Monday, October 26, 2015
The New York Times published their ten most popular recipes. http://cooking.nytimes.com/68861692/1746860-our-most-popular-recipes-right-now
Most, except the curries, seem easy to prepare. Beef could be substituted for pork shoulder, but the bacon accent in the spinach spaetzle would be sorely missed, for those of you who continue to walk the dietary straight and narrow. I’m ready to be served any and all of these dishes, at your convenience, to determine if their popularity is warranted.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Many law schools are lowering standards for admission (primarily scores on admissions tests) in order to deal with a decline in applicants. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/27/business/dealbook/study-cites-lower-standards-in-law-school-admissions.html?hpw&rref=business&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0
This should produce a commensurate decline in the passing rate for state bar exams, because of an established correlation between the exams going in and the exams going out. Based on my own observations, law schools are insufficiently demanding once students are admitted. The power of hefty tuition income seems to dull the administrations’ instincts to trim the ranks of non- or under-performing students. While the better students are recognized and rewarded within and without the halls of legal academe, the dross only seem to held accountable, if at all, by their parents, paying fat bills for tuition and living expenses.
Then, we have had pressure to ease the bar exam, allowing more ill-prepared students to (attempt to) join the professional ranks. New York is about to introduce the Uniform Bar Exam, a multi-state test considered less rigorous than the current New York-centric version. Here is a jaded view of New York’s move. http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2015/05/breaking-news-new-york-suddenly-decides.html
Finally, we hear laments about the absence of jobs for lawyers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/27/business/dealbook/study-cites-lower-standards-in-law-school-admissions.html?hpw&rref=business&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0
But wait, it gets worse. Here is a headline in today’s New York Law Journal: "More Firm Leaders Say They Expect Computers to Replace Young Lawyers." http://www.americanlawyer.com/home/id=1202740662236/Computer-vs-Lawyer-Many-Firm-Leaders-Expect-Computers-to-Win-?mcode=1202617075062&curindex=4&back=NY
So, Mammas let your babies grow up to be cowboys.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
What, another list? This week’s issue of Time Out New York lists "100 Best Dishes in the City." http://www.timeout.com/newyork/restaurants/100-best-dishes-and-drinks-in-nyc-2015
I must admit that I’ve only had one of them (the ice cream at 10 Below, 10 Mott Street, which I found to have more curiosity value than taste), demonstrating that either I am lazy or it’s a big world out there or both. The list begins with the ten best overall, and then goes by category, vegetables, seafood, desserts and such. A conscientious effort to have the best is challenging. Four of the top ten are part of tasting menus/fixed dinners, ranging from $85 to $200 (before you sit down).
Today, tasting menus are all the thing. Most lists of the best restaurants/meals seem to focus on such endeavors. However, this is old news where I came from. Mother Ruth Gotthelf’s dinners always had a set menu, changing nightly. There were no substitutions, but, admittedly, unlike some of the fancy schmantzy joints, truffles could not be shaved onto the salmon croquettes at any cost. With some exceptions, night-in, night-out we had more satisfying meals (ambience aside) than your typical foodie can muster.
The Boyz Club met for lunch at New Yeah Shanghai Deluxe, 50 Mott Street. Eight of us put together our own meal – cold sesame noodles, scallion pancakes, soup dumplings, orange flavored beef, sauteed fish fillet in sweet and sour sauce, shredded beef with spicy sauce, eggplant with garlic sauce, sesame chicken, diced chicken with black bean sauce, and choice of egg drop or hot and sour soup – all for $16 each, demonstrating the economies of scale.
Still another list; today’s New York Law Journal prints the results of the July New York State bar exam. About 500 fewer candidates took the exam than last year, with a pass rate of 79% for those New York state law schools graduates taking the test for the first time, continuing a decline in recent years. Inevitably, my eyes fell on the names of the successful candidates. I was surprised and delighted to see that Jasmine Gothelf passed, as did Yi He, Bo Li, Xi Lu and Zi Ye, tied for the shortest name. I could not distinguish the longest name, because a string of middle names, usually used only on formal occasions, distorted the picture. Instead, I sought the most euphonious, music to my ears. I am trying to decide between Pious Pavitar Ahuja and Tolulope Fyinfoluwa Odunsi, but good luck to them in any case and I hope they get a job without the threat of being replaced by a computer.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Tuesday night’s World Series game, between Kansas City and New York, lasting 14 innings, running well over 5 hours, set a recent high mark for television viewing, an average of 14.9 million people. By contrast, the final game of the 1980 World Series, between Kansas City and Philadelphia, drew 52.1 million viewers. Whaa? The US population in 1980 was 226.5 million people, while the current population is estimated at 322.05 million. Where is everybody?
What is a Chinese restaurant? That seems like an odd question from me after I have spent almost 6 years eating lunch in hundreds of Chinese restaurants, as reported herein. However, it is the right question to ask after lunch at Potato Corner, 234 Canal Street, a decidedly Chinatown location. It is the only New York City branch of a worldwide chain that originated in the Philippines; almost all the other US locations are in malls. The owners of this franchise store are Chinese, the young Vietnamese counterman told me. His coworker is from Venezuela.
The menu is basically fried potatoes in various shapes and forms with added flavors. There are six styles of potato, original French fries, loopy fries (curls), sweet potato (waffle cut), tater tots, Jo Jo chips (thick, ridged potato chips), and chili cheese fries. Six flavors are dusted on after frying, BBQ, cheddar, sour cream & onion, chili BBQ, cinnamon & sugar, and garlic & parmesan. Finally, four sauces for dipping are available, BBQ, ranch, honey mustard, and Thousand Island. Real food is available only in the form of chicken, tenders, wings or poppers. You can see that it takes a while to place an order. I had a chicken combo, three chicken tenders (slabs of white meat, about 1/4 inch thick, 4 inches long, deep-fried in a bread crumb crust), with loopy fries ($8.89 including a 16 oz. Diet Coke). I chose sour cream & onion flavoring for the potatoes, feh, meh, and honey mustard sauce to dip the chicken in.
So, in the absence of noodles and rice, is it reasonable to call Potato Corner a Chinese restaurant? Note that Thanh, the Vietnamese counterman, objected to labeling this hole in the wall with only two stools at a short ledge as a restaurant. We agreed on joint, however. And, therefore, I declare this and only this US branch of Potato Corner to be a Chinese joint (as I understand the term to encompass all the cuisines of East Asia). I reserve opinion on the operation at the Seattle Southcenter and the Rosedale (Minnesota) Center among others until I know more about their ownership and personnel.
Friday, October 30, 2015
We plan to fill our appetite for culture as well as our appetite for food over this weekend. Tonight, we are seeing "King Charles III," a play just arrived from London, imagining the reign of the next King of England. Tomorrow night, we are seeing Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge," a very American play in a revival also brought over from London. Both of the evenings were arranged long before anyone had reason to believe that the Mets would be playing games 3 and 4 of the World Series at exactly the same time. I will behave.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Friday, October 23, 2015
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
Monday, October 19, 2015
Usually, I am satisfied thinking that 2 or 3 people not in my will are reading these ruminations. However, I might be spoiled by a message from Trip Advisor, the web site that aggregates travelers' opinions, which I have made frequent use of in my own travels. For the first time, after my trip to Barcelona, I sent in some reviews because I was collecting my thoughts to take up some space here anyway. Well, Trip Advisor told me that, as of yesterday, 596 people read my restaurant review. That’s pretty good, a bit intoxicating even. I might want to do this more often.
72nd Street Downtown Subway Platform *** - This example of early New York City underground architecture is frequently busy during the day, attracting both locals and visitors to the neighborhood. It is noisy and sometimes smelly, but those are reasons to start conversations with good-looking strangers. Foreign languages may be in use, it is open 24 hours a days and the price of admission is low.
Thanks to Herb Dooskin for finding this nugget in James Patterson's novel Alert, probably written by his collaborator, Michael Ledwidge. In any case, the book deals with the efforts of NYPD detective Michael Bennett and the FBI’s Emily Parker to fight a high tech assault on the city that never sleeps. Here is the end of chapter 55:
“So close and yet so far,” [Bennett] said, looking at the federal building two blocks away, above the courthouses. “Hey, after our respective ass-covering sections, how about Chinese for lunch? Wo Hop. My treat.” “Wo Hop?” Emily said. “How could I turn that down?”
