Discovering The Mature Lifestyle Gourmet cooking in Wayzata Page 5
Food•Fun•Entertaining November 2016
November 18, 2016
Lessons learned on the Iron Range Rosemount cook well served growing up in Buhl BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Patricia Roberts and her granddaughter, Courtney Casey, team up to make bread in Rosemount. (Submitted photo)
Growing u p o n t he I ron R ange figures prominently in to t he co oking a nd bakin g emerging from the kitchen of Patricia Roberts. “I’ve always been a baker,” said Roberts, a r esident o f Ros emount. “ I r emember making ethnic breads and foods since I was 10.” She has fo nd memo ries of l earning t o cook a nd bak e wi th her mo m -- Finnish cardamom braid, potitza (a Slovenian dessert b read), pasties, ho memade no odles and ravioli. A 4-H member, she said that she baked for people during her hig h school years. “ Instead of babysitting, I bak ed for p eople. I had my own supplies in t he kitchen cupboard. I had cer tain customers each week. Some had sp ecial requests. I b ought more supplies wi th t he mo ney I e arned. Alo ng the wa y, f olks sho wed me ho w t o mak e things they liked.” Roberts’ mom was a war bride, who met her husband in C onnecticut. “He brought her back to his hometown of Buhl, Minnesota, (o n t he I ron R ange) a nd in troduced her to people, and she learned to bake and make t hings,” Rob erts s aid. “ She met his friends, his pa rents, t he gra ndparents o f Dad’s friends and learned about the foods he liked growing up.”
A ho me eco nomics ma jor in co llege, Roberts t aught f or a co uple o f y ears a nd then spent the rest of her career as a chemist. She has b een a consistent winner at the Minnesota State Fair since 2006, w hen she won her first b lue r ibbon. This y ear, her ginger cookies took first place. Roberts also has co llected a p lethora o f r ibbons f rom her entries in the Dakota County Fair. Her winning entries include Swedish rye bread, oatmeal cookies, Finnish cardamom bread, scones, and oatmeal bread. She has created a cookbook for her son, daughter and three granddaughters. Roberts also is a member of the St. Paul Bread Club. “I’ve got a neig hbor who has his fa vorites [of Roberts baking] and I’ve been baking f or him in r eturn f or sno w sho veling and mowing,” she s aid. “I’m a p retty good neighbor. I share what I bake.” She and her h usband grew up together, attending the same classes from kindergarten t hrough hig h s chool, grad uating in a class of 40 f rom Buhl High School. “I was the st udent a nd he was mo re f un-loving and outgoing,” she said. “We kept each other in line.” They went to c ollege toge ther, to o, and then married. She had a teaching job in the Twin Cities for two years, before the family mo ved t o a t own in W isconsin, t hen back to the Iron Range and finally to Colorado Springs, Colorado, before resettling in Rosemount. “We have the same house and the same ROSEMOUNT BAKER - TO PAGE 5