Monthly Archives: May 2007

• We spent a balmy Friday evening at the American Tobacco Historic District for our local public radio station’s “Music on the Lawn” series – a free bluegrass concert! Clinton and I packed a picnic and blanket and enjoyed the music with friends Julia and Eric, then out for pizza at the Mellow Mushroom*. It really doesn’t get much better than that!
• Saturday morning: a 7:15 AM run with the Carolina Forest Fartlekers and then another one at 8:30 AM with the Running Start 2007 crew (see me in front row in purple shirt). Afterward, yes you guessed it: it was off to the Durham Farmer’s Market (the best market in the world) for escarole, cilantro, spinach, fresh peas in a pod, homemade salsa and cauliflower. Of course coffee and an empanada too – but that goes without saying. From a local Durham Farmer’s Market artist, we also bought a beautiful hanging mosaic globe of glass and mirrors for our friends Kevin & Bing, who just moved here from New Orleans.
• After the market, I met the running/biking girls at The Bicycle Chain so we could all get new bike helmets. Even Pat was there with us, seemingly fully recovered. Needless to say, we were very inspired by the events of the weekend before to get the best helmets money could buy. (Helmets might cost a bit, but noggins are priceless!) We all enjoyed a Vietnamese food lunch and craft gallery window-shopping afterward.
• And Saturday was not over yet! No, sir. Clinton and I changed into our party clothes, and I donned a big sun hat, so we could go mix and mingle with Lulu.com authors at a BBQ on the lake thrown in their honor. The location was a public facility and boathouse at the beautiful Lake Johnson, which included a covered veranda (equipped with seven rocking chairs!) overlooking the lake. Paddle boats were available for rent. Those authors were seriously kooky, I can tell you that much. These are the real nerds! I met a woman named Velma who is writing a “police procedural” novel. The shindig was hosted by a professor who is also a murder mystery writer (latest book: “The Colorado Sequence”). That night, Clinton and I went home and watched Stargate. Woohoo!
• Sunday we went to church and that night went out to dinner with friends. (A much more low-key day…)
• Monday morning was a great bikeride (about 20 miles) early in the morning with the Numb Tooties (AKA the Carolina Forest Fartlekers, when they’re running) and out for lunch at Alivia’s. Have I mentioned how much I love my bike?! That afternoon, Clinton and I took Charlie to the most amazing swimming hole at West Point on the Eno – a historic park with nature trails very near to our house. The swimming hole is like a magical oasis. It has very deep, cool water, a rope swing, many big rocks upon which to sun oneself and a waterfall flowing into it! Charlie, a remarkable swimmer, pretty much thought that Monday was the best day of his life. Afterward, Clinton and I chowed on Bojangles and watched a strange Thai movie about a prostitute and a librarian who falls in love with her.
• In great news, we will soon be meeting Jeepers the dog, who is basically a blonde female version of Charlie. Note that she also likes to swim! If we all get along, she might be Charlie’s new sister.

* If you haven’t yet, check out Crystal’s new restaurant ratings page.

A big factor for me when it comes to the food I eat is food “mileage”, meaning the gas and other resources it takes to produce and transport the food from the place it was grown/raised to my dinner table.

My conclusion:
Eating as many locally grown foods as possible + Eating less meat = Saving resources (fossil fuels, water, soil, forests)

But today on NPR I heard another very good reason to eat locally-produced foods: Tainted Chinese imports. These include fish raised in polluted water in China and imported to the U.S. Basically, the Chinese treat the fish from their pollutant-related illnesses by dumping veterinary antibiotics and antifungal drugs directly into their water. What happens is that we eat the fish, right along with those drugs, some of which are cancer-causing. Ingesting these drugs also contributes to the very serious and growing global problem of antibiotic resistance.

It is important to note that the FDA is now actually asking both consumers and food manufacturers in the U.S. not to rely on their inspections for food safety.

