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Tuesday, June 7, 2022
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Old
buildings
preserve
special
memories
DOROTHY
FLESHMAN
DORY’S DIARY
E
veryone loves a new building —
new with updated space needs,
windows and automatic doors,
floors that shine, and comfortable chairs.
But, there is something about an old
building in which your memory weeps to
see it lost to the future.
That’s the way I feel about the old
gymnasium behind the Middle School
at 1108 Fourth St. in La Grande as the
vote count causes its demise just as the
Middle School replaced my old Central
Elementary School and the La Grande
High School, two schools in this location
of which so many people no longer even
know they were there.
Now future takes over this third
building of which my memory hurts to
see it go.
But, the people voted, and decided,
and that’s the way it should be to plan the
changing future.
Still, from my comfortable chair, I let
my mind wander back to the days when
I was an eighth grade student at Central
and the building behind the school was
just called the “gym.”
As I recall, younger students couldn’t
go over to the gym building until they
were eighth graders in the beginners
band or involved with sports that took
you there. I had picked out a clarinet to
be my companion for the next four years
and so I was one of the privileged per-
mitted to go out the school doors at the
back of our building, down the flight of
outside steps and across the concreted
court formed by the wraparound location
of the three buildings to the welcoming
doors of the gym.
The court itself was a protective place
where we sack-lunch students could
spend our noon hour. Once in a while
Cecilia Smith, I do believe that was her
name, and I were lucky enough to get one
of the ground-level basement window
ledges on which to sit and visit while we
ate homemade bread sandwiches as other
students dined behind us over hot meals
that cost money. But, we were contented
to have the outdoor freedom to eat, visit,
and then play “jacks” or go swing at the
far end of the gym building and swing-
climb the bars if the swings were taken.
If you could swing high enough, you
could almost look into the band room
windows on that end of the building.
At that special moment when begin-
ners band was scheduled, we would
hurry from the school with our instru-
ment through the gym doors to find a
short hallway. To the left were the “shop”
rooms where mostly boys were learning
to build things of wood.
Around the corner were the shower
rooms for the gymnastics classes and a
room across the hall where Latin was
taught in the classroom. These things I
learned during the next four years, but for
now my mind stops at the door and takes
me to my right and up a double flight of
steps, but first pausing at the door to the
gym with its shiny hardwood court floors
edged with board seats for cheering stu-
dents at basketball games, and towns-
folk at concerts, plays, and the like. It
was even there that the Girls League tried
to teach me to be a lady while serving
my mother at a Mothers Tea. And that’s
where I was sitting and heard President
Roosevelt announce the “day of infamy”
and the beginning of America’s involve-
ment in World War II. Later I was to
graduate from La Grande High School in
that gymnasium room.
But, I go beyond the door, turning
right and up the second flight of steps
that led to the balcony of the gym, but
now I stop off at the doors to the band/
orchestra/choral rooms and enter to find
graduated risers for group rehearsals,
directors, students, and music that took
me forward into life.
There is much more to say about the
gym building, maybe later when the
pain of loss recedes with time, but I must
pause alone in the band room now for a
moment with memory.
█
Dorothy Swart Fleshman is the author of Dory’s Diary
published monthly in The Observer and Baker City Herald.
She is a resident of La Grande.
Berry
Bounty
Hillary Levin/St. Louis Post-Dispatch-TNS
Healthy strawberry oatmeal bars.
Take advantage of strawberries at their sweetest
By DANIEL NEMAN
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
N
ow, right now,
strawberries are
their strawberriest.
Ripe, luscious and dripping with
juice, strawberries are nature’s way
of welcoming us back to another
bountiful season of planting and har-
vesting. They are like a little gift —
an amuse bouche, if you will — to
thank us for our patience during a
long and barren winter.
And as is so often the case at
many fine restaurants, the amuse
bouche turns out to be the best part
of the meal.
Inspired by the little red nug-
gets of culinary gold, I set out to
make six recipes in which strawber-
ries were the star. They include an
hors d’oeuvre and a salad dressing,
a baked good and two drinks (one
boozy, one not) and a dessert.
Ordinarily, I would save the des-
sert for last, but I want to tell you
about it first because I am so excited
about it. It is a restaurant-quality
dish (not surprisingly, it was cre-
ated by a restaurant chef) and it will
leave you the toast of your family,
friends and guests. It’s that good.
