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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / January 2006Blue Xmas
I spent Xmas Eve at my sister's, with her family (niece, nephew, BIL), my other sister, our Mum, and my sister's FIL and sister-IL. And the three Russian Blues, Kasper, Kira (Miranda's mum) and Emil (Miranda's brofur). Emil was with us the whole time, very friendly, sociable and playful. He looks so much like Miranda, except much chunkier (he will only eat dry food). Kasper and Kira were a bit more aloof, but I did get a few scritches in on each of them. I had a few presents with catnip in them for my niece and sister (or rather, their cats). I put them under the tree, which was a mistake of course, as the RBs went digging for them. They had to be put away in another room with the door closed (the prezzies, not the cats) until prezzie time. Here in Finland, presents are given on Xmas Eve, after dinner. Ah, dinner. The cats circled around the table as the turkey was carved up, and a few pieces were 'accidentally' dropped on the floor. We had a fairly classic Yule table, with a smorgasbord of different fish, roe, cold cuts and a cheese that I made, freshly baked bread, a vegetable salad, a veggie pate etc. Then the main meal with the turkey (ham is traditional Finnish yule food, but we've been having turkey since they became available in Finland), a bread-and-mushroom stuffing, a mushroom sauce, a tarragon sauce, cranberry jelly, potatoes, peas, carrot casserole and swede casserole. After dinner, the cats were given their own plate of turkey. Emil was very helpful in opening presents, and searching for good ones under the tree. One thing I got had been given the seal of approval by Kasper - a fine set of bite marks all along the box. Kasper mostly sat at a distance and kept a watchful eye on the proceedings. At one point, when my sister got up from her chair and went to get something from the kitchen, he immediately jumped to her chair and settled down. My sister came back, found him there, and went to sit in the sofa instead. It's obvious who rules this household. ;o) Kira vanished at some point, and my niece was afraid she'd been locked in somewhere by accident, but she was eventually found sleeping in a closet, after a big search and calling for her. The cats finally got to open their catnip prezzie, which contained a ball and a mousie, liberally sprinkled with catnip, and went mad about them. They were also given another mousie, with catnip in it, and Kira went absolutely bonkers with that one, and forgot to hate all the people around. It made a squeaking sound which freaked Kasper out completely, so he vanished to a safe distance and only peeped out from behind a corner at the terrifying squeaky thing. When I got home, the cats were happy to see me and all the prezzies I brought, and all the wrapping paper, boxes and the paper bag. We got a lot of treats, and Caliban sampled them all while Miranda ignored every single kind.  SignatureMarina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki. marina (dot) kurten (at) iki (dot) fi Stories and pics at http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/ Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki I love your stories Marina. They are so full of detail that I feel like I am there. And when you get to the part where you talk about your cats, they may as well be my cats for the comments you make. I could almost have predicted what you said. Those cats don't really belong to you, they belong to the group. We just let you keep up with their expenses. :) Bridget > I spent Xmas Eve at my sister's, with her family (niece, nephew, BIL), > my other sister, our Mum, and my sister's FIL and sister-IL. And the [quoted text clipped - 46 lines] > lot of treats, and Caliban sampled them all while Miranda ignored every > single kind. > I love your stories Marina. They are so full of detail that I feel like > I am there. And when you get to the part where you talk about your > cats, they may as well be my cats for the comments you make. I could > almost have predicted what you said. Those cats don't really belong to > you, they belong to the group. We just let you keep up with their > expenses. :) Well, humph! :oP The cats don't belong to me or anyone else, they belong to themselves. I'm just the servant. SignatureMarina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki. marina (dot) kurten (at) iki (dot) fi Stories and pics at http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/ Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki >> I love your stories Marina. They are so full of detail that I feel >> like I am there. And when you get to the part where you talk about [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Well, humph! :oP The cats don't belong to me or anyone else, they belong > to themselves. I'm just the servant. OMG How could I have gotten my vocabulary so wrong. Eeeps. Those cats own all of us, we just let you keep up with the expenses. Please do forgive my gaffe and extend my apologies to Miranda and Caliban. :o) > Here in Finland, presents are given on Xmas Eve, after dinner. Ah, > dinner. The cats circled around the table as the turkey was carved up, [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > casserole and swede casserole. After dinner, the cats were given their > own plate of turkey. Sounds wonderful! But