Alpro SOYA Biscuit Dessert

First of all, let me say that I'm not sure what exactly the dessert is called. Google suggests gingerbread, but the picture on the package and the Estonian translation say otherwise. So does my "taste palette". So I'm going with a biscuit/cookie soy dessert.

Formalities aside, what did it taste like? Well, I'm definitely not an expert in vegan desserts, but I have tried a few soy bean products. This dessert/pudding, however, didn't taste like plants. The best way I could think to describe it would be watery (not creamy and rich tasting like milk or cream based desserts), buttery biscuit flavoured pudding. It's very smooth, and I would say it does satisfy a craving for pudding. Of course it's not comparable to a real one, but if you're lactose intolerant, it would be a great substitute. The dessert comes in a 125 gram package, and they're grouped into 4. The product is gluten, nut, and GMO free.

From the top: energy, fat, of which saturated fat, carbs, of which sugars,
fiber, protein, sodium; calcium, vitamin D, B2, B12
(and percentages of daily recommended intake)

Verdict: It's a good choice if you're looking for a lactose free substitute for a thick dessert, but a poor one if you want something amazing tasting. It does have that lovely biscuit taste, but the depth of flavour is missing. It's sold at room temperature, but I would definitely refrigerate it to make it more familiar tasting (as I'm used to eating milk based pudding).

I need a better ending line than

Until next time!

Cinnamon & Apple Cannoli Recipe

I know, I know, another sweet recipe, but can you blame a girl! As soon as I saw this in my subscription box on YouTube, I was sold. So here is SORTED Food's cinnamon and apple cannoli video recipe. Written recipe here: https://sortedfood.com/cannoli

I hope to get to writing actual posts on here soon so please bear with me.

Until next time!

What The Fruit Blueberry Smart Snack

Looking for a healthy (and delicious) snack? Look no further. Well, you might have to, because what I'll be talking about is a "smart snack from blueberries and chocolate" What The Fruit, which is made in Estonia, by a company called Maris Gilden. It produces different sweets and biscuits, but the latest addition to their repertoire is the previously mentioned snack. The flavours available are blueberry, raspberry, cranberry, strawberry, and cherry, the first two I have also tried.

The concept is simple, 50% fruit, 50% chocolate, but the result is amazing. The chocolate part is slightly bitter, the fruit gives sweetness, sourness,  and depth. There are pieces of berries in the small bar, giving texture and occasional crunch. With the blueberry it's not as "annoying", but knowing raspberries, their seeds are a bit tougher to get through. (In the blueberry one) there are 11 ingredients, which may not sound that impressive, but there's not really much bad for you, split between 4 small finger-size bars.

I don't have much more to say, other than if you can get your hands on this, try it out, if not, I'm sorry, but maybe you can find something similar. Also, I may or may have not eaten all of it during writing this post. Also also, this post was not sponsored, however, I wouldn't mind receiving a box or two of this to taste test *hint hint*

Until next time!

Peanut Butter Ice Cream Pie

Craving something sweet, rich, but at the same time refreshing? Check out this 5 ingredient peanut butter ice cream pie recipe from the OnePotChefShow.

Snapchat's Food Network - How to Grow a Garden Using Leftovers

Another great story from Food Network on Snapchat, July 20th. This time it's about growing your own garlic, onion, and celery from leftovers. Try these out!

  

Place sprouted garlic cloves into a pot filled with soil. Don't crowd them. Water each week and keep them in the sun. After a couple of weeks you will have grown garlic leaves and after 8-9 months a full bulb of garlic.

Scrape off the dried part of the onion root and place the onion into just enough water to cover the bottom. When the roots have grown to be about 2 inches, plant the onion, covering the vegetable with soil. Water it from time to time and you'll get green onion in no time.

Put the bottom part of a celery bunch into a little bit of water, changing it every few days. Keep the container in a sunny place. When it's sprouted, plant it into a pot, cover it up with soil and you will have eaves in only a few weeks.

Kochi Ait Trahter // Tavern "Kochi Ait"

Kochi Aidad is a collective name for a cafe and a tavern, located in the Tallinn port area, on Lootsi street. Opened in 2012, they have catered many home and away visitors. Both the cafe and tavern have daily offers for busy and on a budget customers. The tavern also offers fresh beer, made on location. Foods are mostly traditional-Estonian, but some are more modern.

I headed to the tavern to have lunch. I chose a fresh almond chicken salad (värske mandlikana salat). The waiting time was very short, might have been under 10 minutes. They usually bring black bread to the table as well, but I wasn't offered any this time. Free tap water is also available.

