Disclaimer This book does not claim to be factually accurate. The recipes are of personal contributions based on their own interpretations of the dishes and the circumstances that has convinced them to adapt the dishes according to their personal tastes and memory.
Dedicated to my mom who imparted to me the love for cooking and interest for everything in the kitchen.
- J.L.
Contents 1 Introduction 6 regarding Italian food Pesto alla genovese
10 regarding Hong Kong food
Grilled Rolled Bacon with Vegetable
14 regarding Japanese food
Temaki zushi (hand-rolled sushi)
18 regarding Argentinean food Empanadas
22 regarding Taiwanese food Three-cup Chicken
26 regarding Indian food
Lamb stew – Kerala style
30 regarding Singaporean food Black Vinegar Trotters
34 regarding Mexican food Lentil Soup
38 regarding Hong Kong food
Mixed Seafood Fried Rice
42 regarding German food
Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte “Black-forest Cherry Cake”
46 regarding Italian food Tiramisù
50 Acknowledgements
Introduction Traditional food in Finland stemmed mainly from a means of survival, where the inhabitants basically lived off the land, depending on whatever produce and game they could find from nature. This is why ingredients like game meat, fish, berries and mushrooms are closely associated with traditional cuisine. As time progressed and new ingredients were introduced and traded with, the cuisine also developed to become more refined or influenced by other cuisines and means of preparation. The Finnish themselves pride their food on it’s quality and food production techniques. Although food diversity might not be as abundant as countries nearer the equator, trading definitely has helped in the provision of different ingredients from different cultures and countries. As Finland opens it’s doors to more foreigners, they bring along with them their own roots and culture and definitely their own cuisine or preparation methods. It is interesting to note how the cycle of survival begins again with each new generation of inhabitants coming into Finland, or any other country for that matter. Everybody has to one way or other adapt to the given circumstances whilst living in Finland, be it in living conditions, food provisions or even customs. However the innate source of our existance often subconsciously or consciously surfaces in the way we conduct ourselves or choose to engage with activities that provide that constant reminder of home and heritage. With food as a medium, this book aims to reflect how memories and food constantly intertwine with each other. In a series of taste tests exploring the initial concept of traditional food in finland, I discovered memory and expectations play an important role with how people approach traditional food. When one is familiar with the food, they naturally expect it to taste a certain way and have a certain association. When one is unfamiliar with the food, they become more open to the taste and pay more attention to the physical presentation of the food. Sieving through all these various thoughts, I realised traditional food is a very personal topic. I can easily speak of my own culture’s cuisine freely and confidently with other people, but if I try to recreate something of another culture, especially for a native, one has to give careful consideration to the essence of the dish, or risk having a lot of associations and comparisons that might start flying around. In some Asian cultures, the skill in cooking and being able to recreate a dish accurately act as a yardstick that reflects ones capability and adequacy, especially in gender biased societies. Many of us have moved away from such social structures and cooking has become more as a means of sharing ones culture apart from sustenance. In an environment of international students whilst in a foreign land like Finland, food is probably one of the most adhesive mediums for bonding people together. One clearly has the upper hand over one’s cuisine, and even if there are modifications to the recipe of the dish, we decide if it is acceptable and reflective of our cuisine by our invisible measurements of memory and expectations. The idea of this recipe book is to allow one to peek into these memories and personal anecdotes when one thinks of a particular dish from home. Traditional or not, experiences, repetition and time span has definitely identified some dishes to be part of a certain culture. The formal yet in-
formal nature of the content acts to parody the title of the book and the concept of tradition and traditional food. This stemmed from the internal debate I had regarding the occurance or appearance of a traditional food, practice or artefact. Essentially I concluded as long as you had a big enough group of natives to do things in the same manner over time, and agreeing that it is a significant part of their way of life, such objects or actions are elevated to such a status. I may be wrong but I had many contentions regarding other areas of tradition and the traditional. It was only in the area of food that I found some acceptable rational for it’s existence and deliverance. The concept of this recipe book went through various stages of modifications, running around the topic of traditional food, Finland as the basis of context and inspiration and survival. The inclusion of quotations from Finnish people regarding the food from these other countries serves mainly to highlight the personal perspective and the way we form images and personal opinions in our minds regarding food from another country. These associations, links and identification or tagging is so persistent that I just had to include it after noticing it in my taste test survey. However, at the end of the day, in all it’s satirical efforts and cyclical provocations to reflect, or at least that is how my mind has been working regarding this big umbrella topic; the recipes are very usable, tempting enough for one to try it out I hope and simply a pleasure to share! If time had permitted, there were many more contributors who would have made this recipe book tastier and tastier.
