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Friday Five...for RGBP RevHROD shares this Friday Five. I haven't played in a long time...so I am taking time out from shoveling the white stuff to have some fun!
1.What was one of your favorite childhood gifts that you gave? I remember saving up to buy my mom this bottle of perfume at the drugstore that had a little black velvet cat for the top. I just loved it...not so sure mom did!

2.What is one of your favorite Christmas recipes? Bonus points if you share the recipe with us. Lefse, lefse, lefse. It is a Norwegian bread--sort of like a potatoe flat soft tortilla that you slather with butter and brown sugar and roll it up. I don't have a recipe, and I have never made it--you need a special griddle. Maybe next Christmas.....

3.What is a tradition that your family can't do without? (And by family, I mean family of origin, family of adulthood, or that bunch of cool people that just feel like family.)Growing up, we always went to church at 5:30, then home for lutefisk (codfish soaked in lye, then you boil the hell out of it til it looks like a flaky mass of wiggly white gel and then you pour clarified butter and salt and pepper and let it slide down your throat when you eat it.)and lefse and other wondrous white norwegian foods. After supper, we would have to wash every dish, and wait for my mom to freshen up in the bathroom. Then we would read the nativity story and sing Silent Night (I don't know why we did this. We weren't all that religious, just lutheran! It was the only time of the year we opened the bible at home!) and then we would open presents. After presents we would gorge on christmas cookies and milk.

My family of adulthood makes every effort NOT to have lutefisk on Christmas eve.

4.Pastors and other church folk often have very strange traditions dictated by the "work" of the holidays. What happens at your place? So far I haven't found anything strange...my colleague was cleaning wax out of the candlelabra and made a big mess in the kitchen to the chagrin of the church administrator. I laid low for that one. Don't know if that is an annual thing or not, but I am pretty sure he had more urgent things to do....

5.If you could just ditch all the traditions and do something unexpected... what would it be? One year I made an alternative advent wreath that actually was really beautiful. It started out with giant pillar candles at different heights on blocks of wood surrounded with twigs and stones on top of this lovely iridescent bluey-purply fabric that I bought in the fabric districtin NYC. Each week I added different greens, more interesting stones, culminating in a lush, fresh Advent wreath garden. The liturgy was pretty cool, too. It was my first year of ministry, and my colleague let me go for it...even though we didn't use the traditional wreath on the stand, people really seemed to appreciate something different. I would love to do that again....

On a personal level, a trip to Hawaii is sounding pretty good right now....
Posted by revkjarla at 4:43 AM RevHRod said...

According to my mother, who has made a LOT of lefse, the recipe is simple. Good mashed potatoes made with cream and butter. They should taste good. Really good. Then you add flour to get a good dough. Consistancy of pie crust. Then you roll it out and bake on a flat griddle. No special pan. Just a flat pan. The trick is having a good skinny spatula, one that looks like a paint stirrer to get the lefse flipped.

Now, having said that, I think making lefse is very difficult. Mom agrees. The recipe is simple but the doing is hard. (Made for a great sermon illustration one year.)

Have a Merry Christmas and thanks for playing.

December 21, 2007 6:37 AM 
we eat lipeakala here in Finland which is cod soaked in lye - just like in Norway

December 21, 2007 10:53 AM 
I haven't tried it but I'll skip the lutefisk, even tho it is popular here in WI. From that photo, I can see why Hawaii is sounding pretty good...I'd like to go some place warm just about now too.

December 21, 2007 11:23 AM 
I'll skip the lutefisk thanks...just the smell knocks me over....but lefse....oh yeah, that is some good stuff! Your Advent wreath sounds like it was beautiful and creative. Glad you got dug out! Been missing your voice around these parts!

December 21, 2007 1:44 PM Singing Owl said...

My son in law just purchased my daughter a potato ricer, so she made her first batch of lefse. I love it, and my Norweigan husband does too, but I've never made it. Now I'm going to, with a little help from the kiddo. :-)

December 21, 2007 2:40 PM Counselor in Process said...

The lefske sounds pretty good, the fish, not so much. The crepe place was on 8th ave. On 9th there was a little country store, which is now a wonderful french pastry place. The neighborhood changed fast. When were you here?

December 21, 2007 3:41 PM 
You should come back. La Bergamot has pastries to die for, but I'd take Hawaii if given the option right now.

December 22, 2007 1:55 PM revhipchick said...

the advent wreath sounds amazing.

i sort of feel like a stalker. when i came by yesterday for the rg friday 5, i added you to my favorites cuz you have a great blog.

i love the title of artist pastor, very cool! btw, my name is crystal and it's nice to "meet" you!

December 29, 2007 12:48 PM