Edinburg Review January 19, 2013

H-E-B finds new ways to help customers get healthy in the New Year

Edinburg Review

SAN ANTONIO —With a sparkling new year ahead H-E-B is introducing more ways to help customers eat and live healthier than ever before, including a nutrition labeling system and a weekly newsletter filled with healthy tips, recipes and coupons.

The initiatives are part of Healthy at H-E-B, a comprehensive, long-term commitment to improve the health of Texans and provide them with fresh, healthy food that is affordable and easy to prepare.

This week, customers will begin to spot icons on the shelf for a wide variety of products that call out seven common nutrition attributes that can help make customers make better choices —Fiber Source, Gluten Free, Organic, Heart Healthy, Sugar Free, Low Saturated Fat and Low Sodium. Other in-store signage will help customers learn more about healthy products by answering questions such as, “What is a super food?” or “What is omega-3?”

While in stores, customers can pick up a copy of “Good News,” a weekly, health-focused newsletter that features helpful fitness and nutrition topics, as well as six recipes developed by H-EB’s team of registered dietitians complete with a shopping list and coupons.

On Thursday, H-E-B hosted events across Texas to introduce customers to the new nutrition attribute tags, featuring cooking demonstrations of recipes from “Good News” and store tours led by H-E-B dietitians. The event kicked off a two-week “Total Store Event” from Jan. 2 to Jan. 15 that will be packed with cooking and fitness demonstrations and free health screenings during H-E-B’s Second Saturday event on January 12 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“We know our customers want to make healthier choices for themselves and their families, but we also know they are busy and that ease and affordability are big concerns,” Kate Rogers, vice president of communication and engagement, said.

Edinburg agency reaps bumper crop of broccoli from community garden

The Edinburg Review

Edinburg Housing Authority officials had more broccoli than they knew what to do with recently following a bumper crop harvest from a small community garden they set up at one of the housing projects.

Known simply as La Posada Community Garden, the 100 feet by 50feet plot is neatly tucked away on the southeast corner of La Posada Apartments located at the intersection of Sugar and Sprague Street in Edinburg. The apartment complex - one of five owned and operated by the Edinburg Housing Authority - is home to 74 lowincome families.

Several family members on one tepid afternoon joined housing, city and county government officials to bring in the broccoli, tomatoes, chilli, cauliflower and cabbage they planted a few months back as part of a pilot project. Edinburg Housing Authority Executive Director Rodolfo “Rudy” Ramirez, the drivetrain behind the undertaking, said the garden was an effort to instill a healthier lifestyle for the families.

“The garden gives them ac-

cess to organic foods that are healthier and safer for their consumption,” Ramirez said. “The project also encourages family members young and old alike to work side-by-side to promote physical activity and togetherness.”

Of the varieties of seeds planted, the broccoli crop returned the most handsomely. So much broccoli was produced that there was more than enough to go around. Residents got their fill as well as housing staffers who took a liking to broccoli.

The Posada Community Garden is a success story because Ramirez pushed it, residents embraced it and the community-at-large endorsed it. Both the City of Edinburg and County of Hidalgo dispatched their representatives to the project’s groundbreaking and they have been instrumental in providing constant advice on successful gardening.

One of them, Ed Krupel, a certified arborist with the International Society of Arborculture, offered valuable tips on the type of soil for different types of plants, the durability of the plants and when and how

much water to use for their irrigation.

Krupel also took part in the recent harvest. Joining Krupel at the harvest was Daniel Flores, the director of the county’s Buildings and Grounds Department. An avid gardener and angler, Flores offered plenty of useful information on the types of crops best suited for the hot and humid weather of deep South Texas. Flores was responsible for breathing life back to the Hidalgo County Courthouse ground with much needed landscaping.

Flores and Krupel have volunteered to do all they can to help the garden grow from a pilot project into a bigger undertaking, something that excites Ramirez. He has set his sights to set up community gardens at the remaining four developments - Lantana Apartments, Albores Courts, El Jardin and Viviendas Manuel Ramirez.

