Cogitant Ergo Sunt

Monday, September 9, 2019
For years, in a futile attempt to deny the aging process, I avoided reading the death notices in the New York Times.  I've progressed beyond that phase of denial and yesterday I recognized the name of R.W.  More than 50 years ago, while teaching in a local junior high school, I taught her daughter and son, the girl in my ninth-grade algebra class and the boy in my (get ready) eighth-grade general science class.  The boy was also in my home room. 

At the time, I got to know some students' families fairly well and stayed friendly with these folks after the school year ended and I moved (was pushed) on.  I recall going to the boy's Bar Mitzvah party held at Cheetah, a very hot discotheque in Manhattan at the time, reflecting the parents' nonconformity, one reason that I found them interesting.  Not that they were refugees from a hippie commune or a Buddhist ashram.  The father owned a successful manufacturing (?) business and the mother herself was a teacher.  In fact, what first attracted me to them was how she praised my classroom shtick, reported back by her children. 

This family became a model for me.  It gave me hope that a middle-class Jewish household could be populated by engaged, articulate parents and teenagers resembling human beings, not what I was accustomed to.  Sometime in the following year, when I had moved to 55 Morton Street in Greenwich Village, previously the home of Wally Cox and his occasional overnight guest Marlon Brando, the kids called me.  They stunned me with the news that their parents were getting divorced. 

All I can remember is that I had to go somewhere, so I got into my VW Beetle parked on the street and partially ripped off my front bumper getting out of the parking space.  I don't think that I even left a note for the car that I vandalized.  "The dream was gone.  Something had been taken from him."  F. Scott Fitzgerald, Winter Dreams, 1926.

I had such a comedown before, although it arose from a work of fiction.  Frederico Fellini's great 1960 movie "La Dolce Vita" had many memorable scenes and themes.  While it was more than unlikely that I would ever cavort in a fountain with Anita Ekberg, I identified strongly with Marcello Mastroianni's friend Steiner, who, in the words of film critic Roger Ebert, "represents all that Marcello envies.  Steiner lives in an apartment filled with art.  He presides over a salon of poets, folk singers, intellectuals.  He has a beautiful wife and two perfect children."  And then, Steiner commits suicide.  That was it.  I only expected existential dread from then on, until I drew some temporary inspiration from the W family years later.  To quote the words of Ralph Cramden, "Pow!  Right in the kisser!"
. . .

My young bride brought to my attention an article in the New York Times about the rebellion within the British Conservative Party's parliamentary wing against the Brexit policy of Boris Johnson.   https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/08/us/politics/boris-johnson-trump.html

This contrasts with the docility of our Republican legislators, deferring to a "president [who] has thoroughly taken over the Republicans, remaking the party of Lincoln in his image and institutionalizing policies that, only a few years ago, would have seemed extreme to them."  As a defrocked political scientist, I found no sound rationale for the opposing scenarios.  In fact, the opposite should be true.  British political parties are centrally controlled, while there are 50 or more organizations making up each of our major political parties.  Parliamentary candidates are often assigned to a constituency by the party leadership, unlike an American office-seeker who typically emerges from the local soil, climbing up a ladder of contested positions. 

There is little room in British politics for the vaunted maverick.  Yet, now we see members of Parliament operating in classic "I'm all right, Jack" fashion, while Republicans in Washington are bowing to the president as deeply and frequently as the most devout Muslim bows to Allah.  Go figure.
. . .

Recently, I've provided data on the cost of home ownership and rentals to assist in determining where you might move to.  Below is information on sprucing up the nest rather than flying away from it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/05/realestate/top-home-improvement-projects-home-renovation-projects.html

It lists the most popular home improvements and their average cost on a national basis.  Having had some work done on Palazzo di Gotthelf over the years, I can only say that the indicated costs could only be discerned in our rear view mirror. 

. . .

I was in Midtown today and went to Urbanspace Vanderbilt, the busy food hall at East 45th Street & Vanderbilt Avenue.  It was less crowded than on my past visits, when it resembled fraternity row on the eve of the Big Game.  Today, it seemed more like the morning after. 

I chose Mian Kitchen from among the 20 or so vendors.  It features baos, spongy, doughy discs folded over its contents.  I had a combo, 2 baos, Peking duck -- roasted duck, scallion, cucumber, crushed peanut and hoisin sauce; shrimp tempura -- deep fried shrimp, red cabbage, red onion, cilantro, black sesame seeds and spicy mayo; and 8 pieces of popcorn chicken ($13).  I thought that the chicken had popped a bit too early before it was served, but it tasted good, as did the baos.  And, if you are still hungry, there's pizza, hamburgers, cookies, chicken sandwiches, lobster rolls, tacos, gumbo, poké bowls, ramen, doughnuts and sushi.  Maybe the crowds have left because they got exhausted having to make up their minds what to eat.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

"The One Thing No Israeli Wants to Discuss" is the misleading headline of an op-ed today that gets its argument wrong as well.  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/09/opinion/israel-election-netanyahu.html

I don't entirely agree with the author's contention that "[n]o single episode has shaped Israel’s population and politics like the wave of suicide bombings perpetrated by Palestinians in the first years of the 21st century."  I would place the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, which opened the door to Benjamin Netanyahu and his repressive policies, as the turning point in contemporary Israeli history.  The author and I arrive at the same place, however.  "[T]hat period [of suicide bombings] explains the durability of Benjamin Netanyahu, which outsiders sometimes struggle to understand." 

The author confusedly claims that the population suffers a "repression of memory" of the violence, yet he recognizes that Netanyahu's electoral success is based on his emphasis of "the word 'security' [that] carries a kind of supernatural weight."  Looking at the record, the concern for security is perfectly reasonable.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_suicide_attacks

In the period 2000-2008 before Netanyahu took office, there were 147 suicide bombings in Israel, killing 634 people.  Since then, there have been 2 bombings, causing no deaths.  Of course, there have been other deadly attacks using trucks, cars, knives and guns, but I can understand the haunting specter raised by a suicide bombing, a fraction of a second separating life and death.  So, Netanyahu's campaign ad asserts that "in the stormy Mideastern sea we’ve proven that we can keep Israel an island of stability and safety" and the electorate has agreed in the last three elections, but by shrinking margins. 

Stay tuned.  The next election is September 17th.
. . .

