Shaken Not Stirred

Monday, February 29, 2016

You don't have to be Jewish to have grown up with some superstitions in your family, although I think that they are inversely proportional to wealth.  I remember hearing several versions of Eastern European/shtetl superstitions from my mother and her mother, although I was spared the physical ones described in the following article.

http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/197590/very-superstitious?utm_source=tabletmagazinelist&utm_campaign=cd13b956b1-Friday_February_26_20162_26_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c308bf8edb-cd13b956b1-207528309

Several years ago, I referred to an out-of-print masterpiece on the subject, How to Avoid the Evil Eye by Brenda Z. Rosenbaum, published by St. Martin 's Press in 1985 (August 20, 2010).  I just called the fabled Strand Bookstore, 828 Broadway, which, although proclaiming itself "home to 18 miles of books," has no copies.   Fortunately, Amazon offers copies from several sources, some $6 or less including shipping.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0312395841

Breakfast is probably my favorite meal as long as it includes eggs.  The New York Times offers a recipe for "the best scrambled eggs" and it really distinguishes scrambled eggs from the fried eggs that we usually pass off as scrambled.  http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015676-the-best-scrambled-eggs

However, the recipe calls for you to stir the simple list of ingredients for 30 minutes.  30 minutes!  I don't think that Lord Grantham would be willing to wait 30 minutes for his scrambled eggs, but maybe he had a kitchen maid stirring from the first crack of dawn so that scrambled eggs would be available on a moment's notice.  In any case, here's another interesting egg recipe that takes less time.  http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/8357-spaghetti-with-fried-eggs

Still in the dairy aisle, let's look at the big cheeses in American society.  The New York Times collected "503 of the most powerful people in American culture, government, education and business."  http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/02/26/us/race-of-american-power.html?_r=0

While the focus is on color, the evident scarcity of black, brown and yellow faces among the movers and shakers, the gender disparity is clear as well.  No doubt, 50 years ago would have produced an undifferentiated mass of white, male faces.  We can choose to celebrate the progress since or to lament the delay in reaching equity.  Of course, those who would make America great again probably miss those days when the fix was in for those who benefitted from the lucky landing of sperm.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Today's quotation of the day in the New York Times is "You step in there, and it’s like you’re not even in the United States anymore."  Is that a description of Seattle's biggest homeless camp or a DT campaign rally?

Grand Sichuan is a chain of 8 local neighborhood Chinese restaurants.  The Chinatown location that I visited on October 18, 2010 was eliminated by a new building. Years earlier, I went to the spot at 229 Ninth Avenue, at 24th Street.  So, I eagerly suggested that Stony Brook Steve join me at lunch at the local branch, 307 Amsterdam Avenue, at 74th Street, because of my warm memories of their pungent tea smoked duck.  

Given the neighborhood, I suspect that there is a very big take-out, delivery business, especially because the seating areas were chopped up and the decor was still in transit.  Steve ordered one of the 49 lunch specials, all $7.95 (although on-line menus show a variety of prices), including choice of soup or soda and white or brown rice.  I chose tea smoked duck ($17.95) with mediocre results.  The flavors were muted and the duck was very fatty, always a risk, but still disappointing.  

Thursday, March 3, 2016

I just caught up with an interesting survey of 18,000 Americans, ages 15 to 29, asked to name their ideal future employers.  

https://www.nshss.org/media/56551/2015-NSHSS-Millennial-Career-Survey.pdf

While the survey population is generally diverse, it is skewed towards the respectable, composed of "college-bound high school students, currently-enrolled college students and recent college graduates."  Notably, 3/4 are still in high school and only 1/4 are male, a strange imbalance.  While the ranking of about 150 target companies/entities is probably no more than wishful thinking (Google #1), the asserted decision criteria in seeking the ideal employer are telling.  The leading factors in four categories are: treats employees fairly (72.3%); flexible work hours/schedule (69.6%); gain skills to advance career (89.7%); work/life balance (68.1%).  Good luck, kids.

Friday, March 4, 2016

Obamacare registration has reached 20 million people. Taking away their medical insurance will be a first step in making America great again.  