“This is just the beginning of what is hoped to be an allencompassing undertaking by the Edinburg Housing Authority and its residents,” Ramirez said of La Posada Community Garden at its groundbreaking.

First babies of 2013

Valley Town Crier

The Women’s Hospital at Renaissance (WHR) is excited to announce the year’s first birth happened at exactly 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1. Delivered by Dr. Marcos Ikeda, Alexia Paola Silva entered the world at a healthy eight pounds. She is the second child born to Isela and Ernesto Silva of McAllen. Born a few weeks early, baby Alexia provided quite the excitement and New Year’s celebration for the Silva family.

“It is really a privilege to be a part of such mile stones in the lives of fami lies in our community— and it is extra special when it’s a New Years baby,” said Aida Gonzalez, The Wom en’s Hospital at Renais sance Director of Opera tions. “This is one of those special moments at the hospital and WHR is proud to have delivered another healthy baby.”

Baby Alexia received a beautiful gift basket from The Women’s Hospital at Renaissance (WHR), which included a digital camera, American Express gift card,

designer diaper bag, baby blanket, toys, towels, dia pers, clothing, socks, bot tles, a kit with baby cleans ing essentials and much more.

With more than 8,900 babies delivered in 2012, The Women’s Hospital at Renaissance is commit ted to providing women and their families with the highest standards of family-focused, safe, and comfortable care. It offers a wide array of services designed to provide the highest quality of care in a comfortable facility. The hospital’s highly-trained and qualified nursing staff is committed to providing education and support for new families.

Rio Grande Regional Hospital and Dr. Lourdes Uribe helped Nathalia Gonzalez and Luis Areano welcome their son Luis Areano, Jr., into the world at 8:27 a.m. on January 1.

Luis Areano, Jr., weighs 5 pounds and 14 ounces and is 19 inches long. Nathalia and Luis are from Pharr and this is their first child.

“This is our first baby

and we feel very happy. We have had a really good ex perience,” Areano said

Ernesto and Isela Silva, with son and new baby Alexia, and Dr. Marcos Ikeda.

Luis Areano and Nathalia Gonzalez with son Luis Areano Jr.

Education Beat

By Chris Ardis

Wishes Instead of Resolutions

For as long as I can remember, the word of the day for January 1 has been “resolutions.” Then, the very next day, media sources are focused on how many people break their resolutions. So this year, I decided to make New Year’s wishes instead of resolutions.

I won’t share my 2013 personal wishes with you, but here are my education wishes:

1. I wish the 83rd Legislative Session would be education-friendly. As I write this column, I am preparing to return to work. My principal, Albert Canales, arranged for us to have a half-day session with Jim Kern. Mr. Kern earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education and English, a master’s in guidance and counseling, and a doctorate in educational psychology. Though I’m not familiar with Mr. Kern, Mr. Canales said he can’t wait for us to hear him speak. (Though you may think I digress, stay with me here.) I decided to get on Mr. Kern’s web site to learn a bit about him. This is the quotation at the top of his home page: If it’s good for kids, let’s do it. If it’s not, why discuss it? This quotation should hang in the House and Senate chambers during all education-related discussions and votes. It should also hang in all central administration offices and all classrooms. In recent years, my friends and I often ask, “Is this what’s best for our kids?” From now on, I will refer to this as “Passing The Kern Test.”

2. I wish all school district central office administrators and school boards would have a Master Program/Grant Schedule. All of us in education are familiar with the “Master Schedule,” a graphic representation of all courses offered in a school any given class period, along with the corresponding teachers and classroom numbers. It would be great to have the same thing for the countless grants and programs being implemented in a district at any given time. This Master Program/Grant Schedule would include every school in the district, the programs and grants being implemented in those schools, what each requires, and who is responsible for the implementation. Then, before any new program or grant is considered, those proposing it and those voting on it must look at this schedule to see if it would complement or complicate what is already being done. If, after doing this, it is still a “go,” the vote still should not be taken until the proposal passes The Kern Test.

