LAPD Wife

Cookie Patrol

How cute is this cookie? Jake brought it home from work awhile ago. This cookie shall never be eaten...

Farmers Market Report

We love farmers markets. I try to go at least once a week from late spring until late Fall - luckily where we live there are farmers markets everywhere, every day of the week, so it's pretty easy to make it to one when you're in the mood. I grew up on a farm and miss that farm-fresh taste, so this is fun for me and a great way to get my kids interested in fresh fruits and vegetables, where they come from and that they can actually be (gasp!) good to eat.

This weekend we brought home: white peaches, doughnut peaches, strawberry tomatoes, Campari tomatoes on the vine, Blue Lake green beans, butter lettuce, green lettuce, Oxnard strawberries, golden beets, a 5-lb bag of oranges, tzatziki and hummus, sweet corn tamales (for Jake) and kettle corn (for the kids). I have GOT to get me one of those wheeled carts I see the serious farmers market customers pulling around. By the time we are done, my arms feel like they are going to fall off from all the bags of food I'm carrying around. But the kids love it and what's extra nice is that since I let them help me pick out and sample the veggies and fruits, they will often try things that they wouldn't otherwise. The latest example is the green beans. They have never liked them before when I put them on their plates at dinner, but since they were able to pick them out and bag them at the farmers market, they have discovered that they like them. This is worth the little extra I end up paying - seeing them eat fresh veggies and liking them is very satisfying.

I even eat healthier when we buy at the farmers market. For snacks this week I've been having small bowls of strawberry tomatoes - small, reddest of red, and very sweet - they totally hit the spot and satisfy both sweet and savory cravings. The Campari tomatoes on the vine have become our "salad" for meals. I layer them with fresh basil from my garden and fresh mozzarella cheese I pick up at Trader Joe's. I then drizzle them with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sea salt to make one of the ultimate salads of summer - the Caprese salad.

Isn't summer awesome!?

Restless Nights with an Officer

Sleeping with a police officer can have many surprises. No, this post isn't about fuzzy handcuffs or "other" scenarios. It's about actually sleeping, or NOT sleeping, with a police officer.

Some people have to deal with loud snorers or insomniacs when they cohabitate a bed with a loved one. Those of us married to police officers get even more fun to deal with. During our decade and a half of sleeping together, I've had to deal with Jake's insomnia, nighttime migraines, "jimmy legs," startle reflexes and more.

Insomnia is a common problem with law enforcement. It's a well-known side effect stemming from post-traumatic stress, something commonly experienced by officers at some point during their career. And the non-traditional work shifts, combined with rotations between these shifts during an officer's career don't help a man or woman develop normal sleep habits. Add in kids and you've got some pretty sleep-deprived people.

Jake had a bad car accident on duty early in our marriage that hospitalized him with, among other injuries, some pretty bad head trauma. A lasting effect from this injury has been severe migraines that hit him pretty regularly. And for some reason, they come mostly late in the afternoon or at night. He'll go to bed feeling fine and wake up practically screaming with pain. Migraine sufferers know, there's not much you can do but tough it out. I try to do what I can, but often I end up sleeping in the guest room on nights like this, letting the migraine run its course.

Then there are the times that Jake startles awake or gets a kind of restless leg syndrome thing going when times are especially stressful, hours are long, etc at work. We got a California King bed a few years ago, so it gives me the room to not be bothered too much by that. If we were still in a Queen, forget  about it.  

Jake gets mad/jealous of how easily and quickly I can fall asleep after waking up during the night or when we go on long drives. I explain to him that it's a well-honed survival skill, because if I couldn't, between him and the kids, I'd be a total mess.

LAPD in Wikipedia

Want to learn A LOT about the LAPD? Check out the Wikipedia entry on the Los Angeles Police Department HERE. I'm betting even some old-timers might find tidbits of info new to them about this department. Interesting stuff...

LAPD Gains Strong Endorsementfrom the Public

Love, love, love to see stories like this one from the Los Angeles Times. A recent poll shows that the general opinion of the LAPD has reached record highs not seen for 20 years.

"Los Angeles police are riding a crest of goodwill that has pushed the department's popularity to levels not sustained since the late 1980s as cops continue to post gains on fighting crime and building closer ties with the people they serve.

The strong endorsement of the LAPD cuts across racial and ethnic lines, according to a new Los Angeles Times Poll -- with the percentages of black and Latino voters who say they approve of how the police do their jobs almost as high as the level among white voters. That result is particularly notable given the long history of tensions between the police and the city's black and Latino communities."

