I’ll be 49 in a couple of days, and have gotten this far in life without ever having tasted hot toddy … until today, courtesy of my Reform-minded host, Greg Thompson, who shaped up my cocktail lassitude. That’s Greg in the background. We were at the Whiskey Jar. Man, I could have sipped those things all night, cold as it is outside.

Oh, here was my lunch from earlier in the day: my first-ever bowl of bibimbap, from a joint called Zzaam Fresh Korean Grill. Was delicious, but I wish I had avoided the sauce, because it was hard to pick out the specific flavors: