gfron1

So why Helsinki in winter you ask? I erroneously thought it would be down season and thus cheaper. I was wrong. Like most of Europe, down season is August when everyone is on holiday. Business travel continues so prices aren't aren't weather dependent, and business travel drives the airfare and lodging markets. That said, Finland (actually Lapland) lays claim to being the home of Santa Claus, so its a fun time to be here - its just we're so used to living in the high desert of New Mexico that we forgot what cold can be, and as many locals have reminded us...this isn't cold yet. There are two facebook pages that I've been following religiously in preparation for this trip. One is the Slow Food Helsinki group, and the other is a tourist page. Many of our stops were guided by these two pages. Tuesday we headed toward the Senate Square Cathedral (Lutheran) to see the Christmas Market. And here is that brief moment of blue skies. We haven't seen it since. The inside of the church was, as Tyler put it, "very Lutheran." He's got a couple of degrees in religion and one in art history so he pontificated on the design choices...and I normally just start to zone out and think about the next meal. Just below the big steps is the Christmas Market. There were a few hand crafted items, but most were things we had already seen around town, so not much felt special, but it was still nice seeing children enjoying the merry go round and people sipping their glog and gluchwein. And an odd thing...so my riesling by the glass (Kung Fu Girl) at the restaurant showed up in a booth at the Helsinki Christmas Market...not feeling so special any more. Tyler is saying he's going to hide my computer, so more later!

We arrived at what felt like the middle of the night, but it was really 4 in the afternoon, but here in Helsinki IF the clouds weren't covering the sun, we would only have daylight from 9:30-3:30ish each day. But with the clouds at best we get a bit of light darkness. We saw a blue sky for 15 minutes on Wednesday and that was the end. So we were tired, hungry and ready for bed, but we knew we needed to stay up if we were going to get our sleep under control for the rest of the week. We checked into our apartment and headed out into the rain for groceries. Tyler only eats 2 eggs, 2 toast every morning, so we bought some eggs and bread along with some other goodies. We think we got salted butter...this language is so hard to interpret for two guys who only know English and Spanish...so many letters in every word! A couple of types of bread, some chocolates which Tyler, who doesn't like sweets, picked out, eggs, and I got cheese for my breakfasts. For about 30 seconds I was so excited in the grocery seeing all of the new and unusual items, but then as I acclimated I realized, essentially most of the stuff was the standard fare, and much of it was what I would get in the US with Finnish labels. We came back to the apartment, rebundled up, and then out for a quick bite. I did a quick Yelping and found a few nice places around the apartment, but my choice - a Russian bar - was just booze and no food, so we ended up next door at Eerikin Pippuri a kabob place. Neither Neither of us knew what we were ordering, but mine ended up looking like a combo plate and Tyler had a stack of gyro meat. And with that we headed home and crashed hard.

I decided to do a more detailed posting HERE.

I'm midway through my trip to Helsinki and Estonia and thought I would get serious about posting before my memory is lost. So a little back story - I've worked 70 hour weeks for at least the last three years and Tyler and I believe our last true vacation was 5 years ago. With the restaurant on a run I've stored away a few extra acorns for the winter and had been planning to have the restaurant take us on a trip. Then around March or April, EdseL sent a message to docsconz on Facebook that linked Ravintola Olo (Restaurant Olo) and said, "This one is a game changer." Now, I don't know if any of you follow their food travels, but those two eat at more Michelin starred restaurants and James Beard restaurants than pretty much anyone I know. They really are exhausting to watch online. But both have become friends over the years and I value their words very much...so when a six word conversation like that happens, I pay attention. Parallel to Edsel's comment I had been stewing over one line from Jiro Dreams of Sushi - "To make great food, you need to eat great food." And I had realized that I hadn't had a good meal in far too long. Before I became a chef I ate at amazing restaurants frequently, but once I got locked into the kitchen, all of that ended. I've been dreaming of a trip ever since. And hence this trip to Helsinki and Tallinn Estonia came to be. We booked our flights through Tripsta.com and did our lodging through AirBnB - both got us great deals. Tripsta tempted me because is scans 2nd tier airlines and airports and we could have flown on some crazy small Russian planes through countries I've never heard of, but we ended up on US Air, British Air and Finn Air for $900 each R/T. We snagged this great apartment right in the center of Helsinki, which is perfect for us since we prefer to walk everywhere and nothing has been more than a 20 minute walk so far. For our trip to Tallinn, we got this one - which, OMG, I could have lived in this apartment for the rest of my life! Let's get onto the trip. We arrived this past Monday night - correction - afternoon after 18 hours of traveling. And this picture seems to sum up our trip so far - dark, rainy and cold.

