Saturday, February 10, 2024
An auspicious day. A major birthday for Cindy McMullen and the Chinese New Year (the Year of the Dragon).
Sunday, February 11, 2024
It was a pretty good football game.
Monday, February 12, 2024
The hot topic in the sports section today, that’s if you can still find a sports section, was San Francisco’s decision to take the ball first in overtime. However, I haven’t seen mention of the critical play that cost them the game much earlier — the blocked extra point, that nearly automatic, taken-for-granted, extra point. 20-19 means no overtime.
. . .
The first webinar of the day was “Antisemitism, the Israel-Hamas War, and Distorting the Law of Genocide: A Perfect Storm,” given by Menachem Z. Rosensaft, a Cornell University Law School professor, and child of Holocaust survivors, at 5 P.M. He pointed out that antisemitic rhetoric and violence had been on the rise domestically well before October 7, 2023.
This was followed at 7 P.M. by “How Campuses Turned Against the Jews” by Andrew Pessin, professor of philosophy at Connecticut College. He demonstrated that anti-Israel activity on campuses surged on October 7th even while Hamas was still marauding on Israeli soil. Then, I kicked the cat.
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Say it ain’t so: “Jared Kushner says he wouldn’t serve in a second Trump administration”
. . .
As part of its Valentine’s Day coverage, the New York Times has an article on romantic breakups conducted in public, restaurants particularly.
While I broke or was broken up with many times in the past, I don’t recall it spoiling a good meal. However, I remember being a bystander at one supercharged event. It was decades ago and I was out for a late meal with my inamorata du jour at Umberto’s Clam House on Mulberry Street, site of at least one Mafia mob hit.
A young couple, what we would now call heteronormative, were seated a few feet away, directly in my line of sight. Suddenly, she stood up, pushed the table over, coating his lap with some fine Cucina Italiana, and ran out the door. Mamma mia!
. . .
Stony Brook Steve and I went to lunch at Noodies [no, not Noodles] Thai Kitchen, 830 Ninth Avenue, a tiny joint, packed with 15 tinier two-tops. One long wall was exposed brick, the other covered with dozens of ceramic bowls affixed to the wall, a very colorful display. Three funky chandeliers hung above. The food was less interesting than the decor. The soup included with the lunch special was notable, a tomatoey hot and sour, with some mushrooms afloat, just right on this cold day. I had Pad Woon Sen, a modest portion of glass noodles with carrots, mushrooms, scallions, yellow onions, egg, tomatoes and four shrimp, good enough ($14.95).
Thursday, February 15, 2024
Jay Stanley is in town doing his work as the ACLU’s privacy maven, although, given Jay’s deep New England Yankee roots, maven may be an inappropriate term. We had lunch at Bill’s Bar & Burger Downtown, 85 West Street, which I took to be a long-established neighborhood joint. Instead, it is an enormous operation, covering most of the ground floor of a new Marriott Hotel, with tables of every size and shape, from intimate two-tops to the seder with all the in-laws.
Hamburgers are at the center of its menu, running $15.95 to $19.95. In aiming to be different, I either misread the menu, misspoke my choice or was misheard by the waiter and wound up with a Big Bird BLT (sliced turkey), not the Crispy Chicken Sandwich that I wanted ($16.95 in either case). We were somewhat rushed for time, so I kept my disappointing dish. Fountain soft drinks were $4.50; it took two refills of Diet Coke to be at peace with that.
Friday, February 16, 2024
I am trying to come to grips with the fact that chocolate chip ice cream is an endangered species. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/15/business/chocolate-chip-ice-cream.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Once upon a time, the addition of chocolate chips was a departure from the smooth consistency of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream, the reigning flavor triumvirate. Nowadays, the proliferation of flavors and add-ins has taken the consumer beyond the simple pleasures. So, shelf space is taken by Coffee Toffee Bar Crunch, Cookies & Cream Cheesecake Core, Matcha Green Tea and Salted Caramel Almond, leaving plain chocolate chip out of the cold. Cherish Häagen-Dazs Double Belgian Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, however.
. . .
You recognize this photograph taken in 1932 during construction of Rockefeller Center. 
What I just noticed is that no one is wearing penny loafers.
The photo of Rockefeller Center reminded me that as a kid my greatest joy was when my parents took me to Radio City. Wow.... i remember Pinoccio and ???/\ others...
ReplyDeleteMy first job was at a private school in Concord Mass and one of my students was named Rockefeller. Her father David sat in the back of my class on parents day.
ReplyDelete