen raspberries (what I used, but you can use really any fruit or berry!)

Mix everything together. Spread on the half-baked pie crust and for looks I dropped some whole raspberries and blueberries on the top. Do whatever your heart desires. 

Bake for about 15min or until the crust is golden and the filling has set. 

Here is a picture of our ham and potato casserole:

Take a bag of frozen hashbrowns or potato pieces like we have in the frozen sections of Finland. This amount seen here was about 1kg (I think the bags are 500g each)...

Add some chopped onion.

Layer some ham pieces (as much as you like, we used a bag of chopped ham that was about 300g *hammy!*) in between layers of potatoes.

Mix 2 dl of cream and 2 dl of milk or 4 dl of cream or milk to an egg (we didn't use one but should have) and add salt and pepper to your liking. 

Pour mixture into casserole dish. Grate some cheese on top and bake for about an hour at 200C or 375F. Tasty delicious and super easy to make. :)

So that covers the food part for this post. lol.

Easter as I said was quiet and sadly we forgot our camera so all the pictures (ok, I only took a couple) are on my dad's camera. Once I get a hold of it, I have some other photos to share, pictures of our garden! I will try to get around to uploading them from his camera this week... We'll see...

Kissa has the best grandma ever! My mom grew some Easter grass (tradition in Finland) especially for her. :) She loved it. Her new hobby is mowing the lawn, lol. 

As for crocheting... I have ended my plight with the wraplet. I am so sick of it, it's better for us both if we take a break from each other. If that break becomes permanent, I might not mind. 

I spent hours (I think) on Ravelry yesterday, favorite-ing every crochet pattern that tickled my fancy. I figure I can always go visit my favorites when I want an idea or a new project. I think Ravelry is one of the most inspiring websites out there, just a collection of patterns and projects and shared with other yarn obsessed folks. If you don't have a Ravelry account and you knit and crochet, get one. I recommend it. 

Anywho, off the tangent we went on, I have given up on the wraplet and am moving on. I feel like I might finally like to start a blanket. I have been keen on granny squares for a while, but sewing in the ends (my crocheting over them is haphazard at best) and joining the squares (I don't really understand joining squares as you go) and then changing the colors in every square seems just too tedious. I have been working on those circles in a square for that pillow (posted about them here) I was going to make for a friend. I ended up running out of time and bought her a gift, but on I trudge now. I will complete this pillow!!! So far I have 16/25 squares. Woohoo!

And now that we've fallen off the topic again, I'll go back. I want to crochet a blanket. Not a granny square blanket. Ripples are pretty but I don't have patience for that at the moment. So I think I might try my hand at GRANNY STRIPES! I got the idea from this blog/website The Purl Bee. I love this blanket. Well not really the colors, but I love how modern and elegant even a granny stripe blanket can look. I found inspiration to make my own. So, the new dream project is a granny stripe blanket/afghan/whatever, out of all the old bits of yarn I have. It's mainly thin wool so we'll see how it goes, but I am going to try to use up all of the blues, greens, browns and some yellow that I have. I was even thinking of throwing a few rows of black in it, kind of like how the Purl Bee uses the lime green. 

New dream project. I could barely sleep last night. Go figure I come up with it when I have a full week of work ahead of me. Lol!

Well that's it for today, thanks for reading! =)

Spring time walk

This post is about last Sunday when the hubby and I took our dogs out for a walk. It was a gorgeous sunny day, albeit a bit too windy for my liking, but we had a lovely time. We both had to share the camera again to catch all the things that caught our eyes, it was like being in Japan again: "I want the camera, ooh look at that, it's my turn!". Kids...

Shadows of spring branches on the rock wall. Gotta love it!

 It really was THIS windy!

"Leskenlehti", the first flower we see every year...unless the crocus beat them to the punch!

The lake so far, wishing it would melt faster so Koda can try swimming!

Isn't it amazing how year after year, winter after winter, plants just wake up again and keep going?

Hope you have been having a lovely week! I'm off tomorrow and hopefully finding time to crochet as usual. :)

Thanks for reading!!!

Easter tree admiration

Today is my glorious and well-deserved, if I say so myself, day off from clinical training. It's been a grand one, too. I slept in till 8:50, (so late for us these days) and even Koda-Bear was nice enough to oblige. He is usually a stickler for routines, so at about 6 a.m every morning, he's sniffing my hair and crying to go out. Perhaps he sensed, the primitive need for deep sleep. Maybe he needed some himself. Either way, it was marvelous. 