You may have heard of the term “globalization” before and not thought much about it. But the critical meaning in this context is that because of the U.S.’s now ever-expanding ability to import cheap food from overseas, the FDA has to work overtime to try to keep up and is facing a major struggle.
As excerpted from the NPR.org article:

The FDA normally inspects about 1 percent of all food and food ingredients at U.S. borders. It does tests on about half of 1 percent.

And official vigilance has been going down “” for two reasons.

First, food imports have increased dramatically, from $45 billion in 2003 to $64 billion three years later.

Second, the “food” part of the FDA has been getting smaller.

Shaun Kennedy of the National Center for Food Protection and Defense says no country is increasing its food exports faster than China.

Not only can we help save fuel and water by buying locally, but it is also easier to hold local producers accountable to health standards.

Also, I just think it’s better to be able to (whenever possible) look squarely into the eyeballs of the very person who grew your tomatoes, canned your jelly or raised the chickens who laid your eggs. It’s something to think about.

Today at the animal shelter, Daisy was mistakenly put in the kennel of another dog that was scheduled to be put to sleep and was euthanized by accident. Clinton and I are both sad and angry, but we also feel glad that we had the opportunity to meet her – a wonderful, well-behaved, and sweet-natured animal. Maybe she spent the best two days of her life us, and maybe she would still be hungry, scared and lost without our having picked her up from the highway that day. We will miss you, Daisy.

See pictures of Daisy, here.

• On Friday, I rode my bike to work and back (20 miles round trip) for Bike to Work Week (May 14-18), which was super awesome. I’m now officially part of “the cool kids’ club”. (You know the one.) Julia and I are going to try to bike every Friday to work together.
• That evening, after our triumphant arrival back at the Park N Ride where we had parked to ride our bikes, we met up with Clinton for dinner at the Mellow Mushroom and then hung out at the Durham 3rd Friday Art Walk. Saw a photo exhibit on Native Americans and toured an old fashioned printing press and bookbinding shop.
• On Saturday, we Fartlekers ran two times – once at 7:15 AM by ourselves and then again at 8:30 AM with our Running Start trainees, who are now in Week 8 of the 10-week program for new runners. They are doing great! Only a couple more weeks ’til their big graduation – the June 9th Race for the Cure.
• After running, I met up with Clinton and we had such an enjoyable morning together at the Durham Farmer’s Market (the best market in the world). We bought Asian chard, baby zucchini, fresh bread and goat cheese. I also scored five small interestingly-shaped glass bottles which I plan to use as funky vases, at The Scrap Exchange. Then we ate a wonderful brunch at the Piedmont.
• Afterward (still Saturday!), I met up with Julia again to go on a tour of Durham on bikes with the Durham Bicycle Co-op, which included a stop for treats at LocoPops (I tried Mango Chile flavor – spicy!) and ended at the Co-op headquarters for an outdoor cookout. Beans, salad and homemade mac n cheese for vegetarians!
• Then (still Saturday!) Clinton and I drove to the awesome town of Pittsboro, North Carolina, which is about 45 minutes to the southwest of Durham. It’s full of nice hippies who grow their own food and make their own biofuel. We window shopped a bit and then ate an indescribably delicious meal at the General Store Cafe which ended with a fresh, four-berry cobbler topped with homemade vanilla bean ice cream. It practically made us cry. The restaurant is very unique in that everything is organic, homemade and locally produced. Also, the dining tables are in little semi-private nooks filled with shelves of used and new tschotchkies (pottery, jewelry, clocks, etc.) and books for sale. For reasons I cannot explain, I could not leave the restaurant without purchasing a large fluffy raven puppet.
• On our drive back home to Durham that evening, we saw a dog on the side of the highway that looked scared and lost. We pulled over and finally got it to come over to us. She was super skinny and covered with ticks, but very friendly, and she allowed Clinton to put her in the car. We drove immediately to PetSmart for flea/tick shampoo. Grappling with her in the shower was quite an adventure. Despite her undernourishment, she is surprisingly strong! We pulled out all the ticks and put a collar on her. She and Charlie are the best of friends, and she doesn’t seem to want to hurt Violet the cat. She spent the whole weekend with us. We’ve named her Daisy and decided that we want to keep her and make her a part of our family.
• Today I took Daisy to the Animal Protection Society of Durham, where she has to spend at least one week while they try to figure out if anyone is looking for her. I called the Pittsboro Animal Control and two Pittsboro veterinary offices to let them know we’d found her, just in case. After Memorial Day weekend, if no one has claimed her, we can then proceed with adoption. Here are some pictures of Daisy, with Clinton and Charlie.
• On Sunday (yesterday), six of us runner ladies went on a long bikeride. We started at my house and went up into the rolling farmlands of North Durham. About halfway through, one lady – a dear, dear friend – flew off her bike when her tire hit the tire of another bicyclist. She landed on her head and slid for a while (thank goodness she was wearing a good helmet!!) fell unconscious, and had to be taken to the emergency room by ambulance. We spent several hours at the hospital while they did CAT scans and a test for spinal damage. Both were negative, but they had some trouble keeping her vital signs stable throughout the evening. The scariest part for me was that we lost her for a minute when her blood pressure dropped off completely. Thankfully, the medical staff were able to revive her, and her vitals are all back to normal now. It was quite a day yesterday, and we were all pretty shaken up. Her family is checking her out of the hospital today. Bottom line is that we are so, so glad that she is okay. I feel differently about life today.

