Celebrating St. Nicholas Day in Luxembourg
Enjoy a family-friendly holiday cooking activity with Nicky Krieger-Loos and Marc Weydert.
Get in the holiday spirit by making traditional Boxemännchen with Nicky Krieger-Loos and Marc Weydert. This cooking class will be fun for the whole family as Nicky and Marc will make this holiday treat and share other Luxembourg holiday traditions.
This program will be offered through Zoom on Sunday, December 5, at 11am Central Time. Members, please sign in when requesting your ticket.* The Zoom link will be emailed after ticket purchase, and we will send a reminder email that includes the full recipe a few days prior to the event.
What are Boxemännchen?
These “brioche men” are among Luxembourg’s most popular holiday treats, made around Saint Nicholas Day in Luxembourg. During the holiday season, most bakeries in Luxembourg sell many variations of them to be enjoyed by children and adults alike.
Ingredients
Boxemännchen
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp dry yeast
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp lukewarm milk
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/2 tsp salt
Glaze
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbsp milk or water
About Our Hosts:
Nicky Krieger-Loos is from Dudelange/Luxembourg. In 1987, as a member of the La Ronde Bettembourg folk dancing group, she visited for the first time communities in the Midwest settled by Luxembourg immigrants in the 19th century. Over the years has stayed in touch with numerous descendants of these immigrants. With her husband Carlo and their children Claire, Louis and Lucie, they have moved around the world and lived in the USA, Austria, Russia, China, and currently in Brasilia. This way she has discovered many new food styles, recipes and attended cooking classes in many different places. An optician by training, she now pursues her hobbies cooking, baking crazy birthday cakes, quilting, and upcycling all kinds of fabrics from worn-out jeans to her children’s old clothes. She also teaches cooking classes with traditional dishes as well as folk dances with Luxembourg descendants in their communities in Brazil.
Marc Weydert graduated in Education Sciences. He is a teacher by training and he’s currently working for the Luxembourg Ministry of Education as a French text book author. He is married to Luxembourg diplomat Véronique Dockendorf and they have 3 daughters, Amélie, Sophie and Julie. Prior to moving to Brussels in summer of 2020, they spent 4 years in Washington, DC, where Véronique was posted as Deputy Head of Mission at the Luxembourg Embassy. From 2008 to 2012, the family lived their first « American » experience in New York City, while being posted to the Permanent Mission of Luxembourg to the United Nations.
Cooking and baking is one of Marc’s favorite hobbies, amongst others like composing and making music as well as woodworking. He attended culinary classes at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City and at L’Académie de Cuisine in Bethesda, MD, and animated two cooking workshops about Luxembourg cuisine at the Washington, DC YMCA in 2019 and 2020.
*Tickets are per device. So if multiple people plan to watch from the same computer, only one ticket is needed.
History Talk: Emigration from Luxembourg to the United States
Learn about Luxembourg-United States history with LACS Board Member Jean Ensch.
THIS PROGRAM IS NOW SOLD OUT!
During this talk, Jean will share some of his extensive research about emigration from Luxembourg to the United States. He will give a broad overview of the reasons for emigration from Luxembourg, the transatlantic voyage, and the destination of Luxembourg settlements in the United States.
This program will be offered through Zoom on Saturday, October 23, at 12pm Central Time. Members, please sign in when requesting your ticket.* The Zoom link will be emailed after ticket purchase, and we will send a reminder email a day prior to the event.
About Jean Ensch:
Jean is a founding member of the Luxembourg Genealogical Society (ALGH), President of the Institut Grand Ducal (Section of linguistics, ethnology, and onomastics), and a board member of the LACS. In 2014 he retired from his public service position with the City of Luxembourg after 41 years with the Population Bureau. Jean has conducted research and published extensively in the areas of history, genealogy, demographics and emigration, specifically to the United States. His most recent works include a bibliography on Luxembourg local history dealing with houses and their inhabitants (A la recherche de maisons), and as a contributing author to a biographical and genealogical history of the Luxembourgers in the La Crosse area (Sandra L. Hammes: From Luxembourg to La Crosse and Beyond, 1851-1910), both published in 2017. “Letzte Heimat in der Fremde,” an essay on Luxembourg emigrants’ tombstones in the Midwest, was published in 2019.
This year he published in the exhibition catalog “Pour Élise” of the Luxembourg City Museum “L’environnement familial d’Elise Hack,” a genealogy on the family of Elise Hack, who made a major art donation to the City of Luxembourg and also in the Luxembourg-City magazine “Ons Stad” Vol.123 : “Le don de la Ville de Luxembourg à la Ville de Dormans,” a report on reconstruction help by the City of Luxembourg to the City of Dormans (Champagne), severely damaged in WWI.
*Tickets are per device. So if multiple people plan to watch from the same computer, only one ticket is needed.
Virtual Tour of Echternach, Luxembourg
Join Georges Calteux for a virtual tour of Echternach.
He will share Echternach’s storied past, some of its recognizable locations, and its beloved traditions. Georges will also briefly discuss the tragic recent floods that forced evacuations in the area.
This program will be offered through Zoom on Saturday, November 20, at 11am Central Time.* Members, please sign in when requesting your ticket.** The Zoom link will be emailed after ticket purchase, and we will send a reminder email a day before the event.
