Quote of the Day: "Norwegian Stir Fry"

Lefse is a staple food of any good Norwegian.  And no good Norwegian can go a day without saying "Uffda!" at least once.  Those two elements come together annualy in Rutland, ND, during the town's Uffda Day Celebration.

Every year, small towns across America (or at least ND) throw bashes that are basically an excuse to drink lots of beer.  Gwinner has "Gwinner Fun Day," Lisbon has "Crazy Days," and Milnor has "June Jamboree."  Popular events include street dances, demolition derbies, and parades.  One of the most important elements of "Uffday Day" is the selling of lefse. 

If you've never eaten lefse, you're missing out.  In America, lefse is very similar to a Mexican tortilla, but is made with potatoes and is way thinner.  Where I come from, it's cooked on a griddle and served with butter and cinnamon-sugar.  It's delicious. 

Apparently, the hardest part of making lefse is the rolling.  It takes practice to make it thin enough and beautifully round.  And it's really fragile.  One must take caution when flipping it on the griddle, or it will break.

The Teller interviewed some of the ladies who made over 2500 pieces of lefse for this year's Uffda Day, and asked about the cooking process.  They confirmed what I've thought for my whole life: good things can come from mistakes made while cooking.  For example, if a server accidentally forgets to order a customer's Caesar Salad without the dressing on the side, she might get to eat the mistake.

In the case of lefse, broken pieces can't be sold.  When a piece is broken, the cookers "flip it on the grill and holler, 'Norwegian stir-fry!'" And eat their mistakes.  (Sometimes, they even have "accidental" mistakes.)

WARNING: Horrible, awful, disgusting cliche ahead:

In life, good things can come from mistakes.  Good things like lessons learned, the ability to give friends advice based on your mistake experience, and maybe even some great stories...