Good Monday morning. The vacation countdown is officially underway. T-minus four days before I’m on a plane for Corsica.
It still doesn’t seem real.
One thing I am very unsure of is what to expect about the food that will be available on the GR-20. You can buy provisions at the refugios, and some meals are provided. But since everything has to be either packed and/or helicoptered in, it’s likely to be pretty basic. I’m thinking carbs, carbs, and more carbs. Also alcohol, because, this IS Europe, after all.
This is fine, because carbs are fuel and it takes a lot of fuel to hike 110+ miles with a 25+ pound pack on your back.
Just in case, though, I’ve got some snacks stashed away – mostly protein and/or granola bars and nuts and dried fruit and some mini packets of my beloved peanut butter, which isn’t exactly a popular and easy-to-find staple in Europe. In fact, when I lived in France, all my French friends thought it was disgusting. I mean, why eat peanut butter when you can have Nutella?
While I love chocolate and hazelnuts, I was never a big Nutella fan. Too sweet. I don’t love chocolate croissants, either. I do like sweets as much as the next person, but I don’t have a voracious sweet tooth and, as discussed here with some frequency, would probably opt for salty over sweet – or just plain carby (bagel, baguette etc.) – if given a choice.
This might be because we weren’t a big sweets family when I was little. I remember sometimes having Freihofer’s in the house – chocolate chip cookies and apple turnovers (these were mostly for my Dad, although I really enjoyed picking the white icing off the top), and sometimes fudge-topped yellow cupcakes (again, it was the frosting for me).
We also had the occasional Entenmann’s pound cake, which, of course is standard Jewish suburban fare. Toasted and slathered with strawberry jam is the only way to go here, IMHO.
When we did have ice cream, which was a treat, it was usually Breyers. If I was really lucky, there would be a gallon of mint chocolate chip (the white kind, never green) or fudge swirl stashed in the freezer. If things weren’t going quite my way, it would be Neapolitan.
In my house, the Neapolitan ice cream would be eaten in stages – first the chocolate strip would disappear, then the vanilla, and lastly (if at all) the strawberry, which was shot through with frozen hunks of fruit. Usually, though, that last pink tranche would hang around so long that it became freezer burned and would just be thrown away.
This classic ice cream trio is an Americanized version of an Italian treat known as Spumoni – a molded gelato dessert made with several layers of different colors and flavors – cherry, vanilla, and either chocolate or pistachio are traditionally. (These colors – red, green, and sometimes, white – reflect the stripes on the Italian flag).
There’s usually candied fruits and nuts thrown in for good measure, and a shell of chocolate or a drizzle of chocolate syrup on top.
This is not to be confused with another, yet equally delicious, Italian concoction known as Tartufo, which is a ball of two flavors of gelato filled with either melted chocolate or fruit syrup (red is traditional, like raspberry, cherry, or strawberry), and covered in a shell made of chocolate or cocoa powder. (Sometimes nuts or cinnamon might be used, too).
Spumoni originated in Naples and is plural for spumone, which means “foam” in Italian. Traditionally, this dessert is actually a milk sherbet, which has a creamier texture than ice cream. Sherbert, by the way, required to contain less than 2 percent fat by law.
Also traditional is to make your Spumoni in a terrine and then cut into one inch thick slices. But these days, you can find it in a wide variety of forms – all of them delicious. I have never met a Spumoni I didn’t like. Oh, Happy National Spumoni Day, by the way.
Apparently, Corsica is known for its wild boar casserole (civet de sanglier) and, for dessert, its fiadone, which is a type of cheesecake made from local ewe’s cheese. Sounds a little heavy for hiking, but I’ll let you know what was on the menu when I return.
It’s a perfect day for going back to work after a pretty decent weekend, weather-wise (yeah, there was some rain, but really, that’s par for the course by now). It will be cloudy with a chance of showers in the afternoon, and temperatures will be in the low 80s.
In the headlines…
Hilary made landfall over the northern Baja California peninsula yesterday as a tropical storm, after it was downgraded from a Category 1 hurricane earlier in the day.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) and Palm Springs Mayor Grace Garner said yesterday that their residents should stay in place ahead of Tropical Storm Hilary, and both gave assurances that they are prepared for the storm.
