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Fuuuck. I'm so sorry. I shared this a while back on another forum, and while the vitriol wasn't (initially) directed at me, it was still very troubling. I worry that this is going to get worse before it gets better. "H & I were on the bus yesterday, and a woman behind us was having a loud phone conversation with a colleague. During the course of it, she spoke of being the only non-Jewish person in a work group. Then she added that Jews were known to be liars and robbers. I turned around and told her that was offensive and antisemitic, and then she and my husband and I had a 10:00 fight about this, until she got off the bus. You can probably guess most of it: her conversation was none of my business, she can say whatever she wants because America, she’s sure I say similar things about other ethnic groups. Obviously this was profoundly upsetting to me, not just because people think like this - of course they do. But because they feel comfortable announcing it at full volume on a crowded M22."

We scored Cool Beans, Rose Levy Berenbaum's The Bread Bible, and Dorie Greenspan's Baking at a local library's book sale--$105 worth of books for less than $10.

It could be effective, but doctors now are really under increasing pressure to not supply the drugs which actually work. I mean, 800 mg. of ibuprofen is not my idea of good pain meds.

Potato salad with horseradish and dill, and a tuna melt.

It is a very difficult situation. I had a friend who moved to Austin, and over the course of several years spiraled into mental illness and cut himself off from everyone: his partner, his lifelong best friends, the members of his family that hadn't already abandoned him after he came out (🙄). A mutual friend who works in supportive housing managed to find a placement for him - which he walked out of, and then disappeared. Calls to local hospitals and the coroner turned up nothing, and after a couple of years, we assumed he must have died. And then about 6 months ago, he "liked" one of my Instagram posts, and at first I thought he'd been hacked, but nope, that was him. He gets in touch with me and others very sporadically, and he's extremely cagey about his situation, but at least he's alive.

Is this a situation where you could steer them toward services that aid unhoused people?

I'll take "Things That Enrage Grammar Nerds for $600," Ken.

I'm haunted by a horseshoeing that seems to be happening in which the extremes on both sides are meeting at a place where they agree that this version of bigotry is acceptable and justified by certain events. Unacceptable and terrifying.

If I were to go to a dark place, it feels like trying to normalize this behavior, and to inure us to being vilified. I am reminded of the scene in The Handmaid's Tale - a sequence about the run-up to the establishment of Gilead - when June is called a slut by a barista, randomly, seemingly out of nowhere. It's one incident, until it's not. Everyone please take a moment now to hope I'm wrong!

A whole article about car repossessors and not a single mention of "Repo Man"?

Kid left for camp on Tuesday. We're empty nesters for 4 weeks. The noise level in the apartment has dropped significantly and I have my sundays free!

I recently bought some black tea at Harney & Sons called Fruits d'Alsace which tastes strongly of stone fruit: apricots, cherries, plums and one of the my thoughts was that I should try infusing some Hendricks Grand Cabaret gin with it - which I did. I used the infused to make a variation on the Earl Gray MarTEAni and it worked really well. The flavors complimented each other and the tannin added just the right amount of astrigency.

One morning overlooking the lobby at the PMA: Then, later that afternoon:

For the second spring in a row the boy's baseball team has clinched the West Side Little League Majors Championship. Team was down 1-0 with two outs when he bunted his way onto first and eventually scored the first run to start a come from behind rally. Boys ended up winning 4-2. It was an exciting game and I'm so proud of these kids.

I wish I had known. I could have helped you declutter.

@small h Thanks to my civil servant life, that was my first proffer. He currently has access to a shelter and is pursuing work opportunities (I believe). In the time I have known him, he has always been on shaky ground but I am afraid.

I had a little time on my hands today yesterday. (The days are running together.)

My daughter is a crazed England fan, running to Brit-themed bars for the games in her England jersey. I was surprised at first (she supports the US womens team) but she has dual citizenship and has backed the better horse.

The Mexico-England game was a match for the ages.

Thank you both. I don't understand what would possess a guy walking his dog and pushing a baby to engage in Jew-baiting on a nice Sunday morning.

With you guys.

Can't say too much without veering to political territory, but on my morning walk today I had the pleasure of antisemitic remarks being thrown at me.

Blessed to feel the cool breezes blowing through right now. If only the explosions would stop.

Braised chicken Basque-style--lots of pepper and onion and a hit of Pimente d'Espelette powder. Couscous on the side to soak up the sauce.

My parents in NJ lost power, internet, and landline phone service for several hours. Thank goodness they have a generator.

Oof. A rough assignment. We dared to leave our a/c'd apartment for this, and it was worth it.

Great yield at the U-Pick farms in Brentwood: 7 lbs. of Westley apricots at one farm and a mixture of pluots, white peaches, nectarines, and nectaplums at another. N has big plans for jam and schnapps making.

The USQ greenmarket vendors dropped a lot of their prices today (I got kirby cukes for the relatively gentle cost of $2/lb), both as thanks to all who came out on a scorching holiday morning, and in an effort to get rid of their inventory so they could leave early. My fish guy threw me a free squid, and then tried to charge me $100 for a bag of ice. 🤣

Appears to be streaming on Amazon. Thanks.

