Spill On Aisle 3

Monday, March 25 2019

I am consumed with envy.  I sat home the entire weekend while my luggage spent the whole time in Paris.  I wonder if it is even experiencing separation anxiety.

. . .

If you need to answer questions about voting and political systems in just about every corner of the world, such as what countries allow voting at age 16, here's your source.

https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2019/how-the-world-votes-2019/index.html

. . .

In case you doubted the value of a good education, read the following excerpt from a wedding announcement in the Sunday Times.

"The groom, 37, operates the Queens International Night Market, an open-air night market in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, featuring vendors selling food and merchandise, as well as cultural performances celebrating the diversity and heritage of Queens and the rest of New York City. He was previously a corporate lawyer with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, the Manhattan law firm.

He holds three undergraduate degrees from the University of Michigan, a bachelor of arts in philosophy, and two bachelor of science degrees, one in biopsychology and cognitive science and the other in mathematical physics.  He also received both an M.B.A. and a law degree from Yale."

. . .

I am unsure if my sense of deprivation caused by the absence of Chinese food for the last several weeks is greater than that of the president in not receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.  I didn't take my situation sitting down, however.  I hied off to Chinatown to have lunch at Wo Hop, 17 Mott Street, the sancta sanctorum of Chinese food.  I ate alone; none of the usual suspects were available on short notice to accompany me.  That allowed me to selfishly devour a very large plate of Singapore chow fun ($9.75), exquisitely prepared at Wo Hop, containing wide noodles, chicken, shrimp, pork, egg, yellow onion, green onion, and bean sprouts dusted with yellow curry powder.  Note that this dish, even at Wo Hop, does not usually appear on menus, but, if you see Singapore mei fun listed, you can expect Singapore chow fun on demand.

I took another big step to return to my dubious state of normalcy tonight by going to a Ranger game at Madison Square Garden with my brother.  At least, lunch was a great success.

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

We are delighted that Marianne Motherby, an attorney from Berlin, is on vacation here for a week.  Since she studied American politics at the University of Massachusetts in the past, we chose to go to "What the Constitution Means To Me" on Broadway, an excellent one person work that weakens when two peripheral characters are introduced for some unneeded balance.  Don't worry if your hearing aid batteries run down towards the end; you'll relish all that went before.

Before the show, we ate at Bocca Di Bacco, 635 Ninth Avenue, one of a trio bearing the name on the West Side.  Prices were reasonable and the quality good.  Most notable was the enormous list of wines by the glass, mostly in the $12-15 range, consistent with the restaurant's name -- Mouth of Bacchus. 
. . .

Professor Barry Seldes, a devoted reader, has forwarded a study by The Economist of the cost of living worldwide.  https://www.eiu.com/public/topical_report.aspx?campaignid=WCOL2019

This link requires registration to open, but it is worth it if you want to see where the Holy Land stands among the world's most expensive cities or the comparative price of a loaf of bread today and in the past.  I'll give you a little taste; Singapore, Paris and Hong Kong share the #1 position as the most expensive city in the world.  

An alternative list is available from Mercer, a management consultancy, with Hong Kong, Tokyo and Zurich at the top.  No registration is needed, at https://mobilityexchange.mercer.com/Insights/cost-of-living-rankings#rankings  

Thursday, March 28, 2019

As soon as I walked into Little Alley, 550 Third Avenue, I realized that I had been there before (August 7, 2017).  I enjoyed my lunch then, as I did today, but I observed that "it is awkwardly located on Third Avenue between East 36th and East 37th Streets, more than a quarter of a mile from the office towers around Grand Central Terminal and even further from the massive NYU medical complex on First Avenue, both suppliers of huge lunch crowds."  In that regard, nothing has changed.

Little Alley offers a lunch special costing $11-14, including hot and sour soup and a spring roll with choice of a main dish.  I had Savory Scallion Beef, thin slices of beef, yellow onions and scallions cooked in a rich, dark sauce, quite delicious.  The portion barely reached medium sized, but the white rice served along side helped fill out some of my creases.

So, the next time your car breaks down in or near the Queens Midtown Tunnel, the only nearby landmark, go to Little Alley while waiting for the tow truck.
. . .
     
"Subway Bathrooms: Are They as Bad as You Think Bad as You Think?"
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/27/nyregion/subway-bathrooms.html

The first bad news is the inventory, "operative restrooms" in only 51 of the 472 stations in the transit system.  The reporters found that the quality was no better than the quantity.  I don't think you should bother reading the article.  Instead, wait for the day when the headline reads "Subway Stalls Sparkle."  Just keep waiting.
. . .

