I started reading "Vikings in the Attic" (In search of Nordic America) by Eric Dregni, this morning, and I can't put it down.

These are the Vikings of the 1800's who came from the Scandinavian countries and settled in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North and South Dakota.

From those awful first years, on the prairie, the hardships  sound like something beyond anything a human could endure.  Oh, how they wanted to go home.  And how angry some were when they found out the new country was not a paradise.  Instead, it was a living hell.  But with no money for a ticket back to Norway they were stuck...which is why WE'RE HERE and not THERE!!

I've gone through the huge Norwegian neighborhoods in Chicago and Minneapolis..in fact it was the Norwegians who built Minneapolis.

Now I've moved into the Norwegian food which I thought I knew all about.  I didn't.  I knew about the Norwegian meat balls but the Norwegian fish balls were a new taste treat that I quickly put on the same list I have the lutefisk on.  And, potato coffee was brand new to me.  Coffee made from dried potato skins that the early Norwegians said was very good.  I'm sure it was.  After eating a plate of lutefisk and fish balls, liquefied potato skins would taste like a fine wine!

Tell your Norwegian friends and relatives not to miss this book!  See more about the book:
RIGHT HERE