Sunday, November 26, 2006

Ya sure, you betcha! It's Lefse Making Day!

I don't know why, but maybe it was all the mashed potatoes I had during Thanksgiving that made me think of it -- but I decided to make some lefse today.

Lefse is a Norwegian potato tortilla or pancake of sorts -- but it's not a meal, it's more of a dessert.

My Norwegian Grandmother taught me how to make it, and being raised in largely Scandinavian Lutheran churches, our youth group used to make it in large quantities to sell at a bake sale.

My ever-patient husband Brian has been politely informed that today there will be no disc golf, and very little football except for what he can hear from the kitchen -- because lefse is at minimum a 2-man (or 1-man, 1-woman in this case) operation.

Yesterday I went to the store and bought 20 lbs. of potatoes, and I boiled them, mashed them, and added the needed ingredients. Then I had to cool them overnight. The magnificently large bowl of potatoes wait for their last ingredient -- loads of flour -- to be mixed in til it's a big messy dough. This morning I prepped the kitchen by taking out a bunch of counter-top stuff, and creating stations -- one for mixing dough -- one for rolling it out -- a frying area -- and a cooling area.

The kitchen will be an unholy mess when it's over. But we'll have scads of lefse, to share with friends, freeze for Christmas when my Mom & brother come, and of course, to enjoy slathered with butter & sugar.

There's something about making lefse that makes me feel like I'm in touch with at least one branch of my crazy Heinz-57 family tree. My ancestors come from Norway (Grandma Dahlen), Sweden & England (Grandpa Peterson), France & Ireland (Grandpa Gunnette) and Denmark (Grandma Hansen).

With such a complicated ancestry, there are few things I know how to do that come from any of those countries and lefse is one of those things that just makes you feel Norwegian. I'm just a white girl from the States getting in touch with my roots, you might say.

Ya sure, you betcha!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cool! Sounds exhausting, but worth it!

Tammy said...

All I can say is...


yum!!!!

Anonymous said...

Wish I were there to help! Did you know that we have yet another thing in common? Are you having Lutefisk for Christmas eve dinner? Or have you come to the reality that we all know is true, that it is NOT good...and our stubborn elders just won't admit to the truth, it's awful....but it's tradition. Blech.

But, I love lefse....warm, with butter...and some sugar....mmmmm.....just flipped on the pan....mmmm.

So, you can tell, I'm part Norwegian too....(Lee, Paulson) You betcha! (50% Norwegian, 25%Scottish, 25% English)

Sarah

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