Mangia Bene E Molto Costoso

Saturday, August 20, 2022 

In case you are not a member of the most despised minority in history, I want to share this collection of the 10 alleged best classic Jewish jokes.

https://forward.com/schmooze/421730/the-10-best-most-classic-jewish-jokes 

Of course, true to my heritage, I can’t leave well enough alone.  #9 is too specific and where is “so I shouldn’t have my mouth full when you call” and the blind man and the matzoh?

Sunday, August 21, 2022

I never thought that there was anything special about Pittsburgh, until I read about a wedding reception there.  “In Pittsburgh, it is traditional to have not only a wedding cake but also a cookie table.”

. . .

Who said: “Don't we have enough trees around here?"

• Smokey the Bear
• Woody Woodpecker
  
• Herschel Walker, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia 

Monday, August 22, 2022

From lunchtime till dinner time today, my mobile phone rang regularly with calls nominally originating in:
Alfred, NY
Forest City, NC
Los Angeles, CA
Rockville, IN (twice)
Otterbein, IN
Dundee, NY
Buena Vista, CO

While I would like to think that friends and admirers in far flung places were eager to speak to me, these calls were, in fact, the same exact recorded message offering to help me avoid the consequences of cheating on my income taxes.  

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Stony Brook Steve and I had a simple lunch at Simply Noodles, 267 Amsterdam Avenue.  While occupying very small floor space, its pan-Asian menu covers a lot of ground.  I had Dan Dan noodles, thin noodles cooked with peanuts, sesame paste, scallions and mushrooms ($13).  It tasted good, with a spicy undertone, but should have cost less or was that pre-pandemic Grandpa Alan talking?

Steve  was satisfied with a scallion pancake ($6) and chicken shu mai, four vertical dumplings, usually made of ground pork and shrimp ($8).

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

I am almost finished reading "Grifter's Game," a hard-nosed crime novel by Lawrence Block, author of dozens of crime and mystery novels.  It was published in 1961 and one little sentence is gnawing at me.  While I'll open it up to all of you, I am looking to the homeboys (homepersons?) of my generation for (in)validation.  Heading downtown, Joe, the murderer-to-be, "walked over to Sixth and caught the D train to Chambers."  Today, the 1, 2, 3, A, C, J and Z trains stop on Chambers Street.  Did the D train stop on Chambers Street in 1961?

. . .

Hadassah Nakiza is a member of the Abayudaya tribe of Uganda, a community of several hundred Jews founded over 100 years ago, beleaguered at home, recognized by most major Jewish groups, but not the insular Orthodox rabbinate of Israel.

She has just finished working as a counselor at the Reconstructionist summer camp as when I first met her in 2017.  Recently, she graduated university, majoring in Media Technology and Photojournalism.  In addition, she has been serving as President of the Union of Jewish Women in Uganda, an affiliate of the International Council of Jewish Women.  

Tonight, we had dinner together, joined by her local friends Rachel S. and Chaya W., at Playa Betty’s, 320 Amsterdam Avenue.  Unlike our lunch in 2017, when she did little more than push around everything on her plate at a Kosher Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, Hadassah ate heartily and I could almost hear Mother Ruth Gotthelf breathe a sigh of relief from beyond.

I had a Hang 10 Burrito, filled with chopped steak, French fries, lettuce, jack cheese, guacamole and sour cream ($18).  It was a fistful, but the sturdy tortilla wrapper kept everything in place.  We ended the evening appropriately at Amorino Gelato, 414 Amsterdam Avenue, where I merely had two scoops, a rich, dark chocolate and black cherry ($7).

Thursday, August 25, 2022

Madam and I had dinner with Barbara and Bernie, cousins of cousins, at Masseria dei Vini, 887 Ninth Avenue.  The name translates as wine farm, but it is closer to a wine library as this photograph strikingly illustrates. 

 

The food here is consistently both very good and expensive.  My young bride and I shared a Caesar salad, chopped with extra anchovies ($18.50 on the menu, $24.50 as served to us I observed later).  She had Parmigiana di Melenzane (eggplant parmigiana), listed under antipasti, but nearly a full-size portion ($26.50).  I had Cavatelli Ai Frutti di Mare e Purea di Piselli, coffee bean-shaped pasta with mixed seafood sauce served on a bed of green peas purée, so delicious that I almost ignored the price ($34.50).   The cost of a meal here seems to move inversely with the size of the glaciers in Iceland, although at a faster pace.

