Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Law Lessons - Tunneling and Dead Ends ~

A few more thoughts on my Citizen Police Academy time. 

There is so much information and most of it is fascinating. 

One day's coverage was not enough for last week's class. 

I'll have more facts and stories tonight. I believe we are going to pick the brains of CSI. (sorry for the really icky pun...but now that I've made it, I must share.) 

But....here's what else I picked up last week.... Can someone die of extreme shock, a broken heart, surges of adrenaline? I learned about a couple of infrequent but “they happen” scenarios via my Citizen’s Police Academy class. 

Our officers are given tools to help them do their jobs. One of those tools is reading people, situations, body language and other signs. Some examples of this training -- our police officers are required to get blasted with pepper spray so they can develop the ability to work through the pain. Often pepper spray, when aimed at a perpetrator, is going to blow right back into the officer’s face. They need to be able to deal with those sensations and not lose their heads. A police officer is very aware that if they lose their heads lives could be at stake. 

In their preparation they are are also trained to recognize things about themselves and others. Tunnel vision is something real and they are given skills to keep ahead of the mind altering results. In the midst of extreme noise, activity and uber sensory overload the mind will funnel information and block some out. One officer told of a moment of tunnel vision that ended up giving him nightmares. It was a dark night, a tense negation with an armed man. A cruiser shone a spotlight on the suspect's face and the suspect took it up a notch to horror level extremes. The policeman who told the story said that his mind literally closed off all sound and any peripheral vision and he was riveted to the visual spotlight in front of him. When the shot was fired, the officer saw the effects, heard nothing and didn’t know where the shot had come from. He even wondered if he’d shot the man, not understanding until several minutes later that he'd witnessed a suicide. 

Another bizarre condition is called excited delirium. This doesn’t affect the officers, other than complicate their lives. Middle aged men, who have an addiction to alcohol or drugs, who have a big beer belly and the perfect storm of stress, have been known to literally drop dead. When a police officer encounters a man who fits that profile, they are very aware of this type of possible sudden death. Imagine the paper work scenario involved in a death during an arrest. A piece of brain tissue has to be sent out to a specific lab to confirm this diagnosis. It’s real enough that they are schooled about the possibility bizarre as it sounds. 

Our police are also trained extensively on the use of handcuffs. Apparently this is extremely important. I'm so naive. Less so now. Kinda

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Recipe Tweak-a-thon

By jove, I think I've got it. 

My weekend conquer-the-recipe quest, fueled by Julia Child DVDs, and recipe contests is bearing fruit. 

I'm not going to lie. There was a delicious nugget of gold, FINALLY, at the end of the recipe rainbow. But I had to slog through a few fails before I found it. 

And the other two recipes... One...still a fail...but it was only attept two and the future tweaks are in mind and promising.

The third. Well. Four out of four of us liked it. So it's a keeper. I'm not going to share them quite yet. Gotta send them into the contest first. But. They're coming.

And. Somehow I've ended up finding or buying three more Vegan cook books. Yup. I'm crazed. 

The pictures are of the keeper recipes. Let's just say they are classics with a bit of a twist.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Asian Quinoa Lettuce Cup Filling or Quinoa Fried "Rice"

Asian Quinoa Lettuce Cup Filling or Quinoa "Fried Rice"

3/4 Cup Organic Quinoa
2 TBSP sesame oil
3 organic celery stalks chopped/diced

3 TBSP slivered almonds
2 TBSP rice vinegar
1 1/2 TBSPs soy sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 Cup veggie broth

In sauce pan toss non-cooked quinoa and almonds and 1 TBSP of sesame oil. Heat until almonds begin to brown and the mixture grows fragrant, stirring frequently. Add celery, broth, garlic powder, vinegar, soy sauce and rest of the oil. Bring to boil. Decrease heat and cover and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed.

Serves 2-4 depending on whether it's used as main or side.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ I will overcome. I will learn!!!!

This weekend was mostly quiet on the home front. I had NOTHING to do on Saturday. So rare, and so nice and so rainy. So what did I do? I filled it with domesticity. I was not alone in my lazy day. These lumps set up camp right near my quasi-island so they could snatch anything I might drop.

My family ate. Unfortunately, a bit of what they ate ended up being more in the fail category than the keeper category. I have the hankering to enter some more recipes in another contest. An ingredient specific contest. So I did a lot of experimentation with the specified ingredients.

Also of note. I recently borrowed some Julia Child's The French Chef television episodes from the library. She used to visit our house via the television every once in awhile, some of my friends houses saw her more often.

Through grown up ears and eyes I enjoyed her very public oops and near fails this weekend. At one point, while slinging butter and real cream like she had her own personal herd of Holsteins, she made a reference to American's fear of failure. Ugh. Well, that still rings true. She put both her hands on her hips and trilled that we needed to be more French. The French have the attitude that "I WILL overCOME!  I Will LEARN!"

Ha. Ha. So my fails this weekend are now going to be labeled " Edible LEARNing opPORTUNities."

