My favorite recipes - Meet Linda Dillard, Palouse

Jana Mathia | Jan 27, 20110

Linda Dillard says she sometimes feels like a rock dropped off by a glacier and displaced from her home.

She grew up in Forks on the Olympia Peninsula, spending most of her life surrounded by the logging industry.

Then in 1973, she came to Whitman County with her first husband and they decided to live in Pullman.

Like that glacier dropping off a rock, her ex-husband dropped her off and moved on.

At first Linda didn’t like the area. She missed the fog, the multitude of trees and big water where she grew up.

But it took only five years for her roots to take hold deep down in the Palouse soil.

“You couldn’t possibly transplant me now,” she said.

In 1974 she started working at The Seasons, a fine dining restaurant in Pullman with a Greek influence. She started as a dishwasher on Mom’s Weekend at Washington State University. Linda recalled that at the time the restaurant sold rice, vegetables, sauce and a slice of brown, homemade bread for 75 cents. A slice of cheesecake was also 75 cents.

She and her new husband, Craig, lived next door to the restaurant.

“I was too close to it to pull away,” she said.

She and Craig became partners in The Seasons with the original owner in 1979.

“There was a magical thing about the restaurant,” she commented.

The owner and chef, John, said he wanted to sell and was offering it first to people who worked there. Linda and Craig didn’t want to see the magic end, so they talked to John about becoming partners. They learned about running the restaurant while Craig learned to cook from John and Linda made the desserts.

“People love chocolate,” she said, recalling they sold about 90 percent chocolate items.

John stayed at The Seasons until 1984. Linda and Craig kept it running until 1999 when they finally closed.

During her time working at the restaurant, Linda started working for Bonnie’s Bridal doing alterations and dressmaking. She liked pairing the dressmaking, which let her sit down, with managing the restaurant.

She also made a lot of dance costumes for her two daughters and their dance companies. She continued to do dressmaking through the 1990s.

“Lately I haven’t even been interested in sewing,” she said,

After closing the restaurant, Linda worked as a sorority house mom at Washington State University while Craig went to work at Schwietzer Engineering Labs. They also continued to do catering for weddings and special events, including those at the President’s House.

Craig and Linda liked the city of Palouse area and decided to move there in 2003. Linda opened a child care center in her home. While she loved doing it, state regulation limits made it impossible to make a living with the number of children she could serve.

After doing child care for about four years, Linda retired and was able to focus on her long-time hobby, painting.

“Painting is what I love to do most,” she said. She has been doing oil painting since she was a little girl. She has already done some shows at The Bank Left Gallery in Palouse.

Linda also enjoys shopping at thrift stores. Beyond making dollars go farther, she feels it is important to recycle and not over-consume.

Linda and Craig are also part of a renewable energy group. About once a month the group meets for a potluck and to talk about different renewable energy projects and topics.

“It’s been a really interesting group of people,” she noted. Everyone in the group is against using fossil fuels. They are responsible for collecting donations for solar panels for the future Palouse Community Center in memory of the late Mike Carlton.

These days most of Linda’s time is spent with her mother who lives near Kamiak Butte. Linda and Craig spent a lot of time helping take care of the farm. They are also installing a wind generator at her mother’s property and plan to build a greenhouse with solar panels for power.

Recipes:

Chocolate Glaze

Very versatile. Can use on a variety of things depending on temperature.

1 part excellent chocolate pieces

1 part light Karo syrup

1 part butter

Melt together on stove. Can add flavoring.

Wonderful on ice cream, cake or whatever you can dream up.

Custard

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/4 cup sugar