The Los Angeles Kings Hockey Club surprised hockey fans across North America with their 8th-seeded win of the coveted Stanley Cup last year, and with their entire championship team returning are a good bet to repeat this season; however, after the end of a gruelingly long “lock-out” labor dispute, the season will be hardly half as long as their championship year.  The Kings open their season at home on Saturday, January 19 at Staples Center downtown against the legendary Chicago Blackhawks into just a 48 game season, with only 24 home games this year.

Eight years ago the National Hockey League staged a similar short season after a labor dispute.  Under the new Collective Bargain Agreement, the NHL and Players Association will have ten years of peace.  Hopefully these disputes will not greatly reduce enthusiasm for the sport among fans; but here in California, there is every reason for fans to get ready for a great season.  No Stanley Cup Championship team has ever returned to the ice completely intact, like the Kings.  Only a few teams have won back-to-back Cups.  Though the season may be short, it may be a really historic one for Los Angeles hockey fans.

Of California’s other professional hockey teams, the San Jose Sharks, also open their season on Saturday but in Calgary, Canada vs. the Flames, and the Anaheim Ducks will face the Canucks in Vancouver at Rogers Center the same evening.

Last Thanksgiving season California Political Review gave readers our first inside scoop on the best turkeys in the state.  This year, we are not talking about the new Democrat super-majorities in both Houses of our state legislature, though they are all surely

Janice’s turkey

Shelton Farm’s turkey ranch in Pomona Valley. Courtesy of their website.

turkeys!  We are instead talking about the very best Thanksgiving turkeys, grown right here in sunny California!  According to the California Poultry Federation, over 15 million turkeys are grown annually in California.  California is in the top 6 states for turkey production, with almost $200 million a year in total business.

One of the very best fresh turkeys available is through Gelson’s Markets in southern California, branded as Shelton’s and from Pomona Valley since 1924.  Shelton’s produces great regular and organic chickens on a regular basis for Gelson’s and their turkeys are just as good.  Shelton’s turkeys include USDA guaranteed free range and non-antibiotic birds that are both fresh and frozen and outside of southern California can be found at select natural food stores and finer markets.  Shelton’s birds are better because they are raised in open pens for up to a 1/2 year and are never feed artificial growth stimulants at any time.

Foster Farms, based in Livingston, is a major California-based producer of turkeys through its large processing plant in Fresno.  A huge producer of chickens as well, Foster Farms received an award from the state in 2005 for environmental leadership.  Foster Farms raises good birds that are distributed at major super-markets throughout California

While Foster is one of the biggest quality producers in the country, California is also home to a number of smaller producers that focus on various aspects of providing the public a great turkey.  Branigan’s Turkey Farm was established in rural Woodland in 1942 and raises about 20,000 turkeys a year.  Its’ birds are all natural, no hormones or antibiotics, are free range, and are raised a little longer than some other brands.  Branigan’s turkeys are available through their plant year round (530-662-4205) or through grocery stores with specialty meat departments, mostly in northern California.

Diestel Turkey Ranch is based in beautiful Sonora in the Sierra Nevada foothills, have been in business since 1949, and I can say I have enjoyed their turkeys for years.  The emphasis here is on sustainable farming, natural quality and good taste.  They allow the public to actually visit their ranch.  Their number is 888-4-GOBBLE.

Another good turkey comes from California’s Central Valley, Mary’s Free Range, Organic, and Heritage Turkeys.  Mary’s has been in business since 1954.  Mary’s turkeys roam a farm four times the size of the average commercial turkey ranch, and their organic turkeys are raised on feeds that do not contain any animal by-products, GMOs, antibiotics, pesticides, or other chemicals.   www.marysturkeys.com.

We like to slow roast our own turkey overnight on a very low setting, and bast the bird frequently to be sure it is nice and moist.  We usually don’t do much by way of seasoning so we can enjoy the taste of the turkey itself.  But we’ve tried a few other recipes and one similarly simple slow roast recipe we like is from Wolfgang Puck and is available at the Food Network website here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/wolfgang-puck/whole-roasted-turkey-recipe/index.html.

