South Lake Tahoe is looking for people to fill seats on the following commissions: Parks and Recreation, Clean Tahoe, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Advisory Planning, and El Dorado Commission on Aging.
Applications may be obtained at the City Clerk’s Office located at 1901 Airport Road, South Lake Tahoe between 8am and 5pm, Monday through Friday.
The deadline to apply is Feb. 13 at 5pm.
The City Council will make appointments Feb. 19.
By Kathryn Reed
I came across Cookin’ Canuck by chance. Someone on Twitter or Facebook had mentioned something about not liking a food site anymore. Others recommended other sites. Before I knew I was searching for recipes and forgetting all about work.
Of course I convinced myself if I found a recipe that sounded good, tried it and would want to publish it on Lake Tahoe News, then I was working. It was research.
The recipe below is not only a great winter soup, it’s healthy and easy.
This is what the Cookin’ Canuck website says, “Dara Michalski is the writer, recipe developer and photographer behind the award winning site, Cookin’ Canuck. Dara has been sharing her easy, innovative and healthy recipes with her readers since April 2009.”
This is the only recipe of hers that I have tried. But based on how good it was I’m ready to peruse the site again to see what else Michalski has come up with.
Butternut Squash and Cauliflower Soup
2 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, cut into thin half-circles
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
¼ tsp dried chile flakes
½ tsp dried thyme
¼ tsp salt
1 T tomato paste
¾ pound butternut squash (about 2½ C)
½ pound cauliflower (about 2 C)
1¾ C vegetable broth
1¾ C water
2 bay leaves
¼ C minced Italian parsley
Salt and pepper, to taste
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan set over medium heat.
Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion just starts to soften, about 5 minutes.
Add the garlic, carrots, celery, dried chile flakes, thyme and salt. Cook until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the tomato paste and cook for one additional minute.
Stir in the butternut squash, cauliflower, vegetable broth, water and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, partially cover the saucepan and cook until the squash and cauliflower are tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
Let the soup cool for 10 minutes, then transfer 2 cups of the soup to a blender. Puree until almost smooth, then stir the mixture back into the soup.
Stir in the parsley, add salt and pepper (if desired) and serve.
New Moon Natural Foods will be hosting a beer tasting event with donations going to the Truckee Donner Land Trust.
The featured brewery is MOA Brewing Company from New Zealand. The suggested donation is $10.
The event is Feb. 22, 5-7pm.
New Moon Natural Foods is at 11357 Donner Pass Road, by the DMV, in Truckee.
By Kathryn Reed
Plenty of people can talk a good game, but few actually are in the game. Terry Jones is a talker and a player.
As founder of Travelocity and chairman of Kayak.com, Jones knows what it takes to start a successful company from scratch and keep it viable. As someone who has been on the lecture circuit for the past 10 years, he knows how to inspire.
But the Incline Village resident also knew he was packing a whole lot of information into 60 minutes, where people might take away one or two ideas. That is what inspired him to turn his talks into a book. “ON Innovation: Turning On Innovation in your culture, teams and organization” was published in 2012.
It’s a fast read. Jones has designed it so it does not have to be read cover-to-cover. He also envisions it being a reference book.
The 194-page book ($15) has 72 ideas. Each chapter is a few pages. This is a book that is ideal for front line staff, CEOs and definitely middle managers.
“Most books on innovation are very academic,” Jones told Lake Tahoe News.
His is more of a “how to” book. How to do things, how to look at your business in a new way, how to be strategic, how to listen — overall, how to innovate. The book delves into the need to experiment, take chances and lose the phrase “we’ve always done it that way”.
“You have to reinvent yourself all the time. I don’t think it has anything to do with Tahoe, it has to do with business in general,” Jones told Lake Tahoe News.
He said retail in particular has it hard because of all the competition online.
Jones knows he’ll be writing another book. The focus will be about building digital relationships.
He said it’s travel more any other industry that has been transformed by the Internet. This includes people using the Internet to search for places to stay, to rent skis and a place to eat at the end of the day.
Jones was the keynote speaker at last fall’s Nevada Governor’s Conference on Tourism.
He is on the board of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival – chairman the last three years and currently the secretary. Jones said when he first started working with the Incline group the bulk of the advertising was with local print publications even though 60 percent of the people at the summer event were tourists.
Now the festival has a strong Web presence.
Jones has had a place in Cave Rock for about 10 years. When he got divorced he wanted out of Texas and picked the Tahoe house. Through Match.com he met his current wife.
“She said if you want me, you get Incline too,” Jones said. They live together in Incline, though he is on the road about 150 days a year.
When he isn’t speaking, writing or doing work for one of the multiple boards he sits on, he can found enjoying Lake Tahoe. This season he returned to the slopes after having quit downhill skiing when he was 15 because he needed a spinal fusion. He finally got that fusion.
He skied earlier this month for the first time in 50 years.
“My wife was a competitive skier in college. I hope to get to the point where I can ski with her,” Jones said.
In the summer, look for him skimming across the water in his Wherry boat at Sand Harbor.
By Kathryn Reed
While beer is available at the South Lake Tahoe ice rink, those days may be numbered.
