Michael Pollan

Food Rules

#43

Have A Glass Of Wine With Dinner

Wine may not be the magic bullet in the French or Mediterranean diet, but it does seem to be an integral part of these dietary patterns. There is now considerable scientific evidence for the health benefits of alcohol to go with a few centuries of traditional belief and anecdotal evidence.

Mindful of the social and health effects of alcoholism, public health authorities are loath to recommend drinking, but the fact is that people who drink moderately and regularly live longer and suffer considerably less heart disease than teetotalers. Alcohol of any kind appears to reduce the risk of heart disease, but the polyphenols in red wine (resveratrol in particular) may have unique protective qualities.

Most experts recommend no more than two drinks a day for men, one for women. Also, the health benefits of alcohol may depend as much on the pattern of drinking as on the amount: Drinking a little every day is better than drinking a lot on the weekends, and drinking with food is better than drinking without it.

Someday science may figure out the complex synergies at work in a traditional diet that includes wine, but until then we can marvel at its accumulated wisdom - and raise a glass to paradox.

Our First Time

Before

After

Another Big Harvest!!!

Puppies!!

This is what has been keeping us so busy these days!

This is the "G" Litter.

But we nicknamed them....

Fuzz, Fuzzette, Blue, Spot, and Tink.

Finally! Some Interior Decorating at the School!

This summer, our nephews came to spend 6 weeks with us

to whelp a litter from their dog LaReina.

They also helped us out a lot with some jobs at the school.

So we took the opportunity to do some decorating .

We installed some mirrors and painted some walls.

Here are Alex and Vince creating the frames for the back of the mirrors.

The mirrors are not glass so they needed stable supports in order to mount them on the wall.

Here are two of the mirrors already glued to their frames

and weighted down for a secure fit.

Meanwhile, the rest of the mirrors rest against the unpainted wall.

Lindsey is cleaning the mirrors, preparing them for mounting,

and the boys are making another frame.

Here is Michael applying the super, duper, fastening glue.

And this is Lindsey with the very first roll of paint.

Mounting and painting!

Finito!!!

But now we need some good suggestions for what to do with the door in the right corner.

We want to do something crazy!

Any suggestions????

Burning Man 2010

This is a photo, taken with my iPhone, of our tickets to Burning Man this year.
I took it in order to post them for sale on Craig's List, since we couldn't go this year.
:(
We have a litter of puppies and a gimpy dog that could not be left.
But it's ok because Michael had taken the time off for the week of Burning Man, and now he gets to stay home and fidget and play and workout and watch movies!
It's been cool!
And we successfully sold the tix to a very nice young lady who just graduated from Cal Berkeley and was going with her boyfriend for the first time!