My favorite recipes

Meet Ginny Parrish, Colfax

Marc and Andrea (holding Madison), Hyde, Scott, Mike and Ginny, Geoff, Alana, Lindsay, and Jon holding Will Parrish.

Ginny and Mike Parrish moved to Colfax 33 years ago, knowing very little about their new home town with the exception of Arrow Machinery. Both Oregonians, they grew up in eastern Oregon and began their careers in the Pendleton area.

Born in Pendleton, Ginny grew up there and in Heppner, attending junior high school and graduating from Heppner High School. She met Mike Parrish in Condon, Ore., literally on the steps of a church when they were high school seniors. Mike was a multi-sport athlete at Condon High School in baseball and football, and their schools played each other.

While Ginny began a college career at Eastern Oregon University, Mike attended Gonzaga University, which he had never seen before arriving there for classes. His family thought he should be an attorney and urged him to go there. He made good friends at GU but was unhappy, so after two years he transferred to Eastern Oregon.

Ginny knew that she wanted to teach, and Eastern Oregon was the place to go in Oregon if you wanted a career in education.

After she graduated from college, she and Mike married and spent the summer in his hometown of Condon where he worked during harvest. Mike needed to finish college, so Ginny began interviewing for teaching jobs nearby. She had the summer off while Mike worked long hours.

The Condon superintendent of schools offered her an English teaching job there, which included speech, drama and even debate. Meanwhile, Mike’s nose was in the books in LaGrande during the week, and he was able to spend some weekends at home. It was a busy time for her, directing plays, coaching debate and teaching English, and she loved the work and her students. She made many friends, and is touched and humbled that two of her students there said that they became English teachers because of her.

After Mike finished college, they moved to Pendleton, and Ginny taught middle school English, with her handy speech and drama minors leading her to teaching speech. At first, Mike worked for Ginny’s father, who ran a lumber yard. Geoff and Jon were born in Pendleton, and Mike moved on to the John Deere dealership. With his business degree and an English minor, Mike also became the office grammarian.

Mike did well selling John Deere equipment. Irrigation was opening up on farmland in Irrigon and Boardman, Ore. The Pendleton dealer built a store in Hermiston, and Mike was the manager. Dennis Solbrack was his territory service man.

Dennis and Mike became good friends and wanted to own a John Deere dealership. Arrow Machinery was being sold, and Dennis knew the area. They bought into the business Nov. 1, 1982.

Ginny and the boys moved up to Colfax during Christmas break. Geoff was in fifth grade, Jon was in first, Marcus was four years old and Scott was four months old. Their first Sunday in church at St. Patrick, they sat in Jennie Marler’s accustomed pew, which surprised her. Not many people sat as near the front of the church as Jennie did, but the Parrishes found that their little boys behaved better if they were nearer the front.

Changes and adjustments happened. Skipper the black lab, much loved by the boys, refused to stay in their unfenced yard, and friends helped find him too many times. Skipper relocated to a farm near St. John, and the boys looked for him in farmers’ pickups for quite a while. Their house, impeccably kept by the two previous owners, was a great house for kids.

Now grown up, the Parrish sons are busy with their own jobs and lives. Geoff is the comptroller and accountant at Chipman and Taylor Chevrolet in Pullman. Jon manages the air spraying service for Mader Farms. He is married to Lindsay, a biologist and researcher at Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Their children are Alana, nearly four, and Will, one-and-a-half years old. They live in Genessee.

Marcus and Andrea live in Walnut Creek, Calif., where he is a contractor. Their children are Hyde, age 10, and Madison, seven months. Scott owns Palouse Summer Series, organizing baseball tournaments in the Palouse, and teams play at McDonald Park in Colfax, LCSC field in Lewiston and Bailey-Brayton Field at WSU in Pullman. He freelances the rest of the year, developing teams and sponsorships. He is also an assistant coach of the Colfax High School baseball team.

Mike Parrish, Mike Johnson, Don McClintock and a host of others headed the project to build the McDonald Park facility in Colfax. Young people play baseball, softball and soccer there.

Once her children were all in school, Ginny taught special services at Colfax High School for 16 years, partnering with Bonnie Smith, her paraprofessional, for 14 years. They worked well in tandem and enjoyed their students, too.

