This is the month when lots of shrubs and trees are beginning to bloom and some will reach full bloom — such as deciduous magnolias — if they haven’t already. This is an easy month for starting a vegetable garden as daytime temperatures exceed 60 degrees with rain coming down, on average, in a quantity that exceeds that of any other month. It is commonly advised not to plant after it rains or when the soil is wet because such soil is easily compacted, depriving roots of the oxygen they need to grow. However, as long as you incorporate compost or amendments that dry out the soil prior to planting, you need not worry about soil compaction.

See also: 5 things you can be doing in the garden this week and more

Now is the time for spinach. This leafy green does best before the heat comes in another few months. I recommend you pick up spinach starts in six packs from the nursery. Plant them and you can begin to harvest in another month or so. The trick is to pluck a few outer leaves at a time and that way you extend spinach longevity in the garden. This cut-and-come-again strategy is utilized with lettuce, kale, cabbage, and collard greens as well. There are other crops whose leaves are edible that you might not know about. Cauliflower and broccoli leaves taste like a cross between kale and collard greens and sweet potato shoots are fine for eating as well.

There are a number of other plants with spinach in their names. Their high nutritional value makes them worthy of planting here, too. Between them and common spinach, you could create an impressive spinach garden.

New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia tetragonoides) is not botanically related to the spinach (Spinacia oleracea) familiar to us but it does have a similar taste. For years, I have grown and eaten the leaves raw, although they may be boiled as well. This plant was consumed by Captain Cook and his shipmates to prevent scurvy after he landed in New Zealand in the 1700s. It is advisable to keep New Zealand spinach fertilized with a high nitrogen formulation such as 21-0-0 in order to prevent flower formation which stops its growth. New Zealand spinach is a tough plant with minimal water needs and is pest and disease-free. Unlike regular spinach, it thrives in hot weather. You can find 50 seeds for three dollars at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (rareseeds.com).

Okinawa spinach (Gynura crepioides), native to Indonesia, is a leafy green you can plant now or anytime. It is unrelated to either regular or New Zealand spinach but easier to propagate than either one. The foliage has a delicately nutty flavor with young leaves being tastier than older ones. Some studies have shown that Okinawa spinach can lower cholesterol. Foliage is highly attractive and gently serrated, green on the top, purplish on the underside. It is best grown with some shade but can handle sun with more frequent irrigation and makes an excellent perennial ground cover. Propagation is a snap as terminal shoot cuttings root easily placed directly in good garden soil or in a glass with an inch or two of water on the bottom. Okinawa spinach grows as a perennial in frost-free zones. Order three plants for $16 at rareseeds.com.

Malabar spinach (Basella rubra) is a highly ornamental vine with heart-shaped foliage and red stems. Native to the Malabar coast of India, it requires moist soil and, although growing best in full sun, can thrive in shade as well. The leaf flavor has pepper and citrus elements. 35 seeds sell for $3.50 at rareseeds.com

Strawberry spinach (Blitum capitatum) is related to common spinach. Rareseeds.com offers 40 seeds for $3.00 and notes that its attractive red fruit has “a watermelon-berry flavor” and is “addictive for snacking and irresistible for desserts,” and its leaves are edible, too. 

*  *  *

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) and turmeric (Curcuma longa), which are closely related plants, are highly sought after by cooks and apothecaries alike. You don’t have to go far to find the rhizomes of these plants if you wish to grow them in your garden. They are readily available in grocery stores such as Whole Foods and Sprouts and some others, too. Make sure the rhizomes you take home have eyes from which shoots will sprout. These rhizomes are sometimes sprayed with growth retardant to prevent them from sprouting on the supermarket shelf and therefore, when you take them home, soak them for several hours to make sure they sprout before planting outdoors.

This is the ideal moment to procure your ginger and turmeric rhizomes. Place them on a warm kitchen counter — next to your refrigerator, for example — and watch them sprout. You can grow them outdoors in our area as long as you are aware of their need for steady soil moisture. Morning sun with afternoon shade is the recommended exposure.

California native of the week: Pink chaparral honeysuckle (Lonicera hispidula) is native to the Sierra foothills. It is a highly versatile vine or shrub, growing in lots of sun but tolerating lots of shade as well. It is also adaptable to different soil types, including clay. This honeysuckle is an excellent candidate for growing up walls and fences, reaching a height of six feet. It is also known as hairy honeysuckle due to its hirsute leaves. Pink flowers, in bloom when summer comes and visited by hummingbirds, are followed by luminescent red berries that are snacked upon by birds. These berries are non-toxic to people but have a bitter taste. You can find pink honeysuckle at Tree of Life Nursery (californianativeplants.com) in San Juan Capistrano or order it from Annie’s Annuals (anniesannuals.com)

Please send questions, comments, innovative gardening practices, or information about newly introduced or exotic plants to Joshua@perfectplants.com

The occasion was a one-hour event called “Live Más LIVE” that was live-streamed from Las Vegas as part of Super Bowl LVIII festivities.

Shakes, previewed in December at two Orange County restaurants, are coming, according to chief food innovation officer Liz Matthews.

“We keep chasing the ideas until we do something amazing,” said Matthews, who shared more of “what’s going on behind the doors of the test kitchen.”

Among the concepts were a triple-decker taco with a third shell of jack and cheddar cheese; a partnership with Beekeeper Coffee on a horchata latte; a partnership with Salt & Straw for a dessert reminiscent of the discontinued Choco Taco; a combination of a chimichanga and a Chalupa; elote queso; Baja Blast pie; Cinnamon Twists dusted with Baja Blast flavor; and additions to the vegan menu.

