Monday, April 30, 2012

GNO

Hey!

So...we had our girls night out on Saturday! I haven't had that much fun in a while and it was nice to see everybody. I don't know what I will do when we will all go somewhere else in September. I guess we should just enjoy this time that we can spend together. GIRL POWER! Wohooo! :D

Essi, Veera and Iida :D Let's not forget my carrot cake on the right! The taste was pretty good actually!

Salla Salla

TWISTER!!
Leo the biggest cat I have seen!

Wanna know who is your dream date? Play heart beat and you will know :P It was pretty fun actually hehe :)

Hanna tought us a game she learned in Iceland. Each player has to blow the cards on the glass if the cards fall you have to drink half a beer :P I don't know what's the point of the whole game...anyway it was fun! :)
I don't know why the pictures don't go the way I want them to...:( Stupid computer! So I guess this is my last post for April! 
Have a good week everybody and tomorrow is the first of may! :O Hyvää vappua as we say in finnish! :)

Karoliina

Friday, April 27, 2012

This is my life!

Hey there!

As you can imagine I have been busy with my new job. I can't believe that I am actually working...I guess it will take a while for me to get used to the whole idea. I have been a bit stressed lately and I haven't been sleeping very well which is so annoying! There are so many new things going on and maybe I'm just thinking too much. This is a new start for me and I can finally be more independent.

Actually now that I think about it...it was nice when my parents where paying for everything. Now that I have to think what I spend I have become tight-fisted ( not sure if that's the right word to describe it... ). Anyway it's finally time for little Karoliina to grow up! :D

I have been also looking for places to stay in Spain and different programs and it's so hard to choose! I found this awesome language school in Barcelona, but yesterday I also found a place where I can work in Spain and get some extra money as well! So what I have been thinking is...I could go to this spanish school for a month and then go work somewhere else in Spain :D or...I don't know! D: What do you think?? Maybe I should just keep looking hehe

I am glad we are having a girls night out tomorrow with my friends and I will be able to think something else and have some fun wohoo! I tried to make a carrot cake for tomorrow, but I failed miserably. If it is edible that is what matters the most right? :)

Now I am going to bed and hoping I will get some sleep tonight...


Karoliina :)

Monday, April 23, 2012

Strawberry cake

Hello!

As many of you might have noticed I love to bake! I made this strawberry cake a while ago but I didn't have time to put the recipe on my blog. It was my first time to make this cake and I made a couple mistakes but it was tasty and for me that is what matters the most! :)
The original recipe was found from this blog : http://www.kinuskikissa.fi/sienikakkupohja/?sliderpage=2&ref=27
                                                                                      http://www.kinuskikissa.fi/vanilja-mansikka/?sliderpage=7&ref=16

It has great recipes I recommend you check it out! ;)
It took me about 3 hours to make this cake, but I didn't make the whole cake in one day. I usually do the decoration the next day before I serve it.


My friends got excited when they saw it and they wanted to know the recipe so here it goes!

First you have to make the cake (kakkupohja in finnish, not sure how you call it in english :(... )
For a cake with a diameter of 26 cm you are going to need :
3 ½  dl flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
5 eggs
2 ½   dl sugar
1 ½   dl boiling water

butter
breadcrumbs


First mix the eggs with the sugar in a big bowl. Boil the water and put it in the mixture in small batches. Mix the dry ingredients together ( flour and baking powder ). Sieve the flour mixture into the egg foam.


Grease the cake batter with the butter and put the breadcrumbs. Fill it with the dough and leave it in the oven for 30 minutes ( 200 degrees ).

Of course our oven was too effective and I burned my dough...so typical of me! Just be carefull and keep an eye on it. These things happen sometimes, but don't get too desperate! I just cut off the burned parts and it was just fine. :)








                                                 
Now it's time to make the filling...wohoo! Here is what you are going to need:
Filling:
strawberries
4 leaves of gelatin
2 egg whites
200 gr cream cheese
1½ dl sugar
4 spoons of potato starch
4 dl cream
2 dl milk                                                                                                                                                             
 First cut the cake into two parts and slice the strawberries in halves.Before you put the strawberries on the cake, mix some milk with vanilla sugar or normal sugar. ( I can't say how much milk you are going to need...maybe 3 dl. The amount of sugar is up to you...depends on how sweet you want your cake to be )

Wet the cake with the milk. Take care that you put a lot of milk otherwise the cake ends up being dry and you don't want that...trust me! 




When you have done that put the strawberries on the cake.

Put the leaves of gelatine to soak in cold water. Whip the egg whites till they get stiff and mix them with the cream cheese.

