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Tuesday, September 21, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
DORY’S
DIARY
DOROTHY FLESHMAN
A memorable
birthday for
Dory
What a birthday I have had! It was
like it would never stop. Birthday cards,
fl owers, visits, phone calls, emails and my
family together for one wonderful day,
my dream of a lifetime in that it was a
surprise party in which I had absolutely
no reason to believe it could happen. And
now I’ve reached that 95th year, which
surprises even me.
As I go forward and as a wonderful
aftermath of the celebration, the news-
papers seem to keep their hold in that 65
of the nearly 200 cards contained won-
derful little notes about the years Dory’s
Diary was to be found on the pages of
The Observer and the Baker City Herald.
Oddly enough, now an email has come
from someone who wanted to thank me
for an article I had written back in June
of 2015.
The young man was doing research
about his uncle, who died in World War II
when lightning hit a training plane over
New Mexico and blew the craft apart.
All but two of the fl ight members died,
the fortunate ones parachuting before the
crash.
The name of the man from La Grande
was to be found in my Grandmother’s
diary in her preparation to attend the
funeral along with some of my other rel-
atives, and I needed to know more. None
of them were still living so I had no one
to ask the particulars. It did lead to a mys-
tery search. What was the man’s full
name, where was he in the war, why had
he died?
His name was Eugene Rochester and
he had attended La Grande High School
before going off to train for the military
back in 1942, age 22 and engaged to be
married. He died a violent death and I
sought the particulars, then ending up
with the story in Dory’s Diary in three
issues of the June 2015 newspapers as a
mystery search.
Now, in 2021, my story had surfaced to
the young man’s nephew who had written
to thank us at the newspaper for the story,
and I was still here to receive his mes-
sage. What a wonderful way in which to
bring closer to my birthday celebration.
The story had evidently surfaced
through the internet, of which my attitude
hasn’t always been most gracious, being
reluctant to embrace all of its features and
learn its demands, but I’m glad in this
case that it was there for this young man’s
family history search.
It makes me wonder if anyone out
there in readership happens to remember
that story that came out for Memorial
Day in 2015. The new information I have
received builds the story and my own
information even further.
The nephew is related to the families
of Snodgrass, Hughes, Geckler, Gerber,
Rochester and Taal, which could spread
relationships far and wide.
A funny thing, this idea of relation-
ships in this valley. They say we are all
related, one way or another. Could it be?
I’m a Taal relative, too.
Does this make Mark and I cousins?
Tailgate
TEMPTATIONS
Matt Freed/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette-TNS
John Dusch displays his burgers in front of his Mobile Tailgating Unit in the parking lot before Pitt takes on University of Massachusetts on Saturday, Sept. 4,
2021, at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.
Food and football are
a classic fall pairing
By GRETCHEN McKAY
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
PITTSBURGH — Foot-
ball fans love to throw tail-
gates both big and small before
games. Whether it’s a humble
spread of chips, dip and chicken
wings out of a car trunk or a
catered smorgasbord feast, the
goal is the same: to have a good
time while cheering on the
home team.
Such is the energy of a tail-
gate that it’s often the back-
drop for other important cel-
ebrations, like the bachelor
party Dave Brandon of George-
town, Beaver County, threw for
his cousin, Daniel Mackall, at
the Steelers’ preseason game
against the Detroit Lions on
Aug. 21. Organized at the last
minute, it featured a simple
menu of grilled bratwurst,
chicken and shrimp from
Costco with plenty of Miller
Lite beer to wash it down.
“It’s a fun time. I love to
entertain and cook,” says
Brandon, principal at Western
Beaver Junior/Senior High
School in Industry.
A few spots down the
parking lot, North Side native
Lamont Copeland also was
taking it relatively easy with a
pre-season menu of hot dogs,
hamburgers and chicken-on-a-
stick. His menu stood in stark
contrast to the grilled shrimp,
steak and crab legs Marissa
Corradini of Somerset was
feasting on.
“It’s my fi rst time [tail-
gating], so I wanted to really
experience it,” she says.
Then there are people like
Johnny Dusch, who approaches
his pre-game parties with such
vigor that you might call him a
tailgate fanatic.
The Greenfi eld resident
and volunteer diving coach at
the University of Pittsburgh,
where he was a standout diver
in 1984-87, has been throwing
tailgates ever since the late
1980s, when the Steelers still
played at Three Rivers Sta-
dium. It wasn’t until 2009 that
he fi gured out how to do it
right, after running into a Uni-
versity of Pittsburgh tailgater
partying out of the back of a
Winnebago.
“He showed me how to do it
with class,” he says.
Dusch then bought a retired
1980s ambulance and turned
it into the Pittsburgh-themed
Mobile Tailgating Unit.
Upgrades included a 20-inch
fl atscreen TV and onboard
restroom inside the cabin. The
vehicle with a custom paint job
paying homage to Steel City
sports teams quickly became a
fi xture at Steelers and Pitt Pan-
thers tailgates in Red Lot #6
near PNC Park.
It’s got such a wow factor
that it’s been featured on the
NFL Network and KDKA
TV’s Fan N’ATion. The cast
of “Rock of Ages” also vis-
ited when the show was in
town a few years ago. In 2011,
the Mobile Tailgating Unit
earned him a spot as the Steel-
er’s rep in the Tailgating Hall of
Fame, an organization of pre-
miere tailgaters from across the
country.
