Ladies Last

Saturday, April 11, 2026

Now that we are back to our full range of cuisines, ingredients and preparations, I can better plan our dining options. As can be expected, Madam and I are not of one mind when it comes to restaurants, although we are on the same continent. She prefers Indian and I prefer Chinese. Neither eschews the other. Here is an interesting comparison of these two enormous countries. ​

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I think that it is instinctive to throw yourself into the middle of this and imagine how you would fare under these living conditions. The critical factor is Average Monthly Salary where, if employed, the average American earns $5,220 monthly.  https://www.consumershield.com/articles/average-salary-per-month

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According to Emma Allen, The New Yorker’s cartoon editor, of the roughly 1,000 cartoons she receives weekly, about 15 get into the magazine. It’s easier to get into Yale.

Sunday, April 12, 2026

Caring Ken Klein and I celebrated Stony Brook Steve's birthday today by having lunch at the Fairway Cafe, 2131 Broadway, on the second floor of the famous market.  I'm not sure that we told Steve what we were doing, but he certainly would have been pleased that the two of us had a good time. I had their bacon-egg-cheese sandwich on a hard roll, a very generously stuffed sandwich ($10). I kept squeezing the complimentary lemons into the glass of refreshing cold water frequently being refilled.

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Marie-Louise Eta has made history being appointed head coach of Union Berlin, one of the teams in the Bundesliga, Germany's major professional soccer league. Union Berlin make history by appointing Marie-Louise Eta as Bundesliga’s first female head coach - Yahoo Sports

She becomes the first full-time female head coach of a top tier professional male sports team anywhere. Becky Hammon was head coach of the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association for one day in 2020, when the head coach was ejected from a game with the Los Angeles Lakers. It took six years for the next step. 

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Another ray of sunshine: Hungarian voters rejected the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban who had become increasingly authoritarian over the last decade. His success, with Trump’s, was viewed as part of a worldwide political shift to the right. Anticipating our midterm elections, we hope that 2026 will see a major course correction.

Monday, April 13, 2026

Does this map showing the percentage of Americans working after the age of 65 contain good news or bad news? 

As an unappointed representative of the lame and the halt, I am pleased that so many of us have not retired to the sidelines. However, West Virginia with the lowest rate of senior employment lost more jobs between May 2024 and May 2025, than any other state. West Virginia lost more jobs than any other state last year, labor bureau says | WV News | wvnews.com

It's likely that many of those folks of any age sought work unsuccessfully and it's no surprise that West Virginia trailed only Hawaii in losing population in 2025. https://flowingdata.com/2026/01/29/population-drops-and-gains/    

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Armed with my new New York City Special Parking Identification Permit, attesting to my infirmities, I drove to Chinatown with three passengers to join two other compañeros at Wu’s Wonton King, 165 East Broadway, once the site of the legendary Garden Cafeteria. I found parking right alongside the restaurant. 

We ate well, sharing shumai ($4.79 for 4 pieces but two guys came late), spare ribs ($19.99), two orders of scallion pancakes ($6.49), Singapore rice noodles ($18.99), Famous Garlic Aromatic Crispy Chicken ($22.99). Our only disappointment came after lunch when the Naz directed us to a new ice cream parlor, Julia Jean's, 202 Clinton Street, which promised  Apple Cider Caramel ice cream and blackberry and nectarine sorbet among other flavors. It was closed on Tuesday.

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

File for an extension.

Thursday, April 16, 2026

The temperature was 88° when I went out for a late lunch at Choice Brooklyn, 2040 Broadway. In fact, I was not headed for Choice Brooklyn, which I had never heard of. It occupied the space of a failed patisserie that had just closed. I passed it on the way to a new Vietnamese joint up the block and I decided to stop in especially when I saw that it made sandwiches to order. I chose roast beef with horseradish aioli, roasted baby beets, provolone and baby arugula on a ciabatta roll, a tasty concoction ($15.95). 

Friday, April 17, 2026

I had an appointment with Dr. Brucker today for an unspeakable procedure.

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By contrast, dinner tonight was quite speakable, the Supper Club gathering at the Schneiders. The discussion was the movie Denial, an account of the trial of Deborah Hofstadter for allegedly libeling a Holocaust denier. It wasn't quite the slam dunk you might imagine. In Britain, the burden is on the defendant to prove the truth of the statement rather than the plaintiff to prove the falsity. 

Dinner was excellent, salmon roasted in citrus fruits, oranges, blood oranges, lemons. Our team (you know who really) supplied the lemon squares and the chocolate chip mandelbrot for dessert.