ND vs "THE SEC"

Ahhhh, the Thirsty Scholars.  That whole pursuit of the National Championship thing may become a reality in a few short weeks.  As always, I have an optimist's outlook about Notre Dame football, but this team goes beyond the blue and gold kool-aid that I've consistently drank throughout my life.  This ND team has a real opportunity, and I think as good of a chance as their could be to win another National Championship.  I love this team.  All that said, the storyline has constantly become "Notre Dame vs. The SEC".  I understand that Alabama has to play Georgia, and the winner of that game will, in all likelihood, be our opponent in Miami, but if you ask anyone that is a fan of ANY team in the SEC, they will tell you that ND's opponent is "The SEC".  It's what drives me nuts about this conference more than anything else.  It doesn't matter if you're a Bama fan, an LSU fan, an Auburn fan, a Kentucky fan... you name it.  They will ALL take credit for the national championship if ND fails to close the deal on the 7th of January.  I'm convinced it's a huge inferiority complex, and that these fans, if their team doesn't succeed in defeating their bitter rivals, or winning their conference, need something to cling to.  Their medicine, what helps them sleep at night, is knowing that, even if their team isn't the best in the country, one of the teams in their conference is... and that somehow makes them better than everybody else too.  I took the liberty of looking up a few things about the mighty SEC as I would like to address the idea that every SEC fan likes to state as reality.  That idea is that somehow ND would be lucky to finish about .500 in SEC play, and that they'd be about the 7th best team in the SEC.  It goes along with the idea that ND hasn't accomplished anything because they haven't beaten a 'mighty' SEC team or played in a conference.  So here's what I did... I took the 6 SEC teams that are in the top 10 in the rankings, and I broke down their schedules.  Any BCS conference team that finished above .500 was considered a 'tough opponent'.  Any FBS team, or team from a non-AQ conference with no discernible believability as a team that could compete with even mediocre teams was coded as an 'absolute cupcake'.  Finally, BCS opponents were broken down between those with losing records, and those with .500 records.  I went a little deeper with the 'tough opponents' by looking at who they beat in order to get to their winning records.  This sometimes revealed that these teams were not as 'tough' as you'd like to believe.  So here goes nothing:

Alabama:  These guys are everybody's Goliath.  They've basically been penciled in to play us in Miami, and they are very impressive.  They rank 78th in pass offense, 22nd in Rushing offense, 15th in points for/1st in Points against):

Tough Opponents (4):

• Michigan 41-14.  Probably the most impressive win in a dominant performance.
• Mississippi State 38-7.  They were 8-4 overall and 4-4 in SEC.  Their losses were to Bama, A&M, LSU, and Ole Miss... none were close.  Additionally, their most impressive win was 10 point victory over 5-7 Tennessee... hmmm... maybe they aren't so tough after all.
• LSU 21-17.  LSU outplayed them, and LSU's usually anemic offense looked very good in this game.
• A&M 24-29 loss at home.
• Georgia is TBD.

Absolute Cupcakes (3):

• W Kentucky, Florida Atl, W Carolina - These teams are undeniably awful.  I wonder if the fact that Bama only gave up 7 points total in these contests could inflate their defensive stats... I also wonder if that may have made the less than 1 point difference in points allowed per game that they have over ND... just speculation.

 BCS Opponents with losing records (4):

• Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Auburn - 17-31 overall record.

BCS Opponents with .500 records (1):

• Ole Miss - Ole Miss's only OOC game against a non-FCS opponent was a 66-31 loss to Texas... They're not good folks.

Georgia:  Well, they're the SEC fans' backup plan.   They have a balanced offense at 35/39th in pass and run offense and they are 17th in points for and 16th in points against.   Let's see why....

Tough Opponents (3):

• Vanderbilt 48-3.  I know what you're saying... "Vandy?  VANDY???"  Well, I have to be fair, they are in the mighty SEC and compiled a 8-4 overall record and 5-3 in the SEC.  Here's the rub though... They lost by 10 to Northwestern, and didn't beat a single team in a BCS conference that sports a winning record.  Their best win was against a 6-6 Ole Miss squad by a whopping 27-26 score.   So Vandy's probably a paper tiger, but they meet my 'tough opponent' criteria.
• South Carolina 7-35.  Yeah, so Georgia got smoked in this one.  I'll get to South Carolina's resume later as I continue to break down the SEC confirmation bias.
• Florida 17-9.  This is Georgia's signature win.  Florida turned the ball over 6 times in this game and only lost by 8.