I usually don't comment about art because I don't know a damn thing about it.  But, I recommend reading this review of the work of El Anatsui, a Ghanaian living in Nigeria, unless you happen to be passing by Munich, where his show is being held. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/arts/design/el-anatsui-art-review-munich.html

I can't remember exactly when and where I saw his work, but a look at his CV shows several times that our paths crossed.  In any case, it left a very strong impression.  He works not in stone, bronze, wood, marble or on canvas.  El Anatsui assembles hangings (tapestries, curtains, drapes, reliefs?) from discarded liquor and beer bottle caps and foil bottle seals, bent, shaped and woven into large, colorful undulating pieces. 

The article has some good pictures, but you really have to get close up to see the challenge that the artist faced.  One work on display is 45 feet by 26 feet; it must consist of hundreds of thousand scraps of metal stitched together with fine thread or wire.  

I can't help contrasting El Anatsui with an action painter, such as Jackson Pollock, or a color field painter, such as Mark Rothko.  Those guys might have agonized over their work and reflected long before actually executing their art, producing works that appear simplistic to my (philistine) eyes.  But, El Anatsui's labor and intensity are immediately on display.
. . . 

Well, some people lose their luggage, while others lose their fortunes, their reputations  and their souls.  That was the lesson from "The Lehman Trilogy," a very imaginative work brought over from London to the Park Avenue Armory a/k/a the Seventh Regiment Armory.  The building itself is fascinating.  It centers on a block-long drill hall, where the play is performed.  In addition to this stark space, where tanks used to rumble, there are interior rooms that are furnished with stunning ornamental woodwork, marble and stained glass. 

The play is prodigious, the Lehman brothers moving into Lehman Brothers, a journey of 164 years.  At almost 3-1/2 hours, it feels like it.  The acting is brilliantly handled by three men, Englishmen in fact, whom we first meet as the three German Jewish immigrants, opening a small store in Alabama selling fabrics and clothing.  I found this to be the best part of the evening, maybe because they were more interesting than their progeny and other characters encountered along the way or maybe because I was still fresh.  Not unlike "What the Constitution Means To Me," "The Lehman Trilogy" weakens at the end when peripheral (non-Lehman family) characters come front and center.  Go see them both; that's the word.

Morocco Unbound

Monday, March 18, 2019

We arrived in Marrakech at lunch time Saturday, after a day and a half of bus travel.  Fortunately, the Hotel Sofitel was our destination, just about the most luxurious hotel that we have ever stayed at.  For a few hours, I was able to retreat to bourgeois comfort, ignoring the squalor that I saw in the countryside getting here.  I'll have to call up The Nation on-line (https://www.thenation.com/) to try to restore some balance, but I might go down to the pool first.
 

The hotel had a copy of the New York Times International Edition, which gave me the opportunity to do a good crossword puzzle.  One answer was a place name that, decades ago, caused American politicians to breathe fire -- Matsu.  If you are not collecting Social Security, you never heard of it.  If you are, it's likely that you don't remember anything about it, along with so many other things in your past.  How long will it take before so many people, places and things that agitate us now fade from our consciousness?

. . .

Even the little that we have seen distinguishes Marrakech, the fourth largest city in Morocco, from Fes, the second.  Prosperity is more apparent; the neighborhood of our hotel reeks wealth and privilege.  The Marrakech Medina is not surrounded by a wall and is much lighter and airier.  It was founded in the 11th century, 200 years after the Fes Medina and seems to have learned something from its mistakes.

One charming aspect of Marrakech is the limitation on building height; no building can be higher than the Koutoubia Mosque at about 70 meters, 230 feet.  None seems to even come close.  In addition, all buildings must be more or less the same color, salmon pink to my eyes, but giving Marrakech the title the Rose City or Red City.  It reminded me of Jerusalem, where all buildings must be clad in "Jerusalem Stone," a name applied to various types of pale limestone common to the area.  The uniformity proves more attractive here in Marrakech.

. . .

We walked through the Medina yesterday afternoon and the adjoining Casbah,  which gave me the chance to learn the difference.  Every sizeable Moroccan city has a Medina, its old town.  Next to or within every Medina stands its Casbah, once home to the local elite and usually its arsenal.  It covers less ground than the adjacent Medina.  Its walls are higher and, during periods of conflict, shelters women and children, while the men do battle.  Fes's Casbah has effectively disappeared, while in Marrakech it now provides additional space to sell goods made in China.

