A dear friend from my past life has come a visiting.I had a good circle of close-knit friends when I still lived in Washington DC, and it was with more than a tinge of sadness that I had to leave that behind. I did make it back Stateside for a surprise birthday for one of our group over four years ago but have not had physical contact with any of them till now. It sounds like a cliché but, with thanks to social media, it felt like yesterday when we met up and I got a more detailed, first hand account of the goings on in his life. I on the other hand wanted to show him my Amsterdam and the places I thought to call my own – this of course meant a side trip to a beautiful brasserie in one of the city’s best hotels. It was a throwback to my former, freewheeling existence though admittedly, compared to the cheap and satisfying meals in DC, this time around I was getting a little less bang for my buck. Thankfully but not unexpectedly, the company made up for it.