Fashionable Travel Treasures: Estonian Snow Boots

If you squint hard enough, you can see the positive in every situation. The transition from the balmy weather in India to the freezer that is the UK has not been easy. However, bountiful snow has given the country a postcard quality and made the shift a little bearable. Shoe fiend that I am, I had to get out and play in my *favourite* pair of boots for the occasion. It is an annual tradition developed over the last few snowy years.

Of course, I have to give you the travel tale. Some years ago, I hopped on a boat from Helsinki on a day trip to Tallinn, Estonia's quaint capital city. Clearly, a day isn't enough to take in most places but Tallinn is compact enough to do it. I wandered around the Christmas market in the city square, discovered beautiful churches and street stalls, and bumped into this lovely shoe boutique that sold shoes in classic Estonian knits. I fell in love with these wacky boots and simply had to take them home to the UK-even if there had been very little snow for a few years. My friends giggled at the sight of these mad boots but as you've probably figured-things like that don't put off things I love.

Talk about tempting fate, a year later, the bonkers weather began, now referred to as Extreme Weather Events or EWE. Global warming in so 1990s! The EWE phenomenon has guaranteed a good dump of snow over the last few years which meant my shoe has fulfilled its destiny. Anyway, enough of me rambling about climate change and snow fashion. What do you make of these wacky boots too? And have you picked up whimsical items on your travels?  Ann x

P.S. If you can't travel to Tallinn to buy a similiar pair,  these Tommy & Kate Knitted Boots  are so cute too!

Quail Egg Salad for Big Kids

 

I found quail eggs at Lidl's last weekend and thought it would make an interesting  addition to a canape or starter. We had a girls night in a few days ago and I found the perfect excuse to use these. I looked around for recipes and found one on an Estonian food blog. Rather interesting as my first encounter with quail eggs was at a restaurant in Talinn. I pretty much stuck to the recipe but with minor tweaks. I loved the cuteness of this salad and it  seemed quite simple to make. Peeling the tiny boiled quail eggs was a bit challenging but otherwise it was easy peasy.

Recipe: Boil a dozen quail eggs and cool. Peel the eggs and take a tiny bit of the top and bottom. Halve a dozen Pimlico tomatoes and use the top bits for the toadstool effect. I used cress for the meadow effect and as it complements the egg and tomato flavours. A bit of mayo on top for the dotted toadstool effect, a drizzling of olive oil, a dash of salt and pepper and presto!

Note: Do check if you friends like egg as its not for everyone as I found out to my peril! I got a bit carried away trying to make a pretty salad that I forgot about checking with my mates!

Across the Baltic to Tallinn

The Tallinn trip happened on the run. A few days before the trip to Helsinki, I was looking at a map of Europe and I realized was Estonia was so close. Some quick research later, I decided that Tallinn was an easy manageable day trip.In fact St. Petersburg, Russia is only about 5ish hours away and I've always wanted to visit St. Petersburgh. However, I did not dare test the Russian visa process at such a short notice.

Of course with my India passport I needed a visa even for Estonia. I was told it would take 2 weeks but decided test my luck and applied in person a few days before my flight to Finland. I got lucky and the visa arrived in time with no hassles.. They must have looked at my passport filled with so many stamps and visas and thought if I didn't seek asylum in any of these I probably wouldn't bother with Estonia. I also took the risk of booking the ferry trip cost £60 return in advance of obtaining my visa. Not cheap but what the heck I thought. Luckily it all worked out.

The 2 hour trip across the Baltic is an experience in itself. Tallin is quaint. Covering a area of 159 sq. km and a population of just over 400,000, it is one of Europe's smallest capital cities. Talinn was a key member of the Hanaseatic league.The architecture of the city is full of Russian influences. The Orthodox churches reminded me of some of the Orthodox churches in Kerala. I walked around town for a few hours taking in the architecture, visiting a few churches/museums and markets. There were some lovely knits on sale at the local market. I also happened to visit a boutique store that did fabulous shoes. I bought a cool pair of furry boots which I love!

By 2PM I was ravenous. I'd done a bit of research and a placed in the town ( City) square was recommended. Olde Hansa was a medieval themed restaurant serving old style Estonian food. I loved the decor and the staff. I tried a tasting platter which included quail eggs, wild boar, root veg spiced with juniper berries etc. The price while a little steep was worth every penny and the service was awesome. Definitely recommend it if you ever visit Talinn.

I had to walk off my heavy meal and thankfully had a good few hours before the ferry to do so. I headed out to the shopping complexes in town which were so-so before heading to the big complex near the ferry port. It was a strange place that sold strange clothes and accessories. It seemed like fashion ( Russian style) froze in the 1980's and just stayed that way.

The sail back was just as pleasant and I loved the views across the Baltic sea. I can't think of too much to do in Talinn but definitely worth a weekend/day trip if you are in Helsinki or St. Petersburgh.