Uptown Mom

Costco in Harlem!

2009-11-22T22:40:00.002-05:00

Here it is, finally, now that Uptown Mom's kids are (fingers crossed) nearly out of diapers. Still very happy to have it. Apparently (relying on reports from the husband -- I was not available to make the trip), parking is about $4.75-ish after tax -- still acceptable when one considers the cost of gas to get to any location coupled with the fact that my time is not valueless (and the opportunities for traffic are way fewer when one doesn't have to leave Harlem, let alone Manhattan!).

Disappointed to report, however, that the bakery at the Manhattan Costco is (rather surprisingly) not kosher. Of course they still sell plenty of kosher bread products made elsewhere, but Uptown Mom is bummed not to be able to stock her freezer with 12-packs of croissants unless she happens to find herself in the New Rochelle, Brooklyn or Hackensack stores.

Voting in small town Harlem

2009-11-03T21:32:00.003-05:00

I like the fact that when I go to vote in Harlem, one of the pollworkers asks after my family. Apparently she knows us by sight and by name, even though we don't actually know one another personally, because she used to do the USPS route that delivered packages to our address. In any event, my husband and I took turns voting tonight, and she noticed that neither of us had brought the kids.

(Yes, I know it can be a civics lesson for them, and sometimes we do bring them, but this is the THIRD time we've voted this fall -- tonight we had other things we had to get done with the kids before they went to sleep.)

Kosher cupcakes in Harlem, revisited

2009-11-01T18:13:00.003-05:00

I am late with my report back about the cupcakes because the party for which I had ordered them had to be postponed a week due to illness.

So now I can tell you: Tonnie's cupcakes are absolutely lovely. They were giving out samples when I arrived so I got to try a chocolate one, although I didn't succeed in getting a chocolate from the party assortment (a guest got there first). Based on what I saw with the samples and with my baker's dozen, it appears that they don't put the frosting on until the moment of sale. They were absolutely delicious. Uptown Mom is a happy camper.

I also inquired about the kashrut while I was there. The man behind the counter, who seemed to be either the owner or manager, seemed quite knowledgeable about the status. Although the letter evidencing the hashgacha is not yet there, it seems that he is aware of the steps he needs to take to get it, and just hasn't gotten around to it because they've only been open a few weeks. Since the other location is already supervised and he readily recited to me (correctly) the website where I can find information about the supervision of that location (Kosher-NY), I think he knows his stuff and we'll see the letter soon. Will report back when I actually see it (let me know if you see it first!).

Spooky minyan in Harlem tonight....

2009-10-30T06:52:00.004-05:00

OK, I don't think it's eally going to be all THAT spooky, but Harlem's oldest independent floating egalitarian minyan is holding Shabbat services tonight, Erev Halloween, at a new location. If you're interested in hearing more, visit www.harlemjews.com.

Halloween in Harlem

2009-10-30T06:44:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow from 1:30 to 3, at 121st and Morningside Avenue in Morningside Park, there will be a HALLOWEEN FESTIVAL, featuring a costume parade, balloons and treats. It would be great to see a nice turnout. (Please note that if it rains the event will be cancelled.)

If I hear of other kid-oriented Halloween events in Harlem, I'll be happy to post about them as well (so feel free to let me know).

Uptown Mom is not exactly a baseball fan, but...

2009-10-26T06:33:00.001-05:00

... living where I do means living 5 stops on the B-Train from Yankee Stadium, so GO YANKEES!!!

KOSHER CUPCAKES IN HARLEM?!?

2009-10-23T14:58:00.003-05:00

As you may have heard, we have a new cupcake shop in the 'hood. Uptown Mom was not looking for a new cupcake shop; she is pretty happy with Make My Cake, which is very close to her home. However, the new shop, Tonnie's Minis, has just told me on the phone that they are KOSHER. I cannot personally vouch for either the hashgacha of the store itself, or the quality of the food -- I haven't been by the store yet in person -- but their Greenwich Village location is under kosher supervision, and assuming the uptown cupcakes are made in the same location, that will suffice for Uptown Mom's purposes. Even better, people really seem to like these cupcakes. And the price point is fantastic -- $20 for a dozen, and they do a baker's dozen on request. (By contrast, I paid $20 the other day to celebrate a family birthday with 5 cupcakes from Make My Cake.) In the holy name of research, Uptown Mom has ordered a dozen of them to supplement the homemade cake and other goodies we're making for a birthday party this weekend. I assume that the cupcakes will turn out to be smaller than those at Make My Cake, but those are enormous, and I'm not fearful that they'll be itsy-bitsy, since it sounds like they make an extra-small size (and I don't believe that's what I've ordered).

