[Sca-cooks] A funny thing happened

[H Westerlund-Davis]

A funny thing happened to me while I was preparing the menu for a traditional Scandinavian Smorgasbord for our group's Yule. I have inherited many of my Grandmother's recipes, many from Sweden and Finland. 
As a kid I remember fondly eating her rice pudding, rice pancakes (more of a cake then pancake) and baked rice pudding. Our ultimate favorite was the rice pudding and my brother and I would race through a bowl to be the first to find the almond. In our household the first to find the almond would be the first to pick out a Christmas gift on Christmas Eve. The normal tradition is who ever finds the almond first is the first to get married. But, when you are 9 and 10 years old marriage is like the LAST thing on ones mind. 
So, with this happy memory in mind I added this dish to the menu. Today, I gleefully sat down with happy memories to search through the books to find the very well marked page for the rice pudding. I remember her complaining to us that she slaved for hours over the dish and wanted us to slow down while we were eating. I found the recipe in Beatrice A. Ojakangas The Finnish Cookbook. In Finnish it is called Rissipuuro or Creamed Rice. It normally takes 2 hours to cook with an additional 30 minutes for cooling to add the heavy cream. I discovered in the margins; in my Grandmother's handwriting.... "Get Cozy Shack Rice Pudding. Tastes the same." Got to love Grandmothers!
If any one is interested I can post the menu and also the recipes for this feast. It is complete with Lutfisk, which is another funny story, gravlax, and herring. I do have non-fish meats too. 
Bless Bless
Aelina Vester-lundr
aka Aelina the Saami



 
 
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