a little taste of summer

This morning I awoke to what I thought was beautiful golden sunshine leaking in through the window, and with more excitement than should be allowed in the mornings I burst out from our warm and cozy bed only to pull back the curtains and realize I had been tricked. In fact the gorgeous glow I thought I was seeing was indeed only the bright light reflecting off the massive heaps of snow on the ground. Cold, dull, large heaps of snow just yelling out to me "you do NOT want to come outside"

And just as I thought I had seen enough snow…it started snowing more. 

I'm sure many would agree that winter days can be beautiful if the sun is shining and the trees are dusted with snow, but those days where the sky is painted gray and the wind is blowing icicles against your face, I believe we all have a tear come to our eye as we dream of the sun and summer warmth.

So there I was….standing in front of the curtains for what seemed to be hours. "Maybe if I stare long enough it'll just….melt itself away???" I foolishly thought to myself.

But alas…sNOw.

So in the absence and reminiscence of warmer days I felt like livening up my winter mood and creating some of my own summer joy. 

During the previous summer I had picked a bucket full of red currant berries from the bush outside our house, and because I wasn't sure yet what I wanted to do with them I stashed them into the freezer for later days. 

and what's this we have here??? could those later days have arrived???

Why yes….I believe they have :)

While pulling them out from the freezer I couldn't help but add a little metaphorical beauty to the situation and imagine those little berries as my own little winter mood. Frozen still in the cold and just waiting for a little warmth to bring us back to life. 

The only question now was….what was I going to make?

And then it hit me…kissell. 

Kissell is kind of like a fruit compote or soup and whether you drink it alone or add it to something, either way it is delicious and very popular in Estonia. 

To be honest I'm actually quite ashamed that after three years of living here this would be my first time making it. But better late than never I suppose. 

I began to boil the fruit but since red currants can be quite tart and bitter I added some strawberries to the mix in hopes to balance it out. At first I was a bit worried as I watched the berries floating around in water and not really doing anything, but as time passed on I started to notice the beautiful mish mash that began taking place. As though the berries were so happy to be warm again that they began to break apart and dance with each other in joy. I was in such a happy mood during the whole process that I didn't even care to notice that I had been walking around with a giant hole in my sock :)

To go along with the kissell I also made kohupiimakreem (which translates to curd cream which I think sounds disgusting at the mention of "curd", so instead let's just say it's called heavens cream)

As soon as everything was finished I plopped a bit of the cream into my bowl, poured some of the warm kissell on top, and felt a rush of pride and warmth come over me as I looked upon the vibrant red soup drooling itself over those fluffy white peaks of cream…..and just like that….summer was here again…….

……..and a tear came to my eye.