I have been too busy to post recently; however I have had a bit of fun in the kitchen with some seasonal things after returning from Finland.

Elderflower dessert

I had thought we had missed the opportunity to make elderflower pancakes this year. However I found there were some elder trees in our lane that had flowered later than the others. We made a Father's Day dessert of elderflower pancakes, strawberry puree and cream. A sister-in-law had chosen a dessert with strawberry puree in Dalfsen. We tried mixing fresh strawberries, sugar and vinho verde.

Garlic & herb butter

I did not deliberately plant garlic this year, but some cloves obviously fell off when harvesting last year. I decided to leave it and see if it grew. While the bulbs are not the largest, the taste of new season garlic is something I enjoy. The mildness is quite different from stored garlic.

We mixed salted butter, fresh garlic and fresh chives. We then split pittas and spread the garlic butter on the soft insides and grill for a few minutes (butter side up). This goes well with various dishes.

Pasta with new season garlic and chilli

Mrs O has been fed up with the pasta sauces we usually cook. When picking the garlic I was thinking of how simple a dish spaghetti con aglio e olio is. We just tried frying thinly slice new season garlic and some chilli flakes in olive oil then mixing through penne. A very simple and quick supper.

One of the first restaurants I ever visited in Tampere was Bodega Salud. A Spanish themed restaurant was the last thing I expected to find in Finland but it was a popular place with my colleagues. It is in a side street about 5 minutes walk away from the railway station and a similar distance from the river.

It has a bit of a story behind it. It was founded by a Finnish chef called Hannu Wiss. He worked as a ship's cook and became fascinated with Spanish cooking. He started the restaurant after returning to Finland in the 1980s. The menu is a mixture of Spanish and Texmex dishes and got an award from the Spanish Department of Tourism.

Among my colleagues it has the reputation for being a great place to have a steak. I have never been disappointed by steaks there either. One of the innovations of the restaurant - particularly handy in winter - is a small locker room. You have the chance to hang up your winter coat in a locker as soon as you arrive. This time with temperatures in the mid 20s this was not needed! In January this year I hoped to visit it but it was closed.

In the 1960s, Finland had the worst rate of heart disease in the world in part due to a poor diet. In the 1970s they tackled this with a heath programme that included significantly increasing the amount of vegetables eaten. As a result most office canteens have salad bars with raw vegetables and everybody uses them; the salad bar comes for free with your main course. A few restaurants, such as Salud, operate on the same principle.

Normally, you are invited to take a salad as soon as you have ordered your main course. The ice-cooled salad bar is quite impressive.

On a previous visit shared the mixed tapas from their starter menu, which was tasty but left little space for the main course. This time I tried their grilled duck breast with a sherry & olive sauce. This was served with curly fries.

The duck was grilled how I like it, dark on the outside and pink on the inside. The sauce complimented the duck very well.

Having visited the restaurant over the last 10 years I can say that I have always found the service to be friendly and helpful.

PS: kendersrule I have let you down again as I couldn't manage a dessert after the duck but the espresso was good.

I was on a trip to Tampere last week and one evening I went for dinner at Plevna, the microbrewery with a restaurant. I quite like their IPA and Czech-style dark beers but noted that they had a rye beer on offer. In my time in Bavaria, I enjoyed dunkles Weißbier more than any other. I recall that Thurn & Taxis offered a Roggenbier which tasted much like a dunkles Weißbier but had a stronger taste and alcohol content.

Plevna's seasonal rye beer was brewed like an IPA but with rye rather than barley. The effect was quite pleasing. It certainly had a distinctly rye taste, but the style of beer was quite different to that of Thurn & Taxis.

I tried their brewmaster's steak. The steak was a well served 150 g steak with typically Finnish garlic potatoes. There were also shredded carrots and another whitish root vegetable (kohlrabi) which were roasted until they were sweet.

We were over in the Netherlands in the latter part of last week a bit to the east of Zwolle. My sister- and brother-in-law took Mrs O and I to two restaurants near Dalfsen. Dalfsen is a small but pretty little town on the river Vecht about 8 km east of Zwolle. I did not take notes on the first one we went to but had a really nice smoked salmon and smoked hallibut starter there; Mrs O went for carpaccio which is hard to find in any restaurant near where we live in England. My main course was a 'mixed grill' with tender medallions of beef, lamb and pork served with fried new potatoes and hot beetroot.

On the Saturday we went to the Brasserie de VII Deugden which means 'Brasserie of the 7 Virtues' which is on the edge of town close to the river Vecht. In fact a waitress who apparently was on her last day working there got dumped in the river by colleagues!

The restaurant has an L-shaped dining room (plus some extra private rooms) and an awning with glass sides. There was a fair amount of space on the terrace outside. The dining room has a spacious feel because the ceiling is probably more than 3 metres high and the tables were a good wide size. Service was friendly and helpful.

Starters come at about 10 € per dish. I ordered deep fried calamari. This was well-prepared with a crisp batter and tender squid, though I admit I preferred the way I prepare it with breadcrumbs. Mrs O - predictably - wanted to try their rib-eye carpaccio with brie and thought it was very good. Other starters on offer were gaspacho and a sheep cheese salad.

The main courses were about 20 € each and had names that were a play on words. For example Mrs O ordered 'Rolmops' which was not rolled up pickled hering. Instead it was more like a 'Schnitzel cordon bleu' - consisting of a Wiener Schnitzel (veal) rolled up with Coburg ham and goat cheese, nevertheless the shape was of a giant rollmops. This was tasty but very rich.

I ordered 'Haasje met mate' (meaning tenderloin with degree) which was pork tenderloin wrapped in thin bacon and served with a mild mustard gravy. Main courses were served with fried new potatoes, a variety of seasonal vegetables and green salad. The tenderloin was really moist and I enjoyed it. I am surprised that tenderloin is not more often prepared in the UK though it is easy to dry out.

Other maincourses on offer were grilled tuna - which I noticed was prepared properly i.e. pink in the middle - sole, veal rib-eye steak and rack of lamb.

The main course was very filling so Mrs O and I skipped dessert. My in-laws were still going strong and went for the desserts which were 5-10 €. One was a very large - mainly ice cream - dish. There was also a "asparagus menu" which not only included asparagus main courses but different desserts. One was aninteresting combination of pureed strawberries in champagne accompanied by strawberry ice cream.

I certainly enjoyed the place but would suggest that visitors only attempt 2 courses!