Good Wednesday morning.
In a departure from the past several days, we’re not going to discuss anything heavy about relationships or high school trauma that I may or may not still be working through. Instead, we’re going to keep it simple and wholesome and talk about nuts.
Well, actually, seeds.
It’s National Almond Day, and contrary to popular belief, the almond are not true nuts, neither, since we’re on the topic, are the fruits of the cashew and pistachio plants.
Yes, almonds grow on trees…more on that later. And peanuts, as you probably already have heard, are also not nuts, but rather legumes and members of the pea family
Botanically speaking, a nut is a dry fruit with a hard shell covering a single seed. Examples include acorns, chestnuts, and hazelnuts.
Almonds, cashews and pistachios are actually classified as “drupes”, which is to say they are fruits that are fleshy on the outside with a shell covering a seed on the inside. What we eat is the seed.
Interestingly, peaches and mangoes are also drupes, but in those cases we eat the flesh and not the seeds. FWIW stone fruits, including apricots, cherries, plums, and peaches, contain the compound amygdalin, which breaks down into hydrogen cyanide when ingested. (Yes, that’s a poison).
And to make things even more confusing, walnuts and pecans have characteristics of both nuts AND drupes, and aren’t 100 percent one or the other. Sometimes they’re referred to as “nut-like drupes” or “drupaceous nuts.
Totally clear, right?
Anyway, back to almonds. There are two varieties, sweet almond (P. dulcis variety dulcis) and bitter almond (P. dulcis variety amara). Sweet almonds are the edible type with which you’re likely familiar. Bitter almond oil is used to make flavoring extracts for foods and liqueurs.
Oh, and adding one more layer of complication to the mix, the FDA groups almonds with walnuts and pecans in the “tree nut” category when it comes to the question of allergies. Many groups of nuts have similar allergy-causing proteins, and if you’re allergic to one, you might be more likely to be allergic to another.
In case you’re wondering about almonds’ origins, they were most likely cultivated in the western parts of Asia and China, although their exact point of domestication is not known. The are mentioned in the Bible, and were found in Tutankhamen’s tomb (ca. 1325 BCE) in Egypt.
Personally, I like my almonds in butter form, but they’re also very useful as an alternative to flour when ground into meal. I find almond extract a little too much for my taste, but generally am a fan overall.
We’re headed in the right direction as far as the weather goes, with temperatures headed into the low 40s today. It will, however, be overcast and windy. At least it won’t be freezing. I’ll take those small victories where I can get them.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden made an appeal for diplomacy to continue as the world watches to see if Russia invades neighboring Ukraine, but also warned that such an attack on Ukraine will “be met with overwhelming international condemnation.”
Biden said that he will not commit American troops to a potential war in Ukraine as tensions remain high along the Eastern European country’s border with Russia.
The president said that the Russian military massed around Ukraine remained in a “threatening position,” and expressed uncertainty about Russia’s claim earlier in the day that it had begun to pull some troops back.
Senate Republicans delayed a confirmation vote on Biden’s slate of Federal Reserve nominees in protest over the choice of Sarah Bloom Raskin to be the Fed’s top Wall Street regulator, throwing the nominating process into confusion.
In a statement, statement, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said GOP members of the Banking panel will not show up for scheduled votes on Biden’s choices to serve on the Fed board, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
Sea levels along the coastal United States will rise by about a foot or more on average by 2050, government scientists said, with the result that rising water now considered “nuisance flooding” will become far more damaging.
The new forecasts revise a 2017 NOAA assessment that mapped sea-level scenarios on the long-term horizon up to 2200. The new report describes detailed outcomes for the next 30 years for the first time.
The Biden administration is telling Congress that it needs an additional $30 billion to press ahead with the fight against COVID-19, officials said.
A White House official warned that the federal government could end up having to spend up to $22 million a month on testing employees for COVID-19 if the ban on Biden’s vaccine mandate isn’t lifted.
A judge blocked a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for certain first responders, writing in her order that the city’s mandate cannot be enforced on the members of three unions until legal challenges are resolved.
While new Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations keep tumbling, more than 2,000 Americans are still dying every day from Covid-19.
The seven-day average of new coronavirus infections in the United States has fallen to a number not seen since the delta surge of last summer began to die down, though cases remain higher than during much of the pandemic.
Moderna’s CEO Stephane Bancel said it’s “reasonable” to assume that we may be approaching the final stages of the pandemic.
Vaccinating pregnant women against the coronavirus may help prevent COVID-19 hospitalizations in infants after they are born, especially if the expecting mothers got the shots later in their pregnancy, U.S. researchers reported.
Babies younger than 6 months old were 61% less likely to be hospitalized with Covid if their mothers received Pfizer or Moderna’s two-dose vaccine during pregnancy, a study published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found.
