A "Nice" Whitefish

Sunday, March 27, 2022 

I’m not a particularly sentimental guy, but I was moved by the news that Kim Kardashian’s boyfriend got a tattoo to celebrate her success on a part of the California bar examination.     https://apple.news/AyQhhz_srS36gYDI0oxw5fQ

While it has been 20 years since I passed the New York State bar examination, I hope that my girlfriend considers commensurate, if belated, recognition of my accomplishment.

. . .

I was surprised by the results of a national survey of the length of homeownership.    https://www.redfin.com/news/2021-homeowner-tenure/

When I lived in Los Angeles, admittedly a lifetime ago, people changed residences almost as frequently as spouses.  Also, I imagined that New Yorkers and Northeasterners generally were the most settled; Mother Ruth Gotthelf lived 57 years in the same apartment.  But, the survey shows otherwise.  California, earthquakes and mudslides aside, seems to be the model of stability.

Monday, March 28, 2022

“An ABC News analysis of federal data found that on average, the death rates in states that voted for Trump were more than 38% higher than in states that voted for Biden, post widespread vaccine availability.”

Tuesday, March 29, 2002

As the Boyz Club approached the House of Joy, 28 Pell Street, some might have expected something more than a good Chinese meal.  The premises, once Delight 28 Restaurant (February 4, 2010), has been thoroughly renovated inside and out.  It’s a large, bright, open space devoted to dim sum.

In spite of my conscientious attempts at record keeping, I lost track of the plates flying off the wagons circling the floor.  I remember one was a vegetable and there were 14 in all.  The five of us paid $20 each. 

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Normal has become another N-word.  It postulates a condition or situation that is unavailable to some people for a variety of reasons and, therefore, is considered unfair or worse in many contexts.  Yet, I am reluctant to let it go.  I am no clinician, so I have a hard time replacing “normal” in my vocabulary.

For instance, a 40-year-old man, his 41-year-old wife, her twin sister, and the couple’s 8-year-old daughter died last week by jumping out of a building in what Swiss police called a "collective suicide."  A teenage son survived the jump, but is in a coma. 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/29/french-family-leapt-off-balcony-one-by-one-switzerland-policereferringSource=articleShare

That ain’t normal.

Then, there’s Lara Logan, once a major league foreign correspondent for the CBS network, now with Fox, opining on a podcast: 

"Does anyone know who employed Darwin, where Darwinism comes from?  Look it up: The Rothschilds. It goes back to 10 Downing Street. The same people who employed Darwin, and his theory of evolution and so on and so on. I’m not saying that none of that is true. I’m just saying Darwin was hired by someone to come up with a theory — based on evidence, right?"

http://a.msn.com/01/en-us/AAVBqFH?ocid=se

She ain’t normal, either.

. . .

Once upon a time, a lout like me approaching The Chick Shop, 805 Third Avenue Atrium, would be spouting adolescent humor.  Sorry, there will be no ribald suggestions now about what one might pick up at this Israeli-oriented stand.  Instead, I ordered a pita stuffed with five falafels, tomatoes, cucumber, cabbage, pickles, tahini and hummus ($10.50) and ate it in the large, open space on the building’s lower level.

I tried to enjoy my lunch, but the atmosphere was funereal.  805 Third has 525,000 square feet of office space on 31 floors, but the Atrium was empty at lunchtime as very few people patronized The Chick Shop or the other food vendors on the premises.  No one seemed to be at work or, at least, not at their normal (there we go) place of employment.  I have a feeling that other nearby office buildings were similarly underpopulated as evidenced by the light pedestrian traffic throughout the area.

Friday, April 1, 2022

I had the pleasure of having lunch with Paul Bergman, recently retired criminal defense attorney.  I never needed his services professionally, but I was always glad that he was there if I needed him. Over the years, my behavior veered to the frivolous, the undisciplined, even the reckless, but, fortunately, never to the criminal.

Today, we met at Green Garden Village, 216 Grand Street, a grungy provider of very good food.  We shared a generous bowl of wonton soup ($6.50), loaded with eight excellent wontons.  We continued by sharing two lunch specials, "Shrimp with Peanut with Spicy Sauce" and short ribs and eggplant with garlic sauce, both $8.  These were full-sized dishes, marked down for lunchtime.  The sauces were very pungent and tasty, but the shrimp were undersized and were outnumbered by the peanuts.  We ended with a very large portion of Singapore ho fun ($14), which seemed to successfully combine everything loose on the kitchen counter dusted with curry powder.  Had you been with us, there would have been enough food for you as well. 

. . .

As if one good meal wasn't enough for me today, I had dinner at Ben's Kosher Delicatessen Restaurant, 209 West 38th Street, with my cousin Michael Goldenberg.  But, the evening started and ended on wrong notes.  When I entered the subway at West 72nd Street, I found a total standstill.  The nearly-indecipherable messages coming over the public address system mentioned a fire and a cessation of service on the 1, 2 and 3 lines, the precise path I would take to the neighborhood of Ben's and Madison Square Garden.  As a longtime student of the Holy Land's transportation system, I was less befuddled than most of the hundreds of people climbing the stairs back to the street.  I hoofed over to Columbus Avenue and caught an M7 bus, leaving me one block from Ben's.  I was only 20 minutes late.   

 

I had a corned beef/tongue combo on rye bread, French fries and a Dr. Brown's diet black cherry.  Since I was Michael's guest, I did not record the cost, but offered abundant thanks.  Dinner was a prelude to the Rangers/Islanders game at Madison Square Garden, which proved a bigger disappointment than the failed subway system.  Let's leave it at that.

. . .

There is news that Russ & Daughters, 19 East Houston Street, the preeminent purveyor of what Jews strangely call "appetizing," may be the subject of a television series. 

https://www.jta.org/2022/03/31/ny/a-scripted-tv-series-about-russ-daughters-may-be-coming-soon

 

Calvin Trillin, the greatest writer in the English language since William Shakespeare, "describ[ed] the typical Russ & Daughters customer: a sweet, elderly, Jewish lady who comes in once a week looking for a 'nice' whitefish.  'One whitefish coming up,' says the affable counterman . . . 'I said a "nice" whitefish,' shoots back the lady."

https://www.thedailymeal.com/much-ado-about-noshing

 

In 1968, I dated a daughter of one of Russ's daughters.  She was quite lovely, an art teacher in the public school system.  I wonder who will play me on television?