Author Archives: deb@rolledscroll

          LAST-MINUTE, NO-SEW HALLOWE’EN COSTUMES Resist the urge to buy ready-made costumes this fall—conjuring them up yourself is one of the quickest cheap thrills I know to satisfy the creative urge! My sibs and I grew up trick-or-treating in the flashiest outfits (a skunk that sprayed, a ballerina remade from a pawn-shop […]

         STEWED TOMATOES An antique ceramic bowl of ripening tomatoes-on-the-vine usually sits on my counter, the rich and heady smell tickling my nostrils when I walk by. But if I enjoy the scent too long, they wither, so recently I made a fabulous veggie stew. Yum! I tossed the softening tomatoes (including […]

          APPLE Have you ever noticed that Snow White (in the forest of the Seven Dwarves) and Eve (in the Garden of Eden) were both undone by an apple? This curious literary fact has long intrigued me: Does the fictional tale inform the Bible story or vice versa? The subject of the […]

  “Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world.”   (Marilyn Monroe)   Cinderella and her glass slippers aside, I think Marilyn had it backwards. She should have said: Give the girl the world and she can conquer the right shoes! My Prince Charming has whisked me off (or sent me on) […]

    BOOK TRAILER     This is so fantastic! Watch the new, professional, two-minute book trailer for my novel, THE THIRD GRACE.        

BOTTLING SUMMER: MAKING WILD BERRY JAM Our years of ranching in the arid Sand Hills of Saskatchewan gave me a deep appreciation for the scant wild fruits of summer—Saskatoon berries for pie, chokecherries for jelly—and taught me how to prepare for the onslaught of winter. It’s a pioneer skill lost to today’s city populace and […]

    HOW TO TAME A CITY-SLICKER           I was born for uptown living.    True, the view from the maternity ward of the Mennonite village that first heard me squawk showed only flat Canadian prairie—not a mall in sight. But my parents soon moved me and my sibs to the big city, and, by […]

      ARTS CONNECTION PODCAST     Check out the recent radio show on which I was interviewed by Robert White: http://www.selawministries.ca/content/arts-connection-july-12-2012-deb-elkink-third-grace-grace-irwin-award-winner    

    INTERVIEW   Check out an interview by Jayne Self: Part one, “What Makes Deb Elkink Tick?” http://www.christianswhowrite.ca/deb-elkink-interview-part-1/   Part two, “Living with Gusto”: http://www.christianswhowrite.ca/deb-elkink-interview-part-2/        

    * CREPE RECIPE     I pepper my novel, The Third Grace, with references to French and Mennonite food. On page 140, I talk about crêpes sizzling on a griddle, drenched in butter, then folded up in a cone of waxed paper. Try my favourite recipe, which feeds a hungry family:   * CREPES SIFT TOGETHER: 3 cups […]