Death of a Foster Child explores the guilt felt when the foster placement of a teenage girl in the home of Rick Podowski and his wife failed. To complicate matters, the foster child was brutally murdered and the authorities have accused her of selling drugs on the school campus and by implication asserted that the foster parents allowed this behavior. Rick Podowski with the help of Leti Ramos, Erin McGinty and Teresa Spinelli, also know as The Hefty Trio, investigate what really happened.
In the process of investigating, they discover the world of drug sales on the high school campus, the underlying challenges facing students in a gang infested school, as well as the difficulties faced by special education students. The reader will experience the frustrations of foster parents when faced with a system that is designed to keep the children dependent. Suggestions to improve foster care and move the children towards independence are provided at the end of the book.
Myka Cellars
Mica Raas learned to make wine from the ground up, starting
as a cellar rat who worked in Sonoma's Russian River Valley. Since then he has
worked in Napa, Sonoma, and Lodi, and has now come back to Watsonville to own
and operate his own winery.
Myka Cellars takes a holistic approach to winemaking. There
are no fermenters larger than one ton and many of the wines are only one or two-barrel
lots. Mica's goal is to produce food friendly wines lower in alcohol and oak.
The wines of more than one grape involve a co-fermentation with all grapes
fermented together to create complex and unique flavors that can only be
obtained through this process. Oak barrels are used to accentuate the existing
flavors of the grapes, and care is taken that the oak does not become the
dominant flavor. The grapes that are used for the wines come only from very
small family operated vineyards in the Monterey Bay region.
Currently Raas is making: Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir,
Zinfandel, Charbono, Cabernet Franc, and a blend called Chloe Meritage-
Cabernet Sauvignon, Cab Franc, and Merlot.
Total production for the winery is about 1,500 cases per
year.
Rick's Polish Borscht with Myka Cellar's Chloe Meritage
Borscht is one of Rick's favorite soups. Serve this with some
perogi which can be found in the freezer section of the supermarket and you
will have a wonderful meal.
2 leeks
2 carrots
2 stalks of celery
8 beets (medium sized)
8 cups of water
1 bay leaf
2 cups rough chopped parsley or one bunch
2 cups rough chopped dill or one bunch
2 teaspoons salt
lemon juice or vinegar to taste
Clean the leeks, carrots and celery and chop into large chunks.
Wash the beets and chop off both the ends. Do not peel. Add all of the
ingredients, except the lemon juice, to a very large pot, and bring to a boil.
Simmer for 1 hour. Remove the beets and set aside. Peel the beets when they have cooled down.
Strain out the veggies, reserving the broth. Either chop the beets into small bite size pieces or julienne them.
Put the beets and broth back in the pot. Heat until nice and hot. Add lemon juice or vinegar to taste and season with salt and pepper.
Simmer for 1 hour. Remove the beets and set aside. Peel the beets when they have cooled down.
Strain out the veggies, reserving the broth. Either chop the beets into small bite size pieces or julienne them.
Put the beets and broth back in the pot. Heat until nice and hot. Add lemon juice or vinegar to taste and season with salt and pepper.
Serves 8
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| Borscht, Pierogies, Sour Cream and Meritage |