Apple/Pear Cobbler Recipe

Nationality: American
Age: 54
Occupation: Film
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 3/15/20
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

Ingredients:

CobblerToppingWhipped Cream
– Butter or Crisco for Baking Dish
– 2 1/2 cups peeled, and sliced Granny Smith Apples
– 2 1/2 cups peeled, and sliced Bosc/Asian Pears
– 3/4 cup of Brown Sugar
– 2 tablespoons of All-Purpose Flour
– 1 tablespoon of Vanilla Extract
– 1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon
– 1/2 teaspoon of Allspice
– 1/4 teaspoon of Salt
-4 tablespoons of Unsalted Butter
– 1/2 cup of Self-Rising Flour
– 1/2 cup of Sugar
– 1/4 teaspoon of Salt
– 2 tablespoons of Unsalted Butter (softened)
– 1 cup of Heavy Whipping Cream
– 1/2 cup of Sugar (Powdered Sugar is best)
– 1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (Fahrenheit). Prepare a 9×9 inch baking dish.
  2. Toss the apples, pears, sugar, flour, vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, salt, and 2 tablespoons of the butter together in a large bowl. Add to the baking dish and dot with the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. 
  3. In a separate bowl, combine the self-rising flour, sugar, salt, and egg. With a spoon, drop the topping onto the apples/pears and top with pats of butter. Bake until the topping is golden and the fruit is tender (about 40 to 45 minutes).
  4. Serve with special whipped cream!

Background: The informant is a 54 woman who loves to cook, as she often serves this apple cobbler at Thanksgiving. She originally came across this recipe from her mother, who used to cook the same dish for the holiday as well. She claims the recipe has been passed down generations, and because of that holds a special place in her heart. She will continue to cook the dish, and plans to pass the recipe down to her daughter when the time comes.  

Context: The informant showed me the recipe in person when I was at her house. 

My Thoughts: Although this recipe is nothing special, the fact that it has been passed along throughout the informant’s family makes it special to them. It is something they, as a family share with one another, and serves as a unique way for her to always remember her mom and grandma. They’ve all experienced cooking the same dish for Thanksgiving and having to deal with the pressure of it meeting their families expectation. In addition, I find it interesting to see if any of them made small changes to the recipe. The informant claims to have not. However, she did share with me that her mom added the whipped cream aspect to the dish. The dish has been served for over 60 years within the informants family, making it quite the staple for their Thanks Giving celebration!

The Haunted Hotel Cecil

Nationality: American
Age: 24
Occupation: Film
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 2/2/20
Primary Language: English

Main Piece: 

The following is transcribed from a conversation between the informant, identified as BH, and myself, identified as GK.

BH: There is this hotel right by USC called “Hotel Cecil” that is supposedly haunted. There have supposedly been a ton of deaths in the hotel. The one that I can remember, is that there was a woman who was staying there, and she suddenly went missing for two weeks. No one knew where she had gone and the hotel said she never checked out. During this time many of the other hotel guests were complaining about an eery smell in the hallways. They also identified that the water coming out of the sinks and showers was brown. This lead to one of the hotel employees to check out the water tank, which is unreachable for hotel guests. Once they gained access, they found the women’s dead body. 

GK: Did they ever identify the killer

BH: Not that I know of. And it’s weird because the part of the hotel where the body was found is unreachable for guests and most employees.

GK: Have you ever stepped foot in the hotel?

BH: I have but very quickly. I just wanted to check it out while I was in the area. The first thing I noticed was that the lighting in the lobby was very dim. And the emptiness of the lobby was really creepy. I had to step out because I was pretty scared. Even when observing the hotel from the outside, you could detect the ominous presence to it. 

Background: The informant, who is a 24 year old USC graduate, likes this story because he was a film major and really enjoys a good mystery like the one he told me. He had originally heard this story from a friend of his while the two of them were eating dinner at a restaurant a block away from the hotel. He was so intrigued by it, that he read up on it right when he returned home. And eventually went to check the inside of the hotel out himself later on.

Context: The informant and I discussed this story on the way to dinner when we drove past the hotel. 

My Thoughts: This story told by the informant truly intrigued me because I love to hear creepy stories like that. I find it interesting that the hotel is still open today despite the fact that it has a haunted reputation. It also makes me wonder who would stay there. I feel as if some of the people who stay there want want to see if the legend is true. This speaks to a certain curiosity we all have as human beings as some of us want to get out of our comfort zone and possibly experience something that might frighten us. Just like the informant did when he stepped foot in the hotel. I also read an article on it, which talks about some of the other legends that are connected to the hotel. After reading it, a part of me wants to go and check it out myself!

Erickson, Steve. “Spending A Night at the Cecil Hotel, Where Serial Killers and Eerie Deaths Abound Los Angeles Magazine.” Los Angeles Magazine, 28 Oct. 2016, www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/spending-a-night-at-the-cecil-hotel-where-serial-killers-and-eerie-deaths-abound/.

Ole and Lena Joke – Doctors Office

Nationality: American
Age: 52
Occupation: Communications Manager
Residence: Woodinville, WA
Performance Date: 4/29/20
Primary Language: English

Informant: Here’s a typical Ole and Lena joke. 