Chief marketing officer Taylor Montgomery appeared near the end for what MC Armani White called the “big reveal,” all of Taco Bell’s product innovation for 2024.

“Tonight we get to be the leak,” he said.

Among them were revelations about Nacho Fries, a wildly popular limited time offer that has been regularly returning since its launch in 2018.

“We’re going to have Nacho Fries in our restaurants longer than we’ve ever had them before,” he said. “While we haven’t fully figured it out, we want to make them permanent.”

He also said Nacho Fries would be coming back with a new hot sauce in partnership with Portland, Oregon.-based Secret Aardvark and that there will be tests of Tajin tacos, Twists and a Freeze.

He was more definite about a cheesy chicken “riff” on an empanada he said is coming to “every single Taco Bell” next Thursday.

He confirmed rumors that Taco Bell chicken nuggets with new sauces are on the way, “all white meat marinated in jalapeño buttermilk,” with two sauces, a “signature Bell Sauce” and jalapeño honey mustard.

Other revelations included an addition to the new Cravings Value Menu, a chicken and steak grilled cheese dipping taco; a cheesy Chalupa version of a street taco with carne asada and cilantro; dulce de leche Cinnabon Delights; Baja Blast gelato coming to restaurants this summer; and redesigned sauce packets.

He teased a “Chicken Cantina” menu that will be introduced “next year” without revealing what items it would include except for a new avocado verde salsa. An accompanying video showed quesadillas, tacos and burritos.

And he said that loyalty members will get to vote on which retired menu item they would like to return around Halloween: the Meximelt or the Caramel Apple Empanada.

Montgomery’s final reveal was a Crunchwrap built around a giant Cheez-It, 16 times the size of a regular cracker. Taco Bell has been working on a Cheez-It mashup for a long time. Last winter it previewed a Cheez-It tostada for social media influencers in Taco Bell’s Irvine test kitchen.

The program also included a greeting by chief executive officer Sean Tresvant, musical performances and an award ceremony honoring the fan community Living Más and its founder, Blake Hundley.

Q. What are you reading now?

I recently finished reading Andrea Hairston’s new book, “The Archangels of Funk.” It’s a brilliant, fun, hopeful take on the slow apocalypse, with AI and magic and aliens and lovely engaging characters. Now I’m reading Sharon Shinn’s new novel, “Whispering Wood,” set in her Elemental Blessings series. She’s my favorite romantic fantasy writer and it’s so good to have a new book in this series.

SEE ALSO:  Sign up for our free Book Pages newsletter about bestsellers, authors and more

Q. How do you decide what to read next?

It’s pretty random, just whatever catches my attention. Sometimes I plan to read something, then get a new book and look at the first few pages, and end up reading that instead.

Q. Do you remember the first book that made an impact on you?

I don’t know if it’s the first book, but it’s one I read very early, really too early, and I still remember it vividly. It’s “Malevil” by Robert Merle. My parents had a lot of Reader’s Digest volumes of abridged and somewhat bowdlerized novels, and I read “Malevil” first in this abridged version and then got the real version from the library. I was probably in middle school, and it was very much a book intended for adults. It’s an SF story set in the ‘70s, of post-apocalyptic survival by a small group of people in a restored French castle. It’s in first person, but there’s a second narrator who makes later notes and additions, adding his version of the parts the first narrator left out. There was a lot of technique in it, like an unreliable-to-a-certain-extent narrator, that very much influenced me.

Q. Do you have any favorite book covers?

The cover for “A Wizard of Earthsea,” by Ursula Le Guin, the 1975 Bantam edition, the art by Pauline Ellison with the dragon winding through the island city. I found it in a bookstore in a mall and it completely captured my imagination. The Earthsea trilogy had a big influence on me, too.

Q. Do you have a favorite book or books?

I really love the “Rivers of London” series by Ben Aaronovitch. It’s a fantasy series set in modern-day London about wizards who deal with supernatural crime. It combines a lot of my favorite things, fantasy, mystery, an appreciation of the history of the place the characters occupy and how that history and past affects the present. Characters being smart, caring about each other, figuring out how their magic works using scientific methods, a vast and detailed world. The books really reward re-reading, too, with little details that become important later.

Q. Which books do you plan, or hope, to read next?

That’s a good question. Right now I’m trying to decide between S.L. Huang’s “The Water Outlaws,” Brent Lambert’s “A Necessary Chaos,” and “Silver Nitrate” by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia. They’re all very different books and I’m looking forward to all of them and it’s tough deciding which one to start next. I’m also very much looking forward to whatever N.K. Jemisin writes next, and Kate Elliott’s next book in her space opera trilogy. I loved the most recent one, “Furious Heaven.”

Q. What’s a memorable book experience – good or bad – you’re willing to share?

I read Nnedi Okorafor’s novella “Remote Control” during the snow and ice storms that caused the massive failure of the Texas power grid in February of 2021. Our house at the time was built in 1967 and had very little insulation, so without heat, it was in the low 30s to high 20s inside. We were going for 12-hour stretches without power, and we were in danger of hypothermia. That book was a lifeline for me. It gave me time I could mentally step out of the situation I was in, which is the best thing a book can do for you. I also love her other work, particularly the “Akata Witch” books.

