small h

Oh, look, an hourly report on all the hipsters eating at a hipster diner. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/14/dining/24-hour-diner.html Why not the Hollywood? Why not the Malibu? Why not the Orion? NOT ENOUGH HIPSTERS, THAT'S WHY!!!

Jealous.

The CUNY Professional Staff Congress has ratified its new contract, which means $$$ for me. Yay.

All things khaki. And I managed not to fail at hollandaise, like I usually do.

I have thoughts. Lemme know how it holds up for you over the course of the season.

What I will remember: reading his "Go Out" list during the pandemic (re-titled "Stay In" or maybe "Stay Home") for info about online musical performances to entertain me me while I was stuck in the house; chatting back and forth with him here late-ish at night, when we'd both had a few; reading his remembrances of his late wife, with whom he is now reunited, if you believe in that sort of thing. I'm very sorry I never had the opportunity to meet him, but I'm grateful I to have "known" him, sort of. May his memory be a blessing.

Janet Planet, playwright Annie Baker's (of whom I'd never heard) first film. It stars Julianne Nicholson - medium H is a fan, which is why we watched - and traces the low-key events of the summer of 1991, before her daughter starts sixth grade. This is one of those quiet, languid independent films in which a few mildly important things happen, but nothing much changes. It was pleasant enough, the performances are good, and it's shot well, but there's ultimately not enough there there.

I know it's customary to say good things about the dead. She's dead. Good.

I had a good parsley harvest this year (and indeed, the plants are still hanging in there). But of course this salad was made with bought parsley. I really should do more with herb-heavy salads.

Uncle Donny explains it all to you.

The facts are, there are no facts.

Fennel and monkfish risotto, parsley and carrot salad.

I don't know why these particular fires seemed so surreal to me. I think I never imagined fire ravaging such a populated place. Ridiculous, I know, flammable is flammable, but there it is.

One of my students asked for an extension on her assignments due to the fact that she's mid-evacuation, and I think that's a good excuse!

I'm gonna take credit. I started watching as soon as it became available.

Terrifying. My friend shot this from her guest room: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DEiPXCUSeX7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

They're gonna be dying a lot quicker now.

A Complete Unknown, aka a lot of good things that happened to Bob Dylan, plus one thing that seemed bad at first but also turned out to be good.

There was a (I'm pretty sure) precursor called (I'm pretty sure) Daily Soup, which was much better.

Waiting excitedly for the second season.

Wicked (part the first). It was a lot of fun. Might have been better in the the theater, but eh, other people. I never saw the show, and only knew one of the songs, so I came in fresh.

She writes like Amanda Hesser. And I do not mean that as a compliment.

Hundreds of Beavers is mildly diverting. I do not understand all the praise of it.

Cioppino to start the year off right. It came out nice, but I couldn't taste the fennel at all.

With the caveat that I've been to Japan exactly once, in 2014: Tsukiji Fish Market, Edo Tokyo Museum, Tokyo Sky Tree, Sensoji Temple, Akihabara (I still have PTSD from this, but the kids will probably like it). And if you need to wind down, we spent three days at the Takaragawa Onsen, about 90:00 by train from Tokyo. Really, really nice. I did not manage my meals well, so no recommendations there.