Three Time's A Charm

Monday, February 22, 2016

The Supreme Court has pursued the legal fiction that corporations are "persons," yet entitled to exercise political influence far outstripping the average person.  However, it's a rarified form of personhood that has privileges denied to ordinary persons, such as "inversion," a multinational form of tax dodging.   Read the following account of a human person's attempt to emulate a corporate person's tax strategy.  

http://nyti.ms/213CZhL

"Yes, I curse in front of my kids."  The author has an entertaining and informative essay on a subject that concerns many loose-lipped parents and grandparents.  Warning -- She curses.

http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/197836/i-swear?utm_source=tabletmagazinelist&utm_campaign=8a1e6390d9-Tuesday_February_23_20162_23_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c308bf8edb-8a1e6390d9-207528309

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

"How Jeb Bush Spent $130 Million Running for President With Nothing to Show for It"  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/us/politics/jeb-bush-campaign.html

Among the many fruitless expenditures was the hiring of "a public relations company in Bethesda, Md., specializing in 'thought leadership'”.  Maybe Jeb! should have turned to Bob Dylan for thought leadership, because a study shows that he is the most quoted songwriter in American legal opinions. http://nyti.ms/218Hac4

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

I have to back up a bit to explain why lunch for the Boyz Club at Joy Luck Palace, 98 Mott Street, was free.  The large, bright restaurant is open only a month and specializes in dim sum.  Last week, in the midst of Year of the Monkey New Year celebrations, Jon Silverberg, his sons and I tried to get in without success.  It seems that 5 jumbo jets from Hong Kong landed in front of the restaurant just before we arrived.  Today, as the rain fell for several hours and with the monkey busy at work, access was no problem.  

The food carts came frequently and their contents were of high quality, although the women drivers often had difficulty explaining what they offered.  Things were going fine until one of the Boyz went to the bathroom.  He is our most accomplished skier and has skied some of the world's finest slopes, usually with enjoyment and without any particular difficulty.  However, his slide down the steps to the restaurant's basement resulted in contusions and abrasions up and down his left arm.  In spite of the stairs' apparent non-slip surface, hand rails and good lighting, we had a wounded warrior.  On the other hand, he had finished eating, and the very concerned manager came over to us immediately and picked up the check.  So, there was some joy at Joy Luck.  

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Harvard University has just announced that the long-established title of House Master, used for residential advisors, is being abandoned, because of its suggested connection to slavery.  

http://nyti.ms/1QFMXAT

Therefore, the Grandpa Alan Institute for the Advancement of Faux Indignation is announcing its prize for the most sensitive replacement for MasterCard.  Entrants may include appropriate evidence of their angst, however manifested or treated.  Promotional considerations provided by American Express.

Friday, February 26, 2016

Now that I am retired, my lunches are not constrained by time and place, so, I was happy to venture to Biang, 153 Second Avenue, with Amy C. and Stony Brook Steve. Biang is owned and operated by Jason Wang, the founder of Xi'an Famous Foods, a deservedly successful group of restaurants that started as a kiosk in Flushing and now has about a half-dozen locations in Manhattan and Queens. 

Biang is a "nicer" version of the Xi'ans, which are usually no larger than two telephone booths with tree stumps to sit on.  Biang actually had waiters and a bar, but the menu is very similar.  We shared Spicy Barbecued Beef Skewers ($6), Spicy & Sour Lamb Dumplings ($8.50), Spicy & Tingly Beef Biang-Biang Noodles ($9.75) and Concubine's Chicken Biang-Biang Noodles ($8.75). Biang-Biang noodles are wide hand-ripped noodles. Every dish was spicy, spicy-hot or spicy-very hot; fine by me.  A word of advice: None of their noodle dishes can be eaten neatly. Sloppy slurping is required to consume any of it.  

Sarah Huckabee, Mike’s daughter, joined DT's presidential campaign yesterday.  She said that "Mr. Trump is pro-life, pro-marriage, and will appoint conservatives to the courts.”   Actually, she repeated her announcement three times, once for Ivana, once for Marla and once for Melania.

Publish Or Perish

Monday, February 15, 2016

Yesterday morning, as I drank my coffee just before 8 AM, the official local temperature was 0 degrees.  It eventually crawled up barely to two digits.  It was the coldest day here in 22 years, and (appropriately) the coldest Valentine's Day here forever.

Please take the simple test at http://nyti.ms/20syQhI.  I think that it raises some interesting questions about human behavior, including a possible refutation to my theorem that rich people understand percentages and poor people do not understand percentages.  Rich people lend money at compound interest; poor people borrow money at compound interest.  The research cited in the article, however, concludes that "[p]oorer people tend to value a dollar more consistently [than more affluent ones], irrespective of the context, [that is, the percentages involved]."  I confess that I answered the test just like an affluent person.  Better not tell Bernie Sanders.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

The Upper West Side's Power Couple hied off to Massachusetts again for some advanced placement babysitting.  To celebrate Michael Jordan's birthday tomorrow, all three generations dined at CK Shanghai, 15 Washington Street, Wellesley, a highly-reputed Chinese restaurant.  Unfortunately, I can't join the chorus of approval.  The scallion pancake ($5.75) and the cold sesame noodles ($6.95) were very good.  The pancake was pan fried in oil, giving it a crisp exterior around a thick middle.  The noodles were angel hair (vermicelli), seemingly regenerating as every forkful was removed.  

