Saturday, March 29, 2025

No Practice Needed

Saturday, March 22, 2025
Texas A&M University has banned performances “involv[ing] biological males dressing in women’s clothes.”
There goes Shakespeare. 
.  .  .

On the other hand, tolerance has gained a foothold at Yeshiva University, a school based on Modern Orthodox Jewish values. An LGBTQ club on campus is being recognized after several years of opposition by the administration.
.  .  .

If you’d like to hear about intolerant Jews, I have something for you. A group of adult Jews met recently to discuss a gift to their progressive synagogue. The consensus choice was a Torah cover, both as an adornment and protection of the sacred text.

Some group members, who are apparently more sensitive than others to perceived grievances, objected to the first choice because it was made in Israel. Then, they made a blanket objection to any cover with a notable presence of blue, as in the Israeli flag.

I repeat: A group of adult Jews met recently to discuss a gift to their progressive synagogue.

Sunday, March 23, 2025
A study of the 1,839 largest American cities and towns for the period 2013-2023 found that the typical home is newer almost everywhere. 

While this is no surprise for new and expanding communities in wide open spaces, two of the top 10 are immediately adjacent to New York City and two more are in commuting range.
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How did we get to Carnegie Hall? By bus. It was the annual concert by HaZamir, the International Jewish Teen Choir. The specific attraction was Boaz, #1 Grandson, looming large at age 17. There were hundreds of Jewish kids on stage from the United States and Israel. Imagine the level of swelling adoration among the relatives who packed the hall. Boaz, in addition to towering over his peers in the back row, introduced one of the numbers in clear, self-assured tones.

Before the concert, the rest of the family met for lunch at Wagamama, 100 West 55th Street, the British-based, pan-Asian restaurant chain starting to expand here. I had Steak Bulgogi,
marinated sirloin steak, miso-fried eggplant, soba noodles, bulgogi sauce, kimchi and half a tea-stained egg ($24.50). It was good and spicy and filling. It went well with Diet Coke.
.  .  .

“Liberals used to be the counterculture, today they’re the defenders of traditional norms and institutions.” Andrew Marantz in The New Yorker.

Monday, March 24, 2025
“According to figures released Sunday by the French Interior Ministry, 1,570 antisemitic acts were recorded in 2024, representing 62% of all religiously motivated hate crimes in the country.” 

Do Jews make up 62% of the French population? Not even close. 1% actually.
.  .  . 

Corporate sponsorship is now being sought for the White House Easter Egg Roll.

In what may be the last gasp for DEI, I am seeking corporate sponsorship for our Passover Seder. So far, Toyota has expressed interest in underwriting the Four Questions.

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
My brother is five years older than I am. He went to Stuyvesant High School and CCNY before I did. He was a far better student than I was and started a collection of pins from the two schools among others, as well as various political candidates of the time. I added to it. 

This minor trove sat untouched for decades until future president William Franklin Harrison came over today to help me sort it out. The Stuyvesant and CCNY piles will go to the respective alumni associations. We have no destination for the others at present, mostly candidates, Alf Landon-Adlai Stevenson-Eugene McCarthy, among the more interesting ones.

Wednesday, March 26, 2025
“The average American leaves 53 pounds, or $329 worth, of food on the plate at restaurants every year, according to 2023 data from ReFed, an organization that works to reduce food waste.”

If you have ever eaten with me, you know that I am not the average American.
.  .  .

While I might like to fill these columns with birthday greetings, odes to Spring and news of Mets victories, other stuff keeps drawing my attention. For instance, Hunter College just redrafted a job posting for a faculty position in Palestinian studies. It originally mentioned “settler colonialism, genocide and apartheid.”
The new listing also omits reference to murder, rape and kidnapping.
.  .  .

Speaking of happiness, the latest World Happiness Report has emerged from Oxford University.

For the eighth year in a row, Finland is the leading happy place, with other Scandinavian countries taking most of the top spots. Lebanon, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan are at the bottom of the heap. The good old USA comes storming in at 24th. Maybe we need more saunas. I found it interesting that Israel sits at eighth, obviously comfortable with blood and guts. 

Thursday, March 27, 2025
With that long trek across the Sinai Desert rising on the horizon, the Boyz Club gathered at Wo Hop, 17 Mott Street, to assign roles, who would lead the camels, who would feed the camels, who would clean up after the camels.

