Last night I met Adam and his colleague Mike at their office downtown, and we all headed to Brooklyn to see Mike’s apartment, meet his 2-year-old daughter, and go out to dinner with his wife Katsuko.

They live in Park Slope, and it’s such a great neighborhood. I love the old brownstones in Brooklyn, Fort Greene is another neighborhood with great houses. My grad school was based there, and I loved wandering the brownstone-lined streets.

We went to an excellent neighborhood restaurant called Blue Ribbon Brasserie. Blue Ribbon Sushi is right next door, but we went to the brasserie. Absolutely delicious food, cool atmosphere, just great.

After dinner we walked over to Kappa Sake House for sake. It looked like they served great food, too, but we just had drinks. Another great neighborhood place, Katsuko and Mike knew the proprietor, and Katsuko ordered tea and excellent sake for us in Japanese. The proprietor told me the name had something to do with a sea cucumber who lives underwater and throws wild parties. Yet another moment when I wished I could speak another language.

It was an excellent evening, with great food and friends.