Larimer County Police hosted a DUI Checkpoint in Fort Collins during the Halloween weekend.
Posts Tagged ‘ halloween ’
DUI checkpoint ensures safe driving in Fort Collins
Sandra Thomas: PHOTOS: A Taste Of The Islands At A Hawaiian Food Festival
Staring down at the roasted pig’s head adorning a kiosk at the Mealani’s Taste of the Hawaiian Range and Agricultural Festival at the Hilton Waikoloa on the Island of Hawaii, I had no idea the wild bore I had just happily sampled would mark the start of a weekend I can only describe as the ultimate foodie fantasy. After flying in from Seattle, we checked into our room at the neighboring Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort with just enough time to shower and change before heading to the Taste event. The rush was worth it. The event showcases everything that’s great about the local Hawaiian food/agriculture scene, including luscious organic produce and top chefs who bring the best out of locally raised (or wild) pig, beef and lamb. The event has a nose-to-tail philosophy which, depending on the luck of the draw, sees chefs creating delicacies from not only the most popular cuts of meat, but also the least appetizing including tripe and the now infamous mountain oyster, aka bull calf testicles. Each year participating local chefs draw to see which meat they’ll prepare for Taste about a month prior to the event in order to come up with a concept designed to wow the large crowd of foodies who attend annually. This year the mountain oyster challenge was presented to chef Jayson Kanekoa and his chef de cuisine Raylynn Kanehailua from the Waikoloa Beach Marriott, who came up with a kind of bull testicle tamale, which I wasn’t brave enough to try — but fed to my more adventurous partner who gave it a big thumbs up. I did indulge in a taste of heart sausage created by the chefs from Roy’s Waikoloa and it opened my eyes as to how the less-noble cuts of meat can be transformed into something delicious. The next morning I was scheduled to take part in the Chef Shuttle tour offered as part of a package at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott and was surprised to see my personal guide for the day was Chef Jayson Kanekoa of mountain oyster fame whom I’d spoken to briefly the night before. Chef Jayson and I embarked on our foodie travels at 7 am and headed for two farmers markets in Waimea. On the way, we stopped for breakfast at a local institution called Hawaiian Style Café, where particularly large Hawaiian men cooked up pancakes the size of hubcaps and where you can order the Internet Loco Moco featuring Spam, Spam and more Spam. (My partner and I ended up driving to Waimea twice more to the café for breakfast in the all too-short week we spent on Hawaii.) Fortified with breakfast, Chef Jayson and I headed for the Hawaiian Homesteaders Farmers Market and Town Market where together we sourced out ingredients for what would later become dinner for a group of us back at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott. Market-goers and vendors alike greeted Chef Jayson with alohas, handshakes and hugs. Maybe it was being in the company of a celebrity chef, but I found the vendors exceptionally friendly and knowledgeable about the organic produce, fish, meat, flowers, treats and coffee they were selling. I met a coffee grower who had a photo album on display detailing the history of his family’s plantation from its start two decades earlier, as well as Mike Hodson, a retired vice cop who now owns and operates one of the most successful organic farms on the island, Wow Farm. Hodson told me that after surviving two decades on the force, there was no way he was going die from spraying chemicals on his tomatoes. The end result? Juicy, delicious, pesticide-free tomatoes that actually taste like tomatoes. By the end of our tours of the farmers markets, Chef Jayson and I had chosen the main ingredients for a four-course meal I will never forget. Our dinner, a deliciously divine example of the farm-to-table philosophy driving the agricultural tourism industry in Hawaii, began with seared ahi tuna accompanied by roasted garlic, Kamuela tomato gazpacho, followed by some of those Wow tomatoes served with the macadamia nut, basil-infused goat cheese I had earlier chosen at the farmers market. Our entrée was a veal chop with poha berry jam, local mushrooms and purple sweet potatoes from the neighboring island of Molokai. Dessert was coffee crème brulee with a cup of brew hand-pressed at our table — both made from beans purchased earlier from that same grower. Even more delightful was the line printed at the bottom of our menu, “Prepared for Ms. Sandra Thomas…” This personalized touch is part of the Chef Shuttle package. Completing our foodie fantasy weekend was Sunday night’s Sunset Luau at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott during which we indulged in Kalua pig, which had slow roasted in an underground oven all day, Lau Lau chicken and numerous mai tais. Sure there was talented fire knife dancers, beautiful hula dancers and traditional Hawaiian music, but on this foodie weekend, it was all about that sumptuous buffet. And here’s a brief look at Chef Jayson during one of his Chef Shuttle Tours: More: Sandra Thomas: PHOTOS: A Taste Of The Islands At A Hawaiian Food Festival