A 5.1 magnitude earthquake shook parts of Southern California at 2:41 p.m. local time yesterday, according to the United States Geological Survey. It was centered seven kilometers outside Ojai, a small city northwest of Los Angeles.
There were no initial reports of significant damage or injuries from the 5.1-magnitude earthquake, one of several emergencies officials had to juggle.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said former President Donald Trump should drop out of the 2024 Republican primary race, arguing he could not win a general election against Biden.
“I think Joe Biden needs to be replaced, but I don’t think Americans would vote for someone who’s been convicted, so I’m just very sorry about how all of this is playing out,” the Louisiana senator said.
Americans don’t like Trump, but Republicans do. And general elections aren’t referendums on one candidate but a choice between two or more – and Americans, as a whole, dislike both Trump and Biden.
In interviews and polling, many Republican voters believe Biden is so weak that picking the most electable candidate to beat him no longer matters.
Trump confirmed that he will not participate in the first Republican primary debate this week. Stating that the public already “knows who I am,” Trump wrote on his social media platform: “I will therefore not be doing the debates!”
Fox News leaned on the former president privately and publicly to join the debate. But all the while he was proceeding with a plan for his own counter-programming.
Biden is preparing to blanket the airwaves with a $25 million television and digital ad campaign in battleground states this month as Republicans are set to face off in their first presidential primary debate.
Despite his mounting legal battles, Trump has clocked in a whopping 46 point lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his main 2024 GOP rival, according to a new national poll.
The Trump campaign and MAGA world blasted DeSantis for remarks appearing to label some of the former president’s supporters “listless vessels.”
Former VP Mike Pence said on that he knew of no widespread declassification of documents by Trump when they were in the White House together, refuting one of the former president’s main defenses against charges of endangering national security.
Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said that No Labels will “very likely” launch a third-party “alternative” if Trump and Biden win the nominations for their parties.
President Biden and his extended family arrived late Friday for a weeklong Lake Tahoe vacation at the $18 million waterfront mansion of billionaire climate investor Tom Steyer.
The Bidens are renting the home for fair market value, the White House said, and will spend about a week in the area, though they will halt their vacation for a day today to visit Maui.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer reportedly told the Justice Department that President Biden would be a “fact witness” in any criminal trial involving his son.
The multi-billion-dollar gap Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Legislature must confront in next year’s state budget appears to be growing larger.
Workers at the state Gaming Commission, which regulates an increasing portfolio of gambling entities, say they have endured a “toxic” work environment, including allegations of sexual harassment, racial discrimination, bullying and political favoritism.
Hochul signed into law the “Save the Hudson” bill on Friday, preventing the dumping of any radiological substance into the Hudson River from decommissioning nuclear power plants.
The bill was introduced to thwart the planned release of 1.3 million gallons of water with traces of radioactive tritium from the retired Indian Point plant 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of New York City.
Convenience store leaders have expressed concerns with a bill that would prohibit the sale of over-the-counter diet pills and weight loss or muscle building supplements to minors.
As building owners anxiously await word on whether the governor will sign a pair of bills that could trigger large rent-overcharge judgments, some are scrambling to find old records while others are making desperate appeals to lawmakers.
Saturday was World Honey Bee Day, and environmental groups in New York used the observance to urge Hochul to sign a bill passed by the Legislature that would ban a pesticide that studies link to bee die-off.
DocGo’s troubles come at a particularly precarious moment in the migrant crisis, as the administrations of Mayor Eric Adams and Hochul face mounting criticism from the public — and from each other — over how they are handling the response.
Former Gov. David Paterson warned there might be a “revolt’’ by US cities against the federal government over the migrant crisis — and claimed “we probably need” such drastic action to wake up the clueless Biden administration.
New York Republicans believe they have a powerful new weapon that might be even more successful against Democrats in upcoming elections than the state’s anti-bail-reform outrage in 2022: the migrant crisis.
New York City has already expanded its controversial migrant complex on Randall’s Island’s youth soccer fields to house 3,000 people — 50% more than expected — before asylum seekers even moved yesterday.
The sprawling tent facility is designed to house adult asylum seekers — and its opening comes as city officials report more than 100,000 migrants have passed through the five boroughs since last year, about 58,000 of whom remain in the city’s care.
More than 200 demonstrators rallied outside a former Staten Island nursing home, chanting, “Close the border!” to protest its possible conversion to an emergency migrant shelter. The event was organized by Curtis Sliwa, who was among those arrested.
