This sketch by Heather Bassler Zemien depicts the night when a record snowfall led to a memorable lefse-making marathon involving 12-year-old Amaya, Papa, Mrs. Taylor, and three Belgian horses. In Final Rounds, Amaya writes about this night as she grieves the passing of her Papa.
I love all things lefse and I love writing, so I’m excited to announce that I have again combined my loves into a new book. This book is a novel, my first, and I’m thrilled.
The novel is titled Final Rounds: On Love, Loss, Life, and, Yes, Lefse. It is a short novel for middle school children and older — and I like to think it’s a good adult read, as well. Final Rounds is about grief, a joyous book on grief with 630 rounds of lefse rolled in. The novel begins:
My Papa passed away today, I don’t know what to do.
“My Poober-Pahbers, WRITE!” he’d say. “Writing finds the you that’s true.”
The narrator is 12-year-old Amaya, who doesn’t write or read well because of dyslexia. But she forces herself to write, as Papa, her grandfather, would have wanted. To prepare for her writing task, Amaya makes lefse the way Papa had taught her. Then she faces the blank page and lets her hand move freely — and surprises herself by writing in rhymes! Was it the lefse that led to the rhyming?
She recounts a day-night-day three years prior when she and Papa were housebound by a record snowfall. In this storm, they made 630 rounds of lefse that, as a Christmas tradition, they would give to every household in their small town in Minnesota.
During this lefse lollapalooza, Papa explained his eight rather wacky rules of life to guide Amaya. For example, Rule No. 4 is “Remember KABLOOEY.” What the heck is KABLOOEY?
KABLOOEY’S the thing that cancels your phooey. If you’re kinda blue, just look for KABLOOEY. KABLOOEY is humor, hilarity, wit. When packing for life, load oodles of it.
After Papa defined Rule No. 6, “Know a KNOT, “ his telephone rang. It was Mrs. Taylor, an elderly neighbor near his farm. Her furnace had gone out. Papa and Amaya saddled up their Belgian horses and rode through the storm to pick up Mrs. Taylor and return to Papa’s for the night. The next day, the three of them finished rolling what was left of the 28 bowls of lefse dough. As they rolled, Mrs. Taylor had Amaya and Papa spellbound by the story of purchasing her black hat three decades earlier, which at the time was a defining moment in the life of this young, black teacher from Mississippi.
The story ends on the day of Papa’s funeral. Amaya had wanted to do something special for Papa on this day, and after writing about Papa, his eight Rules, and this magical lefse-making moment with the horses and the snow and Mrs. Taylor, Amaya figures out what that something special is — and it has to do with lefse.
Final Rounds is a tender book on a tough topic, but it the only book on grief that will teach you a tip or two about making lefse … in verse.
I will keep you posted on the progress of Final Rounds as it is goes though edits and proofs. Expect publication to be this summer.
Whenever winters get rough — and this is a rough one in Minnesota — I figure lefse lovers have an advantage in surviving freezing temps and record snowfalls: We have lefse. As my friend and editor Kathleen Weflen says, lefse warms us twice. Once when we make it and again when we eat it.
As much as I’ve made lefse and written about it, there is one area of lefse making that I need help with: freezing it. Frankly, there hasn’t been much need in our house. The lefse’s gone pretty quickly after we make it. Still, I want to freeze it so that I can offer it to guests who pop in or to be able to take it to a dinner or party without making a fuss and a mess.
This jumbo freezer bag from Target is large enough so folding the rounds is not necessary before putting them in the freezer.
So I am experimenting with freezing lefse. The issue I have with freezing lefse is it’s not quite as tender when it thaws and the rounds can crack. I have found freezer bags from Target that are large enough so folding is not necessary. This eliminates cracking along the fold lines. I also make sure the lefse has plenty of time to cool and dry — but not dry out — before putting parchment paper between the rounds in the freezer bag so the lefse doesn’t stick together.
In my book Keep On Rolling! Life on the Lefse Trail and Learning to Get a Round, Jean Olson of Deerwood, Minnesota, has this tip on freezing lefse: “Before freezing, wrap six cooled-and-folded rounds in Saran Wrap. Wait 24 hours, and then put the lefse in a Ziploc bag for freezing.”
Is this what you do to freeze lefse? How satisfied are you with your lefse-freezing method?
PLEASE send your tips on freezing lefse! Just email me at glegwold@lutefisk.com. Thanks!
Common ingredients — chocolate, butter, bananas, pecans — that yield uncommon results. You may drool with The Amen Lefse Wrap, so grab a napkin.
