Mirror: Antique, French. Not quite sure, 18th or 19th century?
Green vase: Designed by Helena Tynell in the 1960’s. Produced by Riihimäen Lasi, Finland (http://www.laatutavara.com/index.php?hakuteksti=aurinkopullo&page=haku)
Candle holder: Designed by Heikki Orvola in 1988. Produced by Iittala, Finland (https://www.iittala.com/Series/Iittala/Kivi/c/Kivi).
Pendant lamp seen in the mirror: Alvar Aalto bell lamps from 1937 find a new home in Paris and Alvar Aalto bell lamp
One year and one week ago I started my blog, encouraged by a friend. I will always be indebted to her as this has been such a wonderful experience and one hell of a ride if I may say. The blog has brought an entirely new dimension to my life; I could have never thought about making so many new friends and attracting so many followers. My sincerest thanks to everyone of you!!
To celebrate this one-year anniversary, I thought it would be interesting to look back and see what the highlights of the year were. Enjoy, and pick the post that most interests you!
1. The most read post: Bus ride from Vientiane to Luang Prabang. Laos is a fantastic, rewarding country, but traveling inside is not always simple. I am happy that my post has helped so many thousands of travelers to enjoy Laos!
2. The second-most read post: Eat Drink Sleep Siem Reap (survival guide to Siem Reap). Nothing to add. Angkor temples, initially built by the Hindu kings, continue to fascinate the entire world. And Siem Reap is the base for exploring this UNESCO World Heritage site.
3. The third-most read post: Koh Lipe: mixed feelings. Thailand. Well. I did not fall in love with Koh Lipe, a tiny island in the Andaman Sea near Langkawi, Malaysia. I hear Koh Lipe was quite a paradise ten years but to me it seems the word “sustainable” was forgotten along the way…
4. The most-read post about Finland: Ice swimming in Finland. One of my favorite posts, too! Have a look if you haven’t already but do not believe everything I say.
5. The most educational post: Eating oysters in months without “r”. Oysters, this ancient delicacy! A lot of people wonder when it is safe to eat them. Read my post and tell me, “r” or not to “r”! 
6. The most read recipe: Côte de Bœuf (ultimate French meat dish). A classic French dish; so simple but delicious! Now you know where to get your iron boost.
7. My first-ever post!! Thursday night in Paris
8. The most family-oriented post: Franco-Finnish Christmas meal. Christmas in Paris with my parents, husband and French delicacies.
9. The best design object portrayed: Alvar Aalto bell lamps from 1937 find a new home in Paris
10. The post about friendship: Making friends over the Indian Ocean. A story about friendship that developed over the Indian Ocean and developed in Tanzania.
PS If you are on Facebook, why not to follow Pearlspotting there too?
Last fall, upon my brother’s recommendation, I visited a blog specializing in the Paleo diet and found a cauliflower risotto that contains no rice. Today I finally decided to try the recipe, but me being the rebel I am, I had hard time following the instructions. My cauliflower risotto (or a cauliflower side dish, if you prefer) became something between Oriental and Indian, and it is delicious!! Here you go: 
1. Sauté finely chopped onions, garlic, fresh ginger, leek and celery in a pan with coconut oil until the onions turn golden brown.
2. While sautéing, add turmeric, Indian chilly powder, black pepper and Himalayan salt. I added extra ginger powder because I did not have enough fresh ginger root.
3. Add fresh lemon juice and stir. I used an entire lemon.
4. Add raw cauliflower chunks and mix well.
5. Add coconut milk and let it simmer until the cauliflower is soft. Unfortunately I cannot give you the exact duration: it depends on the quantity and how you like your vegetables (I don’t like mine too soft).
Enjoy with whatever your imagination sees it with! We had salmon.
PS If you don’t want your dish turn yellow, then skip turmeric. I added it because it is super good for health.
