Play Ball

Monday, November 25, 2019

How long does it take to send a text message?  A minute?  Maybe only 30 seconds if you reduce words to a couple of letters?  I ask because of a pending case of involuntary manslaughter against a 21-year woman who allegedly barraged her boyfriend with text messages urging him to kill himself before he committed suicide, the second case of its kind in Massachusetts where another young woman was convicted for urging a close friend to commit suicide.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/22/us/Inyoung-You-texting-suicide-court.html

According to the current story, "At the center of the prosecution’s case are 75,337 text messages that the couple exchanged in the two months before [the man's] death.  More than 47,000 were from [the woman], prosecutors say." 

So, 47,000 messages at a rate of 2 a minute would take 23,500 minutes to send, that is 392 hours, or over 16 uninterrupted days in a 60-day period.  Amazing.
. . .

This time of year combines good news/bad news for me.  With the end of the year approaching, myriad "Best of" lists appear and I love lists.  Good examples are the New York Times "10 Best Books of 2019" (https://nyti.ms/2D6wfaC) or the New York Public Library's Best Books (https://www.nypl.org/bestbooksadults2019?utm_source=eNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Engagement20191126_BestBooks&utm_campaign=bestbooks2019).  Note how much they differ.

The bad news is my failure to have read any of the books, fiction or non-fiction on either list.  The same is likely to be the case with movies, concerts, recordings, museum exhibits and over-priced restaurants.  I'll probably do better with dumplings.
. . .

Speaking of dumplings, I was thrilled and delighted by an article on eating habits this weekend reporting that "recent research has indicated that dieters . . . are more likely to suffer from depression, low self-esteem, disordered eating and overall psychological distress than intuitive eaters, who don’t intentionally try to control their eating or weight."
. . .

In what is becoming a weekly ritual, I went to Miznon North, 161 West 72nd Street, for lunch, this time in the company of charming Art Spar.  Part of the attraction is keeping up with Miznon's daily changing menu.  Today, I had one hit and one miss.  I started with "Hassa with parmesan to eat with your hands."  The waiter informed me that Hassa is lettuce and I inquired no further.  In fact, he delivered four small heads of fresh baby lettuce dressed with a bit of olive oil and covered with grated parmesan cheese.  Having left my rabbit at home, I munched away dutifully, but joylessly.  To balance that, Art was qvelling over the Beetroot Carpaccio that I recommended, a dish of rare imagination.

Since he was anticipating a big dinner, Art ordered "Old City Mezze" as his main course, a plate of vegetables, falafel, babaganoush, hard-boiled egg and cheese, somewhere between feta and butter ($21).  I had the Minute Steak plate ($21), thin slices of grilled steak on a silky pool of hummus, just delicious.  I used a thick slice of crusty bread to mop up the plate.  Miznon's bread is superb; ask for it if it does not come with your meal. 

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Speaking of good news/bad news, the good news came tonight with the arrival of America's Loveliest Nephrologist for a holiday visit.  The bad news is the inability of the Oakland Heartthrob to join her on this trip.  Of course, this results in America's Favorite Epidemiologist concentrating almost entirely on her little girl, leaving her current husband free to go about his intuitive eating without scrutiny.  Good news in the end.

. . .

Mother Ruth Gotthelf was born 110 years ago today.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Stony Brook Steve was my companion at lunch at Chong Qing Noodle,796 Ninth Avenue, a hole in the wall with 8 small two-tops and an equally limited menu.  It offers essentially two dishes, noodles in soup and mao cai, which, according to Wikipedia, is "a stew-like dish . . . composed of a variety of vegetables as well as meat and/or fish in a stock made of mala sauce."  Next question: "Mala sauce is a popular oily, spicy, and numbing Chinese sauce which consists of Sichuan peppercorn, chili pepper and various spices simmered with oil."  Each dish has a variety of ingredients, some frequently omitted from polite conversation, such as Aromatic intestines and Bovine stomach.

Sticking to the more conventional, I had chicken mao cai, reputedly containing chicken, mini sausage, quail egg, broccoli, bok choy, sliced potato, kelp, dry soy bean sheet ($15.50).  However, about half those things seemed to have been replaced by other things, harder to identify.  The overriding characteristic was the mala sauce, which got hotter with each mouthful.

