Visiting the Wisconsin
Governor’s Mansion with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth
Paget
I
found a wonderful cultural outing to do with the family in the Capital Times
newspaper when we lived in Madison, Wisconsin: viewing Christmas tree
decorations at the Governor’s mansion.
I
drove the family to the governor’s mansion and felt like we were driving
through scenery from the Nutcracker.
Hoar
frost hung off the trees and glistened, but I hoped nothing would break off and
hit the car. I let the family out at the
mansion and parked the car about a mile away it seemed.
When
I arrived at the mansion, music floated through the air as I walked up the
steps. The West High School Minnesingers
sang Christmas Carols in the entryway.
The
Minnesingers performed the same role in medieval German society that
troubadours did in southern France.
My
favorite Christmas trees in the museum were the Pomeranian and Lithuanian ones,
because they both had handmade straw ornaments.
When I returned home later, I read that Pomerania is a region between
Poland and Eastern Germany.
The
Christmas trees represented several different ethnic groups in Wisconsin, who
celebrated Christmas. The groups
offering trees included:
-Pommersche
Tanzdeel Freistadt (Pomeranians)
-Swiss
Ladies’ Society (Many attended Moravian churches)
-Wisconsin
State Cranberry Growers’ Association (Cranberries are not an ethnic group, but
the Hmong from Thailand originally came to Wisconsin as cranberry pickers.)
-The
Greek Orthodox Church of Annunciation (Not a large ethnic group of settlers,
but present in most cities of the American East Coast and Midwest.)
-Club
Peru of Wisconsin and Napay Cunchus (Quechuas) – Quechua is the modern-day
language of the ancient Mayas. The
Mayans come from southern Mexico and modern-day Guatemala.
After
schmoozing at the governor’s mansion, the family ate lunch at a Greek
restaurant:
-souvlaki
(pork and vela shish kebab)
-rice
pilaf flavored with lemon and olive oil
-horta
(sautéed dandelion greens with olive oil and lemon juice)
-rice
pudding made with cooked egg and condensed milk and then chilled
I
had fun showing five-year-old Florence how to pick up one end of a wooden
skewer with shish kebab meat on it and then slide it off the skewer, so she
could cut the meat in half and eat it.
To
complete our winter tours of Wisconsin, Laurent, Florence, and I went to New
Glarus for fondue supper.
New
Glarus has wood buildings built to replicate Glarus, Switzerland. The interior of the New Glarus Inn features
sleek, blond wood design.
I
like gooey, cheese fondue. I try no to
go ballistic about swapping spits in the common dunking pot, but you can
transmit colds this way.
I
told Florence to dunk the break and glide the cheesy bread off between your
teeth to not share germs. Many people
place the cheesy bread on a plate now and use a fork and knife to cut the
bread.
A
mesclun salad with estragon vinaigrette accompanies this dish with white Swiss
Fendant du Valais wine.
Florence
liked the warm, apfel (apple) strudel with golden raisins for dessert, too.
I
really did not mind Wisconsin winters and cultural outings with little
Florence.
Suggested Christmas
Buffet Cookbooks
-Betty
Crocker Christmas Cookbook: Easy Appetizers, Festive Cocktails, Make-Ahead
Brunches, Christmas Dinners, Food Gifts by Betty Crocker
-The
Martha Stewart Living Christmas Cookbook by Martha Stewart Living Magazine
-German
Christmas Cookbook: Recipes for the Holiday Season by Laura Summers
Suggested Swiss
Cookbooks
-Little Swiss Cookbook
by Jacqueline Martinet
-Swiss
Cuisine: The Tastes of the Alpine Paradise by Lukas Prochazka
-The
Swiss Cookbook by Nika Standen Hazelton
-The
Swiss Cooking Book: Recipes from all Cantons Cookbook of Switzerland by Helen
Guggebuhl
-Dipping
into Fondue: The Fondue Cookbook for
Fondue Lovers by Carla Hale
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
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