The salad looked simple. Lots of lettuce, some cucumber, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced strawberries, and chicken breast pieces with sliced almonds. It was all dressed with what I believe was Felix Special Mango Chili Sauce (picture below). There wasn't any more seasoning on the salad, and the chicken was bland as well, didn't seem freshly made, and was overcooked. Almonds only provided some crunch, when I expected them to give some flavour too. There were, however, condiments and seasonings in a basket on the table - soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, mustard, salt and pepper. The meal came in at 6.50€, which is rather expensive for the quality, the quantity was sufficient.

Felix Special Mango Chili Sauce,
source www.felix.ee

Final verdict: 5 out of 10. Not too bad for a casual lunch, but I definitely wouldn't reorder the salad. I will probably revisit though, because of the convenient location, daily offers, and a lovely  historic atmosphere.

Info at www.kochiaidad.ee and their Facebook page www.facebook.com/KochiAidad

My YouTube Subscriptions

There are so many different possibilities to get your food-geek on off- and on-line. My favourite way to learn new tricks and tips is through videos, and where else would you find more of them than on YouTube. Here are the people and channels I am subscribed to at the moment, I even tried to put them in some kind of order inside their categories. Some are not active anymore, but the videos are still available. I hope someone finds new people to follow and learn from, and I also, don't be afraid to give me some suggestions too! (Pages open in new tabs)

Eat Your Kimchi's Simon and Martina,

source newmediarockstars.com

By categories:

Just interesting food channels:

Eat Your Kimchi - website
emmymadeinjapan
Regular Ordinary Swedish Meal Time - website

The Domestic Geek's Sara Lynn,
source youtube.com

Making your life easier:

The Domestic Geek - website
Brothers Green Eats - website
BuzzFeedFood (not active) - website

Healthy Food:

LoveHealthOK's Olivia,
source ink361.com

LoveHealthOK
Paleo Star

Laura in the Kitchen's Laura,
source lauravitalesblog.blogspot.com

Home-style, easy cooking:

Laura in the Kitchen - website
Food Wishes - website
Jenny Can Cook - website

ByronTalbott's Byron,
source twitter.com

More modern style cooking:

ByronTalbott - website
TheOfficialHungry (not active)

Dulce Delight's Raiza,
source nbclatino.com

Sweet treats:

Dulce Delight - website
How to Cook That - website
kawaiisweetworld

SORTED Food's Ben, Barry, Jamie, Mike
source today.com

All of the above:

SORTED Food - website
Donal Skehan - website
Everyday Food - Everyday Food - Eat Clean - Kitchen Conundrums - From the Test Kitchen
Jamie Oliver - website
Tastemade - website

Until next time!

Apelsini Raudtee // Orange Railway (Vol 1)

Apelsini Raudtee is, as it calls itself, a modern European restaurant and cafe, located in Tallinn, Kopli district and street. It was opened early June 2015 but has already proven itself to visitors from home and abroad.

I found myself there during a family lunch on a Saturday afternoon. Surprisingly, we were the only ones there. We chose a table on the outdoor terrace, which has not yet been finished, and there was construction work just a few metres from us. The occasional rumbles aside, the area is very relaxing and interesting, with historical buildings right in the back yard. In case you felt cold, there were blankets available. 

Before food came, we were brought fresh ciabatta and herb (wild garlic) butter. Flavoured water in a jug is also free of charge, if you ask for it.

I was reminded to take a photo just before it was too late

I ordered a salted salmon salad (soolalõhe salat), which had roasted potatoes and beetroot, green salad, capers, blanched carrots and asparagus, cherry tomatoes, radish, salted salmon of course, horseradish dressing on the side, and a Dijon mustard dressing on the potatoes and leafy greens. The salad was very nice. The whole spectrum of food enjoyment was there: sweetness from the carrot and beetroot, saltiness from salmon, bitterness from radish and the dressings, heat from mustard and horseradish, sourness from tomato, and crunch and warmth to contrast the fresh salad from potatoes. Overall a complete dish. It cost 7.50€, but I would pay it again.

We didn't stop there. My mother had hyped up a white chocolate cheesecake (valge šokolaadi juustukook) she had tried there earlier, so that's what I got, alongside some green tea (which wasn't bad either!). The cake was presented with blueberries, strawberries, a cherry, and a few leaves of mint, dusted with powdered sugar. The sauce was made of sea buckthorn. There's only one thing I hate about restaurant cheesecakes. They're usually cold from the fridge. But not this one! It even had a crunchy burnt sugar topping, like crème brûlée. Again, all the elements were there. The tart sauce is what made the flat-sweet taste of the cake more interesting and the berries gave even more freshness and a different texture. This one cost 4€. What's with the super affordable eateries lately?

