Out and About

Sunday, December 19, 2021

With some hesitancy, we continue to take steps back towards a normal existence.  Today, we went to an afternoon performance of "Assassins," probably the most unusual subject for a Stephen Sondheim work.  It's the third time I've seen it in various venues.  I can't say that I "like" it, a trite comment in the face of the violence and death it portrays.  But, I like it.

Afterwards, we went around the corner to Han Dynasty, 90 Third Avenue, one of its four local branches.  I've been to their location at 215 West 85th Street, which physically could not differ more.  Uptown occupies a bright, airy space that was once a hotel ballroom, high ceilings, Greek columns, very majestic.  Downtown is a boxy space, dark floors, dark furniture, dark walls except for a vividly-colored mural of two glowering dragons on the longest wall. 

Handy Nasty is known for its very spicy Sichuan cuisine and you have to regard that when you order.  We shared cold sesame noodles, which had a faint taste of anise ($10.95).  I would have preferred the taste of more peanut butter at that price.  The main courses were more successful.  I had lamb in garlic sauce with ginger, garlic, mushrooms, green peppers, red peppers and onions, a delicious dish ($26.95).  Madam had fried tofu Kung Pao-style, peanuts, bell peppers, onions and chili pepper, which I sampled with great satisfaction ($23.95).  Note that these prices are much higher than seen on-line, but you are supposed to be happy to be alive.

. . .

"The ‘West Side Story’ Remake We Didn’t Need" is one of the more offensive opinion pieces in a long time.  https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/15/opinion/west-side-story-remake.html

The author, an anthropology professor, concedes first that "I never saw the original 'West Side Story,'" before ravaging it and the new Spielberg-Kushner version.  Then, his 20 column-inch essay fails to include any mention of Romeo or Juliet or "Romeo & Juliet."  A sub headline not necessarily written by the author, nevertheless, captures his viewpoint: "Give us the resources to craft new stories, not updates of old ones."  

 

Other material that probably eluded the anthropologist includes Mark Twain: "There is no such thing as a new idea.  It is impossible.  We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope."  And, famously there was Isaac Newton writing in 1675: "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."  I fear that the good professor has remained with his feet firmly planted on the ground.

Monday, December 20, 2021

John Maynard Keynes, the British economist who provided revolutionary insights into public policy, opposing fiscal conservatives, said "Anything we can actually do, we can afford."  He has been right over and over again, the proof often coming not from attempts to uplift the disadvantaged, but quite the opposite. 

Some notorious examples come from the sports world.  "Glendale, on the other side of Phoenix, . . . [a] small city of 250,000 paid most of the $220 million it cost to build the arena, which opened in December 2003" for the Arizona Coyotes, the worst team in the National Hockey League.  To lure the Oakland Raiders to move "officials in Clark County, Nev., . . . paid $750 million in construction costs for a new [football] stadium right off the Strip."

This contrasts with, "Preliminary results indicate voter disapproval of the bond issue needed to provide funding for acquisition, construction, renovation, and equipping school facilities as provided by Elko County [Nevada] School District’s capital improvement plan."  (October 26, 2021)

https://thenevadaindependent.com/es/article/elko-county-voters-reject-school-construction-bonds-in-special-election 

No doubt the opposition to the Elko school bond proposal argued that they could not afford it.  Would outfitting the schoolchildren with skates or shoulder pads have helped?

. . .

I practice what I preach, at least some of the time.  Today, I had lunch at Pastrami Queen, 1175 Lexington Avenue, in the company of Michael Ratner.  Pastrami Queen is Kosher -- no BLTs, no Reubens, no cheeseburgers -- just the way the Israelites ate crossing the Sinai Desert for 40 years.  I had a corned beef/roast beef combo, a very large, expensive sandwich at $26.50.  Michael had a bowl of matzo ball soup and half a corned beef sandwich for $22.  We shared a large order of French fries ($8.75) and came away stuffed and true to our faith. 

Tuesday, December 21, 2021

I wasn't bothered by the headline reading "The $1 Pizza Slice Becomes Inflation’s Latest Victim," because I usually order my pizza with stuff on it -- mushrooms or meatballs, for instance -- knocking me out of the $1 slice market right away.    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/21/nyregion/pizza-inflation.html

The article provides an interesting sidelight on the local pizza business, though.  It quotes 5 pizzeria owners, namely Mohammad Abdul, Eli Halali, Hakki Akdeniz,  Abdul Batin, and Teddy Gross.  I don't think that any of them regularly attend Knights of Columbus meetings.  Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Walking through midtown Manhattan near lunchtime this chilly day, I thought that chicken soup would be part of a good meal.  When I got to Joe's Home of Soup Dumplings, 7 East 48th Street, I found the near-perfect answer, 6 chicken steamed soup dumplings at $10.95.  I sat on a stool at one end of the long, blonde wood counter separated from the prep area by a thick glass partition.  Behind me were 16 or so tables of varying sizes, fully occupied at 1 P.M., in contrast to the typical narrow, cramped dumpling joint.  

