Friday, February 14, 2014

3 in 1: On Valentine's Day, Estonian Sweets and a Celebration Giveaway

Hey you all! Since this month is all about Estonian Fridays on Little Pieces of Imagination, I was planning on talking about how Valentine's Day is celebrated here and what it means etc. Also, since Mel asked about sweets and stuff, I could perhaps include this into the post. Because Valentine's Day and sweets go together like salt and pepper. Ok, yes, I couldn't come up with a better example, but still. Anyhow, moving on...

Valentine's Day

While Valentine's Day is usually known as a romantic holiday and lovers all across the world declare their undying love and care for each other, gift flowers and make romantic gestures etc. Do we have it? Yes, absolutely! If you're dating someone, live together or are married--whichever it is, you will most likely be spending the evening with them. As you can imagine, there are lots of um, romance packets like a romantic weekend at a spa (this was actually offered as a winning prize on one of the radio channels' Valentine's Day game this year) or a luxuriuos dinner somewhere etc.

However, for us, single people (and even the ones who aren't single), Valentine's Day here means the celebration of any kind of love not just romance wise. Whether it's your parents or siblings or friends, especially friends, you let them know how much you care. I used to start a week early with all the card making and baked all kinds of cakes, cupcakes, sweets for my friends and brought them to school and to swimming practice (if you didn't know, I went swimming for 8 years until the end of HS and was on the team for many years) etc. I still do that, but not so excessively. I just let people know that I care and think about them via text, phone call, face to face conversations etc. I still own a big card collection that I have collected over the years and it's so awesome to read these years later. Here are some of them:


This year I'm spending my Valentine's Day evening at work and then I have no plans whatsoever. We'll see how it rolls after I get off from work.

Sweets

So, sweets? I went a little crazy yesterday after my lecture was done at uni by going to the supermarket and finding all sorts of Estonian sweets for you to look at. My favorite Estonian sweets are definitely by Kalev. It's a huge sweets factory that makes all kinds of chocolate, candy and other sweets. I think it's also the oldest here as well. Every time I go somewhere abroad where I know that people will have to host me, I always bring something by Kalev. And people eat them like it's the last food left on Earth lol, because it's so good. You can check out their home page here. They have all their products listed there and even recipes to try at home etc. Anyhow, pictures, right? (Lol! I went to the mall yesterday and took pictures, people looked at me like I was nuts, but whatever! What I wouldn't do for blogging and you guys, right? ;))


There are lots of cakes in the big (and small, if you're lucky) supermarkets and depending on the supermarket, they can be extremely delicious! Some of them are made in the supermarket while some are bought in. One bakery Pagaripoisid (in English meaning Bakery Boys) makes some of the best cakes I have ever tasted and you can never go wrong with theirs. BTW! They have their own shop in the Old Town and when you're a tourist, you'll most likely be visiting the Old Town so be sure to look for their little shop. You won't regret going there!

On the right you can see some of Kalev's sweets. There were just so many that I couldn't have put them to one picture to save my life lol, plus there were so many people in that aisle and I didn't want to bother them, so yes. Imagine it being about 5-6 times bigger just for this brand.


So I made pictures of my favorites. The left one--that's my current favorite. Almond in mint flavoured milk chocolate. They just melt in your mouth and are so so so good! On the right I took a picture of my childhood favorite--the chocolate buttons. They're covered with these sweet little pearls and that's one of the things my grandma used to get me for my birthdays.



Then there is the legendary Maiuspala (which in translation means Sweet Piece). It's a praline candy covered with Indian nuts that have been coloured green with natural food colours. It's one of the most loved sweets here and if you're expecting an Estonian to visit you, you can almost always be certain that this will be one of the sweets that one's going to bring you ;) The picture with the back of the box on it has a story about the product. I hope you can read it when you click on it.



Then there are these--a bit more expensive candies than the ones showcased above. There were lots of others, but far too many to take pictures of and usually there's a wide selection of them so you can choose one to your liking. The Vana Tallinn one is um, with liquor. It's like this, um.. legendary liquor that is put into ice creams and candies in addition to just, you know.. drinking it lol.



Then I took two pictures above. These are the kids' favorites. Draakoni (Dragon) and Mesikäpp (Honey Paw) are extremely popular among kids. The Dragon one is this.. I'm not sure how you call it. Like a mix between a candy and a gum, but you can swallow it, so it's not really a gum.. It's weird, but they're tasty and I loved them when I was a kid. If you know how to call them, tell me below in the comments lol. Then the Honey Paw line includes waffles, candies, chocolate and even oreo-alike cookies with chocolate and vanilla fillings.


And LOL. I took a picture of two of my favorite ice creams. The upper one is vanilla flavour with maple syrup and Greek nuts and the one below as you can guess is chocolate-mint flavoured ice cream with chocolate filling. Yummm!!!! Also, since I bought some bread I took a picture of the black bread. I know that people in UK/US (and elswhere) think that they know what black bread is, but oh, no! You do not, trust me :D There are so many types of bread here--white, brown, black, in all forms and sizes and flavours. Like, when you come here, you must try the black bread because it's most likely not like anything you have tasted before. If you're from Skandinavia or the Baltic region, yes, that's basically the same here and there, but if you're from anywhere else? Try it! :)

Giveaway

So since today, for me, is a celebration of friendship among other things, I wanted to thank you all for making blogging amazing and just being plain awesome in general and what better way to celebrate than offering books, right? ;) Right! Here are some of the sweetest romances I have ever read and which also feature some other important topics not just an adorable romance. I'll be offering a paperback to one lucky winner who will get to choose a book to one's liking. International as long as The Book Depository ships to you.




