Today is the 23rd day of October 2023, which has some nice symmetry to it. It’s also Monday, which isn’t necessarily so nice. If it makes you feel any better, though, there are only 10 more Mondays remaining in this year – including today.
We’re entering into what I consider the back-end of Fall. Foliage in the Adirondacks is already past peak, and the Capital Region will likely be there soon.
This season is so wonderful, and also so fleeting, which I guess kind of contributes to how much people love it. You really need to squeeze every ounce of enjoyment possible out of Fall before it’s gone. That has been difficult of late, due to all the rainy weekends we’ve been having; picking apples or pumpkins or navigating a corn maze in the rain isn’t really all that fun.
One piece of Fall enjoyment that isn’t weather dependent, however, is apple cider doughnuts. Sure, you can get them all year ’round in these parts. But there’s really something so quintessentially right this time of year about consuming a fresh-from-the-fryer cider doughnut, accompanied by some drinking cider (hot or cold) or maybe a nice strong cup of coffee.
Normally, I’m not really a doughnut person. But if I do indulge, I prefer my doughnuts on the plainer side – cider, glazed (chocolate or vanilla), cinnamon, etc. I’ve even developed a penchant for blueberry, though I’m not big on powdered as a rule. Too messy.
I’ve also never been able to get down with filled doughnuts, (again, too messy, and also just too MUCH). It’s a hard “no” for me on anything filled with jelly or cream, and apparently I’m not alone.
Interestingly, according to the website linked in the previous sentence, not even Massachusetts ranks the Boston Cream (Kreme?) doughnut No. 1, though the Boston Cream Pie is the state’s official dessert. (It appears to be the top choice among Marylanders, however).
The Boston Cream Pie was, according to the interwebs, either created or “perfected” at the Parker House Hotel, which still exists today. Other culinary contributions from this particular kitchen include the Parker House Roll and the term “scrod” (a catch-all term for firm white fish like haddock or cod, for example – both longstanding New England delicacies.
Another unrelated, but still interesting, Parker House claim to fame: Both Ho Chi Minh (baker) and Malcolm X (busboy) worked there – though not at the same time.
Anyway, back to Boston Cream Pie. Its creation is said to have occurred in1856 at the hands of Armenian-French chef Mossburg Sanzian (or maybe not).
Either way, the word “pie” is actually a misnomer, because this confection is really a cake – two layers of yellow cake, to be exact, separated by a rich yellow pastry cream and topped with chocolate icing.
The icing which was very cutting edge back in the day, and it really elevated the Boston Cream Pie above its fellow desserts. The original version also gilded the lily a bit, with slivered almonds stuck to its sides and a rum glaze brushed onto its cake layers.
For no particular reason that I can discern, it’s National Boston Cream Pie Day, which is a perfect excuse to start things off with a breakfast of champions in the form of a hit of sugar and carbs (and maybe a side of caffeine) – in whatever form best suits you.
True to form these days – Mother Nature must really be in a bad mood – the rain has stopped just in time for the workweek to begin again. We’ll see cloudy skies with temperatures in the 50s today, but it looks like things will be warming up as the week progresses, and we might even hit 70 (!) degrees by Friday.
Something to look forward to.
In the headlines…
Israel said today that it had struck hundreds of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip and attacked Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, as President Joe Biden led an international diplomatic effort to ensure the conflict does not ensnare other nations in the region.
The Biden administration has advised Israel to delay a ground invasion of Gaza, hoping to buy time for hostage negotiations and to allow more humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians in the sealed-off enclave, according to several U.S. officials.
Biden, along with fellow leaders from Western-allied countries, reaffirmed their support for Israel and its right to defend itself while urging the nation to adhere to international humanitarian law.
Biden and Pope Francis spoke in a rare phone call yesterday about the latest developments in Israel and Gaza, stressing the need to prevent an escalation of the conflict and steps towards peace in the Middle East.
The U.S. military said it would send more missile defense systems to the Middle East in response to “escalations” from Iran and its allies, who have threatened a broader war in the region.
Israel issued a warning against travel to Egypt, Jordan and Morocco on Saturday, citing fears that Israeli travelers will be targets of those angry at the ongoing war sparked by October 7’s deadly Hamas onslaught on Israel.
Hamas released two American hostages, Judith Tai Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie Raanan, on Friday nearly two weeks after launching a deadly attack in Israel and abducting around 200 people.
The Raanans are from Illinois. Ben Raanan, the brother of Natalie Raanan and son of Judith Raanan, said his mom and sister were in Israel for a relative’s birthday when they were taken hostage.
It took American and Qatari diplomacy, and self-interested decisions by Hamas, to bring two hostages safely back to Israel.
Cindy McCain, director of the United Nation’s (U.N.) World Food Program, said that 17 more humanitarian aid trucks have entered Gaza and 40 more are expected to arrive today.
Israel is struggling to bury its own — rabbis called for volunteers to help dig graves for those killed in the terror attacks on Oct. 7 — but some of its cemeteries are still welcoming Jews from all over the world.
Detroit police have yet to find any evidence the killing of synagogue leader Samantha Woll was motivated by antisemitism, officers said.
The White House released a sweeping set of proposals to bolster Israel and Ukraine in the midst of two wars as well as invest more in domestic defense manufacturing, humanitarian assistance and managing the influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
In addition to $61.4 billion in aid for Ukraine and $14.3 billion in aid for Israel, the ask includes $9.15 billion for humanitarian aid, $7.4 billion for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region and $13.6 billion to address security at the US-Mexico border.
House Republicans released bank records of Biden’s brother, James Biden, Friday, that they argue raise more questions about whether President Biden personally benefited from his family’s business ventures.
While House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, raised questions over Biden receiving a $200,000 loan repayment from his brother, the discovery has since spurred mockery online about the validity of the claim.
