Applegater Winter 2013
Recipe for ‘spaghetti with community sauce’
by mARGAReT DeLLA SANTINA
Ruch Community K-8 School
celebrated its annual Fall Festival on
October 26 in many of the usual ways.
School-made scarecrows hung from trees
and lounged in lawn chairs in the warm
autumn sunshine. Princesses, elves, and
bats roamed the halls. The book fair
drew a steady stream of excited young
customers snapping up Legends of Chima
or Origami Yoda. Middle school students
helped younger ones toss frogs onto lily
pads and aim footballs at holes in a board.
And spaghetti was served in the cafeteria.
At first glance, it looked like ordinary
spaghetti with tomato sauce. But the long
list of “ingredients” that actually went
into that sauce might surprise you—and
demonstrates that Ruch School is, indeed,
Ruch Community School.
Here is how Ruch Community
School made “spaghetti with community
sauce”: In spring 2013, the Fleming family
cleared a site for the new Ruch School
garden and laid down gravel. Jeff Vinyard
led construction of the garden fence
and beds; with the help of Mark Prchal
and some discounted local lumber from
Tommy Maddox, the garden was finished
in time for a late spring planting.
Next, Roarke Ball of Roarke’s
Dawn Mena serving “spaghetti
with community sauce.”
Community member Jeff Vinyard helped
students with garden construction.
Earthworks donated ten yards of homemade
Applegate Valley soil mix, into which were
planted tomato, pepper and eggplant starts
donated by Barb Wallgren of Cowboy
Flowers, and basil and thyme donated by
Matt and Donna Epstein. Rob Underwood
donated harvest-shipping crates, which
were used for additional planting beds, and
Crater Sand and Gravel provided more soil
at a discounted rate. The garden received a
100-foot hose from Tiffany Ryan of Ryan’s
Outpost and lots of homemade compost
from Gary Fowler.
The garden became a place where
Ruch students connected their academic
learning to the local environment, putting
“place-based learning” into action. Using
math skills and art concepts, students
helped design the garden. Math and
engineering skills also came into play as
students helped with the construction
project. Environmental science entered
the picture as students conducted soil and
water testing, and set up a composting
system. Planting the garden, students
learned about horticulture and plant
identification. As spring turned to summer,
students watered, weeded and mulched
the garden.
During the summer, Erin Volheim, of
Wilding Rural Education Center and the
local Grange, guided the garden project
from its inception to first harvest. She
tended and harvested tomatoes, peppers,
Local bread puddings elicit oohs and ahs
by J.D. ROGeRS, mIKeLL NIeLSeN AND bARbARA HOLIDAy
Ah, what to do on a beautiful fall
afternoon we asked ourselves. When
sampling warm bread pudding was
suggested, yesses burst from our lips like
volcanoes of whipped cream. It doesn’t take
much to entertain this trio of tasters, so
off we went. The “we” being J.D. Rogers,
Mikell Nielsen and Barbara Holiday—all
serious bread pudding aficionados.
The Oxford Dictionary defines bread
pudding as “a dessert consisting of slices
of bread baked together with dried fruit,
sugar, spices, eggs and milk.” Once known
as a “poor man’s pudding,” bread pudding
originated in Rome in the early 11 th
century when cooks concocted a way to
use leftover bread. Today, bread pudding
has become an “everyman’s pudding” with
variations of ingredients and creativity
and can be found on the menus of pubs,
taverns and fine dining restaurants around
the world (www.dailygazette.com).
Rogue River Lodge. Our first
stop was just past Shady Cove on Highway
62 in Trail. J.D. said he hasn’t been to this
lodge since the days of Clarke Gable, whose
most famous movie line was “Frankly,
my dear, I don’t give a damn.” (Later that
day, J.D. claimed that he’s not really old
enough to have been at the lodge when
Gable actually had graced the premises,
but we’re not sure.)
When our Lodge Bread Pudding
arrived, our taste buds were already
salivating. “Hurry, Mikell, get a picture
of this lovely presentation!” J.D. urged.
What a pleasure that first bite was—white
chocolate and dried cherries in rich,
buttery, fluffy bread pudding covered with
a fantastic whiskey-caramel sauce and
accompanied by tasty vanilla ice cream.
(Not incidentally, croissants are used in
place of bread.)