Skip it.

Thursday, November 28, 2019

We had a gathering of Pilgrims here today, Pilgrim relatives, Pilgrim friends, Pilgrim neighbors.  It was quite successful, because America's Favorite Epidemiologist assumed the role as America's Favorite Epidemiologist-Chef, providing us with turkey and stuffing and sweet potatoes and cranberry-cherry relish and string beans and spinach-mushroom strudel and sweet & sour meatballs and peanut butter squares and chocolate mousse pie.  I poured the drinks.

Friday, November 29, 2019

The Loudest Voice in the Room, the excellent biography of Roger Ailes (creator of Fox News), has one interesting tidbit about Richard Nixon.  When Nixon came to New York after losing the California governor's race in 1962, he "toyed with the notion of becoming commissioner of baseball."  In 1992 George W. Bush, an owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, who had only run for office once, losing a race for a seat in the House of Representatives in 1978, also expressed interest in becoming commissioner of baseball.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/news/2002/0918/1433403.html

I have no doubt that America would have been a better place if either of these men succeeded to that role.  I can't say the same for baseball.

The Question

Monday, November 18, 2019

In these times of political turmoil, we yearn for examples of bi-partisanship among our elected officials.  I was heartened, therefore, to learn about events in Indianapolis recently where three elected judges, one Democrat and two Republicans, worked together to try to break into a strip club at 3 o'clock in the morning.  While their cooperative efforts failed and they only managed to get into a brawl with registered independents, resulting in gunshot wounds for two of the public servants, we have to applaud this crossing of party lines in pursuit of a common goal.   https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/15/us/indiana-judges-white-castle-brawl.html

. . .

I came across a website illustrating reputedly the 15 most beautiful places in America.

https://www.thediscoverer.com/blog/15-most-beautiful-places-in-the-u-s/

Many are breathtaking indeed, but I noticed one critical element common to all.  There are no people to be seen.  It is unlikely that Jean Paul Sartre had any role in organizing this display, but it does correspond nicely with the worldview in his famous play No Exit, "Hell is other people."

. . .

You may snicker, but I admit to a weakness for the stage version of Evita, the bombastic work by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, that was revived for a special run this weekend.  Two factors underlie this attraction: 1) I adore Patti LuPone, who played Evita on Broadway originally; 2) I have an interest (now mercifully ebbing) in Argentine affairs.  Evita offers a still contemporary lesson for all in idolatrous populism run amok.  But Argentina seems unwilling or unable to learn that lesson. 

Here is a headline from the Washington Post last month: "Argentina’s economy is collapsing.  Here come the Peronistas, again."  67 years after the death of Eva Perón, the Peronista movement today "encompasses schools of thought across the ideological spectrum, uniting politicians who share only a religious devotion to the nation and to Juan and Eva Perón," according to the WaPo article. 

Other societies venerate hometown villains in their absence; Mao looms large in China (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/mar/16/onward-march-maoism-julia-lovell); Stalin is viewed through deeply rose-colored glasses by some in Mother Russia (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47975704); a few Italians, not all relatives, are trying to retrieve Mussolini from hanging upside down in Milan's Piazzale Loreto and place him on a pedestal.   https://www.thelocal.it/20150414/italians-who-worship-mussolini   None, however, seem to play as central a role in the public imagination as the Peróns and especially Evita, and, while these other images may be displayed by contemporary politicians, their respective isms are left on the shelf. 

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Tomorrow night, I have a date with Rob Teicher to go again to a Ranger game at Madison Square Garden.  In the past, we have often met at a nearby kosher delicatessen for dinner.  So, I sent Rob a message: "To Ben's or not to Ben's?"

. . .

