Clarion Content

A couple of quick quizzes to help readers think about the 2008 potential Presidential candidates.

The first one is a light hearted take from our friends at the Blue Pyramid. Only seven questions and you can assemble a ticket with a running mate. Plus if you dig around, the Blue Pyramid has all kinds of other fun quizzes. For example, find your power animal here. Take their presidential candidate quiz here.

The second one is from Minnesota Public Radio. It is a wee bit more complicated. It attempts to match the quiz taker and the politicians positions. In some cases, the range of policy positions offered is too short. For instance, nothing in the quiz matches the Clarion's position on immigration policy. However, this appropriately mirrors the presidential race, where none of the candidates espouse the Clarion's immigration position. The set-up fits the real deal of the race because, odds are, we will not have an opportunity to vote for a candidate who stances and positions fit ours exactly. Our favorite part of this quiz is, not only does it tell you which candidate you match up best with, policy-wise, but it also shows you your compatibility or lack thereof with each of the other candidates. Take their presidential candidate quiz.

Labels: 2008's President, Politics

The Clarion found the new Durham restaurant, Watts Grocery, on Broad Street just west of downtown, a wonderful experience. In an older building, just a couple of doors down from the legendary Durham pool hall, The Green Room, Watts Grocery has converted what used to be Pars Oriental Rugs into a beautiful space. They have maintained the rugged exposed brick and duct work that give the place an urban, older Durham feel.

Beneath duct work and beside the brick, the other colors are soft, easy hues, that make the place feel comfortable and welcoming, not trendy and over the top. The bar is a L shaped. It is highlighted by the short side of the L which does double duty as a display case filled with owner, Amy Tornquist's memories, from her grandmother's handwritten recipes, to family photos, to Durham headlines and momentos from her youth. The bar service continues right over the top of this display and this is in fact where the Clarion and friend ate last week.

The service was terrific. The bartender was a wit and handled getting us dinner and drinks with cool aplomb. Occasionally in a nice joint it is a risk to get waited on over the bar, occasionally it is a treat, this was a case of the latter. We ate the bar because when we called for reservations we found they were booked. It is a small intimate space, probably no more than 12 to 15 tables. This intimacy melds perfectly with the rest of the warm atmosphere.

The food was good, too, bordering on excellent. The truth is the entrees were far superior to the appetizers. The Clarion's delightful dinner company had a mixed green salad tossed with tomatoes, red bell peppers, pecans and roasted garlic. It was good, but standard fare in these kind of restaurants now a days. The dressing no act of culinary bravery either, was the usual balsamic vinaigrette. This was unfortunate because we were mildly disappointed with our own appetizer, also. It was an oyster stew with bacon, thyme and fresh spinach. It was inoffensive, but rather too mild and bland. The Clarion loves spinach and bacon, so perhaps hopes were too high, but within moments after the first spoonful we were instinctively going for the salt and pepper, never a good sign for the chef. (Neither appetizer was bad, both were, in fact, pretty good, in the damning with faint praise kind of way.)

The entrees, however, were superb. Our friend had a organic salmon glazed with molasses chile, served over collard green risotto. We both love risotto. Though the Clarion is more of a collard green fan than our friend, both of us loved the texture and taste of the risotto. The salmon was cooked perfectly and the molasses chile was supremely savory. Ironically, neither of us anticipated chili as a theme, but the Clarion had a chili accented entree, too. It was a beautifully presented plate of chili braised short ribs, tender as could be, the meat just fell off the bone. They were served with a celery root puree and brussels sprouts. The brussels sprouts, which are easily under or over cooked were the ideal consistency and firmness.

The pace of the meal was just what we had hoped. Leisurely and relaxing, sometimes a restaurant with a lot of reservations will try to push folks through, or at minimum ignore the folks appear to be going slowly, so as to focus on turning other tables. That was never the case here, not once did the Clarion feel rushed or ignored. We had a before dinner cocktail and finished off with a good cup of coffee. Two more thoughts, it really was good coffee, the Clarion is a stickler and a coffee snob. Both of which explain our final thought and why Watts Grocery is an A- work in progress, not quite an A just yet. With this wonderful coffee, despite a clearly voiced request for a half and half, we were served whole milk. When we reiterated our request, as coffee aficionados we appreciate the difference, we were told they didn't have any half and half. Oh well, it was a great meal, anyway, ended with a good cup of coffee. They left something to strive for; all and all, Watts Grocery was great service, wonderful, authentic atmosphere, excellent entrees, and reasonably priced for the experience.