We ate heartily, egg rolls, honey crispy chicken, Singapore chow fun, chicken chow fun, beef with scallions and mushroom fried rice. With our generous, as always, gratuity, we spent $20 each. Ain’t no mountain high enough.

Friday, March 28, 2025
I had a late lunch at Lim's Kitchen, 242 East 40th Street, a small, neat Korean restaurant. It is a long rectangle, with seven four tops. The ceiling and upper half of the walls are painted white giving a bright feel. Below, there is one long strip of exposed brick, opposite faux wood planks. As soon as you sit down, three little dishes are put down, kim chi, the traditional Korean fermented cabbage, macaroni salad and tiny slices of cold omelet. Forks by request.

I ordered japchae, a large portion of glass noodles with shaved bulgogi beef, mushrooms, onions, scallions, red peppers, sesame seeds and carrots in a rich, salty soy sauce ($17.95, 5% discount for cash). They also serve Korean fried chicken, my target for a future visit.
.  .  .

In these dark days on the international front, there is an unusual little bright spot. Gazans are mounting demonstrations against their Hamas rulers, seeking peace and freedom.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/26/middleeast/why-gazans-are-protesting-hamas-now-intl-latam?cid=ios_app

Can Bibi Netanyahu curb his blood lust sufficiently to allow a bit of civilization to return to the birthplace of Western civilization?


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Saturday, March 22, 2025

On Tour

Saturday, March 15, 2025
Turning the tables on us Jewish gourmands, China is experiencing a bagel boom.  https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/14/travel/video/bagel-expensive-beijing-china-digvid?cid=ios_app
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Old Town Albuquerque encompasses about 10 blocks of adobe buildings, dating from 1706. Today, most of them seem to be either souvenir shops, cafés or jewelry stores, but, externally, they reflect their historic origins. The area is less than half a mile from our hotel, an easy walk. The Albuquerque Museum, 2000 Mountain Road NW, is also immediately adjacent to it. I sat very comfortably in the museum's lobby while madam visited the collection.

Also adjacent to Old Town is Sawmill Market, 1909 Bellamah Avenue NW, formerly a lumberyard founded in 1903. It was repurposed as an urban marketplace in 2019, now containing more than two dozen food and beverage establishments, sushi, pizza, hamburgers, churros, beers, fish & chips, pastries, coffee, falafel, smoothies, poke, soft serve, tacos, chicken wings — you get it. It was hard for me to leave the premises.
.  .  .

For dinner, we walked less than two blocks to D.H. Lescombes Winery & Bistro, 901 Rio Grande Boulevard NW, an enterprise rooted in a family winemaking business that moved from Algeria to Burgundy to New Mexico. The big room has a semi-rustic feel, oak casks are scattered throughout and cabinets of wine and large photographs of vineyards are on the walls.

The food was particularly good and well-priced. We shared a large roasted beet salad, “mixed greens + red & golden beets + goat cheese + mesilla valley sweet & spicy pecans + crispy parsnip shavings + pecan vinaigrette” ($14). Madam had grilled Norwegian salmon with “seasonal vegetables + jasmine rice + grilled lemon” ($22). I had steak frites, “8 oz sirloin + certified angus beef + lescombes seasoning + thin-cut fries + roasted garlic aioli + ketchup” ($25). We enjoyed the wines as well, she a hefty 9 oz. pour of Chardonnay ($18) and me a flight of Lescombes sparkling wines, Heritage Brut, Heritage Imperial Kit, Heritage Bellissimo ($12, a steal). Dessert was unnecessary.

Sunday, March 16, 2025
This morning, we visited the New M***** Museum of Natural History & Science, 1801 Mountain Road NW, which houses a formidable collection of fossils, making me feel right at home. This is a major league operation, probably threatened by the winds of political change. Evolution and climate change are emphasized in many of the exhibits and text is usually bilingual. 
.  .  .

We returned to Sawmill Market for lunch. I had a Bang Bang Chicken Sandwich from Outlaw Chicken, big chunks of pretzel-coated fried chicken with lettuce, tomato, pickles and Bang Bang Sauce (otherwise undefined) on a garlic rubbed pretzel bun, a substantial concoction ($15). 
.  .  .

Our program started this afternoon with an introductory talk and dinner with our congenial group of fellow travelers.