Mark and Alex Dilman emigrated from Tbilisi, Georgia over 25 years ago.  Our then generous immigration policy allowed them to establish families and successful careers here.  However, neither one was available for dinner last night, so, with both of our wives preoccupied, Michael Ratner and I went to Old Tbilisi Garden, 174 Bleecker Street, advertising authentic Georgian cuisine.  It's a pleasant place with a covered garden at the back, fitting eight tables.  The rest of the space is long and narrow, with more than two dozen tables mostly in a straight line. 

The menu seemed authentic enough, given my limited exposure to Georgian cuisine, most memorably at a dinner cooked by Genya Dilman.  Michael and I shared hefty dumplings (khinkali), 3 meat and 3 cheese ($11 each plate); chicken makvalshi ($22.50), roasted chicken with blackberry sauce; and adjaruli khachapuri ($18), soft dough in the shape of a boat, baked with cheese with an egg stirred in when served.  A khachapuri and a cup of coffee should hold you until the weekend.  ისიამოვნეთ as they say in Tbilisi. 

Friday, September 13, 2019

Reading this interview with a Nigerian novelist, I have to play my Grumpy Old Man card.  “'I had a little bit of a crisis,' said [Akwaeke] Emezi, who uses the pronoun they.  'I stopped journaling.  I stopped writing for pleasure because I was just like, if I’m not getting paid for it, what’s the point?'”  While I should call them they, they call them I.  Why shouldn't they call them we?

The Jewish Question

Monday, September 2, 2019

"A shooting spree that unfolded Saturday afternoon during a chaotic, high-speed police chase in West Texas was not an act of terrorism, law enforcement authorities said as they continued to piece together what had led a gunman to open fire on motorists and police officers while driving along a 15-mile stretch of highways and shopping centers.”  How could we even think of a white, Christian killer as a terrorist?

. . .

It is pointless for a Jew to ask himself "Why am I Jewish?"  It is an accident of birth that is effectively irreversible in the eyes of friends and foes alike.  More significant is the question "Why do I call myself a Jew?”, a question that many people would never ask given how uncomfortable they are with the label in the first place.  I don't hesitate, however.  I am a Jew, though unfamiliar with scripture, dismissive of spirituality, aloof from much ritual, a Jew nevertheless.  

If I needed prompting in asserting my identity, The Book Smugglers by David E. Fishman, a book that I am in the middle of reading, would effectively get me back on track.  It is the story of a group of Jewish intellectuals in Vilna (Vilnius), Lithuania, some Yiddishists, some Hebraicists, some socialists, some Communists, some devout, some irreligious, calling themselves the "paper brigade," who risked their lives to save Jewish books and artifacts from Nazi expropriation and destruction.  They began their efforts as soon as the Nazis invaded Lithuania and ghettoized its Jews in June 1941.  They continued until Vilna, once a major center of Jewish life and education, was emptied of Jews in September 1943 by shooting, by hanging, by deportation, by starvation.  

In a sense, the Nazis facilitated the book smugglers, by grouping librarians, academics and writers to inventory and organize the wealth of materials held in major Jewish institutions outside the ghetto walls for shipment to Frankfurt and Berlin, an example of Judenforschung, anti-Semitic Jewish souvenir collecting.  Only some items interested the Nazis, who trashed much of what they got their hands on.  While the Jews lamented the loss of all items that represented their heritage, culture and beliefs, they made special efforts to keep holy items, such as Torah scrolls, and irreplaceable documents, such as Theodor Herzl’s diaries, away from the Nazis.  They smuggled the materials into the ghetto to be hidden in cellars, attics, or buried in the ground.  While other brave people smuggled bread, potatoes, eggs and guns into the ghetto, the paper brigade risked their lives to preserve the infrastructure of Judaism for a return to daylight at some future time.

This account is a vivid example of the rightness in labeling Jews the People of the Book, a term originating in the Koran, by the way.  I cannot walk away from this. 

. . .

The Upper West Side's Power Couple continued our almost perpetual motion by going to Massachusetts for the holiday weekend to spend time with the second and third generations.  After a day of shopping for back-to-school (or back-to-retirement, in my case) clothing at the Wrentham Village Premium Outlets, our gang had dinner at Sichuan Gourmet II, 271 Worcester Road, a family favorite.  It’s a sign of enlightened parenting that the grandchildren, ages 6, 9 and 11, all know their way around a Chinese menu and have their favorite dishes.  While there was some mixing and matching around the table, I concentrated on Sichuan cold noodles ($6.50), mei fun-angel hair-vermicelli, in a peppery, hot sauce; scallion pancake ($6.25); chicken in Yu Hsiang (“fish fragrance”) Sauce ($11.95), which contains vinegar, fermented broad beans, soy sauce and pickled chili peppers, but no fish or seafood; spicy cumin lamb ($16.95).  The children’s education is in good hands.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019
In case you are looking to move and insist on new construction, this article contains interesting data.  https://www.charlottestories.com/an-estimate-of-6000-new-apartments-are-waiting-to-be-opened-this-year-in-charlotte-metro/ 


Skip the Charlotte-specific stuff and scroll down to the table that lists the number of new apartments and the % change from last year for 83 U.S. markets.  In most cases, the rate of change up or down seems completely independent of population movement.  For instance, the Los Angeles metropolitan area had a 23% decline in new apartments, while only reporting a 0.1% decline in population.  Earlier figures are not provided, so you can only speculate on what's causing what.

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

I had lunch with Max, the former Wonder Boy, at Bangkok Cuisine, 107-18 70th Road, Forest Hills, which has opened a branch in Manhattan.  I had not been to either, so I was willing to start out closer to Max’s home turf.  This proved quite satisfactory, since Bangkok Cuisine offered 17 lunch specials, including an appetizer, soup or salad, for $11.95 or $12.95 based on the major ingredient of the main course.  I had soup, a vegetable broth with 3 chunks of tofu afloat, 2 chicken/shrimp dumplings and “Drunken Noodles” with shredded chicken, eggs, yellow onions and bean sprouts.  The noodles were my favorite wide ones, chow fun, seemingly sober.