Absolute Cupcakes (3):

• Buffalo, Florida Atlantic, Georgia Southern - As a side note,
  Georgia Southern conspicuously is a triple option team and was scheduled one
  week before Georgia faced Georgia Tech... coincidence?  You don't suppose they wanted a live scrimmage against triple option before they faced a triple option team, do you?

BCS Opponents with losing records (4):

• Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Auburn - 15-33 overall record, but they were all SEC teams.

BCS Opponents with .500 records (2):

• Ole Miss and Georgia Tech.  Ole Miss has been explained above, and Georgia made sure to get their live scrimmage to practice for the Georgia Tech game.

LSU: Well, LSU is a team that wins a lot of games, and they do it ugly.  Their pass offense is 94th and run offense is 46th in the country.  55th in points for, 11th in points against.

Tough Opponents (6):

• Washington 41-3. They were 7-5 with a terrible offense.  I will say that they have impressive wins over Stanford and Oregon State.  They offset these wins with losses to Wash State and Arizona. This is a very inconsistent team.
• Florida 6-14.  A loss in an SEC classic.
• South Carolina 23-21.  Just how Les Miles drew it up.
• A&M 24-19.  A big win after Johnny Football coughed up 3 INT's and a 12 point lead in the second half... there's your Heisman moment.
• Bama 17-21.  I think LSU's best game was in a loss... They're like 2005 ND. 
• Miss State 37-17.  As I said before, Miss State is not good.

Absolute Cupcakes (3):

• North Texas, Idaho, Towson.  142-50 combined score... how is LSU's offense rated so low when they get to pad their stats against these awful teams?  Towson actually played them close... TOWSON.

BCS Opponents with losing records (2):

• Auburn/Arkansas.  Both of these were classic 1 score victories by Les Miles over shitty teams.  The 12-10 stinker against 3-9 Auburn really stands out. 

BCS Opponents with .500 records (1):

• Ole Miss 41-35.  Once again, Ole Miss is a really bad team, but they were within a TD of LSU.

Florida: Florida may have the best resume of any SEC team.  They are pretty bad on offense with the 118th ranked passing attack to balance out their 35th ranked rushing attack.  They don't score many points, but they don't allow many either.  76th in points for and 3rd in points against.

Tough Opponents (6):

• A&M 20-17.  Johnny Football got shut out in the second half... another Heisman moment.
• LSU 14-6.  
• Vandy 31-17.  As stated before, Vandy's not really that tough.
• South Carolina 44-11.  Florida's signature victory for sure 7 SC turnovers helped.
• Georgia 9-17.  The turnover pendulum swung the other way on this one.
•  FSU 37-26.  FSU's only semi-impressive win was against Clemson.  They played a cupcake schedule both in and out of conference.  Florida needed a 24-6 4th quarter to come back to win this one.

Absolute Cupcakes (3):

• Bowling Green 27-14, U-La-La 27-20, Jacksonville St (23-0)... they scheduled U-La-La and Jack St back to back before they played FSU.  That's 2 live scrimmages to recover from their tough SEC slate.  Also, they only scored 1 offensive touchdown against Jacksonville State.  Could SEC defenses not only be overrated based on shutting down some horrible teams, but also based on some really bad offenses?  I'm just saying...

BCS Opponents with losing records (3)

• TN, KY, Missouri.  Awful.

South Carolina: Okay, here's their statline: 74th Passing/83rd Rushing offense, 40th points for/14th
points against.  Impressive, huh?

Tough Opponents (5):

• Vandy 17-13.  Did I mention that Vandy is not very good?
•  Georgia 35-7.  Signature win. 
• LSU 21-23.  Signature loss.
• Florida 11-44.  Not pretty.
•  Clemson 27-17.  Clemson lost to FSU and had a very easy schedule with no wins against good teams, but they do have Tajh Boyd

Absolute Cupcakes (3):

• ECU, UAB, Wofford.  Wofford was tied at 7-7 into the 4th quarter against them until South Carolina pulled away with 17 unanswered points.  South Carolina was outgained in this game... by WOFFORD.

BCS Opponents with losing records (4):

• Missouri, Kentucky, Tenn, Arkansas.  These teams look familiar?  They're the ones that lose to teams with winning records.