Will get back to you on both the deliciousness and the kashrut post-party! And if you already can comment on this new shop, please do chime in.

Life goes on.

2009-10-23T09:36:00.001-05:00

I see with chagrin that I have once again allowed this blog to lie fallow for far too long. For that I apologize, dear readers. All I can say is that something must have happened while I was busy making other plans.

I’d like to extend a warm welcome to the many new parents and kids of Harlem – some new arrivals, some not, and some newborn! – with whom I’ve become acquainted in the months since I last updated this blog. I look forward to seeing more of you in the streets, parks, playgrounds and shops of Harlem in the months and years to come.

As always, if you know of events or resources for kids and/or parents in Harlem that you would like to see featured on this blog – or you just want to say hi! – please send me a message and I will do my best to oblige. I look forward to hearing from you.

Harlem Tae Kwon Do rocks.

2009-02-28T21:40:00.002-05:00

So now I must kvell. My oldest son, after two years of "Peewee" classes, is now old enough for the big kids' classes at Harlem Tae Kwon Do, and he just qualified for his "green stripe", which required learning various kicks.

Harlem Tae Kwon Do rocks. The folks who run it are amazing at what they do and very very warm people. Their kids' classes are extremely reasonably priced relative to just about anything else our son could be doing with his afternoons ($60 for 1 class/week, $80 for 2 classes/week or $120 for unlimited classes), and just a wonderful combination of exercise, focus, discipline, and of course punching, kicking and yelling. (I've also taken the adult classes myself and I love them but find it tough to make them work with my difficult schedule. Working out at home is pretty much the only thing that really works with my schedule.)

R.I.P., Tribal Spears

2009-02-28T21:30:00.003-05:00

Tribal Spears, a beloved gallery/cafe near my home, is closing this weekend. We will miss Tribal Spears and its energetic proprietors, who have poured themselves into this community, terribly.

Sorry to have abandoned this blog for the better part of a year

2008-12-30T07:31:00.002-05:00

It's been an eventful year for everyone, including Uptown Mom and family. Events about which I failed to blog in the past year include the opening of an absolutely wonderful new playground in Morningside Park between 116th and 117th Streets, which happily replaced most of The Playground with the Dangerous Equipment, the sad untimely closing of Antoinette's and the incredible privilege of being in Harlem on the night of November 4, 2008.

So one of my resolutions for the new year is more consistent blogging.

Happy new year everyone!

Feel better, Representative Rangel.

2008-03-07T09:21:00.002-05:00

Rep. Charles Rangel is in the hospital with the flu.

Speaking of one of the unlucky folks for whom this year's flu shot didn't work, I feel for you, Rep. Rangel.

Feel better soon.

More on Vote Tampering (Found the 94th)

2008-02-17T11:34:00.003-05:00

Turns out that the 94th Election District is very far west at about 134th Street. See this map (you will need to enlarge it to make sense of it).

If you brought your kids to the voting booth with you in that district, the little civics lesson may not be over yet, unfortunately.

If you want to find out your election district by address, try this link.

A little transparency might go a long way.

Where exactly is the 94th Election District?

2008-02-16T18:36:00.002-05:00

UptownMom is very disturbed this evening by the stink of vote tampering in Harlem. If you, dear reader, can point me toward a map showing where Harlem's 94th Election District is, I will be impressed and appreciative.

Many thanks.

An overdue update

2008-02-14T20:49:00.003-05:00

Haven't been very prolific lately because life and work have just been really, really busy. But I did want to take the time to post an important update.

I started this blog in early 2007 in part because as an uptown parent, I was deeply concerned about the crime stats, particularly trend numbers, in my neighborhood, compared to the rest of the city. 2006 was a HORRIBLE year for the 28th precinct in terms of violent crime -- in a year when most of the city saw improvements, we had a sizable increase in murders and various other categories of violent crime. Frankly, I was fearful that certain loved ones of mine, who are constantly claiming that my decision to raise my kids in Harlem rather than the 'burbs is fundamentally selfish, could be right.

Well, I am feeling much better about things now. 2007 was not only much better than 2006, but actually better than the PRIOR year -- i.e., 2006 wound up being an outlier in terms of trend data. I'm not feeling motivated enough to scan in the current stats, but year-end references to how much better 2007 was for us can be found here and here. Current crime stats for the 28th precinct can be found here, and as of today (February 14, 2008), they show very promising trends for the year so far compared to even 2007.

