FRIDAY! We made it. Good morning.
Working from home has caused a lot of things to go out the window – most notably regularly scheduled meals. I can count on one hand the number of times in the week that I actually sit down to consume a formally composed meal. Even fewer are those eaten without the computer open.
Before you start with your lecturing, I KNOW this is not good for me. So-called “distracted” eating contributes to over-eating, because you ostensibly aren’t paying sufficient attention to your fullness cues, which can lead to gaining weight.
In fact, studies have shown a direct and clear link between screen time and the rise in obesity – especially among young people. Experts recommend that you not only shut off the TV and put down your phone when you eat your meals, but actually move into a room that is totally screen-free so you can concentrate on your food, slow down, and chew thoroughly.
Unfortunately, this is simply not possible for me on an average work day.
Given the fact that I am often either 1) glued to the computer, or 2) running around like a crazy person, I often opt for fast, easy-to-consume food options on the fly.
On the flip side, I also care about my health and work out quite a bit, so I do try to make semi-smart choices whenever possible.
Frequently, that involves some sort of sandwich-type thing, though for me this is a broadly and loosely defined category in which I include wraps, pita, crackers, etc. I like my sandwiches open-faced, because I like a lot of toppings and options. I really should be living in Norway, where the smørbrød (or smørrebrød, pronounced pronounced smuhr-broht, in Denmark) is a staple.
Merriam-Webster doesn’t entirely disagree with my assessment, for the record, informing me that a sandwich, by definition is both “two or more slices of bread or a split roll having a filling in between” AND “one slice of bread covered with food.”
The USDA, however, has a different view, which is to say that a sandwich to this federal agency “is a meat or poultry filling between two slices of bread, a bun, or a biscuit.” Not a hot dog, nor a burrito (a “sandwich-like product”), or a wrap. New York’s tax policy, meanwhile, is an entirely different story.
You you confused yet?
As for what should go inside – or on top of – a carb carrier (no lettuce wraps for me, thanks), I have a lot of strong feelings about sandwiches.
Tuna, for example, should be made with relish AND onions and not too much mayo, though the addition of potato chips on top of the filling is always a good choice.
Chicken, egg, and shrimp salad are both worth the calories; ham salad is not.
Most concoctions – except PB&J – can be improved with the addition of banana peppers or picked onions.
A baguette spread with good butter with the addition of a few slices of ham that is eaten at a cafe anywhere in France is close to perfect.
The exact historical origins of the sandwich are subject to debate. Suffice it to say that the practice of scooping up one’s food with a break-like substance – injera, pita, stale bread known as “trenchers” – dates back centuries in a variety of countries across the globe. Then there’s the whole “Earl of Sandwich” (AKA John Montagu) origin story
Any way you slice it (see what I did there?) there is probably a sandwich out there for even the pickiest eater. Today is National Sandwich Day. If you’re out and about, there are deals to be had at a variety of chains and delivery apps. (For the record, even Pizza Hut is getting in on the action, though I think most people would agree that pizza isn’t a sandwich, it’s, well, pizza).
Today – as well as Saturday and Sunday – are looking pretty straightforward and steady, weather-wise. Temperatures will be in the mid-to-high 50s all three days, most a mix of sun and clouds.
In the headlines…
A divided House passed a Republican-written bill that would tie $14.3 billion in military aid to Israel for its war with Hamas to domestic spending cuts, defying a veto threat from President Biden and bipartisan opposition in the Senate.
The 226-196 vote was mostly along party lines. A dozen Democrats voted with nearly all Republicans in support; just two Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia — joined most Democrats in opposing it.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has called the House GOP bill a “deeply flawed proposal” that the Senate will not take it up.
The House approved a resolution condemning the support of Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations at higher education institutions, a rebuke of the uproar taking place at college campuses in the wake of Hamas’s attack on Israel last month.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, becoming the first senator to demand a halt in the Jewish state’s military operations against the Palestinian terror group.
