Palm Springs, CA – The first annual Crater Lake CHEF CHALLENGE just completed the fourth week of competition in its new valley-wide Chefs’ cook-off. The eight-week Chefs’ cook-off is being sponsored by Crater Lake Vodka, Fixtures Living and RR Broadcasting, and takes place every Wednesday from 4pm to 6pm at the Fixtures Living store on Highway 111 in Rancho Mirage. The public is invited to attend the weekly Chefs’ cook-off and register to win multiple door prizes, including a trip to Sedona, AZ, a 3 day/2 night stay for two at Miracle Springs Resort and Spa, a Big Green Egg grill/smoker and more!
Chef Matt Lehman of Stuft Pizza in Old Town La Quinta, and Chef Anthony Santucci from the Capri Restaurant at Miracle Springs Resort, DHS.To participate, each chef must create an innovative entrée, and either a dessert or an appetizer that features Crater Lake Vodka as the signature ingredient. Celebrity judges evaluate the dishes based on creativity, taste and presentation. Chef Anthony Santucci from Capri Restaurant at Miracle Springs Resort, DHS, and Chef Matt Lehman of Stuft Pizza in Old Town La Quinta went head to head this week. Chef Matt made Chilled Lobster Stack with a Jalapeño Vodka reduction and Snoop Lion Sea bass. Chef Anthony made an Asian Coleslaw with grilled pork tenderloin in an espresso vodka marinade and seafood with pepper Vodka. Chef Matt Lehman from Stuft Pizza won this week’s competition, and will move on to the semi-final round.
The eight-week Crater Lake CHEF CHALLENGE culminates with a final round of competition where each of the weekly winners will compete to win a special Grand Prize Package, and the title of Crater Lake Master Chef.
WHAT: The Annual Crater Lake CHEF CHALLENGE
WHERE: Fixtures Living, 71905 Highway 111, Suite B, Rancho Mirage
WHEN: Wednesdays through October 3rd. 4pm to 6pm
For more information, or to schedule an interview,
Open auditions for “A Don’t Hug Me Christmas Carol”, a hilarious musical spoof of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” at Theatre 29, have been delayed by one day.
Director Marty Neider said try-outs will now be held Tuesday, September 18th at 6:30 PM at Theatre 29, 73637 Sullivan Road in Twentynine Palms. Originally set for Monday the 17th, the try-outs are being delayed one day because of a scheduling conflict. Audition “sides” are available on the Theatre 29 website at www.theatre29.org.
Those trying out are reminded to prepare 16 bars of music to sing, there will be no live accompanist, so please bring a backup CD or a tape (cued up to where you start singing), you may also bring a song to sing acapella.
The final show the 2012 season, “A Don’t Hug Me Christmas Carol” is an outrageously funny take-off of the Classic Dickens play set in Bunyan Bay, Minnesota. This musical has 18 original songs in several different musical styles.
The Director will be looking for performers to fill the following roles:
CLARA JOHNSON. (Age 35-50) Alto vocal range
GUNNER JOHNSON (Age 35-50) Bass vocal range
KANUTE GUNDERSON (Age 20-30) Tenor
BERNICE LIUNDSTROM (Age 20-30) Soprano
SVEN YORGENSEN (Age 40-55) tenor
“A Don’t Hug Me Christmas Carol” will run Friday and Saturday nights at 7:00 PM from November 16 through December 15, with a Thursday show at 7:00 PM November 29 and a Sunday Matinee at 2:30 PM December 9.
Tickets are available now online at www.theatre29.org or by calling the Theatre 29 box Office at 760-361-4151. Tickets are $12.00 for Adults, $10.00 for seniors and Military, and $8.00 for Students with ID and children under 12.
The US law and garden products company, Scotts Miracle Gro, the world’s largest marketer of residential pesticides, is facing $12.5 million in fines for violating numerous federal pesticide laws and for adding illegal toxins to wild bird food.