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Last night, I went to my first Rangers hockey game of the season and it was all good news. The Rangers beat a strong opponent 4-0 by performing well in all phases of the game. However, there wasn’t good news outside Madison Square Garden. When I arrive early in the neighborhood of MSG, I usually go into Jack’s 99 Cent store, 110 West 32nd Street, between Broadway and Seventh Avenue to see what bargains are around. I left Jack’s last night empty handed and disappointed for three reasons. First, very little merchandise was being sold for 99 cents, that magic number that has almost become a brand name. Second, actual prices were no bargain. Items that I am familiar with were no cheaper than at supermarkets and more expensive than at cut-rate competitors. Finally, the source of my greatest disappointment was the absence of familiar items of rare quality, notably Barton’s real dark chocolate-covered graham crackers and pretzels, two to a package for 99 cents. This amounted to about $6 a pound for the excellent graham crackers; the closest competitor is Asher’s, available at Zabar’s, Fairway, selling for $6.95 for 7.15 ounces or more, about $15 a pound. The same disproportion applied to chocolate-covered pretzels. No wonder that my typical purchase of Barton’s was 6 or 8 packages of each. Please note that many other versions of graham crackers and pretzels are not covered in real chocolate, but some brown-colored vegetable fat cutely labeled “chocolatey” or “ fudgy.” Read your labels.
I had lunch with Seth G., a director of the camp where West End Synagogue has held its retreat for the last three years. We took a very little time to fine tune our contract for 2016, and then dug into the food at Wok Wok Southeast Asian Cuisine, 11 Mott Street. Because I was introducing him to the restaurant, we ordered some things that I have already tried successfully. So, I will only call deserved attention to the curry beef rice bowl ($6.95), brisket that has bathed in delicious spices for several years, or so it seemed from the tenderness of the meat. Unfortunately, I had no demands to make of Seth, because the quality of the food had also softened him up. Instead, we enjoyed the food and each other’s company as we planned for another weekend in the country next June.
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
We have no small children and our young grandchildren are hours away. Yet, I feel strongly, though inconclusively, about the controversy over PS 199, the elementary school right below our window at home. A couple of years ago, the very bad idea was floated of tearing down the school, building a high-end, high-rise above it, then reinstalling the school on lower floors. That plan was abandoned, at least for the present.
By the standard measure of test scores and the anecdotal evidence of our neighbors with children in the school, PS 199 seems to be doing a good job, so good, in fact, that it was recently reported that it “ has the longest waiting list in the city for Kindergarten spots.” Those children who could not get into PS 199 were first directed to PS 191, nine blocks south. In New York City, nine blocks might separate two cultures, two nations, two civilizations. But, you need not even travel that far to step into a different world. PS 191 sits on the same block as Fordham University’s Law School and its Graduate School of Social Service, one block from Lincoln Center, and half a block from the highly competitive Abraham Joshua Heschel School, a private Jewish school, with annual tuition ranging from $37,700 to $42,000, K to 12. This year, the New York State Department of Education designated PS 191 as “persistently dangerous,” one of two schools in Manhattan and 27 schools city-wide thus identified. This resulted from reported incidents of violence with and without weapons, sex offenses, arson and menacing. Needless to say, prospective and actual PS 199 parents are strongly opposing any connection with PS 191. Yes, PS 199 has a predominantly white population, and PS 191 has a predominantly minority population.
PS 159 Brooklyn was no more than half a block away for me when I attended first through sixth grade. Its schoolyard, informally called Delaney Stadium for the dour principal who ruled the school forever, was our destination outside of school hours except when forced away by Hebrew school attendance, dinner or darkness. It was the quintessential neighborhood elementary school, containing Italian Catholics (some of whom grew up to be the actual Goodfellas immortalized by Martin Scorsese) and Eastern European Jews (some of whom grew up to eat in a lot of Chinese restaurants). While I attended PS 159, there were only two African American kids, brothers, a couple of years apart. I recall no other people of color, any color but white. The school was pacific, thanks in part to Miss Delaney and Mother Ruth Gotthelf, PTA president for a time.
I wish for all New York City schoolchildren the opportunities apparently presented by PS 199 Manhattan, or even the unimaginative but caring atmosphere of PS 159 Brooklyn. What will it take?
Thursday, October 22, 2015
In any case, I wonder whether the spending of $5,006,146 by the Coalition for Opportunity in Education during the first six months of 2015, for example, will improve the lot of the children at PS 191. A look at their web site seems to indicate otherwise, with its emphasis on an Education Investment Tax Credit plan to aid private and parochial schools.
Friday, October 23, 2015
Just before West End Synagogue honors me at services tomorrow, I learned that another honor has been denied me. But, first some context. Recently, Joan Weill, the wife of the Wall Street billionaire Sanford I. Weill, proposed a $20 million gift that would lift the struggling fortunes of Paul Smith's College in upstate New York, on the condition that it be renamed Joan Weill-Paul Smith's College. Ms. Weill, a graduate of Brooklyn College, has had her name (with or without her husband's) appended to Paul Smith's College's library, as well as the Alvin Ailey troupe's Center for Dance, the Cornell Medical College, the Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology at Cornell, the recital hall at Carnegie Hall, the building at the University of Michigan housing the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, and the concert hall at Sonoma State University, among other edifices. A judge, however, ruled that the terms of Paul Smith's will (possibly one of the Smith Brothers) precluded modifying the college's name. So, the Weills withdrew the offer of $20 million yesterday.
I never attempted to keep up with the Weills and, in light of my limited means, I kept my focus on one institution, my alma mater. Therefore, I am disappointed to announce that the proposal to rename the City College of New York to AG-CCNY has been rejected. In spite of extensive negotiations, no satisfactory arrangement could be achieved, including our last proposal to install a fittingly-named Chinese restaurant in the student union.
Today's New York Law Journal provides an ironic counterpoint to the (probably futile) concerns that I expressed yesterday about public education in New York. Using public records, the paper listed the ten top spending lobbying clients in New York State, that is groups trying to influence legislation at some level within the state. Five of the ten, including the top two, are focused on public education. Four of the five have sappy names, such as, Coalition for Opportunity in Education and Families for Excellent Schools, which tell us nothing of their real agenda. Only New York State United Teachers makes it clear which side they are on.
In any case, I wonder whether the spending of $5,006,146 by the Coalition for Opportunity in Education during the first six months of 2015, for example, will improve the lot of the children at PS 191. A look at their web site seems to indicate otherwise, with its emphasis on an Education Investment Tax Credit plan to aid private and parochial schools.
Friday, October 23, 2015
Just before West End Synagogue honors me at services tomorrow, I learned that another honor has been denied me. But, first some context. Recently, Joan Weill, the wife of the Wall Street billionaire Sanford I. Weill, proposed a $20 million gift that would lift the struggling fortunes of Paul Smith's College in upstate New York, on the condition that it be renamed Joan Weill-Paul Smith's College. Ms. Weill, a graduate of Brooklyn College, has had her name (with or without her husband's) appended to Paul Smith's College's library, as well as the Alvin Ailey troupe's Center for Dance, the Cornell Medical College, the Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology at Cornell, the recital hall at Carnegie Hall, the building at the University of Michigan housing the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, and the concert hall at Sonoma State University, among other edifices. A judge, however, ruled that the terms of Paul Smith's will (possibly one of the Smith Brothers) precluded modifying the college's name. So, the Weills withdrew the offer of $20 million yesterday.
I never attempted to keep up with the Weills and, in light of my limited means, I kept my focus on one institution, my alma mater. Therefore, I am disappointed to announce that the proposal to rename the City College of New York to AG-CCNY has been rejected. In spite of extensive negotiations, no satisfactory arrangement could be achieved, including our last proposal to install a fittingly-named Chinese restaurant in the student union.
Friday, October 16, 2015
Away and Home
Monday, October 12, 2015
While it is not
Columbus Day here in Spain, Columbus's point of departure, it is a
national holiday, a celebration of Spanish history meant to deflect
attention, I am told, from a rising tide of Catalonian independence.
It is a piece of a Jewish
headstone from a long lost cemetery embedded in the wall of an old
building in Barcelona's Gothic quarter. Little else commemorates in any manner
the Jewish presence in Spain for up to a thousand years and the
sadistic treatment of the Jews in the 15th century -- conversion,
expulsion or death -- preceded by discrete acts of terror over hundreds
of years.
Catherine was particularly effective sorting out the alphabet soup of left wing forces -- anarcho-syndicalists, Trotskyites, Stalinists, democratic socialists -- who were more effective at times fighting each other than fighting the fascists.
