Saturday, March 4, 2023
Excitement ran rampant through Palazzo di Gotthelf yesterday when we welcomed a new toilet. What sold me was the promise that it "has been engineered and proven to flush a bucket of golf balls in a single flush." So, if you plan on soon excreting a dozen or so golf balls, our door is open.
. . .
A long time ago, "Philadelphia lawyer" was a term of distinction. More recently, "Harvard lawyer" became the desired label. Today, I saw a “TikTok-famous lawyer.” This might explain the rush to eliminate the LSAT.
Sunday, March 5, 2023
Eva and Jerry joined us for dinner at aRoqa, 206 Ninth Avenue, a place that is becoming a favorite, because of its far from ordinary Indian food.
We shared a bunch of small plates, but big enough to give each of us a bite: Cassava Root Pearls and Potato Patties ($22), Corn Paddu (fried corn balls) ($16), Kataifi Mushrooms (sautéed mushrooms wrapped in shredded phyllo dough) ($21), Smoked Eggplant ($18), Chicken Fritters ($18), Onion Seed Naan (2 orders @ $6). Jerry and I split a Chicken Biryani ($23), while our dates had Butternut Squash ke Kofte, fried squash balls in a sweet corn sauce ($23). A bottle of Sauvignon blanc helped everything go down. Enjoyment was universal.
. . .
There was no enjoyment at the news that Ample Hills Creamery has shut down. This superb ice cream company had grown to a dozen stores, possibly too much too soon. Please join me in offering thoughts and prayers for the restoration of Ample Hills Creamery.
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
I had the pleasure of John Mervin’s company at lunch today. John is an Anglo-American. I met and befriended his father 60 years ago, shortly after he came from the UK for graduate school. John’s mother is American, as is his wife and two daughters. He grew up in the village of Priors Marston while his father taught at the University of Warwick, establishing himself as a leading authority on American politics.
We ate at Wei West, 265 Murray Street, and Wei West is way west, buried in Battery Park City. Forget the address, by the way. It is halfway down an alley perpendicular to Murray Street labelled North End Way. It’s a square room, feeling uncrowded with 20 tables, occupied almost entirely by lanyard-wearing folk briefly released from their cubicles in nearby megalithic financial firms.
The restaurant offers 14 lunch specials, modest bargains over the regular menu. I had hot and sour soup, that was spicy hot, and a large portion of beef chow fun ($16.95). We also shared a scallion pancake, a litmus test for the quality of a Chinese restaurant. At $8.95 and 6” diameter, we knew that we were far from Chinatown.
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Michael Ratner met me for lunch at Good Enough to Eat, Columbus Avenue, the third site for this very American joint. Even as it moved around, it has worked to retain a funky feeling, tables and chairs that might have come from your first apartment after college.
I was a little disappointed with my meal. I ordered the Astoria Omelette, containing spinach, feta cheese and sausage, which was okay ($17). However, the signature accompaniment of biscuits and strawberry butter, usually smile evoking, was mediocre. At least, Michael enjoyed a hearty grilled chicken sandwich and the large portion of French fries with it ($18).
I won’t give up on GETE entirely, where they serve very good layer cakes for dessert.
. . .
Late this afternoon, the lead story on the New York Times website had this headline: Israel’s Judicial Overhaul Plan Ignites Debate Among American Jews. Not Germany’s Judicial Overhaul Plan Ignites Debate Among American Lutherans or Pakistan’s Judicial Overhaul Plan Ignites Debate Among American Muslims. The #1 lead story. What did we do to deserve this?
Thursday, March 9, 2023
I have been enchanted by the idea of turning much of the office space in Manhattan left unoccupied by the dramatic shift in work style resulting from Covid into housing. Newish buildings, well located, with abundant public transportation, modern utilities are vacant. Accommodations, literally and figuratively, could be made for rich and poor.
However, an article on local real estate development hurricaned on my parade; “apartments are required by law to have windows that can be opened.”
Friday, March 10, 2023
The Oklahoma State Senate has passed a bill that would categorize all library books and materials and restrict their circulation to age appropriate groups, another example of the preoccupation by conservatives with the bathroom, the bedroom and the library. https://kfor.com/news/
This jolted my memory back well more than 70 years, when my brother took me to the nearby library branch on Liberty Avenue in the days before the bookmobile ventured into East New York. For some reason, I was intent on borrowing "Riders of the Purple Sage" by Zane Grey, a popular author of westerns. I was certainly under the influence of Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy when I pulled it off the shelf. However, the librarian, possibly from Oklahoma, refused to let me borrow the book. There was probably some reference to age, but pardon me for letting some details escape me after all this time, including just why I wanted that book. In any case, I never read it which may explain who and what I am today.
I took the trouble to Google the book today, my only contact in the better part of a century, and was surprised to learn that most of the characters are Mormons, the good guys and the bad guys. In fact, saving rancher Jane Withersteen from the lustful grasp of the polygamist Elder Tull is a key plot element. According to Wikipedia, lawyers and judges replaced Mormons as the villains in the five movie versions subsequently made of the book.
. . .
Speaking of lustful grasps, arch-conservative Republican House member Lauren Boebert took time out from denouncing sex education in public schools to announce that her 17-year old son is about to become a father. https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/family/lauren-boebert-rails-against-sex-ed-then-announces-her-teen-son-is-having-a-baby/ar-AA18ptCp
This seems to be a family tradition since the Congressperson left high school to have her first child. However, she remains indignant that "[t]here are schools that are teaching kids
how to have and enjoy sex." Presumably, she was self taught on the subject.
Now, I must try the golf balls
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