It’s Monday again, good morning. That end-of-summer time acceleration thing is happening. There’s just no way to stop these beautiful days from flashing by at warp speed.
SLOW DOWN SUMMER!! I AM NOT YET READY TO DIG OUT MY SNOW BOOTS!
As mentioned in a post last week, we technically have a whole month before the autumnal equinox is upon us on Thursday, Sept. 22.
But I’ve seen a lot of social media posts on how Halloween candy displays are up (WTF, people?!) and back-to-school sales (makes more sense, since that occurs right after Labor Day). I am willfully ignoring all of it, which is a lot easier since I don’t have any kids to beg for treats in the supermarket or purchase pencils for.
I, for one, am acting like summer is going to be around in perpetuity, which is why I am continuing to indulge in my online food flight of all things cold and wonderful – including spumoni, which originated in Naples and reportedly was introduced to the U.S. in the 1870s by Italian immigrations.
First, a primer: More accurate known as spumone, (translation: “foam”) what we are celebrating today is a classic Italian dessert made up of layers of ice cream. Traditionally, the layers should be made up of nut or fruit-filled ice cream and MAYBE the gilded lily addition of liquor-soaked sponge cake.
Often, you will see this served in the “classic” version with a combination of cherry, pistachio, and either chocolate or vanilla ice creams to recall the colors of the Italian flag. (Red, white, and green). You might be more familiar with the American “Neapolitan” version, which is a combination of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.
(As an aside, we used to get this a lot when I was a kid from Stewart’s or Friendly’s and the chocolate would, of course, go first, followed by the vanilla. The strawberry would slowly gather ice crystals the freezer until someone either got desperate enough for a sweet snack to hold their nose and down it, or threw it out).
If you really want to get traditional about it, spumoni is NOT actually ice cream, but rather milk sherbet. (Remember: Gelato usually has a butterfat content of around 4 to 9 percent, considerably lower than ice cream, but considerably higher than either sherbet or sorbet. By law in Italy, sherbet must contain less than 2 percent fat).
Also, the layers would be chocolate, pistachio and almond. And the whole concoction would be molded into a terrine, hardened in the freezer and then cut into slices about an inch thick.
Given our country’s American bias, you would think that there would be a Neapolitan Ice Cream Day as well as a Spumoni Day, but there is not. In fact, Spumoni is SO popular that it has two days, not just one. It’s celebrated here in the U.S. today, and in Canada on Nov. 13.
Sadly, it’s not going to be great ice cream weather today, (but don’t let that stop you from indulging, by all means), with temperatures only getting into the high 70s, rain in the morning and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Bleh. At least all I have to today today is work.
In the headlines…
Joe Biden on Thursday will effectively launch his midterm campaign efforts, attempting to capitalize on one of the best stretches of his presidency and beginning the hard task of persuading voters to keep Democrats in control of the House and the Senate.
Californians overwhelmingly do not want Biden to seek another term and see Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom as a prime contender to succeed him, according to a new poll.
Actually, equal percentages of Golden State Democrats said that progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and their own governor would be their top choice to replace the current president.
Republican voters have nominated Trump loyalists in several Democratic states, including Maryland and Connecticut, making the GOP’s odds of winning those general election races even longer.
Trump called his former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao “crazy” and accused her and her family of working to “get rich on China.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit temporarily blocked Senator Lindsey Graham from testifying before a special grand jury investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
Since the FBI searched the former president’s Florida resort, former Trump official Kash Patel has become a leading proponent of that view and one of the most vocal defenders of Trump in accusing the Justice Department of politically motivated overreach.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said it would be “very difficult” for her to support Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) or Ted Cruz (R-Texas) after they objected to Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2021.
As the White House publicly promotes falling gas prices, behind the scenes, officials worry prices could rise again as they keep looking for ways to get more oil on the market.
Just days before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was expected to visit Taiwan, Chinese President Xi Jinping had a request of Biden: Find a way to keep Pelosi from visiting.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) arrived in Taiwan yesterday, leading the latest U.S. delegation to the self-governing island amid heightened tensions with China following Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) visit earlier this month.
Biden will host a White House summit in September to counter the effects of hate-fueled violence on American democracy and highlight his administration’s actions to reduce gun violence, the White House said.
Within the “next week or so.” That’s when US Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said Americans can expect a decision from the Biden administration on student loans.
