pegkerr | St. Lucia Day (Reply)

Knowing that St. Lucia's Day was coming up, and armed with

mrissa's recipe for traditional lussekatter (see her post about making it, here), I sallied forth to Lunds and purchased some saffron. Man, saffron is expensive. I gave it to Fiona, along with the recipe, and said, "well, if you'd like to try making it, here you go." I wasn't sure she would. The kitchen isn't ordinarily a place of great delight for Fiona, unlike Delia. When we came home from the theater last night, they told me that Delia'd been making truffles, but I neither saw nor smelled any sign that they'd been making lussekatter. "Sorry the kitchen doesn't smell very good," Delia said. "I'm afraid we burned a bag of popcorn."

Crafty girls. They burned the popcorn on purpose, to cover up the smell of the lussekatter, and then they hid it in the photo cabinet when it was out of the oven.

At 6:30 this morning, they appeared at our bedside, Fiona a vision of the saint in white chemise belted with the red sash, and with a crown of candles, holding the tray of lussekatter, and Delia carrying the cocoa. "Happy St. Lucia Day!"

So we had a sleepy and happy breakfast together. "Did you enjoy making the lussekatter?"

"Oh, it was SO much fun, especially the kneading part." The results were well worth it. The lussekatter was delicious (even if Fiona skipped the traditional raisins because she hates them).

Yes. The Christmas season has begun. Light is there, even in the darkest days.