So Obsessed

Answers to today’s questions at thefridayfive@DW.

1. Do you cook regularly or does someone else cook for you?

Nobody cooks for me as I live alone, and I don’t cook regularly either because of my chronic illnesses. I rather use my energy for baking, so I buy and eat a lot of ready-to-heat casseroles and vegetable soups. I usually cook 2-3 times a month and usually make something that’ll last me for a week or so as dinner. And when I do cook, I use a lot of semi-finished products such as frozen sliced potatoes because as a spoonie I only have so much energy to use, and using things like that help conserve my energy to do other things as well that day.

Usually when I visit my Mom, we time it so that I eat there. It’s always around lunch time because that’s when they have their main meal. It’s a real treat to eat food cooked by someone else, made even better that usually she makes one our old favorites that we all love but don’t make that often… so not only it’s that someone cooks for me (or we cook together) and the food is really tasty but also good company while eating! Except for those visits, I always eat alone so it’s all kinds of special 😀 

2. Which are you better at making: sweet or savory foods?

I have more experience making sweet foods (meaning: baking) so I guess that. But I’m pretty good at both, just limited in what I bother to make because I’m not very adventurous eater – I used to be picky, and guess still am. It’s just that there are textures I don’t like (they make me gag and even throw up if forced to continue), and certain tastes I tolerate if I have to but don’t use myself. I tend to stick to recipes I’ve enjoyed, or new ones that I think I might enjoy because they don’t have any of my no-thank-yous and not try out a lot of new tastes etc. I think my taste is also rather bland – as an example, I don’t like even mildly actually-spicy food – a bit of salt and black pepper is usually enough for me for most foods. Also as an example, I hate onions (which are a Finnish stable and put in pretty much all cooked meals or so it feels like) so I never use them and luckily nobody can complain to me about it because I only cook for myself!

3. If you had to work as a chef in a restaurant of your choice, which restaurant would best complement your current culinary skills?

I never eat in restaurants so I can’t name names, but it’d have to be one that specializes in home cooked food, with a menu of only maybe a dozen different meals on it at most. And each day would have only 2 different meals + one vegetable soup on offer. But really, I’m physically unable to work in that environment so I’d be fired before first week is out.

4. What is a cooking tip that you know, but other people generally aren’t aware of?

I can’t think of one…

5. Do you have a recipe you would like to share?

This one is one of my favorite casseroles, very quick and easy to make: https://www.k-ruoka.fi/reseptit/helppo-kinkkukiusaus I made it as-is the first time but felt it missed some “oomph” so now I also add 150g of grated blue cheese. I just love blue cheese and think it goes very well with the other ingredients. I also usually add in grated pizza cheese on the top after about half of the time in the oven for a pretty topping.

Mokkapalat (Coffee Pieces) is a baking favorite of mine. The recipe I use is from: https://cebicinkeittio.blogspot.com/2018/12/maailman-parhaat-mokkapalat.html I guess it’s kind of like a brownie? Mokkapalat is one of the stable bakes here in Finland. All kids and teens make it in school at the very least, and lots and lots of (most?) families bake them at least when their kids are small. There are about a million slightly different recipes but this is the one that I think is above all others (and I’ve tried like a dozen!). The cake part is soft and moist just right and the topping is enough for once (in the other recipes, you usually had to make the topping as double to get enough to cover the entire thing just barely thickly enough). I always use a Frezza Choco Loco cold coffee drink in place of the coffee in this recipe (old fashioned coffee as in the recipe is too strongly coffee tasting to me so I use one of the Frezzas).

These two have been my favorite things to make the last few years 😀 

Answers to http://f.riday5.com/2024/01/19/friday-5-for-january-19-random-topic-generator/

1. How much experience do you have with tobacco?

No personal experience at all – I’ve never even tried it. The smell’s awful.

2. What have you made with wood?

Back in school, in the short wood work course I made a little ship. That’s all.

3. What do you think of farmers markets in your area?

I’m not sure we have farmers markets here, but we do have market squares where farmers, bakers and flower growers etc. can sell their things. Most only sell during summer. When I was a kid in the 1980s the market square was filled with sellers, dozens and dozens of them and practically everyone bought their potatoes, carrots etc. there. The produce were domestic and of good quality – better than in shops. But nowadays, it’s vice versa a lot. I think it started to change in the early 1990s but I’m not sure – I just know that by the time I was an adult (I turned 20 in 1994), the number of sellers had halfed. And now only a handful remain.

They renovated the market square last year, after first building an underground parking carage under it, and now there are some sort of cafes/restaurants there in addition to the produce sellers, some of which I think operate only during the summer. There’s also supposed to be events etc. there during the summer.

4. What’s a good movie, novel, or TV show containing a shipwreck?

Alien.

