Lögberg-Heimskringla - 17.02.1995, Blaðsíða 4

4 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 10. febrúar 1995
lcelandic Canadian Club of Toronto
An Event of Times Past and Present
by Don Gislason
This past Christmas, our
Executive decided to
reinstate an old tradi-
tion, which had fallen by the
wayside years ago due to
busy family schedules, lack of
involvement and the general
big city hurly burly of the sea-
son. Too many competing
interests have made this sort
of thing difficult, if not
impossible to sustain over the
years. Yes — we would hold
a celebration of Icelandic
food preparation, crafts and
song — give it a try and see
what happens. The challenge
was laid on the shoulders of
our youth co-ordinator,
Karen Rayner, whose family
hails from Keewatin, Ontario.
On December 6th evening,
after the hall was made ready,
we opened the doors and
waited and wondered what
might happen. Then, at the
stroke of 8:00 the guests
slowly began to arrive, one by
one or in small groups, grow-
ing into a happy mix, creat-
ing an atmosphere which
turned out to be a resounding
success.
As I made the traditional
holiday fruit soup, my place
was set up on a white table
with ingredients displayed
and labelled, including a
take-away recipe. I brought a
ready made pot of sæt súpa
for immediate serving and
then became part of a larger
program stirring up a second
batch, wearing a white apron
and a funny decorated red
chef’s hat which tilted to one
side. }ust like on TV — story
line and all!
People flocked between
activity pods of Georgina
(Phinney/Sigurdson) Rayner
making vínarterta, jólas-
veinar Yuletide Lads stories
by Carol Karlsdóttir McGirr,
group singing in Icelandic
and English by Beka Gunn-
laugsdóttir, Alfred Tulinius,
Gigi Friðdriksson and Stella
Hansen, crafts by Margaret
(Briem) Simmons and her
Story Telling Pod —
Carol Karlsdóttir McGirr weaving a Christmas
jólasveinar story with the help of Sigga Johannson
Moore.
Below: Sing-Along Pod
including John Briem, Olive (Briem) Southworth,
Margaret Simmons, Carol McGirr, Dr. Jim & Holly
(Ralph/Palmason) Garrett, Gail (Einarson) McCleery,
Esther (Johnson) Broughton, Sigga (Johannson)
Moore and Dorothy (Oliver) Gislason.
Chnstmas At Borg
by Anna Marie Strand
As the Star of the east
shone over the uni-
verse, the Holy season
of Christmas was ushered into
the world.
Not only was the universe
preparing for the celebration of
the birth of Christ, but Borg
Home in the small community
of Mountain, North Dakota,
mainly inhabited by Icelanders,
made ready for this great feast.
A large lighted angel and
candles adorned the yard, a
nativity set, a decorated pine
tree, poinsettias, centrepieces
and wall hangings added to the
dining room and the halls in
the festive decor.
This holiday season
wouldn’t be complete without
church services and the singing
of carols. Groups from area
schools, clubs and churches
presented programs and resi-
dents of the home, 43 in all,
joined in song and readings.
A special family night ser-
vice on December 23 included
carols and Scripture led by
Pastor Edin and was attended
by relatives and friends.
Christmas 1994 at Borg con-
cluded with a sumptuous
turkey dinner.
As staff and residents of the
home enter a new year, bless-
ings for good health, peace and
happiness are extended to ALL.
Submitted by Tbordis Matthiasson
Sæt Súpa Pod —
Don Gislason making the
second pot of lcelandic fruit
soup.
Crafts Pod —
Margaret (Briem) Simmons
and her sister Olive
Southworth making
Christmas tree decora-
tions.
remarkably fine kleinur were
made by Sjána Þorfinsdóttir
Brendstrup. Certainly, a good
time was had by all!
