Butter and Bread Crumbs

Yesterday I made my last trip to the mall for the rest of the year (knock on wood). The grocery store was a madhouse. But I'm happy to report that I have made all my purchases for our Christmas celebration at our house, at Jussi's house, and most of the preparations for when Grandma and Grandpa get here!

I plan on making cheesecake, a Myderwyk holiday tradition for dessert, and found it interesting to locate certain items at the grocery store. I was happy to locate icing sugar, which I'd never purchased here yet. The trickiest part was the graham crumbs, which they don't have here. When I spoke to one of the managers of the store (keeping in mind that we go to a mega-superstore-grocery store in Finland), she said they don't have any such thing but she was aware of what I was talking about. Pointed me to the cookie aisle and said I need to buy digestive cookies and crumble them all up myself. I really hope this works out, I'll keep you posted.

Finland (as well as many other European countries) are experiencing a shortage of butter. I spent several trips to the grocery store frustrated for the lack of butter before I read in the newspaper that it's a growing epidemic. There is more demand and they can't keep up. Now the main problem is that people are starting to hoard butter - of which I am guilty, since I bought four sticks one day when I found some on the shelf. Yesterday I noticed a huge sign saying that there is now a limit of 2 per person, so perhaps next year will be better.

So with my digestive cookies and my butter in hand, I'm hoping my Finnish version of the Myderwyk cheesecake is successful. And that the four of us have a wonderful weekend.