Saturday, January 7, 2023
Now that Republicans have taken control of the House of Representatives, under the bold and stalwart leadership of Kevin McCarthy, we can expect progress on the vital issues of:
- Gas prices and Hunter Biden
- Immigration and Hunter Biden
- Cryptocurrency and Hunter Biden
- Middle East peace and Hunter Biden
- Covid-19 and Hunter Biden
- Transgender athletes and Hunter Biden
. . .
It has been some time since we have ventured forth with Jill and Steve, our intrepid fellow travelers. In fact, we returned from India with them barely six weeks before the lockdown began here in 2020. Tonight, we took a step towards recapturing that time by dining at aRoqa, 206 Ninth Avenue, a far from conventional Indian restaurant. The first thing you might notice is the complete absence of red and gold in the interior; matte black covers most surfaces.
Much of the menu is also atypical. We started with a bunch of small plates: Katifi Mushrooms, wild mushrooms wrapped in shredded wheat ($21); Corn Padhu, corn and rice fritters with coconut kaffir lime chutney ($16); Peri Peri Prawns in smoked peach chutney ($21); Paratwala Paneer, layers of Indian cheese stuffed with sun dried tomatoes and spinach puree ($16).
Steve and I shared Chicken Tikka Masala, the only conventional item for us ($26), good but overpriced, while our Spice Girls had Butternut Squash ke Kofte in sweet corn malai (Sichuan pepper) sauce ($23). It must have been good, because they left no trace of it on their plates.
Normally, we would skip dessert at an Indian restaurant, or merely accept the complimentary rice pudding, but we wisely chose Rose[water] Pudding with Gulab Jamun (milk reduced to the consistency of a soft dough) ($14), good, and Coppa Pistachio, chocolate and pistachio mousse with chopped pistachio nuts ($14), memorable.
Sunday, January 8, 2023
Stuyvesant Town is an enormous private housing complex, half a block from Stuyvesant High School's original building, where the tenants are in dispute with the landlord over classification of the apartments under New York's rent code. According to a report, "the average income of the households is about $247,000." That's an amazing number for a neighborhood considered to be solidly middle class, no more, no less. Or, am I missing something?
. . .
The most disturbing story of the day/week/month concerns an art history class at Hamline University, a small liberal arts college in St. Paul. The syllabus warned that images of holy figures would be shown, including Buddha and Mohammad; the message was allegedly repeated in the classroom. Nevertheless, a Muslim student complained to the administration after the class, asserting that "As a Muslim and a Black person, I don’t feel like I belong, and I don’t think I’ll ever belong in a community where they don’t value me as a member, and they don’t show the same respect that I show them." https://www.nytimes.
Her view stems from the belief that visual representations of Muhammad are forbidden, even if the Quran does not explicitly prohibit them, because they may elevate Muhammad the Prophet over Allah the Boss. In this case it was a 14th century reverential oil painting.
Hamline's president co-signed an email that said respect for Muslim students “should have superseded academic freedom” and the adjunct professor's contract was not renewed.
Exodus 20:3 "Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." Imagine if observant Jews (some do) and Christians took this directive as seriously as some observant Muslims take the inference at issue.
. . .
“Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro have broken in to the country's congressional building.” https://www.cnn.
Shame, shame. How uncivilized, how barbaric!
Monday, January 9, 2023
Ukraine goes unresolved, but the United Nations made progress in one critical area -- the baguette was declared part of France's intangible cultural heritage. https://ich.unesco.
This raises the question of whether the bagel deserves the same treatment. https://www.
. . .
Joshua Greenberg entered Cardozo Law School one year before I did. On the other hand, I entered the world about 30 years before he did. Still, there was no evident generation gap at our lunch today at Hey Yuet, 251 West 26th Street.
I found the interior more interesting than the food and Joshua more interesting than either. The walls are exposed brick painted battleship gray. Dark brown vinyl covered the chairs and booths. One wall was covered with clocks, only one or two set to the right time. An old manual sewing machine sat near our table.
The menu was divided between dim sum and regular items. I had soup dumplings ($6.95 four pieces), pan fried pork buns ($7.75 three pieces) and har gow (shrimp dumplings) ($5.75 three pieces). The contents were generally pretty good, but the wrappers were too thick and gummy.
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
Yes, The New Yorker (January 16th issue) published a version of my letter that I shared with you three weeks ago .
. . .
You know that shooting in Virginia of a teacher by her 6-year old student? We await the NRA’s position on how to stop a 6-year old with a gun — a 7-year old with a gun or a 5-year old with a gun?
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
Dear plethora of unknown telephone callers making unwanted, unwelcome offers regarding automobile warranties, credit cards, internet service, income tax adjudication, and medical alert systems,
We have jettisoned our home telephone service. We no longer have a land line. Goodbye 212.
Sincerely,
Grandpa Alan
. . .
The best part about George the Fraud Santos’s résumé is how well he did at the college he didn’t attend — 3.89 GPA, top 1% of his class -- and at the job he didn't have -- doubled the revenue.
Thursday, January 12, 2023
Early this morning, the strike of nurses at two major metropolitan medical centers was settled after a three-day walkout. The settlement included a pay raise and a commitment to increase staffing. Other private hospitals had already settled. What interested me was the position of Montefiore Medical Center, the last to settle. Its obduracy might be related to the need to meet the annual salary of Dr. Philip Ozua, its president -- $6,539,217.00. https://www.crainsnewyork.com/html-page/793181
Friday, January 13, 2023
You know that phrase you hear around Christmas about "Round John version"? There's a name for it, mondegreen. https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/mondegreen.html
"Dear plethora of unknown telephone callers making unwanted, unwelcome offers regarding automobile warranties, credit cards, internet service, income tax adjudication, and medical alert systems,
ReplyDeleteWe have jettisoned our home telephone service. We no longer have a land line."
My Verizon cell service has a spam blocking feature; it shows me an average of 2 calls a day of that nature.