Lunch today was with the Boyz Club at Green Garden Village, 216 Grand Street.  It stands in place of Grand Bo Ky and appears to be substantially redecorated.  Seven of us attacked a lot of food: parsley beef rice roll ($3.50), honey roast pork rice roll ($3.50), pan fried shrimp rice roll with supreme soy sauce ($3.50), sweet & sour ribs ($15), sauteed beef with scallion ($16), garlic aromatic crispy chicken ($16), stir fried string bean ($16), braised beef brisket lo mein ($8), duck chow fun ($13) and rice at $1 a bowl.  It was all very good except the sweet & sour ribs, which were little more than 1" pieces of breaded bone.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019
In puddling around the Internet I came across "The 5 Coolest Countries You Haven’t Heard Of"   https://www.thediscoverer.com/blog/the-5-coolest-countries-you-havent-heard-of/?utm_source=FL&utm_medium=FL01&utm_campaign=1055140652&utm_content=6997765&utm_term=1011351337&w=&h=&q=&c=&f=

Of course, I took that as a challenge and I scored well.  The 5 places are San Marino, Vanuatu, Eswatini, Moldova and Tajikistan.  Admittedly, I've never visited any of them, but I knew that I heard of 4 of 5, Eswatini rang no bells.  Then, the text informed me that King Mswati III of Swaziland, Africa's last absolute monarch, changed his country's name to Eswatini in 2018.  Ring-a-ling.

I have a couple of other observations.  The capital of Moldova is Chișinău, formerly called Kishinev, location of the infamous series of pogroms starting in 1903.  Tajikistan, according to Wikipedia, "has been criticised by a number of non-governmental organizations for authoritarian leadership, lack of religious freedom, corruption and widespread violations of human rights."  Pretty cool, huh?
. . .

Ben's

. . .

Rangers 4-1

. . .

Struggling with those security questions meant to protect your on-line activities?  How about "In what year did you abandon your dreams?"  Paul Hecht, my nearest and dearest Canadian thespian, sent me this helpful website.  https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/nihilistic-password-security-questions

Thursday, November 21, 2019

At lunch on Tuesday, I mentioned that I was considering going to the Diamond District to sell an old piece of jewelry and, lo and behold, my electronic mailbox this morning contained the following article sent by Tom Terrific, giving a fair introduction to this unique stretch of real estate.  https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/diamond-district-midtown-flavor?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=shared_email

It mentions Taam Tov, 41 West 47th Street, a strictly Kosher restaurant above street level, which I visited in the past.  The Uzbeki jeweler at Larry's Fine Jewelry, Inc., 60 West 47th Street, who gave me the best price on my retired ring after half a dozen less competitive quotes up and down the street, said that Taam Tov had tripled its prices, but looking at the menu, that seems to be an exaggeration.  https://www.beyondmenu.com/33893/new-york/taam-tov-new-york-10036.aspx?r=33893&utm_source=satellite&utm_medium=menu_group&pk_vid=8b00a304db8757e91574439919170e35#group_2510914

. . .

"A smaller share of Americans are moving each year than at any time since the Census Bureau started keeping track in the 1940s, according to new data."  

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/us/american-workers-moving-states-.html?searchResultPosition=1

Demographers don't have a ready explanation.  While us ossified seniors may be unready, unwilling or unable to relocate, this trend "applies to all demographic groups — younger and older workers, renters and homeowners, more-educated and less-educated workers."  It is a striking departure from our traditional view of the American way, the somewhat restless search for greater opportunity.  I'm going to have to sit back and think about this.

Friday, November 12, 2019

I did not sit home last night contemplating, however.  Jay Stanley, son of the late John Langley Stanley, my first roommate not a blood relative, is here from Washington.  For this festive occasion, we headed to Wo Hop, 17 Mott Street, Chinatown's leading house of worship.

We nibbled on broad fried noodles dipped into hot mustard and sweet duck sauce and then dug into large portions of shrimp with lobster sauce over shrimp fried rice and Singapore chow fon, both Grandpa Alan specials not listed on the menu (about $26 together).  It was so good that I woke up this morning fighting the urge to return immediately for more.  Of course, Self-Control remains my middle name. 

 

West and East

Monday, November 11, 2019

Saturday in Palo Alto proved to be far busier than we anticipated.  We started with breakfast at Palo Alto Creamery, 566 Emerson Street, a/k/a Peninsula Fountain & Grill, in the company of Judy and Roger, congenial fellow Upper West Siders here for the Bar Mitzvah.  The joint is in classic luncheonette style, formica tables, chrome-framed chairs with plastic-covered upholstery; it was jammed at 9:30 in the morning.  I had a custom scrambled egg concoction, bacon, Swiss cheese and mushrooms.  The place offers hash browns and home fries, two different things, rarely distinguished, the former grated, the latter cubed.  There is also a choice of toast, all together at $15.95.  Roger had a similar dish, while the ladies divided and shared brioche French toast and a chevre omelette with herbed goat cheese, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil, fruit instead of potatoes on the side.