The main thing wrong with Al Jazeera
is its name. Our very nice hotel has about 60 television
stations available. The majority are in the Romance languages,
followed by German, Russian, Japanese and some in English. Of the handful of English language news stations -- CNBC, Bloomberg
News, BBC World, and Al Jazeera -- Al Jazeera stands out in the
breadth of its coverage and the quality of its reporting. CNBC
and Bloomberg talk markets and indexes to a point that might even
exhaust a greed merchant. BBC World recycles too many soft news
stories throughout the day. Al Jazeera (maybe we should call it
AJ) explains events carefully and generally without favor, including the always
troubling news from the Mideast. As-salamu alaykum wa
rahmatullahi wa barakaatuhu.
Sort of working backwards, we took a
walking tour today focusing on Antoni Gaudi, the brilliant
architect. Last week, we toured the Basilica de la Sagrada
Familia, his unfinished masterpiece, still under construction almost
90 years after his death. Today, we visited the outside of several of his
most prominent buildings, including the Basilica, and learned something about his life.
Gaudi was part of the broad movement
of Art Noveau, called modernisme in Spain, yet his work stood and
stands alone. While my aesthetic sense remains undiscovered, I am
fascinated by his personality. He came from a poor rural
family, but was able to study architecture in Barcelona where his
genius was recognized early.
Gaudi never married, went to Mass
twice a day, was rarely photographed, and in later years was mistaken
for a beggar because of his dress and appearance. In spite of
his revolutionary art, he remained firmly conservative in his
religion and his politics. He displayed none of the profligacy
often associated with artistic genius, although he eschewed
convention in many of his personal habits.
After designing a
pair of lamp posts for a public square at the beginning of his
career, all of Gaudi's subsequent work was for rich merchants or the
Roman Catholic Church. As a result, during the Spanish Civil War, some of
his works were threatened with destruction by left-wing, working class
forces. Does it increase our appreciation of his art by trying
to understand his personality, his psychology, his mishegas?
The only place on their list that I've
been to is the Chateau de Versailles, and, possibly as a byproduct of
my upbringing on the streets of Brooklyn which included visits to the Loew's Pitkin movie palace, I was not mesmerized.
I've seen structures, including the Basilica here in
Barcelona, and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao that left my jaw more
distant from my upper lip. As to the other 11 places, eight are
natural wonders and seem quite stunning from the accompanying
photographs. Judge for yourself.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Thanks to Les Fraidstern for sending
along this valuable article on Jews/food/war, a near-perfect
trinity.
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/193837/merwin-pastrami-on-rye?utm_source=tabletmagazinelist&utm_campaign=167bb4d1d5-Wednesday_October_7_201510_7_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c308bf8edb-167bb4d1d5-207071025
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/193837/merwin-pastrami-on-rye?utm_source=tabletmagazinelist&utm_campaign=167bb4d1d5-Wednesday_October_7_201510_7_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c308bf8edb-167bb4d1d5-207071025
I finally found a little Heaven on Earth in Barcelona. After a visit to the Joan Miro museum atop Mont Juic (you guess), we walked down to La Rambla to find a place to eat and came across Wok to Walk, La Rambla 65. It's a tiny place on the edge of the Mercat de San Josep de la Boqueria, a food court to end all food courts. At WtW, you select the combination of ingredients and two young men immediately cook them up in a wok in front of you. There is a choice of a base, different noodles or rice at 4.95 euros, then add-ins, such as chicken (1.95 euros), tofu (1 euro), spinach (.50 euros), and finish with one of seven sauces at no extra charge. My concoction was rice noodles, chicken, shrimp, and mushrooms in a yellow curry & coconut sauce, totaling 10.05 euros. It was a large portion, freshly cooked, with a generous helping of add-ins. Seating was crude, one center counter with 4 stools on either side, facing each other. It may not have been the gustatory highlight of this trip, but it met a certain visceral need of mine.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
The flight home to New York was even more uneventful than the flight to Barcelona, mainly because it took about 2 hours longer. In fact, the taxicab ride back into Manhattan at rush hour seemed even more interminable than the flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
One interesting thing emerged from the taxicab ride home. We saw at the northwest corner of 46th Street and Third Avenue a newly-opened Wok to Walk, the same joint that I had my only Asian meal in Barcelona. I admit that I was surprised this morning when a quick look on line turned up two others in Manhattan and dozens of others around the world, from Ecuador to Saudi Arabia. So, you cannot only Wok to Walk, but Walk to Wok in far away places with strange sounding names.
Naturally, my first lunch back, therefore, was at Wok Wok Southeast Asian Kitchen, 11 Mott Street, which is proving to be a very reliable source of Southeast Asian food, of all things. Since roti canai is one of my favorite dishes, I ordered its components to make a large scale version. Wok Wok's scallion pancake ($3.50) adds scallions to the "Indian" pancake (roti), but differs substantially from the traditional beloved scallion pancake à la Shanghai Gourmet. The chicken potato curry rice bowl ($6.50) is the "canai." Together with a large mound of white rice, I had about triple the size of the appetizer version, with commensurate pleasure. The place was 2/3 full, but service was prompt and I got my cast iron pot of tea without delay.
Friday, October 16, 2015
Of course, I watched the Mets last night.
In other sporting news, the High Court of Justice of England ruled that competitive bridge is not a sport, although it framed the decision as "whether or not the defendant [Sport England] lawfully adopted a definition of sport which effectively excludes ‘mind sports.’" In doing so, it ignored the insight of the late Yogi Berra: "Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical."
Another decision that bothers me was reported in the New York Law Journal yesterday. A New York appellate court overturned a decision in the case of a medical student who claimed that his medical school violated the Americans With Disabilities Act when it gave him only ten weeks (instead of the customary six to eight weeks) to prepare for the United States Medical Licensing Exam, which he had already failed twice. The student claimed that he was struggling with depression, which warranted an extra accommodation under the ADA. The lower court dismissed his law suit, but was reversed on appeal.
First of all, anybody who fails the required licensing exam is bound to be depressed, just like Don Mattingly, the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, whose team lost to the Mets in spite of having a payroll about twice as large. Second, do you want your doctor to take a few extra weeks to get back to you with a diagnosis? I realize that everybody may have problems, but should that be the patient's problem?
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Spanish Fly
Monday, October 5, 2015
This is the start of an
interesting week for me. Since the week begins on Sunday, my
interesting started yesterday when Michael Ratner and I went to the last
regular season Mets game. With a start time of 3:10 PM, we were able
to go to lunch at Ben’s Best Kosher Delicatessen, 96-40 Queens
Boulevard, Rego Park (not to be confused with the half dozen Ben’s
Kosher Delicatessens in New York and Florida). Ben’s Best is the best,
as I have insisted before. Michael, who has eaten deli in at least half
the countries that belong to the United Nations, agrees, although his
name has been removed from one of their sandwiches after he relocated
his business to Manhattan from a nearby Queens location.
The baseball game was more interesting than expected, as the Mets, headed for the playoffs, brought players in and out to audition for the upcoming championship rounds. The opponents, the Washington Nationals, might have been playing for pride, if they had any left after ending the season without moving into the playoffs when many picked them to go to the World Series. Instead, the Nationals got 2 hits against 7 different Mets pitchers, lost 1-0, and fired their manager today, less than 24 hours later. That’s the same manager voted the 2014 Manager of the Year.
I probably won’t be seeing any more
baseball live in person until next spring, but my anticipated absence
from Chinese food should last far less. We are going to Spain later
this week, so I went to Wo Hop, 17 Mott Street, for lunch to help ease
the transition. Most remarkably, they are continuing their lunch soup
special, won ton, egg drop, egg drop with won ton, hot and sour, or
chicken corn chowder, $1 small, $2 large. This special was originally a
summer mid-week deal, but now appears more often although not
predictably. Add Wo Hop’s crispy noodles, the very best known to
humankind, and you have a great and filling treat. Because I planned to
order food as well, I had only a small bowl of won ton soup, no
noodles. The five won ton crowded the broth in the small bowl, making
it such a deal.
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Last
night, through no fault of my own, I had a central role in West End
Synagogue’s Simchat Torah holiday celebration. I got to read the last
three sentences of Deuteronomy, ending the Bible (that’s the real Bible,
the Hebrew Bible). Unlike most Jewish holidays, Simchat Torah is free
of murderous historic references or apocalyptic visions; it is a
celebration of the Book – learning, knowledge, law by extension. It is
generally not celebrated by Republicans.