Labels: Durham, food, Pop Culture

Hey fearless readers, here is the latest batch of interesting, noteworthy and follow-up links.

This first one is kind of a bummer, because it is more evidence of just how lax American nuclear security has gotten. You might recall the Clarion highlighted this worry a few weeks back, when we discussed the unauthorized, accidental, flight of six nuclear weapons over the Continental United States in August. We continue to be amazed that this issue hasn't gotten more play. Now here is another incident. In this ugly case the commander of one of America's nuclear submarines had to removed. He and his crew hadn't been performing proper safety checks on their submarine's nuclear reactor for more than a month. And they had been falsifying records to cover it up. Great. The Clarion would hate to have to make "loose nukes" a subject tag. (Blogger calls them labels.)

Here is another link that is a follow-up, this one on the crummy job of covering sports ESPN is doing these days. The link is to a story by their own media ombudsman, who chronicles how ESPN over-hypes and under researches their stories. The Clarion completely agrees. ESPN is the Access Hollywood of sports. Everything is a scandal. There is a tabloid mentality. We haven't watched any of it, but word is their coverage of Philadelphia Eagles coach, Andy Reid's family's story has been woeful. Admittedly, these days, ESPN radio is no worse than many others who have imitated their model. Every day's coverage is based on how can they generate hype within the 24 hour cycle. In this mode, the sports media have aped an awful habit of the mainstream news media, tabloidization.

The Clarion has three musical links for you brought to the mill via differing threads.

The first link is a thoughtfully and artfully mixed up take on Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

The second link is a live acoustic performance by beautiful, Brazilian musician, Seu Jorge. Slap on the headphones. The sound quality is terrific and the man's voice is transcendentally rich. Perfect at moderate volume before work, or for that matter, after. The Clarion was introduced to Jorge through a co-worker and the movie The Life Aquatic. Jorge has an album due out this year.

The final musical link is courtesy of the Japanese anime Rurouni Kenshin. The link is to a performance by the funky Japanese pop band, Judy and Mary, who did among other things the theme song to the Rurouni Kenshin series. It is gloriously groovy with a deeper edge. If this clip doesn't make you want to see a live show...hint you must watch to the end. Unfortunately, occupational hazard, we missed out, the window slammed shut when the band broke up in 2001. Thankfully there is youtube. The Clarion was alerted to this link by an anime afficiando in our area.

Finally, we offer two environmentally fascinating links for your reading pleasure.

The first link is about a newly formed canyon in Texas. Or more accurately, a newly reappeared canyon, and even newly is a relative term here. Back in 2002, an overflowing reservoir in Texas scraped clean a limestone canyon hidden under thousands of years of sediment. The surge of water exposed in just three days of flooding a previously hidden canyon up to eighty feet deep in some places. Because of the amazing finds ranging from six, three-toed dinosaur footprints to hundreds of other fossils dating back over 110 million years the canyon has so far only been open to scientists. A few weeks ago it opened to the public as Canyon Lake George, ostensibly with very limited visits and careful scrutiny to limit the potentially averse environmental impacts of tourism. (Is this more worrisome in Texas?)



The final environmental link and the final link period for what has become a lengthy post, is about a previously dormant volcano coming back to life a few weeks ago in Indonesia. The volcano's name, Anak Krakatau, means Child of Krakatau. It formed in the Sunda Strait after Krakatau's legendary volcanic eruption felt worldwide in 1883. Anak Krakatau is spewing, shooting flaming rock hundreds of meters in the air. Fortunately, because of its isolated location within the Indonesian archipelago it poses no danger to the public.

Labels: ecology, ESPN, interesting links, Politics, technology, television

This item was noted and sent in by one of our crack readers...who spotted this story from NPR.

Was the Clinton campaign really dumb enough to stiff the Iowa waitress who served Hillary?

