Wilfrid

Last Richmond. This painting at VMFA astonishes me. As the placard says, it's rare to even know who enslaved (or in the north indentured) Black individuals are in family pictures or scenes. Here we not only know who the nurse is, Leana, but she's painted with so much more love and humanity than the formulaic renderings of the children. Also a lovely diptych by Cherokee painter Katy Walkingstick that screams Tapies at me, which is a good thing.

I didn't go out of my way to see that, but there is a gigantic replica of it in the Black History Museum.

The cast is just so much poorer without Ego and Heidi.

Some non-food photos in case anyone is interested, including Mr Bojangles, activist Maggie Walker, a first edition and light switch from the Poe museum and the sitting room of a really nice Airbnb.

Just watched last night's SNL and two big takeaways. - Sabrina Carpenter is good at sketch comedy. - Fart jokes still rule.

Oh blood sausage.

Oh no. I stop there all the time after shopping at Formaggio.

I took a notebook to Richmond this week, and unpacking noticed some receipts tucked into a pocket in the back. One was from La Sosenga in July. Eight course tasting with wine pairings, 106 Euros all included. For two people. Makes you weep.

Dinner at Lemairie in the rather posh Jefferson Hotel. Different planet from L'Opossum. A series of dining rooms with blank white walls, table linens, uniformed servers. I started with local Manakintowne lettuce, which I'd seen on several menus, garnished with fresh corn and apple. Then Lady Edison country ham with peach and fig. Best bites on the trip, especially with the black pepper honey, but suddenly a small portion. Finally, scallops with chunks of pork belly, crispy and smoky but too salty. This came with something called "coconut middlins" which was a kind of rice pudding, arguably flavored with coconut. And hey, espresso.

Wandering around downtown Richmond I saw very few places to eat (tacquerias) or bars and few people. In the evening, I headed for a bar called The Jasper on West Carey, and wow, street life. A busy strip.

Dinner featured high comedy. L'Opossum with its sole chef and proprietor, manifests a distinct taste. It's lit with lights of every color, every spare inch packed with toys, stuffed animals, pictures, bar and tabletops wildly decorated. I didn't take photos because it was also packed. The menu, I knew in advance, was absurdist. Vegan Orgy on a Texas Beach is one dish. But the food is made, in vast portions, carefully enough. Having seen a bunch of actual Faberge eggs at the VMFA earlier, I had to have the Faberge egg here. It's stuffed with lobster mousse, corralled by big strips of smoked salmon and scattered with pink and green peppercorns. Then I had a special of venison carpaccio (actually lightly cooked). There were many other ingredients announced to me, some spicy; the rosemary mustard was nice. Then, over the top. Boned quail stuffed with pig cheeks. Nice idea, very well executed. Needed only a modest garnish. But, a ton of greens, wild rice, pickled onions and, totally divorced from everything else, random blackberries. Basically a good dish, ultimately exhausting.

Tuesday night, Ultramartinis at Fanboy, a small, unmarked and unnumbered bar near where I was staying (took some finding). The drink was made with "ultra dry vermouth" and a dash of orange bitters and was fine.

Not just Richmond: you can get good coffee in museum cafes but only brown water in restaurants.

Seems so. Another three oysters and that was dinner for two last night.

Lunch today, a local "delicacy" -- the sailor sandwich. Pastrami and Swiss with the texturally interesting addition of a split knockwurst. Conveniently, a little downstairs dive that is known for it, Chiocca's, is very near the Fine Art and History & Culture museums.

I got to Alewife about 7.45 and there was some life at the bar but halfway through dinner I was the only customer. Monday and a holiday? Yet Grisette just opposite (that the internet told me was closed Mondays) was bustling. Highlight, three oysters deliciously topped with hot sauce and buttermilk. A too large bowl of clam strips and nose-clearing dried chilis. Then a large entree, monkfish topped with crumbled nduja sitting on an acre of polenta. Hearty, then, but since Grisette was open I was committed to cheese. Nice list too. I tried a Brazilian cheese, Mandala Pardinho, introduced to the US this summer; much better was Spanish Alma de Cerron with a Monastrell-soaked rind.

Actually, there was a sparkler at JFK but that was a few hours ago. I was worried yesterday about being delayed by the weather. No, but the staff must be stretched; 22nd in line for take-off.

First stop Grandstaff and Stein for pre-dinner cocktails. The large bar is hidden behind what looks like a small office. Woman sitting in the office asked me what the password was. No idea. She then suggested I make up a password and apparently I did good.

Apparently there's a thing called a sailor sandwich. Pastrami and cheese plus knockwurst. I don't have to eat all the bread.

Look, a partridge. Eight bucks in Chinatown. It looked small so I was planning to follow with a big green salad. By the time I was done sucking all the bones and carcass I was kind of full. No image of the poor bird's head, out of respect (the neck is in there).

My trip next week (weather and TSA permitting) will feature Norwegians. I really didn't plan that, but the new Jon Fosse, Vaim, showed up at Book Culture and a new Orstavik, Ti Amo, at the Brooklyn Book Festival. Two short books for two short flights. And if I have delays, I have a month of Middlemarch on my Kindle app.

People voting against their own interests? Whatever next?

Looking for Mr Goodbar was certainly impactful.

That's one I looked at. Will get around to him.

Latest blockbuster, well worth seeing even if you don't know your Horus from your Atum. Indeed, you could get lost reading the learned explanations about the countless Egyptian gods, especially as they are prodigious shapeshifters with changing names and the ability to manifest as animals. Sometimes. I gave up on that and enjoyed these objects as objects, many of them imposing, beautiful and improbably old. There's a wine flask that apparently dates back 4 or 5,000 years and it has a slight chip in its rim. I'm lucky if a wine glass lasts 4 or 5 months. There's a cow's head in alabaster. It has lost its ears, but its quite lovely. And the LOL moment: a god "presenting and protecting" some king. He clearly has his arms around the king, but the king is missing his head and legs. Poor performance by the god. One other thing: the show is laid out in a clear and logical order and well lit. Unlike Man Ray or the Dandy show.