Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Good bye, 2007!

Last night our friends Liina, Hille, Anu, Margit, Liis & Kristjan & Matilda, Erika & Mait & Siim Oskar came over to send off 2007 in style, with Peter & Kristel joining us after midnight. We watched some must-see programmes on the TV (Kreisiraadio and the President's New Year's Eve Speech), played Scrabble and the Estonian equivalent of Trivial Pursuit, competed against each other in a quiz (consisting of a literary round, a culinary round and a general knowledge round), watched the fireworks (twice, actually, as about half of Tallinn's population seems to live in a different time zone:), chatted and enjoyed ourselves. And of course, we ate lots of good food.

Here's a list of dishes and drinks we enjoyed last night with appropriate English and Estonian language links (so I'd remember next year what to serve and what not to serve:)

Happy New Year, everyone!!! Head uut aastat!!!

Some eye-catching salmon roe and onion mouthfuls (sibulapaadid kalamarjaga; red onion, full-fat sour cream or creme fraiche, chopped red onion, salmon roe, dill, black pepper). One of the most popular nibbles on the table last night (and yes, although onion is strong-tasting, the creamy sour cream and salty salmon roe stole the show):


Two types of salami fingerfood - small squares with thyme (suitsuvorstisuupisted) and small rolls with slices of paprika (salaamikanapeed):


Kiluvõilevad aka rye bread toasts with butter, pickled Baltic herring, chopped green onions and grated boiled egg (my friend Erika and her family are currently living & working in Brussels, Belgium, so these über-Estonian nibbles were especially for them):


Of course there were Molly's bouchons au thon (tuunikalaomletikesed)- one of our favourite snacks from 2007:


There were two healthy salads on the table for those watching their weight: Russian Vinaigrette Salad (köögiviljavinegrett) and red and white cabbage coleslaw (ameerika kapsasalat):


Just before midnight we enjoyed K's modern take on the traditional Estonian Christmas meal - a canapé of black pudding, lingonberry jelly and roast potato:


And we had cheese, of course. There's an excellent local blue cheese now, Breti Blue (far back), and they also do a Brie-type cheese with caraway seeds (oozing on the front). We also had some lovely Mimolette (you can see a tiny glimpse of it down on the left) and Cathedral City Extra Mature Cheddar (front):


There were two main desserts - a gingerbread tiramisu, garnished with my current favourite berry, sea-buckthorn:


and

Pears poached in mulled wine (hõõgveinipirnid), garnished with toasted almonds (another hip-friendly dessert):


Both desserts were inspired by my recent internship at the top gourmet restaurant in Tallinn (story to follow). As making tiramisu for dessert left us with 8 egg whites, I made two types of meringues - coconut ones (kookosbeseed) and plain ones (beseeküpsised):


I also made Rosettes (krustaadid), using my long-neglected set of rosette irons:


Gingerbread baskets (piparkoogikorvikesed, using some leftover gingerbread dough) with lingonberry cream (curd cheese, whipping cream, sugar, vanilla and lingonberry jam), garnished with toasted hazelnuts:


For drinks? Kir Royals and Piña Colada Espumas, rooibos tea, Chinese cabernet sauvignon (Dragon Seal, 2005), South African Syrah (Simonsig Stellenbosch 2001), Cidre de Bouché de Normandie and much more..

28 comments:

Alyssa said...

The rosette irons! I have some of those from my husband's grandmother. So that's what I do with them! Do you have a recipe (or know where I can find one or what I might search for) in English?

Anonymous said...

Yum! Happy New Year. It looks like you had quite a night.

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

Happy 2008! What a wonderful feast to close out the old year and ring in the new.

Anonymous said...

What a feast, Pille & K!

And now I'm in further quandary: when it happens, some day, in which season shall I visit?!!

Shayne said...

Wow all that wonderful food. I wish I could have come over and filled my plate. It all looks so wonderful.

Kajakas said...

metsikult vägev ja töömahukas laud sul olnud, väga uhke!
Ma soovin teile kõikide soovide täitumist uuel aastal! Tõsiselt!

