Vanilla Fudge

Monday, August 2, 2021

Ross Douthat is the conservative shabbos goy of the editorial pages of the New York Times.  He holds essentially classical views, with a strong belief in institutions, not in Donald Trump.  Writing about the Republican Party the other day, he said that "the Republicans [who are] trying to create a lasting populism . . . [range from] sitting senators like Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton to Senate candidates like J.D. Vance and Blake Masters."    https://nyti.ms/3yiRVLI

Just to remind you who these populist crusaders are:

• Josh Hawley (Missouri) - Stanford University undergraduate and Stanford Law School
• Tom Cotton (Arkansas) - Harvard University undergraduate and Harvard Law School
• J.D. Vance (Ohio) - Ohio State University undergraduate and Yale Law School
  
• Blake Masters (Arizona) - Stanford University undergraduate and Stanford Law School

. . .

If your limousine is still in the shop and you find yourself unwilling to take public transportation while we are still in the grip of the pandemic, consider a bicycle.  Here is a handy look at "2021’s Best Cities for Living Without a Car."    https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/studies/best-cities-for-living-without-a-car/

San Francisco, Portland, Oregon, and Washington top the list.  A temperate climate and receptiveness to non-automotive commuting were critical factors.  Boston and the Holy Land were fourth and fifth.  The bottom of the heap was occupied by Shreveport, Montgomery, Alabama, and Little Rock.  In fact, all 10 lowest cities where four wheels dominated two wheels were in states that chose you-know-who in 2020. 

. . .

Another way to compare urban areas from a completely different angle is found by looking at the efficiency in solving murders.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/23/upshot/murder-crime-solving.html

"Fatal shootings are harder to solve quickly than other kinds of murders."  So, use a gun if you want to maximize the chances of sleeping in your own bed for the indefinite future.

. . .

I rarely add emphasis (underline or bold) to quoted remarks.  I expect that you can recognize the important things on your own.  This time, however, emphasis is appropriate.  "After years of protest, litigation and even violence, the statues of two Confederate generals, Lee and Jackson, were finally carted out of [Charlottesville, Virginia] city parks, expelled by the city’s drive to right its past wrongs.  Now the really hard work awaits."

https://nyti.ms/3C4fvy1 

Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Birthday greetings to Barack Obama and Myron Poloner. 

Although cake and ice cream were missing from the menu, the Boyz Club held their own celebration at Wu's Wonton King, 165 East Broadway, the site of the legendary Garden Cafeteria for decades, where every variety of left winger gathered after work at one of the nearby Yiddish newspapers.  Instead of disputing the interpretation of a Marxist text, we disagreed on some of the 21st century's toxic topics, race and wokeness.

I was so involved in the arguments that I barely noted what we ate.  To the best of my recollection, we had beef and parsley rice noodle rolls, shrimp rice noodle rolls, honey-roasted pork rice noodle rolls, shrimp dumplings, siu mai, vegetable egg rolls, Singapore mei fun, chicken chow fun, "Golden Fried Rice" and something that was passed off as spare ribs, the only disappointment in an otherwise first-rate meal at $22 each for the six of us.  We sat outside in a hut on Rutgers Street, not 400 feet from Mother Ruth Gotthelf's birthplace at 13 Essex Street.

The Garden Cafeteria was founded in 1941, when the Pekin Noodle Parlor in Butte, Montana was already 30-years old, making it the oldest family-owned Chinese restaurant in the country, a surprising piece of information.    https://nyti.ms/3lrcvG5

Here is its rather simple menu.    https://www.sirved.com/r/bS01OTIwMTgtMzE1NTk3NQ==

And, while I am usually skeptical of Internet-crowd reviews, Pekin Noodle collects some stinkers.    https://m.yelp.com/biz/pekin-noodle-parlor-butte

On the other hand, San Francisco is a 15-1/2 hour drive from Butte.

Thursday, August 5, 2021

At lunch yesterday, the question arose as to when each of us became politically aware.  The answers ranged from forever to first-year graduate school (undergraduate science major).  Today, while shopping, I thought of another coming-of-age benchmark, although it would only apply to those of us in our golden years.  What was the first ice cream flavor that you became aware of that was not vanilla, chocolate or strawberry?