First of all, Norwegian Hot Cross Buns don’t exist for anyone else. Knowing this was Ash Wednesday, I thought of a special breakfast as John and I walked to the creek. I could make a quick version of the buns before David got up. Well, I was wrong on many counts. Hot Cross Buns are English, and they should be served on Good Friday, not Ash Wednesday. I called my creation Norwegian, because I used cardamom in the dough. Cardamom is featured in many Norwegian baked goods, especially Christmas cookies. I earned another error mark for the wrong season of the year. My last mistake was thinking David wouldn’t be awake early on his day off. He came in the kitchen as I was rolling out the dough.

Despite all these missteps early in the day, we enjoyed our yeast buns that included raisins, almonds, cardamom, and vanilla icing. There was a duet of vocal resistance when I said I’d freeze the leftovers for Good Friday. I guess when you mess up all the cultural rules, you might as well eat up your mistakes in a matter of days.