Come to Bella Mar Pool for an event you won’t soon forget! Thanks to our sponsor, Hill Country Bible Church, the cost per swimmer is only $10.00! All net proceeds will go to the Steiner Stars!
Learn champion performance techniques on all four strokes (in-water & dry-land group instruction)
Understand how the body, mind and heart affect swimming
Opportunities to ask questions, get autographs and photos with Josh!
Receive a “breakout!” t-shirt, poster, DVDs and other souvenirs
Hear how Josh’s faith has given his life meaning beyond the gold!
You must register by July 18th to attend.
To register and find out more information, go to www.steinerstars.org/joshdavis.htm
Requirements: ages 7 – 18 only; plus, one season of swim team or competition experience

Saturday, August 2
Bella Mar Pool
4:30 – 8:00pm

Board Names Vandegrift High School & Four Points Middle School

The Leander ISD Board of Trustees voted unanimously at their June 19, 2008 meeting to name LISD High School #5 “Lt. Matthew Vandegrift High School.” LISD Middle School #7 has been named “Four Points Middle School.”

Lt. Matthew Ryan Vandegrift – a Leander High School honors graduate (Class of 1999) and athlete – was killed in Iraq in April 2008. First Lt. Vandegrift graduated from Texas A&M University with honors and a degree in international business, before enlisting in the United States Marine Corps in August 2005. He was killed just four days past his 28th birthday.

Lt. Vandegrift grew up in the Steiner Ranch subdivision — very near this new high school — and was an honor graduate at both the high school and college level. He participated in extracurricular activities, and demonstrated the highest character, plus a devotion to service demonstrated by the fact that he volunteered to defend the ideals of our great nation.

So there you have it. I got some emails from readers who would like another name for the high school. If you are or are not one of those people then there is a petition/survey going around trying to get a feel of the the name of the High School. Check out this link for that.

First time restaurateur Paul Petruzzi and Fion Wine Pub owner Josh McKay are teaming up to expand Fion to include upscale dining.

Construction is underway next door to Fion in the Shops at Steiner. Eventually the two spaces will be connected with an archway. The restaurant is expected to open by the end of August or the first part of September.

“I’m really excited about Steiner Ranch and opening up. I think it’s a great location,” Petruzzi said. He has decades worth of experience working in the restaurant industry and as a research and development chef creating frozen entrees for retail.

Petruzzi and McKay have known each other for years. The idea to partner with McKay came after Petruzzi came to see Fion and the available space next door.

The Fion eatery is expected to seat around 60 people, including a small bar in front of the open kitchen. It will also have a large monitor that can be used for meetings and Petruzzi might offer dinner and movies. The patio is being renovated and a large awning will be going up.

Petruzzi plans to use local fresh ingredients as much as possible.

The menu on the pub side will include Guinness beer-battered jumbo onions, deep fried Spanish olives stuffed with blue cheese, and pub-style fish and chips seasoned with sea salt and served with malted vinegar and house-made ketchup.

Appetizers in the new dinning room will feature the classic onion soup topped with melted Gruyere cheese and potato encrusted crab cake with sweet red onion marmalade.

Entrees will include pan-seared halibut on a bed of roasted tomatoes and spinach, cast iron skillet seared double cut pork chops with caramelized onions, asparagus and roasted Yukon gold potatoes with a Gorgonzola demi-glaze. Fried chicken with mashed potatoes, grilled sweet corn and collard greens will be another selection.

At the existing pub, Fion customers can buy beverages to take home or drink on premise. The shop has over 600 wines including more than 40 Texas wines and over 500 beers including about 10 from Texas beer producers.

McKay has opened several businesses over the years. Five years ago, McKay opened a retail shop in Bee Cave specializing in wine and specialty liquors; three years ago he opened a store in San Angelo, Texas and sold it after 18 months. Last October he came to Steiner Ranch and opened Fion.

Petruzzi is a Woodbury, Conn. native. He started out washing dishes at age 15 then spent the next 16 years moving up the ladder in the restaurant business from flipping eggs at a truck stop to working at 2 and 3-star restaurants in the Northeast.

When Petruzzi was coming up in the 1980s, cooking did not have the popularity it does today. But he had a passion for it even though his family continually would ask him about finding a real job.

Petruzzi went on to attend the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. After that was recruited by frozen food maker Michael Angelo’s Inc., which has a plant in Austin. As a R&D chef for 8 years he developed dishes for stores such as Whole Foods Market, Costco Wholesale, Sam’s Club and H-E-B grocery.

One of his favorite dishes he created was poached halibut on a bed of spinach and white beans topped with tomato and creamy mushrooms and drizzled with truffle oil. It is still on shelves today in certain parts of the country, during certain seasons.

He created a buffalo wing sandwich for Whole Foods and at Sam’s he developed a chicken piccata dish that is also still available in parts of the country.

Petruzzi left that job earlier this year to focus on the Fion eatery. He wants to create a comfortable, neighborhood place in Steiner Ranch.

“I’m excited to bring this kind of food down there,” Petruzzi said.

For the first month, the Fion restaurant will focus on dinners and getting the crew up to speed. After that, Petruzzi plans to add lunches.