More books, authors and bestsellers

Ordered thoughts

Sheila Heti spent nearly 14 years on new book “Alphabetical Diaries.” Here’s why. READ MORE

• • •

Miles to go

Quincy Troupe nearly punched Miles Davis. Then he co-wrote the jazz icon’s biography. READ MORE

• • •

Women in war

Why Kristin Hannah decided to write about Vietnam War nurses in “The Women.” READ MORE

• • •

The week’s bestsellers

The top-selling books at your local independent bookstores. READ MORE

Not everyone is a football fan, but the Super Bowl is the most watched program and has been for 20 years. Here’s a look at TV trends.

You can find a list of the top 100 most-watched shows in 2023 here.

Top 100

Live sports dominated the top 100 prime-time shows. In 2023, 56 slots went to sports — broken down as 45 NFL games, six for the NBA Finals, three for the NCAA Basketball Tournament, one for college football and one for Fox’s “The OT” NFL postgame show.

The ads

Fox will receive about $7 million for each 30-second commercial during the 2024 Super Bowl, up about $500,000 from last year. There are typically 80 to 90 commercials during the game.

Audience universe

Thanks to technology and TV-connected devices, viewers have more ways to watch programming than ever. Television is still the preferred method, but even that has changed as people are watching more and more shows on time-shifted TV (such as digital recordings) and online.The chart to the right shows Nielsen estimates for the monthly U.S. audience across a spectrum of devices.

Household ownership of devices: Nielsen’s National Television Household Universe estimated there are 119.6 million TV homes in the U.S., and 58.7% have a device capable of streaming content to the television set.

A breakdown is shown at right.

Total viewers: Estimated to be 304.5 million (age 2 and up), an increase of 0.9% from 2016.

Sports and drama: 14% of total TV viewing is of sporting events, and most of them are viewed live, whereas more than half of TV drama is recorded and watched later.

Sources: Variety.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Nielsen Co., Consumer Electronics Association, Bloomberg Media

And while I’ve had plenty of Super Sundays watching the game with friends and family, I’ve spent others enjoying the quiet that comes over the city (minus the shouts and groans you hear after big plays) as the freeways get a little freer and the bookstores, museums and other favorite places get a little less crowded.

SEE ALSO:  Sign up for our free Book Pages newsletter about bestsellers, authors and more

One year as a big game played, we got a docent tour of the Huntington Library from my wife’s godfather, George, and I remain grateful for that time, especially now that he – one of the most hilarious storytellers I’ve ever encountered and a kind, lovely man, too – is no longer with us.

So whatever you do on Sunday, I hope it’s something you enjoy. If it’s reading, which is a safe bet if you’ve made it to this paragraph, I was thinking about football books and one of the best is “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” which takes place during a Dallas Cowboys game on Thanksgiving as a group of Iraq War vets are being honored for acts of bravery. (It also has a connection to this year’s big game if you need a bit of trivia: The 2016 Ang Lee film adaption starred the actor Joe Alwyn, Taylor Swift’s beau in the pre-Travis Kelce days.)

Another recent football novel about a guy named Billy is Eli Cranor’s Edgar-winning “Don’t Know Tough,” a hard-hitting noir about a high school football player in Arkansas, Billy Lowe, a newly transplanted coach from California and we’ll leave it at that to avoid spoilers. But it’s good.

There are plenty of other football books I’ve been meaning to read – “Friday Night Lights,” “North Dallas Forty,” “Black Sunday” and “Brian’s Song,” to name a few. And while I can recall endless middle school page-turners about the big game, maybe my favorite football book of my youth was a pricey, photo-heavy tome I saved up to buy when I was a kid. With its dramatic cover featuring former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, I believed the book was a more grown-up item than my football cards, showing the worldly sophistication of a boy who had a coffee table book despite not yet owning a coffee table.

Was it a great book? I’m guessing probably not, but every young reader has a book or two that holds a kind of sway over them that far outstrips what’s inside the pages. Another one for me was a kid’s oversize novelization of Disney’s “Robin Hood.” Was that one any good? I have managed to hold onto my big, battered copy, so I could go and check for you. But I’d rather not know.

My chief memory of the “Robin Hood” book is my dear mother reaching the words, “The end,” with a kind of palpable relief – and even as the words still hung limply in the air, I said: “Read. It. Again.” I can remember the weariness on her face, but I’m pretty sure she turned back to page 1 and started again.

I’ve thought of that moment whenever my kids said the same thing – whether it was for more of a lovely picture book by Oliver Jeffers or a barely-coherent line of “Scooby-Doo” paperbacks we somehow acquired  – and I’ve done as she would have: I read the damn thing again.

Side note: Some movie tie-in books are frankly terrible, and so there were nights when I would practice my editing as I read them, trimming a clumsy half-page description down to one line of polished prose as I read it aloud. Not only did it help keep me awake, but it offered a bonus challenge: I had to remember these mental edits when the child asked me to read it again.

In short, we all want compelling stories, whether on the football field or off, so I’m going to direct you to some more worthy ones below. And coming up, I have an author interview to share with you and an excellent new book that we’ll be talking about soon.

So whatever you choose to do this weekend – watch football or hit a bookstore or, I don’t know, read a delightful interview about the 14-year odyssey of “Alphabetical Diaries” author Sheila Heti that isn’t afraid to also mention her dog, Feldman – I hope you have a great weekend.