And what is the appropriate wine to pair with a turkey?  We think a California Pinot Noir is nice, or a great Santa Barbara Syrah like 2010 Melville “Verna’s Estate’s”, currently $19.99 a bottle at www.klwines.com.

A vacation at Lake Tahoe remains one of the most reaffirming statements about why it is good to live in California.  Sure, the hard times in our state have hit Tahoe, too.  A number of small businesses that cater to seasonal tourists are now sadly shuttered.  The lake-view Nevada-side Casinos, like Harrah’s and Harvey’s at south shore, are not as full of wagerers as they used to be, and the headliners don’t seem to be booked like they used to be at Harrah’s “South Shore Room.”.  The Cal-Neva at North Shore, once “owned” by Frank Sinatra, doesn’t have live blackjack or craps anymore.  The restaurants have changed and some have closed, like the iconic “Petit Pier” at Tahoe Vista.  It appears that a pretty good number of lakeside homes are up for sale, and that the housing market has slumped just as it has in the rest of the state.

But the Lake is still there, as well as the 77 mile road around it.  And it remains the most beautiful, big, clear, cold, bluest lake in the world.  The blue jays are still there.  Emerald Bay still gleams.  The Ponderosa Pines still emit the wonderful sage perfume that smells of summer at Tahoe.  The economy may suck, but Tahoe is definitely one of the many reasons we Californians have a reason to not give up on our state.

We had a terrific time there for three days and nights last week and I’m glad to share some pictures here.  Including a picture of the best dessert ever, the “Baked Tahoe,” a feature of the Lone Eagle Grill at the Hyatt resort at Incline Village.

Some members of your California Political Review team.

View from our room at the Hyatt Incline Village

The Marina at the Hotel.

The beach at the hotel as seen from the outdoors cocktail lounge.

The Island in the center of Emerald Bay from our boat.

The “Baked Tahoe”. Hard frozen vanilla ice cream atop a nut brownie covered with caramelized marshmellows and drizzled with chocolate sauce and crumbled almond toffee.

Jim Sills, Jr., a dedicated conservative who was a political consultant based in San Diego County, died unexpectedly earlier this month just after completing a very successful set of election victories.  One of those surprise victories was the election of long-time conservative activist Gary Kreep to the Superior Court of San Diego County.  The following is a remembrance of Jim Sills penned by Superior Court Judge-elect Gary Kreep.

Jim Sills, Norm Olney and I met in 1969 at University of California at San Diego, where we were all students.  Jim became editor of a student newspaper, DIMENSION, that Norm, Jim, Karl “Klutz” Keating (of the film “The Incredible Bread Machine” fame), and I worked on, with other students there.  At Jim’s suggestion, we formed a Chapter of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) at UCSD, because the College Republicans were mostly a bunch of liberals who did nothing to oppose the left on campus.  We three battled against the left on campus in very real ways, and we earned our stripes in the conservative movement.  We brought William F. Buckley, M. Stanton Evans, Congressman John Ashcroft, Ernst Van Den Haag, and other conservative intellectuals to UCSD to speak.  We stood up to Herbert Marcuse, Byron King (then National Secretary of Students for a
Democratic Society “SDS”), and future Communist Party USA leader Angela Davis, all who were on our campus in those days.  Although the media covered it up, there was regular violence on the UCSD campus, including one night when Jim was attacked from behind and knocked onto concrete, and a brick was thrown at me, narrowly missing my head–that same night, radicals unsuccessfully tried to firebomb the Dean’s Office there.  We often had to work at night to do our conservative deeds, for fear of physical attacks by the left, and reprisals by the anti-conservative UCSD campus administration.

