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Morning All

Well, it's time for me to go and watch the start
of the final Olympic hockey game between
Finland and Sweden. I'll only be able to see
the beginning of the game because I have to
make it to choir practice before the church
service. I'll be wearing my lucky Finnish tee
shirt. Go Finland Go!

morning TODAY
from FINLAND
SUOMI CHAMPION
winreday in ICEHOCKEY

I'm watching the the Finland/Sweden game this morning, and just got a pasty from my freezer to celebrate the Finns winning gold. They just scored one to tie 2-2. Go Finland!

Okay, I'm going to make some people mad here. I say "Go Sweden". They have the Red Wing connection on their team. There were 5 men out on the ice before and they all came from the Detroit Red Wings. Go Sweden! If Finland wins though, I'll be thinking about you enjoying that pasty. I made 18 of them last weekend and we just polished the last one off yesterday. MM MM GOOD!!!!

Hey Kosk, I thought the only people who said "Holy Wah" lived in the UP. I got a kick out of that. Holy Muckaduh there's more of you!

Good morning everyone :) Hey Charlotte, what happened to that snow we were supposed to get this weekend? We got a few flurries in the early afternoon...and then nothing. I'm not used to being able to see the ground in January and February.

Usedtobeayooper, Muckaduh? That's a new one on me.

Sur5er, Yup, only in the UP do you hear "Holy Muckaduh". How 'bout that Sweden team? Go Swedes! Sorry for you guys who were pulling for Finland though. There's nothing wrong with Silver.

Good morning from Mishawaka IN. A beautiful sunny and cold (21°) morning. You are right about the ground Sur5er. All I see is yellow and brown grass. White stuff would look alot prettier.

Nothing wrong with Silver. I'll still be enjoying that pasty. Got a little Swedish blood in me anyways. Congratulations to the Swedes!

Good morning all. My daughter and I are making pasties today and my job is to cut up the ingrediants. An easy job except for the rutabago I have a hard time cutting it up. Any sugestions on an easy way of cubing this hard vegie? I normaly use a butchers knife and find it hard to do.

CONGRATULATIONs SWEDENs/SVERIGEs - littles boys were TODAY clearly B E S T and dump WOLRD BEST ICE HOCKEY TEAMs which is FINLAND!!!

Mikie, I cut my rutabaga, the same way I chunk potatoes. Set the rutabaga on a cutting board...and cut the rutabaga into sorta thick slices. Lay each slice on the cutting board, and with the blade of the knife, make several slices in the rutabaga slice, from end to end...the entire width of the slice...like you are making french fries. Then repeat the slicing process, the other way, to make cubes. Repeat process with each slice of rutabaga.
So what time should I be over for dinner?

How about five the traditional time for supper at my dads house. If supper was not on the table we sure heard about it. My problem is artheritis in my hands a problem of getting old I guess.Dani is married to an Ozanich who's grandparents were from South Range so pasties are expected on a regular basis. To bad that my son being a police officer has to go to work and will miss the pasties. When I was a child my mother used to make one pastie just for me without the dreaded onion. In later years she confided to me that she just added a toothpick so I would think that she removed the onions and didn't take out any onions.

Mikie, You're not going to run a pasty out to your son, while he is working tonight? It's amazing what a person can heat up in a squad car, by placing food on the dashboard and putting the defrost on high ;)

O.K. make me feel guilty that he is working. Tell you the truth I didn't think of doing that. Seems they have microwaves in the station house and since he is the commander in charge he should be able to heat it up between calls. When my mother would make pasties I would leave work and go to her house for lunch.When they got older I would check up on them and bring Barb's pastys from Clawson for lunch. Since they are gone I am lonely not having to take care of them. Lately I have been the chaufer for my twelve year old grandaughter and her friends. This is fillng up my time.

For those with shorter memories, or who may have never seen the word before, the Finninsh word for sausage is "makkara", which sounds just like muckedah when spoken.

Bob....isn't makkara sausage what is traditionally served with coffee after the sauna in Finnish homes on Saturday nights?.....(getting the family ready for Sunday services)......so it is called "sauna-makkara"......and thus: "holy makkara"??

True, true. Silver is not bad, and after all, I have
some Swedish blood in me too. Holy wah! is
a Yooperism that I picked up in the UP.
Noboby has heard of it here in Toronto. I like
Holy makkara too though. Never heard it
before.

I use the food processor to chop my onions and slice the potates and rutabagas for pasties. Not only easier on teh hands, but makes the job go faster.

#sigh...congrats to the Swedes for a well played game.Silver is okay though but always have to pull for Suomi.....

Marylou, I just have summer vacation recollections with UP relatives. We had twice weekly saunas, but no traditional refreshments. I always think of Vollwerths ring baloney as makkara. I'll try checking with some relatives to see if they had any other special definitions.