We then walked to the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts on the Stanford campus.  It is a grand building, built by Mr. Original Stanford in 1891.  We took guided tours of two exhibits, the permanent collection of Rodin sculptures, displayed indoors and out, largest in the U.S., and an exhibition of the photography of Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, side by side.  Both docents, offered clear and well-informed explanations of these significant works.  It was a successful and enlightening couple of hours for us and a good prelude to a nap.

The Bar Mitzvah ceremony was unique, beginning at 4:30 in the afternoon rather than a morning hour.  It was a complete service conducted outdoors on the terrace of the Stanford Faculty Club.  The young man accomplished his rite of passage in fine fashion, nary a stumble or a phunfut.  What really made it special for me was my connection to the family, which reached back to the mid-1960s.  It also meant that I was familiar with many other guests and had a delightful reunion with several. 

We returned to Oakland Sunday afternoon, precisely at an hour that allowed me to miss the broadcast of the defeats of the New York Giants and the New York Rangers, thus preserving my mellow mood a bit longer.

. . .

I have spent a fair amount of time in recent weeks eating at and writing about Miznon North, 163 West 72nd Street, an Israeli restaurant with some unusual dishes.  Sunday night, we went to Dyafa, 44 Webster Street, Oakland, the Palestinian equivalent, which is rated as a good value in the Michelin red guide.  It sits on Jack London Square, a popular destination.  It occupies a medium-large space, with high ceilings and a semi-rustic decor.  All dishes bear Arabic names, only a few familiar to your household gourmand.  A list of ingredients is provided for each and I’ll present them exactly as identified on the menu, since I couldn’t specify each by taste. 

We shared Fattoush -- arugula, romaine hearts, pink lady apple, red onion, roasted butternut squash, feta, fried pita, pomegranate ($13); Hummus Kawarma -- hummus, spiced lamb, dried lime, cured sumac ($17); Maklouba -- layered rice, roasted eggplant, cauliflower, crispy onion, herbed yogurt ($24); Labneh -- strained yogurt, shaved cucumbers, watermelon relish ($11); two Mana’eeshes -- somewhere between a flatbread and a pizza -- za’atar, olive oil ($9) and butternut squash, chèvre, crispy Brussel leaves, pomegranate gastrique, aleppo ($13).  All were commendable.

However, Dyafa has not been free of political controversy, something always lurking around Middle Eastern matters of any sort.  It opened in 2018 as a partnership of Reem Assil, a child of Syrian and Palestinian immigrants, and Daniel Patterson, a Michelin-starred chef.  Assil had opened an Arab bakery/café a year earlier, with one wall almost entirely covered by a mural of Rasmea Odeh, a Palestinian activist, who was convicted by the Israeli government in 1970 for her connection to a 1969 grocery store bombing in Jerusalem that killed two university students.  She spent 10 years in prison and was released in a prisoner swap.  She and her supporters claimed that her confession was produced after long interrogation and torture.  Not surprisingly, Odeh's picture was not an appetite stimulant for some.   https://sf.eater.com/2017/6/23/15820576/reems-arab-bakery-rasema-odeh-oakland-controversy

This year, the partnership split up, leaving Patterson in charge of Dyafa, which is distinctly Arabic in cuisine and decor, but free of any overtly political elements. 
. . .

Although the Oakland Heartthrob gets the New York Times delivered daily, another reason we love him, my reading was seriously disrupted by this trip to the Left Coast.  So, it was on the airplane trip back to New York that I read the November 3rd magazine section and learned about Ralph Drollinger, "who has spent much of the last three years teaching the Gospel to President Trump's cabinet." 

Sure enough, Drollinger doesn't fall for any of that Love Thy Neighbor bullshit.  On "marriage (men lead, women submit), homosexuality ('an abomination' and 'illegitimate in God’s eyes'), abortion (a slippery slope to infanticide), climate change (a radical belief promoted by 'secular fad theorists') and family separation at the Southern border (an appropriate punishment for 'illegal immigrants')." 

