Mini Courses offer holiday favorites with a Norwegian flair
Kris demonstrating how to make lefse
Photo courtesy of Kris Rasmussen
By Brooke Appe
Although the holiday season is more than a month away, it’s never too early to start planning gift ideas, decorations and of course, delicious recipes to share with friends and family. Looking back on her Norwegian heritage, instructor Kris Rasmussen has all of these bases covered in three Mini Courses she’ll be teaching this fall, which focus on crafts and cooking with a Scandinavian twist.
Kris grew up in northern Wisconsin, a region heavily populated with Swedish, Dutch and Norwegian descendents. As a result, she learned early on the traditions of her Norwegian culture, including one of the crafts she’ll be teaching in her course: hardanger sewing. Named after a city in Norway, hardanger sewing is an embroidery technique used typically with white thread on a white even-weave cloth. It can be used to make dollies, table runners and holiday ornaments. “It’s a childhood memory and I would sit and do with with my grandmother who taught me,” said Kris.
Another holiday tradition stemming from her heritage is cooking lefse with her grandmother. A Norwegian flatbread made with potato and flour, lefse is cooked on a griddle and typically eaten with butter and sugar. “It looks like a tortilla but has potatoes in it which was originally done to preserve them,” said Kris. “Some eat it only with butter, some with butter and sugar, but I eat it with butter and jelly.”
Hardanger Sewing
Photo courtesy of Kris Rasmussen
Although those are the traditional ways to eat lefse, it’s easy to see that the versatility of this “Norwegian tortilla” makes it a popular staple not only during the holiday season, but year-round. As one of Northern Wisconsin’s favorite Norwegian restaurants, the Norske Nook has demonstrated, lefse can be used to make delicious sandwich wraps as well.
For a holiday craft that can be done with the family, Kris is offering a course on making quilled ornaments. This simple method of rolling paper, shaping it and then gluing it can create an array of beautiful patterns such as flowers and snowflakes. “It’s a very simple craft that kids can do because it’s a matter of twisting paper which that makes some very fun things,” said Kris. “It’s very unique because people have no idea what it is. It’s a historical type craft that is fun to reintroduce.”
If there’s one thing that Kris would like to stress around the holiday season, it’s that the skills to create homemade decorations and gifts are very valuable. “We’ve seen such success from websites like Etsy that people appreciate the gift of handmade things and in tough economic times, it’s an attractive option. It’s appreciated and remembered more than a gift you can pick up at a chain convenience store.”
Quilled Snowflake ornament
Photo courtesy of Kris Rasmussen
These traditional Norwegian crafts and recipes have influenced Kris to continue more artistic endeavors. Besides working as a marketing representative for an insurance company and teaching Mini Courses at the Union, Kris also has her own studio near her home in Merrimac where she does painting, picture framing, airbrushing, pottery and more. She hopes to do that full time someday, but for now, her love of sharing these crafts is enough. “It’s fun to seen people get excited about it and go do it themselves. That’s the spice of life: learning new stuff.”
Kris’s Mini course offerings:
Norwegian Hardanger Sewing 10/17 7-9pm
Quilled Ornaments & more! 10/22 7-9pm
Let’s make Lefse! 11/7 9:30pm
Let’s make Lefse! 11/11 8:30pm
For Mini Course listings, schedules and sign-up, visit the Mini Course homepage or browse the catalog below:
How to make lefse:
How to make quilled snowflakes:
