Salmon and Dill Sandwich

The taste of fresh dill and just harvested cucumbers remind me of Elizabeth Buhler. As a child, I loved watching her tend to her garden, her feet firmly planted in the black Manitoba soil. A jar of her pickled cucumbers ended up in our cupboard, and by late summer, crab apples from the large tree in her yard were strewn across the counter. On Saturday mornings, soon after my sister and I had started an odyssey with The Jetsons, Mrs. Buhler would drop by with cinnamon rolls still warm from the oven. Not one to waste, she packed them in an old cereal box laid flat on its side. During road trips, we traveled with loaves of her homemade bread.

Susan Pachikara (COPYRIGHT 2011)

In January, Mrs. Buhler died just short of her 112th birthday. During her remarkably long life, she withstood the terrors of Russian revolution and the unchartered plains of southern Manitoba. She raised six children and left behind 23 grandchildren, 55 great-grandchildren and 39 great-great grandchildren. All the while, she scratch cooked. In her 70s, she made my mom's spicy sambar for her Thanksgiving dinner guests.

As one journalist noted, hers was an "Extraordinary Ordinary Life." Each time I shape a cinnamon roll from the recipe Mrs. Buhler penned in a curry-cued script, her spirit is with me.

Susan Pachikara (COPYRIGHT 2011)

SALMON AND DILL SANDWICH

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

1-14.75 ounce can Alaskan Pink Salmon
1 teaspoon finely minced dill
1 cup diced cucumbers
1/4 cup diced scallions
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons olive oil
8 slices of bread
A heap of arugula

INSTRUCTIONS

Drain water from salmon and invert into a medium sized bowl. Break up with a fork.

Add dill, cucumbers, scallions, black pepper, salt, garlic powder and olive oil. Mix together.

Layer on bread and top with a handful of arugula.

Susan Pachikara (COPYRIGHT 2011)

Susan Pachikara (COPYRIGHT 2011)

Susan Pachikara (COPYRIGHT 2011)