"To Drollinger, the Bible is more than the literal word of God.  It is the only defensible basis for any rational thought.  The text, under the doctrine of inerrancy, is factually perfect and not open to multiple interpretations.  It has one definite meaning that will offer itself up to diligent students."  It is this denial of interpretation, inerrancy that interests me.  This certainly applies to the Old Testament as well as the New Testament and, indeed, many observant Jews insist on the perfect authorship of our Torah.  In fact, the Torah remains close to its original language, narrowing the risk of mistranslation although not of misunderstanding. 

The New Testament first appeared in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, hardly the linguae francae of American evangelicals.  Wikipedia asserts that "the full Bible has been translated into 698 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,548 languages and Bible portions or stories into 1,138 other languages.  Thus at least some portions of the Bible have been translated into 3,385 languages."  Drollinger must be a remarkably diligent student to keep up with all this.  I personally never got past Afrikaans, no less anywhere near Zuñi.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

In order to hasten my return to the real world, I joined Gentleman Jerry at the Ranger game tonight, a blessed victory. 

Wednesday, November 13, 2019
The New York Times reports that "red and blue local economies are worlds apart on enduring, fundamental measures that determine their future prospects and their biggest economic challenges."  Red state patriots, freed to mine, dredge, drill, chop, build, hire, fire to their hearts' content, must be in clover, right?  Well, "education, household income, cost of living, non-routine jobs and projected job growth — are highly correlated with one another, and with voting Democratic."   https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/13/upshot/red-blue-diverging-economies.html  Oh, the horror!

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Normally, the Grandpa Alan Foundation for Human Advancement deliberates privately to choose its annual awardee.  However, this year we turn to crowd-sourcing, because of a deadlock in our decision making.  We just can't choose between South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham and former South Carolina Governor and United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.  Graham has consistently denied any presidential misconduct in dealing with Ukraine.  Earlier this morning, reacting to the first day of open congressional impeachment hearings, he said “I’m really over with this.  This whole thing is a joke.  I’m not persuaded by the quid pro quo argument . . . nothing happened here."

Ambassador Haley, viewed as a possible 2024 Republican presidential candidate or even as a replacement for Mike Pence in 2020, is on a book tour for her memoir, With All Due Respect.  In an interview two days ago, she said "In every instance that I dealt with him [Trump], he was truthful, he listened and he was great to work with."  You might enjoy Anderson Cooper's riff on this.  https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/11/13/nikki-haley-trump-truthful-ridiculist-ac360-vpx.cnn

We are stymied and turn to you, our faithful readers, to choose this year's winner of the Grandpa Alan Foundation for Human Advancement award.  Both finalists are eminently qualified, so vote now.  The cherished prize is the highly-rated EargoNeo model hearing aid, "Top of the line sound fidelity from us means crystal clear sound for you."  It's likely that both of our nominees will one day want to resume acting in the public interest and they should be able to rely upon their faculties.

Friday, November 15, 2019

Stony Brook Steve and I took a walk on the mild side this afternoon and had lunch at Land of Plenty, 204 East 58th Street.  It was very busy at midday, but its large space held all comfortably.  It is at least five time as long as wide.  The whitewashed brick walls, sparsely but tastefully decorated, lent it an open feel.  Service was prompt, almost jarringly so.  I suggested to Steve that he must have called ahead to put in our order.

 

We shared Chilled Noodles w. Spicy Sesame Peanuts (sic) Dressing ($7.95), which indeed added a kick to this typically mild dish.  Each of us ordered a lunch special ($8.95 to $10.95), which included a choice of spicy wontons, spring roll or soup and white, brown or vegetable fried rice.  I had Crispy Orange Chicken and Steve had Sesame Chicken (both $8.95).  It seemed that the handful of sesame seeds sprinkled on his dish distinguished it from mine, which was quite ordinary but satisfying in its own way.  

 

The regular menu ventured further, but it will have to wait for another time.  Given the value of the real estate it sat on, one block from Bloomingdale's, Land of Plenty offers a reasonable deal.  