More stories

Writer Emily St. Martin wrote about “Eat the Mouth That Feeds You” author Carribean Fragoza and the South El Monte Arts Posse’s efforts to open a free lending library in El Monte’s Zamora Park. Read more

Old Town Monrovia’s Underdog Bookstore, the LGBTQ-owned bookstore I wrote about last year, has been subjected to repeated racist and homophobic  outbursts, according to the store staff. I saw the Instagram reel about the situation, and my colleague Victoria Ivie went out to get the story. Read more

A controversial city policy has librarians at Huntington Beach Central Library pulling children’s books from its shelves for reevaluation. The policy, according to Michael Slaten’s story, says no city library should allow children “ready access” to books that contain content of a sexual nature. Among those pulled? “Everybody Poops.” Read more

More books, authors and bestsellers

Ordered thoughts

Sheila Heti spent nearly 14 years on new book “Alphabetical Diaries.” Here’s why. READ MORE

• • •

Miles to go

Quincy Troupe nearly punched Miles Davis. Then he co-wrote the jazz icon’s biography. READ MORE

• • •

Women in war

Why Kristin Hannah decided to write about Vietnam War nurses in “The Women.” READ MORE

• • •

The week’s bestsellers

The top-selling books at your local independent bookstores. READ MORE

Next on ‘Bookish’

The next installment is Feb. 16, at 5 p.m., as hosts Sandra Tsing Loh and Samantha Dunn talk about upcoming books. Sign up for free now.

• • •

Read any books that you want to tell people about? Email epedersen@scng.com with “ERIK’S BOOK PAGES” in the subject line and I may include your comments in an upcoming newsletter.

And if you enjoy this free newsletter, please consider sharing it with someone who likes books or getting a digital subscription to support local coverage.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

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All-inclusive vacations can conjure images of food under heat lamps, too many poolside piña coladas, and being trapped on resort grounds. But sun-soaked packages are not the only type of all-inclusives.

Sure, sprawling mega-resorts exist — and their numbers are growing. All-Inclusive by Marriott Bonvoy has spent the last couple of years building a portfolio of nearly three dozen all-inclusive hotels worldwide, mostly in Mexico and the Caribbean.

One of the most highly anticipated is the Marriott Cancun, reopening in early 2024 to include some of the typical all-inclusive amenities: a sprawling property of 450 rooms, a lazy river, waterslides and more.

But guests looking for a more localized and unique experience can still find that type of vacation — with the price of food and activities included.

Consider a different type of all-inclusive travel in 2024

Some all-inclusives are entirely antithetical to stereotypical resort experiences. Wellness and activity take precedence over all-you-can-eat meals. They aren’t necessarily in sunny locales. Guest counts are limited, with just a handful of beds.

Vista Verde Guest Ranch in Clark, Colorado, is among the properties that check all those boxes. At the all-inclusive dude ranch, summer outdoor activities include fly fishing and paddle boarding. Winter options include snowshoeing, ice fishing, skiing and sleigh rides. There are only 12 cabins and three lodge rooms.

Many all-inclusives in this genre, such as the Arctic Watch Wilderness Lodge, may hardly be considered relaxing at all. With 16 cabins located just under 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle, vacationers are encouraged to partake in activities like riding fat tire bikes over the ice. If the ice has already melted, you can sea kayak instead. With no electricity at night and no in-cabin showers (they’re only in the main complex), it’s not glamorous. But it’s still expensive.

Beware the price tag

The cheapest Arctic Watch offering costs $17,500 Canadian (about $13,000) for nine nights, amounting to about $1,400 per night. At Vista Verde Guest Ranch, three-night stays start at $2,695 during the off-season or about $900 per night (though per-night costs decrease the longer you stay).

But not every all-inclusive worth visiting is for travelers with big budgets.

At Minnesota’s family-oriented Fair Hills Resort, cabins are modest and the food resembles what you ate at summer camp. Meals and activities — such as golf lessons, pickleball, and s’mores — are included in most packages. Rates can run just over $200 per adult, per night, and $121 per kid, per night, depending on your stay length.

How to book a better all-inclusive

According to a survey published in April 2022 that was commissioned by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, which has a robust portfolio of all-inclusives, 77% of travelers believe that an all-inclusive vacation is the least stressful way to travel.

If you’re considering an all-inclusive for your next vacation, here are some tips to consider:

• Think boutique, not blockbuster: Skipping the sprawling resorts in favor of intimate properties can bring more personalized service. It might also better connect you with the destination and its people rather than the hundreds of other vacationers.
• Consider more than just beach locales: Whether it’s the Arctic tundra, a Minnesota summer camp or Colorado dude ranch, some of the most authentic experiences occur at all-inclusives that are far from the beach.

“We are stewards of the western ranch lifestyle, and we enjoy bringing folks into our world,” says Ben Martin, general manager of Colorado’s Vista Verde Guest Ranch.

You might even consider a trip that doesn’t stay in one place. Companies like SpiceRoads Cycling and Backroads offer all-inclusive, multiday cycling tours where you get a guide and bike support on top of meals and nightly lodging.

• Prioritize points: If you do opt for an all-inclusive stay at one of the major hotel chains, take advantage of the opportunity to book properties on points, which can often be earned through credit card spending.
• Embrace shoulder season: Shoulder season, which is the time between tourist season and the off-season, can provide a healthy mix of lower rates and fewer crowds, yet decreased risk of bad weather or businesses that have closed for the off-season.
• Understand what’s truly included: You might never touch your wallet at some all-inclusives. Others charge for add-ons such as snorkel gear or alcohol. A few even tack on resort fees.

Why all-inclusives make sense for travelers

Vista Verde’s Martin says his all-inclusive model avoids making vacationers feel nickel and dimed throughout the stay.

“If a guest is frequently reaching for their wallet, they are constantly being reminded that their stay is transactional,” he says. “It changes the dynamic of our relationship with them.”

