Posts Tagged ‘travel’

Scandinavian Festival (part deux)

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

Hard to believe I got all the way to day two of this report without a photo of cute little Tempest:

Avocado mustache!

The highlight of the day was the Norwegian Elkhound booth, where anyone and everyone was sure to explain that “Norwegian Elkhound” is a mistranslation. These dogs were actually used to hunt moose, not elk. I’m not sure I would know the difference, being a city girl and a Lithuanian. Anyway, Tempest and one of the well-behaved doggies fell deeply in love, and I just kept snapping the shutter:

Gentle...

 

Girl meets dog

 

Utterly at ease

 

Sloppy kisses

 

Pure joy

It really was a beautiful thing to witness.

As was this:

 

The master at work

It’s a little hard to see because I photographed him through a screen and was too rushed to screw around with the camera settings, but this gentleman is managing a huge pan of aebleskiver, which are spherical Danish donuts traditionally served with berry jam:

 

Yum!

The trick is making them more or less spherical. I always thought two half-spheres were merged into one, but watching the master I learned that he lets the batter cook for a while, then he slides the cooked part up the side of each dent in the pan, allowing the uncooked batter to run down to re-fill the dent and form another section of the doughnut ball. (Crafty connection: it’s tradition to do this poking and sliding with knitting needles, as the gentleman demonstrates above.)  After a few partial rotations, the aebleskiver is complete. And delicious. And In. Our. Bellies.

A dozen expert folk dancers from Solvang provided wonderful entertainment but all the action took place under a shady tent and it was not a happy venue for photography.

We also failed to photograph all the other yummy stuff we ate that day: meatballs, sausages, red cabbage, and my favorite: LEFSE. Lefse is basically a Norwegian tortilla made of potatoes. You slather it with butter and in case it’s not already delicious enough (which it surely is) you can also sprinkle it with brown sugar or douse it with jam. Mmmm.

Although Tempest wasn’t quite sure what to do with her first bite of lefse, Vivian and I could eat two dozen lefse apiece if left to our own devices, so it’s fortunate that we’ll be attending the Sons of Norway (Norrona Lodge) all-you-can-eat lutefisk supper on Saturday. Betcha can’t wait for the lutefisk close-ups! LOL

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A day at the Scandinavian Festival (part one)

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Welcome, I mean Velkommen!

I am not Scandinavian in the least, but I’ve been to more than my share of Scandinavian fetes because my longtime pal Vivian is as Scandinavian as you can get.

Like the floral crown? More on that later...

A couple weekends ago Vivian, her daughter Tempest and I enjoyed a day at a really good Scandinavian festival in Thousand Oaks. Interesting crafts, tasty food, excellent folk dancers and photo ops galore. Behold:

Intricate straw weavings

 

Also straw. Yowza!

 

Gorgeous rosemaling chair

 

Viv and I both coveted this adorable table.

Seriously, this stuff was fantastic and a thousand times higher quality than the craft offerings at most of the ScanFests I’ve attended. I was expecting the usual dishtowels and ornaments, and these wonderful pieces made me wish I’d brought my checkbook after all. Maybe I’m just destined to take a rosemaling class… [rolls eyes]

 Even the kid-activity booths offered crafty stuff that was a cut above. I loved these horses, at the Swedish booth:

Can't you just imagine him galloping into the wind?

Beyond the craft area was an entire Viking village for us to explore.

Carved dragon tent posts

 

Herbs used for food preservation and healing

 

One reason why healing was occasionally necessary

 

Riveted chain maille. I asked a Viking how the rivets were formed. He said they use a pair of pliers to squash it. No teeny riveting hammers.

 

Weaving festive bands on an inkle loom. And yes, it took all my self control to keep from ripping those lovely beads right off the fair maiden's neck...

There was even a display of Scandinavian cars and motorbikes:

World's Cutest Volvo

And yes, I forced Vivian to make a flower crown, even though (a) she hates craft projects and (b) she’s Norwegian and Danish but these crowns are typically Swedish.  We compromised (she didn’t know it, but we did): We made the damn crowns but I restrained myself from stopping after each step to capture the progress in photos. You get the idea: dried vine hoop intertwined with soaked foliage, flower stems and secured (more or less) with a flourish of ribbon.

Friends for thirty years! (Yes, we met as infants, LOL)

Will complete the travelogue tomorrow. Stay tuned for staggering cuteness and awesome yumminess!

 

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Adventures in NOLA

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

When I decided to start blogging again, I promised myself I would never feel like I needed to apologize for periods of not-blogging, and just trust that everybody understands that Life is sometimes too elaborate and/or complicated to carve out time for everything you wish to do. ‘Nuff said!

For me, the interesting part of the past few weeks may be summed up as follows.

First I went here:

 

Jackson Square, New Orleans

And here:

 

Lafayette Cemetery, in the Garden District

I'm always pleased to encounter an angel...

and other points in the area. Then I availed myself of this:

 

I loved that to board the streetcar, you basically loiter on the tracks until one comes along.

 

To go here:

 

The first of several legendary eateries I enjoyed.

 

Where I ate this:

Chocolate pecan pie, warmed on the grill. With butter. For breakfast dessert.

 

The next day I went here:

Glass artisans

 

Where I coveted this:

 

Talk about monkeyshines...

 

And made the acquaintance of:

 

A black cat named Voodoo who lives in New Orleans. What are the odds?

 

 

 While exploring, I was amused by this:

 

Is it too much to ask??

 

 

And this:

 

Spying on me while I took a breather.

 

And I now wish I had purchased this:

There are no words.

 

 

Of course, being a tourist, I had to check out:

 

Menu on the napkin dispensers. You stay classy, Cafe du Monde!

 

…where I enjoyed:

Beignets and cafe au lait.

 

 

One evening we went to a restaurant in a swamp where many of my companions ate this:

 

Crawdads. Sorry -- gross!! :)

 

 

But I only had eyes for:

Pig, after 18 hours in the fire pit.

I would be remiss if I did not mention:

Lasoyne's meat pie.

 

and:

 

A Plum Street sno-ball topped with sweetened condensed milk.

and:

Corned beef hash at Stanley. The most remarkable poached eggs.

…which may have been the most delicious things I ate all weekend, which is saying quite a lot, as I was there primarily for the Roadfood Street Food Festival and ate and ate and ate!
Besides all the great food, and the pleasure of spending time with my very dear friend Katherine, the other thing I loved about New Orleans was:

Music. Everywhere!

…particularly:

Entertainment provided by Smoking Time Jazz Club. Awesome!!

Notwithstanding all the wonderful food, it is the music and dancing that I remember most fondly about the trip. Musicians just putting it out there on the street corner, ranging from excellent to ridiculous, but all of it infectious.
Infectious, yes, but probably not responsible for the fact that upon returning home I required copious amounts of:

 

Seriously.

 

THAT is what occupied me for the FOLLOWING week.

But I’m all better now, and back in the blogging saddle. And already planning my NEXT visit to New Orleans… Suggestions??

 

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