As you may know, I have published a blog post every single day starting on November 15, 2022. Usually, they are posted by 9 a.m., sometimes later. But today may be the latest one of all. It is now 4.20 p.m. as I start to write this. No real excuse, except I had a hard time sleeping last night, had to leave the house for a couple of meetings this morning before 9, and didn’t get home until 2:30, when I lay down on the family room couch, closed my eyes, and opened them and saw almost an hour and a half had passed. Whew. My guess is I will never really wake up today.

Now that might rarely happen, but occasionally it does, perhaps more so at age 81, than at age 18. You say “well, it does to all of us regardless of our age”. I guess that’s right, but don’t you think it happens more when you are older?

That, of course, takes me back to our two presidential candidates, Mr. 81 and Mr. 77. Don’t they ever get so tired that they just close their eyes on their couch and 90 minutes pass? Don’t they ever have nights when they just can’t sleep? I will tell you that last night I had absolutely nothing on my mind. It was blank. I was calm. I was awake. There is no way I could be president.

My mind is pretty blank now. But there are things I could tell you. Like my last two meals, one carry-out and today’s lunch at a far away Asian restaurant. The carry-out was from our neighborhood Italian restaurant – I’m Eddie Cano. “What kind of a name is that?”, you ask. Just take a deep breath, and say it quickly. Usually, when we carry out, we have their delicious melanzana parmigiano. Last night, I tried their swordfish, which was really good, served with a perfect sauce (who knows what they put in it?), and diced zucchini and eggplant.

Two diversions:

1. Did you note my parenthetical “who knows what they put in it”? This is a very unusual English phrase, because – even if you think you might – you have no way to know whether it is written in the present tense or the past tense. When you think about it, that’s pretty weird. Any language should make a distinction between present and past, no? Isn’t that a basic requirement?
2. Let’s see if I can write this in a way that makes sense: Back in the late 1970s, the mayor of St. Louis (I will not call him out by name because he is still alive and some of you may even know him) came to DC, and a friend of mine worked for him as an aide, and came with him. The mayor (about whom even today I know less than very little) seemed a bit country-boy, odd for a big city mayor. We all had dinner at, I think, Duke Ziebert’s, and the mayor placed his order (I don’t remember what he got for a main course), and had his choice of sides. He looked at the menu and then said to the waiter, “I think I’ll have the zoo-chai-nai”.

Now, the distant Asian restaurant, with the very Asian name, Gourmet Asian Bistro, located (for those of you who want precision) at the corner of Muncaster Road and Muncaster Mill Road, somewhere in distant Montgomery Country, close to 15 miles from here. A nice looking restaurant in a typical suburban corner strip shopping center. I had the Thai Combination Fried Rice, a just the right amount of spicy dish with perfect taste. Now, I had never been to this restaurant before, so after I got home (and post-couch), I looked it up on Yelp or Trip Advisor or somewhere else, and discovered it had a rating of 4.6, which the vast majority of its customers giving it a 5. I will have to remember this – because I have the option of eating there twice a year. Our accountant is close by, and today is the day that I brought her all of our tax information for 2023. In a few weeks, I will go back to pick it up.

Let’s go back to I’m Eddie Cano – it is about three blocks from our house, on Connecticut Avenue, north of Fessenden and south of Nebraska. An easy walk. But what if we want something other than Italian food? Anything else nearby? On that block alone, in addition to Eddie Cano, is Rosemary (which is sort of French), Call Your Mother (which is self-proclaimed Jewishy), The Den, which is a coffee house which serves salads and sandwiches, Muchas Gracias (Mexican, of course), Buck’s Camping and Fishing (don’t ask me why – it’s just a nice upscale restaurant), Comet Pizza (yep, the one where the chop up children in the basement), and the Italian Bar (where they sell alcohol, pastries, all sorts of coffee and gelato, plus a few snacks). And, less than a half mile in the other direction on Connecticut, you will find a fancy bakery, another Italian restaurant, a Pizza house, a Turkish carryout (with a few tables for an outside lunch) and a Thai restaurant. We do not live in a food desert.

Time to go back to the couch.