Kajakas said...

ja veel, kust seda normandia siidrit ostate? me ka otsisime :D

Cerebrum said...

Sounds like you had quite a party! Happy 2008 to you Pille (oh, and how exactly does a rosette iron work? Inquiering minds want to know :))

Evelin said...

Vau, lihtsalt vägev. Nii alanud aasta lihtsalt peab väga ilusti jätkuma!:)

Mulle meeldib eriti see rekonstrueeritud jõulutoit. Hea tvist, sest nt meie peres on ka aastavahetusel tihti jõululaud olnud.

Kevin Kossowan said...

What a feast!! I'm jealous!
Happy new year!

K and S said...

Wow! you had lots of good food! Yummy! Happy New Year!

Greg said...

Wow, that looks like quite a spread. I just finished blogging about my dinner last night. You put me to shame. Happy New Year.

Maarja said...

Hääd uut aastat teile!

Eva P. said...

Pidusöök on vägev! Tore oma tuttavate uusaasta-tegemiste kohta lugeda. Selgus taas kord, et Eestimaa on väike.

Mariajaan said...

OMG!
We made Colombian style "bunuelos" and to reduce the residual guilt of our excesses from one week ago, not much more, but very good: snacks based on cured cheeses from different regions of Spain, Cured Ham top quality of course, pineapples, mangoes, and mandarines in orange juice with vanilla ice cream. That was all!
You might want to try bunuelos; in Colombia we cant live without them, they are sold in every corner, there are cafeterias that serve only them, and drinks and I am sure that anybody would love them as much. They are doughy balls made with corn flour and salty curd cheese. They are served with dulce de leche, another typical thing you may want to try! The recipe (unfortunately the only one in English that I could find in the 5 minutes I could use for the search) is not very precise but you are very creative, and bunuelos are simple cheese puffs. They are the last of the very short list!: http://www.colombianembassy.co.uk/culture_recipes.htm
Next time, I will send you a better link, in the meantime ALL THE BEST! My wish is to continue counting with your very kind, entertaining and inspiring blog. We all love it in this household! MariaC.

Hille Hinsberg said...

See oli väga tore pidu, söögi kohta ei oska ülivõrdeid lausa väljagi mõelda!
Juba fotod näevad võrratud välja.

Anonymous said...

Happy, happy new year Pille! What a gorgeous meal you had...perfect to celebrate both the old and new years :)

Kärt said...

Vau, mis pidusöök! Sa oled ikka üliusin, lausa uskumatu. Kindlasti maitsesid need hõrgutised veel paremad, kui tegelikult välja näevad. Jõudu uueks aastaks sulle ja K.-le ja et kõik te soovid täituksid!

Nora B. said...

Wow, what a feast! Everything looks delicous.

Happy New Year, Pille. I look forward to more Nami-nami kitchen adventures. :-)

Anonymous said...

Superhead toidud ja väga tore pidu oli!

Anonymous said...

See blogi on super, siinsed retseptid tõeliselt võrratud! Suur-suur tänu ja head uut aastat!

Lisa Fain (Homesick Texan) said...

Oh, my! That's quite a spread! Happy new year, Pille!

Thredahlia said...

Parimat uut!!!
Ja pidusöögi koha pealt - ma ei oska kiita, jäin siin just sõnatuks :P

Annemarie said...

What a feast, Pille! between your finger foods and your game playing, you've just described my perfect party. :) Hope it's indeed a happy new year for you.

Gracianne said...

What a feast Pille, it looks lovely, and very different from what we use to have here. Thanks for your greetings in Estonian the other day, I really enjoyed that, Although I have no idea how to pronounce that.
Bonne annee 2008 a toi et a ton ami.

Anonymous said...