And if you can score a deal — such as a stay booked on points or during shoulder season — an all-inclusive can leave a far bigger mark in your memory than your bank account.

This article was written by NerdWallet and was originally published by The Associated Press.

The article How to Book a Unique All-Inclusive Vacation That’s Not Terrible originally appeared on NerdWallet.

With the first customer arriving around 10 p.m the night before, coffee zealots came from as far away as Arizona to try out the chain’s latest store on Magnolia Street in the Village Shopping Center. A line of cars snaked out of the shopping plaza and down the street by 8.a.m. An employee, decked out in hues of pink with butterfly-winged shoes, carried a large sign with rainbow felt lettering that read, “Questions? I can recommend a drink.” A gaggle of employees from the Lancaster Dutch Bros came to support the new store. The mass anticipation was palpable, giving credence to the company’s cult-like status.

“I was here at 5 a.m. with my kid, but left to drop him off at school, then came back to wait in line again,” sad Pilar Vidal of Huntington Beach, who eschewed the line of cars to wait in the queue of people lined up outside the walk-up window. “I love the different options they give you, and they make any coffee to your liking,” she adds.

Vidal added that she had planned on driving to Las Vegas this week specifically to go to Dutch Bros, but after hearing about the Fountain Valley opening, she stuck close to home. “This is going to get me addicted, being so close.”

After waiting in line, customers carried their caffeine-spiked hauls back to their cars. Some sat in SUVs with the back doors open in order to enjoy their very first Dutch Bros. The shopping plaza resembled a pre-game outside SoFi stadium.

Colleagues and friends Jocelyn Ortizano and Ally Cruz, who hail from Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa, respectively, arrived at 6 a.m. and waited in line roughly an hour before getting their drinks. Ortizano opted for the Golden Eagle Chai Tea while Cruz enjoyed the Kicker, a blend of espresso, half and half and Irish cream syrup.

“It has such a cult following, we had to come. We will definitely be back,” Ortizano said.

The secret to Dutch Bros’ success, in addition to its dizzying array of espresso beverages, energy drinks, smoothies and muffin tops, is its focus on sweetening relationships with customers. Oscar Moreno, Dutch Bros corporate trainer — or, as he clarified, “a mobster,” the sobriquet given to all Dutch Bros employees — said, “This is the biggest Dutch Bros opening in my history with the company.”

Lance Risser, vice president of field operations for Dutch Bros, concurred, saying, “This is unlike anything I’ve seen before in my 17 years with the company.” He notes that Friday’s opening marks the company’s 856th location.

“People are attracted to our hospitality and our service,” he said. “There aren’t a lot of companies that want to fill cups besides coffee; we’re going after relationships with our customers. Don’t get me wrong, our drinks are fantastic, but if people aren’t leaving here without a smile on their faces, then our job isn’t done.”

Risser revealed that a second Dutch Bros, which will be located a stone’s throw from its latest one at Magnolia and Warner, is tentatively set to open in fall of 2024. Another location will open in La Habra either in late 2024 or early 2025.

SEE ALSO: Cult-favorite coffee shop Dutch Bros opening first OC location this week

Why is Dutch Bros is so beloved with such intensity, especially in the midst of a third-wave coffee movement that’s seen both chains and independent coffee shops sprout up in nearly every American neighborhood? Moreno says it boils down to human connection.

“People can go anywhere, but they don’t get the kind of customer service that we have,” he said. “We ask every single customer how their day is going. It can throw them off, not being used to it, but it helps us understand who we’re serving. I can learn who might have, say, a diabetic condition and offer them something suitable. I can learn who might prefer oat milk to dairy. It’s a way to set the bar and go above and beyond it.”

Inside the 950-square-foot space, employees brimmed with energy due in large part to the EDM music filing the room. The “green beans,” the company’s affectionate term for new employees, helped customers through the drive-through and walk-up windows, with Moreno conducting all of the day-one action.

The long line of drivers, who began queuing up late the night before and stretched down to Oak and Talbert Streets by mid-morning, were monitored by both Dutch Bros staff (armed with tablets to take orders from drivers à la In-N-Out) using company-branded cones, as well a a handful of police officers standing by.  This kind of frenzied reception is nothing new to Dutch Bros, where people come from all over to taste the company’s goods.

SEE ALSO: 15 Southern California coffee shops with creative, quirky themes

“We were expecting it to be busy, but this is even bigger than I had expected,” said Tiara Loville, who recently moved from Denver to Fountain Valley in order to operate the Fountain Valley shop. “In fact, we did our morning dub shot with the first 10 customers at around 4 a.m.” For the uninitiated, the dub-shot ritual is a morning practice Dutch Bros bro-istas (the preferred term Dutch Bros employees use in lieu of “barista”) wherein they drink two shots of espresso in unison to get the day going and the energy bumped up.

Wait times from when cars pulled up to the window, got their order, and drove away varied from two to five minutes. Within that time, employees chatted with their new customer base, inquiring about their jobs, general preferences and overall mood.

Dutch Bros, conceived in 1992 by brothers Dane and Travis Boersma in Grants Pass, Ore., features beverages that are whimsical in name and flavor profile. A few examples? The Caramelizer, featuring espresso, chocolate milk, caramel sauce and whipped cream; the Double Torture, a double shot of espresso laced with vanilla syrup, chocolate milk and whipped cream; and the company’s signature brand of fizzy Rebel energy drinks in such iterations as Aftershock with strawberry, blackberry, raspberry and lime or the Golden Gate Rebel, featuring passion fruit and a strawberry float topping it off.[

The 9-1-1, a beverage that comes spiked with six shots of espresso, proved to be a strong yet smooth drink despite its ingredient list that, as its name suggests, might have some reaching for the defibrillator.