It's not perfect here, of course. I know of local stores being held up. I know of a mugging that took place almost right in front of my house in the middle of last year. But this is the real world -- things happen everywhere. Sad but true. In the late 90s, a friend of mine was mugged -- pretty seriously roughed up by multiple assailants -- just down a main road from my house in Cambridge, MA, somewhere I wouldn't have hesitated to walk alone at night before OR after the incident. When I lived in Park Slope earlier this decade, a neighborhood not notorious for its crime rates in recent years (we lived on the margins of the neighborhood, but not an especially infamous margin), I remember there being hold-ups in stores, and I also recall that our CAR was SHOT while parked on the street. (Of all things, it happened while we were at the hospital having our first child. So we returned to find that the car had been shot and wondered, of course, what is this terrible place where we are going to be raising a kid?) So I try to take a deep breath and focus on trend data rather than the specific incidents I happen to know about. The numbers are quite encouraging -- enough that I'm back to feeling basically great about giving my kids a chance to live in Manhattan.

Review: Antoinette's LOVES YOUR KIDS.

2007-12-29T20:17:00.001-05:00

Tonight we went to Antoinette's for the second time, and it was wonderful. The food (which by the way includes antibiotic/hormone-free beef and free-range chicken) was quite delicious. On the ever-important kid front, the staff was very nice to us, even as the babies kept deliberately dumping food on the ground. They were able to give us 2 highchairs, AND they had paper over the tablecloth and CRAYONS. I'm certain that that was the first time we've been to a Harlem restaurant that was so welcoming to kids. Toward the end of our meal, the musicians (apparently they start playing at 8) started to arrive and they were cooing over our kids too -- in fact, the singer sang "Puff the Magic Dragon" as a special favor for our big boy and told me that if 8 is too late for us, they'd start a little earlier if we told them they're coming (!). Apparently they will be at Antoinette's through January.

We had been there once previously, but it was right when they opened and they didn't yet have their highchairs. They were super-nice and very apologetic about that, though, so rather than give them fewer than 4 Yum's, I waited til we came back and experienced the highchairs before writing this review. I'm glad I did: in addition to getting the kid issues down, I think they also did a better job this time at getting all the food prepared at the same time, etc. It was a real pleasure.

PS We weren't in the mood for wine tonight, but I believe they still have a BYOB policy pending receipt of their liquor license. Which gives you a chance to patronize The Winery or Harlem Vintage. Based on our experience last time they very graciously cork and provide glasses.

4 Yum's: Yum! Yum! Yum! Yum!

Stephanie's

2007-12-19T23:41:00.001-05:00

has a sign on it saying it has been seized for non-payment of taxes.

No comment....

Montreal Pet Care

2007-11-26T22:20:00.000-05:00

New awning sighted cross the street from Antoinette's. Anyone know what this is?

Tell me it's not a direct competitor for Posh Paws, just a couple of blocks down from there....

Also, there's a sign on SoHa 118 indicating that a Chase branch will be opening soon.

An unsolicited suggestion to retailers: We really appreciate your efforts. But there's a MaMu on 116th and Fred, and clusters of banks at 116th/Lenox and 125th/Fred. Our pets already have nice things to wear and a vet. The human residents are looking for a green grocer, a bagel shop, an excellent pizzeria, Thai food, Japanese food, sit-down Chinese food, Indian food, a wonderful educational toy shop (Grandma's is great but not close enough to my house), stores that sell baby supplies (strollers, child-safety-hardware, furniture, etc.), indoor play areas without flashing lights and tons of artificial noise, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Okay: Rant over.

Harlem Thanksgiving - digest (heh)

2007-11-25T22:04:00.000-05:00

Due to a miscommunication, there were no blackeyed peas. However, there was cornbread, a Harlem-inspired addition which I failed to mention in my earlier post. While no one was blown away by the cornbread, it was pretty tasty and moist, which apparently is an achievement for parve cornbread, since cornbread is usually heavily dairy. (The recipe, which I found on a kosher blog, is a vegan recipe, purportedly from Angelica Kitchen, a restaurant I'm not crazy about but everyone vegan seems to love.) The collard greens, to which Uptown Dad added liquid smoke to make up for the lack of ham hocks, got lots of praise. And the sweet potato pie was certainly the sleeper hit of the night (people seemed more excited about that than about my husband's famous chocolate pecan pie, although we chocoholics continued to prefer the latter).

