A Bonus Day Deserves a Bonus Post…

“Master be contented, this is leape yeare, Women weare breetches, petticoats are deare.”
From The Maid’s Metamorphosis, circa 1600

It's a bonus kinda day

Today is an extra day…a special day…a BONUS day in fact. You see we’re in a leap year and that means we get to throw an extra day on the month so our good ‘ol Gregorian calendar can keep up with the earth’s 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 second rotation schedule around the sun. Phew! It’s exhausting just to think about, really.

Another way of looking at it is that we happen to be passing through one of the years whose date is exactly divisible by 4 except those which are divisible by 100 but not 400 -> That would be Brewster’s Dictionary sparkly clear definition of a leap year, by the way, which takes the cup for ridiculous mathematics in my book.

But these are all semantics…

BONUS spring flowers

A bonus run for Polly today...

What’s important is that we’re in BONUS territory and that means a BONUS post, BONUS pictures and, what is infinitely more interesting, a day of fun little traditions:

Leaper’s Abound: If you happen to be born today you’re a “leapling” or “leaper”, you will have fewer birthday anniversaries and your parents will no doubt save lots of money on presents.

Ladies Rule: If you’re a girl you may take “ladies privilege“, a more than 4 century old Leap Year tradition that confers ladies the “privilege” of proposing marriage to men instead of the other way around. Apparently any man who refuses must forfeit a fine which may involve both kissing and some appropriate token of clothing such as new gloves or a silk dress, depending on the county. I missed the memo on this one when I asked Paul to marry me in 1997 (my natural impatience wouldn’t allow me to wait for the leap year), but then I did get a “yes” which rather trumps the gloves for me

And an extra little special bonus gift, just for you.....

And what, might you say, does all this have to do with RVing? Well this is a bonus post so technically it doesn’t need to fit in, but for those women RVers out there I deem today as the day you’re in charge. Yup, it’s RV womanhood day, the day we weare breetches, rule the roost and make all the decisions (as opposed to the other days where just pretend to let our partners make the decision…right, girls?). At least that’s my decision today. And I give it to you all as a free bonus

Nisser, Rice Pudding and the Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse…

One of our many RV kravelnisser making mischief as they do...

The Night Before Christmas is a wonderful poem, but Clement Clarke Moore clearly wasn’t visiting a Dane. You see in Danish Christmas we have nisser everywhere and these little guys like to make mischief, especially tonight. Our RV may be parked in Florida, but I’ve still got a well-founded respect for these little guys so we’ve been diligently working to get things ready for tonight.

Nisser are a type of mythical troll or elf traditionally part of Scandinavian rural folklore. They bring good luck but are also whimsical and extremely mischievous, unless that is you keep them happy. Traditional rice pudding is the magical elixir so there’s many a Dane that will make up a good portion the day before Christmas Eve and leave a bit out to keep the little guys happy. Then, on 24th we’ll make a desert (ris-a-l’amande) with the leftovers.

Making rice pudding

We’ve got the rice pudding done and hope nisserne will be good to us tonight. 

If you didn’t get the chance to make your own here’s the original recipe from 1955′s edition of Lærebog I Huslig Økonomi. This will make enough for 4 people or 2 people and a houseful of nisser.

Ingredients:

• 250g round/pudding rice (grødris eller runde ris).  Sushi or arborio rice can be substituted
• 2 liters full-fat milk (sødmælk)
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preparation (~1 hour):

1. Rinse the rice: Rinse the rice and allow to dry on a sieve.
2. Boil the milk: Bring the 2 liters of milk to a rolling boil under med-high heat. Stir the milk during this process to keep it from burning, and keep a close eye to prevent the milk bubbling up over the edge of the pot.
3. Add the rice: Add rice and keep stirring until the milk is boiling again. Continue stirring for an extra 5 mins once boiling.


A happy nisse is a good nisse

4. Boil the rice: Reduce the heat to low and allow the mixture to bubble slowly for ~1 hour. Check the pudding and stir periodically to make sure it’s not going too fast, or getting burnt. At the very end of cooking add the salt. The final result will be a thick, rich pudding ready to eat hot off the stove!

With a bit of luck nisserne will enjoy the treat and be back next year to visit too.

Eat well and sleep tight, my little friends…