I will learn Julia's techniques and attitudes and avoid her meat and dairy ways. Yes. I will oVERcome and will make some lovELY dishes. BON AppeTITE.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Law Lesson...Glad I Passed...

Friday the 13th is an appropriate time to post these pictures. 

Last night's Citizen Police Academy topic was tasing. Two volunteers jumped at the chance and did not chicken out...even though they had to sit through explanations and videos and loads of stories. I'm thinking the horrific picture quality adds a splash of surreality to the whole thing, don't you?


& is out of town so I went alone to class. Part of me is secretly glad for this fact. Because had she been there, we might have talked each other into a mother daughter tasing moment. Well, maybe. I actually got a little queasy when I saw the tasing ends that they actually use on criminals. They look a lot like fish hooks.

Seriously, fish hooks. 


The volunteers got the testing ends that don't hook, they just leave little burn marks. Oh. Well, in that case, sign me up.


Why tasing? The instructor explained how effective it really is. The alternatives to using it all have the potential for greater consequences. Is it better to risk breaking someone's arm because they are fighting? Risking an officer's injury and recovery process, the safety of bystanders, greater risk of damage to property, and in really ugly situations death? With a taser, vicious or panicked animals can be subdued, imminent suicides can be prevented, lives saved and it's almost as simple as five seconds of pain and paralysis with no after effects. Makes sense. He shared some stories where lives were saved because the more debilitating control measures did not have to be taken. And had those measures been used, the costs would've skyrocketed. 


Interesting little tool I don't want to meet up and personal, ya know?

Scraps and Snippets ~ Not-Eileen's Sugar Cookies

I have a slight obsession of late. Soft, chewy sugar cookies.

Background of this obsession: we have a regional cookie store franchise in our area. Eileen's... and Eileen makes the above mentioned obsessive thought making cookies. Two batches were delivered to my office in honor of Easter.  I'm not too proud to mention that, back in the day, almost every girl's shopping trip involved a trip to Eileen's.

Those cookies still call my name every once in awhile. The colors are off-putting so I can avoid them... most of the time. After all, electric pink, rubber boot blue, garish green, muppet yellow and neon orange scream chemicals and additives.

I've been playing around with a few ingredients to healthify and veganize this cookie. The frosting is still under construction, but I had some leftover in the fridge that needed to be used up, and the combo of frosting/cookie was almost there...almost...and we all agreed the cookie has that certain it factor.

Not-Eileen's Sugar Cookies

20-24 Cookies
Preheat oven to 350

3 TBSP ground flax
3/4 Cup of apple sauce OR 1/2 a banana and 1/4 Cup of non-dairy milk. (the browner the banana the sweeter and more bananay it will taste. The one I used was yellow with a few small brown spots and was still firm. A mild banana taste was there, a riper one might be too bananay unless you love bananas.)
2 TBSP coconut oil
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 Cup sugar
2 tsp almond extract
2/3 Cup garbanzo bean flour
1 and 1/3 Cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour.

Mix the flax and banana/milk or applesauce together in a bowl and let sit a few minutes so it gels a bit.

Add the coconut oil and sugar. Cream or mix well. Add the soda, cream of tartar and salt, mix. Add garbanzo bean flour, stir. Add almond extract and stir. Mix in flour and stir until blended.

Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Roll dough into 1 inch or so balls. (If too sticky dip hands in sugar)  Flatten balls slightly. You can sprinkle them with sugar if you aren't going to frost them. Bake at 350 for approx 12 minutes. Let rest for a few minutes, then slide onto a cooling rack. Frost when cool. You can keep them in the fridge. All four of us are thinking these are pretty close to Eileen's. Now. On to conquer the frosting.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Eggplant-Olive Italiano

Brilliant dinner from leftovers. 

Here's what I had.

1/2 bag of rice pasta
14 small medallions of breaded/baked eggplant (breading was flax egg (4 TBSP water, 1 TBSP ground flax)...eggplant slices dipped into flax mixture then dunked into a mixture of 1 tsp garlic powder and 1 Cup bread crumbs and baked.)
4 Chickpea cutlets from Friday night's dinner.

Here's what I did. 

Eggplant-Olive Italiano.

1 TBSP Earth Balance
Diced eggplant (1 or better yet breaded cutlets chopped into 1 inch squares)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cans (or 1 large) diced tomatoes (or if you've got fresh ones, use three.)
8-16 green olives (stuffed is fine) thinly sliced (I used 8 jumbo ones)

Heat Earth Balance until it melts and sizzles. I used pretty high heat, I wanted this stuff to caramelize. Toss in eggplant chunks and garlic. Cook until golden and cooked through, stirring regularly. Toss in olives and mix. Finally, dump in tomatoes and simmer, scraping the pan bottom to get all the good bits incorporated.

Set aside to let the flavors marry. Prepare pasta. Put hot pasta on plates, top with cutlets or skip the cutlets and just drench the pasta with the eggplant mixture.