City resident Eric Thelin filed a petition with the Alcoholic Beverage Control to prevent the sale of alcohol at the city owned rink. While South Tahoe owns the facility, it is Tahoe Sports Entertainment that runs it and sought to sell beer.
Administrative Law Judge Nicholas R. Loehr sided with Thelin, though not necessarily for the reasons he was arguing.
Loehr’s decision is that for the city to be collecting a percentage of the gross sales from the ice rink operators that include alcohol sales it presents a conflict for the city in how ABC licenses are issued. Cities are not allowed to own a license.
City Manager Nancy Kerry said one alternative is to tweak the contract so gross sales do not include alcohol.
City Attorney Patrick Enright told Lake Tahoe News the judge’s ruling “seems like a broad interpretation” of how the city is supposed to deal with concessionaires selling alcohol.
If the ruling stands, the city would have to look at all of its concessionaire agreements – including the one with the restaurant at Lake Tahoe Airport, where a large percentage of its sales are alcohol.
Thelin’s issue is with the effects of alcohol on an ice rink. The skater said when he was in Santa Clarita the rink operators got a liquor license. He said the whole mood of the place changed, people were skating impaired and the attendance declined. This in turn, he said, led to prices going up for ice time.
The ABC is weighing if it wants to challenge the judge’s rule.
TSE owner Chris Cefalu did not return a phone call.
“I’m in limbo waiting for the next move,” Thelin said.
And Enright said he is investigating what other locales do in similar situations.
Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the Jan. 24, 2013, San Jose Mercury News.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blew it. He had the votes for serious filibuster reform in the palm of his hand, and he chickened out.
Reid feared a day ahead when Democrats are no longer the majority party in the Senate. But his legacy will be that he abandoned desperately needed reform and chose more gridlock instead.
Every four years, following a presidential election, the Senate can review and revise its rules. Filibuster rules have strayed far from the tactic’s purpose and now allow the minority party to block not only votes but even debate on issues of the day. Whether Democrats or Republicans are in the majority, that’s just wrong.
Reid concocted a compromise with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that includes some limits on filibuster use, but it appears to put a lot of control in the hands of the minority and majority leaders, a plan ripe for abuse. In brief, the Senate will be able to avoid a filibuster if the majority leader, the minority leader and seven senators from each party agree.
But once the deal is sealed, what incentive does McConnell have to cooperate? By his own admission, he spent the last four years doing everything possible to block President Barack Obama from succeeding. And soon enough, the next presidential election will loom, giving GOP leaders an incentive to throw government back into gridlock and make Democrats look bad, regardless of what it does to the country.
Reid said Wednesday that he had the 51 votes to pass a “talking filibuster” rule, which would have required a senator to continuously hold the floor if he or she wants to hold up legislation. This is the filibuster famously depicted by Jimmy Stewart in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”
When the talking filibuster was in effect, it was rarely used. But McConnell and his Republican cohorts used today’s “filibuster lite” rules — pretty much just lodging an objection — to block more than 130 bills in recent sessions. Often they prevented even discussing an issue.
Reid told the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein that “I’m not personally, at this stage, ready to get rid (of the filibuster). With the history of the Senate, we have to understand the Senate isn’t and shouldn’t be like the House.”
The Senate should indeed be the more deliberative body of Congress. The problem, as Reid well knows, is that the current filibuster rules prevent deliberation of some of the most pressing issues. If gridlock returns in the next four years, it will be on his head as well as Republicans’.
By Cathy Locke, Sacramento Bee
Placerville-based Sierra Wildlife Rescue will offer classes in February for the public and prospective wildlife rehabbers.
The class for the general public, “An Introduction to Local Wildlife,” is scheduled from 1-3pm Feb. 9. It will focus on the natural histories of species found in El Dorado County and surrounding areas.
Classes also are scheduled Feb. 23 for people interested in learning to rehabilitate baby skunks and squirrels of all ages. “Rehabbing Baby Skunks” will be offered from 10am to noon, and “Rehabbing Squirrels” from 1 to 3pm.
All classes are at Sierra Wildlife Rescue’s Wildlife Center, 3030 Newtown Road, Placerville.
Reservations may be made by calling Barbara Barker at (530) 621.2650 or emailing barbaraewing@cal.net. Classes are free to Sierra Wildlife Rescue members. A $5 donation is requested from nonmembers.
Elena Hight of South Lake Tahoe landed the first-ever double backside alley-oop rodeo in a halfpipe competition Saturday night.
She scored a 90 in the women’s snowboard superpipe final at the X Games in Aspen.
She took silver behind Kelly Clark. Clark had 90.33 points.
Arielle Gold took bronze.
Hannah Teter of South Lake Tahoe placed fifth with 81 points.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
Placer County is saving money and reducing energy use thanks to federal stimulus funds.
The county installed energy efficient lights at several county-owned buildings. More than 2,700 interior lighting fixtures were replaced with energy-saving fluorescent bulbs and ballasts. Lighting occupancy sensors were installed to turn off lights when offices are not in use.
In addition, more than 30 energy efficient building mechanical units were installed. These units included split and packaged heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, boilers, and chillers.
The project completed last year with a $591,000 grant, is expected to save Placer County 686,761 kilowatt hours or nearly $100,000 in energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 274 tons annually.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