In addition to the delicious soup dumplings, I had "Shredded chicken w. Vermicelli noodles" ($8.25), very enjoyable, but with a quibble and a question.  In order, the tasty peanut buttery sauce covering the ample portion of shredded chicken, cucumber slivers and noodles was a bit watery.  Then, I understand vermicelli to be the equivalent of angel hair pasta, long delicate threads.  This dish, however, contained chow fun, the broad flat noodle.  What's up with that?

Thursday, December 23, 2021

Santa is about to give the Upper West Side a nice gift -- a branch of Venchi Chocolate & Gelato, founded in Turin, Italy over 140 years ago.  I passed by this morning at the southwest corner of 69th Street and Columbus Avenue as a couple of guys were applying some cosmetic touches to an otherwise ready-to-go operation.  Immediately opposite on the northwest corner is Magnolia Bakery, making this Carbohydrate Corner.

Magnolia and its fussy cupcakes gained prominence when its original downtown location served as a frequent setting for "Sex and the City."  While neither the cupcakes nor the show made me a regular Magnolia customer, I can recommend their layer cakes, tall, hefty slices selling in the $6-8 range.

 

Friday, December 24, 2021

Cornucopia?

Digest

Saturday, December 11, 2021

Clue 53 Down - Card games are played in it

Monday, December 13, 2021

Happy Birthday to my brother.  He has reached a formidable milestone.  Even several days later, you may still shower him with praise or at least comfort him with apples.  We celebrated yesterday at Madison Square Garden or we celebrated until the Rangers lost to the Nashville Predators 1-0.  But, first we ate.

We went to bb.q Chicken Ktown NYC, 25 West 32nd Street, part of a very successful Korean chain.  It's self service, the shelves being constantly restocked with boxes of chicken, wings or boneless chunks in 8 flavors - Golden Original, Secret Spicy, Hot Spicy, honey garlic, soy garlic, Gangjeong (soy, cinnamon, chilis), Spicy Galbi, maple butter garlic.  

The prices narrowly range from $12.99 to $13.89 and the portions are enormous.  I had honey garlic boneless and only made it 3/4 through.  I also had and could not finish a large bowl of kimchi fried rice ($8.99).  One chicken and one rice would be ample for any two normal human beings.

The place was packed; the 20 or so tables all occupied.  In fact, all the several Korean restaurants along West 32nd Street seemed to be full, both inside and curbside.  

. . .

I have long maintained that a corned beef or pastrami sandwich should only be ordered at a Kosher delicatessen, not merely at some Jewish-style or New York-style place, with the exception of Katz's, 205 East Houston Street, and Langer's, 704 South Alvarado Street, Los Angeles.  I am not manifesting a religious or ethnic bias; Kosher delicatessens, an endangered species, rely on their corned beef and pastrami as the backbone of their business.  Attention is paid.

Since I am always open to be proven wrong, with little fear of it happening, I went to Sarge's Delicatessen & Diner, 548 Third Avenue, for lunch.  Sarge's has been around since 1964, founded by a retired NYPD sergeant.  It promotes itself as "one of New York's most famous quintessential Jewish Style Deli's."  It displays pictures of thick sandwiches and that's what I aimed for.

Corned beef is $20.95, pastrami, $21.95.  I covered my bases by ordering a corned beef/pastrami combo sandwich ($24.95).  French fries are $7.95, which I skipped this time as a matter of capacity control.

There were complimentary pickles and coleslaw, de rigeur in the deli world.  The sour pickles were notable, the coleslaw forgettable.  The sandwich was very large, almost too big to hold.  The rye bread was good, moderately crusty.  The meats were machine-sliced, much too thin.  The corned beef A-, the pastrami B, underspiced.  In all, no need to avoid.

Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Baruc S.'s work takes him back and forth to South America, so I was lucky to catch him for lunch today.  We went to Dagon, 2454 Broadway, a Mediterranean restaurant.  It has about 20 outdoor tables, two-tops and four-tops, in addition to the several dozen indoors.

We went indoors and enjoyed a very good meal.  Sharing, we started with three mezze - Whipped Eggplant with tahina and preserved lemon compote; 

Sasso Chicken Liver Mousse with mustard seeds, date syrup, crispy shallots and baharat (Arabic mixed spices); Muhamarra, spicy roasted pepper & almond dip.  We had schnitzel as a main course, breaded chicken cutlet, with mashed potatoes, tahina and Israeli salad.  

Everything was first rate, including the small loaves of bread brought to the table directly from the oven.  However, the chicken liver mousse portion was in inverse proportion to its deliciousness.  I skipped the prices since I was being treated.  

Wednesday, December 15, 2021

Jerry P. joined Terrific Tom and me for lunch at AweSum DimSum, 612 Eighth Avenue.  It's a brand new joint, open exactly one month, with an assortment of almost 40 dim sum items and a handful of noodle dishes.  Its sister restaurant has been open about a year at 160 East 23rd Street. 

