Food For Thought

Sunday, March 17, 2024 

If you are thinking of moving to the Holy Land, and I would encourage all cool and groovy people to do so, I have one piece of advice for you, sell your car. You have seen that our rents are sky high and residential purchases often start at seven figures. That’s balanced by the wealth of opportunities the city offers, including (probably) the most comprehensive mass transit system in the world. Movement within the four boroughs (Staten Island belongs to Kansas) is usually fast and cheap by bus or subway running 24 hours a day unlike many other major transit systems.

Traffic conditions argue for leaving your car at home even before congestion pricing is introduced, as now planned. Aye, there’s the rub. Assuming that you are averse to the blood sport of street parking, you have to pay for parking. Twice in this weekend’s real estate section available parking spots are mentioned, $154,000 near Columbia University and $150,000 a few blocks south of Grand Central Terminal. Plus a monthly support fee. A subway ride with a free transfer to or from a bus costs $2.90, half if you are anywhere as old as I am. You don’t need a pencil to figure it out.

.  .  .

Mother Ruth Gotthelf lived in her last home 57 years. Her own longevity facilitated this, longer than most, but not inconsistent with the behavior of many Americans. 

https://www.thisoldhouse.com/studies/cities-with-the-deepest-roots

This report finds many locations where homeowners remain for 24 years or more. From my experience, I was not surprised that the state of New York was second in sitzfleisch, but Hawaii first does not comport with other vacationing spots, Arizona, Nevada and Florida, having short tenures.

Monday, March 18, 2024

Gentleman Jerry and I went to All’Antico Vinaio, 729 Eighth Avenue, a sandwich shop that originated in Florence, Italy in 1991. This branch is a hole in the wall, somehow crowding in 12 stools against three small ledges for seating.

A dozen sandwiches are offered, that’s it. A 7” square piece of focaccia is split in half and then piled with ingredients. I had The New Yorker, roast beef, onion porcini cream (onions and porcini mushrooms blended with olive oil into a smooth paste), tomato and arugula ($19). This sandwich made up in width what it lacked in depth, making for a hearty lunch. Most of the other sandwiches are based on schweinerei, but there are a couple of vegetarian options. Diet Coke cans $2, Italian sodas $3 and glasses of wine $7-8. Unapproachable on matinee days.

.  .  .

“Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion.” And you thought that we ran out of prophets?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-says-any-jewish-person-who-votes-for-democrats-should-be-ashamed-of-themselves-because-they-hate-everything-about-israel/ar-BB1k7nhm

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

I visited my periodontist today to help him avoid a liquidity crisis. Then, I walked from his office on East 40th Street, near Park Avenue, to Eighth Avenue, between 39th and 40th Streets, for lunch, a good half mile. I offer that detail in case my physical therapist is tuning in.

My destination was Jollibee, 609 Eighth Avenue, the local branch of the massive Philippine fast food chain. They serve very good fried chicken and I skipped the French fries for the supposedly more authentic side dish of spaghetti. Why that is I don’t know and tasting the school lunchroom quality spaghetti insured that I won’t do it again. Otherwise, I can recommend the three piece chicken combo, including a slightly over baked biscuit, gravy, French fries and refillable Diet Pepsi ($14.49, spaghetti instead of fries $1.30 extra), although all but the chicken and the Diet Pepsi are unnecessary.

.  .  .

My young bride suggested that we go out for dinner and we tried Kebab Aur Shabab, 247 West 72nd Street, taking over and substantially renovating the premises occupied for many years by Kosher restaurants. The menu had several items not typically found at other Indian restaurants. I had Old Delhi Korma, “Jama Masjid Wala Mutton Korma, Essence of Mace, Green Cardamom, Saffron” ($33). Korma is a braised meat dish; Jama Masjid is a mosque in Old Delhi.

It was the presence of mutton that drew me. No one serves mutton, old sheep meat, anymore. Even when advertised, as at Keens Steakhouse, 72 West 36th Street, it comes out lamb. The five chunks of meat in my spicy dish were probably mutton, although the spices hid much of the typical mutton gaminess. The only negative, the price. But, everything on this menu  seemed high. Plain rice $7, plain naan $7, raita $6. On the other hand, this was the best Indian food within a couple of miles of Palazzo di Gotthelf.