3. I wish all parents and guardians insured the children under their care lived on the Road to Success. Some of the signs along that road: Attendance is Critical. If You Say You Don’t Have Homework And You Have Anything Less Than Straight A’s, You Have Homework. Make Reading a Family Habit. Respect Matters. Set Your Expectations For Yourself High And Reach Them.

4. I wish all schools would only employ teachers who teach every single day and who don’t live by what I’ll call The Limbo Rule: Constantly lowering the bar.

5. I wish the Texas Education Agency would understand that teachers do not need a refresher lesson on standardized test monitoring every time we have to proctor. If we only proctored a test once a year, I might understand it. But now, with the TAKS and the STAAR and re-testing and countless others, why in the world do we need to attend a refresher session before each one? On Twitter, my hashtag for this would be #wasteoftime.

I have more wishes, but these are my top five. May my wishes come true in 2013. Happy New Year!

Chris Ardis is in her 29th and final year of teaching. She has taught in McAllen ISD for 28 years. You can reach her at cardis1022@aol.com or on Twitter @CHRISTINEARDIS.

Proposed

By DAVID A. DÍAZ Special to The Edinburg Review

The establishment of a $100 million University of Texas medical school to serve the Rio Grande Valley and the merger of UT-Pan American and UT-Brownsville into a new university highlight the 2013 state legislative agenda for the Edinburg City Council and its jobs-creation arm, the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation.

The action by the Edinburg City Council, taken on Wednesday, January 2, follows a decision by the University of Texas System Board of Regents on Thursday, December 6.

According to the UT System:

UT regents have unanimously approved an initiative to authorize Chancellor Francisco G. Cigarroa to work with the Texas Legislature to establish a new university that includes the University of Texas at Brownsville, the University of Texas-Pan American and the future South Texas School of Medicine.

Edinburg’s legislative agenda also calls for the expansion of Medicaid, which is a state and federal partnership that provide health care coverage for people with lower incomes, senior citizens, people with disabilities, and some women and children.

“The City of Edinburg observes the promotion of residents’ health and welfare as one of its primary charges,” Mayor Richard García said. “Access to health care continues to be at the forefront of our legislative priorities list.”

Jobs, transportation, and

Proposed UT medical school, expanded health care coverage, education, top list of legislative priorities for Edinburg City Council, EEDC

infrastructure improvements that benefit Edinburg are also featured in the 2013 legislative agenda approved by the Edinburg City Council. Those measures will be taken by the city’s state’s legislative delegation to the Texas Legislature, which began its five-month regular session at the Texas Capitol

in Austin on January 8. Although the Texas Legislature impacts almost all aspects of daily life, the improvements to the quality of life in Edinburg by the proposed UT medical school and the proposed merger of UT-Pan American

Zac Brown Band to headline BorderFest

The Edinburg Review

HIDALGO — BorderFest organizers and State Farm Arena are proud to announce that BorderFest 2013: Celebrating The Cultural Treasures of Mexico will feature the Zac Brown Band band as its headlining musical act on Friday, March 1.

The Zac Brown Band follows in the footsteps of Tim McGraw, The Jonas Brothers, Janet Jackson and other superstars who have headlined BorderFest in the past.

Best known for songs such as “Chicken Fried,” “Toes” and “As She’s Walking Away,” the Atlanta-based band has

racked up more than 50 major music award nominations over the past three years and is currently in the running for the Best Country Album award at the 2013 Grammys.

Tickets for The Zac Brown Band go on sale Jan. 11. General admission tickets start at $45 each; reserved seating tickets are $163.75 each.

BorderFest 2013, proudly presented by Kraft, will kick off Feb. 28, 2013, and continue through March 3, 2013. For the latest information about BorderFest, visit www.myborderfest.com.