Of course, if your day is dominated by don’ts, don’t read on. That is, if you don’t like chocolate and butter and bananas and pecans — and if you don’t want to adulterate your lefse with anything but the standard butter and sugar — then stop right here. No need to check out this recipe for making a Valentine’s Day lefse wrap that is almost as irresistible as your Sweetie on the Big Heart Day.
On the other hand, if you do like fudge — homemade fudge — and if you do like bringing a bit of drooling adventure to Lefseland, then by all means do make The Amen Lefse Wrap and bring it to your belle or beau. Or … make it and eat all by yourself.
The Amen Lefse Wrap
Chocolate-banana lefse wrap
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
4 tablespoons butter
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder
½ cup cream
6 ripe bananas
½ cup chopped pecans
To prepare fudge sauce: Melt chocolate and butter in a double
boiler. Stir in sugar, cocoa, and cream. Cook over low heat for 15 to 20
minutes, stirring occasionally until smooth. Set aside.
Slice bananas and spread in a line on the diameter of 4 lefse
rounds. Drizzle generously with fudge sauce, and sprinkle with pecans. Roll
burrito-style.
Take something new and unique to this year’s Super Bowl parties: shrimp lefse rollups.
The NFC and AFC Championship games this
weekend and the Super Bowl game February 3rd mean only one thing:
party time! All good. So here’s what you can bring for food other than the same
old same old bowl of chili or platter of chips and dip:
Lefse wraps!
I can guarantee your lefse wraps will be
the talk of the table because:
Everyone loves a tasty wrap. It’s fun finger food, and you don’t fill up on a lot of carbs — just the savory combinations inside.
A lefse wrap is the tastiest of all wraps. Most other types of wraps have wrappings with no flavor — zilch. But velvety, toasty, potato-y lefse adds to the texture and the ensemble of flavors. Plus, lefse is pretty with its brown spots and freckles against a golden background. Just make sure you roll your lefse thicker than normal so the rounds are strong enough to hold the goodies within.
12 ounces peeled, deveined, cooked shrimp (recommend 21 to
25 count shrimp, each cut in two or three pieces, for 4 rounds of lefse)
1/4 cup chopped parsley
Spread softened cream cheese on 4 rounds of lefse. Spread
cocktail sauce over cream cheese. Sprinkle shrimp pieces all over cocktail
sauce. Sprinkle parsley over all. Roll up lefse, and cut into pinwheels.
This illustration by Peter Krause sets up a joke for lutefisk eaters who like football.
I’ve been so caught up in the holiday lefse-and-lutefisk
storm that I missed an anniversary. The previous The Lefse & Lutefisk News was the one-year anniversary issue!
Woohoo!!
Well, not quite giving them away … but I’m giving them to the first 15 readers who send me a lefse or lutefisk joke. If the joke is good — and just about any lefse or lutefisk joke is good (except some lutefisk jokes) — and you are among the first 15 who send in a good joke, you’ll get a free lefse calendar full of photos, illustrations, lefse quotes, lefse-making tips, and humor.
So email your jokes to glegwold@lutefisk.com
and I will let you know if you are one of the 15 winners.
Two Green Bay Packers fans we’re seated next to a Minnesota
Vikings fan at a lutefisk dinner. The Vikings fan must have had a problem
because he kept excusing himself to go to the bathroom.
The Packers fans, being the prankish sort, spit on the
Vikings fans lutefisk when he went to the bathroom. He returned, took a bite of
lutefisk, and did not seem to notice the spit.
The next time the Vikings fan left the table, the Packers
fans asked him to please return with two beers. Again, the Packers fans spit on
the Vikings fan’s lutefisk.
The Vikings fan returned with two foamy glasses of beer, which the Packers fans drank with great satisfaction. The Vikings fan sat down and took another bite of lutefisk. With a look of disgust, he said, ”How long must this go on? Why can’t we rivals live in peace? What causes Packers and Vikings fans to stoop to such lowliness that we spit on each other’s lutefisk and pee in each other’s beers?”
In summary, be among the first 15 to send your lefse or lutefisk jokes to glegwold@lutefisk.com.
Rolling lefse and writing poems — a sweet combination. Illustration: Jill Kittock
The holidays bring out the lefse lover in us, and lovers of all kinds adore poetry. So to spice up your holiday spirit, here is a haiku followed by three lefse poems.
Haiku for the Holidays
By Kathleen Weflen.
Kathleen lives in St. Paul and has edited all my books.
Not only was this the largest crowd to ever watch lefse being made, but also the folks were smiling — smiling Scandinavians!? — as they watched Norsk Hostfest celebrities try to make lefse.