“We know August 31 is a date many people are waiting to hear something from,” Cardona told Chuck Todd on NBC’s Meet The Press. “We’ve been talking daily about this, and I can tell you that the American people will hear within the next week or so.”
The CDC’s new rules belie the state of things. COVID levels in at least some parts of the U.S. were recently at or around highs seen during the Omicron surge late last year into early this year. We’re talking all-time highs.
China reported 2,181 new Covid-19 cases, as conditions worsen in the country’s biggest outbreak since the lockdown of Shanghai earlier this year.
For all the talk in Western capitals of reducing reliance on Chinese factories, China has in the past two years consolidated its position as the world’s dominant supplier of manufactured goods.
Singapore will start work on a fifth terminal at Changi Airport – regularly voted among the world’s best – with a revised design that allows it to adjust capacity during a pandemic, as the city-state works to cement its place as Asia’s primary aviation hub.
A Swiss banker was fined 3,000 francs ($3,128) for importing a large quantity of the debunked Covid-19 treatment and horse deworming medicine ivermectin.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has tested positive for Covid-19, the government said.
First Lady Jill Biden tested negative for COVID-19 and reunite with President Biden at their Delaware beach home for some continued rest and relaxation, the White House announced.
“After isolating for five days and receiving negative results from two consecutive COVID-19 tests, the First Lady will depart South Carolina later today for Delaware,” Elizabeth Alexander, the first lady’s communications director, said in a statement.
Despite the later start making a U.S. supply, companies and researchers say mRNA vaccine technology is well-suited for quick design changes and manufacturing of doses in response to the emergence of new virus strains.
Covid-19 survivors remain at higher risk of psychotic disorders, dementia and similar conditions for at least two years, according to a large study that highlights the mounting burden of chronic illness left in the pandemic’s wake.
“How long these risks remain, whether they affect children and adults similarly, and whether SARS-CoV-2 variants differ in their risk profiles remains unclear,” the study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal, stated.
The resumption of live performance after the long pandemic shutdown brought plenty to cheer about over the past year. But far fewer people are showing up to join those cheers than presenters had hoped.
New York businesses are still digging out from the height of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago, with ongoing supply chain snags, higher costs and difficulty finding employees. And now, they’re being hit with what might be called a state COVID tax.
The first case of monkeypox in someone younger than 18 has been identified in New York, according to health officials.
A man accused of putting a Bronx resident in a coma during an unprovoked attack last week has been taken back into state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision custody at the behest of Hochul.
Hochul made the highly unusual order Friday afternoon, saying during a press conference that she had police bring 55-year-old Bui Van Phu back into custody.
“I need the district attorneys and the judges to do their jobs and when they don’t as the governor I’ll be there,” she said during remarks at the Hampton Synagogue in Westhampton Beach.
Hochul provided an update Friday on the steps the state is making to prepare for hurricane season and any natural disasters.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Staten Island Republican, criticized Hochul’s bail reform policy on Fox News.
New York State Police failed to follow proper procedures when investigating and disciplining a trooper who had a romantic relationship with one of former governor Andrew Cuomo’s daughters, according to a new report released Friday.
The agency failed to properly log its actions or quickly refer the matter to the inspector general, and only located a recording of an interview with the trooper because an investigator found the file in his old emails, the report found.
State trooper Dane Pfeiffer was sent to administrative Siberia in Spring 2020 after then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aide, Melissa DeRosa, tipped his bosses off about the budding romance between Pfeiffer and Cara Kennedy-Cuomo, the governor’s daughter.
Pfeiffer told state investigators it wasn’t his idea to get transferred to the North Country after getting hot and heavy in the spring of 2020 with Cara Kennedy-Cuomo while working gubernatorial security.
Insiders say the former governor resents what happened to him and regrets not staying and fighting for his job, although his impeachment seemed to be nearly a done deal. He may be plotting a return.
Liberal Democratic state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, who has complained about the over-priced real estate market, just moved into a stately $1,137,500 estate in leafy Bedford part of the newly redrawn 17th congressional district she is vying to represent.
Big Democratic names have lined up on both sides of the heated battle between Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney and his progressive challenger, Biaggi.
Maloney defended the DCCC’s decision to boost certain pro-Trump candidates over more moderate Republicans during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie on Saturday endorsed Maloney ahead of his Democratic primary next week.
