Kicksledding at Governor General’s Winter Celebration!
The Embassy of Finland had the pleasure to participate in the Winter Celebration at Rideau Hall on Saturday January 28th. Once again, we brought out our kicksleds and once again, they were a big hit!
To kick off Finland 100 celebrations in Canada, we handed out Finland 100 hockey pucks for the first hundred visitors at our tent. Ambassador Lehtonen also had the pleasure to give one to his Excellency the Right Honorable David Johnston.
Canada 150 organization was present at the Winter Celebration as well and we changed pucks.
During the day visitors got to taste both traditional Finnish pea soup and Finnish mead – sima. Many people asked for the recipes so we decided to share them below. Enjoy!
SIMA - TRADITIONAL FINNISH MEAD
Ingredients
2 lemons
4 liters of water
250g brown sugar
250g granulated sugar
5 g fresh yeast
To the bottles: 1 teaspoon raisins (1 tsp / 1 bottle)
1 teaspoon sugar (1 tsp / 1 bottle)
Directions
- Wash the lemons well with a brush and warm water.
- Peel the lemons carefully, use only yellow peel, not white skin, it gives bitterness.
After peeling, remove white skin carefully from the top of the fruit, then slice the lemons.
- Bring to a boil in a saucepan half of the water. Lift the kettle off the slide.
- Add the sugar and the lemon slices. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the rest of the water cold.
- Take a small cup of water with a splash and dissolve the yeast in it.
- Add the yeast mixture among the pale liquid.
- Let it run at room temperature for 12-24 hours. Strain the mead.
- Put well washed bottles teaspoons of sugar and raisins.
- Put the mead into bottles, cork and store in a cool place. Do not twist the caps too tight.
- Mead is ready to drink in about a week
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TRADITIONAL FINNISH PEA SOUP
Ingredients
50 g bacon, small dice
1 large white onion, small dice
100g butter
500g yellow split peas
3L water to start, more as needed
Salt to taste at the end of cooking
Directions
- Cook the bacon over medium heat until rendered.
- Add the onions and cook over low heat until translucent.
- Add water and butter and bring to a boil, simmer until the lentils are quite tender.
- Add more water as needed to reach the desired consistency and season with salt to taste.