Cold Front

Saturday, February 7, 2026

True to our rugged pioneer stock, we went out in the cold twice today. In the morning, we ran an errand in the Bronx. We drove and I sat in the warm car most of the time. In the evening, when the wind-chill reached negative double digits, we were lucky to get a taxicab right away to see the short-term revival of High Spirits, a musical version of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit. The score was very good, the performances uneven. 

Again, a taxicab was immediately available to get us home quickly. This seems unremarkable to the normal human being, but notable for me. Until not too long ago, I would have stood out on the sidewalk waiting for a bus in the frigid air, not necessarily because I am cheap, but because I was raised in a taxicab-free environment for three reasons. My father always had a car that he needed for work; taxicabs never entered our Brooklyn neighborhood; we could not afford the luxury. 

I can’t recall riding in a taxicab before I went to college when I found myself in a strange neighborhood late at night after an unsuccessful date trying to get home. Now, with the combination of the ravages of age and the realization that I can’t take it with me, I finally have grown comfortable hailing a taxicab. By the way, my lovely young bride never encouraged or approved my stubborn resistance to convenience.

Sunday, February 8, 2026

We braved the cold, single-digit Fahrenheit temperature to go to ShopRite, 40 Nathaniel Place, Englewood for some serious grocery shopping. On the way, we stopped for lunch at the Brownstone Pancake Factory, 717 East Palisades Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, a diner on steroids. The place was packed and there were birthday parties all around us. Unfortunately, the result was very poor service, not usually our past experience.

I skipped the Fried Oreo Cheesecake Pancakes and the Salted Caramel Pretzel Pancakes and ordered the Downtown Pancake Wrap, scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese and sour cream wrapped in an oversized buttermilk pancake ($19). I left half of it over. It was dry and dull. I later realized that the sour cream was missing, an element that might have made it messy and more interesting.

Monday, February 9, 2026

Over 40,000 U.S. home-purchase agreements were canceled in December, a record high even as mortgage interest rates fell during the month. 

https://www.redfin.com/news/home-purchase-cancellations-december-2025/

This squares with a decline in consumer confidence in December. 

https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/53903-consumer-confidence-slumped-over-december-2025

Are Americans ignoring the cheery economic news coming from the White House? “About three-in-ten U.S. adults (28%) rate economic conditions in the country as excellent or good, while roughly seven-in-ten (72%) rate them as only fair or poor.” 

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2026/02/04/a-year-into-trumps-second-term-americans-views-of-the-economy-remain-negative/

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Stony Brook Steve and I had lunch at Tacombi, 377 Amsterdam Avenue, a large Mexican restaurant. It was almost empty today in contrast to the full house the last time that we tried to get in. 

We both had the LunchTime Taco Plato, two tacos, rice & beans, $13.99. For a moment it helped us put winter aside. Steve had Crispy Chicken Tinga Taco and Black Bean & Sweet Potato Taco; I had Crispy Chicken Tinga Taco and Baja Crispy Fish Taco. Each taco was based on two soft 5" tortillas, liftable without accident. This was plenty to eat. I drank Agua de Sandia, watermelon agua fresca ($5), very refreshing. 

Thursday, February 12, 2026

Who says elections don’t make a difference?

“President Trump on Thursday announced he was erasing the scientific finding that climate change endangers human health and the environment, ending the federal government’s legal authority to control the pollution that is dangerously heating the planet.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/climate/trump-epa-greenhouse-gases-climate-change.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Friday, February 13, 2026

I was in Midtown East for a doctor’s appointment at lunchtime. So, I looked at a map to see what’s around. I lived in the neighborhood for 23 years, but it is almost 23 years since I moved away. The changes have been substantial. The atrium at Citigroup Center, 601 Lexington Avenue, used to have a few cafes and random seating. Now, it is a full scale food court called The Hugh, a "Culinary Collective." Named for the building's architect Hugh Stubbins, it has a diverse variety of 15 vendors. 

 

I went to Jumieka NYC, featuring the flavors of Jamaica. Accordingly, I ordered jerk chicken accompanied by rice & peas ($16). It was very tasty, just spicy enough. In total, there was enough food, although I wish the abundance of rice had ceded some more space to the chicken.

