Sunday, October 12, 2024
We went to JCC Harlem, 318 West 118th Street, again on Friday night and Saturday morning for Yom Kippur services. Before Friday night’s services, we also visited Lee Lee’s Baked Goods, 283 West 118th Street, a long-established bakery noted for its rugelach. We first bought some a week-and-a-half ago and knew that they would be a good treat in the new year. Later today, we will indulge.
JCC Harlem uses the prayer book published by the Rabbinical Assembly, a major denominational organization. Only a few prayers are contemporary; most are centuries old, some a millennium or more. The opposing pages are numbered in duplicate, page 99 faces page 99. The right hand page is predominantly Hebrew while the left hand page is English with transliterations of key phrases opposite. “Israel/ יִשְׂרָאֵל" appears time after time, page after page, belying the argument that somehow Jews are strangers in a strange land.
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Zillow is a successful real estate website. Here, it looked at inquiries by potential renters about the amenities in available properties, including both apartments and standalone homes, which fuzzed up the results in my view.
Some features are peculiar to a multi-unit property, such as “happy hour,” while some to a private home, “finished basement.” If we bother to separate the apples from the oranges, there is some interesting information, notably the importance of parking space, something which we find very convenient.
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It’s late Sunday night and we have the first weekend of sports in the new year and Grandpa is Grumpy. The Rangers lost, the Giants lost and the Mets lost to teams from Salt Lake City, Cincinnati and Los Angeles, respectively. In fact, only the Rangers were competitive, getting to overtime before losing. The Mets were overwhelmed, the Giants inept. The only bright light was the New York Liberty winning the second game of the Women’s National Basketball Association championship series. I admire the team, but I have not yet developed that long-term visceral attachment as I have to the others.
Monday, October 14, 2024
Gentleman Jerry, Stony Brook Steve and I went for a ride to the vicinity of the George Washington Bridge to have lunch at Dutch Baby Bakery, 813 West 187th Street, a funky café that evoked Ithaca, New York or Flagstaff, Arizona. It's actually a full-service restaurant, serving wine and liquor along with all sorts of coffee concoctions to go with their attractive baked goods. The 20 or so tables in two rooms inside and the four on the sidewalk were occupied most of the time. You order at the counter and pick up there or have it brought to your table. The menu says "All breads, dressings, pickles, slaws, sauces & syrups are made from scratch in house!" I had the fried chicken sandwich, "Pan-fried chicken breast on focaccia, with veggie slaw, chipotle mayo & pickles. [S]ide of salad or potato hash" ($15). This was a very good sandwich, the mayo adding a kick. The chicken crust much stiffer and tighter than Popeyes', for instance, generally a standard of greasy excellence. My companions enjoyed their food as well, Steve shakshuka and Jerry frittata. I think that we will find excuses to go north again.
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As if we did not enough to worry about, a new study claims that Christopher Columbus was Jewish.
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Mike Sapraicone. Now you know.
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Milano’s Market has two locations, 2892 Broadway and 1582 Third Avenue. I visited the former soon after it appeared on the list of 57 Sandwiches That Define New York City. It was a wonderful experience, even though I had to eat my hefty hero on a bench in the center of Broadway at West 112th Street. Still another doctor’s appointment on East 85th Street made me choose Milano’s East 89th Street location for lunch today. A look at their website seemed to show seating, alas an illusion. With no benches in sight, I turned to Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, 1572 Third Avenue, prompted by its mention yesterday.
Such a deal, two pieces of chicken (both thighs), a biscuit, French fries, coleslaw and a refillable soda for $7 plus tax. They call it the Big Box, which it ain’t, but generous it is.
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Late afternoon, I went to Roosevelt House, once the home of FDR and Eleanor, at 47-49 East 65th Street, now owned and operated by Hunter College as a conference and meeting center. The program centered on “Higher Admissions: The Rise, Decline, and Return of Standardized Testing,” a new book by Nicholas Lemann, author and Dean Emeritus of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. Lemann spoke along with another educator and the CEO of ETS, f/k/a Educational Testing Service, 2 to 1 against the SAT. In 2015, 2,500 post-secondary institutions required a standardized test, notably the SAT or ACT. Today, only 200 do, a colossal decline. The magic word now is “holistic.”
After the discussion, I approached Lemann and said that the SAT at least deserved credit for the advancement of Jewish students in the 20th Century and Chinese students in the 21st Century even though other minorities have not benefited.
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Adam Gopnik made an interesting observation in The New Yorker this week. “[D]uring the past three or four decades . . . liberals have wanted political victories while reliably securing only cultural victories, even as conservatives, wanting cultural victories, get only political ones. . . . Nixon took the White House in a landslide while Norman Lear took the airwaves in a ratings sweep.”
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I traded a periodontist for a doctor today, but I added a CT scan to my normal adventures. That meant no food from 9 AM to 3 PM, so I rushed into Little Thai Kitchen, 223 East 53rd Street, as soon as I was released without taking the time to look for fried chicken three days in a row. It’s a narrow, very deep joint, attractively decorated with a variety of wood patterns on its surfaces. There seems to be an upstairs or at least a stairway to heaven.
I was in time for the lunch special, a main course and appetizer. I started with two small spring rolls and then had drunken noodles, a large portion with beef, onions, broccoli, carrots, corn and green peppers ($17). It helped to restore the balance of my waking hours to food consumed.
Thursday, October 17, 2024
It was like being on vacation, I only had a quick visit with my oral surgeon today.
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Bibi Netanyahu is cruel, he is malicious, he is arrogant, but he is not stupid. The death of
Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, gives him the perfect opportunity to declare mission accomplished in Gaza and end that terrible conflict with the possibility that some hostages survive and may be returned home. If he chooses to continue his surrogate battle with Iran in Lebanon, while more significant strategically, it will draw far less attention and opposition in the West, because of Iran’s rogue status. It’s time for prayer.
Friday, October 18, 2024
Long before little ramshackle huts appeared in front of food service establishments in dense urban areas as a way to curb Covid transmission, Jews were erecting them for eight days every year to commemorate the long trek in the desert after fleeing Egypt, the Sukkot (sue•coat) holiday.
Aunt Judi continues to push the boundaries of Kosher cuisine. We started with one of my absolutely favorite dishes, deep fried gefilte fish, something that Judi has been serving to me for years, creating a huge balance in the gratitude bank. Then, a thick artichoke and parsnip soup. The mains all came together, beautiful London broil; skinless, boneless chicken breasts in mushroom sauce; corn pudding; leek kugel; orzo; Have-I-left-out-anything slaw. So little room remained after this spread that I only had frozen lemon pie for dessert, leaving chocolate chip cookies, brownies and slivered almond cookies untouched. Note that everything but the fish was tenderly, carefully homemade. My only regret is that we don't live close enough to drop in for leftovers.
Just a comment about Columbus. Jonathan Sarna the preeminent Jewish historian who I went swimming with in Cincinnati 42 years ago wrote an article in which he concluded that the evidence is not conclusive. the word from the expert. His article is available somewhere on line. In terms of sukkah's the sukkah at the Jewish Theological Seminary is large and inviting. Food is ordinary and most bothersome is served in a small box rather than on a plate. oh wellllll.....
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