The premises are narrow and deep; the surfaces are either painted bright white or pale blonde wood.  There are no carts scurrying around; everything is cooked to order.  You order at a counter at the back and are given a buzzer that signals when ready to pick up.  

Since we are growing boys, we had a lot to eat: 

Scallion pancake ($4.75)

Spring rolls ($4.50 2 pieces)

Steamed avocado rice rolls ($6.50 4 pieces)

Vegetarian dumplings ($5.75 4 pieces)

Har gow (shrimp dumplings) ($6.75 4 pieces)

Special chicken siu mai ($6.75 4 pieces)

Baked BBQ pork buns ($5.50 2 pieces)

BBQ pork puffs ($5.50 3 pieces)

It was uniformly excellent.  AweSum is a fitting companion/competitor to Tim Ho Wan, a few blocks away at 610 Ninth Avenue, for a casual meal in the theater district. 

Thursday, December 16, 2021

Stephen Colbert put it aptly: "We have a two-party system.  The Democratic Party and the anti-democratic party."

Friday, December 17, 2021

Public health here, there, everywhere remains in a crisis.  However, even America's Favorite Epidemiologist has grown restless with the confining circumstances of the past 20 months.  So, we have been slowly returning to the outside world.  In the last few weeks, we saw the Twyla Tharp dance company and Edie Falco in "Midnight Sun."

Last night, we attended "Flying Over Sunset," a fictionalized account of the LSD trips taken by Aldous Huxley, Cary Grant and Clare Boothe Luce, with singing and dancing, no less.  Most of the time is spent in the characters' hallucinatory experiences.  Too bad the creative team couldn't have hallucinated something entertaining. 

. . .

Answer = MLB

Rick Is A Metaphor

Saturday, December 4, 2021

Clue 33 Across - Bit of mayo?

. . .

I recommend a new book, In the Midst of Civilized Europe by Jeffrey Veidlinger, University of Michigan history professor.  He writes that "[b]etween 1918 and 1921, more than a hundred thousand Jews were murdered in Ukraine by peasants, townsmen, and soldiers who blamed the Jews for the turmoil of World War I and the Russian Revolution."  

While the number of victims is imprecise and may be conservative, he concludes that "the pogroms established violence against Jews as an acceptable response to the excesses of Bolshevism" and were an introduction to the Holocaust, where "a third or more of the almost six million Jews killed in the Holocaust perished not in the industrial-scale murder of the camps, but in executions at what historians call killing sites: thousands of villages, quarries, forests, wells, streets and homes that dot the map of Eastern Europe."  https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/28/world/europe/a-light-on-a-vast-toll-of-jews-killed-away-from-the-death-camps.html?smid=em-share

These murders were close to home, conducted among and often by the local population, sometimes the same people who conducted the pogroms two decades earlier.

. . .

Let's look at John Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States.  After winning prizes as an undergraduate for his writings, he graduated Harvard University in 1976 with an A.B. summa cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  He continued on to Harvard Law School, where he was managing editor of the Law Review. 

But, if you read his opinion in Shelby County v. Holder, eviscerating the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and consider his questioning during oral argument of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the Mississippi case that directly challenges Roe v. Wade, you will be struck by the absence of sechel (שׂכל) (say hell), the common sense that a Jew needs to survive.  Of course, no one could mistake John Roberts for a Jew and that may be part of the problem. 

Sunday, December 5, 2021

No matter how stoic we attempt to be, we almost inevitably wind up purchasing something on Amazon.  Often, we actually deal with a third-party vendor and feel a little better because we are aiding a small tributary of that mighty river.  However, those transactions add substantially to the flow.  According to a new report, "Amazon now pockets a 34 percent cut of the revenue earned by independent sellers on its site."  

https://ilsr.org/amazons-toll-road/

Monday, December 6, 2021

The strangest real estate news in a long time pops up in the sports section and concerns Wayne Gretzky, recognized as the greatest hockey player of all time.  After championship seasons in Edmonton, Alberta, he played in Los Angeles and St. Louis before ending his playing days in New York.  "Gretzky said his family had recently relocated to Missouri from California."  Talk about downsizing. 

. . .

This is the most difficult time of the year.  In-person holiday parties have returned and absences cannot be excused by aberrant electromagnetic conditions.  Gift giving combines the undeserving with the unwanted and the underappreciated.  Then, there are the annual "Best of" lists.  I like lists, I admit.  Throughout the year, I reproduce a large variety from disparate sources.

December, though, inundates us with a gusher of the year's best poems, underarm deodorants, automobile insurance policies, oboe solos, cookie recipes, roller coasters, dry cleaners, glass blowers, island resort hideaways, and vegan pizzas among other information that we would value if only it came in much smaller doses.

