Good Tuesday morning.
Today presented an embarrassment of riches when it came to food-related subject matter. I had all these options to choose from:
National Pepperoni Pizza Day.
National String Cheese Day.
National Queso Day.
National Fried Rice Day.
National Punch (the kind you drink, not deliver to the chin) Day.
Whoever thought that it would be a smart idea to have queso, which is a delicious Tex-Mex cheese-based (but not all cheese) dip, share a day with string cheese – a sort of dieters delight, generally speaking – perhaps needs to think again.
Otherwise, though, this was a tough decision. I dimly recollect having gone down the pepperoni pizza rabbit hole at some past date, and since I don’t drink (I know, I know, punch can be nonalcoholic; I fondly recall the sort they served at Friday night kiddush for the kids that was basically rainbow sherbet and ginger ale)…
Anyway, fried rice it is!
So fried rice is a staple of the modern-day Chinese restaurant, usually featuring bits of vegetables or pork or both, and also egg. It’s also one of those clean-out-the-fridge dishes that you can easily make at home.
(Pro tip: It’s best to use older, drier rice, which ensures you don’t end up with a gloppy or soupy consistency. Also, try cooking all your ingredients separately – especially the eggs – though it takes more time, for a better and more delicious outcome).
Apparently, though, it has ancient origins and is believed to have been invented sometime during the Sui dynasty (A.D. 589–618), in the city of Yangzhou in eastern Jiangsu province. (If you really want to take a deep dive on this, click here).
There are multiple versions of fried rice in various different cultures around the world. In Japan, for example, yakimeshi is made with short-grain rice in place of the long-grain rice more frequently employed in China.
Yahimeshi is often made with ham, egg, and green onion. And if you happen to order it in Osaka, you may be served something that is seasoned with Worcestershire sauce rather than soy.
Indonesia, meanwhile, is famous for its dark, caramelized nasi goreng, which usually contains sweet soy sauce (Kecap Manis), fish sauce, shrimp paste, tamarind, and is often topped with a runny fried egg.
The Cambridge English Dictionary defines “nasi goreng” as an “Indonesian rice dish with pieces of meat and vegetables added”, though it’s apparently also common in nearby Malaysia and Singapore. (The Malaysian version might also feature anchovies, bird’s-eye chilis, and shallots).
And then, of course, there are the Latin-American varieties of fried rice, like Puerto Rico’s “arroz mamposteao,’” Peru’s “arroz chaufa,” Cuba’s “arroz frito,” and Ecuador’s “chaulafan.”
As to the history of National Fried Rice Day…well, that’s 100 percent capitalism. It was created in 2018 by Benihana, the restaurant chain famous for introducing the concept of teppanyaki (colloquially known as hibachi – you know, where they cook the food in front of you and squirt sake and flip shrimp into your mouth?), which originated in Japan in the late 1940s, to American diners.
It’s going to be a good day for cozying up with a big bowl of fried rice – or something else that warms your stomach – as it will be overcast with the chance of showers and temperatures in the low 70s.
NOTE: Google reminds me that it’s also National Voter Registration Day. (So typical that I am fixated on food and filling my stomach and forgetting my civic duty).
According to U.S. Census data from 2020, as many as 1 in 4 eligible Americans are not registered to vote. Every year, millions of Americans find themselves unable to vote because they miss a registration deadline, don’t update their registration, or aren’t sure how to register.
Don’t let yourself be one of them! Let your voice be heard this November! The Google Doodle helpfully brings you to the state Board of Elections website, where you can find all the resources you need to register – if you’re not registered already – as well as information on election deadlines, poll site locations and more.
And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
In the headlines…
The Queen’s coffin was lowered into the Royal Vault – the resting place of many past monarchs. Below the chapel lie King George III, IV and V, William IV and others. Last year Prince Philip, the Queen’s husband, was also laid to rest there.
…but her final resting place is the King George VI Memorial Chapel, where her coffin will join those of her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.
The president and first lady Jill Biden were seated 14 rows back during the Queen’s funeral service at Westminster Abbey that drew 2,000 guests — including some 500 of the world’s presidents, kings, princes and prime ministers.
They were behind the president of Poland and ahead of the Czech Republic prime minister. The president of Switzerland sat one seat over, next to the U.S. First Lady.
U.S. Health Sec. Xavier Becerra supported a surprise comment over the weekend from Biden, who declared the pandemic over.
