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Finnish Bassists Club

#61
I'm an American officially but my grandparents were from Finland. My mom is English so I'm only half Finn, does that qualify?

Lots of Finns settled in northern MN where I grew up. In face, I think Thunder Bay, ON has the largest population of Finns outside of Finland. About coffee, my wife is also Finn and we were there a few years ago visiting some relatives. I'll never forget the meals served by an aging cousin. First you ate and had tea, then, after the tea, you had coffee. Always.

Hyyva Paiva.

Any body else out there like Rally racing?
 
#62
I've never heard about anyone serving both tea and coffee subsequently. Sounds like a very strange tradition to me. You learn something new every day.. :) Anyway, most people serve either coffee or tea to their guests after a meal. Actually both are served, but you choose one of them.
 
#66
Hi jro, half Finnish is fine. You're #18. Only my mom's Finnish so I'm half Finnish with German and Austrian from my father's parents.

Anyone here like viili? I was thinking about getting some starter culture online so I could make some at home. Viruvaa jugurttia. :p My mom doesn't like it cause of the texture, but I do. I always buy some while I'm in Finland. Lörtsyt are good too. I only get them in Savonlinna though. There's a bunch of other foods I miss. I love the ice creams I can get in the stores there in Finland. The Classic brand is one of my favorites. Ice cream from kioskis are good too (mmm vanhanajan suklaa). I loved smoked muikkus that my grandpa made, but I decided to become fully vegetarian (I used to be a vegetarian who ate seafood), so now I really can't eat the muikkus. One thing I like to make in Finland is Greek salad. I had one in a hotel my aunt was staying at and I liked it. So then I made it a couple of times. I don't know why, but it's not the same when I make it here at home. Maybe cause I can't find the right salad dressing, or maybe Finnish tomatoes and lettuce are better... I'm not sure really.

Oh, one more thing I like is lättänä pulla. It's the big pitko pullas. When I was little I saw my grandma eating a slice. I asked what it was, she said pulla. Then I exclaimed, "lättänä pullaa!" I must have thought all pulla were round back then. So we've called the pitko pullas lättänä pulla ever since.
 
#67
If you get a starter culture, I'd like to try it, my father in law used to eat villii.

My wife makes pulla, they are about the shape of an Italian
bread loaf, but braided and baked with an egg glaze and sugar.
She says they come out much better if you put a
bowl of water in the oven while baking it (raise the humidity
level).

I am not sure which kind of pulla that is, though. But it sure is
good. All of her friends have gotten the recipe from her, they
love it so much.
 
#70
Yep kalle, #19.
We had 4 Finnish spitz years ago. My parents bred the two they had, then kept two puppies. The last two, the 2 brothers we had, died around 2000 I think. Now we have a Norwegian Elkhound.
Thor, if I get a culture going, I could probably send some if you want. I saw some site that explained how to dry it for sending in the mail. I found a couple of different sites selling it. One only sold live cultures, another sold that and dry ones. If you look up viili on google, some of the first sites that come up sell it.
That sounds like the pulla we get. Big loafs. Fresh ones gotta be better though than the store bought ones. My mom made some little pulla a couple of months ago. She couldn't find the cardamom though. That's the most important part of pulla, at least to me.
 
#71
We got the cardamom one time at Ocean State Job Lot and another time at the Christmas Tree store.

There is a store in Auburn Mass that is called the Gift Chalet and they have a lot of Scandinavian items. It is a half mile away from the intersection of Rte 146 and the Mass Pike I-90 on rte 20. They have a food section there.

My wife found a spice site on the internet that sells it, I'll ask her. Also, every fall there is a baazar at the local Lutheran Church in Newport, she makes about 40 of them to sell as a donation. People come in and scoop them up and freeze them.
 
#74
Implosion said:
Not really. Of course you can get an espresso in a restaurant or bakery shop, but regular coffee is what we drink. The roast of the coffee is very light, but the mixture might be strong. And we drink it by the liter :D
Click to expand...

Yes, noticed that last time I visited. I could find espresso/cappuccino in bigger cities, in some places, but otherwise the coffee culture is very different from Starbucks. --Kent
 
#75
If you go to a normal a café/restaurant, I think you nowadays can get a cappuccino, caffe latte or an espresso almost everywhere. It's coming more and more. On the countryside on a "simple" lunch restaurant, it might be that they only serve plain coffee though.

Lots of Finns like the coffee rather light, whereas I enjoy a strong, darker roasted coffee more. It's however mostly because I like to add quite much milk, and the coffee taste would be too weak if the brew was too light.

Espresso is IMO best for cappuccino, caffe latte or even café au lait. I.e., mixed with milk.... I don't enjoy espresso as such very much...
 
#78
"Jaco's mother, Verna Katarina HAAPALA was
born in Minnesota and changed her name to Stephanie Katherine Haapala.
Jaco's Grandmother on his Mom's side, Kaisa Eriika ISOJÄRVI, was born
north of the Arctic Circle in Lappi, Finland, married David Haapala
from Minnesota, who's father, Andrew Haapala was from Oulu, Finland
and who's mother, Josephina BUCHT, was from Norrbotten, Sweden.
Conclusion: Jaco had Finnish, German, Swedish, and Irish ancestry."

From here:
Invalid Link Removed
 
#79
Wow - I never would have pegged Jaco as a Finn. He did seem to have the determination of a Finn. I never knew he had a MN connection either.

All this talk of pulla is making me hungry. Luckily there are several good bakeries that make it around here.
 
#80
We got pulla at home that my grandparents sent from Finland last week (we got good ruis leipä too). It's not freshly made though, it's store bought. I should have brought some for lunch... I'm hungry too.
How's the weather there in Finland? I heard it's gotten really cold now. My family there said the whole winter was mild and rainy, but it was -18 on Friday. The weather's been all weird lately. Last winter it was really warm here in CT for a week in January. I was walking around outside with a t-shirt. This winter we haven't been able to go skiing or ice skating on our pond. It would snow, then the snow would melt the next day. Strange weather. :hmm:
 

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