Monday, October 30, 2017
The trip to JFK was uneventful, but I became concerned when we got our gate assignment. A3 was the first gate on the left, past the over-priced M&M store. There were hundreds of feet of passageway stretching ahead that we did not have to traverse. What was wrong? Had they gotten our reservation wrong? Was this a case of mistaken identity? Why were we being spared the inconvenience of walking the last mile and then some to get to the aircraft?
I did not press the matter and settled into a comfortable flight across the Atlantic. However, the balance of equities was restored once we got to Heathrow. The plane pulled up near the Welsh border and it took a friendly shepherd to direct us towards London.
We dashed in and out of our hotel room in no more than three minutes, hungry to enjoy dinner in the land of bangers and mash, fish and chips, and steak and kidney. Fortunately, not a hundred meters away or a fortnight or some other obscure unit of measure was Hariki Sushi & Noodle Bar, 2 Kennington Road, Lambeth. We aimed at the noodle side of the menu with very satisfactory results. My young bride had vegetarian pad Thai (6£), while I dug into a very large portion of "Malaysia Style Stir Fried Ho Fun" (the wide rice noodle a/k/a chow fun) (6.80£). It had eggs, scallions, shrimp, pork, bean sprouts with some hot pepper flakes mixed in for a kick. Mission accomplished.
Several of us made a small effort this weekend to fill the large loss of Stanley Feingold, the CCNY American government professor, who kept educating us for more than 50 years after we left his classroom. About 50 people gathered at Bar Boulud, 1900 Broadway, to eat, drink and schmooze about our memories of him. It was not only his absence that distinguished this event from the periodic lunches that we shared with him over many decades. We were better dressed, more polite and focused on our admiration of him, a topic that he would have immediately squelched, a denial of free speech that he would never otherwise countenance.
. . .
I lived in a single-family home for less than 4 years of my life. Although I endured two infestations of bees, two mudslides down my vertical backyard and one backed up plumbing system, which taught me the meaning of Roto-Rooter, I didn't exactly hate the experience. However, I had little regret fleeing the property and the marriage that went with it.
I imagine that most Americans posit the single-family home as their desired residence, a symbol of independence maybe as potent as automobile ownership. The weekend's real estate section profiles the newly-constructed single-family home market. Most had 3 bedrooms or more; 3 bathrooms were most typical. The outright majority were built in the South, although many may have to be rebuilt after the current hurricane season. The median size was 2,422 square feet and sold for $316,200. More details at https://nyti.ms/2izHWQa
. . .
I sent this finely-crafted letter to the New York Times book review section last week. "Condoleezza Rice's discussion of the Russian Revolution in the Book Review seems to incorporate some of the associated turmoil. She cites 'The Anatomy of Revolution' by one Brinton Crane. However, the author was Crane Brinton. Admittedly, the WASP custom of eschewing real first names could lead to such confusion." Unfortunately, the book review stole my thunder by printing a tepid correction yesterday.
. . .
Accusations of sexual predation, now exploding globally in almost every area of human activity, are frequently countered by blaming the victim. However, there is never an excuse for stepping outside the bounds of civilization to exploit another human being. I cannot ignore, though, the instinct for self-degradation shown by some women, even in the absence of rapacious men. This is the subheading of the story below, addressed to the presumably sophisticated female readers of the New York Times: "The prostitute, courtesan, sex worker — all as presented in popular culture — are exerting a strong influence on the looks you may want to wear now." Why?
. . .
Sports Scoreboard
Columbia University 6-1
New York Jets 3-5
New York Giants 1-6
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
In case your trust fund is underutilized, here are New York's Michelin-starred restaurants for 2018. http://www.grubstreet.com/2017
While I personally can't keep up with local expensive restaurants, the country as a whole is possibly growing weary of having just too many places to eat.