The company pleaded guilty to distributing pesticides with misleading and unapproved labels, distributing unregistered pesticides and falsifying pesticide registrations – but the most disturbing was its use of toxic insecticide in its bird food products, including Storcide II and Actellic 5E.
Part of Friday’s $12.5 million criminal settlement will go towards restoring some of the wildlife the company may have endangered. Scotts will be forced to contribute $500,000 to organizations that protect bird habitats. Other fines include a $6 million civil penalty, $2 million for environmental projects and a $4 million criminal state fine.
“Storcide II is extremely toxic to fish and toxic to birds and other wildlife,” reads the label on the containers of the chemical. Still, Scotts used the substance and sold its illegally treated bird food for two years after it began making it and for six months after employees warned the company of its dangers. The company admitted it used the toxic substances to protect against insects in the bird food during storage.
WBC heavyweight champion,Vitaly Kliеschko of Ukraine, (R) delivers a punch to Germany’s Manuel Charr (RIA Novosti/Vitaliy Belousov)
The Moscow fans only witnessed WBC heavyweight champion, Vitaly Klischko, for four rounds as a deep cut prevented German challenger, Manuel Charr, from continuing the bout.
For the first time in boxing history the champion’s wife was singing ahead of her husband’s bout.
Natalia Klitschko and a violin quartet performed the “Power of love” before the crowd at Olimpiysky arena in the Russian capital.
But right after Michael Buffer pronounced his branded “Let’s get ready to rumble”, Vitaly began displaying the power of his fists.
The fight plan, which Charr put together with Russian coach, Valery Belov, didn’t prove very effective.
He tried to push forward and surprise Klitschko with counterattacks, but starting from the second round, as soon as the German opened up he was knocked down by the champ.
In the fourth round a deep cut appeared under Charr’s eye, after he missed a left handed blow from the Ukrainian.
The challenger tried to go on fighting with a blood-soaked face, but the referee’s decision stopped the bout with 56 seconds remaining in the round.
Charr was outraged by the technical knockout, which saw him losing for the first time in his career, and urged Klitschko to continue the match.
It took him several minutes to calm down and congratulate Vitaly with a well-deserved victory.
The 41-year-old champion has collected his 45th win out of 47 meetings in professional boxing.
But the chances are high that the Moscow bout will be the last in his impressive career, with Klitschko becoming seriously involved in Ukrainian politics.
A customer enters a Wells Fargo Bank branch office.(AFP Photo / Justin Sullivan)
Wells Fargo employees wrongfully foreclosed a modest home near a small town in California, removing and destroying nearly all of an old couple’s belongings.
Alvin and Pat Tjosaas, who have been married for 56 years, lost three generations worth of their belongings when a contracted foreclosure crew accidentally broke into the wrong house. The Tjosaas had no mortgage on the house that Alvin had built with his dad as a teenager.
“Good news, we know who took it: Wells Fargo. Bad news, the stuff is all gone,” Alvin Tjosaas told CBS Los Angeles.
Subcontractors hired by the bank broke doors, smashed windows and stole valuables while foreclosing the couple’s vacation home near Twentynine Palms.
A 14-year-old Alvin had build the house brick by brick with his dad in 1961 and has taken his family and kids there ever since.
“I put my whole life into this place, building it for my mom and dad,” he told ABC News.
“I know every inch, every rock… my mom mixed all the cement by hand,” he told CBS.
Among the stolen goods were three tractor mowers, three golf carts, masonry tools, carpenter tools, a WWI uniform and flag, and decades worth of family heirlooms.
The property was the source of three generations of memories. The couple remembered letting their kids dig holes and catch lizards in the dirt outside.
“You can see this meant a lot to me,” Alvin said, with tears in his eyes.
While the costly mistake was at the fault of Wells Fargo, the bank only recently started responding to the incident after the media got ahold of the story.
