B
Tuesday, May 11, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
NUTRITION:
IT’S ALL GOOD
ANN BLOOM
Appreciating
our teachers
The fi rst week of May (May 2-8) was
National Teacher Appreciation Week.
Next to being a parent, teaching is the
hardest job a person will ever love.
Teachers spend long hours grading
papers, preparing lessons and setting
up their classrooms so their students
can have the best learning environment
and educational experience possible.
This is time spent away from their
families. They spend their own money
on supplies because school budgets,
cut to the bone, cannot afford to pay for
the “extras” that make learning fun,
both for the student and the teacher.
In most, if not all, cases they are not
reimbursed for these purchases.
Not everyone can be a teacher. It
takes fi ve years of education, in most
places, to start as a fi rst year teacher
and then the teacher faces the looming
prospect of years of college loan repay-
ment.
Teachers are fearless. It takes a cer-
tain caliber of person to not be overcome
by the thundering silence that follows a
question asked of a room full of seventh-
graders, who look as though they have
just heard an ancient language for the
fi rst time.
Teachers cannot be afraid of blood,
either, or other bodily fl uids; scraped
knees are par for the course. They can-
not be daunted when someone small
stands in front of them and announces
they feel sick, and then proceeds to
prove it on the teacher’s shoe.
Dedication, thy teacher it is your
middle name. How many teachers have
spent weekends, and late nights prepar-
ing their classrooms for the fall classes
(raise your hands, now)? It is a myth,
too, that teachers get three months of
“vacation” in the summer. Summers
are spent taking classes to maintain
their certifi cation and credentials.
Again, this is at their own expense.
Hillary Levin/St. Louis Post Dispatch-TNS
Campfi re French Toast, made on the grill.
B EYOND B URGERS
A ND H OT D OGS
■ Campfires can be used to make all sorts of scrumptious dishes
Daniel Neman
See Teachers/Page 2B
BETWEEN
THE ROWS
WENDY SCHMIDT
All hail the
dandelion
There are dandelions rioting in the
grass! They put on quite a show for
such a humble plant.
This is the time of year to pick sev-
eral gallon jars of big yellow blossoms
and start a batch of dandelion wine.
It’s medicinal. Dandelion wine, fl owers,
leaves and roots are benefi cial to liver
and kidneys, with antioxidants that are
known for helping our health.
To cook the greens, wash them thor-
oughly in lukewarm water, removing
old, discolored or badly broken leaves.
Cut off roots and tough stems and wash
again, lifting the leaves out of the water
to allow any sand to settle in the pan.
Then sprinkle with a little salt. Cook
the greens with just enough water to
steam them in the tightly covered pot.
When barely tender, drain the water
and chop them fi ne. I save the water as
it has nutrients in it.
Combine the greens with meat or
other vegetables. The foods which
complement and best reduce the appar-
ent bitterness of dandelion greens are
olive oil, garlic, pork, pork fat or bacon,
eggs, vinegar or lemon juice, cheese and
bread, plus optional salt and pepper.
Combining dandelions with other
ingredients can enhance your enjoy-
ment of them. Try a sweet-and-sour
dressing. Add vinegar and brown sugar
to hot bacon fat. Pour this over raw or
steamed dandelion leaves just before
serving.
See Dandelion/Page 3B
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The last time my Boy Scout troop went on
a campout, we ate steak.
I was startled. I was shocked. I didn’t know
you could do that on a campout. Before that,
most of our previous experiences around a
campfi re somehow involved Spam. We also
had a memorable night in which we ate
hamburgers with the ground beef stretched
by adding bread, which our troop leader
informed us was to add fl avor.
Our troop leader’s name, incidentally, was
Norman Bates. Despite sharing a name with
the notorious psycho in “Psycho,” he was a
nice guy. He was so nice, he bought steak for
our last campout.
So perhaps my concept of eating around a
campfi re has been skewed. I always thought
it meant Spam, with occasional sightings of
hamburger and, on the rarest of occasions,
steak.
But apparently things have changed in 50
years. Now, some people drive to a campsite
in campers equipped with all the comforts of
a four-star hotel. Others’ tastes have expand-
ed beyond the bounds of hot dogs, hamburg-
ers and Spam to encompass dishes with more
creativity in their cooking.
I recently camped out in the wilds of St.
Louis’ Tower Grove East neighborhood, where
I encountered exotic wildlife (squirrels) and
experienced the mysterious sounds of nature
(the friendly barking of the dogs next door,
Florence and Moby).
I also cooked up a mess of chow around the
old campfi re, which I guess would technically
be called a “grill.” But still, the recipes will
work for campfi res, too.
I began, as one does, with breakfast. I made
Campfi re French Toast, which just may be
the best French toast ever. And that’s not just
because you get the faintest hint of smoke
in your toast (OK, you can’t really taste it at
all, because it’s wrapped in foil), but it’s also
because the recipe is so stunning. And rich.
Usually, you use whole milk to make
French toast, but it can be a hassle to bring
milk with you on a camping trip. It’s so much
easier just to use a can of evaporated milk,
which, I see now, has more calories — even
nonfat evaporated milk.
But you could use regular milk and still be
impressed by this superlative dish, because
it also calls for a fair amount of cinnamon
and vanilla, plus a bit of maple syrup right
in the dipping mixture. These are the magic
ingredients that make any French toast bet-
ter, especially when paired with multigrain
bread.
I used the same loaf of bread to make
Bacon, Egg and Avocado Toast. Or that’s what
I would have made if I had remembered the
egg. As it was, I made Bacon and Avocado
Toast. And that was excellent, too, because of
certain irrefutable fact: Bacon tastes better
when it’s cooked over a fi re.
See Grilled/Page 2B
Remembering one of La Grande’s grand hotels
By Ginny Mammen
Across Chestnut at 1101
Adams Ave. once stood the mag-
nifi cent Hotel Foley, also known
as the Foley House. At the time
it was constructed for Jerome E.
Foley it was said to be the “best
arranged hotels within the State
of Oregon.”
Built in 1891-1892 at a cost of
$40,000, it contained 77 rooms,
plus sample rooms, offi ces, etc. It
had all the modern conveniences
— steam heat, hot and cold
water in every room, and electric
lights. And to include it into the
best-appointed hotel category, it
was furnished with high-grade
furniture and carpets and each
room was supplied with a bath,
lavatory, and closet. There was a
large dining room and a bar and
billiards room.
This was a bustling place.
Many travelers, both long and
short term, stayed here over
the years. As was the custom in
those days, names and various
Fred Hill Collection
The Hotel Foley in La Grande.
information about those who
were registered were printed
in the newspaper. There were
people from Baker, Joseph, Elgin,
Echo, and Weiser and as far
away as British Columbia. There
were doctors, lawyers, mer-
chants, cattle and sheep buyers,
and sawmill workers.
There were some who regis-
tered in as residents for weeks
or months at a time such as Dr.
Derrin who came, more than
once, for a month at a time, to
“offer cures for most any thing
using his electric treatment
for everything from neuralgia,
crossed eyes, catarrh, rheuma-
tism, liver and kidney trouble,
granulated eyelids, epilepsy, and
constipation.” As a great come-on
he advertised that he reduced his
fee to one-half price while in La
Grande.
And then there were the trav-
eling salesmen, such as S. Atiyea
with his oriental rugs, who set up
their wares for a period of time
in the sample rooms for locals to
see what they had to offer. It was
in 1917 that the most famous
guests, who registered in just as
“ordinary citizens,” were Mr. and
Mrs. Thomas Marshall who just
happened to be the vice president
of the United States and his wife.
Meetings, concerts, business
contacts and other activities were
going on every day at the Foley,
but occasionally there was a bit
of a ruckus or tomfoolery that
kept the citizens on their toes.
See Foley/Page 3B