Here's the summary of how they, NPR, originally had it going down...

Hillary ate at a Maid-Rite diner in central Iowa earlier this month. She used the campaign stop as fodder for her stump speech. Her server, Anita Esterday, Clinton repeated empathetically in the days and speeches that followed, told her about working multiple jobs to raise her family as a single mother. Clinton mentioned the woman over and again, drawing applause for her apparent feeling for the low wage earner in central Iowa.

But the waitress, it turned out, was not so touched. The Clinton team failed to leave a tip. Esterday told NPR's David Greene, "Maybe they don't carry money, I don't know."

Ahhh, but it there is a Paul Harvey moment here, an intriguing twist that quite possibly exonerates Hillary and her campaign, and indicts a baser human being. Here is the rest of the story.

Turns out, it was waitress, Anita Esterday's first day on the job. As some of the Clarion's readers might know from their own waiting experiences, often servers in training don't get to keep their tips, the trainer does. Well, well, NPR is now printing that the Clinton campaign isn't stupid, they emailed NPR that day, insisting they did indeed leave a tip, a fat tip. They say a $100 bill was left on the table where Esterday was serving Clinton. Esterday is reportedly shocked. She can't believe one of the other long time servers, some of whom she has known for her much of her life, would have pocketed the money and without saying anything.

Now it has become big news.

Maid-Rite's manager is quoted by NPR in the follow-up piece as saying that he believed three of the six servers working that day received tips from people he thought were working for or affiliated with the Clinton campaign. He thinks where Hillary was sitting no tip was left. He wasn't sure if the other tips were meant to be shared. A Clinton staffer returned after the story aired on NPR with another $20 for Anita and an apology.

The story of who did what that day will likely be debated in little Toledo, Iowa long after the campaigns leave town.

Labels: 2008's President, Politics, Pop Culture

Can you believe it? The Clarion can't either. But in eight weeks a bunch of middle Americans and New Englanders are going to start picking the American president. Despite the efforts of big states to move their primaries forward, Michigan and Florida, among many others moved their dates up, Iowa and New Hampshire are still going one-two. The big difference is now with much less lag time between them and most all of the other primaries, which this election cycle will follow bang, bang, bang. The thought here is Iowa and New Hampshire become even more important both for their slingshot, momentum effect, as well as, conversely, the terminal consequences of poor results.

The schedule is not actually set yet, as the New Hampshire state legislature is playing chicken, staring down a head on collision with the calendar to preserve its place in line. Already slated in January are Michigan, Nevada, South Carolina and Florida. Beyond that is the new Super Tuesday, now with twenty-one states. This is up from ten last time, including biggies like California, New Jersey, and New York. Plus the whole thing has moved itself from from March 2 in the last election cycle, to February 5th in this one. It is being referred to as a quasi-national primary in the media.

That is to say it will be all over, but the shouting, by Valentines Day!! In little more than three and a half months there will be two candidates. To put it in perspective the middle of Summer was three and a half months ago. There is talk in some quarters that it is possible the Republican nomination may not be resolved until March 4th when Ohio, Texas, Massachusetts and Vermont hold their primaries. The Clarion isn't quite buying it, but either way the nominations will be locked up long before it gets warm again in much of the country.

Things that will be true after Iowa and New Hampshire

Candidates that finish fourth or below in both states are done.

If Obama finishes third in either without winning the other, he is done. Ditto for Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson.

If Hillary wins both handily, she is the Democratic candidate.

Kudos to Newsweek for featuring the biggest remaining wild card of the 2008 Presidential Election on its cover, the possible independent candidacy of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. According to Newsweek, Bloomberg not only has a billion dollars of his personal fortune set aside to finance a campaign (worth $13 billion reportedly, he's far richer than Ross Perot) but his mother wants him to run.

Laugh line of the week...Barack Obama on how fellow candidates would respond to alien life, under Dennis Kucinich, "They would get driver's licenses. [under] Rudy: ready to shoot them down."