Sorry I wasn't able to act on recommednations. Mount Pleasant BBQ looked great, but would have been a pricy Uber ride there and back. I gambled on Cordelia, new American on the East 4th Street restaurant and bar strip, and it was excellent. Big and busy but inventive food (thank god, not chicken or salmon). Pictures up on IG, available here on request. And a big BTW: the Cleveland Museum of Art is VAST. I did not expect that. Went for the sublime Manet/Morisot show; ended up spending most of the day there. Great permanent collection and also a fascinating show of c.1700 illustrations for the Ramayana. Great building, nice cafe, well worth traveling for.

Well the victims could sue the dog owners and possibly the building owners. Suit might cause the building management to make the owners take the dog away.

I decided to risk it. The menu referenced the risks of undercooked meat. Happily, my server said the kitchen would be delighted to cook the duck breast medium or any way I liked. Medium, it was, and I was correct to bet that the spicing would be lowkey, as young people say. With the little confit spring rolls, a good dish.

One of my bucket-list wishes got fulfilled on our recent trip to London. Finally got to see a show at Royal Albert Hall! Chris Difford of Squeeze. And Elvis and the Imposters, with Charlie Sexton as the headliners. A pretty fucking great night.

South Africa makes it to the knockout round for the first time!

The Linda Lindas.

Slicing mishap with the mandoline. I'll be OK. :-)

I thought foam was dead? There's a very nice halibut in there somewhere, also a few pieces of lobster.

Mackie the Mockingbird was singing his heart out last night at 9:10 pm on the wire right outside my bedroom window. He serenades me and amuses me all day, but this is his first time so near the house and so late.

We lunched through Pai Men earlier the next day (it was a rainy morning, and we stayed in and lunched in). Excellent miso soup, terrific karaage, an even better hamayaki (broiled crab and scallop on rice), and a decent ceviche roll (could have done without the slightly acrid truffle oil). Then a boatride past assorted lighthouses and islands, made dramatic by rolling waves. After that, thre docks down, Scales: In addition to these, we had their version of lobster roll (an interesting hybrid of Connecticut – warm butter dowse – and Maine – a mayo base); clam chowder (a cleaner, less fussy version than at Eventide); a very good, cleanly-fried veg tempura; cod croquettes (nice garlic, and green onion touches); and a whole fried fluke. Dessert was a superb rhubarb crumble and their blueberry frozen custard.

One last late breakfast at Cozy Soup 'n' Burger, my one-time go-to spot after getting my kewl punk haircuts at Astor Hair (there's that one mirrored wall you can admire yourself in while you eat your tuna melt). We got the last 4-person booth, just before a big crowd of people wearing Knicks gear streamed in. The one server on duty beseeched everyone to be patient, and of course we all were, since we had nowhere else to be.

Oh wow--I remember when it opened, just a few blocks from me. A bit of a splurge for me at the time, but it was very good.

The weather has been warm the last couple of days, so I asked N if we could have a grain salad for summer. She mixed together barley, pickled onions, cherry tomatoes, red pepper, cucumber, tinned smoked herring, jammy hard-boiled eggs, and a dressing that I don't know the ingredients of. Served over a combination of arugula and butter lettuce. Ice cream for dessert.

After making you sad. And then angry. And then astounded.

A long-time friend of my sister's, a guest at many of our Thanksgiving celebrations, suffered from insurmountable orthopedic pain for many years, which had sapped her strength and her ability to engage with others. This week, she took her own life. I am furious that the medical establishment couldn't do more for her, devastated for her partner, and also relieved that she is finally at peace. Taking some time to be grateful for what I have.

I was contacted in the middle of the night by a cook that used to work with me. He sent many texts asking me for help with money. The amount was small and I thought it could be a scam. So, I waited until the morning and asked him to call me. Sure enough, it was him. This person was an essential part of the opening team of my first kitchen as an executive chef and integral to our successes. Unfortunately, some of his habits caught up with him and after catching him doing things on shift that were not healthy, we parted ways but on amicable terms. We have had intermittent contact since then. He had mixed success with recovery, and I helped him with some job try-outs and leads, but ultimately, he left the city and has been living elsewhere. Well, I was not expecting to find out that he is back in town, but alone and abandoned by his family, homeless and experiencing grave health issues with a grim prognosis. I am so indebted to this person and feel such confusion over whether I have done all the right things... and not capable of helping them in the ways I wish I could. I am a bit stunned.

Losing it.

I found out through a mutual friend that a guy I was friends with in college, who I'd lost touch with but reconnected via FB, was charged in October with an absolutely heinous crime. It sounds like they've got good evidence against him. I never thought he would have been capable of something as awful as this.

Email today from a museum inviting me to renew my membership early at a favorable rate. Thanks. I was never a member and probably visited once in the last 20 years. To be fair, I then got a follow-up email apologizing for the screw up. Awaiting the next email asking if I would nevertheless like to become a member. Then the email asking me to take a survey about my experience.

We had severe storms and tornado warnings going on, so about 2/3 of the game was pre-empted by non-stop weather reporting.

At 100. That's a wrap.