I skipped all the dishes that were ordered "not spicy," for the women and children as they rushed to the lifeboats.  Two special appetizers were especially disappointing -- the crispy chicken roll ($8.95), 7" long and 2" round, hid the chicken almost entirely in a filling of shredded lettuce, and the beef scallion pie ($9.95) was no more than a couple of thin small slices of dry beef in a scallion pancake.  

The two main dishes that I shared were average, tangerine crispy beef ($14.50) and chicken with Yu-Shiang (spicy garlic) sauce ($11.50).  In all, Grade B.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

I spent part of the afternoon with my grandsons catching up with the travails of Kung Fu Panda.  It wasn't too trying considering that the seats at the Framingham multiplex cinema are electronically-controlled reclining loungers.  Consequently, I slept peacefully through about 2/3 of the movie.  

Our fabulous daughter-in-law actually prepared a chocolate soufflé for dessert tonight.  I can't recall ever having a soufflé served outside a restaurant, but this one was special regardless of the context.  I'm sorry that you missed it, although that left more for me.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Linda Greenhouse provides some valuable insights into the ideologically-based jurisprudence of Antonin Scalia. http://nyti.ms/1QmgbEI

Let the Domestic Enemies of Sanity posture about judicial activism as their poster boys rewrite the Second Amendment, campaign finance legislation and voting rights (oh guys, I forgot that when 5-4 on the Supreme Court overrules a unanimous Senate, that's real restraint).  

Friday, February 19, 2016

This weekend, keep your eyes on the Book Review included with Sunday's New York Times.  Rumor has it that a familiar name signed a letter to the editor.  

I Concede That Pastrami Is Romanian

Monday, February 8, 2016

We have just returned from celebrating the birthday of Super Bowl Baby Boy Boaz, in Massachusetts.  Today, of course is the Chinese New Year, the year of the fire monkey, a character described as "ambitious and adventurous, but irritable."  If that describes you, it probably means that you were born some multiple of 12 years ago, corresponding to the Chinese annual zodiac.  Here are some dos and don'ts for the year of the fire monkey for all of us, but especially Australians.  http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/year-of-the-monkey-chinese-new-year-dos-and-donts-20160202-gmjkqb.html

Regardless of the character of the year ahead, we need to eat.  Here is a collection of recipes that I encourage you to try out; I'll sample the results, if asked. http://nyti.ms/1L6mgh2

  

If fate keeps you away from New York City the next time that you are hungry, you can sample Chinese food in the Boston area. http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2016/02/01/why-best-chinese-food-might-suburbs/aUrJHgAj9be04eDXNwcqmM/story.html?s_campaign=8315

I agree with the critic's admiration for Sichuan Gourmet, 271 Worcester Road, Framingham, which our three generations have enjoyed visiting several times.  Even our little ones appreciate their scallion pancakes before wandering table to table.  

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Chinese food is not my only passion.  I am also devoted to the New York Times crossword puzzles, and the paper has taken the trouble to analyze 74 years of clues and answers, with some fascinating results. http://nyti.ms/1L6mgh2

 

 How about "1995 court V.I.P" or " Am ___ blame?" or "Skater Midori" for an answer that appeared over 100 times?

I haven't heard of anyone objecting to the term "Chinese New Year" yet (something to do with big crowds maybe), but we can look to Brown University for inspiration.  In April 2009, the faculty voted to change the name of Columbus Day to the Fall Weekend holiday.  Now, probably because Winter, Spring and Summer had their feelings hurt, they voted to designate the second Monday in October as Indigenous People’s Day. https://news.brown.edu/articles/2016/02/indigenous

How about all the capitalists who feel left out on Labor Day?

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Last night, after admiring Kim Sykes's latest paintings on display (through April 4th) at the Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, Mr. & Mrs. Stony Brook Steve, America's Favorite Epidemiologist and I went to dinner at Rasa, 25 West 8th Street, featuring Malaysian and Thai food and sushi.  The room is long and relatively narrow.  About one-third of the floor is taken by bars, liquor and sushi.  Seating is on benches running along the available wall space, with black leather(ette?) cushioned back rests. opposite dark wooden tables and chairs, holding about 40 people in all.  By 7:30 PM, all seats were taken.

