From The Winning Certificate
After the death of her adopted mother, Sylvia develops an insatiable desire to find her birth mother. She becomes a teenage gang member trapped in a life style of violence and hopelessness. Rick Podowski helps Sylvia through writing poetry and eventually Sylvia is able to leave the gang. She finds her birth mother and becomes an unwilling participant in a plot by her mother's two stepsons.
In the following scene, the school
counselor is trying to convince Rick Podowski that he needs to help Sylvia.
The Vino Bello was a local wine shop, the walls of which
were covered with bins of the best wines produced in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Rick found Cookie sitting on a stool at the dark cherry wood wine bar, her
short legs barely reaching the rung. It was instantly clear to him that she had
rehearsed what she was going to say and that nothing he could say or do would
stop her.
"Rick, I'm so glad you could come," Cookie said as
he joined her. "I'm having a glass of Travieso Winery's Amaranta which is
a Syrah."
"Travieso," Rick said, his eyes lighting up.
"I know the owners. Mats Hagstrom is a medical doctor and Ray Sliter is a
marine geophysicist. The labels are very colorful and some depict names from
Latin American folklore."
"Really," Cookie said. "That's a good omen
because I asked you here to talk about a student who is from Latin America. I
mean Mexico."
"This is a superb wine," Rick said as the woman
behind the bar poured him a glass, intent on keeping Cookie off the subject of
her latest juvenile delinquent as long as possible. "They make a some
great blends that I love."
"Let's get their daily special," Cookie said.
"The appetizers here are always very unusual. Erin and Teresa and I have
tried to duplicate them, but with not much success on most of them. But, we
have made today's special dish. You'll see what I mean when you try it.
Incidentally, I've already ordered for us. Hope you don't mind."
"These hot Italian sausages and peppers are
delicious," Rick said as he took the first bite from the small serving
bowl. "I went to school in Valencia, Spain for a summer and I was hoping
to got to Italy, but my bags got put on the wrong train and I ended up going to
Switzerland instead. I want to eat my way from the top of Italy to the
bottom."
"That's a great goal," Cookie said. "Italian
food is really special. This dish is only made of hot Italian sausages, onions,
peppers and a little garlic. Of course this bread makes it perfect."
"Benissimo," Rick said as he put some of the
sausages on the bread and started to feel the effects of the wine.
"I also want to thank you again for winning that
grievance this summer to reduce the counselor/student ratio," Cookie went
on. "Now, I'll have more time to work with the students."
"I didn't do that by myself," Rick told her.
"We filed the grievance at our school and the union carried it through to
arbitration. The ruling went against the district and now we have one new
counselor."
"Don't be so humble," Cookie said. "I heard
that you wrote the opening statement, the arguments and the closing statement.
You kicked the butts of the district's high priced attorneys."
"I guess so," Rick said. "Enough of the small
talk. We're good friends and I know what you're trying to do. Each year you
pick a couple of students that you want to save and then you attempt to sucker
a faculty member into helping you. This year it's me."
"Sylvia Medina is a kid with lots of potential and she
needs someone to mentor her," Cookie told him purposely ignoring his
comment. "I've read the cum folder on this girl. Also I talked to her
junior high counselor. She is a great person and had a very loving mother. Her
father was a strict disciplinarian."
"That's typical for Mexican-American families,"
Rick said. "Most of my students come from families like that."
"That's right," Cookie replied. "But most of
the families haven't lost the mother. When this happened, Sylvia had no one to
turn to. She was leaving the junior high school, going through the process of
becoming a woman and because of the boundary changes, her junior high school
friends went to another school. She was very much alone."
Travieso Winery
Travieso Winery is located in an industrial area of
Campbell, California. The winemaking facility and tasting room are located in a
section of many nondescript cement block buildings. Mats Hagstrom a medical
doctor and Ray Sliter a marine geophysicist established the winery in 2003 and
in 2005 they became bonded and were sharing their facilities with Pinder
Winery. It has taken almost seven years, but they have now taken over the
Pinder facilities.
The philosophy of the winemakers is to keep control over the
grapes so they only purchase acre by acre. They use minimal sulfite additions
during the crush and allow many of the fermentations to soak and some taken
with wild yeast. Barrels consisting of 30-50% new French oak are used and wine
is aged between 24 and 36 months.
The labels are very colorful and some depict names from
Latin American Folklore. La Llorona is a white wine blend consisting of
Viognier, Chardonnay and Roussanne. El Chupacabras is a red blend consisting of
Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre and Viognier. They also produce Amaranta, a Syrah,
The Other Program Sangiovese, and an El Rey Cabernet Sauvignon. Current
production is about 600 cases a year.
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Teresa's Hot Italian Sausages and Peppers with Travieso Amaranta
Teresa thinks that this dish is great for a potluck or as a light
supper when served with a garden salad and bread. When she serves the dish as
an appetizer, she buys six-inch sandwich rolls and cuts them in half. This
allows the guests to spoon the sausage and peppers on the roll to create a
three-inch sandwich.
When she serves this dish as the main course, she puts slices of
Italian around the plate and then pours the sausage mixture in the center. The
Amaranta complements the spicy Italian sausage,
Serves 6
6 whole hot Italian sausages
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion
1 green bell pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
Boil the sausages for about 10 min and then set them aside.
Chop the pepper and onion in 3/4-1" pieces. Pour in the olive oil, add the diced garlic, peppers and onion. Cook the vegetables over medium high heat just until they begin to soften. Put the contents of the skillet into a large bowl and set aside.
Chop the pepper and onion in 3/4-1" pieces. Pour in the olive oil, add the diced garlic, peppers and onion. Cook the vegetables over medium high heat just until they begin to soften. Put the contents of the skillet into a large bowl and set aside.
Slice sausages into 1/2" thick pieces. Place one more
tablespoon olive oil into the skillet and fry the sausages until they are
lightly browned along the edges.
Stir in the bowl of cooked vegetables and continue to cook on medium-high setting, stirring every 2 minutes for about 10 minutes.
Stir in the bowl of cooked vegetables and continue to cook on medium-high setting, stirring every 2 minutes for about 10 minutes.
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| Serve with a garden salad |
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| Put bread around the plate and place the sausages in the center |
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