SUNY Buffalo State University is evicting 44 migrants from its dorms after parents raised concerns over student safety — but an asylum-seeker advocate claims the move smacks of prejudice.
School officials abruptly canceled an agreement with a local community group that placed dozens of migrants on the campus in May, citing parental worries in the wake of separate sex-assault charges against two migrants relocated from New York City.
Adams’ office rejected an accusation from the Hochul’s administration that the city “involuntarily” bused migrants upstate, prompting the governor’s team to double down on its claim and accuse City Hall of providing misleading details about the incident.
Hochul and Adams agree: There are plenty of state-controlled properties suitable for housing migrants. They just don’t agree on which ones.
Adams of New York City will travel to Israel today, the beginning of a rare three-day foreign trip to highlight his ties to the Jewish community.
Sponsored by UJA-Federation of New York in partnership with the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, the trip will include visits to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
This is Adams’ first overseas trip since becoming mayor. He is slated to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials to discuss technology, antisemitism and more.
Before he left town, Adams joined members of the Anti-Defamation League of New York and New Jersey and community members at the parade ground at Van Cortlandt Park for a Walk Against Hate event.
A swanky fundraiser for Adams on tony Martha’s Vineyard was canceled at the last minute – even as the city’s black political establishment flocked to the New England oasis.
The chair of Brooklyn’s Community Board 13 is under fire — and facing calls for her ouster — for questioning the Muslim faith of residents wearing “Coney” shirts sponsored by a group backing a casino in Coney Island.
Staten Island Democrats have nominated a risqué, wise-cracking lawyer and ex-reality TV star to serve as commissioner on the city Board of Elections.
Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov received an unwanted kiss from a passerby during a television interview, a video posted on social media last week shows.
An NYPD program designed to identify police officers likely to break departmental rules has red-flagged more than 100 cops for a second time — raising concerns that efforts to rein in potentially problematic officers are ineffective.
New York’s recreational marijuana market was dealt a significant blow when a state Supreme Court justice issued an injunction that will block regulators from processing new applications for retail licenses under a program that the judge said is in “legal jeopardy.”
Supreme Court Justice Kevin Bryant blocked the state from processing or issuing marijuana dispensary licenses with an injunction that faulted regulators for creating a program that is at odds with the state law that legalized the drug.
Along with a crackdown on the city’s omnipresent illegitimate weed vendors, law enforcement agencies are also targeting stores selling unregulated, potent marijuana munchies.
Two major fires in both South Williamsburg and Brownsville, Brooklyn left 10 FDNY members injured along with three young children, who officials said were left home alone yesterday.
All 13 patients were in stable condition yesterday afternoon, but the three children — ages 4, 5 and 8 — were hospitalized with severe injuries. One firefighter’s condition was considered critical, but he responded well to treatment and was alert.
A tidal wave of stray cats has hit New York City this summer, paralyzing its shelter system as volunteers scramble for solutions and call for more city action.
A man who sold a fatal dose of fentanyl-laced heroin to Michael K. Williams, the actor who rose to fame for his portrayal of a stickup man named Omar Little on the HBO series “The Wire,” was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in prison.
A man attempting to swim the 315-mile Hudson River drew some unwanted attention last week when his videographer used a drone improperly in the High Peaks Wilderness.
Travers Stakes will be held next Saturday at Saratoga Race Course. Meanwhile, a two-night Phish concert to benefit Vermont flood victims will draw fans that Friday and Saturday to Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
Work begins this month to ensure the village will be able to draw water from two new wells to replace those that were polluted by PFOA chemicals from the state Superfund Site at the Saint-Gobain McCaffrey Street plant.
Former New York Sen. James Buckley, an early agitator for then-President Richard Nixon’s resignation and winner of a landmark lawsuit challenging campaign spending limits, died Friday at age 100.
John Wolcott, a passionate long-time defender of preserving the Pine Bush ecosystem, self-proclaimed Albany historian, and thorn in the side of developers and government officials for decades, died this past week. He was 91.
Albany Bishop Emeritus Howard J. Hubbard, who began his clerical service as a “street priest” in Albany’s most challenged neighborhoods and rose to lead the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany for 37 years, died Saturday — days after suffering a stroke.
