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!