Since I have gotten familiar with Malaysian food in Chinatown, I ordered two of my favorite dishes, roti canai ($7.25), the thin flaky Indian pancake with curry dipping sauce, and Rendang beef ($18), "simmered until dry with exotic spices, lemongrass, lime leaves & grated coconut with thick coconut milk."  The only thing memorable about either dish was the price, about twice what superior versions cost at Wok Wok, Southeast Asian Kitchen, 11 Mott Street.  On the other hand, the art, the company and the conversation were excellent.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Jeffrey Heller, major league humanitarian, touted Trader Joe's scallion pancakes to me.  They come frozen, 4 to a package for $3.49.  Each is about 5" round and nearly 1/2" thick, weighing slightly less than 1/4 pound.  I had three for dinner tonight and was very pleased.  They contain more vegetables than the typical Chinatown version, onions, scallions, leeks, carrots, closer to a frittata than a crêpe.  I pan fried them with a shpritz of vegetable oil.  They are vegetarian, but not vegan (sigh of relief).  Fill your freezer with them for a quick and satisfying breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Once upon a time, many Jews avoided saying "Jewish" when identifying themselves and tried to deflect its usage by others.  I thought that was past us in the US until two very disparate things caught my attention.  Today's New York Times crossword puzzle gives "hora" as the answer to the clue "Romanian wedding dance."  While Wikipedia defines hora as "a type of circle dance originating in the Balkans but also found in other countries," I guarantee that the last 94 horas any of us witnessed were at Jewish celebrations, weddings and b'nai mitzvahs.  I just don't think that New York metropolitan area party spaces are teeming with Romanian weddings.

Then, there was Bernie Sanders's speech after winning the New Hampshire primary.  "I am the son of a Polish immigrant."  I'll bet that his father didn't call himself Polish and Poles didn't call his father Polish.  He was Jewish and he wasn't allowed to forget it.  "Jews (and not only in Poland) tended to view Polish society and Polish history as being in a perpetual process of growing anti-Semitism," according to Grzegorz Krzywiec, a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of History.  Once they got to the Goldene Medina, Jews and Poles did not ignore their historic differences and dance the hora together at Romanian weddings.

Mangez, Mon Amis

Monday, February 1, 2106
There are times when my physically big head seems to contain a very small mind.  One example is in the realm of gender.  Recently, "the 127-year-old American Dialect Society anointed 'they,' the singular, gender-neutral pronoun, the 2015 Word of the Year . . . where they is used for a person who does not identify as male or female."  See http://nyti.ms/1m49DMS.

I didn't have a vote, but I would not have chosen to abandon the classic distinction between singular and plural when an obvious alternative exists when he or she is inexact:  It.

My interest in Chinese food is well known, but now there may be reason to classify it as an addiction, not merely an affinity.  It seems that some restaurants in China have been adding poppy capsules to their food.  They are "made from the dried pericarp of the ripe fruit of an opium poppy plant."   
http://nyti.ms/1ShzuQ5

Yes, I looked up pericarp -- "the walls of a ripened fruit."  So, chopsticks may be as dangerous as hypodermic needles.  

Here is a headline that probably delights old and young alike: "Grandparents Who Babysit Are Less Likely To Develop Alzheimer's."  http://www.redhotawesome.com/breaking-grandparents-who-babysit-are-less-likely-to-develop-alzheimers/ 

Tuesday, February 2, 2016
I'm sorry but I missed a very important dispatch late last year, possibly because it appeared on Frank Sinatra's 100th birthday. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/12/dining/la-liste-france-worlds-50-best-restaurants.html?_r=0

France’s Foreign Ministry has compiled La Liste, "an ambitious ranking of what it claims are the 1,000 best 'tables of exception' in the world."  The top spot in the world went to Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville, Crissier, Switzerland. http://www.restaurantcrissier.com/uk/restaurant-hotel-ville-crissier-official-site.php#restaurant-crissier-lausanne-creation-maison.php 

Dinners start at $297; a fixed price lunch is $196.  However, the joy of victory was short-lived.  The 44-year old chef, Benoît Violier, promptly committed suicide. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/02/world/europe/benoit-violier-chef-dies.html

Per Se, 10 Columbus Circle, New York, is ranked #2 in the world and #1 in the USA.  Before you spend $325 to curb your hunger (but not your thirst, that's extra) at Per Se, you might check out the its latest review in the New York Times, containing "Slips and Stumbles" in the headline. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/13/dining/pete-wells-per-se-review.html

While we have never been to Per Se, America's Favorite Epidemiologist took me for a belated birthday dinner at the French Laundry, 6440 Washington Street, Yountville, California, the senior creation of Thomas Keller, on April 1, 2003.  The nine course dinner cost $135 back then plus drinks plus an 18% service charge.  It was good, as I recall, but only the copy of the menu that I saved reminds me of what I actually ate.  

