I had a doctor's appointment in Brookline this afternoon. Turned out their office is located only a few stops down on the C Line from Mei Mei, so as soon as I got out, I headed up Beacon in the bright cool sunshine and the hope that starting life as a food truck meant the restaurant would sell take-away things in addition to indescribably epic dinners. They were between menus but serving all their sandwiches and drinks, so I left with a Haymaker's Punch and a Porco Rosso. I did not try to eat on the subway. I drank the punch and was so glad that two weeks of acetic acid in my ears four times daily has not removed my ability to enjoy the taste of vinegar.
I caught the Green Line at Fenway. A few stops later, there sat down across from me a young black woman wearing jeans, a denim shirt, a camo-colored jacket, immense tinted sunglasses of a style I associate with the 1970's, and her hair cropped very short except for the front wave of a perfect pompadour, worthy of Janelle Monáe. I could not think of a graceful way to lean across the aisle and tell her she looked fantastic, and then at Park Street everyone instantly dispersed, but she did. If anyone knows a gesture conveying this is not a romantic overture and it is too loud to talk in here anyway but damn, I should like to learn it for next time. I have a related problem when people on crowded public transit are reading books I love.
The Porco Rosso is the meat-based version of Mei Mei's Double Awesome: a scallion pancake sandwich filled with ham and ricotta, cranberry hoisin sauce and fried garlic, and a pile of tart leafy greens that were possibly watercress. The counter staff encouraged me toward it. They were not wrong.
It just occurred to me that Thanchvil is the Etruscan form of the name I knew Latinized as Tanaquil. I should have made the connection before now. I had the sound changes: Tiberius, Thefarie; Tarquinia, Tarchna. Now I may have trouble looking at the sarcophagus in the MFA without thinking of Tanith Lee's Black Unicorn (1991). I thought she'd invented the name until I was in high school.
(I love the sarcophagus in the MFA. I love both of them. They have faces.)
I caught the Green Line at Fenway. A few stops later, there sat down across from me a young black woman wearing jeans, a denim shirt, a camo-colored jacket, immense tinted sunglasses of a style I associate with the 1970's, and her hair cropped very short except for the front wave of a perfect pompadour, worthy of Janelle Monáe. I could not think of a graceful way to lean across the aisle and tell her she looked fantastic, and then at Park Street everyone instantly dispersed, but she did. If anyone knows a gesture conveying this is not a romantic overture and it is too loud to talk in here anyway but damn, I should like to learn it for next time. I have a related problem when people on crowded public transit are reading books I love.
The Porco Rosso is the meat-based version of Mei Mei's Double Awesome: a scallion pancake sandwich filled with ham and ricotta, cranberry hoisin sauce and fried garlic, and a pile of tart leafy greens that were possibly watercress. The counter staff encouraged me toward it. They were not wrong.
It just occurred to me that Thanchvil is the Etruscan form of the name I knew Latinized as Tanaquil. I should have made the connection before now. I had the sound changes: Tiberius, Thefarie; Tarquinia, Tarchna. Now I may have trouble looking at the sarcophagus in the MFA without thinking of Tanith Lee's Black Unicorn (1991). I thought she'd invented the name until I was in high school.
(I love the sarcophagus in the MFA. I love both of them. They have faces.)
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