With Sara Brunsvold's author talk looming, I had only a few days to tackle her second novel,
The Divine Proverb of Streusel. Not a problem! I sped through. I enjoyed this one even more than her first novel. Perhaps it was the personal connections I felt.
I love to say, "I was born in the state of misery." It gives me a good chuckle and others an eye roll. This book takes place in Missouri and the main character explores her German heritage. My maternal grandmother came from Germany to the United States as a child. She lived and raised my mother in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Much like the character in the book, I didn't have an extensive relationship with my grandmother. We saw her once or twice a year. Those visits were brief. I don't remember my grandmother speaking German, although my mother dabbled in it a bit. She'd say things like "Ach, du lieber ganzen" (oh, you lovely goose!) or she'd sing "Mein hut er hat drei ecken" (My hat, it has 3 corners). Here's a 20 second video of the song. I spoke of this in my book review for another intergenerational German tale, Send for Me.
I don't remember my grandmother's cooking. But I do remember asking my mother for her family recipe for banana pancakes. She explained that when she got married, her mother gave her a file box full of recipes (did she cook side-by-side with my mother to teach her the steps? I don't know). Grandma included 5 typewritten sheets listing the recipes in alphabetical order with the code numbers that appeared in the top right corner of each 3x5 card. The banana pancake recipe card was A12.
My mother warned that the batter is thin, which is what makes them light and fluffy. Horrible cook that I am, I failed at it miserably. Perhaps, like the character in Brunsvold's book, I struggled because it was a recipe without specific steps or explanations. I wrote to my mom because the recipe was confusing, calling for two separate installments of milk:
"1
egg, 1/2 C milk, 1-1/4 C flour, 1 C milk, dash salt, 3-4 bananas, Is that
correct? Do you mix the first three ingredients and then seriously add even
more milk? I'm guessing this would be like frying up something with the
consistency of orange juice! Let me know if there's another secret ingredient I failed to transcribe."
My mom contacted her sister and my Uncle Dave wrote to explain the steps:
"The recipe is correct. To clarify, the egg and 1/2 cup milk should be mixed together before the flour is added. Then add the next cup of
milk. After the bananas are added the mix will be very THIN. Make sure the lard
and butter are very hot and be careful not to splatter the oil on your hands. I
am going to try and scan the “original” recipe from your mother’s cook book.
Dave"
I wrote back to my mother to explain my dilemma. This will give a bird's-eye view of my ineptitude in the kitchen:
"Well,
I tried the banana pancake recipe from your files, and I must be doing something
wrong. Here's exactly what happened. I mixed the batter as suggested, mixing
first the egg and smaller amount of milk together, then adding the flour, then
the larger amount of milk and mixing again before adding the 3 large mashed
bananas. The batter seemed thinner than my regular pancake batter, but I
figured so far, so good. I have a small cast iron griddle and I thought
that might produce a better pancake, so I tried that first. The pancake turned
out somewhat close to what yours tasted like, but the middle
wasn't cooked enough (please God, don't let me get salmonella from
undercooked banana pancakes). Besides the undercooked middle, it didn't want to
come off the cast iron pan in the middle. I set the pan on the counter
to scoop off the pancake and when I picked up the griddle, it left behind a
murky stain which turned out to be resistant to wiping with a dish
rag - groan. I decided I'd better stop using it, not knowing what kind of
damage I might be doing to my burners, counters, etc. So, I heated my normal
small frying pan. The next one seemed to cook on the outside edges but never
produce the air bubbles normally associated with a pancake ready to turn.
Thus, I burned the next two, trying to get the middles done enough.
Finally, I thought perhaps I should turn the stove down. This provided a slower, more even process. Although I am no longer burning them, they
still don't appear to look like yours and certainly don't taste as good as
yours. I don't know. Then, I looked up German banana pancakes on the
internet and they are showing something otherwise known as a Dutch baby, but it
is made in the oven. I don't think yours were made in the oven, were
they? Well, my best effort still falls short of the mark. Oh well. I tried
anyway."
My mom tried to clarify her experience with the recipe:
"I
have never mashed the bananas and then added them to the mix. I have only sliced the bananas directly into
the mix. Don't know if that will make a
difference for you. Let me know."
I never attempted to duplicate my mother's banana pancakes again. Thus, I related to Nikki Werner's attempts at the family recipes. I enjoyed all the recipes in Brunsvold's book, but doubt I will try more than a few (after reading the above, you might understand my hesitancy). I intend to try the recipes for Hoppel Poppel (Egg Hash, p 75), Frikadellen (German hamburgers, p 108), Kohl aus Eddner (Scalloped Cabbage, p. 173), Kartoffelpuffer (Potato Pancakes) with Apfelmus (Applesauce, p 196), and Kartoffelgratin (Scalloped Potatoes, p 243).
I noted a line from Grandma Lena's notebook of recipes: "Sometimes the hardest thing in the world to do is to keep trying to do something for which natural talents are lacking." Ha! Too true!
Enough about why this read resonated with me! So, back to the book. Nikki Werner is disillusioned with life and love after her parents' divorce and her dad's remarriage. With her boyfriend leaning in hard, she flees her home in Kansas City and heads to her Uncle Wes' farmstead, the home where her dad was raised. Eddner, a town her father left behind early in life, is near Hannibal (a town I lived in for a spell). Nikki finds her grandmother's German books and a notebook full of German recipes. As she helps her uncle restore the family home, she attempts the recipes and shares them with the Lutheran community there. Amid discovering her German heritage, Nikki grapples with reconciliation with both her boyfriend and her father.
My mother's mind, even before her death, was no longer accessible, but I have loads of questions I wish I had asked. Did her mother experience the effects of the world wars? Did they, like other German U.S. citizens, try to distance themselves from their heritage? Did they change to more Anglicized names and drop the use of German language and recipes? What a shame that, because of a nation's misguided actions, a whole worldview lost its freedom to exist and be celebrated!
This book is a treasure! How comforting to delve into a heritage I share and a faith I espouse! I loved the emphasis on "doing the next thing." I have heard Elizabeth Elliot share from something similar to the poem by Minnie Paull listed in the addendum to this book (although the internet attributes this to an old poem by Eleanor Amerman Sutphen in 1897). Would that I might implement that wisdom in my own life. When I do not know what to do, I can "do the next thing!"
I wish I had purchased a copy and requested the author's signature on the night of the author talk. My copy came from a nearby library. I wanted to finish her debut novel (The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip) first, so I didn't complete The Divine Proverb of Streusel until late on Sunday night. Once I finished, I knew I wanted to own it (not only for the story but also for the recipes and the beautiful sentiments expressed prior to each recipe). Sadly, no copies were available in stores nearby on Monday, prior to the author talk. I'm also kicking myself because the signing line was long, and not having a book to sign, I simply left without snagging a chance to meet the author. Who knows, perhaps she had copies to sell. I appreciated her talk and admire her firm foundation of faith. Moreover, I share her intense desire that writing be a form of worship, a gift given back to the Lord for His purposes and to reach whomever He desires. May it be so in my writing, as well!
