Words, Books and Radio
October is over but I’m not quite finished with pumpkin flavours this fall (I am enjoying a pumpkin spice latte as I type this…). I had some leftover pumpkin puree in the freezer so I decided to try my hand at making a pumpkin cake from scratch. Continue reading “Still Savouring Fall”
After a couple of passes through our editing team, I am thrilled to be working on the final draft of my upcoming historical romance novel: The Light Attendant and the Bluebird.
Set in World War I, The Light Attendant and The Bluebird tells the story of Private Henry Ryzack who battles not only the Germans, but also his own personal vices and demons on the battlefields of France as he struggles to keep promises made and become a man worthy of Nursing Sister, Abbigail Grieves.
I am very excited to share this story with you. So eager, in fact, that I cannot help but give you a “sneak peek” into the first two chapters of the novel.
Continue reading “WIP Part II: The Light Attendant and the Bluebird”
Ordinarily we focus on our creative endeavours in our blogs, but this story was too good not to share.
Our pup is almost 15 months old. She has been a wonderful addition to our family, being very sociable and eager to please. She appears to want nothing more than to be by our side as we go about our day, sharing our activities and our moods.
Given our pup’s gentle nature, we were not surprised when she became friends with a stray cat that took up residence under our front porch. Feeling a responsibility for the cat, we took it in only to find ourselves with an additional four kittens when the mother cat gave birth a couple of months later.
Our dog was immediately taken with the kittens, watching them through the days and nights and helping clean them. She would grow anxious when Mama cat absented herself from the nest for any length of time.
As the kittens grew, our pup became an active participant in their playtime.
Autumn is my favourite season in the kitchen. Oh, I like the others well enough: the heady scents of Christmas baking, with its spices and sugared fruits; the bright flavours of radish and egg and green onion in early spring, giving way to dozens of delicate early vegetables; followed by endless salads and greens to brighten our summer season. The other seasons are enjoyable—but they are not autumn.
Perhaps I am biased. Perhaps it is my October birthday, or the candy and colours of Halloween, that make me love autumn more than any other season. But I suspect there is something more to the equation. There is, of course, the garden. The days are shortening, the nights are cold, and I am now allowed to collect on the investments I made in spring and summer. The planting, weeding, watering, and fretting have made something, and I am allowed to be a part of this too.
October 11, 2021
Today is Thanksgiving, and we are wrapping up a weekend of cooking, harvesting produce, and eating plenty of turkey and pumpkin pie. I decided to make these chewy ginger molasses cookies this Thanksgiving Monday to add a little spice to the week ahead.
Pineapple Whip Dessert
July 9, 2021
Something about summer screams out for fruit desserts.
That being said, I’m not sure this pineapple square from the Mennonite cookbook actually counts, given that it’s mostly whipped cream and butter. It also calls for canned pineapple, which won’t showcase your horticultural expertise or even your ability to obtain fresh produce. And yet somehow, it’s refreshing and somehow very suited for summer barbecues. My mom used to make it for family gatherings, and it was always one of my favourites.
It’s actually a fairly simple dessert. A traditional graham cracker crust with a buttercream filling and topped with whipped cream speckled with crushed pineapple. It’s quite attractive when all is said and done, and serves a crowd, although it does tend to go quickly.
Side notes: the crust tends to go soggy after a couple of days in the fridge, so plan appropriately for your crowd size. I would estimate that the 9×13 inch pan (one full recipe) would feed about 20-25 (depending on how many go for seconds…). Also, it’s a chilled dessert, so it’s likely best not to leave it on the buffet table for too long, especially given the heat we’ve been having this month (38 degrees last week!)
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Pineapple Squares Original recipe from “Squares and Slice” in The Mennonite Treasury of Recipes, 1961 This version has been adapted from the original based on personal preferences. Yields one 9×13 inch pan Base:
Mix crumbs with margarine, press into pan. Bake 12-15 minutes in 350° oven. Cool. Filling:
Cream butter. Add sugar and eggs. Beat until fluffy and spread over base.
Topping:
Mix pineapple with whipped cream and spread on top of filling. Chill before serving.
Notes
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In other news, we pulled in another basket of strawberries from our little patch in the garden last night, and I’ve had my eye on a recipe for strawberry buttermilk cake for a few days now. Stay tuned, perhaps it will make an appearance in the coming weeks (that is, if I get to baking them before they are eaten straight from the bowl…)
Clarissa
Sarina Fehr
The heat wave is over. For a week or more now we have been fighting with hose and sprinkler as if to put out a fire, hoping it will be enough to keep roots from drying and leaves from wilting. At last, with the sounds of thunder approaching, I can rest from the constant battle with the weather.
Harvey Nelson awoke like he was surfacing from a deep plunge in cold water. His eyes snapped open and he drew in a sharp breath. He half-rose out of bed, only to relax again, sinking back into the sober white sheets of his sister’s guest bed.
Harvey took another breath, this time letting it out slowly, and stared up at the ceiling tiles of the basement bedroom tying to decode the Rorschach design created by the brown water stains. Dusty grey light filtered in through the small, filmy window, barely disturbing the darkness that lingered in the corners of the room. The only items in the room aside from the metal bed, an ancient, chipped dresser, and a bedside table (equally old), were a few boxes filled with clothes and personal items. The boxes lay scattered about the room, one or two spewing their contents across the floor. Aside from these things, the room was bare.
Observed recently on Township Road 360 nearly halfway through a long ride on a warm and windy day.
Coming as it did while pushing through a section of road with deep, deep soul-sucking gravel.
It seemed to me that this was much like my life. In these times and in this place, this is what one might feel like.
But it never lasts long (relatively speaking).
This was what I saw near the end of my ride. Had already left the gravel behind and was riding on nice, smooth and newer secondary highway. I had the wind at my back.
It’s boarded up now, but at one time it must have been a sanctuary on the prairies. I like to imagine that this was at a time, maybe not unlike the times we are now experiencing, when buildings like this offered shelter and refuge and solace.
Like I said, it was near the end of my ride.
Stuart