Clarisse Banci, who first fell in love with Dutch Bros while living in Northern California, arrived with her two dogs to wait in line at 7:30 a.m. to try the Salted Caramel Protein Latte. When asked why she wanted to wait in line at Dutch Bros when a handful of other cafes are nearby, she explained, “I like the prices here, especially when compared to Starbucks. There’s also more variety. And I like the positive vibe here. They know how to make it a good experience.”

Dutch Bros in Fountain Valley will operate from 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Find it: 17954 Magnolia St., Fountain Valley

Each fall, millions of hunters across North America make their way into forests and grasslands to kill deer. Over the winter, people chow down on the venison steaks, sausage, and burgers made from the animals.

These hunters, however, are not just on the front lines of an American tradition. Infectious disease researchers say they are also on the front lines of what could be a serious threat to public health: chronic wasting disease.

The neurological disease, which is contagious, rapidly spreading, and always fatal, is caused by misfolded proteins called prions. It currently is known to infect only members of the cervid family — elk, deer, reindeer, caribou, and moose.

Animal disease scientists are alarmed about the rapid spread of CWD in deer. Recent research shows that the barrier to a spillover into humans is less formidable than previously believed and that the prions causing the disease may be evolving to become more able to infect humans.

A response to the threat is ramping up. In 2023, a coalition of researchers began “working on a major initiative, bringing together 68 different global experts on various aspects of CWD to really look at what are the challenges ahead should we see a spillover into humans and food production,” said Michael Osterholm, an expert in infectious disease at the University of Minnesota and a leading authority on CWD.

“The bottom-line message is we are quite unprepared,” Osterholm said. “If we saw a spillover right now, we would be in free fall. There are no contingency plans for what to do or how to follow up.”

The team of experts is planning for a potential outbreak, focusing on public health surveillance, lab capacity, prion disease diagnostics, surveillance of livestock and wildlife, risk communication, and education and outreach.

Despite the concern, tens of thousands of infected animals have been eaten by people in recent years, yet there have been no known human cases of the disease.

They think, “I am not going to worry about it because it hasn’t jumped the species barrier,” Rinella said. “That would change dramatically if a hunter got CWD.”

Other prion diseases, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, have affected humans. Mad cow claimed the lives of more than 200 people, mostly in the United Kingdom and France. Some experts believe Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s also may be caused by prions.

First discovered in Colorado in captive deer in 1967, CWD has since spread widely. It has been found in animals in at least 32 states, four Canadian provinces, and four other foreign countries. It was recently found for the first time in Yellowstone National Park.

Prions behave very differently than viruses and bacteria and are virtually impossible to eradicate. Matthew Dunfee, director of the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance, said experts call it a “disease from outer space.”

Symptoms are gruesome. The brain deteriorates to a spongy consistency. Sometimes nicknamed “zombie deer disease,” the condition makes infected animals stumble, drool, and stare blankly before they die. There is no treatment or vaccine. And it is extremely difficult to eradicate, whether with disinfectants or with high heat — it even survives autoclaving, or medical sterilization.

Cooking doesn’t kill prions, said Osterholm. Unfortunately, he said, “cooking concentrates the prions. It makes it even more likely” people will consume them, he said.

Though CWD is not known to have passed to humans or domestic animals, experts are very concerned about both possibilities, which Osterholm’s group just received more than $1.5 million in funding to study. CWD can infect more parts of an animal’s body than other prion diseases like mad cow, which could make it more likely to spread to people who eat venison — if it can jump to humans.

Researchers estimate that between 7,000 and 15,000 infected animals are unknowingly consumed by hunter families annually, a number that increases every year as the disease spreads across the continent. While testing of wild game for CWD is available, it’s cumbersome and the tests are not widely used in many places.

A major problem with determining whether CWD has affected humans is that it has a long latency. People who consume prions may not contract the resulting disease until many years later — so, if someone fell sick, there might not be an apparent connection to having eaten deer.

Prions are extremely persistent in the environment. They can remain in the ground for many years and even be taken up by plants.

Because the most likely route for spillover is through people who eat venison, quick testing of deer and other cervid carcasses is where prevention is focused. Right now, a hunter may drive a deer to a check station and have a lymph node sample sent to a lab. It can be a week or more before results come in, so most hunters skip it.

Montana, for example, is famous for its deer hunting. CWD was first detected in the wild there in 2017 and now has spread across much of the state. Despite warnings and free testing, Montana wildlife officials have not seen much concern among hunters. “We have not seen a decrease in deer hunting because of this,” said Brian Wakeling, game management bureau chief for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks. In 2022 Montana hunters killed nearly 88,000 deer. Just 5,941 samples were taken, and 253 of those tested positive.

Experts believe a rapid test would greatly increase the number of animals tested and help prevent spillover.

Because of the importance of deer to Indigenous people, several tribal nations in Minnesota are working with experts at the University of Minnesota to come up with ways to monitor and manage the disease. “The threat and potential for the spread of CWD on any of our three reservations has the ability to negatively impact Ojibwe culture and traditions of deer hunting providing venison for our membership,” said Doug McArthur, a tribal biologist for the White Earth Nation, in a statement announcing the program. (The other groups referenced are the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and Red Lake Band of Chippewa.) “Tribes must be ready with a plan to manage and mitigate the effects of CWD … to ensure that the time-honored and culturally significant practice of harvesting deer is maintained for future generations.”

