Saturday, April 5, 2025
We had dinner with Barbara & Bernie, cousins of cousins, at Tri Dim Shanghai, 1378 Third Avenue, a very good restaurant if you can’t reach Chinatown. In fact, it was jammed with round eyes at dinner time.
You can blame me for ordering too much, that is there was food left over when we groaned to a finish. We had a scallion pancake ($9): 2 Peking duck rolls ($8 each); Shanghai sautéed thick noodles with vegetables ($16); sautéed baby eggplant with string beans ($17); Slippery Chicken, shredded breast of chicken cooked with ginger, hot pepper and garlic in brown sauce, served with spinach ($23); Chang-do Chicken, 1 inch marinated white meat chicken cubes fried till crispy then sautéed with celery, carrots and scallions ($22); Red Cooked Short Ribs Hang Chow Style, 4 large short ribs braised with soy sauce and rock candy, then stewed in red wine sauce, served with spinach ($35). There was also gin, beer and Chardonnay to wash it all down.
Sunday, April 6, 2025
It’s out of our hands. As much as liberal intellectuals ponder the current state of affairs and contemplate the decline of the American experiment in democracy, we are merely bystanders. Last week, I heard historian Timothy Snyder speak of “futurelessness,” the impotent state that we find ourselves in. However, we should not be pessimistic. Help is on the way, coming from segments of society that have not been previously persuaded by our deep thinking.
Farmers, restaurants and construction companies will go begging for laborers to do the grunt work that red-blooded Americans have eschewed for decades. Automobile dealers will face buyer resistance to jacked up prices, even when inventory is available. Automobile repair shops and their customers will suffer from the shortage of parts and their increased cost. Offices and homes will be cleaned less often. Women, inevitably, will stay home absent child care. Our elderly (I am looking in the mirror) will go under attended, if attended at all. Stock traders are already getting hammered and retirement accounts are shrinking. Coffee beans and chocolate will become precious. So many who sought a return to greatness will face a new normal that is quite abnormal.
That’s where the true resistance will arise and drive back the forces of darkness. Be advised, though, that Humpty Dumpty will not be put back together again.
. . .
Speaking of change for the better, the conversion of office space to residential use is increasing.
Urban office spaces are not being reoccupied to pre-Covid levels, encouraging property owners to tackle the design and logistical problems of residential conversion. And, it’s a rare city that isn’t in need of much more housing.
. . .
Speaking of change for the worse, the United States Naval Academy has responded to the barbarian(s) now running the Department of Defense by removing 381 books from its library.
Adolf Hitler stayed, Maya Angelou went.
Monday, April 7, 2025
Curbing the independence of colleges and universities seems to be part of Washington’s authoritarian playbook. Underlying it is the belief common to the left and the right that “the faculty of many of the nation’s top universities skew heavily to the left,” as asserted by the former National Legal Director of the ACLU.
The irony of this is what’s really happening on campus where business is the most popular major, encompassing marketing, finance, accounting, entrepreneurship and international business.
Observing that roughly 57 percent of Harvard’s class of 2022 went into finance, consulting, or technology, the Harvard Crimson said that “Harvard poets are now few and far between.”
In any case, government dollars are not usually going to advance iambic pentameter. The hundreds of millions being withheld from Columbia University and other elite institutions are generally directed to the conduct and support of research in the sciences and health fields, areas generously populated by rhymes with Guess Whos?
. . .
Tonight, we made a shiva call, the traditional visit to a Jewish house in mourning. The apartment was jammed, reflecting the affection for the deceased and his family. I eventually made my way through the crowd, far from the front door and close to the Diet Coke. A shiva has two parts, an informal gathering of friends and family to comfort each other and, if aligned with the right time of day, a prayer service.
Two years ago, I lost my house keys and my smartyphone within a few days. As a result, I bought a set of electronic tags and attached one to my house keys, one to my car keys and stuffed one into my wallet. They allow my phone to detect their location.
Like any proper religious service, the shiva minyan is full of standing and sitting. At one point, a lilting ring-a-ding started and continued, competing with, but not overtaking, the lovely voice of Sharon Cinnamon, the prayer leader. My wife and I recognized it. I had sat on my wallet, triggering the electronic tag to signal my phone and set it off chirping in my coat pocket, hung in another room. To get to it would require more pushing and shoving than even I might rudely muster.
The phone battery wore down, the service ended and I departed without confessing until now.
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
It
was a good evening, very good food and excellent company. We had dinner
with Judy and Roger at Dagon, 2454 Broadway, an
Israeli/Arab/Mediterranean restaurant that is one of our very
favorites.
The
best way to attack Dagon’s menu is to fill up with the mezze and “small
plates.” They are less familiar and more interesting than the main
courses, on the whole. We had six mezze for $51, described as Japanese
eggplant confit, roasted garlic, tomato jam, buttermilk, shabazi (spice blend of
cilantro leaves, green chili, garlic, and lemon)
breadcrumbs; spicy feta, harissa (red chili paste) BBQ, smoked salt; chicken liver mousse, mustard seeds, date syrup, crispy shallots, baharat (paprika, black pepper, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and nutmeg); marinated beets (horseradish yogurt, chickpeas); Matbucha (roasted tomato, sweet pepper dip); green tahini.
We added Banatas, two potato and lamb-stuffed fritters, spiked with dill, spices, egg ($19); kubaneh, Yemeni pull-apart bread with za’atar & feta, served with labneh (strained yogurt) ($16); and a Levantine Caesar salad, tahini, parmesan, fried chickpeas, toasted sesame, anchovy tempura ($19). This was enough food so that we only ordered one main course to share, chicken schnitzel, mediocre, disappointing compared to all that came before ($31).
- A nice bottle of Yarden (Israeli) Chardonnay ($72) helped ease the way to dessert, Silan, vanilla pudding with date syrup, covered in shaved halavah ($14).
- Wednesday, April 9, 2025In a rare moment of introspection, I once decided that I am a cynical optimist. It was in that spirit that I headed to Madison Square Garden to see the New York Rangers play hockey tonight. It is one of the last games of the season and the Rangers sit just outside of playoff position. There is a mathematical chance for them to make the playoffs, although I expect that a cruel fate would await them there.Not to worry. My cynicism out paced my optimism. The Rangers were manhandled (personhandled?) by the Philadelphia Flyers, a statistically inferior team, as if that made a difference.Friday, April 11, 2025The Upper West Side's Power Couple hit the road, heading for eastern Massachusetts to spend the next few days with the second and third generations, both East Coast and West Coast branches. Of course, it is Passover that brings us together. After all, if you are going to spend 40 years in the desert, you might as well do it with family.
You mentioned Harvard. I am proud to remember that one of my students from many years ago became president of Harvard. Drew G. Foust was a student of mine at Concord Academy. . I think i gave her a's but not sure.
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