Morning 

¶ Croque: I divide restaurants into two groups: those that serve croque monsieur, the great if not grand French ham-and-cheese sandwich, and those that don’t. Guess which group gets more of my business. Alex Witchel coaxes a recipe from Bar Boulud.

Noon

¶ Ray: Our friendly ichthyologist, Mig Living, reports today on the cownose ray. As usual, some of the “little-known facts” are more whopping than others.

Night

¶ Madeleine: Remember Madeleine White, Jodie Foster’s character in Inside Man? It was, without a doubt, the most intoxicating role that I have ever seen the actress play, because, instead of pretending to be the usual ordinary schlub, Ms Foster was a glamorous fixer who could arrange almost anything with a few phone calls. Now I know where she trained. 

Oremus…

Morning, cont’d

§ Croque. It’s made, wouldn’t you know, with that all-purpose culinary glue, béchamel.

I’m not tempted to make croques monsieur at home. They’re easy enough to make, but it’s hard to work up the necessary garnish of restaurant ambience.

Noon, cont’d

§ Ray. In this modern world full of interesting connections, Mig stands rather higher in the list of unlikelies than most. A native of the American Northwest, he lives on the outskirts of Vienna, where, on breaks from his day job, he entertains his Austrian wife and his two daughters (when they’re at home) by playing the cello. A turtle makes intermittent appearances. It sounds madly enviable, even when the car breaks down.

Night, cont’d

§ Madeleine. Gothamist picked up Prototype161 this afternoon. What can I say? It has been a very slow day. I’ve been housekeeping the blue room, exploring the contents of the almost innumberable rattan storage boxes that I have acquired over the years. It had been a while since I’d last taken inventory — so long, that there seemed nothing for it but to start from scratch. One damned thing led to another. Meanwhile, I listened to Turandot and La Bohème back to back, on the RoomGroove. And imported the Solti Ring into iTunes. Note to self: the ticket stubs for Rheingold, Walküre, and Siegfried , from the 1989 cycle at the Met (Fossil Darling got us box seats!), are tucked in the Götterdammerung jewel box.

Drop me a line at rjk@dailyblague.com
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