Where's Petunia?

Ole and I don't usually exchange Valentines gifts - never have. It's just not something we started so many years ago. There's always a warm wish, a hug and a smooch or two, but the gift giving just never developed. And I'm just fine with that. I don't need to have a gift to know that he loves me because he's so thoughtful in so many other ways.

But every once in a while he surprises me - like he did this Valentine's Day. He presented me with a package this morning - not wrapped in paper of any kind, but placed in a plastic bag from a local drug store. As he handed it to me he told me it was going to make me cry, but that when he found it he couldn't leave it in the store. It had to come home with him because he knew I needed it.

He was right. I pulled it out of the sack and the tears started immediately. It was a book - and it was entitled "Where's Petunia?"

Those of you who have read me for awhile will remember that I had a kitty named Petunia that traveled with us in the RV. I raised her and her two brothers from kittenhood. She was appropriately named Petunia because she and her brothers were born in a tub of potting soil in a flower nursery that's a couple miles down the road from me. I lost her two years ago at the age of 9 in Sturgis because someone (Jane) was standing with the screen door of our RV open even after I reminded her to keep the door closed, and Petunia slipped through the door and out into the night never to be seen again. We stayed several days after the bike rally was over looking for her and hoping she would show up but she didn't.

Petunia in my kitchen window

It was horribly hot in Sturgis that year. Daytime temperatures were ranging in the 107 to 110 range. I'm sure she was terrified from all the noise of the bikes, and completely disoriented being in a strange place that was full of campers and tents. My greatest fear is that she hid in someone's open compartment on their motorhome, got shut in and suffocated from the heat. I will never know. And that, my friends, is the worst part of the whole thing - not knowing.

The book is a wonderful, beautiful memorial to my Petunia. It's written by a local woman who is also an artist and is deep into flower gardening so the pages are full of her water color illustrations of her gardens and her two cats, Art and Petunia. There is a web site listed on the back page so I intend to contact her and tell her what a beautiful, wonderful book she has written. Her Petunia even looks like my Petunia did.

I will cherish this book forever. Not only because of Petunia, but because it came from someone who loves me very much.

On another note I'm kind of bummed out today. I don't know how much I'll be writing or reading for awhile - I've got some family issues that have been laying in wait in the background that I need to deal with. Somehow I need to put some closure to these issues and I haven't been able to do that. I was hurt very deeply by this person and the wound has never healed. Some of these issues have finally come to a head and I have to make some decisions which may take all of my energy and concentration for a time.

I love you all and please have a Happy Valentine's Day.

Catch a Pickled Herring

Well, Folks, it's looking like Cupid is going to have a tough time traveling in our neck of the woods tomorrow. We've got a winter storm forecast for tonight and tomorrow and it's supposed to drop 4 - 8 inches of snow with wind. Could be a nasty one from what the weatherman is saying. So poor Cupid could get frostbite just wearing that diaper.

And "tusen taak" (ScandihOOvian for a thousand thanks) to Golfwidow for the guest entry that she provided me. She even did research on lutefisk before she posted her entry. She may not be Norwegian/Swedish but at least now she's educated!!

Another delicacy that I haven't written about is Pickled Herring - ScandihOOvian Soul Food. If you haven't ever eaten it you've missed dying and going to heaven. It comes in three flavors - pickled herring in wine sauce, pickled herring in cream sauce, and just plain pickled herring.

Remember I've written about all the fishing that my father did, especially ice fishing in the winter. He would bring all the Northerns home and they would become pickled fish. They were pretty good, but not as good as true pickled herring. Herring are small fish that swim in huge schools off the east coast of Canada and off the coast of Norway.

To make pickled herring (fish) you cut them into small pieces, layer them in a bucket with onions, lots of pickling spices, sugar and vinegar. They are truly pickled in about two weeks, but lots of ScandihOOvians are so anxious they eat them after two or three hours!! Pickled herring isn't nearly as disgusting as lutefisk with all that lye!!

Speaking of lutefisk, I was going through my mother's old Swedish recipe books the other day and I managed to find this classic recipe for making lutefisk:

Start with 1 codfish and 1 slightly used dragon ship.

Carefully remove one strake from the dragon ship.

Filet the cod and salt it. Place the cod on the strake.

Fill a pot with a solution of water and lye.

Place the strake and the cod in the pot overnight.

Drain the cod and the strake.

Throw away the cod and eat the strake.

Now, talking about pickling - the ScandihOOvians have been known to pickle their innards too. They use such things as Aquavit and Glogg. Aquavit is a beverage distilled either from potatoes or grain and has various things added for flavor such as caraway or anise. So you see the Russians weren't the first ones to put potatoes to another use other than eating.

Now Glogg - that's another story. Remember that the ScandihOOvian countries are dark in the winter. When we lived in Iceland the sun would come up around 11:30 a.m. and be gone again before 2:00 p.m. Those poor people had to have something to keep them from going stir crazy so they brought out the party animal in themselves and consumed things like glogg.

Here's another recipe from one of my mother's old Swedish cookbooks - this time for Glogg:

8 ounces water
1 cup raisins
3 cinnamon sticks
5 whole cloves
12 cardamom seeds
2 dry orange peels
Boil ingredients for 10 minutes in saucepan, then add:
1 gallon port wine
One 750-ml. bottle brandy
16 ounces rum
1/2 cup sugar
Bring to boil and let simmer 1 minute, then turn off burner and ignite. Allow the mixture to burn for about 15 seconds. Serve hot.

Now that would certainly light up the night, huh? Oh, Uff da and Feeda!!

Remember - Uff da is when you step OVER it - Feeda is when you step IN it!!

Well, with all of that I'm going to sign off now and leave you with the creme de' la creme of all Swedenland - the Swedish Chef:

Yorn desh born,

der ritt de gitt der gue,

Orn desh, dee born desh,

de umnbork! bork! bork!