. . .

"How much salary do you need to earn in order to afford the principal, interest, tax and insurance payments on a median-priced home in your metro area?" 

https://www.hsh.com/finance/mortgage/salary-home-buying-25-cities.html

In brief, it's crazy expensive to live in San Jose, California, where an annual income of $254,836 is needed, while in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, you seem to be able live off of petty cash, $37,660.  They both have hockey teams, by the way.

. . .

Wrapping up the weekend was an interesting question to the New York Times weekly ethics column, hosted by a philosophy professor from N.Y.U.  Usually, the inquiries he handles are of no more than academic interest to me, for instance: "I've just learned exclusively that our family's beloved medical doctor is really licensed as a veterinarian.  Shall I tell my elderly parents as they approach hospice care and/or my brothers and sisters?"

 
Instead, a person using his real name, a highly unusual event in this column, asked about conduct that he witnessed with some regularity at lunch at a Chinatown restaurant.   https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/magazine/is-it-ok-for-a-chinese-restaurant-to-favor-chinese-patrons.html

A Chinese patron is handed a lunch menu, while a round eyes is handed the dinner menu, which lacks lunch specials and carries higher prices. The questioner is concerned about other non-Chinese patrons, including many tourists. "I am always tempted to tell them to ask for the lunch menu. Would that be an ethically sound decision?"

Over the years, I have encountered this myself, but only once lunching with Michael Ratner at Wu Liang Ye, 36 West 48th Street, on October 25, 2018, did I unthinkingly go ahead and order from the dinner menu, at retail so to speak, without asking for the lunch menu.  Maybe I was so entranced by Michael's ever good company that I failed to take corrective action.  In any case, we enjoyed the food very much, but my blog entry noted that the prices on the restaurant's takeout menu were 15-25% lower than what we paid.  I never noted the absence of a lunch menu.  

The good professor gave a thoroughly unsatisfactory answer.  He claimed that the restaurant staff is "motivated by in-group preference."  But, "we'd feel very different about white servers favoring white customers."  On the other hand, the restaurant may just be trying to make more money.  "The tourists . . . tend to be more affluent."  What if "less price-sensitive people are guided to pricier versions of some food?"  Remember, we are advised, "in New York's Chinatown . . . every potential patron faces an embarrassment of gastronomic riches."  Oh, come on, prof.  Keep it simple.  Denying a customer information to make a rational decision is unethical.  Next question.

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

I am proving to be as ineffective in dealing with Moroccan businesses as the current occupant of the White House is in dealing with North Korea.  Following the suggestion of dear Elaine C., I sent a request to dine with Madame D., a Jewish woman resident of Marrakech, who welcomes people to her home.  Giving her one-month advance notice, I told her that we would like to visit her on Monday, March 18th.  She asked to be reminded a few days in advance and we exchanged messages over this past weekend.  While she gave me her address, she urged us to use the taxicab she would send to our hotel.  Okay.  19:15, the local way to tell time.  

Of course, at 19:15 we're standing in front of the hotel, asking every taxicab and hired car driver if they were looking for us.  We bridged the language barrier with the help of hotel staff members, but to no avail.  Then, I received a cryptic message.  "Please taxi is in the réception."  So, we walked around the hotel's circular driveway again and checked the street in front, to no avail. 

I called Madame D., but I only heard the sounds of a busy kitchen when she picked up.  Then, one of the hotel guys and a taxicab driver swept up in our mini-drama took turns calling her as well.  After several tries, she informed one of our volunteers that her taxicab driver was in the hotel lobby.  Indeed, missing several teeth and wearing a Yankees baseball cap in a non-regulation color was the driver from Madame D., with a surprise for us, two hot meals, ready to eat, in a shopping bag.  This was not what we expected, as I tried to explain to the driver, who seemed to regret not spending more time in the mosque.  

The next message from Madame D. was confusing and contrary to our understanding.

I said you i can t in my home i send you in your hôtel 

You had to pay the taxi race

C is the least politeness

Thank you

...