Sæt Súpa —
Icelandic Fruit Soup
3/4 cup (small) seed tapioca or
sago (not minute tapioca)
about 8 or more cups of water
1 cup of seedless raisins
1 cup of pitted prunes
about 3/4 cup quartered dried
apricots
3 to 4 cinnamon sticks
2 slices fresh lemon quartered
1/2 cup sugar (more or less
according to sweetness
desired)
1 can of Welch’s concentrated
frozen grape juice
a pinch of salt
Method (serves 15 or more)
1. Bring water in pot to boil, add
tapioca or sago. Reduce heat
and continue cooking, stirring
until tapioca becomes
partially clear.
2. Add raisins, prunes and
apricots.
3. Reduce heat and simmer
(stew) for about 1/2 hour —
stirring occasionally to keep
mixture from sticking.
4. If necessary, add water from
time to time to keep mixture
to consistency of stewed
fruit.
5. During cooking process add
cinnamon sticks.
6. Add cut lemon wedges a bit
later and continue simmering
at low heat. Add water if you
prefer soup on the watery
side.
7. Add concentrated grape juice
(this is an adaptation) and
continue process, stirring
when needed.
8. Add pinch of salt — which
binds the flavours. If a
portion of the mixture is
stored overnight, remove half
of the cinnamon sticks to
avoid bitterness.
9. This yields a full pot of fruit
soup. It is best served hot
and is usually made at
Christmas time or for special
dinners - can be served either
before a meal as an appe-
tizer or after as a dessert.
Some like it cold as well.
Minneapolis Hekla Club
by Jon H. Bjornson
sister Olive Southworth, a
genealogy corner and the
ubiquitous coffee, kleinur and
skyr table, all which gave me
enough time to complete the
stages of production. As the
evening wore on, neatly
choreographed by Eric and
Gail (Einarson) McCleery,
people drifted back on
demand to finish off the
vínarterta and to swallow up
my entire second pot of soup
... and then asked for more!
At this point I would like
to include my particular fami-
ly recipe for sæt súpa or
Icelandic Fruit Soup. It origi-
nally came from Akureyri,
Iceland to Minneota, Minn-
esota, then to Wynyard,
Sask., later to Vancouver,
B.C. and finally to Toronto. It
has undergone only minor
changes with the times and
places. In the past sæt súpa
was, no doubt, better known
in coastal settlements in
Icelánd than in rural districts,
as the dried ingredients were
imported from Denmark.
Also, a Danish Christmas
party guest told me that a
comparable recipe was well
known to her in Copen-
hagen.
Many thanks to the volun-
teers, telephone committee,
those who helped in one way
or another, as well as the
guests. The skyr was brought in
from Winnipeg and the
Hosted Children’s Party
Irene Chanin and Gail Magnusson with the children.
dóttir who led the children in
singing as they danced around
the Christmas tree. Part of the
program was a drawing for two
donated door prizes', a
Christmas table runner made
by Donna Mathews and a
wooden angel kit created by
Dean and.Gail Magnusson.
At the conclusion of the pro-
gram, President Leola Josefson
announced that the Hekla
Club’s annual spring “Sam-
koma” will be held May 13 at
the Minneapolis Woman’s Club
and the speaker will be
Sveinbjöm Björnsson, Rector of
the University of Iceland.
“Gledileg Jól!”
Santa Claus spoke
Icelandic the day he dis-
tributed gifts to the chil-
dren at the Minneapolis Hekla
Club’s “Jóla Bamaball” recent-
!y-
Pictured here is Dr. Örn
Arnar about to begin passing
out gifts from his bag of
Christmas presents to each
child. His helpers, also pic-
tured here, are Mrs. Gail
Magnusson and Mrs. Irene
Chanin, filling the children’s
“Jóla Körfur” with Christmas
candy. The Christmas baskets,
“Jóla Körfur”, were made by
Bragi Magnusson.
The party was held at a
sorority house near the
University of Minnesota where
Hekla Club member Maiy Ann
Westdahl Cope is house direc-
tor and was attended by more
Dr. Örn Arnar
than 100 adults and children.
Members and children at the
party were welcomed by Hekla
Club President Leola Josefson
who introduced Margaret
Arnar and Katrin Freemans-
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