Hug an Estonian Week

I found out today that Hug an Estonian Week is this week and it's nearly over.  But someone at work found out and alerted my colleagues, so I have been getting hugs today.

Tallinn

This is a painting in my parents home.  It's a painting of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.

This is a photo of the same place taken by my friend CP on our visit in 2005.  Slightly different angle, but you can see how close the painting is to the real thing.

Chick Bass Player - It's in My Blood!

Picture posted on Eeesti Stiil. Taken in 1968 in Estonia.  I'm probably not related to them, but you never know!  It's just cool to see female bass players, especially from 40 years ago.

2 photos

Here are 2 little wooden toys I treasure.  

This horse and cart was given to me by my Estonian Grandfather.  I can remember him pulling it down from a high shelf thing above a doorway in his Epping house and giving it to me when I was about ten.  I don't know how old it is or where it originally came from.  I was practicing with depth of field photography.  It's sitting on my bed and is about 2.5 inches in length.

This is an Estonian dolly.  It's only about 2 inches high.  I think my mother brought it back from Estonia for me when she visited there with her mother, brother and sister in 1985.  Estonia was still under Soviet rule back then so they got followed around everywhere by Russian spies and weren't allowed to stay with relatives, and my uncle quite strongly believes they got gassed in their hotel room, but they got out and complained about it and it stopped.

The Singing Revolution

Makes me proud of my half Estonian-ness. Watch the preview.

Estonian food

My Mum, being Estonian, likes to eat strange things. And the rest of our family all like it too. We eat seafood on Christmas day, but on days surrounding Christmas we eat this -





These things aren't exclusively Estonian. They are popular in many European countries.

Starting with the pink stuff - Rosolje (Estonian name) - Russian beetroot and potato salad, containing herring, pickle, egg and probably other things I'm not aware of.

The green thing - Pickled cucumber. Easy to buy here, but hard to get the ones Mum likes. She likes pickles in brine, not vinegar.

Next going clockwise - Sauerkraut

Salami Sticks

Jarlsberg cheese

And most importantly - the fish - anchovy. This is NOTHING like the anchovies you put on pizza. These are pickled whole herrings, and are best eaten by holding by the tail and tilting your head back, as demonstrated below by my brother. Eat the whole thing, head, guts and tail.

Yum. And the jar you can see at the bottom. We used to buy these easily in supermarkets in Brisbane, but now they are hardly to be seen. I have to get them from Cyril's Fine Foods in Haymarket. Cyril has all the good stuff. Including pickles in brine.