States Change How They Recruit Foster Parents
MIAMI — For decades, it was common for officials around the country to approve foster parents by room and board criteria: Did they pass a background check? Is their home clean? Are their dogs safe and vaccinated? Now several states including Florida, California and Wisconsin are trying to find ones who they know upfront will help with homework, sew Halloween costumes and accompany kids to doctor appointments. Complicating the efforts is the longtime problem of finding enough adults to house children in need. “Most jurisdictions end up being in a reactive mode because they don’t have enough fosters parents so they’re just focused on getting people into the fold instead of making sure standards for parents are elevated,” said David Sanders, an executive vice president at Casey Family Programs, an advocacy organization in Seattle. In Florida, the demand for foster homes was so dire that children were sleeping in child welfare offices as recently as a few years ago. And there were recurring problems for the parents that it could recruit: unreturned phone calls, condescending caseworkers and an inability to get the records they needed. They also weren’t invited to staff meetings where the child welfare professionals were making decisions about the foster child’s case. Former Department of Children and Families Secretary Bob Butterworth worked with Carole Shauffer, executive director of Youth Law Center and an attorney who often sued the state, to make sweeping changes to the system in 2007. Through a far-reaching Quality Parenting Initiative program, Shauffer worked with foster parents and child welfare workers in Florida to address those issues during a 90-day program. Meetings were designed to bring foster parents and caseworkers together to open the lines of communication. Florida changed the way it trains staff and recruits foster parents, even offering online training to make it more convenient to get certified. Overall, the changes led to a distinct cultural change in how the two view each other. The program also encourages small improvements, like returning foster parents’ phone calls or writing a thank-you note to them. Shauffer’s team heads the initial effort and stresses the program is not a marketing campaign, but rather an ongoing effort to change stereotypes, increase communication and cut through barriers between foster parents and state agencies. Shauffer’s organization spent more than $150,000 in 15 regions across Florida this past year. The tab was picked up by an advocacy group. Several counties in California began using the program in 2009 after seeing Florida’s success. “The cost is minimal. It’s the commitment that’s hard,” said Shauffer, who said child welfare agencies in both states have made the changes a priority. Foster parent groups say the changes are sorely needed. “We can use overhauling,” said David Sharp, public policy chairman for National Foster Parent Association. Sharp says that while conditions vary by state and county, foster parents often don’t get to comment in court on how the child is doing on a daily basis. Instead, volunteers representing the children and attorneys for the state typically give their opinions about where they think a judge should place a child. “Agencies don’t take us seriously. No matter how upset or concerned we might get for children’s wellbeing, there’s really nothing we can do,” said Sharp, who is also a former Alabama foster parent of 27 children. “(Foster parents)…see they don’t have any effect on the child’s life long term and they quit.” Around the country, smaller-scale efforts are springing up to address problems. Connecticut’s new child welfare Commissioner Joette Katz has pushed for massive foster care reform, saying the agency needs to respect foster parents, include them in decision making and provide better support services. Her changes come in the aftermath of a class-action lawsuit in 1989 alleging Connecticut’s child welfare system was failing to find quality