“The way it’s been going, I don’t think they really care. That’s the way it’s been for three months. Now, all of a sudden, it’s you guys,” Alvin said in an ABC interview, referring to the media. “Now, all of a sudden, they call me.”
Wells Fargo released a statement of apology for the losses suffered by the Tjosaas family and said they are moving quickly to “resolve this unfortunate situation in an attempt to right this wrong.”
The bank is offering the couple $260,000 for their losses, but the Tjosaas have not yet made a decision on whether or not to accept the money and move on.
The story of the Tjosaas is one of many in which bank subcontractors foreclose and destroy homes by accident. Currently there are more than 50 homeowner lawsuits that claim contractors break into and damage still-occupied homes. The foreclosures can have an emotional impact on its victims. California resident Norman Rousseau committed suicide last May after he was threatened with foreclosure. In July, Wells Fargo also threatened foreclosure on dying cancer patient Cindi Davis, who couldn’t make her $873 mortgage payments.
While foreclosure looms above the heads of those unable to make their payments, unlucky Americans like the Tjosaas family still sometimes find themselves a victim of the bank’s break-ins – regardless of whether or not they’ve paid off their house.
Live music, motivational speeches and pink hat parade honor local survivors
Palm Desert, Calif. – Women from across the Coachella Valley are coming together to celebrate life after breast cancer on Sunday, September 9 at Palm Valley Country Club. The event, the second annual Inland Empire Susan G. Komen for the Cure Brunch, brings survivors, families and friends together to share stories, food and support.
“I got involved with this event a few years ago because I have family members and close friends who have fought breast cancer,” said Danielle Pinkerton, event chair and owner of Pink Tanning and Body Spa. “I want to let our local community of cancer survivors know that there is a local network of support.” In addition to planning the brunch, Danielle also has given free spa treatments for National Cancer Survivor Beauty and Support Day the past two years.
The brunch will feature two riveting speakers, a raffle and live music throughout. Last year more than 90 attended the event, many donning crazy pink hats – a tradition that will be continued this year.
Dechen Farrow, owner of Superior Health Nutrition, will open the event at 10:00 a.m. with a talk on holistic therapies that can enhance recovery during and after traditional cancer treatments, like chemo and radiation. Dechen will discuss how nutritional response therapy and supplements affect illness and recovery.
Author and motivational speaker, Regina Savage will follow Dechen with a talk about the struggles and successes she endured during and after her bout with breast cancer. Savage works to help women find the humor in their illness, giving them the inner strength they need to keep going, even in their darkest days. Most of the proceeds from her book, Mirror Makeovers and Savvy Insights for the Everyday Gal for Surviving Caners and Baldness with a Sense of Humor help fund events that build stronger networks for cancer survivors.
After brunch, all attendees are encouraged to take part in the highlight of the afternoon, a pink hat parade, giving everyone a change to be silly and have fun. The three in the wildest hats will receive gift baskets, provided by CV Strategies, an Indian Wells strategic communications firm.
Attendees will have a chance to win gift certificates and prizes in a raffle. Everyone will also receive a special parting gift. Throughout the afternoon Dreams, a local band featuring Willy Bonnar and Nicky Vallee, will perform live contemporary rock and jazz.
Tickets to this event, $20, can be purchased online at www.komenie.org. Invite a breast cancer survivor in your life to enjoy this fun-filled Sunday brunch.
Palm Springs, CA – The first annual Crater Lake CHEF CHALLENGE just completed the fourth week of competition in its new valley-wide Chefs’ cook-off. The eight-week Chefs’ cook-off is being sponsored by Crater Lake Vodka, Fixtures Living and RR Broadcasting, and takes place every Wednesday from 4pm to 6pm at the Fixtures Living store on Highway 111 in Rancho Mirage. The public is invited to attend the weekly Chefs’ cook-off and register to win multiple door prizes, including a trip to Sedona, AZ, a 3 day/2 night stay for two at Miracle Springs Resort and Spa, a Big Green Egg grill/smoker and more!
Posted with Blogsy