I never get to post anything fun in this topic but while I was in Estonia I picked up these dandies. From left to right: KristalKommel - honestly, I have no idea what this is; I bought it because there are crystals on the bottom of the bottle. Kannu Kukk - apparently there are a few of these and they are the go-to drink in Estonia. We had just bought this bottle and later in the night were served some at our restaurant. I was on the lookout for any interesting booze infusions and found this birch liquor. And lastly sea buckthorn liquor. Seems like that flavor is so trendy right now I thought it would be good to give it a try.

Just back from Tallinn via Eckeros ferry. I'll upload more soon. I gotta say, while I haven't given Helsinki much time yet, I sure loved Tallinn. Had an amazing meal at Neh last night and spent some time talking to the chef. Tonight I ate on board at the ship's buffet - very average, but it gave me a real good sense of what regular locals eat - smoked fish, pickled fish, baked fish, broiled fish...and potatoes. Tomorrow night is Restaurant Demo then Olo on Saturday. I promise a full upload soon.

The problem with waking up at noon in December is that now there are only 3 hours of daylight left! We went to the grocery last night and got some breakfast things. With all of my years of Spanish, its all useless here. I have no idea what anything is based on the language, so we just essentially shopped in the dark. We think we go some salted butter. We know we got eggs - not sure of anything special about them, typical bread with a hole in it, and some type of cheese. We're not picky. It'll work. We're off to walk to the docks.

Miserable weather! But since we live in a place that gets sun 340 days a year, I'm not complaining. After 18 hours of travel we settled into our airbnb and found a little kabob place. Meh, it was ok. But I connected with the Olo staff who recommended Emo or Sea Horse - for a chef friendly restaurant. Now we'll debate the options for tomorrow night.

That's the one. We have so much to do! I keep hearing about boutiques and festivals and markets in outlying communities. I've linked up with the local slow foods group and I'm hoping they'll drive us around.

I also read about a milk/cheese bread that I need to get at some point...

It was quite the ordeal to get my knives through customs to Canada, but here's a pic with my new Mokuzo hand-made sayas using Bocote wood. Really beautiful work by http://mokuzotoronto.com .

Love that idea. Don't know if its feasible. But love it. Btw, I opened up sales on ABQ and it sold out in 7 minutes! Crazy. Just Crazy.

Just drafted this letter to potential guests. Its so big city that its turning my stomach (ok, not really that bad), but we have to get tix sold quickly to lock things down. Any thoughts/revulsions before I start sending? and anticipating the question - we're working with booze distributors in each city to essentially use their license for tastings. Some want us to pay, others are giving the booze to promote their product. In ABQ we are actually using the site's license since its in a closed restaurant.

The tunas are the magenta fruit on the rim of the paddles (nopales, napolitos). Hackberries are one of my favorite, but one of the most time intensive ingredients that I forage - taste like a sweet date, but theres virtually no meat, so its all about steep and infuse. The sites vary by city. Most are in private homes, but ABQ is in a currently unused restaurant - I'll use that as my base to re-load for the rest of the trip.

