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.