La Liste brings back more vivid memories of what I consider the finest meal that I have ever had.  It designates La Maison Troisgros, Roanne, France, as #8 in the world.  http://www.troisgros.com/

I went there alone on my first trip to France in October 1985.  I chose the dinner menu for 350 francs, plus drinks and 15% service charge.  David Goldfarb, bon vivant, helped me with the translation of the menu that I removed at the time and kept ever since.  The meal consisted of
Mixed salad greens with currants
Soft-boiled egg with caviar
Fillet of salmon in sorrel sauce
Lobster poached in tomato sauce
Veal kidney with sweet peppers
Cheese platter
Dessert cart
Petit fours

I remember particularly the egg and the lobster.  When the captain wheeled over the dessert cart for me to make a choice, I unleashed my high school French and said, "Tout."

By the way, 350 francs converted to $45.50.  That you don't forget.

Thursday, February 4, 2016
Headline: "Health Care Signups Exceed Hopes, With 4 Million Newcomers to Federal Marketplace"
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/us/politics/latest-obamacare-sign-ups-exceed-expectations.html?_r=0

Marco Rubio's web site tells us: "One of the first votes Marco took in the Senate was to repeal ObamaCare, and he has fought to replace the failed law ever since."
https://marcorubio.com/sidebar-featured/marco-rubio-health-care-obamacare-repeal-replace/

Ted Cruz, another member of the Buena Vista Social Club, states, "I support repealing every single word of Obamacare."  
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/workweek-bill-is-first-gop-senate-test-on-obamacare-114052#ixzz3zMLTVXLO

And, DT, my fellow New Yorker promises, "I would end Obamacare and replace it with something terrific, for far less money for the country and for the people." http://www.kcci.com/politics/2-potential-candidates-visit-iowa-today/32253026

My conclusion, vote Republican and meddle with success, or, at least, strip healthcare coverage from millions of Americans.  Of course, if Ben Carson is right that "Obamacare is really I think the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery," I may want to change my mind.     https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2013/10/11/ben-carson-obamacare-worst-thing-since-slavery/

Friday, February 5, 2016
Even though I don't have the privilege of walking the streets of Chinatown every weekday any more, I try to keep up with developments down there, especially new joints.  Art S. and Jon S. (no relation) joined me at Wu's Wonton King, 165 East Broadway, open only a couple of weeks.  The place was freshly decorated, with off-white walls making for a bright interior.  It has 8 round tables and 20 two tops usually pushed together to seat four people.  It was busy because of or in spite of the fact that it is located as far east as the entropic Chinatown has grown.  

Wu's has a very large menu covering several major strands of Chinese cooking, but it doesn't have any hot mustard.  There are 30 lunch specials, all $5.50, including a small bowl of soup with a small clump of chicken.  We passed around Shrimp w/Peanuts w/Spicy Sauce, Beef w/Broccoli, and Chicken w/Black Bean Sauce.  The portions were quite generous and shared the plate with a large mound of white rice.  Additionally, we shared a large plate of Beef Chow Fun ($8.95), notable for its tender beef.  All the dishes were good, but the flavors were muted.  

Wu's is the second Chinese restaurant at this location, important in Jewish culinary and literary history as home to the dearly-missed Garden Cafeteria.  http://www.placematters.net/node/1205

When I lived in Greenwich Village, I used to ride my bicycle to the Garden Cafeteria (if not to B&H Dairy) on Sunday mornings for lox and eggs and onions.  By the 1980s, the only Jews left in the neighborhood (whose dietary restrictions gave rise to the Garden and B&H) seemed to be politicians  (like Sheldon Silver) who had iron-fisted control over the local political clubhouses.  B&H, with 8 stools and 4 tiny tables, survived; the Garden, seating maybe 100 people, folded.  

Mais où sont les neiges d'antan?

Attention To Detail

Monday, January 25, 2016
The New York Times took the unusual action of printing an obituary more than 20 months after the death of the subject.  David Stoliar was the only survivor of a WWII tragedy that still has the power to instill rage and grief more than 70 years later and, I believe, carries a thoroughly contemporary message.  Stoliar was one of almost 800 Roumanian Jews trying to escape the Nazis, packed into a former cattle boat that the British barred from Palestine, held by Turkey for 71 days, set adrift into the Black Sea without power, where it was sunk by a Soviet submarine.  While many on board died immediately, others floated in the sea, hanging onto wreckage until overcome with the cold or despair.  Only Stoliar, then 19 years old, managed to be rescued by a passing ship. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/world/middleeast/david-stoliar-survivor-of-world-war-ii-disaster-dies-at-91.html?_r=0

Today, refugees attempting to move in the other direction, from the Levant to Europe, are left to drift in the Mediterranean and turned away from safe havens.  While these unfortunate souls are not necessarily overtly attacked by government forces, they are apparently preyed upon by a variety of mobs and gangs and claques.  Never again?