The articles states that "[t]here are now more than 620,000 eating and drinking places in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the number of restaurants is growing at about twice the rate of the population." Chain restaurants account for much of this growth, as Americans spend about 44 cents per food dollar in restaurants. For better or worse, the proliferation of low cost, fast food restaurants probably offers their own low paid employees a rare option for dining out.
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Some airlines, such as El Al, Lufthansa and JetBlue, name individual aircraft after a city in their home country. Virgin America takes a more whimsical approach, with planes named "An Airplane Named Desire," "My Other Ride is a Spaceship," "Scarlett O'Air" and "Spruce Moose." Now, Deutsche Bahn, the German state railway system, has aroused harsh criticism by planning to name a new high-speed train after Anne Frank. The connection of railroad cars and the Holocaust is still vivid and raw. Anne and her sister Margot were deported by train from Amsterdam to the Bergen Belsen concentration camp in Germany, where they died. The railroad claims that it "made a deliberate decision to help keep Anne Frank’s memory alive."
As I write, I not reached a conclusion about this. Maybe you wish to tell me your opinion?
. . .
One of the branches of Grand Sichuan was located at 307 Amsterdam Avenue until recently. I found it inferior to its homebase at 229 Ninth Avenue and its sister spot at 123 Canal Street, gone with the building that once housed it. So, I was optimistic about its replacement, Lily's 74. The interior has been redone, bright and simple. The bare walls are painted white above waist-level wainscoting, dark brown as are the tables and chairs. Off-white ceramic tiles cover the floors. Lighting comes from cylindrical pendants.
I skipped the two dozen lunch specials, either $8.95 or $9.25, including rice and soup, and ordered hot and sour soup ($3.45) and sesame cold noodles ($5.95), not available as a lunch special. The soup was excellent, just what I needed for a stuffy head on a chilly day, except the tiny bowl was vastly over-priced. The good noodles, by contrast, were fairly priced.
. . .
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, a leader in its field, has the motto "More science, less fear." Today's paper has the headline "Pruitt Ousts Scientists From Panels At the E.P.A." Less science, more fear.
. . .
Tavish McMullen and I were not the only ones comparing bagels recently. Grub Street, a reliable web site under the aegis of New York magazine, has its say. http://www.grubstreet.com/bestofnewyork/absolute-best-bagel-in-new-york.html?utm_source=eml&utm_medium=e1&utm_campaign=sharebutton-t
Whether a bit of a joke, it finds Absolute Bagels, 2788 Broadway, has the absolute second best bagel in New York. The Tablet, a general interest magazine with a Jewish perspective, has an update on the fate of Absolute Bagels, which it considers second to none, that is when it literally cleans up its act. No joke. http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/248368/worlds-greatest-bagel-store-shut-down-by-department-of-health?utm_source=tabletmagazinelist&utm_campaign=9462c8a391-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_11_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c308bf8edb-9462c8a391-207618957
Friday, November 3, 2017
The Upper West Side's Power Couple are off again. We are flying to London during daytime hours today, a change from the usual overnight over-the-ocean journey. We expect to be settled in our hotel in time to watch Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers, if they happen to be on British television when they are supposed to be. In any case, this narrative will resume from over there.
. . .
I did not press the matter and settled into a comfortable flight across the Atlantic. However, the balance of equities was restored once we got to Heathrow. The plane pulled up near the Welsh border and it took a friendly shepherd to direct us towards London.
We dashed in and out of our hotel room in no more than three minutes, hungry to enjoy dinner in the land of bangers and mash, fish and chips, and steak and kidney. Fortunately, not a hundred meters away or a fortnight or some other obscure unit of measure was Hariki Sushi & Noodle Bar, 2 Kennington Road, Lambeth. We aimed at the noodle side of the menu with very satisfactory results. My young bride had vegetarian pad Thai (6£), while I dug into a very large portion of "Malaysia Style Stir Fried Ho Fun" (the wide rice noodle a/k/a chow fun) (6.80£). It had eggs, scallions, shrimp, pork, bean sprouts with some hot pepper flakes mixed in for a kick. Mission accomplished.
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