MORE ON THE ARTIST

Zac Brown Band www.zacbrownband.com

BorderFest 2013: Celebrating The Cultural Treasures of Mexico

FEATURING:

The Zac Brown Band, performing March 1 TICKETS:

On sale Friday, Jan. 11; $45.00-$163.75 WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013, through Sunday, March 3, 2013

WHERE: State Farm Arena, 2600 North 10th Street, Hidalgo, Texas

FOR MORE INFO: www.myborderfest.com

your valleysports

COMING UP SHORT: Vela Loses Weekend Pair

To Visiting Sharyland

BY GREG SELBER

Lottie Zarate kept looking around Saturday, and there seemed to be fewer options to choose from by the minute. Already missing defensive standout Maranda Washington, who was crutching on the side with a sprained ankle, the Vela coach saw star post Emily Azubell fall into early foul trouble. With Sharyland in town, the Lady SaberCats could have used every able body.

As it was, they shot woefully, committed 32 turnovers, and did not rebound well (minus-19) against the rugged Lady Rattlers. But hard-nosed defense kept them in it, along with 17 points from Ariel Rodriguez. The final was 47-41, Sharyland, and Vela had suffered its first loss ever in District 30-5A. The two teams are now tied atop the loop, with Shary’s lone loss having come against EHS early.

The first-year program (17-7 overall) had won seven in a row to start the slate, averaging 59.7 per. But inability to sink a shot was the difference against Shary, which earlier in the week had knocked off North. With Azubell (10 points, 10 rebounds) sitting for long stretches, the team never gelled offensively. Despite some hustle plays from Lyssa Garcia, Vela was flat throughout, although it did get to within 1 late on two free throws from Azubell, who struggled inside against massive Monica Salinas (12/12) of the Lady Rattlers. When the enemy’s Desiree Rangel nailed a huge bomb moments later, this one was history.

Rodriguez has played better games to be sure; she was off from the field and forced the action most of the night. Zarate said that when the tricky sophomore is having trouble hitting jumpers, she encourages her to keep driving to the goal, because sooner or later the shots will fall, or a foul will result. Rodriguez did connect on 9 free throws, but in the end, none of the other Lady SaberCats was much involved in the offense Saturday.

With Washington down, the depth suffered, though Nay Nay Rayford came on to bust a key three in the second (Vanessa Perez assist) for a 20-18 Vela lead. That was the last time the home side was in front, as Salinas and hard-working junior Alejandra Ruiz (14 points, 17 boards) helped Salinas dominate the paint.

VELA BOYS WINLESS AT 0-6

In the second game of the home doubleheader, the Vela boys dropped to 0-6 in league play, as Sharyland won it, 66-37. Jayden Rodriguez (six points, passed well) and freshman Michael Arguelles (nine boards) helped keep the SaberCats in the fight near halftime, and Jimmy Cisneros nailed a three to make it just 25-20, Rattlers.

But in the third period, Shary threw in 27 points to pull away; Vela managed just two free throws in the final eight minutes, making the final result seem worse than it was.

Again, the Sabes (4-17 overall) played someone well early, only to fold after the break. Rodriguez, an active guy who sees the floor nicely, collected five boards while Hector Ruiz made a long one and finished with seven points.

Matthew Cardenas wad the main man for the Rattlers, notching 17 points and taking over the game at two different junctures. He scored eight in the second quarter and then nine of his squad’s first 11 in the third on a variety of drives and pull-up jumpers. Pat de la Torre, the leading scorer this season, added 10 for the Rattlers, who rebounded from a 10-point loss to North.

Before the match, Edinburg athletic director Joe Filoteo enjoyed a moment with the two coaches set to oppose one another. David Keith of Sharyland, a 1991 EHS graduate, and Vela head man Lalo Rios (Bobcat Class of 1995) both played for Filo during the latter’s 25-year run at the helm of the program.

The Vela-Sharyland tilt took place on the same floor that the trio used when the campus belonged to EHS back in the day.