I thought that in Finland, as in the (other?) Scandinavian countries, lutefiske was the traditional dish for the evening meal on Christmas Eve (with baked rice pudding for dessert). Is that only among the Swedes and Norwegians "transplanted" to the American upper midwest? The adults in my family always opened their gifts on Christmas Eve (after supper and before midnight services), but the feast was on Christmas Day (the Christmas Eve fish being a holdover from it being a "fast" day). ....Although lutefisk in the U.S. is not exactly an inexpensive alternative - pound for pound it probably costs more than turkey (or ham). > Sounds wonderful! But I thought that in Finland, as in the (other?) > Scandinavian countries, lutefiske was the traditional dish for the [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > inexpensive alternative - pound for pound it probably costs more than > turkey (or ham). Both lutfisk and rice pudding used to be part of the Yule meal, but we simply can't eat that much at one meal these days. My Mum has invited me and my sisters and families for lutfisk tomorrow. Along with the fish, you're supposed to eat mashed potatoes with melted butter and a white sauce along with green peas. If we eat any rice pudding around Yule, we eat it as a savoury lunch, just the rice pudding. Some people still eat the sweet version, with sugar and cinnamon on top. SignatureMarina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki. marina (dot) kurten (at) iki (dot) fi Stories and pics at http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/ Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki Id love to see this recipe for the savory rice pudding! Indians have something called pallao, which I'm probably misspelling horribly...while not a pudding, it is a sweet rice dish liberally spiked with saffron, cardamon and raisins, sometimes with just enough curry to let you know who's boss. The mutha-in-law refuses to give the recipe, and I've been googling myself silly over it lately. Being Polish, our fish thing is saved for New Year's Eve, when it's considered good luck to eat herring just before you wash it down with a good healthy shot of vodka. Friends of my parents have told me that they (my parents that is) had to learn how to "do Christmas" American style, because they come from a part of the Old Country where Christmas is mostly a religious observance, and present-giving is either done on Saint Nicholas day (December 6) or the feast of the Three Kings (January 6.) One of these days I shall also have to try lutefisk; my policy is, try any food once! Blessed be, Baha > > Sounds wonderful! But I thought that in Finland, as in the (other?) > > Scandinavian countries, lutefiske was the traditional dish for the [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ > and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki > Id love to see this recipe for the savory rice pudding! Indians have something > called pallao, which I'm probably misspelling horribly...while not a pudding, > it is a sweet rice dish liberally spiked with saffron, cardamon and raisins, > sometimes with just enough curry to let you know who's boss. The mutha-in-law > refuses to give the recipe, and I've been googling myself silly over it > lately. <snip> > Blessed be, > Baha Could it be spelled 'pulao'? If so, there are a few versions on RecipeSource: http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/asia/indian/pulao1.html http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/asia/indian/04/rec0449.html http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/asia/indian/04/rec0437.html http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/asia/indian/02/rec0289.html SignatureChristine in Vantaa, Finland christal63 (at) gmail (dot) com photos: http://photos.yahoo.com/christal63 photos: http://community.webshots.com/user/chkr63 > One of these days I shall also have to try lutefisk; my policy is, try any > food once! Just don't overcook it! (It has a way of disintegrating, if you do, ao there's nothing in the pot but a fishy goo) > Blessed be, > Baha [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] >>Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ >>and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki > Id love to see this recipe for the savory rice pudding! Well, since I know you like Indian and other spicy food, this will seem very bland to you. In olden times, spices were very hard to come by up here in the north, so our traditional food tends to be bland. I suppose I just eat this rice pudding because it's tradition, and brings back childhood memories. I do prefer more spicy foods normally (I add chili to virtually everything). The main thing is to find the right kind of rice; a round-grained rice that becomes sticky when you cook it. However, it can't be arborio or any other of those Italian risotto rices, since they go watery. Here's a recipe that serves four (for conversion of measurements, see http://www.onlineconversion.com/cooking_volume.htm): 2 decilitres water 2 decilitres rice 1 tbsp butter 1 litre milk salt to taste Boil the water. Add rice and butter and boil until rice has absorbed water. Start to add milk in instalments, as it absorbs into rice. (Some people heat the milk before adding it, I'm too lazy, and I usually just add all the milk at once.) Cook about 40 minutes. Add salt. Serve