Blue 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.

--
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

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.

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! P 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

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! P 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. )

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).

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

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

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/a...an/pulao1.html
http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/a...4/rec0449.html
http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/a...4/rec0437.html
http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/a...2/rec0289.html

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

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.

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