I write my 2018 Norsk Hostfest report from Paris, France, where I am vacationing. Writer friend Tim Brady asked if I was hanging out on the Lefse Bank. His wit is unparalleled, but so far I have not found lefse. However, I can hold on until the end of the week when I head to Norway.
Finding lefse was not a problem last week when I sold books and lefse-lutefisk stuff at the Norsk Hostfest in Minot, North Dakota. Gotta say that of all the attractions — the scads of excellent comedy and musical acts (mostly free) as well as the endless shopping — the most attractive thing to see was the sea of Scandinavians who were actually smiling! I swear — and some were laughing! They’d come to my table looking grumpy, but then they’d brighten when they saw my lefse and lutefisk books. That made me feel good.
Lefse Masters Competition
This smiling stuff got out of hand during the Lefse Masters Celebrity Competition, featuring Daniel O’Donnell, Williams & Ree, and The Texas Tenors. I was to serve as a judge. The competition started at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday on the stage of Stockholm Hall. I was a bit late getting there, and as I walked into Stockholm Hall, the room was charged and laughter was directed at the stage, which I could not see. I was confused why so many people were spilling from the stage area into the vendor aisles and up the stairs to what is the Lefse Mezzanine, where the Lefse Masters is held throughout the week for the non-celebs. But as I wove my way through the crowd, it became clear folks were there to watch the celebs roll and grill lefse. I was to sit at the judges’ table front and center and observe the skills and techniques of the contestants.
I was among the three lefse judges front and center as the celebrities — Daniel O’Donnell, Williams & Ree, and The Texas Tenors — fumbled and yukked their way through the lefse-making competition. The Texas Tenors on the right were the winners. Judges were from left Miss Norsk Hostfest 2018 Lily Bonebrake, me, and Jane Grunseth, who was too shocked by the antics onstage to turn for the photo.
Don’t Let That Smoke Bother You
The only problem was it was difficult to discern dexterity with the rolling pin or turning stick with all the smoke rising from the grills. Daniel O’Donnell, poor lad, was the chief culprit. His grill was smoking like a chimney, and lefse was burning so badly that he finally just chucked a charred lefse offstage. But he atoned for himself by rushing to the microphone and singing a lovely “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” — subbing new lyrics that included “my lefse is a burnin’.”
Daniel O’Donnell was very intent on making a winning round of lefse, but he often became distracted by smoke rising from his grill. Once he threw his burned lefse offstage, and then broke out into his beautiful tenor voice singing “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”.
Round? What Is Round, Exactly?
It seemed that the lefse’s shape was of secondary concern to the contestants. The irrepressible Terry Ree had to point out that the lefse rolled by The Texas Tenors was looking like the shape of the state Texas and — whoops — “they just lost the panhandle, folks.” His partner, Bruce Williams, was largely silent but slipped into some sexual rolling when Ree demanded that he roll “faster” and “not so hard.” Which caused a confused Daniel O’Donnell to ask, “What kind of show are we doing here?”
Bruce Williams, half of the comedy team of Williams & Ree, rolled lefse in spite of the wacky comments from his partner Terry Ree. For my book Keep On Rolling!, I interviewed Williams about using lefse in his act.
Judge This
The judging was difficult between Daniel O’Donnell and The Texas Tenors, with TTT coming out on top with a pretty nice lefse. Williams & Ree? They submitted a lefse that looked like it had been used to clean a cannon.
All good fun, good enough to make the Scandies smile.
Yes, Lutefisk Lip Balm!
My last day at the Hostfest I was relieved to discover the lutefisk lip balm. Cost was $2 on sale at a store outside the Great Hall, where all the big-name acts appear. I was disappointed that the lutefisk lip balm did not smell or taste like lutefisk. I mean, I like lutefisk and would have considerd it a bold move had the makers of this balm gone for the real deal rather than a vanilla bean flavor. The label said of this lip balm: “It will put the fear of cod in you.” Vanilla bean does instill any fear. We can do better than this!
That’s right, lutefisk lip balm. Only at the Norse Hostfest!
Hand-Painted Lefse Rolling Pins
The lefse makers who were judged to have made lefse so good that they placed first, second, or third in Hostfest’s Lefse Masters lefse-making competition earned a cash prize of $200, $100, and $50 plus lefse rolling pins that are adorned by a rose medallion painter. Very cool awards that will undoubtedly be passed down for generations to come.
The winners of the Lefse Masters lefse-making competition earned as a prize these hand-painted rolling pins.
Here’s to Ron Garcia!
Ron Garcia jokes that during the Norsk Hostfest he is “Norwegian for a week.” Works for me. He is the hall crier, the man who without aid of a microphone or megaphone bellows to those in Helsinki Hall, where the Author’s Corner is, that the hall will open or close in 10 minutes or that the hall is now open or closed for business. Then he sets the tone as the day begins with, “Have a great day, everyone!”
Ron is a Hostfest original and one of the most endearing men you’ll meet in Minot. Frankly, he is one of the reasons I return year after year. See you in 2019, Ron!
Ron Garcia and I before the opening of the last day of the 2018 Norsk Hostfest.
Larry Kittelson rolling the World’s Largest Lefse on a hay wagon in Starbuck, Minnesota, in 1983.
Blaine Pederson emailed from Starbuck, Minnesota, last week that Larry Kittelson had died unexpectedly at age 80. When I researched The Last Word on Lefsein 1992, I interviewed six of The Boys of Starbuck, as I called this group nine men who came up with a goofy idea for Starbuck’s first Heritage Days in 1983: Make a lefse so big that it would go into the Norwegian Schibsted Book of Records.
Larry Kittelson could not make it to Gordy’s Cafe for the group interview back in 1992, and I regretted not meeting this baker who had owned the Pastry Shoppe. Larry made the dough for the World’s Largest Lefse — and then reformulated it at the 11th hour when a trial run had failed. Larry was key because, as all lefse makers know, if you don’t have the dough, there ain’t no show.
When I researched Keep On Rolling!in 2017, I was sad to learn that all The Boys had died, all except Larry. So it was a joy to finally meet him and ask him to tell me the story, for old time’s sake, of the making of the nine-foot, eight-inch monster lefse. Here is a portion of the interview, which you can read in entirety in Keep on Rolling!:
Legwold: The dough for this monster lefse was made up of 30 pounds of potatoes, right?
Larry: Right, instant potatoes. Potato Buds. We also used flour (35 pounds), sugar (1 pound), powdered milk (1 pound), and shortening (4 pounds).
Legwold: In the week before the actual event, you had two practice times. Why?
Larry: We didn’t want to look like idiots. We put plywood on a hayrack and covered the plywood with a sheet. The first practice night, we rolled with regular 3-foot-long pins from the bakery. And when we had the lefse all rolled out, we put it on the big roller. When we hauled it over to the grill, it fell apart. We tried it on a second practice night and added puff-paste shortening used to make apple turnovers. It helped hold the dough together. We chilled the dough well, and used more charcoal to get more heat under the grill. So the second practice went better. We didn’t do another trial with the puff-paste shortening in the dough. It was like, “This here will work or else.” I figured it would work on the day of the event, and it worked like a charm.
Legwold: How thin was the world-record lefse?
Larry: About as thin as that napkin there. It wasn’t thick by any means, like the thickness of two normal lefse stacked on top of each other.
Legwold: Did it bubble up on the grill?
Larry: Yep, just like regular lefse.
Legwold: After you accomplished the feat of making the record lefse, why not quit? Why did you try again right away—especially when that second one fell apart?
Larry: I made a batch twice the amount we needed, and I wanted to use up the damn dough. I didn’t want to waste the rest of the batch. That second time didn’t work as good, but luck was on our side with the first one.
Legwold: Other towns like Clarkfield and Madison [both in Minnesota] called for information on how to beat your record, right? What did you say to them?
Larry: An outfit from Washington state also called, and they wanted to try to break our record. I think I even gave them my recipe. I don’t remember. I probably didn’t give them the secret about the puff paste (laughs).
Legwold: Did this event put Starbuck on the map?
Larry: It sure did for a while. It really helped. You know, anything a small town can do nowadays to get itself on the map helps. We had the World’s Largest Lefse and Heritage Days in 1983, and Lefse Dagen started in 1987. That record lefse brings a lot of people to town. It gives us some bragging rights.
Larry Kittleson, who came up with the recipe and rolled the World’s Largest Lefse in 1983, has passed.
Larry, you were a fine man, a civic leader, and a good baker who brought joy to many who enjoy a tasty treat with coffee. You were also a lefse maker who made lefse history — big time — and someone who I will always remember fondly.
Mary Lou Peterson, first to finish the Let’s Make Lefse Jigsaw Puzzle and first puzzler to become a member of the Lefse Hall of Fame!
You can read it in the breathless style of writing and focus that Mary Lou Peterson uses when she describes being the first person to put together the 504-piece Let’s Make Lefse! Jigsaw Puzzle. “I saw the lefse puzzle and knew immediately that I needed to have it,” wrote Mary Lou from Minnetonka, Minnesota.
I can only imagine what she was thinking during this dramatic moment in history. Observing her sketchy writing style, I thought that perhaps she sensed she was on the precipice of making lefse history and was rushing to be the first finisher of the lefse puzzle and therefore the first puzzler to enter the Lefse Hall of Fame. And yet she kept her wits about her and jotted notes, knowing that all in Lefse Land would be begging for details once the word spread.