Labels: 2008's President, Politics, Predictions

Finally, the media and likely voters are really getting down to the nitty-gritty with the potential Democratic Presidential nominees. The New York Times says the question Iowa voters are ultimately asking the candidates, all the candidates, again and again in recent weeks is, "Why You?" This is an opportunity, at least and at last, for the candidates to promote themselves in positive terms. Good times. America needs to know why good things would come from the election of any or all of these folks. Surely the press will keep America abreast of the negatives.

The Clarion speculated a few weeks back on what Republican primary voters concerns with their leading candidates were. Turnabout is fair play. Here is some of what the Clarion thinks the Democratic primary voters are worried about with each of the major candidates. This is some of the nitty-gritty being mulled in Iowa and the press.

The Democrats, they think...

Joe Biden--Who? Could he really win? He has the gravitas, but in a year with so many stars, isn't he supposed to the Veep or something?

John Edwards--He seems like kind of pretty boy. Wouldn't the big, bad, evil Republicans eat him for lunch?

Barack Obama--This is a great year for a candidate with no negatives, this is an election we're(the Dems) supposed to win. Are we going to become the first major party to run a black man for President? (It is a sad state that this issue is still omni-present, if largely unspoken about in 2008 America.)

Hillary Rodham Clinton--She is a say anything to win compromiser, look at Iran and immigrants getting drivers licenses. And what about electability, doesn't she have an incredibly high negative rating? Does she represent enough of a change? Aren't the Republicans rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of campaigning against her? Shouldn't that worry us?

Want to see and read more, here's a link to the candidates appearance schedules on the Sunday morning news programs this week. It includes a link to transcripts of past "Meet the Press" airings.

Labels: 2008's President, Politics

Unfortunately the situation in Pakistan has gone from bad to worse. Unable to completely supress the desires of the Pakistan people for freedom the United States backed, military dictator, Perez Musharraf has declared martial law. Insiders say the main issue is not the failure of Musharraf to make a deal with one of his two civilian predecessors as President. Rather, the problem continues to be unrest in the tribal areas the Clarion highlighted in early October.

The reason General Musharraf declared this state of emergency was not because he was unsuccessful in extra-judicially removing the Supreme Court's Chief Justice, the Chief Justice, who stood up to the General and told him he would have to remove his uniform before running for the presidency again, no, rather, the General declared this state of emergency because unrest (read: low intensity conflict) had gotten so bad in Baluchistan and Wazhiristan(in the Northwest Frontier) that it had started to spread outside the northwest provinces to the rest of the country including Lahore and Islamabad. Reports indicate Pakistani Army casualties from this conflict have skyrocketed from 100 last year to more than 700 this year, including 600 in July alone. Complicating matters much of Pakistan's Army is recruited from these very same provinces. Musharraf and the Army have conducted hundreds of court martials this year of rank-and-file soldiers refusing to fight.

Pakistan is literally coming apart at the seams. Civil society such as it exists is disintegrating. America? America is supporting its dictator. No mind that he has cancelled elections, used the cover of martial law to forcibly remove that problematic Supreme Court Chief Justice, ordered thousands more members of civil society detained without cause or warrants. Unarmed lawyers are being beaten in the streets by policemen with clubs. And America backs its man.

The Pakistani Army is the largest landowner in Pakistan. It consumes over 50% of the annual budget in a country where schooling is beyond the means of all but the wealthiest. It it any wonder that parents are sending their children to the madrasses in droves. The Army has over $4 billion dollars in business interests, beyond soldiering. Is it any wonder this feudalistic society foments extremism?

Now, hear. The catchiest of Catch-22's is, Pakistan, is a nuclear armed state. Holder of the loosest nukes this side of the Ural Mountains. Pakistan is the home of the notorious A.Q. Kahn who let the nuclear genie far enough out of the bottle to bring North Korea into the club. These nuclear weapons and whose finger is on the button is America's first and foremost concern about Pakistan, the whereabouts of Osama Bin-Laden are a distant second, and General Perez Musharraf's health and equanimity matter no more than his ability to control access to those nukes. The health of civil society and the average citizen's freedom isn't even on the radar.

Labels: Middle East, Politics

Joe Torre has been hired as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, sealing once and for all the end of his glorious twelve year run as Yankee skipper. The dust has settled, the Yanks will be guided by former catcher, and Marlins manager, Joe Girardi. Torre won't be back soon.

