It's Wednesday, and I thought I'd post the menu from a Jul-bord we were at last night, since I made a comment about mumma (which I had a pitcher of last night, only the restaurant we went to used gin and juniper-mead instead of madeira and porter - sneaky, you can't taste the alcohol at all).
1st serving:
Brantevik-, Mustard-, Lingoberry- and Hausfrau pickled herring
Juniper-graved salmon filé, dill- and cognac graved salmon filé, egghalves with mayo and shrimps, warm-smoked salmon, lightly poached fjell char, Skagenröra, Sauce de Maître d', creamed dill
3rd serving:
Jul-ham, veal brawn, press-sylta (a cross between head cheese and brawn) of boar, graved reindeer, reindeer sausage, salami of moose, smoked reindeer heart, paté of game with cumberland sauce, two kinds of mustard, one with honey and one with thyme
Interlude: lutfisk with potatoes, a white sauce and black pepper/cumin/clove spice-mix to sprinkle on the sauce
4th serving:
Meatballs of game, wiener-sausages (called Prince-sausages here), side of pork that's been marinated, then braised after cooking in orange juice, Jansson's temptation (pickled anchovies and onion and potato-strips creamy gratin), cream-stewed green chou frisé, red cabbage salad
5th serving:
Candy & cookies & cakes & pastries-buffet:
Rocky road chocolate-chips, sugared marmalade-cubes, struvor (rosettes) with whipped cream, apple pie, five kinds of polkagrisar*, saffron-flavoured panacotta, various types of fudge and caramel, knäck**, kladdkaka***, radio-cookies****
And yes, I ate it all. And downed a tankard of mumma while doing it. Who said you can't be a gourmet and a gourmand both?
My Christmas tree story: Years ago, we had an amazing cat named Kashmere. He was a HUGE Maine Coon, with the weirdo personality that goes with it. Kash was a very sweet and loving kitty. One year we got a Christmas tree and put in one of those huge bowls with screws that hold the tree in place. We filled it full of water to keep the tree alive. It didn't take long before Kash started drinking the water out of the bowl, something he'd never done before. Suddenly, his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and he was zooming all over the room, climbing the tree (and with his size this was a bit scary, we weren't sure if the tree would still be standing). Kash did everything but swing from the chandelier and if we'd had one I'm certain he would have been swinging from it. My husband, scientist that he is, figured out that there was thujone in tree after he sniffed the tree up close. Thujone is used in making absinth, something he is quite expert at doing, as he had made it for years. Thujone is also what gives absinth it's very special experience like no other substance. If made right (and most of it isn't because it's store bought and not allowed to be very strong but when it's homemade it's truly out of this world, one glass and you are flying high, as Kash proved). The next Christmas we brought our tree into the house and immediately Kash's eyes it up again and there he was swinging from the lamp shades again for hours. Catnip was nothing compared to the thujone. Wish we'd made videos of it I've never seen a cat going 900 mph before and performing acrobatics like that - and I've had cats for 40 yrs.
What a great story! I got my hands on some 'real' absinthe during the Ron Paul days and we drank it after our county convention win. It certainly was different! Glad I tried it but haven't gone looking since ;)
I had 2 excellent Thanksgivings. One on the day of with more than 25 people. Excellent food. One on Thanksgiving Saturday with about 20 people. Excellent food. In NM tamales are an interesting and welcome addition to the standard fare. Saturday had great red and green chile as well. Scallops for tonight. Actually scallop soup for my tum to have a break. Whadda ya think? Is it all about the food for me? Maybe. LOVED the sheep video.
I have a cat proof Christmas tree now, thanks to Cindi. It's made of metal and is really cool. I think Snoots is too lazy to attack a live tree, unless it had some catnip ornaments. He LOVES catnip, what a druggie.
My ex-husband took the cats because I was increasingly allergic to the cat litter but, there were times when we anchored the tree to the wall because just like in the video our cats loved to shimmy straight up the middle!
The greyhound was incredible!!
Loved the football story! Absolutely restored my faith in humanity.
I’d be willing to bet the sheep parade video was from Turkey because the dog at the beginning of the video was an Anatolian Shepherd. These are the dogs I have. Bred for their health and strength instead of particular traits that you find in the AKC. FYI: Donkeys are absolutely vicious when it comes to coyotes, mountain lions, strange dogs…in my rural town donkeys are a common compliment to the guardian dogs.
Greyhound won for me. Couldn’t contain the expectations, and then: Off like a rocket! So much grace in those slow mo shots. Thighs are seriously adapted for the speed. And I once saw 6 lanes in either direction closed by sheep on an urban Delhi highway!
Great compilation, especially the pussycats. Seems kinda silly to expect them to resist the temptation of the dangling tree ornaments or the lure of the tree itself...
One of my cats became THE Christmas cat with a long piece of tinsel making its way out of her rectum. In retrospect, I hope she wasn't injured. She lived for quite a few more years, so probably OK.