Patients, however, said the president was being insensitive at best, and some public health experts said his words were at odds with the science.
Some public health leaders say it is irresponsible to announce the pandemic is over because about 400 people are still dying daily from the virus, and up to 23 million Americans are living with long Covid.
Dr. Anthony Fauci walked back Biden’s assertion that the coronavirus pandemic was “over”, saying a lot depends on how we respond to current variables and future virus variants.
A recent study of more than 6 million people 65 and older found that seniors who had Covid-19 had a substantially higher risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease within a year.
The CDC moved three tropical island getaways and one Middle Eastern nation into its “moderate” risk category for Covid-19. There were no new additions to its “high” risk category this week.
Two-and-a-half years into the pandemic, millions of Americans are still suffering from long-term effects of COVID-19, otherwise known as Long COVID. The health impacts are clear. What’s not clear is the impact on the economy and the workplace.
At least 27 people were killed when a bus in southwest China crashed while transporting them to a Covid-19 quarantine facility, local authorities said, drawing outrage from a public growing weary with the country’s strict “zero-Covid” policies.
Workers are returning to U.S. offices at the highest rate since the pandemic forced most workplaces to temporarily close in 2020, as infection rates continue to fall and more companies intensify efforts to bring employees back.
New York is no longer releasing COVID-19 case numbers by school district, closing down the COVID-19 School Report Card, which had been a source of local statistics for two years.
Donald Trump has blasted Biden for allegedly tarnishing the country’s reputation on the international stage while speculating that he would have been given a better seat at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.
The former president finds himself without the power of the presidency, staring at a host of prosecutors and lawyers who have him and his associates in their sights.
Trump today will make his first bid to convince an appeals court panel to grant him the same deference that a U.S. District Court judge did when she blocked the Justice Department’s criminal review of the national security secrets stashed at Mar-a-Lago.
The trial of Thomas J. Barrack Jr., an informal adviser to Trump accused of acting as an unregistered agent of the United Arab Emirates, could shed light on how foreign governments jockeyed for access to the Trump administration.
Trump defended the controversial call he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger following the 2020 election, saying in a statement that it was “an absolutely PERFECT phone call.”
Newly released videos show Trump allies and contractors who were working on his behalf handling sensitive voting equipment in a rural Georgia county weeks after the 2020 election.
A county sheriff in Texas announced that he had opened a criminal investigation into flights that took 48 migrants from a shelter in San Antonio to the island resort of Martha’s Vineyard last week.
Javier Salazar, the sheriff of Bexar County, where San Antonio is located, said in a news release that his office is investigating whether the migrants were victims of crimes.
Salazar, a Democrat, told reporters that his understanding was that on Wednesday a Venezuelan migrant was paid a “bird dog fee” to recruit 50 migrants from a resource center in San Antonio.
For the first time, the number of arrests of undocumented immigrants along the southwestern border exceeded two million in one year, according to newly released government data, continuing a historic pace of undocumented immigrants coming to the US.
Migrants from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are driving the continued record pace of illegal migration at the southern border, with more than three times as many migrants from those countries arrested so far this year as at the same point in 2021.
Major U.S. companies pledged to hire more than 20,000 refugees over the next three years, a number that refugee advocates say will help integrate the wave of Afghans and Ukrainians who arrived over the last year.
Adnan Syed walked out of prison for the first time since he was a teenager, having spent 23 years fighting his conviction on charges that he murdered his former high school girlfriend, a case that was chronicled in the first season of the hit podcast “Serial.”
Judge Melissa M. Phinn of Baltimore City Circuit overturned Syed’s murder conviction after prosecutors filed documents questioning the trial and the evidence presented, without saying that they believe he is innocent.
Saying her ruling was in the “interest of justice and fairness,” Phinn ordered Syed placed on home detention, wearing a GPS monitor, while Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s office chooses whether to drop his charges or to try him again.
Gov. Kathy Hochul trashed the charges brought against the Big Apple’s infamous “ax man” as too light — despite ignoring calls to remove Manhattan’s soft-on-crime district attorney and refusing efforts to toughen the state’s bail law.
Hochul said up to 100 Spanish-speaking state police officers are preparing to deploy to Puerto Rico after it was pummeled by Hurricane Fiona.
“Our brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico are incredibly resilient but, in times like this, New York will be there to help in any way we can, including sending personnel and resources to help the island and its residents recover,” Hochul said.