Here, though, is a different kind of list, not tied to one year.  The One Day University offers a course by Yale professor Marc Lapadula on "The Story of America in 12 Films."  He organizes the topic in 6 pairs:

The American Dream – "The Godfather (I & II)" & "West Side Story"
Coming of Age – "The Graduate" & "Lady Bird"
Social Justice – "To Kill A Mockingbird" & "Do The Right Thing"
War – "Saving Private Ryan" & "The Best Years Of Our Lives"
On the Road – "Rain Man" & "Thelma And Louise"
The Underdog – "Hoosiers" & "Rocky"

When I looked online, I also found "12 Films That Defined America" by Anthony Sacramone, a writer and editor.  His list is in chronological order:

"Birth of a Nation"

"Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" 

"High Noon"

"The Searchers"

"The Graduate" 

"The Godfather"

"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" 

"Network"

"The Right Stuff"

"Malcolm X"

"Team America: World Police"

"The Dark Knight"

You have to pay to hear Lapadula, but you can read Sacramone here.

https://isi.org/intercollegiate-review/12-films-that-defined-america/

Here is my list of 12 films defining America:

"Birth of A Nation"

"Casablanca"

"The Best Years of Our Lives"

"Song of the South"

"High Noon"

"The Searchers"

"The Graduate"

"Easy Rider"

"The Godfather (I & II)"

"Network"

"Wall Street"

"Do the Right Thing"

What's your list?  I'd be happy to explain mine over lunch.

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

We remember Andy.

. . .

I had lunch today with Toby McMullen, rising young comedian, at Stick to My Pot, 224 West 35th Street, featuring potstickers, which accounts for its quaint name.  It's a very small place, decor-less except for white subway tile on parts of the walls.  Seating is only available on 8 stools at a ledge along one wall.  

Everything is made as you order it and we ordered a lot: Spring rolls (2 for $3.49); noodles with scallion sauce ($3.49); chicken wontons with sesame sauce (6 for $7.49); steamed chicken dumplings (6 for $7.49); scallion pancake ($2.99).  Nothing was wonderful, but everything was good.  

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Lunch today was with Jonah M., working to create his own theater company eventually.  I was not auditioning, however.  We ate at Tacombi, 377 Amsterdam Avenue, which combines a small Mexican menu with a large outdoor facility, well-ventilated and well-heated.  The setting was comfortable enough that we stayed 90 minutes in spite of temperature in the low 40s.

I usually have Tacumbi's beef burrito, but I diversified today, ordering the Baja Crispy Fish Taco ($6.49) and the Norteña quesadilla (Holstein beef) ($8.95).  They were both very good, but small.  I helped fill the gap with the Salsa Cruda Con Totopos ($7.95), red and green salsas with freshly-made chips, pricey but good.  Our large personalities also helped fill out the lunch hour.

. . .

Watch out!  They're back!

Locusts, bell bottoms, shag carpets?  

No.  

Communists.

"Saule Omarova, a Cornell Law School professor whom critics painted as a communist after President Biden picked her for a key banking regulator job, withdrew from consideration for the post on Tuesday."  December 8, 2021

A man was sentenced to jail for 19 months after threatening to murder Democratic members of Congress.  The statements included Facebook posts in which he urged like-minded citizens to “start up the firing squads, mow down these commies, and lets take america back!”  November 22, 2021

"The Democratic Party has turned to communism to gain and control the United States. The inroads of communism are quite clear: socialist programs, politically correct speech, one-sided TV news, teaching twisted American history, illegal voting, organized riots, weakening police control, pushing racial division, illegal entry of immigrants, wrecking private businesses, and interfering with normal American education."  August 26, 2021

I suggest that, with the exception of the picture of Fidel Castro hanging in Senator Marco Rubio's toilet, none of the accusers have ever encountered a Communist or would even know to recognize one outside of Beijing or Pyongyang.

Friday, December 10, 2021

This piece captures two of my obsessions: the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim and the drawings of Al Hirschfeld.  They speak for themselves.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/09/opinion/stephen-sondheim-al-hirschfeld.html

[I think that the article will appear in print over the weekend.]

. . .

Answer = DIA

Eight Candles Might Not Be Enough

Saturday, November 27, 2021   

Clue 49 Across - Head of Hogwarts?

. . .

Once upon a time, the Montreal Canadiens were allowed to pick two French Canadian ice hockey players aspiring to play in the National Hockey League before any other team had a choice.  In those days, the league consisted of 6 teams, Montreal and Toronto and four U.S. cities.  While Montreal had a period of dominance, the value of the French Canadian Rule has been effectively disputed.  https://sihrhockey.org/__a/public/column.cfm?cid=3&aid=361

In any case, the rule was abandoned as a byproduct of the league's expansion, eventually to 32 teams, including 6 in Canada.  A draft system based on a team's previous year's performance and the widespread introduction of European players produced the near-calamitous present state of affairs for French Canadians.  Sweden has more players in the National Hockey League than Quebec and, at times, the Canadiens have skated without a Quebecois player.

These indignities have galvanized François Legault, the premier of Quebec.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/sports/nhl-quebec-players.html

In a bold gesture, he announced "the creation of a 14-member committee led by a former N.H.L. goalie, Marc Denis, to study the problem."  Of course, after M. Legault handles this crisis, he plans to join Jared Kushner in bringing permanent peace to the Middle East. 

