Good morning, it’s Thursday, the end of the week is quickly approaching.
As we discussed in a previous post, Americans love their coffee. They love it in all forms and sizes and flavors. Thanks to the plethora of speciality coffee shops and cafes across the U.S., there is a whole galaxy of coffee drinks from which one might choose in order to get one’s daily dose (more, if necessary) of caffeine.
That includes a drink called the frappe, which, as it turns out, has its very own day of recognition – today.
The frappe was invented, or so the story goes, by Dimitris Vakondios, who was representing the Swiss-owned Nestlé food company at the annual Thessaloniki International Fair, traditionally held in the country’s second-largest city during the first week of September since 1926 (except not in 2020, as it was cancelled due to Covid).
That particular year, Nestle was introducing a new instant chocolate beverage made with milk and shaken in a shaker. During his break from work, Vakondios wanted a little Nescafe pick-me-up, but didn’t have any hot water with which he usually made it, and so he improvised by mixing his Nescafe with cold water and ice in one of the exhibit shakers.
And VOILA! The frappe was born.
Today, the frappé remains the most popular coffee beverage in Greece and Cyprus, and is also the official national coffee drink of Greece.
Now, to be clear, a Greek frappe does NOT contain any milk products. But the American version – since as have a nasty little habit of gilding every lily we can find – contains milk, cream, or even ice cream, blended with instant coffee.
If you have not tried the traditional Greek version, you do not know what you are missing. It is foamy, icy, caffeinated perfection. I like it with some nasty fake sweetener added, but really, it’s so foamy that you don’t need the dairy products.
Try it the authentic way.
Trust me.
Another glorious day is on tap, with temperatures reaching into the low 70s and partly cloudy skies in the forecast.
In the headlines…
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell offered a short-term suspension of the U.S. debt ceiling to avert a national default and economic crisis until Democrats are able to pass a more permanent solution before the end of the year.
McConnell did not, however, lift his blockade of a longer-term increase in the debt cap, demanding anew that Democrats eventually use a complicated and time-consuming budget procedure known as reconciliation to lift it into next year or beyond.
McConnell criticized Democrats ahead of a vote to raise the debt limit that is poised to fail, noting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is “headed off to Europe” amid the looming crisis.
President Joe Biden ratcheted up pressure on Republicans, hosting the heads of several major banks and corporations to discuss the dangers of the U.S. defaulting on its debts.
The executives all warned that the economy would be threatened should the country default on its debts for the first time in history.
Leading Senate Democrats increasingly see the Republican blockade against raising the federal debt limit as clear justification for changing the filibuster rule, a long-shot effort that so far has lacked unanimous support within their ranks necessary to succeed.
Biden’s agenda remains popular with the American people, according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll. But approval of the president himself has fallen to a new low as Democrats struggle to get his plans through a gridlocked Congress.
Biden’s approval rating has dropped to 38%, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released yesterday. That’s down from 42% three weeks ago and from a high of 50% in mid-February.
The U.S. and China have agreed in principle that Biden and President Xi Jinping will hold a virtual meeting before the end of the year, part of an effort to ensure stability in one of the world’s most consequential and fraught relationships.
The closed-door meeting at an airport hotel in Zurich between U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi was their first face-to-face encounter since an unusually public and acrid airing of grievances in Alaska in March.
Biden will speak about vaccine mandates today during a visit to Chicago, home of United Airlines, among the first major carriers to require the shots.
A vocal contingent of prominent doctors and scientists is pressing the Biden administration to scrap its plans to provide booster shots to all previously vaccinated adults.
Two real-world studies confirm that the immune protection offered by two doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine drops off after two months or so, although protection against severe disease, hospitalization and death remains strong.
Getting at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine increased the risk of a rare type of heart inflammation, especially in young males, according to a large new study from researchers in Israel. But the diagnosed cases were usually mild.
Even as parents in the United States wrestle with difficult questions over vaccinating their children against the coronavirus, families in other countries have been offered a novel option: giving children just one dose of the vaccine.
Sweden and Denmark said they are pausing the use of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for younger age groups after reports of possible rare cardiovascular side effects.
Amid global criticism over a lack of vaccine availability in developing nations, Moderna announced it will build a “state-of-the-art” mRNA facility in Africa, aimed at producing 500 million doses of vaccines a year.
Expect to see data this month from several clinical trials that are trying to establish if “mixing and matching” different COVID-19 vaccines is safe and effective or if it’s better to get the same booster as the one used in the primary series of shots.
Los Angeles leaders approved one of the nation’s strictest vaccine mandates — a sweeping measure that would require the shots for everyone entering bars, restaurants, nail salons, gyms or even a Lakers game.
Ellume is recalling nearly 200,000 rapid at-home COVID-19 antigen tests out of concerns over an abnormally high rate of false positives observed from certain lots of its tests.
On Monday, the FDA authorized the Flowflex test – made at ACON laboratories in Southern California. Yesterday, the White House announced a $1 billion investment to manufacture at-home rapid tests.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham brought out the South Carolina boo-birds by promoting COVID-19 vaccines in his home state.
A federal jury has sentenced a Texas man to 15 months in federal prison after finding him guilty of staging a Covid-19-related hoax on social media, prosecutors said.
A Maryland man accused of killing his pharmacist brother and two other people had complained that he believed his brother was harming people with the Covid-19 vaccines, court documents say.
San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane is being investigated by the NHL over allegations that he submitted a fake COVID-19 vaccine card.
Michele Roberts is still hoping to get NBA players vaccinated at 100%, but she rejects any criticism about her clients’ hesitancy and is prepared to fight the league on withholding pay.