A late August congressional primary in New York has candidates scrambling to find far-flung voters who tend to summer in places like the Hamptons.
The Hudson Valley could play a key role in determining whether Republicans take back control of the House. Whichever candidate wins tomorrow’s special election may have a leg up in November when he can run as a sitting member with seniority.
Super PACs have spent about $9 million to try to influence the Aug. 23 congressional primaries in New York, more than three times the amount spent in 2018.
Rep. Jerry Nadler’s support of an ex-city pol accused by two women of sexual misconduct should be a deal breaker for voters in the 12th congressional district on Primary Day, according to his arch-rival in the race, Rep. Carolyn Maloney.
Speaking with reporters in Manhattan on Saturday, Maloney questioned Nadler’s mental state — referencing a New York Post editorial which called out Nadler for a series of gaffes during a recent debate. “They call him senile,” she noted.
In the six months since being named the mayor’s chief of staff — a gatekeeper to the most powerful politician in New York City — Frank Carone regularly met with a parade of lobbyists and politicos, and conducted city business at an exclusive Manhattan club.
New York’s mayor vowed to boost nightlife establishments in every corner of the city. But again and again, he returns to the same spot – the restaurant Osteria La Baia, which is run by friends with troubled pasts.
Just seven months into his first term, Adams, a Democrat, has injected himself into his party’s divide between liberals and and centrists, making endorsements in roughly a dozen state legislative primaries.
Two New York City police officers were placed on administrative duty while officials investigate whether they improperly pursued an ATV last week before it collided with an 18-wheeler, killing the driver of the ATV and his passenger, the police said.
New York wants to welcome new immigrants. Its economy and vibrancy depend on them. But an influx has strained a social safety net already on the brink.
Hundreds of migrants — at least some bussed to the Big Apple by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — lined up outside Lincoln Hospital in The Bronx yesterday to get healthcare coverage, food and other items including school supplies and free phones.
Big delivery companies’ trucks clog New York streets — and they get millions in discounts on parking tickets while doing so.
A real estate agent recently collected an eye popping, nearly $20,000 fee on a cheap Upper West Side pad.
Even as the invasive pest spreads across 11 states and threatens agriculture, lanternflies are winning sympathizers who resist kill-on-sight orders.
New Yorkers whose bids for concealed-carry gun licenses were recently rejected by the NYPD will have a shot to apply again — but they’ll need to act by mid-October.
The fate of Brooklyn’s beleaguered Maimonides Medical Center is at the center of a local power struggle — that appeared to boil over yesterday when state Sen. Simcha Felder slammed a group that has pledged to “save” the hospital as “not kosher.”
Brooklyn Councilman Justin Brannan says he wants to prohibit scrap metal shops citywide from buying and selling used catalytic converters, a car part whose precious metals have been fetching big bucks for thieves.
Democrats who are trying to unseat North Country Rep. Elise Stefanik are looking to donors across the nation to raise campaign cash.
A new report from the City of Albany’s housing services advocate lays out how the unyielding pace of eviction filings in city court continues to put pressure on tenants, the court system, and landlords.
The North Colonie Central School District has appointed a new superintendent. Deputy Superintendent Kathleen Skeals will step into the superintendent’s role effective Feb. 1, 2023.
Jack’s Oyster House, which has endured much tumult since the start of the pandemic, abruptly closed in recent days for what third-generation owner Brad Rosenstein describes as extended renovations and needed repairs.
A longtime public school teacher and Schenectady County legislator has died at the age of 65. Minority Leader Brian McGarry’s death was confirmed by county Legislature Chairman Anthony Jasenski on Saturday.
Two people were injured in an overnight shooting in Albany this weekend, one of them a University at Albany student.
One person who had been hiking Friday Zion National Park in Utah remained missing yesterday and about 200 people at a national park in New Mexico were trapped for several hours on Saturday amid heavy rain and flash flooding in parts of the Southwest.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck got married – again – this time at his estate in Georgia.
Actor Gary Busey, 78, has been charged with multiple sex crimes after attending a horror movie convention in New Jersey.
The charges were filed on Friday after the authorities responded to reports of a sexual offense at the convention, Monster-Mania Con, the Cherry Hill Police Department said in a statement.
