Monday, April 12, 2021
"How Epidemiologists Are Planning to Vacation With Their Unvaccinated Kids"
Our in-house epidemiologist has made very limited vacation plans even though she and her superannuated kid are both fully vaccinated. They plan to attend #1 grandson's Bar Mitzvah later this month, near Boston, with barely a dozen other people physically present. They are pondering another Bar Mitzvah in June, which would require a cross-country flight. And that's it for now. The unused tickets to London and Tel Aviv remain unredeemed and whether they are irredeemable is still to be determined.
. . .
Here is a valuable article on the ethnocentric
nature of New York politics, city and state. https://forward.com/
The ethno that is centric in this case is Jewish, the necessity for candidates to show their delight in Jewish food, specifically the knish. I will spare you a primer on knishes, but I have to offer valuable guidance.
Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery, 137 East Houston Street, is properly cited as the quintessential source of knishes in the known Universe.
Just scrolling through the illustrated menu will assuage all but the most rabid anti-Semite. However, don't eat a Yonah Schimmel knish! I don't mean never. Order your knishes to take home. Don't expect to eat them on the premises, because they use a microwave oven to heat them up. This brings moisture to the surface and results in a limp-crusted knish. You want, nay deserve, a crisp-crusted knish, which a few minutes in a conventional oven, even a toaster oven, will produce. This is the very essence of delayed gratification, believe me.
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This is 2021 and yet "for every dollar a typical white household has, a Black one has 12 cents."
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/
Long-established governmental and institutional policies have produced this result. The most diligent efforts of individuals and families were only rarely able to overcome the discriminatory burdens on Black people. See, for example, Richard Rothstein, "The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America" or Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, "Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership."
This is not the measure of a healthy society.
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
Yesterday, the Upper West Side's Power Couple did something that we never did before. We went to a wedding on a Monday. In the past, we have attended many weddings, typically on a Saturday or Sunday. Once, we even went to a wedding on a Thursday. While a Monday wedding was not on our bucket list, it is now checked off. (I don't believe in bucket lists, but that's for another time.)
It wasn't the very first time, but last night, for the first time since June 2017, I wore cufflinks. It was a very grownup feeling, in contrast to the infantilizing lockdown/quarantine period.
. . .
Going back further than 3 years and 10 months, here are the 13 original rules of basketball, which fit on one page.
https://www.usab.com/history/
Today's National Basketball Association rule
book has added a 14th rule, but takes 72 pages to identify them
all. https://dochub.com/
This very day, Major League Baseball is violating one of the cardinal rules of baseball, one that probably reaches back into the 19th century, and is written in the heart of every fan. As a result of bad weather over the last few days, the Mets are playing a doubleheader. Fans will see two games for the price of one, something once commonplace, but not so much anymore.
Nu, Grandpa Alan? What's wrong with that? Well, I'll tell you. Each game will be only 7 innings long instead of the 9 inscribed on one of the tablets Moses found too heavy to carry. This shameless travesty on sacred practice has been a supposed rule since last year. Even if the Mets won both, 4-3 and 4-0, it shouldn't be allowed.
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
With at least a one-day break from wet and clammy weather, Gentleman Jerry, Al S. and I had lunch outdoors at Tacombi, 377 Amsterdam Avenue, one of 9 locations in this growing local Mexican food chain. I have returned here several times during the year of the plague, because of the good food and the relatively comfortable outdoor dining arrangements.
We shared guacamole ($12.95). I then had the Enseneda burrita, fried Alaskan cod, beans, cabbage, spicy escabeche (vinegary marinade), salsa and roasted poblano mayonnaise wrapped in a tortilla ($12.95), while the other guys had quesadillas, mushroom ($6.95) and chicken ($7.95). The chef must have had a good weekend, because everything was quite tasty.
Thursday, April 15, 2021
Cindy and David were married in my presence in 1981. They now live in Charlotte, North Carolina after spells in Chicago, Illinois, St. Petersburg, Florida, Edinburgh, Scotland, Lincolnton, North Carolina, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and Aberdeen, Scotland. For the last few days, they have been in this area visiting family and friends and we had the pleasure of their company at lunch through a pouring rain.
We met at Telly's Taverna, 28-13 23rd Avenue, Astoria, a classic Greek seafood restaurant. Even though we are all fully vaccinated, outdoor dining is still our chosen modus operandi, but Telly's teepee was leaking badly. So, we occupied only the second table of the 30 or so in the large restaurant.
David and I had lamb chops ($38), Cindy, grilled sardines ($22) and my conscience, grilled red snapper ($38). We started with a large plate of dips -- yogurt-based tzatziki, garlicky potato skordalia and a rich hummus ($18). This was the best food of the afternoon, but ample wine and great conversation kept the affair at a high level.
. . .
In its own words, "YouGov is an international research data and analytics group headquartered in London." It is drawing attention with a ranking of the states by Americans.
While we are not the only country of federated states, I just don't think that the Swiss or the Germans are as devoted to their home turf as we Americans are. Going a step deeper, I believe that city looms larger than state here in the five boroughs, and that Los Angeles and San Francisco do no more than share license plates.
However, we see how politically powerful state identity remains overall in the Electoral College and the United States Senate. In any case, New Jersey has to be embarrassed by having only Mississippi and Alabama below it.
. . .
Crime doesn't pay, right? "Last month, the Sacklers offered to pay $4.275 billion from their personal fortune in an attempt to end thousands of lawsuits that have been filed against the company." https://nyti.ms/3mBXWOz
Friday, April 16, 2021
Stony Brook Steve and I ventured over to Mimi Cheng's Dumplings, 309 Amsterdam Avenue, where I was frustrated the instant they opened their doors a few weeks ago, because they lacked outdoor seating. Now, a few tables sit on the sidewalk and we were ready to be delighted.
Unfortunately, we were barely pleased. Steve had steamed vegetable dumplings ($12.95 for 8), hefty at a hefty price. I started with a scallion pancake ($6.50), small, 6" diameter, and too brittle. Then, how could I resist the Matzo Ball Wonton Soup ($14.95)? 8 "wontons with fluffy matzo ball filling and parmesan [!]" in a piping hot, dill-laden chicken broth. The soup itself was perfect on this chilly afternoon, but the cross-cultural wontons failed to impress.
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The Democrats in Washington have taken up the subject of the structure of the Supreme Court. Until recently, you could count me as a conservative on fiddling with the size and terms of membership. Now, objections are raised to any change, because it would supposedly erode the public’s trust in the legitimacy of the Court. That reasoning was swept away by Mitch McConnell and his shameful disregard of the presidency and the Court when Antonin Scalia's death caused a vacancy in February 2016, 9 months before the presidential election. With the Republicans treating a Supreme Court seat with the same dignity as the Seminole County, Florida tax collector, I say "Full speed ahead." My list of additions starts with Jane C. Ginsburg, professor at the Columbia University School of Law, and, incidentally, Ruth Bader Ginsburg's daughter.
.. and if a Black family has any capital, others think it is because of affirmative action. Jeez Louise, Archie would say.
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