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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

University students dine alongside their favorite Disney films

There’s Olaf, melting on the table in paper cups that hold pools of ranch dressing, carrot noses and pretzel-stick arms.

On the dining room table – along with the little Melted Olaf appetizers – are meatballs, not the Swedish kind, but no matter, and chocolate fondue with Olaf waffles, or “Olaffles,” paired with bananas and marshmallows.

A stuffed Olaf soft toy sits near a bowl of Polar Blast Blue Hawaiian Punch, doctored up with pineapple juice and 7Up, offering more manifestations of the “Frozen” theme for tonight’s dinner.

One meal each month at this north Spokane home is inspired by a favorite film of the four students who live here. New for this academic year, the Disney for Dinner theme house is one of two dozen homes in a popular Whitworth University housing program that aims to provide students with an uncommon living situation while encouraging them to help foster a sense of inclusiveness on campus.

“It’s the idea of community,” said 19-year-old sophomore Liz Richardson, who can’t pick just one favorite Disney movie.

She’s one of four young women who live at the Disney for Dinner house, where the official mission is: “to foster an environment of cultural awareness and closeness through motifs presented in Disney films. While considering diversity, we will also engage the child at the heart of our residents and guests by allowing them to experience the joys of favorite childhood movies.”

September was “Lilo & Stitch.” On Halloween, the house’s four female roommates dressed up like Disney princess and handed out candy to about 70 trick-or-treaters. November was “Brother Bear.” But only two dinner guests showed up.

“That was sad because the food was good,” said Brianna Hall, 20, a sophomore, from Lynnwood, Washington. The menu, created by the roommates last spring as they brainstormed ideas for their theme house application, featured slow-cooked chili and frybread.

The biggest turnout so far was a dozen people, including the roommates.

“We don’t really want the whole freshman class coming,” Richardson said. Indeed, some 600 students wouldn’t fit for dinner. But, “I’d like to see 15 or 20 people. For what we’re doing, I feel like that would be good.”

Theme houses are available to sophomores, juniors and seniors at Whitworth, where students come up with their own themes and submit proposals to the Student Life Office each spring for the following school year. Homes are furnished and utilities – except for cable TV – are paid for by the university. The cost is about the same as the dorms, but the residents can save money on university meal plans by buying and cooking their own food.

Goals for the nontraditional university housing program are to provide events that focus on a particular interest, language or culture; host monthly social and educational activities; and offer residents opportunities to lead and serve others creatively.

Students who live in theme houses meet with a faculty or staff adviser at least once a semester. They’re considered, according to the school’s website, “Whitworth ambassadors to the Spokane community.” If a theme-house resident violates the university’s “Big Three” policy, the house contract could be canceled and the house disbanded. The Big Three rules are: no drugs or alcohol, no sex and no violence.

Theme-house residents must reapply each year. There are no guarantees. But some have been around for two or three years. The Disney for Dinner roommates are already considering resubmitting an application. “It’s definitely a possibility for us,” Hall said.

Students who live in theme houses don’t charge money for their events or for their food. Each house receives a small stipend – up to $75 is reimbursed each semester – to help cover costs. At Disney for Dinner, the roommates split the difference.

Each identifies with a Disney princess – some select a classic character along with a more modern one – as well as a Disney animal.

Abby Tomlinson, a 19-year-old junior from Kennewick, Washington, is Ariel or Merida or Pascal, Rapunzel’s pet chameleon in “Tangled.” She isn’t a cook.

Who’s the best cook in the house?

“Not Abby,” Hall said quickly, almost too quickly.

But Tomlinson agreed good-naturedly: “That would be me. You can write that down. I’m the worst cook. I admit to it. I pour things into bowls, and I chop salads. I can make anything boxed.”

She also sings the loudest. The roommates don’t mind. They just turn up the volume. In addition to serving movie-themed meals, the Disney for Dinner residents play the film upon which the dishes are based. December was “Frozen.”

Richardson, of Wilbur, Washington, started making the meatballs around 5 p.m. using a recipe from roommate Sarah Fader called “Pam’s BBQ Meatballs.” Who’s Pam?

“She was my nanny when I was little,” Fader, 19, said. “My favorite Disney movie? Probably ‘Frozen’ or ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ Does ‘Inside Out’ count? It’s Disney Pixar. I love that movie. I bought it at Costco like a month ago and watched it seven times since then.”

