The longest day and shortest night
Yesterday was a furlough day, today is the midsummer public holiday and I will have at least Monday off on furlough too, so a 5 day weekend is pretty good - though the money sucks.
Midsummer here is one of the biggest party weekends of the year and one that I quite like, as it is far more about friends and family and generally, people will head off to a summer cabin with a small group of familiars to grill and cook. We are heading to the neighbor in the afternoon with some of the local families joining us.
Where we are located is aroun 600 kilometres south of the arctic circle, so we don't get the full midnight sun here, something I haven't experienced - but I have been in the eternal night in the winter. However, the days are "pretty long" here too and you can see from the chart below what is happening. Technically, Tomorrow is the longest day of the year as it is 12 seconds longer than today - but with today being 19.5 hours long, I don't think those 12 seconds will be that noticeable. If I remember correctly, the fastest rate of change in the light is around 45 minutes a week in either direction and even after 17 years in Finland, it always feels like it gets light fast and then, suddenly it is dark again.
Traditionally, the weather sucks for most midsummer weekends, but this year we have some lovely 25-26C (80F) weather, so I took @smallsteps down to the lake beach for a swim. It is only a couple hundred metres from the house, so we don't have to have a "day at the beach" and instead, can just run down for a quick dip to cool off. While cooler than our apartment in the summer, our house is still pretty warm although it seems far less oppressive than in the apartment building, which is likely because we do have more airflow here, whereas the apartment didn't have windows on both sides.
@smallsteps likes walking this short boardwalk to the beach and today there were dozens of tiny blue dragonflies buzzing around, but I didn't have time, nor my camera to get some shots. Maybe tomorrow.
When I was growing up, my parents didn't take us often to places where there is water and as a result, I never learned to swim well and have a bit of an aversion to being in the water. Drowning and being resuscitated on my 8th birthday, likely has something to do with this too. I don't want @smallsteps to feel the same though so, I encourage her to play in the water a lot more than my parents did me and I think she is pretty good with it in general, as we had her in swimming classes
My wife and I bought her a floaty toy and she was pretty happy, because watermelon is a new addition to her diet (though she can't eat too much). She is one of those kids that is (unless grumpy) a joy to be around, she is talkative and intelligent and a bit of a cheeky smartass - I have a feeling that the "sarcasm force" is strong in her.
We could stay long though, because I have some pavlovas to prepare for the evening and with about 15 people, there will have to be at least two prepped. I love pavlovas which is lucky, as it is the only cake I know how to make well. I could literally eat one to myself if given the opportunity. These will have strawberries, blueberries and perhaps some rhubarb from our garden on them. The first is in the oven now and I will decorate them on site, so I don't have any pictures of the finished product. I will take my camera to the barbecue though, so will try to grab one.
What I like about pavlova is that they are extremely easy to cook as long as being careful to not have oil or egg yolk in the whites when whipping and, they are kind of rustic. It isn't about being super polished in appearance, it is more about the enjoyment of the flavors. I like to bake mine so the surface is a little crisp and supports the whipped cream well, as the change in texture in the mouth is good. That, and the browning process caramelizes the sugar and gives a variation in flavor between the edge and the marshmallowy center. I play around with ingredients and amounts slightly, but this recipe is a pretty good base to start from if you want to give it a go.
Oh, as I was saying, if you get egg yolk or there is even a little bit of oil in the whites, they will not whip to the stiff peaks necessary, no matter how much you scream while beating them - I have tried.
Well, I am off to get the other one started while the first will get pulled out of the oven. I should let it cool down in the oven so that it doesn't cool too fast and collapse, but I just don't have time today to do that, which means I might very well end up with a doormat of a base, but once cream and the berries are on, no one will care while eating it.
Do you celebrate midsummer in your region? Any traditions?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Enjoy the day/evening/night!
I know what you mean with “even after 17 years”. I’ve now been living more southern, closer to the equator for more than a decade and I still find that it gets dark so early (6PM). Obviously, my brain has totally nuked memories of late autumn and winter in western Central Europe though.
I forget what that is like, but I do remember the warm nights out in the city -drunk
I think it is interesting that I already feel like the summer is over as it is only maybe two months more before that bite returns to the breeze - I am becoming a Finn :D
#PoSh
https://twitter.com/tarazkp1/status/1273939742598496256
Yum! You have been curated by @anggreklestari on behalf of FoodiesUnite.net on #Hive. Thanks for using the #foodie tag. We are a tribe for the Foodie community with a unique approach to content and community and we are here on #Hive.
Join the foodie fun! We've given you a FOODIE boost. Come check it out at @foodiesunite for the latest community updates. Spread your gastronomic delights on PEAKD.com and claim your tokens.
