Let's meet at Food Blogger Connect 2010

Have you heard the wonderful news? No? Then read on!

It's Food Blogger Connect time again and this year it's going to be a really phenomenal weekend! Two and half days jam-packed with food, fun, roundtables and hands-on workshops, networking, awards and some really cool prizes.

Food Blogger Connect 2010 will take place on June 4th, 5th & 6th in London. You don't want to miss it!

Click here and you'll discover who will be speaking, the gorgeous venues, the itinerary and other relevant information. You will notice that the cost has gone up from last year as you will also notice there is so much more on offer! Dinner, breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, BBQ, blind folded wine tasting, cocktails and brunch are all offered before, after and in between the information-packed workshops and roundtables. There will be prop swaps, awards and many prizes like cupcake decorating classes from Bea's of Bloomsbury worth over £100 each! And if you thought last year's goodie bags were outa-this-world, then baby you've seen nothing yet!

Spreading FBC out over Friday, Saturday and Sunday allows you all the chance to actively participate in ways we couldn't last year - not only hands-on workshops, but Q & A during and after each discussion. We will all have loads of time over the three days to meet, get to know each other, exchange, share, network. For everyone's convenience we have been able to break down the event into three days so you can attend what and when you like - just one day or two or the whole weekend

For some of you who attended last year's event, you'll know first hand how, even in one short day, we all learned so much and how much fun we had meeting and getting to know each other. Now just think of that but times three! You don't need to look twice at the itinerary to know that you are going to come out more prepared and inspired than ever to turn your blog into an even bigger success, whatever your vision!

You'll need to hurry as registration is open and tickets are selling fast! Space is limited (we want to keep it intimate) so make that decision quick! Got a question? Drop us a line on the FBC blog or email info@foodbloggerconnect.com.

If you are still not sure whether you want to be there, check this wonderful video!

I hope too see you there!

Home Alone and Beetroot and Spinach Couscous Salad

I'm not home alone very often. Luckily. I must confess, I'm pretty fearful when I have to stay alone overnight in our apartment. It might make a good thriller movie script If I told you what is usually going on in my head, when I'm home alone overnight. I can never watch scary movies because I would not be able to go to a bathroom after dark. I have a pretty good and colourful imagination if we speak about fear. I know all these thoughts are nonsense but I can't help it.

A positive side of being home alone is the food I cook just for myself. What do you cook when home alone? I like such days. I usually make something I know P. would not like. Though he would obviously eat it, a phrases like "It was not bad, but you don't have to make it again" or "We have already had better food", would follow. I'm very lucky actually, because P. eats everything and almost never complains, and if he does, he is very diplomatic. This personal characteristic is more than convenient for my cooking experiments. I'm just a passionate amateur and still a beginner cook. So it comes as no surprise that some of my experiments are not really successful.

However, that was not a case of this couscous salad. I'm not saying P. would love it. But that is the point. I was cooking only for myself. And I loved it! I had been having beetroot in the fridge for a week and I was looking for a good use of it. I also had many blood oranges from the market and leftover spinach from spinach and salmon pasta we had for dinner the day before. And I always have some nuts in my cupboard. Putting all these ingredients together made a wonderful salad for my lunch. And goat cheese complements the sweet and fruity flavours in this salad. I think you won't be disappointed.

The amount of ingredients in this recipe make salad for one person. You can easily double or triple the recipe, if you need. But I think I will make such recipes a regular part of the blog. I find it quite difficult to cook only for one person, and this time I made just enough without having any leftovers!

I leave you now with these beautiful tulips I got from P. last week. Bon appetit.

Beetroot and spinach couscous salad

Serves 1

zest and juice of 1 blood orange

70g couscous

15 g walnuts

1 handful of fresh baby spinach leaves

2 small cooked beetroots, cut into small pieces

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

salt and freshly ground pepper

50g fresh goat cheese

1. In a small saucepan, combine the orange zest, juice and 50ml cold water and bring to the boil. Pour the mixture over the couscous, stir well, cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff couscous with fork to separate grains.

2. In a medium bowl, mix couscous, walnuts, beetroot and spinach leaves. For the dressing, whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and pour over salad. Top with crumbled goat cheese.