Tomlinson favors “Tangled” and “Brave.” She also likes “The Princess and the Frog,” “Lion King” and, oh, basically “every one of them. No, that’s not true. I don’t like ‘Snow White’ as much. I just never have. I think it scared me when I was little.”

The Disney for Dinner roommates were pod mates in the same dorm last year and wanted to keep a good thing going. They think Disney for Dinner was Hall’s idea.

One Saturday afternoon last spring, Fader said, “We stayed up until 2 in the morning,” brainstorming appetizers, beverages, mains, sides and desserts.

“We kind of picked the ones that would be easiest to do for food,” Hall said. “We tried to vary the different cultural backgrounds and base (dishes) on things they say in the movie.”

Within a week, they had written and submitted their proposal.

“On the application, you can request a specific home, but there’s no guarantee you’ll get it,” Fader said, noting they requested this particular house because of its big rooms. “We also liked it because it had a big kitchen for cooking.”

This school year, Disney for Dinner is one of nine theme houses that significantly feature food in their programming. The Fiesta House aims to build community through Latin American culture and cuisine. The Hale Pa’ina House celebrates Hawaiian culture, including meals. The Stories and Sweets House combines passions for literature and baking. It’s not to be confused with Sweet Escape, which strives to offer “good company along with heart-warming sweets.”

Next door to Disney for Dinner is the House of Cookies, where the residents – according to their mission statement – “believe that a sweet treat is the perfect thing to bring people together and that humanity has a love affair with a sweet little something to munch on.”

There’s an Espresso Yourself coffee-themed house, too, along with a Breakfast Club house and a Movies and Popcorn house. The Disney for Dinner roommates aren’t sure what kind of movie marathons that house holds.

But, Tomlinson said, at their house, “We get to spend a night taking a break from homework and tests to sit and eat food and watch Disney movies and spend time with people we care about. It’s a fun little study break.”

Plus, Richardson said, “We get to embrace a little bit of culture.”

January is “Mulan” with egg rolls, moo shu pork and fortune cookies. In February, “The Princess and the Frog” party features spoon bread, gumbo (“None of us have experience making gumbo but we’re going to try,” Richardson said) and beignets (they’re buying them).

March is “Aladdin” with cucumber raita, “magic carpet” curry and naan. April is “Tangled” with angel hair pasta. And in May, if there’s time, their “Cinderella” dinner will feature pumpkin risotto and “envious” green beans.

Invitations are usually by word of mouth.

“We pick the night that works best for us, and we try to tell people a week in advance,” Richardson said. “Briana brings her athletic training friends. Abby brings the choir. It’s been good for us.”

One of the perks is “we get to meet new people,” Hall said. But, “It’s hard. People have stuff to do. People are busy. I’m very happy with six people.”

The Disney for Dinner roommates have different majors. Tomlinson is studying psychology. Hall, athletic training. Richardson, community health. Fader, elementary education.

Last summer, after they learned their application had been accepted, Fader, a sophomore from Clancy, Montana, created a calendar, filling a binder with menus and recipes. The roommates also keep a chore list on the fridge and a dozen Disney DVDs on their shelves.

Weeknights, they take turns cooking for each other. On Disney for Dinner nights, they all pitch in.

“It’s hard to cook for a lot of people and make a variety of food so there’s something everybody will like,” Hall said.

Sometimes when she’s cooking, Richardson, who – the roommates agree – is good at making meat and potatoes – will call home to ask, “Dad, how do I do this?”

Snow White is her princess. She also likes Olaf.

“You can’t not love Olaf,” she said. “He’s a singing snowman.”

Olaf is Fader’s favorite non-princess Disney character. Her favorite modern princess is Anna from “Frozen.”

Hall, whose favorite Disney princess in Cinderella, likes “Frozen” because “Elsa sings, ‘You can’t marry a man you just met,’ but in a lot of the other Disney movies, they do.”

“This is very girl power,” Tomlinson said.

Dinner guests begin to trickle in around 6 p.m. A few have some snacks – the meatballs go fast – then leave when the movie starts. A couple settle in on the couch to watch the film.

Tomlinson sings along when Olaf belts out “In Summer,” which goes like this, “When life gets rough I like to hold onto my dreams of relaxing in the summer sun, just letting off steam.”

On the dining room table, plenty of those little Melted Olaf appetizers remain.

“If I was a kid, that would make me want to eat carrots,” Tomlinson said.

“Worse comes to worse,” Richardson said, “we’ll have leftovers.”