LEFSE!

Quick story then we have to clean.... (it's the weekend and I feel like it is the only time for us to catch up and clean)

This morning started out like any other Saturday. Except I wasn't working!! Instead we went to Neighbors in Need and voluteered! It was another great morning full of great conversations!

After NIN I asked Derek if we could go get Lefse! We had talked with Norma (who has family in Fargo and is the worship director at Trinity) and she said we could find lefse in Ballard (supposively where all the Norwegians live in Seattle) or we could travel to Renton where there is an IKEA. Derek and I thought it would be fun to check out Ballard to we googled where to find lefse... called the Scandinavian Bakery to ask if they had lefse, they did and we set their location in our GPS and we were on our way! First, we ended up in a residential neighborhood in East Seattle. There was no bakery. Then we drove to a Great Harvest Bread Co. thinking that this was the bakery and there was no Lefse. We parked illegally and feared being towed, luckily we made it back to the car in time before anyone noticed! By this time we were about to give up when I called the bakery for the second time to ask for their address. We now had plugged in three different addresses for this bakery and finally we were off in the right direction!

After finding the bakery (pictured below) we parked illegally in the Chase parking lot (Derek assumed it would be fine because he has an account with Chase) and we walked into the bakery very proud to have reached our destination. As we went up to the counter and asked about their lefse... they informed us that their lefse is not fresh and from Montana. They also keep it frozen for their customers. Although I was dissapointed that it was not fresh and frozen I still happily asked for a couple bags and we were on our way! I guess what I am trying to say is we miss Fargo-Moorhead and the grocery stores that have the food we love and the holidays where we get home made lefse! Now Derek was just along for the ride... he is not a lefse fan but I am thinking I will convert him into one! After a long journey of finding some comfort food we are home... and ready to conquer our next challenge... cleaning the house!

Here is the Scandinavian bakery in Ballard! I am hoping that next year when we are home... I will learn how to make all of my favorite Norwegian treats! Grandma Gulsvig better be ready for a lot of questions and I hear Amy makes lefse as well! This year we will have to stick with our frozen lefse but next year this will not be acceptable!

Things are great... life is great and Derek and I are eagerly awaiting December 20th when we get to see family!

P.s.

Thank you to everyone who is sending us Christmas cards! It has been so fun to get mail!

Here is our address in case some of you are wondering...

6304 194th St.

Lynnwood Washington 98036

Holiday Spirit...

Our first Thanksgiving was a complete success with many thanks to our Mom's for helping us compile some last minute recipes we were able to form two family traditions into our own traditions! Derek and I were pretty excited to host our first Thanksgiving but began to feel nervous Wednesday night when we were at church and many of the congregation members were giving us tips on how to cook the turkey! We then went home and decided to watch Martha Stewart's your first Thanksgiving to help us out! After many debates on if we should grill or use the oven to cook the turkey we decided to use the oven for the turkey and the grill for the ham! (Yes we had Turkey and Ham because the Salzwedel's always have both... and I like Ham better than turkey!) After coordinating the oven dishes we had everything ready to go! And EVERYTHING turned out! Here are some pictures of our feast!

(I must say Derek did the Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes & homemade gravy! Thanks to Grandma Dar who took a last minute phone call on how to make the gravy!)

Let's just say we had more than enough food! Eric and Megan joined us for Thanksgiving which was a wonderful treat! Our neighbor Jamie and her friend Courtney also stopped by at the end of the evening! It was a fantastic day with wonderful people!

The day after Thanksgiving Derek and I ventured out to get some Christmas decorations! Paul, Amy, Katie and Brian will be here for Christmas and we wanted our home to be decorated for the holidays! We found some great bargains....

We hope you are staying warm! We are looking forward to hearing how the holidays are treating all of you! I started working at another Caffe Ladro to get more hours in. I now work at the Edmonds Ladro as well as the Lynnwood Ladro.

Derek is busy preparing for Christmas. He continues to love being in this congregation but we are missing all of you very much...especially during the holidays!

Love you!