.  .  .

 

New to the neighborhood, as I remembered it, is the NYC Anxiety Control at 220 East 54th Street, something certainly needed. I imagined that it was an enormous enterprise considering the dimensions of New York City anxiety. However, it was merely contained within the confines of Suite 1 at that address. If only our trepidations could be that easily contained.

 

 

 

Away and Home

Saturday, January 31, 2026

It’s good to be the Queen. Melania’s “Mar-a-Lago closet (where she has a drawer just for sunglasses).”

https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/30/politics/melania-trump-movie-review?cid=ios_app

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One of the challenges for a legal system is the wrong without a remedy. A set of circumstances, reeking of injustice, that evades legal resolution. A crime identified beyond the statute of limitations is one example. Another might be conduct by an immune party. While there is the maxim “Equity Will Not Suffer A Wrong To Be Without A Remedy,” often the remedy was a fine or cash payment as ineffective to restoring harmony as giving flowers to an aggrieved spouse.

Affirmative action is an attempt to correct the injustices (crimes) of centuries. Lyndon Johnson said, “You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, ‘you are free to compete with all the others,’ and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.” 

A broad variety of endeavors followed this understanding. Where there had been legal, social and economic barriers to full citizenship for Black Americans, government, industry, educational institutions and other organizations began to provide opportunities to opportunity.

These days, we have a surge of ahistoric freedom fighters who seem to have just awakened to injustice.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/us/politics/affirmative-action-ruling-dei-lawsuits.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

They seek remedies without recognizing the wrongs. They tout color-blind policies without understanding or acknowledging the corrosive effect of color on American society over 400 years. Chief Justice John Roberts may be the most notorious example in public life. In the PICS case, 551 U.S. 701 (2007), he wrote “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” The discrimination on the basis of race that concerned him was the preference given to non-white students over white students in high schools selection under certain conditions in a school system not previously legally segregated. It was sufficient for Roberts to wake up that morning to a legal landscape free of segregation. His tautology easily followed. He placed us in a legal, moral, economic, social and psychological Garden of Eden.

Sunday, February 1, 2026

I have an inconsistent history with rabbis. Those few that I liked I knew well. Maybe I had to know them well in order to like them. At a distance, I was inherently skeptical. These days, two rabbinic couples have my admiration. One I’ll spare the embarrassment of being associated with me, but I want to cite the other.

Rabbi Raysh Weiss is the co-spiritual leader of Temple Israel Natick, a healthy Conservative congregation in the Boston suburbs. Her husband Rabbi Jonah Rank is the rosh yeshiva (Capo dei capi) and President of the Hebrew Seminary -- a Rabbinical School for the Deaf and Hearing in Chicago. This morning, it is Jonah’s father that I sought.

Rabbi Perry Raphael Rank, retired as a pulpit rabbi for over 40 years, just published Two Minute Torah, Ancient Wisdom and Modern Thought For Every Day and Every Night. The book is structured to follow the Jewish calendar and offers two passages of Torah with some commentary for every day, one for the morning and one for the evening. Each section takes only two minutes, a radical contrast to the amount of time that it usually takes a rabbi to express her/himself. At best, the two-minute episode will echo much longer.

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Son, daughter-in-law, #2 grandson and one-and-only granddaughter joined us for dinner at Bosse Enoteca, 310 Speen Street, Natick, in the Natick Mall, a major shopping center just across the road from our hotel. Until 2022, the site was a 94,000 square feet Neiman Marcus department store, closed by bankruptcy. The space now is jointly occupied by the restaurant and pickle ball courts. 

We ate well, on the whole, sharing arancini, three cheese-stuffed rice balls ($17); tuna tartare ($23); cheesy garlic bread ($9). I then had pappardelle, very al dente broad noodles with duck ragu ($24), while a couple of large portions of eggplant parmigiana were divided up ($22). 

Monday, February 2, 2026

Our return home was totally uneventful, clean windshield, no police.

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

From hole in the ground to hole in the wall to about 20 locations in the Northeast, most in the Holy Land, Xi’an Famous Foods is a remarkable success story. Starting in a kiosk in the basement of a shopping mall in Flushing, Queens, it moved to a tiny space under the Manhattan Bridge on the Lower East Side, just big enough for one customer at a time. 

Today, I had lunch at 328 East 78th Street, a newer spot. It has 20 low fixed stools against three stainless steel counters. The menus seem to be universal. I had a spicy cumin lamb burger ($7.65) and Coke Zero ($2.30).

Be advised that XFF is not like other Chinese restaurants. There is no eggroll, no rice, no fried stuff in sweet, sticky sauce. Spicy, everything is spicy. Bright red Szechuan pepper oil coats everything, including your hands by the time you finish eating.

Thursday, February 5, 2026

Paul Hecht, Thespian Emeritus, informs me that the British government announced on February 5, 1953 that rationing and price control on chocolate and sweets had officially come to an end across the United Kingdom. They had been in effect for more than 10 years. Had I been in Bristol rather than Brooklyn during those years, my baby fat might have been shed more quickly. 

More significantly, this illustrates the level of hardship and deprivation the UK experienced during and after WWII, unknown to most of us then and now.

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Today’s headline:

“Are ski jumpers enhancing their penises to fly further?”

Friday, February 6, 2026

Fortunately, Tina’s Cuban Cuisine, 940 Third Avenue, is right around the corner from the retina specialist who dilated my pupils and gave me a shot in the eye. Had I stumbled further I might have wound up a speed bump on a crosstown street. 

It was a good choice on its own terms. The front of the joint is occupied almost entirely by a steam table holding many items, mains and sides. Down a narrow corridor is room to sit with a dozen two-tops. I asked for a steak sandwich, bistec a la plancha, strips of broiled steak, lettuce, tomatoes and mayonnaise on a grilled sandwich roll ($12.95). It was good, slightly messy. Or maybe not, my sight so unfocused that I couldn’t really see where things belonged.

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The Spars hosted a lovely Shabbos dinner tonight, serving Tuscan bean soup and Chicken Marsala made by their collective efforts. Which reminds me that when a peasant eats a chicken, one of them is sick. The wonderful meal ended with chocolate chip biscotti f/k/a as Mandelbrot from the delicate hands of America's Favorite Epidemiologist.

Home and Away

Saturday, January 24, 2026

“Airlines, transit systems and schools have announced extensive cancellations as a mix of snow, ice and bitter cold heads for more than 180 million people across a vast stretch of the country.” I’m reading while sitting in Palm Desert, California in a gorgeous house on the edge of golf course, with the temperature

at 69° at 11 AM. Shver tzu sein a Yid.

.  .  .

Headline: "Videos Appear to Contradict Federal Account of Killing"

Unfortunately, every official statement from Washington these days carries the presumption of untruth.

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Barbara, Bernie, Honey Bun and I went to dinner at Ristorante Mamma Gina, 73-305 El Paseo, Palm Desert. It claims a capacity of 178, but the full house sounded like twice as many. The decor was modern, non-specific. A change in ethnicity could be handled quickly.

I made it a special occasion by ordering a cocktail instead of a Diet Coke, a coconut margarita on the rocks, frozen not available ($17). I poached some of the Insalata Mamma Gina, chopped salad with lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, capers and anchovies in a vinaigrette dressing ($17). Lasagna was my main course; it was an Italian restaurant after all ($33.50). The quality justified the price, the quantity did not. Our Affogato Al Caffe dessert came with cappuccino ice cream, a good treat ($11.90).

Sunday, January 25, 2026

We had dinner tonight in an unusual venue for us, the Tamarisk Country Club, 

70-240 Frank Sinatra Drive, Rancho Mirage,

 where Barbara and Bernie seemed to know or be known to all the other patrons. In the Make America Great Again days, Tamarisk was a place for Jews who were barred from the established country clubs. Then, Frank Sinatra decided that he would rather hang out with Jews than ordinary goyim and Tamarisk took off.