I may have scared Max by reminding him that, at age 34, he may have 50 more years to live.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

In contrast to yesterday’s lunch, the Boyz Club gathered today, a bunch of alte kockers, each hoping to have 50 more weeks to live.  To increase the prospects for our longevity, we ate at Wo Hop, 17 Mott Street, sharing beef chow fun, mei fun with scallion and ginger, moo shu chicken with pancakes, beef with scallions, pork fried rice and green beans in black bean sauce.  Several of us had soup, hot and sour or won ton, as well, with Wo Hop's world-class crispy noodles.  Bottom line, big smiles and $15 each.
. . .

In the evening, I went to hear Clifton Hood, an urban historian, speak about "A History of the New York City Subway," based on  his book 722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York.  Hood is not an engineer and he took a retrospective look, while many in the audience wanted to hear about corrective measures and technical improvements.  And, the audience was the real story.  The SVA Theater, 333 West 23rd Street, was absolutely full, all 479 seats and a few extra folding chairs were occupied.  This was no Marvel Super Hero adventure, no umpteenth Star Wars sequel.  In fact, few, if any, of the nerdy adolescents usually beguiled by galaxies long ago and far away were in the building.  It was grownups, adults, citizens concerned about this critical element of our urban life.  Might this make any difference, a signal of increased civic engagement?  Well, Rosh Hashanah is coming up and this would be something worth praying for.
   
Friday, September 6, 2019
Lefties -- a study by scientists at Oxford University has good news and bad news for us left-handed people.  We have a very slightly lower chance of having Parkinson’s disease, but a very slightly higher chance of having schizophrenia.   https://academic.oup.com/brain/advance-article/doi/10.1093/brain/awz257/5556832?searchresult=1

That means that we will live longer hearing weird voices.

L'Chaim

Monday, August 26, 2019

I flew to Charlotte, North Carolina yesterday to visit Cindy and David, friends for almost 40 years.  While their sons have visited New York separately in the near past, the parents' movement to and from Florida, Scotland, Mexico and North Carolina has made it hard to catch up with them.  They picked me up at the airport and we were soon on the major highway leading to the city center, named the Billy Graham Parkway, after one of America's most eminent anti-Semites.  It almost made me want to turn around and get back on the plane.

. . .

From the airport, we went directly to Haberdish, 3106 North Davidson Street, in the center of a gentrified neighborhood now christened NoDa.  They chose this big, sprawling restaurant with a covered patio, because I requested fried chicken and that's its specialty.  However, Haberdish's Southernness does not stop with fried chicken ($14 half chicken); we also ordered and shared livermush toast ($9), a pimento cheese ball ($10), smoked deviled eggs with smoked trout ($8), "Cast Iron" purple cabbage ($6) and biscuits with honey and sweet tea butter ($1.50 each).  

Regarding livermush, served as a grilled slab on toast, covered with pickled cucumbers and onions (not considered authentic by some), I'd rather not identify its ingredients, which sound far worse than they taste assembled together.  The chicken was almost too good, fried real crispy, but so greaseless that finger licking didn't enter my mind.  While I only ate some of each thing mentioned, I came away so full that I skipped dinner, believe it or not.

. . .

Today, after a breakfast of grits and eggs, we walked around the central business district, which contains the headquarters of Bank of America and other major enterprises, more museums than you might imagine and the NASCAR Hall of Fame.  What I didn't expect to see was this sculpture on the lawn of Edwin Towers, a public housing facility for seniors (over 62, oy gevalt!) and the disabled.

Maybe I was dreaming, thinking that there was a big Hebrew letter standing in the middle of Charlotte, North Carolina; after all, the big road from the airport was not called the Golda Meir Expressway.  

I used Google's reverse image search function to identify the sculpture, without success.  Cindy and David were able to learn that it was the work of Doris Leeper (1929-2000), born in Charlotte, graduate of Duke University, who lived most of her life in Florida.  No name was assigned to it and there is no whisper of ethnicity in the information about Leeper on line.
. . .

For dinner, we went to Midwood Smokehouse, 1401 Central Avenue, one of its five locations, where I ate, sometimes from my plate sometimes from someone else's, Burnt Ends ("Crispy caramelized cubes of brisket tossed in our cola BBQ sauce"), hush puppies, a large smoked rib with a dry rub, really fabulous cole slaw and shredded smoked chicken in a South Carolina-style mustard sauce, the only disappointment.  

No surprise, Midwood has a country decor, with license plates and pictures of pigs and cows covering the walls.  The music, though, was predominantly rock'n'roll and rock-a-billy, rather than country and western.  The many booths and tables appeared to be natural oak.  Beer is readily available, 15 drafts, 10 long neck bottles and 10 cans, along with cocktails and wine.  To my Yankee mind (cultural, not baseball), that seemed sufficient, but I learned that bourbon is the local BBQers drink of choice, not beer.  Midwood serves 50 bourbons, yes 50.  I stuck with an excellent 20 oz. draft IPA, which I failed to record.

. . .

I politely passed on Midwood's banana cream pie, very Southern, because I noticed Two Scoops Creamery, 913 Central Avenue, touting its homemade ice cream on the way over.  It was a wise choice.  Two Scoops claims over 50 rotating flavors plus specials, but only about 1/3 are available at any time.  I had two scoops, appropriately enough, chocolate raspberry chip and Boom (chocolate with Heath Bar pieces, one of several uninformatively named flavors) ($4.95).  They were outstanding.  Actually, I pointed to the wrong flavor, resulting in chocolate on chocolate, with no regrets once I dug in.  If I were able to get to Two Scoops regularly, it might replace Ample Hills Creamery in my affections, but we'll never know.

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

I met Cindy for breakfast at The Yolk, one of a dozen food and beverage shops lining the interior of the Seventh Street Public Market, 224 East Seventh Street.  Some have counters, else about 20 tables holding six to eight people fill the center of the large space.  This morning, it was quiet, some spots not even open at 9:30 A.M.  The Yolk, focusing on eggs and chicken, not surprisingly, was up and running.

Trying to adapt, I passed on eggs or pancakes and ordered the very Southern shrimp and grits for breakfast ($13).  It was a mistake.  The dish contained grits with smoked gouda, jerk shrimp and scallion pesto.  Except for the mild grits, the other ingredients had sharp flavors fighting each other for dominance, with no winner.  The counter people were very friendly, however, and the coffee refills were free. 

