The More The Stars The Worse The Story ™

Anywhere there’s a large Puerto Rican or Dominican community, you’ll find a cuchifrito shop.

Sometimes skirting a fine line with the Health Department, the Bronx has dozens of these take-out places. 

And BarelyLegalRestaurants.com rates them.

The name comes from "cochino" and "frito," 

the words for "pig" and "fried".

And fry pig they do. Fried tongue and pork ear and pork tripe, (the lining of a pig stomach) share the window with fried chicken…

...and the classic papas rellenas 

(pork-filled potato balls).

Mofongo is a staple, too, a Caribbean classic made with fried and mashed green plantains mixed with garlic, olive oil and fried pork cracklings (skin).

This place, La Isla, near the Elder Avenue stop on the six, has a constant line of hungry customers. The flow never relented the day I was there and the counter ladies worked their butts off.

La Isla earns a rating of only one star, 

very good for a shop like this.

I’m going back! Who's with me?

from a speeding train

The Tappan Zee Bridge was named for the local native American tribe the "Tappan", and zee , the Dutch word for "sea."

It’s just over 3 miles long, with a center span of 1,212 feet.

The bridge was built at the Hudson River's second-widest point which added to construction costs. Duh. The site was chosen to be as close as possible to New York City while staying out of the 25-mile range of the Port Authority's sphere of influence. Politics uber alles.

Construction began in March 1952 and the bridge opened for traffic on December 15, 1955.

It has seven lanes of traffic, the center lane switching from eastbound in the morning to westbound in the evening.

It costs $5 coming in eastbound, but it’s always free to leave. lol Don’t let the toll gate hit you on the way out.

This deteriorating structure bears far more traffic than it was designed for and was featured on the History Channel “The Crumbling of America." Gee, that’s encouraging.

I love the look of this bridge. Because it’s a favored suicide leap it features four hot-line telephones with signs pleading "Life is Worth Living".

A $16 billion dollar replacement plan to include commuter light rail and high speed bus lanes is under environmental impact review, but at present there is no available financing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/27/nyregion/27bridge.html

20/20 cable vision

You think your job is complicated?

Ha.

Can you understand all this?

I sure can’t.

Wire we even trying?

Spring forward, looking forward

Fall back, looking back.

January 27-30, 1969

Spiral ClockTower by Sam Rohn

Nah, not weird at all.

From New York Magazine:

http://www.nadiaplesner.com/Website/darfurnica.php

a whole day standing and stirring (not)

I went to the “too much is not enough” School of Italian cooking but I still cut a corner now and then.

Homemade lasagna is a vegetarian crowd pleaser, but making the tomato sauce from scratch can be a whole day standing and stirring in and of itself. 

That was too much at the moment, so I opened a jar of De Cecco. Sue me.

I like De Cecco sauces because they are acidy, like a good Summer tomato. Besides, were I actually Italian I’d be calling it “gravy” anyway, not sauce.

Cook the noodles with a bit of olive oil (so they don’t stick together) in a lot of salted, boiling water until they’re limp, but not yet soft. They’ll soften in the oven. Sauce your best baking dish, layer the noodle, add a bit more sauce and then spoon in a layer of fresh ricotta.

Add layers of fresh basil...

...grate lots of reggiano parmigiana...

...layer in thin-sliced fresh mozzerella and a bit of ground pepper, too. You can’t really make a mistake here.

Just layer in the stuff you love. A noodle layer. More sauce. We used pesto sauce, too. More ricotta. 

Build it up until the baking dish is almost full, then finish with a final layer of all three cheeses. Oh yeah.

Add another grate of fresh pepper, maybe a bit of dried oregano. Place the whole thing on a cookie sheet because it can bubble over. That’s it. 

Pull a cork on a good red and sit back for 45 minutes at 350 degrees, then throw together a couple nice salads and at about the one hour mark, I think you’re good to go. Yum.

Invite me over. :-)

Yeah, right.

I know, I just posted the AppleStore on Wednesday.

But I was midtown yesterday so I decided to walk over and check out the launch of the new iPAD2.

You know the one? The thinner, lighter, faster, video-wifi-Facetime, same price iPAD2? I wanted to see it.

Yeah, right. I couldn’t even get close.

The Apple faithful had camped out overnight as usual.

I gave this young fella a ClockTowerTenants card so he could come see himself online.

Hi little buddy! Thanks for letting me take your picture.

After the plaza filled, they snaked the line across 58th street.

Then it turned north on Madison.

See the Bally Shop on the distant corner of 59th and Mad?

It went all the way up Madison to the Crate and Barrel and then turned west and headed back across 59th towards the Apple Store again, continuing around the block.

Oh well. Maybe another time.