A&M:  Johnny Football's team.  I'd like to note that the Mighty SEC made claims that Texas A&M, as a middling Big 12 team that had to replace its starting QB with a redshirt freshman would get crushed this season when they had to face said mighty SEC.  Here are their stats: 14th passing/13th rushing offense, 4th points for/30th points against... maybe the SEC defenses aren't so bad after all... maybe their offenses are as bad as advertized.

Tough Opponents (5):

• Louisiana Tech 59-57.  La Tech is a 9-3 WAC team with 0 wins against remotely good teams and the worst scoring defense in the country.  They were ranked for a while though.
• Florida 17-20.  Johnny Football got shut out in this one... strike a pose.
• LSU 19-24.  Johnny Football took a 12-point lead into the second half, then threw 3 INT's.  Give that man the trophy!
• Miss St 38-13.  Did I mention that Miss State is not very good? 
• Bama 29-24.  AKA the only reason Johnny Football is on your Heisman ballot.

Absolute Cupcakes (3):

• SMU, So Carolina State, Sam Houston St - Johnny Football had 735 passing yards, 10 passing TD's, 302 rushing yards, and 6 rushing TD's against these horrible teams.  Send him to New York for his brilliant play against all the tough teams!

BCS Opponents with losing records (3):

•  Missouri, Auburn, Arkansas -- all blowouts.  J Footy racked up 1085 passing yards, 8 passing TD's, 261 rushing yards, and 6 rushing TD's against this amazing gauntlet.  Your Heisman favorite racked up 55% of his passing yards, 75% of his passing TD's, 50% of his rushing yards and 63% of his rushing TDs against the half of his schedule that consisted of cupcakes and losers.

BCS Opponents with .500 records (1):

• Ole Miss 30-27.  Mr Football only had 1 passing/1 rushing TD in this game to go with his 2 INT's.  Funny how all of his turnovers came against teams that had at least a .500 record. 

So, that's your mighty SEC.  To be fair, I'll look at ND's schedule and see where they fall into place.  I'm sure it'll just prove why ND would not stand a chance against a gauntlet like these guys face, right, RIGHT?:

Notre Dame: Well, I'd first like to state that you'll notice that Notre Dame has a few features that are missing from the breakdowns on the SEC teams.  One is FCS teams.  ND doesn't play them.  Our cupcake plays Division 1 football.  Another missing feature is losses.  ND doesn't have any.  We have stats that look similar to Alabama's in every way except scoring offense: 78th Passing yards/27th Rushing yards, 76th points for/2nd points against.  The defense jumps off the page, and the offense indicates a hard-nosed ball-control attack... isn't that what the SEC does?

Tough Opponents (6):

• Michigan 13-6.  Ugly win for us in a Golson's worst game as a starter.  We were up by 10 for most of the game, and this was certainly a growing opportunity for our Redshirt Freshman QB.
• Miami 41-3.  Miami's not really that good, but they're 7-5 BCS conference team with a good pass offense.  I think they'd match up just fine with Vandy or Miss State. 
• Stanford 20-13 in OT.  They are a legit top ten opponent with a win over Oregon in Eugene and a top-10 defense.  I'd also like to add that, even had they scored the TD, it didn't guarantee a win.  Additionally, he got stuffed and the line judge blew the whistle.  It was pretty damn clear.
•  BYU 17-14.  They are a 7-5 independent with top 5 scoring defense.  Additionally, they were appropriately coined a 'trap game' between Stanford and Oklahoma.  Again, nothing to write home about with these guys, but they are similar to Miss State or Vandy or Louisiana Tech as 'tough teams'.
• Oklahoma 30-13.  Another top ten opponent.  This time it's a top-flight offense and strong defense.  We held the 5th best passing offense and 7th best scoring offense to 13 points.  No SEC team faced a better offensive unit.
•  USC 22-13.  USC had enough talent to warrant a #1 preseason rating.  They only had a 7-5 record because Lane Kiffin is a moron. 

Absolute Cupcakes (1):

• Navy 50-10.  Although they were 8-4, and a bowl-bound FBS team, they beat 0 good teams and were pretty bad... at least they are a FBS school, but I'll call them what they were this year.

BCS Opponents with losing records (2):

• Wake/BC - Both comfortable wins against our two worst opponents.  

