PicoBlog

One of my main motivations for starting this newsletter was the opportunity to assemble the various parts of the city I’ve photographed over the past twenty years into some sort of cohesive whole. It’s like the parable of the blind men who each grope a different part of the elephant, and all come to different conclusions about what it is - a rope, a wall, a snake, a tree - and then proceed to beat each other up because they are so confident that their interpretation is the right one.

Let me tell you one thing straight: this dish is better than risotto. A lot better. Why? Because it doesn’t expect too much from you. There’s no stirring, it’s light on the wallet, and it’s perfect for the heat, ‘cause it’ll replenish all those sweats with its salty, refreshing tomatoey-ness.  I first tried it at an amazing restaurant called O Buraco in Porto. The kind of establishment where husbands and wives dine while watching game shows or football from a TV in the corner.

Q1 2024 Update: Please read my Winter Update for a short note regarding this post. The methods-specific comparisons in this essay are accurate, and the questions towards the end are still highly relevant to the direction morphology-driven research efforts are heading. TLDR, the methods are so similar because the researcher who developed POS in Paul Blainey’s lab moved to Insitro to duplicate the method! Over the past week and a half, the Broad’s Cell Painting group and Insitro published very similar approaches for large scale, hypothesis-free, pooled optical screening.

President Bartlet: “C.J., on your tombstone, it's gonna read, 'Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.'” C.J. Cregg: “Okay, but none of my visitors are going to be able to understand my tombstone.” -The West Wing Perhaps you have been pondering the following question: “How has Josh written seven issues of Moneyball Judaism without making a single reference to The West Wing?” Honestly, I was saving it, like a fine wine.    But this week’s issue is a perfect opportunity to take you back to the beginning of my favorite television show.

I’m still sore (and buzzing) from the workshop that I did on Wednesday with Taryn Toomey for The Class: It’s a 90-minute work-out where I talked people through the Sins/Powers in sets of two, and Taryn placed them in the body. It’s now available in the On-Demand library: You can use code EliseLoehnen for a free, two-week trial if you want to check it out. Meanwhile, I’m still signing copies of On Our Best Behavior through Diesel—and if you haven’t already, please consider leaving an Amazon or Goodreads review, even if you bought your copy elsewhere.

Have you heard of Lazio’s dying town? Located a couple of hours north of Rome in the under-the-radar region of Tuscia, Civita di Bagnoregio rises on a bluff and looks almost like an island surrounded by a valley. I recently included it in a list of Italy’s most charming small towns for AFAR, but I think it warrants a closer look. Curious to see the mysterious town, my husband Marco and I took a day trip there on a chilly day in November.

Welcome to To Vegetables, With Love, a celebration of a vegetable life, less ordinary. As always, I appreciate all of you being here! This week’s recipe is for paid subscribers. Click here to see your subscription options. As always, I appreciate all of you being here! If you’re looking for a newsletter recipe, see my Substack recipe archive here. For recipes with a 🔒 symbol, you will need a paid subscription.

Pouring Ribbons, the East Village cocktail bar, will close for good on March 26 after a decade in business. Like many New York bars, it was forced to close for an extended period during the pandemic shutdown. But unlike other places, it only sporadically trafficked in to-go cocktails, and its second-floor location made outdoor drinking and dining impossible. The bar was silent a total of 18 long months, far longer than almost any other significant cocktail bar in the city.

As mentioned in the close-read post on Anne Tyler’s French Braid, “point of view” is on my mind. Issues of narration and voice are linked so closely, but deserve other focused posts. Let’s begin to look at POV. The choices you make—who holds the camera in your story, where do they place the camera, do they share it—are critical. How your reader experiences the story, how you connect the “how” with the “what”—the telling with the theme/s.