Totally enjoyed the cats, both sleeping and christmassing, and of course the dogs! We carefully avoided politics and I invited for Christmas. We are finally back on track, after 5 years of messing around. Got invited last year too, but had a pretty nasty 2025 myself.
Today was a decent day for a Monday. It is really cold outside here in Northern Virginia 35 miles west of the sewer which is Washington DC
Our thanksgiving was okay. Hubbs and I drove out to my sister up the toll road, and around the Washington Beltway to Silver Spring, Maryland. It was just the three of us. It was pretty fun to see her house all remodeled after her flooding incident last June from a broken toilet in the middle of the night. Flooded a lot of the house. Repairs took forever.
It was interesting to see how it all worked out. It was a big headache for her.
driving home on the Washington Beltway is a different experience than driving to her house. Just the way the beltway is created, driving home, you just get on to the rolling parking lot that is going about 85 miles per hour most of the way, unless there is police activity from an accident or a criminal incident,
I did all of the driving bc my hubbs has glaucoma and can't drive in some situations.
I am an excellent driver and I love driving... sometimes. we came home late and I was kind of wired. We ate a lot of food.
I really liked every single video you shared. the tree with the white cats part was hilarious. All of the videos were really good.
Tomorrow is Tuesday. I guess I am ready. We are supposed to get ice and snow.
Grass back scratching - got two that love to do that. Sometimes in crap, literally, that we wish they wouldn't. But hey, they love it.
SCA recommend - was that Italy, Spain? I recall glomming on this sometime ago. Moving the flock from summer to winter pastures. I'm thinking Italy, but I"m often off-base. SCA, what say you?
Mamdani - already had his hand out. And will be extending. A few hours away, I have no desire to go to NYC these days.
Wonderful Thanksgiving with family in IA - all conservative thinkers - good conversations,
Great food - very, very windy weather.
It's Wednesday, and I thought I'd post the menu from a Jul-bord we were at last night, since I made a comment about mumma (which I had a pitcher of last night, only the restaurant we went to used gin and juniper-mead instead of madeira and porter - sneaky, you can't taste the alcohol at all).
1st serving:
Brantevik-, Mustard-, Lingoberry- and Hausfrau pickled herring
Wort bread, rye crisps, home-made butter, spiced cheese
2nd serving:
Juniper-graved salmon filé, dill- and cognac graved salmon filé, egghalves with mayo and shrimps, warm-smoked salmon, lightly poached fjell char, Skagenröra, Sauce de Maître d', creamed dill
3rd serving:
Jul-ham, veal brawn, press-sylta (a cross between head cheese and brawn) of boar, graved reindeer, reindeer sausage, salami of moose, smoked reindeer heart, paté of game with cumberland sauce, two kinds of mustard, one with honey and one with thyme
Interlude: lutfisk with potatoes, a white sauce and black pepper/cumin/clove spice-mix to sprinkle on the sauce
4th serving:
Meatballs of game, wiener-sausages (called Prince-sausages here), side of pork that's been marinated, then braised after cooking in orange juice, Jansson's temptation (pickled anchovies and onion and potato-strips creamy gratin), cream-stewed green chou frisé, red cabbage salad
5th serving:
Candy & cookies & cakes & pastries-buffet:
Rocky road chocolate-chips, sugared marmalade-cubes, struvor (rosettes) with whipped cream, apple pie, five kinds of polkagrisar*, saffron-flavoured panacotta, various types of fudge and caramel, knäck**, kladdkaka***, radio-cookies****
And yes, I ate it all. And downed a tankard of mumma while doing it. Who said you can't be a gourmet and a gourmand both?
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polkagris
**https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kn%C3%A4ck
***https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kladdkaka
****https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedgehog_slice
And I'd do it all over again today if I could!
Yer killin' me!
I'd be rolling out the door comatose. With a big fat smile on my big fat face.
What a feast!
No, wait. There's a few of SimCom's CATatonic friends pictured in this post who must've been with you...
Abort The Government...my Christmas wish.
It's just late-term health care!
My Christmas tree story: Years ago, we had an amazing cat named Kashmere. He was a HUGE Maine Coon, with the weirdo personality that goes with it. Kash was a very sweet and loving kitty. One year we got a Christmas tree and put in one of those huge bowls with screws that hold the tree in place. We filled it full of water to keep the tree alive. It didn't take long before Kash started drinking the water out of the bowl, something he'd never done before. Suddenly, his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and he was zooming all over the room, climbing the tree (and with his size this was a bit scary, we weren't sure if the tree would still be standing). Kash did everything but swing from the chandelier and if we'd had one I'm certain he would have been swinging from it. My husband, scientist that he is, figured out that there was thujone in tree after he sniffed the tree up close. Thujone is used in making absinth, something he is quite expert at doing, as he had made it for years. Thujone is also what gives absinth it's very special experience like no other substance. If made right (and most of it isn't because it's store bought and not allowed to be very strong but when it's homemade it's truly out of this world, one glass and you are flying high, as Kash proved). The next Christmas we brought our tree into the house and immediately Kash's eyes it up again and there he was swinging from the lamp shades again for hours. Catnip was nothing compared to the thujone. Wish we'd made videos of it I've never seen a cat going 900 mph before and performing acrobatics like that - and I've had cats for 40 yrs.
