Saturday, September 30, 2023
This is precisely the time of year that Jewish schoolchildren love. One one-day and three two-day holidays come up sequentially. That’s normally quality play time off from school, except cruelly this year when six of the seven days fall on weekends.
Sukkot commemorates the Israelites wandering the Sinai Desert as well as the Fall harvest. Unlike most other Jewish holidays, Sukkot is primarily celebrated away from the synagogue in a temporary structure (sukkah), not unlike the ramshackle shelters in which New Yorkers have dined for much of the last three years.
Tonight, we were invited for dinner in Dan and Susan's sukkah, located in the backyard of their apartment house on West 57th Street, just to the left of the Russian Tea Room. Our hosts provided salmon baked in a mustard sauce as a delicious main course, guests adding side dishes, desserts and beverages.
Sunday, October 1, 2023
It's not that we went sukkah shopping, but Aunt Judi and Uncle Stu invited us for lunch today in their commodious sukkah. As we all know, Aunt Judi never saw a crowd of Jews that she couldn't leave fat and happy with her marvelous culinary talents.
We started with that brilliant invention, deep fried gefilte fish, a special favorite of mine, the only store-bought item on her menu. While the fish is a mainstay, her menus grow and evolve. The soup was a cabbage soup with flanken, a matzoh ball affectionately added to mine. A platter of roast chicken was surrounded by roasted carrots and sweet potatoes. There were two major side dishes, a cauliflower kugel and a sweet noodle pudding. You had to leave room for desserts, home-baked cookies, a frozen lemon mousse and chocolate chip cookie dough non-dairy ice cream, all from Aunt Judi's tender hands.
. . .
Another reason to celebrate today is the birthdays of Susan Gotthelf, Mossad Moshe and Jimmy Carter in ascending order of seniority. Mazel Tov!
. . .
The United States economy is $26.854 trillion, far too big to be characterized with one simple term -- strong, weak, healthy, ailing. One area, however, that is clearly growing is apartment construction.
The largest city in the U.S. also leads in the addition of new residential units, although, as you can see from the embedded chart, growth does not necessarily correspond to size.
Monday, October 2, 2023
Terrific Tom had lunch with me at well-reputed
Café
China, 59 West 37th Street, recently relocated to new premises. The decor is inconsistent. There are tasteful Asian touches, but a chandelier seems to have come from an Alpine chalet.
The food was thoroughly consistent and consistently good. We stuck to dim sum, crystal shrimp dumplings ($10 for four pieces), chive pancakes ($10), pork dumplings in chili oil ($10 for eight pieces) and dan dan noodles ($12). Everything was carefully prepared, properly spiced and worth your attention.
Tuesday, October 3, 2023
7th Street Burger at 424 Amsterdam Avenue is one of 10 locations, only one on 7th Street, its original location in the East Village. Here, it is a narrow storefront, almost empty except for a small round table set at a U-shaped wooden bench and a five-foot stainless steel ledge without any stools. Unless you are very fastidious, the food is worth the inconvenience.
The menu could not be simpler -- cheeseburger ($6.50), double cheeseburger ($9.50), overly-salted French fries ($4.50), bottles of Coca-Cola and Sprite from Mexico using real sugar, not corn syrup ($3.50). For the anhedonic, plant-based burgers are available. The real burgers are excellent, thin, the double about a quarter of a pound. They come with a pickle slice and a secret sauce that smells good on your fingers afterwards.
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
Usually,
when the virtues of a college education are recited, the focus is on
the economic benefits, the anticipated increase in earnings over time.
The following study, however, looks at the health effects of advanced
education.
https://www.brookings.edu/
There has been a
decided increase in the gap in lifespan between those with and without a
college degree. Less educated people “are dying in increasing
numbers.” The
authors discuss “the dramatic rise in deaths among working class people
from suicide, drug overdoses, and alcoholism,” which they label “deaths
of despair.” They concluded that "the U.S. economy is failing working class people." I suggest that the growth in political violence on the right is another manifestation.
Thursday, October 5, 2023
I had the fine company of Michael Ratner and Stony Brook Steve for lunch today at Hey Yuet, 251 West 26th Street. It was not my first visit I realized immediately upon entering. The smallish space has two very distinctive decorative features, one wall of cameras, so old that they used film, and another of clocks, so old that they had hands.
We mixed and matched from the menu. We had three very good dim sum items -- Supreme Shu Mai (4 pieces filled with scallop and shrimp, $8.95); vegetarian mushroom dumplings (4 pieces, $5.75); Crispy Char Siu Bao (3 pieces, baked pork buns,
$5.75). Then, we shared two main courses, Kung Pao chicken with
peanuts, green and red peppers and a scattering of hot peppers ($12.95),
and satay beef chow fun, braised beef over wide noodles ($13.95).
Friday, October 6, 2023
Here are all the headlines on the front page of the New York Times today reading right to left like in Hebrew.
- G.O.P. RESISTANCE TO AID IN UKRAINE EXPANDS IN HOUSE
- 51 Ukrainians Killed at Wake In Tiny Village
- In a Cavelike D.C. Studio, Bannon Sows Chaos
- Biden, in Shift, Cracks Down On Migration
- With Rates Poised to Stay High, New Fears of Soaring U.S. Debt
- Brawl Over a Chain, Then Reprisals, Led to a Rap Idol’s Death
And you still want to get out of bed?
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