Page 150 - Vibrant Living Scrapbook

Everyone Is Known for Something
The folks at Bigfork Valley Communities in Bigfork, MN have worked hard to transform
their institution into a home, but when Manda Okerlund came to live at Bigfork she brought with her the kind of institution everyone welcomed – her famous caramel rolls.
Manda was working washing dishes at a hotel restaurant in Crookston, MN when the cook
asked her to take over cooking for a day. And,
so began her 30-year career as a cook. One day while looking for recipes she came across a recipe for caramel rolls in the trash. Anyone who has ever had one of her rolls wonders why on Earth
it ended up there. She changed the name from “caramel rolls” to “Carmen rolls” and made them her own.
The rolls were even enjoyed by the hungry lumberjacks at Camp 29 logging camp in Craig, MN where Manda was cook for several years. Being the only woman in the camp, she had to be tough and would threaten to use her meat cleaver on anyone who messed with her.
That toughness and determination stuck with her. She continued to make her Carmen rolls along with other delicious baked goods for her daughter’s cafe until just before she moved to Bigfork Valley Communities. She would walk the baked goods the seven miles there and back to the cafe just for the exercise, refusing rides.
Bigfork Valley, one of the first Household Models in the country, welcomed Manda to its community. But Manda was having a hard time adjusting to her new home. The staff noticed that she seemed unhappy and decided to talk
to her to see if there was something they could do to make her feel more at home. She perked right up when she learned she had access to a kitchen in her household. Soon, Manda was in the kitchen baking her now famous enormous, Carmen rolls. At first, staff served as her gofers and dishwashers, but as time went by she taught them to make the rolls and took on the role of supervisor.
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