“Ole wasn’t feeling well, so he went to the doctor. After examining him, the doctor took his wife Lena aside, and said ‘Your husband has a very sensitive heart. I’m afraid he’s not gonna make it if you don’t treat him like a king, which means you are at his beck and call every day, 24 hours a day, and he won’t have to do anything for himself.’ On the way home, Ole asks, with a note of concern, ‘Vell? Vat did da doctor say?’ ‘Vell,’ Lena said. ‘It looks like you’re not gonna make it.’”

There are probably thousands, but at least hundreds that I heard from my dad and aunts and uncles. They had books, and every family gathering, it would dissolve into a session of Ole and Lena and Sven and Lars over time. And of course, the jokes are hysterical, because they were silly, and everyone would do the voices, and it was a very traditional thing that they had a lot of affection for. They weren’t offended by the fact that these jokes implied they were stupid. They thought they were funny.

Background/Thoughts:
The informant is the interviewer’s mother, who grew up in the suburbs of Seattle, Washington. The informant’s family adhered to many Scandinavian and German traditions, some of which have been in our family for generations. Ole and Lena jokes have remained a staple in my family as well, on both sides of my family. I’ve always found Ole and Lena jokes funny, although I know many people who don’t come from Scandinavian backgrounds who are afraid to laugh at them, because they don’t want to offend anyone. However, I’m not offended by the jokes, even though they paint Scandinavians as slow or stupid, and none of my extended family members are either.

Ole and Lena Joke – Thermos

Nationality: American
Age: 52
Occupation: Communications Manager
Residence: Woodinville, WA
Performance Date: 4/29/20
Primary Language: English

Informant: There’s a sentiment, and I’m not sure what the origin is, but there’s a sentiment that Scandinavians, particularly Swedes or Norwegians, can kinda be… slow. That they can do something that’s silly or doesn’t’ make sense. So there has become a whole, uh… cottage industry, of Scandinavian jokes, that star a whole host of characters. The main character is a guy named Ole, who’s married to a woman named Lena, and Ole has friends like Sven and Lars and others with the typical Scandinavian type names. There’s books upon books of Ole and Lena jokes, and Ole and Sven jokes, and they’re pretty funny, but they make light of being Scandinavian. 

As an example, I have one here. 

So another thing that happens when you’re Scandinavian is you ice fish. The ice freezes over but the fish are still underneath, so you cut a hole in the ice and you plop your line in through the hole, and can catch fish that way. So here’s a joke:

“Ole and Lars go ice fishin’. Ole pulls out his new thermos, and Lars says to him,” (imitates a Norwegian accent) “‘Ole, whatchya got dere?’ Ole says, ‘Well, Lars, dis here’s a thermos. It keeps hot tings hot, and it keeps cold tings cold.’ After a while, Lars gets curious, and says, ‘Vell, den, Ole, whatchya got in dat dere thermos?’ and Ole says, ‘Well, Lars, I got a popsicle, and two cups of coffee.’”

Soooo, he’s not quite getting the sentiment of what a thermos is meant to do.

Background/Thoughts:
The informant is the interviewer’s mother, who grew up in the suburbs of Seattle, Washington. The informant’s family adhered to many Scandinavian and German traditions, some of which have been in our family for generations. Ole and Lena jokes have remained a staple in my family as well, on both sides of my family. I’ve had the same experiences as my informant did – even though the jokes portrayed Scandinavians in an unflattering light, everyone I’ve met who’s heard the jokes think they’re funny, not offensive (myself included). In fact, the people that I’ve met who are hesitant to laugh or think it’s offensive don’t come from Scandinavian heritage at all. I think they’re afraid to laugh, because they don’t want to be offensive in case it is offensive to people of Scandinavian descent.

Lutefisk

Nationality: American
Age: 52
Occupation: Communications Manager
Residence: Woodinville, WA
Performance Date: 4/29/20
Primary Language: English

Informant: I grew up in a family that was part German, on my mother’s side, and part Swedish and Norwegian on my dad’s side. My great-grandparents had traveled to the United States, and my grandparents were born in the United States, but there were still a lot of family traditions from Scandinavia and Germany and… the ones that really stand out in my mind are the Scandinavian side of things, more Sweden and Norway. My dad especially was pretty connected to those kinds of traditions. One I remember vividly – because it was always brought up as a threat – was the idea of eating lutefisk. Lutefisk is a dried fish, except it isn’t dried, it’s kind of… gelatinous, in a really disgusting way. And it’s a fermented fish, so it gets steeped in lye, which is also not something you think should be ingested, and yet it’s a delicacy! And even better, it’s such a delicacy that it’s saved for the holidays! So, you know, bringing out the Christmas lutefisk was something that was supposed to be revered, but I could never get into it. And then it became a running thing in my family that you’d be made to eat lutefisk if you weren’t behaving to anticipation, or what people were expecting of you. 

Background/Thoughts:
The informant is the interviewer’s mother, who grew up in the suburbs of Seattle, Washington. As described in the piece above, the informant’s family adhered to many Scandinavian and German traditions, some of which have been in our family for generations. Lutefisk has remained a threat as the years went on, and I have the same opinions as the informant does. I personally don’t understand the appeal of the dish, but I recognize that many members of my extended family in both America and Scandinavia love it. Even though I’m not personally a fan of the recipe, I do appreciate that it keeps my family in touch more with our traditions and history from Scandinavia.