Join and Post through the Community and you can earn a FOODIE reward.
Thank you very much :)
Just searched pavlova and it looks so delicious! :D
Also sorry you almost drowned, really scary :( Glad that Smallsteps is learning early to be comfortable with water. It's certainly one of first things to teach kids for their safety and how to float when too tired to swim. Good luck!
It really is, try it!
It was, but when I was resuscitated the real fear kicked in and the first thing I told the person who saved me (the only one around) was, "don't tell my mum"
We have some way to go, but the baby swimming lessons when she was young helped her a lot.
Enjoy the weekend - celebrate even if there is nothing to celebrate :)
Thank you, you too :) I just made a tiny nutella cake from this recipe(1st one):
Swimming lessons are awesome :D
Aww I know the panic/fear reaction.
nutella cake sounds like something I could do! :D
Oh I have a fear of drowning too😱Glad to see that you encourage your daughter to try new things despite your childhood experiences.
That path with flowers looks amazing, I am eager to see some dragonflies pictures from you😍
I think it's nice to celebrate things, especially if you have a different summer there than most of us do in other parts of Europe.
I never made Pavlova before, nice to see you got skills in that area too.
I think the sarcasm force smallsteps has in her must come from the good genes from her parents. You are a good writer and I think she might get that from you. Will be interesting to see how she grows and develops her personality.
I think it is similar to most northern areas, but we are so north that the light makes a big difference :)
It is so easy, even I can do it. Give it a go, it is the perfect summer dessert.
I am hoping that she is much smarter than me - at least makes better mistakes :D
Enjoy your weekend!
I am sure she has a good example in both of you. Can you see the northern lights well from Finland?
Yes, when it is dark. Less often where I am , but a few nights a year I try to get some pictures and end up mostly just driving around waiting :D Up north, it is far easier and more likely to see them. Every time I see them I feel special - they are magical.
Uuuu nice. I saw them in Norway but they look better on camera than in reality. I was lucky to see a more intense green aurora from the plane while going to norway lol😂
Good morning dear friend @tarazkp
What a good weekend ahead, the best of all you can enjoy with the company of family and friends, the summer cabins is always a good option
Unbelievable, I had heard of the midnight sun, but never experienced it. it must be a beautiful feeling
Good that this year they will have good weather and that you have been able to take your girl to the beach, having a beach nearby is a real privilege
Children love butterflies, dragonflies and the paths between nature, your girl is growing in a place that will remember her whole life for how beautiful she looks
The recipe sounds very good, without a doubt it would have been delicious, you enjoy it a lot
I wish you an excellent weekend
It is. If you ever have the chance to travel north in the summer, you will love it :)
Thanks you, so far so good :) Have a good one yourself!
The pictures of the baby are adorable. You are lucky enough to be living in such a blessed by nature place.
It is a very nice nature here, it would be great if the rest of the world was able to be its best too.
So true!
Hyvää juhannusta! 🤗
Kiitos! matkalla?
Wow. The concept of longer days seems like fantasy on my side of the world.
We only have 2 seasons here so no midsummer.
I come from the tropics of Australia, so it is wet or dry season there too. Do you have any "nature" celebrations?
We have our nature celebrations.
In the riverine areas there's a festival to celebrate the arrival of the rainy season.
There are also festivals to commemorate planting seasons.
I think because Australia is so diverse culturally, nothing really stuck from the past traditions.
My father never learned to swim so we ALL knew how. I'm still a reasonably strong swimmer. I can appreciate both sides of that coin.
Today is Junteenth in the US. On June 19th, 1865 (about 3 months after the end of our civil war) Union troops finally made it to South Texas to free the very last of the slaves. It's looking like it will be a national holiday by this time next year.
I'm about 700 miles north of the tropic of Cancer and 800 south of the 45th parallel, so our days and nights are way closer to the same all year long. Like 0530 and 1949 today. I'm leaving today and will get about 250 miles north of the 45th by next week. Days are much longer there.
I'm going to be very sporadic for the next 3 weeks or so. You and smallsteps take care of yourselves.
Oh, you come from a normal family :D
I have never heard of this before. Might be something @galenkp may want to look into.
Enjoy your travels and take lots of photos! :)
Classic opposites there buddy, compared to mid winter here, though the temperature is also around 20 degrees C here for mid winter. Sunset after 11pm... whoa that is so extreme. Do you need to have extra thick curtains to keep it dark so that you can sleep? I do that even here on a normal night as I like the pitch dark to sleep. I would not survive there and probably go manic lol.