Before I left, I walked around the market, looking at other vendors.  The Assorted Table Wine Shoppe had a box on its counter with dozens of waiter's corkscrews for sale at $3.25, previously confiscated at airports by the Transportation Security Administration.  I passed on that bargain and instead bought a blueberry lemon scone from La Piccola Gabbia, the bakery counter next to The Yolk, to enjoy on the plane ride home.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

If I were not in a committed monogamous relationship with America's Favorite Epidemiologist, I might pursue Carol Heckrotte, the author of a brilliant letter to the editor published today. 
Let’s treat every man who wants to buy a gun like a woman seeking an abortion: Mandatory waiting period. Doctor’s note saying he understands what he’s about to do. Make him watch a video about the effects of gun violence. Close all but one gun shop in every state, making him travel many miles, take time off work and stay overnight in a strange town. Make him walk past people holding photos of loved ones shot to death, people who call him a murderer and beg him not to buy a gun.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

This is Charlie Parker's 99th birthday.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryNtmkfeJk4
. . .

Things are mostly back to what passes for normal after my quick trip to Dixie.  However, to completely restore my psychic balance, I went to Ess-A-Bagel, 831 Third Avenue, for lunch.  I was a regular patron when I lived nearby for nearly two dozen years and it served as my office during those periods when the American economy had trouble fully utilizing my skills.  Ess-A-Bagel was responsible for super-sizing bagels, not welcome among all fressers.  I was always sympathetic to its efforts, as I believe that more is more.

From the dozens of salads, meats, fish, cheeses, flavored cream cheeses, I  made the simple choice of egg salad on an everything bagel ($5.65).  Other bagels it offers are plain, cinnamon raisin, nine grain, poppy seed, sesame, pumpernickel, pumpernickel raisin, salt, whole wheat, onion and oat bran.  A buttered bagel costs $2.45; a bagel with whitefish salad, the sign of a connoisseur, costs $9.75.  These nearly reasonable prices explain the long lines at Ess-A-Bagel much of the day, although most customers are returning to their workstations post haste, leaving seats open for those of us of the leisure class. 

 

Friday, August 30, 2019

Speaking of whitefish salad, I went to the bris today of the son of Civil Court Judge Ilana Marcus, who was my colleague during the last couple of years of my employment in the New York State Supreme Court.  I fully anticipated her move to the judiciary and expect the see her move higher in the years to come.  Meanwhile, after the ritual portion, conducted by a nurse-midwife-mohel, the third (cisgendered) female mohel that I have encountered, there was a generous spread of bagels, lox, whitefish salad, tuna salad, egg salad, salmon salad, humus, babaghanoush, babka, rugelach, and greens (for the anhedonic).  Don't worry, I found something to eat.

Another Disloyal Jewish Democrat

Monday, August 19, 2019

The Upper West Side's Power Couple has been in the 5 college region of central Massachusetts for the last couple of days visiting friends.  We stopped first at the Yiddish Book Center on the campus of Hampshire College (the fifth one that you couldn't remember).  It's worth a visit by everybody, even if they never got closer to Yiddish than a bialy, to learn how one young man orchestrated the rescue of millions of books and, arguably, the culture that produced them. 
. . .

Staying in this area also gave us the opportunity to have some good meals in Amherst, a very pretty town.  We had lunch at Judie's Restaurant, 51 North Pleasant Street, with a fairly standard, well-executed American menu.  It's very large, three storefronts wide, probably having expanded with success.  Popovers are its special feature, possibly the most Gentile item to be found on any menu after baked ham.  Judie serves popovers as a snack with apple butter, instead of bread with main courses, or as a main course, stuffed with seafood gumbo, pesto chicken, sirloin tips and the like.  

For years, there was a Popover Cafe at 551 Amsterdam Avenue, serving strawberry butter with its popovers.  Sitting immediately next to Barney Greengrass, The Sturgeon King, 541 Amsterdam Avenue, slightly mitigated Its goyische character.  On the other hand, nothing was allowed to curb the gentility of Patricia Murphy's Candlelight Restaurants, with Popover Girls dispensing popovers at the 9 Candlelights in New York and Florida.  My memory of them is somewhat clouded by the competitive presence of Lauraine Murphy's, a carbon copy run by Patricia Murphy's brother and two sisters.  I must confess that I ordered a popover in all of the aforementioned. 

. . .

I can forgive Pleasant Street its name, because it is Amherst's Restaurant Row.  In fact, it has an interesting array of Asian restaurants, in an almost unbroken line.  Panda East, 103 North Pleasant Street; Miss Saigon, 96 North Pleasant Street; The Taste Thai Cuisine, 25 North Pleasant Street; MoMo Tibetan Restaurant, 23 North Pleasant Street; Arigato Japanese Restaurant, 11 North Pleasant Street; Oriental Flavor, 25 South Pleasant Street.  Pizza, pasta, pub food and doughnuts are also available for more conventional tastes.

We had only so much time to experiment, so Sunday night we ate at Miss Saigon.  It's the crummiest looking of the lot, but it was the most crowded, even at this low ebb before school begins.  And, it deserved to be.  The menu has the typical range of Vietnamese food, noodles, pho, stir-fried.  I had beef sticks, 3 skewered broad slices of beef with sesame peanut sauce on the side ($6.95), and chicken lettuce wraps, small pieces of chicken, cooked with onions, mushrooms, slivers of carrot and cucumber  in a pungent soy sauce ($8.45).  I left the lettuce alone, didn't want to get too full.  Miss Saigon also generously gives unlimited refills of Diet Coke for $1.95.
 

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Talk of mind-boggling detail, today's NYTimes.com identifies the music played at rallies by the leading presidential contenders, their playlists complete with recordings.  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/19/us/politics/presidential-campaign-songs-playlists.html

Pay particular attention to the list buried below Cory Booker.  It is a frequency analysis of the words in the songs used.  "Love" tops Booker's and Elizabeth Warren's list.  It is third, fourth, and sixth for Trump, Biden and Castro/Harris tied, respectively.  In case you fear that the president is going soft, "man" and "macho" are first and second for him.  As for Bernie Sanders, "love" comes in 38th, just above "inferno."
. . .

William Franklin Harrison is 18-years old. We met today for lunch and to plan his 2040 presidential campaign.  I am encouraged by his prospects for many reasons, including capturing so much of American history in his name alone.  Additionally, he looks the part, tall and handsome, with curly blonde hair much of which I hope that he retains through maturity. 