BCS Opponents with .500 records (2 or 3):

• MSU 20-3.  MSU was ranked in the top 10 when we played them at night in their place. Their 5 non-ND losses are by a total of 13 points and they have the nation's 10th rated scoring defense.  This is about as tough as it gets for a .500 team.
• Purdue  20-17.  I'll note that this was Golson's first home start and ND had just returned from Dublin.  I wonder if their sluggish performance had anything to do with jetlag.  Regardless, the chemistry of this team was becoming evident as Rees came in for an injured Golson and got the winning points.
• Pitt 29-26 in 3 OT.  Pitt had a strong finish after a slow start under a new coach.  They just thrashed 18th ranked Rutgers 27-6.  While everybody's pointing out that Pitt missed a FG that would have won the game, they conveniently forget that Cierre Wood fumbled the ball reaching for the endzone as he was about to score... and that was the 3rd redzone turnover of the game for the Irish, not to mention the missed FG and missed extra point earlier in the game.  This was one of those games in which they made all of the mistakes that you simply can't make in order to win games... but THIS team overcame the mistakes and found a way to win when they played their worst football of the season for 3 quarters.

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Okay, if you've gotten this far, I commend you.  I wrote this to simply illustrate something that should be patently obvious at this point.  ND can play with ANYBODY.  The SEC, while they have featured the last 6 national champions, is not necessarily the juggernaut that they want to believe that they are.  Every single one of the top tier of SEC teams played half of their games against cupcakes or teams with losing records.  The two most likely opponents for ND played the fewest amount of tough opponents on this list.  I'm really liking ND's chances in this game.  I am not an SEC fan, so I will make no silly guarantees that ND will destroy whomever they play in Miami, but I am loving the fact that SEC country is underestimating this Irish squad.  Bring it ON!

Leprechaun, out!

The Fiscal Cliff: Why raising taxes on the "rich" will stall the economy

I am a small business owner. I started my business in my mid-twenties with two friends from college. We quit high paying jobs in the tech sector and moved in with my parents to start a company making fresh, healthy foods for school children. We have started from very little and created 150 jobs and a business with $15 million in annual revenues.

We have poured our hearts and souls into our businesses, and continue to pour our profits back in too. I drive a 10-year old Accord and rent my house because I haven't pulled enough money out of the business to buy. My family lives paycheck to paycheck and budgets very carefully every month to make sure we are living within our means. The debt that we have taken out to build the business is measured in millions, and it's all "personally guaranteed" by us. The banks and the Small Business Administration (a branch of the federal government that provides programs to lend to small businesses) require personal guarantees to lend. This means you literally have to sign your life away to borrow, and your are personally and legally guaranteeing that if your business fails, the banks and the federal government can come after you for all you've got. You will be left with nothing.

We are dedicated to growing our business because we believe in it. We believe in the work we are doing and believe that the children of our nation can benefit from the fact that we can do it better than anyone else. We also hold out hope that we will also be able to build a good life for ourselves in the process, and so we risk it all. I don't check out at 5pm, I don't punch a clock. Yes, I have freedoms others don't have. I am, by and large, the master of my own destiny. But with that freedom comes immense responsibility, and even greater risk.

I am a small business owner. But if you've been listening to all of the discussion on taxation as of late, you might be surprised to find that I am also "the wealthy", as defined by the federal government. This might strike you as odd if you pass me on the freeway in my '03 Accord with the paint chipping on it, and wearing the same clothes that my wife bought me back when she worked for Gap and had the company discount (by the way, that was 5 years ago).

So why the disconnect? If the IRS is taxing me as wealthy, why is it that I don't have the disposable income to act that part? This dichotomy is at the crux of the discussion on raising taxes on "high income earners", and is yet the least understood by the American people.

54% of all American workers are employed in companies that are "flow-through taxation entities". This means they are either an S-Corp, LLC, sole proprietorship, or partnership, and that the "profits" generated by the company show up on the personal income taxes of the business owners. This differs from "C-Corps", which are what people normally are referencing when people refer to "corporations".

The reason for the "flow-through taxation" is to avoid "double taxation" of the small business owner by first taxing the companies profits, and also taxing the income of the small business owner when they take out the profit as personal income. This structure would seem to make sense if all business owners put the profits of their companies directly into their personal bank accounts every year. It would then make perfect sense to tax those profits as personal income. The major disconnect is that in our business, and in many of the small businesses that I know of, the small business owner RARELY takes home all of the profits of the business. Most small businesses want to grow their business, and the owners end up retaining those profits in the business to fund future growth, to invest in new hires, new equipment, or new technology, or to pay down the mountains of debt many of us took on in the first place to start our business.

