For the love of baking

Do you see this sweet lady???? It is all her 'fault'. It is because of her that I love to bake so much and appreciate the joy of crafting something delicious for others enjoyment. This sweet lady is my Grandma, and when I say sweet, I mean salt of the earth, the most caring, loving, giving person who God could have given me for a grandmother. She bakes up the most wonderful things out of nothing, things that were lowered in wells or tucked away under pillows to rise just to turn into delicious pastries that are famous in her village. She is in her 76th year and it is nothing for her to get up at 3 am to turn 15 pounds of flour into warm buttery biscuits and rolls to please any cultural event in her village - in fact there are no public gatherings without her goodies. She refuses to use time saving or electric devices, still kneads her bread and whips her cream and meringue by hand. The joy and happiness that her baked goods bring out of people is her biggest complement - you wanna win my grandma's heart 'dig in and enjoy' (it worked for Jeff). She shares all her receipts and hears it a lot that "I tried it, but mine was just not like yours' - and this is how she ends up doing the holiday baking for half of her village friends.

My grandma was the one who planted the seed and nurtured my love for baking. She let me crack - and ruin - dozens of eggs before I learned to separate the white and the yoke, she let me stir the batter both ways - despite superstition that it would flatten your cakes, taught me to braid and fold and twist and to put all your love into what you are making (and always 'draw' a cross over anything that you put in the oven - I bet you all wonder now how come your baking sometimes doesn't come out right?!). She has always been and she will always be my inspiration, my go to person when it comes to new or really old receipts and I hope I can preserve and master making some of her delicious goodies.

I think I have came a long way. I know that, as sometimes I can't pass along my receipts, because I can't remember how much of what I put in it. But it has not always been like that. I mean yes, I was always lousy at following receipts, the 'I know better' attitude often ended up with something bad. But I was not always a good baker. There were times when I got the bread baking fever and baked away 25 pounds of flour just to be disappointed over and over. They were not failures, just small steps. Those were the times when the ducks would run away when they spotted me on the trail - in memory of my previous loaves that they could hardly swallow even if they were choking it down with water. Or the days when you could have a loaf of my 'wonderful' bread for a doorstop any day of the week. Yup, those days, they were fun, especially when I found out that the pound of yeast that I wanted to use up was not SO active any more - hence the bricks that kept coming out my oven.

But now things are as easy as pie, as whipping up a great loaf of bread or making birthdays cakes in shape of insects or flowers or cars or you name it. I love baking and I love sharing my baked goods. This is why I am so thankful for my family and friends who love to eat so I can stay in the kitchen. And I am so thankful for my wonderful grandma who helped me find this joy in my life and who inspires me every day.

This was fun ... held together by 'nails'.

One of my grandma's famous pastries - plum jelly filled with toasted nuts on top.

Oh, and the .... no comment.

Our Christmas Story

It is almost the middle of January and I am just getting around to record our Christmas memories ... I guess better later then never. Looking at this picture I realized ... again ... how fast our children are growing and that I really don't have any day or hour to waste. I need to spend as much time as I can with them, enjoy their company, their humor, and innocence.

Christmas was fun and relaxing, we had lots of family time together and found countless excuses to just do nothing but watch movies and eat popcorn. Christmas was so anticipated this year ... mostly because I totally confused the children with all the things that I used to do growing up and wished to share with them. In the same time we started new traditions too, like making our gingerbread house from scratch and ending up using real carpenter tricks to keep it together. We laughed so hard as I struggled to build it ... must be a repeat next year.

We got our tree only a week before Christmas - we always do it this way, so the whole concept of the Holidays stays special. Our tree reminded me to Hungary, with the cool little ornaments that my Mom used to make out of pine cones and cinnamon sticks. Lutza and I spent a lot of time making felt stars and hearts which we gave away as presents to friends .... and none actually made it to be hang on our tree. It also took us a week to complete the popcorn string ... on all those cold evenings the popcorn was just eaten faster than I could string. BUT when it was finally done, it served the children well on nights when they didn't eat their dinners and got hungry before bedtime ... imagine a competition of who can bite the kernels off faster without using hands.

Christmas was special because the children made it special. Lutza and Vidor exactly knew what to expect ... so we mixed it up a little bit.

Santa comes to Hungary on December 6 ... due to some weather delays he only arrived to us on the 7th (in reality I totally spaced out). He requires children to clean their boots and put them in the window ... of course he only comes to good children so listening, obeying and well behaviors were A+'s on that day. Wish we could do this well every day .... work in progress I guess.

On this picture is the drawing Lutza made for Santa ... I took a picture of it in the evening ... good thing because Santa liked it so much he took it with him.

The Hungarian Santa is a humble Santa, in my childhood he used to bring only oranges and nuts, maybe something a little sweet. So keeping the traditions, the children got only a few little things.

Christmas is about Baby Jesus ... he was a gift to us and we celebrate his birth by getting gifts from him. In Hungary, Jesus brings the Christmas tree and the presents. Sorry Santa, but by this time you are already back in Finland, resting up for next year.

But, we had to bring in the American traditions as well ... So Santa (this time the one from the North Pole) came and left presents in our stockings for Christmas morning .... AGAIN (talking about confusion). Among all the toys, cars and dolls, the packages of underwear were a huge hit for all three of the children - favorite characters ... "Can I put one on right now?" So we had to do laundry too on Christmas morning so our darling little children could wear their new undies.

Oh, life is good ... small pleasures and memories make it so special. I can't even express how grateful I am to have such a wonderful family!