Yesterday was a day of sweet treats: it was both Shrove Tuesday and the birthday of Johan Ludvig Runeberg, the national poet of Finland (even though he wrote in Swedish!). We have special pastries for both days.
On Shrove Tuesday, we don't pancakes; we eat semlas instead. If you read the blogs of certain Swedes, you've probably already seen them. Filled with whipped cream and almond paste or strawberry/raspberry jam (I like almond paste better). They are delicious but really messy to eat!
I had a couple of hours off this afternoon and went to eat a semla in a delightful café in central Tampere. I think it might be my favourite café at the moment: it is furnished with beautiful old furniture (really old, not just old-looking) and they serve their coffee and delicious cakes from fine old china. It's the kind of place where you should be wearing a dress and old-fashioned lace-up boots and have a gentleman to accompany you.
The pastry related to our national poet is Runeberg's tart, which was supposedly created by his wife Fredrika. In the café they had these tarts too, but I restrained myself. :)
7 comments:
a rather delicious post! :)
does your national poet have a famous poem? Its nice (rare here) that you would celebrate a poet on a day. Eat a cream cake for me.
Hitsi, unohdin laskiaisen täysin! Hmm, koskas se Runebergin päivä olikaan.
Mm, laskiaispullia! Runebergintortutkin ovat hyviä, mutta eilen valinta napsahti kyllä laskiaispullaan. Mantelisellaiseen tietysti. :-)
oh i've never heard of the jam-semla, sounds good too, but nothing can beat the almond paste i'm sure :)
I love learning about your culture! Thanks for the links! And those delicious pictures!
Mansuetude, his most famous poem became the lyrics of our national anthem.
Maija, voihan sitä viettää jälkikäteenkin. :)
Midori, minäkin kuulun mantelimassakoulukuntaan. :)
Sandra, I think the jam semla is a Finnish creation - definitely not as good as almond paste. Jam makes it too sweet, in my opinion.
Becky, you're welcome! Want the recipes too? ;)
Man, every time I come here you are tempting me with a sweet thing that I can't eat!!! it is tourture! but sweet, sweet, yummy, sugary tourture.
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