Good morning. Some nice symmetry in the date this sultry summer Friday (7/22/22).
I don’t know about you, but since I try to avoid sugar – with mixed results – I haven’t given too much thought to fudge, though it is a quintessentially American confection that originated here during the late 19th century.
Many periodicals carried recipes for fudge during the 1880s, in part due to the increasing availability and decreasing cost of refined sugar and the fact that making this treat doesn’t require any special equipment or special skill.
Fudge, in case you’ve never had the pleasure of making it at home, is a type of candy made by mixing sugar, butter, and milk, heating it to the soft-ball stage (this is a candy-making term) at 240 °F, and then beating the mixture while it cools.
The result is a candy with a smooth, creamy consistency that can be made in a wide variety of flavors (chocolate is the most popular and traditional) that may or may not include mix-ins – most often nuts, but also chips or fruit or what have you.
Texturally speaking, fudge falls somewhere in between fondant icing and hard caramels.
There’s an interesting New York angle to the history of fudge. Legend has it that a student at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie made 30 pounds of fudge for a senior auction in 1888, reportedly using a recipe she obtained from a classmate’s Baltimore-based cousin.
The students were rebelling against the college leadership’s belief that ladies required “bland” nourishment due to their delicate constitutions. They resorted to making their own treats in their dorm rooms under the cover of darkness.
And hence, a fad was born.
Apparently, there are many varieties of fudge, including someone called penuche, which I never heard of prior to doing a little internet search and finding that today is National Penuche Fudge Day. This fudge-like candy is made from brown (not white) sugar, butter, and milk, and – here’s the catch – never using any flavorings except for vanilla, which accounts for its tannish color.
Apparently, the texture of penuche is slightly lighter than that of regular fudge, too, though I can’t personally attest to that, having never tried it. It also usually contains nuts.
Penuche is believed to have originated in Portugal and was popularized in New England by Portuguese whaling families who worked in New Bedford, MA, and Essex, CT, during the mid-to-late 1700s. It also can do double duty as an icing, and reportedly is also very popular in Mexico.
It will be hot again today – in the low 90s – but maybe a tad less oppressive? Just a brief reprieve to bring us into the incredibly insane forecast of about 100 degrees on Sunday. Yikes. As always, the possibility of thunderstorms lurks.
Headlines…
President Joe Biden announced he tested positive for Covid-19 but will continue to work while in isolation at the White House.
In a video posted to Twitter, Biden told Americans that he is “doing well” and that his symptoms continue to be mild.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre brushed off an inquiry about how Biden caught COVID-19, saying: “I don’t think that matters. He developed symptoms less than four days after he returned to Washington from a trip to Saudi Arabia.
While Biden’s age of 79 increases the risk that he’ll have a harder time with the virus, studies show that his reported relatively good health, as well as his up-to-date vaccines, give him a good chance at recovery.
Biden’s physician stopped the commander-in-chief’s use of heart medications after he began to take Paxlovid to treat COVID-19, White House officials said — despite the fact that doing so elevates the risk of dangerous blood clots.
Biden’s coronavirus infection is a stark illustration that the Covid vaccines, powerful as they are, are far from the bulletproof shields that scientists once hoped for.
Biden’s speech at a former coal-fired power plant in Massachusetts led to widespread claims on social media that he made a significant announcement not about climate change, but about his health.
Three Democratic lawmakers tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday and yesterday as Biden announced his own positive test results. Sens. Tina Smith (Minn.) and Tom Carper (Del.) and Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) announced their diagnoses over Twitter.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to reinstate Biden’s policy shifting the focus of America’s immigration enforcement toward public safety threats, handing a victory to Texas and Louisiana as they challenge a plan they call unlawful.
In a brief order, the court gave no reasons, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications, but it said it would take up an appeal of the case and hear arguments this year.
In a 5-4 decision with Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson in the minority, the court ruled the administration can’t use the guidelines now, and agreed to hear a case on their legality in December.
