Finland - June 18th 2006

"Finland, Finland, Finland. The country where I want to be, pony trekking or camping, or just watching TV, Finland, Finland, Finland. It's the country for me. You're so near to Russia. So far from Japan, Quite a long way from Cairo, Lots of miles from Vietnam. Finland, Finland, Finland. The country where I want to be, Eating breakfast or dinner, Or snack lunch in the Hall, Finland, Finland, Finland. Finland has it all. You're so sadly neglected, And often ignored. A poor second to Belgium, When going abroad. Finland, Finland, Finland. The country where I quite want to be, Your mountains so lofty, Your treetops so tall, Finland, Finland, Finland. Finland has it all."

So, goes the Finland Song from the "Monty Python - The final rip off" CD, that Tony and Anne brought to the latest of my alphabetical dinners. Now, as much as I think of it, what is to say about Finland? I mean, everyone knows where it is, but how many people actually ever thought of visiting Finland? Sweden, yes, Norway, sure but Finland... I heard once on Capital FM in London that they were going to organize a visit to Lapland (kind of a search for Santa really) but even they never mentioned Finland as an actual destination. I don't think that even Delta has ever been flying there (and they tend to at least try any destination at some time or other, regardless of the demand or lack thereof from potential passengers). I don't think I have ever met anyone from Finland. Not even in London. Has anyone?

All this said, the alphabet does not know discrimination of countries by virtue of their popularity so last Sunday, I hosted a dinner with a Finnish menu. My guests were Anne and Tony Smith that I met through Eric (Anne and Eric used to work together at Delta). Tony is British so it was fun to have a good conversation about football for a change. And I mean real football, the original game; the one played with your feet not the rugby type thing they play in the US with lots of gear on some big men! It's strange but I never really cared much about football and I guess it was because it was all around me in Italy and England but now that it's not there anymore, I kind of miss it. It's the fried zucchini blossoms syndrome. When I lived in Italy, I ate so many of them that I hated them at the end of every summer (they grow overnight and they don't keep so you have to eat them and my father had them in it's vegetable garden so we had them at least 3 times a week). But now, I want them because they don't have them over here. Or better, they do but they don't eat them. And I don't get it since in Georgia they eat anything that can be fried - side note: a few weeks ago I went to the Decatur Art Festival and they were selling fried Oreo Cookies (per gli italiani, gli Oreo sono una versione americana dei ringo). Of course, in the name of research I had to try them. Why would anyone want to fry something that is already so fat laden like Oreo Cookies? Well, they were actually quite nice but we ended up having one each as we didn't want to have a bypass surgery before the end of the evening....

Back to the football. When I say that nobody really care over here, I really mean it. And this World Cup is supposedly the one that is having the greatest support and Showtime EVER. Even my employer, one of the main sponsors, does not seem to be able to get the employees into it. Yes, they've put up a few t-shirts in the hall and a few flags but nobody really cares.

The dinner was a pleasant surprise. Starting with a nice vodka cocktail (Exotic Finn) which should have been made using Finlandia vodka but I couldn't find it anywhere. So I used another brand and the cocktail was quite nice actually! I think I might have another one, right now. Why not, it's not quite dinner time yet but it's late enough for cocktails.

Of course, I had to serve herrings (well, you either like them or you don't...) and I think the garlic sauce was rather nice but they are still herrings. Eric likes them. I don't think anybody else did...

The real surprise was the main course. I discovered when I was looking for recipes, that elk is quite a staple in Finland and so I went on a quest to find some elk for sale in the US. Not the kind of food that even the farmers market in Decatur has (where I get most of my ingredients - 95% success rate); I ended up looking for online distributor and found a farm in Colorado that sells elk and other gamey staff on line. And for a hefty delivery charge, they deliver on dry ice. Elk is a very lean meat - only chicken is leaner I think! I personally prefer something a little fattier but you've got to try it really! Tony loved it! He gave it 10 out of 10. I think it's probably the kind of roast that is easier to overcook if one isn't careful but I live with Eric and he's Mr. Kitchen gadget and of course we've got one of those meat thermometer that you actually keep in the meat while it cooks and that helps a lot!

The dessert was also rather nice. A blueberry pie and I even made my own pie crust. The pie was lovely and creamy without being too sweet. I scored high on this one. It was a small pie but there was none left at the end of the night....

All of the above was washed with a nice large bottle of Bell Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa. We decided that roasted elk was a good occasion enough to open one of the good bottles of wine we bought last summer (and we're afraid they'll go bad in the Atlanta torrid summer heat). And then we open another bottle and another one... Shame that it was a Sunday night. We all wished we could have stayed in bed on Monday morning!

Finally, here’s the menu with the average score:

Exotic Finn - 8
Baltic Herrings with Garlic – 5.3
Roasted Elk – 8.3
Blueberry Pie – 8.3

Oh what a nice night....

Next, G as in Gambia! Stay tuned!

Rossana