North Hoops

war

with

Shary

ends with one for two result

BY GREG SELBER

MISSION - It was Shary Week and all were restless at Edinburg North. Both girls’ and boys’ hoops squads trundled over to Rattler Country last week, for a hardwood Wednesday doubleheader of considerable magnitude in terms of the District 30-5A race.

After watching the Lady Coogs fight valiantly but succumb to the Lady Snakes, 50-44, the North boys took the floor and set about making some believers, hanging a home loss on favored Sharyland by a 10-point margin. It was perhaps the Game of the Year in Valley high school basketball, the Coogs rallying from a 10-point hole behind superior athleticism and the stifling defense it can create.

The girls had experienced their share of troubles converting easy looks, missing 10 tries inside. But they, too, played determined defense against the dangerous Shary club. In the end North was 1 for 14 in three-pointers and that, combined with poor work on chippies, spelled the doom. The team that scores most, wins.

The boys, meanwhile, proved that they are the top quintet in the league right now, with a 5-0 mark and an average winning margin of 19.0 per game. In their quest to unseat long-time power EHS as the ultimate cat in town, the Coogs are looking pretty good early: they are a lock for their third playoff trip in a row, and who knows, maybe the 30-5A title as well. Long way to go.

SHOOTING WOES, DEFENSIVE GEM

The Lady Coogs led 6-3 early when Larissa Arriola stole a loose ball in the backcourt, gave a strong hip to a defender, and scored off the contact in deep. That sort of defense was North’s standard Wednesday on the road, but at the other end of the court, it was tougher sledding.

With the improving Dulce Pena

ranging from the front of the press and then hustling back to guard 6-foot Monica Salinas

Lady Rattlers, the North stop show was solid throughout. Pena was the best athlete on the floor, and is really fulfilling some of the awesome promise she came onto the scene with a few years back. She runs and jumps like a cougar, and if she can start to shoulder some of the scoring load (North averages just 49.7, third best in town) it will increase her already ample value.

For a stretch it looked like the team could score the upset, getting to 5-2 with the win and handing Shary its second loss. But Arriola struggled from the field, as her patented drives created plenty of opportunities but few conversions.

Still, other North kids got into the act to keep things close; it was a 9-point Shary lead at one stage, until Coach Jenny Gaytan-Garcia’s crew went on a 10-4 skein to end the half. Ilse Mojarro, the angular senior, knocked down probably the biggest shot of her career in the run, nailing a rainbow three at the 5-minute mark; freshman Klarissa Lopez-Vidaurri, a demon in the making, came through with a slew of hustle plays to key the comeback, and man, she don’t play like no freshman sometimes!

When Savannah Garza popped one in off an Arriola feed, it was 33-all late in the third, and Garza too had a solid night of work. But from there, North never led again, as the well went dry on a number

of

The girls dropped to 4-3 with the loss but with some promising signs for the future. They then got 29 points from the hustling Arriola Saturday in a win against Palmview, to rise to 5-3, halfway through the league slate. That record is good for fourth place right now as Vela and EHS are 7-1 along with Shary.

In other girls’ action, Econ suffered a 1-point loss against Palmview, after taking a narrow win (also by a single marker)

of the

close shots and the Lady Rattlers were able to find Salinas (who catches exceedingly well on the fastbreak, by the way) often enough to clinch it.

Rugged Larissa Arriola snares another steal.

Aaron Beltran was a beastly defender Wednesday.

Check out this fancy move from Ariel Rodriguez

Tim Wood comes out to deny.

FINDING THE GROOVE

In the galaxy of stars for North, he sometimes gets overlooked, but close ob servers of the Cougars know all about what Christian Cantu brings to the table.

The 5-10 senior showed all

his explosive talents in the 10-point victory over Shary land, zooming and leaping on D, sticking the open look (career-best 5 threes) and generally setting the tone of the evening.

With Brian Beltran strug gling through the first half, Cantu picked up the slack and ended with a teamhigh 17 points. Down 27-17, North scored the last eight of the first half and simply

outgunned the Rattlers after the break to improve to 5-0 in district, 14-5 overall.

