random thoughts – Day 2,378 (Sunday) – tori day

Tori at Saima Park.

The quest of visiting fall events continues. It’s the crazy time of year when everything is happening at once before the season turns to winter and bad weather can sweep in and really mess up the best planned events. Attending the Lowell Kinetic Sculpture Race on Saturday meant missing the Johnny Appleseeed Festival in Leominster. After I was home from Lowell, I learned there was also an Indie Book Festival in nearby Winchendon, but it was too late to get to it before it ended. Maybe next year.

Today was the Tori (Finnish Market) at Saima Park from 10-2. For a few years I had dance class on Sunday mornings until noon and by the time I left class, the car would just autopilot home and I would be just far enough away when I remembered the tori that it felt too late to turn back.

This morning, I got my arse into gear and dressed for the chilly damp weather. It was drizzling with rain predicted for later, which I thought would keep the attendance low, but at around 10:30, the place seemed crowded. An attendant directed cars to the few open spots on the lawn near the pavilion, but I found a spot outside the gate and grabbed it. My hair was still damp from the shower and a walk in the drizzle wasn’t going to make it any worse. My friend who was working at the event thought maybe more people had come early to avoid the heavier rain predicted for the afternoon.

Tori haul.

Vendor tables lined the perimeter under the pavilion with another island of tables set in the center. My first target was The Kitchen Garden’s table for coffee bread and rusk, which is hard toasted thin slices of coffee bread, and probably the Finnish equivalent of biscotti in texture, which usually sells out early. This bakery is one or two towns away from home and I can get these items almost any time I want, but it’s more fun to get it at the tori while looking at a bunch of other stuff. The cinnamon rolls and other sweets were successfully resisted.

There was local honey and beeswax candles; handknit hats and scarves; decorative items; handcrafted tonttu (Finnish gnome); dishware made in Finland (Arabia) and candle holders (iitala); photography; and decor. One vendor had mugs, placemats, dish towels, tee shirts, woven straw decorations, plastic license plate holders declaring "Proud to be Finnish" and "Finn Driver", and tons of other things, and I bought some coasters and a painted tile.

At another table I bought Karjalanpiirakka (Karelian pasty of rice porridge baked in a rye crust). We made these in the Finnish language class I used to take. I know how to make them, but for one person it’s just enough work and enough of a yield to be too much. Buying four already made pasties was much more reasonable. As soon as I got home, they were heated for brunch. Maybe I’ll make some for Thanksgiving or Christmas when a lot of us gather and I won't be dealing with storing and eating dozens of them.

Baked mac and cheese.

The dreary weather inspired cooking and a macaroni and cheese dish was baked using all sorts of random cheese bits in the freezer for exactly this reason. Provolone, America, feta, and sharp cheddar all went into the mix with parmesan and paprika on top. I meant to add cottage cheese but I forgot to take it out of the fridge and in my world, it’s often out of sight, out of mind, as the saying goes. 

In any event, it was gooey, warm comfort food for supper on a yucky day. Tomorrow, most of it will be packaged for the freezer for future fast meals and cruddy days.