Friday, August 26, 2022

My young physical therapist and I were discussing music today.  "What's an LP?", she asked.

 

 

Singin' In the Rain

Saturday, August 13, 2022 

This paper carries the hefty title of "Post-Consumption Susceptibility of Online Reviewers to Random Weather-Related Events"

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3228036

In a nutshell, it says: "Our analyses of various automated-sentiment measures for around 300,000 [hotel] review texts show a significant reduction in reviewer positivity, happiness, and arousal on rainy days."  What's with the arousal?

. . .

I'm a big hockey fan, but I still can’t tell the difference between the Canada Life Centre and the Canadian Tire Centre or the Scotiabank Saddledome and the Scotiabank Arena or Rogers Place and Rogers Arena.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_National_Hockey_League_arenas

Sunday, August 14, 2022

A word that I learned today that I will probably never use in a sentence: Sedevacantism.

. . .

Last week, I provided information on the relocation of urban homeowners, people seeking to leave San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York to locations where the air conditioning has to run 24/7.  That’s not all that distinguishes the new nests.  They are places most likely to go from Deal to No Deal.

https://www.redfin.com/news/home-purchases-fall-through-2022/

It seems that in the rush to be surrounded by Republicans, some people fail to read the fine print.

. . .

There is an interesting quote in an essay about Ernst Lubitsch, the Hollywood director (“Ninotchka,” “The Shop Around the Corner,” “To Be or Not To Be”), in The New Yorker.  “I found Lubitsch to be the rare case of a major artist who becomes more likable the more one learns about him.”

Monday, August 15, 2022

My heart was aflutter when I learned last year that DiDi Dumpling was opening a branch at 201 Amsterdam Avenue, just across the moat from Palazzo di Gotthelf.    https://patch.com/new-york/upper-west-side-nyc/5-new-restaurants-opening-soon-upper-west-side

Then, I waited and I waited until today, when finally the dumplings came marching in.  However, I was unable to be among the first in line, because my brother invited me to have lunch with two of his three grandchildren, rarely on the same continent at the same time.

America's Favorite Epidemiologist and I, therefore, ventured forth to Miller's Ale House, 350 U.S. 9 North, Woodbridge Township, an enormous sports bar, with countless, roomy wooden booths and countless minus one televisions sets showing every imaginable sports event from around the world.  Food is almost beside the point under the circumstances and in such a venue, but I enjoyed the Prime Burger, melted American cheese, shaved prime rib, roasted mushrooms, sauteed onions, gravy, crispy onion tanglers and garlic crema on a toasted black and white sesame bun.  Money was no object, because my brother was paying.    

Tomás, 25-years old, residing in San Francisco, and sister Emma, almost 18, relocating from Shanghai, China to Saint Paul, Minnesota, both born and raised in Buenos Aires, were interesting company and have already accumulated more life experiences than most of their Gen Z peers.  

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Isn't it amazing how crazed Republicans have become at Merrick Garland for doing his job?  And, at the same time, they fail to notice that their hero took the Fifth Amendment 400 times and stole Top Secret documents from the White House.  It brings to mind "Bang the Drum Slowly," the great 1956 novel by Mark Harris about the sad fate of a modestly-talented baseball player.  When his team members traveled by train city-to-city, before expansion demanded air travel, they played a card game intended to rebuff civilian passengers looking to kibbitz with the athletes.  TEGWAR -- The Exciting Game Without Any Rules.  So, now, our friends, the Republicans, have turned American politics into TEGWAR.    

. . .

DiDi must still wait, because of my lunch date with Donna J., one of the kindest, most considerate persons that I know.  We met at Miriam, 300 Amsterdam Avenue, a somewhat Israeli restaurant, with a breezy outdoor space.