with another dollop of butter on top and possibly milk (I think there's enough milk in this dish already, so don't add any). I use margarine instead of butter. Like Evelyn mentioned, you can cook it in the oven, too, but that takes longer. Then you just mix all the ingredients in a pan and stick it into a slow oven for an hour or two. SignatureMarina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki. marina (dot) kurten (at) iki (dot) fi Stories and pics at http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/ Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki > Both lutfisk and rice pudding used to be part of the Yule meal, but we > simply can't eat that much at one meal these days. My Mum has invited me > and my sisters and families for lutfisk tomorrow. Along with the fish, > you're supposed to eat mashed potatoes with melted butter and a white > sauce along with green peas. I don't remember the green peas (although they may have been there). My mother always preferred her lutefisk with melted butter, although my stepfather's mother used to serve it with white sauce (containing allspice, which my Mom disliked - but Mom was German, Dad was the Swede in our family). The rice pudding was made the old-fashioned way, I think - just (whole) milk, sugar, spices (mostly cinnamon) and raisins (no eggs). You baked it for hours, adding milk as the rice absorbed it, so it ended up more-or-less the consistency of porridge. I haven't made it in years, and the only prepared kind I find in the markets is what THEY call "European style" - more like an egg-custard with a few grains of rice in it, not the same thing at all! My grandmother may have included a couple of eggs (although I may be confusing it with her bread-pudding) but there was still plenty of rice (and raisins) in hers. >> Both lutfisk and rice pudding used to be part of the Yule meal, but we >> simply can't eat that much at one meal these days. My Mum has invited me [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >with white sauce (containing allspice, which my Mom disliked >- but Mom was German, Dad was the Swede in our family). Uh oh, someone mentioned lutefisk! That means it's time for the lutefisk jokes!! There are people who've never eaten lutefisk, who know lutefisk jokes (that's why they probably *will* never eat it, either!) ;) Theresa Theresa Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com Make Levees, Not War >> Both lutfisk and rice pudding used to be part of the Yule meal, but we >> simply can't eat that much at one meal these days. My Mum has invited [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > allspice, which my Mom disliked - but Mom was German, Dad was the Swede > in our family). Oh yes, allspice is also added, but separately, not in the sauce. And you put *both* melted butter and white sauce on the potatoes, and then you mash everything together. Personally, I've never eaten the fish, since I never liked fish anyway, but everyone tells me you don t even notice the fish among all the other stuff that is mashed together. > The rice pudding was made the old-fashioned way, I think - just (whole) > milk, sugar, spices (mostly cinnamon) and raisins (no eggs). You baked [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > couple of eggs (although I may be confusing it with her bread-pudding) > but there was still plenty of rice (and raisins) in hers. I never heard of eggs being added to rice pudding! Some add sugar while cooking it, but mnostly it's added when you're serving it, along with the cinnamon. SignatureMarina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki. marina (dot) kurten (at) iki (dot) fi Stories and pics at http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/ Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki >>> Both lutfisk and rice pudding used to be part of the Yule meal, but >>> we simply can't eat that much at one meal these days. My Mum has [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > since I never liked fish anyway, but everyone tells me you don > t even notice the fish among all the other stuff that is mashed together. That's probably true - without the melted butter and/or cream sauce, lutefisk really doesn't have much flavor of its own. >> The rice pudding was made the old-fashioned way, I think - just >> (whole) milk, sugar, spices (mostly cinnamon) and raisins (no eggs). [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > cooking it, but mnostly it's added when you're serving it, along with > the cinnamon. Well, I sort of changed the subject midstream - my grandmother's rice pudding was made with cooked rice, and only baked in the oven for about half an hour (maybe hers was German-style instead of Scandinavian?) IIRC, except for the obvious difference between bread and rice, she made rice pudding and bread pudding with more or less the same ingredients (although of course the textures are very different). >> Sounds wonderful! But I thought that in Finland, as in the (other?) >> Scandinavian countries, lutefiske was the traditional dish for the [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] >eat it as a savoury lunch, just the rice pudding. Some people still eat >the sweet version, with sugar and cinnamon on top. <delurk> My wife is a Canadian of Finn heritage (from Thunder Bay, ON - large Finn population there) and we get the most fantastic Finn Christmas bread