Finlandia here we come!

Hello there!

Here is a post before heading back to Finland tomorrow! I am complitely unorganized and for the first time I feel like I have forgotten how to pack! I used to be an expert on packing and now I have no idea what to take with me. We are talking about 3 and a half months here and the weather in Finland can change really fast from hot to cold, ugh! Maybe I will leave my boots here...hopefully it doesn't snow at least :P

These past few days here in Greece have been really exciting and exhausting at the same time. I made an event on couch surfing to meet up with people and last Tuesday 15-18 people showed up at the meeting! I was surprised of the amount of people that actually came! It was a great evening with funny jokes, good food and lots of tsipouro! We had fun the Greek way heh ;)

It's amazing how fast this year has past by! No more gap years from now on ( or actually we don't know about that for sure ) but as all good things end it's good for me to get a rythm back and to do something usefull for a change. It is hard thoug because I can't stop thinking of all the cool places I could visit! My mind is still traveling around but it's probably time to settle down and get some MONEY! hehe

Now I really need to pack...

Karoliina

Pink strawberry cake

Hello there!

It was about time to bake a cake again! My mom had her birthday yesterday ( happy birthday once again to my lovely mom!) so a pink cake it is! The decoration is quite similar to the one I made a while ago (click here ).

Now comes the fascinating part of how to make this pink cake!
For the base I used this recipe (tried many but this one has been the best so far!): http://www.kinuskikissa.fi/sienikakkupohja?hakusivu=1

Base:


3 ½  dl flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
5 eggs
2 ½   dl sugar
1 1/4   dl boiling water

• Mix the dry ingredients ( flour and baking powder)
• In a big bowl foam the sugar with the eggs
• In small (15-20) batches add the boiling water into the foam
• Sieve the flour into the mixture
• Pour the mixture into the baking tin and leave it in the over for 30 min on 200 degrees.
• Let it cool down for 5 minutes before turning the cake upside down
• Cut in three slices

Filling:

100gr cream cheese
250ml whipping cream
1 dl powdered sugar
750 gr strawberries

Whip the cream and add the cream cheese. Keep mixing it till it gets even and add the powdered sugar.

Now comes the "fun part" of putting the cake together!

 Start by adding one layer of cake and wetting it with milk. I use a lot of milk because I hate it when a cake isn't moist enough. I used about 4-5 dl of milk but it depends on the size of the cake as well...you might need more if the cake is bigger.

Add the sliced strawberries on top

Apply a thin layer of the cream cheese mixture

Keep doing the same thing by putting another layer of cake, strawberries and cream. Remember to wet the cake with milk! Important rule so your cake doesn't end up being all dry and shitty (hupsy!)

Leave your cake for a few hours in the fridge before decorating. ( I left it overnight and decorated it the next day) 

 

For the decoration I used a marshmallow fondant.

 

120gr marshmallows

5-8 dl powdered sugar

2 spoons of water

red food coloring

 

1. Sieve about 4 dl of powdered suger in a bowl

2. In another bowl add the marshmallows and the water

3. Melt the marshmallows in the microwave by mixing them every 30 seconds for two minutes.

4. Add the food coloring ( a drop or two should be enough)

5. Add the melted marshmallows into the bowl with the icing sugar and stir it.

6. Knead the fondant mixture like a bread dough

7. Continue to knead the fondant until it smoothes out and loses its stickiness. Add more sugar if necessary, but stop adding sugar once it is smooth

 

Add a bit of powdered sugar on the surface before rolling out the fondant

Carefully apply the fondant over the cake and cut the edges

 I used about 400 ml of whipped cream which I colored with red food coloring to do the cream piping.

Also around the cake I put a thin layer of cream which I smoothed out with a spatula

 

A wavy cream piping technique.

Not so complicated as it might look.

Add some nonpareil pearls and marzipan roses ín the centre and your cake is ready! ;)

 

 

Karoliina

The story comes to an end

Hello loves!