Final verdict: 9 out of 10. I would definitely return in a few months to check out their fall menu. By that time they will have hopefully finished with renovations in the area and made some changes to the small details, like real potted grass instead of faux, and something else instead of the plastic tables and perhaps chairs, but they were not that distracting from the good food and service. There are also breakfast and lunch menus available, and also daily offers.

Info at www.apelsiniraudtee.ee or their Facebook page www.facebook.com/apelsiniraudtee

Reverse Lasagna

The other day, my mother had an idea. What if instead of our regular putting the meat into the tomato sauce (we usually make a bolognese with minced meat), we'd put it into the white cheese sauce? I liked the thought and made it a reality. As cooking is art, not science, I have not included quantities. It all depends on your own taste, what you have on hand, and how many people you are feeding. Besides, I didn't make enough sauce anyways.

What you will need:

Lasagna sheets (I used ones that didn't have to be pre-cooked)

Parmesan or shredded mild cheese

Tomato sauce:

tomato puree (I used garlic flavoured chopped tomatoes)

cherry tomatoes

fresh garlic (I used a bit of dried/roasted garlic pepper)

onion or shallots (I didn't use the garlic or onion and regretted it)

fresh basil

a few bay leaves

a dash of sweet paprika powder

a dash of dried basil

a dash of dried oregano

a dash of cocoa powder

a dash of sugar

salt and pepper

Cheese sauce:

a few shallots

sliced mushrooms

chicken thighs, boneless, skinless

butter

flour

milk

sharp cheese

parmesan

a dash of hot paprika powder

white pepper

nutmeg (fresh is best)

salt

Method:

1. Start with the tomato sauce. Put the sliced cherry tomatoes into a medium-hot pot with onion and garlic (if using). Don't use oil, or it will splatter everywhere. Cook until the tomatoes are softened, but don't let anything burn.

2. Add the tomato puree. Swish some water in the puree container to clean it up, and add the water to the pot.

3. Add the seasoning and bay leaves, let it simmer, covered, until it has taken in all the flavours, uncover and let it reduce.

4. Fry up the chicken, you can do it while the tomato sauce is simmering. Put diced shallots into a lightly oiled pan. Cook them for a minute, then add the mushrooms and diced up chicken. Fry it on medium-high to develop some colour. The chicken doesn't have to be cooked all the way through. Season with salt and hot paprika. Turn off the heat and set aside.

4. The white sauce has a bechamel base. Put some butter into a clean pot. When it has melted, add the flour. Fry it for a little while, stir continuously. Start adding milk, little by little. Stir in-between  every adding, and don't add extra unless all the previous milk has evaporated. The base is done when the sauce is not too thick or too runny. Season with white pepper, nutmeg and salt. Add the cheeses according to taste. Combine the sauce with the chicken-mushroom mixture.

5. To assemble the lasagna: Put some tomato sauce at the bottom of a baking dish. Lay lasagna sheets on top. Add more tomato sauce, followed by the cheese sauce and grated parmesan, and lasagna sheets. Press it down lightly, careful not to break the sheets. Repeat the process, until you have enough sauce for only one more layer. Reserve the sauces for the top of the lasagna. Add parmesan, or if you like a cheesier dish, some shredded mild cheese.

6. Put the lasagna into a pre-heated oven for 40 minutes to an hour, until you can stick a knife into the dish without resistance. I also put a baking sheet with water in the oven, below the lasagna.

I hope this "reverse lasagna" finds a place in your regular food repertoire. Apologies for very general instructions, but if you feel comfortable in the kitchen, you wouldn't follow them anyways. Also, blame the lack of photos on my newbie-status, I'll try to be better in the future.

Kohvik Inspiratsioon // Café Inspiration

To follow up my disappointment by yet another "there's no vacancy" at the Vegan Restaurant (Restoran) V a day after the last visit (I even tried to book this time, but they wouldn't let me!), on July 15th, my foreign friend and I decided to go to another vegan place, Café Inspiration (Kohvik Inspiratsioon) on the corner of Pagari and Lai street, Tallinn old town.

We were greeted by a nice outdoor terrace and a few empty tables inside. Choosing something from the menu took some time, but I finally opted for a mushroom risotto. That, however, would have taken 30 minutes, and we were in a rush. So instead, I chose a spinach wholegrain pasta with roasted almonds and a spunky tomato-onion salad (spinati täisterapasta röstitud mandlite ja särtsaka tomati-sibula salatiga) which had a waiting time of 20 minutes. I also wished to have a sea buckthorn smoothie with ginger, but they were out of the fruit. I quickly chose a strawberry-rhubarb-pear smoothie, but were out of strawberries. I was offered a replacement of cherries instead of the strawberries, and they asked if they could use banana in case they were out of pear. I accepted. The order came in at 9.10€, pasta being 6.40€ and the 300 ml smoothie 2.70€. Again, rather inexpensive for an eatery in old town.