Monday, March 17, 2025
When Donald Trump’s father got a podiatrist tenant to claim that Donald suffered from bone spurs, disqualifying him from military service during the Vietnam War (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/12/27/trump-vietnam-war-bone-spur-diagnosis/2420475002/) and I was taking Mickey Mouse teaching jobs for the same purpose, Charles Calvin Rogers was seeing action in the war zone. He was wounded three times and eventually awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by Richard Nixon. He was an African American and rose to the rank of major general. However, none of that was adequate for the current crop of Washington clowns. He has been removed from the Department of Defense website, because he was Black or because he was brave?
.  .  .

So, Grandpa Alan, what are you doing in Albuquerque? We have joined a group of about two dozen people on a five-day tour of “New Mexico’s Conversos and Crypto-Jews.” As we learned in a lecture this afternoon, Jews who came to Mexico after the Inquisition and expulsion from Spain late in the 15th century as Conversos (Christian converts), Crypto-Jews (Conversos practicing Judaism secretly) or remained in Jewish faced a brutal Mexican inquisition in the middle of the 16th century and beyond. A Jewish woman was reputedly burned at the stake in Mexico City as late as 1831.

Many of these Jews then migrated north on an established trade route into what became New Mexico. Recent DNA testing has uncovered the Jewish roots of many local residents, some of them recounting family tales of customs unaligned with those of their fellow Catholics friends and neighbors.
.  .  .

The group had dinner at D.H. Lescombes Winery & Bistro from a limited menu, but still offering good food. I had a Wagyu beef meatloaf with “hatch green chile + mango-chipotle glaze + shoestring onions + Yukon gold mash + seasonal vegetables” and a wine flight of Heritage label Pinot Gris (best wine I've tasted in a long time), rosé and Cabernet Sauvignon ($12, a bigger steal). Madam kindly gave me a forkful of her delicious pistachio pesto pasta, “local heart of the desert pistachios + cream sauce + linguini + sun-dried tomato + parmesan + toasted panko.”

Tuesday, March 18, 2025
"Our culture is dominated by people with epic levels of historical, economic and scientific ignorance." Gerard Baker, Editor-at-Large Wall Street Journal.
.  .  .

This morning, we had a lecture on Jewish ethnicity, DNA and genetics. There were two presenters, the first a scientific investigator. Almost everything that she had to say was news to me. In spite of Stuyvesant High School’s preeminence in math and science, I failed to develop quantitative analytic skills.

The other speaker was a woman whose family has been in New Mexico for well over 300 years. Growing up, her father indicated that some aspects of their family were to be kept quiet, even as his wife berated him for not going to church. Finally, as a teenager, she learned that the family was Jewish, a fact that her siblings still refuse to accept 60 or so years later. Her story was extremely moving, to think that members of her family preserved their vilified identity for hundreds of years.
.  .  .

On Saturday, at Sawmill Marketplace, we fell into conversation with Kathe and Terry O., a charming local retired couple. We had such a good time that we made a date for dinner tonight. Kathe came down with something, but Terry showed us around some startlingly lavish properties near our hotel. He is a very special guy, retired from two 20-year careers, including the U.S. Navy in submarines and submersibles.

We ate at Flying Star Cafe, 4026 Rio Grande Boulevard NW, one of a half-dozen of its locations. I kept it simple, because we had to return to our group for an evening program. I concentrated on a piece of carrot cake and a pot of jasmine tea.
.  .  .

Cantor Beth Cohen, accompanied by her husband Randy, performed a set of mostly Ladino (Spanish Hebrew) songs for our group this evening. Many of the melodies were familiar, a reminder of the common threads of Judaism even after millennia of dispersion.

Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Our program this morning included a thoughtful talk on “Genes and Memes: The Hidden Jewish Legacy in New Mexico” given by a local rabbi. Her message, in sum, Jews are the same and different.
.  .  .

We went to the National Hispanic Cultural Center, 1701 Fourth Street SW, to see Mundos de Mestizaje by Frederico Vigil, a 4,000 square foot mural housed in the Torreón (tower building). A stunning work, it depicts thousands of years of Hispanic history, illustrating the (God forbid) diverse cultural connections between people and places from the Iberian Peninsula to the Americas. 
.  .  .