I had two broad, thin, crispy potato pancakes topped by two poached eggs, with side dishes of labneh (strained yoghurt) and Israeli salad (chopped tomatoes, cucumbers and onions) ($20).  It could have used a piece of pita to make a full lunch.  Donna had Gabne Cheese Arias (?), a pita stuffed with avocado, dried tomatoes and cheese, with Israeli salad, tahini and hard boiled eggs ($20).  Where the name comes from I can’t fathom.  All that I could find was that Gabne was a city in ancient Persia.

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Before I finally aimed for DiDi, I had a late morning coffee date with Thomas P., my boyish stock broker.  When I emerged from his office, I saw that the entire block from West 52nd Street to West 53rd Street on the east side of Sixth Avenue was taken by food trucks -- New York Birria Mexican Food; The Smashburger Truck; Deli & Dogz - The Pastrami Truck; Wraps & Kebabs - Authentic Egyptian Kitchen; All American Chicken Tenders; Caripito's Venezuelan Food; Diso's Italian Sandwich Society.  Immediate seating was on the parapet in front of Black Rock, the CBS headquarters building designed by Eero Saarinen.  Faced with this array, DiDi had to wait. 

I chose the least familiar, Venezuelan food.  Specifically, I had Cachapas, a sweet corn tortilla folded over white Venezuelan cheese and shredded beef ($13).  Although prepared for me, it was lukewarm which tamped down the flavors.  I benefited from the lineup of trucks when Caripito's had no Diet Coke, I went to Deli & Dogz for a Dr. Brown's diet black cherry. 

Thursday, August 18, 2022 

At long last dumplings.  DiDi was busy at lunchtime today.  People crowded the small floor space in front of the counter and stood outside on the sidewalk waiting for their order and then hastening away.   No one except me chose to remain at one of the three small two-tops; the only other seating was the bus bench on Amsterdam Avenue opposite the front door.

The menu is very limited, dumplings steamed or grilled (potstickers), pork, chicken, shrimp or “veggie.”  A few soups and two noodle dishes.  I ordered the #1 combo, five chicken pot stickers and lo mein (or else a choice of soup) ($8.75).  The pot stickers were good, the lo mein mediocre.  Given the convenient location, I am likely to see more of DiDi.  Also, the beverage cooler is totally committed to diversity, containing regular Coke and Diet Pepsi.

Playing Favorites

Saturday, August 6, 2022

A web site that reports on real estate activity finds that "A Record Share of Homebuyers Are Looking to Move From One Metro Area to Another."

https://www.redfin.com/news/q2-2022-housing-migration-trends/

 

San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City had the greatest anticipated net outflow in the second quarter of 2022.  What bothered me most were the favored destinations, far too much Florida.  

 

Sunday, August 7, 2022

My brother hipped me to this story.  https://newspub.live/news/drop-box-for-babies-conservatives-promote-a-way-to-give-up-newborns-anonymously/

 

Drop off your babies, but not your ballots.  Is this a great country or what?

 

Monday, August 8, 2022

Whether it's nature or nurture, Maggie Haberman, daughter of distinguished CCNY alumnus and New York Times journalist Clyde Haberman, has become one of the nation's leading political reporters.  Her book on the Trump presidency, "Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America," will be published in October.  Meanwhile, she has released photographs of presidential documents being flushed down the toilet, in violation of federal law.   https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2022/08/08/trump-documents-toilet-pictures-haberman-keilar-berman-newday-vpx.cnn

Trump announced that the FBI raided his Florida home this morning, allegedly breaking into a safe.  There is no word whether the agents looked into his toilets.

. . .

 

Olivia, Emma and Charlotte are the top three baby girl names currently, according to the Social Security Administration.  

https://eww.thebump.com/b/most-popular-baby-names

 

I have a grandniece Emma and a dear friend Charlotte, so I didn't feel entirely out of touch.  On the other hand, Alan doesn't even make it into the top 100 for baby boys, a fate shared by Donald strangely enough. 

 

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Jing Fong, 20 Elizabeth Street, was a favored destination for many years.  With 800 seats, it was the largest restaurant in Chinatown and possibly the entire city.  It was also unionized, a rare distinction.  Unfortunately, it could not survive Covid-19.

