Blue Xmas

[Marina]

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.

--
Marina, 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

[Bridget]

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

Marina wrote:

> 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.
>

[Marina]

Bridget wrote:
> 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.

--
Marina, 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

[Bridget]

Marina wrote:

> Bridget wrote:
>
>> 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.
>
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)

[EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)]

Marina wrote:


> 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.

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).

[Marina]

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:
>
> 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).
>
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.

--
Marina, 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

[polonca12000]

Thank you for the update on all the kitties, I loved reading it!
Lots of hugs and purrs,
Polonca and Soncek

Marina wrote:
> 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. <snip>

[Christine K.]

Singh wrote:
> 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

--
Christine in Vantaa, Finland
christal63 (at) gmail (dot) com
photos: http://photos.yahoo.com/christal63
photos: http://community.webshots.com/user/chkr63

[EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)]

Marina wrote:


> 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.

[EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)]

Singh wrote:


> 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
>
> Marina wrote:
>
>
>>EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:
>>
>>>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).
>>>
>>
>>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.
>>
>>--
>>Marina, 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
>
>

[Singh]

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

Marina wrote:

> EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:
> >
> > 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).
> >
> 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.
>
> --
> Marina, 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

[Kreisleriana]

On Sun, 25 Dec 2005 15:54:50 -0800, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
> yodeled:

>
>
>Marina wrote:
>
>
>> 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).



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

[Marina]

Singh wrote:
> 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.

--
Marina, 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

[Marina]

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:
>
>
> Marina wrote:
>
>
>> 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).
>
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
> 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.
>

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.

--
Marina, 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

[EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)]

Marina wrote:

> EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Marina wrote:
>>
>>
>>> 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).
>>
> 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.

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).
>> 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.
>>
>
> 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.

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).
>

[Pamela Shirk]

> wrote in message
...
>
> <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 ;)
> --
>
> Craig, Kathi & "Cat Five" the tabby girl

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

[Sam Nash]

"Pamela Shirk" > wrote in message
ink.net...
>
> > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> <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 ;)
>> --
>>
>> Craig, Kathi & "Cat Five" the tabby girl
>
> 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
>
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

[Marina]

wrote:
>
> <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 ;)

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!).

--
Marina, 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

[Pamela Shirk]

> wrote in message
...
>
>
> 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
>


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

[[email protected]]

Marina > wrote:
>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. ;)

[Marina]

wrote:
>
> 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. ;)
>
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.

--
Marina, 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

[chickenwing]

Marina wrote:
> I spent Xmas Eve at my sister's, with her family (niece, nephew, BIL),

Hey! you're not Catnipped

:)

[Dan M]

On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 23:15:31 -0800, Singh wrote:

> 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

[Singh]

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

wrote:

> On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 21:17:20 GMT, "Pamela Shirk" >
> wrote:
>
> >
> > wrote in message
> ...
> >>
> >> <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 ;)
> >> --
> >>
> >> Craig, Kathi & "Cat Five" the tabby girl
> >
> >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
> >
>
> 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.
> --
>
> Craig, Kathi & "Cat Five" the tabby girl

[Singh]

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]

"Singh" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> 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! :-)
>


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.

[Singh]

wrote:

> On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 23:15:31 -0800, Singh > wrote:
>
> >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

[Monique Y. Mudama]

I just read this. Thanks for sharing! Your description of dinner is
making me hungry.

On 2005-12-25, Marina penned:
> 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.
>

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca