B
Monday, October 14, 2019
The Observer & Baker City Herald
BETWEEN
THE ROWS
Uncommonly Good
WENDY SCHMIDT
Oregon
grape: Our
state flower,
and much
more
Oregon grape (Mahonia. Berberi-
daceae) is an evergreen shrub related
to barberry (Berberis) and described
under that name by some botanists.
It’s easily grown, and good looking all
year. Leaves are divided into leafl ets
that usually have spiny teeth on edges.
Yellow fl owers in dense, rounded to
spikelike clusters, followed by blue
black (sometimes red), berrylike fruit.
Generally disease resistant, though
sometimes disfi gured by small looper
caterpillar. All types are drought toler-
ant and attract birds.
Varieties include:
• Mahonia aquifolium. Native from
British Columbia to Northern Califor-
nia. State fl ower of Oregon. Grows to 6
feet tall or more with a tall, erect habit;
spreads by underground stems. Leaves
are 4 to 10 inches long with 5 to 9 very
spiny-toothed oval-long leafl ets that
are glossy green in some forms, dull
green in others.
Young growth is ruddy or bronzy;
purplish or bronzy leaves in winter, es-
pecially in cold-winter areas or where
it is grown in full sun. Flowers in 2- to
3-inch-long clusters March to May.
Edible blue black fruit with gray bloom
(makes good jelly).
The variety “compacta” averages
about 2 feet tall and spreads freely to
make broad colonies. Plant in masses
as foundation planting, in woodlands,
in tubs as a low screen or garden bar-
rier. Resistant to oak root fungus and
especially valuable where gardens are
heavily infested by it.
• Leatherleaf mahonia (M. bealei).
Grows in all zones. Up to 12 feet tall
with a strong pattern of vertical stems,
horizontal leaves. Leaves are over a
foot long, divided into 7 to 15 broad
leafl ets. Flowers very early then has
powdery blue berries. Plant in rich soil.
It is very distinguished against stone,
brick, wood, or glass.
• Desert mahonia (M. fremontii).
Grows in zones 8-24. Native to deserts
of the Southwest, it has gray-green to
yellow-green leaves with 3 to 5 thick,
1-inch-long leafl ets; edges have sharp,
tough spines. Flowers May-June, dark
blue to brown fruit. Plant in full sun or
light shade.
• California holly grape (M. pin-
nata). Grows in zones 7-9, and native
Southern Oregon to Southern Califor-
nia.
See Grape/Page 2B
Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/TNS
Japanese souffl e pancake
S OUFFLE P ANCAKES :
D ELIGHTFUL S URPRISE
and I did not even realize it.
Obviously, these were something I had to
A friend from out of town casually men-
try. And because they do not serve them at
tioned that he had eaten Japanese souffl e
Uncle Bill’s Pancake House, I knew I was
pancakes, and then he went on talking as if going to have to make them myself.
nothing had changed.
Make them I did, but fi rst I had to buy a
Didn’t he notice that the Earth had
set of ring molds. These are like large napkin
stopped turning? Didn’t he see the hole that rings somewhere along the lines of 3 inches
was burned through the fabric of our exis-
wide and 2fi inches high. You can get them
tence? Did he not realize that life as we had in many different sizes, but that’s a good one
lived it up to this point had forever changed? for our purposes, or maybe a bit wider.
Three words was all it took for the world
I bought mine at a restaurant supply
to turn upside down: Japanese souffl e
store, but you can order them online. Or
pancakes. And if you want to be technical, it here’s a cheaper alternative: Find a can of
was really only the “souffl e pancakes” part.
tuna fi sh that is about the right size, cut
“Japanese” is just an intriguing modifi er.
off the top, eat the tuna, cut off the bottom
How had I not heard of Japanese souffl e
and clean it thoroughly. Voila — instant
pancakes before? My entire life was a lie,
ring mold, plus you got to enjoy a nutritious
By Daniel Neman
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
lunch.
The ring molds were the easy part. The
actual making of the souffl e pancakes was a
bit of a hassle, but only because something
kept going wrong. I added essentially room-
temperature melted butter into essentially
room-temperature milk, and the butter
immediately hardened into a raft of butter
globules.
So I tried it the second time, and the same
thing happened. That’s when I reminded
myself that, despite what you may see on
the internet, Albert Einstein never actually
said “the defi nition of insanity is doing the
same thing over and over and expecting dif-
ferent results.”
See Pancakes/Page 2B
Cookies chock full of chocolatey goodness
dulgent as the act of posting pictures
of them.
Last year, pan-slammed choco-
Those ooh-look-at-me cookies are
late chip cookies were declared
an easy pleasure, a hard sugar high
Best. Cookies. Ever. by social media
fast and fl eeting. But sometimes you
tinkerbells. The technique involves
need a cookie with substance, some-
slamming a pan of half-baked or just- thing you have to chew that reveals
baked cookies against the counter
its depth and complexity with each
so that the air bubbles from baking
bite. Something that makes you feel
soda and beaten eggs that lift the
you can handle anything.
dough pop, fl attening the cookies.
That’s what these cookies do.
Their tops then ripple like waves on Chunky with crunchy walnuts,
a lake when a stone hits the surface. chewy with oats, fudgy with
A dramatic look for mouthwatering
chocolate, these bake into thick,
photos.
craggy disks with crisp edges and
But do they taste good? Well, of
tender centers. They’re not techni-
course. Because they’re chocolate
cally chocolate chip cookies because
chip cookies, which all taste good to
they’re fi lled with chopped chocolate,
some degree. When defl ated, pan-
but they deliver the same nostalgic
slammed centers become dense like a comfort.
cross between raw cookie dough and
Chopping the chocolate by hand
chocolate truffl es. Extra buttery, sug- gives you the obvious joy of big, melty
ary and chocolaty, they’re designed
chunks, but, as important, slivers
to be devoured quickly. They’re as in- as thin as splinters that season the
By Genevieve Ko
Los Angeles Times
ughout. Untoasted whole chunk cookies.
dough throughout.
ave a tannic edge to their
walnuts have
hat balances chocolate’s
See Cookies/Page 2B
nuttiness that
hile highlighting its bitter-
richness while
sweet side. And oats — lots of them
uanced natural earthy
— add a nuanced
sweetness to the white-and-brown-
sugar base. Each bite gives you ev-
erything at once and also something
ight hit a mother lode
new. You might
of chocolate e or a walnut’s crackle,
al l
but always with the foundational
ew of a
oatmeal chew
d, buttery
nicely salted,
cookie.
hat these
It’s not that
are the best t cookies
re the best
ever. They’re
ht now. Be-
cookies right
olate chip cookie
cause chocolate
trends are a refl ection of our
merica. We need for-
times in America.
ding into 2020 and,
titude heading
earty, nutty chocolate
so, these hearty,