This past Tuesday night, Clinton and I made up a new dish we call Farmer’s Baked Veggie Delight. (See photos, here!) We cut up red potatos, carrots, bulbs ‘o fennel, sweet onions, a LOAD of garlic, organic zucchini and asparagus fresh from the Durham Farmer’s Market (the best market in the world). We put it in a baking dish and drizzled basil olive oil and salt n’ pepper. Baked it all in the oven. Dee-lish!

Keep your eyes peeled for Crystal & Clinton’s Cookbook of Love, coming soon.

One thing is clear: It doesn’t seem that President Bush can appoint decent people to work for him. Does anyone else see a pattern here?

Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General = Crony and Big Fat Liar

David Hager, FDA Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs = Opponent of Reproductive Health Choice and Alleged Sexual Abuser

Harriet Miers, nominated to be U.S. Supreme Court Justice = Crony, Puppet and Incompetent Fool

Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense = Torture Advocate and Incompetent Fool

Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank = Corrupt Fool

George Deutsch, former Press Officer for NASA = Liar and Fool

I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Jr., former White House official and assistant to G.W. Bush = Big Fat Liar

So much has happened recently:

• Bought an awesome road bike. BUT after only two rides, it was nearly destroyed in a traffic accident when it took a nose dive off the bike rack and into oncoming traffic on the freeway!!! Repairs to brand new bike: $322.57 Lessons learned: PRICELESS
• Biked 60 miles in my first bike race (“Carolina AIDS Alliance Ride/Walk”) and raised $260 for HIV treatment and social services
• Experienced inner crisis, or as our minister calls it, “a spiritual cracking open”. Will be eventually making some big life changes so that I can live in a more balanced, fulfilling and personally meaningful way. Stay tuned for more on this.
• Clematis and rhododendron flowers are blooming at our house! It’s amazing!

I’m still:

• Pacing for the Running Start program
• Running with my running group 15-20 miles per week (our next long race isn’t ’til September)
• Going to the most awesome farmers’ market ever
• Freaking out a little about some roof repairs needed on our new house

I’m planning to do these things:

• practice yoga, mindfulness and meditation at least once a week
• live more simply in small, practical ways
• go camping with Clinton over Memorial Day weekend! Yeah!

Canoe trip April 2007.jpg

Originally uploaded by crystalandclinton.

Here’s a fun picture from our April 2007 canoe trip at Falls Lake State Park. Lisa, Eric, Julia, me, Clinton and Kay.