Peter Larsen is an assistant professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota and co-director of the Minnesota Center for Prion Research and Outreach. The center was formed to study numerous aspects of prions as part of the push to get ahead of possible spillover. “Our mission is to learn everything we can about not just CWD but other prionlike diseases, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease,” he said. “We are studying the biology and ecology” of the misfolded protein, he said. “How do prions move within the environment? How can we help mitigate risk and improve animal health and welfare?”

Part of that mission is new technology to make testing faster and easier. Researchers have developed a way for hunters to do their own testing, though it can take weeks for results. There’s hope for, within the next two years, a test that will reduce the wait time to three to four hours.

“With all the doom and gloom around CWD, we have real solutions that can help us fight this disease in new ways,” said Larsen. “There’s some optimism.”

(KFF Health News, formerly known as Kaiser Health News (KHN), is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs of KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism.)

©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Yet one play later, after Montana scored against Cincinnati on a quarterback sneak, John Madden and the CBS crew introduced a new wrinkle that changed sports broadcasting forever. As the production team showed the replay of Solomon’s grab, Madden drew over a freeze-frame of the play, diagramming how Solomon sprung open.

It was the first time a sports broadcast had used a telestrator.

“Bad circles,” Madden quipped about his penmanship during Super Bowl XVI.

Fast forward 42 years. During the 49ers’ eighth Super Bowl appearance this Sunday in Las Vegas for the 58th edition, the broadcast will feature augmented reality, cameras inserted into the uprights, drones and more TV magic. But it all stems from the telestrator, which was invented by a NASA scientist and revolutionized how football games are seen and understood by fans watching at home.

“When John Madden first started using the telestrator, he fell in love with it,” said Dennis Deninger, a Syracuse University sport management professor and longtime ESPN production executive. “Madden’s description of (the telestrator) was that it helped make the fan smarter. You can just show the fans what it is you know as a coach and illustrate it for them.”

Madden was such a passionate educator that he once taught an extension course at the University of California, Berkeley, titled “Man To Man Football.” There he drew plays on a chalkboard for his students, just as he later did for America with the telestrator.

Deninger traced the history of football productions back to the first Super Bowl in 1967. The networks then treated the game as simply an “extension” of the regular season, he said. Production crews went from about seven or eight cameras to 11 and 12 for the main event.

Then Monday Night Football began in 1970, and every other broadcast had to catch up. ABC, the Monday game’s home until 2005, valued the production quality and used double the number of cameras as the Super Bowl did back then, Deninger said.

“And that was it until you got to the telestrator era,” Deninger said. “What happened then was the whole concept of television sports changed. When it first began, it was, ‘We will bring the game to you at home.’ It was a vestige of radio. And then, when (ABC executive) Roone Arledge put Monday Night Football on the air in 1970, it turned into, ‘We will bring you to the game.’”

That trend has continued — in excess. Broadcasts now do more than bring fans to the game: They bring an enhanced, theatrical viewing experience to them. And they do it for more fans. The 1982 game remains the highest-rated Super Bowl ever, with a 49.1% household share, but that meant roughly 85 million Americans watched. This Sunday could set a record with 115 million.

This year, CBS has 165 cameras — well more than they could feasibly use in one telecast. There are a record 48 4K cameras with super-slow-motion capability. The crew has 24 robotic cameras, 20 pylon cams, 23 augmented reality cameras and three drones. There’s a camera at the highest point in Vegas, at the top of the 1,149-foot Stratosphere Hotel.

For the first time ever, they have “doink” cameras built into the uprights. The idea came to CBS executives last year when Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker missed a field goal off the left goalpost. CBS earned the NFL’s approval by testing the groundbreaking technology in the preseason. On Sunday, three cameras on each goal post with 4K zoom and slow-motion capabilities can capture not just missed kicks but other scenes that unfold on the field from a unique perspective.

“It’s all about the storytelling,” said Harold Bryant, CBS Sports executive producer and executive vice president of production. “We’re not going to force any elements. We’re going to find out what works to help tell the story of the game. The story of the moment.”

When the 49ers defeated the Bengals for their first Lombardi Trophy, there was no score bug at the bottom of the screen. When each offense broke the huddle, the down and distance would flash in yellow block font. Now there are three-dimensional and augmented reality graphics.

Comparing the production of this Sunday’s broadcast to 1982 would be like comparing a Martin Scorsese film to a grade-school theater production. The scale is just so different.

CBS and parent company Paramount have 115 hours of programming planned for the week leading up to the Super Bowl across multiple platforms. Both CBS and Nickelodeon are broadcasting the actual game, the latter for the first time ever in an effort to appeal to young fans. Augmented reality versions of cartoon icon SpongeBob SquarePants and his buddy Patrick Star join two traditional broadcasters, and animations of slime will fill the screen after touchdowns.

CBS chairman Sean McManus described the technological evolution through the years as “quantumly.”

“Every time technology changes, creative people find ways to use that technology,” said Deninger, who wrote a forthcoming book about the Super Bowl’s impact on society.

All advertising time slots are already sold on both channels, CBS executives said. A single 30-second ad goes for roughly $7 million; for Super Bowl XVI, that figure was $324,300, per USA Today.

McManus declined to detail how much production costs, but the advertising revenue of more than $500 million will more than pay for it.

“The investment that we’re making is the best use of our Paramount dollars that I could imagine,” McManus said. “Because so much of the image and the prestige of Paramount Global will be determined by how good a job we do.”