And the turkey -- oh my goodness, suffice it to say there were NO leftovers, none, zip, from a 17-pound bird. Yikes!

Harlem Thanksgiving 2

2007-11-25T11:24:00.001-05:00

I never posted what we decided to do about Thanksgiving because it remained, and to an extent remains, up in the air. Suffice it to say, the "Thanksgiving" feast I was planning will take place this afternoon (yes, the Sunday after Thanksgiving). In honor of our beloved Harlem, it will include collard greens, black-eyed peas, and sweet potato pie, as well as wine from The Winery. In honor of our commitment to ethical kashrut, it will include kosher organic free-range turkey from Wise Organic Pastures. (Kudos to Simon Weil for starting Kosher Conscience! -- but we were not aware of its existence when we made our purchase.) Uptown Dad is doing ALL the cooking, and as the babies are asleep, now is my chance to go tidy up. I'll post later with how it turned out!

Restaurant Review: Los Dos Molinos

2007-11-24T21:40:00.000-05:00

A long, long time ago, when Uptown Mom was neither uptown nor yet a mom, she lived in New Mexico for several years.

The Land of Enchantment is, well, enchanting. It gets under your skin. Especially the food, which is a central part of life in New Mexico. New Mexico's "State Question," "Red or green?", refers to the type of chile you will be having on your food. (And yes, I do mean "chile". New Mexicans have made that very clear by directing their senator to enter the correct spelling into the Congressional Record.) (I just remembered that there is a third correct answer to the question "red or green" -- "Christmas" -- but I am never quite that indecisive about my New Mexican food.)

So we arrived in NYC (my hometown) in 2000 looking for New Mexican food. We tried so, so hard, for years and years, and couldn't find it. The closest we came was the enchiladas chile colorado at Alma and the green chili (sic) Sunday brunch at Superfine, both of which were actually pretty good but sadly incomplete as they did not come in the context of the whole cuisine. We don't eat pork, of course, but vegetarians do fine in New Mexican restaurants, and what we really wanted was somewhere where we could order our usual: cheese enchilada with red and chile relleno with green, and have sopapillas with honey and unsweetened iced tea. It didn't seem like such a tall order in a city with such an enormous diversity of cuisines, but we just couldn't find it. So my husband learned to make his own green chile, on the rare occasions that we could get Hatch green chile peppers from New Mexico (usually from friends who still had family there). Red is easier -- the dried red peppers can be found in NYC if you look hard enough -- but the green chiles, which must be transported cold, can only be obtained from friends who are flying back from New Mexico or by ordering them by fed ex overnight with dry ice at great expense. So sad we were! But we became resigned, and I think that for the past few years we haven't even tried to find it. We were defeated.

Then, we heard from some fellow UNM alums (my husband got a graduate degree while we were there) about Los Dos Molinos. And I am now so full and happy that I really don't care that this review has nothing to do with Harlem or kids. We had our enchilada "with red". We had our chile relleno "with green". We even had the sopapilla, which the New Mexicans had cautioned us were more akin to (Navajo) frybread, but which we found close enough to the real thing once we got them to serve the honey on the side. And we had iced tea, and a margarita. Oh, it was a revelation. The real thing.

Funny thing, everyone (including the New Mexicans we met) seems to go on about how extremely spicy the food is, and how the east coast natives can't take it. Our verdict was: it's exactly as we remember the food in New Mexico. Spicy but not out of control. As a New York native who was raised from infancy on Szechuan food (and learned to adore Indian and Thai as a teenager, although my parents never introduced me to it), I never found the spice level in New Mexico particularly difficult to handle -- this was pretty much the same. So yeah, it's spicy, but not out of control -- just good, honest, enchanting New Mexican food.

Too bad they have chile spelled wrong on their menu (at least the online version, we hardly looked at it in the restaurant because we knew what we wanted!).

Uptown Mom is going to lie down now and enjoy her food coma. Have a good night.

P.S. The babies enjoyed the sopapilla, tortilla chips, side of flour tortilla with side of sour cream, beans and rice, and milk in a glass. There was only one highchair. The big brother had other plans for the evening, but he'll have to learn to like it soon.

P.P.S. Warning: Closed Sundays.

P.P.P.S. If you can get your hands on some real New Mexican Hatch green chiles, they are an AMAZING addition to latkes.