Cauliflower risotto recipe by Paleokeittiö that I found last fall: http://paleokeittio.fi/2013/10/02/kaali-riisista-risotoksi/ (in Finnish)
Health benefits of turmeric: http://theflexifoodie.wordpress.com/2013/01/15/why-turmeric-is-the-new-kale/
Venice was wonderful and I only have only complaint: there is so much wheat everywhere! Of course nobody forced me to eat all that pizza, pasta, cicchetti and tramezzino, but there is something in the human nature called temptation…
So, this week has been about avoiding gluten. Tonight I prepared a salad that I improvised for my parents over Christmas: it includes salmon, vegetables and nuts, and I am pretty sure it would win the prize for the healthiest salad in the world. This is what it looks like and what you need for making it: 
Healthy Salmon Salad:
Mix these ingredients in a big bowl:
Add according to your taste:
Let them marinate for some time.
Next: I had salmon from our lake in Finland, brought to me by my parents before Christmas (Bringing a little bit of Finnish Christmas to Paris), so I baked an entire salmon in the oven, let it cool down, cut it into small chunks and added them to the salad when they were lukewarm. Alternatively, you could use cold smoked salmon (or any other smoked fish).
Lastly, depending on the type of fish you use, add salt. I sprinkled the salad with truffle-flavored salt, which gave it a very subtle final touch.
***
Lastly, following a common recommendation of French doctors, I suggest you eat the salad with a glass of white wine, ideally organic and French. I had vin primeur by Domaine La Grave, Coteaux de Peyriac (Hauts de Badens) (see Marriage of oysters and nouveau wine) but only your imagination is the limit!
Bon Appétit.
PS The wine glass is Finnish design by Tapio Wirkkala, 1952 (http://iittala.fi/web/Iittalaweb.nsf/fi/tuotteet_juominen_erikoisjuomat_tapio).
Last year we spent Christmas in Paris with my parents who flew over from Finland. Traditional Finnish Christmas meal includes ham but I do not eat ham and my parents were curious to eat like the French, so this is what our Franco-Finnish Christmas meal looked like and consisted of:
1. Champagne for apéritif! My father was responsible for opening the bottle and my mother was ready with her glass (Finnish design, naturally). 
2. We begun with an Elegant amuse-bouche recipe for Christmas that included Russian caviar and scallops tarama:
3. And continued with oysters from Cancale (oysters are an integral part of French Christmas): 
4. From oysters we moved onto foie gras (another integral part of French Christmas!): 
Until now we had been drinking champagne but this is when we switched to sweet white wine by Maison Lorgeril from Languedoc-Roussillon: Le Rêve de Pennautier, “Vendanges d’Après” Vin de France (BLANC MOELLEUX). An excellent choice, a sublime wine!!
5. After the oysters we enjoyed some Finnish smoked salmon….
6. …before moving to our already very famous French Christmas meal: stuffed goose from Les Provinces: 
We also opened another fantastic bottle of Maison Lorgeril from Languedoc-Roussillon: Mas des Montagnes, “Terroirs d’Altitude”, AOC Côtes du Roussillon Villages. This extraordinary red went so well with the goose that we could only say “wow”. And continue eating.
7. After the goose it was finally time to dig into cheese and there is no better time to eat Mont d’Or than Christmas: 
(Unfortunately the wine (red Irancy) was not the most perfect choice to go with the cheese; especially after the previous wine)
8. If you now think we could not eat any more, you are wrong… For dessert, we had marron glacé and calissons: 
with some chocolate and vin chaud: 
Our Christmas was merry and delicious, and I hope yours was too!
If you want to know more about our cooking ingredients etc., have a look at this post too: Christmas meal essentials!
And to learn more about the wines, please go here:
PS If you liked this post, you may want to check out Pearlspotting’s Facebook page! Especially since I am flying to Venice tonight and will be updating from there too.
One of my favorite things to do in Paris is visiting La Grande Epicerie de Paris. Their recent renovation is so stylish and the service impeccable. Not forgetting their sophisticated food items’ offer and regular dégustations…
To add that extra touch of elegance and perfection to our Christmas meal, I did a bit of groceries at La Grande Epicerie de Paris on the Christmas Eve and this was the result: 
From left to the right:
La Grande Epicerie de Paris: http://www.lagrandeepicerie.com/en.html
Traditional Finnish Christmas meal includes an oven-cooked ham but my parents happily followed French traditions while in Paris. Good for me, as I do not eat pork! 
