Answers to this week’s questions at the friday five. Picture from Pixabay.

1) What is your favourite food?

When I go out to eat: Lehtipihvi (I think that’s minute steak in English? That very thin steak that’s grilled) with french fries. When I make it myself: mashed potatoes with real butter and milk. And I LOVE home made bread.

2) What is your favourite food preparation method?

I don’t really prefer one method over the other. Grilling/barbecue is rare (I and the people I visit don’t own a grill) so it’s always a treat when I get it somewhere.

3) What is your favourite cuisine or style of cooking?

I guess what I mostly grew up with. We didn’t have foreign cuisines here back in the 70s/80s (Chinese, Italian etc.) so we mostly ate just regular Finnish food. Potatoes, fish fingers, meatballs with gravy, various casseroles, boiled rice with oven cooked chicked. I’m a picky eater, not adventurous at all and I don’t like cooking (baking’s where it’s at!) so I usually stick to about a dozen dishes I like.

4) Do you have any dietary restrictions and if so what are they?

Yeah, I had food allergies as a kid, used to be really allergic to citrus fruit and still can’t eat them too much or I might break out in a rash. I also have some considerations due to Crohn’s Disease which change depending on how bad my Crohn’s symptoms are. Such as sima (mead) which I can have none at all if the symptoms are really active, or a conservative amount a day if Crohn’s is good at the time (meaning not as much as I could drink a day back when I didn’t have Crohn’s yet). It’s better now that I was 5-10 years ago because my Crohn’s is better under control now.

5) If you could introduce the whole world to one ingredient to improve their culinary experience, what would that be and why?

I can’t think of a single thing. I think it’d just recommend trying things like mashed potatoes or steaks without gravy (gravy hides the taste IMO). Also maybe try to use spices other than salt and pepper to season your food – at least that’s something I could do better at!