Weather officials warned Puerto Rico could see landslides and mudslides amid life-threatening rain stemming from Hurricane Fiona, which has knocked out power for much of the island and prompted overflowing rivers and flash floods.
Hochul announced the release of the 2022 Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Comprehensive Management Plan update.
Albany County DA David Soares and the state Board of Elections are moving forward with an investigation into alleged elections fraud involving the effort to get GOP nominee for governor Rep. Lee Zeldin on a third-party line for the Nov. 8 general election.
With mail-in ballots about to go out and early voting just six weeks away, Hochul said she still needs a few more days before committing to debates against Zeldin.
New York Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos will be taking personal leave to assist the humanitarian effort in Ukraine, he announced on Twitter.
Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara is calling for legislative approval before utility rate increases go into effect.
New York City, battered by economic headwinds and mired in a stubborn pandemic-driven downturn afflicting employment, tourism and tax revenue, is teetering on the brink of a severe budget crisis.
Frank Carone, chief of staff and longtime friend to Mayor Eric Adams, is stepping down by the end of the year.
Carone, a Brooklyn power broker who has drawn scrutiny for his past business dealings, says he will lead the mayor’s re-election campaign.
In another high-profile potential shakeup, Lorraine Grillo, Adams’ first deputy mayor, is likely to step down from her post around the same time.
As New York struggles to find housing for a wave of migrants, Adams is seriously considering housing them on cruise ships — a proposal that homeless advocates have called insulting and alienating.
An asylum seeker killed herself in a New York City homeless shelter over the weekend, Adams said, as his administration continues to scramble to address a shelter system crisis fueled by an influx of Latin American migrants.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott accused Adams of hypocrisy for attacking his migrant-relocation program while giving a pass to President Biden and the Democratic mayor of El Paso.
A nonprofit that runs a downtown Brooklyn homeless shelter couldn’t account for how it spent nearly $2.4 million in funding it received from the city’s Department of Homeless Services over three years, an audit by the state comptroller’s office found.
Open New York, a pro-housing group that successfully pushed a plan to build affordable housing in one of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods, is seeking to sharpen its political teeth by hiring an Adams administration official as its new leader.
Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers living in NYCHA developments will be able to get free Wi-Fi and basic cable as part of a multimillion-dollar program rolled out by Adams, who touted the initiative as a long-overdue “21st century infrastructure” necessity.
A Brooklyn councilwoman is taking the city’s public college system to task for assigning a former employee of an anti-Israel BDS group to investigate a high-profile incident of antisemitism flagged by a Jewish college professor.
Three FDNY members died in the past week from 9/11-related illnesses, pushing the death toll for city firefighters who toiled at Ground Zero in the weeks after the 2001 terrorist attacks to over 300.
Spectrum News NY1’s longtime weatherman Erick Adame said he has been fired by the news outlet after he appeared in an adult webcam website. The video of him participating in NSFW activity was sent to his employer and his mom, he said.
Adame, in a statement on Instagram posted shortly after he filed the court papers, announced his termination and revealed that he was getting professional help over what he described as his “compulsive behavior.”
The number of departing “Saturday Night Live” cast members has now risen to eight: Chris Redd, who has been with “S.N.L.” since fall 2017 and has played characters including Kanye West and Adams will not be returning this season, NBC said.
New York’s state court system boasts a commitment to operating with “transparency,” but is guarding the recent Court of Appeals vote that designated Associate Judge Anthony Cannataro as the court’s acting chief judge like a deeply classified state secret.
A federal judge has tossed out a defamation suit filed against ex-New York Chief Judge Janet DiFiore — who resigned last month amid an ongoing ethics probe — as “implausible to frivolous.”
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer was in Troy to assure the city’s public housing and low-income residents that he would be looking to add $1 billion to the federal budget to ensure that this winter’s HEAP funding doesn’t run out as it has in previous years.
The four hospitals, medical college and home care agency under the Albany Medical Center umbrella will share a unified logo to reflect ongoing efforts to streamline services and branding across the system, hospital executives announced.
Investigators building a criminal case against an alleged voyeur accused of surreptitiously filming victims in Manhattan seized evidence from the Broome County home of the man’s father: Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas McAvoy.
A man who lived in a Schenectady apartment where sheriff’s deputies discovered what appeared to be a methamphetamine lab was in custody yesterday and facing criminal charges, County Attorney Chris Gardner said.