Sunday, November 28, 2021

As we continue to adjust to the never ending pandemic, local homesellers are benefiting from pent-up demand, resulting in quicker sales closer to asking price. 

https://streeteasy.com/blog/top-markets-home-sellers-nyc/

Of course, the question that these homesellers face when they cash in all that appreciated value is: Where now?

Monday, November 29, 2021

Some commentators try to minimize the crisis that I believe we have in the jurisprudence of the current United States Supreme Court by comparing it to the New Deal era when FDR's domestic policies were regularly being rejected by the Court applying principles of federalism and contract rooted in the 19th century.  The Court changed course, "the switch in time that saved nine," as political controversy threatened its legitimacy.  While the parallel exists in the gulf between the judicial/political outlook of today's Court's conservative majority and the socioeconomic realities of the country, there is an important difference between then and now.  

The current court members are by descending age:

Stephen Breyer - 83

Clarence Thomas - 73

Samuel Alito - 71

Sonia Sotomayor - 67

John Roberts - 66

Elena Kagan - 61

Brett Kavanaugh - 56

Neil Gorsuch - 54

Amy Coney Barrett - 49 

Roosevelt had had no vacancies to fill during his first term as president.  He introduced his ill-fated plan to expand the Supreme Court in February 1937.  At the time, the Court consisted of:

Louis Brandeis - 80

Willis Van Devanter - 78

James McReynolds - 75

Charles Evans Hughes - 74

George Sutherland - 74

Pierce Butler - 70

Benjamin Cardozo - 66

Harlan Stone - 64

Owen Roberts - 61

In fact, seven of these nine died before Roosevelt.  The age differences between the courts is obvious, putting aside the likely healthier condition of today's senior citizens.  The conservative posture of the current Supreme Court will be with us for a long time, by design.  While the left agonizes over pronouns, the Federalist Society grooms conservatives from law schools through lower court appointments all the way to the Supreme Court.  Six of the nine sitting Justices are current or former members; no need to guess, by the way.

It aims, in its own words, to "reorder[] priorities within the legal system to place a premium on individual liberty, traditional values, and the rule of law."  

https://fedsoc.org/about-us

Somehow, this almost always seems to align with partisan Republican policies even if it requires a high degree of elasticity.

. . .

It could have been worse.  I was stuck in the elevator for only about 6 or 7 minutes, I was alone without anyone contributing hysteria, and I had gone to the bathroom just before leaving the eye doctor’s office.  It did spoil my timing, though.  When I walked the two blocks to Pastrami Queen, 1125 Lexington Avenue, the tiny space was jammed, with every seat taken by someone who appeared to have only sat down 5 or 6 minutes earlier.  The lunch that I wound up with at a joint across the street was unspeakably ordinary.

Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Michelle Goldberg's column deserves to be quoted at length.

On Nov. 12, a federal appeals court stayed the [federal government's] mandate dealing with companies that have over 100 employees.  Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt, a Trump appointee, wrote that the public interest is "served by maintaining our constitutional structure and maintaining the liberty of individuals to make intensely personal decisions according to their own convictions — even, or perhaps particularly, when those decisions frustrate government officials."  Engelhardt, a former member of Louisiana Lawyers for Life, obviously doesn’t believe that all individuals should have the liberty to make "intensely personal decisions according to their own convictions."  But that doesn’t mean he’s a hypocrite. He simply appears to believe, as much of the modern right does, that there are some people who should be subject to total physical coercion, and some who should be subject to none at all.

https://nyti.ms/3o4BBeO 

. . .

As a homeseller considers where to park all the money that she made selling her house in this hot market, one place to cross off the list is Tel Aviv.  According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, it has jumped to the top of the list of the most expensive cities in the world.  

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/01/tel-aviv-overtakes-hong-kong-paris-and-zurich-as-most-expensive-city-to-live-in

It has overtaken Paris, Hong Kong and Zurich to earn this unwanted distinction.  This may be a sign of the return of the International Jewish Conspiracy.  Two other Hebrew homelands place high on the list, New York in sixth place and Los Angeles ninth. 

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

The Boyz Club met for lunch at Shanghai Asian Cuisine, 14A Elizabeth Street, today.  This joint is consistently good for soup dumplings and scallion pancakes and we started there.  The five of us pushed on through cold sesame noodles, tangerine beef, pork lo mein and sliced chicken with eggplant in garlic sauce.  With our usual generous gratuity, it came to $18 each.

. . .

Copyright is the the exclusive legal right to literary, artistic, or musical material.  Does a recipe qualify?  How does it compare to a poem or a song?  Would a duplicate list of ingredients itself be infringing regardless of how they are handled?  How can we keep grandmothers out of court?

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/29/dining/recipe-theft-cookbook-plagiarism.html

 

Friday, December 3, 2021

Here is the headline on an obituary today: "Marcus Lamb, Christian Broadcaster and Vaccine Skeptic, Dies of Covid at 64."  https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/01/us/marcus-lamb-dead.html

 

Of course, the irony is obvious, but I need help with a mystery.  The New York Times said he "frequently suggested on the air that people pray instead of getting inoculated."  In Mr. Lamb's own words, "we can pray, we can get ivermectin and budesonide and hydroxychloroquine."  Don't get vaccinated.  Take crap instead.  Please explain.

