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Written by: Patricia England

Published: 11 May 2008

LAKE COUNTY – The American Cancer Society's Relay For Life Lake County has 45 teams with one to 20 members per team, 24 committee chairs plus committee members. These volunteers come from all over Lake County. Also involved are musicians, dancers, vocalists and performers who have donated their time and talents for the continuous free entertainment at the relay.

 

There are many reasons for involvement in this event.

This is event chair Beth Berinti's fifth year doing relay. Berinti is a cancer survivor from Lucerne. She was on a team her first year, has been a team captain for four years, a committee chair for four years, last year and this year as event chair.

 

"Once you've participated in a Relay event, you just want to continue,” Berinti said. “I lost my mom to cancer and most recently, my cousin, Dave Fesmire, which makes this Relay more poignant."

 

Charwin Ward, with Broken Ground, a band that is playing at the relay on Saturday, May 17, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., lives in Spring Valley. One band member lives in Sacramento. Ward heard about Relay from Sally Lusinger and wanted to volunteer.

 

"I lost my mother to cancer when I was 13 years old,” Ward said. “When I heard about Relay, I wanted to be a part of it. The whole band is willing to support Relay."

 

Sally Owens from Lakeport has been participating in Relay since her husband, Don, passed away from cancer six years ago. Don Owens was the principal of Clear Lake High School and the stadium is named after him. Her mother-in-law is a 20-year cancer survivor.

 

"The reason I support Relay is to help with research so our children will never have to experience this disease,” she said. She'll be walking for two teams this year.

 

Entertainment chair Naomi Wheelan from Kelseyville has participated in Relay for seven years. She heard about it from her sister who is involved in Napa's Relay. Wheelan became a team captain with Americorp her first year and has had her own team of family and friends since. She has been entertainment chair for six years.

 

"I have lost family members and close friends to cancer but every year that I hear of someone who has lost the battle to cancer, I hear of someone who has beat cancer,” she said. “Once you get involved you do whatever you can and there's plenty to do. We do make a difference."

 

Cobb resident David Neft, who has a business in Middletown, is volunteering his musical talent and time for the third year. Neft accompanies the National Anthem singer, Shelly Mascari from Middletown, and plays for the heartwarming Survivor's Lap at the 10 a.m. Opening Celebration Ceremony. Neft also will entertain us with his jazzy piano selections from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

 

Neft has close friends and relatives who have been touched by cancer. "I feel that there is no other place we should be that day,” he said. “We need to donate what ever energy and talents we have to this event. If people only knew that you gain much more than you could ever give by joining the Relay family."

 

Relay For Life supports programs right here in Lake County. One is Road To Recovery where volunteer drivers take people to and from treatments and appointments.

 

Deanne Dale of Lakeport is a driver. She got involved when, as a new resident, she needed someone to drive her to and from an important appointment. She said, "I didn't know anyone that well and figured there were other people that might need someone to drive them, also. I heard about Road To Recovery and volunteered."

 

Most every person has been touched by cancer in some way, and participating in Relay For Life is a way of "fighting back" against this disease.

There have been all types of fundraisers prior to Relay and there will be raffles, auctions, items for sale and other fundraising events at Relay.

Free entertainment starts at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 17, with the Celebration Ceremony including the Survivor's Lap. Pastor Shannon Kimball-Auth will do the invocation and the flag ceremony will be performed by the Boy Scouts of Kelseyville Troop 45.

Performers for all day Saturday and for Sunday morning are Shelly Mascari, David Neft, DJ Ken Steely and Groove Crew, Kelseyville High School Jazz Combo, Twice As Good, Antoinette School Of Dance, Open Mic at Cafe Victoria's emceed by Phil Mathewson, Sweet Adelines, Irma and Luis, Broken Ground, Hamed Hokamzedeh and Lefty. There will be karaoke contests with DJ Lori Steely with finals and awards on Sunday morning.

 

There will also be theme laps where relayers dress in styles from the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

 

Come join us in supporting Relay For Life Lake County on May 17 and May 18 at Don Owens Stadium, Clear Lake High School, 350 Lange St., Lakeport.

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Written by: Ross A. Christensen

Published: 10 May 2008

Sshhhhh! Be very quiet here, don’t even read this out loud. I don’t want too many people to know this. Just be happy that I’m telling you: The strawberry farm in Clearlake Oaks is open! You can imagine me jumping up and down yelling, “Woo-Hoo!”

What’s that? You don’t know what I look like so you can’t picture that? OK, real quick, imagine a really handsome man; now make him 100 pounds heavier, then give him a beard and a big grey hat. Now you can imagine me jumping up and down yelling “Woo-Hoo!”

But anyway, let me get back to the important news.

Just as you are approaching Clearlake Oaks from the southeast on Highway 20, there is a strawberry farm on the right hand side of the road. I have never had better strawberries than from this stand. If you have only ever had strawberries from the supermarket, when you stop here you will think these strawberries are a religious experience.

Need a better description? For readers who live in Napa or Ukiah, they’re worth the drive! How’s that? I save the little green baskets the strawberries come in for the entire summer, wash them, and the following spring I bring them back to the farm for reuse. I typically collect 50 to 60 baskets per year.

Am I getting my point across? These are the BEST strawberries anywhere! One word of advice/warning: if you have to drive any further than three miles, one basket will not make it all of the way home, so purchase accordingly.

I’ve often thought of saving the seeds from one of the berries, or asking the stand what variety of strawberries they were so I could grow them at home, but then I realize that it’s so much easier just to go to the farm stand to pick up as many as I want.