Let's do some quick numbers. Say you've got a business with $20 million in revenues, at a net profit of 5%. That means that business is generating $1 million dollars in profit annually. That sounds like a lot of money, and it is in the context of the raw dollars that most of us deal with on a daily basis, it is. But a 5% margin can erode in a matter of weeks in business. What happens to that margin when healthcare premiums go up by 20%? Or the cost of raw materials and commodities goes up 8%? Or they lose one key account that accounts for 10% of revenues? 5% is not a lot of room for error, and that business should be hanging on to as much of that cash as possible to save for a rainy day (a concept that so clearly eludes our federal and state governments).

If that business earning $1 million in profits is owned by an individual, that $1 million dollars is showing up on their personal incomes taxes as income. If they're already paying themselves a salary, the profits are tacked on top. Say that business owner pays themselves a salary of $100K. That salary would be taxed as any other employee. But their personal income tax would show $1.1M in income.

In state like California, what happens when the effective income tax rates (both state and federal) on profits from the largest of the small businesses go from 44% in California (35% + 9.3% state) to 52% (39.6% + 12.3% after Prop 30)? That business now has $80K less for every million dollars ON TOP OF the $440K of taxes they're already paying on that million.

Remember, in this instance, most small businesses are trying to retain that money to grow. Often times small businesses make profit distributions SIMPLY to pay taxes, and leave the rest of the profit in their business for growth or a rainy day (contrary to the implication that it goes directly into their pockets).

This begs the question - what will happen to small businesses and their growth potential if we raise the income tax rates on these individuals? You guessed it - that growth rate will slow, and so too will their hiring and spending on investments.

Our tax system is broken in this country. There is a difference between an attorney or investment banker pulling in $1M annually and a business with $1M in profits on $20M in revenue. The former is a business of one, with all of that income flowing into a personal bank account. The latter is a business creating real jobs, and making real investments in the marketplace in both equipment and technology. (And then there's a whole other group of people who already have a lot of money and are making even more by moving their wealth around and having profits taxed as capital gains...but that's a topic for another post.) Increasing tax rates on the former might cause them to rethink how many days they're going to spend at the Ritz in the Caribbean this year. Taxing the latter will cause them to rethink that new hire in marketing, the new accounting system they were planning on implementing, or even that new store they were thinking of opening.

Jobs are, and should be, the most important focus of our nation right now. For every job that's lost, there's one more person who has no idea how they're going to make ends meet. It's one more person on unemployment, one more person that may be at risk of foreclosure, and one more person who has to struggle with the decision to swallow their pride and take whatever government or charitable assistance they can get. And on the tax side, it's one more person without any income with which to pay taxes. Jobs are good for our families, our community, and for our governments.

This is not an issue of Republican vs Democrat, or have vs have-not. This is a fundamental issue of American jobs - 54% of which have been created by small businesses. It is critically important that all Americans understand the relationship between taxation and job creation in this country. Most small business owners have an intense desire to bring their dream and their vision to more people. The more the government can enable business owners to hang on to the income they've generated, the more business owners will continue to invest and grow to bring the vision to life.

Dinner at U Kucharzy (An American in Warsaw)

What does one do when one has the opportunity for an epic meal in a foreign city but nobody with whom to share it? One blogs about it, so that one can share it with everybody.

Tonight, at the very strong recommendation of a friend of a friend, I walked into an unassuming restaurant on a side street in Warsaw, a few blocks from the Old City. The place is called U Kucharzy, which, near as I can tell, is pronounced "ooh koo-HGHAR-shee" (in which the "HGH" is that gutteral 'h' that only seems to exist in Eastern European languages and cats on their way to a hairball). What follows is my experience...

Upon walking in the front door, I am instantly struck by one thing - it is loud. The jazz trio in the corner of the bar is knocking it out of the park. The bar patrons are yelling over the music. I can't even see the dining area, but I can hear jubilant voices echoing from down a corridor. This is not going to be a fine dining experience; this is going to be a gastronomic event. This is going to be fun.

I greet the headwaiter. He is dressed in a bold blue plaid suit, a white tuxedo shirt, a maroon bow tie, and bright red shoes. I can best describe him as a cross between Elton John and a circus clown.

