Re: [CH] History

Jonathan Smillie (jonathan.smillie@gmail.com)
Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:16:23 -0400

Doug Irvine wrote:
> JohnT wrote:
>>    BIG snip! And trust me, my mom's ccc was not very hot. Uff da!  I 
>> have at least one vintage cookbook from that era.  (local churches 
>> (usually Lutheran) used to publish cookbooks now and then featuring 
>> recipes from local church people.  Any talk radio fans here of 
>> Garrison Keillor might relate.  Loved lefse, but let's not talk about 
>> lutefisk.
>>
>>
>> JohnT
>
> Even further back than my previous post on How we all got Hooked!:-)or 
> chillified if you will. When I was a young teen I knew a young lady 
> whose last name was Tollefson, and her father was very Scandinavian. 
> Later on in both his and our lives, we came to know each other better, 
> and he had spent 10 years in India as a diamond drill expert. So, one 
> time when he and his wife came to visit, I made Irish potato farl. 
> Lefse to the Scandinavians. I was informed by Tolly, that was the best 
> lefse he had had since he left his parents home many long years before!
> An interesting aside here, about potatoes, and where the folks from 
> Scandinavia found out about lefse. The Danes, who were still 
> plundering Ireland, mostly to leave red headed kids around as 
> souvenirs!! took home with them the potato and made lefse, which is 
> identical to Irish potato farl!
> About the Scandinavians and hot food, we have a Danish son in law, and 
> his heat tolerance, even though we have been trying to "slide" him 
> into a more heat tolerant mode, still is very reluctant to eat 
> anything even remotely hot! Tough on him, he has a wife who was 
> brought up on chiles, and a daughter, who just turned 16, who also has 
> a great love for hot and spicy. I ordered a couple of Jim C's gift 
> sets to give her last Christmas, and she has finished one of them 
> already! During Spring break, she and about 30 other kids from her 
> school spent 2 weeks in Spain, which included a trip to Morocco, and 
> she picked up some stuff for me and herself while there. Even had a 
> ride on a camel! Big deal for a 15 year old, as she did not turn 16 
> until June 1.
> So, guess the taste buds of the folks from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, 
> must be all frozen over, from years of all that northern cold! Wait a 
> minit! They are in the same latitudes as Canucks! Must be another 
> reason! It is their penance for impregnating all those Irish gals!!
> Cheers, Doug in BC
>
>
>
Well, Doug, you know those Danes and Scandinavians are where all of us 
blond and red-headed Scots (I have blond hair and a red beard, when I 
let it grow in) came from... maybe chile-headedness is a progressive 
rather than recessive trait, in that it is inheritable by the children 
but diminishes in the forebears.

Of course, I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about - I work in 
software and my degree's in economics. It just sounded good...

Jonathan