27 comments:

  1. Woop woop, thanks for answering my question! I always love to see different types of sweets. I think I would really like the Maiuspala one. Praline <3 Yum! The Draakoni and Mesikäpp have adorable packaging :D

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    1. Ha! Thanks for asking it lol. I had so much fun crafting this post :) and totally agreed! Mesikäpp is just too darn adorable ;)

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  2. Aww! You are the sweetest, Siiri. I don't have a creative bone in my body so I can't make anything like cards, but I do celebrate it with friends and family. Today, I'm going to watch the Lego Movie with another single friend of mine and I can't wait to have some fun. :)
    Those sweets! *_* I want everything!
    Happy Valentine's Day, Siiri! <3

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    1. HA! I'm watching Rapunzel tomorrow. I think. It's on TV and I didn't see it in a theatre so. Yay! ;) You too, love! <3

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  3. Kalev is one of the best chocolates ever :3 I'm going to visit Estonia next week by the way :)

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    1. You are? That's awesome! I hope you have a great time here:)

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  4. I want those delicious looking chocolate buttons Siiri! We did not have time to explore sweets when we were there, so clearly that's cause for another trip:) I could eat pretty much every one of those cakes you took a picture of, they all look yummy, and now I'm craving sweets. Damn you. Sorry you have to work tonight, but I hope you get to do something else fun this weekend my friend!

    Happy Valentine's Day! <3

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    1. YOU MUST JENNY!!!! I really hope you make it back here someday :) You too, sweets! <3

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  5. It's so cool that you still have all your cards. I'm still a kid at heart and would love to be able to still send those little kid valentines day cards. I would go with Frozen cards this year.
    Those sweets look yummy!

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  6. I shouldn't have read this post before dinner - all those delicious-looking sweets are making my mouth water! Seriously, they all look so amazing and good. Dammit, I'm going to need to find chocolate somewhere now. I'm totally blaming you, haha.

    In all seriousness though, I love your post! <3

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  7. Mmm, those sweets sound delicious. I wish we had more of those types of sweets here in Canada. Haha, we just have your standard candies. It's also super cute that you create your own Valentines for your friends :)

    Lovely post, and I hope you have a great Valentine's Day!

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  8. I am loving these posts about Estonia. And now I want chocolate and cake and that ice cream with maple and nuts!
    Happy Valentine's Day, Siiri!

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  9. Oh this is such a awesome post Siiri! And that is so cool how if you're not with somebody on Valentines day, you can just share your love with anyone! And how amazing does all those sweets and chocolates look? I love visiting different places and just shopping for chocolate, when I went to Prague I had so much fun browsing. I hope you bought loads to eat whilst you're reading! Happy Valentines day hun!

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  10. thanks for the giveaway andhappy valentines! :3

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  11. Oh now my list for once I visit Estonia is coming nicely together. First thing first, find Kalev products. Most of these seem like something we do have here, but I guess they taste better there :) Those cakes look delicious!!! I'll bring one to you once I visit ;) Thanks for sharing this, dear :)

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  12. And now you've made me crave chocolate, Siiri! Love the cake shaped as a heart with the cherries in the middle. So pretty! Lovely post, and thanks for sharing this little glimpse into Estonia again! I won't enter the giveaway because I have all the books, but they are a lovely selection, some are favorites for me! :)

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  13. Thank you so much for the giveaway! All the little treats made me crave sweets. The little cards remind me of elementary school when we would make awesome bags and everyone would put cards and candy in everyone else's bag.

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  14. Thanks for the giveaway! So many sweet things in this post. That chocolate just inspired me to go get sth to eat! Hehe :)

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  15. Wow. I LOVE this post! I <3 sweets and it's always fun to check out what kinds of sweets are famous in other countries.If only I could taste them too somehow. Lol.
    The heart shaped cakes look so cute (and yummy~) and Maiuspala looks like a must try. Esp. since I love pralines <333 And those Draakoni dragons are so adorable. I don't like mint, BUT ice-cream with maple syrup!!! *dies* IThe next time I make ice cream I'll add some. Hm. I'm actually not a huge fan of black bread but maybe they make it differently there (don't think so though)

    Happy Belated Valentine's Day, Siiri!

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  16. Can I have all these sweets? :D
    I'm addicted of them :D
    Thanks for this wonderful post and amazing giveaway! :)

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  17. SO MANY SWEETS.
    I'm kind of a dessert freak and gah this post is killing me. I might have to go to Estonia just to eat all these delicious looking treats haha. I kinda want to try black bread! I actually hadn't heard about it before you mentioned it on this post, so I googled it and in some of the pictures it sort of looks like chocolate cake lol. Although then again, I've only ever have white bread so not sure if I'd like it :P

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  18. I want to visit you just to go candy shopping MMMMM. Love that you did this post! So fun to see how people celebrate holidays all over the world. I think you should do this Estonian Friday indefinitely! Or at least revive it on holidays. I've got to say though, I'm a big fan of gummy candies still and I'm an adult. Those kids ones you showed us look mighty good to me. But CHOCOLATE is a forever favorite YUM. It sounds like your Valentines Day is a lot like ours, though maybe even more of a big deal. I feel like a lot of people here purposefully don't celebrate. But I love to get flowers and celebrate the love of friends and family. That card collection of yours is wonderful. I can't wait to see what you post about next!

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  19. OMG, those chocolates!!!!! I'm in serous danger of drooling on the screen right now. :D Maiuspala sounds like a real treat!

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  20. Great post. I am not much on Valentines day but I love books! :)

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  21. Ah, now you made me hungry :D
    I need to visit Estonia one day and taste it all. Thanks for hosting this amazing giveaway :)

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  22. Such a sweet post :D Thanks for the giveaway!!!

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