The sunspot moved away from my spot on the sofa while I was peeling potatoes with the new tool from Campo di Fiori in Rome. Once I got the hang of it, the little plastic dodad worked like a dream. Halfway through I passed it over to Carm, who quickly mastered it. Lefse was underway!
This year, and possibly last year, I’m cooking the potatoes in the instant pot. One cup of water vs a whole pot full leaves the potatoes fully flavoured and tender, not mushy.
Stepping back in time… Tuesday was a hibernation day. Gifts were wrapped and other small tasks occupied my time. If memory serves me right, Carm went into the city for some shopping while I stayed home and blasted music. Adia thought I was crazy as I danced and leaped around the living room, while Spike, used to the whole tarantula performance, spun around with me. Grace bobbed her head and made little singing noises. It was a great time!
Wednesday we puttered around the house until it was time to go to Carm’s aunt’s visitation. This is the second aunt that’s passed away in a few weeks - lots of losses. On the way home on a lark, I texted Jo Ellen to see if they’d like to come over for dinner. Luckily they had no plans.
We haven’t integrated Romy into our pack yet, and after the success with Kirsten’s dogs, have stepped up the effort. It went reasonably well, although Adia wanted to play with her and she’s way too big and rough a playmate for tiny Romy. Still, with Adia on a leash we were able to spend the night without too much crate time.
Thursday was the funeral, followed by lunch. It was great to connect with Carm’s cousins from Toronto again. Jo Ellen and Don had forgotten Romy’s sweater at our place so they came to pick it up after we got home, providing a lovely supper of pizza. The dogs did well but still aren’t ready for off leash interaction. Except Spike - he’s been remarkably good.
And now we are back to lefse making!
4pm: The kitchen is covered with a thin dusting of flour, my clothes are caked with a gluey mess, my back aches, but 115 small lefse are made. That may seem like an excellent result, but at least half of them are barely edible.
I made the dough in two batches. First one had a bit more milk and maybe I hadn’t mashed the potatoes as vigorously - it didn’t roll out well and was basically a disaster. The second batch used less milk and I mixed in more flour to start and let the Kitchen Aid go to work. Right from the start the little balls of dough pressed out nicely in the tortilla press. The end result is that we have 51 barely presentable ones to bring to the family dinner on Sunday, leaving 60 lefse that are a mix between a cracker and a normal lefse. If we’d cooked them a bit longer they might have passed for decent crackers.
We’ve already suffered mightily by eating a few of the disaster batch ;-) Isn’t it amazing how a bit of prosciutto and jarlsberg can make anything better!
We started rolling and cooking at 1:20 with me at the press and Carm manning the stove - the last lefse off the grill was at a few minutes before 4. Peeling, mashing, cooling, mixing, getting pans out, clearing the kitchen of anything that might catch flour, all took at least another hour, maybe two. We’ve only barely tackled cleanup.
“Rejoicing is grounded in gratitude, with a keen appreciation for yourself, others, your abundance, and the beauty around you.”
~Susan C. Young
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