Week 2 of the Reverb 10 blogging challenge has come and gone – and I’ve only missed one day so far. I consider that to be a success. Here we go with Day 6:

Prompt: Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?

Though technically not the last thing I made, I spent one Saturday morning this November making lefse with my grandma, mom and sister.

Having never made lefse – only enjoyed it for 24.75 years – I really had no idea how much of a process it really is.

The night before, all the potatoes are cooked and then riced. Andy helped Grandma with this part, because he’s “big and strong.” With that done, they are put in the garage to cool, but not freeze, to eliminate all the moisture.

Saturday morning, bright and early, the real fun began. Approximately 7 cups of potatoes are mixed with flour, sugar and lard – I can’t remember the exact amounts of each. With your hands, you then knead the mixture into a dough until it no longer sticks to your fingers. Well, that’s impossible to do, but you get as close as possible. Then, you roll the dough into small balls approximately 2-3″ in diameter.

Using a grooved rolling pin, the balls of dough are rolled out until they are paper thin. This is where I found the most difficulty as my batch had a bit too much potato and holes kept forming. Enter frustration. Once the dough is rolled out, it is transferred to a grill and cooked for about 90 seconds on each side. Voila. Lefse.

Watching my mom and, especially, my grandma crank out batch after batch of lefse was an inspiring moment. Not only were they able to roll dough, fry it and package it effortlessly, but knowing that this recipe and tradition had been in our families for generations and generations makes it that much more special.

Even though my first experience making lefse was a frustrating one, I can’t wait to try again and become a part of the tradition.