While sipping excellent coffee, J.D.
used the Indiana-style of counting—“one,
three”—between bites, “each better than
the last one,” he drooled. Too soon the
bread pudding and the accompanying
vanilla bean ice cream were sweet memories.
4 Daughters Irish Pub. Not to
worry, though, we were on our way to 4
Daughters at 126 West Main Street in
Medford. J.D. remembered when this
place was the Union, a rock-and-roll club
from the last days of great rock music.
But the arrival of our Pear Bread
Pudding brought us back to the present with
a strong scent of cinnamon. Caramelized
pears were mixed in with this Heartland
white bread pudding, which was drizzled
with marionberry and whiskey-caramel
sauces that we wolfed down.
The Black Sheep Pub &
Restaurant. Our third stop was The
Black Sheep at 51 North Main Street in
Ashland, where we immediately placed
our order for their Mum’s Vanilla Bread
Pudding topped with a rich bourbon sauce.
The presentation was lovely and
simple. A crisp white plate and a fresh sprig
of mint let the pudding take the show as it
floated in a puddle of decadent sauce. The
bread pudding was smooth and creamy
and warm and gooey and rich. The subtle
flavors melded together to create a more
than satisfying dessert.
9
and basil; she cooked and froze marinara
sauce along the way. When students
returned to school in fall, they continued
to harvest tomatoes, basil, and peppers.
As Fall Festival approached, Dawn
Mena jumped into action, planning the
menu and cooking up an additional batch
of sauce with beef donated by Peter Salant.
“Spaghetti’s ready!” came the
announcement at about 5 pm during the
Fall Festival. Robots, Crayola crayons,
and “plainclothes” community members
who lined up for spaghetti in the school
cafeteria were greeted by a smiling ladybug
(aka Jill Vargas) and served by friendly
Dawn and Hector Mena. Bread donated
by Rise Up! Bakery rounded out the menu.
This was no ordinary spaghetti with
sauce; this was spaghetti with community
sauce. Families, friends, pirates and princes
were smiling as they left the school that
evening.
Principal Julie Hill and community
coordinator Michelle Hensman were
smiling, too, as they drove out of the parking
lot: this community sauce represented their
hard work and commitment to the vision
of Ruch Community K-8 School as a
place where learning is linked to the local
environment, and the community is part
of the school.
Yum. Spaghetti never tasted so good!
Margaret della Santina
541-899-9950
There is
something so
“feel good”
about sitting
in a pub with
friends sharing a
cup of aromatic
coffee and bread
pudding. It was
almost as if we
were in a small
town in a foreign
country. If we
h a d n’t h a d t o
re t u r n t o o u r
“normal” lives, it
would have been
The tasters enjoyed the outdoor seating at the shore of the
Rogue River while feasting on the warm, creative bread pudding
lovely to wrap
served at Rogue River Lodge in Trail.
our hands around
Photo: Mikell Nielsen.
another warm cup
of coffee, curl up on cozy sofas and fall into Our preference
a sweet, sugary coma.
It was unanimous! Our most favorite
After that, our stomachs advised us bread pudding was served at Rogue River
to call it quits. Three bread puddings were Lodge, which puts a new take on an old
enough for these intrepid tasters in one day. recipe by adding white chocolate and
Porter’s Restaurant and Bar. cherries. But bread pudding lovers will
Porter’s, at 147 North Front Street in appreciate all the other luscious bread
Medford, opens at five in the evening. A puddings we sampled.
couple of days later, we made sure to be
Our nine-year-old tasting helper,
among the first arrivals at our fourth and Carlen Nielsen, wasn’t much for bread
final destination.
pudding, but the chocolate cakes at these
Enjoying one of the last warm fall restaurants earned “delish” and “yummy”
evenings out on the patio, we savored their ratings from her. Carlen also gave high
Jack Daniels Bread Pudding with bourbon marks to her new friend Scooter, the “so
crème anglais and rich caramel sauce, to cute” adopted stray cat at Rogue River
which they add walnuts and a hint of Lodge. Fortunately, Scooter kept Carlen
mint. The resulting texture is both creamy thoroughly entertained while odd and
and crunchy. Adding to the pleasure is profuse oohing sounds arose from the
the homemade French bread used for this “adult” tasters.
special dessert. And, as a bonus, we found
J.D. Rogers • 541-846-7736
that the bread pudding paired nicely with Mikell Nielsen • mikell@mikelllouise.com
red wine.
Barbara Holiday • gater@applegater.org