Harlem Thanksgiving

2007-11-11T18:26:00.000-05:00

For the first time since moving to Harlem, it's my turn to host Thanksgiving dinner for my extended family. I'm considering (maybe) a Harlem-cuisine theme: items that leap to mind are sweet potato pie, collard greens, and cornbread.

But because of our various eating restrictions (a complicated amalgam of kashrut and concern for animal welfare, but the bottom line is we eat vegetarian in restaurants), we don't eat at many of the Harlem institutions that exemplify classic Harlem eating. So my grasp of what is traditional is poor. Anyone have suggestions for great food that a Harlem Thanksgiving shouldn't be without? (ixNay on the amHay. But to the extent that great recipes for veggies call for, say, ham hocks, I can do a certain amount of adapting myself.)

(I'm not certain we're going to go the classic Harlem cooking route; I'm also considering an entirely different cuisine -- New Mexican, which we dearly miss from the years we spent living in New Mexican. We also have zero recipes for that but can probably track them down. Still deciding.)

Techiyah finally has a website!

2007-11-11T18:23:00.000-05:00

Check out our awesome new website!

Our next two events are a Friday night minyan/potluck and Saturday night party during Chanukah. See the website for details.

Shabbat services and pot-luck next week

2007-11-02T09:13:00.000-05:00

Next Friday, November 9, Techiyah of Harlem will be having traditional egalitarian Jewish services and a dairy pot-luck dinner in an apartment on 117th Street in Harlem. For several years now, we've been meeting approximately monthly. Not specifically a children's event, but a few kids are regulars -- motzi is usually said by a child -- and the more kids, the merrier. No website yet, but if you'd like to be added to the evite list, please let me know!

Some Harlem happenings this weekend

2007-11-02T06:54:00.000-05:00

Harlem/Habana Festival (Friday/Saturday)
Fall Festival in St. Nicholas Park (Saturday)
"Coffee Park" at St. Nicholas Dog Park (Saturday)
Uptown Veterinary Associates Grand Opening (Sunday)
Don't forget to watch out for the NYC Marathon when making your Sunday travel plans! (And best of luck if you are actually running in it -- maybe we'll come watch you, but in the past my son has not yet been really interested!)

Halloween in Harlem

2007-10-25T13:41:00.000-05:00

First, check out this wonderful series of "Halloween in Harlem" photos by photographer Amy Stein. (I am having some difficulty with the link to the first photo in the series, by the way, so if that doesn't work for you, try this.)

Second, here are Halloween events uptown (Harlem or above) that sound kid-friendly, to the best of my knowledge:

The "Halloween Family Disco", co-sponsored by Harlem4Kids and Mocha Moms, is sold out.
Saturday in Morningside Park there will be an annual Halloween Event from 2 to 4. It's free. (Unrelated to Halloween but good for our collective enjoyment come springtime, there will also be planting that same morning from 10-12).
Central Park Conservancy’s 18th Annual Halloween Pumpkin Sail will be Saturday 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm at the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center (inside the Park at 110th Street between Fifth and Lenox Avenues). It's free.
Halloween Night at the Apollo (for the big kids, presumably)
Halloween Toddler Party, 10:30 am on Halloween at the 124th Street library
4th Annual Halloween Little Tykes Bike Race and Costume Parade in Inwood Hill Park, Sunday 1:30-3
Halloween Festival at the Inwood Hill Nature Center, Sunday at 7.
And I gather Harlem's purported Only Haunted House is apparently 172 Lenox, between 118th and 119th. It's geared at kids 6 and over. Apparently 86 West 119 Tenant Association is hosting something there and invites kids to visit this Saturday.

Have a ghoulish time (and as usual, please let me know what I've missed)!

Green your brownstone!

2007-10-23T11:56:00.001-05:00

Okay, the event is in Brooklyn, but Harlemites who own brownstones and are interested in saving energy or just living greener may find this to be of interest.

Stuff to Do Uptown this weekend

2007-10-19T08:28:00.000-05:00

Other than the usual stuff, this weekend uptown there's

a chance to volunteer at St. Nicholas Park for It's My Park day on Saturday
a chance to volunteer at Morningside Park for It's My Park day on Saturday (plant daffodils!)
Harlem Goes Veg[etarian] on Saturday
free skating at the Claremont Playground on Sunday
Uptown Treasures on Sunday

Also tickets for next week's Halloween Family Disco, which will be next Saturday at Tribal Spears Gallery (2167 Frederick Douglass Blvd. bet. 116th & 117th Sts.), can be purchased this Saturday at the weekly Harlem4Kids storytime (9:30-11:30, also at Tribal Spears).

