A couple weeks ago I took some pistachios to work. I rediscovered them after a good friend, Laurie, brought some back from Greece for me. The Grecian pistachios were terrific. Full of flavor. The ones I bought at the local supermarket here in DC were fine. A bit salty, but not great, they just didn’t have that nice flavor the Grecian ones did.

Enter a new colleague, Carl. I shared my pistachios with him last week, his first at the NCC Eco-Justice Program. Over cracking pistachios Carl and I had a few conversations. He has a bit of a bike collection and even owns one that I’m interested in, a Bike Friday. He also was very familiar with Laurie’s new old bike, a Specialized Expedition.

Today, Carl presented me with a present. A bag of habanero flavored pistachios. He heard me last week when I said these just didn’t have enough flavor. So, when he saw the habanero ones, he apparently decided they would be a good addition to the office collection and just might be flavorful enough for me.

We opened them up mid afternoon. The heat hits you a little after you eat them, it has a bit of a cumulative effect. Very nice.

Thanks, Carl. You’re gonna be a fun colleague. And possibly a fun friend. Glad you’ve joined us at the NCC.

I never thought a common thread amongst my friends would be the gift of pistachios (and bike snobbery!). Who knew?