It was informal barbecue night, buffet service. I found enough to eat. The first long table held myriad salad fixings, prepared salads and random starters, such as chopped liver, deviled eggs and pickled herring. One could feed off that table all night. The next table was the barbecue, hot dogs and hamburgers (and turkey burgers and veggie burgers) cooked to order, ribs and fried chicken. Finally, ice cream, cookies, cakes and macarons. If you paced yourself, you completed the circuit. Meanwhile, at the table the Coke Zero flowed like water.

.  .  .

Back home, we sat in front of a television set several yards long and watched the first part of Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man, an excellent documentary about one of the pillars of Western Civilization. It included some brilliant editing, presenting several accounts of the same anecdote as a seamless whole.

Monday, January 26, 2026

Barbara and Bernie’s lovely home is not listed on Trip Advisor. If it were, it would get * * * * * easy. We left late morning for our flight back home, from the balmy desert weather to the post-blizzard conditions in the East. The completely full airplane had about three dozen super Orthodox Jews on board. I thought for a moment that they were coming from a Hasidic golf tournament, but realized how improbable that was.

Our entire 17-day vacation was error-free, frictionless until the very end. We landed at JFK a few minutes early and then sat on the runway for more than 45 minutes, waiting for a gate to clear. It was well after 11 o’clock when we got to the luggage carousel; 17 days were too much to capture in one carry on. After an initial cluster of bags came down, it was 20 minutes until we saw any more. One blue bag from the first batch circled the carousel five times before there was any other activity.

I was sufficiently calm when I realized that the taxi driver was heading to the Triborough Bridge instead of the QueensBoro Bridge, my objections aside. Our confidence was further diminished when he stopped in the middle of the bridge, jumped out and threw a jar of water over his filthy windshield. So, maybe I wasn’t surprised that our left turn onto Broadway from West 71st Street immediately evoked a police siren. 

One cop asked the driver for license and registration and the other said that he made an illegal U-turn. “He didn’t make a U-turn,” I started to say as that cop gave me the stink eye. Minneapolis came to mind and I shut up. It was close to 1:30 AM when we got upstairs.

Tuesday, January 27, 2016

Angela McArdle, a former chair of the Libertarian Party, argued this weekend that the nation was in crisis mode and that now was not a time for libertarians to stick so strictly to their ideology.

“The threat of mass migration is civilizational,” Ms. McArdle wrote on X on Sunday, adding: “It sucks that ICE shoots people sometimes. If we don’t deport illegal aliens and stop Democrat fraud, we will be Canada in less than 10 years.”

And what’s wrong with that?

Thursday, January 29, 2026

Given the rupture in our relations with our allies, I felt the need to strengthen Anglo-American ties by going to Madison Square Garden with John Mervin for supper at the complimentary Chase Lounge and the Ranger-Islander hockey game. Actually, this could only be a halfway effort, because John himself is Anglo-American, his lovely mother one of ours.

We ate well: “Jarcuterie” - skewers of cheese, salami, grapes; fried zucchini sticks; coconut shrimp; “Original & Chicken Pigs in a Blanket”. Washed down with Diet Pepsi. On the other hand, the game was hard to digest. The Rangers have dumped some of their most talented players and replaced them with Pigs in a Blanket.

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Meanwhile, Melania Trump denied that her new documentary was a documentary, describing it instead as “a creative experience that offers perspectives, insights and moments.” Actually, I thought that was a great description of my blog.

Friday, January 30, 2026

We just unpacked and we were on the road again, this time to visit our East Coast contingent.

Bye Bye Bay

Saturday, January 17, 2026

Clearly, the outstanding value of this trip to the Left Coast is the opportunity to spend time with my young bride, sharing experiences and testing her patience. As each day goes by, I am reminded how fortunate I am.

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Another example of my good fortune is the company of America’s Loveliest Nephrologist and the Oakland Heartthrob. They picked us up this morning for a visit to Sonoma County where they have plans to build a vacation home. 