Vau Pille, ma olen täiesti sõnatu!!!
/..../
/..../

Esimese asjana teen sibulapaadikesi - kindel hitt meespere hullutamiseks. ;)

Ja teisena tuli pähe lõbus uitmõte vaestest välismaalastest, kes eesti keelt püüavad õppida: kuidas teha neile selgeks, et coconut meringues on kookosbeseed, aga plain meringues on beseeküpsised... ;) Isegi besee puhul nii palju sõnu vaja tuupida! Teisalt jälle, ega prantsuse keele grammatikas puudub eestlaste jaoks samuti igasugune loogika (loe: vaste eesti keeles).

Südamest parimad soovid teile K-ga!!

Anonymous said...

Tere!
TAhtsime ka kolmekuningapäevaks teha verivorstisuupisteid, sinust inspireerituna. Mõeldud-tehtud. Ehk siis tehtud-imestatud. Nimelt lõikasin vorstid juba ahju pannes pisikesteks tükkideks, mille tagajärjena mul oli pannitäis odraputru ja null verivorstisuupistet. Tegime siis niisama vanu häid viinamari-eesti kadakajuust tikukaid ja minek oli hea.
Ma nii täpselt ei loe su ploogi, mis restorani praktikaajast sa räägid?
Tervisi lumisest soomest
maris

Pille said...

Alyssa – it looks like I must blog about using the rosette irons soon :)

Alanna – kiitos! I’d still opt for summer or early autumn. We could take you to wild mushroom hunting. Or even cloudberry picking?

Kajakas – tänud! Normandia siidrit ostame Stockmanni veinipoest. Seal Imre Kose uues kohas, Mercados, oli see ka müügil.

Zarah Maria – another request to elaborate on the rosette iron? Well, I’m glad to see that my readers are actually reading what I’m writing :) I’ll tell you all about rosette irons soon.

Evelin – suur aitäh! Eks me loodame ka kõike paremat uuel aastal. See jõulutoit uusaastaööl on me sõpruskonnas üsna levinud (suurtel pidudel on nii lihtsam ja odavam ka). Aga kuna meil oli vaja palju erinevaid suupisteid (saab eestikeelse retseptikogu jaoks palju uusi fotosid teha, noh:), siis tegime suupiste..

Mann – kaunist aasta jätku Sullegi! Ja aitäh (Kajakale ka!), et aitasite neid jõulumagustoite testida :)

Eva – no tundub tõesti, et Eestimaa on väike. P&S on siis K. head sõbrad :)

MariaJaan- my Colombian friend Jairo (now also in Madrid) never mentioned bunuelos to me, but he did introduce me to arepas!

Hille – no ega see söök nüüd nii uhke ka ei olnud ju, täitsa lihtsad asjad kõik. Igatahes Sulle suur aitäh meeldiva seltskonna eest tol õhtul!

Kärt – ma nüüd hakkan juba punastama tasakesi. Aitäh kiidusõnade eest!

Liis – taas: suur aitäh tulemast! Peo headus sõltub ju ennekõike ikka kokku tulnud inimestest!

Anon. – aitäh!

Thredahlia – usun, et Sinu ja Su lähedaste pidulaud oli samuti hõrk ja uhke!

Annemarie – well, I had to make up the quiz questions, just in case people don’t enjoy the food, you know:) But eventually both the food and the quiz went (down) well :)

Gracianne – remind me to pronounce it to you should we ever meet :)

Kadri – oi, aitäh, aitäh! Need sibulapaadikesed hullutasid naisperet ka, kuigi tõesti on tegemist mehiselt elegantse suupistega :) Kahju, et te tulla ei saanud!

Maris – nii ei saa, tuleb ikka blogil pidevalt silm peal hoida :) Aga tõesti – käisin sügisel Tallinna Teeninduskoolis kokakursustel ja diplomi saamisele eelnes 80tunnine restoranipraktika, minu puhul siis gurmeeguru Tõnis Siiguri juhendamisel restoranis Stenhus.
Need verivorstid olid tillukesed Krativorstid (Rakvere omad vist?) – neid ei pidanud lõikuma ega midagi.

Jenny, Lydia, Shayne, Kevin Kossowan, K&S, Greg, Joey, Nora B, Homesick Texan – thank you!