“We sized them up, see ing how they were playing,” said Cantu, the energetic wing. “The last three minutes of the half we turned it on, played like we can play, and that made the difference.”

Cantu added that when the Cougars play together, they are hard to beat, and the record bears that out.

“Team ball, when we do that, it works,” he com mented, noting that on one second-quarter play, the Coogs showed what they have learned. Lico Beltran grabbed an offensive re bound, withstood a shot to the chops, and passed in traffic to an open Cantu, who nailed a corner trifecta.

“After he hustled for that ball, I knew I had to make the shot,” Cantu chuckled. “I had to get it. That’s the key, we started making our shots.”

Lico Beltran, who added eight points, agreed that early on, the Coogs were a bit tentative.

“We were not in the groove so we had to buckle down and play Cougar de

fense,” said the junior guard. “I think our athletes were better, we saw that on the court in the first half, and we acted on it. We saw that we had them and we just started playing better, I don’t know... it just came together.”

One factor was the abil ity of the league leader to neutralize the Shary height advantage, with Alex Garza and David Anzaldua holding their own inside, combin ing for 11 points and 15 re bounds.

“We picked up the de fense, which always keys our wins,” said Coach Rudy Gar cia, who coached at Shary land before coming to North six years ago. “And our bigs did a good job down low. Aar

on Beltran, in particular was able to give us some defense inside that really helped to day. He did a nice job.”

Lico’s jumper early in the third gave the Coogs a lead they never relinquished, at 34-33 and with Cantu can ning a pair of bombs in the fourth, North cruised to the big road win, one of the most important results in team history.

For the league season, North averages 70.2, tops in town, and allows just 51.2 on defense, also number one among city units.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for customers to learn about healthy habits, encourage them to try new things and to start cooking at home more often. I think people will be pleasantly surprised by the taste of these reci pes our dietitians have cre ated.”

H-E-B first launched Healthy at H-E-B for its (employees) in 2004, and in 2012 expanded the ini tiative to customers in an effort to address Texas’ growing health and obe sity crisis. The initiative includes special offers on healthy food, fitness groups, events and com petitions organized around the three critical pillars of health— food, body and life.

“As a society we have forgotten that we have a re sponsibility to take care of our bodies, not only for our own health and quality of life, but also for the people who care about us,” Craig Boyan, president and COO, said.

“Not only does poor health and obesity impact employers and the econo my at large, it also affects individual happiness, fam ily finances, and perhaps most importantly, the wellbeing of our children.”

Over the last year, H-

E-B succeeded in engag ing tens of thousands of Partners and customers in various fitness and nutri tion activities and contests. Riding that momentum into 2013, H-E-B will con tinue popular programs such as free health screen ings on Second Saturdays, the community Slim Down Showdown, and challenges such as, Ready, Set, Cook!, Ready, Set, Move! and the Healthy at H-E-B Commu nity Challenge.

H-E-B will also contin ue to sponsor and encour age Partner and Customer participation in commu nity fitness events such as 5Ks, marathons and triath lons.

H-E-B believes educa tion is the key to spark ing a healthy revolution. Throughout the year, the company will focus edu cation efforts on various themes targeting preven tion of obesity, cancer and diabetes to name a few. Ex amples of themes include calorie awareness and portion control, as well as heart health and food aller gies. These educational themes will be featured in “Good News” articles, di etitian shopping tours and virtual tours available on line at heb.com/healthy.

and UT-Brownsville will take the lion’s share of atten tion for local interests.

“Our concern increas es as many of our physi cians approach retire ment, and recruitment of doctors to the region pro vides more difficult than ever due to high poverty rates and Medicare and Medic aid cuts,” the mayor noted.

“Multiple studies have shown that medical students tend to practice in the areas in which they graduated. If South Tex as is to attain a proper ratio of healthcare practitioners to patients, is absolutely neces sary that the region have ac

cess to a medical school.”