Lunch today was an early training ground for his political career.  We went to the Gotham West Market, 600 11th Avenue, a food hall offering William a choice of diverse cuisines.  He considered the alternatives -- Italian, Chinese, Mexican, seafood, fried chicken -- and decisively approached the counter at Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop. 

William, appropriately humble, only consumed "Tokyo Shio Ramen, Sea Salt, Dashi-Chicken Broth, Sea Salts, Pork Belly" ($13).  I had "Triple Garlic Mazemen, Rich Chicken Broth, Roasted Garlic, Bean Sprouts, Minced Sesame Chicken, Scallions, Whole Wheat Noodles," delicious.  I added a spongy pastrami bun, with Spiced Creamy Mustard and Daikon Slaw, and an iced tea for the luncheon deal price of $21.  

Afterwards, we navigated the 12 feet separating Ivan from Ample Hills Creamery, my favorite ice cream in the continental United States.  I chose scoops of Ooey Gooey Butter Cake (sort of like carrot cake without the carrots) and "PB Wins the Cup, Vanilla Ice Cream with Peanut Butter Chocolate Flakes and Housemade Peanut Butter Cups."  William had Summer of Love, tie-dyed (!) cupcakes swirled into sweet cream ice cream.  I think that these strategizing lunches will have to increase in frequency as Election Day 2040 approaches.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019
In the past, I've resorted to the clichéd portrait of our domestic terrorists as dentally-challenged, white, Christian gentlemen of a certain age.  However, there seems to have been a generational shift in recent days.  Our latest mass killers are Patrick Crusius, 21 (El Paso, Texas); Connor Betts, 24 (Dayton, Ohio); Santino William Legan, 19 (Gilroy, California).  Recently apprehended before they could kill were James Patrick Reardon, 20 (Youngstown Ohio); Tristan Scott Wix, 25 (Daytona Beach, Florida); Brandon Wagshol, 22 (Norwalk, Connecticut).  Pushing the envelope slightly were the arrests on Tuesday of Eric Lin, 35 of Miami, Florida, after he boasted that the president "will launch a Racial War and Crusade," and Joseph Rubino, 57 of Lafayette Township, New Jersey, found with a stockpile of assault weapons and neo-Nazi paraphernalia.  I think that our white, Christian men need new hobbies.
. . .

Thank you, Donald Trump.  Responding to your asinine comments about American Jews, Bernie Sanders said, "I am a proud Jewish person," something that he has not said out loud since his Bar Mitzvah.

Thursday, August 22, 2019

At dinner last night, our dear friends Arthur and Lyn told us of the facility that their son-in-law, a professional waiter, not an actor between roles, has in taking an order flawlessly without writing anything down.  I found that impressive, but I was completely awed this morning when I read about a tournament in Kyoto Japan, where "[o]ne winner, a 20-year-old college student, broke his own Guinness World Record by adding in his head 15 three-digit numbers that flashed on a large screen at the front of the auditorium — all in 1.64 seconds."  That was less time than it took the president to reverse his position on gun control.

Friday, August 23, 2019

Mets night in New York.  After sweeping the Cleveland Indians, an excellent American League team, we face the unlikable Atlanta Braves,  currently leading our division, tonight.  With that formidable Mets fan Amy C. by my side, I rushed out to the ballpark to savor the excitement and, by the way, get the free T-shirt given out at every Friday home game.

 

After 4 hours and 40 minutes of very competitive baseball, the moral arc of the universe bent to disappointment in the 14th inning.

 

 

¿Cómo te llamas?

Monday, August 12, 2019
Which side are you on?  The New York Times offers literally a graphic illustration of the differences between Republicans and Democrats.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/08/opinion/sunday/party-polarization-quiz.html
. . .
In another field of battle, "[t]he results of this study found that NFL players had a significantly elevated rate of all-cause mortality compared with MLB players, driven by elevated rates of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative mortality."
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2734063?utm_source=undefined&utm_campaign=content-shareicons&utm_content=article_engagement&utm_medium=social&utm_term=080919#.XU2_NUP8cE4.email

It's no surprise that professional football players have a greater risk of brain-related diseases than professional baseball players.  However, the authors waffle about the notable difference in cardiovascular disease.  My in-house epidemiologist reminds me of the healthy worker effect, physical attributes generally distinguish athletes from the rest of us.  Here, less surprisingly, the scientists determined that at any given age, major league baseball players are 24 percent less likely to die than men in the general population. 

. . .

An essay in The Guardian has brilliant insight into the president.  "He is disturbingly consistent in what he has always been: showman, chauvinist, charlatan.  What he is doing is testing how far a man like that is able to push the boundaries of what a president can be.  He has been more successful than many people believed was possible.  His willingness to say anything – and possibly to believe anything – in order to get his way turns out to be a surprisingly effective means of maximising his authority.  Given that a majority of Americans revile him, he has done quite a lot with the limited power he has.  Perhaps he too bucks the fable of The Wizard of Oz.  He simply refuses to acknowledge the existence of the curtain."

. . .

On May 12, 2011, I visited Big Wing Wong Restaurant, 300 Grand Street; when I returned on June 25, 2015, it was called Big Hing Wong Restaurant.  Today, when I met Naz at that location, it was called Delight Wong.  From my notes, I cannot discern any difference among the establishments except creeping inflation in the prices.

It is long and narrow, with 50 seats at 13 tables.  One or two Chinese men sat at almost every table.  A waist-to-ceiling mirror ran along the entire east wall.  Pictures and what were probably Chinese language descriptions of food covered most of the opposite wall.  The very long menu captured most of Chinatown, but Naz picked two items less familiar to me, Hong Kong-style lo mein (actually angel hair) with ginger & scallion ($6.25) and Amoy chow fun (substituted for mei fun) with pickled vegetables ($8).  The lo mein was a revelation.  Usually, you get ginger and scallion with steamed fish, but it worked very well with noodles.  Chow fun, the wide noodle, is far removed from the skinny mei fun and the Amoy version was a good complement.  It contained slivers of meat, slivers of pickled melon, shrimp, green onion and egg.  It differed from the chow fun I worship at Wo Hop, because it was cooked in a lighter, milder tasting oil.  We added shrimp egg foo young over rice as a bow to convention ($7.25).  In all, an excellent lunch.  

