Greeting fellow culinary enthusiasts! I have been working with my food science students on a culinary project sponsored by Johnson Space Center. The goal is for the students to develop an entrée fit to serve on the Space Station. Many requirements are involved, one of which is thickness. If using a sauce, it must be thick enough not to float away! The following is a modified recipe adapted from an astronaut cookbook. It is doubtful that any of you will be traveling to outer space in your near future but this recipe can be used to freeze entrees in small containers that can later have additional liquids added.

Space Station Chicken With Oriental Sauce

Melt 3 T. salted butter in a skillet over medium heat. Place 3 chicken breasts in skillet with butter. Sauté chicken until it reaches an internal temperature of about 165 degrees Fahrenheit (approximately 6-8 minutes per side). Remove chicken from skillet and allow to cool slightly. Dice into ½ inch cubes. In a small bowl, whisk together the contents of sauce packet (I used General Tso’s), ¾ cup water and 1 T. cornstarch. Heat the sauce in the skillet from sautéed chicken. Add the cubed chicken and heat thoroughly.

If serving right away, add an additional cup of water and soy sauce to taste (I also added sugar to the General Tso’s). At this point you can freeze approximately 4 small lunch size portions or 3 dinner size portions. Upon reheating, add additional water for desired consistency and soy sauce for taste. To make a hearty dinner entrée serve with rice or rice noodles. Enjoy!

State Representative Lois Kolkhorst (third from left), running for Senate District 18, pictured with CCRC Treasurer Anna Whitcomb-Goodman, candidate for Calhoun County Clerk, Calhoun County Republican Chairman Russell Cain, CCRC President Larry Robinson and Jack Wu, Vice President of Formosa Plastics at the Calhoun County Republican Club meeting.

State Representative Lois Kolkhorst will run for Senate District 18 assuming Senator Glenn Hegar wins the comptroller’s race in November and a special election is called. She spoke to the Calhoun County Republican Club on Monday, October 6, 2014, regarding transparency in government, immigration, the sunset commission, public health bills, TWETA (Windstorm) and immigration. She said of her intentions to run for Hegar’s seat, “After prayer and consideration with my husband Jim and our two children Lois Kate and Jake, we decided the issues facing Texas are too big to ignore.” Kolkhorst, who has represented House District 13 since 2001, chairs the lower chamber’s Public Health Committee.

The speaker for the November 3, 2014, meeting will be David Holford. David is an immigration attorney and he will present his unique and thought-provoking perspective on immigration.

David received his undergraduate education at Emmanual Christian Institute with additional work at Angelo State University, attended graduate school at the University of Arkansas and studied international law in London through the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law while a student at Indiana University School of Law at Indianapolis. He received his Law Degree in 1993 and was admitted to the Indiana Bar the same year. In 1999 he relocated to the United Kingdom. He earned a post-graduate Certificate in education from the university of Gloucestershire and taught history and religious education at the secondary level and theology and philosophy at the post-secondary level.

David moved back to the United States in 2011 and practices law solely in the area of immigration. He serves as Associate Pastor at the Christ Community Church in Port Lavaca, as secretary of the Calhoun County Ministerial Alliance and is on the Board of Directors of the Calhoun County Community Ministries. He and his wife Kelly have two school-aged children.

Republican Club meets at Grace Episcopal Church, Port Lavaca, at 6:00 p.m. November 3.

Get Ready Port O Connor, it seems like we might have a little bit of fall in the air. I know Fall Schedules are busy and bustling. Kids are back in school, and holidays are just around the corner. That means the POC Community Service Club returns to meeting twice monthly. The 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month at 10 AM in the small room of the Community Center you will find the club organizing and planning, and as always, welcoming interested new members. Come and check us out. At our first September meeting we had our annual election of officers, and they have gotten right to work. Congratulations to Marie Hawes, President, Carol Haverfield, Vice President, Diane Cooley, Secretary, Annette Leach, Treasurer, and Janet Johnson, Parliamentarian on their election to leadership of this dynamic group of women. This new slate of officers hit the floor running with all that is coming up for our club and community. After completing interest surveys and discussions of our calendar, committee chairwomen were designated and members volunteered for specific tasks and events. Happenings big and small were posted to the calendar and some very special plans were laid for service projects and community happenings coming up soon.