The Sunday New York Times also had an article on Arthur Miller's links to Brooklyn, his home borough (county). http://nyti.ms/1lCq6aT

Miller stayed close to home until the break up of his first marriage and the arrival of Marilyn Monroe in 1955.  What was particularly interesting to me were some unusual coincidences.  He rented an apartment from Norman Mailer's parents in 1944 and sold a brownstone to W.E.B. Dubois in 1951, both in Brooklyn Heights.   

That brings me to my Arthur Miller story.  A friend invited me to the 1992 revival of "The Price," a 1968 play by Miller, being directed by her brother.  The play deals with the long-standing sibling rivalry between two brothers as they clean out the apartment of their deceased father.  One brother is a prominent physician, the other an NYPD sergeant.  Their father was only willing (or able) to fund the education of one son during the Depression, thereby separating them in several ways from that time forward.  

When I was introduced to Miller backstage after the performance, I had to tell him what bothered me from the opening moments of the play.  The police sergeant was in uniform, wearing dark blue pants and a sky blue shirt, with his insignia.  Except, NYPD only wore sky blue shirts for a relatively short time in the 1980s and 1990s, while the play is set in the 1960s.  Today, and in much of the recent past, higher ranks wear white uniform shirts and dark blue trousers, while regular cops wear dark blue tops and bottoms.  See https://www.google.com/search?q=new+york+police+department+uniforms&espv=2&biw=1267&bih=640&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjNv-Le3sPKAhVL5CYKHcEcAa8QsAQINA&dpr=1#imgrc=TYLspSvCBpaNcM%3A

I couldn't sit still during the play and I had to tell Miller about the problem, although it might have been beyond his control.  On the other hand, I thought that he should be aware of how the obsessives in the audience were reacting.

OpenTable is a very convenient web site for making restaurant reservations throughout the USA and most other places where you might want to sit down for a meal.  For inquiry purposes, it provides a near-complete list of restaurants in most neighborhoods, or geographic locations.  It also allows for reviews and ratings, which I invariably cross-reference with other more reliable sources of restaurant criticism.  Now, it offers its own best list.  Here is OpenTable's 10 best in Manhattan (other locales available). http://www.opentable.com/best-manhattan-restaurants

Again, I fail to have personal experience with most of these places, all occupying the very high to outrageous level of expense.  Seven of the ten offer fixed menus, often for several hundred dollars a person.  Four of the ten feature sushi/sashimi.  Even if you avoid "the poetry of nature and creativity in pursuit of an immersive sensory dining experience" and simply be allowed to order for yourself, none of these joints allow you to get away for less than one hundred a dollars a person.  Bon appétit mes amis.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Paul Hecht, distinguished thespian (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hecht) sent the following to me about 5 Long Island Jewish guys exploring local Chinese restaurants. http://www.thechinesequest.com/ 

I am reluctant to cast asparagus on any effort to expand the understanding, appreciation and consumption of Chinese food, but I'm not ready to take these Long Island guys seriously, in contrast to my own modest efforts, beginning six years ago, rooted in Chinatown.  My apprehension arises from their home base.  There is a use for suburbia, no doubt, and people out there occasionally deserve to have a meal away from home, and Chinese is as good a choice as any.  But, the very neat and groomed quality of suburbia ultimately defeats the echte quality of a Chinese restaurant.  How many Chinese truck drivers do you expect to see eating in a Chinese restaurant in Patchogue? 

R.I.P. Abe Vigoda a/k/a Salvatore Tessio and Phil Fish.

Wednesday, January 27, 2016
I've seen full page newspaper advertisements and television spots recently extolling an established medical center on Long Island, which reportedly includes 21 hospitals and myriad support facilities.  The advertising blitz is meant to promote a new name ("brand" -- that term that deeply offends me except when applied to toothpaste) for the institution.  Introducing Northwell Health with the motto Look North.  

The entity has been known since 1997 as North Shore-LIJ Health System, after the merger of the North Shore Health System and LIJ Medical Center.  Now, presumably after millions of dollars were spent on surveys and focus groups, Northwell Health emerges.  Feel better?  Better informed?  What do I think?  The suits found a way to dump the J, and that didn't stand for jelly donuts. 

