Love = Herring salad, Swedish meatballs

I grew up hearing tales of my great-grandparents and their brood, who lived in a tiny house in the shadow of Barn's Bluff in Red Wing, Minn. It was a mixed marriage: Great-Grandma Petersen was a Swede and her husband (his name was Peter Petersen) was a Norwegian. My Great-Aunt Effie's daughter, Jean MacMillan Ross, remembers Christmas at her grandma's as a warm, happy atmosphere. "Even though it was the Depression, they made it festive for a little girl like me," Ross said. "Snow would be falling, and they'd meet us at the door with their arms open. There was always a big old wood stove that you could warm yourself by. I loved the meatballs; I think they were made with pork and veal. Grandma always made herring salad and one of her friends would beg her to make her some, too. I didn't like the herring salad. We'd have a big meal in the late afternoon and then much later we'd go to church and afterwards we had a little supper. It was like a fairyland to me."

Here are the recipes. The meatball recipe is from Lorraine McGrath, another Swede. Here, too, is my own version of herring salad, which Ross probably still wouldn't like!

Anne Gillespie Lewis is a Minneapolis author.