Olive and Caramelised Onion Tart

I have two good news for you today. Do you remember when I talked about a delicious savoury tart recipe, I wanted to share with you? I was going on holiday, and a week before that, I was too busy to cook, photograph and write. Well, I actually photographed a lot. But let's get back to the news. The first good news is, that I didn't forget about the recipe, and I have it for you today! And the second good news is, I can finally tell you the reason why I was busy.

I was working on my first commercial photos! Yay! I can tell you, it felt absolutely fantastic to see my pictures in a Prague Palladium Magazine. Forgive me if I sound like I'm boasting, but I was so happy and wanted to share this joy with you.

My photos were featured in a food chapter of the spring/summer 2010 issue. The Magazine's primary purpose is to present clothing brands production and original Czech design. Magazine is produced by non-profit Association CZECHDESIGN.CZ, whose main idea and aim are to support quality Czech design both at home and abroad.

Photographing these pictures was an absolutely new experience for me and I've enjoyed it a lot! In fact, I wasn't the only one who enjoyed it. I felt tired and a bit despaired after my third attempt to cook Thai Tom Yum soup , but P. kept asking if he could eat it! :) Honestly, I was very happy over his appetite, as I didn't feel like eating it at all!

I must say, that I'm very grateful for the wonderful opportunity to photograph these pictures. I learned a lot and had fun.

Oh yes, the tart! Here it is.

I know I post the recipe more than a month or so later than I planned. However, it is a good time to share it with you, after all. Since by the calendar spring has finally come, that means the picnic season is coming soon. And this savoury tart is an ideal picnic food as it is delicious both warm and cold.

The main ingredients for this tart is red onion, but you don't need to worry about your bad breath. I simply love the onion here because the sugar and vinegar give it a scrumptious sweet and sour taste with a rich caramelised aroma.

This tart is not very photogenic because it gets quite dark during baking. But you can believe me, it has a fantastic taste! A strong flavour of anchovies and kalamata olives wonderfully complement the taste of the caramelised onion. I think you will either love or hate this tart. I definitely love it!

Olives and caramelised onion tart
Serves 4

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
6 large red onions, peeled and sliced
50ml balsamic vinegar
50ml white wine vinegar
70g cane sugar
salt and freshly ground pepper

500g puff pastry, divided into two pieces
65g kalamata olives, pitted and halved
12 anchovy fillets
12 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 egg yolk

1. In a saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and fry the onion for about 20-25 minutes, until slightly golden and caramelised. Add both vinegars, sugar, salt and pepper and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion mixture thickens.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out both pieces of the pastry into a rectangle. Place them on a baking sheet lined with a parchment paper.

3. Divide the onion mixture between both pieces and place the olives, anchovies and thyme on top. Fold the pastry edges over the filling.

4. Brush the edges with the egg yolk and bake in preheated oven to 200C for about 12-15 minutes, until golden brown.

Colours of Spring and Prawn and Spring onion Frittata

I can't be more happy! Spring is finally here! I know that for sure, even if, according to the calendar, it is still not spring. We have to wait one more week for that. But that is not important. The only important thing is my outdoor thermometer shouting at me! 15-20C!!! And it has been shouting this since Saturday. I feel the energy entering my body. The so much needed energy. Sometimes, I ask myself why do I live London, when I so much love and need the sun? I know, there are places in Europe, where the snow is still falling. So I am very grateful.

I love spring green colours. These fresh and vivid greens shades represent growth, harmony and energy to me. I feel, I need such colours in my kitchen too. Lovely light and colourful prawn and spring onion frittata satisfied my appetite. I was craving an asian style frittata, so I added some freshly grated ginger and soya sauce, and finished it with a hot chilli salt. You can add any spices you like. It would be nice with some grated cheese on top too. Just follow your taste.

Prawn and spring onion frittata

Serves 2

Ingredients

8 spring onions, chopped
260g cocktail prawns
2cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

4 eggs
1tbsp soya sauce
chilli salt
freshly grated pepper
olive oil

1. In a saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat, add the prawns, ginger and onion. Sauté for about 2 minutes.

2. In a small bowl, mix together eggs, soya sauce, salt and pepper. Pour the mixture into the pan and cook over low heat, until the eggs are set, about 8-10 minutes.