We had lunch at Salt & Stone, 9900 Sonoma Highway, Kenwood. It’s a big restaurant, combining farmhouse and Swiss chalet. We shared Burrata & Fried Flatbread, with “Oven Dried Tomatoes, Roasted Garlic, Kalamata Olives Frisée, Chive Oil & Chili Flakes,” absolutely delicious ($16). I washed it down with a raspberry lemonade mimosa, sufficiently alcoholic in spite of its fey name ($10). 

My main course was Crab & Bay Shrimp Melt, 

“Avocado, Tomato, Gruyere Gratin on Sliced Sourdough” with French fries ($26). Not up to the burrata.

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41.9 million people are a lot of people. That’s how many people live in Jakarta, Indonesia, making it the largest city in the world. It replaces Tokyo, now the third largest with a mere 33 million.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11/26/indonesias-jakarta-now-the-worlds-largest-city-tokyo-falls-to-third-un

By the latest estimates, no state has as many people as Jakarta. California is the most populous with 39,896,400 people, Texas next with 32,416,699 + Ted Cruz.

Sunday, January 18, 2026

In these difficult times, with freedom on the line, stand up, choose your side and order a prune Danish.

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The Fab Four went to see Israeli comedian Yohay Sponder on his “Self-Loving Jew” tour. I found him funny mostly, but overly chauvinistic at times. He performed at the Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon Street, San Francisco, a beautiful landmark, originally built in 1915, known for its Greco-Roman rotunda. The 961 seat theater was nearly full, including many Israelis and no demonstrators.

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After the show, we went for dinner at Greens Restaurant, 2 Marina Boulevard, San Francisco,  occupying a large building on the waterfront. It has a capacity of about 200 and it was near full. It is strictly vegetarian, but shhh, I had a lot to eat and I enjoyed it.

We shared a bunch of things: a Falafel Platter, “seasonal hummus, muhammara [dip based on roasted red peppers and walnuts], lemon labneh [strained yogurt)], crudite, house made pita, olives, marcona almonds, orange balsamic marinated beets” ($28); Fried Cauliflower, “remoulade, our ‘Bay’ seasoning, lemon ($23); Grilled Polenta, “blue cheese cream sauce, roasted wild mushrooms, carmelized onions, toasted walnuts, fried sage leaves ($23); Butternut Squash Pizza, “carmelized onions, Asiago cheese, fried sage, walnuts, Grana Padano (Italian cow’s milk cheese) ($28); Hodo Tofu Brochettes, “sweet potato, cremini mushrooms, cipollini onions, couscous & pomegranate salad, tahini garlic cashew cream, zhug sauce [chiles, cilantro, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and spices] ($34). No dessert.

Monday, January 19, 2026

I have been driving a rental car around the Bay Area and have observed two very scary things. First, the roads are loaded with Teslas, so you can understand how that guy got very rich. Out here, gasoline is particularly expensive, $4-5 per gallon, making electric vehicles especially attractive. The other thing is the driverless taxi, the Waymo, owned by Google. They use electric Jaguars with an assortment of gadgets sticking out all over to calibrate the environment. 

I’ve driven next to them, but not in them. From the outside they look fine, no obvious boneheaded moves. Could they cope with the chaos of New York streets? I may be too much of a homer to concede that our worst traffic isn’t the best worst traffic.

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We drove a conventional car the conventional way to Daly City, south of San Francisco, to meet Laurence and Mark for lunch at Kaan Kiin Brunch & Thai Eatery, 201 Southgate Avenue, which has drawn positive attention from Michelin. Problem? At lunch time, the brunch comes before the Thai. The joint turns into an all-American diner. The real thing is available only at dinner.

I ordered as ethnic as I could find, Bangkok Golden, “Thai street-style fluffy scramble eggs with Dungeness crab, shrimp, scallops, calamari, onion, bell pepper in house curry sauce served with jasmine rice and house salad” ($32). It was very good and generously portioned, but only modestly Thai.

Tuesday, January 20,2016

In anticipation of a good dinner, we sought a simple lunch at the Doyle Street Cafe, 5515 Doyle Street, Emeryville. However, the quality of the food and service are worth noting. The large, high ceiling space must have had an industrial purpose in the past. The neighborhood itself combines residential and industrial structures.