Thursday, January 28, 2016
Thirty years ago today, I remember a shocked secretary telling me that "The shuttle went down."  My immediate thought was that one of the short flights to Boston or Washington D.C., from New York, labelled a shuttle by the airlines, had crashed.  No, it was the Challenger space shuttle that exploded moments after takeoff, killing all its passengers, including Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire school teacher who was supposed to conduct scientific experiments in space, watched by tens of thousands of schoolchildren across the US.

Subsequent investigations established that O ring seals failed, releasing a stream of hot gas that ignited an external fuel tank.  A problem with the seals was anticipated in cold weather, when they might lose their elasticity.  NASA had been advised to wait for temperatures above 54 F, but as the New York Times reported then, "Long before liftoff this morning, skies over the Kennedy Space Center were clear and cold, reporters and tourists shivering in leather gloves, knit hats and down coats as temperatures hovered in the low 20's."  The launch had already been delayed for three days because of weather, but NASA decided to wait no longer.

Left unmentioned in most accounts of the disaster and only a footnote in some few was the political angle, "the persistent rumor that the White House had ordered the flight to proceed in order to spice up President Reagan’s scheduled State of the Union address." (These exact words are found repeatedly in a Google search.)  There is no direct evidence to support this theory, although my memories of the Reagan administration are studded with incidents of lies, tricks, and stunts designed to ennoble the Great Communicator's image. 

After about one month in retirement, I admit that I experienced some separation anxiety, so I invited a few of the faithful to meet me at Wo Hop, 17 Mott Street, for lunch.  Mossad Moshe agreed to join us and he and I decided to walk to Chinatown from our neighborhood, a distance slightly under 5 miles.  

We all had soup, in response to the chill outside, then shared duck chow fun, spicy eggplant, and shrimp with lobster sauce over shrimp fried rice.  With tip, it came to $12 each and I feel somewhat restored.

Friday, January 29, 2016
While Republican presidential hopefuls lament the state of our union and decry the hobbling of American business by Obama's hyper-socialist tax and regulatory policies, corporate accountants see it differently.  
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/magazine/why-are-corporations-hoarding-trillions.html?_r=0

It seems that "American businesses currently have $1.9 trillion [$1,900,000,000,000] in cash, just sitting around."  That's not only a lot of money, it's more than at any time in the past.  Take the weekend to consider to what use you could put that money.

Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms

Monday,January 18, 2016

This tourist has been acting like a tourist this past  weekend.  Saturday night, I saw Hangmen, a very dark comedy set in 1965, just after Great Britain ended capital punishment.  Most of the action takes place in a pub in the north of England, and the combination of accents and slang blocked my access to about 25% of the dialogue.  What I understood was quite funny, so my advice to Americans is to definitely see Hangmen if the tickets are discounted at least 25%.

Sunday, David Brodie and I visited the Imperial War Museum, just behind the lovely 18th century Brodie home.  The museum, as is the case for many in Britain, is free.  Besides a variety of vehicles, uniforms, weapons, a Spitfire fighter plane, a V-1 rocket (resembling a current drone) and a V-2 rocket (much larger than I imagined), the museum gives a substantial amount of space to the Holocaust.  I thought that the exhibit was honest and the museum as a whole quite interesting.

Today, the three of us had lunch at the Capital Hotel, a small, elegant establishment in a row of Georgian buildings near Harrods.  This was at least the fourth time that I have eaten here over the decades, always treated more like Lord Alan of Pitkin than poor Alan from Pitkin Avenue.  I started with cured red gurnard (a white fish common to the eastern Atlantic), served in thin, quarter-sized rounds with small cubes of oranges and slivers of red peppers.  My main, as they say, was an excellent thick lamb chop, too small for this carnivore, but understandably so given the price of the meal and the time of day.  Dessert was a dense, dark chocolate ice cream concoction with fresh raspberries, raspberry curd and sugared almonds.  Just the ice cream alone would have been memorable.  David and I had three courses for £29, at approximately $1.50 a pound, while Katherine stopped at two for £25.  In retrospect, I should have ordered dessert nominally for Katherine and paid the extra £4.  

I was actually (slightly) annoyed with one aspect of the meal.  Two cups of coffee were served, although I alone ordered coffee.  The extra was returned, but, when the check showed two cups at £4 each, I asked if this was an error.  Nope, I was supposedly charged for my refill, an unnecessary gesture. 

Tonight, I went alone to see Mr. Foote's Other Leg, a comedy based on events in the 18th century; David and Katherine had seen it already.  This time, the combination of accents and historical references had me missing even more of the dialogue than at Hangmen the other night.  What I did understand was very funny.  The lead, Simon Russell Peale, was brilliant, in a role that would perfectly suit Nathan Lane.

