Pharm Cooking: A weekend jaunt to Oregon
By Lou Greenhaw
Contributing writer
We have been busy trying to get the Health Post fitness center going, so we have been working night and day. Our previous exchange student from Germany was here for two weeks and commented that he had never eaten out so many meals in a row!
I'm eager to get back to cooking. I'm ready for fresh garden produce, and it won't be long with all the rain we've had. However, I will spend this week getting ready for the open house at the Health Post.
Steve and I decided that the only way to get a rest was to get out of town for a weekend. We went to Oregon on Friday afternoon and came home Sunday morning. We had a wonderful time. We walked along the ocean, shopped at a couple of favorite stores, saw gorgeous flowers and had a great time. A highlight included a reception where we visited with former Hillsboro residents Lon and Raelene Fendall and David and Melva Brandt.
The rose festival parade was in Portland, and though we missed the actual parade, we went to the Rose Quarter and saw the floats. They were beautiful and covered with flowers of all kinds. One of my favorites was a float that did a takeoff on the fact that the current Miss America is from Oregon. It was a giant cow all decked out like a beauty queen, and the title was "Miss Amoorica!"
We watched the rerun of the parade on the television at our hotel. My favorite band was one made up of 500 adults who had played in bands when they were younger. They looked like they were having a ball. They played Sousa marches and "Louie, Louie." The baton twirlers were middle-aged women, and they were good. Maybe the band's marching lines weren't too straight, but they made up for it in enthusiasm.
Two things I liked about Oregon included that we saw no litter anywhere. We were on major highways, state highways, and back roads, and didn't see any litter. Secondly, areas where there was a high chance of accidents or congestion were labeled safety zones and marked with signs saying that all fines would be doubled. People seemed to obey the speed limit in those areas
The obvious reasons of the beautiful scenery, moderate temperature and no wind go without saying as reasons to enjoy a visit. I think I'm too conservative to live there from what I see of their politics.
We passed lots of fruit and vegetable stands and lots of farms selling garden plants. I wished I could buy an armload of fresh produce and head to a kitchen. They had some luscious looking strawberries. I occasionally make a strawberry dessert that is healthier than most of the desserts I make. This one can be made with the low calorie whipped topping. If I heap it up on a serving platter, I can pretend it is Mt. Hood and be back in Oregon again!
Snow Mountain Rice Dessert
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup Minute Rice
2 cups sliced strawberries
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 1/2 cup whipped cream or whipped topping
Bring water, sugar, lemon juice, and salt to boil. Stir in Minute Rice, cover and remove from heat. Let stand five minutes. Uncover and cool. Meanwhile, sprinkle a little sugar over the strawberries (not more than 1/4 cup) and stir. When rice is cool, combine with strawberries and topping. Chill.