Priscilla Murray Gibson, the mother of “Fast & Furious” actor Tyrese Gibson, died on Monday after being hospitalized with Covid-19 and pneumonia last week, he said.
Ottawa’s Police Chief Peter Sloly resigned amid criticism of the force’s handling of the protests that have descended upon the city since late January.
The Canadian government announced lighter travel restrictions, especially for vaccinated travelers, along the border as the country reports a decrease in COVID-19 cases.
When the Coachella outdoor music festival returns for the first time in two years this April, performers will be greeted by a sea of unmasked — and potentially unvaccinated — fans, as the struggling concert industry stirs back to life.
Walt Disney World, the entertainment resort located in Orlando, Fla., announced that it is dropping mask mandates for fully vaccinated guests, beginning Thursday.
A group of Republican senators is pushing back against efforts to create a federal “no-fly” list for unruly passengers, arguing that doing so would essentially draw an equivalence between terrorists and opponents of mask mandates.
Although New York ended its mandate that masks be worn at indoor businesses, a coalition of Capital Region arts venues is reiterating that they or many of the artists they host still require audiences to wear masks or show proof of vaccination.
The Greenville Central School District is grappling with a third day of unrest from parents and students over what they see as excessive mask enforcement and unequal treatment of students based on vaccination status.
State Attorney General Letitia James said her office recovered more than $400,000 for consumers who were charged by laboratories for premium services like same-day delivery of coronavirus test results, but did not get their results until much later.
Five months after New York’s ethics commission sought a criminal investigation into the leak confidential information related to ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, there’s been no indication that James’ office ever took up the matter.
During a news conference following a meeting with cabinet leaders, Governor Kathy Hochul shared that seven-day COVID-19 case numbers have reached pre-winter surge levels.
Hochul confirmed that on March 4 she she expects to reevaluate mask requirements in schools, and could potentially lift the mandate later that week.
State Democrats will hold their quadrennial convention tomorrow in midtown Manhattan to decide which statewide candidates the party will endorse, and it should be more of a coronation of Hochul as the party’s standard bearer than a combative floor fight.
State Sen. Diane Savino is retiring after 18 years in office and candidates are lining up to replace her.
Savino endorsed her former deputy chief of operations, Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, to succeed her.
Long Island Rep. Kathleen Rice announced she will not seek re-election to Congress, marking the 30th Democratic departure from the House headed into the 2022 midterm elections.
Rice’s decision makes the number of Democrats leaving Congress the largest since 1992, as midterm elections loom.
Rice, a Democrat who has represented a Long Island district for four terms, said in a statement that elected officials “must give all we have and then know when it is time to allow others to serve.”
Nassau County Democratic Party boss Jay Jacobs – who only got a brief heads-up about Rice – offered several possible contenders, for her seat leading with ex-Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, who lost a 2021 reelection bid to Republican Bruce Blakeman.
For the second time in two months since leaving City Hall, former Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he is not running for public office, saying he would sit out a congressional run in his local Brooklyn district.
Mayor Eric Adams unloaded in an epic rant in which he threatened to stop fielding “off-topic” questions at his press conferences — and blasted the Big Apple’s news organizations over what he said was their lack of racial diversity.
“You guys kill me,” Adams said at the very beginning of a City Hall news conference yesterday. “What part of Albany were you covering? ‘Eric gets beat up in Albany?’ What meetings were you guys in?”
“I’m a black man that’s the mayor but my story is being interpreted by people that don’t look like me,” he added. “We got to be honest about that. How many blacks are on editorial boards? How many blacks determine how these stories are being written?”
More than 45,000 retired municipal workers have opted to keep their current Medicare coverage for a price instead of enrolling in a free, controversial new plan offered by Adams’ administration — a situation one ex-city employee described as “a f—–g outrage”.
A city program gives 260,000 low-income New Yorkers half-price transit rides. Advocates and transit leaders are calling on the mayor to expand his investment.
A 15-member education panel with nine appointed by Adams will decide whether the city should approve a $6.5 million contract Wednesday in which half will be paid to the foundation formerly led by schools Chancellor David Banks.
The NYC Department of Education has allocated well over a quarter billion dollars to cover gaping school budget deficits tied to ongoing student enrollment declines.
The real estate industry is pushing back on a state bill that would limit rent hikes and ensure lease renewals for over a million tenants — launching a house-to-house phone campaign to rally the public against the protections.
Attorneys representing more than a dozen Republican voters who are trying to overturn the approved New York congressional and state Senate lines are seeking documents related to how the maps were drawn.
Democratic Long Island Rep. Tom Suozzi, who is challenging Hochul in a primary for governor, is siding with Republicans against his own party, arguing the newly approved congressional and state senate districts were gerrymandered.