permanent families for foster children. At one point, 30 to 35 percent of foster kids were being housed in group homes and institutions – a costly but generally inferior alternative to foster homes, said Ira Lustbader, lead attorney for the lawsuit filed by the advocacy group Children’s Rights. The state was so short on foster homes they were sometimes keeping unqualified foster parents, he said. An independent federal court that is monitoring reform efforts has repeatedly said the state overuses group homes and institutions instead of recruiting more foster parents. In 2008, the state agreed to add 850 foster family homes by July 2010, yet had a net loss of 84 foster homes as of July 2011. Tennessee and New Jersey have had success launching efforts to recruit homes specifically for teenagers and children with disabilities and other special needs – populations that often end up in group homes or institutions. In 2006, Wisconsin launched a four-year marketing campaign where child welfare officials assessed the motivations of their best foster parents. They realized the majority did it for personal fulfillment or spiritual desires. They crafted a marketing campaign, trying to attract foster families akin to Peace Corps recruits – an honest way to balance tough work and poor pay with a priceless human reward. The website didn’t just include rosy stories from foster parents. Officials were up front that “this is painful, this is hard work. There are no rewards sometimes,” said Colleen Ellingson, CEO of Adoption Resources of Wisconsin, who coordinated the effort. Some foster care agencies initially felt it was a waste of money. “Within a year they all said this was the most effective help we’ve ever had. It was driving families to them,” she said. One area had 25 potential foster families contact them in one month. In the past they’d never had more than five. Some states are also cutting foster parents who don’t meet expectations. Miami foster parent Maritza Moreno says she’s frustrated when she hears of fellow foster parents relying on medical transport provided by the state to take their child to the doctor. “A parent would never do that,” said Moreno, an insurance adjuster, who has fostered eight children, mostly babies, in the past four years. She says foster children “really need a parent, not a caregiver.” Original post: States Change How They Recruit Foster Parents
Tamie Adaya: West Hollywood: A Cultural Gem
Nestled between Beverly Hills and Hollywood, and bordered by the Santa Monica Mountains and an honor guard of mega-billboards, West Hollywood, the Creative City, is one of Los Angeles’ finest examples of the culture of the cutting-edge. WeHo is home to 39,000 full-time residents, yet plays host to a weekend influx of 78,000 who come to take advantage of world-class shopping, dining and events the likes of the annual Vanity Fair Oscar Party and largest Halloween Street Party in the world; quite the attractive blend of intimacy and vibrancy. A two-square-mile city, WeHo natives put the “nobody walks in LA” cliche to rest. There are only three Cecconi’s Restaurants in the world, one in London, one in Miami and one, at the Melrose Avenue and Robertson Boulevard intersection, in the heart of WeHo. Cecconi’s is an absolute must for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or unparalleled Italian Tapas. Just down the block on Melrose, you’ll run into one of my favorite hair salons, Galvin & Benjamin, breathtaking boutiques such as Maxfield , Marc Jacobs , Alexander McQueen , Paul Smith , Miu Miu …and if you’re a vintage-maven like me, just a few blocks further east and you’ll find some of LA’s best kept secrets, selling gowns and formal-wear from the 20′s, 30′s and 40′s. The City’s “Art on the Outside” engages visitors and residents with innovative artwork. Currently WeHo is hosting seven colossal abstract sculptures from world-renowned contemporary artists along the grass median of Santa Monica Blvd, historic Route 66. Sprinkled throughout the city and also running through June 2012, you can also find multi-lingual poetic municipal signs by artist Rebecca Lowry. But, the cherry on top of WeHo at the moment, lies within MOCA’s Pacific Design Center Space, where former Dior Homme designer, YSL art & collections director, and International Designer of the Year, Hedi Slimane demonstrates a uniquely experiential & uplifting breed of story-telling with his exhibit “California Song.” On the ground floor Slimane’s ‘California years’ black-and-white photographs are framed in unfinished wooden boxes and separated from one another by mirror’s, offering individualized vantage points to take stock of the series