Saturday, November 23, 2024
Today is November 23rd, which you don’t need me to tell you. However, today’s New York Times has at least three stories in print that appeared online days ago where I first read them. For example, there is a travel article about Canyon de Chelly (pronounced de SHAY, as the article instructs), “a web of deep sandstone gorges that encompasses trails, wildlife, ancient ruins, rock art and miles of sacred land in the heart of the Navajo Nation.” We enjoyed our visit there years ago as I recalled when I read the article on my phone on November 5th, 18 days ago.
What’s up with that? Is this a form of gaslighting? .JPG)
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. . .
Lava Restaurant a/k/a Lava Shawarma, 12 West 23rd Street, although a casual place, takes its Arabic character seriously. The large, high-ceilinged room uses fabrics that might come from a desert tent. Arabic music plays at a pleasant level in the background. Two large screens show travelogue videos of Petra, the ancient city in southern Jordan that was lost for centuries under shifting sands. A proper seeming Arab military officer circulates, pouring mint tea. As a universal touch, one large expanse of painted white brick wall has the word Welcome written in almost every conceivable language.
You order at the counter and the food is delivered to your table. I had an 8” wrap containing shaved beef and lamb, tomato, onion and tahini, cut into seven pieces, with a small portion of lightly-seasoned French fries ($18). As-salamu alaykum.
Sunday, November 24, 2024
The Holy Land is by far the most visited American city.
Combine this with the wave of refugees bussed here by our compassionate, Christian brethren in Texas, occupying 11% of available hotel space, and we are close to pulling in the welcome mat from tourists.
Room rates are sky high, averaging $417 in September, “the highest monthly rate ever recorded in the city by CoStar, a real estate analytics company, since it started tracking the data in 1987.”
. . .
Maybe I am underestimating the financial condition of our visitors. If they are fellow patriots, they seem to be sitting pretty in many cases. Near 11% of owner-occupied homes across the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan area were valued at $1 million or more in 2023.
Reflecting this level of luxury, American hotel rooms (and their bathrooms) generally are larger than European ones.
. . .
My narrow sense of humor has no room for puns. So, it was only the menu that drew me to Dark Side of the Moo, 339 West 44th Street. It was loaded with interesting sandwiches or it would have been if it were still in business. Directly across the street and still operating was Vanilla Gorilla Cafe, 332 West 44th Street, one of two local sites, recently expanded to Lisbon, Portugal.
I ordered the Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich, scrambled eggs, white Cheddar cheese, bacon, tomatoes and hot sauce on a grilled rectangular roll ($10.95), a very good late breakfast treat. I accompanied this with a Gorilla Chilla Mocha, a frozen chocolate coffee concoction, inappropriate for my age group ($6.65).
Monday, November 25, 2024
Maybe I’m slow, but I just learned that there is an American TV Game Show Hall of Fame.
If it had to be anywhere, it would be in Las Vegas.
. . .
While the end of the year ushers in family holidays and, presumably, the joy attached to them, it also inundates us with Best Of lists. I am a list person, I don’t deny it. However, lists of movies, restaurants, beach tents (https://travel.usnews.com/
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Mother Ruth Gotthelf neé Goldenberg was born 115 years ago today.
America’s Loveliest Nephrologist and the Oakland Heartthrob arrived to celebrate Thanksgiving with us and we had the opportunity to have lunch together. I suggested Pastrami Queen, 136 West 72nd Street, because Kosher delicatessen has supposedly been banned in the Bay Area as a Eurocentric form of settler colonialism.
Properly chagrined, I ordered a corned beef/roast beef combination on rye bread, which was accompanied by a portion of creamy potato salad ($29.50). The sandwich was so large that I took half home for dinner. Dr. Brown’s Diet Black Cherry was my beverage of choice.
Thursday, November 28, 2024
Palazzo di Gotthelf sits 1,584 feet from the route of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which has been the most watched television entertainment show for the last three years.
I must confess, however, that I have never walked that 3/10 of a mile during my entire residency at this location nor have I watched any of the proceedings on television. The former is far less forgivable than the latter. As a boy, my father would take us from Brooklyn to the parade, our neighborhood in Brooklyn just about the farthest distance from midtown Manhattan. I don’t remember if we drove, something inconceivable today, or took the subway, the legendary “A” train originating 3-1/2 blocks from where we lived. Today, a cold rain provides a handy excuse.
Memories of the television broadcast are far less pleasant. Typically, after a minute or two of the live event, an overly cheery personality, often a game show host or a weather person, would interview cast members of some struggling show on the same network or introduce a lip-synched number from a current Broadway show. These episodes were not part of the actual parade and people in attendance were spared their banality.
. . .
Except for washing a few dishes, I made no contribution to the wonderful Thanksgiving meal that my young bride served to our family members from near and far. In fact, my inability to carve a turkey makes me a net minus at the Thanksgiving table.
The entirely homemade menu:
Butternut squash soup
Aunt Judi's meatballs in a sweet and sour sauce with Israeli couscous
Artichoke, olives, onions and tomatoes salad
Roast turkey (I always get a drumstick)
Challah stuffing with mushrooms and chestnuts
Sweet potato soufflé with maple syrup and pecans
Spinach and mushroom strudel
Chocolate chip mandelbrot
