Thursday, April 14, 2005

Finland Trip - part 3

I just re-read that last post and it was a marathon. I promise to keep this installment more manageable.

After the sauna and a long cool down, we went off to dinner in the main house. Each course was served w/ a different variation of booze.

Starter = Wild Mushroom and Cream soup plus homebrew Vodka. Turns out the mushrooms are illegal in most countries as they are highly poisonous unless cooked 8 times. Just think of the brutal culinary Darwinian process that killed off cooks who tested cooking 1 through 7 times. Tasted great and the homebrew was less caustic than the previous batch.

Interlude = A thimble size shot glass that we were warned not to 'touch, smell, look at or handle'. After he said a short prayer we all shotgunned it. Not much flavor (a hint of anise maybe?) and low alcohol. We were then told it was a 'male energy' supplement and it was 'better than Viagra'. No idea the contents and no comment on its positive or negative effect.

Dinner = Roast Wild Bird (Google 'Capercaille' its like a Finnish peacock) with mashed potatoes, Lingonberries, Carrots and Squash with Homemade Blueberry wine. Great flavor to the bird, I even enjoyed the gizzards.

Dessert = Lappish Cheese, Cream and Cloudberries w/ Homebrew Jet Fuel. Cloudberries are like an extra tart, orange raspberry and only grow where it is cold as to stop molecular motion. Lappish cheese is made from 'the early milk of a reindeer' which I think is referring to colostrum. Either that or milk from a young reindeer mother, it was not clear. Its a little curdy and sweet but not too sweet. Its served slightly warmed over cream. Very rich and with the berries is amazing. The Homebrew he did the throw in the fire and make an explosion thing again. It is the strongest booze I have ever encountered.

After dinner the Shaman had us close our eyes and he played a drum through the room. It was a very deep, bass sound and he came up behind each person and played a kind of hypnotic rhythm just behind your head making a surround sound kind of effect that was intense. The drum is painted with all kinds of scenes from the Shaman's life and it can tell the future or something.

On the way home we spooked his reindeer herd and they ran along the trail in front of us for a few KMs. I wondered briefly if it was real or the mushrooms.

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