It is the equivalent of Christmas here I suppose. No real solstice festivals or celebrations other than that though. So I may have a little Christmas party this weekend with two friends.
Ideally, yes. I have always installed them, but we haven't done it at this house yet as we are all sleeping in the wrong rooms until the renovation is done. my daughter is in the office, my wife and I the dining room.
Some do, but quite a lot of people adjust quite well as it also tends to come with a different attitude in the summer. They say there are 10 million Finns, 5 million in the summer, 5 million in the winter.
Enjoy the weekend!
I swim like a fish. As a child some "friends" bumped me into the deep end of the local council swimming pool.
It was swim or die. So I paddled to the side and discovered that I could swim.
Now here's the thing. This Pavlova thing of yours looks suspiciously like a thing that we call a "Meringue" over here. I don't eat the stuff.
My first experience with it was that an aunt dished up a nice big slice for me and I was very happy that I got such a big slice of cake. We hardly ever got cake at home.
Surprise, surprise, when I took a bite the cake dissappeared in my mouth.
Marian likes it and she explained to me that it has a texture of dissolving. Now who wants to eat dissolving cake?
Another thing that I don't touch is Christmas "Mince Pies". I once again was happy to be given a mince pie as a boy, but was aghast after the first bite to taste that there was no minced meat in it.
Funny how distastes as a child can stay with one throughout the years!
Glad that you guys took the little blessing for swimming lessons!
But as usual, each to his own and I hope you guys enjoyed the gathering!
Swim or die - I "died" :) Well, technically, I swam into the middle of the pool just after learning to swim and ran out of steam - I struggled for a bit and ended up just succumbing to the water. I had my eyes open and looked at the sky above. The thing that stuck with me was how calm I was once I surrendered to the inevitable.
It is a meringue, but it is soft - like marshmallow inside. It is perfect for summer weather :)
I am not a big fan of mince pies wither - but I haven't had a proper meat pie for over a decade. Australians make good meat pies in my opinion.
It is also interesting how they develop. I wonder how many children would gladly take another sip of coffee, wine or beer over a glass of juice or a hot chocolate
That must have been terrifying in that pool.
No wonder that you stay away from swimming.
At least the pavlova has someting edible inside it.
Yeah, mince pies suck, but meat pies are great and I also love them.
Now that last part is a bit confusing about children rather optimizing a coffee or booze instead of juice or hot chocolate?
I presume you are talking about children as adults?
In that case juice and hot chocolate will be better for them.
We had syrup and peanut butter sandwiches every day and I have never touched them again as an adult.
Weirdly calming.
I poorly phrased that, if children tasted beer, wine, coffee, cigarettes etc, most wouldn't want another taste. I don't think the first sip of alcohol tastes good to anyone - you have to learn to drink.
Syrup?
Peanut butter and strawberry jam are one of my favourites, as well as cream cheese and strawberry jam - and crumpets with butter and honey--- I am hungry and I haven't eaten any of these in 20 years :D
Calming because you surrendered my friend.
I felt the same with a cocked gun against my head.
Ah! Yeah, I agree as we would have many less alcoholics :)
Marian also likes that stuff, but like I said peanut butter gives me bad memories.
They call it "Golden Syrup", very sweet sticky stuff.
Now imagine that you have a sandwich in your school case that you can only eat at first break. So, from 6am to the first break at 9am, your case is often standing in the African sun.
By the time you get to eat it, the syrup has crystalized and made the thin sandwich as hard as stone. So there you go as how well I remember the taste of a hard rocky sandwich with watery peanut butter dripping out of it.
I love pavlova! Yum. I hoped it didn't deflate, because if you ask me, it is nowhere near as good.
Lovely walk too!
I don't know why. But for some reason I have the hunch that this post and specially some of the selected pictures, are here just to pull the tongue to someone out there and gain extra engagement. };D
We used to have solstice and equinox feasts for a little while (basically just put on a spread and the house was open for the day, people could drop by when they wanted, some brought more food, and we would just chill and chat and kids would play), and then J decided he cba anymore and seeing as he's the one that caters (I do the cleaning) it just stopped happening which I'm kind of sad about but what to do.
Simultaneously giggled and felt for you about the whites not whipping to peaks no matter how much you scream at it XD That would be me because I would not be able to cleanly separate the eggy bits and also I try to avoid being in kitchens for too long as things would probably spontaneously combust in my presence XD
Wow your boardwalks are literal boardwalks XD
Oh how I miss those long summer evenings, It's taken me a while to adjust to early sunsets here in the Philippines. This time of year in the UK we would be down the beach for 6pm BBQ and surf session and still have time for a chill while watching the slow sunset, have a good weekend fella.