The first and very exciting undertaking is the biannual Service Club Community Garage Sale. If you have not cleaned out your closets and sheds yet, you better hurry because it is almost here. The club will still take your quality donations, and invites you to join in this fun and functional community event. Saturday, November 8th from 8am to 3 pm there will be the most amazing assortment of treasures, trinkets and undiscovered curiosities available for sale at the Community Center Pavilion. If you have never been to one of these epic sales, you are in for a treat. Clothing and housewares, décor and sports equipment, furniture and hardware will be priced to move. All proceeds from the garage sale will support the club’s scholarship and service projects. The array of home baked goodies included in the bake sale is always impressive and delicious. In an effort to support our own, this years’ bake sale has been expressly designated to help our past president Janet Johnson with recent overwhelming medical expenses. The famous $1 Bag Sale will begin at 1 PM. Club Cookbooks will be available at the sale, and some editions are getting close to becoming unavailable, so get yours while they last.

With hardly a meeting to spare, the Service Club will follow with their annual Senior Christmas Luncheon on Friday, December 5th at the POC Community Center. While some traditions such as angelic music by our school children and delicious homemade desserts prepared and served by club members will be joyfully celebrated, there are some special surprises and new treats in store for our hometown seniors. This Coastal Christmas Celebration is going to extra special; so you won’t want to miss it!

The Service Club continues to be active in all areas of our community. They have provided money to each POC Elementary teacher for back to school purchases, filled Halloween goodie bags for our local students, donated to the quickly coming Community Thanksgiving Baskets, made memorial gifts to a number of local agencies and causes, provided to-go lunch to local shut-ins and recovering neighbors, pitched in with other community groups and projects such as Fight Freda! Fundraiser, POC Night Out, Weekly Senior Lunch, Grand Slam, San Antonio Bay Day, Volunteer Fire Department Fundraiser, and other efforts to enrich our community.

The Service Club is excitedly looking forward to the Election/Voting Day, Chili and Gumbo Cook-off benefiting Friends of the Library, our annual Toy Run and Boat Parade, Thanksgiving and Christmas Basket Delivery, Angel Tree Outreach and other things that make our little end of the road a special place.

So, until next time, be safe, live simply, love openly, forgive generously and remember what the great philosopher Mother Theresa says, “We are all called to be a cup of water or a piece of bread, a hand of help or a voice of love to someone. We must open our eyes to see the needs around us.”

Coast Guard Station Port O’Connor boat crews saved seven people during two search and rescue operations Friday, October 10.
Early Friday morning, a response boat crew rescued six adults aboard a disabled sailboat drifting toward the Matagorda Jetties.
Then, during the early evening, another boat crew flew a 55-year-old man with a head injury off another sailboat. Both sailboat crews were taking part in the Harvest moon Sailing Regatta, which concluded Saturday afternoon. The first rescue was at about 3:45 a.m. The boat was 15 miles south of the Matagorda Jetties and drifting due to a nonresponsive rudder. A 45-foot response boat and crew arrived on scene about 6:30 a.m. The response boat towed the disabled sailboat back to Station Port O’Connor. There were no injuries aboard.
Then at 5:30 p.m. Friday, the sailboat Hot Fudge called the Secontor Corpus Christi command center near the Matagorda Jetties, saying one of their crew members had suffered a head laceration.

A 25-foot response boat and crew from Coast Guard Station Port O’Connor brought the man to shore for treatment. The man was treated for a minor head injury and released shortly after.

From a news release, taken from the Victoria Advocate