With the kids out of school for the summer, all the things on mom and dad’s plate seem to double!  Let me help.  My name is Kathleen and I am a stay at home mom in Steiner Ranch who’s parents also live in the neighborhood, so I get lots of help!  I know picking up 2 kids from school, buying that birthday present for this weekend’s party, getting the clothes to the dry cleaner, the laundry, the dog to the vet, and that gift certificate for grandma can be nearly impossible to accomplish by yourself in one day.  I’d like to offer you a helping hand this summer.  I provide:

- personal shopping
- errand running
- child pickup and drop off from summer school or lessons
- babysitting (all ages including preemie babies, my child was a 31 weeker!)
- housesitting/plant care/pet care while you are on vacation

Credentials:

- references provided
- mother to a 2 year old little boy, auntie to 4 kids in RiverPlace
- former StrollerFit franchise owner
- taught tumbling/cheer to children and teenagers ages 3-18 for 6 years
- degree from UT and lots of shopping experience! (-:
- AHA Adult, Child, & Infant CPR Certified
- mom to 3 happy dogs

Please contact me at kathleenibanez@hotmail.com to schedule a free consultation and rates.  Hope to meet you soon!

We are new to Steiner Ranch and I was wondering if you know of any Mommy and Me-type playgroups that meet in the area?  My son is 13 months old and he and I would love to get out and meet some of our new neighbors!

Adorable Cocker Spaniel Puppies!

AKC registered

Puppies will be 6 weeks old around 06/21/08. Sweet, Buff-&-White, AKC, all shots and worming up to date, “crate trained” already, only one male left and three females…$300 each. Make appointment for viewings for Saturday and Sunday, June 21 & 22.

Call 512-447-1177 or 512-965-8942 for your appointment.

*  Austin area only.
*  Seller lives in Steiner Ranch.
*  Pictures of Dam and Sire on site for viewing. Healthy parents!  (call me and I can also email you copies of pics)
*  Call for more details.

Just For Fun Cakes is here just in time for summer! We specialize in celebration cakes for both young and old. We offer a variety of flavors and fillings to meet everyone’s needs. We bake our cakes fresh to order and use high quality ingredients. Delivery is free in the Steiner Ranch. The decorations are custom hand made and the prices are fantastic. We strive to achieve an upscale product in whimsical ways! Culinary Trained and here to accommodate you!

Feel free to email Robyn with any questions and please check out the website and see what we’re all about!

www.justforfuncakes.com

robyn@justforfuncakes.com

Steiner Ranch residents Nathasha Collmann and Kirsten Mulligan are celebrating the start of summer this year in a different way… joining the Sense Corp Texas 4000 team in their fight against cancer. On Saturday, June 7, at 8:00 a.m. the Texas 4000 team will start their 4500-mile, 70-day cycling journey from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska-sharing hope, knowledge, and charity along their way. Texas 4000 is an organization consisting of over forty passionate, young individuals, the majority being University of Texas students, whose lives have been touched by cancer. The organization has donated over $1,060,578.00 to MD Anderson Cancer Center and The American Cancer Society in the last five years. Their goal is to raise over $350,000.00 this year alone.

Collmann and Mulligan (along with other area community members) are leading the planning committee for the ATLAS Ride-the first day of the Texas 4000-which rides the 70 miles from Cedar Park to Lampasas. “I am so humbled by these college students who will spend their summer cycling through the states, visiting hospitals and cancer centers, raising funds, and instilling hope that we will find a cure to cancer. I am so proud to share a tiny part of their journey,” says Mulligan.

Our goal as the ATLAS planning committee is to facilitate a “grassroots” community support for this amazing cause. Collmann says, “It feels good to be a part of something larger than myself. This is an opportunity for me to use my time and my talent to make a contribution…to make a difference in the world.”

Both say that they have been overwhelmed by the number of individuals and businesses who have supported them in this worthy cause. To find out more about Texas 4000 for Cancer’s ATLAS Ride or to ride, volunteer, or sponsor, Steiner Ranch residents can visit www.atlasride.org or www.texas4000.org.

Here are some simple things I think we can do.

1. Tomorrow take all those HEB plastic bags and turn in five of them for a green reusable bag.
2. Start recycling if you don’t already. Here is a list of all things you can recycle with IESI our waste management provider. (IESI will collect and recycle aluminum and tin/steel cans, newsprint, #1 plastic & #2 milk/water jugs, and glass that only contained food or beverage. IESI will not accept glass soda bottles, glass milk jugs, pie plates, food trays, aluminum foil, aerosol cans, window glass, light bulbs, crystal, phone books, dishes, rubber bands, or plastic bags. )
3. Reduce the postal mail that you get. Follow the instructions in this link. Whatever mail you do get, try and keep it in one box and recycle it all at once.

I think these are a good start. Use the comments to think of more. One thing a reader mentioned to me in email was a paper recycling can at the mail boxes. I know I would use that to throw away all those credit card offers we seem to get. I am going to try and talk to the HOA and see if this can be done. Any other ideas?

Freedom Boat Club – Open House Member Preview

No Boat Required; No Experience Needed; Hassles not Included. The Boat is waiting.

Come visit us at our location in Steiner Ranch. We are located next to the Steiner Ranch Lake Club. You will get a chance to learn more about the club as well as see our fleet. In addition everyone that attends will be entered to win a 3-day pass to the club. Please RSVP to bmarquardt@freedomboatclub.com with LAKE AUSTIN RSVP in the subject line or just stop by. Food and refreshments will be served. Bring the whole family.

When: Saturday 4/19/08 from 10AM to 4PM.
Where: 12405 River Bnd, Austin, TX 78732
www.freedomboatclub.com
Bill Marquardt
Sales Manager
FREEDOM BOAT CLUB
Lake Travis & Lake Austin
T 512.834.BOAT (2628) ext 4
M 512.642-3756