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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 2020)
B Tuesday, October 20, 2020 The Observer & Baker City Herald BETWEEN THE ROWS A Fresh Vegetarian Take On An Old Favorite WENDY SCHMIDT Gardeners must adapt to the climate If you’re driving from La Grande to Seattle in one day, plan on it being a long day. Yesterday was my third trip through the Snoqualmie Pass. I fi nally got to see the beautiful scenery bathed in sunlight and with many of the trees dressed in autumn colors. The fi rst trip through the pass it was snowing. Last week it was dark and raining and stop-and-go traffi c in a construction zone. Yesterday was a perfect autumn day (except for the road construction, of course). Snoqualmie Pass has views of amaz- ing green, abruptly rising mountains. The tallest of the mountains were covered with snow already. Early snow! Seattle is much more temperate than La Grande. It stays warmer in the winter because of lower altitude and infl uence of the Pacifi c Ocean. This means they can grow many plants that we can’t grow. Their trade-off is a disturbing amount of annual rainfall. We have plants that grow here but won’t thrive in Seattle because the plants need the freezing tempera- tures that we generously provide each winter. This disparity in growth conditions shows how wise it is to chose plants to grow that will thrive in the environ- ment they’re already adapted for. Grow native plants for best results. You can manipulate climate zones by using a greenhouse or forcing the plant to become a houseplant. This doesn’t always work out well for everyone involved. We must accept our inability to control the weather and climate so we adapt instead. Garden Chores • Persimmons start to ripen, espe- cially after a frost. • Quinces are ripening now. Start picking them and bring them indoors for jelly-making and preserving. • Place wire guards around the trunks of young fruit trees for protec- tion against mice, rabbits, and deer. • Sow cover crops such as winter rye after crops are harvested. • Harvest winter squash and pump- kins before frost. Leave an inch or two of stem on each fruit. • Dig sweet potatoes before a hard freeze. • Broadleaf herbicides can be ap- plied now to control cool season weeds such as chickweed and dandelion. • Apply lime now if need is indicated. • Winterize lawn mowers before storage. If you have garden comments or questions, please write to greengarden- column@yahoo.com. Enjoy the autumn weather and beauty! Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS Lasagna gets a vegetarian twist with a fi lling made from roasted acorn squash and kale, instead of meat. L ASAGNA L OVE By Gretchen McKay Pittsburgh Post-Gazette How do I know it’s really fall? Instead of tomatoes and corn, my local farm stand has several different varieties of squash on dis- play next to the jack-o’-lantern pumpkins. While I’m still trying to fi gure out what to do with a giant blue Hubbard squash I couldn’t resist buying (it was only $2), I had no problem turning a 3-pound white-skinned ‘Cream of the Crop’ squash into a favorite au- tumnal dish — a luscious vegetarian lasagna. Acorn squash lends itself to pasta because it has a sweet and creamy fl esh that gets even sweeter when you roast it, and it pairs nicely with cheese. It’s also full of vitamin C, low in calories (offsetting the butter and cheese in the recipe) and includes fi ber. To make the fi lling, you can either puree the roasted squash like I did and then mix it with the ricotta or simply layer slices or chunks of the cooked vegetable on top of the noodles with cheese. If you don’t care for kale, substitute spinach or leave it out altogether. It’s also OK to use tomato sauce instead of bechamel and tuck cooked ground meat or sausage between the layers to make carni- vores happy. Using no-cook noodles cuts down on the mess and prep time, but you have to be careful to completely cover them in sauce or they’ll be crispy instead of tender. Remember to always allow your lasagna to sit for at least 10 minutes after pulling it out of the oven, no matter how good it looks. Or it will fall apart in a gloppy mess when you cut it. ACORN SQUASH AND KALE LASAGNA 1 medium acorn squash 1 cup ricotta cheese (whole milk or part-skim) 2 tablespoons butter 1/4 cup all-purpose fl our 4 cups whole milk 1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for kale mixture 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese, divided 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 cups chopped kale 3 tablespoons chopped fresh sage 15 no-boil lasagna noodles (from one box) 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Halve the squash lengthwise, discard the seeds and roast until tender, about 30 min- utes. (Alternatively, peel and cut the squash into chunks and roast until tender.) Let cool slightly, then scoop out fl esh into a medium bowl and mash with a fork. Stir in the ricotta cheese. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 de- grees. While the squash is roasting, make the be- chamel sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. When it bubbles, add the fl our and cook, stirring constantly to prevent burning, for 1 minute, until fl our no longer smells raw. Slowly add the milk along with nutmeg, salt and pepper, whisking constantly. Taste, and add more seasonings if it tastes bland. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in 1/2 cup of the grated Parmesan. Heat olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat, then add garlic. Cook for about 30 seconds (be careful not to burn it) then add the kale, sage and a pinch of salt. Cook until kale is softened, about 4 to 5 minutes. Now, assemble the lasagna. Spread 1/2 cup of the sauce on the bottom of a 9-by-13- inch lasagna pan. Lay 5 lasagna noodles on top. They will overlap slightly, and you will have to care- fully break the fi fth noodle so it fi ts in the end of the pan. Spread half the squash mixture on top of the noodles, then 1/2 of the kale mixture, followed by 1 cup of sauce. (You want to cover the noodles.) Sprinkle some grated Parmesan on top. Repeat with a second layer of noodles, squash mixture, kale, sauce and grated Parmesan. Add a third layer of noodles and top with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle the remaining grated Parmesan and 1 cup shred- ded Parmesan over top. Bake on the center rack until bubbly and slightly browned on top, about 35 to 40 minutes. Cool for at least 10 minutes before serving, or the lasagna will fall apart when you cut it. The lasagna is delicious warm, but also is pretty good at room temperature. Serves 6 to 8. — Gretchen McKay The rich history of La Grande’s Buzzini Building By Ginny Mammen As we continue traveling east on Adams Avenue, the building located at 1100-1104, next to the Putnam Building, is known as the Buzzini Building on the National Register of Historic Places. It is interesting to note that although it is attached by a common wall to 1012 it is in the 1100 block of Adams. This 2-story brick building, constructed in 1889 for the sum of $5,000, was one of the first at this end of town. There is not much known about the earliest occupants of the building. According to the Sanborn maps of 1903, 1910 and 1923, the first floor was a “candy factory” with “tene- ments” on the second floor. The La Grande Observer in June 1902 reported that Fred South- ern and Fred Repfer “have rented the Buzzini building and are having it fitted up for an ice cream parlor. Later on they expect to furnish lunches and serve oysters etc.” Well, that didn’t go too well for the two Freds because by October the Catholic Church ladies were holding their fall fair in the building. Then in November of 1902, two men named Griffin and Meyers opened a candy factory in the Buzzani Building. Mr. Mey- ers stayed for only a couple of months and then W. G. Griffin became the sole owner. This was a good thing because he was the candy maker of the two. His inventory included chocolates, French bon bons, nut brittles, Turkish and California nuggets and many more delicious good- ies. Horehound candies were his specialty. Half pounds of candy sold for 25 cents and pounds for 50 cents. By 1904 the candy shop seems to have changed hands again because it was now known as “Selders Manufactur- er of Fine Candies, Ice Cream and Sherbets.” In September of 1912 Mr. Selders had his confectionery business up for sale. The ad stated that “he was not ill or leaving La Grande ... but he had made sufficient money out of this business to buy something much larger.” The new owners were Haden and Young from Pendleton and were going to name the store Zenda. How many more times it changed hands is unknown but much to everyone’s delight there was a candy factory at this location for 10 more years. The second floor has an interesting history. In 1903 Eugene Ashwill, Attorney at Law, advertised his office in Room 1 of the Buzzini Building. Around 1912, Dr. F.J. Freenor, a spinologist, and Dr. Posey, a specialist for eye, nose and throat diseases shared the space with W. T. Tompkins, S. T., the S. T. standing for Sugges- tive Therapeutics. His advertisement read “No matter what your condi- tion may be there is hope for you” and “all cures perma- nent — no cases made worse.” The long list of diseases men- tioned covered everything from head to toe and both inside and out. In 1903 Buzzini sold the building for $6,000 to Julius B. Fisher who had previously been in charge of the Foley Hotel across the street. The people of the Buzzini Building found their way into the history of La Grande primarily through their busi- nesses and so we cannot begin to know them as we have some of the other pioneers of La Grande. There is one exception in this story and that is Paul Buzzini himself and his story makes up for all of the rest. Paolo (Paul) Nicodemo Buzzini was born to Giacomo and Maria Antonia Buzzini on March 16, 1822, at Russo, Switzerland. Paolo (Paul) Nicodemo Buzzini was born to Giacomo and Maria Antonia Buzzini on March 16, 1822, at Russo, Switzerland. We know that he spent some time in Paris and left there in the 1870s. It is not known exactly when Paul arrived in La Grande, but we do know that he came to America in the 1870s. This was the time of the gold rush days and the first record found for Mr. Buzzini was in the Idaho Semi- Weekly World (Idaho City, Idaho) newspaper telling that he had been living in the Luna House Hotel since Jan. 1, 1878. It noted he was from Granite Creek. Records show that he was the owner of the Gulch Claim in Camp Carson, a gold mining town which existed from the mid-1860s to 1900 at the upper end of the Grande Ronde River northwest of Anthony Lakes. Paul was a rather colorful fellow. The next time I located him he was still in Idaho City, but he was living 3 miles east in a house he owned on Crepus- cola Hill with two men named Brodtmiller and Spearo. See Buzzini/Page 2B