Good Thursday morning.
Summer means a lot of great things on the culinary front: Freshly picked corn, homegrown tomatoes that actually taste like Mother Nature intended and not some sad facsimile thereof, berries bursting with juice . And then, of course, there’s fair food like fried dough, giant turkey legs, and wine slushies.
I have a lot of great summer food memories, but I have to confess that S’mores don’t figure prominently among them. I know this iconic combination of melted marshmallow and chocolate sandwiched between two graham crackers just screams “SUMMER” to some people.
But I never really could get into it. Too messy. Too gooey. Too much going on. I never could get the toasted marshmallow technique down, and always burned mine to a cinder. Some people dig that, I know, peeling off layer upon layer of charred molten sugar. But it’s not really not my jam.
I am a big fan of chocolate, as I’ve discussed many times in the past. But I could take or leave marshmallows, which really don’t taste like much anyway.
Interestingly, they date back to ancient times and do have a plant-based history. They were made from sap of the mallow plant, Athaea officinalis, though that has long since fallen by the wayside. Gelatin has replaced sap in the manufacturing process and is now mixed with corn syrup, starch, sugar and water to make the (usually) white confection we’re familiar with today.
And graham crackers would certainly not be my first pick for a snack, if offered a choice between those and…well, anything, really. If pressed, I would say honey grahams and/or cinnamon grahams are preferable to plain.
Graham crackers were created in the early 1800s by a Presbyterian minister named Sylvester Graham, who made the then-unsweetened biscuit a staple of the vegetarian diet he espoused for good health.
Apparently, Graham believed that this diet, focused largely on fruits and vegetables as well as limited dairy and very bland starches, was the key to curbing what he thought was a most dangerous habit: Self abuse (AKA masturbation). Ironically, Graham died at the relatively young age (from a modern-day perspective) of 57.
It’s a long way from lust-curbing crackers to the gooey, sticky and indulgent treat that is S’mores, the origins of which are somewhat murky, buttThe first official recipe for the concoction was included in that 1927 classic, Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts.
The name is a smushed together version of “some more”, which is apparently what one says after consuming their first bite – as in gimmee some more of that amazing stuff.
Commercial iterations of this campfire treat include Mallomars, which first appeared on shelves in 1913, followed a few years later by Moonpies.
Today is National S’mores Day – another mystery for the ages as to why, but whom am I to complain? If you don’t have a campfire handy, not to worry! You can make S’mores on your stove – gas is easier, enjoy it while you can.
After a perfect gift of a summer day, we’re in for some rain. Skies will be cloudy in the morning, with showers in the afternoon and the chance of a thunderstorm. Temperatures will be in the low 80s.
In the headlines…
An armed Utah man accused of making violent threats against President Joe Biden, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and others was shot and killed by FBI agents hours before the president landed in the state yesterday, authorities said.
Special agents were trying to serve a warrant on the home of Craig Deleeuw Robertson in Provo, south of Salt Lake City, when the shooting happened at 6:15 a.m., the FBI said in a statement.
Biden and Air Force One touched down at the Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base at the Salt Lake City International Airport yesterday afternoon.
Biden declared that his economic policies are reviving U.S. manufacturing as he toured the West to drum up support for his efforts on jobs and inflation in the face of voters’ doubts.
Biden escalated his confrontation with China by signing an executive order banning American investments in key technology industries that could be used to enhance Beijing’s military capabilities.
The new rules would place restrictions on investments by US private equity and venture capital firms, as well as joint ventures, in Chinese artificial intelligence, quantum computing and semiconductors. The rules will be subject to a public comment period.
Senior administration officials said that the effort stemmed from national security goals rather than economic interests, and that the categories it covered were intentionally narrow in scope.
House Oversight Republicans laid out their intention to accuse Biden of corruption even without direct evidence that he financially benefited from Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, a shift in a strategy they said was launched to investigate the president.
The new strategy is highlighted in a memo released by the committee yesterday. Critics – including the White House – said the report is a political hatchet job that offers no proof that Biden was involved.
Former President Donald Trump argued that the documents obtained by the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee show that President Biden took bribes as vice president.
Prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith obtained a search warrant early this year for Trump’s long-dormant Twitter account as part of their inquiry into his attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein was briefly hospitalized this week after she suffered what her office characterized as a “minor fall” at her home in San Francisco, the latest in a series of health issues for the longtime lawmaker.
The senator, 90, tripped over a chair in her kitchen around 1 p.m., according to her office. She was admitted briefly to the medical center at the University of California, San Francisco, “as a precaution,” a spokesman said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is toughening her public safety platform to help Democrats retake control of the House, a strategic reset after Republicans won a series of upsets in the state’s congressional races by seizing on concerns over crime.
Describing increasingly brazen cybercriminals keen to attack the nation’s financial capital, Hochul said New York was “bulking” up its protections and better aligning agencies and communities to face down the threat.
Hochul New York’s first-ever statewide cybersecurity strategy aimed at protecting the state’s digital infrastructure from today’s cyber threats.
In the final days before state campaign filings were required for the first six months of the year, an unusual source of money began flowing into Hochul’s campaign coffers: Leaders of nursing homes and rehab center under scrutiny for wrongdoing.
Nearly a dozen Republican lawmakers are suing to keep their outside income, and some of them stand to lose far more than their recent legislative pay raise.