Read the full story here: LAPD gains new approval from the public.

"If I was a Police Officer..."

"Police officers are just everyday heroes that can’t fly,
unless they get into a helicopter of course."

This is a quote from one of the winning essays submitted by 6th, 7th and 8th graders in answer to the question: "If you were a police officer for a day, what would you do to help the community?" The 10 winning essays are being featured on the LAPD official website. It's interesting to see life, our city and our police through the eyes of these children.

Entertaining Appetizers

Remember the dinner party I had with the ER docs a few weeks ago? Just found these pics of the fantastic appetizers I made for that party. Sliced english cucumbers for the base. Cream cheese mixed with finely chopped fresh herbs from my garden (parsley, shallot, dill), smoked salmon and a sprinkling of finely chopped dill on top. How pretty are these?! These were not that hard to make, I put them together earlier in the day and just kept them covered in the fridge until serving - and both the men and women loved them. In this season when everyone is looking at having way too many cukes in their garden, this is a good way to use them up. And a fantastic, light and cool food to eat during hot months. Bon Appetit!

Exploring Malibu's Tide Pools

A new favorite family day trip we like to take is exploring the tide pools in Malibu (top photo). The weather has been fabulous lately and over the last couple months, we've made 3 trips on  lazy weekend days to a beach near Zuma. Jake goes online to find out when low tide is - the best time to view all the amazing sea creatures to be found - and we plan our day around that time. Picnic food is packed, sunblock applied and we're off.

I've been to tide pools a lot over the years,  but these really amaze me. If you do your research and know what to look for, you'll be amazed at the wealth of life to be found in these small pools of water. Starfish are by far the most common - gold and purple in color. We also see tons of anemones and mussles, crabs of several different shapes and sizes, spiny sea urchins and the occasional lobster - who is usually already picked clean by the seagulls who are always around.

There are rarer treats to be found, though, if you know what to look for. We've found that Sea Hares (or sea slugs) can be found often, but are easy to overlook as they just look like black blobs of slime. The kids have fun daring each other to touch them - I was brave and gave it a try, it was basically like touching wet goo - like the old slime-in-a-can we used to be able to buy as kids.  By the way, we observe the rules of the tidepools when we visit. We touch some things - like starfish and sea hares - but very gently. We never take anything home and very rarely move anything. The exception being that sometimes I will feel sorry for a starfish that's washed way up and will move it back to the water and away from the beady-eyed seagulls.

One fantastic day we saw a very rare type of sea slug called a Spanish Shawl (amazingly beautiful for what is essentially a colorful sea slug), a Bat Starfish and what I think is a Sheep Crab (very freaky and scary-looking for a crab). This is such a fun activity for us to do as a family and a great trip to be had at a very low price as everyone is watching their budgets these days. 

Photos: Top pic is of the tide pools at low tide in Malibu just north of Paradise Cove, south of Zuma. Second pic is of a purple starfish. Third is a rare sighting of a red bat starfish. Next is of a California Sea Hare, then a fantastic close-up I got of a Spanish Shawl (it's only about an inch or two in length). Last is the Sheep Crab.  Click on any of these photos to see larger images.

In Honor of Trader Joe's

This is one of those times I love Twitter. I follow a "Cooking with Trader  Joe's" twitterer who pointed out a hilarious unofficial video for Trader Joe's that's on YouTube. For the locals who read my blog, you'll totally crack up cause you've lived and breathed this stuff when shopping at TJ's. For others, well... it's a peek into the store that's a way of life out here and without which we'd all pine away.  (p.s. the only thing they didn't mention is the gimmick where they hide a stuffed animal in the store and kids who find it get a prize. Officer Jake always helps the kids find it so he can get a prize too!)

From Cop to CookNow That's a Fun Retirement

Speaking of cool retirement gigs.... a girlfriend of mine recently told me about retired LAPD SWAT Officer Rick Massa's new life after retirement. After leaving the force, he attended culinary school and found a new passion - cooking. He's given what I've heard was a really cool cooking class to the LAPD Wives Association, and runs a catering business called "1st Cut Cuisine", but the coolest I've heard was of his win earlier this year on the Food Network TV show "Ultimate Recipe Challenge." (yes, I'm a little late on this bit of news, but I think it's still cool enough to mention.)

The LATimes food blog "Daily Dish" mentioned it when it happened back in January. And the LAPD Blog has a good article about it, too. I know, I know, I'm really behind on this scoop. But it was so fun I just had to mention it.

* Found the link to Rick's catering biz: 1st Cut Cuisine