Christmas in the Washington, D.C. Latvian Lutheran Church

Christmas 2015 was a bit unusual for me, as I was still in Washington on Christmas Eve; other years I had always flown to the Midwest before that, seeing as we traditionally celebrate the holiday on Christmas Eve itself. Last year, however, various reasons caused me to buy a flight to Michigan only for Christmas Day, but that meant I was able to attend the Christmas Eve service in Washington's Latvian congregation. It was an absolutely beautiful service, with a gorgeous vocal solo by a singer who used to sing with the Latvian National Opera choir, and with the congregation's hymns accompanied by both the organ in the balcony and the grand piano at the front of the sanctuary.

As we sang the last song, Silent Night, the sanctuary's lights were turned off until only candles and the Christmas tree remained illuminated.

May you and yours have a peaceful and beautiful Christmas!

Christmas in Michigan

Maybe I should write about Christmas before another big holiday is upon us! This year my trip to the Midwest was quite short - only three days. I was blessed with good flying weather (left Grand Rapids a few hours before they were hit with some sleet and ice!), and with on-time flights. Flying is a true blessing when it functions smoothly.

As opposed to last year's huge family gathering, this Christmas was smaller and quieter, but also very enjoyable. 

One of the cats keeping watch over the tree.

When my sister and I were young, our most important job to help prepare for Christmas dinner was to make name cards for all of the guests. This year my six-year old nephew, with help from Oma, continued this tradition - with a tasty twist, as each name card was in a plastic baggie with piparkukas!

In addition to celebrating Christmas, we did have time for a few outings, a couple of which I will write about separately. A couple of us even found time to see a movie; if you've not caught "Brooklyn" yet, all three of us highly recommend it! The film has been Oscar-nominated for Best Picture, as well as Best Actress -- Saoirse Ronan did an incredible job acting the part of an Irish immigrant in New York City in 1952.

We also had plenty of time for reading and for playing. My niece loved the floor puzzle I gave her as a gift, but I found it surprisingly difficult to assemble--too many pastelly colors and too many curvy lines.

Although my nephew was excited about his Kristaps Porzinigis jersey he received from Santa (judging from post-Christmas photos chatter, the Porzingis jersey and shirt were the most popular Christmas gifts among Latvian-Americans), when I asked what his favorite gift was, he answered, "The fact that you are here!"

Christmas at Longwood Gardens, Part I

Longwood Gardens is considered to be one of the most beautiful gardens in the country, and after years of hearing about it, I finally managed to visit - specifically to see the magnificent Christmas displays. Although its location in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia and Wilmington) made for a relatively long solo day trip from the Washington area, the time and effort were well worth it. My visit was lengthy and colorful enough that I will have share photos and observations from my adventure over at least two blog posts! With over 1,000 acres, Longwood Gardens offers visitors a great deal to explore no matter what the season, though I'm having a difficult time imaging anything being more spectacular than what I saw!

Thanks to its magnificent seasonal flower, Christmas tree and light displays, Longwood is exceedingly popular in December, thus if you plan on visiting then, I recommend reading the tips on their website. For example, weekdays are much less crowded than weekends, and tickets are also less expensive then ($20 vs. $27). I was glad to visit on a Thursday when at times I had certain areas almost to myself, though as dusk fell the gardens did become increasingly more crowded.

Greenest greens & reddest reds!

I began my visit during daylight and in the gigantic conservatory. With many different areas and gardens, these greenhouses were impressive in their variety and beauty. In this post I will focus on the Christmas-y aspects. Due to the bright sunny day (and my lack of skill with my relatively new camera!), many of the photos are not as spectacular as the actual sights were. And due my lack of recent free time, I won't write much more, but will share many photos.

Pussy willow lights - love!

Gorgeous ballroom.

After spending a fair amount of time in the conservatory, I stopped in the cafeteria for lunch (relatively expensive, but also quite tasty) then continued my explorations outdoors.

One Christmas tree was decorated with edible ornaments for the woodland animals, and the decorations replenished by the Longwood gardeners as needed. I particularly loved the beautiful bird bath!

