(no subject)

I made a mass of cupcakes with my favourite chocolate cake recipe yesterday (only 37, then I ran out of cupcake papers and had to make a cake with the rest) and my whole plan was flung into DISASTER to discover I didn't have any confectioner's sugar! I looked around google for granulated sugar frosting recipes - to no avail. They all required cream of tartar or else boiling syrup or sugar to a candy consistency before beating it for a really long time with egg whites. It's not my kind of frosting. Fortunately there are a few stores open today. If the nearby gas station doesn't have it the K-market on Aningaisgatan probably will. What I really want is a rainbow of brilliant pastel frostings and different sprinkles, but I only have two food colourings and you can only buy that at pharmacies. But hopefully I can get some sprinkls.

PSA: exchange rates for US dollar

So... the dollar's really incredibly weak right now, huh? Everybody who isn't American, this is a great time to mail order things from America. For instance, it's almost $2 (USD) =£1 (GBP) right now, and a similar rate for the Euro. Check the exchange rate on that band merch you were dying for, cause it might be suddenly cheap!

On the other hand if you're American and were thinking of ordering something internationally, or leaving the country, my advice is: don't. You probably want to wait a while. Maybe the rates will be more stable, say, after the election. So - in a year.

Or if you were me and were thinking of using the money in your American checking account to order some to-die-for shoes from the UK, forget it. Give it up. You can never have those shoes, ever. I hope I'll live with the disappointment.

easily doctor bland store-bought salsa to make it good

I'm a chips and salsa fiend. It was my favourite food for most of my life, and for large portions of my teenaged years I consumed, on average, one bag of tortilla chips and one bag of salsa a day (I've still always been underweight, even though that's in addition to three meals. Fucking metabolism). Fresh salsa is my favourite, but I can't have fresh garlic in the house because it nauseates my better half unbearably, and I'm not mean like that.

And the only salsa I can easily buy here in Finland is Old El Paso medium-hot chunky stuff. Which is perfectly tolerable! I mean, it could be worse! It could be Pace picante, for Bob's sake. But it's really unsatisfying nonetheless.

And then today, looking at half a jar of said OEP med, it came to me: a brainstorm! I poured in a quarter cup or so of water, a tablespoon of chili powder, a teaspoon of garlic powder, a tablespoon of dried cilantro leaves (these are called "coriander leaves" in Swedish and Finnish - korianterisomething, I think. Anyway, it's the same plant. Cilantro is the name for the leaves; coriander refers to the seeds), a generous dash of lemon juice and some salt. Then I screwed the top back on and shook it vigorously.

And now it's actually good. Not nearly as good as a flavourful roasted chile salsa or fresh salsa cruda, but as good as a fairly good bottled salsa.