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Waldorf cookbook

June 12, 2011 | Food,Iowa

As Anne Bakke made the syttende mai dinner, she kept mentioning “the Waldorf cookbook.” In fact, all of the recipes she used that night came from it. I wanted to get my hands on this cookbook. I finally found one from a collector just west of here.

The best I can determine, the cookbook was published in 1981, in honor of Tillie Rasmusson, who was food service director at Waldorf College for most of the 20th century. According to The Iowan, “She was beloved for her welcoming campus kitchen, housed in the basement of Salveson Hall, and for her delicious cinnamon rolls, baked every weekend. Waldorf students would reportedly make their travel plans around Rasmusson’s baking schedule, returning to campus in time for rolls fresh from the oven. So legendary were those rolls that two of them were placed in the cornerstone of a new building dedicated in 1955 — Rasmusson Hall.”

According to Waldorf, “Rasmusson Hall (1955) is a three-story residence hall for approximately 56 students. It is named for Tillie Rasmusson, a former food service director who was beloved for her caramel rolls.”

The cookbook opens with Tillie’s Chapter and Recipes.

“We feel it appropriate that this cookbook be named in memory of Miss Tillie Rasmusson, since for nearly fifty years she served delicious meals to thousands of students, teachers, and friends at Waldorf College. If there is one thing everyone remembers about Tillie’s cooking, I’m sure that it would be her cinnamon rolls. Students, especially the men, who went home for the weekend would return Sunday morning in order to enjoy Tillie’s rolls.

“Just before Tillie retired I asked her about the amounts purchased and the amounts served at the college while she was cook. She fed around 375 students and teachers every day. As you read the quantities remember everything was ‘home baked.’ There were no cake mixes, no frozen foods and no instant potatoes. When I mention potatoes, she didn’t have an electric peeler for many years, so they peeled the potatoes by hand.

“40 sacks of flour every two months (100 lb. sacks)
150 lbs. of potatoes a day
60 dozen eggs three times a week
150 lbs. of butter a week
150 lbs. of roast beef for one meal or
10 large turkeys
12 gal. of canned fruit for sauce
75 gal. of milk every day
Every Saturday she baked
50 loaves of bread
500 buns for maid-rites for Saturday evening
15 doz. large cinnamon rolls
55 pies — each pie cut in 7 pieces”

That section includes the ingredients for rolls, although I’m not sure whether they were cinnamon rolls, caramel rolls … or both, but the recipe was for making a couple hundred rolls. It also has 13 other recipes, with a few Norwegian delicacies, such as fattigman and julebrød (Christmas bread). The rest of the cookbook is filled with recipes — Norwegian and otherwise — from others.

Posted by Becky @ 11:23 am | Comments  

Syttende mai

June 10, 2011 | Holidays,Iowa,Norway

I spent syttende mai in a cooking class about Norwegian cuisine. I wore my sølv.

And my red, white & blue.

Then I got to eat a fabulous dinner, thanks to Creative Kitchen Cooking School, run by Anne Bakke. She made shrimp salad with asparagus, Norwegian meatballs and whipped-cream cake with strawberries. Wonderful food, great company and, of course, Ole and Lena jokes. It was a fun way to celebrate syttende mai.

Posted by Becky @ 9:31 am | 2 Comments  

I love that it’s not winter

June 5, 2011 | Iowa,Spring,Summer

Posted by Becky @ 12:02 pm | 2 Comments  

Lilacs

June 4, 2011 | Stuff

My mother loved lilacs. I like the idea of them (and they’re pretty in pictures), but they give me a raging headache if I bring them inside. Still. I knew Mom liked them, so I would put them in the guest room (we called it Gramma’s Room) when she came to visit. Our lilacs are in bloom now. They make me miss her.

Posted by Becky @ 8:00 am | 3 Comments  

Apple tree

June 3, 2011 | Iowa,Spring

Here’s the tree in full bloom just *minutes* before the wind blew them all away.

Happy spring! Looking forward to juicy apples in the fall.

Posted by Becky @ 6:00 am | Comments  

Books: Pirate Girl

May 19, 2011 | Books,Family

I read Pirate Girl by Cornelia Funke (illustrated by Kerstin Meyer) in February with the kids. They loved it. I thought it was cute, too.

Posted by Becky @ 10:24 am | 1 Comment  

Books: Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand

Books

I read Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson in February for my book club. I absolutely loved it.

Posted by Becky @ 10:14 am | Comments  

Books: When a Grandparent Dies

Books,Family

I read When Your Grandparent Dies: A Child’s Guide to Good Grief (Elf-Help Books for Kids) by Victoria Ryan with my children when their grandmother died earlier this year. It uses clear, concise and kind words for children who just lost a grandparent. (It doesn’t hurt parents to read this, either.)

Posted by Becky @ 10:09 am | Comments  

Apple blossoms

May 10, 2011 | Iowa,Spring

The apple tree was in full bloom by this time last year. We’re just getting started now. But, hey. I’ll take it. Welcome, spring!

Posted by Becky @ 9:28 am | Comments  

April tornadoes bring … snow?

April 19, 2011 | Iowa,Spring,Weather,Winter

I’m not sure I want to see what’s in store for us in May.

Yeah. Good thing we put up the swings.

Yay.

Posted by Becky @ 10:17 am | 4 Comments  



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