Living off the Land Traditional food in Finland
“It’s my favourite food. Well the cheese. The way they use the spices. The meat. Well everything is good!” - Nieminen
Pesto alla genovese by Cristina Bianchi
This sauce reminds me of the hot summers spent by the seaside when I was still a little girl. At that time I used to go on holidays with my granparent and uncle. He had an allotment where he used to cultivate every kind of vegetable. I remember jumping on the tractor, being driven around the fields and picking basil leafs, getting immersed in their green fragrance. Recently I got a small envelope from Italy from my mom, which contained a little bag full of pine nuts with the suggestion of trying out the “pesto” recipe. As with all the Italians, I was a bit skeptical about not using the original Italian basil, whose quality can apparently really affect the taste of the sauce. However, the Finnish one worked gorgeously! I was really glad to get a taste of summer during this never ending winter !
Steps: 1. Wash basil leaves with cold water and dry them with blotting paper/toilet paper. 2. Crush the garlic and salt in a bowl or cut it into small pieces with a sharp knife. 3. Add the basil leafs and pestle them together with the garlic and salt till everything gets a creamy consistency. 4. Add the pine nuts and crush them together with the other ingredients.
Ingredients: 2 Servings 1 big garlic clove 1/2 tsp salt 2 pots basil 1 tsp pine nuts or walnuts Parmesan Granarolo (from S-market/Alepa)* Olive oil* * according to your fatty taste
5. When the nuts are well incorporated into the “cream”, grated cheese(together with “Pecorino” is better) and olive oil are added in and mixed together and the Pesto is “pronto”! The procedure needs to be done quickly as the leafs tend to oxidize and become too dark and bitter when they are wet. Pesto can be used with boiled potatoes and boiled green beans. To be served on a big plate full of warm pasta (preferably a long shaped one, like spaghetti)
Special Tools: Mortar, which can be substituted with a sharp knife or an electronic blender (I used the knobbly head of a metal wine opener) Blotting paper
“Tasty, cheap and versatile.” - Laaksonen
Grilled Rolled Bacon with Vegetable by Noel Lam
The original dish is called “grilled rolled beef with enoki mushrooms” (in Chinese 金菇肥牛卷). I replaced the grilled beef with bacon, because it is easier and cheaper to get that here in Finland. I cannot really find enoki mushrooms here, so i just have it with different vegetable combinations. This is a very common and popular dim-sum-like dish in Hong Kong. I usually have it at tea time with family or friends, sometimes we have these in the coffee place. My mum also makes these as a main dish at home. I made this dish the first time here in Finland when I went to a home party, I like to share these tasty little snacks with my friends in Finland as well.
Steps: 1. Wash the carrot and avocado, then remove the peel. 2. Cut the carrot into smaller pieces and boil them for a while. 3. Cut carrot and avocado into thick shreds.
Ingredients: 8 servings 1 pack bacon 1 carrot 1/3 avocado
4. Roll the shredded carrot and avocado into the bacon and secure it with a toothpick. 5. Heat up the pan, add some oil, put the rolls onto the pan, fry for around 2 minutes. Serve with soy sauce / BBQ sauce / whatever sauce you prefer.
Special Tools: toothpicks
“Japanese food is almost as good for your health as it tastes� - Ikeda (pure finnish)
Temaki zushi Hand-rolled sushi by Ai Ono
Temaki-zushi is probably the most common way to have sushi at home in Japan. You simply wrap rice and fish/vegetables with seaweed then dip it in soy sauce with wasabi and it’s ready to eat! Although I cannot find many kinds of fish that I can eat raw here, Finnish salmon has been so good that I don’t need anything more. Temaki zushi is a popular party food and i have had a nice time introducing it to my new friends.
Steps: 1. Rinse the rice and soak in it water for at least 30 minutes, then bring it to boil. Don’t forget to use a lid. Heat first with high heat and when you hear the water bubbling, turn the heat down to medium for 15-20 minutes. Do not open the lid while cooking. 2. Once the rice is cooked, sprinkle powdered vinegar and mix. The proper way is to use a fan to cool it down while mixing, but I normally leave it outside for a while after mixing. 3. Cut the fish, vegetables and seaweed into a nice size for wrapping. 4. Prepare soy sauce, lots of wasabi and everything else on your dining table and enjoy assembling your hand-roll!
