Amy Jo Ehman - Musings from the Field

Sweet as Pie

12/18/2020

I made my own Christmas cards this year. I guess I had some time on my hands, pandemic and all.

In 1883, there were just six houses in Saskatoon. One of them, home to the Trounce family, still stands. That year, they hosted a community Christmas dinner. The menu included beef pie, boiled and roasted potatoes, current biscuits, bread and butter, blanc mange (custard) and a jam tart.

(Sorely missing in fresh vegetables in the middle of a prairie winter.)

We know this because Mrs. Trounce wrote a letter home to her family in England describing the dinner. This letter is now in the collection of Sask Archives.

I looked up a recipe for jam tart in an old timey British cookbook. Only two ingredients, what could be simpler or prettier? Wishing sweet and sparkly holidays to you all 💝

Jam Tart
Pastry for one pie crust
2 cups of jam

Note #1: Do not use a low sugar or artificial sugar jam as I can't vouch it will set properly.

Note #2: If you have two pie crusts, you can cut decorative shapes with a cookie cutter to top the pie. This is optional.

1. Spread the jam evenly in the pie crust. Top with decorative shapes (optional).

2. Bake at 375F for about 30 minutes, until pastry is lightly brown.

3. Cool completely before cutting. Jam Tart is nice by itself or served with whipped cream.

Thelma Pepper 1920~2020

12/3/2020

My dear friend Thelma has left us. It happened quickly and caught me by surprise. Though she was 100, she seemed invincible. I thought she'd live a long long time, well, at least so we could meet again after pandemic lockdown. I am grateful to have spent so much time with her over these past two years and that she was here to see our book come to fruition in September. She taught me a lot about living with passion and growing old with grace. Adieu my friend 💝

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L'il Sprouts

11/17/2020

Several years ago, I took part in the Food Bank Challenge, in which we were given a food hamper to live on for a week. To be honest, it wasn't great food. Old white bread, cheap "no name" garlic sausage, plain yogurt with a broken seal. Food I would never buy myself. I'm big on quality ingredients from local sources, and this hamper was not that. Except...

There was a container of Saskatchewan lentils.

Those lentils were my lifesaver. The first thing I did was start sprouts. It takes 5 days to get edible sprouts, so there was no time to waste. They were my vegetable. The green in my sandwich. The crunch in egg salad. The fresh in the bland. The grand in finale.

I discovered another great use for lentils I had never tried before. I took a recipe for Spaghetti Bolognese and instead of using ground meat, I used lentils. It was delicious. I still make it. And I still sprout, especially as winter sets in. The sight of fresh green food growing on my windowsill is a wonderful antidote to winter.

I know a lot of folks had a hard time with the Food Bank Challenge, especially those with young children at home. There were no easy convenience foods, nothing quick or pre-prepared. I survived the challenge because a) I like to cook from scratch and b) I like lentils.

Sprouting is easy. Here's how: Put 2 to 4 tablespoons of lentils in a jar. Cover with water and soak for an hour. Pour off the water. Every day, cover the sprouts with water, give them a shake and drain. By day 5, you'll have edible sprouts. The lentils will be soft enough to eat and the sprouts will be green and crunchy. After 7 days I put them in the fridge. Try it!!

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What's in a Cover?

11/16/2020

Sure, we could have used a picture of Thelma with her camera. But instead, we used a picture of young Thelma with a book. Reading is so important to Thelma—in fact, you could say reading changed her life and led her down the path of photography.

In honour of Thelma, my publisher and I will donate $1 for every book purchased in 2020 to Read Saskatoon, the literacy change-maker in our community.

Thelma always believed in the power of reading. She read to her children, even when they could read themselves. When they left home, Thelma found herself in a mid-life depression, searching for new meaning in her life. She volunteered to read to seniors at the care home on her street. Listening to her read seemed to open the floodgates on their own stories. Thelma saw the pride and joy in their faces, and she wanted to capture that in photographs. The rest, as they say, is history…

Three major exhibitions (and a fourth coming up), Saskatchewan Order of Merit, a Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award, and countless admirers of her positive message of creativity and following your passions to your destiny. As she said, at the age of 99, “It’s a good thing I found myself, or I would not be here today.”

Sheryl Harrow-Yurach, CEO of ReadSaskatoon: “We know one in three Saskatchewan adults struggle daily with reading and writing. Strong literacy skills are foundational to an individual’s economic, social, educational, and employment success. Even more significant, strong literacy skills are foundational to a family’s success. Children’s first teachers are their parents. Their home is the first classroom, and the community is their first school. And like Thelma and Amy Jo, and in the words of one our clients ‘Please get involved! You can’t afford not to. There is more to life than our own little space. Bringing community together through literacy makes our Saskatchewan families stronger because we never stop learning. Ever!’”

For those of you who have purchased a copy of Thelma, $1 is already in the kitty. Thank you!! For those of you thinking of a book for yourself or others, consider it a $1 gift toward the strength and success of the new readers—and their families—in our community.

Now, in pandemic lockdown, reading is Thelma’s lifeline to the outside world. The last time I was able to briefly visit, she was reading Guns, Germs and Steel. I took her the new biography of Sylvia Fedoruk, which truly delighted her. She’s probably read another three books since then :)

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A Sticky Situation

11/6/2020

November 7 is National Kladdkaka Day in Sweden. Literally that means: National Sticky Cake Day. Literally: the best easy gooey yummy chocolate cake day ever.

