For one thing , they happened within a brief period of time of one another.
Then, too, they’re all about one evening meal.
I happen to spend many hours with a person who doesn’t come to the table with the love of an evening meal. And so I make small compromises. For example, I don't insist that we come to any table. (He prefers a lap, with a pot positioned precariously on it. He settles for a plated meal and I settle on the lap and the juggling part.)
I also spend a lot of time defending foods that are prepared and presented in a fresh and honest manner. It seems to me entirely doable to be fresh and honest and fast and easy (though if I'm including shrimp, I must admit that the cleaning of the shrimp, especially the smaller, less expensive shrimp, is not easy).
So this then was my evening: an evening bus ride from work to Whole Foods, a search for very honest and somewhat fresh tomatoes, a walk home in the rain, and then finally, the preparation of the lap meal.
None of this was, in my estimation, perfect. But it was very very good.