We concluded the day at the New Mexico Holocaust & Intolerance Museum, 616 Central Avenue SW. It has an extensive collection housed in very small premises. It has a relatively broad focus, including the Armenian genocide, Chinese exclusionary policy and modern American civil rights. Sadly, it gets only about 3,000 visitors a year. 

Thursday, March 20, 2025
Our group drove up to Santa Fe this morning, a one-hour trip. We started on museum hill, with two major attractions, the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture and the Museum of International Folk Art, which offered some of the most exciting visual experiences that I have ever had. For instance, these are ammunition shell casings recently painted by Ukrainians.

The museum's collection of miniatures is fantastic. 


And there was much more. Kudos to the curators.

Friday, March 21, 2025
We returned home today. However, the often awful national news was never far away. The headline reads: Law Firm Bends in Face of Trump Demands. The firm in question is Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, the firm Adlai Stevenson joined when he came to New York. "Members of the legal profession said in interviews that they were surprised by the deal, as it appears as if the firm — which is dominated by Democrats and has long prided itself in being at the forefront of the fight against the government for civil rights — was capitulating to Mr. Trump over an executive order that is likely illegal."  https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/us/politics/paul-weiss-deal-trump-executive-order-withdrawn.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

I've always admired this firm for the quality of its lawyers and lawyering. There is also a sentimental attraction. In 1982, I came within a whisker of becoming its first manager of computing, back when that was my racket. The quality of the interviewing and the whole deliberative process was so impressive that I felt almost honored in being rejected.
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Saturday, March 15, 2025

π In the Sky

Saturday, March 8, 2025
The new breed of warriors at the Pentagon have vanquished their first enemy, removing 26,000 photographs from its history files of anything or anyone not resembling the archetypal all-American image. /pentagon-images-flagged-removal-dei-purge-trump

It is unknown whether this program emerged from one of Pete Hegseth’s alcoholic hazes, but it reaches absurd lengths. The B-29 Superfortress that delivered the atomic bomb to Hiroshima was named after the pilot’s mother, Enola Gay. Uh-uh. No picture.

Winston Smith, George Orwell’s protagonist in “1984”, worked in the Ministry of Truth, consigning materials to memory holes, where documents, photographs and records are incinerated and erased from history, allowing the regime to control the past and manipulate people’s perceptions of reality.

Stalin did it about 90 years ago; we are just catching up.
.  .  .

Second to Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, reputedly named after Gene Hackman’s character in “The French Connection” Popeye Doyle, not Popeye the Sailor Man, but lacking an apostrophe in any case (https://973thedawg.com/the-reason-why-popeyes-doesnt-use-an-apostrophe/), I prefer Wendy’s to all the other national fast food chains. Partially, it’s by default and partially because their hamburger meat is never frozen. 

I had lunch today at the Wendy’s at 938 Eighth Avenue, one block from the T.J. Maxx where I bought a new suitcase with all those wheels. Transatlantic trivia: In Europe, T.J. Maxx is T.K. Maxx to avoid a trademark conflict with T.J. Hughes, a long established British retailer.

I got a mushroom bacon double cheeseburger in combination with French fries and a very large Coke Zero ($15.61 including tax). The fries were dull, although freshly cooked, they lacked crispness. The mushroom bacon double cheeseburger, however, was predictably messy and quite satisfying.
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Since man shall not live by bread alone (Deuteronomy 8:3), even in the form of a hamburger bun, I got some culture tonight. We went to Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of “Ghosts” by Henrik Ibsen, described as “a devastating moral thriller in which ideas of love, duty and family are mercilessly put to the test,” which sounds like an ordinary day around here.

Sunday, March 9, 2025
Another hundred people just got off of the train
And came up through the ground,
While another hundred people just got off of the bus
And are looking around
At another hundred people who got off of the plane
And are looking at us
Who got off of the train
And the plane and the bus
Maybe yesterday.

This is a lyric from Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” set in New York City. A new survey looks at those people in motion, as well as those moving in the other direction.

There seems to be a high degree of symmetry between the comings and goings. People from Philadelphia and Miami move to New York and New Yorkers move to Philadelphia and Miami.
.  .  .

If you are not tied to the East Coast of the United States and are looking to relocate with longevity in mind, consider this collection of cities where people are living the longest. 