Arrow Machinery, along with several other regional dealers, was sold to Papé Equipment, and Mike worked for them for the first year or so in order to better serve customers and help employees with the transition. He has now officially retired.

Now in retirement mode, Ginny seems as busy as ever. She and Mike are able to travel some, they visit family and are involved in their church. Mike continues to coach CHS baseball, and Ginny is often in the stands. And, the best bonus, two of their grandchildren are close, and they often babysit “the littles.”

Ginny’s family likes baked things, so she shares these recipes.

Recipes:

12-Hour Butterhorns

Judy Rosenbeck

1 package (about 1 Tablespoon) yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

3/4 cup milk, scalded

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 eggs, well beaten

4-5 cups flour

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Soften yeast in warm water. Combine melted butter and scalded milk. Stir in sugar, salt and eggs. Cool. Stir in softened yeast and enough flour to make a soft dough. Cover; allow to rise in cool place for 5 to 6 hours.

Turn out on lightly floured board, knead. Divide dough. Roll each half into 14-inch circle. Spread each circle with 1/4 cup melted butter. Cut pie-fashion into pieces. Roll each piece loosely from large end to small. Place on greased cookie sheet. Allow to rise in a cool place, 5-6 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake butterhorns 10-15 minutes. Yield: 32 butterhorns.

Cinnamon Rolls

Using same dough recipe as above:

Cinnamon sugar mixture:

6 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Divide dough in half. Roll each half into a rectangle 8 by 14 inches. Spread with 1/4 cup melted butter. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture on dough. Roll up. Cut and place in greased muffin pans. Freeze.

Six hours before time to bake, remove from freezer. Allow to thaw and rise for 5-6 hours. Bake at 375 degrees F for 10-15 minutes.

Suzi Hansell’s Orange Rolls

1 cup scalded milk

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 packets (about 2 Tablespoons) yeast

1/4 cup warm water

2 well-beaten eggs

1/4 cup orange juice

2 Tablespoons grated orange peel

about 6 cups flour

Mix 1 cup scalded milk, 1/2 cup shortening and 1/2 cup sugar and cool to lukewarm. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Soften yeast in 1/4 cup warm water; add to above mixture.

Add 2 well-beaten eggs, orange juice and grated peel. Gradually add flour to make a soft dough.

Let dough rise for 10 minutes and then roll out on floured board to 12 x 24 x 2 inches thick. Cut into 1/2 x 12-inch strips. Gently roll each strip into six-inch lengths with fingers, tie in half-knots and tuck under the ends. Bake 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Orange Glaze Topping

2 Tablespoons orange juice

2 Tablespoons grated orange peel

1 cup powdered sugar

Stir glaze ingredients well. Glaze rolls while warm.

Aunt Linda’s Gingersnaps

1 1/2 cups shortening

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup molasses

4 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream shortening and sugar, blend in eggs and molasses, add dry ingredients. With greased hands, roll dough into 1-inch balls; dip or roll balls in sugar. Place on greased baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Cookies will be puffed up and will flatten when cooled. Cool on sheet for one minute; remove to rack to finish cooling. Yield: six dozen.

Pendleton Pie

Chocolate Tart Dough

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 Tablespoons heavy cream, chilled

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 egg yolks

Pie Filling

1 cup pecan pieces

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup agave syrup

3 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 ounces unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, chilled

2 Tablespoons good-quality bourbon or whiskey

For the dough: Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder and salt into a bowl. Stir together and set aside.

Beat the softened butter using a mixer until fluffy. Add the cream, vanilla and yolks and mix by hand until the mixture comes together. Combine with the dry ingredients and mix gently by hand to combine.

Place the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and flatten into a nine-inch disk. Wrap well and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes.

For the pie filling: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Fit the chocolate dough into a pie tin, and then cover the bottom with the pecans and chocolate.

Whisk together the sugar, agave and eggs in a bowl. Combine the butter and bourbon in a small saucepan and melt together over low heat. Stir into the sugar mixture until combined.

Pour the filling into the pie shell over the pecans and chocolate. Lightly wrap the top of the pie in foil, covering all edges.

Bake on the center rack until the pie is set in the middle when gently shaken, 58 minutes. Let cool to room temperature before cutting, 15 to 20 minutes. Store at room temperature, covered with foil or plastic wrap, for up to three days.