NORTHEASTERN OREGON
Saturday, February 12, 2022
East Oregonian
A9
Gubernatorial candidate checks out Martha’s House
“We’ve done a tour through
southern Oregon so far,” he said.
“This is our second leg of the tour.
On that one, we went up through
Eugene and Springfi eld to Medford
and Grants Pass.”
The next stint brought them
Feb. 9 to The Dalles, and then to
Boardman the morning of Feb. 10
before the visit in Hermiston and a
meet-and-greet that night in Pendle-
ton. Next, the tour heads to the coast.
“We’re trying to cover all of the
corners of the state,” Pulliam said.
“What we’re trying to see is what
are the diff erent solutions in the
diff erent corners of the state that
diff erent neighbors are fi guring out
on how to tackle our biggest prob-
lems,” he said.
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
HER MISTON — Oregon
gubernatorial candidate Stan Pull-
iam said he is visiting all corners of
Oregon to learn how locals take on
the state’s biggest problems.
The Republican, who is the
mayor of Sandy, brought his
campaign Thursday, Feb. 10, to
Eastern Oregon with a morning
stop in Boardman and an afternoon
tour of Martha’s House in Herm-
iston.
“I’m a mayor, and so I’ve always
really heavily believed in local
control and local solutions to our
problems,” he said.
His visit to Martha’s House
gave him opportunity to see how
Hermiston is handling its housing
shortage. He said Martha’s House
impressed him with its community
engagement.
“My experience as someone
who grew up in my hometown of
being involved in service organi-
zations is that there is something
special about the feeling when you
are able to help out a fellow neigh-
bor,” he said.
When a person is trying to tran-
sition out of situations that aren’t
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Stan Pulliam, Sandy mayor and Oregon GOP gubernatorial candidate,
speaks with administrative staff Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022, at Martha’s
House in Hermiston.
favorable, there is opportunity to
help, he said, and that is “a special
deal.”
Pulliam expressed his hope he
can help people, too, by addressing
the concerns of locals.
The tour has concentrated on “a
lot of Main Street businesses,” he
said, and he added his campaign
started with such operations. But
the tour also takes in places such
as Martha’s House, in addition to
schools, where he could explore
educational options.
Pulliam on mask mandates,
COVID-19
W hile in Board man, he
addressed several topics, includ-
ing mask mandates.
“I think it’s time for personal
choice on masks,” he said.
He repeated his message
in Hermiston after his tour of
Martha’s House.
As he took the tour, he wore a
mask, and he said it was important
to respect businesses and organi-
zations when they required mask
usage. Still, he stated people should
have the option to decide if masks
are right for them or not.
He said he was vaccinated and
has isolated himself whenever he
felt ill.
“I do not know whether or not I
have had COVID,” he said.
He said may have had it, he said,
but he does not think “we should
test every time we aren’t feeling
well” and instead, “We should just
do the right thing, which is follow
the doctor’s orders, and isolate and
not go to work, and not try to spread
our viruses to one another.”
Getting a taste of the local
While communicating his
messages, including his opinion
on COVID-19 protection, Pulliam
said he has enjoyed visiting diff er-
ent places in Oregon. In Hermiston,
he stopped by Obie’s Express for a
cup of coff ee. He and his wife both
gave “two thumbs up” to the coff ee
and bagels.
“We try to get to the local
places,” he said. “And that’s one of
the coolest things about the state.
We fi nd ourselves sometimes in
communities learning how special
and cool they are.”
Milton-Freewater chocolatier pairs her sweets with Walla Walla wines
By MARGAUX
MAXWELL
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
M I LT ON - F R E E WA-
TER — There’s nothing
subtle about Lan Wong and
James Boulanger’s purple
and yellow Craftsman-style
house on South Main Street in
Milton-Freewater.
Wandering through its
large pink door, you’ll fi nd the
pair making their signature
dark chocolate ganache truf-
fl es for what is the chocolat-
iers’ busiest time of the year:
Valentine’s Day.
The couple converted their
nearly 100-year-old home
into a chocolate shop, Petits
Noirs, when they moved to the
Walla Walla Valley in 2005.
The name translates to “little
darks,” an homage to Wong’s
love of dark chocolate and her
French heritage.
“I love sweets! I’m the type
of person who always looks
at the dessert menu before
dinner,” Wong said.
Patrons choose from a huge
assortment of fl avors at the
display case, such as Pendle-
ton Whisky Hazelnut, Dulce
de Leche Sea Salt and Cham-
pagne, in colorful packaging
Wong designs herself.
Her confections are infused
with fresh herbs or fi gs, often
grown in her backyard garden
in the rural town.
“When James and I met in
New York, he always talked
about moving back here,”
Wong said.
Boulanger grew up in
Walla Walla, landing his fi rst
baking gig at John’s Wheat-
land Bakery in Eastgate while
a student at Walla Walla High
School.
Boulanger worked at baker-
ies throughout the Northwest
before taking a job at Sullivan
Street Bakery in New York
making European-style bread.
When he met Wong, she was
working at MarieBelle, a hand-
made chocolate shop in SoHo.
Though she didn’t antici-
pate where life would take her
at the time, she was already
unknowingly preparing for
her move to the Walla Walla
Valley.
For the love of wine
and chocolate
“I started my own side busi-
ness in New York doing wine
pairings with chocolate, and
chocolate tours and classes,”
Wong said. Boulanger often
spoke of Walla Walla’s
up-and-coming wine scene,
and eventually the pair took
the leap of faith to move.
Now chocolate and wine
pairing is one of Petits Noirs’
many specialties in a region
home to more than 120 winer-
ies.
Leading up to Valentine’s
Day, the chocolate shop teams
up with area wineries such as
Isenhower Cellars and Saviah
Cellars.
“We sit down with wine-
makers to fi gure out what they
want to highlight in their wine,
and then we make the choco-
late for it,” said Wong. Area
wineries often off er these pair-
ings to visitors on Valentine’s
Day weekend.
Wong noted chocolate and
wine share similar charac-
teristics such as tannins and
acidity. Milton-Freewater
is situated within the Rocks
District viticultural area, a
sub-appellation of the Walla
Walla Valley AVA, which has
a distinct fl avor profi le that
pairs with a specifi c type of
chocolate.
Cherry star anise, a favor-
ite fl avor at Petits Noirs, for
example, highlights the fruit
and oaky tones in the region’s
terroir.
Putting
Milton-Freewater on
the candy map
Milton-Freewater still was
expanding when Wong and
Boulanger fi rst came to the
Valley.
Later that year, Watermill
Winery opened, bringing
more visibility to the small
city. Tourists began to cross
the Washington-Oregon state
line, which helped sustain the
growing chocolate business.
Wong designed a fold-out
map she dubbed “the Secrets
of Milton-Freewater” with
activities for tourists, such as
museums, blueberry picking
or farm stand locations, and
handed it out to customers in
her fi rst years of operation.
The Eastern Oregon
Visitor’s Association later
approached Wong about
adopting her map, now known
as the Whisky & Rocks Farm
Loop.
Milton-Freewater contin-
ues to see economic growth,
as more entrepreneurs like
Wong and Boulanger open
their doors in the area. The
city reported a total of 212
businesses in 2020, and now
boasts 33 winegrowers within
the Rocks District.
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