Because, strangely enough, asceticism is for the capitalists...

"The less you eat, drink and buy books; the less you go to the theatre, the dance hall, the public house; the less you think, love, theorise, sing, paint, fence, etc., the more you save – the greater becomes your treasure which neither moths nor rust will devour – your capital."
--Karl Marx, EPM

So given that I got lambasted last time regarding my seemingly irresponsible spending habits, this one [as the actress said to the Bishop] was a long time coming. I got up from my desk at 12:30 straight starving after only having a blueberry cliff bar for breakfast. I thought to myself that while I'm in grad school studying German grammar, I'll scrape by, day-by-day and week-by-week; but while I'm working at the white-shoe corporate law firm, well, I'm gonna where those white shoes, enjoy the perks, go to the grasshopper and spend some guilders. Ha capito? So I decided on Saju Bistro across the street from my office where the head of my department frequently feasts. And I went solito. It was dope.

I got the prix fixe lunch menu and, after some bread and particularly tasty black olives, began with a small salad of mixed greens and grape tomatoes. Then I had papardelle in a very simple but delicious mushroom sauce with parsley. My French-hating Italian college roommate thinks French food tends to be too complex so I savoured the moment knowing that he's wrong. Finally, inspired by Nene's blood orange for breakfast, I had two scoops of blood orange sorbet. It might be noted parenthetically (a phrase that always confused me, why wouldn't you just put in parentheses?) that throughout the lunch I drank enough ice-water to fill the Grand Canyon (something I absolutely love about restaurants in America).

In other news, Tribalista-like Brazilian music has been bumping on Pandora all day, my officemate and I have pet dog named Boulevard Canteloupe Bohemian, and after last night it's clear that Spike has officially lost it.

Ciao regazzi!