Monday, March 10, 2025
How not to win friends and influence people. "Israeli Energy Minister Cuts Off Electricity to Gaza"
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Caring Ken Klein and I came across a brand new Chinese restaurant, Shanghai Dumpling Fusion, 158 West 72nd Street, on the site of a longtime Turkish restaurant. It’s open less than a week after a complete renovation, with booths and tables of light wood, yielding a very attractive setting.

The menu leans towards dim sum. We shared chicken soup dumplings ($11.95, 5 pieces, should be at least 6 at that price), cold sesame noodles ($13.95, sauce a bit gluey), scallion pancake with beef ($9.95, presented as a sandwich) and popcorn chicken ($8.95, best value). Don’t go out of your way to eat here yet, but I am hopeful that it will prove a valuable addition to the neighborhood.

Tuesday, March 11, 2025
I would not want to be stuck in an elevator with Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian protest leader at Columbia University who was detained by ICE and threatened with deportation. Then, again, I would be repelled by proximity to Elon Musk, who has the capacity for far greater harm, not just to Jews, but all of us. This tactic of deporting people because of their ideas evokes memories of Emma Goldman, deported in 1919 for supporting the Russian Revolution. Kahlil's seriously bad judgment does not warrant ignoring his otherwise legal presence in the land of the free and the home of the brave. This is another example of the current regime governed by spite and fear.
.  .  .

I mentioned "1984" above and later found this factoid: "Two out of three Britons have lied about reading books they have not, and George Orwell's '1984' tops the literary fib list, according to a [2009] survey.” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-books-lies-odd-idUSTRE5244MG20090305/

In the U.S., right now, it places ninth among the great unread. 

Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Last year, Elon Musk spent at least $250 million to elect Donald Trump.  

In Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976), the Supreme Court held that money equals speech and, as such, campaign finance reform runs up against the First Amendment. The opinion was written by Associate Justice William Brennan, one of the most liberal justices ever, yet it has produced highly illiberal results. 

Discussions of free speech often include the phrase “marketplace of ideas.” In that context, one voice may well be louder than others, but never as disproportionately as Musk’s wealth to mine or yours. Last year, in the heated electoral season, I donated about $4,000 to various candidates, mostly pinkos. That’s a ratio of 4,000:250,000,000 (1:62,500 simplified). Whether measured in voices or decibel or trombones, the image of a marketplace is ludicrous. 

In Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186 (1962), the United States Supreme Court ruled that one man, one vote was the constitutional standard for elections. Now, we need one man, one dollar.

                                           .  .  .

Purim starts tonight, one of those Jewish holidays where we celebrate beating the odds. In this case, we came from so far behind that we are encouraged to engage in near riotous behavior in synagogue. Traditionally, a goofy version of the historic events (Purimspiel) is presented, as well. 


Tonight is our first Purimspiel since the death of David Prager, producer, director, author and lead performer so often in the past. Caring Ken Klein picked up much of the burden, aided splendidly by nine other talented, energetic, shameless individuals. They did a great job honoring our long history and our recent memories.

Friday, March 14, 2025
The Upper West Side’s Power Couple’s plan for today is to get on Great Silver Bird and fly to Albuquerque, New M****** for a one-week visit. We are going on American Airlines via Dallas. Waking up this morning, this appeared on my smartyphone regarding another American Airlines flight to Dallas.


If we make it, you’ll hear the details next week.


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Saturday, March 8, 2025

Filling the Gaps

Saturday, March 1, 2025 
What makes supporters of Israel think that it might not face the same treatment as Ukraine at Trump’s whim?
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In the ill-fated White House meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President Trump said, “Putin went through a hell of a lot with me.” While commonly it was thought that he was referring to the Robert Mueller investigation, there was actually an emotionally draining experience the two shared that was shielded from public view until now. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin applied jointly to adopt a panda from the People’s Republic of China. Because of heightened concerns about animal welfare, the vetting process was detailed, complex and invasive. Stress on their relationship was substantial, but the evidence suggests that their bond was strengthened in the long run. The panda, however, was eventually returned to Beijing.

Sunday, March 2, 2025
Who names their kid X Æ A-12? 
.  .  .
 
According to a report in the New York Times, “The couple were wed in a traditional Jewish wedding Feb. 22 before 187 guests. Rabbi Samantha Frank, affiliated with Temple Micah in Washington, officiated at Shun Lee West, a Chinese restaurant on the Upper West Side.” My kind of tradition.