. . .

It is always a pleasure to dine with Aunt Judi and Uncle Stu.  She treats us to the finest in Kosher cooking, while he serves wines that would have hastened the progress of the Israelites across the Sinai Desert.  Tonight's occasion celebrated Hanukkah and the memory of Fred and Eleanor, parents of my wife and Stu.  

 

As expected, Aunt Judi stepped up to the plate and delivered a bunch of RBIs.  We had chicken matzoh ball soup (Aunt Judi falls on the soft side of the hard/soft matzoh ball divide), "Aunt Judi’s meatballs," thick slices of corned beef, stuffed chicken, potato latkes with homemade apple sauce, cous cous, roasted Delicata squash (a small winter squash with an edible skin) with red onion, and string beans "teriyaki."  Somehow, we made room for chocolate mousse with whipped cream (non-dairy, of course) to wrap up a special evening.

. . .

Answer = LOO

 

Customer Disservice

Saturday, November 20, 2021

44 Down - Secretive things?

. . . 

 

We joyfully welcomed the Left Coast Contingent (LCC) today, America's Loveliest Nephrologist, the Oakland Heartthrob and daughter, for a holiday visit. 

 

Sunday, November 21, 2021

We went to see "Wicked" with the LCC and, while the presence of three out-of-towners including one person not old enough to vote gave me cover, I admit that I liked the show.  Additionally, a working knowledge of "The Wizard of Oz" is needed to appreciate "Wicked" fully and I don't think that younger generations are as well prepared as we are.   

 

Before the show we ate at La Grande Boucherie, 145 West 53rd Street, that beautiful space that I was visiting for the third time in two months.  Unfortunately, the food and service at this expensive establishment has declined each time.  For example, the Saumon Provençale, pan-seared salmon, roasted potatoes, black olives, confit cherry tomatoes and capers, seemed attractive, even at $34.  When asked for it to be cooked no more than medium rare, the waiter said that was unlikely and delivered a dry, well-done piece of fish. Now, to enjoy the lovely surroundings, I suggest that you merely order an overpriced drink and eat your own pretzels.  

 

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

London is my favorite tourist destination.  I have been there numerous times over 35 years.  Two challenges have persisted all that time -- the language and cheap eats.  There simply isn't the equivalent of the hot dogs at Gray's Papaya, dollar-a-slice pizza or bacon, egg and cheese sandwich with a cup of coffee for a few bucks.  The only relatively reliable cheap eats in London that I have found are the branches of Pret A Manger and Wagamama.  Pret has been in New York for years, although it seems to have been unable to bring the hoisin duck wrap across the Atlantic.    https://www.pret.co.uk/en-GB/products/UK007579/hoisin-duck-salad-wrap 

 

The pan-Asian, noodle-centric Wagamama appeared locally much more recently and now has three Manhattan locations.  Today, I visited one for the first time in an enormous space at 605 Third Avenue.  There were booths, counters, ledges, accommodating well over 100 people.  Additionally, a big tent stood outside, unused in this chilly weather. 

 

The menu isn't that extensive.  The focus is on noodles in various guises and dumplings.  I had the Tantanmen (meaning “noodles being carried” because they hung from a pole carried by the vendor) Beef Brisket Ramen -  Korean beef brisket, half tea-stained egg, menma (fermented bamboo shoots), kimchi, scallions, cilantro, and bok choy in chicken broth ($18).  It was an excellent choice.  The big bowl of soup was hot, the strips of beef had a crispy edge, and the menma and kimchi gave it a spicy kick.  On the other hand, it would hardly qualify as cheap eats anymore. 

 

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

The trial of the organizers and perpetrators of the fatal 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia ended yesterday with significant victories for the plaintiffs.  The jury hung, however, on federal charges of propounding "racially motivated violence."  I want to step back from the particulars and explore language for a moment.  Anti-Semitism was central to the demonstrators.  "Jews will not replace us," they chanted.  Taking that as the racial component of the demonstration and the resulting violence, are Jews a race?  Are we a nation, a religion, a creed, an ethnic group?  Who decides and would we be satisfied with any label?   

. . . 

 

I received four e-mails this morning from Ticketmaster, the mammoth, worldwide on-line ticket agency, confirming payments that appeared in our bank account yesterday.  While the amounts produced some ecstasy, I was more moved by ending the agony of waiting for the long delayed transactions.  I will spare you the details, but merely comment that it is impossible to communicate with Ticketmaster, except to buy and sell tickets.  Certainly, buying and selling are the overwhelming interactions that you are likely to have with Ticketmaster, but, occasionally, an ancillary matter might arise, such as "Where is my long-delayed payment?"  Using the telephone, a very last century approach, is fruitless.  