With that, we bid adieu to her driver and the shopping bags and sought guidance from our hotel's concierge.  He made a reservation for us at Dar Zellij, 1, Kaa Sour, Sidi Ben Slimane, deep in the Medina, possibly an Arabic homage to Woody Allen.  A taxicab took us as far as a vehicle could penetrate, where an employee of the restaurant met us to continue the journey on foot.  We took a path that would defy any tracking by satellite navigation, with so many twists and turns and taking so much time that we expected Wednesday's paper to read "Hunt For Tourists Resumes."  Fortune smiled on us, though, and we eventually arrived at a beautiful, restored 17th century riad with its original painted ceilings intact.  Food and service were commensurate with the setting, but there was no evidence of a Jewish woman in the kitchen.

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

According to a new book about Mr. & Mrs. Jared Kushner, "contempt for the entitled, venal couple may be the one thing that unites all of D.C.’s warring factions."  Isn't that heartwarming?

. . .

After too many hours on the road, we got to Casablanca, Morocco's largest city, with about 3.4 million residents, most of whom were in front of us in cars, trucks and buses.  We had a chance to see the King Hassan II Mosque, sitting at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, the third largest mosque in the world, standing 210 meters high, 690 feet.  It was too late to take a daytime tour open to non-believers, but even from the outside, it was impressive.

Not so was an ersatz Rick's Café, a tourist trap opened in 2004, which we also did not enter, but by choice.

. . .

With the threat of a wake-up call at 3:30 AM tomorrow, our visit to Casablanca ended soon after it began.

Thursday, March 21, 2019

Air France provided one great silver bird and then another to return us to Palazzo di Gotthelf safe and sound, that is if I don't mind arriving without my luggage.  Actually, it was nearly a singular accomplishment, because only 2 other people on the Airbus A380-800 from Paris had their luggage disappear, when the plane was just about full to its capacity of 516 passengers.  I'll provide an update tomorrow.

Friday, March 22, 2019

After a few minutes reflection, I can look back on Morocco through the three lenses that define my world view: Food, Politics and Jews.  Moroccans are very generous hosts.  The helpings of tagines and cous cous exceeded even my capacity on a regular basis.  The problem was that tagines and cous cous were the main course at lunch or dinner every day.  While I cycled through lamb, beef and chicken, there was ultimately a sameness to the dish, although when served in a beautiful riad, such as Dar Zellij, it's forgivable. 

I never reached my goal of at least one Chinese restaurant, although a few popped up as we rode through city streets.  We had excellent sushi, however, on the rooftop bar of The Pearl Hotel, 3, Rue des Temples, Marrakech, brought up from Namazake, the Japanese restaurant off the hotel's lobby.

. . .

Morocco is a constitutional monarchy, with a multi-party system in a viable parliament. For now, it's working, but it poses a tension between liberal values and democracy.  The parliament is in the hands of an Islamist party, kept in check by the king, who is both the secular political leader, under the constitution, and the Commander of the Faithful as a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed.  The latter role gives him clout in a society that has a large rural population, about one-quarter of the adult population illiterate and high unemployment among youth and women.  Yet, he avoids the faith-based policies advocated by the Islamists and supports, overtly and covertly, progressive economic and social policies.  His wife and daughter, for instance, do not wear a hijab (hair covering), unlike the majority of women we observed in public during our ramble through the country.  So, the autocrat is the good guy and the democrats are the bad guys, the same scenario that the late Stanley Feingold identified in "High Noon."

. . .

Finally, last and definitely least, the Jews.  To borrow from another movie, Gone with the Wind.
. . .
I had a very nice conversation with Air France this afternoon.  I was informed that my luggage will enjoy another night in Paris before rejoining me tomorrow. A small reunion is planned for the immediate family.

Morocco Bound

Monday, March 11, 2019
The Upper West Side's Power Couple spent much of the weekend on the move, flying from the Holy Land to Rabat, Morocco via Paris.  The two-hour layover at Charles de Gaulle Airport was highlighted by meeting Megan, a young Mormon woman from Provo, Utah, who was on the way to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo to train neo-natal counselors, strictly as a volunteer.  She does this periodically in different parts of the world, animated by her religious faith.  As an officer of West End Synagogue, I have demonstrated my opposition to organized religion.  In Megan's case, her LDS connection gives context to her humanitarian endeavors, but I think that her sense of decency, which was readily apparent in the time we spent together, would manifest itself without an institutional base.
. . .