Getting out of the theater (theatre) just after 10 PM allowed me to have a late supper, and I went into Yori Korean BBQ Restaurant, 6 Panton Street, right around the corner.  Aside from Cambodia, which has no restaurant in Manhattan's Chinatown, and Indonesia, which shares a menu with a Malaysian restaurant, Korea has the weakest representation in Chinatown among East Asian nations.  I found only three Korean restaurants in my six years scouting, one since closed.  True to its name, Yori had grills embedded in its tables, but I ordered simply, a spring onion pancake and jap chae noodles.  Each cost about £7, making them, like almost everything else in Britain except beer, theater tickets, three course lunches at the Capital Hotel, and bus rides with a transit card, vastly overpriced.  Cost aside, the pancake, really an omelette, was especially good; the noodles, cooked with yellow onions, green onions, carrots, and sesame seeds, were served hot, not cold, as I have enjoyed them before.     

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Please seek out 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, a touching memoir of the twenty-year correspondence between a New York widow and an antiquarian bookseller located at that address.  It will help you restore some belief in civility and friendship.  

David and I went to Charing Cross Road this afternoon to cruise the few remaining book stores where there used to be so many.  One had a basement full of books for £1 each; I bought four mysteries to add to the Brodies' formidable library (maybe giving me an excuse to return).  Charing Cross Road is the eastern boundary of London's Chinatown, so, of course, we had lunch at the Canton Restaurant, 11 Newport Place, a joint that I first went to in 1985.  Unlike my return to the Capital Hotel, this visit was disappointing.  We ordered modestly because we were having an early dinner before a 7 o'clock curtain.  We shared pan-fried chicken dumplings (£4.50 for 5) and ho fun (chow fun) with roast pork and roast duck (£7.50).  While the food was well prepared and tasty, the roast duck with the noodles was represented solely by big chunks of fat.  We were so hungry that I never paused to complain to the waiter; that's on me. London's Chinatown, unlike Manhattan's, is strictly confined by topography, yet it seemed vigorous.  It offered many choices and next time I won't be governed by loyalty in picking a place to eat.

Husbands and Sons, the play tonight, was quite interesting.  It is a new combination of three plays written by D.H. Lawrence just before WWI, set in the coal mining village where he grew up.  Like many of you, all I know about Lawrence is the dirty parts of Lady Chatterley's Lover.  Each of the original plays dealt with a crisis in a coal miner's family, dreary circumstances in a dreary setting.  The modern adapter has arrayed the three households as they might have been in the village, allowing you to view (through invisible walls) the action more or less simultaneously, an approach that Alan Ayckbourn has used successfully in more mirthful circumstances.  After seeing the play, I read several reviews in the British press and found sharply opposing views about combining the three established works.  I thought that it was a wise move.  Each family's crisis, standing alone, might have seemed a bit stereotypical, but, along side their neighbors', they blended into a montage of very hard times in a very hard world.  For better or worse, I understood almost all the dialogue.

The view of the Thames from Waterloo Bridge on Tuesday night.

Wednesday, January 20, 2015

In spite of a 50 minute delay before boarding, my flight home was pleasant and uneventful, with the plane no more than 2/3 full.  I had time to go through a free copy of Time Out London, which, like the New York press, gave a lot of attention to David Bowie.  My interest was focused on "The Ten Best Comedy Movies," derived from a survey purportedly among more than 70 comedians. timeout.com/comedyfilms

The list of contributors is decidedly Anglo-American, but contains many UnKnown names.  Yet, the collection of best comedies definitely tilts towards the New World.  See for yourself; it will make for some interesting discussions with your friends, if they have a sense of humor.  

I won't nitpick, but the complete omission of W.C. Fields, whether The Bank Dick or My Little Chickadee, from the best 100 is a serious flaw.  Additionally, while Woody Allen deservedly makes the top 10 for Annie Hall, the Marx brothers don't show up until #19 (Animal Crackers) and Mel Brooks #21 (Young Frankenstein).  And, are Pulp Fiction and GoodFellas really comedies?

Thursday, January 21, 2016

In 1996, January 21st was the third Sunday of the month.  It was the day that I met America's Favorite Epidemiologist.  We are celebrating 20 years together on Saturday with dinner at a fine restaurant, that is if the anticipated blizzard does not confine us to the Palazzo di Gotthelf.  

Friday, January 22, 2016  

It's good to be home with my own young bride, my own bed and my own DVR.  While the two David and K pairs live at almost opposite ends of England, come from very different backgrounds, and have differing views on many social and political issues (not even agreeing within each couple), all four people shared one consistent view: Fie on Downton Abbey.  Whether approaching from left or right, no one cared about the fate of Lady Mary.  Tally ho!