Happy Finnish Independence Day

 Today is independence day in Finland.  We would not normally celebrate this but one kind friend has sent me two biscuit cutters in the shape of Finland and I needed an excuse to use them, so yesterday we made a few batches of butter cookies and iced them with Finnish flags.  My youngest has been sent in to school with a box full and a map of Finland.  We primed her with a bit of Finnish history beforehand and  lots of practice in saying  itsenäisyyspäivä.  We also spent the afternoon making riisipiirakka (Karelian rice pies).  These are real peasant food that come from the region of Finland that we lived in.  They are served hot or cold with hardboiled egg and butter or smoked salmon or ham.  We love them and I have not made them for a couple of years as I found them so difficult, but yesterday's batch went very well and I am inspired to make them again.  


Sadly, I was not taught to make these by a Finn, but by an Australian whose Finnish mother-in-law taught her. None of my Finnish friends made them, only their mothers or grandparents, which is sad because there is nothing like home-made ones hot out of the oven.


One small bit info that might be a little too much knowledge but riisipiirakka have been described as looking like a certain part of a woman's anatomy.  I'll let you be the judge of that!