That time of the year again, that day which used to bring such joy, and these days just reminds me of the fact that I ain’t no spring chicken no more… Tuesday was the big day – so of course a meal was called for. Unfortunately Mathilde was indisposed at work until quite late, so it fell upon my shoulders to prepare the meal. I decided to honour our recent trip to Tunisia, and prepare a Tajine. So I sneaked out of the office 4 on the dot, and went down to Casino to do the necessary grocery shopping – turns out a fair amount of stuff is needed for a proper Tajine.
The preparation went without any major incidents (I’m really getting the hang of this!), and the tajine was ready for degustation by the time Mathilde arrived. An apple cake was on the cards for desert. I must say I was rather pleased with my tajine – in my mind it was pretty close to a sans-faute (unfortunately it was a wee bit too spice for my darling). The apple cake turned out a bit different from what I expected – but it was still tasty. So all in all, a very successful soiree. And of course I got some nice pressies - the Guide Routard for the Cote d’Azur, and a voucher for a cooking session in Nice!
Thursday was pencilled in as the Turtiainen clan birthday dinner – strengthened by my cousin Maikki with her family (Jarkko and little Aapo). My folks had booked a table at a hotel-restaurant in Juan-Les-Pins for the occasion. It's what one could call a traditional restaurant - which in this case meant there was an old chap singing old French songs to an audience which had an average age of about 75 – it certainly made me feel young ;-). Aapo seemed to dig the music big time – he actually seems to be a little bit too musical for a Turtiainen. We spent a very nice evening together, as one normally does when there is food, wine and good company (as well as more nice pressies and a birthday cake)! Nice to catch up with Maikki and Jarkko as well – and to finally meet little Aapo of course (who’s going to turn one this summer, I believe).
Friday was the day of the Big Party at out flat – so I once again zoomed off at 4 from work – since there was rather a lot to prepare for the big night. So off we headed to Casino for another big grocery shopping session. The rest of the afternoon was spent frenetically preparing all the little bites and nibbles for the evening – including the pride and joy which I prepared based on a cooking book my brother Janne had given me: Parma mozzarella balls (er, balls of Mozarella wrapped in Parma ham – a lot tougher to prepare than it probably sounds, honest!).
The party itself was great fun – with the normal usual Finnish suspects present, along with Maikki & Jarkko, as well as a couple of French people, even! Well, considering the number of Finnish people involved, it was a pretty swinging event actually! Cinema entertainment was even provided upstairs for the younger guests. Things started off nice and slow with beer, wine and champagne – and accelerated with the introduction of some caipirinhas (which I prepared all by myself!). The proceedings finished with a couple of generous glasses of eau de vie – in fact we did a bit of a Pepsi challenge and tried both Marcelle’s (Francoise’s mum) and Ida’s (Mathilde’s grandma’s). Personally, I like both, but the victory by my reckoning goes to Ida’s calvados by a cat’s whisker. By the last glass, I don’t think anybody cared… (especially poor Ismael had other things on his mind – the poor lad had to go to work tomorrow).
Mind you – the rest of us gents had a Jacuzzi to carry the next day – more about that later….
The preparation went without any major incidents (I’m really getting the hang of this!), and the tajine was ready for degustation by the time Mathilde arrived. An apple cake was on the cards for desert. I must say I was rather pleased with my tajine – in my mind it was pretty close to a sans-faute (unfortunately it was a wee bit too spice for my darling). The apple cake turned out a bit different from what I expected – but it was still tasty. So all in all, a very successful soiree. And of course I got some nice pressies - the Guide Routard for the Cote d’Azur, and a voucher for a cooking session in Nice! 
Thursday was pencilled in as the Turtiainen clan birthday dinner – strengthened by my cousin Maikki with her family (Jarkko and little Aapo). My folks had booked a table at a hotel-restaurant in Juan-Les-Pins for the occasion. It's what one could call a traditional restaurant - which in this case meant there was an old chap singing old French songs to an audience which had an average age of about 75 – it certainly made me feel young ;-). Aapo seemed to dig the music big time – he actually seems to be a little bit too musical for a Turtiainen. We spent a very nice evening together, as one normally does when there is food, wine and good company (as well as more nice pressies and a birthday cake)! Nice to catch up with Maikki and Jarkko as well – and to finally meet little Aapo of course (who’s going to turn one this summer, I believe). 
Friday was the day of the Big Party at out flat – so I once again zoomed off at 4 from work – since there was rather a lot to prepare for the big night. So off we headed to Casino for another big grocery shopping session. The rest of the afternoon was spent frenetically preparing all the little bites and nibbles for the evening – including the pride and joy which I prepared based on a cooking book my brother Janne had given me: Parma mozzarella balls (er, balls of Mozarella wrapped in Parma ham – a lot tougher to prepare than it probably sounds, honest!).
The party itself was great fun – with the normal usual Finnish suspects present, along with Maikki & Jarkko, as well as a couple of French people, even! Well, considering the number of Finnish people involved, it was a pretty swinging event actually! Cinema entertainment was even provided upstairs for the younger guests. Things started off nice and slow with beer, wine and champagne – and accelerated with the introduction of some caipirinhas (which I prepared all by myself!). The proceedings finished with a couple of generous glasses of eau de vie – in fact we did a bit of a Pepsi challenge and tried both Marcelle’s (Francoise’s mum) and Ida’s (Mathilde’s grandma’s). Personally, I like both, but the victory by my reckoning goes to Ida’s calvados by a cat’s whisker. By the last glass, I don’t think anybody cared… (especially poor Ismael had other things on his mind – the poor lad had to go to work tomorrow). Mind you – the rest of us gents had a Jacuzzi to carry the next day – more about that later….
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