Monday, March 3, 2025
Rowdy Rooster, 140 West 32nd Street, is just down the block from Madison Square Garden, the ultimate destination for Gentleman Jerry and me. I had been there once before, but that was before it made the New York Times list of 57 Sandwiches That Define New York City (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/dining/best-nyc-sandwiches.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare), so tonight I ordered the Big Rowdy, their honored contribution. It had two big chunks of beautifully fried chicken on a potato bun with pickled onions and mint chutney. I made it a combo, good economy including a large portion of French fries and a Diet Coke ($18). An excellent meal to prepare us for the Rangers victory to follow. 

Tuesday, March 4, 2025
The Republican lieutenant governor of Texas wants to rename the cut of beef known as the “New York Strip” to the “Texas Strip”.

Almost unnoticed was President Claudia Sheinbaum’s reference to North Mexico in a meeting with Texas business leaders.
.  .  .

I am wondering if, at my age, knowing someone only 40 years makes them an old friend. I met Warren Cohen through business over 40 years ago. Today was the second time that we have seen each other in 35 years. It wasn’t lack of interest or affection that kept us apart. Rather, it is the distance between the Holy Land and Phoenix where Warren relocated from Great Neck. 
 
While I knew Warren as an effective corporate executive, others know of his distinction as a senior level golfer. His overarching accomplishment, however, may be as the father of Danny Macaroons, who has just expanded his empire of two bakeries, 156 East 117th Street and 196 West 108th Street, to include an Italian restaurant at 975 Amsterdam Avenue. https://dannymacaroons.com/
 
In fact, Warren is here to celebrate the opening of his son’s latest venture.

True to our heritage, we met in a Chinese restaurant, Tri Dim West, 467 Columbus Avenue, an offshoot of Tri Dim Shanghai, 1378 Third Avenue. It’s a large, attractive place, except for a long, near-black wall opposite an exposed brick wall. There were very few people at lunch which meant that service was very attentive.

We stuck to dim sum items, 6 soup buns ($12), duck filled egg roll ($8), 4 Hong Kong shumai ($10), chicken soong (diced chicken and vegetables wrapped in lettuce leaves) ($14) and 4 (under seasoned) pan fried chicken dumplings ($11), a modest disappointment in an otherwise delightful afternoon.

Wednesday, March 5, 2025
I think that I am a typical American in not having much patience for problems. Get right in and clear up the mess. This administration seems to be built on this principle, even if the mess is of its own making. For instance, give in to Putin and we don’t have to worry about Ukraine. Another example is the soaring price of eggs. Our Secretary of Agriculture tells us to raise chickens in our backyards for an economic source of eggs.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trumps-sec-agriculture-said-americans-010747739.html

It reminds me of China’s campaign to accelerate industrialization by having people put steel furnaces in their backyards. 
Of course, if you combine the two programs, you get your own roast chickens.
 
Thursday, March 6, 2025
I am not much of a smiler. At best, I grin. For several months, I had an additional reason to keep my lips together. Three of my dental implants became infected and had to be explanted. Repairs to the gums and underlying bone took many months, so, I walked around with three gaps in my teeth, one almost front and center. This gave me further cause to appear grim. Today, the crackerjack team at Montefiore Dental Center restored what passes in my case for a happy face. It also gave me the opportunity to have lunch at Fountain Diner Cafe, 131 East Gun Hill Road, offering a buffet of about 30 hot and cold items, drawing on diverse cuisines in an equitable and inclusive fashion. I like the chicken wings, in a sticky, sweet sauce. They also have a formidable array of soft drinks from North and South America, at least temporarily.
 
Friday, March 7, 2025
It’s not everyday that you can get a brand new Cuisinart for $9. Actually, we did not pay Eva $9 for the new Cuisinart that she decided that she did not want. That was gratis, but Eva lives on Central Park South, a fancy name for 59th Street. To pick it up, we had to pass the congestion pricing boundary of 60th Street, thus generating a $9 charge. Still, a good deal. Thank you, Eva.



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Saturday, March 1, 2025

Which Side Are We On?

Box Office - Twyla Tharp, Sunday, March 16 @ 2 PM. City Center, 131 West 55th Street, orchestra, row G 110 & 111. Best offer.
 
