Thanks to all who voted for the top five stories in our bunad giveaway. The votes have now been counted and the winner, with 69 votes, is: La Rêveuse! Congratulations! For the victory lap, here is La Rêveuse’s story again:

OK, so here is my story. It was often told to me by my mother.

I grew up in north central North Dakota, USA. North Dakota is a state that was mainly settled by Norwegians and Germans, so much so that the current demographic of the state is 49% of Norwegian descent, 50% of German, and 1% Other. (My husband says that’s him.) I am 3/4 Norwegian, 1/4 German, so I fit in well. Since we are a long distance from the nearest ocean and situated in very fertile land, the foods that have become very popular in that area are naturally ones that are easily grown there, like wheat, potatoes, beef, dairy, etc. Meatballs with gravy and lefse (served with butter and sugar) are two of the big ones, and we still make them regularly, especially for holidays or special events. I admit, I make very good meatballs and lefse.

My mother went to college in the nearest bigger town to the family farm, and had a wonderful roommate named Kathy. She introduced him to her brother, and Jim was smitten. They began dating, and one day my grandparents invited Kathy to come over for dinner at the farm. Kathy was German and Catholic, and had come from a town about an hour away where most of the settlers had also been German.

She sat down to dinner, and saw the lefse plate sitting on the table. She asked my uncle Jim what it was, and (being a big practical joker) he told her “a napkin”.

She put it on her lap.

My grandparents laughed until they cried.

Thankfully, she forgave him the embarrassment, and they’ve been married for over 40 years. She remembers being very flattered by his compliment that she had “eyes as lovely as a Brown Swiss”. She later found out that was a cow (but he was sincere.)

Thank you to everyone for sharing their stories.  We hope you enjoy the bunad, La Rêveuse.