Thursday, April 15, 2010

Ja to Lefsa


My wife and daughter took a trip to eastern Connecticut this week (school vacation) and stopped at the Scandinavian store in Mystic where she bought one of her favorite foods: Lefsa (also spelled "Lefse").

It's simple stuff, basically a Norwegian potato and flour flat bread. She prefers the hard tack variety pictured above that you reconstitute by dampening and wrapping in a towel until it softens. You then add a filling -- butter, sugar, Cinnamon, jam, maple syrup are all good -- roll it up, cut it into rounds and it's time to eat.

I never ate -- let alone heard of -- lefsa until I met my wife. It's delicious, a simple snack or desert. My daughter also likes it.

For some, lefsa is more than just a food. It's a way of life. Below is a book, "The Last Word on Lefse," that mother-in-law lent me.


It includes recipes, pictures of specialized lefse-making equipment such as beveled rolling pins, the story of the world's largest lefse and other lefse lore. It even has songs with titles like "Oh Ya You Betcha." Sarah Palin ought to love that one. Sung to the melody of "Deep in the Heart of Texas," here's the lyrics:

The lefse's round with spots of brown
Oh yah you betcha, uff da
The lutefisk is such a risk
Oh yah you betcha, uff da
The pickled herring is so daring
Oh yah you betcha, uff da
My belly hurts from all those burps
Oh yah you betcha, uff da

How can you not love something that inspires lyrics like that?

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