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Today's paper tells us: "The luxury brands Coach and Givenchy joined Versace on Monday in apologizing to China for producing T-shirts that were regarded to have undermined the country’s sovereignty."  Consider purchasing the following if you wish to undermine a couple of sovereignties.  

https://cheerfa.com/product/just-say-nyet-to-moscow-mitch/?attribute_pa_style=shirt&attribute_pa_color=red&attribute_pa_size=s&gclid=Cj0KCQjwv8nqBRDGARIsAHfR9wA6BLC1roLTiN0M7kmgsuoI1hcjCDIs7F5eqTQW0NJ63QrggoZng90aAgiCEALw_wcB

Wednesday, August 14, 2019
I had lunch with Irwin Pronin, 1962 CCNY Student Government President, possibly in an attempt to turn back the clock. We went to Up Thai, 1411 Second Avenue, a very physically attractive spot. A narrow space opens up to an exposed brick and wood-planked room, with abundant greenery lit by a colorful lighting fixture. It was also remarkably crowded at lunch time, as if it were at the foot of the high-rise commercial towers in midtown, rather than a residential neighborhood with lots of empty storefronts.

It offers a lunch special, priced by the central ingredient. You have a choice of soup or salad, a vorspeis (appetizer) and then it gets complicated. There are four major categories of preparation, sauteed, curry, noodles and rice. Each, in turn, has four or more different styles, sauces and ingredients. On top, you choose your protein, chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, tofu, duck, squid. Let me count the ways.

I had a cup of tasty vegetable broth and two small wedges of "Fried Chive Pancake," which I enjoyed but could never identify as such. My main course was crispy duck pra ram, with vegetables sauteed in peanut sauce and a mound of white rice ($16). Other combinations began at $11. It might be exhausting pursuing every permutation, but you'll get some good meals along the way.

Thursday, August 15, 2019
Grow Up, Israel.  Or, should I say, Go Back to when your leaders, right and left, were willing to confront and deal with sworn enemies, notably Yasser Arafat.  Instead, now you are unwilling to allow two United States Congress members to enter the country.  Granted that Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, Muslims, accept and espouse conventional Palestinian views, which are inherently anti-Zionist and anti-Israel, and are inclined towards anti-Semitic rhetoric.  But, let them see for themselves the successes and failures of Israel’s policies towards Arabs within and without its borders.  Ignorance is a blight and Israel should not propagate it.
. . .
A new study allegedly identifies the best career opportunities in days to come.
https://www.glassdoor.com/research/studies/best-career-opportunities/

As you can see, sex appeal does not seem to go with financial success, as tax manager, audit manager and dentist are at the top of the list.  Maybe you can have a rich fantasy life.

. . .
Another way to pick your career path might be to go, in the immortal words of the bank robber Willie Sutton, where the money is.  Try and get a job with an extremely generous employer, such as Madrigal Pharmaceuticals in Pennsylvania, median salary $804,000, the highest in the state.  Of course, you'll have to learn to spell Conshohocken, or at least pronounce it.  This article names the highest paying employer in each state, based on straight salary, not commissions, bonuses, or padded expense accounts.  http://money.com/money/5651148/highest-paying-company-by-state/?utm_source=emailshare&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-share-article&utm_content=20190815

Hint, skip Montana and Vermont.  You won't gross a grand a week there.

Friday, August 16, 2019

I am pretty nutsed out by the Satanic alliance between Trump and Netanyahu.  Add to that the brutality in Hong Kong and the forgiving attitude of the normally belligerent Commander Bonespurs.  I needed some low hanging fruit, some simple issue to divert me.  The back page of the main section of today's New York Times provided that relief.  It carried a full page ad, headlined in Spanish, calling for justice for refugees.  Much of the page listed hundreds of supporters of the appeal.  Almost all had Hispanic last names.  The random Kelly was Fernanda and Dawson was Rosario.

What was my problem?  The long list was alphabetical by FIRST NAME.  Admittedly, there were fewer Juans and Marias than I might have guessed, but this was no place to separate families.
. . .
Here is an addition to my file of unpublished letters to the editor, responding to an article in last Sunday's New York Times:
A patron of an exercise facility owned indirectly by a supporter of the president is quoted as saying, "What about the Democrats and the liberals?  More hate spews from them."  You deferentially describe the speaker as "circumspect."  

Wouldn't it be more accurate to describe him as baselessly speculating?  

All persons may be created equal, but not all statements deserve uncritical repetition.

Do the Math

Monday, August 5, 2019
8 ÷ 2 (2 + 2) = 1 says I, but see
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/science/math-equation-pedmas-bemdas-bedmas.html
. . .

I don't know much about British politics, but I know what I don't like.  Boris Johnson is a disruptive buffoon.  After a special election in Wales last week, he is left with a one-seat working majority in the House of Commons.  He remains in office by a thread.  Unlike our disruptive buffoon, his term is fluid.

However, I am not sure that I want to see Johnson gone too soon, in spite of the harm that I suspect will attend his tenure.  From what I can see, at a distance, his successor(s) would be worse.  On the right is Nigel Farage, leader of the so-called Brexit Party, with pronounced anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic views.  On the left is Jeremy Corbyn, whose tolerance for anti-Semitism is well known.  Ironically, Johnson has Jewish ancestors on his father's side, of no consequence to anyone except those Jews who strain to claim Paul Newman, Carrie Fisher and Michael Landon as Members of the Tribe.

My temporary support for Johnson has nothing to do with ethnocentricism, unlike so many other decisions of mine.  I merely want to give the British political system some time to produce a credible, responsible leader, inshallah.
. . .
According to a recent article, the Orthodox Union, the largest Kosher food certification organization, puts its OU seal on 800,000 products in 100 countries.  Decades ago, while still employed as a management consultant, I spent a day at OU's headquarters in Manhattan, interviewing the rabbi in charge of Kosher certification.  He had some good stories, including how his mashgichim (Kosher inspectors) had to travel in disguise in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, to examine cooking oils.

