Month: April 2026
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Kuohukerma | Whipping Cream (Pasteurized)
Finland’s pasteurized heavy cream — the one that handles heat. Kermojen aatelia, the nobility of creams.
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Chicken + Scissors = Dinner
I cut my chicken with scissors. Into the pan. From frozen. No cutting board, no knife, no thawing overnight. It’s heritage cooking knowledge from my mother’s kitchen and the dim sum ladies she learned from — and it happens to be the fastest way to get dinner on the table when nobody planned ahead.
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Grahamjauho | Graham Flour / Whole Wheat Flour
The whole wheat flour a 19th-century American minister designed to suppress the urge to get frisky. Also the one sämpyläjauho is cosplaying as.
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In a Vase on Monday | 27th April 2026
I wasn’t expecting to join in for another few weeks — there’s nothing to cut outside yet. But the windowsill pelargonium needed trimming, and the bud vases needed filling, so here we are.
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Six on Saturday | 25th April 2026
Snow that didn’t arrive, kalanchoes from three different Christmases, an accidental amaryllis discovery, and dahlias plotting their summer takeover.
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Fusilli Alfredo
There are three ways to make alfredo. The Italian way uses three ingredients and decades of technique I don’t have. The American chain way uses flour, which is cheating. My way uses cream, butter, and cheese — just dairy being dairy. A Roman nonna would not approve. My son came back for seconds.
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Sämpyläjauho | Bread Roll Flour
Sämpyläjauho is a Finnish bread roll flour that looks like multigrain, sits next to whole grain flour on the shelf, and radiates wholesome energy. Read the ingredients label. It is refined white flour wearing a costume.
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Six on Saturday | 18th April 2026
Hügelkultur experiments, crocus dreams, heritage seeds from Nordgen, and a school greenhouse with a story I’ll tell you someday.
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Hiivaleipäjauho | Bread Flour
Hiivaleipäjauho is Finland’s bread flour — a higher-protein wheat flour whose name literally means “yeast bread flour.” Refreshingly honest labeling for a country whose all-purpose flour is called “semi-coarse.”
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Mannapuuro in a Cocktail Dress
Mannapuuro is Finnish semolina porridge — simple, austere, the kind of thing your mummo made. My version uses cooking cream, vanilla sugar, and a tempered egg, which technically makes it a custard. Add strawberry jam and it tastes like strawberry ice cream. I didn’t plan this. The Year of Custards keeps claiming victims.