Ingredients: 2-3 Servings 1 cup sushi rice* 1 cup water 2-3 spoonfuls of powdered rice vineger* Fresh salmon Courgette Avocado Salad leaf Seaweed* ... anything you want to wrap Soy sauce Wasabi (*from Hakaniemi Asian supermarket)
Special Tools: It is better to have a teflon coated pan with a lid with no hole for cooking rice.
“... the food was heavenly, really good meat, and something like pumpkin stew, and really good fish.” - Haapamäki
Empanadas
by Verónica Bluguermann The word empanadas comes from the Spanish word, which means “to wrap something with dough and bake it in the oven.” It does not originate from Argentina but it´s definitely a traditional food. Each region has its variantion, but most people agree that the best are found in the North. No one makes this meal just for one person, so I prepared them for my friends whilst here in Finland; it reminds me of classic Sundays with my family, football and empanadas.
Steps: 1. Prepare the dough, put the flour in a bowl, season salt and pepper. Then add the butter and the olive oil. Pour in the glass of water and mix them together with your hands. Leave it to rest for one hour. 2. For the filling, chop the onion and the red pepper and fry them in a pan. 3. Next, add the mincemeat. When it is cooked add the hardboiled egg (chopped), the olive oils and some raisins. 4. Roll out the dough, till about 2mm in thickness and cut out disc shapes that are around 12cm in diameter (you can use a bowl or circular-edged object to act as a cutter). Place the filling in the center and seal up the sides applying pressure with your fingers. 5. Place them in a greased tray and brush them with milk. Leave them in the oven until you see them get toasted
Ingredients: 20 servings dough 300 g plain flour 100 g butter 3 tbs olive oil 1 cup water Salt and pepper Filling 250 g mincemeat 1 onion 1/2 red pepper 1 hard-boiled egg Olives Raisins
Special Tools: Wooden stick to roll out the dough (or a bottle of wine). A bowl or cover with a rim to act as a circle cutter template to cut the dough out.
“HOT!” - Laakso
Three-cup Chicken by Chien-Wen Kuo
Three-cup Chicken was named after the volume of sauces used to make it since ancient times, one cup each for three different ingredients. Of course, now the recipe has changed a lot. The place where I used to live in Taiwan is famed for hot springs. There are many hot spring resorts there. When I was a child, my father usually took us to have a hot bath especially when it was cold, and after that, we had a feast in the restaurant. Three-cup Chicken was my favorite dish. Now I am living in Finland together with snow and sauna. There is no reason not to make Three-cup Chicken for myself. There are two ingredients that I can’t find in Finland. They are basil and rice wine. Although I can find basil here but the variety and flavour is slightly different. As for the rice wine, I have to use vodka instead.
Steps: 1. Cut the chicken into several pieces, remove the bones and the blood. Blanch in boiling water for half a minute. Remove and drain. 2. Heat sesame oil and ginger slices on medium heat until fragrant. Add the garlic and fry together until garlic becomes soft. 3. Add in the chili and spring onions. Fry for a while and put the chicken back in. 4. Put in the mixture of sauces. Cover the wok until it gets dry. Add several leaves of basil. Serve with rice.
Ingredients: 2 Servings 600g chicken (approx)
Sesame oil 10 slices of ginger 8 garlic cloves 2 chilies 2 spring onions Basil (several leaves) mixture of sauces: 4 tbs soy sauce 1 tbs vinegar 4 tbs sesame oil 4 tbsp vodka
Special Tools: A wok
“Tasty and spicey vegetable based healthy food” - Nikkanen
Lamb stew – Kerala style by Biju Nair
This dish from the cuisine of Kerala (a south Indian state) is linked in all its richness to its history, popularly known as “The Gods own country”. Personally for me, it evokes scents and memories of my grandmother’s smoky traditional kitchen with wooden trellis in all its Kerala fashion, with years of accumulated food flavours. The simplicity of this mouthwatering dish and ease of preparation with simple spices(as compared to most other Indian dishes) makes it a perfect Sunday brunch for me here in Helsinki. Lamb can even be substituted with chicken or other meat. A very healthy stew so chew on…
Steps: 1. Soak the meat in lemon juice for half an hour. 2. Cook the meat with just enough water, vinegar and 1/4 of the black pepper. 3. In a separate pan, heat oil and stir fry the shallots, garlic, ginger and green chillies(seeds removed) for 5 minutes until the ingredients look translucent. 4. Crush the rest of the spices and add them into the pan. Continue to stir fry. 5. Add the cooked meat with stock. 6. Add potatoes and enough water to cook the potatoes. 7. Cook until the potatoes are done. 8. Adjust salt to your taste. 9. Add coconut milk. Do not allow the contents to boil once the coconut milk has been added.