West End Synagogue takes an interesting twist to the occasion. All
in attendance, young and old, array themselves around the perimeter of
the room, holding an unwound Torah scroll. Recent Bar and Bat Mitzvahs
chant a section of the Torah that was part of their service. Then, the
Groom and Bride of the Torah read the end of Deuteronomy and beginning
of Genesis to continue the cycle of Torah study and observance for
another year. Besides the problem of reading the Hebrew out loud, I
(the Groom) faced the challenge of reading the bottom lines of a scroll
about one foot off the ground. I had the unsightly and undignified
choice of lying on the floor or, with the permission of our clergy,
standing on my two hind legs and reading from a sheet of paper
reproducing the Torah section. It might have been wiser for me to lie
on the floor to better justify my muffled, stumbling delivery in Hebrew
of “And there was no other prophet who arose in Israel like Moses, whom
the Lord knew face to face.” What I chanted actually sounded closer to the menu of a Tel Aviv falafel joint than
holy writ.
I wish that the following was not
the last thing that I read before packing my bag and heading overseas.
“In America, more preschoolers are shot dead each year (82 in 2013)
than police officers are in the line of duty (27 in 2013), according to
figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the
FBI.” Nicholas Kristof, October 4, 2105.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Intrepid
traveling companions Jill and Steve are accompanying the Upper West
Side’s Power Couple on our trip to Barcelona, Spain. Our somewhat uneventful flight
(details withheld for the time being) led to an uneventful taxi ride
to our well-located hotel, where we took uneventful naps, followed
by, in my case, an uneventful shave and an uneventful shower.
We ventured out through the Gothic quarter, past the main cathedral
and over to La Rambla, where many more people were out for a
stroll than I would have
imagined on a Wednesday afternoon in early October.
Unfashionably early, we headed into
dinner at Llamber, Taberna Gastronomica, Carrer Fusina 5, right
around the corner from our hotel. What luck. Llamber
specializes in tapas, and provided an assortment of highly
imaginative dishes, accompanied by about 20 different wines by the
glass, 3 to 4 euros each. The memorable items that we consumed
included eggplant cooked with honey and lemon juice (so much better
than can be described), lighter-than-air cod fish fritters, very
lightly cooked slices of tuna, fingerling potatoes topped with
whipped local Asturian cheese (a combination of cow, sheep and goat
cheese), and tomato bread (the local bruschetta, far better than any
that I've ever had). Did I say that I liked the meal?
Conscience made us walk a few blocks away before getting some gelato.
Thursday, October 8, 2015
We had a relatively
active day today. In the morning, we took a walking tour of Jewish
sights/sites in Barcelona. Or, rather where there were once or suspected Jewish
sights/sites, since essentially nothing remains of a pre-Inquisition
population of thousands of people. There is a street name here, a notch
on a doorpost where a mezuzah was once fixed, a small two room space
which contained part of a synagogue -- the largest synagogue could not
be larger than the smallest church. In the afternoon, we visited the Picasso museum, an impressive and popular destination. Picasso lived in Barcelona for a few years at the turn of the 20th century, but not anywhere in the space now devoted to his work. What surprised me was the enormous talent that he displayed as a young boy/man, remarkable, large, representational oil paintings created when he was 14 and 15 years old. The collection on display was only a sample of his work, skipping the decades from before WWI to after WWII. Yet, seeing his earlier art was revelatory to me, and elevated my view of what had evolved into the caricature of a dirty old man.
Friday, October 9, 2015
This is not meant to be a travel log, but we visited the most compelling attraction in Barcelona today, Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, the immense cathedral designed by the brilliant Antoni Gaudi, an architect without peer. If you have not seen it in person, please take a few minutes on the web site.
http://www.sagradafamilia.org/en/photo-gallery/
It's as if Gaudi was anticipating the pleasure of future generations of recreational drug users with this work.
http://www.sagradafamilia.org/en/photo-gallery/
It's as if Gaudi was anticipating the pleasure of future generations of recreational drug users with this work.
At home, I almost never attend Friday synagogue services, but this is vacation and all the rules are suspended. Also, we were curious as to what a local congregation would be like. We chose a "liberal" synagogue, as opposed to one of the two Orthodox synagogues operating in Barcelona. Because of security, our names were phones in by a trusted congregant and ID was checked at the door. The building was unmarked, but the presence of police cars and armed cops at each nearby corner helped to point the way.
It was an interesting group of about 15 people at the service, one couple older than us, visiting from Puerto Rico, one 40ish woman from Paris, a couple of local men with gray in their beards, and about 10 kids -- college age, from Argentina, recently or originally. Services were led by a 30ish woman, neither a rabbi not a canter, but very talented in directing the service, almost entirely sung in Hebrew.
Shortly after we arrived, another couple walked in, near our age. Not only near our age, but Americans; not only Americans, but having lived on the Upper West Side for years; not only having lived on the Upper West Side for years, but members of West End Synagogue. In fact, Jackie and Len Goldner had both served as president of our rag tag bunch of anarchic Jews. You can run, but . . .
Friday, October 2, 2015
Invasions
Monday, September 28, 2015
I don’t know where you were Friday night, but I wasn’t at the White House for the state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping. While important matters of geopolitics were no doubt discussed before, during and after the meal, my concern, of course, was with the menu. Although Anita Lo, a distinguished Chinese-American chef, assisted the regular White House chef, the menu was overwhelmingly domestic: wild mushroom soup with black truffle, grilled Colorado lamb, and Maine lobster. Some concessions to the guest of honor came with the lychee sorbet served with poppyseed bread and butter pudding for dessert, and Shaoxing wine, a traditional Chinese rice wine, served with the soup. If you are going to emphasize home court advantage, where were the chocolate chip cookies, for instance?
Ms. Lo owns and operates Annisa, 13 Barrow Street, in Greenwich Village, a small space that had to be entirely rebuilt after an electrical fire. Annisa offers a five course tasting menu at $88 and a seven course tasting menu at $118, as well as à la carte items, such as, Duck and Summer Vegetable Garbure with Foie Gras and Pickled Verjus Grape Toast ($38, translation extra). By the way, the bread and butter pudding on the White House menu was lifted right from Annisa. Given that the dinner was Friday night, was it possible that the poppyseed bread used for dessert was actually challah, a constant component of the tribe’s Friday night meal since before rock ’n’ roll?
The holiday caused me to miss Wok Wok Southest Asian Kitchen, 11 Mott Street, last week, so I began the week there. I ordered egg gravy over rice with chicken ($7.50), a pleasant, but undistinguished dish. The egg gravy was closer in flavor and texture to egg drop soup than the egg-based lobster sauce that was the first food that I ever ate in a Chinese restaurant. Lobster sauce usually has a garlic kick which this sauce lacked. The portion was generously sized, with lots of pieces of white meat chicken, a mound of rice and plenty of sauce taking up a big soup bowl. I threw in hot sauce to make it more interesting and it was satisfying as comfort food. The restaurant was nearly empty, a change from recent weeks, and a temporary one, I hope. I got my cast iron pot of tea without even asking.
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
As I have indicated in the past, I am addicted to lists. If someone has taken the trouble to bring order to a collection of things, I will pay attention. So, naturally, I examined Hotels.com’s Top Rated Hotels 2015 with some care. On the whole, I was not impressed. The list covers only the US and Canada, locales where I find it easier to understand my options and read between the lines. I want the experiences and insights of predecessors when I have to deal with Sofia or Phnom Penh.
Only one spot was familiar to me and it brought back memories – the Oceana Beach Club Hotel, 849 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica, California. I stayed there in 1971 for several weeks, shortly after Stan Laurel (Oliver Hardy’s companion) died while living there in retirement. A single guy, I had just accepted a transfer to the Los Angeles office of the computer company that employed me. I had been in California for only two days a year earlier, had no friends or relatives there, but welcomed the distance from a romantic entanglement here in New York. I arrived on Sunday, June 20th, rented a car, checked into the Oceana, and went to work the next morning managing a group of too typical Angelenos, not particularly in a hurry to get their work done. I recall that, by Tuesday, I met the woman whom I would marry 18 months later, but that had nothing to do with the Oceana.
In those first days, I kept to myself, returning to the Oceana after work and looking for an apartment on the weekends. One weekend night, I was either watching television or reading when I heard a series of blasts and booms, sounding not far away. The Oceana is right across the road from the Santa Monica beach and the Pacific Ocean, and it is the middle of 1971 when Richard Nixon’s “secret plan” to end the Vietnam War, promised three years earlier, had still not emerged. By then, the US and its impotent South Vietnamese ally were on the ropes. While the North Vietnamese/Viet Cong forces were notably effective on the ground, and often under ground, there was no evidence that they possessed long distance striking ability. Yet, for a few moments I thought, was an invasion or bombardment under way? Had the Communists crossed the Pacific and were now attacking Santa Monica, hardly more improbable than the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. I timidly peeked out the window, facing the ocean. What I saw instantly reassured me as I realized that it was July 4th, and the Oceana was squarely in line with an extravagant holiday fireworks display.