Hopefully, Alex Rodriguez won't be back either. Don't expect to see A-Rod turn up in an LA Dodger uniform. Torre knows A-Rod as the choking bum who couldn't hit in a big spot if his life depended on it. His palpable tension as he choked spread throughout the rest of the team like malign virus. There is no way Torre wants A-Rod in Dodger Blue.

As for the Yankees quest to replace Rodriguez at third, General Manager Brian Cashman is heading off to baseball's winter meetings this week. It does not look like Cashman and the Yanks are going to be able to pry Mike Lowell away from the champion Red Sox. They won't let the World Series MVP out of their grasp.

A few weeks back when discussing the options the Clarion highlighted Marlins third baseman, Miguel Cabrera. Unfortunately, the Marlins would expect tons of young pitching back for a guy who is overweight, out of shape, and does not consistently hustle. Not a great deal, despite all of Cabrera's natural gifts. But what about shopping for another Miguel a little closer to home? Perhaps the Orioles are ready to part with former All-Star, Miguel Tejada.

Yes Tejada is aging. Yes, he would have to make a position switch from short to third, but he would be the power bat the Yankees needed from the right side. He could play third at least as competently as A-Rod. Because of his age, he shouldn't cost as much in trade value; say one young pitcher and another prospect, rather than two or three young pitchers for Cabrera. Would Tejada's career be revitalized by coming to the Bronx? It could be, and when he is at the top of his game, whoa, check out the numbers, averaging 28 HRs, 116 RBIs and close to 100 runs, 200 hits and 35 doubles...even with an off year last year.

Labels: baseball, sports

For those of you who doubt character the subjective, biased judgments made by the Clarion about certain celebrities...

Lance Armstrong was seen sucking face with one of the lovely and lean Olsen twins (Ashley) in New York City yesterday. Feel like a little sap for buying one of those yellow bracelets? Naw, he's a genuine American hero.

Long time Alex Rodriguez squeeze, Martina Hingis, quit professional tennis under a cloud of cocaine accusations. Sounds like a couple of stable, successful focused professionals who deserve each other. If only A-Rod would retire to spend more time with her.

Labels: Pop Culture, sports

Pithy F*rging Sayings from the Singularity

"Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together." -Vincent Van Gogh

"Altruism cannot be an act or it will be punished." -Staff

"The 1990's, a strange interregnum between decades of fear." -Staff

"Summer camp, eroding the trust of children everywhere." -Staff

"We can never untangle all the woes in other people's lives. We can't produce miracles overnight. But we can bring a cup of cool water to a thirsty soul, or a scoop of laughter to a lonely heart." -Barbara Johnson

Labels: Sayings, thought

The Clarion is vehemently opposed to capital punishment. There are two roots that the Clarion's opposition to capital punishment is grounded in, both of which have expansive offshoots.

One, the State should not have the power to kill its own citizens, never should a social contract cede that much authority to the governmental entity. (There are reams of sub-points to this argument that can be discussed later, including, but not limited to, the inability of the State to correct a mistake once capital punishment has been administered, and, separately, how a multi-national, multi-racial society cannot possibly administer such punishment in an unbiased manner.)

Two, capital punishment precludes rehabilitation. It is not so much that the Clarion believes that all criminals can be rehabilitated, but we firmly believe it is incumbent upon society to make the attempt. It is presumptive of a power and capacity far beyond the human to decide prima facie who can and can't be rehabilitated. It is a mark of our own human failures, societally, especially those of the prison system, to presume people unrehabilitatable.

Labels: Politics, thought

Almost the halfway point in the NFL Season, a few quickies, news, notes, thoughts and picks.

If the Giants make the playoffs does that mean egomaniac and boring, cookie-cutter, studio analyst Tiki Barber makes a comeback? Hey, Tiki, maybe it wasn’t Eli after all, the Giants are better without you. Addition by subtraction. If this keeps up, when Strahan retires after this year, Tom Coughlin could have them in the Super Bowl next year. No matter how much talent a franchise has, locker room selfishness can be poison. Ask the Bengals. Or ask baseball Tigers about the Sheffield addition.

