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| Eleanor Augusta Dehlin Erickson |
I remember Grandma's Swedish pancakes ---how one of them completely filled her big iron skillet. Mom never made this kind of pancakes so they were a real treat to us. Two more of her specialties were her Christmas cakes and puddings. On a planned day in the fall she would walk across the street to our house, hair freshly done up in a bun, a clean apron covering her house dress, ready to put the holiday goodies together. Each one usually took the better part of one day.
After she died, Mom continued on alone. It had become a family tradition. Those cakes and puddings were the very best in the world. I have never tasted any that were any better. We kids would often go over to her place to take milk or fresh butter, or freshly baked bread or the mail and she would often ask us to stay and eat with them. We were shy and would usually say 'No, we were not hungry', then Grandpa would grin and reply, "Any day I'd rather feed a man who admits he's hungry than one who says he isn't. The one who says he isn't hungry always eats the most."
Grandma was an avid reader. She would read by the hour while Grandpa was working in the garden and the yard. He always arose about four or five each morning in the summer time, and then by seven at night, although it was still very light outside, he would be in bed. Grandma would sit up until late every night reading, doing some handwork and listening to the ten o'clock news, and then she'd sleep until ten the next morning. She had cataracts on both eyes, had surgery to have them removed and suffered a great deal from this. But the suffering didn't disturb her as much as the fact that she could no longer read with ease. For much of the time she had to be content with just listening to the news on the radio. Sometimes she struggled to read with a big round magnifying glass.
Her beloved Etudes (music magazines) would sit stacked up in the front room on a chair or on top of her music cabinet and gather dust --- magazines she had spent so many hours pouring through when her sight was better. She had some sort of infection, probably sinus, that caused her severe headaches. She couldn't tolerate cold air and remained inside the house a good deal, especially in the winter time. This was in the last years of her life.
It was very hard for Grandma when Grandpa had his stroke. It happened in July of 1939. He and Grandma had just finished entertaining their Johansen friends from Cardston area, and had sung several duets for them. The company had barely left when Grandpa began acting very strange and was forced to lie down on the living-room couch. The doctor was called and we were told he had suffered a stroke. Weeks later he got so he could walk over to our place but his left side never fully recovered. His leg dragged, his arm was unsteady, and his face, mostly his eye, was affected. Suddenly, after years of being waited on by her husband, Grandma now found the tables turned. It was now necessary for her to do the "waiting" on him. We always thought Grandma would be the first to go because she had had so many health problems over the years.
By Christmas time he was completely bed-ridden and finally passed away on the 24th of January 1940.
Grandma had been so involved in helping Mom take care of him she was heard to say at his passing,"I hope the Lord will take me fast when it is time for me to go. I don't want to linger and have to have loved ones wait on me day and night. I don't want to be a burden on anyone." She was given her wish. One afternoon that fall she went to her garden to gather potatoes for her dinner. She was carrying them in her apron. As she walked up her stairs to the back door, she suddenly fell forward. Gen, who lived in the other part of her house, and a neighbor, John Kimball, carried her into the house and she was pronounced dead by the doctor when he arrived shortly afterwards. In death she looked so beautiful and peaceful, just like she was sleeping.
The following has been added by Kathy: A recipe for Swedish Pancakes http://www.myownsweetthyme.com/2008/11/swedish-pancakes.html
Swedish pancakes, if you don't know, are quite a bit different than your ordinary pancake. They are more of a crepe than anything else. Compared to making regular pancakes, Swedish pancakes seem like a lot of work, but for the occasional special breakfast they are well worth it.
3 eggs
1-1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
This recipe will make approximately nine 8" pancakes. (We tripled the recipe to make enough pancakes for a brunch for five with some left over. All of the pancakes were gone before dinner.)
The instructions say,"Beat eggs till thick and lemon-colored." After that, sift and add the dry ingredients mixing gently with a wire whip. When the mix is the consistency of a thick paste, add the milk slowly as you continue to mix. The reason for mixing slowly is so that you don't mix too much air in the batter. A batter that is frothy does not seem to cook properly.
When the batter is ready, set it aside, and prepare the frying pan. The best pans are about 8 to 10 inches in diameter at the bottom, with very low sides. The low sides make it easier to flip the pancakes. Start with the heat at medium and adjust as needed. Each pan seems to have its own quirks about how much heat it likes and how fast it will cook pancakes. Melt about half a teaspoon of butter in the pan and when melted, spread it around so that it covers the bottom of the pan. You need to add more butter for each pancake which can be a challenge with more than one pan. I pre-slice bits of butter ahead of time so that they are ready to toss in the pan without losing time fiddling with the butter knife.
Pour in just enough batter to cover two thirds of the pan, and then swirl the pan to spread the batter. Let the pancake cook for about 30 seconds, and then peek under one edge. When it starts to brown in spots, flip the pancake and cook for another 15 to 30 seconds depending on heat.
The following has been added by Kathy: A recipe for Swedish Pancakes http://www.myownsweetthyme.com/2008/11/swedish-pancakes.html
3 eggs
1-1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
This recipe will make approximately nine 8" pancakes. (We tripled the recipe to make enough pancakes for a brunch for five with some left over. All of the pancakes were gone before dinner.)
The instructions say,"Beat eggs till thick and lemon-colored." After that, sift and add the dry ingredients mixing gently with a wire whip. When the mix is the consistency of a thick paste, add the milk slowly as you continue to mix. The reason for mixing slowly is so that you don't mix too much air in the batter. A batter that is frothy does not seem to cook properly.
When the batter is ready, set it aside, and prepare the frying pan. The best pans are about 8 to 10 inches in diameter at the bottom, with very low sides. The low sides make it easier to flip the pancakes. Start with the heat at medium and adjust as needed. Each pan seems to have its own quirks about how much heat it likes and how fast it will cook pancakes. Melt about half a teaspoon of butter in the pan and when melted, spread it around so that it covers the bottom of the pan. You need to add more butter for each pancake which can be a challenge with more than one pan. I pre-slice bits of butter ahead of time so that they are ready to toss in the pan without losing time fiddling with the butter knife.
Pour in just enough batter to cover two thirds of the pan, and then swirl the pan to spread the batter. Let the pancake cook for about 30 seconds, and then peek under one edge. When it starts to brown in spots, flip the pancake and cook for another 15 to 30 seconds depending on heat.
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