 

The telephone number published for Ticketmaster customer service reaches a prerecorded message lamenting how busy they are (ignoring how profitable that must be) and directs you to their website without allowing the opportunity to record a message.  The website attempts to be very informative, suggesting a number of issues and their resolution.  If, however, there is no information about long-delayed payments, you follow the path to "How do I contact Customer Service?"  That page offers several platitudinous remedies, but very fine print at the bottom states "Still haven't found what you were looking for? [Contact Us]"  Pressing that button brings you to "How do I contact Customer Service?", the page you just left, a Möbius strip of frustration and insult.  I spent nearly two weeks frustrated and insulted by Ticketmaster's deaf and dumb stance until yesterday's bank statement.  That might also explain my grumpier than usual demeanor in that period for which you only have Ticketmaster to blame. 

 

Thursday, November 25, 2021

The evening news naturally featured coverage of the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Although it passes only two crosstown blocks from Palazzo di Gotthelf, I haven't seen the parade in person since I was a wee tot.  The huge balloons were always my favorite.  However, what was then differs substantially from what is now.

Today's parade included balloon versions of the Pillsbury doughboy and Ronald McDonald, examples of the inexorable commercialization of American life.  Also, floating over midtown Manhattan were inflated versions of Grogu, Pikachu and Ada Twist, household names, but not in this household.

 

I cannot identify with any precision the balloons that delighted me in my youth, but here is a photo gallery of balloons over the years.  https://create.passitdown.com/present/5ee8da5aef377859e35404d6/squares

 

To pursue this subject more pedantically, here is a list of balloons by year of introduction.  

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macy%27s_Thanksgiving_Day_Parade

 

What I have not been able to locate is a list of balloons appearing by year to actually relive my experience.  Is there a good researcher out there?

. . .

 

If you don't want to stand outside in Manhattan next year at Thanksgiving, here is a comparison of holiday life in the 100 largest U.S. cities based on 20 key metrics, including weather, costs, charitable giving and store decorations.  https://wallethub.com/edu/best-places-to-go-for-thanksgiving/67603 

 

If you are looking to find the right spot to spend the other 364 days, you can outsource your choice to this quiz.  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/11/23/opinion/sunday/best-places-live-usa-quiz.html 

 

Friday, November 26, 2021

Mother Ruth Gotthelf born 112 years ago today, which added to our Thanksgiving celebrations over many years.

. . . 

 

The New York Times Book Review is 125 years old, even older than my mother.  To commemorate this, it is asking its readers to choose the best book of the last 125 years.  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/11/24/books/best-book-vote.html 

 

It has narrowed the field to 25 entries.  I read 7-1/2 of them; I could not stick with "A Gentleman in Moscow."  Additionally, I skimmed "Ulysses," saw "Gone With the Wind" in the movies, saw "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" on stage, saw "To Kill a Mockingbird" in the movies and on stage, and saw a Harry Potter pastiche on stage.  By a generous count, I "know" 13 of the 25 works.  Does that reflect poorly on me or on the list?  In any case, I am not ready to announce my choice of the best book of the last 125 years.  No rush. 

. . .

 

R.I.P. Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021)

 

If the tea the Shogun drank will
Serve to keep the Shogun tranquil

Faced with these Loreleis

What man can moralize?

. . .

Answer = GLANDS

Sorry, Wrong Number

Monday, November 15, 2021

At 9:48 this morning and 2:38 this afternoon, I received telephone calls on our land line from Credit Suisse, according to the Caller ID.  However, when I answered each time, I heard the chirpy recorded voice of "Amy" announcing that I have been recommended for a medical alert system.  This is unfortunately commonplace and, no doubt, many of you have experienced and continue to experience such annoying interruptions.  We have a robo-call blocker on that line, which hangs up after one ring.  However, today's calls, and many like them, went undetected.  I am not sufficiently technical to understand why some calls are trapped and others not and I know that the scammers are often one step ahead of the forces of peace and quiet.   

 

There is one small step for mankind that our telephone companies should be obliged to institute in the absence of an effective blocking mechanism.  Display the name of the calling party, that is the entity owning the calling instrument, as is ordinarily the case when Aunt Myrtle calls.  I should be informed that the telephone call is from the Grace L Ferguson Airline and Storm Door Company and not Credit Suisse.   By the way, in neither case did I expect that Credit Suisse was, in fact, calling me.  I answered because I just wanted to know which scammer was on the line and take the opportunity to express.my displeasure. 

. . . 

 

A concise movie review by Anthony Lane in The New Yorker: "'Spencer' is, in many ways, baloney, abundantly spiced with slander." 

 

Tuesday, November 16, 2021 

A headline in today's science section reads: "Covid Vaccine for Pets Isn't Seen as a Priority."  I agree heartily, not until we cure cancer. 

. . . 

 

Maybe MAGA?  The New York city colleges were tuition-free; mail was delivered twice a day; rich people paid taxes. 

 . . . 

 

Speaking of New York's city colleges, a current report informs us that 43% of Harvard’s white students are either recruited athletes, legacy students, on the dean’s interest list (meaning their parents have donated to the school) or children of faculty and staff.   https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/713744?journalCode=jole 

 

Now, that's affirmative action. 