 

After more than a year, it has been revived at 202 Centre Street, with a sliver of its former capacity.  Decor is modern, with barely any Chinese touches.  Still, many women, totally fluent in Cantonese, circle the room with wagons laden with plates and baskets of dim sum.  Five of us dug in, of course, repeating “What’s that?” at the sight of every item.

 

Quality remains high, prices are higher.  It cost us $22 each, which we might have paid just to sit indoors while the temperature outside went to 95°.

 

Wednesday, August 10, 2022

Sometimes the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice.  “In Italy, Where Pizza Was Born, Domino’s Bows Out”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/09/world/europe/dominos-pizza-italy-closes.html?referringSource=articleShare

. . . 

 

I had the company of William Franklin Harrison for the entire afternoon, something that will prove impossible once he locks onto the trajectory leading him to the White House in 2036, meeting the Constitutional age requirement.

 

We started at Awe Sum Dim Sum, 612 Eighth Avenue, because dim sum on Wednesday naturally follows dim sum on Tuesday.  As two growing boys, we ate heartily; 4 shrimp dumplings, $6.95; Special chicken siu mai, 4 pieces $6.95; turnip cake, 2 pieces $5.95; 4 vegetarian dumplings, $5.95; 2 pan fried buns, $4.95; 2 baked BBQ pork buns, $5.95.

 

After lunch, we took the #7 train directly to the Mets/Reds game at Citi Field.  Until today, the Mets had won 14 of the last 16 games.  Possibly following our lead, the Mets loaded up, winning 10-2.  It was so one-sided, I briefly felt sorry for the opposition.  But, it passed.

Thursday, August 11, 2022

Jonathan Henney, my favorite second-year law student, joined me for lunch.  We had several reasons to celebrate.  He finished his summer internship yesterday and received an offer of future employment from one of the country’s leading law firms today.

We ate at Harvest Kitchen, 269 Columbus Avenue.  It has an all-American menu, akin to an upgraded diner, including breakfast all day.  Jon had smoked salmon Benedict, no charge after the waiter knocked over a water glass into his lap.  I had the Kitchen Scratch Crispy Chicken sandwich, with guacamole, lettuce, tomato, caramelized onions, pickles and “HK classic sauce” on an overwhelmed brioche bun ($17).  Even eating it with a knife and fork was a messy affair, but I stayed dry.

Friday, August 12, 2022

Daniel Kligerman, my Fourth Favorite Brazilian, close behind his wife and two daughters, delighted me with a photograph from Israel.  

 

He is sitting with his brother-in-law and a thick volume of first day covers of US postage stamps, one of a dozen that I had accumulated.  I was happy to satisfy his brother-in-law’s interest in stamps and start to make room on my bookshelves.  I am going to encourage Daniel to make many more future trips and will be happy to donate to your brother-in-law as well.

With A Little Help From My Friends

Sunday, July 31, 2022

A woman employed by Legoland as a master builder, who identifies as L.B.G.T.Q., is very pleased with the freedom of expression that she is allowed personally and professionally.  https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/31/business/gen-z-jobs.html?referringSource=articleShare

“Her miniature figures are blind and plus-size.  They have prosthetic legs and wear burqas.  Recently, she created a Hasidic Jew.”  But only God can make a tree.

. . .

I don’t think that I am the only person who has taken to averting his eyes from the front page of the newspaper.  There’s just too much nutsiness and craziness in the world these days.  Instead, my attention is drawn to inconsequential matters, or what some people might consider inconsequential.

For example, the weekend’s book review looked favorably at a novel by Felicia Berliner entitled “Shmutz,” the Yiddish word for dirt.  Except, everybody knows that it should be spelled SCHMUTZ.  Berliner is a Jewish name; I had a boss named Berliner.  So, maybe we should blame her editor.

Monday, August 1, 2022

“‘Most people think I’m Jewish anyway,’ Trump reportedly told his future son-in-law when Jared Kushner informed him that he was going to marry Ivanka Trump and that she intended to convert.”

https://forward.com/news/512645/kushner-book-judaism-ivanka-trumps-donald-trump-benjamin-netanyahu-israel/

No.

. . .

