Παστίτσιο! ( Pastitsio )

Hello there whoever you are! :D

I don't think my recipes have been a big success or I don't know...but still I won't stop putting recipes because I like to do them and who knows maybe somewhere out there one of you is going to try them :)

I guess I am going through a "phase" again and I have been making Greek food. Probably because I miss being there...no wonder I have been gaining a bit of weight lately! So the last time I made tzatziki  I promised I would make pastitsio and put the recipe on here so I want to keep my promises! Every Greek mom knows how to make pastitsio, but my mom didn't make it when I was little because it is too hard to make. I guess she is right, but cooking isn't only about the food, it's about the whole process. I usually put some music on or invite friends over and socialize at the same time.

So here is what you are going to need!

500 g of Bucatini spaghetti ( some kind of thick spaghetti with a hole in the middle )

800 g of ground meat

3 onions

390g of crushed tomatoes

1,5 l of milk

4 dl of flour

a teaspoon of nutmeg (muskottipähkinä)

salt and pepper
The oven on 200 degrees


this is the spaghetti I was talking about

Okay! So this is the process of this difficult food:

Chop the onions and "fry" them in a hot pan, add the ground meat and the crushed tomatoes. Leave it in the pan for about 15 minutes till the extra fluid has evaporated. Add salt and pepper.

Cook the Bucatini in boiled water, when they are ready add butter so they don't get sticky. To make the besamel ( the sauce that is going to come on top ) add in the milk the flour, a couple of teaspoons of salt and the nutmeg and mix it very well! In a casserole( that you have greased with butter ) put the layer of Bucatini then add on top the ground meat.

To make the besamel put the milk-flour mixture in a pan and warm it up by mixing it very well at the same time. I have to say that it took me about 20 minutes to get this sauce thick so just be patient and keep mixing or if you want you can add an egg yok in case it doesn't get thick at all.

Add the besamel sauce on top ( I added also some gouda that we had left in the fridge...some people add bread crumbs ). Leave it in the oven for 30 minutes with a cover and then another 15 minutes without a cover to get this beautiful golden brown color. 

Bon appétit! :D

Karoliina

This is me!

Hola amigos!

All this time I have taken for granted that everybody who reads this blog knows me, but I am sure there are some of you out there who don't know me at all! So this post is about getting to know me a bit better.

So everything started the day I was born in 1993 in the city of Volos in Greece. My mom is Finnish and my dad is Greek (how they met is a totally different story and I am not sure if they want me to write about it on here). I have two older siblings my brother Spiros who is 25 and my sister Jasmini who is 23 and I am the little one in my family and also the spoiled one! At the age of four we moved to Agria, a smaller city close to Volos. Even though my life was in Greece, we came to Finland every summer to see my mother's family. My mom spoke to me all the time in Finnish since I was a baby so I learned Greek and Finnish...two languages are better than one hehe. As you can imagine being raised in a Greek culture can be very interesting at times! Crazy neighbours, loud people, great traditions and a lot of food! Even though I love Greece I had the need when I was fifteen to get away from there and that's why I moved to Finland. Mainly I did it for school because I wanted to finish High School here which I successfully did! I have to say that it was a drastic change, but I survived. The culture is very different and people are also not as social as they are in Greece, but there is no point on comparing two totally different countries. Both have good and bad things.
Now I have lived in Finland for three years! There have been times that I have hated being here and times that I have loved being here. At least I have met awesome people :D

When I say to people that I am half Greek half Finnish these are the questions I get asked mostly. If you have any questions I would be glad to answer! :)

Frequently asked questions:

1.Which country do you like more Greece or Finland?

To be honest Greece has a special place in my heart because I lived there for 15 years, but I can't imagine my life without Finland either. It's like asking who do you love more your dad or your mom? I love both countries and I could never imagine choosing between those two. There are things that I love about Greece that Finland doesn't have and the oposite.

2.In which country do you want to live in the future?

No idea! Maybe I will end up living somewhere totally different you never know. My dream though is to go back to Greece at some point, but the crisis is ruining everything :/ Finland would be the safe choice as things are going still well here and there is a chance of even getting a job here, but I don't even know what I want to study so I guess I have time to figure that out.

3.In which language do you think?

I have been asked many times this question and I have to say that it depends where I am and which language I am using more at the time. Usually when I count something in my head I do it in Greek because I do it faster that way. Also when I am really angry I swear in Greek....strange. Now that I have lived in Finland for so long I think in Finnish mostly. I am using both I guess, but I never really pay attention in which language I'm thinking.