5. What’s a good song with the word magic in its title or lyrics?

Black Magic Woman by Santana

Got my hair cut today ✨ Yay! ✨ I went to the hair dressing school where students under the watchful eye of the teacher offer hair cuts, coloring etc. for a minimal price. I’ve had my hair colored once and cut twice or three times and the results have always been good! It’s good alternative when the regular prices are too much, but it does take a lot more time so can’t be in a hurry.

Answers to today’s questions at thefridayfive.

1. What is your current main mode of transportation? e.g. car, bike, subway, walking, etc.

Busses are my main way to get where I need to go.

It’s actually been public transport, namely local busses, for most of my life starting with school. I also walk some, but now with the chronic illnesses, less than I used to and not willingly.

When I was a student in library school and lived in the Helsiki metropolitan area, I also used local metropolitan area busses along with metro train (underground train) and commuter train (overground train servicing Helsinki metropolitan area cities), but also long distance trains to my home city of Turku.

2. Are you satisfied with your current main mode of transportation (answer to question 1)? Why?

I am, for the most part! My home city has a good public transport (busses) system and you don’t necessarily need a car, depending on your circumstances and where exactly you live. I can get by bus everywher I need to go, including friends’ and family’s places. I do wish the ticket price were lower, and they wouldn’t increase every year but that because I’m poor so everything feels expensive to me.

I’m also kind of nervous about the upcoming, planned changes for the bus system they’re planning for I think, 2025. What it looks like is that the bus routes designated “central lines” stay good and mine is one of these, but the secondary routes, designated “feed lines” seem to get worse both in run times and accessibility such as routes, locations and number of stops. A lot of reviews say the same, so we’ll see what happens with the plans.

I did have my Mom’s car for something like 17 years, but even then I always judged where and when I was going and whether the car or a bus was the most handy way that time. But now I haven’t had a car for about 7 years and although it was very handy for getting around to random libraries or big shops inconveniently located by bus or picking up packages, I actually only rarely miss having a car – usually when I need to transport something awkward sized home. There is also the fact that due to being so tired all the time, the last few years I had the car I didn’t always dare to drive – I feared I’d get into an accident and kill someone because I was too tired and my reaction time was too slow or I wouldn’t notice something. So in my case, not driving is also a safety concern even though I haven’t been forbidden to drive by the docters.

3. Do you think you’ll change your means of transit soon? e.g. buy a car, get rid of your car, walk more etc.? If so, why?

Busses will continue to be main main mode of transport, but I’d like to walk more. I’ve occasionally thought about bying a bike – I used to bike everywhere when I was a kid and like an idiot, stopped that when I went to library school and never restarted again. I always liked biking more than walking.

4. If time, distance and money were not factors, how do you prefer to get from point A to point B?

I’m good with busses. But I admit, if truly money wasn’t an issue at all, I’d also have a car just for the convenience.

5. What was your worst transit experience?

I can’t think of a truly bad transit experience… mostly just if I’m on the move during a rush hour, the busses can be so full lugging shopping bags can be inconvenient, or waiting for the bus in a hard rain etc. Mostly personally for me, it’s the rush hour smells and noise because they can trigger a migraine attack or if I’m already in the middle of one, make it worse. But this is a me problem.

This year spiffikins at Dreamwidth put together daily questions for the year 😀 

1. What’s the Coolest Thing You’ve Ever Seen in Nature?

There’s quite a few cool things in nature and I can’t say which is the coolest above all others… but snowflakes are right up there among the very coolest!

2. Could You Stop Shopping for an Entire Year?

I assume this means non-essentials and that things like bras and skin care (makes my skin better but no doctor’s orders to use these products) are counted as essential?

If so, then I think yes I could. I don’t buy a lot of stuff in addition to essentials, due not having money and due to not really being into shopping and never have been. I only buy most things (clothes, electronics etc.) when I need new ones because they’re breaking, worn through, or are getting old enough that my programs don’t run well anymore. The only things I buy for the fun of it are fountains pens and fountain pen inks, fountain pen friendly notebooks and stickers. I only buy stickers when I’m running out so about once a year if that, but I could stop buying fountain pens and related stuff for a year, if I wanted to. Especially as currently I’m quite happy with the fountain pens I have and don’t feel a huge need for a new one! It’s ink which might be more difficult – I love trying out new inks! And I have enough fountain pen friendly notebooks to last me a few years (unless I start to journal or writing stories a lot more than up until now) so I wouldn’t need a new notebook either for a year. So, yes I could stop shopping these sorts of things for a year.

Now, if that means that I can’t buy candy, chocolate and Frezza cold coffees which aren’t necessary for survival… that’s a whole other ball game! I could reduce the amount I buy, but I couldn’t stop entirely there. And it’d be hard for me mentally to do it. Continue reading Question of the Day – 2024 Edition: January