“Where’s the money?” That laughing quip from Biden was his surprising reaction to the disclosure that a trusted FBI informant had conveyed an alleged bribe worth millions, paid to the president by a Ukrainian businessman.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has lost a secret vote to remain his party’s nominee for House speaker, several Republican lawmakers told reporters.
House Republicans are once again scrambling with no clear path to elect a new speaker after voting to push Jordan out of the race — the latest sign of the chaos and divisions that have engulfed the majority party and left the chamber in a state of paralysis.
House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik announced in a post to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that nine candidates have joined the race for speaker after Jordan dropped his bid last week. The deadline to enter was noon yesterday.
Some of the nine candidates are fresh faces in the race, while others have been here before. A forum for the contenders will be held today; the vote to narrow down the list of candidates is scheduled for Tuesday.
The judge presiding over the civil fraud trial of Donald Trump fined the former president $5,000 on Friday for a “blatant violation” of a gag order imposed this month.
The latest guilty pleas from two key allies in Trump’s high-profile Georgia election interference case put new pressure on the former president and raise questions about whether his once-loyal associates may one day flip on him.
Trump distanced himself from a controversial lawyer who once vowed to “release the Kraken” to help the former president overturn the 2020 election results.
The judge, Arthur F. Engoron, stopped short of holding Trump in contempt but warned that the former president still could face harsher punishments, even jail time, if he ran afoul of the order again.
Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill that would have expedited an offshore wind project off the coast of Long Island and allowed for a transmission line under the public beach in the city of Long Beach.
The bill calls for NYSERDA, the agency charged with overseeing sector development, to coordinate transmission planning in anticipation of raised targets beyond the current 9GW by 2035 offshore wind goal.
With hospital maternity wards closing across New York at a steady pace, a soon-to-be introduced bill seeks to strengthen the state’s review process before obstetric care can be eliminated.
Mayor Eric Adams will allow thousands of city employees to work remotely two days a week, extending a benefit that had previously been granted only to unionized workers, according to three people familiar with the plan.
The mayor says the Big Apple has hit an all-time high in total jobs at 4.7 million, recovering nearly a million private sector positions that were lost during the pandemic.
Adams tied the city’s economic rebound to his administration’s public safety initiatives.
Hours before a top operative for Adams got into a physical altercation with migrant shelter guards in Midtown last Tuesday while attempting to enter without showing identification, he reportedly pulled a similar maneuver at the Randall’s Island shelter.
The city’s powerful principals’ union has secured a lucrative new contract that is expected raise members’ salaries over the next five years by nearly 17%, Adams announced.
Tensions were high in Muslim and Jewish communities around New York City, with impassioned protests and rallies on both sides in recent days drawing thousands as Israel girded for a ground invasion of Gaza.
A chaotic clash between pro-Palestinian protestors and NYPD cops in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, ended with 19 adults and three juveniles charged, officials said.
The “Flood Brooklyn for Palestine” demonstration devolved into chaos as night fell, with protesters completely shutting down traffic, screaming at police and lighting small fires in the middle of the roadways.
The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas is having an impact on the City Council race in southern Brooklyn after a pro-Palestinian rally was held in Bay Ridge on Saturday.
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protestors marched to the Manhattan office of U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Friday, calling on Congress to put pressure on Israel for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to allow humanitarian aid to enter the battered region.
About 1,500 migrants removed from shelters under a new city policy have reapplied to stay in the city’s care after failing to find housing on their own, according to data provided by City Hall.
The transit system had been enjoying a recovery from the height of the coronavirus pandemic. A random attack is now threatening its progress.
Federal prosecutors have accused 10 people of orchestrating a $20 million scheme to “get rich” by buying and selling black-market H.I.V. medications that in some cases had been purchased from low-income patients who risked their lives by selling it.
An NYPD officer accused of having sex with a witness in a carjacking case he investigated was facing termination, until Police Commissioner Edward Caban reportedly swooped in and saved his career.
An NYPD veteran, who was busted Friday alongside her boyfriend, tarnished her badge and tried to line her pockets by peddling heroin and fentanyl in Yonkers, federal prosecutors said.
An illegal pot shop has brazenly opened up across from Queens’ civic hub — including its borough hall, DA’s office and state courthouse — and a store worker says the locale is totally awesome for business.
Thousands of drones lit up the Big Apple sky in a breathtaking installation Saturday night — marking the first orchestrated drone flights to dance above Central Park.
After almost being canceled because of financial constraints, about 15,000 people and more than 600 pups turned out for the annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade on Saturday — nearly doubling last year’s attendance.
New York’s Honorary Dog Mayor, Sally Long Dog, took a tour of City Hall and mingle with New York City officials last week.
Train service between Albany and New York City remained canceled yesterday after a mudslide off a residential property in Westchester County covered all Metro-North train tracks. But riders can expect a near-normal schedule for today’s commute.
Crews worked around the clock for 43 hours to allow service to resume between Tarrytown and Croton-Harmon in time for the work week.
“In the face of dangerous weather and a looming deadline, our MTA team worked around-the-clock to restore the safe, reliable service New Yorkers count on,” Hochul said in a statement last night.
Will the Hudson River soon become a parking lot for barges and large ships waiting to enter the ports at Albany and Coeymans where offshore wind components are set to be built? That’s what environmentalists fear.
Two hospitals in the Hudson Valley and Catskills were hit with a cyberattack, forcing them to divert patients to other facilities for a time, hospital officials said Friday.
The state Gaming Commission confirmed that its central operating system serving the state’s slot parlors was impacted by a cybersecurity attack — forcing the closure of Jake 58 casino in Islandia, Suffolk County, for several days.
** Photo credit: George Fazio, Blues Printing Promotions
