Monday, December 21, 2009

Lefse Fest 2009!

I began the preparations for Lefse Fest with extreme trepidation.
I had concerns you see.....because I decided to try a new recipe.

I had to shield my eyes, from the hand written recipe....made out by my Grandma Ekern.
With her cute smiley face at the end, and the word AMEN! written nice and big.

It was not out of disrespect, but I guess a decision that is matching my overall mood.
Nothing is the same. Everything is different.
Lots of things are sad.
What is REALLY important?
What isn't??
What matters?
Lefse recipe? Let's try a new one.

And we did!
I was scared, that the angry viking members of my heritage would strike me down for abandoning the family recipe....but that didn't happen!

Making it every year is something I look forward to...because it is something I do with my dear friend Maggie. Maggie and I are friends from college, we worked at Roses R Read together and have made Lefse Fest a regular tradition. One thing that I had forgotten about traditions is that they are such a great time for reflection. Looking back to last year, I was thinking about how Maggie and I both had long hair, how Finn was just kind of toddling around, and where I was at that point in time.


It was a fun way to spend the afternoon.
This year we added heavy cream and butter.
Yum.
Refrigerated the dough overnight.
And kept the rolled out balls refrigerated as we cooked some..seemed to keep them from getting too sticky.

For whatever reason....it was easier to work with. We cranked it out like naturals. Check out the size and perfect round shape of THIS one!

Finnegan was helping out by taste testing, but actually stayed out of our way most of the day!

We baked over 55 pieces and wrapped them up with delight. And oooohhh man, when you eat that last piece, and you watch the melted butter seep into it, and you roll it up and sink your teeth into it, it's a tradition you look forward to, year after year.

6 comments:

emily said...

wonderful. i thought about you guys all day and looked forward to this post.

i think you two get cuter each year.
xoxo

Greta Hanson said...

Holy smokes that is a lot of lefse. My mouth is watering. Can you possibly overnight that crack to Minneapolis?

Maggie said...

I certainly look forward to it! I'm so grateful to have this tradition with you...it is a great way to spend time and think about everything.
And Grandma Ekern didn't seem to mind so much and we haven't abandoned her recipe for good.
Emily, thanks sweetie! You should come document it one year...Nick just shakes his head when we ask him to take another photo:)

Anonymous said...

Wow that looks good! I would like to request both recipes to be sent over to the left of you kids (and a sample certainly would not be out of line...hint hint). Never be scared to make tradition better. Someday Finns kids will go off grid on Granny Beccas recipe, but because all the recipes are documented, they can have the evolution of lefse event and make em all. Heck by then lutefisk will be replaced by asian carp...
Uncle Todd

Anonymous said...

YUMMOO!!!! Hope a bunch makes the trip to Vernon County!!!!
See ya in a few days!
dad

Anonymous said...

OMG....YOU LEFSE LOVELIES ARE TOO MUCH...I SHALL HAVE TO SEND YOU SOME NEW APRONS FOR NEXT YEAR...AND THERE ARE MUCHO WAYS TO MAKE LEFSE...AS LONG AS THERE ARE SPUDS IN IT..YOUR ACES!!!WHAT A GREAT TRADITION TO SHARE AND PASS DOWN...WAY TO GO GIRLS!!!AND GRANDMA EKERN WAS SMILING I'M SURE!!! TOF FROM IOWA...