Rainy days are a cause for celebration when one has a stocked fridge. I got home at 4:30 a.m. this morning after watching Joker at The Nighthawk with Maddie and then partying in Crown Heights. I slept until 3:30 p.m., luxuriating in Ella Fitzgerald’s voice and then Sufjan Stevens’.

Breakfast (4 p.m.) was pumpkin waffles. I whipped some goat cheese with butter, vanilla and cinnamon and threw in chopped cherries and dried apricots to put on top. I don’t have a toaster but freezer waffles crisp up even better on the stove when nestled between two sautée pans. I heated up some maple chicken sausage to pair the waffle with and was entirely happy with the result. Everything was picked up at Trader Joe’s.

I spent the day watching romance films that take place on NYC for a character sketch I’m writing for class. My writing is very realistic and the opposite of broad or absurd. I don’t know if it’s from my unique perspective or a lack of imagination yet. But whatever the cause, it is thus. Either I change who I am or I change what I do. Until then, I am me and this is what I make. I’m not quite sure of any of that yet.

For dinner on a rainy Sunday night I made due with what I had. All I wanted were anchovies and capers and butter and Chenin Blanc and white snapper and linguini or bucatini.

But as I hadn’t any, I’m made tamale pie with Anaheim chilies, caramelized onions and white cheddar. Topped it with sour cream and paired it with spinach, apple and fennel in a pomegranate and shallot vinaigrette. A few toasted hazelnuts for crunch.

Not perfect. But doable without leaving home in the rain.

I used to watch a lot of cooking shows on PBS when I was a kid. I learned a lot from those shows, but not all of it cooking related.

I don’t remember who, but someone said that any opportunity to use something flavorful over water should be taken. If you’re simmering something in water, throw in peppercorns or a bay leaf. Use broth or green tea instead. A pinch of salt or chili powder in sweet things. A pinch of sugar in the savory.

If anyone ever gave me a better life philosophy, I just don’t know. Whenever you have to do some perfunctory thing, make it count. Give it color. Hang up saffron curtains that turn your room golden when the light shines through. Pick a restaurant on a street that has a lovely walk past something you don’t normally get to see.

Second to that advice, there is this which Nora Ephron said: it’s very important to eat your last meal before it comes up. When you are actually going to have your last meal you are either too sick to enjoy it or too unaware to know it is your last.

I love this idea. Stop saving that bottle of wine for a special event. The event is tonight and the special is you.