from a little bakery there - Kivela Bakery on Secord Street. Having that on Christmas morning is a tradition she brought here to NY. We just can't duplicate that recipe no matter what, and we've Googled many recipes for Finn Christmas bread. We've resorted to making "special requests" when up there in late fall and having them bake a special load out of season (about 24 loaves) and gifting most to family & bringing some back home to NY. Imagine a Pullman suitcase stuffed only with loaves of fresh baked bread going through customs ;) Signatureannoyed@net.spammers Craig, Kathi & "Cat Five" the tabby girl > <delurk> > My wife is a Canadian of Finn heritage (from Thunder Bay, ON - large Finn [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > Imagine a Pullman suitcase stuffed only with loaves of fresh baked bread > going through customs ;) Welcome out of lurk land. What part of NY do you live in? I'd love to read how Cat Five got her name. Are you going to stay with us now that you've de-lurked? I hope so. Pam S. who loves to read about others as much as she loves to tell about her world >> <delurk> >> My wife is a Canadian of Finn heritage (from Thunder Bay, ON - large Finn [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > Pam S. who loves to read about others as much as she loves to tell about > her world Maybe she does network cabling? Category 5 unshielded twisted pair (aka Cat5) was a standard for LAN cabling for a few years. Sam, closely supervised by Mistletoe >> <delurk> >> My wife is a Canadian of Finn heritage (from Thunder Bay, ON - large Finn [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] >Pam S. who loves to read about others as much as she loves to tell about her >world Thanks, I'll get a Tim Hortons coffee and sit for a bit :) We're just northwest of NYC. My wife and I are both in the IT services field. Cat Five was a name I wanted when we were to adopt a shelter cat, based on a geek cartoon from Vancouver, BC called "User Friendly". In that cartoon, Cat Five got his name in the strip http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20000222 but the story line started in http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20000218 Our Cat Five (or Five for short) could be a hockey goalie or a baseball player. When we throw kibble toward her she can either catch it or bat it away. She was a bit overweight so she was put on a weight management diet, and instead of free-feeding we toss it and she runs like crazy for it, so it gives her some more exercise too. We have a copy paper box in the living room and toss the kibble in there, and she jumps in and out of the box, or even over it to get to kibble on the other side. She'll even play "goalie" in front of the box and knock it away if we try to toss it in. Signatureannoyed@net.spammers Craig, Kathi & "Cat Five" the tabby girl > Thanks, I'll get a Tim Hortons coffee and sit for a bit :) We're just > northwest of NYC. My wife and I are both in the IT services field. Cat [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > started > in http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20000218 TIM BITS!!!! We fell in love with Tim Hortons when we were visiting Krista and Loen in British Columbia a couple of years ago. Krista and Loen were wonderful and Pentictin BC was totally beautiful. We met at the local Tim Hortons and Krista and Loen treated us to Tim Bits and told us the joke about the name. Cat Five is quite a character, isn't she? Mine like to chase ice cubes all over the kitchen floor, something not encouraged by my husband Rob, as he has a thing about getting wet socks. It looks like C-5 has you totally wrapped around her paws and makes sure you toe the line :-) congrats on your owner and I hope to read even more about her and <gasp> even see pictures. Pam S. greedy >> Thanks, I'll get a Tim Hortons coffee and sit for a bit :) We're just >> northwest of NYC. My wife and I are both in the IT services field. Cat [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >Hortons and Krista and Loen treated us to Tim Bits and told us the joke >about the name. Since my wife is from Canada, whenever we go there she introduces me to something of her heritage. Tim Hortons, Harveys burgers and Coffee Crisp are some Canadian "delicacies" I've become quite fond of. Also things like Finn coffee that we get in Thunder Bay - the REALLY strong stuff I love to drink. Breakfast at the Hoito in Thunder Bay is quite popular in the Finn district there - lined up out the door to get in. >Cat Five is quite a character, isn't she? Mine like to chase ice cubes all >over the kitchen floor, something not encouraged by my husband Rob, as he [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > >Pam S. greedy I've got her Christmas picture posted in alt.binaries.pictures.animals under the appropriate subject "Cat Five's Christmas Portrait". We took good care of her at Christmas - gooshy food, catnip toys and lots of play & cuddles. Kathi got an electric warming blanket for sitting in the living room and Five happily hops onto it too to share the heat ;) Thanks for welcoming us into the group. Signatureannoyed@net.spammers Craig, Kathi & "Cat Five" the tabby girl Pamela Shirk wrote: TIM BITS!!!! We fell in love with Tim Hortons when we were visiting Krista and Loen in British Columbia a couple of years ago. Krista and Loen were wonderful and Pentictin BC