Our trip is just days away. Tuesday, December 9th No plans, maybe Soul Kitchen for dinner Wednesday, December 10th Ferry to Estonia Tallinn Christmas Market 10am-6pm Dinner at Neh We'll miss this, but In Helsinki – Terra Madre Day at Mariankatu 15 Thursday, December 11th Back to Helsinki, nothing planned - probably the Christmas Market Friday, December 12th Vanha Kauppahalli market stalls for food Ravintolo Perho catering school restaurant Alko booze store Dinner at Restaurant Ask Saturday, December 13th St. Lucia Day (festival of lights, parade; Swedish-speaking areas) - one of our dog's name is Lucia, so we'll be going Dinner at OlO Sunday, December 14th No plans Tyler's to-do list: Temppeliaukio Chapel in the Rock National Museum of Finland Temppeliaukio Church Awe-inspiring, copper-topped 1969 "Church in the Rock." Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral Orthodoxy's most prodigious display outside of Eastern Europe. Lutheran Cathedral Green-domed, 19th-century Neoclassical masterpiece. National Museum of Finland The scoop on Finland, featuring folk costumes, an armory, czars, and thrones; the prehistory exhibit is best. Seurasaari Open-Air Folk Museum Island museum with 100 historic buildings from Finland's farthest corners. Suomenlinna Fortress Helsinki's harbor island, sprinkled with picnic spots, museums, and military history. Senate Square Consummate Neoclassical square, with Lutheran Cathedral. Helsinki City Museum Tells the city's history well and in English. Ateneum, The National Gallery of Finland Largest collection of art in Finland, including local favorites plus works by Cézanne, Chagall, Gauguin, and Van Gogh. Sibelius Monument Stainless-steel sculptural tribute to Finland's greatest composer. My to do list: Herkkutalo – food gifts Mariankatu 15 http://www.herkkutalo.fi/ Cheese shop: Hakaniemen Kauppahalli 95-97 00530 Helsinki Hakaniemi Market Hall: Satumarja store for dried mushrooms and berries Matti Kuusela’s stall – get the bread cheese Lentävä lehmä – small producer cheeses

Shelby, Tyler is being left behind to take care of our foster son...plus I don't think he would enjoy this demanding of a trip. He's more of a wanderer. I'm more of a charger. Smithy, the foraging angle is one I was thinking about. What's the point of a locavore menu if it travels? I've debated if I could do a bit of foraging each morning to add a local flare - I'm sure I could find a few things: prickly pear tuna, cholla fruit, hackberry, maybe some black walnuts, possibly some dried oyster mushrooms and easily juniper. And wouldn't it be amazing if I hunted a deer in the morning and served it that night...but that would be illegal What's fun to me about all this is that we're going from idea to conception in 3 weeks. I've talked about pop-ups in ABQ and just did one in Tucson, but I'm really relying on my supporters to pull this off. In just one day we confirmed ABQ and TorC. Cruces, Scottsdale and Tucson and pretty much secure. Flag and Santa Fe are my challenges, but folks are working on locations for me. I need all of this confirmed and the bulk of the tickets (we're doing a ticketing system for this) sold before I go to Helsinki on Sunday morning for our 10 day vacation. Yow!

Wait! I could go to Florida, fix up a food truck, travel I-10 through New Orleans, hit Austin and end up in LA. And I could get a film crew to follow me until I have a huge fan base that's waiting for me in every city! it would make for a great movie! My lead server and I are doing this together. Interestingly, my co-author is coming too to be my 2nd server because she happens to be at a downspot in her life.

I'm exhausted just thinking about it, but moving an entire kitchen and dining room for 8 consecutive nights is much easier than cooking lunch and dinner every day

That's a good question and fortunately there are 2 answers. First, is that we've been told that these will fall under private events since they will be pre-sold and not open at the door. The second is that the licensing is for the kitchen, not the person, so we just have to get into the right space.