. . .

It may be too late to convert, but it is worth knowing that the most married people in America are Mormons, Hindus and Jews. 
https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/marital-status/   

California, Here We Are

Monday, November 4, 2019

This headline shouldn't be a surprise.  "A new study shows America’s drug overdose crisis is by far the worst among wealthy countries."  https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/2/26/18234863/drug-overdose-death-america-international-study  After all, we strive to be the biggest, richest, loudest, greatest at everything we do.  Just ask the man in the White House.  Although, in this instance, it is a distinction we might want to forgo.

In spite of my guise of worldliness, I am quit uninformed about drug-taking, Lipitor aside.  My curiosity about the world usually deterred me from using/taking/trying any (non-alcoholic) mind-altering substance, even when freely available.  I have been spared serious injury and the resulting need for possibly addictive medication.  Nevertheless, allow me to take an overarching look at our drug crisis.  

I see the American population of drug abusers as crudely divided into three groups, requiring different responses, although with modest expectations of success.  The first group consists of people who were given pain medication as part of a healing process.  Unfortunately, they did not know when or how to stop,  especially when they moved from ending pain to providing pleasure.

The second group are unhappy with their station in life, deprived socially, economically or emotionally, seeking a boost of mood or temporary opacity of their current circumstances.  The third group, illustrated to me by the recent overdose death of Saoirse Kennedy Hill, a granddaughter of Robert Kennedy, are those for whom life has been too good, offering reward without much exertion.  When faced with the need to meet some goal, they back away from the effort previously unrequired and seek diversion.

I'm not sure what we should do with my simplistic tripartite analysis, but it might help in developing strategies to deal with this plague or does it make the search for corrective steps three times harder?
. . .

There were two somewhat related real estate stories this weekend.  The first identifies the 20 local neighborhoods that saw the largest drops in median sale price of residential properties in the last year.  The decreases are substantial, over 30% in the Garment District, Soho and Tribeca.    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/realestate/2019s-best-high-end-bargains.html  Note that when I was a kid, two of those names didn't exist.

The other article looks at the price change by apartment size.    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/01/realestate/two-bedroom-market-new-york.html   The median selling price of the archetypical Manhattan two-bedroom apartment has slid 8.2% in the last year, down to $1,515,000.  Quite a bargain, nicht wahr?
. . .

Quick, go get your grandchildren.  They have to see this.  
 

Sunday's business section had three pages of Want Ads, the cave drawings of newspaper publishing.  

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Last night was the second annual Stanley Feingold Lecture at City College, where he had a long, distinguished and influential career in the Government Department.  (It was to be many years before it became Political Science.)  Jerry Nadler, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, was interviewed by Jeffrey Toobin, author and legal analyst.  While there were no startling revelations, it was a delight to hear our politics discussed in an intelligent, informed, honest fashion.   

Jeanne Friedman, CCNY '63, came in from California for the event and my young bride and I took the opportunity to have lunch with her today.  It also gave us the chance to come to an interim evaluation of Miznon North, 161 West 72nd Street, the new Israeli restaurant that has divided our household. 

Lunch, unlike dinner, is automatically two courses.  The list of appetizers remained unchanged from my two earlier visits, but the main courses were entirely different.  I started with the delicious, erotically textured crème fraîche, olive oil blend.  While I was dipping pieces of the crunchy sourdough bread into this wonderful goo, the two women were sharing the imaginative beetroot carpaccio (at my recommendation) and the baked baby cauliflower, a house specialty that I haven't had yet.  Almost immediately, my cred was solidified.

They each proceeded to have the Old City Mezze as a main course, fresh vegetables, falafel, baba ghanoush, olives, hard boiled eggs and a cheese that looked like feta ($18).  I chose lamb kebab, a spicy 7" bar of chopped lamb resting on a slightly-larger, freshly-baked bread loaf ($33).  

The final score -- Miznon North 3-0.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

The Upper West Side's Power Couple took to the air today and landed in San Francisco late in the afternoon.  The flight was as benign as air travel might be today, once I managed to get us seated across an aisle from each other instead of the two middle seats, 10 rows apart originally assigned.