“In 2020, it was estimated that the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio was 351.1 in the United States.  This indicates that, on average, CEOs received about 351.1 times the annual average salary of production and nonsupervisory workers in the key industry of their firm.”

https://www.statista.com/statistics/261463/ceo-to-worker-compensation-ratio-of-top-firms-in-the-us/

. . .

For lunch, I returned to Urban Space, 570 Lexington Avenue, a food court where Gen Me was outnumbered by Gen Them in the same ratio as the earnings of working slobs to CEOs.  As a sign of economic recovery, the place was busy with all the available food kiosks up and running, a substantial improvement over my last visit.

I chose the Classic sandwich at Bull Chicken, specializing in Korean fried and BBQ chicken, fried chicken, pickles and buttermilk ranch dressing in a package with shoestring fries and a Diet Coke ($13.98).  It was an excellent choice, the chicken as good as any in Koreatown.

Tuesday, August 2, 2022

Happy Burt’s Day.

. . .

It is well known that where you grow up plays a critical role in where you wind up on the socioeconomic ladder.  However, a new study offers an important footnote to this concept.  “[C]ross-class friendships — what the researchers called economic connectedness — had a stronger impact than school quality, family structure, job availability or a community’s racial composition.”  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/08/01/upshot/rich-poor-friendships.html?referringSource=articleShare

This economic connectedness doesn’t come easy.  “[I]f poor children grew up in neighborhoods where 70 percent of their friends were wealthy — the typical rate of friendship for higher-income children — it would increase their future incomes by 20 percent, on average.”  A poor kid with so many rich friends, 7 out of 10, is far from commonplace, but this study encompassing 72 million people is going to yield some of everything.

In addition to Alexander Hamilton, some notable examples of upward mobility by osmosis are found in fiction.  "The Talented Mr. Ripley" comes to mind along with Jay Gatsby.  You have to exclude one-to-one relationships, such as Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins and the suspect arrangement between Batman and Robin.

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

This article associates the setting of many elite universities with their alienation from their neighbors.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/02/opinion/elite-universities-campus.html?referringSource=articleShare

This corresponds with my personal experience.  CCNY sits on a hill that leaves most of Harlem below and beyond.  Famously, Cornell University is "far above."  The article contains one clunker, however.  "[U]rban state universities . . . have done a much better job integrating with their environments than elite private universities — with the possible exception of N.Y.U."  NYU (real New Yorkers don't come to a full stop) has been devouring much of Greenwich Village and vicinity over the years.  

 

In spite of its name, I went to Bareburger, 2233 Broadway, for chicken.  Its eight outdoor two-tops were empty as the temperature approached 90, while the four booths and six two-tops in the air conditioned indoors were almost all occupied during the lunch hour.  I had the "Southern Chix," Nashville hot buttermilk-fried chicken on a fresh brioche roll, with pickled green tomato, organic lettuce and buttermilk ranch dressing ($12.95).  A very good sandwich, spicy and just goopy enough.

I must warn you, however.  The unsweetened ice tea is nominally offered in several attractive fruit flavors, but $3.95 gets you just wet ice cubes.

Thursday, August 4, 2022

The Great Resignation is a term that only emerged last year, identifying a significant shift in occupations and employment patterns supposedly unleashed by Covid-19.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/11/what-is-the-great-resignation-and-what-can-we-learn-from-it/

Here are data from the US Census Bureau on the actual comings and goings by job type.

https://usafacts.org/projects/jobs/who-leaves?

What’s most notable, and least surprising, is how job tenure or stability generally correspond to one’s position on the totem pole of status and income.  Surgeons high, bartenders low.  One truism that turns out to be false, however, is the alleged defection of doctors and lawyers due to burnout.  The numbers aren’t there.  Maybe 7 out of 10 of my friends, practicing doctors or lawyers, do no more than gaze fondly at greener pastures.

. . .

    

“Statistics Canada said that the Jewish community, comprising about 1% of the population, were victims of 14% of reported hate crimes. Jews saw a 47% rise in reported hate crimes compared to 2020, according to the bureau.”

https://www.jta.org/2022/08/03/global/canada-says-jews-were-most-targeted-religious-minority-for-hate-crimes-last-year

 

Friday, August 5, 2022 

The free exchange of ideas on Broadway between 68th and 69th Streets @ 9 A.M.