 

Longwood has three "treehouses," which I absolutely adored. 

Enormous wreath made entirely of pine cones!

Christmas tree of pine cones

I loved these diamond-shaped wreaths!

May you and yours have a very merry Christmas! (And stay tuned for part II!)

Christmas in Washington

Join me on a short photographic journey to see a few Christmas decorations in Washington!

Norwegian Christmas tree at Union Station

The White House, of course!

Later...

A gift shop in the Smithsonian's Museum of American History.

This shop display featured vintage toys.

I loved Raggedy Ann when I was a kid!

A Christmas tree in the Museum of American History.

The National Christmas Tree during daylight.

The National Christmas tree all lit up.

Washington Area Christmas Markets

The diversity of ethnics groups and traditions represented in the Washington area is one of the major benefits of living here. Craving Peruvian, Ethiopian, or Korean cuisine for dinner? No problem! Want to be friends with people from diverse backgrounds? No problem!

A Christmas-time tradition for many European groups is the Christmas market. This year was my third time attending the Finnish bazaar, which I described in detail last year. I also swung by the Norwegian bazaar one Saturday; it was smaller than the Finnish one, and photographically not as impressive. The food did smell amazing - I was particularly tempted by the advertised warm rice pudding! 

After many years of hoping to make it to the Christmas market organized by the German School of Washington, this year I was finally able to attend, and I must say it might be my new favorite. Because I speak German and have spent considerable time in Germany, those Christmas customs are near and dear to my heart. 

I arrived at the market at noon, and while bee-lining for the lunch line was able to hear snippets of German Christmas carols sung by the children's choir -- the same songs my German immersion elementary school choir sang years ago. The lunch options were bratwurst or Leberkäse, plus sauerkraut and potato salad. A perfect-looking German roll came with each meal, but you could also purchase a large Bretzel (pretzel) for only $2. My bratwurst, sauerkraut and potato salad came to $10, and my meal was very filling, though next time I would skip the potato salad - it wasn't that exciting.

After lunch I wandered outside, where I was tickled to find a half-dozen traditional market booths -- the type one sees at outdoor European Christmas markets.

The most popular booth was selling glühwein ($3), while others offered crafts, Lebkuchen (gingerbread) or cinnamon nuts. Additional stands outside were selling crepes (also hugely popular), non-alcoholic drinks, and chocolate-covered fruit. The last one was my personal favorite, as one of my recollections from various markets in Germany were the vendors who sold fruit such as strawberries, pineapple or bananas covered in dark or milk chocolate. This stand was a fundraiser for one of the middle school classes, so the confections were not quite that specific, but the kabob stick with fruit pieces drenched in chocolate I chose was absolutely delectable.

Typical middle schoolers, right?

Heading back into the school I swung by the impressive dessert table (which even included a couple of gluten-free options), but I had already used my calorie allotment for mid-day! The school's large multi-purpose room had many tables with various vendors from the Washington area. Additionally, out in the main hallway were two incredibly popular vendors: Binkert's German Meat Products from Baltimore and the Swiss Bakery from Northern Virginia. The sausage scents overpowered the bakery scents, but the variety at both stands was astonishing, and the crowd was snapping up many of the items.

One stand was selling gorgeous wreaths.

Wurst!

Of course, the Latvian congregation's bazaar is an annual tradition, and is always held on the first Sunday in December. My post about last year's can be found here.

I hope you are enjoying plenty of pre-Christmas festivities in your neck of the woods!

Piparkūkas - Latvian Christmas Cookies

My mom's piparkūkas have always been the best - thin, crispy, flavorful, and a lovely shade of brown. A number of years ago when a friend and I decided to finally dive into this important tradition, I requested mom's recipe. It turned out to be one used in the Milwaukee Latvian community, and had been passed down by Puķītes kundze (Mrs. Puķīte). The original recipe is what I call "church-sized," as it requires three pounds each of butter and brown sugar, three bottles of corn syrup, and an enormous amount of flour. I have modified it for a more reasonable one pound each of butter and sugar and one bottle of syrup. Originally the recipe called for seven spices plus grated lemon and orange rinds. After my first experience grating rinds, I made an executive chef decision to cut them from the recipe.