Once we were up, it was on to a lovely breakfast a la the Breakfast King, my husband. Omelette and coffee, hits the spot every time. Then I left to my parents home, to bake and crochet. Sounds like my kind of day, no? 

Here is what I baked. The cake itself is called a täytekakku. It's a spongy type cake made by beating eggs with sugar, then adding potato flour. It's great for those with gluten issues like my dad. The filling is a banana-vanilla cream type deal and I decorated with whipped cream and canned mandarins. At the end of the post, I'll add my recipe (so keep reading/scrolling) :)

 Then it was on to crocheting. I love this pattern from Attic 24. I have used it before and it's just so easy and pretty. I made some of these for the Easter tree while we watched a movie.

 And here is our Easter tree. Birch branches that my mother cut and in three days, leaves appeared! They are the most vibrant shocking green, especially with the sunlight coming through them. It's great to remind me just exactly why I am so excited about spring...the leaves on the trees! Ah, I can't wait! Most trees at the moment are still at that phase where they don't know if they should bud yet...

Manta being ever so photogenic...

Rainbow of ends from my flowers. I love love the colors! 

 Beautiful and green, adorning the green branches...

And some gorgeous orchids, they were decorations at my wedding and they're still blooming just as beautifully. My mom has the real green thumb when it comes to orchids.

And as promised, the recipe for my cake. I loosely followed this Finnish recipe linked HERE

4 eggs

2 dl sugar (about 3/4 cup)

1/4 tsp salt 

2 dl potato flour/starch (about 3/4 cup)

2 tbs unsweetened cocoa

1 ½ tsp baking powder

Beat the eggs and sugar together until white-ish, thick and fluffy. Mix in a separate bowl the dry ingredients. Sift (I personally never do, but it's the "proper" way for this recipe) the dry ingredients into the egg-sugar mixture, folding carefully. DO NOT OVER MIX! (It'll end up being flat!). You could pour this into a cake tin, but I wanted a flat and rectangular cake so I placed it on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and baked at 225C for about 8 min. Once slightly cooled I cut it in half. 

The filling is made with "rahka", which is a kind of creme fraiche-yogurt type dairy product here in Finland. I suppose if you don't have that in your home country you could use creme fraiche or a similar product and add sugar to taste. 

2 dl rahka (I used vanilla flavored) or substitute (be creative!)

1-2 bananas mashed

about ½-1 dl of whipped cream (flavored with a bit of sugar and vanilla?)

So your cake should be sticking rather tightly to the parchment paper. Just peel off the paper and place one half on your serving dish of choice. Plop the filling on and place the other cake half on top. Then cover with the rest of the whipped cream and arrange canned mandarins on top. Easy-peasy.

I'm off to get ready for some culture tonight. Well, my husband's friend is in a metal band and they have a show tonight. So if that counts as culture, in my book it does, that is what I'll be up to. :) 

Thanks for reading and in advance to share the spirit, a token from our Easter tree!

The WIP Acorn --- COMPLETED!?

Wowweeeeee INDEED! I sure did, I completed the sock knitter's acorn! Wooohoooo! It's like having a monkey off my back. Believe it or not, I really really dislike having more than one work in progress. Shocking I know, since I never seem to finish anything, lol. But really, it's like a weight off my back finishing the acorn. So without further ah-doo (adieu, a due, help?) here it is!

For the pattern click here - little acorn for sock knitters

(filled with my hat and mittens for full effect, and yes, it was that big!)

What else have I been up to since last time? Well... some of this:

Breakfasting with fresh bread a la butter and cheese with pickles, butter with Bonne Maman jams! Mmmm, love them being on sale right now, I bought 4 fruits and peach! Super yum with tea!

Also had some fun walking on a sunny and SPRING (it just makes my heart leap every time I say/type/think of it! Was in a bit of a rush so I didn't make it a real photo excursion...

Can you see the little birds, they were chirp-chirp-chirping to their heart's content in this rose bush :)

 

 

And I've been enjoying the little fun surprises of life, if you are looking through your rose colored glasses that day and closely enough to see them...

Like the pepper being a heart 

In the oven, my spaghetti casserole is baking away, crisping the cheese on the top. 