In a saucepan mix the sugar and the potato starch. Add the milk and the cream. Heat the mixture on the stove and remember to stir it constantly. When it starts to bubble take it from the stove. Melt the gelatin leaves in the mixture and leave it cool down for a minute.




                                                                           








When it has cooled down mix it with the egg white- cream cheese mixture and pour it on the strawberries.

Put the other half of the cake on top and wet it with the milk- sugar mixture.

I usually leave the cake in the fridge for one night, but I guess 4 to 5 hours should be enough.

For the decoration I just used cream and strawberries. Simple as that! :)
I started by spreading a little bit of cream on the cake. I cut the strawberries into thin slices and put them on the cake like this.


 That was it! Not the easiest thing to do, but I hope my instructions help you. Just remember to be patient! :)

Karolina


Saturday, April 21, 2012

I'm a hard worker!

Hey!

  I came back to Finland on Wednesday and yesterday was my first day at my new job! My trip back here went really well if we don't count the fact that it was raining in Athens and I didn't have an umbrella with me...no wonder why I'm feeling a bit sick now! The only thing that I hate about traveling is that it takes so much time. I left Volos at four o'clock in the morning and I was in Kotka at ten o'clock in the evening. At least our stop to Copenhagen lasted for one hour only which was nice!Now it just takes a little while to get used to the idea that I am in a different country. I have to stop thinking things the Greek way :P
But I am not the only one who has been traveling lately. My friend Hanna came the same day as me from Iceland and my friend Nadja came from Norway on Tuesday. We were all feeling a bit crappy coming back here, but that's life!

My first day at my new job was pretty exciting and today I got to be at the cash desk which was a bit terrifying at first but I got used to it by the end of the day. The hardest part at the beginning was remembering how the machine worked and all the codes my instructor was telling me, but I am sure I will learn to memorize everything as the time goes by. Besides I will be working there for five months so I have time to learn. Also my co-workers are very nice and they have been very patient with me! So far so good! :) 
 Now I have three days free to relax!YEY! Here are some songs for you :) Eleni sent me the first song because I was leaving on Wednesday morning ( it would have been perffect if it was saying Wednesday! ) and the second one is the song Hanna has been listening a lot lately and driving me crazy with it, it's a good song but when you listen to it ten times in a row it starts to get annoying :DAnyway... Enjoy!
                                                                                                                                                                
  

 Greetings from cold Finland...or actually not so cold anymore ;)

Karoliina

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Χριστός Ανέστη!

Hello!

First of all I would like to wish you all Χριστός Ανέστη which means Christ is Risen. Easter is very important here and to celebrate it we invited some good friends to our house. This year we had a whole lamb prepared and it was so good! I could never be a vegetarian...I like to eat meat! :P

I don't know if you have ever seen this movie called My big fat Greek wedding, but I recommend you do! I have seen it so many times that I know the lines by heart. So the next time you have a crappy day and you want something to cheer you up watch it and you will feel a lot better trust me! :)


           Here are some pictures of today :)

My father, Dilo and the lamb



I couldn't stop laughing when I saw this picture! I look so pregnant haha...


Me and my friend Victoria



Chisto Anesti once again! :P

Karolina

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Don't mess around with mr Giannis!

Hello!

After nagging about many things on my previous post I decided I would stop doing that...especially on my blog! I am sure nobody wants to read about my messed up feelings.

I found limes and to cheer up my mood I made mojitos yesterday. I must say that it helped me relax a little bit hehe. Besides I am in Greece! I should be just happy for being here...I can worry about things later when I go back to Finland :P

The weather has been a bit annoying here. In the morning it  is usually sunny and then suddenly it just starts to rain! :(

Today I wanted to go swimming in the afternoon, but the weather didn't let me do that. I am glad we ( me and my dad ) went hiking on the mountain when the weather was still sunny in the morning. I took some nice pictures and we met some interesting people on our way.