Did I miss special events uptown that would be great for kids and families this weekend? Please let me know. Thanks!

Is SoHa the new Greenwich Village?

2007-10-18T13:34:00.000-05:00

I have resisted the term SoHa for a long time, primarily because the term was stolen from certain other neighborhoods (as far as I can tell, in its original coinage it referred to areas south OF Harlem, rather than South Harlem, i.e., a part of Harlem), but my resistance is waning as I think the term is gaining currency as a recognizable term describing my little corner of Harlem, and the word "Harlem" by itself refers to such a huge part of Manhattan that the narrower term seems useful.

Anyhow, this article from today's Sun argues that we are substantially on the way to being the new Village (or SoHo?).

As someone who is quite fond of both Harlem Vintage and the Winery, I am heartened by the implication in the article that the potential rivals seem to view themselves as evidence of the area's robustness, not cut-throat competitors.

(Incidentally -- can't resist mentioning this, since I am after all Uptown Mom: I ADORE the Winery and shop there regularly -- unbelievable fabulous decor and price point -- but forget about getting a double stroller in there. Not that they're unfriendly -- there's just no way it is going to fit. At least not when the store has lots of people in it -- I haven't tried when it's empty, but I don't think it would work even then, it is just so tiny. At Harlem Vintage -- also a great store, although pricier -- I have attended tastings and events with some portion of my rugrats in tow and have felt quite welcome.)

Ambassade: Yummy Senegalese - but careful with the stroller set

2007-10-11T04:11:00.000-05:00

Ambassade has the distinction of having already been in place the day, almost 4 years ago, that I first came up to Harlem to look for a house. We actually hated the house that we saw, but after we were done looking, we made our way under lots of scaffolding (which I believe surrounded structures that were to become Brownstone Lane, the Larkspur and the Douglass) to Ambassade, where we were pleasantly surprised to find excellent croissants and pains au chocolat. And there we talked about whether we wanted to come back and look some more (we did).

The croissant and pain au chocolat are still great, the egg sandwich is an incredible deal ($3 , big enough for 2 people and delicious), and the vegetarian dishes they've added to their dinner menu are a welcome addition. But we have stopped taking our brood there during anything but the most empty times of day, because they do not have highchairs, and when the place is remotely crowded, that is a deal-breaker for us. (EARLY Sunday mornings, when it's not yet crowded, we actually sit on the couch or cushiony chairs and let the babies crawl around by our feet while we eat. It's fun but a bit too much of an adventure to seem like a good idea -- with babies constantly reaching and making a break for it, I really wish there were a way to strap those little guys in.)

2 Yum's: Yum Yum!

A note on my restaurant reviews

2007-10-07T22:29:00.000-05:00

My angle is kid-friendliness. I want to help other parents have fun with their kids. I have no desire to issue blanket criticisms of restaurants that serve my community. Therefore, if I just don't like the food, I probably will just refrain from reviewing it on this blog.

So when I review a restaurant, I will give it between one and four Yum's depending on how welcome my kids are. In general, 1 Yum = definitely not welcome, 2 Yum's = kids tolerated, 3 Yum's = they have highchairs but still don't seem all that keen, 4 Yum's = they appear to be thrilled to have my kids there making a big mess.

Zoma: Awesome, kid-friendly Ethiopian

2007-10-07T07:51:00.000-05:00

On a recent visit to Zoma, we brought all 3 boys -- twin babies and our 4.5-year-old. They had highchairs for both babies, and they fawned over all 3 kids. Since our big kid was hungry and was going to have trouble waiting for the meal, we asked them to bring an extra order of injera right away, and they were extremely accommodating about bringing it along with more substantive food for him (took some convincing to keep his extra food vegetarian). All the food was, as usual, delicious, and all the kids enjoyed it too. (The big boy wants to add: "I like injera a lot. And my two brothers like injera too.")

