Good Thursday morning.
This week is flying by for me. Maybe it was the 24-hour turnaround trip to D.C. that then caused work to pile up to my ears that did it. I’m just now digging out…Not sorry, though, that we are steaming toward a fresh start in 2023.
Since I’m coming up for air, metaphorically speaking, it seems like a good time to take a breather on some of the historically heavy content and switch to something a little sweeter – if not necessarily lighter.
Today is National Brownie Day, a day in celebration of the chocolatey and uniquely American treat we all know and love (unless we’re allergic or otherwise adverse to chocolate, I guess, or if we prefer Blondies…I’ll get to that a bit later).
Unusually, it seems the interwebs more or less agree on the origin story of the brownie, which goes something like…
Bertha Palmer, the wife of Palmer hotel owner Potter Palmer, was president of the Ladies Board for Managers for the World Columbian Exposition of 1893. Event organizers thought it would be nifty to have special dessert created for the boxed lunches served at the Women’s Pavillion, and they asked her to come up with something great.
Having a hotel kitchen at her disposal, Palmer naturally went straight to the pastry chefs and tasked them with whipping up something smaller than a cake, but easier to eat than a piece of pie – something ideal for tucking into a boxed lunch.
The chefs turned out a double the chocolate square topped with walnuts, and an apricot glaze the hotel (now part of the Hilton chain) still employs, and also sells boxes of for a fairly reasonable price, if you’re not interested in trying your hand at the original recipe yourself.
The only caveat: They didn’t call this treat a brownie.
The first recipe for brownies appeared in print in a Fanny Farmer cookbook – the 1896 edition of The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, to be exact. But, horror of horrors! There wasn’t any actual chocolate in the recipe, which contained molasses and pecans. Technically, I guess it was a blondie by today’s standards, but even that is something of a stretch.
The first reference of chocolate and brownies together appeared in an ad in the 1898 issue of the Kansas City Journal, and the first recipe for this decadent morsel was featured in the Machias Cookbook, a Maine community-sourced creation, though the name of the dessert was “Brownie’s Food,” and it called for 3/4 of a cup of grated chocolate. (Actually, this recipe sounds pretty darn good).
Brownies at the time were little fictional elf-like characters created by the writer Palmer Cox. (BTW, that link is VERY detailed regarding the history of all variety of brownies – edible and otherwise).
There are about a bazillion different kinds of brownies – from peppermint to peanut butter and everything in between. You can make them from a mix or from scratch, with flour or without, with nuts or without, with sugar or without (date brownies are great, don’t knock ’em until you try ’em).
Vegan. Raw (in other words, not baked). Gluten-free. Frosted. Even with black beans, sweet potatoes, avocados, and, dare I say it, zucchini. (Keeps them very moist, and you can’t even taste it, I swear).
I personally prefer the edge pieces that have an almost burnt crust to them, and thankfully there are special pans you can buy to maximize your crust-to-brownie ratio. I haven’t actually had a really to-die for brownie in a long time. Anybody got some good local recommendations?
Yesterday’s weather was really a gift, even though it was a little on the wet side. I went outside without a coat, got into the car and saw it was 60 degrees. SIXTY DEGREES! In December. It was a record high minimum (the warmest lowest temperature at the day’s onset). But don’t get used to it.
Today will be a little cooler, with temperatures in the mid-40s, and mostly cloudy skies.
In the headlines…
Sen. Raphael Warnock’s win in the Georgia runoff this week padded Democrats’ Senate majority, which could help President Joe Biden, who is headed into the last two years of his first term with a divided government.
“Fifty-one, a slim majority, that is great!” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said with a wide smile at a press conference, holding up five fingers on one hand and one finger on the other. “It’s big, it’s significant, we can breathe a sigh of relief.”
Nearly a decade after 20 children and six educators were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Biden joined their loved ones and survivors of the mass shooting at a national vigil Wednesday for victims of gun violence.
Biden signed legislation curbing the use of confidentiality agreements that block victims of sexual harassment from speaking publicly about misconduct in the workplace.
“Instead of protecting trade secrets as it was initially intended, abusive use of NDAs silence employees and covers up serious and systemic misconduct,” said New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat who introduced the measure.
The newly released defense authorization bill for fiscal 2023 all but completes a decade-long campaign to overhaul the tradition-bound military justice system, advocates of the change say.
“This is a historic milestone in our efforts to reform and professionalize the military justice system,” Gillibrand said.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is under investigation by the House of Representatives ethics committee for an unspecified alleged violation of congressional rules, the panel announced.