Now that my gap year is basically over lets talk about the final impressions of all this craziness, shall we?

The most popular questions that people have been asking me lately are  a) Have I met any man on my trips? and b) Have I learned anything this past year?. People definitely are curious of my love life eh? Well, I think it would be better to jump the first question and go straight to the next one! To be honest I have been wondering the same thing...have I honestly learned anything this last year?

Let's go back to 2012 (don't worry I will try to make it short). Before leaving to Barcelona in October I was panicking sooo much that I couldn't even enjoy the fact that I was going to fulfill my dream of going to Spain. It was scary and I had difficult times like feeling lonely and bad luck with my apartment. Now I realize how good all these things were to help me grow up and take responsibility. Besides, when bad things happen I have this in mind...

A friend of mine sent this to me on facebook! I think it suits me perfectly haha

 

If I can give a piece of advice to people is to stay calm! What's the point of panicking about everything beforehand anyways? Bad things will happen wether you like it or not, but on the other hand many good things happen as well, but as human beings we tend not to appreciate all those good moments in life.

So whenever a bad moment strikes just breathe in and out and say "This is not the end of the world!". Life would be a lot more simple if we weren't such drama queens! I am saying this because I used to be the queen of all the drama queens (seriously...)! I dont know what kind of miracle has happened nowdays but I am a lot more relaxed than I used to be.

 

Don't think though that I have always been a brave person. It took a lot of courage to travel on my own around Italy and Spain. Before going to Italy my father was begging me not to go and he was scaring me with all these stories that I would get killed by some Italian mafia guy. Fortunately that didn't happen! I am not saying that it was all the time fun traveling on my own but I met really awesome people on the way and whenever I felt lonely at least I learned to enjoy myself! If I had been scared to even try to travel on my own I would have missed all these great experiences. I might  have no money left but I am rich in other ways :)

 

So here I am still alive of all that traveling and the final impression of this last year has been definitely positive!! This gap year has come to an end but I am looking forward to a bright future :)

 

 

xoxo

 

Karoliina

Venice

Hello!

On our way to the airport we had a small stop for a couple of hours in Venice! Lucky me! It was definitely worth seeing and I would like to go back some day to have a better look with more time.

 You wouldn't like your clothes to fall in there...

 Yipiiii!

 For a 35 minute ride with the gondola they charged 80 euros!! I think I will pass that...

Ah...Venice was expensive but very very nice! Too bad my gap year is coming to an end...I really enjoyed all the traveling I got to do but it's time to calm down a bit!

 This was taken at the airport in Bergamo! One of the longest and most exhausting nights. We had to wait for six hours at the airport and I got a terrible eye infection...wohoo! I tried to get some sleep but it was pretty hopeless...after that night I appreciate my bed ten times more! hehe

Karoliina 

Budapest part 3

Hello!

To be continued again with Hungary! It is amazing how many things we got to see in those few days we were there! No wonder why I was so exhausted when I got home haha

 planning our next move

 Another Hungarian boyfriend...

 El Greco! I love his paintings...when I saw this I was like OOOOOH!! I have seen his paintings on books but up closer it is so much better!

 This is the kind of art I don't really understand...

Hommage to the square: Allegro

 Ding Dong...somebody's getting married!

The Szechenyi Bath

Soooooo relaxing...mmmmmm

 

I still wonder how Bill managed to be around with three women for a week! Even though Denise had to tell him at times "Stop moaning Bill we will get you some whisky when we get back home!" hehe

 

It was definitely something different traveling with older people but I had a great time!!

On Saturday we drove all the way to Italy where we had our flight back to Greece! Who thought that I would go to Italy two times in three months! At least I got to do some traveling this year...for those who are wondering this was my last trip! I was supposed to go to Turkey but no money no honey. That's why I am going to Finland to work hard again! Should be fun :D

 

 

Karoliina