History will mark Mary Lou as a gamer. She had the right stuff, that obsessive drive that causes all jigsaw joy seekers to stay up late and get up early so that they can find the proper home for every last piece of the puzzle. As a nurse who has years of experience dealing with life-and-death situations, she knew she had to be steady and levelheaded under immense pressure to finish this puzzle before anyone else in Lefse Land. She knew she had to keep her eye on the prize and not be distracted by the ballyhoo and big bucks that would come with entering the Lefse Hall of Fame. Steady, Mary Lou, steady …
For the record, Mary Lou and family finished the Let’s Make Lefse Jigsaw Puzzle on August 20, 2018, and posted a photo of her prize puzzle on Facebook with a note that modestly said, “Done….”
Mary Lou Peterson’s completed puzzle that earned her a place in the Lefse Hall of Fame.
Well done, Mary Lou! Here’s to you and your spot in history!
And here are Mary Lou’s notes that will be recorded in the Lefse Hall of Fame:
I saw the lefse puzzle and knew immediately that I needed to have it. The puzzle boxes, two extra for Christmas, arrived….
I cleared the dining table, emptied the bag that held the pieces … stood back … which part to do first??
I had a slow start. I had not done a puzzle for years. It took a plan….
I separated the colors, the stripes, and the edge pieces. Then I started … a bit slow at first….
I recruited my daughter, Kara Peterson. My husband, Craig Peterson, came by and was help….
Kara Peterson, puzzler, and Craig Peterson, puzzler and parent. Part of the historic team!
It took several days … a few minutes at a time as I passed the table where the puzzle was being assembled. The big lefse done … it got easier and edges were completed … the arms and hands … the lefse turner’s….
Kara commented how it was tricky that the hands were in three places and that there was all this blue in the puzzle. Craig worked on the stove in the puzzle’s background. He has a good eye and had that section completed pretty quickly.
Finally, it all came together — and finished!
Then I grabbed the phone for a picture and posted on FB.
At the Minnesota State Fair, I chased down my first sip of Uffda Ale with a bite of a Lefse Chip. The beer is made with lingonberries and lefse. Lefse and Lefse Chips are supplied by Norsland Lefse.
The Minnesota State Fair set the total attendance record this year with 2,046,533 visitors, about 50,000 more than what was the record last year. There were several contributing factors (good weather, good economy), but the biggest reason for the new record was the introduction of the lefse beer called Uffda Ale. Fer sure!
Uffda Ale is a new brew made by Beaver Island Brewing, and it was sold at Giggles’ Campfire Grill at the southeast corner of Lee Avenue and Cooper Street, at the North Woods. Frankly, I had my doubts about this beer, that it would turn out to be a gimmicky embarrassment to all of us who honor all things lefse. But it wasn’t! It was actually a good, smooth beer that went down easily and benefitted from the zing of a handful of added lingonberries. And the Lefse Chip (a strip of fried, salted lefse) was a tasty touch.
As I stood in line for my Uffda Ale at Giggles’, I observed that about half of those walking away with a beer in their hand were carrying the Uffda Ale with the Lefse Chip on top. Hmmm … .
The day I attended, there were 270,426 visitors, which set the one-day attendance record. Is it too much of a stretch to say that 135,213 (half) of them were there because they had heard of this new lefse beer and just had to try it? Fer sure!
That’s a Lotta Lefse
I popped in on Joanne Ranum, left, and Bonnie Jacobs of Jacobs Lefse Bakeri & Gifts at the Fair. Joanne held a really good lefse book that caught my eye.
After I enjoyed my first Uffda Ale made with lefse, I just had to visit my friends at the Jacobs Lefse Bakeri & Gifts booth. They were selling all things lefse and some almond cookies that are so good they make you want to find a quiet corner and eat all six in the bag. They were also selling my two lefse books; Jacobs is featured in both.
Perhaps inspired by the Uffda Ale, I held up my latest book, Keep on Rolling!, and said in a very loud voice, “Boy, this sure looks like a great book!” Bonnie turned from making a lefse rollup. She didn’t recognize me and turned back to her work, probably thinking I was a kook. Joanne immediately recognized me and smiled as she approached. Bonnie then came over, and we all talked and took a photo.
Before leaving, I asked Bonnie how many lefse rounds Jacobs sells a day at the Fair.
“Oh, I don’t know, about 2,000,” she said.
Amazing! I’m glad that Jacobs has been at the Fair for the last 18 years keeping the lefse tradition alive.
