Yesterday was a furlough day. Today is a public holiday in Midsummer and I will have at least a lot of holidays on Mondays. So a 5 day holiday is pretty good even though the money sucks.
Midsummer here is the biggest party weekly holiday of the year and it is quite my favorite. Because it’s so much more about friends and family and usually, people will travel with a small group of family members in a summer cabin to grill and cook. Some local families joined us and we headed to the neighborhood in the afternoon.
Where we are awake 500 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle. So we don't get the full midnight sun here, something I didn't feel..but I was an eternal night in the winter. However, the days are “pretty long” here too and you can see what’s happening from the chart below. Technically, tomorrow is the longest day of the year. Because it's 12 seconds longer than today - but today's time is 19.5 hours longer so I don't think 12 seconds would be that noticeable. If I remember correctly, the fastest rate of light change is about 35 minutes a week on both sides and even after 18 years in Finland, it always seems like the light gets faster and then suddenly it gets dark again.
Ditionally, the weather absorbs most of the mid-summer weekend. But this year we have some 25-26C (80F) weather. So I took my brother to the beach for a swim. It’s a few hundred meters away from home, so we don’t have to “take a day at the beach” and instead dive quickly to cool off. Cooler than our apartment in the summer. Our house is still quite warm, although it seems to be much less oppressive than the apartment building.
Perhaps we have more airflow here, on the other hand the apartment did not have windows on either side.
My brother likes to walk this little boardwalk to the beach and today there were dozens of small blue dragonflies buzzing around.
But I didn’t have anything and my camera didn’t even have some shots to take.
When I was growing up, my parents did not often take us to places where there was water, and as a result, I never learned to swim well and never bothered to stay in the water.
Drowning and resurrection on my 8th birthday probably has something to do with it.
But I don't want my brother to feel the same way though. I encouraged him to play in the water a lot more than my parents and I think he was as good at it as he was in swimming class.
My mom and I bought her a floating toy and she was pretty happy. Because watermelon is a new addition to her diet (although she can’t eat too much). He’s one of those kids that (even if not around) is the joy of being around. He is talkative and intelligent and somewhat playful smarts. I have the feeling that the “sneer power” is strong in him.
We can stay longer though, as I have some pavilions to prepare for the evening and with about 14 people, at least two have to be prepaid. I like Pavalvas who is lucky. Because I only know how to make this cake. Given a chance I can literally eat one.
On top of these will be strawberries, blueberries and probably some rebar from our garden. The first one is now in the oven and I will decorate their site. So I have no picture of the finished product. I'll take my camera to the barbecue though, so I'll try to catch one.
What I like about Pavlova is that they are extremely easy to cook as long.
they are careful not to put oil or egg yolks on the whites during whipping and they are somehow rustic. It’s not about being super polished in appearance. It’s more about enjoying the taste. I like to bake mine so that the surface is a bit crisp and supports the whipped cream well.
The reason is that the change in the texture of the mouth is good, and the browning process caramelizes the sugar and gives a difference in taste between the edges and the center of the marshmallow. I play around with a little bit of material and quantity. But this recipe is a pretty good base to start with if you want to go for it.
Oh, as I said, if you drink egg yolks or have some oil in the white part too. But they won’t whip on the necessary hard horns, no matter how much you scream while beating them.
Okay, I'll pull from the first oven when I'm ready to start another. I think it should be cooled in the oven so that it does not cool down too quickly and break down. But I don't have time to do it now.
Which means I could very well end up with a base dormitory. But once the cream and berry are turned on, no one will care while eating it.