In a brief public statement, the panel said that the matter is still open and has been extended into the new year, when the new Congress begins, and it will announce a course of action then.
The eight-member committee provided no details about the nature of the investigation, saying only that it had decided to extend its consideration of a matter brought to its attention on June 23 of this year.
Ocasio Cortez will not say whether she’s still using the Chinese social media platform TikTok amid national security concerns about the video-hosting service.
Indiana filed a pair of lawsuits against TikTok, alleging the platform is deceiving consumers about its content and data security, the latest in a series of moves by state officials to push back against the platform’s influence on children and its connections to China.
The Biden administration argued to the U.S. Supreme Court that social media giants like Google could in some instances have responsibility for user content, adopting a stance that could potentially undermine a federal law shielding companies from liability.
Two congressional committees headed by Democrats reportedly ask in new letters whether Jared Kushner was led “to improperly influence U.S. tax, trade and national security policies” to bail out his family’s real estate business.
At least two more documents bearing classified markings were reportedly discovered in the vicinity of former president Donald Trump’s Florida home.
The discovery came as series of searches were conducted by a team hired by the former president, after a federal judge directed his lawyers to look for any materials still in his possession.
The materials, discovered in a West Palm Beach, Florida location, were turned over to federal authorities as part of a continuing investigation into Trump’s retention of sensitive government records after he left office in 2021.
For the former president, who raced to announce his third run for the White House in hopes of clearing the Republican field, the losses, legal setbacks and embarrassments are rapidly piling up.
Republicans from Georgia to Washington traded blame for their bruising defeats in the Senate races. Much of it landed on Trump.
German authorities said they had dismantled a suspected terror cell on suspicion of planning to overthrow the government, rekindling concerns in the country about the risks posed by domestic terrorists.
Among those detained were a German prince, a former far-right member of Parliament, an active soldier and former members of the police and elite special forces.
China dropped many of its quarantine and testing requirements and curtailed the power of local officials to shut down entire city blocks, as the government accelerates plans to dismantle zero-Covid controls in the wake of nationwide protests.
Biden’s administration said it will appeal a federal court’s decision that invalidated a pandemic-era order that blocks migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border as other related legal challenges move forward.
Federal prosecutors announced charges against a Florida state representative, Republican state Rep. Joe Harding, who allegedly swindled thousands of dollars in coronavirus relief loans from the Small Business Administration.
Harding sponsored the state’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
A Tennessee rapper who boasted about committing Covid-19 relief fraud in a music video was sentenced to over six years in prison, prosecutors said.
Jenna Ortega is making headlines for the now-infamous viral dance number in her Netflix show Wednesday, but it’s not because of her stellar moves. The actress recently admitted to having COVID while filming the dance scene.
Hospitalizations and Covid cases have increased sharply in Los Angeles since Thanksgiving. But fear — and masks — are missing this time around.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted Pfizer’s application for an RSV vaccine for older adults, and is expected to make an approval decision by the spring.
Public health officials in New York are urging people to take precautions this winter amid a “tridemic” of illnesses: COVID-19, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus, known as RSV.
“These three viruses are all making it very difficult for us to practice routine medicine, because we’re so busy taking care of those patients,” said Infection Disease Chief Dr. Aaron Glatt.
“We are not out of the woods,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said. “The threat is real, and we have cases.”
To help alleviate potential overcrowding and staffing issues at hospitals, Hochul hinted she may issue an executive order to make it easier to bring in doctors and nurses from out of state as well as transfer workers in-state to hard hit medical facilities.
Long Island has the highest level of COVID-19 hospitalizations and new infections in the state, officials said, warning that the increase, coupled with current spikes in both influenza and RSV, could lead to a difficult winter.
Upstate New York health care leaders and lawmakers called for the passage of legislation that they say will ease the hiring challenges that have created untenable emergency room wait times and put hospital budgets in the red.
Hochul has signed legislation that requires nursing homes to notify residents and their families when an infection is detected within the facility.
A “Buy American” bill passed by the Legislature could cost New York City millions of dollars more to de-ice the streets next winter, and Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch is urging Hochul to come to the rescue.
Hochul does not support calls for a probe of the New York attorney general’s handling of sexual harassment allegations against her top aide Ibrahim Khan despite accusations AG Letitia James sat on the news for two months as she ran for reelection.