After a short meeting in Rabat, our group of 16, 2 more having traveled ahead, boarded a bus for the 3-hour ride to Fes.  We made a rest stop along the way outside Meknes, allowing me the chance to eat my first local food -- a Häagen-Daz macadamia nut brittle ice cream bar.
. . .
We are staying in a beautiful hotel overlooking the Medina, the old city.  Before starting on a walking tour of the Medina this afternoon, we had two lectures by local academics, one on "Islam & Politics in Morocco" and the other on "Architecture, Art and Spirituality."  The hour for each was very rich in information, but I had a better understanding of the discussion of politics and came up with a mini-theory while listening to comments about the Arab Spring.  I'll call it Grandpa Alan's Psychological Foundation for Democracy.

For a society to accept democracy, promote it and propagate it, there has to be a high tolerance for uncertainty.  Significant portions of the population must be willing to risk regime change and/or policy shifts without abandoning loyalty to the body politic.  Conformist societies, whether bound by strict religious, cultural or philosophical tenets, are not likely to welcome putting their truths to unfettered majority vote.
. . .
We explored a bit of Fes's sprawling Medina, which originated in the Ninth Century, this afternoon.  Tiny food stalls, wood carvers, butchers, leather hide traders, raw wool cleaners, bakers and huge displays of cheap, garish wristwatches crowded the narrow alleys, made even narrower by the frequent passage of donkeys.

Tuesday, March 12, 2019
The Arab Street is a phrase roughly equivalent to John Q. Public, connoting average public opinion.  Having spent a second day in Fes, Morocco's second largest city, however, I think that the phrase may be applied literally.  People were everywhere; young people, old people, singles, couples, families.  Does anybody stay home?  And, while Morocco takes pride in a strong secular tradition, a majority of women in public seem to have their heads covered, giving a picture of a traditional/Arab/Moslem public sphere.  On the other hand, only a small proportion of men are wearing the full-length caftan a/k/a a thobe, a dishdasha or a djellaba, signifying a connection to Arab nationalism, if not Moslem observance.

While the Arab Street is physically apparent, I have had no exposure yet to its ideological content.  Urban Moroccans are typically multilingual, French along with one or more Arab dialects, but many of the English speakers are concentrated in tourist-related businesses.  As a practical matter that means they speak nice to the Jews, because Morocco seems to be a favored destination for American Jews generally and Israeli Jews of Moroccan background who have been courted by the current regime.

The guides are forthcoming about the rich Jewish history of Morocco and take the trouble to point out some of the few physical reminders of their presence, since the mass exodus after 1948.  Synagogue Aben Danan was founded in the 17th Century, located in the Mellah, the Jewish quarter established in 1438.  (Note that just as the old town in every Moroccan city is called the Medina, the Jewish quarter therein was called the Mellah.)  It is the only remaining synagogue in Fes, where there were once 17.  As you can see (down below), it looks pretty crummy from the outside, no different than the surrounding area though.

The inside is better; it rises to the level of shabby, which is okay since no services are conducted there.  According to several estimates, there are 150 Jews now living in Fes.  I'd guess that there were more Jews walking through the Medina in tour groups today. 

Wednesday, March 13, 2019
We drove 90 minutes to Volubilis, the ruins of a 2,000-year old Roman city that once held 10,000 residents.  Besides the sheer ingenuity applied to the design of public and private spaces, we marveled at the half dozen stunning mosaics unearthed so far.
. . .
My body may be in Fes, but my taste buds are still in the Holy Land.  So, I am thankful to Professor Barry Seldes for sending me this article on the proliferation of Chinatowns in New York.
https://ny.eater.com/2019/2/25/18236523/chinatowns-restaurants-elmhurst-homecrest-bensonhurst-east-village-little-neck-forest-hills-nyc

It has been tagines here until now, but I am keeping my eyes open for a good local Chinese restaurant.
. . .
CNN International and NYTimes.com have kept us well informed about Waterpologate, the buying of admissions to American colleges and universities for kids with more money than brains.  https://nyti.ms/2TCPnIf 
As a proletarian from the streets of Brooklyn, I can't say that I'm surprised or unhappy with this news.

In an embarrassing interview with Christine Amanpour, Lawrence Summers, president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006, insisted that nothing of this sort happened on his watch, everyone admitted to Harvard could do Harvard work.  Well, it's true that Jared Kushner's father's $2.5 million donation to Harvard came before Jared was admitted in 1999, two years before Summers took charge.  However, remaining in Harvard or almost any other "elite" school takes a much less rarified skill set than what is needed to get in in the first place.  The ability to walk and chew gum at the same time usually is sufficient.  Most of you probably witnessed this during your own higher education.  I saw this in law school earlier this century.