Kerala lamb Stew is ready. Serve the stew with pancakes or bread.
Ingredients: 4 Servings 1 tbs lemon juice 800 g lamb pieces 1 tbs vinegar 10 whole black pepper 4 tbs vegetable oil 2 shallots 4 garlic cloves 2 cm grated ginger 2 green chillies 10 cloves 1/2 tsp fennel seeds (anis) 2 cm cinnamon stick 4 food cardamom 2 potatoes (diced) Salt 200 ml coconut milk (1 can)
Special Tools: A deep and large pan
“That’s the reason to stay there!” - Keinonen
Black Vinegar Trotters by Tristan Cai
Black Vinegar Trotters or more commonly known as ‘Chu Kiok Chu’ in Chinese Dialect is a popular dish in pregnancy or post-pregnency diet among the Chinese women in Singapore. Unsuspectingly, I had most of my share of Chu Kiok Chu during the times of my childhood when my two younger brothers were borne. Now studying abroad in Finland, this dish with its distinct soury tangy taste strongly associates myself with home and my childhood. It was a comforting discovery that the dish tasted just as good as when balsamic vinegar was being used in place of black chinese rice vinegar.
Steps: 1. Clean drumlets by rinsing. Cut into serving pieces and blanch in boiling water for about 5 minutes. Remove and drain 2. Heat oil. Fry ginger until fragrant and put in the blanched drumlets and stir-fry well for 5 minutes. 3. Put sesame oil, vinegar, water, and brown sugar into pot, stir well. 4. Bring to a boil and leave to simmer for about 2 hours or until drumlets become soft and tender.
Ingredients: 2-3 Servings 600 g chicken drumlets 1 bottle balsamic vinegar (approx 375ml) 400 g young/old ginger (remove skin, wash) 2 tbs sesame oil 1 cup boiling water 5 tbs brown sugar Greens for garnishing
Serve with rice (or macaroni)
Special Tools:
“Personally I love Mexican food and it’s not so difficult to cook if you have the basic ingredients. And another thing you need to get used to is chili, it sometimes can be very hot and burns!” - Heinonen
Lentil Soup by Luis González
“Always, there must be something at home, at least lentil soup” This is how the grandmas in Mexico use to say. The lentil soup is well known in Mexico as one of the cheapest dishes but it doesn’t mean that this is a soup for every day; we usually like to give a meaning to the food or eat specific dishes for special celebrations, and this dish is very traditional and in some cases compulsory to eat on the first day of the year. The people say that if you start the year eating lentil soup, your fortune will be great and you will always have something to eat at home… at least lentil soup.
Steps: 1. Put the water to boil with salt and the meat and vegetable cubes. 2. When the water is boiling, put in the lentils and leave it to cook. 3. Cut up one onion and fry them in a pan with olive oil till they turn translucent. Season with salt. 4. Cut up the tomatoes and put them in the pan and mix them with the onions. Cook until the tomatoes look smashed. 5. Now add in the bacon, as much as you want, it gives more flavour to everything.