 How do you make that you ask? Well it's super easy! Cook spaghetti or any pasta, fry some ground beef with onion and spices like pepper, oregano, rosemary etc, add a vegetable or two(we used mushrooms, you could use anything your heart desires). Then in a buttered oven dish you like, place the pasta with a layer of tomato sauce, then the beef, then the rest of your jar of pasta sauce. Slice a tomato and add it to the top followed by some cheese. I'd recommend grating it, but we're lazy so we just tore up some sliced cheese. Hahaha, it's all about convenience and speed. Bake at the whereabouts of 200C or 375F until the cheese is golden and melty and scrumptious. Something like this:

 Ok so I cheated like they do on cooking shows and "some" time elapsed in the writing of this post :D

It was worth making and a nice change to the usual pasta and ground beef tomato sauce. It was a great Sunday dinner for two (and Monday with our leftovers!) By the way, why does everything baked in the oven taste so much better?

So no, I haven't crocheted from the book of dreams (see my last post) and no I haven't worked on the wraplet. But I've been busy catching up with friends, eating good food, doing a bit of spring cleaning, splashing in puddles, soaking up the sunshine and looooving SPRING *skippity hop!* 

Thanks  for reading, hope you have a nice SPRING-y week!

Wraplet and pastry delight

I know it's been a while since I have last posted about crafting, baking, crocheting etc that I started this blog for! I am thrilled to have my normal life back, I'm settling in so nicely to my new title of wife but man, I'm kind of happy it's over and we can move on now! Weddings are nice, but I don't think I ever would want to do it again, extra incentive to make it work, right? Hahah, just kidding. But seriously, it feels sooooooooooooo good to be able to putter around worrying about normal things and doing the little stuff that makes me happy! 

EASTER CANDY IN MY JAPANESE TEA "CUP" :)

And AH! SPRING! We are going through the several feet of snow we had this winter melting...which means lots of puddles and wet weather...and I love it! There is just something magical about the water dripping from rooftops and running down the street. I know most people hate this time of the year, but I relish it, especially on sunny days like today! :) It's a shame I didn't think to take a picture, I'll have to try to capture it before summer comes... (SUMMER!!!!!!! <3)

So on to crocheting... I have 3 W(orks) I(n) P(rogress): the acorn, the granny square pillow and the shrug/capelet I had every intention of making in time to wear at my wedding and didn't. (oops). Anywho, while finishing the acorn is intriguing (read: boring) and the granny square pillow is at a standstill (left the yarn at my parents, no storage here I'm afraid!), I have naturally chosen to lazily work away at my wraplet. While I probably may never wear it, it's a nice pattern and I like watching it grow. I also would like to use up the yarn I bought for it. I can't remember if I have linked the pattern before but it's from Lion Brand Yarn's website, the Dorothea Wraplet  Pattern. (requires registry, but it's free and worth it, lots of good patterns to be found)

Here is a picture of my progress. I am working the yarn double because it's thinner than I'd like and I'm sure the yarn (100% wool) is completely not what the pattern was written for... The wraplet is really thick and chunky though! :)

As a giveaway of what my next project just might be, check out this book that is mine all mine till the 28th of the month!!! 

100 FLOWERS TO KNIT AND CROCHET By Lesley Stanfield

I have been dying to get my hands on it since I saw it mentioned in not one but TWO of the blogs I follow and the creations the pages hold... it makes my heart skip! It's from the library now, but I HAVE TO HAVE IT AS MY OWN! It's definitely on the birthday wish list, only have to wait till June then. ;) As for now though, I am going through the difficult stage of finding  time to properly concentrate (the patterns are written in British crochet terms --> I have to translate to US terms) and choosing which one I want to do first! I think the pansy might be it, but there really are so many lovely patterns, I can't decide. The Irish rose and a daisy pattern have me intrigued (read: really excited) as well. I'm very much looking forward to some home time tomorrow and this weekend to sink my teeth into this beautiful book! It's so beautiful that I'm seriously considering trying my hand at knitting! 

Other things that have made me happy are these apple puff pastries that I threw together. 

They are so simple and so tasty! If your grocery store sells puff pastry, buy it. If it's frozen let it thaw slightly, then cut it into squares, rectangles, triangles or whatever tickles your fancy. Then add a dollop of apple marmalade (or any other flavor as long as it's oven proof) and a couple of thinly sliced apple pieces. Bake at 200C or 375F until golden brown (15 min or so?) and voila! Tasty tea or coffee companions! And rather pretty if you ask me. :)

Other delights are my little dracenea something or other plant that I picked up from Ikea for ONE EURO! And my little mushroom from Kyoto :) It's like a little forest on our table. 

NOTE OUR CAT HAS BEEN ON THE TABLE "TRIMMING" THE LEAVES...

How can I go on about things that make me happy when I haven't even properly mentioned these great kids:

Ah, the daily grind has never felt better! :)