The excitement began on the ground at San Francisco International Airport (SFO).  The details are boring and wearying to recount, but it took us well over one hour to get in a rental car reserved months ago.  Then, driving to Oakland took more than another hour, given the need to go through downtown San Francisco at rush hour.  We finally reached the welcoming arms of America's Loveliest Nephrologist and the Oakland Heartthrob more than three hours after we landed, having traveled a distance of 25 miles.

Thursday, November 7, 2019 Even though we both slept on Eastern Standard Time, it was still late morning before we went to have breakfastat Rick & Ann's Restaurant, 2922 Domingo Avenue, immediately adjacent to the stately,elegant Claremont Club & Spa, effectively the OMCA, Old Mens' Christian Association.  R&A is a very reliable place to get cornmeal pancakes, spicy turkey sausage and eggs scrambled with cheddar cheese ($13.75).  Madam had the day's special omelet, apparently containing many vegetables, with a cranberry scone to remind her of the value of carbohydrates ($13.75).   It was more than sufficient fuel to sustain us for an afternoon walking around downtown San Francisco. We took BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) from Rockridge, the fifth station in Oakland, to the Embarcadero, the first stop in San Francisco.  It cost $8.90 round trip.  You can't make a meaningful apples to Big Apple comparison of transit fares, but here goes.  Every plain New York subway ride costs $2.75 and includes a free transfer to an intersecting bus line.  BART fares are based on distance.  The cheapest unqualified fare is $2.50 for a short trip on the same side of the bay.  A special extension in New York goes to JFK Airport for an extra $5, while one BART line goes directly to SFO for around $10 from stations in central Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco.  New York has 472 stations in 4 boroughs (counties); a self- contained railroad on Staten Island, the fifth borough, is ignored by all.  BART has 48 stations, stretching over 3 counties, above and below ground level.  It began service in 1972.  New York subways date from 1904; elevated lines ran as early as 1868. BART stations and cars seemed cleaner, though the seats are upholstered, looking shabbier than our molded plastic.  The most significant difference was with the people, not the equipment.  At rush hour, passengers lined up at each door opening in order of arrival.   When I casually strolled down the platform to a good position section, I risked being pushed to the tracks for cutting in, violating a protocol that was unknown to me.  We left for Palo Alto this morning, the real destination for this trip, to celebrate the Bar Mitzvah of Aaron Persily, grandson of sorely missed friends.  We stopped for breakfast first at the Montclair Egg Shop, 6126 Medau Place, Oakland, for solid breakfast/brunch food.  I had huevos rancheros ($10.95), following the adage "When in Rome . . ."  Can you imagine ordering lox and onions and eggs in California in spite of its appearance on the menu?  Or bagels more than 25 miles west of the Hudson River?  Madam had a spinach crêpe ($10.75), arguably as out of place as lox and onions and eggs.  However, as you are well aware, my young bride approaches life with a much more mature view of human behavior than mine and saves her consternation for bigger issues.

Food For Thought

Monday, October 28, 2019

There are some facts that would be a hopeless guess for me.  According to the weekend real estate section, Douglas Elliman Real Estate, a national firm with a strong local presence, employs 2,773 real estate agents in the Holy Land.  Doesn't that seem like a lot to you?
. . .

From: Secretary of State Michael Pompeo 

To:  All Department of State Employees 

If you see something, say nothing.
. . .

"Both today and in the past, many immigrants earn less than U.S.-born workers upon first arrival and do not completely catch up in a single generation.  But their children do. No matter when their parents came to the U.S. or what country they came from, children of immigrants have higher rates of upward mobility than their U.S.-born peers."
https://economics.princeton.edu/2019/10/25/immigrant-mobility-abramitzky-boustan/

"Norwegians, whom President Trump has held up as model immigrants, were in fact among the least successful after they arrived."
. . .

Speaking of immigrants, my grandfathers came to the USA in 1905-06 from Eastern Europe, along with many other Jewish grandfathers or great-grandfathers.  History determined this.  Russia was being pummeled in the Russo-Japanese War, the Czar was indignant and imposed harsh measures particularly on the Jews.  But before the government aimed at the Jews, the populace had expressed itself in the Kishiniev Pogrom, a murderous riot in Bessarabia, now Moldova, on 6-9 April 1903, beginning on Easter Sunday.