Ingredients: 3 Servings
2 cups water Salt 3/4 cube Lihaliemikuutio (meat cube) 3/4 cube kasvisliemikuutio (vegetable cube) 1 cup lentils 1 onion Olive oil
4 tomatoes Bacon Chilies
6. Put in the chilies at the end, adjust the amount according to your capacity for spiciness. 7. When all the flavours are mixed, throw all the pan ingredients into the boiling water that contain the lentils. 8. Wait till the lentils start to lose their skin, then it’s done. Special Tools: sharp knife to slice the chilies into safe sizes
“Everything I’ve eaten there is just delicious. Whether it’s a nice cold winter melon soup in a nice restaurant or a home cooked meal in a street side restaurant...” - Soikkeli
Mixed Seafood Fried Rice by Jeffrey Tsoi
This is a very Chinese dish and easy to cook . The use of ingredients can be very flexible. You can use chicken, beef, pork or shrimp instead of mixed seafood, so you can just add whatever you want. Also, you can add some vegetables to fry together. Fried rice is easy to make but hard to make it excellent. So we always say, ‘An excellent cook must be able to make excellent fried rice.’ Every cook has their own secret way to fry the rice. Besides, it is better to use stoves with fire rather than the electronic heater because the control of the fire is very important for the softness of the rice and with the electronic heater, it is difficult to control the power output.
Steps: 1. Cook the rice with an automatic rice cooker. Refrigerate the rice until cold and dry. (You can use overnight refrigerated rice) 2. Marinade the seafood with some pepper, salt, corn starch, sesame oil for 20 minutes. Boil or fry the seafood until fully cooked. Put it aside. 3. Heat the pan with some oil over high heat (at least 1 tbs of oil). Stir in the onion with 1 tsp of salt until soft.
Ingredients: 1-2 Servings 1 medium onion (diced) 1 cup mixed seafood pack (washed and cleaned) Pepper Salt Corn Starch 2 bowls cooked rice 2 eggs (beaten) 1 tbs fish sauce
4. Stir in 1/3 of the egg and mix it with the rice quickly. Stir in the salt and mix it well. Stir in another 1/3 of the egg and fish sauce. Mix it well. Add the rest of the egg and all the cooked ingredients. Mix them well. Serve it hot.
Special Tools: Rice cooker (Gas stove)
“German food is cherries and strudels� - Halko
Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte “Black-forest Cherry Cake” by Gerrit Wigger
I was going to prepare this very traditional cake which is popular all over Germany but claims to come from the Black Forest. However, I was facing two major problems: no chocolate chips and no pickled cherries! Funny enough, they had some pickled cherry-sized beetroot which I bought as I thought they were my beloved cherries. I discovered this only when I opened the jar at home whilst fully in the process of making the cake. Thankfully, I was happy to find a Siwa nearby still open (around 22.50h, and it closes at 23.00h). They had blueberries, and I thought, why not make it a bit more Finnish-style. I compensated by mixing it with some cherry jam I still had. Usually, you would have to add a special strong alcohol made from cherry stones but I didn’t even try finding it. Perhaps next time I might try with some cloudberry liquor. Steps: 1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Melt the chocolate using a water bath. Separate the eggs. Beat egg white until stiff peaks form. Beat egg yolk with sugar until it becomes foamy. Add in the melted chocolate and slowly add the flour, corn starch and baking powder. To this mixture, slowly fold in the egg white till everything is fully and evenly incorporated. Do not beat it or use an electric mixer. 2. Put the cake mix into a springform covered with baking paper. Bake for around 40 minutes. You can test if the cake is done with a fork, there shouldn’t be much that sticks to it when ready. 3. Let the cake chill until room temperature and then split it into three layers horizontally. 4. Beat the cream with the vanilla sugar until you have a nice whipped cream. Make sure it is not liquid anymore. If you are not familiar with it, be careful: when mixing it too long it transforms into butter. It is about right when you can turn the bowl upside down without it dropping out. Mix it rather slowly as the quality turns out better as well. 5. Spread some cherry jam on the first cake layer and put some berries on top. Spread some whipped cream on it. Put the second cake layer on top and repeat the procedure. Add the last cake layer and only cover with whipped cream. Cover now all the sides evenly with whipped cream. 6. Decorate with chocolate chips. As they are also hard to find, you might as well take a chocolate bar and cut it into fine pieces.
Ingredients: 16 Servings
for the cake 140 g couverture chocolate, 70% cacao 75 g butter 6 eggs 180 g sugar 100 g flour 50 g corn flour/corn starch 2 tsp baking powder for the “rest” 400 g frozen blueberries Some cherry jam 800 ml cream 3 pkts vanilla sugar (approx 20g) 100 g chocolate chips (or 300g like in the picture)
Special Tools:
“Italian food is very filling and down-to-earth. Usually there are tastes that don’t quarrel or surprise you. I guess even if it is somewhat predictable, it is always sufficient and adequate.” - Ojala
Tiramis첫
by Federico Poggioli Tiramis첫 is an Italian speciality dessert made out of fresh cheese, eggs and chocolate. Easy to prepare and not elaborate to make. This dessert was made by my cousin, then by my sister and sometimes by my mother since I was a child. Now, everytime I have to prepare a dessert, I prepare this for my old friends whenever we meet each other when I pass by my hometown. This dessert is never missing at our Christmas and Easter lunch and dinners with our relatives. I can say that this dessert probably identifies with my family better than anything else. I hope you can impress your guests as well with this simple and easy recipe.
