Saturday, July 13, 2024
When I returned from exile on the Left Coast, I moved into a spacious apartment on the East Side. Shortly before that, David Liederman opened “David’s Cookies” a few blocks away.
My affinity for David’s Cookies was well known; they were often my response to a party invitation. In fact, they were the omen of my career as a management consultant crashing to an end. When Liederman invited my firm to propose services to his business, I was excluded from the effort. I was indignant and realized that I was doomed.
. . .
Speaking of baking, I have to note my disappointment with a Zabar’s product (2245 Broadway). While their cinnamon babka is very cinnamony and their chocolate babka is very chocolatey, their recently introduced apple babka is not very appley. It has a pleasant apple odor, but very little fruit ($13.98). Instead, buy their apple strudel or other fruit flavors, with or without cheese, found in the back of the store next to the knishes ($9.95).
. . .
Another shopping trip produced more favorable results. Bonsai Sparkling Water Beverage (flavored seltzer) on sale at Shop Rite, 877 St. Georges Avenue, Woodbridge Township, $4 an eight pack. I got blackberry lime and cherry peach, each only slightly sweet, negligible calories. An excellent summer choice, receptive to rum or vodka.
Sunday, July 14, 2024
Any doubt about the result of the 2024 Presidential Election disappeared last night with the top of Donald Trump’s ear. He took a bullet for you. They are out to get him. The inept Secret Service works for Biden. This never would have happened if Trump were President.
The martyrology had begun years ago. Believe it or not, this was the New York Times headline yesterday morning. "Martyr Inc.: How Trump Monetized a Persecution Narrative"
. . .
The weekend's real estate section has an interesting listing for a
four-bedroom, four-bath, 2,709-square-foot house built in 1901 in the Bronx, priced at $985,000. "A chicken coop can be included in the sale."
. . .
We visited Arthur and Lyn Dobrin, our longtime friends, in Westbury. While they live almost due east of our home, it might soon feel like venturing into the Old West. "Long Island’s Nassau County is in the process of putting together a task force of 'special deputies,' which is made up of armed civilians and is designed to be activated whenever the County Executive, Bruce Blakeman, sees fit to do so."
https://lavocedinewyork.com/
Blakeman had this brainstorm even months before this weekend's craziness. What's next, Bruce? School buses as armored personnel carriers?
Monday, July 15, 2024
It’s no secret that Barcelona is a wonderful place to visit and that seems to be a problem. It’s such a popular tourist destination that a lot of locals are resentful. https://www.
While our visits there have only been greeted by sangria and tapas, we understand local frustration with crowded museums and restaurants, distortion of the real estate market and cheapening of culture. After all, the Holy Land attracted 61.8 million tourists last year, many of whom forget that "walk" is an intrinsic part of sidewalk.
As a practical matter, however, I am willing to sacrifice speedier perambulation for the $48 billion directly infused into our local economy by tourists.
. . .
While Chinatown is a natural attraction for many out-of-town visitors, it remains one of my favorite destinations, too. Today, Barbara and Bernie, cousins of cousins, joined my young bride and me at Jing Fong, 202 Centre Street, a master dim sum dispensary. This version is about one-fifth the size of its former home at 20 Elizabeth Street, then the largest restaurant in Chinatown. Less gaudy, less raucous, it still has carts whirling around with fried, steamed, baked and boiled goodies which will land on your table unless you clearly object.
We had two orders of vegetable spring rolls, shrimp dumplings, cilantro rice noodles, siu mai, vegetable dumplings, shrimp rolls in fried wonton skin, and chicken skewers with sweet and spicy sauce. It came to $25 each, including a generous tip to account for the extra time we spent at the table to delay exposure to the 91° temperature outside.
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Look at the “2024 State Scorecard on Women’s Health and Reproductive Care” and correlate the quality of healthcare and local political control.
Then, join me in singing “Mommas don’t let your baby girls grow up to be Republicans.”
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
A recent essay lamented the state of GPS; “we have all become so reliant on online maps that we have lost the deep knowledge that allows us to make our own calculations of an optimal route.”
Speak for yourself. I am still wallowing in deep knowledge, so much so that I rail at the illogical routing offered by my GPS to get to Long Island from my home. Note that to a New Yorker (city resident), Long Island means Nassau or Suffolk County, not the geographic entity that includes Brooklyn and Queens immediately across the East River.
In any case, starting from 69th Street on the West Side, I am not going to drive up to 178th Street to get on the Cross Bronx Expressway, the No-Man’s-Land of surface transportation, and use the Throgs Neck Bridge to enter Eastern Queens County at a cost of $6.94 to $11.19 to drive into Nassau County, the path urged by electronic wizardry. You know as well as I do that crossing 65th Street to the East Side puts you close to the 59th Street Bridge (feelin’ groovy) across to Western Queens County (free) where you pick up the Long Island Expressway, admittedly a parking lot sometimes, going straight to Long Island, no matter what GPS is squawking at you.
Friday, July 19, 2024
Ladies and gentlemen, the next President of the United States, “a failed tycoon who was heavily in hock and too risky for almost any bank to lend to, a crude, impulsive, bigoted, multiply-bankrupt ignoramus, a sexual predator so reckless he openly harassed women on his show.” (“Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV” by Emily Nussbaum)
A propos Barcelona and The Holy Land, Paris by contrast is quite empty of tourists at the moment. Waiters are reduced to asking ME why.
ReplyDelete