"I was told this is the one place I need to eat in Warsaw."

Instantly, he responds, "It's true. I need two minutes, if you'd like to wait in the bar."

Twenty minutes, several apologies, and one Kasztelan (a rather nice, crisp lager) later, I was led to my table-for-one, right next to a rambunctious party of eleven who I'm sure had all kinds of fun at my expense.

[I should note that in walking the Old City before dinner, I passed restaurant after restaurant that was completely empty. This place was jammed, absolutely packed to the gills.]

Comfortably sipping my beer, I order the steak tartare, the barley soup, and the roast duck stuffed with apple. The food sounds incredible. And it smells incredible. But then...oh my, the presentation!

A chef comes out of the kitchen with a rolling cart and parks it in front of my table. He greets me, and spends the next five full minutes preparing my steak tartare on the cart. He chops it and smoothes it and chops it and smoothes it until it is more paste than meat. He sprinkles it with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Chop, chop, chop. Adds some onion (chop chop chop), pickle (chop chop chop), and capers (chop chop chop). Gives it one last smoothing swirl with the knife and spoons it onto my plate. My first thought is, "Wow, this looks amazing." My immediate second thought is, "Oh shit, I have to eat all of this by myself!" But one bite removes any fears of a struggle. The tartare has the consistency of yogurt and the flavor of the best carpaccio you've ever had. Divine.

As I finish my tartare, my waiter suggests a shot. By now the mood of the place has taken hold of me, so...who am I to say no? Of course, it is vodka. And I do not drink vodka. But, when in Rome...so down the hatch it goes. I have to admit, I rather enjoyed it.

The barley soup comes. Which means a chef comes out with a saucepan full of it and ladles some into my bowl. It is gorgeous. Huge chunks of potato, smaller bits of carrot and onion and meat and oh yes, barley, and probably a dozen other things in a fantastic brown broth. I absentmindedly pick up my fork, and my waiter laughs out loud. I laugh as well, and blame it on the shot, which he apparently misinterprets as me asking for another, because 30 seconds later he is pouring another shot for me. This could be a long night. The soup, by the way, is spectacular. And it is hot as hell. I decide that if I eat it fast enough, it might actually cook the quarter pound of raw beef I just ate before my stomach gives me a royal "WTF? First a pisco sour--" (which, for the uninformed, is a Peruvian cocktail that includes raw egg white, and which I consumed for the first time exactly one week ago) "--and now this?"

The barley soup is gone. Vodka shot #2 goes down. We are approaching uncharted drinking waters in a country where I don't speak the language. And I still have work to do tonight.

The duck arrives. The entire duck. It is carved for me tableside. Words can no longer do this justice; I must resort to pictures.

Why yes, I would like some duck. How about that half?

OK, yeah, that'll do.

I don't even know what I'm eating anymore. Duck, yes. Potatoes, yes. But then some weird purple vegetable...oddly cut beets? Strangely colored cabbage? Whatever it is, it's delicious. And this berry glaze that was so gently laid upon the duck? It looks like the lingonberry jam from IKEA. Which I'm certain it is not. But it's exactly what the poor duck never knew it needed. Just a touch of sweet. I'm running out of adjectives.

The leg portion and half of the potatoes are gone. And it looks like I haven't even started. I get committed and dig in. I'm in the effing zone now. Screw that party of eleven - this American is throwing down!

Eventually, I stop eating. The duck is gone. The potatoes are gone. The weird beet/cabbage thing evidently got de-prioritized, as its remains and the half duck carcass are all that are left on my plate.

The waiter gamely asks if I'd like another beer. I'd rather crabwalk home than eat or drink another thing. He sees the defeat in my eyes and grins. Then he brings the dessert tray. I can't help myself; I manage to point to the smallest one. I have no idea what it is, but -- surprise! -- it's delicious. A tart-sized pie crust, filled with caramel creme, topped with finely sliced peanuts and a chocolate drizzle. Sublime.

Finally, mercifully, I am done. The check comes. Including tip, it is just under sixty US dollars. It has been just a shade over two hours since I walked in the door.

I pat my waiter on the back and ease my way into a largely silent street. Across an expansive plaza, I pause to pay my respects at the tomb of the unknown soldier. Then I drift away into the evening mist, alone with my umbrella, my very full stomach, and a memory that will last a lifetime.

Dziękuję, U Kucharzy. Dziękuję.