Wilfrid

I already have a ban on adding finishing salt that has been on anyone's arm, popular though that is.

This stuff is bottomless. I have been listening to Gladys Bentley because beyond the interest in her being a committed cross-dresser in 1920s/30s New York she's an amazing singer and pianist; and Spotify recommended Merline Johnson. From my superficial research she just seemed to vanish, but after leaving a mound of blues recordings. She's great and so is the condition of the re-mastered stuff. She was known as the Yas Yas girl, yes as in get your yas yas out. An expression that predated the Stones, of course.

Reminds me of dinner some years ago at Petit Crenn, sitting at the counter right opposite the chefs. Young guy cooking was constantly tasting whatever was in the pan (he must have got through a thousand spoons); every time he did, he reached for the salt and added more to the dish. He was clearly beyond the point at which he could really taste anything. The dinner was, of course, inedibly salty.

Oh, that's huge. What a star. Brighton Beach kid, right?

Whoo!

Just received email from bookseller: Keep your reading streak going Er, okay...

Formaggio or Foster Sundry, both good. I think Zabar's too.

Followed the Faun with Huysmans' Là-Bas (Down There), a nice 1924 American first edition which would be worth some money if I had a dustjacket. If I was going to re-read one book by Huysmans, it would be À Rebours, but that means I have indeed re-read it, and more than once. Là-Bas is the first novel in the tetralogy that takes him from Satanism to complete immersion in the Catholic faith. It is entertaining to think that Satanism was actually taken seriously in fin-de-siècle Paris, with occult attacks being reported in the newspapers. Huysmans got mixed up in it, so this is his usual mix of opinion and autofiction. I correctly remembered that the affair with Mme Cantelouve is a bore; I had forgotten how gross the passages about Gilles de Rais are. Next steps: As I already skipped forward to Hemingway and Hesse, I have three doorstoppers in a row coming up. Again, I'll step out of AZ order to mix in some shorter works. 27. James, Portrait of a Lady 28. Jones, Mosquito 29. Joyce, Ulysses I should say, the Jones is hugely entertaining, but like the other two there, it's 600+ pages.

Wednesday will be two weeks of bad chest cold, but only the first week was really incapacitating.

Bring back Sloppy Louie's.

I used to buy boudins blancs and noirs and the occasional small bird from the butcher. When I was in the neighborhood, so hardly ploughing money into the place. There was also a good jambon beurre. Not as much fun as immersive balloons of course.

At 75. He was always just, like, there.

Is Nadia really understanding what he's being told? There's no such thing as a bottle of Chartreuse "from the states," rare or otherwise. The guy might have meant he was finding rare bottles in the states, maybe at auctions? Anyway, good to know the Chartreuse people want to make sure US bars have plenty of the stuff.

I remember it as Cafe des Artistes and it was grand in its day.

Not much editing going on there. Help.

Emerging from a week of misery with bronchitis I can do amazing things like putting the sausages in an omelette. I am so tired. Never mind.

I need a new phone case, but I guarantee it will be the brightest, most inappropriate color I can find, making it hard for the phone to go camouflage and undercover and hide around the apartment.

Still struggling with bronchitis but at least eating more than soup. Sausages. Not with potatoes or sauerkraut, just sausages. Dunked in ketchup.

Nice presentation.

Don't Google the derivation if you're eating.

Aged 84.

About to watch Burbs episode 2. I know they dumped the whole series, but why would I binge-watch it? And if I see spoilers, oh no. Who cares?

I don't know why I have that feeling, being a daughter-father but I definitely do. And I am sure it has been me. Recovered books (joy):

Is that a boy thing? I feel I have seen that more with boys.

I don't remember Tender Mercies which won him an Oscar; apparently not a big hit.