As we were walking up to the mountain we saw a sheep farm. When the owner saw us he approached to wish us Happy Easter and that's how my dad and the owner started chatting. Mr Γιάννης or Giannis in English ( the owner of the sheep farm ) invited us for some tsipouro to the farm to chat. I don't know how Greeks do that but it seemed like my father and mr Giannis knew each other for years from the way they talked to each other. I wish I knew how to do that! When we went there the owner had been slaughtering some sheep for the Easter and guess where I got to sit...below a bag full of a sheep's intestines and no I am not joking! Just imagine how comfortable I felt with that thing hanging over my head! I am glad it didn't fall over me...that would have been a very interesting experience. Later because mr Giannis had to take care of some orders he had to slaughter some more sheep. I freaked out when he brought the sheep in front of us and slaughtered it as he was still talking with my dad. Of course my dad didn't care because he used to do the same thing when my grandparents had still animals. I was seriously freaking out just to see the blood coming out of that poor animal. My dad was like "Take a picture to put on your blog!" and the owner was like " You have to see the whole process of how this thing is done!" . I didn't know whether to laugh or faint. All this now that I think about it sounds like a scene taken from a comedy or something...hehehe. Believe it or not I had a good time, but I would have been glad if I hadn't seen that "process".

Here are some pictures of our trip to the mountain. The view was so beautiful! Don't worry I didn't take any pictures of the poor animal!

sheep farm on the right

I will conquer the world! Buahahaha

Agria ( Aγριά ) my hometown
 

We have still Easter here so Καλό Πάσχα ( Kalo Pasha ) as we say in Greek! :)

Karolina

Monday, April 9, 2012

Frustrated...

Hey!

I wish I had something interesting to write each time, but unfortunately I don't. There are so many things going on in my head that I don't know where to start from. I guess I am going through a "phase" which isn't very unusual for me at least. There is always something that bothers me or pisses me off. Hard to explain what's wrong with me...maybe it's the fact that I finished school and now it's up to me what I'm going to do next.

Sometimes I think that life is way too short for all the things that I want to do.  I want to travel so much that I forget the fact that I have to earn  money to do that. This whole process, working and traveling takes a lot of time especially the working part. I am acting like a little kid...I can't wait anymore! I start to get really frustrated and hopeless. I just wish I could go to Spain tomorrow without having to work the whole summer in Finland, but on the other hand getting some work experience isn't a bad thing.

Also the fact that I have no idea what I want to do after my trip to Spain is scaring the hell out of me. I am trying not to think about it too much, but I know that at some point I will have to decide what I want to do. All these years that I went to school I didn't need to know what I was going to do the next year. It was clear that all I had to do was go to school. Now things are different...I don't know what my future is going to be like. I don't even know for sure in which country I want to start my studies.

Being eighteen isn't as awesome as it sounds. There are so many decisions to be made that it's overwhelming. PFFFFFFF!! The best thing to do is just stop thinking about the future...I just wish I could do that!

Anyway! Happy Easter everybody and enjoy your holidays! :)
In Finland we make rairuoho in Easter to decorate the house. These are the ones my mom made last year we are still waiting for the new ones to grow.  :)




Karolina

Friday, April 6, 2012

Τυροπιτάκια ( feta pies )

Hello, hello!

Surprise! Another recipe once again! This time I made something salty... feta cheese pies. They are pretty simple so I don't think you will have any difficulty making them.

For 12 pies
Ingredients:
350    gr feta cheese
4        eggs
puff pastry ( in finnish: voitaikina)

Mix the feta cheese with three eggs ( you are going to need one egg in the end ). Cut the puff pastry into twelve squares.

 





















Take one square of pastry and put the filling. The rest is shown in the picture below. :P I am not very good at explaining things which is why I take a picture of each step.


Beat the one egg that is left and with a brush put it on the cheese pies. ( Oh my English is so excellent! :P ) I hope you understand what I am trying to say!

Leave them in the oven ( 220 degrees ) for 10-15 minutes, depends on the oven you have. My cheese pies were ready after 18 minutes exactly! :P












Karolina





Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Πάμε για τσίπουρα; :P

Hey!

So...these past few days have gone by pretty smoothly! On Sunday I went with my parents to a tsipouradiko and we ate there. If you have no idea what a tsipouradiko is, I will explain it to you.

 Tsipouradiko is like a restaurant where you can order tsipouro or ouzo ( Greek alcohol drink ). What is unique about it is that you don't know what food (or meze in Greek) they are going to bring you. So at first when you order two tsipouro they bring you three different kinds of mezedes. There is also a menu if you want to order something else, but the idea of the hole thing is that you don't know what they are going to bring you. What they usually serve is fish, squid, octopus and different kinds of salads.

I love going out for tsipouro....but I have to admit that it is a bit strong for me which is why I add water most of the times. Also octopus is very good! You have to try it ;)

At least in Volos and Agria there are many good tsipouradika, but I don't know about other places in Greece.


That's it for now! I wish I could write more about Greece and stuff, but I don't want to bore you to death :P

Here is one of my favorite Greek songs by Γιάννης Κότσιρας (Yiannis Kotsiras ) . Enjoy! :)


 Karolina