Super Bowl Update

The Big Game: Duke at Virginia Men's Lacrosse, Episode One of  Three. April 19, 2012.
http://youtu.be/fXoo-3OYQ1o

Now I finally have a good reason to post these behind-the-scenes videos of last month's Duke at UVA match, where the then-number one-ranked Cavaliers lost to the Blue Devils, the 2010 NCAA champs at Klöckner Stadium.

The 2012 NCAA D-1 tourney starts Saturday with the 16 best teams

WBAL-TV News, Baltimore video: Breaking News: Correspondent Lowell Melser reports on the details surrounding the jury in the George Huguely V trial handing down a 26-year sentence in Charlottesville, VA for the Second-degree Murder of Yeardley Love. February 22, 2012.

Trending at Hallandale Beach Blog: WBAL-TV's Lowell Melser's consistently crisp, thorough & detailed reporting at the George

WMAR-TV/Baltimore video: Reporter Sherrie Johnson reports on the case and its lasting effect on the UVA campus. February 3, 2012.  

http://youtu.be/6YoMTbaJtQI



Yeardley Love in our thoughts: UVA & Charlottesville, the extended UVA family & the U.S. lacrosse community are bracing themselves for the graphic details and 15 photos that both sides agree will come quickly in George Huguely V's

Martha note: It's Civic Soapbox Friday.

Come next spring, Charlottesville will be facing a decision on curbside recycling. If you are as confused as I was about what we are doing now and what our options are, keep listening.

Earlier this year we were told that the city had signed a contract with Pete van der Linde, who runs a state-of-the-art recycling center nearby at Zion’s Cross Roads, so I assumed that this contract was for C’ville’s curbside recycling. It is not, because the city already had a recycling contract with Allied Waste Services. The van der Linde contract is for city trash.

The city’s recyclables, placed in the bins at curbside, include glass, tin, aluminum, paper and plastics. We are still being asked to separate out only plastics 1 and 2 for recycling. This is a major pain in the neck, as it is often difficult to read the number, and some grocery stores cover the number with a label.

The city turned out to be my best source for information about recyclable materials – where they go and how they are dealt with – as getting information from Allied is like pouring blackstrap molasses in December.

Particularly if you say you’re trying to gather information for a media article, you’re handled like an unexploded land mine. Repeated calls to the Allied office in Charlottesville went unreturned. Finally I was told the man I was trying to reach, David Outing, “Doesn’t handle calls like this. They have to go through corporate.”

The parent corporation turns out to be Republic Services in Phoenix. Their automated phone system did not have an operator available. I was urged to leave yet another message.

Just the opposite is true when you contact Pete van der Linde. An avalanche of reasons to use his facility to handle ALL of Charlottesville’s trash and recycling needs pours forth. “We want it and we want it all,” he said, “just get it to us.”

In my phone conversation with him, van der Linde explained that he has installed new technology that is capable of separating trash from recyclables, including all plastics. This allows the comingling of waste, even food and dirty diapers, with recyclables in a dumpster. Van der Linde then sells the processed recyclables to various manufacturers.

Finally, Steve Lawson, Director of the Public Service Works Administration for the City, is able to shed light on what happens with the curbside recycling that Allied picks up. Ironically, it also goes to Zion’s Cross Roads, to a facility near van der Linde’s, where genuine recyclable material is separated and then sent on to Tidewater Fiber, in Chester, Virginia.

On the subject of only 1 and 2 plastics, Lawson says, “Allied’s hands are tied because they can only recycle what Tidewater Fiber can use. It is possible, though, that Allied may be able to change that.” Lawson went on to say that the city has not decided which way to go when the Allied contract comes up for renewal in April.

When the moment of decision comes whether or not to send both trash and recycling to van der Linde or to keep doing business with two separate companies, it seems to me it should depend on which company can deal with the largest number of recyclables at the lowest cost to the city. Since Charlottesville citizens are paying their bill, it would be nice if Allied were as forthcoming with information about cost and available services as van der Linde is.

-- Mary Buford Hitz is a writer living in Charlottesville

A couple of careers ago, over a span of about eight years, I co-owned three restaurants in Charlottesville.

My favorite was the first. It was in an old house on a dead-end street close to the University. There was a five-item blackboard menu that changed constantly. We were always cooking, so that when we ran out of one thing, we could offer something else. Each entree was served with a salad and bread. There were always 2 desserts--a fruit crisp and something else.

My partner and I ran it for five years, but it stayed open under the same name until just this year. I had great fun there while I stayed, and I stayed just long enough.

I'd never worked in, let alone run, a restaurant before co-opening that one. But I did love to experiment in the kitchen. My partner had cooked his way through law school at a pancake house, so why not give it a try?

The way I remember it, the night before we opened, I realized I needed to come up with a bread. And from somewhere came the muffin recipe that became the muffins, so popular we were never allowed to serve any other bread.

When thinking about what to blog about on this Christmas Eve Eve Day, the day that my family kicks off the winter holiday Ritual of Festive Eating, I thought it would be nice to pass that muffin recipe on to you. It's easy, the muffins store well, and they make a nice alternative to all the sweet breakfast breads that are around this time of year.

I had to call my daughter to get the actual recipe. I'd lost it through years of baking mostly by just throwing things together. Lizzie, who's a brilliant cook, is also an organized one, and so had kept up with it.

So, here 'tis.

Martha's Cafe Muffins

1.5 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour

.5 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

.5 tsp baking soda

.5 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg

6 T melted butter

Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients. Mix together (don't beat, just mix). Spoon into muffin pans. Bake till done (20 minutes) at 375degrees.

I usually use a little less sugar and buttermilk, because I like a toothy muffin. You can also add bran, oatmeal, or raisins, if you take out a little of the flour.

General note: I love baking with buttermilk. It gives a tang and makes things tender. I recommend trying it in pastry, as well, for quiche or any kind of non-dessert pie.

On a visit to my nursing home, I found that the wife of a resident was having a particularly difficult day. Her husband had recently suffered yet another stroke and the doctor informed her that his condition had definitely declined. She sat in his darkened room and was crying. I sat with her awhile then asked her if there was something I could do for her. I asked her, “How about a cup of tea? That always helps me when I am upset. I like it with a slice of lemon, how about you?”

The lady, a British war bride of many years ago, looked at me and said, “You Yanks don’t know how to make a proper cup of tea.”

I excused myself and headed toward the nursing supervisor’s office. I told her that his lovely woman would really like a “proper cup of tea.” I suggested that a plastic-foam cup and a tea bag were not what I had in
mind. The nurse stood right up and said to follow her downstairs to the kitchen storage room. There she produced a lovely china tea service, which we quickly assembled complete with a charming cup, saucer, milk pitcher, sugar and a small plate of cookies, along with boiling (not merely hot) water.

I took the tray back to the room and asked the lady if she would be so kind as to teach me how to make a “proper cup of English tea.” She took the service and proceeded to show me how to make and serve the tea. We drank two cups and had a nice chat. She mentioned where her home was in England and it so happened my husband and I had visited that town while we were on a tour of England. It gave her great pleasure and for
just a few moments she was home again.

I thanked her for her kindness and left. As I walked away from her room I had the feeling that even if I could not help him, I had helped her that day.

To learn more about the Volunteer Ombudsman program contact Beth Hochstetler, Volunteer Ombudsman Specialist, at 817-5271 or email her at bhochstetler@jabacares.org.