of narratives being whispered in the intimate space. A genuine look at California’s rock and roll heritage is splattered throughout the gallery, from monochrome portraits of Francis Bean and her mother Courtney Love, Beach Boy Brian Wilson and up-and-coming lead-singer Christopher Owens, set next to iconic images of broken down squats, vintage pontiacs against the Pacific Ocean and a blurry look at the American dream. The top floor, produced exclusively for MOCA, showcases an outstanding sonic & motion-picture installation. Photographs are projected onto a cube in the center of the room, surrounded by speakers, inviting you to soak up your own version of Slimane’s slightly morose exploration of youth subculture & beauty culture, and the immersive intersection of fashion as art & photo as literature. “California Song” will be on display at MOCA’s Pacific Design Center space in West Hollywood through Jan-22, 2012. The rest is here: Tamie Adaya: West Hollywood: A Cultural Gem
Tamie Adaya: West Hollywood: A Cultural Gem
Nestled between Beverly Hills and Hollywood, and bordered by the Santa Monica Mountains and an honor guard of mega-billboards, West Hollywood, the Creative City, is one of Los Angeles’ finest examples of the culture of the cutting-edge. WeHo is home to 39,000 full-time residents, yet plays host to a weekend influx of 78,000 who come to take advantage of world-class shopping, dining and events the likes of the annual Vanity Fair Oscar Party and largest Halloween Street Party in the world; quite the attractive blend of intimacy and vibrancy. A two-square-mile city, WeHo natives put the “nobody walks in LA” cliche to rest. There are only three Cecconi’s Restaurants in the world, one in London, one in Miami and one, at the Melrose Avenue and Robertson Boulevard intersection, in the heart of WeHo. Cecconi’s is an absolute must for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or unparalleled Italian Tapas. Just down the block on Melrose, you’ll run into one of my favorite hair salons, Galvin & Benjamin, breathtaking boutiques such as Maxfield , Marc Jacobs , Alexander McQueen , Paul Smith , Miu Miu …and if you’re a vintage-maven like me, just a few blocks further east and you’ll find some of LA’s best kept secrets, selling gowns and formal-wear from the 20′s, 30′s and 40′s. The City’s “Art on the Outside” engages visitors and residents with innovative artwork. Currently WeHo is hosting seven colossal abstract sculptures from world-renowned contemporary artists along the grass median of Santa Monica Blvd, historic Route 66. Sprinkled throughout the city and also running through June 2012, you can also find multi-lingual poetic municipal signs by artist Rebecca Lowry. But, the cherry on top of WeHo at the moment, lies within MOCA’s Pacific Design Center Space, where former Dior Homme designer, YSL art & collections director, and International Designer of the Year, Hedi Slimane demonstrates a uniquely experiential & uplifting breed of story-telling with his exhibit “California Song.” On the ground floor Slimane’s ‘California years’ black-and-white photographs are framed in unfinished wooden boxes and separated from one another by mirror’s, offering individualized vantage points to take stock of the series of narratives being whispered in the intimate space. A genuine look at California’s rock and roll heritage is splattered throughout the gallery, from monochrome portraits of Francis Bean and her mother Courtney Love, Beach Boy Brian Wilson and up-and-coming lead-singer Christopher Owens, set next to iconic images of broken down squats, vintage pontiacs against the Pacific Ocean and a blurry look at the American dream. The top floor, produced exclusively for MOCA, showcases an outstanding sonic & motion-picture installation. Photographs are projected onto a cube in the center of the room, surrounded by speakers, inviting you to soak up your own version of Slimane’s slightly morose exploration of youth subculture & beauty culture, and the immersive intersection of fashion as art & photo as literature. “California Song” will be on display at MOCA’s Pacific Design Center space in West Hollywood through Jan-22, 2012. The rest is here: Tamie Adaya: West Hollywood: A Cultural Gem
Infant Suffocates After Allegedly Being Left Unattended
A two-month-old baby suffocated and died after allegedly being left alone the night before Halloween, reports NBC Los Angeles . Corrina Atuatasi, 27, was watching her infant son on October 30 while her husband and two-year-old daughter were away visiting family. more › Read more: Infant Suffocates After Allegedly Being Left Unattended
Did Sally Field Do It in the West Village?