"49 Jews were killed, an untold number of Jewish women were raped, and 1,500 Jewish homes were damaged," according to Steven J. Zipperstein, author of Kishinev and the Tilt of History.  A second pogrom in Kishiniev took place on 19-20 October 1905, resulting in at least 19 more deaths.  However, this was one of hundreds of pogroms that swept Russia, some originating as anti-government demonstrations responding to broadly oppressive measures, with Jews as the victims from above and below.  In retrospect, these events are viewed as one event. 

Zipperstein will be speaking at West End Synagogue, 190 Amsterdam Avenue (at 69th Street), the home of my fellow anarchic Jews, on Wednesday, November 6th at 7 PM. 

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Turnstyle is the commercial development of a previously-deserted two-block underground passage at the southern end of the Columbus Circle subway station.  It contains about 40 shops, mostly for food, simple booths or kiosks.  I have previously praised the beef brisket sandwich at Bolivian Llama Party and the chicken concoction at Chick'nCone, while only mildly pleased by the Chinese food at Zai Lai Homestyle Taiwanese.  There's still sushi, pizza, ramen, pasta, dumplings, frozen yogurt and tie-dyed chocolate chip cookies, among other treats still to be sampled. 

About those cookies -- They put vivid food colors in different lumps of dough and twist them together before baking.  I haven't eaten them yet, but I had a Venezuelan-style arepa today at Arepa Factory.  An arepa is a cornmeal disc, baked, fried or grilled.  I chose the version called La Potra, shredded flank beef, avocado and shredded cheddar cheese in a folded arepa ($9.95 if you pay cash, add 3.99% for a credit card).  It's difficult to eat it out of your hand without making a mess, but a good tasting mess.
. . .

I am obliged to record a vigorous dissent from my enthusiastic regard for Miznon North, 161 West 72nd Street, the new Israeli restaurant (October 21, 2019, September 18, 2019).  America's Favorite Epidemiologist and friend Margie S. had dinner there tonight.  They said that the food was okay, but the dinner menu is entirely à la carte and expensive, not matching the bundled two courses at lunch. 

Madam was most annoyed at the conduct of the host.  Sitting alone until Margie arrived, the host plopped down opposite her unasked and began extolling the spiritual character of the food and the emotional connection of the chef to his menu.  While I am the spiritual-free member of our household, my young bride usually prefers to feed body and soul separately.  On the other hand, my lunches have been free of harassment.  Maybe the goblins only come out at night.

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Elaine Berg, R.I.P.
. . .

For a little encouragement, "research suggests that friends can change our view of a challenging situation, and that the mere presence of a friend in the same room can lower our stress.  Having friends essentially allows us to outsource some of the emotional burdens of daily life." 

See https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2305022

a/k/a "Social support reduces cardiovascular reactivity to psychological challenge: a laboratory model."
. . .

Actually, having a friend nearby may be insufficient to deal with at least one growing crisis.  The New York Times headline warns us "Rising Seas Will Erase More Cities by 2050, New Research Shows." 
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/29/climate/coastal-cities-underwater.html

"The new research shows that some 150 million people are now living on land that will be below the high-tide line by midcentury."  Colorado, here we come.

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Food or flu?

I had lunch today with Max, Wonder Boy Emeritus, at a Chinese restaurant in Queens.  When I got home an hour later, I immediately threw up.  However, I am withholding the name of the joint, because I was feeling decidedly peckish even before lunch.  I probably won't rush back, though.  I have eaten at countless hundreds of Chinese restaurants in this century; I documented meals at over 300 in the last years that I worked in the court system, 2010-2015.  I never got sick.

. . .

Those of us New Yorkers of a certain age remember when Barneys, the fashion retailer, still had an apostrophe and was known as Barney's Boys Town.  It moved on and came to "represent[] a very specific, and mythic, Manhattan ethos; it was the first to introduce names such as Armani, Alaia, Comme des Garcons, Louboutin and Zegna," in the words of the New York Times, discussing its bankruptcy.  Its new owner promises to "build[] a business model that will adapt this legendary brand for the future of experiential luxury."  If I understood what this meant, I would probably bet against it.