Eva Posman, distinguished attorney, joined me for lunch, summoned to the courthouse not in her professional capacity, but having been called for jury duty. We went to New Yeah Shanghai Deluxe, 50 Mott Street, because Eva expressed an interest in Peking duck. At $45 for a whole duck, it has jumped in price. As recently as March 18, 2015, it was $38 for a whole duck and $22 for a half duck. But it was excellent, as fat-free as I have seen any duck in Chinatown, the skin crispy, the meat tasty. It came with 8 pancakes, hoisin sauce, slivers of scallion and cucumber. We also shared cold sesame noodles ($5.25) as a vorshpeis, a concession to my summer obsession.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
They got it right this time. The free marketeers have opposed government regulation as an enemy to job creation. Left alone, our job creators expand economic opportunity and generate wealth. That’s exactly what Volkswagen did for years until the heavy hand of the government came down on them. Because of its ingenious approach to regulating pollutants in automobile emissions, VW created countless jobs around the world for pulmonologists, respiratory therapists, oncologists, radiologists and those who operate in their wake. Let’s give credit where credit is due.
The network television industry is another place where people labor hard to produce defective goods. This article documents the dreck that has been peddled over the last five years on the national networks.
It is another reminder why I confine my television watching mainly to the Mets (April-October) and the Rangers (October-June).
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Normally, my interest in food awakens at or about noon, hours after much of the rest of me has risen. This morning, as I walked to the courthouse, I stopped in Woops, 93 Worth Street, a new bakery and coffee shop. I went in to buy chocolate chip cookies for a colleague, who holds them in as high regard as I do. I’ve been buying her samples from local bakeries every so often, and was immediately impressed by the thickness and darkness of the Woops triple chocolate cookie ($3.65). As I was paying, I saw this disturbing sight on the counter.
[Click on photo to enlarge]
While I am a multiculturist generally, I sometimes balk at crosscultural endeavors that defy logic. Woops is offering what purports to be pizza rugelach, jalpeño rugelach, feta and olive rugelach, and blue cheese rugelach. While I have no doubt that these are carefully prepared with high quality ingredients, they ain’t rugelach. I am certain that pizza, jalpeños, feta cheese and blue cheese never crossed the Carpathian Mountains into Poland and the Ukraine where the very name rugelach was born. Cf. Wikipedia: “The name is Yiddish, the Jewish language of eastern Europe.”
The appearance of these items belies description as rugelach. The flaky, crescent shape screams croissant, or the Argentine medialunas, a smaller, sweeter version. The French and the Argentinians can put whatever they want into their baked goods, but leave our rugelach alone.
Friday, October 2, 2015
Yummy Tummy Alert: Pumpkin ice cream is back at Trader Joe's.
Save the date -- October 24th
Friday, September 25, 2015
“Even white people — and I say that lovingly — know good Chinese food.”
Monday, September 21, 2015
A persistent image during the Jewish High Holy Days is the Book of Life, closing for the old year and opening for the new year. The interim between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is the time for the ink to dry in the new volume. So, I have to complete my work for 5775 in order to move ahead to 5776, that is conclude my reviews of cold sesame noodles. Before uttering my last word, I had to return to where I begun, Shanghai Asian Manor, 21 Mott Street (June 24, 2015), to make sure that my very positive impression was still warranted.
Maybe the word got out from my last visit, because the joint was packed. I had to wait for a spot at one of the five booths, two large round tables, six four-tops or two two-tops. Usually, I don’t wait to be seated in Chinatown, given the raft of alternatives. However, I was on a mission with a very tight time constraint. So, I waited and got a booth to myself.
The portion of noodles was medium-sized, topped with slivered pea pods and bamboo shoots ($4.75). No sesame seeds were visible, but the sauce was superb.
I asked for extra sauce (after taking the picture) to ensure that every noodle strand was amply coated. In conclusion, I am confident pronouncing the cold sesame noodles at Shanghai Asian Manor best after sampling about 20 versions, and finding an equal or greater number of places not serving it. Note that the soup buns and scallion pancakes here are also excellent. Honorable mention to Kori Tribeca, 253 Church Street (July 30, 2015) for Japchae, the wonderful sweet potato noodles stir fried in sesame oil, served only as a side dish.
Thanks to Cindy McMullen for forwarding this interesting history of New York Chinese food.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/09/ed-schoenfeld-chinese-food-personal-history.html
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Tonight begins Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. We are supposed to approach it having tried to square personal (non-financial) accounts with others (even when the rats don’t deserve apologies). The following, recommended by America’s Favorite Epidemiologist, offers a good discussion of apology in this context. http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/185193/how-to-apologize?utm_source=tabletmagazinelist&utm_campaign=5e458763a4-Friday_September_18_20159_18_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c308bf8edb-5e458763a4-207528309
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination yesterday. This offers President Obama and the American people a wonderful opportunity to handle a very difficult situation. Walker, an early favorite in the race, campaigned on his resolve in meeting an intractable foe. Responding to a question abut ISIS, he said: "If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the globe." The protestors were school teachers and other public employees rallying in the state capital against budget cuts and restrictions on union activities. Now, Obama should conscript Walker to take on ISIS and win the everlasting gratitude of the American people. No doubt Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and Donald Rumsfeld would rush to join Walker and continue their unrivaled record on the international scene. U!S!A!
I never heard of Daniel Thompson until I read his obituary in today’s paper. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/22/business/daniel-thompson-whose-bagel-machine-altered-the-american-diet-dies-at-94.html?action=click&contentCollection=obituaries®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0
I don’t fault his inventiveness, but the result was to make something special into something ordinary.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
I spend Yom Kippur following traditional patterns of behavior, for the most part. I don’t eat; I don’t drink. I shut my smartyphone from sundown to sundown. I don’t turn on a radio or television, although I recall, as a boy, standing in front of the window of an appliance store on Pitkin Avenue watching World Series games. I spend several hours in the synagogue. I do, however, read the newspaper, which is delivered to the front gate of the Palazzo di Gotthelf. There were several items worthy of attention, and I had to keep them in mind in order to write about them once the holiday was over, writing another activity avoided in the 27+ hour period.
First, there is the question of what is sport, posed by the pending decision in Her Majesty’s High Court of Justice in London, England. Great Britain has an entity that helps finance sports, and it has been asked to support contract bridge.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/sports/is-bridge-a-sport-the-high-court-will-decide.html
Decades ago, I played at the lowest level of bridge tournaments and came to know some champions at the game. Competitive bridge, where matches go on for days, requires mental and physical endurance, as well as the ability to deduce who holds the missing king. I view bridge as a sport, unlike the sheer displays of athleticism in synchronized swimming or ice dancing, which unfortunately occupy time and space at the Olympics. Bridge, akin to baseball, soccer, polo, hockey, basketball and such allows easy determination of a victor. More – more runs, more goals, more points – tricks in bridge. Grandson Boaz, nearing 7 3/4, would have no trouble announcing a contest winner. Even races, which are won by less – less time – would not challenge this child, even were he not brighter than average. Boaz can tell time and he can subtract, end time minus start time. No style points; no judges applying opaque standards that are often bent by geopolitical considerations.
Next, is the Volkswagen scandal. While I never forgave nor forgot, my first automobile bought new was a VW Beetle. It was trouble-free, so I retain a good impression of the brand. Now, however, VW has admitted that 11 million diesel-powered cars were rigged to cheat on air pollution tests. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/business/international/volkswagen-diesel-car-scandal.html
Unique about this story is the sheer magnitude of the deception and its Teutonic efficiency. Because the fraud crossed several VW models and the Audi make as well for lots of years, the number of defective vehicles appears to exceed other manufacturers’ willful negligence. Although General Motors’ ignition switch death toll is at least 124, VW has merely poisoned the air all around the world. The character of VW’s crime is special by design. GM, and other negligent manufacturers, typically chose a cost-cutting approach in some physical component, or ignored bad results associated with some physical component. VW rigged software to operate unattended during emissions testing, changing the flow of pollutants while under scrutiny. Once freed from the oppressive hands of government (Boo!) regulators, the engines resumed pumping out exhaust dozens of times more noxious than registered during testing, and far above acceptable limits. Imagine if that quality of engineering were applied to something other than improving profits at any cost.
Believe it or not, "Happy Birthday to You" (the song) was still under copyright protection until yesterday. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/business/media/happy-birthday-copyright-invalidated-by-judge.html
So, get out the hats and horns, light the candles and sing your heads off.