According to the Harvard Crimson's look at the class of 2017 "more than half of surveyed seniors reported a GPA of 3.7 or greater, which is higher than an average grade of A- for every course."
https://features.thecrimson.com/2017/senior-survey/academics-narrative/
That's a big step up from the "gentleman's C" which used to be typical of the well-bred college boy.

Thursday, March 14, 2019

Except for the total failure of the credit card system at the elegant Hotel Sahrai last night, which delayed our departure after dinner for almost half an hour, this trip has been trouble-free.  Until now -- 11 PM, local time.  

This morning, we visited a large, open air tannery in the Medina.  In a remarkable display of self-control, my young bride and I purchased only one leather jacket each.  Hers was available off the rack; mine would be ready in 4 hours, custom made, I was promised.  This was not completely outlandish.  In 1992, I had a very similar leather jacket made for me in an afternoon in Buenos Aires.  In fact, it wasn't until 8 PM when two men hustled into our hotel's dining room with the new jacket.  Forgetting to put the zipper slide on the right side, the American way, in spite of my reminder, I could live with.  But a fit across the chest closer to a wet suit didn't fly.  A telephone conversation with the boss of the leather shop evoked the improbable promise of another jacket tonight.  That's why I am sitting in my hotel's lobby, waiting and writing this, having delivered America's Favorite Epidemiologist into the arms of Morpheus.  

It is 11:27 PM and I'm going to play Free Cell for awhile.

Friday, March 15, 2019

It is 12:11 AM and I'm going upstairs to bed.  We leave for Marrakech via Beni Mellal later this morning, with or without a jacket. 

. . .

At 7:35 AM, I go down to breakfast, stopping at the front desk to see if there has been any overnight delivery for me.  No, sorry, said the nice young lady on duty.  I show her the leather shop on the Internet and explain what's going on or actually not going on.  I turned away from the desk to look for Nabil Akabli, our extremely competent master guide, to place the problem in his hands.  Just then, I see one of the same guys from last night heading in the door, with a big smile and a package.  

You must come and see the two of us in our sharp new, black leather jackets.   

Synagogue Aben Danan

Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah

Monday, March 4, 2019

I am a New York Football Giants fan and I don't like the New England Patriots for several reasons.  However, I have had to admire its back office management and particularly Robert Kraft its owner.  Unlike others in his position around the league, he seems to have recognized that his talent for making money did not translate into a talent for making decisions on the football field. 

Until last week, his personal life was basically unremarkable for a billionaire.  He was known for his philanthropy, balanced somewhat by his friendship with the people's second choice for the presidency.  https://www.thekraftgroup.com/philanthropy/

That all changed with his being charged in Palm Beach County, Florida with two charges of soliciting prostitution.  He must have known that he was engaging in disreputable, dangerous, dubious conduct, because, according to the affidavit from the state's attorney's office, he visited a massage parlor on January 19, 2019, arriving in a Bentley driven by a chauffeur, for a sexual encounter.  The next day, probably to deceive any local snoops, he returned in a different chauffeur-driven Bentley for an encore.  Note that the lowest MSRP for a Bentley is currently $165,000, while the top-of-the-line Mulsanne starts at $304,670.  There is no rule against it, but the lower priced models are more likely to be owner-driven, a chauffeur properly placed behind the wheel of the Mulsanne, named for a village 116 miles southwest of Paris.  In case you are interested, there are two hotels in Mulsanne, but apparently no massage parlors.  https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g1747706-Mulsanne_Sarthe_Pays_de_la_Loire-Hotels.html
. . .
Home-owning here in the Holy Land is a minority endeavor.  The New York City Rent Guidelines Board claims that about 2/3 of the more than 3.2 million total local housing units are rentals, dramatically contrasting with the national average of 37%. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/28/realestate/slicing-new-yorks-housing-pie.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Frealestate&action=click&contentCollection=realestate&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=sectionfront
 

This might explain why suburbia was known for wife-swapping, while New York remains known for apartment-swapping.
. . .

Ella Fitzgerald, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Leonard Bernstein, Mia Farrow, Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter, Mahalia Jackson, Shelly Manne, Leroy Vinnegar, Dinah Shore, Julie Andrews, Andre Kostelanetz, Audrey Hepburn, Marcel Dupré, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Joseph Achron, Ernst Toch, Lukas Foss, Pierre Monteux, Walter Pidgeon, Fidel Castro, Jose Iturbi, Lassie, Jeanette MacDonald, Alan Jay Lerner, Katherine Hepburn, Johnny Mercer, Ernest Fleischmann, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Philip Littell, Reneé Fleming, John Caird, David Patrick Stearns, Tom Stoppard, Betty Bennett, Dory Previn neé Langan, Woody Allen, Heather Haines Sneddon, Esther Williams. 