3. Turn the frittata over. Slide the frittata carefully on to a plate. Put the pan on top of the plate and turn the plate up side down so that the frittata falls back in to the pan. Cook for a further 4-5 minutes.

4. Slide the frittata out of the pan on to a clean plate and serve.

Karelian Pies, winter holiday and Finnish cuisine and traditions

First of all I want to apologise for the long silence. I know it's been almost one month since I posted the last recipe. I am not sure if I have a good excuse for not updating the blog. However I'm back in full power now, and I have a special recipe for you today!

As you may know, I was on a holiday in Finland last week, and the recipe I'd like to share with you today is, surprisingly, related to Finland. Actually, the holiday itself, was highly related to Finnish cuisine. This way I want to express my huge thanks to our friends, who decided to brake with food tradition, in order to introduce some of the typical Finnish dishes to us.

P. and I are both big fans of scandinavian cuisine and of some of the Finnish goodies in particular. We return with a luggage full of all kinds of food and drinks every time we travel to Finland. Oh, how much a love a traditional rye bread. Actually, if I think about it, we return with a luggage full of local products every time we go on holiday, no matter where we travel. That's what I love about travelling. Isn't it just great to taste local goodies, bring some of your memories back home with you, and extend your holiday at least in a culinary way?

I can honestly say that I don't usually buy typical tourist souvenirs. I'm more than happy if I can visit a local market, and use all my luggage allowance to bring as much as I can! :) Call me crazy, but this is just the way I do it, and I love it! Besides, I really hate dusting, so I can't even think about any souvenirs that are merely dust catchers.

Our favourite treat we bring from Finland every time we travel there is Gin Long Drink. This very refreshing drink is a mixture of grapefruit lemonade and gin. Gin Long Drink, commonly called "lonkero" (=tentacle) was first introduce in 1952 when Finland was preparing for the Summer Olympics. Since then lonkero has become very popular. Gin Long Drink is produced by several companies. We tasted some of them, but the original drink from Hartwall remains our all time favourite for its specific taste, and it's also the best selling product in Alko stores. This fact is more than understandable when you imagine that Finns often enjoy their ice cold GLD before, during and after their sauna! Yes, we did it too! :)

When speaking about traditions, I must not forget to mention Aku Ankka (Donald Duck), the trouserless duck in a sailor shirt and cap . This cartoon magazine has been published in Finland since 1951 and it has become one of the most read publications ever since. Aku Ankka is more popular in Finland than in the United States, the country of its origin, which is an interesting phenomenon. Subscription to Aku Ankka is almost a national tradition. It is widely read not only by children, but also by grown-ups.


One of the main reason for Aku Ankka's popularity is its high quality of the educational and language aspect. The quality of its Finnish language is, without question, remarkably good. Thanks to the good and colourful language and the grammatical quality, the Aku Ankka can naturally only be understood by native speakers. We asked our friend to translate some words in a magazine, which we'd randomly picked only for its visual interestingness, and the answer was alway the same. It was quite difficult and tricky to translate. Many children learn to read thanks to the help of Aku Ankka. According to Sanoma Magazines (the comics' publisher) Aku Ankka now has about 1 million readers. Compare it to a population of 5.4 million and you get a huge success!


But let's get back to our holiday. We spent only 6 days in Finland but we had a blast. We were more than happy with the pleasing sunny weather and the average temperatures of -8C. This winter there is an exceptional amount of snow in Finland. That was like a dream for me, as I've never been to Finland during the winter, and I so much wished to experience a proper Finnish winter. My dream came true! There couldn't be a better way to enjoy this wonderful weather than going to a Finnish summer cottage with no running water. Only a well, a sauna and a dry toilet where available! We survived, and we would have stayed even longer if we could. Can you imagine what a modern technology detox it was? No computers, no internet... It was a true relaxing holiday.

It wouldn't be a proper holiday in Finland without a sauna. Saunas are an important part of Finnish culture. Did you know that in the old days, women usually gave birth in saunas? A sauna whisk called "vihta" is often used in traditional saunas. The whisk is made of a bunch of fresh birch twigs and is used for massage and stimulation of the skin. Dried vihta is revived by soaking in warm water, so you can enjoy it any time of the year. The Vihta also gives off a wonderful smell of birch inside the sauna. I love a sauna and I so much miss it in London.