For those of you in the Western hemisphere not situated in or near New York City or San Francisco, Chinese food may mean Panda Express, with over 1,800 outlets. Until now, it has not made any inroads here, where there are four Chinatowns, all continuing to grow.
http://nyti.ms/1j70and
Time will tell if Panda’s factory output will succeed here, but I hope that they are not counting on my participation.
Finally, the following column discusses the widening gap in educational achievement between rich and poor, even as the gap between black and white children decreases (although far from disappearing). http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/business/economy/education-gap-between-rich-and-poor-is-growing-wider.html
Even if we and our families are fortunate enough to fall on the "good" side of this divide, do we want our children and grandchildren to grow up and function in such a stratified society? Isn’t a broadly educated populace beneficial to all? Don’t I sound silly even expressing this?
Thursday, September 24, 2015
During Yom Kippur services, Rabbi Marc Margolius, the deservedly popular leader of West End Synagogue, announced that the Hattan Torah-Kallat Bereishit (the Groom and Bride of the Torah) celebration for the new year of 5776 improbably places me in the role of the groom. While I have held a Torah scroll every so often during services, and have read from it aloud in Hebrew twice as an adult, my connections to its contents are ephemeral, at best. I respect the Torah’s staying power, and the hold that it maintains on many Jews. However, as I pointed out to Rabbi Margolius when he told me privately of the forthcoming designation, I am proud to be a Jew, but I don’t want my life and my choices to be viewed as a reflection on Jewish doctrines, beliefs or practices, although my devotion to Chinese food may have a tribal basis.
In any case, the celebration will be held on Saturday, October 24th, at West End Synagogue, 190 Amsterdam Avenue (at 69th Street, 1, 2 or 3 train to 72nd Street). Prayer services begin at 10:00 AM, Torah readings at 11:00 AM, Kiddush (lunch [lox will be served]) at 12:30 PM, speeches at 1:30 PM. Note that I am privileged to have as my bride Dr. Evelyn Attia, immediate past president of West End Synagogue, and professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center (what more appropriate a match?).
If you are within the sound of my pen, please come to this event (at least from lunch onward) regardless of your affiliation or distance from any religion, creed, ethical system, or favorite baseball team. Also, whether you are able to join us or not, I shamelessly ask you to write a check to West End Synagogue, 190 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10023, in the amount of $18. The number 18 in Hebrew is called "chai" (pronounced hi, with a little phlegm on the H), not to be confused with the spicy milk tea of India. Chai is also the Hebrew word for Life, thus the toast l’chaim (remember that the revival of "Fiddler on the Roof" begins in previews on November 20th at the Broadway Theatre, 1681 Broadway). Gifts are often given in the amount of $18 or multiples. Therefore, please contribute to West End Synagogue to help it improve its decisionmaking capability, so that it does not make such an egregious error in choosing a groom in the future.
Friday, September 25, 2015
So, we won't have John Boehner to kick around anymore? And, Jeb Bush told a crowd in South Carolina on Thursday that Republicans could attract more African-Americans with a message of “hope and aspiration,” and not with promises of “free stuff.” How could anyone think of moving to New Zealand at a time like this?
A persistent image during the Jewish High Holy Days is the Book of Life, closing for the old year and opening for the new year. The interim between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is the time for the ink to dry in the new volume. So, I have to complete my work for 5775 in order to move ahead to 5776, that is conclude my reviews of cold sesame noodles. Before uttering my last word, I had to return to where I begun, Shanghai Asian Manor, 21 Mott Street (June 24, 2015), to make sure that my very positive impression was still warranted.
Maybe the word got out from my last visit, because the joint was packed. I had to wait for a spot at one of the five booths, two large round tables, six four-tops or two two-tops. Usually, I don’t wait to be seated in Chinatown, given the raft of alternatives. However, I was on a mission with a very tight time constraint. So, I waited and got a booth to myself.
The portion of noodles was medium-sized, topped with slivered pea pods and bamboo shoots ($4.75). No sesame seeds were visible, but the sauce was superb.
I asked for extra sauce (after taking the picture) to ensure that every noodle strand was amply coated. In conclusion, I am confident pronouncing the cold sesame noodles at Shanghai Asian Manor best after sampling about 20 versions, and finding an equal or greater number of places not serving it. Note that the soup buns and scallion pancakes here are also excellent. Honorable mention to Kori Tribeca, 253 Church Street (July 30, 2015) for Japchae, the wonderful sweet potato noodles stir fried in sesame oil, served only as a side dish.
Thanks to Cindy McMullen for forwarding this interesting history of New York Chinese food.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/09/ed-schoenfeld-chinese-food-personal-history.html
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Tonight begins Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. We are supposed to approach it having tried to square personal (non-financial) accounts with others (even when the rats don’t deserve apologies). The following, recommended by America’s Favorite Epidemiologist, offers a good discussion of apology in this context. http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/185193/how-to-apologize?utm_source=tabletmagazinelist&utm_campaign=5e458763a4-Friday_September_18_20159_18_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c308bf8edb-5e458763a4-207528309
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination yesterday. This offers President Obama and the American people a wonderful opportunity to handle a very difficult situation. Walker, an early favorite in the race, campaigned on his resolve in meeting an intractable foe. Responding to a question abut ISIS, he said: "If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the globe." The protestors were school teachers and other public employees rallying in the state capital against budget cuts and restrictions on union activities. Now, Obama should conscript Walker to take on ISIS and win the everlasting gratitude of the American people. No doubt Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and Donald Rumsfeld would rush to join Walker and continue their unrivaled record on the international scene. U!S!A!
I never heard of Daniel Thompson until I read his obituary in today’s paper. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/22/business/daniel-thompson-whose-bagel-machine-altered-the-american-diet-dies-at-94.html?action=click&contentCollection=obituaries®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0
I don’t fault his inventiveness, but the result was to make something special into something ordinary.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
I spend Yom Kippur following traditional patterns of behavior, for the most part. I don’t eat; I don’t drink. I shut my smartyphone from sundown to sundown. I don’t turn on a radio or television, although I recall, as a boy, standing in front of the window of an appliance store on Pitkin Avenue watching World Series games. I spend several hours in the synagogue. I do, however, read the newspaper, which is delivered to the front gate of the Palazzo di Gotthelf. There were several items worthy of attention, and I had to keep them in mind in order to write about them once the holiday was over, writing another activity avoided in the 27+ hour period.
First, there is the question of what is sport, posed by the pending decision in Her Majesty’s High Court of Justice in London, England. Great Britain has an entity that helps finance sports, and it has been asked to support contract bridge.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/sports/is-bridge-a-sport-the-high-court-will-decide.html
Decades ago, I played at the lowest level of bridge tournaments and came to know some champions at the game. Competitive bridge, where matches go on for days, requires mental and physical endurance, as well as the ability to deduce who holds the missing king. I view bridge as a sport, unlike the sheer displays of athleticism in synchronized swimming or ice dancing, which unfortunately occupy time and space at the Olympics. Bridge, akin to baseball, soccer, polo, hockey, basketball and such allows easy determination of a victor. More – more runs, more goals, more points – tricks in bridge. Grandson Boaz, nearing 7 3/4, would have no trouble announcing a contest winner. Even races, which are won by less – less time – would not challenge this child, even were he not brighter than average. Boaz can tell time and he can subtract, end time minus start time. No style points; no judges applying opaque standards that are often bent by geopolitical considerations.
Next, is the Volkswagen scandal. While I never forgave nor forgot, my first automobile bought new was a VW Beetle. It was trouble-free, so I retain a good impression of the brand. Now, however, VW has admitted that 11 million diesel-powered cars were rigged to cheat on air pollution tests. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/business/international/volkswagen-diesel-car-scandal.html
Unique about this story is the sheer magnitude of the deception and its Teutonic efficiency. Because the fraud crossed several VW models and the Audi make as well for lots of years, the number of defective vehicles appears to exceed other manufacturers’ willful negligence. Although General Motors’ ignition switch death toll is at least 124, VW has merely poisoned the air all around the world. The character of VW’s crime is special by design. GM, and other negligent manufacturers, typically chose a cost-cutting approach in some physical component, or ignored bad results associated with some physical component. VW rigged software to operate unattended during emissions testing, changing the flow of pollutants while under scrutiny. Once freed from the oppressive hands of government (Boo!) regulators, the engines resumed pumping out exhaust dozens of times more noxious than registered during testing, and far above acceptable limits. Imagine if that quality of engineering were applied to something other than improving profits at any cost.
