More than 30 kids learned how to make a gingerbread house at the Zephyr Cove library last weekend.
Friends of the Douglas County Library put on the event.
Decorators Maddie, 8, Brennan, 5, and Sally Monroe, 3; and their friend Gracie Wolski, 9. Photo/Provided
Miss Carol helped children build gingerbread houses using graham crackers and other sweets.
After the houses were built the children were able to take them home as a decoration for the holidays.
By Venessa Wong, Bloomberg Businessweek
She looks great for 52. She also has a sweet boyfriend, an hourglass figure, a positive attitude and a penchant for pink. And despite some people who think she can be too superficial or overly plastic, she’s super-popular.
In fact, she’s so popular that for the second year in a row, Barbie is the top holiday import to the United States.
That’s no mean feat for a toy that has been duking it out for decades in the competitive holiday gift market. Over the years, Barbie’s pre-eminence has been assailed by many would-be aspirants, such as Bratz and Liv dolls – not to mention such other hot toys as Furbys and Tickle-Me-Elmos – but the old gal’s combination of glamour and can-do optimism, not to mention slick marketing, continues to keep her in the top spot.
According to an analysis of the 75 most popular holiday gift items by Panjiva, a New York company that collects data on global trade, the United States received 2,598 shipments of Barbie products (many coming from Hong Kong and Indonesia) in August and September, the period when most items are shipped for the holiday shopping season. That represents a 13 percent increase over the same period in 2010.
After Barbie, the next most popular holiday imports among the 75 items were headphones, perfume, earrings and champagne.
The Community Collaborative of Tahoe Truckee is recognizing three residents for their community service.
The Partner of the Year Award is given in recognition of regional collaboration and vision for our community. River Coyote has demonstrated initiative and leadership in the health education field regionally for over a decade, most recently through her role at Placer County. River developed and was the principle author of a grant application submitted on behalf of the Tahoe Truckee Future Without Drug Dependency Drug Free Communities Coalition, which she co-founded and now directs. Through River’s guidance, the Tahoe Truckee Future Without Drug Dependency coalition was one of 87 grantees selected from 452 applicants and was awarded $125,000 for 2011-12 and will receive $125,000 for four consecutive years for a total of $625,000.
The Chris Ballin Award is given in recognition of people who advocate for cultural competency, equality and social justice. John Pillsbury, with the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, is a steward for social justice in our community through his work with disabled and rehabilitating populations to help integrate them into the workforce. He’s formed alliances with local business owners and community leaders to ensure the success of the populations he serves.
A new addition to the CCTT awards is the Public Service Award of Excellence, awarded to Stephanie Castleman Blume of Project MANA. Blume dives into her work with such a personal drive to help Tahoe Truckee make positive change in the region, consistently going above and beyond for individuals who come to her attention. Blume is charting new waters in Truckee through her work in finding solutions for local homeless populations. This year, she succeeded in supporting the opening a of the Food and Resource Center, a day welcoming center offering food, showers and a warm space. She has been successful in building a network of local community leaders from the nonprofit and faith based communities to support individuals experiencing homelessness.
Discover what makes Lake Tahoe so unique at the UC Davis Thomas J. Long Foundation Science Education Center.
Investigate local science and explore how research is being used to restore and protect Lake Tahoe. Guided tours include a virtual research vessel, virtual laboratory, 3-D visualization theater and green building tours.
A new 3-D movie “Lake Tahoe in Depth” is an education is less than 16 minutes.
The center is open during our regular hours from 1–5pm Dec. 28-29 and Jan. 3-6. It will be closed Dec. 24-27 and Dec. 30-Jan. 2.
The center is located at 291 Country Club Drive inside the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences building on the campus of Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village.
By Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee
A jury awarded a Southern California company $30.4 million over a severed contract to supply slot machines to Red Hawk Casino.
The casino’s owner, the Single Springs Band of Miwok Indians, said it will appeal.
An El Dorado County Superior Court jury late Thursday awarded $30.4 million to Sharp Image Gaming of Chatsworth, a slot machine maker that supplied machines to the tribe’s aborted effort to operate a temporary casino called Crystal Mountain in the mid 1990s. The tribe severed its ties with Sharp Image in the late 1990s and signed a development deal with a Minnesota company to build Red Hawk.
The casino opened in 2008.
Sharp Image’s president, Chris Anderson, claimed he had exclusive right to supply slots to Red Hawk. He sued for $250 million – the amount that he says would have been his share of the slot machine profits at the casino.
By Michael Wolfe, KTVN-TV
Authorities are investigating what caused a Navy helicopter crash about 100 miles south of Reno on Thursday.
The Navy MH 60S is assigned to the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center at Naval Air Station Fallon.
It crashed during a training mission in a remote part of Bridgeport.
All five crew members on board survived, but were taken back to NAS Fallon for medical treatment.
All are in good condition.
Interstate 80 near Lake Tahoe is expected to be closed until noon Dec. 23 as crews clean up a hazardous spill.
Eastbound I-80 between Hirshdale and the California/Nevada state line is closed because of the spill and the need to repair the guardrail following a big rig accident.
To minimize delays, Caltrans recommends motorists consider the following alternate routes to Reno and beyond:
• Highway 50 east to Highway 395 north
• Highway 70 north to Highway 395 south
• I-80 east to Highway 267 south, drive past Tahoe’s North Shore to Highway 431 (Mt. Rose Highway).
By Clint Purvance
Long ago, physicians would make house calls to families and individuals in need. In the last several decades, patient’s needs were met by visiting the doctor through an individually owned facility, called a private practice or they were seen in a hospital setting. This model continues to change throughout the nation.
Today, many specialists and primary care physicians are taking on a new kind of health care model and are affiliating themselves with medical groups or large hospital systems such as Barton Health.
