Foodie Lit. J. Shlenker’s The Color of Cold and Ice
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While taking a writing course, Jerri Schlenker’s assignment was to pick a color and write from the point of view of the color. So adds an important part of the novel with a personalized narration of colors between each section of the plot. The colors, with layers of meaning, are real and symbolic, apart yet characteristic, integrated with the persons and scenes that are to come. It is certainly a unique and interesting part of the novel’s narration.
Not only giving a voice to colors, Jerri gives a voice to each of the main characters in two families as they share in the telling of their stories, which are artfully braided together. Each has a dream and each has a heartache; each develops a resilience to confront the difficulties that life has presented. In doing so, the two families that we encounter come together in surprising ways.
Each chooses a new path that is individual and yet interwoven with another character. This makes the plot complex and continues to intrigue the reader.
Jerri told me that she writes what she knows or has encountered. One of the characters must deal with cancer, which Jerri had been diagnosed with and survived. One character’s husband was killed in a freak accident. Another is a doctor whose patients simply want pills and surgeries instead of working to develop healthy lives. Another cannot have children, and another is a failed songwriter and performer who has also failed at love.
Many of the scenes occur in a coffee shop, the Java Bean Factory, an eccentric space that is also somewhat magical. Sibyl owns the coffee shop. As a child, “[h]er father held her hand as they entered an enchanted shop.” This was Sibyl’s first trip to a coffee shop as she was a child, filled with the aromas of coffee, bread, and chocolate pastries. She then fell in love with the dream of owning a coffee shop. She and her creative sister Em, recently widowed, run the café. As the author feels that her writing is derived ‘from something higher,” so Sibyl has visions and dreams which foreshadow aspects of the plot. The intuition of the characters helps lead them to new and healthier choices in their lives, away from the pain that has engulfed them.
I asked Jerri about the coffee shop. “Although I’m a tea drinker, I love quaint, quirky coffee shops. Something about either drink brings people together, in this case, the characters, thus the Java Bean Factory is born. Also, regarding quirkiness or uniqueness, I have used this coffee shop in a later book, Alice Black. There have been several instances where I’ve incorporated places and characters in cameo appearances throughout my different novels.”
As well as coffee shops, Art plays a role in the novel, in its discussion of color and its meanings. Van Gogh is the favorite artist of Em and the author. Em travels to Amsterdam and views his paintings in the Van Gogh Museum. Much of the plot comes together there in ways that have been envisioned and yet are spontaneous.
One of the characters, Mark, is also visiting Amsterdam on his way to a workshop in Poland about reinvigorating the spirit through healthy lifestyle choices, some less typical, such as cold plunges, cold showers, and bathing in winter waters. On the way, he visits a recently discovered relative who is a concentration camp survivor. Shown to him by his elderly relative, the pictures of relatives who were murdered by the Nazis is retold as a new pain, “as if he had just experienced the tortures, he and his loved ones had endured all over again.” The pain of the past is never erased. Resiliency and vision help forge a life worth living for all the characters, no matter the source of their pain.
An excellent plot structure is the network of chance encounters from which the characters’ decisions unfold and intertwine. As Jerri told me, “You might say that as the characters found their true purpose, they climbed the chakra ladder or became the right balance of all the chakras—a personal and collective evolution.”
Delicious food comes from the Java Bean Café. I tried to imagine new items on the menu and developed this recipe for Breakfast Pizza, which I know would add to the aroma and flavors of the cafe!
Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Color-Cold-Ice-J-Schlenker-ebook/dp/B01ITYEIJM/ref
https://www.expandthetable.net/
Breakfast Pizza
In this fabulous fusion of pizza and breakfast flavors, pizza becomes a breakfast food! Scrambled eggs with sautéed veggies and mozzarella are baked on top of the pizza crust to make a delicious morning meal, healthy, filling, and as fun to eat as any pizza slice. Sauté your favorite veggies and top with the cheese(s) you love. Not made with the traditional tomato sauce, this pizza is as mild or as spicy as you like. It’s the ultimate fun bite kickstart to your day! Guaranteed to tempt even picky eaters!!
Yield: 1 8″ pizza
Crust
1 thin crust pizza crust. (The recipe given here, but you can purchase pizza crust, use naan, or even French bread sliced lengthwise.)
1 1/2 cups high-gluten flour
1 1/2 teaspoons active yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon cornmeal.
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon olive oil for spreading on the dough
Preheat the oven to 425°F.Mix flour, yeast and salt together in a bowl. Add warm water and olive oil.Mix together until the dough forms.Turn out onto a clean and lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.Cover the dough and let rest for 10 minutes.Roll out to fit a 10-12” pizza pan. Sprinkle cornmeal on the pan and place the dough on top, stretching to fit the size. Crimp the edges of the dough.With a fork, prick the surface of the dough in several spots. With a brush or your fingers, spread olive oil lightly on the surface of the dough.Bake for 7-8 minutes or until the dough is lightly browned. Remove from oven.Toppings
1/2 red bell pepper
½ green bell pepper
Several slices of an onion
Chopped green onion tops
Tiny tomatoes
4 tablespoons frozen spinach or a handful of fresh spinach
4-5 fresh basil leaves
2-3 sprigs oregano
1 cup mozzarella cheese
4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
In a skillet, sauté bell peppers, onions, spinach, chopped chives, or tops of green onions. Remove from the pan.Add eggs to the same and scramble.Evenly place the eggs on top of the crust. Add the vegetables over the eggs. Add torn fresh basil and remove oregano leaves from the stems.Spread mozzarella on top. Sprinkle Parmesan over all.Place the pizza back in the oven on a rack 2nd from the top until the cheese melts. Remove and serve.To freeze: Cut the Breakfast Pizza into desired slices. Wrap each slice in plastic wrap and then place each piece into a freezer bag or container. Freeze up to 3 months.Expandthetable suggestions
Add other veggies: mushrooms, jalapeños, roasted broccoli or cauliflower, greens such as kale, collards, etc.
Other cheeses: Use cheddar, Swiss, Bleu, or your favorite cheese!
Add heat: Add jalapeño or chili peppers to the topping.
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