As soon as we could, we hussled off to see the new movie, "North Country." Both Dale & I liked it a lot...probable a 3+ out of 4 stars. The reason we enjoyed it is because it does a great job of depicting the lives of people that live on "the range." (or better refered to as "derange.') The scenery was right on, the homes were right on, the language was right on...they are a tough breed, those rangers. The only overdone part was the number of deer antlers there were in one of the bars...oh, you will find antlers in bars, but probably not 7-10!
If you choose to see it, tell us what you think!
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Lefse 101
Well, it is that time of the year...pumkins, squash, gourds, appples & LEFSE.
I have been making lefse for approximately 30 years both with Grandma Hildur's help & without it. Thursday I decided to get the mashed & riced potatoes ready to bake lefse on Friday. While getting things going, I thought to myself..."self, why don't you use butter this time rather than oil?" Self agreed. I checked out a few recipes in my numerous cookbooks & aligned it with Mom's recipe.
Friday morning (after exercising & showering), I embarked on my task for the morning...baking lefse. The first few lefse turned out quite well, but then I hit a stumbling block...two fell apart on the way to the grill. Darn, I hate when that happens. I keep going...getting frustrated...a finally I just gave up and shut off the grill. I did my in town errands & stopped to visit Grandma Hildur. My plan was to get some pointers...what am I doing wrong?
In the past, Mom has been my lefse coach as well as my critic (in a nice, lefse 101 way). So, I packed up two pieces of lefse, reluctantly, knowing that I could hear comments like, "you are not rolling them thin enough" or you are using too much flour." She was just finishing OT when I arrived & I showed her the lefse, & we proceeded to the eating area at Neilson. She couldn't wait to have a piece of lefse & we chatted while she got it ready to eat. After taking one bite, she smiled at me & said, "Umm, that's good lefse." She almost had to pick me up off the floor!
Going home I smiled, laughed & then realized, lefse is an experience, a link to her parents and her past, & now a link to our mother/daughter relationship...it didn't matter what it tasted like to her, but rather it is a "tie that binds."
Later I told Dale that this is the first time that she didn't say a word about the quality of the lefse...& we both chuckled at that!
I have been making lefse for approximately 30 years both with Grandma Hildur's help & without it. Thursday I decided to get the mashed & riced potatoes ready to bake lefse on Friday. While getting things going, I thought to myself..."self, why don't you use butter this time rather than oil?" Self agreed. I checked out a few recipes in my numerous cookbooks & aligned it with Mom's recipe.
Friday morning (after exercising & showering), I embarked on my task for the morning...baking lefse. The first few lefse turned out quite well, but then I hit a stumbling block...two fell apart on the way to the grill. Darn, I hate when that happens. I keep going...getting frustrated...a finally I just gave up and shut off the grill. I did my in town errands & stopped to visit Grandma Hildur. My plan was to get some pointers...what am I doing wrong?
In the past, Mom has been my lefse coach as well as my critic (in a nice, lefse 101 way). So, I packed up two pieces of lefse, reluctantly, knowing that I could hear comments like, "you are not rolling them thin enough" or you are using too much flour." She was just finishing OT when I arrived & I showed her the lefse, & we proceeded to the eating area at Neilson. She couldn't wait to have a piece of lefse & we chatted while she got it ready to eat. After taking one bite, she smiled at me & said, "Umm, that's good lefse." She almost had to pick me up off the floor!
Going home I smiled, laughed & then realized, lefse is an experience, a link to her parents and her past, & now a link to our mother/daughter relationship...it didn't matter what it tasted like to her, but rather it is a "tie that binds."
Later I told Dale that this is the first time that she didn't say a word about the quality of the lefse...& we both chuckled at that!
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Thanks for a Great Weekend
I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for such a great weekend up in Bemidji. It was so much fun to see everyone again and chat a little bit. I'm so glad I made the trip. I got back safely to Winona about 6 pm on Sunday evening. I made it back in exactly 6 hours with one stop in Clearwater for gas. I thought that was pretty impressive. Hopefully things with Grandma will start looking up again. Thanks to Lois and Gary for keeping us updated with the happenings up there. It's so nice to be able to hear what's going on so fast even though we're so far away. Thanks again for everything this past weekend and hope to see y'all again soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)