Since my little town has a pretty small customer base, and I have fans around the region, AND because the 1st week in January always sucks for sales...I'm taking my restaurant on the road! I know people who do pop-ups, but what about traveling pop-ups. Has anyone heard of this? I'm thinking I'll rent a van, load it with 10 days of equipment and food and do a new city every night. I've already done some feelers through FB and Instagram, and the response is a bit overwhelming. Here's where I'm going: Monday, January 5th, Tucson, AZ Tuesday, January 6th, Scottsdale, AZ Wednesday, January 7th, Flagstaff, AZ Thursday and Friday January 8th & 9th, Albuquerque, NM Saturday, January 10th, Santa Fe, NM Sunday, January 11th, Truth or Consequences, NM Monday, January 12th, Las Cruces, NM The plan is 24 guests per night for a 10-course dinner. $100 a head which includes all but the gratuity (don't get me started on that debate). Looking forward to telling you all about it - lots of crazy logistics for someone who specializes in local foraged fare! On the side - if anyone is interested in attending, please don't post here, just PM and I'll get you details.

How long are you planning on holding the spheres? Typically they would be used within an hour or so if not immediately. Maybe I'm not understanding the concern.

Last food photoshoot was yesterday. On instagram I say posted that and said "I won't miss these." One of my followers asked why. I already do 70 hour weeks at work, and adding a photoshoot on my day off is just fatiguing. My spouse made it clear yesterday that these had better end soon. I was very much in the dog house yesterday. But we finished. Now there's just pics of me, my dog and nature. I also received my first non-professional recipe testing results. All I can say is - if you ever do a book, do this! Regardless of if you use a professional tester, having friends with widely varying skill levels do recipes is so useful. This recipe was for an almond teacake with foraged Russian olives. She couldn't get Russian olives so she used my substitution of kalamata, but she didn't even know what those were. I had salt listed in the steps but not in the ingredients. She expected a tall fluffy cake, but its a tea cake so it wasn't. Questions about what folded into what. All really great feedback from a non-baker with limited knowledge. This was a recipe I hadn't made in a number of years and didn't review it except for basic editing, so the tester gave me exactly what I needed. Very much looking forward to getting the other testings back this week. In other news, my hardcore reviewer should pass off his notes today.

I hired a bunch of local home cooks to do some non-professional recipe testing. I picked the 6 recipes I think are mostly likely to be made, but also the most tricky. I'm getting really amazing feedback. Some things are basic - ie cook times; others are about substituting things that I never thought would need substitutions; and then there are the tough ones about understanding the steps. I want to work through this feedback and fix my recipes, then expand the learnings into the other recipes. I have a couple of professional testers who are asking to work on the book, but I'm waiting til we have the publisher confirmed just in case they're going to pay for the testing.

Great way to go into the holiday! This morning I sent a proposal, full manuscript, a few photos and a cover letter to my preferred publisher. I didn't expect a response, at least not for a long, long time. Instead, 90 minutes later I received this: What he is agreeing with me about is the need for foraged ingredients to be more universal, and recipes to be accessible. This is very good news.

Two updates. First is I just farmed out a slew of pre-recipe testing to friends. I flagged about a dozen recipes that need special attention - extra hard or ones that I've not shared through my cooking classes or that don't get made daily in my kitchen. These are just friends...you know, like the people who will actually buy the book. I'm looking forward to seeing how they do with the recipes. After that I'll wait to see if a publisher is going to require and/or pay for recipe testing. One of the professional testers who contacted me suggested that often times the publisher will pay for that service (obviously it comes out of my cut). The other thing is publishers. I talked with a friend who is a JBF book winner, and we talked strategy. She said that yes, an agent is the way to go if you can. She also gave names of a few more publishers to consider - I'm holding off until I get the final hard edit back (hopefully today). And most importantly, she said to give up on an October 1st release date. While it may happen, there are pros and cons. The pros are being included in holiday shopping lists, the cons are you have to stand out in the vast sea of books. She prefers a May release because she gets more airtime with TV stations. So I have let that stress go. If its out in October I do think the book will stand out. If not, it'll do just fine.