The Patriots are as dominating a team that the Clarion has seen since the 1989 San Francisco 49ers. Not only have the Patriots won and covered ever week, but their margin of victory is more than 1/3 of the teams in the NFL’s points per game! Says here they beat the Colts handily this week. They are one second half meltdown in the playoffs last year, from winning 5 of 6 Super Bowls. Write this year’s Super Bowl off now, it is a foregone conclusion. Check out the current Vegas odds to win the Super Bowl.

Boy was the Clarion wrong about Favre. In our preseason NFC North preview we pointed out that he had thrown more touchdowns than interceptions in his last 64 games, and clamoured for his retirement. Brett has shown he still has a little sumpin, sumpin left in the tank. Big win for Green Bay on the road in Denver last week. The Clarion wants to claim they have played a cream puff schedule, but it is not so. They have beaten potential playoff teams from the NFC East; the Giants, the Redskins and the Eagles, plus the San Diego Chargers.

David Carr is so atrocious for the Carolina Panthers that it can hardly be believed. He is so bad that the Panthers started forty-three year old Vinny Testeverde at QB last week. Unfortunately Vinny got hurt so Carr is likely to be under center again this week. The Clarion is wondering, now that he has been benched the Jets, is Chad Pennington available to go to Carolina? The Panthers have an excellent team with a gaping hole at quarterback following Jake Delhomme’s injury. Is Pennington available for a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick? The Jets are utterly out of it this year at 1-7. They have a young quarterback they are ready to play in Kellen Clemens.

There has been talk of each NFL team playing a regular season“home” game outside of the United States. This is part of the league’s globalization effort. They want to play meaningful games outside of the United States. Last week’s New York Giants vs. Miami Dolphins game in soggy Wembley Stadium in London was supposed to be the first, not the last effort. The Clarion is not enamoured with this idea. Classic American arrogance to assume the rest of the world will be interested in our game. Has baseball swept the known universe? Are Americans excited by European football? Still the Clarion is okay with the idea, especially if part of the outcome is an extra regular season game and an extra bye week. The NFL could easily do it. It could go to a seventeen week season. Each team could and should get a second bye week, one of which would come after its week traveling outside the country. All of this would face only limited scheduling difficulty if, a big if, the greedy owners would eliminate two useless preseason games.

Two more quick stats.

Did you know Derek Andeson of the Cleveland Browns was second behind Tom Brady for TD passes this year with 17TD tosses??

Did you know Vince Young hasn’t thrown for a touchdown pass since week 2. It may not matter if he keeps running them in and the 5-2 Titans keep winning.

A couple of more picks from the Clarion this week besides the Patriots.

We like McNabb and the Eagles to upset the Dallas Cowboys in Philadelphia. McNabb is looking healthier and healthier. Eagles wideout Kevin Curtis is leading the NFL at 18.2 yards per catch.

We also like the Ravens to upset the Steelers. They beat them twice last year, by a combined score of 58 to 7. They are fresh coming off their bye week, especially the defense who figure to stuff the Steelers swift, but soft, running back, Willie Parker. Steve McNair is mostly healthy for the first time since the season opener.

Labels: NFL, Predictions

Did you ever hear the old saw, "You might be walking around lucky and not even know it." Some would tell you every day you get is a lucky one, others believe the world is samsaric. The Clarion has been known to espouse both points of view.

The Clarion had an experience that was distinctly more lucky the other night. We dropped by a friend's house, for an early evening for a happy hour beer on the way home. Unfortunately for her, but fortuitously for the Clarion, said friend's girl called out sick on the dinner he was preparing for her. Now the Clarion knows any number of great amateur chefs, but it just so happened, it was our luck, or perhaps our karma, we were at the residence of one of the professional ones. A person who had been preparing a delightful dinner for two when the girl came up ill.

After long hours over low heat on the stove the Clarion witnessed our pal combine his butternut squash stock, delicately seasoned, with heavy cream in a new Hamilton Beach blender. After some slow blending this mix was poured back into the soup pot and placed back over low heat. Its rich aroma wafted into every nook and cranny of chef's place.