BUYER: Sally Field LOCATION: New York City, NY PRICE: $2,550,000 SIZE: 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms YOUR MAMAS NOTES: A snitchy little birdie told landed outside out window this morning and chirp-chirp-chirped that Oscar-, Emmy-, Golden Globe- and People’s Choice-award winning actress Sally Field (may have) recently snatched up a New York City pied-a-terre. Okay, truth is Your Mama actually read it in a barely-there blurb in the Gimme Shelter column of the New York Post this morning like everybody else. Property records available online reveal that just before Halloween a woman named Sally Field spent $2,550,000 to acquire a two bedroom and two bathroom cooperative apartment in one of the more refined and in-demand buildings in downtown Manhattan’s West Village. Your Mama can not confirm, however, the Sally Field who signed her famous name on the deed’s dotted line is the very same Sally Field ( Gidget, Sybil, Norma Rae, Steel Magnolias ) whose long and sometimes hilly Showbiz career has been on fire the last few years with the screaming success of the now canceled family (melo)drama Brothers & Sisters . So, for now anyways, this is just some celebrity real estate rumor and gossip, okay? Thing is, we love us some Sally Field so we can’t resist taking her real estate ball and running with it… The apartment in question sits on a high floor of an august 17-story pre-war building, a red and brown brick edifice of reassuring proportions designed by architect Robert T. Lyons, built by the Bing brothers–that makes it what’s known in local parlance as a Bing & Bing building–and completed in 1931. Handsome Art Deco-era architectural flourishes with a Greek key design embellish the facade. Originally an apartment hotel– hello Wikipedia –the building converted to a co-operative apartment house in 1987. Some of the children may recognize this building as the very same one where it was once widely rumored and reported sit-com and rom-com queen Jennifer Aniston was interested in the possible acquisition of a duplex penthouse then priced at $14,950,000. Miz Aniston did not buy the duplex. She bought, as it turns out, two apartments in another West Village Bing & Bing building. Records show the posh penthouse Miz Aniston didn’t buy was actually purchased for $12,500,000 by one of the many daughters of the very philanthropic co-founder of Purdue Pharmaceuticals , the makers of OxyContin . Anyhoo, we’re not here to speak on Miz Aniston’s sometimes fickle and inexplicable real estate ways but rather those of a lady named Sally Field who who may or may not be Sally Field and who just paid $2,550,000 for the aforementioned high-floor apartment in a fancy but relaxed pre-war building in New York’s West Village. The always informative real estate website StreetEasy shows the apartment, a successful combination between a studio and a one bedroom apartment, was listed with a price tag of $2,350,000, which means, as per our bejeweled abacus that this Miz Field paid $200,000 over the asking price. And what did her extra two hundred thousand get her y’all might wonder? Listing information shows 4-room corner apartment, fairly spacious by West Village standards where a puny 300 square foot 5th floor walk up studio apartment can easily cost $1,700 per month , has windowed exposure on four sides and carries hefty monthly maintenance charges of $2,426 per month. A long and narrow entrance hall with an excellently large walk-in coat closet directs traffic into a lofty living/dining area with beamed ceilings, large windows with pretty city views, and the first of two wood burning fireplaces in the apartment. Your Mama hopes somebody tells Miz Field that all that track lighting in the living room needs to be removed. A woman of her stature and eminence probably shouldn’t have track lighting in their home(s). Anyhoodles poodles, the simply designed but decently sized kitchen opens to the dining area over a long counter topped half with marble and half with butcher block. The dishwasher situated directly under the sink causes Your Mama’s heart to palpitate uncomfortably How does one rinse and load dishes in a set up like that anyhow? When we take into account this is a kitchen in Manhattan–and one must absolutely take in to account this is a kitchen in Manhattan and not a kitchen in a suburban mcmansion–the ugly dishwasher situation is somewhat mitigated by the full-size fridge/freezer, large window for proper light and ventilation, teeny-tiny walk-in pantry, and impressive amount of counter space. The living/dining room is flanked by bedrooms, each with two closets (including one walk-in in each room) and an attached bathroom. The master bedroom has a fireplace and a window in the walk-in closet but it’s also got green marble tile floors–What the hell?!?–and a petite, window-free bathroom. The second bedroom, only slightly smaller than the master, also has a walk-in closet plus cross-ventilation and a welcomed window in the compact bathroom where, somewhat regrettably, the stacked washer and dryer are installed. That complaint aired, we again recognize this is a New York City apartment where an inconveniently located private washer-dryer stack is immeasurably much better than no private washer-dryer stack at all. For two and a half million of our clams Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter would hope and pine for a slice of outdoor space. Otherwise, in our humble and meaningless opinion, this apartment reeks of Big Apple desirability and can easily be fashioned into a comfortable urban aerie for part- or full-time living that would appeal to just about everyone perhaps but those poor people afflicted with the dreaded Real Estate Size Queen Syndrome, a disease that often and unfortunately goes hand-in-hand with the even more infectious Real Estate Snobitis. Until recently Sally Field– the Sally Field–owned a secluded estate nestled into the rolling foothills of Malibu that she first listed in March 2009 for $6,950,000 . The estate, complete with swimming pool, tennis court, and equestrian facilities was taken off the market after just months. The private property wasn’t re-listed until May 2011 when it popped up with a new, improved and much lower asking price of $5,900,000. Property records we peeped show was sold within two months. Early reports in the celebrity real estate gossip blogs and publications like the L.A. Times show the property sold for $5,650,000 but a closer examination of online deeds and documents shows it sold for $5,909,000. Make of that what you will. As best as Your Mama can tell the horsey estate was sold to a Malibu gynecologist and a Pacific Palisades-based clinical psychologist who bills herself as a “love and happiness guru.” listing photos: Sotheby’s International Realty via StreetEasy See the article here: Did Sally Field Do It in the West Village?