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Even while DEI is DEAD in Florida, it has reached my Chinatown lunch excursions. Today, six CCNY alumni, two women and four men, gathered at Jing Fong, 202 Centre Street for dim sum. We were at ease with each other, because age has blunted our lust.

Even as undergraduates, sex played a minor role in the lives of many of us; we lived at home and did not own cars. Only movie balconies afforded us some privacy. Looking back, we agreed that what is called sexual harassment today is what we called dating.

What lust we had we reserved for the food as the dim sum carts kept whizzing by. As often happens, I could not keep up with the variety of animal and vegetable dishes landing on the table. There were 16 in all, steamed, pan fried, deep fried, braised, sautéed, plus a round of Diet Cokes for a total of $150.

Thursday, March 21, 2024

The Upper West Side’s Power Couple crossed the mighty Hudson River today to explore some of New Jersey’s Kosher culinary options. We headed first to Grand & Essex Market, 89 New Bridge Road, Bergenfield, named for an intersection that was once at the heart of the Jewish settlement of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. It’s a very large market offering a dizzying array of items both packaged and prepared on site, all Kosher. It rivals Aunt Judi’s kitchen for the variety and quality of food offered within the biblical guidelines.

We bought one breaded chicken cutlet and one pretzel-covered chicken cutlet ($18.99/lb.); stuffed cabbage ($17.99 for 3 pieces); Bubbie’s Hearty Matzoh Ball Soup ($10.99); Bubbie's Chopped Chicken Liver ($7.99 for 7.5 oz.); spinach kugel ($6.99); vegetable kugel ($6.99); Bubbie's Hearty Kishka ($4.99). We have the holiday of Purim this weekend and G&E had the traditional Hamantashen (triangular filled cookies, named for the archvillain of the Purimspiel, the Book of Esther) in 8 flavors -- apricot, double chocolate, hazelnut, raspberry, prune, poppyseed, lotus (Lotus Biscoff cookie butter) and, the one that caught my fancy, halva (a crumbly confection made from a base of ground sesame seeds, sugar and other flavors). Imagine that, Hamantashen stuffed with halva. I'll report on it after dinner.

We drove over to Dovid's Fresh Fish Market, 736 Chestnut Avenue, Teaneck, home of the delicious deep fried gefilte fish, one of my favoritest things to eat. And, it's so good that they had none on hand and you have to special order it. With that, we retreated to ShopRite, 40 Nathaniel Place, Englewood, about 10 acres of supermarket.

.  .  .

Taste test: The halva Hamantashen were a disappointment. The very distinctive taste of halva was missing, leaving only an ordinary sugary cookie.

Friday, March 22, 2024

Paul Bergman, distinguished criminal defense attorney, invited me to join him at the Metropolitan Opera's dress rehearsal of Puccini's "La Rondine." It was an interesting experience. I’m not an opera follower and knew nothing about “La Rondine.” It was a lovely performance, complete from end to end. It's a story of passionate love, eventually thwarted, like almost every other opera. However, nobody dies for a change. 

.  .  .

I have been a member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for about 40 years. I quit for a few years in the 1990s when it fought to keep mentally ill people on the streets of New York on the theory that they were not harming anyone but themselves. I rejoined, but now I am poised to leave again, because the ACLU fired an employee, an acerbic lawyer, whose criticism of operations offended Black colleagues. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/us/politics/aclu-employee-fired-race-bias.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Although there was no claim that she bore racist ill will, the organization's lawyer said "she caused harm" when she spoke of being "afraid" to talk to a Black superior, characterized another conversation as "chastising" and likened her bosses' behavior to suffering "beatings." Negative reactions might have been justified, but this elevates "the heckler's veto" above almost any other value in society. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckler's_veto

Did the offended folk ever go to a family Thanksgiving dinner, ride a subway, stand in a crowded bar, watch a stand-up comedy performance? How crazy is it to aim to eliminate any and every human-based irritant? And how about the ACLU, which defended Nazis marching in heavily Jewish Skokie, Illinois, jumping on a sassy employee?