What a great story! I got my hands on some 'real' absinthe during the Ron Paul days and we drank it after our county convention win. It certainly was different! Glad I tried it but haven't gone looking since ;)
Glad you liked my story. Also glad you got to try some REAL absinthe, it's a very unique experience.
I had 2 excellent Thanksgivings. One on the day of with more than 25 people. Excellent food. One on Thanksgiving Saturday with about 20 people. Excellent food. In NM tamales are an interesting and welcome addition to the standard fare. Saturday had great red and green chile as well. Scallops for tonight. Actually scallop soup for my tum to have a break. Whadda ya think? Is it all about the food for me? Maybe. LOVED the sheep video.
I have a cat proof Christmas tree now, thanks to Cindi. It's made of metal and is really cool. I think Snoots is too lazy to attack a live tree, unless it had some catnip ornaments. He LOVES catnip, what a druggie.
A great selection again!
My ex-husband took the cats because I was increasingly allergic to the cat litter but, there were times when we anchored the tree to the wall because just like in the video our cats loved to shimmy straight up the middle!
The greyhound was incredible!!
Loved the football story! Absolutely restored my faith in humanity.
I’d be willing to bet the sheep parade video was from Turkey because the dog at the beginning of the video was an Anatolian Shepherd. These are the dogs I have. Bred for their health and strength instead of particular traits that you find in the AKC. FYI: Donkeys are absolutely vicious when it comes to coyotes, mountain lions, strange dogs…in my rural town donkeys are a common compliment to the guardian dogs.
Greyhound won for me. Couldn’t contain the expectations, and then: Off like a rocket! So much grace in those slow mo shots. Thighs are seriously adapted for the speed. And I once saw 6 lanes in either direction closed by sheep on an urban Delhi highway!
ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
Great compilation, especially the pussycats. Seems kinda silly to expect them to resist the temptation of the dangling tree ornaments or the lure of the tree itself...
At least there was no tinsel on those trees. That’s a lesson you only need to learn once.
One of my cats became THE Christmas cat with a long piece of tinsel making its way out of her rectum. In retrospect, I hope she wasn't injured. She lived for quite a few more years, so probably OK.
WOW, that presents quite a picture!
Too bad we didn't take pictures of everything in those days.
SC, my face *is* as the face in the last photo. Bravo, You... great post. I am reposting.
Thank you! Any press is good press!
darn straight. or not.
Lovely roundup.
Thank you for helping make it happen!
That was probably a repost by Captive Dreamer. I think he's a follower of Nature Is Amazing...
Still, I wouldn't have seen it! (and didn't)
SimCom, how long before sheep are "tagged" & they look like every rail car in the U.S. ?
My cat-proof Christmas tree
https://substack.com/@tardigrade1/note/c-183198422?
Very creative solution! 😁👍
LOL!!!!
Totally enjoyed the cats, both sleeping and christmassing, and of course the dogs! We carefully avoided politics and I invited for Christmas. We are finally back on track, after 5 years of messing around. Got invited last year too, but had a pretty nasty 2025 myself.
Today was a decent day for a Monday. It is really cold outside here in Northern Virginia 35 miles west of the sewer which is Washington DC
Our thanksgiving was okay. Hubbs and I drove out to my sister up the toll road, and around the Washington Beltway to Silver Spring, Maryland. It was just the three of us. It was pretty fun to see her house all remodeled after her flooding incident last June from a broken toilet in the middle of the night. Flooded a lot of the house. Repairs took forever.
It was interesting to see how it all worked out. It was a big headache for her.
driving home on the Washington Beltway is a different experience than driving to her house. Just the way the beltway is created, driving home, you just get on to the rolling parking lot that is going about 85 miles per hour most of the way, unless there is police activity from an accident or a criminal incident,
I did all of the driving bc my hubbs has glaucoma and can't drive in some situations.
I am an excellent driver and I love driving... sometimes. we came home late and I was kind of wired. We ate a lot of food.
I really liked every single video you shared. the tree with the white cats part was hilarious. All of the videos were really good.
Tomorrow is Tuesday. I guess I am ready. We are supposed to get ice and snow.
We got our last Samoyed from a breeder in Aldie ... must be pretty close to your area, Rosemary
yes, just right up the road south of us
Another stellar Monday post.
Grass back scratching - got two that love to do that. Sometimes in crap, literally, that we wish they wouldn't. But hey, they love it.
SCA recommend - was that Italy, Spain? I recall glomming on this sometime ago. Moving the flock from summer to winter pastures. I'm thinking Italy, but I"m often off-base. SCA, what say you?
Mamdani - already had his hand out. And will be extending. A few hours away, I have no desire to go to NYC these days.
No idea where that video was taken. It was a repost on one of the X accounts I read daily.