My dish is seen in the background

We sat down and soon I realised something. I didn't have my smoothie. I waited a bit, a little bit more, and when I saw the waiter dancing behind the counter, I reminded him. He was nothing but nice, and to be honest, his optimistic and friendly attitude was the only reason I tipped him. But about that later. We then got our food, and my smoothie arrived shortly after that. To get to my pasta, I had to dig through a mountain of the spunky salad (I also don't like mixing cold food with warm) which made my nose hurt from the really strong onion. When I finally reached the main portion of the meal, I was disappointed again. It was very under-seasoned, fortunately there was a salt and a pepper shaker on the table. My friend's unwanted sun-dried tomatoes worked wonders in my dish. The almonds gave the pasta a needed crunch as the pasta might have been a tad too soft. The smoothie was a nice mix of fruit, however, I have no idea what it ended up consisting of. 

Final verdict: 4 out of 10. The food was edible but nothing too exciting. The portion size was good, there was even more than enough for a hungry girl. The service was a bit sloppy, but enthusiastic. I would go back to try the interesting sounding mushroom risotto I couldn't have and also their desserts, but I will not have as high expectations as I had before. I (and you, if you wish) should hurry, as their menu changes with seasons.

Info at www.kohvikinspiratsioon.ee or their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/KohvikInspiratsioon

Snapchat's Food Network - Bobby Makes Pizza...For Dessert!

Snapchat's Food Network story is the only one I consistently watch. You can learn so many new recipes and techniques, and also find out what the current trends in the food world are. On July 17th, their story was all about pizzas. The one that stood out to me the most was a grilled dessert pizza. It's not too late to make it yourself this summer.

What you will need:

Pizza dough (quantity not specified, but enough for a medium pizza)

canola oil for brushing

1 ½ cups Mascarpone cheese

2 plums, cut into wedges, grilled

1 cup blackberries

1 cup raspberries
2 tbsp honey
powdered sugar to finish it off

Method:
1. Brush the dough with a little bit of canola oil. The grill should be pretty hot. You should turn the dough once only so make sure it is crispy before you flip it. No matter how thin you roll the dough, it's still going  to rise so you'll get a chewy pizza base. Remove from heat.
2. Slather the Mascarpone right on the base. Add plums, blackberries and raspberries. Top it off with honey.
3. Let the pizza heat up just a tiny bit more in a baking pan, on the grill, for 3 minutes.
4. Top the warm pizza off with a sprinkling of powdered sugar. Enjoy!

Von Krahli Baar // Von Krahl's Bar

Located in Tallinn old town on Rataskaevu street, Von Krahl is a collective name for a theatre and four eateries: Von Krahl's Garden (Aed), Von Krahl's Bar (Baar), Vegan Restaurant (Restoran) V and At Granny's (Vanaema Juures). In the afternoon of July 14th I stepped into the vegan restaurant with my friend visiting Estonia for the first time, only to be told there was no vacancy. As we were starving and exhausted from sightseeing, we sat down at a place just beside it, Von Krahl's Bar.

After a long look at the menu, I chose the Von Krahl’s fried roll with a minced meat filling and fresh salad (Von Krahli toru hakklihatäidisega ja värske salatiga) at a cost of 4€ which is very inexpensive for an eatery in old town. My friend ordered a fresh salad with chicken (värske salat kanaga), which came in at 5€. Tap water and fresh bread (by the looks of it) were free of charge. The bar was almost empty, with my friend and I being the third visitors.

After a short wait of maximum 15 minutes, our food arrived. Turned out what I had imagined the roll to be was not the case. It was a pancake. A crepe roll with the meat filling diagonally across the plate, in a corner above it the fresh salad with cucumber, lettuce, radish and tomato (hope I didn't leave anything out), seasoned with salt and pepper, and in a corner below two dollops of a greenish sauce. The roll was topped off with two slices of radish. My friend's salad was identical to mine, just bigger and had chicken.

The crepe was on the thicker side but quite light nevertheless. The minced meat was very fine, almost baby-food-like, but very well seasoned. The sauce (most likely with a mayonnaise base) on the side was a great accompaniment, toning the seasoning of the filling down a tad bit, and also making it feel fresher. In the menu there was also the choice of having an XXL version of the meal, but I was very glad I only had one of those rolls. I also tasted the chicken on my friend's salad but was very disappointed after my delicious food. It was rather bland, cold (according to the friend, it was warm at first) and tasted like warmed up meat. If I were to evaluate the bar based on only my food and the atmosphere, I would give it a score of 8 out of 10, but my friend's chicken brought the score down.

My final verdict: 7 out of 10. I would go back to taste the desserts and some other items.

Info at www.vonkrahl.ee/baar1