This is a list of people (and one dog), omitting his children, named in Andre Previn's obituary in the New York Times that he encountered during his long, active career as composer, conductor and performer in jazz, pop and classical music.  He married five of them.  

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Gee, the Democrats have found a way to jeopardize their up-until-now excellent chance to win the 2020 presidential election.  Fight over Israel.

If my energized progressive friends are consumed by the need to save Arab lives, let them focus on Syria or Egypt or Yemen until 2021.  Then, they can return to their tacit, unholy alliance with American neo-Nazis, European fascists and miscellaneous Muslims and trash Zionists, who might be simply mistaken for Jews.  

. . .

Passover is holiday that has an important message for all people.  It celebrates the first recorded national liberation movement, but there is an interesting twist.  Successful rebellions usually result in the expulsion of the reputed oppressors from the occupied land, the American Revolution for example.  The Israelites, however, fled, leaving the land to the indigenous Egyptians.  Nevertheless, the Israelites gained their freedom, setting an example for millennia to come.

So, all of you make sure that you go to a Seder, the ritual meal that begins the 8-day Passover holiday.  This year, the first of two will be held on Friday night, April 19th.  Which is why I was taken aback today - March 5th - when I found several aisles in Fairway Market, 2121 Broadway, filled with Passover merchandise, items that signify a departure from ordinary life in order to commemorate the exile and exodus.  That's 45 days to shop for an 8-day period, leaving 320 days to shop for the other 357 days.  For the benefit of my young bride, that helps explain why I sometimes buy more chocolate chip cookies than are immediately needed.

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Elaine and Sandy were very patient when they found that Shanghai 21 f/k/a Shanghai Asian Manor, 21 Mott Street, the place that I picked for lunch, was closed for renovations.  They wisely escaped temperatures in the low 20s in a nearby store until I arrived. 

We headed to Shanghai Asian Cuisine, 14A Elizabeth Street, because I  promised them superior examples of some dishes and we found them.  We shared steamed tiny buns (soup dumplings) ($6.25 for 6 pieces), a revelation to Elaine, scallion pancake ($3.75), cold noodles with sesame sauce ($5.50), tangerine beef ($17.25) and chicken fried rice ($8.75).  One hit after another.  I think that we would all be prepared to face the cold again for a meal like that.  

Thursday, March 7, 2019

Instead of staying home to watch the New York Rangers lose by one goal again, which seems to be what the hockey gods require of them, I went to Fordham University to hear Noam Shoked, post-doc fellow at Princeton University's School of Architecture, talk about architectural issues in early Jewish settlements on the West Bank.  He navigated this potentially explosive (intellectual and physical) territory with such a display of scholarship that the audience remained attentive, respectful and peaceful throughout.  In brief, he concluded that the plans of the Israeli government and several prominent architects in designing settlements in the ancient city of Hebron succumbed to politics, economics, culture and demographics.  He reinforced my wavering belief in education.

 

Friday, March 8, 2019

Speaking of real estate, there is a new list of where to find the rich, the very rich, the really very rich.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-04/nyc-s-trendy-neighborhood-leaps-into-top-five-richest-zip-codes?utm_campaign=news&utm_medium=bd&utm_source=applenews

Nine states are represented in the top 20 richest zip codes, California with the most at 4, Florida, New York and New Jersey with 3 each.  The most interesting local angle is how 10007, a Tribeca neighborhood, has jumped to the fifth spot overall and overshadows traditional bastions of wealth and privilege, such as Bloomingdale's Country, zip code 10022, including the classic co-ops on Park Avenue and Fifth Avenue.  Residents of 10007 earn
$879,000 annually on average.  Of course, they are mere pikers compared to the folks on Fisher's Island, zip code 33109, a part of Miami Beach, Florida, who rake in $2.2 million on the average, a tribute to the American Way of Life.  

 

No Go-With

Monday, February 25, 2019

The New York Times, the newspaper of record, reported on nudist weddings this weekend.  What interested me was the statement that "[t]here are 31,000 registered nudists in the United States."  Where does one register?  If, after registration, a membership card is issued, where does one carry it?
. . .