My daughter will play hostess to her friends many days during the summer, and we sit them out on the deck with a flat of strawberries and a pitcher of lemonade. That evening the flat is nothing but a cardboard box and a few green baskets, the deck has red stains all over it, and the ground is littered with strawberry hulls.

There are several stories about how strawberries received their name, with the most popular story being that in the garden they are mulched with straw. Other stories have English children threading strawberries on a reed of straw and selling them as “Strawed berries”, and yet another story describes how they were found “strewn” over the forest floor, “Strewnberries.”

But the most likely origin of the name is the practice of packaging the berries in straw for transportation and displaying them in the market on the straw. Most often in tales of naming produce, the story that evolves from the consumer spreads the farthest and therefore becomes better known. Tales of how they were named by the grower rarely survive.

I think that strawberries are one of the most sensual foods that exist. I can prove it, too: give a woman a strawberry and she will produce two sounds. First upon seeing the strawberry she will give off an inquisitive and anticipatory “Ooo!?” then upon eating it she will sound out with a pleasurable, almost orgasmic “Mmmmmmm!”

Strawberries have been considered an aphrodisiac since before the times of Rome. They contain more vitamin C than any other berry (one cup of strawberries provide 140 percent of the recommended daily allowance). Strawberries are high in potassium, folic acid and antioxidants, and have been found to carry out several things to prevent and reduce cancer. Strawberries also contain a couple of flavonoids that battle LDL cholesterol in the bloodstream. Mixing strawberries with baking soda is supposed to be a great natural whitening toothpaste, but I just think that it’s a waste of good strawberries.

Have I whet your appetite for fresh, farm grown strawberries?

The Oaks strawberry stand prices are as follows:

Basket – $2

Half flat – $10

Full flat – $19

The recipe below is for strawberry crepes, but I have to be precise: they aren’t for “true” crepes but they are easier to make. They offer a good launch at crepe-making for the beginner, and a lazy day break for the pro.

Simple strawberry filled crepes

Try serving as breakfast in bed.

Simple crepes (makes about three to four crepes)

3 eggs

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon milk

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon sugar

Pinch of salt

Mix the crepes ingredients well until combined, then cover and place in the refrigerator overnight (You need to give the flour time to hydrate and the bubbles to subside).

The next morning, heat a non-stick pan on medium heat and butter it well. Give the batter a light stirring just to make sure that the flour isn’t settled on the bottom. If the flour didn’t mix well and you have clumps, just put the batter through a strainer before cooking. Pour in about one quarter of the crepe mix and tilt the pan in a circular motion until the entire bottom of the pan is covered and the batter is no longer liquid (set). Many crepe recipes will call for you to flip the crepe but this isn’t necessary as long as the batter is set. If you buttered the pan well the crepe should just slide off the pan onto a plate. The general rule of crepe making is “The first one never turns out”, so don’t panic on the first one. Even pros mess up the first one more often than not.

Continue this process until you have used all of the batter. I typically make a double batch of batter the night before so I can make extra crepes.

Fill the crepes with the following mixture:

Filling

½ cup strawberries, hulled and halved

¼ cup sour cream

¼ cup cream cheese

1 tablespoon honey

Small pinch of cayenne pepper or black pepper

Optional – whipped cream for topping

Mix well in a bowl and then spoon into crepes and roll them up. Topping the crepes with a little whipped cream gives you bonus points! A dusting of cocoa powder wouldn’t hurt either.

You can also use the sour cream cheese mixture to pipe into hollowed out strawberries for a delicious finger food/dessert.

Ross A. Christensen is an award-winning gardener and gourmet cook. He is the author of "Sushi A to Z, The Ultimate Guide" and is currently working on a new book. He has been a public speaker for many years and enjoys being involved in the community.

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Written by: Lake County News reports

Published: 10 May 2008

LAKE COUNTY – A fundraising event dedicated to the opening of a homeless youth shelter, or safe house, for Lake County will take place on Saturday, May 17 at Rob Roy Golf Course.

A four-person scramble golf tournament will be held, with check-in time from 11:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Kathy Fowler has graciously donated a car for a hole-in-one on the second hole.

The need for the safe house is critical. The numbers of homeless youth in the US today are rising at alarming rates and Lake County is no different. Current statistics show that on any given day in Lake County, between 600 and 1000 children under the age of 18 are homeless.

Some of these children are runaways, some have been kicked out of their homes (throwaways), but the vast majority, simply have no place to sleep or be safe during the night.

The safe house will be a 24 hour facility that will provide temporary housing, access to health services, crisis services, family and individual counseling and life skills training to homeless youth.

The need for this facility has been discussed by service agencies, law enforcement and local schools for many years, but we have now hit the critical mass numbers that requires our community to take immediate action.

The Lake County Community Action Agency, under the direction of Executive Director Georgina Lehne, has taken the lead role in the development and creation of this highly needed facility. This nonprofit agency has experience in transitional shelter operations for families, food and clothing distributions, New Beginnings, self-sufficiency education and support, and is the new overseeing agency for youth services formally know as Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Boys and Girls Club.

Please help us address the large and growing population of homeless kids by attending this wonderful day of golf, gourmet dining, live music and fun.

Following the tournament, at 5 p.m., there will be a delicious western buffet. Many local businesses have donated special items for the silent and live auction which will take place throughout the evening. The cost of golf, cart and the dinner is $85, or $40 for dinner only (tax-deductible).

For information call Carol Germenis at 928-4280 or Sandy Hearn at 928-5713.

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