The city’s legislative agenda, which will be dis tributed to the 181-member Texas Legislature, notes that despite the fact that the RGV is one of the fastest-growing regions in Texas, it still lacks a medical school that will ensure access the healthcare practitioners in the future.

Jon Hockenyos, founder and president of the eco nomic analysis and public policy consulting firm TXP, estimated that the new uni versity and school of medi cine would likely account for 7,000 new jobs in the RGV –10,000 if economic develop

ment impact of the new uni versity is factored in.

“I think this could very well be, if not the largest, one of the largest economic de velopment opportunities for the Rio Grande Valley,” Hock enyos said

The new university would also be one of the two largest Hispanic-serving in stitutions in the nation, both for total Hispanics enrolled and number of bachelor’s degrees awarded.

Cigarroa, who gave a presentation to the board outlining the request to move forward, said there are challenges and opportuni

ties in the Rio Grande Valley and taking advantage of UT campuses with a bi-national presence on the border of Mexico in one of the fastestgrowing regions in Texas has been part of his vision since becoming chancellor in 2009.

“If we focus our atten tion on this crucial region of Texas, we can create new jobs, attract new federal and private funding, launch new facilities construction and, most importantly, provide higher education and train ing – and a stronger future –for this generation and gen erations to come.”

Cities announce tree drop-off

The Edinburg Review

With the new year in full effect cities in the area have set up their own method to recycling Christmas trees.

The Department of Solid Waste Management will be collecting the trees in Edinburg. Collection will be from Jan. 7-25. Residents should place their trees next to the curb on brush collection days. Trees must be free of decorations, tinsel, flocking and stands. Any flocked trees should be placed with brush for regular brush collection.

The City of Edinburg would also like to encourage residents to recycle all wrapping paper, Christmas cards and cardboard boxes. These items can be dropped off at the Edinburg Recycling Center located at 3102 S. Business 281.

For more information contact the Department of Solid Waste Management at 956-381-5635.

The City of Mission will have a drop-off at 2801 N. Holland Ave. Residents may drop trees off Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Accommodations may be made for a later drop-off.

For more information contact public works at (956) 580-8750.

For more information contact pubthe tree at the City of McAllen Recy-

Residents of McAllen need to remove all decorations and drop off the tree at the City of McAllen Recycling Center, 4101 N. Bentsen Rd. or the City of McAllen Compost Facility, 15201 Rooth Rd. (N. 29th). For more information call (956) 681-4050.

GOURMANDE (contd. from pg. 5)

Let’s begin with a creamy butternut squash soup. Smooth , gently sweet soup in every spoonful. For your main course I have chosen two flavorful company pleasing entrees (would you prefer fish or beef?)…..

The Sautéed Bass Filet seasoned with kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper and a hint of Old Bay seasoning. This lightly dusted (flour) filet is sautéed in whole butter and served over a roasted red onion cilantro beurre blanc sauce. You’ll enjoy the smoothness from the butter in the beurre blanc and savory spices combined with the roasted onion and fresh cilantro.

Beef tenderloin rubbed with Al Fresco’s house spices and sautéed in whole butter served with a rosemary red wine balsamic reduction sauce. A traditional red wine sauce doesn’t necessarily include balsamic vinegar, but you’ll appreciate the complexity it brings to the dish. By the way, let me enhance your experience by offering you a glass of Argentine Malbec.

Our side vegetable this evening will be sautéed green beans with bacon and cranberries. Bon appétit! I don’t want you to feel rushed. Savor each bite……. Are you ready for dessert yet? (you smile)This is my final gesture. Homemade butterscoth frosting whipped over a moist French vanilla cupcake. How does that sound? Bites Catering took care of your sweet tooth. It has been delightful to have your company for dinner. Before you go, I will pour you one last glass of champagne – let’s sit for just a moment and enjoy. This is the ideal idea for the cooking impaired.

Have a safe ride home, Madame Gourmande odettemac@gmail.com