Hei alle sammen!
My name is Kristoffer Tjensvoll and I moved from Norway to the St Louis this year with my wife, who is from here. I am an international lawyer with a law degree and masters degree in law from the University of Oslo.
I knew that many Norwegians before me came to this country so I went about looking for some. That is how I stumbled over the Norwegian Society of St. Louis. The beginning of this decade was hard on everyone and particularly disruptive to social life and participation. Slowly we’re coming back though, and I have been very lucky to have celebrated among other things May 17 right here in St Louis this year. I am also very happy to joining the society at their Christmas party, December 6th, or what Norwegians would normally call a Juletrefest (Christmas Tree Party).
Risengrynsgrøt
The traditional rice porridge is a staple at Norwegian Christmas tree parties. A huge pot is prepared, enough for all, and you can eat it bare, with sugar, with cinnamon, with a dab of butter or with all of it. Often there will be a blanched almond stirred into the porridge when it is being prepared, and the one that find the almond in their bowl wins a prize (often a huge chocolate covered marzipan pig). Our local tradition was also that you do not reveal that you have the almond until everyone are done eating. We all got very good at talking normally while hiding an almond in the back of our mouth. There should be porridge enough for everyone. I was recently back in Norway and flew back to the US with enough Norwegian porridge rice for a hundred people. I also brought some prizes so look for those almonds.
Vaffler
Many are probably familiar with the heart-shaped Nordic waffles, a staple of a Norwegian household. The batter can be frozen so most have a milk carton of it in their freezer. If someone comes unannounced or you are just having people over for a few hours, you serve Norwegian “vafler”. My wife prefers them bare, but I always put strawberry jam on mine. Other common toppings are ice cream, sugar and brown cheese. I spent quite some time trying out several American (or 120V) brands of waffle irons but they only really worked if I changed the recipe I grew up with (Aker Hospital staff recipe, where I was born and my father worked). I ended up buying an iron at home and getting a transformer to supply 240V and it worked wonderfully. At the recent Scandinavian Picnic held by the Danish club a 12 inch high pile of vaffler disappeared quickly. I’ll prepare more batter for our Christmas events!