New York will soon make $3 million available to help homeowners in eight additional counties affected by last month’s storms, which caused destructive flash flooding in the Hudson Valley and upstate.
More cannabis farmers are pushing for New York state officials to expand who can apply for a retail license as a state Supreme Court justice will decide tomorrow if the CAURD program is constitutional, threatening to again put the industry on hold.
The New York Farm Bureau is backing Hochul’s push to expedite work visas for migrants coming to the state as farmers face a labor shortage.
Hochul pledged the state would do more to assist the city with its crushing migrant crisis as cost estimates balloon, but indicated more state funding would not come before next year’s budget, which she said could include another $1 billion for the city.
The flow of migrants into New York City includes a large number of families with children, adding another layer of complexity to a situation Mayor Adams says is already at the breaking point.
New York City, Adams said, is on track to spend a staggering $12 billion on housing and caring for migrants by mid-2025.
“With more than 57,300 individuals currently in our care on an average night, it amounts to $9.8 million a day. Almost $300 million a month and nearly $3.6 billion a year,” the mayor said. “That’s the floor, not the ceiling.”
“The immigration system in this nation is broken; it has been broken for decades,” Adams said, declaring: “Today, New York City has been left to pick up the pieces.”
Adams called for the federal government to declare a state of emergency to manage the “crisis” at the border, saying the influx of asylum seekers could end up costing the city billions of dollars in the coming years.
New York’s House Republican delegation blasted Hochul and Adams for awarding billions in “no-bid” emergency contracts to address the migrant crisis.
The White House is reportedly finally dispatching one of President Biden’s top aides to the Big Apple for a sit-down with Adams that is set for this morning.
An assessment team led by the Department of Homeland Security inspected New York City’s Roosevelt Hotel migrant processing center yesterday as new arrivals were forced to sleep on the sidewalk outside the overflowing landmark just last week.
Biden won’t cough up major federal assistance to help New York City address the migrant crisis until after the 2024 presidential election, a prominent lawyer with close ties to Adams’ camp claimed.
Lady Gaga’s dad is leading the charge against unruly migrants living near his Upper West Side home and restaurant — griping they’re flooding the ritzy neighborhood with a constant stream of hookers and other bad behavior.
As public school leaders and advocates start to evaluate what local districts will need to give students of migrant families a proper education, they’re urging New York City and state officials to maintain transparency about the incoming young asylum seekers.
The city of New York will limit how many homeless families it relocates to Newark under a program that New Jersey’s largest city alleged often left families in uninhabitable or illegal units, without any leverage to demand improvements.
Howard Redmond, an NYPD inspector who oversaw Bill de Blasio and his family’s around-the-clock security while the former mayor was in office, pleaded guilty to felony charges stemming from his work for City Hall moments after they were unsealed.
Redmond pleaded guilty to deleting messages to keep them from investigators, who were looking into whether the former mayor used his police detail for personal and political tasks.
Adams recently celebrated a “record-breaking year” for affordable housing. But one metric the city uses to measure progress – the financing of deals for new construction and preservation of affordable units – is still lower than under de Blasio.
A city agency responsible for protecting the rights of incarcerated people took steps to reassert its authority, suing the Department of Correction and the city over a lack of transparency as its members sought an outside authority to take control of the jails.
The suit comes as a Manhattan federal judge is expected to hear arguments about putting Rikers Island and the rest of the city’s jail system under federal receivership amid the difficulties Adams’ administration has had curbing violence and reducing deaths.
New York City Councilmember Lincoln Restler said his office has been bombarded with “threatening” calls in response to a climate bill he introduced last Thursday that could make ice cream trucks switch to electric or solar-powered generators.
A nonprofit said it had stopped 1,000 overdoses. Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor said he was eyeing its methods, which are against the law.
The family of the 65-year-old Queens woman who lost “20 pounds of flesh” in a grisly shark attack off Rockaway Beach said she is “grateful to be alive” after the harrowing encounter.
A Brooklyn teen died in an apparent drowning this week after he jumped into the swimming hole below Fawn’s Leap — a popular waterfall in the Catskill Mountains, authorities said.
A teenager turned away by a bar in one of Manhattan’s fanciest hotels started a campaign to sully its reputation, a lawsuit says. The hotel is suing him for defamation.
The office space-sharing company WeWork said they have “substantial doubt” they can stay in business over the next 12 months.
Schenectady leaders already have several other projects in mind for the $2.5 million in federal COVID-19 relief monies they plan to revoke now that a highly-touted aquatics facility is headed for ViaPort Mall in neighboring Rotterdam.
Management for Tory’s Harbour Point apartment complex was back in court yesterday as the building safety issues that displaced over 100 residents in June stretch into a third month.
The fifth race on yesterday’s card at Saratoga Race Course was canceled because of a power outage.
The state’s first “Cannabis Growers Showcase” — which is similar to a farmer’s market — is scheduled to open today in a New Paltz municipal parking lot.
Fire crews on the Hawaiian island of Maui were working late yesterday to contain wind-whipped wildfires that had killed at least six people, burned much of a former royal capital and thrown the island into what the county government called “a time of crisis.”
Air pollution, especially its tiniest particles, has contributed to a 30% global rise in heart-related disabilities and death since 1990, a new study has found.
Robbie Robertson, the chief composer and lead guitarist for the Band, whose work offered a rustic vision of America that seemed at once mythic and authentic, in the process helping to inspire the genre that came to be known as Americana, died at 80.