Clint Purvance
Many people have expressed their concerns to Barton staff and myself that Barton is purchasing most of the health care facilities around Tahoe and that we are building a “monopoly” to charge our patients more. This is far from the truth. In the last few years, physician practices such as Emerald Bay Center for Women’s Health, Tahoe Women’s Care, Barton Family Physicians and Tahoe Orthopedic and Sports Medicine have affiliated with Barton in order to keep their individual practices viable due to increasing overhead expenses. This model does not alter medical decisions — each physician is independent to provide medical care in the best interest of his or her patients.
At Barton we pride ourselves in recruiting and retaining primary care and specialty physicians for our patients and our community, which might otherwise be difficult due to the rising expenses in private doctor’s offices. Physicians want to continue to live here and our community continues to need their great care. Barton Health provides the partnership that makes it feasible for physicians to stay in our great community.
“Private practice overhead is quite high and I would not want to employ people and not be able to provide my employees with adequate benefits due to rising costs,” Allison Steinmetz, internal medicine physician with Barton Health, said.
Steinmetz recently joined Barton Internal Medicine after 10 years of medical practice in Santa Cruz with Dominican Hospital. She is a perfect example of “the new model” which enables physicians to focus on the most important task-at-hand – quality patient care.
“My goal is to be able to treat families and help them with their medical decisions. I want to focus on being a doctor, not on the business side of medicine,” Steinmetz said.
Barton proudly partners with more than 140 physicians, nearly 40 departments and oversees numerous facilities in Tahoe and in the Carson Valley, including our acute-care facility, Barton Memorial Hospital.
By managing the business side of medicine for physicians, physicians can focus on their patients and Barton is able to utilize the talents of its staff in business, finance, contracting, billing, building maintenance, purchasing and marketing in the private office setting. This allows our doctors to focus on their patients and creates a more efficient and cost effective business model that will be sustainable into the future. This new business model enables Barton Health to continue to meet the community’s health care needs through improved access to a wide range of physician services. In 2011 alone, Barton is proud to have added much needed services to our small community including cardiology, audiology and physiatry.
As the health care industry continues to change nationwide, Barton Health is committed to providing consistently exceptional care to our community.
Clint Purvance is chief medical officer for Barton Health.
By Kathryn Reed
I had never heard of a cranberry bean before. My mom and sisters said just treat them regular dried beans. And while that is what to do with them, it didn’t answer the question: What is a cranberry bean?
This is what I found on the Wise Geek website, “Cranberry beans may be known by several names. In Italy they are called borlotti, and New Englanders may refer to them as shell beans. Every now and again they pick up other names like French horticultural beans. These beans get their name from their varicolored appearance. They are usually white or cream in color with deep red or cranberry marks that are distributed in different patterns on the bean. In the U.S., cranberry beans are a fall crop.”
My sister Jann gave me a 2-pound bag of the beans while we were there for Thanksgiving. The Chico High School FFA as a fundraiser was selling them. They come from the Henshaw Farm, where the Future Farmers of America has a plot of land to use for educational purposes.
Zucchini and Vine in Chico sells the beans in the burlap bags for $5. The store is not keeping a dime – it all goes to the FFA students. To buy them, email zookeeny@gmail.com. Just a warning, though, shipping may cost you more than the beans.
My sister also sent us home with four recipes that call for cranberry beans. To date, I’ve only tried the one below. I needed something to take to a gathering and thought the hummus would be a good choice.
I could not find sumac at Grass Roots or Safeway, so I didn’t use it. I also used more garlic and lemon juice than what the recipe calls for. Part of the garlic I added came via garlic salt because I thought that’s what it could use.
Just remember to soak the beans. I forgot to do that the next time I wanted to make the recipe and therefore was left scrambling to come up with an hors d’oeuvres that was not well thought out.
Cranberry Bean Hummus (makes about 2 cups)
4 ounces shelled fresh cranberry beans *
¼ onion, peeled
1 bay leaf
1 tsp kosher salt (divided)
1 large zucchini (about 9 ounces)
1 T (heaping) tahini
1 T extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
1 small clove garlic, chopped
½ tsp sumac (divided)
1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
Place the cranberry beans, onion, bay leaf and ½ teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan. Cover with water and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the beans are tender; transfer to a bowl of ice water and set aside.
While the beans are cooking, slice the zucchini into long, fat strips. Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the zucchini (in batches, if necessary) and sauté until tender and lightly brown. Set aside.
Transfer the cooled beans and zucchini to the bowl of a food processor. Add the tahini, 1 tablespoon olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt, freshly ground black pepper (to taste), garlic, ¼ teaspoon sumac and lemon juice. Blend until smooth. Check for seasoning and adjust as necessary.
Transfer to a serving bowl. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and the remaining ¼ teaspoon of sumac. Serve with toasted pita bread triangles.
*Substitute dried beans by soaking beans overnight in large bowl covered with water.
To the community,
Bread & Broth would like to share our gratitude to Heavenly Mountain Resort for recently adopting a Day of Nourishment.
Heavenly has given service to our community “above and beyond” the call of duty in our opinion. Throughout the year they have helped financially and with staff. Volunteers from Heavenly spent the day helping Bread & Broth volunteers serve those in need a hot meal on a cold night just before Christmas.
Bread & Broth is able to continue its mission of feeding the hungry of South Lake Tahoe in large part because of the generosity of the local community. A $250 sponsorship covers the cost of food and beverages for the approximately 100 people who visit each Monday evening. To find out how your family or business can Adopt A Day of Nourishment, contact Connie Blue at midwest2tahoe@yahoo.com or (530) 544.4945.
David Smith, Bread & Broth