I particularly enjoyed his explanation of why aluminum foil carried the OU label.  Yes, inorganic, inedible, nondigestible aluminum foil.  Reynolds Wrap, a leading manufacturer of aluminum foil, asked for the certification, because some Jewish housewives in the Bronx believed that the shiny side of its aluminum foil was coated with lard, or so it claimed.  (Go to your pantry; our ShopRite Aluminum Foil Wrap has the OU label.)
. . .
Nate Cohn, adept with numbers, makes the case that  that "[t]he Democratic electorate is not clearly or predictably split into clear 'lanes' of progressives and moderates. Many don’t hold consistent views on the left-to-right spectrum."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/05/upshot/2020-democrats-ideology-demographics.html
. . .
I started with numbers and I'll end with numbers: 6-2 and 5-4.  Those were the scores of the Mets victories in today's doubleheader.  I was fortunate to be at the first game in the company of Amy C.  As you are no doubt aware, the Mets are currently the hottest team in baseball, after a spell as the worst, baruch Hashem.
 
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
NYU estimates that the total cost of attendance for undergraduate students during the 2019-2020 school year is $76,614.  For the many students who receive financial aid, the average cost is around $40,000, still a nice piece of change. 
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=New+York+University&s=all&id=193900&id=193900#netprc

What is the most expensive college in the U.S.?  Well, it depends on whom you ask.
Harvey Mudd College - https://www.statista.com/statistics/244041/most-expensive-colleges-in-the-us/
or 

Columbia University - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-most-expensive-colleges-in-america-2018-02-27

or

University of Chicago - https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2019/7/15/most-expensive-college/ 
or 

San Francisco Art Institute (net of financial aid) - https://www.niche.com/blog/most-expensive-colleges/

Wednesday, August 7, 2019
"Motorcycle Is Mistaken for Gunshots in Times Square, Causing Panic"
You probably saw the video of thousands of people surging up Broadway, running from they don't know what.  I can't help but think what I would have done.  Can you dispassionately apply reason when you think that your hear gun shots a few days after massacres in other American cities?

. . . 

A Trump-friendly letter to the editor today caught my interest.  "To blithely accuse someone of racism without actually knowing what’s in the person’s heart is not only politics at its very worst, it’s humanity at its very worst."  I interpreted it as a call for more Republican cardiologists.
. . .

Stony Brook Steve and I had lunch at Tri Dim West, 467 Columbus Avenue, sister of Tri Dim Shanghai, 1378 Third Avenue (March 22, 2017).  It replaced Canteen 82, where the two of us ate on September 20, 2016.  The long, narrow space has been substantially redecorated since then; a light gray wall opposite a charcoal brown wall, dark brown leather cushioned chairs at a dozen plus four-tops, a full service bar with casual seating right inside the door.

As its name suggests, Tri Dim offers a menu of about 2 dozen dim sum plus a regular menu, including lunch specials.  We shared an excellent scallion pancake ($7) and very good "Chicken Soong Served with Lettuce & Hoisin Sauce" ($15), diced chicken and vegetables to be wrapped in iceberg lettuce leaves.  I ordered tangerine beef ($10.95), with a cup of good wonton soup, as a lunch special. 

Although the Upper West Side is heavily populated with hungry Jews, I've observed before that we suffer a shortage of Chinese restaurants, good, bad or otherwise.  I hope that Tri Dim, a good one, prospers.

Thursday, August 8, 2019
Speaking of letters to the editor, kudos to Stony Brook Steve for getting on the editorial page of the New York Times today, as follows.

"Regarding the proposed 'red flag' laws, which, one may hope, will recover guns from unstable people, thereby helping to prevent mass shootings:

While I support taking guns from perceived unstable people and gun regulations in general (no one not in the military needs a semiautomatic weapon), these red flag laws will probably not survive constitutional testing.  Who on earth can tell what is in a person’s mind and his or her future intention?  It’s a slippery slope.

And if these proposed laws do survive, how does one calculate whether they were effective in preventing mass shootings?  It’s a gun advocate’s mild sedative to those who want stronger gun control."

I am not concerned about the constitutionality of competency hearings.  Rather, I fear what will transpire when police officers go to the trailer park to collect weapons from Bubba after he was "red-flagged" in a legal proceeding.

Friday, August 8, 2019
If you can ignore its coziness with Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, Deutsche Bank has gathered some interesting statistics.  For instance, the price of beer and cigarettes puts Melbourne and Oslo at the top of the Bad Habits Index, while venal sin is cheapest in Manila and Lagos.  Kuala Lampur and Istanbul offer the cheapest weekend getaways, roughly 1/3 of what it costs to escape Milan or Copenhagen.  https://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/RPS_EN-PROD/PROD0000000000494405.pdf
. . . 

Today's headline:
"Trump’s Opponents Want to Name His Big   Donors.  His Supporters Say It’s Harassment."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/08/us/politics/trump-donors-joaquin-castro.html

You have to feel for those poor rich people.  They are just trying to contribute to the destruction of American democracy in private.  Is that a problem?
. . .

Dear Gentile friends,

You must occasionally wonder "Why are Jews like that"?  Consider the reaction to the stabbing death of an 18-year old unarmed Israeli soldier, out of uniform, after getting off a bus on the West Bank.  "In Gaza, the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad praised the killing, as did Hamas, which called it a 'heroic and courageous act' and urged Palestinians to harbor the perpetrators."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/08/world/middleeast/israel-yeshiva-student-west-bank.html

. . .

Because of the success of our outing on Monday, Amy C. and I decided to attend Friday night services at Congregation Citi Field.  As Jews familiar with Ecclesiastes, we know that there is a time to every purpose under heaven.  There was a time to weep as the Mets came to bat in the ninth (last) inning trailing 6 to 3.  But, there came a time to laugh as the Mets scored 4 runs and won 7-6.  Turn!  Turn!  Turn!

Left-handed Compliment?

Monday, July 29, 2019
“Previously heralded as a boon to democracy, the internet is now being blamed for its demise.”  Stanford University professor Nathaniel Persily introduces a challenging report with this comment.   https://storage.googleapis.com/kofiannanfoundation.org/2019/02/a6112278-190206_kaf_democracy_internet_persily_single_pages_v3.pdf

It's shorter than the Mueller Report and is intended to be a step in "how best to realize the original egalitarian, freedom-enhancing, and pro-democracy vision of the internet, while cabining the influence of actors that seek to use these new technologies to undermine democracy itself."  That should get you reading.
. . .

The New York Times had a wonderful feature this weekend, subtitled "Every state has an infamous crime — and a book about it."  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/books/50-states-of-true-crime.html

I enjoyed the thumbnail comment on each of the 50 selections, several I know, such as In Cold Blood (Kansas), and others I intend to read soon, such as The Brothers about the Boston Marathon Bombers. 
. . .

