Treasures from the Trunk

A paper I wrote that corresponds with a plate hanging in our hallway, which has the original lefsa recipe in my grandma's writing and pictures my ancestors.

Treasures from the trunk:

Ideas often originate from research. A person looks for information that inspires. During my research for this project I was able to travel back in time to the early 1900’s to see my family history. The plate depicts my ancestors from their favorite food, struggles during the depression and the celebration of marriage.

My grandmother was a wonderful woman who kept a daily journal, wrote on the back of photos and kept many artifacts throughout her life. My father’s mother, Dorothy Irene Nelson (Ekern) grew up in North Dakota moving around during the depression. At the age of 18 she married Walter Nelson and they had six kids. She lived a happy and healthy life and served her family as a housewife and mother.

Last June my grandmother passed away at the age of 82. She left behind a family of 59 and growing, along with many great memories. Growing up I loved spending time with my grandma, especially when she made root beer floats. Dorothy loved to talk over afternoon coffee and could tell you the family tree for many generations before her.

In October her children had an auction and cleaned out the house as my grandfather had passed in 1999. Everyone in the family got to pick their favorite items. The day of the auction everything seemed sentimental and the rat-pack inside me wanted to keep it all. Those items are still in a box in my closet. In today’s society it is very easy to get caught up in the world. Forgetting other things that are important and losing sight of your past. I hope I will be able to tell my grandchildren who their ancestors were.

My aunt now has my grandmother’s trunk with her wedding dress and boots, high school diplomas, hundreds of photos with descriptions detailing people and place at the time of the photos. Going through the trunk was a step back in time before technology took over. I can’t explain everything that I saw for most of it was emotional and wonderfully me. It was incredible to read letters written over 70 years ago about my great grandmother’s interest in young lads. Everything in that trunk is deep inside me for wherever my career in pastry takes me I will still be a North Dakota Norwegian.
The recipe featured on the plate is Lefse, a potato flatbread usually eaten with butter and sugar. Every Thanksgiving my family still brings out the grills and we all get together to make a big batch to last long enough to be served at Christmas.