Celebrating the Winter Solstice

[serious crayons]

I'm sure they all taste good.

But here, there's more or less only one way to cook them.

Oh, I thought you meant your impression was there's only one way to cook them, not just that there's only one way people cook them in Sweden.

Multi-generation Americans must have a lot of those things -- ingredients they cook only one way. Or did, at least, before the growth of Latin American, Middle Eastern, African and Asian restaurants. Though of course, people whose parents came from another country probably ate those all along.

The other day I interviewed a woman whose mother was from the Philippines and was renowned for her cooking of Filipino cuisine. Oone thing her mother made her boyfriends particularly liked was a dish one of them called "mud." It combines pork and ox blood.

Whereas multi-generational American families cook our ox blood only one way. Which is, we don't.

There's only one Filipino restaurant near me, but I don't believe they have mud on the menu.

I just noticed that in two consecutive posts I referred to two delicious foods called mud.

However not in my family since none of my parents grew up in Sweden.

Where was your folks from?

[Sason]

Where was your folks from?

Parents from Germany and Denmark.

Grandparents from Poland/Ukraina/Russia/Germany/Denmark.

Like most Jewish families it's a multinational mixture just one or two generations back.

[serious crayons]

Parents from Germany and Denmark.

Grandparents from Poland/Ukraina/Russia/Germany/Denmark.

Like most Jewish families it's a multinational mixture just one or two generations back.

Nice! I think even my great-grandparents were all born in the United States. So I don't really know my family's country(ies) of origin. Based on our names and the SPF of our sunscreen, I'm guessing it was some combination of Ireland, England and Scotland.

 

[Sason]

Nice! I think even my great-grandparents were all born in the United States. So I don't really know my family's country(ies) of origin. Based on our names and the SPF of our sunscreen, I'm guessing it was some combination of Ireland, England and Scotland.

 

That's an inventive way to do genealogy!

[Jeff Wrangler]

I believe a sign that winter is coming (and, of course, the Winter Solstice). I was at my father's place for the weekend. Last evening I briefly stepped out on the front porch. The sky was very clear. The moon is coming on last quarter, but it was still so bright you could have picked up a pin. I looked to the southern sky, and just dimly I could make out the belt of Orion.

[Front-Ranger]

For a city guy, you are remarkably in touch with nature. Nice!

[Jeff Wrangler]

For a city guy, you are remarkably in touch with nature. Nice!

Well, I grew up in a small city/large small town, but I can't really say why the movement of the sun and the appearance of the constellations interest me. I have no idea where I picked up the observation that Orion is a "winter constellation" here. My observation of the sun's movement is only possible because I live up so high and formerly had a completed view from the southeast all the way around to the southwest. The view to the southwest is now obstructed by a new high rise. If I hadn't had a southern exposure I would never have noticed this.

I wanted to take an astronomy course in college, but it was offered only every other year, and I couldn't fit it into my schedule.     You could see Ursa Major from the backyard of the house where I grew up, and I could swear that once when I was a child it was so cold for a brief time one winter that the Aurora Borealis was briefly visible. I could be mistaken in my childhood memory, but I do remember standing in the backyard, and it was very cold, and there was a lot of snow on the ground, and I could see something in the northern sky.

[serious crayons]

 I could swear that once when I was a child it was so cold for a brief time one winter that the Aurora Borealis was briefly visible. I could be mistaken in my childhood memory, but I do remember standing in the backyard, and it was very cold, and there was a lot of snow on the ground, and I could see something in the northern sky.

That's weird, I've seen northern lights any number of times. Of course, MN is north of PA, but it doesn't have to be cold to see them here. Living in a major metropolitan area I don't see them often anymore because of light pollution. But I remember once going on a work retreat in the 1980s -- we went to a resort in northern MN and the whole sky, literally, was like a shifting colorful curtain. The best northern lights I'd ever seen. It was cool enough for us, the coworkers on the retreat, but there was also a wedding going on at this northern MN resort and I thought how cool would that be to have that on your wedding night. They had a guitarist and a campfire outside.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I think it would be very cool to be able to see the Northern Lights on a regular basis. The same with constellations like the Big Dipper and Orion.

I only see them now when I watch Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. 

When I was a kid, in the winter, you could stand on the front steps of our house, and Orion was directly over the house across the street.

[Penthesilea]

I think it would be very cool to be able to see the Northern Lights on a regular basis. The same with constellations like the Big Dipper and Orion.

I only see them now when I watch Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. 

When I was a kid, in the winter, you could stand on the front steps of our house, and Orion was directly over the house across the street.

The Big Dipper can be seen year round here in middle Europe. In German it's called "Der gro?e Wagen" = Big waggon. It's the only constellation I know and can point out easily. Orion could shine directly into my sleeping room window and I wouldn't know it.

That's weird, I've seen northern lights any number of times. Of course, MN is north of PA, but it doesn't have to be cold to see them here.

Northern Lights visible in MN? I just checked: even though MN is way colder than my area (thank you gulf stream), I am North of you. MN is roundabout 46?N while I am 49?N.

Northern Lights are never-ever visible here, and I think not even in Stockholm, which is 1000km north of me.

Ooops, I've just checked on Wikipedia. Northern Lights can be visible in middle and even southern Europe when the sun's cycle is on maximum eruption, which is roughly every ten years or such.


Nobody i know has ever seen them down here. Hubby and I took a trip on the Norwegian Hurtigruten Ship and we went in February just to see them. And we did! Was totally worth it!