Believe it or not, "Happy Birthday to You" (the song) was still under copyright protection until yesterday. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/business/media/happy-birthday-copyright-invalidated-by-judge.html
So, get out the hats and horns, light the candles and sing your heads off.
For those of you in the Western hemisphere not situated in or near New York City or San Francisco, Chinese food may mean Panda Express, with over 1,800 outlets. Until now, it has not made any inroads here, where there are four Chinatowns, all continuing to grow.
http://nyti.ms/1j70and
Time will tell if Panda’s factory output will succeed here, but I hope that they are not counting on my participation.
Finally, the following column discusses the widening gap in educational achievement between rich and poor, even as the gap between black and white children decreases (although far from disappearing). http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/business/economy/education-gap-between-rich-and-poor-is-growing-wider.html
Even if we and our families are fortunate enough to fall on the "good" side of this divide, do we want our children and grandchildren to grow up and function in such a stratified society? Isn’t a broadly educated populace beneficial to all? Don’t I sound silly even expressing this?
Thursday, September 24, 2015
During Yom Kippur services, Rabbi Marc Margolius, the deservedly popular leader of West End Synagogue, announced that the Hattan Torah-Kallat Bereishit (the Groom and Bride of the Torah) celebration for the new year of 5776 improbably places me in the role of the groom. While I have held a Torah scroll every so often during services, and have read from it aloud in Hebrew twice as an adult, my connections to its contents are ephemeral, at best. I respect the Torah’s staying power, and the hold that it maintains on many Jews. However, as I pointed out to Rabbi Margolius when he told me privately of the forthcoming designation, I am proud to be a Jew, but I don’t want my life and my choices to be viewed as a reflection on Jewish doctrines, beliefs or practices, although my devotion to Chinese food may have a tribal basis.
In any case, the celebration will be held on Saturday, October 24th, at West End Synagogue, 190 Amsterdam Avenue (at 69th Street, 1, 2 or 3 train to 72nd Street). Prayer services begin at 10:00 AM, Torah readings at 11:00 AM, Kiddush (lunch [lox will be served]) at 12:30 PM, speeches at 1:30 PM. Note that I am privileged to have as my bride Dr. Evelyn Attia, immediate past president of West End Synagogue, and professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center (what more appropriate a match?).
If you are within the sound of my pen, please come to this event (at least from lunch onward) regardless of your affiliation or distance from any religion, creed, ethical system, or favorite baseball team. Also, whether you are able to join us or not, I shamelessly ask you to write a check to West End Synagogue, 190 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10023, in the amount of $18. The number 18 in Hebrew is called "chai" (pronounced hi, with a little phlegm on the H), not to be confused with the spicy milk tea of India. Chai is also the Hebrew word for Life, thus the toast l’chaim (remember that the revival of "Fiddler on the Roof" begins in previews on November 20th at the Broadway Theatre, 1681 Broadway). Gifts are often given in the amount of $18 or multiples. Therefore, please contribute to West End Synagogue to help it improve its decisionmaking capability, so that it does not make such an egregious error in choosing a groom in the future.
Friday, September 25, 2015
So, we won't have John Boehner to kick around anymore? And, Jeb Bush told a crowd in South Carolina on Thursday that Republicans could attract more African-Americans with a message of “hope and aspiration,” and not with promises of “free stuff.” How could anyone think of moving to New Zealand at a time like this?
Save the date -- October 24th
Friday, September 18, 2015
¡Feliz año nuevo!
Monday, September 14, 2015
The Jewish New Year occupies the next two days.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
The most interesting news of the past several days was found in a casual reference in the real estate section of the New York Times about the sale of a Greenwich Village townhouse. A certain Mr. Sels was identified as a middle man in the deal, in which Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg may be an unnamed participant. The article says that Mr. Sels "has been involved with real estate transactions with Mr. Zuckerberg and his sister and helped Mr. Zuckerberg refinance the mortgage on his Palo Alto home." Note that Zuckerberg has an estimated worth of over $36 billion.
Can you hear Zuckerberg’s mother? "So, Mr. Smarty Pants, you need to borrow money to buy a house?"
The report of the death of the founder of Subway sandwich shops informed me that it is the world’s largest fast food chain, with more than 20% more outlets than McDonald’s. While I don’t consider McDonald’s the exemplar of casual dining, my own exposure to Subway did not lead me to believe that it might be as dominant as it is. I ate Subway tuna sandwiches about twice a month for a couple of years during the mid-aughts, while I was working at the little forgotten courthouse at the corner of Thomas Street and West Broadway in Tribeca.
As I explained when I began my lunchtime exploration of Chinese restaurants in 2010, the Tribeca neighborhood had several fine restaurants, such as Bouley and Nobu. However, these were not your everyday, sit-down-with-your-crossword-puzzles-at-lunch restaurants. That sort were much harder to find in the vicinity. A decent pizzeria and Le Zinc, a friendly café, both on Duane Street, between West Broadway and Church Street, closed during my tenure. Zucker’s Bagels and Smoked Fish, 146 Chambers Street, a very good example of its genre, only opened shortly before I moved across town; Pakistan Tea House, 176 Church Street, the best of several nearby Pakistani/Indian/Bengali restaurants, was very small and usually very crowded, which made it hard to linger. So, every couple of weeks, I went to the Subway sandwich shop on Chambers Street, just west of West Broadway. I never considered eating anything there except tuna fish. I still marvel at the advertising photographs of fat sandwiches, bursting with meat, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, bacon, guacamole, pickles and various dressings, bearing absolutely no resemblance to the 95% bread concoctions actually served.
In my defense, the climate control in the store always operated successfully, and the clusters of students from Manhattan Community College and Stuyvesant High School, both two blocks away, always made room for me and my newspaper. For better or worse, the Subway management team never consulted me on their growth strategy or their menu. While there are at least two Subway sandwich shops in Chinatown, I have never entered either since I moved across town to 60 Centre Street. Placing me here every weekday was an opportunity to discover Heaven on Earth.
I moved from Malaysia to Thailand on my weekly visit to Wok Wok Southeast Asian Kitchen, 11 Mott Street, when I ordered Thai mango salad with grilled shrimp ($6.25 plus $3 for the shrimp). I enjoyed the dish, composed of threads of mango, purple onions, chives and fresh chili, in a strong lime sauce. The four smallish shrimp were over-priced, but took an edge off the highly-spiced dish. I think that this item would be best enjoyed with a glass of beer, waiting for your main course. I received a cast iron pot of tea without any fuss, and business was good, a few more non-Chinese/Malays.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
By coincidence, Tomas Gonzalez, my grandnephew, has just left Buenos Aires, Argentina to begin college at University of California, Santa Cruz, and a web site has placed that location at the top of the list of best college towns.
http://www.jetsetter.com/feature/best-college-towns-in-the-US?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily&utm_term=20150916_vT1DT_WEDT_np&utm_source=tripadvisor&DG=1a31d527-7009-4c5c-9708-d5933b71a507&nl_id=121329
It’s an interesting list, consisting entirely of places that I have never been expelled from.
Last night’s Republican candidates’ debate was more interesting as theater than politics, as these events tend to be, regardless of party affiliation. Sincere-sounding promises of "strength," "leadership," "firmness," "courage" and "boldness" abounded, without any suggestion of real policies. One question did, however, focus on specifics; in fact, it required the candidates to name names. Who would you put on the new $10 bill? Here was a platinum-plated invitation to pander, and I’m not surprised that Mom, Wife and Daughter were offered as responses. However, I was surprised by the mention of Rosa Parks by several speakers who have usually been indifferent to African-American civil rights.
But, the most surprising and weirdest answer came from Jeb! (the man who traded his last name for a punctuation mark): Margaret Thatcher. First of all, few Americans under 60 can identify Margaret Thatcher, and even many of us over 60 need the help of Meryl Streep’s portrayal in "The Iron Lady" to place her in time and space. Second, most Americans in the fly-over states are beset by the presence of foreigners, in fact or in myth, on the sacred ground of the U S of A. Even a white, Christian, English-speaking foreigner may be too – how do you say? – foreign a figure to put on our currency.
Michael Ratner joined me at Sam’s Spring Roll, 23 Essex Street, five doors from the birthplace of Mother Ruth Gotthelf in 1909. The joint was reviewed in the New York Times on Wednesday and we appeared one day later. Waiting for Michael, I met Samantha Chu, the young owner, who grew up in Chinatown. Her sister married a Vietnamese man and that exposed her to another cuisine after her grandmother had taught her Chinese cooking.