Mikie, What a sweet grandpa you are to chaufer your grandaughter and her friends around. I used to do that for my daughter, when she was a teenager...chaufering them to and from school, and school athletic events.
And yep, I also helped with transportation for school, when my daughter was in elementry school. One time, I asked my daughter's teacher, "Won't the other parents help with transportation?", because it seemed like I was always helping with the transportation on school outings. The teacher explained, "when I ask the kids if their parents can help with transportation, your daughter always has her hand up, 'my mom has a van, she'll take eight of us'. :)

So how did you manage with those rutabagas? Gotta admit that Kelly's idea of using a food prosessor, is the way to go ;)

Matylou, I went to my English-Finnish online dictionary and found another phrase I was trying to recall. Summer sausage is "kesa makkarra". That was another sausage we would also snack on with cheeze and crackers or my Grandma Keranen's or aunt Anna Moilanen's homemade bread. I wish I could find a source for the bread these days!

Jeez,I am not Finnish and always called Vollwerths Baloney Mukkara. When I was growing up we always said Holy Mukada!! I was lucky to reieve a gift box of Vollworth's products for Christmas.A gift from my sister Marge.Yum yum!!!

All this talk about food today is making me rather hungry! I was planning on making pasties today as well...great minds think a like. The way I chop up the rutabagas is by using a strong knife and cutting them into strips and then dicing them. And I also have used a potatoe press that you would use for french fries in the past. All works well in the end though. I have never use a food processor but now looking back that is a great idea! Hope is all is well in the yoop! My husband and I just finished booking our vacation this year to Mackinaw Island and then up to the Soo. I want to show him around there since he has never been to the u.p. I am still in amazement how somebody can live in Michigan for 30 years and never been to the great white north! I think he will be delighted, I only wish we had more time so that I could take him back home to Hancock.

When I was growing up in Houghton/Hancock my mother used to take us to a little cafe/restaurant under the bridge. Does anybody know if it is still there and if so what the name is? just curious I guess...try to save those memories.

Almost forgot...CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FINNISH HOCKEY TEAM...what a job well done! Three hats off to you!

Janette,

Maybe you're talking about the Suomi? One of
my all time favorites. Yes, get that husband of
yours to the UP.

Well, I am making Mukkara, Beans & Pottu's for supper tonight. It is a family favorite. And of course we use only Volwerths Mukkara.

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy!!

bobtiura, Did your grandparents have cabins out past Dreamland that they rented out? We stayed for a week or so at those cabins when I was in about 4th grade. It was so much fun. We didn't go far from home but it was still fun. We met some great people who were visiting the UP for the first time from Illinois there. They had a girl my age. They wound up buying land not too far down the road from these cabins and building one of their own. I got to see my new friend every year and I'm still in touch with her today. She came back to the UP a couple of years ago to show her husband because she had such fond memories of the place. When I talk about it out here nobody can believe that ANYBODY would want to live there with that much snow. But the diehards wouldn't think of leaving.

I had put a posting on here earlier to Mikie but I don't see it. I was telling him that I use the food processer for my rutabagas AND carrots. Combine that with using it for the onions, and it makes the process go much faster. AND it doesn't take the inside of the pasty as long to cook either because the rutabaga is what takes the longest.

How about spelling the sausage----makkaraa.

Thanks to all, I sharpened my daughters knifes and it was a lot easier. My soninlaw doesn't know how to sharpen knifes, so I guess I will have to go over there with my stone more often.The pastys were wonderful and were enjoyed by everyone but my son. I still haven't gotten over to him with one but he thinks it is a good idea. So wishing where were you there are still some left. Did Finland win? Had to watch Dora the Explorer during the hockey game. Grandaughter always know where I am since they got me a cell phone,like her own taxi.

(Usedtobeayooper), Nope, that wasn't my family, although cousin Gordon Moilanen used to have a cabin at Rabbit Bay. My Tiura side was from Boston Location (Cloverland to be exact) and my Keranen side was from Pelkie (Hamar Road).
And,(Lulubelle), sorry, my dictionary can't find Makkaraa.

Whenever I need to cut a hard squash or sweet potato I put it in the microwave for a couple of minutes, let it cool down then I can slice dice easily with my old arthritic hands without the danger of the knife slipping.

My sister would say "Mukkada", too, because she couldn't roll the 'r'. The correct Finn spelling is makkara. But you have to r-r-roll those 'r's. Our Finnish teacher says to pretend you're a little boy with a toy truck. R-r-r-r. I never liked sauna makkara, thought it was too coarse. Kesamakkara is good. But, as their ads say, Vollworth's is the king. :o) Seems to me that a hot-dog is 'nakki', does anyone else know?

Whoops, I think it should be 'näkki'.

Hi cousin .. yes its NAKKI..NAKKI is little makkara..makkara is big sausage! Nakki = wiener!

Näkki = crispbread

My late husband was a member of the Hulkonen family of Nisula. (Baraga county)...It is a wonderful Finnish family..... they had the Hulkonen Egg Farm....Grandfather Henry and Grandmother Hilda came from Soumosalmi, Finland. My mother-in-law is the oldest daughter at age 95. She is still so sharp..and "cute as a button"...as a young girl (German/French) I was impressed by the way this large family would gather together and celebrate their family and their heritage. They still have a huge bi-annual family reunion....every other reunion is in Kaleva, then Nisula. Many of the older generation are now deceased but the young members of the family continue this celebration of family...and all things Finnish.

Mary Lou, Are you related to the Curtins who lived on 8th street in Lake Linden? Just curious.

Deb...Yes, Gary, was the eldest son. I am a Studer...LL"50. My family is Boudreau/Studer.