Monday, February 28, 2022
I am going to tell you why the National Football League is so popular, as demonstrated by its new broadcasting deal, "valued at more than $100 billion . . . [with] Amazon, CBS, ESPN/ABC, Fox and NBC." https://www.cnn.com/
The left seeks "a place (as on a college campus) intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, or conversations" (https://www.merriam-webster.
Both sides are attempting to deny us conflict, thumping, bashing -- verbal and/or physical. Meanwhile, NFL games draw crowds of 60,000 to 80,000 in person and are watched by an average of 17.1 million people. https://
Eliminating conflict and confrontation, feeding students pap, does not seem to satisfy some of our primal urges.
. . .
Rent or buy? That's a question that many of us have faced and many others strive to face. A recent survey shows that, with the rarest exception, renting is cheaper than buying family-sized residential property in much of the world.
Monday, February 28, 2022
In what's becoming a habit, I had lunch at Pastrami Queen, 138 West 72nd Street, for the third Monday in a row. Stony Brook Steve was my companion today. I had the lunchtime special, matzoh ball soup and half a roast beef sandwich ($18.95), an excellent combination.
The bowl of hot soup was loaded with two golf-ball sized matzoh balls, lukshen (egg noodles), shredded chicken and carrots. The roast beef was as rare as Kosher roast beef can get (only slightly), generously heaped on rye bread. Steve had two Hebrew National hot dogs and a portion of potato salad ($10.95).
Another successful foray into Kosher Delicatessenland.
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
In the immortal words of one of the 20th century's leading philosophers, Roseanne Roseannadanna, "It's always something!" The Upper West Side's Power Couple was up bright and early, ready to be picked up at 5 AM for our 8:05 AM flight to London on British Airlines, booked by American Airlines.
At that time in the morning, the roads were relatively empty, but we didn't expect the airline terminal to be empty as well. Four British Airlines employees sat at elevated desks, talking to each other with no other passengers in sight. Of course, they had no knowledge of a flight to London any sooner than 12 hours hence. They informed us that the flight that we booked had been canceled in December, information that American Airlines never shared with us. They could only suggest that we go to American Airlines (one terminal over), who had been holding our money for over two years.
American's personnel were mostly unhelpful, contending that a telephone call to a number that I abandoned in 2003 was the sufficient and sole notice of their change in plans, ignoring their use of my long-standing e-mail address in a variety of other messages about the flight as booked, including two dated yesterday. They canceled the now non-existent transaction as we hurried off to Virgin Atlantic, four terminals back, to try to catch their 8:20 non-stop to London.
The Virgin folk, who do not deserve any cheap jokes from me, worked very hard to get us on their flight at a reasonable price. We were seated comfortably, with a few minutes to spare, in time to encounter a 185-minute delay, because of a fueling problem.
We landed in London at 10:45 PM local time (2245), 2 hours and 45 minutes later than anticipated. That, too, produced a problem. The car service that I reserved last week, and whom I kept informed of the change of airlines and the receding arrival time during the long day, was not at Heathrow and, following the lead of American Airlines, canceled the trip. Regular taxicabs were available, fortunately, and it was indeed a small fortune to deliver us to the quiet elegance of The Capitol Hotel near midnight.
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
Oh, did I mention that they threw a transit strike on our behalf? Total stoppages are alternating with slowdowns on public transport. Otherwise, mild temperatures and rain opened our visit. Short errands and a long nap fit quite nicely during the day. The good times began to roll at dinner at ROVI, 59 Wells Street, one of Yotam Ottolenghi's popular restaurants. We were joined by David and Katherine, Lord and Lady Kennington, and Robina Rafferty, their great friend and now ours, as well.
While we were delighted to have such wonderful company at dinner, the food upheld its end of the bargain. We shared two of what the menu called "Nibbles," trout crudo, with Meyer lemon and winter radish (£10.50), and parsnip & pecorino croquettes, with smoked garlic aioli and pickled walnuts (£9). As different as these dishes were, they were each excellent in design and execution. By coincidence, all of us chose the same main course, "Jerusalem Mixed Grill," either centered on mushrooms (£22) or chicken, including hearts and liver (£24), prepared with Baharat onions and served with pickles, pita and tahini.
We ended by passing around three superb desserts, but, by then, my food and wine intake dulled my powers of observation.
Thursday, March. 3, 2022
The transit strike essentially shut down the London Underground, but we crossed the city by bus to take an express train to Manchester, neither the London buses nor the intercity railroads involved in the labor dispute. After a comfortable train ride of just over two hours, incorporating some nap time, we met David Mervin, my friend from graduate school days, whom we had last seen at his 50th wedding anniversary party in 2014.
He treated us to lunch at The Ivy Spinningfields, The Pavilion, Byron Street, a relatively new branch of a London institution. It is spread over three floors, each beautifully and distinctively decorated, so beautiful that I feared for the quality of the food. Not to worry. The menu combined traditional British dishes (I had fish and chips and sticky toffee pudding for dessert) with imaginative creations (my young bride had baked miso aubergine with cracked durum wheat, cauliflower, red pepper, raisins, almonds, coconut yogurt and rocket). They would have elevated a basement location. I omitted prices, since we were guests. However, they appeared reasonable when my eyes strayed over to the right hand side of the menu.
After lunch, we went to the Manchester Jewish Museum, which combines a brand new exhibition space with a carefully restored 18th century synagogue, once in the center of a large Jewish neighborhood. As happened in New York's Lower East Side and London's East End, the Jews moved up and out, replaced by newer immigrants. The number of Jews has grown in the general area, we were told, but they are increasingly Orthodox, with typical large families. Judged by the number of synagogues, Manchester is a far more Jewish city than London.
Friday, March 4, 2022
On my first trip to London in 1985, I wandered around Chinatown and dropped into Canton Kitchen, 11 Newport Place, for a late meal. While I was not documenting meals back then, I had a favorable enough opinion of Canton Kitchen that I returned a few times over the years. Today, as Lord K and I walked through Chinatown, I herded him into Canton Kitchen for lunch.
Addressing the pandemic, it had a tent-like structure fronting the premises, a much rarer sight in London than in New York. We first shared a mixed dim sum platter, 9 pieces for £10.50, ordinary at best. But, the Aromatic Crispy Duck a/k/a Peking duck was brilliant, as the British say when really excited (£21.50 for 1/2 duck). It came with 10 pancakes, spring onions (scallions), cucumber slivers and hoisin sauce to roll your own blintz/burrito. The duck was as fat-free as any that I have ever encountered, just meat and crispy skin -- an exceptional delight.
. . .
Friday night, at the end of an exciting week, some excitement coming as a complete surprise, we chose to have a traditional dinner. We went to Madhu's Brasserie on the fifth floor of Harvey Nichols, a very fashionable department store, 175 Knightsbridge, where a handful of restaurants surround a big, airy retail space offering wine, liquor, chocolates and such. I had a delicious lamb biryani (£19.50). Of course, there are traditions and there are traditions.
Amazon will rule the world one day (sigh)
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