I was talking about food traditions at the beginning of this post. Finnish cuisine is quite underestimated and not very well known. There is a strong emphasis on fresh local seasonal ingredients. This aspect of the cuisine won my admiration. Its importance is evident especially nowadays, when sustainable food and agriculture are widely discussed and promoted, and people around the world are inspired to eat local food and use local products.

I can say from my own experience that Finnish people really eat particular food only when it is in season. At least, our friends do. So don't try to eat pickled herrings with mustard in February if you don't won't to look like you've just are arrived from Mars. And, especially don't eat the whole jar just with bread. Pickled herrings are typically only eaten at Christmas or at midsummer when new potatoes are in season. So you can imagine how weird a picture of crayfish on the snow looks like to Finns. Still don't know why?

Here's the story. Ask any Finn person when they usually eat crayfish. I bet you get an answer saying that crayfish are only eaten throughout August and September. It is time for the traditional crayfish party. The reason is quite simple. Crayfish harvest starts officially in the middle of July and finishes at the end of October. During this time, shops are full of table decorations like napkins, tablecloths and paper plates with crayfish pattern. Crayfish are cooked with dill and eaten with toasts. This is also the only occasion when eating loudly is tolerated as sucking is necessary to enjoy the juices inside the crayfish. A special crayfish knife is needed to open the crayfish. Short crayfish songs are usually sung and vodka or other alcohol are drunk.

We ate crayfish in February, and so did our friends, for the first time in their life! And they were absolutely divine! Most of Finns would probably think you are mad if you said them about this. It's all about traditions. Our friend's father caught and froze crayfish for us so we could enjoy these delicacies during very unusual time of the year.

And here goes the promised recipe. Karelian pies are traditional pasties from the Karelia region, the eastern parts of Finland. The thin rye crust is traditionally filled with rice porridge or mashed potatoes. Various fillings like carrot are also used nowadays. I took a liking to the karelian pie the first time I'd tasted it. It's often eaten with egg-butter (munavoi) which is spread over the hot pie before eating.

This egg-butter is supposed to be eaten ONLY with karelian pies. So imagine our friends surprise and consternation when P. started to eat it on its own and then spread it on his toast! :) And imagine our surprise when one morning our finnish friend spread the egg-butter on his bread too, and a little one ate a spoonful with his porridge. Oh no, we've spoiled our finnish friends! :)

I was warned that making karelian pies take time to master, but I think I did quite well for the first time! I know, I still have to improve in an area of their look, but at least they tasted great.

Karelian Pies (Karjalanpiirakat)

Make about 20 pies

Ingredients

Rice filling:

4 dl (340g) short-grain (pudding) rice

2 l milk

500 ml water

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp butter

Dough:

4 dl (250g) rye flour

1 dl (55g) plain flour

1 tsp salt

200 ml water

Butter, for glazing

Egg-butter spread:

8 hard-boiled eggs

150 g salted butter

1. Bring water to a boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the rice and cook over low heat until all the water is absorbed. Add the milk and bring again to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to a very low and simmer for 30-40min, stirring occasionally, until the rice is cooked. Take the rice off the heat, stir in the butter and season the porridge with salt. Set aside to cool.

2. In a medium bowl, combine flours and salt and stir into cold water. Knead the dough until all ingredients come together and the dough is solid and even. Form the dough into a bar and divide it into 20 pieces. Roll the pieces into balls and flatten them with your hand. Sprinkle each piece with rye flour to prevent them sticking together and cover with a kitchen towel.

3. On a floured surface, roll the flattened pieces into thin and oval crusts. Try to roll them as thin as possible. Line the crusts up so they overlap and sprinkle some rye flour between them so they don't stick together. Cover the crusts with a kitchen towel to prevent them from becoming dry.

4. Fill each crust with the rice porridge. Place about a tablespoon or more of the rice filling on the crust and spread evenly to fit the shape of the pie. Fold the crust edges over the filling and pinch tightly with your fingers.

5. Places the pies on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake in preheated oven to 275-300C for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown.

6. Brush the baked pies with melted butter and cover them with baking sheet and kitchen towel to soften.

7. To make the egg-butter, mash the eggs and softened butter with a fork together, in a bowl, and place into the fridge to cool.