Please make me a guest on your cooking show.

My most vivid post-pandemic dream.

Things are still mostly bad right now. There’s no denying that. As the herky-jerky rollout of the coronavirus vaccines finally begins to smooth out and gain steam, though, it’s possible to start dreaming about The Times After—about what we’ll do whenever the pandemic is finally, mercifully done and life can return to whatever it is we’ll call normal by then. We can imagine the loved ones we’ll embrace, the long-delayed vacations we’ll take, the crowded restaurants we’ll dine at, the concerts we’ll attend and the subway poles we’ll lick. I share many of the same dreams that you probably do, and I think it’s healthy for us to try and envision these better times ahead.

More than anything, though, there’s one specific thing I want after this is all over.

I want to be a guest on a cooking show.

I love cooking shows. That should come as no surprise, given the often-food-centric bent of this newsletter—they’re among the most relaxing content television can offer: a low-key meditative experienc…