Minneapolis has been on my mind a lot these past few days. No doubt the recent news of a gigantic snowstorm that dropped 17 inches (a half-ish meter) of powder in my parents’ yard has something to do with it. (If you haven’t yet seen this video, you should check it out — it’s pretty incredible.)
I love snow. I sometimes brag that, as a Minnesotan, I can naturally master the cold, but it’s all a lie. I don’t like the cold (it is currently -2 degree F there now. That is -19 degrees C. Ouch.) But you can’t have snow without it. And I really miss the snow.
A friend shared a video of himself riding his bicycle to work in Minneapolis the morning after the storm — at 6:00 am the streets were totally quiet, and the crunch of packed snow under his tires and boots went straight to my heart. The quiet of a post-snow darkened landscape is amazingly serene. One of my favorite things to do in the snow is to just walk around in it. Wearing Sorels in slightly plowed streets you can achieve premium crunch — the snow is packed just enough, yet you can keep your ankles dry (because really, once you wet your ankles it’s all downhill from there).
In the wake of my snow fantasy — yes, I know it is a snow-filled dreamland since I don’t have to shovel the driveway, pay gazillions to heat my house, or deal with wet ankles — I came across this MPR video about lutefisk, another ingredient to a true Minnesota winter:
This video put a huge smile on my face. It is extremely well done and captures a charming sliver of Minnesota pretty accurately, in my opinion. A few things to note while watching:
1. The explanation of flaky vs. snotty is spot-on. I love how she assumes everyone knows what good walleye should look like.
2. Everything at the buffet is the same color.
3. The champ’s button — it says “Uff da.” Exactly. And his granddaughter is the definition of hard core.
4. I feel like I know every single person in this video — is that so wrong?
A few years ago my family gave up preparing lutefisk for Christmas dinner. It is surprisingly expensive, perhaps because we opted not to lye-it-up ourselves. My family finally admitted defeat. It was just too much money and effort to devote to a plate of wiggly stuff that most of the people at the table didn’t really care for anyway.
Though I know it might be dangerous to declare this in front of all my Aunts who I know are reading this (hi, Aunts!), if the tradition ever came back ’round, I wouldn’t be opposed. My tastes have changed in recent years, and considering I now consume wiggly raw sea creatures almost daily, I might have a new opinion of the stuff. That bottle of squeeze butter got me a little excited.
Just as long as you can provide a side of snow.
Saké Puppets 
Very nicely stated my dear child.
Flacky or Snotty like.
Not being of Norwegian descent, I do not have the required taste buds needed to enjoy this type of gelatinous fish. Nor do I have that inhanced sense of smell that is required to get through the consumption of this meal.
Please I beg of you, do not bring it back! I would much rather carry on the British tradition of a piece of overcooked meat with the consistancy of shoe leather.
Dad, I’ve got no idea what you are talking about — your roasts never taste like shoe leather. 😉
There are few of us who would welcome the Lutefisk back with open arms and a very open mouth. I have even started working at our church fall fesival which serves-yep- a full Lutifisk dinner. Skip the meatballs, just fill my plate with that lovely fish! Next time you’re home we’ll have to smell up the house and treat ourselves to some good old tasty fish.
Thank you for sharing this video. I also love the good walleye comment. My question is this – why not snow with a (very) little side of lutefisk instead?
Have you thought about heading up to Hokkaido? I could recommend some places….
We certainly have, so I’d love some recs. I need snow.