Wheeeee. Friday, where have you been all week?
Good morning, all.
Weekends – especially summer weekends – are a time for kicking back, relaxing, and maybe indulging a wee bit. And in the summer months, what better way to do so than with a cold, creamy, sweet treat?
Yes, I’m talking about ice cream.
Some version of ice cream has been around for centuries. Alexander the Great, for example, reportedly enjoyed snow flavored with honey and nectar.
The explorer Marco Polo returned to Italy with a recipe for what we now know as sherbet (made with fruit, water, and dairy; as opposed to sorbet, which is dairy-free and made from water and fruit puree).
It’s believed that the Marco Polo recipe eventually morphed into something closer to what we now know as ice cream during the 16th Century. It wasn’t until 1660 when this dessert was available to the general public, when the first cafe in Paris, Café Procope, (which still exists, and has quite a few ice cream concoctions on offer) blended milk, cream, butter and eggs.
The earliest frozen chocolate recipes were published in Naples, Italy, in 1693 in Antonio Latini’s The Modern Steward. Chocolate was one of the first flavors, and was actually created before vanilla, which makes sense, as common drinks of the time like hot chocolate, coffee, and tea were the first to be served cold and then frozen.
Like so many things, ice cream in the New World was limited largely to the elite. George Washington was reportedly a very big fan, and made sure to bring all the necessary accoutrements to the White House so he could continue to enjoy his beloved frozen dessert and share it with dignitaries who visited him there.
I mentioned sorbet and sherbet above, but there are other varieties of frozen treats, and the differences are very nuanced. For example, ice cream is served between 0 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit; whereas the Italian favorite gelato is served between 7 and 15 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes it softer.
Similar to ice cream, gelato is made from a custard base of milk, cream, and sugar. But the proportions of each are different. Gelato has more milk and less cream, and doesn’t usually contain egg yolks. (For those who care about this sort of thing, it also typically has less sugar, fat, and calories, too).
There’s also frozen yogurt (hard and soft), frozen custard, and all manner of alternative ice creams made with a wide variety of non-dairy plant (and other) milks, as well as diet delights like Only 8 (a personal favorite, and increasingly hard to find), Halo Top, Skinny Cow, Arctic Zero and more.
You can also get all manner of exotic flavors and mix-ins these days – the variety is astounding, really – which is why you really need to apply yourself to hit the average American consumption of roughly 20 pounds of ice cream each year (about 4 gallons).
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of the month as National Ice Cream Day. This year, that falls on Sunday, July 17, and since CivMix doesn’t come out on the weekends, we’re getting a jump on things today. Lots of ice cream purveyors are offering deals on their wares this Sunday, or even giving away free treats.
We’re in for a good stretch of perfect ice cream weather, starting with today, which will be sunny to partly cloudy with temperatures in the mid-80s. Saturday and Sunday look much the same, though slightly warmer.
In the headlines….
President Joe Biden stopped short of committing to raise the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi with leaders in Saudi Arabia, instead saying he “always” brings up human rights and that his views on the murder have been made “absolutely” clear.
Israel’s caretaker prime minister, Yair Lapid, pushed Biden to go beyond his public commitment to stopping Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon, declaring all democratic nations must act if the Iranians continue “to develop their nuclear program.”
Biden dodged questions about whether he would set a deadline for stalled negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program following a meeting with Israel’s prime minister, who urged the United States to put a “credible military threat” on the table against Iran.
Biden will meet Palestinian leaders in the occupied West Bank today before he flies to a controversial summit in Saudi Arabia.
In a small step he hopes pays off big, Biden has proposed a series of initiatives to mend America’s ties with Palestinians that the Trump administration relished in cutting.
Saudi Arabia has taken a small step toward normalizing relations with Israel by agreeing to let Israeli planes to fly between the two countries, Biden said – a new example of the growing ties between Israel and the Arab world after decades of diplomatic isolation
Biden is arguably in worse shape than any other elected president heading into his first midterm election, including his four most recent predecessors, who, like Biden, were operating in an increasingly polarized political climate.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and his staff told Democratic leadership that he’s not willing to support major climate and tax provisions in a sweeping Biden agenda bill, according to a Democrat briefed on the conversations.
Manchin told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that he would only support a bill that includes provisions aimed at lowering the price of prescription drugs and a two-year extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies, according to one of the people.
The decision by Manchin, a conservative-leaning Democrat whose opposition has effectively stalled Biden’s economic package in the evenly divided Senate, dealt a devastating blow to his party’s efforts to enact a broad social safety net, climate and tax package.
The House voted 329-101 to pass a massive annual defense-policy bill that would boost America’s total national security budget for fiscal year 2023 to $850.3 billion—tens of billions of dollars more than Biden requested.
Texas asked a federal court to block the Biden administration’s requirement that physicians and hospitals provide abortions in medical emergencies.
Texas argues that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act does not give the federal government the authority to force health care providers to perform abortions.
A lawyer for the Indiana obstetrician who has drawn national attention for providing abortion care to a 10-year-old rape victim said that the doctor had taken “every appropriate and proper action” in the case.
For local veterans of the anti-abortion movement, the Supreme Court’s June 24 decision reversing Roe v. Wade came with a sobering reminder: in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, nothing had changed.
The New York City Council passed a package of bills that would enhance abortion access for locals and out-of-staters alike, requiring city-run health clinics to offer free abortion-inducing medication to patients.
Members of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack are discussing the next steps in their investigation, including whether to seek an interview with former Vice President Mike Pence and potentially ex-President Donald Trump.
