Those heady years. I didn’t know about meats or that different meats require different attention, even from the same animal. Nobody knew the secrets of leeks, or that sand might at all be a consideration with respect to vegetables. I was fearless and often had diet soda on hand. A magnum of bargain shiraz was, okay, never the height of refinement, but it didn’t seem as far away then as it feels since. There were cigarettes indoors and overflowing ashtrays. And not just at my house. It was carefree. I forgot.