Steps: 1. Soak the Savoiardi biscuits in coffee and put it to one side. 2. Whip the whites of the eggs with an electric mixer till they are stiff enough to not fall out of the bowl when the bowl is inverted. 3. Add the sugar, continue mixing with the mixer.
Ingredients: 5 Servings 5 eggs 500 g fresh Mascarpone cheese 5 tbs sugar Savoiardi biscuits (from Stockmann) Coffee Dark chocolate
4. Add the rest of the eggs, and continue mixing. 5. Finally add the Mascarpone. Make sure you always mix in the same direction or else you unmount the preparation! 6. In a flat bowl, build the cake layers, alternating with the Savoiardi biscuits that were previously soaked in the coffee and the whipped mixture. 7. Grate the chocolate over the assembled cake.
Special Tools: Electric mixer or powerful hands
Acknowledgements This book would not exist if not for the kind recipe contributions from Cristina Bianchi, who provided me the most well documented cooking process and daily sound effects. Noel Lam, whose quiet demeanor doesn’t hold back generous offerings. Ai Ono, whom I got acquainted with over Finnish classes, the topic of food being close to her heart as well. Verónica Bluguermann who will make me some empanadas someday :D Chien-Wen Kuo (and Hans Hsieh), fellow survivers in a foreign land. Biju Nair, whose spontaneous cooking sessions never fail to jolt me. Tristan Cai, a confidant and comrade in cooking Singaporean cuisine. Luis González, whom I feel should cook more often. Jeffrey Tsoi, who has a competing fried rice recipe from me, but you are so right about the gas stove. Gerrit Wigger, the master of baking, deep conversations and random posters. Federico Poggioli, who would have much preferred if there were a dozen recipes. I also thank my fellow Finnish friends Johanna Nieminen, Olli Laaksonen, Masaichi Ikeda, Kreeta Haapamäki, Aila Laakso, Raimo Nikkanen, Turkka Keinonen, Niina Heinonen (and Sergio Moreno), Päivi Soikkeli, Timo Halko and Aivi Ojala for a perspective on their perspective of food from the different countries. The process of collecting and collating the content has also raised my cultural horizon, insight and curiosity revolving around the topic of food. I believe the pursuit of this topic will be a neverending corridor of open and closed doors, learning something new everyday. Conversations, long or short, with my contributors has also fed me beyond what is revealed in this book. The naunces for some of the words and phrases are kept to preserve and reflect the personality and perhaps background of the contributor. Many other people, whose words and actions were unable to be part of this book deserve my deep appreciation and recognition. Their presence during this time also helped make the book come into being, many include those from the MA Industrial and Strategic Design programme in the Aalto University School of Art and Design, especially the course mates of the Exploration and Experimentation module whom I am jointly exhibiting with in the ‘Way Out’ exhibition on the 16th-26th of March 2010 at the Atski Gallery: Adèle Arnaud, Timo Halko, Antti Kienanen, Kim Lê, Lauri Löppönen, Johanna Nieminen, Aivi Ojala, Vincent Vergain, Juho-Pekka Vertanen, Gerrit Wigger including tutors Maarit Mäkelä and Simo Puintila. Their invaluable advice and discussion sessions I could not do without. When we talk about the process of reflection and influences that shape our manner of being, I thank other family and friends, home and here for playing pivitol roles in my life. I recall them fondly especially with regards to my growing interest in food. Many have also assisted me in getting more information from other people, or giving suggestions and ideas. The dinner parties and conversations with random people at such occasions over food never fail to build memories, experiences and data exchange. Kiitos to the guests at my dinner party cum taste test(s) as well who gave me the strongest starting point especially with regards to the concept of experience, memories and expectations. Last but not least, I thank God who has been the constant inspiration and strength in my life. - Helsinki, Finland 2010