Steve Bannon again lost a bid to delay his contempt trial, with a federal judge saying the former Trump strategist will go on trial beginning Monday.
The former president suggested in a new interview that he has decided to run for the White House again in 2024 and is only considering when to launch his campaign.
Ivana Trump, the glamorous Czech American businesswoman whose high-profile marriage to Trump in the 1980s established them as one of the era’s quintessential New York power couples, died at her home in Manhattan. She was 73.
The NYPD said there didn’t “appear to be any criminality” related to Ivana Trump’s death. According to a statement, police received a 911 call about an “aided individual” at about 12:40 p.m. ET and found a “73 year-old female unconscious and unresponsive.”
Police are investigating whether Ivana Trump may have fallen down the stairs at her home. She was found at the bottom of the staircase and believed to have suffered cardiac arrest, though the city’s Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the official cause.
Ivanka Trump mourned her mother on social media as new details about circumstances of the 73-year-old’s death emerged.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week hit its highest level in nearly 8 months, but the total number of those collecting benefits fell.
Applications for jobless aid for the week ending July 9 rose by 9,000 to 244,000, up from the previous week’s 235,000, the Labor Department reported. First-time applications generally reflect layoffs.
Despite the second straight weekly rise in claims , labor market conditions remain tight, with very few people on unemployment rolls. The Federal Reserve is raising borrowing costs to dampen demand for workers and ultimately slow the overall economy.
The Chinese economy grew this spring at its slowest rate since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, a sharp slowdown from a Covid-19 policy that continues to prompt widespread lockdowns and mass quarantines, bringing some business activity to a halt.
The BA.5 omicron subvariant, which is now the most prevalent coronavirus strain in the United States, is four times more resistant to COVID-19 vaccines, a new study found.
The strain, which is considered “hypercontagious,” according to the Mayo Clinic, is more defiant against messenger RNA vaccines, which include Pfizer and Moderna.
Mandatory coronavirus testing of randomly chosen international passengers arriving in Canada will resume at the country’s four major airports, government officials announced.
Millions of children around the world missed some or all of their childhood vaccinations over the past two years because of a combination of conflicts, climate emergencies, misinformation, lockdowns and Covid vaccination efforts that diverted resources.
Summer camps are still not immune from COVID-19 outbreaks, including one popular upstate camp in the Catskills that was forced to close its first session early after more than 50 staffers and four young campers tested positive.
Newsmax host Greg Kelly faced growing criticism over a remark he made about Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul while trying to boost the candidacy of her Republican rival Rep. Lee Zeldin ahead of the November election.
Zeldin, the Republican nominee for governor, is unlikely to run on the Independence Party line after the state Board of Elections invalidated nearly 13,000 signatures that were included in his petitions.
The Cannabis Control Board formally agreed that the first set of businesses to sell retail marijuana will include profitable business owners who either were convicted of a marijuana-related offense or had a family member who had been.
The new rules for the fledgling business sector were unveiled in March and implemented this week following an unanimous vote by the nascent Board.
“This is a tremendous stride in the right direction,” board chairwoman Tremaine Wright said. “We’re leading with equity in this state.”
New York City’s ferry service is set to get cheaper for at least 1 million New Yorkers and pricier for tourists, Mayor Eric Adams announced.
Under the mayor’s plan, senior citizens, people with disabilities and New Yorkers enrolled in the city’s “Fair Fares” program will only be charged $1.35 — as opposed to $2.75 — starting Sept. 12.
Adams’ chief of staff Frank Carone is circling the globe in a bid to lure international businesses to the Big Apple’s COVID recovery — part of a new strategy based on ex-Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s post-9/11 economic recovery effort.
Carone joined Biden at a reception yesterday in Jerusalem hosted by the Israeli government, White House and City Hall officials confirmed.
Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is running for Congress, held a press conference to make some recommendations – and criticisms – when it comes to the city and its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Muhammad A. Aziz, who was wrongly convicted and later exonerated for the murder of Malcolm X, filed a $40 million claim against the city, seeking redress for a conviction that overshadowed 55 years of his life.
New Yorkers are witnessing an epic primary clash between Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney. Another candidate in the race, Suraj Patel, is trying to eke out his own path to victory.
New York City was ranked the world’s second-dirtiest city due to rampant rats and foul-smelling piles of trash, according to a new poll.
New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams tried to defend her approval of the city’s controversial education budget by claiming that she “held up” negotiations on the deal to cut funding — even though the plan was passed in record time.
The New York City Education Department is projecting public school enrollment will fall by another 30,000 students next year — bringing more financial pain to schools already facing steep cuts.
Lifeguards and swimmers are on high alert after two shark bites in one day on Long Island, bringing the total number of attacks to six in two weeks.
The latest victim, only identified as a 49-year-old man from Arizona, was standing in waist-deep water on Fire Island’s Seaview Beach when he was attacked just after 6 p.m., Suffolk County police said.
State police are withholding records connected to a school-related threat made by the Buffalo mass shooting suspect, Payton Grendon, 19, a year before he allegedly opened fire on shoppers at a Tops grocery store in May.
Gendron was hit with a 27-count indictment, including 10 counts of hate crimes resulting in death, three counts of hate crimes involving an attempt to kill three injured individuals and 13 counts of using, carrying or discharging a firearm related to a hate crime.
The Albany Empire will have a new opponent next year. The National Arena League announced an expansion team for the 2023 season in Fayetteville, N.C.
Tarabi, coming out of the No. 7 stall in the starting gate, made a clear exit from the newly restored Wilson Chute on Saratoga’s main track and went on to win the $135,000 Wilton Stakes on opening day at the historic track.
