Bay Area — Duncan - Center of the Universe

Center of the Universe (24)

I talk a big game when it comes to lasagna. But, to tell the unbaked truth, I think I eat more of Sonia’s spaghetti these days.

Robert DuncanNovember 18, 2016lasagna, meatball, sausage, picky eater, sausage factory, Amsterdam, restaurant, Northern California, Bay Area

Center of the Universe (23)

First text this morning — early, Amsterdam time — came as I was fitfully dozing between acts of a CNN dream-play about the apocalypse.

Robert DuncanNovember 10, 20162016 election, Trump, isolationism, walls, empire, America, Bay Area, Amsterdam

Center of the Universe (20)

Sonia made lasagna. And all night people who’d never been to Sorellas, didn’t know from the chef sister, saying: Man, that is delicious.

Center of the Universe (19)

“’Cause he gets up in the morning, And he goes to work at nine.”

Robert DuncanOctober 13, 2016local politics, school board, campaign, growing up, Fairfax California, Bay Area

Center of the Universe (18)

The stages of adulthood for a guy constitutionally unsuited to it begin, of course, with fraud.

Robert DuncanOctober 6, 2016growing up, local politics, school board, mortgage, credit card, Bay Area, Fairfax California

Center of the Universe (16)

“HOFFMAN JACKED ON PCP! CALL FAIRFAX PD! BE THERE AT 8.”

Robert DuncanSeptember 22, 2016texting, restaurant, marriage, friendship, family, Fairfax California, Bay Area, reservations

Center of the Universe (15)

Sandy wants to know — again — if the salmon is wild.

Robert DuncanSeptember 15, 2016restaurant, wild salmon, sturgeon, Brooklyn, Blue Oyster Cult, Sandy Pearlman, Bay Area, Fairfax California

Center of the Universe (14)

The sisters aren’t sure. And that uncertainty, along with their essential modesty, was reflected in the night’s celebration.

Robert DuncanSeptember 8, 2016anniversary, restaurant, sisters, Fairfax California, Bay Area, dive bar

Center of the Universe (13)

“I got a rich guy carrying my stuff!”

Center of the Universe (12)

“In Penny Lane the barber shaves another customer”

Robert DuncanAugust 25, 2016Halloween, fatherhood, costume, work, Fairfax California, Bay Area

Center of the Universe (11)

When a man in San Francisco leapt from 22 stories and almost landed on me, I scrambled to the family table.

Robert DuncanAugust 18, 2016suicide, jumper, San Francisco, religion, consolation, lasagna, Fairfax California, Bay Area

Center of the Universe (10)

In the redwood shadows at the far end of Wood Lane in the small Northern California town residents call Mayberry on Acid stand a dozen horses.

Center of the Universe (9)

It’s not always Saturday night at Sorellas, you know. And that’s just the kind of crap that ticks him off.

Center of the Universe (7-8)

You can learn a surprising amount about the world from the center of the universe.

Robert DuncanJuly 21, 2016North Korea, Pyongyang, Kim Jung Un, memoir, POW, Korean War, Brazil, seminary, Fairfax California, restaurant, Bay Area

Center of the Universe (6)

It was almost a year since Kang had entrusted me with his manuscript that I read the second paragraph.

Robert DuncanJuly 15, 2016copy editing, memoir, North Korea, Korean War, war crime, Korea, restaurant, Fairfax California, Bay Area

Center of the Universe (5)

The miraculous, disastrous path to Table 10 begins just south of the Soviet border, nine-thousand clicks from Fairfax.

Center of the Universe (4)

Gleb said the first night — with Wendy, Dave and the band and drop-ins and Sonia’s lasagna in the back room — was the best of his trip.

Robert DuncanJuly 4, 2016Russia, jazz, trumpet, pocket trumpet, travel, tourist, California, Fairfax California, Bay Area, melting pot

Center of the Universe (3)

Dave works graveyard at the burglar alarm company.

Center of the Universe (2)

In the last days of the Korean War, when he was 19, Mr. Kang was conscripted into the North Korean army and sent to the front without a gun.

Robert DuncanJune 10, 2016restaurant, lasagna, sisters, Korea, Brazil, Italian, comfort food, Fairfax California, Bay Area, jam session

Center of the Universe (1)

Six thousand miles from our town of 7,000, Gleb Lisichkin packs a small bag. He doesn’t need much, beyond the occasional change of rock t-shirts.

Robert DuncanJune 4, 2016hippies, seventies, sixties, small town, parade, restaurant, Bay Area, Fairfax California, spaghetti, lasagna, home

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