Cuisine Crush Jyväskylä! Merry Christmas & Yummy Piggy !

December 22-25 2020

Finland is the hometown of Santa Claus: the country owns the most Christmas carols on Earth, and of course, is the delightful place to have great meals with the lovely ones. From Helsinki to Jyväskylä, 278km, it takes our afternoon express around 4 hours to arrive.

Last Christmas, the ground glittered shiningly purely white; this year, the bleak sky drapes the whole. Still, the darkness cannot stop us wrapping the gifts, decorating the Christmas tree, building up our first gingerbread house, baking joulutortut and for sure, eating and chatting and unwrapping countless beautifully packed boxes.

A decorative, delicious Christmas ham is the gift that keeps on giving long after the big day is over. Serving a 6-8 people ham is a time task but not pain in the neck, the most important is the fresh gammon from local, trustworthy butcher-cut. Before baking in the oven and adding the glaze, poach the piggy leg first to eliminate the strong smell. Here is how we do for the Christmas:

1.Put the ham in a large stock pot, and cover with cold water. It’s free to add the orange peels or any spices as you wish. Bring slowly to a simmer, skimming off any scum. Simmer very gently for about an hour and a half, until the internal temperature of the ham reaches 65-70’c.

2. Heat the oven to 220’c and bake the 7 KGs piggy 7-8 hours. For overnight, do be careful of the cause the fire alarm. Lift the ham out of the liquid (which can be used to make delicious meat sauce soup later), allow to cool slightly, then carefully cut off the skin, leaving as much fat beneath as possible. Put the ham in a foil-lined roasting tray for the further preservation.

3. As glaze, brushing a thick paste all over the fat with honey mustard jam and adding a layer of corn flakes. Stud the intersections with cloves. Allow to cool completely before serving.

My favourite part is fat layer than lean meat of the piggy cake. The immediate melting in mouth gives me a great gifting of the dining moment. Outrageous habit I know, but this guilty pleasure indeed rewards me healthy mood and natural collagen at this Christmas season; can’t help it, I am loving it.

Specials Thanks: PH

Tea Time Christmas! Ladurée & More Tea Macarons, Handmade Cookies & Wildblüten Honey Served With Czechoslovakia Porcelain

Besides Lomonosov from Russian and Bavaria from Germany, the porcelain produced during Czechoslovakia era (CSK, 1918-1992) has always been intriguing me to discover on the hunt at vintage market. As I do not carry any immune ability to polka dot items (水玉 in Japanese), at Vienna Kettenbrückengasse Saturday vintage market in September 2019, after a bargain conversation with a cunning merchant, at last I transport the cute tea cup, saucer and sugar jar arriving at Helsinki. 

At the bottom of the tea cup set, the logo of BSG Ceramics from Prague, Czech, its clean edge design with poppy red polka dots gives the retro touch, a very much of ‘Itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka-dot bikini’ feel; the porcelain itself is near the bone China for the contrast to Bavarian teacup. Now BSG Ceramics Group Porcelain stoneware, such as used for cladding facades or interior design tiles, is more in the modern construction market. 

The major hues of porcelain of tea time in December is a perfect match with baby pink, mustard brownish and deep purple; therefore, strawberry rose black tea from Théhuone is the choice of Christmas tea time. Adding up 2-3 spoonful of Hamburg wildblüten honey (wild flower) can smooth the acidic flavor. Bio honey or raw honey contains an array of plant chemicals that act as antioxidants, which helps to protect our bodies from cell damage due to free radicals. Also, the phytonutrients in honey are responsible for its antioxidant properties, as well as its antibacterial and antifungal power. Replacing white or brown sugar with honey in the tea is also working as a cough suppressant during the chilly season. Research has suggested that honey is as effective as dextromethorphan, a common ingredient in over-the-counter cough medication. 

Several hazel nuts chocolate balls from Ferrero Rocher are always the best together with gluten free handmade gingerbread cookies from our dear colleague before her maternal holidays: the heart topped 'Mindy' my name, the round cutie of Chanel logo, and square mini hand bags plus  lovely snowflake always make my tea time more fun! While my all-time favourite LADURÉE macarons, the choices of flavours are rose, raspberry and caramel, while Taiwanese teahouse MORE TEA's 100% handmade strawberry candy macarons reach multiple layer to my taste buds. With milk chocolate ball in-between the strawberry cream, More Tea macarons' rich bites without soapy tastes balance the airy texture, comparing to Jean-Paul Hévin macarons of either caramel milky or even bitter sweet due to the percentage of cocoa, both More Tea and LADURÉE ones are more in the dense of moist ganache, sweeter but more ruffled circumference. 

In the darkness of December 2020 to welcome snowy January 2021, polka dot poppy red vintage teacup set with baby pinkish outlooks of macarons, honey jar and handmade snack bites for the afternoon teatime, is an effective emotion remedy during the chilly weekend. 

Special Thanks: Essi, Wasana & More Tea Team

Magazine Madness Christmas: Gillian Anderson Starring Iron Lady with The Crown

Harper’s Bazaar UK December 2020

Admired during the 1990’s for her outstanding role as FBI Agent Dana Scully in The X-Files, later Lady Deadlock at TV mini serious The Bleak House during the 2000’s and Anna Pavlovna Scherer in the BBC’s War & Peace, in this most challenging 2020, GILLIAN ANDERSON achieves yet again the recently captivated Netflix views as she takes on the mantle of Margaret Thatcher in the Netflix’s new series of The Crown. For the past decade, Bazaar’s UK Women of the Year Awards have been a highlight of readers’ calendar, among of New Bond Girl Lashana Lynch, Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones, Gillian Anderson graces Harper’s Bazaar UK December cover by wearing embroidered silk bustier top, candy trousers, silk sandals and diamond earrings by Giorgio Armani. Her quite rare appearance on the cover of the fashion reading, still owning her very compelling elegance, seemingly the epoch has not been etching her age, captures my immediate attention at magazine shelves. 

 

Watching The Crown season 4, we audience realise the confusion. Besides Anderson finds the prosthetic teeth too cumbersome, she wore a padded suit beneath her clothes to bulk up her rather petite frame into more of Thatcher’s, but otherwise there were no particular physical changes or green screen post-production to do as her role: the grand, almost hoarse voice, the tilting walk, the smile is genial but edged with intent. While Anderson questioning the portrayal onto her role of Iron Lady’s lack of Poll Tax or Northern Ireland, but ore of dramatics portraits of the relationship between royal family or Cabinet members, Anderson had to switch off any preconceived notions of the character and simply try to climb insider her head: ‘It is only about Margaret Thatcher as human being and her motivation as a politician and a mother.’ 

Under the camera lenses of Richard Phibbs, with back bust portrait by wearing silver mesh dress of Paco Rabanne, black-and-white close-up or the full silhouette of Alberta Ferretti’s tulle and crystal evening gown, Gillian Anderson’s light pastel pinkish makeups is very close to LADURÉE Bougie Délice Scented candle 80g pottery cup, therefore my photography setting I adopt the Bulgarian dried rose buds to decorate. CHANEL Rouge Allure #91 Séduisante and Crayon Sourcils #60 Noir Cendré are almost the lip colour and eyebrow shade on Anderson, 2020 Christmas limited shining silver camellia CHANEL cover my least favourite price tag, COCO travel size 2ml tube and N°5 trial paper give away a festive mood. For the reasons of matching brownish BAZAAR magazine cover font, I display a mini pine cone (käpy in Finnish) from Jyväskylä and Christmas light for more of holiday read of day. 

 

Special Thanks: Panda  

Beauty Boom Christmas! YSL Nail Lacquer Party With Mascara Vinyl Couture

A touch of appropriate makeup would transform a female into a classy debutante, and a detailed design shall built a classic brand into legendary. Although YSL Beauty is run independently through L’Oreal Paris that licenses the name, YSL Beauty still shows a notable presence, as the brand founder Yves Saint Laurent’s haute couture’s style, in the luxury beauty market.

From the package design, shining golden cap watermarks with bleak YSL logo; mixing nail lacquer #54 Studio Silver and #55 Bronze Fever on my toenails are full of seasonal happy wishes. Comparing to Chanel Le Vernis, YSL nail lacquer dry faster and with glossy touch a long-wear formula with rose oil strengthens, moisturizes and protects nails from chipping and cracking. But still, YSL custom-made brushes are still too wide rather in one clean sweep for my toe application. Still I apply evenly with a luxuriant coverage that requires no touch-up strokes. YSL #104 Holographic Black is a vibrant and dramatic shine to the nails with the top notch of the base hue! Also my vintage collection # 6 Rouge Dada has been my all-time favourite. This is a stunning high-end polish that has gorgeous pigmentation and sine with no streaks or bubbles in sight. I prefer the dramatic holographic black on my thumbnails to create a more Goth cult look at dinner date. 

Revolutionary, highly intense, super shiny color for eyelashes, YSL Mascara Vinyl Couture formula gives lashes length, volume and curl with deep, saturated color. Rotating Mascara #8 I’m the Fire, the golden cap with YSL logo gives away immediately the fragrance of eau de parfum Mon Paris, applying two layers, the shimmering powders grace my eyelashes. This liquid lash color frames eyes with high impact color, can be worn alone or mix and match 2 shades to achieve a unique look:

1. Wear colored mascara on both top and bottom lashes to make eye color pop. Wear the trend in a subtle way by layering colored mascara over black on just the tips of the lashes, or apply the color on the bottom lashes to give a similarly toned down effect.

2. YSL Vinyl Couture mascara is bold enough to wear alone, so keep the rest of makeup simple. On the eyes, keep the eye shadows neutral and eyeliner on the thinner side. 

Radiant and glossy, now I am ready to join the BBQ dinner party in Helsinki!