was totally beautiful. We met at the local Tim Hortons and Krista and Loen treated us to Tim Bits and told us the joke about the name. OY!!! I must know! What is the joke about TimBits? We need to know this in order to get past the Niagara Falls customs guys so we can go gamble! :-) Blessed be, Baha Proudly residing in that nice little suburb of Toronto... Buffalo. > Pamela Shirk wrote: > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > order > to get past the Niagara Falls customs guys so we can go gamble! :-) LOL! An intact male cat is a Tom, right? So what do you call a neutered male cat? a TIM! The joke is that Tim Bits are what was removed to turn a Tom into a Tim. Actually down here they are known as donut holes. Pam S. rather taken with Hortons' TimBits. A User Friendly fan!!! My husband is a senior programmer...or, as he calls himself, professional geek. :-) He can't shut up about that cartoon! BTW, please ask your wife roughly how long she figures the drive is from Buffalo, NY to Thunder Bay? I'm a writer; I have a character who is an LDS missionary of Finnish descent from Thunder Bay, who is serving in Western New York. And to her, and all of Canada, thanks for Tim's! Blessed be, Baha Blessed be, Baha > >> <delurk> > >> My wife is a Canadian of Finn heritage (from Thunder Bay, ON - large Finn [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] > annoyed@net.spammers > Craig, Kathi & "Cat Five" the tabby girl >A User Friendly fan!!! My husband is a senior programmer...or, as he calls >himself, professional geek. :-) He can't shut up about that cartoon! [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >Blessed be, >Baha Yep, I'm a UFie :) I used to work for a $WEMAKECOPRADIOS in the IT department. Then my job got outsourced 2.5 years ago to another company to provide the Windows herding services back to my former employer (like Mike in UF does), so I did the same gig at the same office, but under a different paycheck (also did helldesk support like Greg in the UF strip does). Then the buggers laid me off just before Halloween (got the trick, where's my lousy treat?) so I get to play house-hubby and look for a job while SWMBO is re-entering the rat-race after a couple of years since her IT job was eliminated from $WEBUILDTEEVEES. The drive from Thunder Bay to Buffalo is two *long* days - if you don't have to stop to see any relatives along the way like we usually do. From T-Bay we would get to Sudbury, then the next day we get from Sudbury to Buffalo. The third day of driving got us back to the NYC suburbs. When we went through Canada from Buffalo we would cross at the Queenston/Lewiston bridge and take the QEW to 401 - 400 - 69 - 17 (Trans Canada Highway) and stay on 17 through Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Wawa, and on to Thunder Bay. To save time (and money and gas and drive with a radar detector - illegal in most of Canada) this year we explored a different route that cut a day of traveling out. We went from home the entire length of NY Route 17 (which becomes Rte 17 / I-86 in Corning, NY), which roughly parallels the Pennsylvania state line from Binghamton until it ends before Erie, PA (it runs below Buffalo). From there we continued on to I-90 West through Cleveland, OH and Toledo, OH, taking I-75 North through Detroit up to the twin city crossing of Sault Ste. Marie, MI into Sault Ste. Marie, ON. Gas was cheaper and we could push the speed limits a bit by staying in the US longer than crossing through Queenston/Lewiston. Once in Sault Ste. Marie, ON, we continued on the Trans Canada Highway 17 to Thunder Bay. So, depending on how your character would travel, I hope this information may help in any highway diversions this character may take. You may also want to keep in mind that if crossing through Queenston/Lewiston and taking that route, you would go through the city of St. Catharines and could see freighters passing through Welland Canal Lock 3 (there's a tourist center, museum and observation point there) from the highway. Just a point if it may help in setting the background scenes. Good luck in your writing, and hi to your UFie hubby :) Signatureannoyed@net.spammers Craig, Kathi & "Cat Five" the tabby girl > >A User Friendly fan!!! My husband is a senior programmer...or, as he calls > >himself, professional geek. :-) He can't shut up about that cartoon! > > > >BTW, please ask your wife roughly how long she figures the drive is from Buffalo, > >NY to Thunder Bay? I'm a writer; I have a character who is an LDS missionary of > >Finnish descent from Thunder Bay, who is serving in Western New York. Many thanks!!! The story takes place more in Buffalo, actually. The missionary goes AWOL from his two-year service, and to add scandal to scandal, a lady member of the church where he's posted is the one who helps him get back home. There's not much set in Thunder Bay, mostly because about all I know of the city is that it has the largest Finnish-speaking population outside Finland; there may be something with the guy's mother before his travel companion leaves. What area of Thunder Bay is considered "the Finnish Section"? (Here in Buffalo, we call the East Side Polonia because of the huge Polish settlement that was here until the late 1980's to early 90's.) Again, many thanks! Blessed be, Baha >> >A User Friendly fan!!! My husband is a senior programmer...or, as he calls >> >himself, professional geek. :-) He can't shut up about that cartoon! [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] >Blessed be, >Baha Kathi says the section of downtown Port Arthur, now known as Thunder Bay North. Thunder Bay is the amalgamation of two communities - Port Arthur and Fort William - that took on the name of Thunder Bay after they consolidated. The primary Finn area is along Bay Street and Algoma Street. The Hoito restaurant is famous there in the Finn section, as it's also part of the Finnish Labour Temple building. More info on it is at http://hoito.ca/ Signatureannoyed@net.spammers Craig, Kathi & "Cat Five" the tabby girl > A User Friendly fan!!! My husband is a senior programmer...or, as he calls > himself, professional geek. :-) He can't shut up about that cartoon! Another UFie! How cool is that? I start every morning with a visit to userfriendly.org. My morning is not complete without it. Dan > <delurk> > My wife is a Canadian of Finn heritage (from Thunder Bay, ON - large Finn [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > Imagine a Pullman suitcase stuffed only with loaves of fresh baked bread > going through customs ;) Glad you decided to join us, Craig. I actually had to look up Christmas bread (joululeipä) on Google to find out what you were talkng about. That has never been part of our Yule celebration, so I'm afraid I can't give you a recipe. It's probably something regional. Wonder if Christine K knows more about it? BTW, writing 'joululeipä' into Google will give you several recipes, both in English and Finnish, and at least one in French (! very surprised at that one!). SignatureMarina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki. marina (dot) kurten (at) iki (dot) fi Stories and pics at http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/ Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki >> <delurk> >> My wife is a Canadian of Finn heritage (from Thunder Bay, ON - large Finn [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >you several recipes, both in English and Finnish, and at least one in >French (! very surprised at that one!). Thanks for the tips, Marina. I have the slip enclosed with the loaf of Kivela's Christmas Bread, and the ingredients don't match the recipes I've found so far. Here's what it lists: Rye Meal, White and Rye Flour, Corn Syrup, Sugar, Water, Shortening, Salt, Caraway, fennel and Anise Seed. There is no fruit / nuts / sweets / molasses / orange peel as are listed in other Googled recipes. One site I found says to grind up Finn Crisp crackers as part of the starter for Finn sour dough rye (http://www.finnsnw.com/FFSC/newsltr.htm). It's too bad that Thunder Bay is 1500 miles from here or we would just special order it for pickup. Signatureannoyed@net.spammers Craig, Kathi & "Cat Five" the tabby girl Thank you for the update on all the kitties, I loved reading it! Lots of hugs and purrs, Polonca and Soncek > I spent Xmas Eve at my sister's, with her family (niece, nephew, BIL), > my other sister, our Mum, and my sister's FIL and sister-IL. And the [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > dinner. The cats circled around the table as the turkey was carved up, > and a few pieces were 'accidentally' dropped on the floor. <snip> >At one point, >when my sister got up from her chair and went to get something from the >kitchen, he immediately jumped to her chair and settled down. My sister >came back, found him there, and went to sit in the sofa instead. It's >obvious who rules this household. ;o) I'm glad that your Christmas was blue as in Russian Blue, and not blue in mood, as I was afraid when I saw the subject. It's funny how we all have different approaches to cats in our chairs: Marina's sister: Cat in chair, sit in different chair. Me: Cat in chair, pick up cat and put on lap. Marina: Cat in chair, sit in chair anyway. ;) > I'm glad that your Christmas was blue as in Russian Blue, and not blue > in mood, as I was afraid when I saw the subject. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Me: Cat in chair, pick up cat and put on lap. > Marina: Cat in chair, sit in chair anyway. ;) Hehehe. Caliban was accidentally introduced to the age-old family tradition of me sitting on a cat the other day. He had crept under the sheet I have covering a chair (to protect it from the ringworm spores - a fat lot of good that will do, since the cats love sleeping *under* the covers) and I didn't see the bump under the sheet, and sat down. Jumped straight back up and a very confused and disgruntled Caliban emerged from under the sheet. SignatureMarina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki. marina (dot) kurten (at) iki (dot) fi Stories and pics at http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/ Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki > I spent Xmas Eve at my sister's, with her family (niece, nephew, BIL), Hey! you're not Catnipped :) I just read this. Thanks for sharing! Your description of dinner is making me hungry. > I spent Xmas Eve at my sister's, with her family (niece, nephew, > BIL), my other sister, our Mum, and my sister's FIL and sister-IL. [quoted text clipped - 46 lines] > got a lot of treats, and Caliban sampled them all while Miranda > ignored every single kind. Signaturemonique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca |
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