We settled back into another episode of Entourage. (commercial free.) The Clarion isn't sure when chef cooked the pork tenderloin, by the time we became aware of it, it was on a cutting board. It had already been roasted and looked mouth wateringly moist. But what was chef doing? He was slicing it up into just bigger than bite sized pieces and tossing it into a warm bowl with raw spinach. When served this produced spinach of an other worldly texture, not raw, not cooked, just ever so slightly softened by the heat of the meat. The pork's heat had shaped the spinach leaves, too, curling them, bending them, inward, folding them around individual pieces of the meat.

Chef plated this rich green and brown mix on smallish, bright, white plates, the butternut squash soup was served in a matching white coffee mug, using said plate as a saucer. The soup's reddish orange hue complimenting, lightening the mix of other colors perfectly. The tastes meshed even better.

The Clarion was sorry she was sick. She is a good egg, and a kick to hang out around. But some days, you are walking around lucky and don't even know it. Other days you gotta remind yourself that be able to walk around and able to access clean water out of a tap at will makes one pretty lucky. Problems, everybody's got a few. Other days you walk into a wonderful meal and forget about them for a while.

Labels: Durham, food, Pop Culture

What's it like to be a Knicks fan these days?

Here's a snippet as the new NBA season gets underway. Flip open the sports page of one of the Clarion's various and sundry hometown papers, and they have leading into the season articles about each of the local NBA franchises. These franchises were once looked at as one: glorious, stupendous, and famous, playing under the marquee of the "World's Most Famous Arena" and the other: the lost, little sisters of the poor, playing in a humongous parking lot on Route 3, in scenic Secaucus, New Jersey.

Yesterday's headlines in the local fish wrap reveal how much things have changed in the last twenty years. Those once obvious characterizations are dated, only the arenas remain the same. The Knicks, who open tonight against LeBron and his supporting cast, the hapless Cleveland Cavaliers, were previewed under the headline, "Unhappy Stern (NBA Commissioner) Chides Knicks as Season Starts." As for the formerly the little sisters of the poor, who haven't done squat in three years to change their now, rapidly aging, starting line up, they got the headline "A Closer Look Reveals a Stronger Nets Team."

Ugh!

Labels: NBA, The Knicks

Did you ever hear the old saw, "You might be walking around lucky and not even know it." Some would tell you every day you get is a lucky one, others believe the world is samsaric. The Clarion has been known to espouse both points of view.

The Clarion had an experience that was distinctly more lucky the other night. We dropped by a friend's house, for an early evening for a happy hour beer on the way home. Unfortunately for her, but fortuitously for the Clarion, said friend's girl called out sick on the dinner he was preparing for her. Now the Clarion knows any number of great amateur chefs, but it just so happened, it was our luck, or perhaps our karma, we were at the residence of one of the professional ones. A person who had been preparing a delightful dinner for two when the girl came up ill.

After long hours over low heat on the stove the Clarion witnessed our pal combine his butternut squash stock, delicately seasoned, with heavy cream in a new Hamilton Beach blender. After some slow blending this mix was poured back into the soup pot and placed back over low heat. Its rich aroma wafted into every nook and cranny of chef's place.

We settled back into another episode of Entourage. (commercial free.) The Clarion isn't sure when chef cooked the pork tenderloin, by the time we became aware of it, it was on a cutting board. It had already been roasted and looked mouth wateringly moist. But what was chef doing? He was slicing it up into just bigger than bite sized pieces and tossing it into a warm bowl with raw spinach. When served this produced spinach of an other worldly texture, not raw, not cooked, just ever so slightly softened by the heat of the meat. The pork's heat had shaped the spinach leaves, too, curling them, bending them, inward, folding them around individual pieces of the meat.

Chef plated this rich green and brown mix on smallish, bright, white plates, the butternut squash soup was served in a matching white coffee mug, using said plate as a saucer. The soup's reddish orange hue complimenting, lightening the mix of other colors perfectly. The tastes meshed even better.

The Clarion was sorry she was sick. She is a good egg, and a kick to hang out around. But some days, you are walking around lucky and don't even know it. Other days you gotta remind yourself that be able to walk around and able to access clean water out of a tap at will makes one pretty lucky. Problems, everybody's got a few. Other days you walk into a wonderful meal and forget about them for a while.

Labels: food