I just had to add some pictures that I found a while ago. Can't believe how fast I have grown up and I still don't feel like acting like a grown up...-_-

Oh mama! Those cheeks...

My posts are just getting longer every day...hups! I hope they are at least a bit interesting...

Finally my voice has been a bit better lately...last week I was a bit sick. Here is a video for you and finally I sing something in Greek. I wanted to sing a Greek song but I couldn't find the chords for any song that I like. This one is just translated into Greek, but the original version is in English. We used to sing this at the Church that I used to go in Volos when we had youth meetings. It's a religious song and one of my favourite ones even though I have sung it way too many times! So here it goes... Φως τ'ουρανου ( Light of the world ).

That was it for today! Kαλη σας μερα ( Have a nice day) !

Karoliina

Searching True Beauty

Hello!

The main reason I made this blog was to write about my thougts, but I have slipped away from that "path" which isn't a bad thing because to be honerst I would have run out of thoughts all this time. Lately I have been reading this book called Valloittava salaisuus ( Captivating secret ) that is mainly about women and how to understand their soul and actions. It is quite interesting so far, but I have read only half of it ( I am a really slow reader...-_-)

Anyway, that was not my point. Yesterday I got to this chapter which was saying about beauty and how women have the need to feel beautiful and to be told that they are beautiful which is true. But I didn't quite understand what they meant in the book by the word "beautiful". I got a bit confused and I was thinking about it.

I looked on wikipedia about it and this it what it had about beauty : "Beauty (also called prettiness, loveliness or comeliness) is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure or satisfaction".  Still that doesn't say anything to me. There are different ways of saying that somebody/something is beautiful. Nowdays the "ideal" beauty that the fashion industry has brought up is to be tall, skinny ( size zero )and to have a tanned and flawless skin. Taking into concideration those three things I should be really ugly, because I am not tall, I am not skinny ( I would say normal size :P ) and I don't have flawless skin because I had and I still have a bit of acne (and I am pale). So that means that I am not beautiful? Of course not...or at least I want to believe so.

I am sure you have heard this that beauty comes from within. People tend to say it a lot but it is true. The next time you start to get to know somebody just pay attention on how much a person's character or other details about the person itself is going to either draw you closer or make you run away. There have been times that I have met somebody ( so called good looking ) but there is nothing that this person can offer and by that I mean that they are so full of themselves that I want to shake them and tell them "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU! THIS WORLD ISN'T ONLY ABOUT YOU!" but I can't do that so I just run away I guess ( but I don't recommend you to do that ). But there have been times that a person who doesn't really "fascinate" me much the first time I see him or her and we end up having the greatest conversations and I start to see these people in a totally different way. Has it ever happened to you?

Still I see many people who are beautiful in and out, but they still think they are not good enough or beautiful enough. As the book said we need to hear it ( that we are beautiful ). I am lucky to have been raised in a family where my parents always told me how beautiful I am in and out. Especially my father till this day looks at me and tells me that I am beautiful. Even though most girls don't like to hear that from their father's mouth it makes me feel good about myself.

Also TV plays an important role in beauty. Just count how many advertisments are just about buying the right product to make you 10 years younger or by using this particular machine you are going to get the perffect body or the body you have always dreamed of! I mean all that is bullshit but we still fall for that and we buy ( or at least I do...I admit ) all those things just to make us look good. Plus we see these film stars and we say wau they look good! But think how much time they spent on having their make-up and hair done. Whoever can look different with a ton of make up.

I was surprised to read on wikipedia this: "People who appear ugly to others suffer well-documented discrimination, earning 10 to 15 percent less per year than similar workers, and are less likely to be hired for almost any job, but lack legal recourse to fight discrimination". I don't know whether it's true or not, but if it is then why are we always talking about inner beauty ( like I did previously) if it doesn't matter at all? We are that shallow after all...

Fashion industry has made a big mistake by giving the wrong picture of how people should look like. We all look different and we should embrace what we have not the opposite.  Beauty is also all about confidence don't forget that. If you feel good about yourself it shows and that is what I call beauty. Feeling good of who you are and not letting others define you is very important.

I don't know if you understood anything of what I said and I am pretty confused myself about this D:
I would be glad to know what you think! :)

Karoliina

Tzatziki!

OPA!

I  bought a brand new laptop finally and this is the first post I am writing from my new computer!