Lucky for me, National Kladdkaka Day lands on the first winter blizzard of the year (predicted for Saskatchewan this weekend) so I predict I'll light a candle, pour a cup of coffee and cozy up to a nice slice of kladdkaka.

I recently made a dinner of Swedish meatballs with homemade lingonberry sauce (take that IKEA) and kladdkaka with whipped cream. So Swedish of me. Since discovering I have Swedish ancestry (through my grandma's grandma) I have been happily channelling my inner Swede one bite at a time.

But you don't need to have Swedish genes or a winter blizzard or a special day to get sticky with kladdkaka.

Kladdkakka – Swedish Sticky Cake
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
pinch salt

1. Prepare your baking dish. Use a 9 inch/23 cm cake pan or tart pan. Cut a circle of parchment paper (or regular paper) to fit in the bottom of the pan. Butter the pan, set in the paper, then butter the paper. Also butter up the sides of the pan. If you don’t do this your sticky cake will stick. Heat oven to 350F.

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan or the microwave oven. Whisk in the sugar.

3. Whisk the eggs into the butter. Mix in vanilla.

4. Shift together the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Fold the flour into the butter mixture until combined. It should be thick but not lumpy.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top. Bake 20-22 minutes. The cake is done when the edges and crust are cooked but the centre is still jiggly. Kladdkaka should be soft and molten in the middle, but don’t worry if it’s not jiggly, it will still be delicious.

7. Cool cake before removing from the baking pan. Sprinkle with icing sugar, with or without a paper snowflake stencil, or serve with whipped cream with or without a sliced strawberry or other fresh fruit. Ice cream is good, too.

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The Best of Intentions

10/17/2020

When Saskatoon's new Remai Modern art museum opened three years ago, I stood in that sunny eclectic Art & Design Store and said to myself, "I need to write a book they will put in this store."

I'm not an artist and I didn't have a subject in mind, but there it was, my intention went out into the universe of all possible things...

Two years ago, my publisher called me all excited. He'd heard a documentary with Thelma Pepper on CBC Radio and he wanted ME to write a book about Thelma.

A little over a year ago, Thelma and I started working on the book of her life and photography. Yesterday, I signed a stack of those books and set them out for sale in the Art & Design store at Remai Modern.

Funny how that works sometimes. Thank you Thelma and thank you universe 💞

Virtual Book Launch, Literally

10/16/2020

Despite all your preparation, thing go wrong, right?

On Tuesday, we did a technical test run for my virtual book launch of Thelma: A Life in Pictures. But yesterday, when I connected via zoom, my audio showed up but not my video. Baffled, I rebooted my computer, which worked ~ with 1 minute to spare 😳

So, thankfully, I showed up at my own book launch 😃 and thanks to all of you who came, too. Thanks to McNally Robinson bookstore in Saskatoon for organizing and managing the event. And super thanks to Joanne Paulson for co-hosting with me, 'cause zooming with a friend is way more fun than zooming alone.

Joanne's grandma was photographed by Thelma and is featured in the book, so her participation was personal and heartfelt ♥

I've got to be honest, it feels strange launching a book in covid times, with NO personal contact or a roster of book-promoting events. But it's also a time of intentional and sincere connections via social channels that hone our relationships and our gratitude. Thank you!!

If you missed the book launch, you can watch it via youtube by tapping the screenshot image below. I hope you enjoy connecting as much as I did.

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Thelma's Sherbrooke Portraits

10/13/2020

Today I delivered a copy of my book Thelma: A Life in Pictures to the Sherbrooke care home in Saskatoon. Thelma's husband Jim spent his final years there with Alzheimer's disease. It was a special place to her. She came every day to eat meals with Jim and appreciated the caring, encouraging, joyful atmosphere that put a smile on the faces of its residents.

Thelma saw the grace and spirit in those aging faces and wanted to capture them in photographs. She asked permission to take their pictures and it was granted.

Such tender and compassionate portraits... Her photos remind us that everyone has gifts to share no matter the age or infirmity. The creative spirit flows through each of us to the best of our ability. That is when we are truly happy.

This is Thelma's message. When all feels lost or hopeless or sad, doing something ~ even a little thing ~ for ourselves and for others is our saving grace.

Alice Turner and Child, 2001 by Thelma Pepper

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Thelma has Arrived!

10/2/2020

Oh that new book smell... After a year of gestation, my book Thelma: A Life in Pictures has arrived in book stores! I spent an hour this morning at McNally Robinson Booksellers in Saskatoon signing some 60 copies. By the time I left the store, it was already on the shelf, sitting next to my two previous books ~ Out of Old Saskatchewan Kitchens and Saskatoon: A History. Welcome to the world Thelma ♥

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New Book Launch!!!!!

9/24/2020

My new book Thelma: A Life in Pictures is hot off the press and will be arriving in stores soon. So you're invited to a book launch!!! Virtual of course.

It feels a bit odd to launch a new book with no in-person encounters and no roster of events for a month of getting the word out. But life as it is requires that we do things differently and make the best of it. The great thing about a virtual book launch is that folks can join from anywhere in the world. That's big!

The book launch for Thelma is set for Thursday, October 15 @ 7 pm (Sask. time) hosted by McNally Robinson Booksellers on its online platforms Zoom and YouTube. You can get the watch details from their website by clicking the image below 👇

Please join us! I would love to see you there ♥

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