I went on to become California State Chairman of YAF, and Jim was my Executive Director, both of us working out of an office in Kearney Mesa.  We managed to pull a few “coups” in those days, including Jim arranging for a mobile billboard to be donated one weekend for use by YAF.  It was placed in the parking lot of the Towne & Country Inn, in Mission Valley, for the 1976 Republican State Convention there.  It read “CALIFORNIA YOUNG AMERICANS FOR FREEDOM WELCOMES RONALD REAGAN”.  Future President Reagan was attending the Convention, and the billboard landed me a personal meeting with then former Governor Reagan, who thanked me for the billboard and for the support–it was one of the highlights of my life.

Jim also was the architect of YAF’s San Diego City Council Attendance Awards, in which we handed out nicely made plaques for good attendance, and lampooned those who failed to appear for their City Council meetings.  We gave former City Councilman, and former Congressman, Bill Lowery the “Vacationer of the Year Award,” for his 7 vacations from Council meetings in one year–the award was presented by YAFer Greg Dundas, who was wearing bermuda shorts, tennis shoes, white socks, sunglasses, and a Hawaiian shirt for the ceremony.  We also gave a map of downtown San Diego to another Member of the Council, who had missed 44% of all meetings that year.  The media loved it, covered it, and laughed like crazy at our antics.  One former San Diego City Councilman, who later became a San Diego County Superior Court Judge, one day showed me plaques that I had given him years before for his good attendance that were hanging in his Court chambers, and he told me how he was proud of the awards.

Jim, Norm, and I stayed friends every since.  As anyone who knew Jim could tell you, he NEVER talked about himself, or what he was doing for his clients, or, for that matter, who his clients even were in any specific election.  But Jim let a few of us have a little look inside Jim.

After my near death experience in 2010, Jim told me about his brother having similar heart bypass surgery a few years before, and how he had come through that just fine–he was trying to encourage me that I could resume a complete life after essentially dying twice in the hospital.  According to those present, when Jim first came to the hospital, and he saw me all full of tubes in my mouth, and attached to a lot of machines, as the doctors fought to save my life, he started crying.  He also brought me a 1959 Willie Mays baseball card–he knew Willie was my childhood hero.

This year, it is no exaggeration to say that he was, in large part, responsible for my election as a San Diego County Superior Court Judge.  He died the Friday after the election, before I re-took the lead in the balloting for the final time in one of the closest judicial elections in San Diego history.  However, I believe that Jim has been watching down on the vote counting, and he now has one of his big smiles on his face, happy that I won the election.

Jim Sills, upper right, with, counterclockwise, Norm Olney, Kevin Olson, and Gary Kreep, circa 2003

Jim was a true friend, and I’m not ashamed to say that I have been crying too since I found out about his death.  Jim had a profound, and positive, impact on my life, and I will miss him greatly.

Courtesy L.A. Kings

Congratulations to the Los Angeles Kings who have brought the fabled hockey Stanley Cup to the Kings organization for the first time in history!  On Thursday downtown Los Angeles will celebrate with a big parade!  Details on the noon start time and parade route can be found here:  http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/06/kings-parade-la.html

While the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils battle it out for the Eastern Division Championship in the National Hockey League, the rest of us in California who are rooting for a Stanley Cup Championship are carefully considering our ticket options.  And I did nab two for the big 3rd game, the first game in Los Angeles, on Monday night June 4!  I’m hoping the Kings will continue their streak of winning 10 playoff road games in a row on the road and will be coming to Los Angeles on that day two games up for the coveted Stanley Cup.  Wow, we will be

Picture of Dustin Brown, Team Captain, courtesy LA Kings.

giving those dreaded Canadian teams a comeuppance if we win the Cup, regardless of all the Canadians working for us!

Southern Californian Nathan Fletcher won the 2012 Billabong XXL Big Wave Award in Anaheim this past Friday.

The top-surfing Nathan Flecther is not the Nathan Fletcher currently campaigning for Mayor of San Diego.

To watch this epic ride and wipe out visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOPvB1t6c4k&list=UUqt4BRFOqI3z6Sjw6W6gtMQ&index=5&feature=plcp

We also have heard that Carl DeMaio of San Diego won the annual Del Mar Pacifico Beer Drinking Championship today on Cinco de Mayo, but perhaps we got the facts there a little messed up.