Compared to last year, "the national one bedroom median rent fell 0.4% to $1,212, while two bedrooms increased a slight 0.1% to $1,442 last month." 
https://www.zumper.com/blog/2019/01/zumper-national-rent-report-february-2019/
 

Of course, those numbers seem like a fantasy to residents of the most expensive cities, 6 of the top 10 in California, New York second ($2,780 for a 1 BR) to San Francisco ($3,580).  And, with the exception of New York and Washington, D.C., high rents only went higher.
. . .

Another interesting list has been compiled regarding the subject matter of "all 554 best-picture nominees over the Academy Awards’ history."  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/movies/oscars-more-political.html
 

The author classified these films as either political or non-political and found that this year is one of the most political ever.  "75 percent of this year’s nominees feature political themes," compared to an average of 38% over 90 years.  However, this is consistent with the "a modest upward trend in the percentage of best picture nominees tackling [political] issues each year.  In the first 30 years of the Oscars, 34 percent of nominees were political; in the most recent 30 years, that figure has jumped to 41 percent." 

The article does not list every film and how categorized, but that would be a rich source of debate.  Do you consider "High Noon" an indictment of democracy, as the late Stanley Feingold did?
. . .

I had one of the finest lunches that I can recall today at Little Tong Noodle Shop, 235 East 53rd Street.  It's a small joint on a street carpeted with other small ethnic joints.  There are two stools at each of 8 two tops and heavy take-out traffic.  I got the last empty table and ordered from the counter at the far end "Shrimp & Shroom JB Melt," consisting of Garlic Shrimp, Mushroom Duxelle, Asian Pear, Caramelized Cheese Curds wrapped in a Flaky Pancake.  It was combined with Coconut Butternut Squash Soup for $13 total.  Great, fabulous, wonderful, delicious!  Yes, I loved it all, but I am uncertain as to the meaning of JB. 

   

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

We had the surgery today.  600+ long playing vinyl record albums were removed from the premises with little physical pain, but leaving a hollow space in my heart.  On the other hand, the dealer paid me three times what I expected to get for my collection.  Now, I only have 700+ compact discs to provide a soundtrack for my life.  By the way, ordinary LPs measure about 70 per linear foot.  Boxed sets, as operas are often packaged, change the count.
. . .

After waving bye-bye to the nine linear feet of record albums, I met Tom Terrific for lunch at Foody's Dumpling, 578 9th Avenue, a tiny place in the shadow of his residence.  Foody has 5 tables with 10 chairs, but most customers came in and carried their food out.  We had plenty to eat, sharing pan-seared chicken dumplings ($7.99 for 10 pieces) and cold noodles with spicy sesame sauce ($6.95), both good, not great.  Then, each of us had a noodle soup, Special Lamb Soup Noodles ($11.95) for me and Stewed Beef Noodles in Soup ($10.49) for Tom.  The portions were large and full of ingredients.  Mine was bland, however; I took a taste of the beef soup and it was much zingier.  

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

This is an up-to-date list of allegedly the best restaurants on Manhattan's Upper West Side.  http://www.grubstreet.com/bestofnewyork/best-restaurants-upperLeonti-west-side-nyc.html

I won't parse the list; many of the places are familiar, some deserving of praise, some not.  However, I trust the lovely and talented Sharon C., who commends Leonti, 103 West 77th Street, an Italian restaurant at the top of the list.  Overall, I am disappointed by the weakness of this group of alternatives in a fairly prosperous neighborhood full of hungry people. 

Thursday, February 28, 2019

Stony Brook Steve and I had lunch at Red Farm, 2170 Broadway, a place for expensive, good Chinese food, although not on Grub Street's list.  We had Katz's pastrami egg roll ($10.75), "Gold Coin" scallion pancakes with Applewood smoked bacon ($14), Nueseke's (a Wisconsin meat supplier) bacon & egg fried rice ($19.95), lamb shooters ($16.50) (4 lamb dumplings with shot glasses of lamb broth).  The egg roll is deservedly popular and we decided that next time we'll make a meal of three of them.  The other items were more interesting than delicious.

Friday, March 1, 2019

If you are one of the few people who did not see it today, here is my letter published by the New York Times: "I was delighted to see the vigorous insistence on truth telling by Republican members of the House Oversight Committee in their questioning of Michael Cohen.  Maybe they will get used to it."

On the other hand, the crossword puzzle contains an answer that is truly offensive.  
33 Down: Pastrami go-with.  

Answer = Swiss.  
Yuck!