Features

By Rocco DiSpirito
For The Associated Press

Like so many people, I use the start of the new year to assess my life and zero in on all the things I want to change. For 2012, I want to focus on being healthier, continue exercising, maintain a healthy weight, and spend more time with family and friends.

Americans generated 250 million tons of trash in 2010 (US EPA), which translates to 4.43 pounds per person per day.  If we isolate the holiday season, this daily average would be much higher, considering that Americans generate an additional five million tons of waste from Thanksgiving to New Years. Of that, four million tons come from shopping bags and wrapping paper.

Start off your holiday season on a green foot by making a few small changes.

Submitted to the Optic

On Sunday, Santa and his helpers will be at El Fidel Hotel Lobby to give gifts to children and listen to special requests they might have.

Parents are invited to bring their children from 9 to 10:30 a.m. to this free event hosted by the Las Vegas /San Miguel Chamber of Commerce.  

He previously greeted the children of Las Vegas during the Electric Light Parade earlier this month, but due to the bitter cold temperatures, many families were unable to attend the “gift giving” event in the Old Town Gazebo.

By Elizabeth Orem
Submitted to the Optic

Debbie Pike hadn’t unpacked before she took a group of Cub Scouts on a hike, spent a day at Maxwell National Refuge, attended a lecture on grasses, and started work on the Junior Duck Stamp contest.

And that’s all in less than a week. She’s had help: Debbie smiles gratefully at Lori Casados of the Refuge staff. “Lori is an awesome lady,” Pike said.

J.M. Hirsch
AP Food Editor

There is a crazy delicious new trend in milkshakes. It involves adding a slice of pie to the blender along with the milk and ice cream.

That’s right — a whole slice of pie.

Which sounds simply too delicious for its own good. I wanted it, except that the winter holidays aren’t exactly milkshake season. So I started playing winter-friendly ways to borrow this idea of blending baked goods and sweet drinks.

Hot chocolate was the natural choice. But pie just didn’t seem right.

Derek Kravitz and Steve Karnowski
The Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — McDonald’s and Target dropped one of the nation’s largest egg suppliers after an animal rights group released an undercover video of the egg producer’s farms in three states.

Submitted to the Optic

The United States Air Force Academy Band’s Academy Winds will have a performance at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at New Mexico Highlands University’s Ilfeld Auditorium. The stop is part of the groups week-long tour of New Mexico.

The tour will be to perform free public concerts, work with college and high school students, and talk about education opportunities at the Air Force Academy as well as careers in the Air Force.

By Elizabeth Karmel
For The Associated Press

Steak and chimichurri sauce is a classic pairing that is legendary in Argentina. But you don't have to be a gaucho or cowboy to enjoy it.

There are as many variations of chimichurri sauce as there are stories of where the sauce came from. My favorite story credits English-speaking colonists for speaking in “Spanglish” and asking for sauce with their meals, which they called curry.