I ordered a Garden Salad, red onions, red bell pepper, roasted beets, avocado, cherry tomatoes, English cucumber, heart of palm, and mixed greens with balsamic dressing plus six grilled prawns (not shrimp, I don’t know why) ($26). The ingredients were very fresh and I got three refills of Coke Zero ($3.50) although the glass was crowded with ice. 

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I first went to Scoma’s on Fisherman's Wharf about 50 years ago when I was living in Los Angeles. I have been there several more times over the years. Tonight, Andrea and Nate drove up from Los Altos to meet us there for dinner. While the distance from our hotel is 11 miles, it took us one hour and four minutes to get there during rush hour, theoretically against traffic.

While the company was first-rate, the dinner was disappointing. The sourdough bread was very good as was the bowl of clam chowder that I started with ($14). However, the fish and chips, on the menu as "crispy 'Firestone 805' beer batter, fresh Pacific cod," was only partially true. I can't confirm that they used Firestone 805 pale ale in the preparation, but the results were far from crispy, soggy in fact. The large portion of chips were conventional French fries. Of course, Scoma's has a large menu and I might have just landed on a weak spot. After all these years, it deserves another try.

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

We had brunch at 900 Grayson, 900 Grayson Street, Berkeley, a simple, friendly, funky place, away from the busier, college-focused part of town. Our company was my grandnephew Tomas and his companion Lehna who live south of San Francisco. They met at UC Santa Cruz and are now in masters programs locally.

I had a buttermilk waffle covered by two pieces of fried chicken and Vermont maple syrup ($17). It was remarkably good. 

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With a free afternoon, Madam and I went to the movies to see Marty Supreme. It’s an excellent movie, best described as frenetic. Most of us on Social Security will probably come away breathless. 

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After the movie, we went to Shimizu Sushi Restaurant, 4290 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, in a neighborhood that (blessedly) had many small, owner-operated restaurants. 

I started with Yaki Fry, four fabulously crunchy fried oysters, best I’ve ever had ($11.50). Then, a very fresh tasting, eight piece avocado and eel sushi roll ($11.50).

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By happy coincidence, walking back to the car, we had to pass Fentons Creamery, 4266 Piedmont Avenue, an ice cream parlor in business well over 100 years. We bought a hand-packed pint to take back to the hotel. It contained blueberry cheesecake and cream caramel almond crunch, some really good ice cream ($11).

What a day!

Thursday, January 21, 2026

San Jose, California has a population of over one million people and five COSTCO stores. The plan to open a sixth has been challenged in court without success. https://share.google/KLAYjD9vjiASamhpd

Objections included the prospective size of the store and its proximity to a high school. I understand especially the latter concern. Lots of kids would head to COSTCO to get those all-beef, quarter-pound hotdogs selling for $1.50 with unlimited soda instead of hiding under the bleachers on the athletic field smoking weed.

Thursday, January 22, 2026

With some idle time, we went to Gardensia, Archipelago Designs, 2820 8th Street, Berkeley. It describes itself as “Art and Accents from South-East Asia for Garden and Home,” but in reality it could call itself a museum and charge admission.

It has a fabulous collection of art and artifacts, originals and reproductions from that vast subcontinent.  Sekti Artanegara, the proprietor, is very friendly and informative.

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Speaking of friendly, when we finished at Gardensia, we noticed that we were just around the corner from 900 Grayson, the friendly place where we had breakfast yesterday, in time for lunch. We both chose the Charlie, “Coriander Crusted Rare Ahi Tuna, House Pickled Ginger & Carrot Slaw, Wasabi Aioli, Acme Bun” ($16.50) with a side salad (she) or French fries (me). An excellent choice.

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Eating well has been a motif of our trip and tonight we went out with a bang. The Fab Four went to the legendary Chez Panisse, 1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley. We ate upstairs off the à la carte menu; downstairs is a price fixed, four course menu at $175 plus 10.25% tax and 17% service charge. The menus change daily.

The food was good, not great overall. We got two salads, Little Gem lettuce with crème fraîche dressing, tarragon, mint and radishes ($20); and radicchio salad with marinated beets, toasted walnuts and sherry vinaigrette ($21).