One week before Christmas we visited the boucherie-restaurant Les Provinces near Marché d’Aligre to see what our options for the Christmas meal are. The most typical French Christmas meat (poultry) is capon, a castrated rooster, but the butcher suggested we buy goose. After discussing the choice between the capon and the goose with everyone, we agreed that we prefer goose. Price-wise there was no difference and we had a feeling that the goose will be more original –the goose meat is more reddish brown (similar to duck or duckling) whereas the capon remains white as chicken (but is more fatty). So, “Prepare us a nice big goose with stuffing” we told the butcher and left a 10€ prepayment!
In the afternoon of the Christmas Eve we returned to fetch our stuffed goose and in the late morning of the Christmas Day we opened the package to find a beautiful, fat goose from Anjou with some organs aside for those who appreciate them.
We followed the roasting instructions: higher temperature in the beginning that gives the goose golden color and crispy texture, and lower temperature during the rest of the time with the aluminium foil. We added a glass of water in the casserole and kept moistening the goose with this water (some fat drained from the goose and mixed with the water). 2 1/2 hours later our goose left the oven and was ready to be cut. Such a beautiful piece of goose it was! 
Everyone loved the goose and it will surely find its way to our Christmas table again in future! We enjoyed it with sweetened potato casserole, a Finnish dish, but you could also serve roasted carrots and potatoes or other vegetable with it. The red wine we had was Mas des Montagnes, “Terroirs d’Altitude” AOC Côtes du Roussillon Villages, and it was really excellent!!
The stuffing our goose had included veal, poultry liver, onion, alcohol, herbs and spices, and no pork, but remember that nothing prevents you from creating your own stuffing…
Boucherie-restaurant Les Provinces: Easy Saturday dinner from the Aligre Market
Wine: Maison Lorgeril from Languedoc-Roussillon and http://www.lorgeril.com/2-35542-Terroir-d-Altitude.php
PS As a bonus, here you go with a photo of the organs we prepared some days after Christmas. We recognized liver and gizzard but were not sure about the rest. Do you have an idea? 
The first day of a new year; new opportunities, new beginnings. To make promises or not to make? Continue to wish for a better life? My wish to everyone including myself is very simple: make sure you begin this new year with things you love. Doing things that bring you happiness will make this year a good one!!
After taking my parents to the airport, I prepared a small tapas dinner of ingredients that I love (Russian caviar, French champagne, artichokes, salmon etc.) and I am now going to enjoy it with my husband. Happy new year once more to all of you!!
PS Already following Pearlspotting on facebook?
Champagne in Paris! Big Indian dinner waiting for us at the table!
Happiest new year to all of you and your loved ones!!
Our Franco-Finnish Christmas meal begun with an amuse-bouche of quail eggs. These eggs make an elegant alternative to normal eggs and are pretty easy to find everywhere. We had tarama and black caviar as a topping but only your imagination is limit! Here you go with my recipe:
1. Boil the eggs for 5 minutes. I was under the impression that I should put the eggs into boiling water but when I did this, they cracked. Thankfully I had bought a dozen of eggs, so I boiled new eggs but this time in cold water and in lower temperature. The second time no egg cracked.
2. Peel the eggs. Keep the eggs in cold water for a good 10-15 minutes before you start peeling the shells off. Change the water to keep it cool, if necessary. Once you start peeling, be careful. This is the trickiest part as you can see in the photo above….
3. Cut and place the eggs on a serving platter or a cocktail plate. A tip: have you ever wondered how to make an egg stand still? By cutting a tiny slice off of its bottom!
4. Be a Michelin-starred chef! Think of the presentation and colors. Green always looks great with yellow and white, so I added slices of leek and cucumber.
5. Topping: I added scallop tarama and black Russian caviar on both eggs, with a sprinkle of dill, but I am sure that herring, salmon, dried and smoked meats, cream soft cheese etc. would all marry well with quail eggs! And if you want to make the amuse-bouche a bit more heavier, place the egg slices on a blini….
Voila, the easiest and classiest amuse-bouches are ready to be served with French champagne! Happy Boxing Day everyone.
pearlspotting 