Several years ago another friend asked that I teach her how to make "my" dough. She had never made piparkūkas from scratch, and thought my cookies were always delicious. Thus the annual dough-making party was born. After skipping the last two years, I once again joined several friends in their home where we worked to prepare two batches of "regular" dough and one batch of gluten-free. If one is accustomed to making something such as chocolate chip cookie batter, for which one can rather quickly throw together all the ingredients and soon after have freshly baked cookies, one might not understand why a work bee is necessary to make piparkūkas.

Ilga and I (with spice bag in hand) work at the stovetop. Thanks to Ilga for the pic!

Seeing as all good things take time, the piparkūkas process takes a couple of hours; if doing it on your own, it can get a bit tiresome and boring. The very first step is sifting all the flour for the recipe. The next step is slowly melting the butter, sugar and syrup together while also incorporating the spices. Next, while this caramelly gooey and fantastically scented mixture is still hot, one slowly incorporates approximately 2/3 of the flour. 

Then remove the pot from the stove, cover it with a clean dishcloth and place it in a cool spot -- outside, for example. In our case we used this time to eat dinner - a lovely Latvian-style meal with ham and potatoes. (The leftover ham was later cut up for use in pīrāgi.)

Once the dough has cooled, one has to incorporate the remaining flour with a couple of other ingredients, and this involves the old-fashioned roll-up-your-sleeves method of kneading the dough. So, as you can see, the process is relatively time-consuming and certainly best done with at least one friend.

Guntis & Cameron take on the work of kneading.

Below is the full recipe in Latvian. If you desperate for an English-language version, let me know!

Milvoku Annas Puķītes piparkūkas (t.i. „ļoti garšīgas peperkūkas”) –
Dainas/Vašingtonas versija

8,5 – 9 krūzes milti izsijāti (loti svarīgi, ka visi milti tiek īsi pirms mīklas gatavošanas sijāti)
1 lb sviests
1 lb tumšais sīrups „Karo” (dark corn syrup). Var arī mēğināt izmantot medus/”molasses” kombinācīju.
1 lb tumši brūns cukurs (tas dod tumšāku krāsu nekā gaišais)
2 vai vairāk tējkarotes krustnagliņu pulveris (clove)
2 vai vairāk tējkarotes muskatriekstu pulveris (nutmeg)
2 vai vairāk tējkarotes ingvērs (ginger)
2 vai vairāk tējkarotes kanēlis (cinnamon)
2 vai vairāk tējkarotes “coriander”
2 vai vairāk tējkarotes “cardamon”
2 vai vairāk tējkarotes pipari
___________________________________________________
Visus produktus – atskaitot miltus – uzvāra kopā ar garšvielām lielā katlā, vāra uz zemas uguns un iznāk karameles sīrups (t.i. līdz cukurs izkusis un visas garšvielas kārtīgi iemaisītas).
Kad viss savārīts, tad vārošā iekuļ 2/3 miltus. Atdzesē apmēram stundu vai ilgāk ja vēl par karstu (vislabāk katlam pārklāt tīru trauku dvieli, un katlu ielikt garažā vai izlikt ārā). Pieliek 1 sakultu olu, 1 tējkaroti cepjamo pulveri un apmēram ½ paciņu raugu, (vislabāk ir olu sakult bļodiņā, tur klāt iemasīt pulveri un raugu) un to iemaisa un tad ar roku iemīca atlikušos miltus.
Mīklu izveido 4-6 bumbās vai kukulīšos. Satin vaska papīrā katru atsevišķi (netīt alumīnija papīrā – tas pielīp), ieliek plastikas maisiņos un glabā ledusskapī. Kad grib cept, tad izņem un tur istabas temperatūrā pāris stundas. Mīkla lieliski rullējas un neplīst vai nedrūp. Cep uz viegli smērētām pannām, 350 grādu krāsnī (tikai kādas 6-7 minūtes, atkarībā no cepumu biezuma un lieluma). Ļoti ārti cepas un sadeg. Jāuzmana!
Vēl piezīmes:
• Mīklu var ledusskapī droši vairākas nedēļas uzglabāt. Vislabāk ir ja mīkla vismaz vairākas dienas ledusskapī stāvējusi pirms cepšanas – kaut kā tad garšvielas visas kopā labāk savijas un izceļas.
• Izceptas piparkūkas uzglabā “Tupperware” vai līdzīgā kaste/bļodā ar ciešu vāku.
• Oriğinalā recepta pieprasa 2 tējkarotes no katras garšvielas, bet īstenibā garšīgak ir ja pievieno 3 tājkarotes no katras. Ja lieto novecojušas garšvielas, tad droši pievieno vismaz 3 tejkarotes. (Jaunākām/svaigākām garšvielām ir izteikti stiprāka garša.)

