Thanksgiving

Saturday, November 18, 2023

Hamas seems to have followed the dictum of Mao Tse-Tung: “The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea.”  If you want to deal with Hamas, can you avoid collateral damage (a euphemism for killing innocent people)?   By the way, I don't believe that many of the people taking to the streets here and abroad are actually interested in curbing Hamas at all.

Sunday, November 19, 2023

According to this website, Minneapolis, Atlanta and Detroit are currently attracting the most attention in the residential rental market.  
https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/rental-market/market-snapshots/rentcafe-rental-activity-report/

The borough of Queens, my homebase for a decade, was fifth, receding from first in October.  California, which usually leads any real estate list, doesn't appear until 27th place with Riverside, immediately followed by Sacramento.  This puts them even behind the Bronx, #19.

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Molyvos, 402 West 43rd Street, has relocated from a more elegant space on West 55th Street.  It is smaller, homier, covering two rooms.   Wine bottles line two non-adjacent walls.  Rough-cut stone covers another wall; colorful plates are hung on another.  We had dinner with Denise and Rob Teicher there tonight.

As I am finding commonplace these days, quality was high, along with the prices.  We started with three spreads,  taramasalata ("caviar" mousse, ground almonds),  tzatziki (sheep's milk yogurt, cucumber, garlic, mint, dill) and skordalia (potatoes, ground almonds, garlic) served with pita ($29).  Each of us had a different main course, lahano dolmades (cabbage stuffed with ground lamb, beef and pork $30), yemista (red peppers stuffed with rice, eggplant, zucchini, bread crumbs, manouri cheese - a byproduct of feta production $27), "Grilled Citrus Marinated Maine Sea Scallops" ($42), and moussaka (spiced ground lamb & beef. layered with potatoes, eggplant, peppers and yogurt bechamel $32), my choice.  For dessert, we were back to sharing, just some ice cream ($12) and chocolate cake ($14).

If you are interested in Molyvos, sign up for inKind and get $50 off a $150 bill, easily arrived at.  https://inkind.com/

Monday, November 20, 2023

A faithful reader suggested Mama's Too, 2750 Broadway, for pizza.  Mama's is busy, although the only seating is at five large picnic tables at the curb.  I erred with the pizza, served mostly as "squares", actually 4"x5" rectangles, $6 each.  I thought that I was hungry, but not hungry enough to eat two full thick and dense squares.  I worked my way through the good pepperoni square, but the "Upside Down" square, really the cheese buried under the tomato sauce, had cooled off by the time I got to it (or had never been that hot to begin with), tasting like leftovers.  The bottom of each square was brittle, as if it had been fried.

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Going uptown allowed me to stop at Absolute Bagels, 2788 Broadway, to pick up half a dozen of what some consider the Holy Land's best bagels at $1.75 each.    

Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Law & Order?

"A single New York City police detective accused of trying to close murder cases by concocting false witness testimony and coercing confessions has cost taxpayers $110 million in settlements to more than a dozen people whose convictions were overturned after some had spent decades in prison."
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/20/nyregion/louis-scarcella-nypd-settlements.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=highlightShare

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The Boyz Club gathered at Golden Unicorn, 18 East Broadway, a place where Chinese truck drivers stop for dim sum.  It has been redecorated since my last visit, July 14, 2021.  What was once blue and gold is now red and white.  There has been a disadvantageous change to the carts circling the room.  They used to each carry a sign identifying their cargo; now, if you don't recognize the item, you must trust to the language skills of the women pushing the carts.  Since our group is famously omnivorous, there was no problem.  

On the other hand, I was so distracted that I lost count of what we ate.  It seemed like a lot and I can only report that the five of us spent $130 total.

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

It has been 60 years since the assassination of John F. Kennedy, a day that I will never forget.  I asked my lunch mates yesterday where they were when they heard the news.  Ken Klein was on the Brooklyn College campus, while Michael Ratner and I were at Cornell, he a senior in the Engineering College, I a graduate student in the Government Department.  In contrast, Dan Famous Name and Naz were both three years old.  Yikes. 

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More yikes: "The Rolling Stones are hitting the road next year on a tour sponsored by AARP [American Association of Retired Persons]."  

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/21/entertainment/the-rolling-stones-tour-aarp?cid=ios_app

Thursday, November 23, 2023

America’s Favorite Epidemiologist demonstrated another formidable skill set by spending days preparing a classic Thanksgiving feast.  A big turkey, challah-based stuffing, cranberry/cherry sauce, butternut squash soup, mashed sweet potatoes with maple syrup and pecans, Aunt Judi’s meatballs, mushroom strudel and roasted Brussels sprouts.  Dessert is chocolate chip mandelbrot.  All prepared by her highly-educated hands.  What’s not to like?

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In at least one regard, I prefer New York to London.  We begin our Christmas celebrations, sacred and profane, at Thanksgiving.  The British, with apparently nothing to give thanks for, start ginning up for God and Mammon whenever they choose.  

Friday, November 24, 2023

It's noon in New York and hostages are beginning to appear in Egypt, released from Gaza and on the way to Israel.  A day late, but initially a cause for Thanksgiving.