TAL/B&G.

Above: one of the very best things I tasted in a week of great ATL eating: one Ritz cracker + one pat of butter + one good oil-preserved anchovy filet, really unfortunate that you can't just pop them in your mouth repeatedly (after five of them you've basically eaten half a stick of butter). I only had one. One great one.

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While it was lovely to see everyone and it's very good to be back, one of the slightly frowny things about returning home is readapting to our kitchen. We have too much stuff. American kitchens also have too much stuff, but they're designed with too much stuff in mind, so really unless you're a truly dangerous hoarder, it's entirely possible to reach a state where everything is put away. I know this sounds like a terribly mature, possibly even adult goal, but: in my spare time this week I'm going to try and make it possible to put everything in our kitchen away. 

(Did I mention how amazing it is that we received our permanent residence permits? It's just one of those back-of-the-mind anxiety clearers that doesn't seem to happen often enough, something that's been an unresolvable worry that prevents you from making longer-term plans in fear of attracting the attention of the Great Magnet)?

Ai, train of thought. What I wanted to talk about here was how comforting it is to be back in our old kitchen in Atlanta, a kitchen now owned and operated by the Tomanek Assisted Living/Bar & Grill crew. It's hard to remember that The Gimp and I only really ran the place for a few years before coming here, I guess because it seems like we never really stopped living there, even if it's only "in person" for a few weeks a year. 

Someday in these pages I want to talk about what we did to that house when we moved in, and when I say "we", I mean the Tomaneks. But I think we need to buy a new scanner first, and by "we" I mean me.  

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After the anchovy cracker above and a sweet pepper/goat cheese gratin, I had another great plate of food: this balsamic-marinated steak, served with parsleyed potatoes and the Tomanek caesar salad.