4 Yum's: Yum Yum Yum Yum!

New on this Blog: Harlem Jewish Life feature (a list of links to the left)

2007-09-23T01:53:00.000-05:00

Being very busy with the chaggim (Jewish holidays) lately, I have not had a chance to go out and make good on my promise to add updated posts including photos, etc. However, in the spirit of the season, I have added a new page element to this blog, featuring elements of what I am calling "Harlem Jewish Life". I am including in my list anything I know about which is colorably Jewish and is in or very close to Harlem; I have ruled things out only based on my sense that they are not close enough to Harlem to be included. (On my geographic standard: I figure there are plenty of places other than this blog that deal extensively with Upper West Side Jewish life, so I have set a pretty strict Harlem-oriented standard -- either actually within Harlem, or within very few blocks of Harlem -- which unfortunately rules out certain wonderfully parent/kid/family-oriented congregations that are not very far at all. Basically if a place outside of Harlem feels to me like a shlep to go with my kids, I've ruled them out.) If you know of anything I've missed that I should have included, please let me know.

Shanah tovah/Happy new year, everyone!

Resurfacing

2007-09-12T08:30:00.000-05:00

Well, I learned within the past few days that people have actually read this blog. Which means that my starting it, and then allowing it to lie fallow for 8 months, was in pretty poor form. (I especially regret that I wasn't aware people were actually commenting here; from now on I will receive emails when people comment, and I will belatedly reply to those comments shortly.) In any event, I will be bringing this site up to date very shortly. Please accept this post as a preview/teaser.

Eight months turns out to be a long time in the context of this "Harlem Renaissance". I will start out by updating many of the items previously featured, because the progress is rather stunning. Most importantly to me The Playground With The Dangerous Equipment is no more -- I will report on the exciting groundbreaking of a new playground which will replace it. (Kudos to Friends of Morningside Park, more to come.) The Harriet Tubman Memorial is COMPLETED. Many of the construction sites featured now look like they are nearly ready for occupancy.

The other item I plan to update, and I will preview it right now, is the crime outlook for the 28th precinct, which (knock wood) is enormously improved so far for 2007 over both 2006 and 2005, which is an enormous relief. On a quick glance our trend data looks better than the city as a whole, which was not true the last time I posted. I don't have time to post the pdf right now, and you will have trouble finding the statistics yourself through google (it looks like the city has recently moved the page, so the usual google search doesn't work), but you can link to crime stats for particular precincts and the city as a whole here.

Community Council Meeting

2007-01-11T11:29:00.000-05:00

I attended the Police Community Council meeting on Tuesday night. As I'd heard previously, our precinct has lost officers, although we have gotten some back. But we're still about 30 short of where we were in the beginning of 2006.

I also learned that the force overall is short about 5,000 officers, and is also missing the crime-fighting capabilities of the 1,000 who are occupied with counterterrorism . (Pathetic that our city has to do its own national defense because the feds are so not on-task. Seriously, imagine if residents of Peoria had to use significant local money to prevent it from being attacked like we were!)

The officers from the precinct are clearly working as hard as they can to contain the burgeoning violent crime problem, but there are not enough of them. They also would like to downplay that murder number and treat it as a fluke (and it's true that it looks extra-bad because any changes in small numbers results in a large percentage change), but I found the spin unconvincing; they just referred to the number of homicides being up for "various reasons". The only real fluke in the data, so far as I could tell, is a death in 2006 which was attributable to an injury inflicted 30 years ago -- but take that one out and homicides for 2006 are still more than double what they were in 2005.

The one bit of good news (other than the increased numbers of officers, which I regard as mixed news since we're still so far below the early 2006 numbers) came from a speaker visiting from the mayor's office -- someone (whose name I didn't get to write down and now can't locate online) involved in firearms policy. Considering carrying a gun? Don't. According to this gentleman, as of November, the minimum penalty for carrying a loaded firearm increased from 1 year to 3-1/2 years, and an "interest of justice" exception that was being used by judges in a majority of cases to give less than the minimum sentence was eliminated. If this change gets kids to change their gun-toting practices, it has the potential to have a palpable effect on murder rates -- apparently, those convicted of carrying loaded firearms are 4 times more likely than other felons to commit a homicide within the next 7 years.

With murder numbers like ours compared to the city, we need more attention. Regardless of any absolute shortage of officers, we obviously need a greater proportion of those who are available. At the very least, we need more and more resources until our trend data comes back in line with the rest of the city. And no fair comparing 2007 numbers to the appalling 2006 numbers and claiming things are improving -- we should not be further penalized for last year's failures!

Quote of the Day

2007-01-10T15:36:00.000-05:00

(Do not read too much into the name of this post. I am not committing to a regular feature. There may be no quote of the day, or more than one, depending on my mood!)

"Housing prices are a problem. But better than boarded-up buildings. Everything changes. But Harlem will stay Harlem." - Charles Rangel, quoted in the 1/15/07 issue of New York Magazine

Bagel, I hardly knew ye!

