Friday, April 7, 2017 9 Brooklin Town Crier Scott's Window Cleaning, based in Brooklin, is a residential business that has operated in the GTA for over 30 years. Each year, Scott and his full time teams assemble in April and work till the snow flies in November. To assist his veteran leaders, Scott hires new first-year university students. This year, due to a surplus of returning leaders and a loyal client base, he's hiring a record 10 more. Scott's has created a "family" culture in which employees and students work and interact in a fun outdoor environment, the result being that most most return for many years. It's a perfect job for students to have throughout their university years as they never have to worry about summer employment again. With Brooklin High School's first graduating class looming, it's important for current grade 12 to keep this in mind for the summer of 2018. If you know anyone looking for a summer position, please have them look at our web site www.scottswindowcleaning.com or email a resume to scottswindowcleaning@ rogers.com Local Company Hiring 10 New University Students PAID ADVERTISEMENT Plant-Based Eating by Sheree Nicholson The Flexitarian Movement There's a movement happening I like to call the "Flexitarian Movement." People want to cut back on meat, but not entirely. It can be hard to say no to meat; it's everywhere and we grew up eating it. Meat is part of our culture. We celebrate events and holidays with it and plan meals around what meat we're going to serve. This makes it hard to imagine life without any meat whatsoever. Hence the Flexitarian Movement. It basically boils down to eating mostly plant-based foods and meat only once in awhile. So if you're going out, order that steak or chicken breast. If you're visiting relatives, make it easy on them and eat the meat they serve, but keep the main part of your meals plant-based. This allows flexibility in your diet and keeps things uncomplicated. Small simple changes go a long way. Begin with breakfast. It's easy: Switch out the bacon and eggs and those fast food breakfast sandwiches for oatmeal, toasted Ezekiel bread and smoothies. Not only will you get a wider variety of nutrients, but you'll have more energy because animal products take more energy to digest. Start the day with a breakfast that will fill you up but won't slow you down. Dinner is easy, too. Pastas, chillis, stirfrys and burritos are a great way to switch out meat. Cutting back on meat at night will leave you with more energy for after dinner for workouts and quality time with your children. Ethnic foods are an amazing way to reduce meat and experience great flavours and spices. Many cultures live with little or no meat. When eating out, try Indian, Thai, or Malaysian restaurants. Here's a simple recipe you can make at home. It's from the ohsheglows. com blog and I've served it to a variety of people to rave reviews. Serve it over steamed brown rice to make it even heartier. Next issue, I'll give you my favorite raw tomato sauce recipe. Eat well, be well and feel amazing. Sheree's hack: Make two meals on a Sunday afternoon for faster night dinners. Ingredients:1 tsp extra virgin olive oil 1 medium sweet onion 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 red pepper, diced 1 jalapeno, seeded and diced (optional) 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces 1 - 28 oz. can diced tomatoes, with their juices Salt and pepper 1/3 cup natural peanut butter 4 cups vegetable broth 1 1/2 tsp chili powder 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional) 1 - 15 oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed 2 handfuls baby spinach or kale (destemmed) Fresh cilantro or parsley Roasted peanuts, for garnish Directions: 1. In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté for 5 mins, until onion is translucent 2. Add bell pepper, jalapeno, sweet potato and canned tomatoes. Raise heat to medium-high and simmer for 5 mins. Season with salt and pepper. 3. In a medium bowl, whisk peanut butter with 1 cup vegetable broth until no clumps remain. Stir into large saucepan with remaining 3 cups vegetable broth, chili powder, and cayenne. 4. Cover pan and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 10-20 mins until sweet potato is tender. 5. Stir in chickpeas and spinach and cook until spinach is wilted. Sea- son with Salt and Pepper to taste. 6. Ladle into bowls and garnish with cilantro/parsley and peanuts. African Peanut Stew This phrase, which describes the idea that someone doesn't mind something as long as it isn't in their own area, could be used for a lot of people. In this case, I can say that we should all be NIMBY when it concerns land fill sites and regulations surrounding them. Last November, I was flooded with phone calls and emails from residents in the Ashburn area who were concerned with the number of dump trucks using a local site to dump. In short, we had a land alteration by-law in much need of an update and Town of Whitby staff had been working on this for quite some time. Between the public and industry consultations, it was taking a long time to agree on how our new by-law should be written. I knew it needed more teeth to stop the wild west of dumping we'd been witnessing. I leaned heavily on our expert staff to write the words that would empower us. Finally, at a Special Meeting of Council last Monday night (April 2), we passed a new lengthy by-law. Key points include: Elimination of exemptions for small volume site alteration operations, except those associated with normal residential uses such as gardening, landscaping or swimming pool construction Expanded quality control testing, including the ability for the Commissioner of Public Works to request periodic soil samples in cases where concerns are identified about fill quality Restrictions to prohibit the movement of fill during wind warnings or within 24 hours of precipitation in consideration of nearby residents and to prevent the tracking of mud onto roads Restrictions on the hours of operation for fill activities in consideration of nearby residents Minimum insurance requirements for site alteration activities Provisions to regulate wet material (e.g. vacuum trucks) Regulated haul routes for fill, including the ability to prohibit the hauling of fill on roads that are structurally insufficient to handle the weight of large trucks. Requirement that surveys and grading documents submitted as part of an application be completed by a qualified land surveyor or professional engineer Revised fees based on the amount of material/fill hauled Expanded and harmonized definitions within the by-law Requirement for additional financial securities including securities for quality control testing, overfilling, and underground water quality monitoring Updated administrative provisions within the by-law, including increased maximum penalties Long. And detailed. But this is meant to control our natural environment in such a way that we can rest easy knowing we have done due diligence for community health and well being. This is not meant to hinder legitimate businesses in the industry and staff have assured us that they will closely monitor the impact this has on local businesses. That is not our goal and we will work closely with our community partners to make this work for all parties. In the meantime. I am grateful to the community for sounding the alarm. Never hesitate to let me know if something doesn't seem right in your neighbourhood. NIMBY - Not In My Backyard Our Councillor's Report by Rhonda Mulcahy North Ward Councillor, Town of Whitby • mulcahyr@whitby.ca See puzzle next page