A resolution by the Seneca Nation Council has temporarily thrown a wrench into the agreement of payment by the nation to the New York State which has withheld during a dispute over casino revenue.
Sumit Sulan, the NYPD rookie cop who fatally shot the killer of Officers Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora, was promoted to detective.
In a revised complaint filed in state Supreme Court, Ascend Wellness Holdings dialed up its accusations against MedMen, whose licensed New York operations Ascend had planned to take over by this year in a deal worth $73 million.
Sandra Lee professed her love for fiancé Ben Youcef on Valentine’s Day, sharing that she “never” thought she would find love again after her breakup with Cuomo.
Two months after being fired from his gig at CNN for helping his brother, former Gov. Cuomo, in his sexual misconduct allegation case, Chris Cuomo was spotted in Palm Beach, FL.
An internal investigation has found former CNN President Jeff Zucker, Chris Cuomo and top marketing executive Allison Gollust violated company policies while with the network.
Chris Cuomo allegedly attacked a female ABC News temp worker when she denied his proposition for sex during a “lunch” in his office.
Gollust resigned from the network following the conclusion of the internal investigation, Jason Kilar, CEO of WarnerMedia, the network’s parent company, wrote in a memo to employees last night.
In a message of her own to CNN staff, Gollust said, “WarnerMedia’s statement tonight is an attempt to retaliate against me and change the media narrative in the wake of their disastrous handling of the last two weeks.”
Kilar’s message came at virtually the same time The New York Times published a wide-ranging account of Zucker’s, Gollust’s and Cuomo’s personal and professional relationships.
A jury rejected Sarah Palin’s libel suit against The New York Times, a day after the judge said he would dismiss the case if the jury ruled in her favor because her legal team had failed to provide sufficient evidence that she had been defamed by a 2017 editorial.
Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre have reached an out-of-court settlement in her sexual abuse lawsuit against him, according to a court document filed by her attorneys.
“Prince Andrew intends to make a substantial donation to Ms. Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights,” the document stated. “Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks.”
The parties anticipate filing a stipulation of dismissal of the case within 30 days, according to the letter addressed to federal Judge Lewis Kaplan.
A child reported missing more than two years ago in Tioga County has been found alive, hidden in a secret compartment built beneath basement stairs in a Saugerties residence, police said.
The Green Island School District’s open forum with parents about recent physical altercations between students at the high school was peppered with shouting and fraught with tension last night.
The state declared 106 acres in Albany’s Sheridan Hollow a Brownfield Opportunity Area, which is meant to help the city’s revitalization efforts in the neighborhood.
The Albany County Legislature has proposed changes to rules for county employees that includes a ban on working for political campaigns while on the job.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation ordered the Norlite aggregate plant to stop all dust impacts in the area around the facility at the city’s south end or face fines of up to $22,500 each day per violation.
The City of Glens Falls’ sustainability committee has teamed up with several local partners to transform the third floor of a vacant building downtown into a vertical farm.
The families of nine victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting announced they have agreed to a $73 million settlement of a lawsuit against Remington, the maker of the rifle used to kill 20 first graders and six educators in 2012.
The agreement is a significant setback to the firearms industry because the lawsuit worked around the federal law protecting gun companies from litigation by arguing that the manufacturer’s marketing of the weapon had violated Connecticut consumer law.
The Super Bowl on Sunday night drew the best ratings in five years for the game, with an average of 112.3 million viewers across television and streaming, according to NBCUniversal, which aired the event.
A woman in the New York City area appears to have been cured of an HIV infection, joining a small group of people whose recovery is providing researchers with road maps to beat one of nature’s most resilient viruses.
Gymnastics superstar Simone Biles wrote on Instagram that it was “The easiest yes” when Houston Texans safety Jonathan Owens asked her to marry him.
A sample provided by a teenage Russian figure skater to an antidoping laboratory before the Beijing Games included three substances that are sometimes used to help the heart, according to a document filed in her arbitration hearing.
The U.S.’ improbable ambition to capture an Olympic gold medal in men’s hockey with its youngest team in decades ended in a penalty shootout, when a resurgent Slovakia squad stunned the top-seeded Americans to earn a place in the semifinals.
The family of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer fatally shot by Alec Baldwin on the set of the movie “Rust” last year, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in New Mexico against crew members and producers, including Mr. Baldwin.
P.J. O’Rourke, the conservative satirist and political commentator who was unafraid to skewer Democrats and Republicans alike in best-selling books like “Parliament of Whores,” died of lung cancer at his home in Sharon, N.H. He was 74.
The United States has suspended avocado imports from Mexico’s western state of Michoacan after a US official received a threat, Mexico’s Agriculture Ministry said in a statement.