2007-01-10T13:51:00.000-05:00

People ask me all the time whether I "feel safe" in my neighborhood. Should I?

Check out the trend data for the 28th Precinct and compare it to the rest of the city.

Since these are numbers rather than rates, you might expect them to go up a bit when the population increases (all else being equal). More people and equivalent crime rates = more crimes. But I'm pretty sure the population is not increasing by the kinds of numbers you're seeing here.

My understanding is that the 28th Precinct has lost some number of police officers. MEMO TO NYC: WE NEED THEM BACK. PLEASE. ASAP.

Bagel in Harlem has hit rock bottom. Sure, what happened to her could have happened anywhere. And in fact, felony assault numbers are actually dropping more quickly in Harlem than elsewhere. But other categories of violent crime are on the rise. I hope she changes her mind and comes back, but I can hardly blame her if she doesn't.

Some new development (in progress) near our home

2007-01-10T10:03:00.000-05:00

A non-representative sampling of some new stuff coming down the pike near our house:

- Dwyer Condominium (123rd and St. Nicholas)

- Just getting underway, a development site on Manhattan Avenue between 119th and 120th. (According to the people at the Brownstone Lane II sales office, this development site is slated for a twin of 444 Manhattan Avenue, which is very attractive inside and out.)

(In the background of the shot above you can see Brownstone Lane II which is almost done, and, off to the right, SOHA 118 going up. I'll get photos of those up on a different day, probably when it's not quite as cold. The fence was open, allowing me to get the unusual shot below.)
- 257 West 117th Street (a rehab of a non-residential building, not new construction)

Harriet Tubman Memorial!

2007-01-09T21:54:00.000-05:00

Pretty cool. I don't remember ever seeing a sign explaining the construction previously.

The Playground with the Dangerous Equipment, Revisited

2007-01-09T15:54:00.000-05:00

The Dangerous Equipment:

Note that the slides come straight from ladders which have little in the way of safety features (rather than, as is more common, from platforms atop monkey bars). The other side of the playground, which is geared at younger kids, has bucket swings and smaller versions of the same antiquated slides.

In addition to the equipment being dangerous, the intersections near the playground are also dangerous. For example, several of the closest intersections to the playground entrance lack traffic signals. Perhaps we should call it The Playground with the Dangerous Intersections.

117th and Manhattan Avenue:

117th and Morningside Avenue:

Note that Morningside Avenue is a total of 6 lanes wide -- two traffic lanes plus a parking lane in each direction. Note also that (a) this is the intersection closest to the playground entrance, and (b) the defect is not unique to this intersection, but, rather, is duplicated at 118th and 119th Streets.

I need to check to be sure, but I'm pretty certain there are no comparably ill-equipped intersections anywhere along CPW, which is an otherwise comparable configuration.

The Playground with the Dangerous Equipment

2007-01-07T00:13:00.000-05:00

This afternoon I brought the kids to the playground at 117th Street and Morningside Avenue, a playground which in our household is known as The Playground with the Dangerous Equipment, in honor of its old-fashioned slides with exposed ladders and nearly nothing in the way of guard rails. The playground in question is slated to be demolished and replaced with a more modern playground, one with safer and more attractive modern equipment, beginning this coming spring. My friend Deborah, visiting from Weehawken, came with me, and we watched my nearly-4-year-old play while we took care of the twins, who are too young to play at The Playground with the Dangerous Equipment. (Being 10 weeks old, they're too young to play at any playground.) Deborah also took both twins for awhile and officiated while my son and I raced one another on the nifty racetrack they have at that playground.

While at the park we observed, to our great surprise, the daffodils in FULL BLOOM. I found the sight of those daffodils incredibly disturbing, and am less and less comforted by meteorologists' insistence that what is going on in NY this winter is unrelated to global warming. I was curious to see if anyone else had noted this phenomenon, and sure enough, there it was, in Joe Schumacher's blog. (I didn't get any pictures of it myself when I was there because (a) I don't usually carry a camera with me, and (b) I do not take pictures on Shabbat. In honor of this blog, though, I will try to start taking more pictures, something I've been meaning to do for awhile anyway. For starters, I'll try to post pictures of The (aforementioned) Playground with the Dangerous Equipment, sooner rather than later.)

We ultimately had to leave because my son was defying my instructions on how to play relatively safely on the Dangerous Equipment. (There's a huge surprise.)