So my recipe for today as you might have guessed is tzatziki! In Greece we eat it a lot and it is really good! I just usually dip some bread and eat it just like that mmmm. I guess there are different versions of tzatziki but this is how I have learned to make it. Some people like to add dill, but I like to keep it simple. I remember there was one time that I watched a cooking programm on TV ( or however you call them ) where they were making tzatziki. I wonder if they had ever tried a traditional Greek tzatziki because what they made was not tzatziki! So that's why I want to show you how it is made the right way :)

This is what you are going to need:

300 gr of natural yoghurt ( it has to be a bit stiff. I used turkish yoghurt...a bit ironic :P )
1½ dl of grated cucumber
2  Garlic cloves
olive oil
salt
vinegar

Start by adding the grated cucumber to the yoghurt. Remember to remove the extra fluid of the cucumber. I usually just squeeze it in my hands...that usually does the trick :P  Cut the garlic into small pieces and add it to the mixture. In the end just add a bit of olive oil, salt and vinegar. That was about it! Simple but good!   

I am planning on making pastitsio next week and I promise I will put the recipe on here. My friends really liked it when I made it. But that was it for today! Hope you try this recipe and tell me whether you liked it or not :)

Karoliina

Love is in the air

Hey!

I have to show off my new babe (or actually not so new)! I got this camera from my sister's father in law who wanted to throw it away, but I saved it! I am so in love with this camera...I guess it is from the seventees or eightees and it works with film (obviously!). I still haven't figured out how it works to be honest, but I was hoping I could fix it somehow. I don't want to throw it away...it's so pretty hehe. The camera that I am using now is also Nikon's and I love it. I guess I am advertising Nikon and I know many people prefer Canon, but I believe the differences between those two are quite minimal. Still there is something about Canon that doesn't fascinate me for some strange reason.

This is the camera I am using now

I wanted to crop the pictures,but my computer has been acting really weird and I haven't been able to do much with it. It is 7 years old so I'm not wondering why it is so slow! I am glad I am going to buy a brand new laptop some day soon. Can't wait! :D If you know any good brands on laptops I would be glad to know because I have no idea about these things :/

Goodnight everybody! :)

Karoliina

Some days of peace and quiet

Hello!

It's already June yey! I totally forgot about it! At this time last year I was in Greece and I miss being home so much! I haven't been in Finland the whole summer for a looong time and it is going to be quite different from what I am used to. First of all, I will be working the whole summer...so holidays zero! On the other hand I am glad that I have this opportunity to work and earn my own money. Besides I can still do things despite the fact that I will be working the whole summer...I am sure there are lots of things to do here in Kotka or are there?
The thing is that I am trying not to spend too much money on going out and stuff like that. I am so tight-fisted that I could live with just bread and water in order to save money for my trip to Spain, but I don't want to look back and remember how crappy my summer was because I didn't do anything fun!

Thank God that my parents came and these past few days have been so much fun!
On Monday we went with my family to this island called Varissaari for a couple of hours and then I went for two days to my grandparent's summer cottage and came today back to Kotka. Even though I enjoy nature I still don't understand what Finnish people find so fascinating about mökkielämä or in English cottage life. In Greece when people have vacation they go to these crowded places where they can see as much people as possible. In Finland when people have the weekend off they go to their summer cottages where they might not  even have electricity!(okay, maybe I am exaggerating a little )
I guess I have a bit of both, I enjoy being in the nature but I still like to be surrounded by people.

A good book always saves the day! :D

I had a very relaxing time at our summer cottage and sauna was amazing even though the lake was realllyyyyy cold! The sunset was beautiful and everything was just perffect! I have to admit that I am lucky to live this luxurious life hehe :D

Have a great weekend everybody!

Karoliina

The party is over...

Hey!

The party is over now! My graduation was a success and now I am heading for new adventures. This might be the end of school, but this is just the beginning! I am looking forward to see what is going to happen this year!

On Friday we were just getting ready for the next day. I started baking at nine 9 am and I finished my cakes at 11 pm. A lot of hard work, but it payed off! Who knew that cakes took so much time and effort but I am a perffectionist and I am not satisfied until everything is perffect. I guess I took that from my mom who is even worse than I am. I was hoping that the weather on Saturday would have been nice and sunny...but instead it was raining and the temperature was quite low. JUST MY LUCK! That didn't stop us from having a good time,  at least I had a great time! I was so happy to see friends and family that I haven't seen in ages, even my parents came from Greece to take part to this big event! The party was a success :)

Here are some pictures of the big day!
I am so proud of my cakes as you can see! hehe :D

Congratulations to all graduates! :)


Karoliina