Updating...

The last several weeks have been busy, and blogging has fallen by the wayside. Over at Confuzzledom Bev had a great post using -ing words to update readers, and I realized that would be a good strategy on letting you know what I have been up to instead of silence while I try to find the time to finish a post or two about an actual events.

Celebrating...

Latvia's Independence Day is November 18. I hope to write at least a short post about the wonderful celebration in Washington's Latvian community.

Stressing...

Life is so complicated sometimes!

Watching...

For stress-relief, I've watched a couple of series via Amazon Prime and Netflix. "Mozart in the Jungle," about classical musicians in New York City, and "Master of None," with comedian Aziz Ansari, have been amusing and perfect for those cold evenings when I was too tired to do much else.

Preparing...

I'm one of those people who is always planning and preparing. With Christmas coming up, there is plenty to prepare - I already have my cards in hand, and have started working on addressing those. Gift shopping is coming along very slowly this year, so I need to pick up the pace on that. Also, now that I am teaching Latvian school again on Sundays, a part of my week is always dedicated to lesson planning. The European Union Film Showcase at AFI begins December 1, and it seems I'll only have time for two movies, but I have purchased my tickets for those.

Changing...

After 8 1/2 years in the same workplace, my last day at this job is Friday, November 27. After a much needed two-week long break (looking forward to that!!!), I will begin a new job in mid-December.

New Chocolate Shop Find and Quick Christmas Re-Cap

Being a chocoholic and confessed chocolate snob, I am always on the lookout for new chocolate experiences. Recently I met a friend for dinner at True Food Kitchen in the Mosaic District in Fairfax (Virginia), and in that area I discovered Artisan Confections. The shop itself was sophisticated yet welcoming, and we could sample a dark chocolate cinnamon truffle, plus ooh-and-aah over the attractive colorful truffles, gourmet candy bars, and chocolate barks. I picked up a crispy peanut butter bar as a gift, and treated myself to a box of four truffles. The confections I enjoyed most were the salted butter caramel bonbon, which was just sinful, and the raspberry and chai tea truffles.

(Source: Artisan Confections)

Probably best to look back at the big family Christmas 2014 through pictures. We'll see if there is any fallout regarding the posting of these photos...!

Christmas Eve dinner featured, among other things, mom's homemade Latvian bread and her famous marinated mushroom salad, as well as some very Latvian cucumbers with sour cream and dill, and a great beet dish.

Getting ready for dinner!

Wow, this crowd is excited to eat!

New spin on traditional poem - song with movements!

Loving their gifts.

The big kid is happy about fun clock from gift exchange.

Later: vodka and caviar.

Meanwhile....

And the next morning.

Christmas has come and gone, but it will live on in our memories of the first annual meringue cookie bake-off, the Christmas Eve food and drink extravaganza, fantastic gifts such as matching hats, a much desired monkey alarm clock and beloved bike with much history, the Christmas Day poker and Scrabble tournaments,  and some great photos. Thanks, by the way, to all the family photographers who unknowingly participated. If you have copyright issues, please contact my lawyer!