 

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

I had lunch with Mossad Moshe today.  Abiding by the confidentiality agreement he made me sign, I am unable to tell you where we ate and what we had.  

. . . 

 

Several people called my attention to an obituary in today's paper of Bob Gill, a very talented graphic designer."His father, Jack Gill, left when Bob was 2, and his mother, Frieda (Gotthelf) Gill, struggled to make a living as a piano teacher."  A relative?  

 

Last week, I extolled the work of Jerry Latter, my second cousin, in creating a family tree identifying almost 200 individuals connected to his father's father and my father's mother, who were brother and sister.  However, I don't have a scrap of information about Joseph Gotthelf, my father's father.  I don't know anything about him, other than he was a tailor, and his birth family.  He died months after I was born and my father and his three brothers and one sister were not particularly effusive.  This group of siblings formed their own social circle after their mother died in 1955, but it never broadened to include any Gotthelf cousins, although I heard vague references to various ones over the years.  Now, my brother and I sit atop the family pyramid, but I am sad to say that we have little to share with those coming after us. 

 

https://www.locatefamily.com lists 396 Gotthelfs, with a high degree of duplication and some obvious gaps.  About 10% are German or Canadian, therefore ranging from the impossible to the unlikely to be related.  Who are the others?

 

Thursday, November 18, 2021

It seems to be a bad week for royalty, or maybe ex-royalty.  The New York Times review of "Diana, the Musical" says that "it may well win the prize as the tawdriest and least excusable wholesaling of a supposedly true story ever to belt its way to Broadway."

. . . 

 

R.I.P. Dave Frishberg.    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/17/arts/music/dave-frishberg-dead.html?smid=em-share

. . . 

 

Art Spar writes poetry and I write prose, but we shared several good dishes at lunch today peacefully at Sala Thai, 307 Amsterdam Avenue.  We sat at one of the four tables in the hut at the curb, choosing that over the six unsheltered tables on the sidewalk.  We had Kha Nom Jeeb, a pleated dumpling made of shrimp and pork ($10 for 5 pieces); Yum Ped, crispy duck tossed with chili, red onion, pineapple, cashew nuts and scallion in spicy lime dressing ($16); Pad See Ew, wide rice noodles stir-fried in a dark soy sauce with shrimp, Chinese broccoli and egg. 

. . . 

 

The Social Season has begun.  For the first time in over 20 months, we went out.  Out, out.  We saw "Twyla Now," a new program by Twyla Tharp's dance company.  Typical of her work, the dances leaned towards the formal with a heavy injection of funky and folksy moves.  Her choice of music was decidedly eclectic, ranging from Bluegrass to Brahms.  It was a wonderful evening in spite of the challenge of wearing a mask indoors for two hours. 

 

Here is a taste of Twyla Tharp's work, a portion of a program based on Frank Sinatra.   https://youtu.be/hA-hJNZo85o  

 

Friday, November 19, 2021

Us fressers (Yiddish for gourmands) have had an increasing hard time over the decades.  As I have noted before, the number of Kosher delicatessens has dwindled down to a precious few.  Similarly, the possibly unique Holy Land phenomenon of the Cuban Chinese restaurant has almost entirely disappeared.  They were supposedly the byproduct of the Cuban Revolution when fine dining was abandoned along with other bourgeois trappings, sending unemployed chefs to less ideological pastures. 

La Caridad 78 thrived for a half century on the Upper West Side even as its peers were replaced by nail salons, drug stores and bank branches until it caught Covid-19.  Now, the premises have been redecorated and reopened as New Cottage Restaurant, 2199 Broadway.  I had the pleasure of having lunch there today with Henry Saltzman, author of "Oy! Oy! Oy!  The Teacher is a Goy," his amusing memoir of starting his teaching career at an ultra-Orthodox yeshiva.

 

He is at work now on a novel based on the general strike of 300,000 workers in Amsterdam, led by Communists in February 1941, against Nazi treatment of the Jews.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_strike  

 

Except for a statue in the formerly Jewish quarter of Amsterdam, it is forgotten by everyone except Henry.

 

New Cottage succeeds The Cottage, which was one block away on Amsterdam Avenue for many years until it too caught the virus.  When I arrived at 12:30, only one other table was occupied; by 1:00, all dozen were full.  However, no one, including us, sat at one of the six tables in the windy, chilly temperature outside.  Neither of us ordered a lunch special, $11 with a choice of soup.  After we shared an ordinary scallion pancake ($8), I made a bland choice, although most of the menu carried little red peppers denoting spicy dishes.  I had a very large bowl of shrimp won ton soup with chow fun noodles ($11).  A spoonful of hot mustard goosed up the soup, which was crowded with two dozen won tons.  

 

Conclusive judgment on New Cottage must await a deeper dive into the menu.  I want it to succeed, because the Jewish population of the Upper West Side needs sustenance. 

. . .

 

Have you heard the new version of "The Tears of a Clown" by Brett Kavanaugh and Kyle Rittenhouse?