New details from Sofia Quintanar, who has accused Khan of harassment, said she believed that the AG’s approach to her complaint had been far less aggressive than its treatment of harassment allegations against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Quintanar, 33, claims that Khan grabbed her and forcibly kissed her. At the time of the alleged incident, Quintanar was no longer working at the attorney general’s office.
“I thank the women who came forward, and I want to assure them that they were heard and that I believe them,” James said in a statement. “My office treated this matter as aggressively as every other matter that has come before our office.”
“When the process concluded, my office spoke with each individual and informed them that allegations were substantiated,” James added. “I am confident in the steps that were taken to swiftly review the allegations and in the integrity of the investigation.”
In her appearance on “Inside City Hall,” James said she’s angry at Khan, while defending how she handled the case. “Deeply disappointed in him,” she said. “And there is no excuse for his behavior at all. None whatsoever. I believe these women.”
Hochul has a piece of legislation sitting on her desk that would allow casino operators to hire a diverse range of convicted felons — from drug peddlers to killers.
Andrea Stewart-Cousins was unanimously re-elected the Democratic conference leader in the state Senate. Hours later, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie was also re-nominated to serve as the chamber’s top speaker, and is expected to easily win.
A European cruise line’s expansion plans will bring an annual $102 million in new revenue to New York City — as well as more than 200,000 additional tourists per year, Mayor Eric Adams predicted.
Adams is ready to take aim at one of the largest problems escalating across the city: An acute housing shortage that has driven up the cost of renting and buying a home.
An influential hotel workers’ union is flexing its power at a key moment in the city’s recovery, affecting major projects from casinos to homeless shelters.
Activists slammed Adams’ recent plan to help those with severe mental illness at a rally on the City Hall steps.
An ongoing shortage of municipal workers has one city official challenging whether New York City’s self-proclaimed “get stuff done” mayor can live up to that mantra.
Adams was a surprise guest at Cuomo’s 65th birthday party, held at Kenneth Cole and Maria Cuomo Cole’s swank Sutton Place apartment.
The wannabe Nazis who planned to shoot up a synagogue in New York City plotted with two other people, including a state prison inmate whom they told about their plans to get a gun, prosecutors revealed.
State parole officials could have prevented two deaths if they’d done their job and revoked the parole of a convicted criminal newly accused of two murders, a stray-bullet shooting and other crimes, the outraged head of the NYPD’s biggest union said.
An FDNY fireboat skipper who crashed into a charter boat, killing a Belgian firefighter on board in New York Harbor this spring, acted recklessly and should be held liable for the death, according to a new court filing.
The MTA will once again ban the consumption of alcohol on commuter trains during this weekend’s SantaCon.
Reporters and editors at The New York Times begin a one-day strike today, saying talks between their union and the company had dragged on and showed limited progress. It’s the first strike in over 40 years at the organization.
“Today we were ready to work for as long as it took to reach a fair deal, but management walked away from the table with five hours to go,” the union tweeted. “It’s official: members are walking out for 24 hours on Thursday. We know what we’re worth.”
Councilwoman Julie Menin introduced legislation that she hopes will help reign in sky high hospital bill prices by creating a new office of healthcare accountability.
City lawmakers are set to introduce legislation that would impose caps on how often movie and television crews can film in certain parts of the Big Apple.
Former President Barack Obama and the Disney chief executive Robert A. Iger were the marquee speakers at an event commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting that took the lives of 20 first graders and six educators.
The Metropolitan Opera has been the victim of a cyberattack that has kept its website and box office out of commission for more than 30 hours, the company’s general manager said.
Union members of United University Professions as well as elected leaders are rallying in support of Buffalo State and Fredonia — two of 19 SUNY campuses they cite as facing projected budget deficits.
The spring 2023 semester will be the last for students and faculty at Cazenovia College. The Madison County college announced it would permanently close after the spring 2023 semester — citing financial concerns.
The Saratoga Springs City Council considered and rejected a proposal that would work around Saratoga County’s sole power to set closing time for bars.
A state appellate court rejected the Colonie town justice court clerk’s policy on public records requests in an unanimous decision that prevents her from setting the guidelines under which records can be requested.
Albany Symphony Music Director Alan Miller will no longer conduct this weekend’s “Holiday Classics” concerts at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall due to illness. Patrick Dupre Quigley, founder and artistic director of Seraphic Fire in Miami, Fla., will step in for Miller.
Aaron Judge is staying in the Bronx. The superstar slugger and reigning AL MVP is reportedly re-signing with the New York Yankees on a nine-year, $360 million deal, according to multiple reports.