Even in the broadcast booth, where commentators have more or less the same job now as they always have, it’s hard to draw parallels from Super Bowl XVI to LVIII. Madden, who died in 2021, was a former coach who is regarded as the greatest football announcer ever for his ability to both educate and humor fans. Tony Romo, this Super Bowl’s color commentator, is a former quarterback who initially impressed audiences by predicting plays before they unfolded with uncanny accuracy.

More recently though, some fans have soured on Romo’s schtick, tiring of his enthusiasm with partner Jim Nantz and occasional word salads.

“Well, it’s a normal arc of someone’s career,” Romo said when asked about the criticism. “Honestly, I think a lot of people were rooting against (Patrick) Mahomes just because he’s been there. They want to see people new. It’s just part of an arc when you do something at a high level, I think that’s normal.”

With all the new gadgets and gizmos, doink cams and slime, Madden’s beloved telestrator has remained a constant. When Romo draws on the screen, he’ll be explaining a play by Mahomes or Purdy, not a Montana pass. But after all these years, the broadcast will still bring about half of America to the game.

TOKYO — Seiji Ozawa, the Japanese conductor who amazed audiences with the lithe physicality of his performances during more than four decades at the helm of the San Francisco Symphony, Boston Symphony and other orchestras, has died, his management office said Friday. He was 88.

The internationally acclaimed maestro, with his trademark mop of salt-and-pepper hair, led the San Francisco Symphony from 1970-76, but was likely best known as the director of the Boston Symphony for more than 30 years until departing in 2002. From 2002 to 2010, he was the music director of the Vienna State Opera.

He died of heart failure Tuesday at his home in Tokyo, according to his office, Veroza, Japan.

He remained active in his later years, particularly in his native land. He was the artistic director and founder of the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival, a music and opera festival in Japan. He and the Saito Kinen Orchestra, which he co-founded in 1984, won the Grammy for best opera recording in 2016 for Ravel’s “L’Enfant et Les Sortileges (The Child and the Spells.)”

In 2022, he conducted his Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival for the first time in three years to mark its 30th anniversary. That turned out to be his last public performance.

“Music can link the hearts of people — transcending words, borders, religion, and politics. It is my hope that through music, we can be reminded that we are all of the same human race living on the same planet. And that we are united,” Ozawa said in a statement.

“It is with great sadness that I share the news of Seiji Ozawa’s passing earlier this week at the age of 88,” said San Francisco Symphony CEO Matt Spivey, who said the conductor left an “indelible mark” on both the orchestra and the city.

“Ozawa’s tenure ushered in an exciting new era at the San Francisco Symphony. He brought a modern sensibility to the organization and captivated audiences in San Francisco through his expert conducting and charismatic presence.”

At Boston, he was credited with helping the BSO become the biggest-budget orchestra in the world, with an endowment that grew from less than $10 million in the early 1970s to more than $200 million in 2002.

Ozawa was born Sept. 1, 1935, to Japanese parents in Manchuria, China, while it was under Japanese occupation.

After his family returned to Japan in 1944, he studied music under Hideo Saito, a cellist and conductor credited with popularizing Western music in Japan. Ozawa revered him and formed the Saito Kinen (Saito Memorial) Orchestra in 1984 and eight years later founded the Saito Kinen Festival — renamed the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival in 2015.

Ozawa first arrived in the United States in 1960 and was quickly hailed by critics as a brilliant young talent. He attended the Tanglewood Music Center and was noticed by Leonard Bernstein, who appointed him assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic for the 1961-62 season. After his New York debut with the Philharmonic at age 25, The New York Times said “the music came brilliantly alive under his direction.”

He led the San Francisco Symphony from 1970 to 1976, splitting his time between San Francisco and Boston for part of his tenure in the Bay Area.

“Ozawa’s legacy includes the San Francisco Symphony’s first European tour in 1973, highlighted by a memorable appearance in Soviet Moscow alongside the legendary cellist Mstislav Rostropovich,” Spivey said. “Other significant milestones of Ozawa’s tenure included the establishment of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus in 1973 and a string of adventurous recordings, notably a popular release of William Russo’s Blues Symphony.”

He came to prominence at a time there were few nonwhite musicians on the international scene. Ozawa embraced the challenge and it became his lifelong passion to help Japanese performers demonstrate they could be first-class musicians. In his 1967 book “The Great Conductors,” critic Harold C. Schonberg noted the changing ranks of younger conductors, writing that Ozawa and Indian-born Zubin Mehta were the first Asian conductors “to impress one as altogether major talents.”

Ozawa is largely credited with elevating the Tanglewood Music Center, a music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, to international prominence. In 1994, a 1,200-seat, $12 million music hall at the center was named for him.

As Spivey noted, Ozawa’s impact extended far beyond Boston and San Francisco. “He created several international academies for young musicians and was also deeply involved in the musical landscape of his native Japan, founding the Saito Kinen Orchestra.”

Ozawa was one of five honorees at the annual Kennedy Center Honors in 2015 for contributing to American culture through the arts.

In later years, Ozawa’s health deteriorated. He canceled some appearances in 2015-16 for health reasons, including what would have been his first return to the Tanglewood music festival — the summer home of the Boston symphony — in a decade.

His passing drew notes of sadness from around the world. Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Chairman Daniel Froschauer said in his comment posted on X, formerly Twitter, that Ozawa “has left a great artistic legacy with the Vienna Philharmonic. We will sorely miss Seiji Ozawa as a friend and musical partner. Our thoughts are with his family.”

Ozawa’s management office said his funeral was attended only by close relatives as his family wished to have a quiet farewell.