My main course was braised Moroccan-spiced lamb with couscous, cauliflower, harissa and chermoula (North African spice based on cilantro, parsley, and garlic) ($43). The portion was modest, the lamb very tender, the spices muted. Dessert was excellent, bittersweet chocolate custard with crème chantilly and bourbon-pecan cookies ($15).

Remembering David Goldfarb, we drank 2020 Cour-Cheverny, Romo, Domaine des Huards from the Loire Valley ($68). In all, memorable for the company and closing two wonderful weeks.

Friday, January 23, 2026

We ended the longer leg of our vacation and flew to Palm Springs for a few days visiting with Barbara and Bernie, cousins of cousins. They have lovely, art-filled home in Palm Desert with a casita (free-standing dwelling), just right for easterners avoiding the storm a bit longer.

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The four of us went to dinner at Pacifica Seafood Restaurant, 73505 El Paseo, Palm Desert, a big, sprawling space whose 365 seats were mostly occupied and being well served.  

I had a very good seafood stew, a small lobster tail, shrimp, scallops, mussels, salmon and whitefish in a tomato broth ($49). The sourdough bread on the table was excellent as was the case at several restaurants in the Bay Area, less common in the East.

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Away from home, not getting a newspaper on your doorstep and facing unfamiliar news broadcasts, you can feel a temporary relief from the weight of the world. Maybe that guy isn’t the President. It can’t be that easy.

Baby Face

Saturday, January 10, 2026

In case you didn’t make it to shul this morning or any morning, here is a concise statement of basic Jewish teachings of universal value.

https://share.google/XnS1KkBYkS3Sfqadq

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We had lunch at the home of America’s Loveliest Nephrologist and the Oakland Heartthrob and then went with them to see “An Evening With David Sedaris” at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. He read a half dozen or more of his recent essays in his droll fashion. I didn't realize that he was recording an audiobook at first, accounting for several annoying starts and stops. The audience was very appreciative nevertheless and much straighter than I expected it to be.

Before the show, we ate at Jupiter, 2181 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, which looks like a cross between a hunting lodge and a fraternity house. It serves excellent pizza. I had the Odysseus, “A garlic sauce base topped with fontina, asiago, and our house mushroom mix with cremini, portabella, and white mushrooms,” 9” pie for $19. 

Sunday, January 11, 2026

Hessy Levinsons Taft as an infant appeared on the cover of a Nazi magazine in Germany promoting her as the ideal Aryan baby, a distinction complicated by the fact that she was Jewish.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/world/europe/hessy-levinsons-taft-dead.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

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Jacobi Meyers, Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver, born 1996 vs. Jacoby & Meyers, personal injury law firm, formed 1972.

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Equal justice under law, Part 2 

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/us/politics/trumps-appeals-court-judges.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

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While President Trump had warned that the United States would intercede if the Iranian government killed peaceful protesters, he apparently has been distracted by the need to kill peaceful protestors here at home.

Monday, January 12, 2026

Newlyweds Jeanne (CCNY ‘63) and Martin spent the day showing us a different California, not the sprawl of greater Los Angeles or the variety of Bay Area hip. We drove through Marin County to the Pacific Coast, stopping in Stinson Beach and Point Reyes. Part of the drive had the death-defying character of Italy’s Amalfi Coast, turn your head and see a sheer drop of hundreds of feet. We kept our whimpering in the back seat to a minimum.

We had lunch at Parkside, 43 Arenal (not Arsenal) Avenue, Stinson Beach, which encompasses a bakery, a cafe and a snack bar. I had fish and chips, befitting the oceanfront location. There were two pieces of beer-battered cod and a large portion of French fries, not the traditional British chips, but I’m not complaining. However, at $32, it was pricey.

Tuesday, January 13, 2026

The Silence of the Lambs

Where are our progressives when the Iranian government kills its citizens? Is it okay that only Muslims kill Muslims? Must the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei be Jewish to rouse indignation?