It’s also a bit of work, to be
honest. But each part of the dish
is easy to make, and you can do
most of it the day before. And then,
when you are ready to serve it, all
you have left is to whip up a simple
sauce. And then flambée it.
Strawberry Flambée Over
Lemon Ricotta-Filled Crêpes is the
kind of dessert that will give you
a lifelong reputation as an excep-
tional cook. And all you have to do
is master three simple parts.
First, you make the crepes, which
are just a thin batter (flour, milk,
eggs, melted butter) cooked briefly
on a hot pan. Next, you stir together
a filling for the crepes (ricotta
cheese, sugar, vanilla and the zest
of a lemon and an orange).
Finally, you make a sauce by
heating together strawberries, sugar,
orange juice, butter and Grand
Marnier. When the alcohol is hot,
light a match to it and watch the
flames dance in delight. It should
be impressive, but in the version I
made the flames were a little hard
to see.
It doesn’t matter. The taste was
amazing.
If you prefer your strawberry
dishes to be fast and easy, I rec-
ommend using the fruit to make
drinks. Hardly anything on earth is
more refreshing.
Strawberry agua fresca is just
a sweetened strawberry-flavored
water, and it is delightful. It doesn’t
take long to make, but you do have
to let it sit for a few hours. If you
know it is going to be hot later in
Hillary Levin/St. Louis Post-Dispatch-TNS
Strawberry vinaigrette.
Inspired by the little red nuggets of culinary
gold, I set out to make six recipes in which
strawberries were the star.
the day, or the next day, I can’t
think of anything more cooling.
It’s the sort of drink that will
make you want to mow the grass
in the hot sun just so you can come
inside and drink a tall glass of it.
If an adult beverage is more your
style, nothing is more summery than
a frozen strawberry daiquiri.
You just need rum, of course, and
strawberries, plus an extra-sweet
simple syrup (it takes perhaps two
minutes to make) and a significant
splash of lime juice to bring just the
right slap of tart citrus to the sweet
drink.
Add a handful of ice cubes, throw
it all in the blender and you will have
a lightly boozy slushie to remember.
I have a homemade salad dressing
that I adore, but it would be a waste
of the season in the spring and early
summer not to make a dressing with
strawberries.
The one I made was bright and
full of the flavor of strawberries.
Along with the berries and olive oil
— and salt and pepper, of course —
it only requires the sweet-tart com-
bination of honey and apple cider
vinegar.
The dressing tastes fresh and
pure, and it is a superb way to use
strawberries that are just a little
overripe. Best of all, it comes
together in a matter of minutes.
You probably already know how
well strawberries pair with bal-
samic vinegar; sometimes I just mix
the two and serve it over vanilla ice
cream for an unexpectedly elegant
dessert. But they also can be com-
bined for a notable hors d’oeuvre,
especially when paired with creamy
goat cheese and deliciously crisp
charred bread.
The secret to Strawberry Goat
Cheese Bruschetta is that the bal-
samic vinegar is cooked until it is
reduced by about half, which makes
it extra good because it is syrupy and
intense in flavor.
The reduced vinegar is mixed
with diced strawberries and spooned
on top of tangy goat cheese, which
has been spread on thin slices of
grilled or broiled French or Italian
bread. I used a grill pan for mine; it’s
a skillet with raised lines that mimic
the effect of a grill when cooking on
a stove.
A light sprinkling of fresh thyme
leaves is all the bruschetta needs to
tie the flavors together.
My final dish is a baked good that
is actually low in calories. Healthy
Strawberry Oatmeal Bars are made
with butter, brown sugar and whole
wheat flour — along with old-fash-
ioned rolled oats and strawberries —
and yet they only have about 100 cal-
ories apiece.
Until you add a vanilla glaze. The
glaze is optional, but you’re going to
want to add it. Yum.
STRAWBERRY
DAIQUIRI
Yield: 1 serving
1 1/2 ounces rum
1 ounce rich simple syrup, see note
3/4 ounce (1 1/2 tablespoons) lime
juice, freshly squeezed
4 to 5 large strawberries
Note: To make rich simple syrup, combine
1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water in a
small saucepan over medium-high heat.
Cook, stirring, until mixture turns clear.
See, Berries/Page B2