i was super hungry after eating so little of the lunch I ordered😕 The pizza smelled so good… I couldn’t resist. It was very good! Fresh veggies atop buttery, crisp-tender crust. Yum! We didn’t realize that was our last chance to eat. I would’ve eaten more than just one piece! Sadly, by the time we made it to our home in Oslo, Norway, it was late and everything was closed😞 I’m so glad I had the delicious slice!  

We had only 6 hours in Riga… So we went to breweries, of course! We enjoyed a scenic walk through old town to Valmiermuiza and Labietis breweries.  

We landed safely in Riga, after a quick 50 minute flight. We were ready for a beer and a meal so we went straight to  Ala Folkklubs- the highest rated Latvian pub. We had some great Latvian beers and some mediocre Latvian cuisine. 

We ordered the “beer snack” starter. It was quite good- smoked Latvian cheese with paprika, crispy garlic bread battons, fresh veggies and creamy garlic dip.  

   
I had the traditional Latvian meatballs with sour kraut, creamy tomato caremlized onion sauce, and undercooked French fries. Unfortunately every element of the dish was disappointing. Desperately under seasoned and simultaneously bland and off-putting flavors 😕 

 Adam had the beef shanks with celeriac purée and rainbow salad. His was better than mine, but still not good. Again, severely under salted. Fortunately, it was all SUPER cheap! €21.00!!! 

Phew! We just made it to the airport… Only 3 1/2 hours early. That was a close one! We scarfed down our breakfast so we wouldn’t miss our flight! Good thing we LEFT AT 2:30!!!!! 

We had to leave at 2:30am to get to Helsinki in time to catch our flight to Riga, Latvia. We decided to just stay up. Our moms didn’t know, so they didn’t have to worry, and it was light out. Why not?

Luckily, I had plenty of creamy, tart potato salad to complete our early morning road trip 😋 

I made another Finnish classic… kind of! I followed the poorly translated directions, but I think something was lost in translation😒

The Lohipiirakka, smoked salmon pie, didn’t taste bad. It just wasn’t very good. The texture was all off. Flavorwise, it was on point- hard boiled eggs, rice, lots of fresh dill, butter sautéed spring onions, smoked Finnish salmon, rye pie crust. Perhaps I should’ve prebaked the crust a bit to ensure a crisp, crumbly, flakeyness… does rye pastry get flaky, crumbly? I’ve never made a pie dough with anything but good ol’ American all purpose. Hmmm… 😕 

Luckily the salad was good! Crisp green lettuce with juicy, fruity tomatoes, and potato salad made with refrigerator dill pickles I made a couple days ago😎

It’s our last day at VillaVarpa… Time to finish eating all the leftovers🇫🇮 

   After lunch we went out on the boat and attempted to catch some fish. No luck, but we had fun😃 
  

Thanks hubby😘 

We bought some Finnish blueberries at the grocery store and I made a blueberry crumble. Mmmm… 😀 

I found a “traditional” Finnish recipe for wood-grilled Finnish salmon with creamy, wild morel sauce. The dish seems very French, so I’m not sure how “traditional” it is, but it tasted great! I served it with boiled new potatoes, and steamed broccoli.