My Favorite Recipes: Meet Pat Smith, Pullman

Pat Smith with the first Santa she carved from driftwood. The drape of his clothing and the bundle of sticks on his back are unique touches.

Pat Smith grew up on a North Dakota farm, learning how to do literally everything there. She was the oldest of six sisters, with one older brother, who had poor health, and one younger brother. Theirs was a diversified farm 20-something miles from Minot.

Since she was the eldest girl, she learned to cook and sew at an early age, plus help milk cows in their dairy, and, later, pick up bales of hay, cultivate corn and operate the combine and other farm equipment.

She started school speaking both English and German. When her older brother was a young child in the hospital, the hospital had to have a German-speaking nurse care for him, since that was his primary language. At that point, their dad said it was time they all speak English so that the children could all function well in this country. Both of Pat’s parents’ families came from Odessa, Russia, and were originally from Germany.

During the Great Depression, her father worked to manage a “lean” operation, and his mechanical and construction skills were essential. He was resourceful and taught that trait to his children. He built a silage cart for use in feeding cattle, like a feed wagon, before they were available commercially. He built a dairy parlor with milking machines and a huge holding tank. The kids loved the days when the tanker truck came for their milk; the driver left a gallon of ice cream.

In the cold northern winters of North Dakota, her father’s shop with a furnace in the basement was a great idea. He also had a pit for changing oil in vehicles. From him, Pat learned to use tools and build things.

These advances placed him in a great position for World War II and afterward, when productivity was rewarded. Then their modern, diversified farm really prospered.

When Pat was in junior high, they had record snows in North Dakota. Her father and a neighbor took her to school in a horse-drawn sled, and she stayed that week with friends in town. On the weekend, the National Guard was there to help clear the heaps of snow, and she was driven home in a huge Army truck through tunnels of snow to her home.

Pat knew in high school that she wanted to be a teacher, so she went to the University of North Dakota and graduated with a major in physical education and a minor in home economics. She played intramural sports in college, calling herself a gym rat.On the farm they played basketball in the hay barn after putting up a hoop. There had to be some hay gone before they had space for a game, she recalled.

Her mother was a natural teacher. Although she had only completed eighth grade, she was bright and well read. She had to quit school to drive a milk truck for her father. Pat’s mother taught her own mother and a neighbor to read.

Pat was the seamstress for the family. She not only sewed new clothing, but she altered and trimmed hand-me-downs for her younger sisters and even re-did hats.

Dwight and Pat met when she was a senior in college. Dwight taught and coached at the campus school and was her student teaching supervisor. They dated a couple of years, and people were beginning to wonder, in those days of shorter courtships, if they were going to marry. They did, and she moved to Minot to teach.

Plentywood, Mont., was their next home, and then they moved to Sandpoint, Idaho, their home for 35 years. Pat coached volleyball and track, and Dwight coached football, basketball and track. They had a lot of snow, just like in North Dakota. When they had snow days, she and Dwight took their two daughters skiing. One snowy January, they had only six days of school, so they enjoyed a lot of skiing.

Pat implemented Title IX, which mandated equal opportunity for girls and women in school sports, in Sandpoint beginning in 1970 and started the girls sports program. She was not paid for the first year coaching track and received only a little pay the second year, with 120 girls turning out each spring. The girls really wanted to participate and compete.

Pat and Dwight have two daughters. Leanne lives in Montana and works for Xerox from her home office. Laurie lives in Pullman, where she is a faculty member at Washington State University in the psychology department and has a private practice. Laurie has three sons, one in Austin, Texas, one in California and one in Missoula.

After retirement, Pat and Dwight moved to be nearer Laurie, and as a bonus, have milder winters than Sandpoint or Minot.

Pat began wood carving in 1989. To start a project, she looks carefully at the piece of wood and decides how to best utilize its shape and form in her carving. Santas are her favorite subject. Pat has always liked collecting Santas, but few were available, so she decided to try carving them herself from driftwood collected on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille.

European custom tells that carving a wooden spirit brings good fortune to the home where it resides, and Pat creates folk art style carvings. Driftwood is naturally suited to primitive art styles and was readily available.

During the Christmas season, Pat’s carved Santas decorate the rooms, and she has other purchased santas, while replacing her paintings and prints with santa-themed art in her home. Her santas are each unique, with deep colors and fascinating facial features.

At one time, Pat sold her driftwood carvings at craft sales and through galleries, but she no longer does that. She sells some items through At Home Designs and Framing it Up in Pullman.

“I get lots of pleasure from them”, she said.

She has a great wood shop with a large collection of tools in her basement.

“If Dwight looks for me, I might be in my wood shop, lost in my work”, she added.

Recipes:

Coconut Molasses Drop Cookies

Dwight’s grandmother’s recipe

and a holiday favorite.

1 cup sugar

1 cup shortening

2 eggs

1 cup sour milk with 1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup molasses

1 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 cups flour sifted with 3 teaspoons baking soda

Powdered sugar

Butter

Shredded coconut

Cream together sugar and shortening. Beat in eggs; add sour milk with soda and molasses. Sift together flour, baking soda, ginger and salt. Stir into creamed mixture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Drop cookies by teaspoonfuls onto baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from baking sheet, cool. Then frost with a powdered sugar icing; then dip in shredded coconut.

Yield: about six dozen cookies.

German Kuchen

Crust

1/2 cup shortening

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup cream

1/2 teaspoon salt.

1 teaspoon baking powder

Enough flour to roll out

Combine shortening and sugar; add eggs and combine. Add cream, salt and baking powder. Roll with enough flour so that crusts do not stick. Using 12 small pie-type tins, (crust is delicate, so keep pan size small) trim crusts to about half an inch on the sides of the pans, using a sharp knife or pastry cutter.

Filling

2 cups cream

5 eggs

About 3 cups sugar

Cinnamon

Options: raisins, dried, cut up apricots or other dried fruit

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Beat together cream and eggs. With crusts in pans, put a thin layer of cream mixture in pan onto crust. Add a scant 1/4 cup of sugar on each and sprinkle with cinnamon.

At this point, one can add any of the dried fruit, if desired.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes, until custard is set. If using larger pans, adjust time and bake until custard is set.

Baker’s Ammonia Cookies

European and old American cookie recipes sometimes call for baker’s ammonia, which is available in

pharmacies or online.

10 eggs

1 pint sweet cream

4 cups sugar

1 cup shortening, soft

2 Tablespoons baker’s ammonia, sifted

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon peppermint flavoring

Enough flour for a medium stiff dough

Beat together sugar and eggs; add soft shortening. Beat in cream, salt, flavoring, two cups flour and baker’s ammonia. Then add enough flour to form a medium stiff dough.

Important: Leave dough overnight in a covered bowl.

Roll to a quarter-inch thick and cut with a round cookie cutter. Bake at 350 or 375 degrees F for 10 minutes. Cookies should not brown. When cooled, frost with powdered sugar icing. Add sprinkles, if desired.

This recipe may be halved.