A federal grand jury indicted two men in connection with a human smuggling operation that left 50 adults and three children dead in and around an abandoned tractor-trailer on the outskirts of San Antonio last month, officials said.
Biden’s job approval rating has once again plummeted, hitting a fresh record low of 31%, as a majority of Democratic voters even admitted they would like him booted from the 2024 election, a new poll has found.
Republican lawmakers aren’t pleased that Democrats are supporting Biden’s broad student-loan forgiveness plans.
The right to use contraceptives would be inscribed into law under a measure Democrats pushed through the House, their latest campaign-season response to concerns a conservative Supreme Court that already erased federal abortion rights could go further.
The vote was mostly along party lines, with all but eight Republicans in opposition to a bill that aims to protect a right seen as newly at risk after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
While rioters smashed through police lines at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Donald Trump asked aides for a list of senators to call as he continued to pursue paths to overturn his defeat.
Trump sat for hours watching the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol unfold on live TV, ignoring pleas by his children and other close advisers to urge his supporters to stop the violence, witnesses told a congressional hearing.
One former aide testified that Trump gave a “green light” to the mob at the Capitol. In an outtake of a speech the next day, Trump said he didn’t want to say “the election is over.”
Trump’s actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection constituted a “dereliction of duty” that endangered American democracy, a group of seven retired four-star generals and admirals said in a New York Times op-ed.
Members of Mike Pence’s Secret Service detail phoned loved ones to say their final farewells on Jan 6, 2021 as rioters called for Pence’s head came within feet of the former vice president, it was revealed.
The inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security directed the Secret Service to halt its internal search for purged texts sent by agents around the time of Jan. 6 so that it does not “interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation.”
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) used her last major Jan. 6 Select Committee hearing moment before a tough primary election to sum up the case against Trump.
Lawyers for Steve Bannon didn’t call their client or any other witnesses in his defense, setting the stage for final arguments and jury deliberations on Friday in the former Trump adviser’s trial on charges of contempt of Congress.
Initial jobless claims hit their highest level since mid-November last week, the latest sign that a historically tight labor market is beginning to slow, according to Labor Department data released yesterday.
Claims totaled 251,000 for the week ended July 16, up 7,000 from the week before and above the 240,000 Dow Jones estimate.
Continuing claims for state benefits rose 51,000 to 1.38 million in the week ended July 9, the biggest weekly increase since November.
The unemployment rate remained 3.6% for a fourth straight month, matching a near-50-year low that was reached before the pandemic struck in early 2020.
New York Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee for governor, is safe and uninjured following an attempted attack at a campaign event last night.
Witnesses say Zeldin was giving a speech about bail reform at the VFW on Macedon Center Road when a man, reportedly an Iraq War veteran under the influence of alcohol, stumbled through the crowd, climbed on the stage and pulled out a knife.
Zeldin’s campaign said in a statement that the attempted to stab the candidate during a speech in front of supporters. Zeldin grabbed the man’s wrist to stop him until several others helped take the man to the ground.
Videos show Zeldin standing on the bed of a truck, addressing supporters when the man approaches him slowly from the right, grabs him by the arm and brandishes a weapon. Zeldin grabbed the man’s wrist and then several men helped contain the attacker.
“Relieved to hear that Congressman Zeldin was not injured and that the suspect is in custody,” Gov. Kathy Hochul wrote on Twitter.
Before the incident, Hochul and Zeldin exchanged verbal blows as both candidates highlighted their general election attacks ahead of the Nov. 8 vote.
New York state’s economic development agency approved Hochul’s controversial plan to give a donor – Steve Roth – an estimated $1.2 billion tax break to build new office towers in Manhattan.
The Empire State Development Corp. board voted unanimously to approve Hochul’s plan, which proposes using property tax revenue from 10 new skyscrapers to help pay for the reconstruction and expansion of Penn Station.
Hochul and Mayor Adams stepped up their charm offensive to bring the Democratic National Convention to New York City with a tour of the Javits Center and the promise of a sampling of the city’s nightlife.
Calling it an opportunity to show New York City’s “resiliency” and “invincibility,” Adams began wining and dining the Democratic National Committee as he vies to host the party’s next presidential nominating convention in 2024.
The mayor says the city has the best mass transit system in the nation. “That is probably one of the top selling points we have,” Adams said. And despite the surging gun violence, he says it also has a police force that is unmatched anywhere.
DNC Chair Jaime Harrison highlighted both Adams’ and Hochul’s approaches to dealing with crime when asked how public safety would weigh on the Committee’s decision on where to host the convention.
Adams has vowed to “think outside the toolbox” with other local elected officials from across the country to attempt to reduce gun violence, amid a spate of Big Apple shootings, including one on Tuesday that killed a 14-year-old.
Unlike some of their white peers, activists of color have pushed back sharply against the mayor’s aggressive approach to battling crime in New York City.
Community boards may have a long wait ahead to learn the details of “City of Yes,” the auspicious name given to three citywide zoning text amendments Adams announced last month.
Adams admitted that his administration violated the law by failing to house several asylum-seeking families in a timely manner earlier this week as the city’s shelter system reels from a recent influx of thousands of Latin American migrants.
New York health officials confirmed that a case of polio was recently recorded in Rockland County, the first time the highly infectious virus has been reported in the U.S. since 2013.
A man who lives in Rockland County was infected by someone who received the oral polio vaccine, which is no longer used in the United States, officials said.
A New York City correction officer was charged with murder in the fatal shooting hours earlier of an 18-year-old man in the Bronx, the police said, with investigators exploring whether a toy weapon found at the scene had played a role in the killing.
The Loeb Boathouse in Central Park, an iconic restaurant and venue that has appeared in a number of film classics and has drawn New York tourists and high society alike for decades, will shut its doors on Oct. 16.
The operator of the establishment, Dean J. Poll, cited “rising labor and costs of goods,” according to a notice filed in July.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is looking to defeat another Crowley — ex-Congressman Joe Crowley’s cousin, Elizabeth Crowley — who is running for a state Senate seat in a district that includes her turf in western Queens.
Manhattan Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler are feuding over who deserves credit for delivering the first leg of the 2nd Avenue subway line that opened in 2017 and runs through the Upper East Side.
The F.B.I. had followed a credible lead on Jimmy Hoffa’s final resting place to a location under the Pulaski Skyway in New Jersey. Yesterday, the bureau announced he was not there.
Two Rochester police officers and a bystander were shot on Bauman Street in the City of Rochester last night. One of the officers did not survive.
Rochester is officially in a Gun Violence State of Emergency, Mayor Malik Evans declared during a press conference, signing an emergency declaration giving him the powers he would have if the city were hit by a natural disaster.
A jury has found the estranged husband of Rochester’s former mayor, Lovely Warren, guilty of misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child. Timothy Granison was found not guilty of criminal possession of a weapon – a felony charge.
Assemblyman Jonathan Jacobson (D-Newburgh) has made a formal request to the Public Service Commission to investigate the billing practices of Central Hudson Gas & Electric.
Swimming at three popular Long Island beaches was halted yesterday after two sharks were spotted — the latest in a rash of recent sightings, officials said.
A judge has denied bail for ex-Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano while he appeals his federal corruption conviction, but also extended his prison surrender date by a month while citing an expectation he will ask a higher court to overturn the decision.
After being fired from CNN, Chris Cuomo is making a comeback with a new podcast and a digitally streamed show.
The journalist, 51, has been teasing his new media entity – called “The Chris Cuomo Project” – on his Instagram in a bid to restart his career.
Chris Cuomo said he has no regrets about advising his brother, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, on strategy to beat back sex misconduct claims – secret discussions which ultimately led to his being fired from his CNN primetime gig.