Week in Review: Board of Ed Election, Subway Opposition and Hillside Views
School board candidates are preparing for the upcoming election and the City Council is still fighting the proposal to place a subway under Beverly Hills High School. Here are the top stories from Oct. 30 to Nov. 5. 1. Is there too much leftover Halloween candy hanging around at your home? Patch has some ideas for ways to get rid of it . 2. Beverly Hills police determined that an alleged sexual assault at the Montage Hotel was a “baseless” claim. 3. Nearly 1,500 residents have already voted by mail in the Nov. 8 election for three seats on the Board of Education. 4. The City Council has reiterated its pledge to keep up opposition against tunneling under BHHS. 5. In more council news, the panel has postponed its vote on a proposed ordinance that addresses the height of trees and foliage in the Trousdale Estates . Also, did you remember to set your clocks back one hour? Daylight saving time is over . Be sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook . See more here: Week in Review: Board of Ed Election, Subway Opposition and Hillside Views
Melody Godfred: The Nightmare Before Halloween: LACMA’s Dead Man’s Ball
After LACMA’s sold out Dead Man’s Ball on Saturday night, we may want to consider renaming Halloween after Tim Burton (Burtonween? Halloburton? That might scare people a bit too much). His influence was seen and felt everywhere, as a diverse crowd of partygoers paid homage to the king of underworld-inspired cinema with elaborate costumes including The Mad Hatter, Edward Scissorhands, The Corpse Bride and Jack Skellington. This year, LACMA’s annual Muse Costume Ball gave Burton’s character center stage for a festive night of music and art. The event spanned several unique spaces within the museum, from an outdoor reception near LACMA’s signature installation “Urban Light,” a multi-room indoor space with a dance floor and of course, the Tim Burton exhibit itself, which was open all night in honor of its closing weekend. Walking through the exhibit, it felt as though Burton’s eccentric characters had escaped from their eternal resting places (sketches, sculptures and films) for a night of revelry, transforming LACMA into the scene of a Burtonesque Night At The Museum . The night also featured The Bumbys , an anonymous, masked couple that gave ghoulish guests a typewritten “fair and honest appraisal” of their appearance. A long line of costume-clad attendees excitedly awaited their judgment, which was contained in a short description (an original blend of intellect, wit and absurd pop culture references) and a numerical rating. In a night full of avant-garde entertainment, The Bumbys stood out for engaging the crowd, with everyone eagerly sharing their clever appraisals with each other. Other highlights included a rocking performance by She Wants Revenge , roving concerts by Killsonic (a 25-piece punk, jazz orchestra that dropped dead at the end of their show), DJ Beatlejuice (aka DJ Jeremiah Red) and several costume contests. The drink of the night was “The Afterlife Elixer” (Kanon Organic Vodka, lemon verbena bitters, simple syrup, soda and mint), which definitely kept partiers rallying until the close of the Dead Man’s Ball at 12:30 am. Although the event had light appetizers, guests also had the option of dining at LACMA’s restaurant, Ray’s and Stark Bar, which offered a Halloween-themed prix fixe menu that included Jack-O-Lantern Soup, Meat and Bones (hanger steak) and blood sausage. Now in its eighth year, LACMA’s Muse Costume Ball is known for drawing the best costumes in town. After this year’s Burton-inspired spectacle, it’ll be interesting to see how LACMA tops itself next year. Photos by Brian Brown of thebeeseye.com Read the original: Melody Godfred: The Nightmare Before Halloween: LACMA’s Dead Man’s Ball