Dusch created a second
MTU in 2013 after crashing
the original into a wall Down-
town and totaling it on the way
to a game. “But we tailgated
anyway,” he says, noting how
all the food and supplies were
transported in friends’ cars to
Heinz Field.
While the old MTU was a
vintage ambulance made to
look like a box truck, the new
unit is a brand-new box truck
made to look like an ambu-
lance, with a swing-out back
door that allows for easy move-
ment of a gas grill. A side door
provides access to a two-room
bathroom tent. “And we add
new details every year,” he
says, pointing to the names of
the Pirates, Penguins and his
various sponsors. He keeps it
parked on the street in front of
his hilltop house on Montclair
Street.
But what really makes the
Mobile Tailgating Unit special
is the food Dusch dishes up in
it before each game. For the
Steelers’ fi rst home game, he
plans to serve his 50 guests fi ve
or six main courses, including
grilled lobster and steak and
mac ‘n’ cheese with either
shrimp or lobster. Per tradi-
tion, friends will also nosh on
Dave McIntyre’s legendary
pulled pork, which he smokes
the night before, and slices of
Mineo’s hand-tossed pizza (he’s
been friends with co-owner
John Mineo since they were
kids).
“And we’ll have two giant
containers of the most gorgeous
desserts you’ve ever seen” from
Joe Porco’s Lincoln Bakery in
Bellevue. “A wedding would
be jealous,” he says of the
cupcakes, cookies and other
pastries.
Dusch, who’s a human
resource director at a plastics
company, also regularly serves
pierogies, kielbasa and other
dishes that pay homage to the
city’s strong Polish roots.
He loves to go all out on tail-
gates, he says, because nothing
beats a good party. And the
people who come together
before games at Heinz Field
“are a blast.”
“It’s the atmosphere. We’re
all like a big team, helping each
other out and having a great
time.”
The moratorium on tailgates
in 2020 due to the coronavirus
pandemic was a bummer, he
notes with a sigh. “We couldn’t
do anything, and it was
horrible.”
There’s only one Mobile
Tailgating Unit and few of us
share Dusch’s passion and/
or cooking skills. But anyone
can create a pretty fi ne tailgate
spread with a few good recipes.
We off er four that are easy to
prepare, taste great and can be
transported from the kitchen
to the parking lot without too
much trouble.
As my niece Amanda Jan-
drokovic, who supplied the
taco salad recipe, noted, “The
atmosphere of Steeler Sunday
is too exciting not to tailgate.
Everyone is hyped up, and it
always gives us a chance to see
and connect and party with the
opposing team.”
TACO SALAD
Who doesn’t love crunching on a
taco and not having to worry that it
will fall apart in your hand? This simple
salad has all the fl avors of a hardshell
beef taco but can be eaten with a fork.
“We love it because it’s easy to
throw on a plate with Doritos, or eat
See, Tailgate/Page B2
Tired of dry chicken? Try some thighs
By JEANMARIE BROWNSON
The Daily Meal
Let’s make a deal: No
more dry, tough, bland
chicken breasts for dinner.
Instead, it’s time to embrace
moist, fl avorful dark meat
chicken thighs.
Chicken thighs, readily
available at most grocery
stores with skin-on and
bone-in, are an excellent
value. Though price varies
by region, these often sell at
$2 per pound and can go as
low as 89 cents per pound
or less. The bones and skin
lock in moisture and fl avor,
making chicken thighs a
particularly delicious piece
of meat. Use these con-
venient cuts in the oven,
on the grill, in stews or in
braises. You can also cook
a bunch in advance to have
delicious cooked chicken on
hand for salads, sandwiches
and quick meals.
If bone-in, skin-on meat
isn’t your thing, boneless,
skinless chicken thighs are
a great option and might be
the easiest protein to cook.
Because of chicken thighs’
inherent moistness and
rich fl avor, they are nearly
impossible to overcook.
Pair the meat with bold fl a-
vors, spicy sauces or sweet
barbecue. Chicken thighs
are incredibly versatile, as
these four very diff erent
recipes prove.
First, there is a basic
roasted chicken thigh. Sea-
soned simply with salt and
pepper, they are a great
base for meal prepping. You
can also add whatever sea-
sonings you prefer or have
on hand; garlic powder,
paprika, Italian seasoning
or lemon pepper all work
wonderfully for a basic
bone-in thigh.
Next, a sticky sesa-
me-baked chicken will
make you skip takeout or
frozen dinners. Seriously,
this recipe packs so much
fl avor into the chicken
and the broccoli that it has
become part of our weekly
recipe rotation. The sesame
sauce can be made up to
a week in advance, really
reducing preparation time.
Purchase tomato paste in
tubes for easy measuring
and storage. Check the
international section of
most large supermarkets
for black bean garlic sauce.
If you can’t fi nd it, don’t
stress; substitute hoisin
sauce, sambal oelek or more
tomato paste and sriracha.
Supper club-inspired
chicken with artichokes and
cream makes a luxurious
(yet easy) weekday meal.
Fresh thyme and grated
lemon rind blend with
cream and reduced wine
Kristen Mendiola/The Daily Meal-TNS
See, Chicken/Page B3
Sticky Sesame-baked Chicken With Broccoli and Rice.