Slice of Life: Family, Food, Football and Fun

*Warning...long post*

In my effort to play catch-up for the lack of attention to the blog prior to the holidays and between posting birthday and recent photos of Paige, I forgot to address the fact that we are now in January {and thus a new year}. How weird is to say 2011? How unbelievable is it that we are now 11 years past the turn of the century/millennium? We have embarked on a new decade. So happy new year. Wishing for a healthy and prosperous 2011 to all!

My Aunt Unell {mom's sis} came in town with my three cousins, Josh {or Josh-OO-AH as Jack likes to call him}, Ryan and Lauren. We also welcomed a few days later Ben's mom {Andrea/Nana Ann} and sis Kim.

Jack, Paige and I spent not one, but two days at Wakulla Springs this weekend {I hadn't been in years prior to this weekend}. The first trip was on Friday {when it reached well into the 70s} with Nana Ann and Aunt Kim {and Ben, of course}. The second trip was on Monday {a much cooler day} with Unell, Josh, Lauren and my mom and dad. Both days were great for seeing wildlife. Although Monday was much less busy, so the boat tour was a bit more enjoyable and we got to see more because we could switch sides of the boat.

We saw turtles and alligators, oh my.

Birds and more birds...

And, that shadowy gray mass...manatees!

We celebrated the new year in low key fashion. We ordered dinner in {rather than fighting huge crowds and long lines at the restaurants}, watched a little FSU football, then rang in the New Year with Ryan Seacrest and Dick Clark watching the ball drop in Times Square.

Cheesy family photo in {almost all} matching outfits.

On New Year's Day, we escaped outdoors to Tom Brown Park {before the rains came} for some playground fun and hiking along the trails.

That night we made lefse {a traditional Norwegian dish that poor farmers would make because potatoes, milk and butter were always inexpensive and readily available on the farm}, which I have referred to on this blog before. We try to make it every year around the holidays, as it is a tradition from Ben's childhood {as well as many Scandinavian mid-west families}. I thought I'd pass along the recipe, which came from Ben's mom and her mother {Grandma Johnson}. First, you should know how to pronounce it, if you never have - LEF-sah. And you should know that a few special tools, which could all be purchased here {there is also a video tutorial on this website}, will make this task easier. Although, you can certainly adapt almost everything with what you have in your cupboards already.

A lefse grill is nice tool, but a pancake griddle or large fry pan could be substituted.

A pastry board and cover. You could just use a well floured wooden cutting board.

A lefse cozy. I don't actually have one of these, I just use two dish towels stacked and place them in between.

A lefse stick {for flipping}. Andrea mentioned that her dad used to carve a long piece of wood really thin at one end to make these. But this is probably the only tool that you really can't do without when making lefse, so it would be worth the $5 investment.

And a corrugated rolling pin and cover {a regular wooden rolling pin and a new tube sock with toes cut out could probably sub}.

I have mentioned before that the old fashioned way of making lefse requires peeling, boiling and ricing the potatoes to a fine consistency. Andrea and Norma's recipe is adapted to modern conveniences and is much easier and faster {I've never eaten the other kind, but it probably tastes pretty similar, too}.

Norwegian Lefse

3 c. water

1/2 c. butter

3 c. potato flakes

1 c. instant, powdered non-fat milk

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 1/2 c. flour {divided into 1/2 cups)

In a saucepan, bring water and butter to a boil. In a separate {heat tolerant} bowl combine potato flakes, powdered milk, salt and sugar. Pour boiling water over dry mix and stir well to combine {will look like thick mashed potatoes}. Allow potatoes to cool completely {you can spread in a thin layer on a baking sheet to cool faster}. Once cooled, refrigerate overnight or for several hours. Remove potatoes from fridge and cut in flour 1/2 cup at a time with a pastry blender. Once well incorporated, use hands to form dough into a large ball. Divide dough in half, divide each half again. Continuing doing so until you have 16 equal portions of dough. Form each portion into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to roll {don't leave dough in fridge for more than 24 hours as it begins to harden}. Once you are ready to prepare, preheat lefse grill to approx. 375 degrees. With a well floured pastry board and rolling pin, roll into thin round sheets. Gently slide lefse stick under rolled dough and lift the lefse off the board. Carefully lay and roll lefse onto the hot griddle. Once lefse begins to bubble, slide stick under the lefse, lift and flip, rolling the stick to gently lay the lefse down on the second side. Allow to very lightly brown and remove from grill and place in a cozy. Your lefse is done {now see below on how to eat}.

Butter one side of the lefse and lightly sprinkle with granulated sugar {can also be eaten without sugar or you can even add cinnamon}. Roll lefse like a cigar {I cut mine in half at this point} and enjoy!

Send me a comment and let me know if you are brave enough to give lefse a try. We enjoy making it year after year and incorporating this family tradition into our holidays. Hopefully, we can help keep this tradition alive and pass along lefse-making and the tools to our kids to share with theirs.

Sadly, Andrea and Kim headed back to Wisconsin on Sunday. We rejoined my aunt and cousins on Sunday night to make a feast {this is a word that Jack learned around Thanksgiving and loves to use it a lot} of sushi. I purchased nori {seaweed papers for rolling sushi}, wasabi, smoked salmon, crab stick {imitation crab meat}, sushi grade tuna, spicy mayo, eel sauce and ginger for our rollfest. I prepared the sushi rice and roll accoutrements {cucumbers, green onions, avocado, cream cheese and julienne carrots}. Luckily, I had my cousin Josh {who I consider a chef/guru in the kitchen} to help guide me {even though I had done it once with Ben's family}. Now, {having done it all myself} I think I could handle it all alone. If Josh wouldn't have been there though, I'm sure the end product would not have turned out as pretty or as tasty {I made a few novice errors - like not realizing that seasoned rice vinegar meant it already had sugar added - that could have been costly}.

Cousins, Lauren, Josh and Ryan having a roll-off contest.

Ryan's Rock-n-Roll {which I dubbed because he's quite handy on a guitar} and spicy tuna rolls took the prize for best sushi. And for most unique {but very strange tasting}, Josh's Macaroni and Salmon roll takes the prize.