The place is tiny, no more than 8 feet wide and 20 feet long. Seating is available on stools at two high two-tops, a narrow four-foot counter, a narrow five-foot counter and a bar where orders are placed and bills paid. One wall is exposed brick, probably already old when my mother lived down the block. Opposite is a wall painted battleship gray, with a few nondescript things attached.
The menu is very limited. There are four spring rolls, each about 4 inches long and one inch in diameter: cumin chicken, bulgogi (Korean beef), samosa (vegetarian), and pork leek. One roll is $2, three for $5. The look and feel of the contents distinguished them more than the flavors. Four sauces are offered, although there are no natural combinations with the rolls: creamy verde, creamy chimichurri, crack (spicy Thai), and ginger & scallion. They were all green, all tasty, two more spicy (chimichurri and crack), and combined well with any of the rolls. We each had each roll plus one more chicken and beef. Additionally, Sam serves a rice bowl ($8) – a spring roll, egg, pickles, sauce and rice – and a salad bowl ($9) – spring roll, mixed greens, egg and miso sesame dressing. Finally, for the millennials, waffle fries, which were outsourced, and thus skippable.
Friday, September 18, 2015
I am trying to close Sesame Street and pave it over. My last stop, I hope, was at Shanghai HePing Restaurant, 104 Mott Street, a bright, airy place (May 21, 2013, April 15 2012). It served Cold Noodles with Peanut Sauce ($4.95), and did it well.
I am ending this important week at CitiField, for the first game of the Mets-Yankees weekend series. I am going with Jerry S., fellow congregant and rabid Yankees fan, in the ecumenical spirit of the High Holy Days. While I am prepared to concede that his Hebrew is better than mine, I am convinced that my baseball is better than his.
The Jewish New Year occupies the next two days.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
The most interesting news of the past several days was found in a casual reference in the real estate section of the New York Times about the sale of a Greenwich Village townhouse. A certain Mr. Sels was identified as a middle man in the deal, in which Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg may be an unnamed participant. The article says that Mr. Sels "has been involved with real estate transactions with Mr. Zuckerberg and his sister and helped Mr. Zuckerberg refinance the mortgage on his Palo Alto home." Note that Zuckerberg has an estimated worth of over $36 billion.
Can you hear Zuckerberg’s mother? "So, Mr. Smarty Pants, you need to borrow money to buy a house?"
The report of the death of the founder of Subway sandwich shops informed me that it is the world’s largest fast food chain, with more than 20% more outlets than McDonald’s. While I don’t consider McDonald’s the exemplar of casual dining, my own exposure to Subway did not lead me to believe that it might be as dominant as it is. I ate Subway tuna sandwiches about twice a month for a couple of years during the mid-aughts, while I was working at the little forgotten courthouse at the corner of Thomas Street and West Broadway in Tribeca.
As I explained when I began my lunchtime exploration of Chinese restaurants in 2010, the Tribeca neighborhood had several fine restaurants, such as Bouley and Nobu. However, these were not your everyday, sit-down-with-your-crossword-puzzles-at-lunch restaurants. That sort were much harder to find in the vicinity. A decent pizzeria and Le Zinc, a friendly café, both on Duane Street, between West Broadway and Church Street, closed during my tenure. Zucker’s Bagels and Smoked Fish, 146 Chambers Street, a very good example of its genre, only opened shortly before I moved across town; Pakistan Tea House, 176 Church Street, the best of several nearby Pakistani/Indian/Bengali restaurants, was very small and usually very crowded, which made it hard to linger. So, every couple of weeks, I went to the Subway sandwich shop on Chambers Street, just west of West Broadway. I never considered eating anything there except tuna fish. I still marvel at the advertising photographs of fat sandwiches, bursting with meat, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, bacon, guacamole, pickles and various dressings, bearing absolutely no resemblance to the 95% bread concoctions actually served.
In my defense, the climate control in the store always operated successfully, and the clusters of students from Manhattan Community College and Stuyvesant High School, both two blocks away, always made room for me and my newspaper. For better or worse, the Subway management team never consulted me on their growth strategy or their menu. While there are at least two Subway sandwich shops in Chinatown, I have never entered either since I moved across town to 60 Centre Street. Placing me here every weekday was an opportunity to discover Heaven on Earth.
I moved from Malaysia to Thailand on my weekly visit to Wok Wok Southeast Asian Kitchen, 11 Mott Street, when I ordered Thai mango salad with grilled shrimp ($6.25 plus $3 for the shrimp). I enjoyed the dish, composed of threads of mango, purple onions, chives and fresh chili, in a strong lime sauce. The four smallish shrimp were over-priced, but took an edge off the highly-spiced dish. I think that this item would be best enjoyed with a glass of beer, waiting for your main course. I received a cast iron pot of tea without any fuss, and business was good, a few more non-Chinese/Malays.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
By coincidence, Tomas Gonzalez, my grandnephew, has just left Buenos Aires, Argentina to begin college at University of California, Santa Cruz, and a web site has placed that location at the top of the list of best college towns.
http://www.jetsetter.com/feature/best-college-towns-in-the-US?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily&utm_term=20150916_vT1DT_WEDT_np&utm_source=tripadvisor&DG=1a31d527-7009-4c5c-9708-d5933b71a507&nl_id=121329
It’s an interesting list, consisting entirely of places that I have never been expelled from.
Last night’s Republican candidates’ debate was more interesting as theater than politics, as these events tend to be, regardless of party affiliation. Sincere-sounding promises of "strength," "leadership," "firmness," "courage" and "boldness" abounded, without any suggestion of real policies. One question did, however, focus on specifics; in fact, it required the candidates to name names. Who would you put on the new $10 bill? Here was a platinum-plated invitation to pander, and I’m not surprised that Mom, Wife and Daughter were offered as responses. However, I was surprised by the mention of Rosa Parks by several speakers who have usually been indifferent to African-American civil rights.
But, the most surprising and weirdest answer came from Jeb! (the man who traded his last name for a punctuation mark): Margaret Thatcher. First of all, few Americans under 60 can identify Margaret Thatcher, and even many of us over 60 need the help of Meryl Streep’s portrayal in "The Iron Lady" to place her in time and space. Second, most Americans in the fly-over states are beset by the presence of foreigners, in fact or in myth, on the sacred ground of the U S of A. Even a white, Christian, English-speaking foreigner may be too – how do you say? – foreign a figure to put on our currency.
Michael Ratner joined me at Sam’s Spring Roll, 23 Essex Street, five doors from the birthplace of Mother Ruth Gotthelf in 1909. The joint was reviewed in the New York Times on Wednesday and we appeared one day later. Waiting for Michael, I met Samantha Chu, the young owner, who grew up in Chinatown. Her sister married a Vietnamese man and that exposed her to another cuisine after her grandmother had taught her Chinese cooking.
The place is tiny, no more than 8 feet wide and 20 feet long. Seating is available on stools at two high two-tops, a narrow four-foot counter, a narrow five-foot counter and a bar where orders are placed and bills paid. One wall is exposed brick, probably already old when my mother lived down the block. Opposite is a wall painted battleship gray, with a few nondescript things attached.
The menu is very limited. There are four spring rolls, each about 4 inches long and one inch in diameter: cumin chicken, bulgogi (Korean beef), samosa (vegetarian), and pork leek. One roll is $2, three for $5. The look and feel of the contents distinguished them more than the flavors. Four sauces are offered, although there are no natural combinations with the rolls: creamy verde, creamy chimichurri, crack (spicy Thai), and ginger & scallion. They were all green, all tasty, two more spicy (chimichurri and crack), and combined well with any of the rolls. We each had each roll plus one more chicken and beef. Additionally, Sam serves a rice bowl ($8) – a spring roll, egg, pickles, sauce and rice – and a salad bowl ($9) – spring roll, mixed greens, egg and miso sesame dressing. Finally, for the millennials, waffle fries, which were outsourced, and thus skippable.
Friday, September 18, 2015
I am trying to close Sesame Street and pave it over. My last stop, I hope, was at Shanghai HePing Restaurant, 104 Mott Street, a bright, airy place (May 21, 2013, April 15 2012). It served Cold Noodles with Peanut Sauce ($4.95), and did it well.
The medium-sized portion was covered with slivers of cucumber, chive ringlets and sesame seeds. There was plenty of sauce, thick enough not to drip. It rated an A+, but barely missed perfection in that the sauce lacked that subtle salty edge found in peanut butter.
I am ending this important week at CitiField, for the first game of the Mets-Yankees weekend series. I am going with Jerry S., fellow congregant and rabid Yankees fan, in the ecumenical spirit of the High Holy Days. While I am prepared to concede that his Hebrew is better than mine, I am convinced that my baseball is better than his.
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