A LITTLE CITRUS AND A LITTLE SWEET

Happy spring! We have much to look forward to this time of year — spring cleaning, beautiful weather and delicious fruits and vegetables. We are so lucky to live in Texas, where we can go outside and enjoy the season. When the beautiful weather comes around, I always crave Popsicles. And why not make them full of fresh fruit? Popsicles are one of the most versatile treats and can be made with fresh and seasonal fruits and vegetables. Kiwi-lime Popsicles are perfect to kick off spring and to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. They’re so simple, and they’re sweet enough for kids and adults.

Kiwi lime Popsicles

GROCERY LIST

2 cups fresh kiwi, sliced

½ cup sugar

¼ cup water

2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice

Zest of 1 lime

Directions

Place sugar and water in a saucepan and boil until sugar has dissolved completely. Allow sugar water to cool.

Place sliced kiwi into blender and puree until smooth. Add sugar water, lime juice and zest to pureed kiwi, and blend just until combined.

Pour mixture into Popsicle molds and freeze until solid, approximately 5 hours. (There are several different types of Popsicle molds; please follow manufacturer’s instructions.)

Makes: 6-8 Popsicles

NEIGHBORHOOD PEOPLE WHOSE LIFE STORY COULD BE A MOVIE

Post-awards season is a notoriously rotten period for movies. Sure, you can find quality television this time of year, but only after wading through an excess of options that actually might cause a loss of brain cells. May we humbly suggest an alternative? Turn away from the tube and read on for the real-life stories of Preston Hollow’s pop stars, life-savers and criminal minds.

ERDr. Mini DeLaShaw’s life as an emergency room doctor doesn’t entirely mirror hit medical dramas such as “ER,” but it comes pretty close. “That is exactly what drew me to this field,” DeLaShaw says, referring to the fast-paced environment and variety of patients depicted on the TV show. “For me, emergency medicine is the most exciting. Every day is different. There’s no way to predict what you’re going to see.”

The Disney Streets resident and married mother of three works the night shift 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. at Medical City Hospital. The Preston Hollow native graduated from W.T. White High School. She finished her residency seven years ago, but there is one thing that no one taught her in medical school and rarely is depicted in popular media: how becoming a parent affects your job as a doctor. “After training, I had a child,” DeLaShaw says. “I’ve treated lots of children, but it’s completely different when you’re a parent yourself. It took me forever to recover from that. It’s interesting. I’ve seen it change in my partners when they have a child. You can tell. There’s a difference in the way they interact.” It makes it that much harder to deal with a tragedy such as a pediatric drowning. “There is nothing you can tell those parents,” she says. DeLaShaw recalls the first time she lost a patient in the ER, and it was not one of those distraught moments of rigorous CPR that often characterizes a climactic scene of “ER.” Quite the opposite, actually. While DeLaShaw worked at another North Texas hospital, before arriving at Medical City, she received a female patient in her 40s who had a chronic lung disease. The woman knew she was dying and made it clear that she didn’t want to be intubated and hooked up to breathing tubes. DeLaShaw and the family allowed the woman to have a natural and peaceful death. “She knew that was going to happen,” DeLaShaw says. “The majority of the time, the family wants to do things that wouldn’t contribute to the quality of life, and it can be hard to explain to them why. I was impressed. I respected that. The whole thing was a warm experience for me.” —Emily

Toman

He can handle the truth. It’s all he wants, really. Even if he makes a few people mad in the process of trying to wrest it — kind of like when Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) had to call Col. Nathan Jessup (Jack Nicholson) to the stand during the criminal trial of two rookie Marines. Colby Vokey is known for handling controversial cases as a military lawyer. He built a national reputation by demanding fair representation for U.S. soldiers accused of war crimes. The world took notice (he appeared on “60 Minutes,” on National Public Radio and in the Wall Street Journal) when he spoke out against the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay when he was the defense attorney for 15-year-old prisoner Omar Khadr. “Colby Vokey is a guy who always did the right thing, even if it upset everybody,” retired Col. Jane Siegel told the Advocate in 2010. He resigned from the Marine Corps in 2007. Today he practices at a Dallas firm and still specializes in military law.

Among the Preston Hollow resident’s high-profile clients was Frank Wuterich, a staff sergeant accused in 2005 of leading Marines in a deadly attack on civilians in Haditha, Iraq, an incident widely referred to as the “Haditha Massacre.”