The list of 50 books above treats each state equally, demonstrating the omnipresence of depravity and violence.  However, crime rates vary widely, as do other factors that might determine where you want to be parked as your mind and body deteriorate.  Thus, we have the latest look at "The Best (and Worst) Places to Retire"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/realestate/the-best-and-worst-places-to-retire.html

The selections suggest satire; Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and South Dakota are supposedly the best, based on affordability (40%), crime (5%), culture (15%), weather (15%), and the overall health of the population and the availability of health care services (25%). 

I don't want to sound too defensive in questioning the position of New York State as next to last, between Alaska and Maryland.  Affordability, with its large chunk, certainly disfavors New York, but what the hell are you going to spend your money on in Nebraska?

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Jing Fong, 20 Elizabeth Street, has been my frequent destination for dim sum over the years, whether alone when still working at the nearby courthouse or with my cluster of friends formerly useful to society.  Accordingly, several of the latter have already sent me the electronic version of an article about Jing Fong that will appear in print this weekend.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/29/t-magazine/dim-sum-jing-fong-new-york.html

All of my many visits have been on weekdays, avoiding the weekend lines out to Canal Street described in the article.  Only once our crowd showed up in the middle of the weeks-long Chinese New Year celebration and had to wait 30 minutes to get in.  Otherwise, we have readily found 6 or 8 seats among the 800 available to sit down and stuff our faces.

By the way, Wikipedia says that Jing Fong is the largest restaurant in Chinatown, but I understood that it is the largest in the Holy Land, evidence of which eludes me.  A second branch has opened at 380 Amsterdam Avenue, just a short egg roll from Palazzo di Gotthelf, but I find myself unable to patronize it. 
. . .

Stuyvesant graduate Melanie L.S. sent me this inspiring article about an auto mechanic who graduated medical school at 47 years old.
https://www.cleveland.com/tipoff/2019/07/car-mechanic-shifts-gears-becomes-a-doctor-at-age-47-and-helps-address-shortage-of-black-doctors.html

I grant that he had a tougher road than someone who graduated law school at 59 years old, although I welcome him to a relatively selective club.

. . .

Last week, I went to a Chinese restaurant in Queens purely for gustatory reasons.  Today, I went to another with the additional purpose of catching up with Max, formerly the Wonder Boy, when he applied his analytic and predictive skills to Mets games that we attended together.  Memories of Shanghai, 68-60 Austin Street, Forest Hills, requires dedication to find.  It is at the end of an alley beyond a bank of stores and an office building all bearing the number 68-60.  Like White Bear in Flushing, it is tiny.  Your choice of seating is one four-top, one two-top and a counter with four stools.

And the food is excellent.  We had Shanghai Steamed Soup Dumplings ($6.75 for 6), pan fried pork dumplings ($6.75 for 4), scallion pancake ($3.75), shrimp dumplings ($6.95 for 4) and scallion pancake with beef ($6.25).  Everything is made for you, steamed, fried, boiled while you wait.  Make a detour; visit your old aunt; look up a high school friend.  Go to Memories of Shanghai.

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

I learned from a book review today how Kurt Vonnegut regarded semicolons; "All they do is show you've been to college."

. . .

Speaking of Shanghai, my niece Susan is on vacation from her position as a librarian at an English-language school in Shanghai.  For her, an appropriate treat would be the superlative Kosher delicatessen at Pastrami Queen, 1025 Lexington Avenue, unlike anything to be found on the entire Asian continent. 

She stuck to corned beef, while her father and I mixed and matched halves of corned beef and pastrami sandwiches ($20 each).  I over-ordered so that America's Favorite Epidemiologist, who could not join us, would have a treat at dinner.
. . .

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder characterized by excessive sleepiness.  The following statement should help keep you awake.  "Already this year, there have been 3,494 successful cyberattacks against financial institutions, according to reports filed with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network."

Thursday, August 1, 2019

In case your bank account has not been emptied by a stranger, you might enjoy seeing how you fit in the economic scheme of things.   https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/01/upshot/are-you-rich.html

Assuming you give a fairly honest answer about your annual income, you'll learn whether you are a have or a have-not and where you might relocate to change from one to the other.  For instance, if you are 40 years old, live in Albany, New York and your household income is $104,000, you stand in the 60th percentile of your age group, while you would be in the 80th percentile in Albany, Georgia.  If you hung around until you were 65 years old, you would be in the 80th percentile of your age group in Albany, New York and 85th percentile of your age group in Albany, Georgia.  

 

To get to the top 5% in the Social Security set in Albany, New York, you would need a household income over $186,000, but only over $154,000 in Albany, Georgia. 
. . .

Two weeks ago, I noted that the New York Times commended Bamboo Garden, 6409 8th Avenue, Brooklyn, as "no finer place to eat dim sum in New York."  Today, the Boyz Club tested that proposition.  Six of us descended on this extremely busy, extremely gaudy, extremely noisy joint for lunch. 

Was it the best?  Maybe.  It was a good deal, coming to $17 a person for the 19 dishes that we shared.  It had some concoctions that I had not seen before at Jing Fong, Royal Seafood or Golden Unicorn and the "regular" things were consistently good.  However, Tom Terrific, Naz and I agreed that Tim Ho Wan's baked BBQ pork buns reign supreme. 

The restaurant is in Sunset Park, a Brooklyn neighborhood that could not be further from where I grew up in Brooklyn.  It now contains one of New York's 5 Chinatowns, which is just about the right number to keep us well fed.  Another reason that the Holy Land is Holy.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_in_New_York_City

Actually, this article comes up with a larger number of Chinatowns by recognizing villages within towns, akin to the governmental hierarchy in Massachusetts; "In Massachusetts, villages usually do not have any official legal status; all villages are part of an incorporated municipality (town or city . . .) which is the smallest official form of government," says Wikipedia.  

. . .

I am fairly deft with chopsticks; I've had lots of practice.  However, one of the women serving us from a cart at Bamboo Garden kept pawing at me as I tried to make all gone from my plate.  She objected to my use of my left hand holding chopsticks.  It seems that Chinese generally frown on this practice as bad form, while eating with your left hand in Islam is makruh (abominable), not just haram (unlawful or forbidden).

If this stricture applied to me, I am certain that I would poke my eye out trying to maneuver chopsticks with my right hand and that would really be an abomination.