Lingonberries

Swedish-Americans can be annoying in their Swedish pride.  Depending on what part of the USA in which you reside, you may be painfully aware of this fact, or blissfully ignorant.  I know it well, being of this heritage myself.  And though I agree that it can be annoying, I contribute to it.  In fact, this is the coffee mug I drink from at work, inherited from my desperately Swede-centric Uncle Bryce:-)

But I am a black sheep in the Swedish-American community.  Is it because I married a Danish-American?  No.  I like to think the Scandinavian-Americans are past these silly divisions, though I'm probably wrong.

No, I am guilty of something far drastic, something that is personally and morally reprehensible in the eyes of many.  Are you ready for it?  

I don't put lingonberries on my Swedish pancakes.  There.  I said it.  True confession.

Now you may be thinking, "what's the big deal?  The man's entitled to his own taste, right?"

Wrong.

A bit of background: Lingonberries are tiny, red berries, probably most closely related to the cranberry.  When stewed into a jam-like sauce, it is a truly beautiful thing, and a unique contribution from the Scandinavians.  In the minds of most, this berry confection is a perfect complement to a heaping helping of Swedish pancakes, a wonderfully ethnocentric breakfast, hopefully served on a blue and white porcelain plate.

My refusal to put lingonberries on my Swedish pancakes is not because I dislike the magic red sauce.  I love lingonberries.  I repeat:

I love lingonberries.

But, I also love Swedish pancakes.  I mean, I love Swedish pancakes.  It's really not healthy.  I am a ruthless and irrational defender of the goodness of the greatest breakfast food on the planet.  And this is why I cannot bear to cover them in lingonberries.  Lingonberries are wonderful, but they are powerful, and when slathered upon the culinary perfection of a Swedish pancake, they overwhelm its scintillating flavors.  I find a simple coat of butter to draw out the natural goodness of the pancake better than lingonberries.  

Swedish pancakes need no savior, and so I eat them with butter only.  

And I save the lingonberries for those foods which are in need of redemption: whole wheat toast, rye toast, biscuits, and when I'm really in an international mood, an English muffin.  

So if you're ever in Rockford, IL, and find your taste buds craving the sort of salvation that only comes through Scandinavian cuisine, do yourself a favor and stop by the Stockholm Inn.  

And I suppose you can make your own decision about the lingonberries.  

The End of Blogger's Block

I've had some blogger's block. Not because I don't have anything to write about, but I have just had this unexplainable hesitation to click the little "New Weblog Entry" button on my blog. It's as if I haven't given myself permission to blog. Too many important things to do and all that. I think I'm over that now.

On Saturday, May 12, I ran the Fifth Third River Bank Run 5K in downtown Grand Rapids. In '06, I ran it in 29:19, much to my disappointment. This year, my time was 27:39. It still wasn't great, but much improvement, and I had a lot left at the end. I got really excited to run a 5 miler on June 2 here in Indy. I took a couple days off, and hit the training hard again.

On Saturday, May 19, I ran 5.9 miles in 57 minutes. It was hard, but awesome. The longest I've run since the fall of '99. Wow.

On Sunday, May 20, Addison was officially dedicated to the Lord in a ceremony at church. We promised to raise her the best we can as a disciple for the Kingdom, and the church promised to support us and her in that very adventure. We had tons of family in town who love her and love us. We all were reminded of just how blessed we are. A supportive family is something I think I take for granted most days, caught up in my own little world of busy tasks and self-importance.

The week of May 21, I tried to run a couple times, but I had some serious anterior shin soreness. I just read about how when Jeff Tweedy got into running, he got stress fractures in both legs (his explanation: once an addict, always an addict). I decided that I didn't want those, so I stopped running for an indefinite period of time, icing my leg periodically with some frozen peas from the freezer. This week, Addison began to become a much more confident crawler. Still content to stay in a three foot radius most of the time, but showing signs of increased mobility.

On Sunday, May 27, I had the privilege of preaching for our congregation from John 17. It's always interesting to preach on the day of the Indy 500 in Indianapolis. I did it last year as well...you never know what to expect. This year, attendance was actually pretty good. There was a lot of rain at the race track. The whole worship experience was really encouraging to me, and I even snuck a small clip from The Office season finale ("Hmm, why don't we call it Secret Assistant to the Regional Manager"). After church we ate at Famous Dave's. Yum. Then we headed north, to Merrillville, IN (just a bit southeast of Chicago). We found a hotel with a pool and free breakfast en route to Covenant Harbor in Lake Geneva, WI.

From Monday, May 28 til Wednesday, May 30, we got to experience a totally FREE youth pastor's retreat at Covenant Harbor. It was free. The food was free. It was Covenant Harbor. Needless to say, I thought an awful lot about RyJo. Anyway, it was a really relaxing time. Marcie and I felt like we truly experienced Sabbath for the first time in awhile. Jeff Mazzariello spoke truth to us throughout the week, and it was invigorating. We also got to reconnect with Tim and Heidi Eaton, who we haven't seen for awhile, as well as meeting most of the youth pastor's in the Central Conference for the first time. It was nice to not have any programming responsibilities for a retreat. We even got some free time to saunter into Lake Geneva to enjoy the sights and partake in some delicious birthday treats.

On Tuesday, May 29, I turned a quarter-century old. The big 2-5, as it were. It doesn't seem like that bit a deal, but it's a bit more exciting than 24 was, anyway. My most exciting present this year? Definitely the turntable Marcie got for me, and all the records I got along with it, including the record of all records, Chicago V, complete with "Saturday in the Park." I'm much older and wiser now at 25, as is evidenced by the fact that I'm listening to records now along with my standard cd's and iTunes.

On the evening of Wednesday, May 31, we got back to Indy. I worked for a day.

On the morning of Friday, June 1, we headed up to Michigan for Chad's graduation open house (Marcie's cousin, and the one member of Marcie's family that I've actually known longer than I've known her). It was good. I ate way too much pizza and got to catch up with some of the cousins and aunts and uncles and sisters-from-other-misters up there.

On the morning of Saturday, June 2, we headed back to Indy so I could get dressed and ready to speak and play music at Will's graduation. Will is the only grad from my youth group, and he was homeschooled, so we put on a service for him at the church. It was a touching ceremony, and it was capped off by a celebration involving eating large amounts of Squealers pulled pork. We went to Nathan's graduation party as well, which celebrated his graduation from his 5 year plumbing apprenticeship, and we ate lots of lumpia.

Since then, things have been pretty much back to normal. Sunday, I started running again, and I feel great. Taking a week and a half off doesn't seem to have hurt me too much, and my leg feels much better. I'm listening to Wilco's Sky Blue Sky and Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over the Sea as much as I can, and I'm reading Slaughterhouse-Five, finally. So it goes.

Grace and peace to you all.