Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2008)
10 Features Recipes add flavor to the holiday season ■ A very B reyne -C artwright Staff Reporter To spice up the holiday season, students and their families were asked to submit their special recipes or cooking tips, and a few were chosen to be shared. Submitted by Kathleen Skoczylas, freshman: Tips to improve recipes 1. Make chocolate chip cookies in cupcake wrappers in a cupcake tin. Get bakers size Hershey's milk chocolate and melt. One bar should cover 10-12 cookies. They're delicious! 2. Make white cake, but separate the batter into three containers. Use food coloring to make one red, one green, and leave the other white. Drop dots of each into your cake pan until it is full. Then take a knife and swirl the batter into a festive marbled look. 3. Make plain sugar cookies and decorate them. I suggest white chocolate as icing because you can dye it any color you want, and a little bit goes much farther than frosting when it comes to the taste. Submitted by the Wood family: Night Before Christmas Mice Makes 3 dozen 3 /4 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened 1/2 cup vegetable shortening 1 teaspoon vanilla legg 2 1 / 4 cups all purpose flour 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa 1/2 teaspoon baking powder *Semisweet chocolate minichips *Red or Black string licorice, cut into 2-inch pieces vanilla and egg; blend well. Stir flour, cocoa and baking powder into the sugar-butter mixture. (When measuring flour, lightly spoon into measuring cup and level off.) Mix well. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. To form a mouse, pinch one end of the ball to form a nose. Make two tiny balls of dough and flatten slightly for ears. Gently press into dough on upper front of each mouse. Press two chocolate minichips into dough below ears, for eyes. Place the mouse figures two inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. While dough is still soft, press a piece of licorice (I use the thin red kind) into each mouse for a tail. Remove and cool on wax paper. (From "Old Fashioned Christmas Favorites" by Vickie Flutchins and Jo Ann Martin.) Staff Reporter Job losses, bad credit and inflation may contribute to Grinch-like attitudes this holiday season. Retailers will be facing a lower revenue stream because of the current financial crisis even though Black Friday sales figures were noticeably better than the past few years. For students-it may mean no Xbox 360s, iPods or laptops wrapped in bright cheerful paper this year. The economic downfall has been staggering for months now and most retailers— large and small—are hoping for the holiday sales to save businesses by bringing in customers and income. "Sales are really down and most people are shopping in the clearance section," Serena Paape, senior, said. This year may turn out not to be a winter wonderland because of thé depressing economic state. In November, retail sales fell 1.2%, which is the worst decline in three years and according to CNBC the number one cause of this downturn is unemployment. However, state economists think Oregon's generally strong economy that has held up through the past few stock market declines should continue through December. September through December is when retail hiring traditionally peaks and Oregon could add as many as 12,000 jobs in seasonal holiday hiring-a 4.4% increase from iuk WÊÊÊBÊm SNliRI According to Yahoo! News the growth in holiday hiring is evaluated by looking at different retail sectors, including food and beverage, department and clothing stores. Other industries that tend to hire during the holiday season include Makes 10 to 12 servings 1 pound brie, well-chilled 1 /2 cup pesto sauce 4 to 8 green onions, use about half of the green tops 1 /2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil 1 /2 cup chopped pecans - optional Scrape the outer white rind off the brie. Cut the brie in half horizontally and place, cut sides up, in a heatproof serving dish. It is not Staff Reporter Christmas tree farms, the U.S. Post Office; couriers and messengers and winter sports areas. "I was hired as a seasonal worker and I think it's important because when you receive a gift, you can understand how much it's worth and how hard someone had to work. I worked 29 hours this past week and even though it takes up a lot of my time—it keeps me busy and it's good time management," Sara Sebastian, senior, said of her job at Dosha Salon in Bridgeport Village. Sebastian started in November and added that business has really picked up because of special discounts and the holiday season. A trend that has become increasingly more popular in the last few years with the times of need is families choosing to focus more on helping others more unfortunate than them during this holiday season and donating items to those in need. "I donated a bunch of clothes to a group of refugees from Bhutan. I felt a need to donate because they didn't have anything and I had some old clothes to get out of the way," Anik Shrestha, junior, said. NOTE: You need to remove the rind because the cheese melts more easily and doesn't leave white flecks in the mixture. Season of sickness spreads; prevention procedure provided L ex ! W elp Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Beat sugar, butter and shortening until fluffy. Add Happy holidays not so merry with increasing financial woes T amra S chelot Brie Decadence necessary for the brie to fit neatly in the dish — just pile it in! Top with the pesto, green onions, sun-dried tomatoes and pecans if using. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees until the cheese starts to melt and gets soft enough to spread, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve hot with sliced sourdough French bread. It's that time of the year again—runny noses and hacking fits are a common distraction. Teachers pull out the tissues and class sizes become smaller and smaller. How to avoid the aching joints, headaches, stuffy sinuses and annoying coughs? Taking the right precautions and being aware of how viruses are spread may help you avoid the all too common flu. "The flu is spread by direct touch; like shaking hands with someone who has the flu and / then touching f your own mouth, nose or eye," Dr. John Steeh, Doctor of Osteopathy, said. The flu is commonly spread through breathing in the virus where someone has recently coughed or sneezed. Above all, it is very important to wash hands often, especially during the height of the flu season, (November and December). It is also a good idea to receive a flu shot to prevent contracting the illness. "You can get a flu shot for around $20, but a lot of places will do it for less," LaVonne Leighton, retired nurse, said. Flu shots were also available in early November at WLHS, and at many pharmacies around West Linn. "If people would get them and take other protective measures during the flu season this would really help with prevention," Leighton said. There are other ways to stay healthy during flu season without actually receiving a flu shot though. To maintain a healthy lifestyle and to avoid illness, it is important to sleep at least eight hours each night and to eat a balanced / diet including a minimum of three meals a day. Following a daily schedule like this will help the body stay alert and healthy according to the medical community. "Taking steps to prevent the flu is going to be a lot cheaper than treating the flu, guaranteed," Leighton said. "So even if you don't have insurance it is important to find a place that gives people shots at a discount or for free." Most commonly if not treated, the flu will develop into a case of pneumonia; this usually accrues in patients with weaker immune systems according to Leighton. "The worst case of the flu I ever saw was an elderly man who got the flu which made him very weak and then he ended up with a pneumonia. He had to go to the Intensive Care Unit and needed a tube and a machine to breathe for him for several days," Steeh said. While it may seem like these types of situations are uncommon, they can occur if the immune system isn't taken care of. "The most important thing to remember is to wash your hands, sleep, and take care of yourself," Leighton said. "If you do that, you're going to be just fine."