Saturday, February 22, 2025 
America’s Loveliest Nephrologist left us this afternoon even though I was inclined to throw myself in her path to prevent her from leaving. However, since she was returning to the Oakland Heartthrob, I could not interfere. She has now lived in the Bay Area for more than a decade and has made keen observations. She opines that the Holy Land is unrivaled in pastrami, pizza and bagels. Respecting her point of view, I bought bagels from Zucker’s Bagels & Smoked Fish, 273 Columbus Avenue, and their superb whitefish salad for our lunch.

Sunday, February 23, 2025
Sadly, not everyone appreciates high quality pastrami, pizza or bagels. A new report shows that New York lost population in 2024. 

I have mixed emotions as to the other side of the equation, where people are moving to. Texas and Florida have the biggest gains by far. On the whole, people who want to live in Texas and Florida should, wrapped in mean spirited public policies delivered with hypocritical sanctimony. There are notable exceptions and you know who you are.
.  .  .

We decided to go out for dinner and I chose a well-reviewed Indian restaurant uptown, Baazi, 2588 Broadway. In fact, I myself gave it a very good review when we ate there last October which I completely forgot. The place was undeservedly unbusy at 6 o’clock. 

I had Dumpukht Gosht (lamb) Biryani, one of the finest Biryanis that I have ever had ($22). Served in the vessel that it had been cooked in, the lamb juices permeated the rice. It was covered by a naan-like crust, resembling an Indian potpie. Madam enjoyed Kofta Paratwala, layered vegetable dumplings on a sweet corn curry ($20). We shouldn’t forget Baazi again after this good meal.

Monday, February 24, 2025
Stony Brook Steve and I went to Pastrami Queen, 138 West 72nd Street, for lunch. Even though it is Monday, we both skipped the Monday Special pastrami sandwich. Instead, Steve had a bowl of mushroom barley soup ($11) and a pastrami egg roll ($8.95). 

I had a junior brisket sandwich, a little more than half a regular sandwich ($12.95), and two pieces of kishke ($12.95). And what is kishke, you may ask. It is best considered as Jewish chitlins, a tubular stuffed animal part. Until the 1960s, a catered affair for local Eastern European Jews automatically included kishke, politely labeled stuffed derma, on the menu and then there was none. How gross, how déclassé. The increasingly successful doctors and lawyers of suburbia, a big step removed from their grandparents’ tenements, altered their appetites along with their noses and their family names.

Out of step, I continue to order kishke when the opportunity presents itself, expecting to be disappointed by what is served. I was not disappointed, therefore, when it arrived cold and, after returning from the kitchen, had the taste and feel of mortar aiming for a brick wall.

Tuesday, February 25, 2025
I could fill this space everyday with impassioned screeds about the conduct of the new administration, whether the notoriously inadequate qualifications of some appointees or the sudden alliance with Russia and North Korea in foreign affairs, for example. However, such persistence will likely bore you while keeping me in a constant state of agitation. So, 
please supply the indignation on your own.

Wednesday, February 26, 2025
 
 
At first, I was bothered that Pam Bondi, Attorney General of the United States, too often wore a prominent cross. I have since been reassured that she is trying to ward off the vampires surrounding her.
 
Thursday, February 27, 2025
Two things brought Terrific Tom and me back to The Corner, 698 Ninth Avenue, this afternoon, excellent Chinese food and a Groupon coupon which knocked more than $20 off the bill. He had a bowl of hot and sour soup ($4) and then we shared sweet and (not so) sour mango chicken ($22), (not really) spicy rock shrimp with scallion pancakes ($19) and beef fried rice ($13). Even though the food was not so edgy, it was delicious and served in large portions. The lunch specials, $12, $14 and $16, looked good, but were not subject to discount. Together, we offer four thumbs up for The Corner which is very convenient to Broadway theaters for your future reference.

Friday, February 28, 2025
On Tuesday, I seemed to retreat from paying close attention to our national politics. In fact, I started this afternoon watching a Spring Training game on television, Mets vs. Nationals.  Unfortunately, once the Mets took a solid lead, I switched over to CNN and MSNBC and saw Trump and Vance in a meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy repeating the lies and misinformation usually coming from Putin. Instead of reaffirming our commitment to Ukraine in its battle against Russian aggression, our leaders were hostile to its beleaguered position. It was a terrible spectacle; not only was Zelenskyy degraded, but the integrity of the United States in world affairs was seriously compromised.

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