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/
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/
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?
. . .
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/
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.
33 Down: Pastrami go-with.
Answer = Swiss.
Yuck!
Yuck!
definition of a nudist...one who goes hatless and shoeless with dress to match.
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