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Nephrologist, Heartthrob, Epidemiologist and I went to dinner tonight at Popoca Cucina & Bar, 906 Washington Street, Oakland. Popoca “serves progressive Salvadoran food” and does it very well. It occupies two rooms, the second a covered patio. The main room, holding about 20 two-tops in various configurations, has a large, exposed brick wall, keeping the noise level high.

The menu was unique in my experience. We shared Nabos Asados, grilled Riverdog Farm turnips, brown butter, cream, lime, relajo (Salvadoran spice blend), panela (mild cheese) ($16); Pupusa de Hongos, oyster mushrooms, queso (cheese), lemon, burnt butter ($9); Pupusa de Loroco, loroco (an edible flower), perejil (parsley), queso ($8). Pupusa is the national dish of El Salvador, a thick, corn or rice flour tortilla. I then had Pollo en Chicha, chicken glazed in fermented pineapple sauce, prunes, olives, radish, potatoes ($36). A bottle of Bohemia Beer from Mexico went well with this ($6).

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

Madam and I drove to Tiburon, a lovely, upscale town on San Francisco Bay. We were invited to lunch at the home of Annie and Dick R. (Cornell ‘67) and what a home it is.  It’s the kind of home where you say, “I wonder who lives there?” Its style and dimensions are impressive and it has a spectacular view from its hilltop location.

Dick trained as an engineer and has been a very successful business strategist and entrepreneur. He also proved to be a very talented chef, much to my delight. He served the best guacamole that I have ever tasted and steamed mussels in a vegetable broth. Ice cream for dessert can't hurt.

Thursday, January 15, 2026

Collective bargaining vs. Collective guilt

Today's paper:

"N.Y.C. Bakery Workers Demand Owners Stop Supporting ‘Israeli Occupation’

Workers at the popular New York City chain Breads Bakery, who are trying to unionize, included the demand in a list alongside higher wages and special overtime pay"

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I was left alone for lunch, so I walked across the street from our hotel to The Public Market, 5959 Shellmound Street, Emeryville, a food court housing 18 vendors with some empty slots. Paradita Eatery offers “Modern Peruvian Street Food.” I bought Lomo Salgado, absolutely the messiest sandwich that I have ever eaten, containing stir fried beef tenderloin, tomatoes, onions, pisco-soy reduction, topped with fries and chile rocoto (Peruvian pepper) aioli ($18). It was fabulous. Fortunately, there was a bathroom right next to the booth. 

With more or less clean hands, I went to Mr. Dewie’s Cashew Creamery for an ice cream surrogate made with cashew milk. I had two scoops, chocolate cookie crumble and chocolate orange chip ($9.50). They were very chocolatey and just about tasted like the real thing, and, if it were, I would expect to pay a couple of dollars less.

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Our Fab Four went to dinner at Belotti Ristorante e Bottega, 5403 College Avenue, Oakland, an intimate place that has drawn favorable mention from Michelin.

Its focus is pasta, an interesting variety of sizes and shapes. I had Bilogi Al Sugo D’Anatra, bilogi (thick, spaghetti-like) pasta, duck sauce, orange zest, Grana Padano cheese (hard, granular cow’s-milk cheese) ($19.95). It was very good, distinctive from the typical red sauce dish.

Friday, January 16, 2026

We had lunch with Margarita K. (Stuyvesant ‘07, Harvard ‘11) who has a very successful career in finance out here. I first met her as a four-year old, new to America, in 1993. 

We ate at Il Parco, 215 Lincoln Boulevard, a cafe on the grounds of the Presidio, once a formidable military base, dating back to 1776. Now, it’s a park with beautiful views of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco Bay. Il Parco is a grab-and-go joint with a variety of seating outdoors. Clear skies, mild temperatures made for a delightful experience.

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For dinner, madam and I sought an Indian restaurant, not terribly common around here. More uncommon even was an Indian restaurant with a parking space. We wound up at Marigold Indian Eats, 4868 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, a very modest place with four two-tops and two two-tops. It was devoid of decoration and it must have been the owner or his wife serving as waiter.

I had rogan josh, eight small cubes of lamb in a thick red sauce ($20.99). The spiciness was balanced nicely by basmati rice and Diet Coke.