About Georges Calteux:
Georges Calteux was born in Luxembourg in 1936. After art and architecture studies in Nancy, Brussels and Vienna, he worked as an art teacher from 1967 to 1977, when he entered the “Service des Sites et Monuments Nationaux” (Luxembourg Department of Conservation) of which he assumed the Direction from 1982-2004. As such Calteux was in charge of supervising numerous restoration assignments, and he showcased numerous cultural heritage projects, winning national and international acclaim.
His undertakings related to Luxembourgers in the United States, and within the activities of the “Lëtzebuerger Kultur an Amerika” and “The Roots and Leaves Association” societies, include:
- Conference talks on Luxembourg traditional architecture
- Concert tours with the Troaterbattien music band
- Creator of the Cigrand bust at the Fredonia Flag Museum
- Design of entrance of Belgium, WI City Hall
- Design of interior and exhibition furniture of the Roots and Leaves Museum in Belgium, WI
- Design of the Luxembourg American Family Tree sculpture at the LACS Welcome Center
- Restoration of Luxembourg stone houses in the Midwest (Marnach house, Elba, MN; Gehlen house, St. Donatus, IA, Sinnen House, (now at) Ozaukee County Pioneer village, US
- Publication of “Luxembourg Houses in America,” as Volume 3 of his book series “d’Lëtzebuerger Bauerenhaus”
*This program was previously scheduled for November 21; it has been rescheduled for November 20.
**Tickets are per device. So if multiple people plan to watch from the same computer, only one ticket is needed.
Fall Cooking Class
Celebrate the beginning of fall by cooking some seasonal recipes with Nicky Krieger.
Nicky will be making the classic Luxembourgish soup Bouneschlupp, and she will give a demonstration of the popular street food gromperekichelcher. Cook along with Nicky or watch and enjoy!
This event has passed. Members have access to the full recipe and recording in the Members’ Portal.
Bouneschlupp ingredients for 4-6 people
- 1.5 lbs green string beans, ends and strings removed, cut into 3/4 inch (2 cm) pieces
- 1 cup bacon strips
- Mettwurscht or a sausage such as kielbasa (optional)
- 2 onions, cubed
- 1 leek, finely cut
- 1 celery stick, cubed
- 2 carrots, cubed (optional)
- 3-4 potatoes, cubed
- 1 vegetable or chicken bouillon cube
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 bay leaf
- salt and pepper
- summer savory, if you can find it, or thyme
Gromperekichelcher ingredients for 4-6 people
*The primary focus of the cooking class will be on the Bouneschlupp; however, Nicky will also demonstrate how to make gromperekichelcher since it pairs well with the Bouneschlupp. Nicky recommends you have all of these ingredients prepared ahead of time if you would like to join her in making gromperekichelcher.
- 2-3lbs potatoes, grated
- 1 onion, diced
- a few stems fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp salt
- vegetable or canola oil for frying
- **also, have a clean kitchen towel or cheesecloth on hand
About Nicky:
Nicky Krieger-Loos is from Dudelange/Luxembourg. In 1987, as a member of the La Ronde Bettembourg folk dancing group, she visited for the first time communities in the Midwest settled by Luxembourg immigrants in the 19th century. Over the years has stayed in touch with numerous descendants of these immigrants. With her husband Carlo and their children Claire, Louis and Lucie, they have moved around the world and lived in the USA, Austria, Russia, China, and currently in Brasilia. This way she has discovered many new food styles, recipes and attended cooking classes in many different places. An optician by training, she now pursues her hobbies cooking, baking crazy birthday cakes, quilting, and upcycling all kinds of fabrics from worn-out jeans to her children’s old clothes. She also teaches cooking classes with traditional dishes as well as folk dances with Luxembourg descendants in their communities in Brazil.
LACS to end the year on a high note with NYE Virtual Jazz Brunch featuring Luxembourg’s Michel Meis 4tet
The LACS will end the year on a high note when it presents its second Live from Luxembourg virtual concert. This one is a Jazz Brunch benefit concert featuring Luxembourg’s Michel Meis 4tet.
Live from Luxembourg- NYE Jazz Brunch featuring Michel Meis 4Tet
Live from Luxembourg: A Virtual New Year’s Eve Jazz Benefit Concert featuring Luxembourg’s talented Michel Meis 4tet
Virtual LACS Cultural Conference to Celebrate 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage in Luxembourg and the United States
This year’s 14th annual Cultural Conference, presented by the Luxembourg American Cultural Society, celebrates the centenary of women’s suffrage movements with “Votes for Women: 100 Years of Voting Rights in Luxembourg and the United States.” The conference, typically held in Wisconsin as a part of Luxembourg Fest week activities, is instead presenting virtually for the first time, Thursday, August 6th from 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm and Friday, August 7th from 12:00 pm – 3:30 pm, with experts speaking from both the US and Luxembourg.
Luxembourgish on the Fly- Mini Webinar
Please join us for “Luxembourgish on the Fly”- a Mini Webinar. You’ll learn to talk like a Luxembourger in 50 minutes or less, or at least have a good time trying. This is a casual, light-hearted class taught by the LACS’ own Luxembourgish Language Class.
Live from Luxembourg: Luxembourg Band Zero Point Five Virtual Benefit Concert
The Luxembourg American Cultural Society is proud to present its first-ever virtual benefit concert, “Live from Luxembourg: Featuring the Music of Luxembourg’s Zero Point Five.” This pre-recorded concert will premiere on Luxembourg’s National Day holiday, Tuesday, June 23rd at 8 pm CST as a benefit for the Luxembourg American Cultural Society and a way to band its global community of Luxembourg Americans together on a day of joy and celebration.