Vegetables

Darleene Barrientos While most children are shying away from the onions and garlic, Fremont Elementary School fifth-grader Loris Mousessian is reaching for any dish cooked with his two favorite vegetables. "My great-grandfather was an onion farmer," 10-year-old Loris said. "Because they started it, onions are in my blood, I think." Loris' love for vegetables resulted in an expense-paid trip to Sacramento for him, his family and his teacher, Sherri Downer.

A 25-foot-long salad bar with fruits and vegetables for every letter of the alphabet greeted students as they entered the cafeteria at John Muir Elementary School on Wednesday. Children walked the length of the buffet, stopping at offerings like jicama, kiwi, turnips and navel oranges, choosing whatever items appealed to them. The giant salad bar — which went along with a free lunch of chicken, rice, sandwiches and milk — was part of a school-wide nutrition fair organized by the Food Service Department of the Glendale Unified School District.

A student at John C. Fremont Elementary in Sparr Heights has won a statewide agricultural writing contest. Loris Mousessian, a fifth-grader in Sherri Downer's class, won first place in his grade level in the state of California writing contest "Imagine This." The contest asks students in third through eighth grade to write essays focused on the importance of agriculture. Mousessian wrote an essay titled "Vegetable Stars" in which a classroom of vegetables argues over who is most important and should be the star of the class play.

Menu from Oct. 3 to 9. Meals served at 11:30 a.m. daily at: ? Adult Recreation Center 201 E. Colorado St. Glendale (818) 548-3778 ? Maple Park 821 Maple St. Glendale (818) 548-2788 ? Sparr Heights Recreation Center 1613 Glencoe Way Glendale (818) 548-2187 ? TODAY: Pepper steak, buttered noodles, peas and onions, marinated tomatoes, whole wheat bread, cantaloupe. THURSDAY: Hawaiian chicken, rice pilaf, corn, vegetable soup, whole wheat bread, strawberries.

Vegetables, yams, peaches, pears, cranberries, stuffing, even the bird -- all the required ingredients for a Christmas dinner were gathered recently at La Crescenta Elementary School to donate to 10 needy families. Each grade at the school was assigned a different food category -- kindergartners were responsible for gathering canned vegetables, and first-graders were in charge of Jell-O and pudding. Two boxes of food for 10 families were gathered in holiday-wrapped packages and distributed to the chosen families, some of whom were La Crescenta Elementary families, some of whom were Cerritos Elementary families, parent and organizer Dawn Myhall said.

Fruits, vegetables and their colors were the themes Monday morning at Marshall Elementary School. Students from kindergarten to sixth grade watched a drama of fruit played out before their eyes as a character named Fanny Farm Fickle tried to persuade a villain called The Painter of the need to have fruits and vegetables every day. Blue and purple represented blueberries and plums, and yellow and orange represented cantaloupe....

SCHOOL LUNCH MENU Today: Corn dog or chicken patty on a bun or chef salad or low-fat yogurt and crackers with a salad bar; or ham and cheese on a wheat roll with fruit and vegetables. Wednesday: Bean and cheese burrito or chicken patty on a bun or chef salad or low-fat yogurt, crackers and a holiday cookie with a salad bar; or submarine sandwich with fruit and vegetables. Monday: Corn dog or cheese pizza or chef salad or low-fat yogurt and crackers with a salad bar; or string cheese and sunflower seeds with fruit and vegetables.

That "crazy time of year" is upon us. It's not quite spring, but it's sort of winter. It's not exactly the time you have fresh fruits and vegetables on your mind but remember the wonders of Mother Nature and all she has to offer right now. Fresh fruits and vegetables grown in season are natural to the body because they, like you, are part of the cycle of life. Your energy level will perk up and your digestive system will be happy when you are in harmony with the seasons. Here are a few tasty ideas: Honeybells or Minneola tangelos are only available for few weeks and hurry because they are available right now!

It didn't take Columbus Elementary School sixth-graders long to get to Camp Eatawella. Students went to camp via worksheets and lessons to study about nutrition and health. They also discussed ways they could exercise and stay active. Using the food pyramid as a guide, the students studied the foods that are good for their health. They listed the food items they should eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. "They are much more aware of what to eat and they are much more aware that they have to play every day," teacher Gail Dunham said.

Glendale and Los Angeles firefighters are reportedly close to extinguishing a vegetation fire near the southbound Glendale (2) Freeway and Colorado Street. The size of the fire, which was reported about 2:15 p.m., was not immediately available. On- and off-ramps to the 2 Freeway from Colorado Street were temporarily closed. [Update 2:45 p.m.: Firefighters have reported a "knock-down" of the fire, and have started moping up the scene. The cause of the fire was not immediately available.

Sitting among other retail and eating establishments in an average strip mall, Exotic Thai Cuisine in Burbank will give you a good but not extraordinary sampling of Thai food in a pleasant setting. Although the interior was festively adorned with lanterns decorated with red hearts — gearing up for Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day — I liked the place but won’t be falling in love with it. Seating is arranged with leather upholstered booths on the perimeter and tables in the center, and the crowd that evening was a mixture of friends, couples and families.

CENTRAL GLENDALE — The success of Target’s new produce sections has laid the groundwork for the company to add fresh fruits and vegetables at its Glendale store by next year, a company spokeswoman said Thursday. The Minneapolis-based discount retailer opened a produce section at its Burbank store last month, hoping to give shoppers an option to catch up on more of their grocery shopping while browsing the store for its traditional offering of household goods, said Hadley Barrows, a spokeswoman for Target.

Menu through May 5. Meals served at 11:30 a.m. daily at: ? Adult Recreation Center 201 E. Colorado St. Glendale (818) 548-3778 ? Pacific Park Community Center 501 S. Pacific Ave. Glendale (818) 548-3775 ? Sparr Heights Community Center 1613 Glencoe Way Glendale (818) 548-2187 ? TODAY: Pepper steak, buttered noodles, peas and onions, marinated tomatoes, Navy bean soup, wheat bread and cantaloupe.

Cerritos Elementary School third-graders loosed up beds of flowers with their hands and shovels Wednesday in order to make room for a new vegetable garden in the campus courtyard. The students honored Earth Day by spending time outside the classroom, clearing up plants and prepping the soil for their garden. “It’s kind of fun because we could learn how to plant a garden the right way,” 9-year-old Kimberly Depaz said. “We can tell our moms to buy us seeds, so we can plant our own gardens.

Last weekend was a busy one for area firefighters. The morning of July 18 began with a small brushfire in the Angeles National Forest in the Lukens Canyon area. According to Stanton Florea, fire information officer for the U.S. Forest Service, the incident appeared to begin as a vehicle fire that spread to the brush. Angeles National Forest Fire responded at 8:59 a.m. Los Angeles County Fire Department also responded but was canceled soon after the call. The fire was contained quickly.

Three months after Gina D?Angelo-Cox gave her backyard garden another shot, she has found herself in the thick of a vegetable ?forest? that for the past few weeks has been producing oversized fruit. The almost prehistoric-looking vegetable plants are a far cry from D?Angelo-Cox?s failed crop last year, when she first started to make use of the bare plot of hillside land. Her fortunes changed early this spring, when she mixed in a bag of fertilizer she had purchased from a door-to-door solicitor and planted a range of seeds that have produced several 2-foot-long, 4-pound zucchinis.