The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.2008, Qupperneq 43

Vol. 62 #1
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
41
Thorlakson family cookbook
by Margaret Kernested
Dedicated to the memory of Johanna Thorlakson
My mother never considered herself a
great cook. Yet when you talk to people
who knew her, there is always a story of
some special recipe of hers that they
remember and ask about.
But, as in all things Icelandic, the
telling can’t begin there. It naturally has to
begin with who she was, who her parents
were, and from which part of Iceland they
came.
Johanna was born on July 3, 1908, at
the family farm “Hofn” on McElheran
Road, in the R. M. of Gimli. Hofn is locat-
ed in the area originally designated as
Arnesbyggd in Nyja Island (New Iceland).
The area had been incorporated into an
expanded Province of Manitoba in 1881.
Johanna’s father, Thorsteinn
Sigurdsson, later shortened to Sigurdur,
was born at the Birkines homestead, locat-
ed at what is now Loni Beach, in the R. M.
of Gimli, on Nov 5, 1879. He was the son
of Johann Sigurdsson who immigrated
from Grenivik, in Eyjafjordur,
Thingeyjarsysla Region of Northern
Iceland, in 1878, along with his wife
Johanna Jonatansdottir and five of their
children.
Johanna’s mother was GuSlaug
Sesselja Petursdottir. She was born in
Klyppstadur in Lodmundarfjordur,
Iceland, and immigrated to the United
States with her parents Petur Eyjolfsson
and Sigurbjorg Magnusdottir in 1889.
Johanna married Karl Oskar
Thorlakson on October 22, 1939. Karl was
the son of Halldor Thorlaksson and Groa
Sigurdardottir who immigated from
Seydisfjordur, Iceland in 1914.
Johanna’s mother was not healthy so
Johanna learned very young how to cook
for a large family. By the time she was
twelve she was baking bread; up to a dozen
loaves a day. Like so many of the women of
her day, the recipes were mostly in her
head. Also, the way things were made
would often depend on what was on hand.
If today she had raisins then she put them
in, next time she might use dates, or skip
the fruit altogether. She made do with what
she had, which might explain why, when
we all claim to have Mom’s/Granny’s orig-
inal recipe, they all differ!
Karl and Johanna had 4 daughters,
Marlene (Forbes), Christine (Dann),
Margaret (Kernested) and Hazel
(Williams). To Johanna’s family and
friends her daughters were known as “Jo’s
Girls”. When Johanna’s daughters married
and had homes of their own her recipes
were passed on to them. Johanna was born
legally blind. She had an exceptional mem-
ory but, when she told us how to make
something, we kept notes. She would often
say, “You made that a million times, why
do you still need the recipe?” But, because
we could see, we did not have the same
need to memorize that she did.
Johanna’s family quickly expanded.
Her grandchildren have homes of their
own. Soon some of her great grandchildren
will as well. Now they are the ones looking
for the “family recipes” which now not
only include Johanna’s but those of her
daughters as well. So, the suggestion was to
put them all together in a book.
Sounds easy! Who’s going to co-ordi-
nate that? Marlene is the oldest - she can do
it! She has been bossing the rest of us for
years so it would come natural for her to be
the driving force!
Though we tease her, it was a tremen-
dous amount of work and it would never
have come to fruition without her input.
First came the call for recipes.
Actually, that call had to be repeated many