We went to see Hamilton and after so much time spent in anticipation, it was a little much to finally see the stage outfitted with nautical ropes and the middle-aged women in the audience looking like it was Christmas. I walked out of the theater feeling like I’d been shot, though I mean that in…

I spent the day without an agenda and walked most of the length of Central Park from Columbus Circle to Harlem, and there was still a red canopy over the ponds and lawns. The upper reaches of the park, which I haven’t visited much, felt empty and remote like the woods in snow. We met…

We met a friend for lunch at a taco restaurant in Park Slope where they smothered my enchiladas in mole poblano, and then, because it was cold outside, we walked into the Brooklyn Public Library, where the entrance is decorated with bronze figures of Peter Rabbit, Moby Dick, Babe the Blue Ox, and others. For…

We spent the afternoon at the MoMA and I did my best to think about the artistic movements of the past instead of whatever was happening on Facebook, and for dinner we went to one of the branches of Grimaldi’s pizza, which uses coal-fired ovens and is famous for its original location under the Brooklyn…

We went up to New York for a few days and had dinner at Aburiya Kinnosuke, a Japanese restaurant that we try to go to every time we’re there. We always tell them a price point and let them give us whatever they want, and their selections this time were tuna and salmon sashimi, followed…

We went on a staff trip to install solar panels on the rooftop of an apartment complex and ended up at Carmine’s, where we sampled from the mountain of fried zucchini and a lake of cheese ravioli, and overheard at least three birthday celebrations at nearby tables. I am grateful, as well, for the kind…

I’ll start Thanksgiving early and say I’m grateful for Ethiopian food, and that I live someplace where there are endless opportunities to try it. The minor-key sweetness of berbere is a sensation I will never take for granted, and today we ordered lentils, carrot stew, and collard greens, and a main dish of lamb tibs…

I stayed late at work and ordered tacos, spreading the salsa on the extra tortillas like jam, before I got a ride home in an Uber car that took me on a circular route that the computer had determined to be the fastest, and fog had settled over the Potomac and the bike trails and…

Steak marinated in lemon and pepper and cooked on the stove, enveloped in its juices. Viet also made me roasted potatoes cooked long enough to be as crisp as french fries. (Photo: Shenandoah National Park, Virginia.) >> November 16 << November 14

Viet made me lobster tails with potatoes au gratin and salmon on baguette slices, with more sweet white wine and a lot of butter, and the food seemed to go with the Supermoon that kept its headlights on us as it shined all night. (Photo: Shenandoah National Park, Virginia.) >> November 15 << November 13

Fried, crispy wasabi wontons cooked in a lot of oil, with green beans and potato chips. I cleared out everything from the backyard, taking in the grill and the outdoor table for the winter. A strip of land parallel to the backyard fence where I tried to plant sunflowers last year has given over to…

Chicken sriracha sausages, with a lucky pick for a ten-dollar wine: a southern Rhone from a company called Domaine le Couroulu. We tried out our car with a drive to Silver Spring, where I bought leeks and apple cider at the farmer’s market, and we sat down with the owner of the coffee shop and…