 Save the date for our annual picnic!
Come join your colleagues for the annual DPS Employee Appreciation Picnic 4-8 p.m. Thursday, June 22, at the Battle Creek Regional Park Full Picnic Pavilion.
Enjoy traditional picnic fare with plenty of fun activities on the side for DPS employees and their families.
More details and registration information to follow closer to the date!
Regional picnics in Greater Minnesota
Can’t make it to the DPS Employee Appreciation Picnic in the metro due to travel times and distance?
Consider hosting a Regional DPS Employee Appreciation Picnic closer to home. Our team is available to support you and help you navigate funding the event.
Please reach out to Jessica Richardson at jessica.richardson@state.mn.us for further information.
Engagement opportunities
- April 22 is Earth Day 2023! The DPS Charitable Opportunities Committee challenges you to clean up your neighborhood! Find information about local campaigns in Minnesota here.
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SEGIP WorkLife webinars occur Wednesdays from noon to 1 p.m. Find more information about how to join these helpful webinars here. No registration is required.
- Learn and engage with fellow DPS employees at DPS Trainings! Find information about upcoming trainings here.
Leslie’s reasons to recognize
- April 26 - Administrative Professional Day
- May 7-13 - Public Service Recognition Week
- June 8 - Best Friend Day
- June 4-10 - National Business Etiquette Week
- June 20 - World Productivity Day
- June 29 - National Work from Home Day
Welcome to Angela Longworth!
We’re thrilled to welcome Human Resources Transaction Specialist Angela Longworth to the Employee Engagement and Recognition Team!
Angela brought 18 years of HR service in the private sector to DPS, but she’s one of the newest HR staff members, with one year under her belt come July.
She says she loves her role and helping to assist employees in every way she can.
Born and raised in Minnesota, Angela lives in the Twin Cities with her family and is a huge football fan, cheering on her 11-year-old son as well as the Minnesota Vikings.
She’s also an outdoor enthusiast, taking family trips to beautiful destinations all over the U.S., plus hiking, camping, and touring the hidden gems Minnesota has to offer. Some of her personal favorites are Jay Cooke State Park, Afton State Park, Minneopa State Park, and Voyageurs National Park.
 Cooking with Tom
Before diving into the recipe, we wanted to reveal the mystery man behind the reverse sear tenderloin recipe in our last newsletter: DVS Driver and Dealer Examiner and guest contributor Thomas Wood! Thank you, Thomas, for your sizzling contribution!
We’ll look forward to featuring Thomas’s recipes in upcoming newsletters, and we’re always happy to welcome other guest contributors who want to share a recipe with their DPS colleagues.
And now Tom Butler's recipe for Swiss chard
This comes up early and fast and keeps on giving all summer. Here’s something you can do with it – and be sure to save this recipe for the fall, when we have beet greens, turnip greens, etc. Collards too, but you have to double the cooking time with those greens.
Ingredients
- Two large bunches of Swiss chard
- Olive oil
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- Sea salt
- Pepper
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice or soy sauce
Instructions
Wash the greens several times, tossing out any wilted or yucky leaves. Soaking them in salt water for a few minutes helps a lot. Chop the greens into 3-4 inch pieces. If you’re using beet or turnip greens, you’ll want to remove any tough veiny stems (their baby leaves are fine, but bigger ones require a little maintenance). This can take a few minutes.
Get water in a large stockpot to a rolling boil and add the leaves. Like all bitter greens, this will take the edge off a little, and you need them softened anyway. Let them blanch for two minutes, until tender. Transfer immediately to a bowl of ice water, then drain as much as possible. Salad spinners work great.
At this point, the greens are completely blanched, so if you want to store them in a freezer bag, you’ll have gotten the time-consuming part out of the way and can have an instant-side later. Or, do the blanching earlier in the day, store in the fridge, and do the next part right before you’re ready to serve.
Get out your wok or large skillet and turn it up to medium. Add the garlic and pepper flakes with some olive oil and cook until the garlic is translucent, 30-60 seconds. Stir in the greens and cook for a couple minutes, season with salt and pepper, remove from heat, add lemon, and serve. If you don’t like lemon, use soy sauce. Enjoy!
Test your knowledge
We had so much fun with the quiz in our last newsletter that we decided to make it a regular feature.
A swag bag will go out to the first 10 people to email us at EERC.DPS@state.mn.us with the correct answers to the following 10 Minnesota- and DPS-related trivia questions:
- How many Department of Public Safety Commissioners have there been since the department was created by the Minnesota Legislature?
- What is the Minnesota state bird?
- Among the 13 DPS divisions, which is the oldest (hint: it predates the creation of DPS by a long shot)?
- Since its inception, how many times has the Minnesota State Fair been cancelled?
- What bird of prey makes its home in the Sentinel Properties (formerly Bremer Bank) building in downtown St. Paul?
- Which DPS division has its own cash-sniffing canine?
- Which city came first, Minneapolis or St. Paul?
- Does DPS have closer to 2100 or closer to 3100 employees?
- What is the Minnesota state flower?
- What is the name of the DPS newsletter published through the OOC?
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