Unvaccinated NBA players who have not yet been vaccinated against the coronavirus have been warned by the league: if they break the terms of their stay when in the Canadian city for games, they could face a “criminal offense.”
The world has gained a new weapon in the war on malaria, among the oldest known and deadliest of infectious diseases: the first vaccine shown to help prevent the disease. By one estimate, it will save tens of thousands of children each year.
The North Country currently has the highest COVID positivity rate in New York. But experts say when it comes to the positivity rate, you need to look at testing, something rural areas have limited access to.
New York state K-12 schools have reported more than 21,000 coronavirus cases since Sept. 13, with 82% of those cases coming from students, according to regional data published by the state Department of Health.
A new wave of strict coronavirus vaccine mandates could be coming soon for New York City workers, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
De Blasio justified dragging his feet on mandating coronavirus vaccinations for cops, firefighters and correction officers, contending that he prefers to “respect people’s intelligence” before ordering them to get their shots.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is considering a statewide mask mandate.
Some 250,000 home health care workers must get the coronavirus vaccine by tomorrow, but tens of thousands of them have yet to receive it, which could worsen an already significant labor shortage.
Nursing homes desperately seeking relief from staffing shortages tied to New York’s new vaccine mandate are being told “we do not have any staff to offer you or any other nursing homes” upon calling the hotline specifically set up to help plug vacancies.
Three women who were involved in an altercation with a hostess at a popular Italian restaurant on the Upper West Side were arraigned this week on assault and harassment charges. They pleaded not guilty.
The Upper West Side restaurant hostess who was attacked by several tourists as she enforced the city’s vaccination mandate denied using a racial slur during the incident — and called the allegation that she did “unbelievable.”
State Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs doubled down on his endorsement of Hochul, pointing to a ticking political clock, as well as her credibility with moderates and long track record of loyalty to the party.
Hochul confirmed that her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, had plotted to oust her from the statewide Democratic ticket in 2022 before a slew of scandals forced him from office.
Hochul announced the availability of an additional $25 million to help nonprofit organizations improve the security of their facilities to better protect those at risk of hate crimes or attacks because of their ideology, beliefs, or mission.
Hochul has picked up the slack left by her predecessor after New York officially legalized marijuana back in March, but still isn’t able to provide a date for when New Yorkers will be able to purchase it legally.
State Office of General Services Commissioner RoAnn Destito – the first woman to hold that post – is to retire this month, she told the agency in an email sent yesterday morning.
Hochul is not making a clean break from disgraced predecessor when it comes to managing the mammoth $212 billion state budget during the lingering coronavirus pandemic: She’s keeping his budget director, Robert Mujica.
Hochul, citing yesterday’s three-year anniversary of the Schoharie limousine crash that killed 20 people, announced she has appointed four members to a Stretch Limousine Passenger Safety Task Force that had never been fully set up.
The economic crisis caused by the pandemic has placed the city’s housing woes in stark relief. But one group of Brooklyn tenants has been fighting back.
De Blasio has appointed allies who worked on his past campaigns to head New York City agencies, despite their having little relevant experience.
This past summer marked New York City’s deadliest for traffic fatalities since de Blasio took office in 2014, according to a new report — defying Hizzoner’s pledge to bring road deaths down to zero as he prepares to leave office.
De Blasio and first lady Chirlane McCray — who must leave Gracie Mansion at year’s end and need a place to live — are doing massive renovations to their century-old, three-story Park Slope home.
The city Department of Investigation said it is set to release the findings of a probe into de Blasio’s NYPD security detail.
Elected officials and public defenders are calling on Big Apple prosecutors to completely stop requesting cash bail in all cases, saying it’s the “driving cause” behind the “ongoing humanitarian crisis” at the beleaguered Rikers Island.
Ex-Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins filed for retirement after being stripped of his gun and shield after the FBI raided the union’s headquarters and his LI home. A source said the investigation centers on suspected misuse of union funds.
The head of the NYC teachers’ union said the Department of Education is “hiding” the number of students showing up to school to avoid political embarrassment.
A Brooklyn federal judge ordered the city fire commissioner to address the punishment of nine firefighters who were suspended without pay after they shared racist messages online.
Former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced she’s in the hospital after suffering a ruptured appendix last week.
A bookkeeper for NXIVM, Kathy Russell, dodged prison time in the final sentencing tied to the upstate self-help group run by Keith Raniere.
This year’s installment of “Capital Holiday Lights in the Park” will be the final installment at the location it has called home for the past quarter-century, part of a compromise deal backed by neighborhood leaders, city officials and event organizers.
The state Department of Education has ordered the Cambridge Central School District to stop using its Indian mascot, stepping in after a handful of residents filed a formal complaint.
A rise in COVID-19 cases and mandatory quarantines has created a temporary shortage of teachers and staff in the upper-grade levels at Watervliet High School.
The town of East Greenbush expects to see non-property tax revenues jump 6 percent in the proposed 2022 budget of $21.06 million that increases spending by 3 percent.
Tomorrow is the deadline to register to vote in next month’s general election, according to the state Board of Elections.
A Senate panel fleshed out how Donald Trump pursued his plan to install a loyalist as acting attorney general to pursue unfounded reports of fraud in the 2020 election.
A federal judge granted the Justice Department’s request to halt enforcement of the recently passed Texas law that bans nearly all abortions in the state while the legal battle over the statute makes its way through the federal courts.
Mike Bloomberg, the media mogul and former New York City mayor, is not only the 10th richest person in America during 2021 — he also saw his fortune grow by $15 billion, according to the “Forbes 400“.