President Joe Biden said that 74 U.S. citizens with dual citizenship have left the Gaza Strip, announcing the development as he dispatched his top diplomat to the Middle East for consultation with Israeli and Jordanian leaders concerning the Israel-Hamas war.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the Middle East on a complex diplomatic mission in which he will reaffirm the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip while pressing its leaders to reduce civilian casualties.
Even as Israeli warplanes pounded Gaza last week ahead of a major ground invasion, Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, unabashedly championed the Oct. 7 terror attack and promised similar future assaults with the goal of annihilating Israel.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza has set off a chain reaction in the Middle East, and Western officials are increasingly concerned that it could trigger a wider war that draws in more nations.
With air and naval backup, Israeli soldiers and armored columns pushed into Gaza City, the military’s chief of staff said, calling the advance “another significant stage in the war,” and indicating Israel may allow long-sought fuel transfers to hospitals in the Strip.
The president met separately with the leaders of the Dominican Republic and Chile at the White House to discuss key issues like economic relations and migration.
Biden is gathering leaders from countries across the Americas today in the U.S. capital to discuss the tightening of supply chains and addressing migration issues.
U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Cohen says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be part of meetings in D.C. to help shape the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity, a Biden-backed trade framework.
Biden is heading to Lewiston, Maine to mourn with a community where 18 people were killed in the deadliest mass shooting in state history. It’s the type of trip that is becoming far too familiar.
“Too many times the president and first lady have traveled to communities completely torn apart by gun violence,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on the eve of the Bidens’ trip today. “We can’t accept it as normal.”
FBI agents searched the Brooklyn home of Mayor Eric Adams’s chief fund-raiser, Brianna Suggs, a campaign consultant who is deeply entwined with efforts to advance the mayor’s agenda, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
The early morning raid was part of a broad public corruption investigation into whether Adams’s 2021 mayoral campaign conspired with a Brooklyn construction company and the Turkish government to funnel foreign money into the campaign’s coffers.
Vito Pitta, Adams’ counsel for his 2021 mayoral run, said in a statement that the mayor “has not been contacted as part of this inquiry.”
Suggs is a 25-year-old recent grad on a meteoric rise in New York City’s Democratic politics. She has close ties to the mayor’s inner circle, including to Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the so-called Lioness of City Hall who acts as Adams’ chief advisor and gatekeeper.
An array of climate activists were cuffed yesterday for blocking the entrance to City Hall in an act of pushback against Adams amidst news that a top fundraiser has been raided by authorities.
From a key figure in a sprawling NYPD bribery case to an indicted former city buildings commissioner: Adams’ inner circle is filled with controversy and turmoil.
Prior to news of the raid, Adams tweeted a video with the caption “On my way to D.C. to join my fellow mayors to talk with our federal partners about the asylum seeker crisis.”
While on his way to Washington, D.C. for meetings related to the migrant crisis, Adams abruptly turned back for New York City to, as a spokesman said, “deal with a matter.”
Several mayors who welcomed a surge of migrants into their sanctuary cities are now requesting the Biden administration give them billions of dollars in federal aid to help support these new residents.
For the second day in a row, Donald Trump’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr., testified in defense of the family business at a New York City trial, followed shortly by his brother Eric.
Eric Trump claimed during testimony at a Manhattan fraud trial that he wasn’t involved with his dad’s financial statements — echoing his brother Donald Trump Jr.’s testimony – but was more prickly on the stand than his elder sibling.
Attorneys for former President Donald Trump filed an appeal to a gag order placed on the former president in his federal election interference case, which prevents him from disparaging witnesses.
Pushing back against questions about his involvement in his father’s financial statements, Eric Trump said — repeatedly — “I pour concrete. I operate properties. I don’t focus on appraisals.”
Sam Bankman-Fried, the tousle-haired mogul who founded the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, was convicted of all seven charges of fraud and conspiracy after a monthlong trial that laid bare the hubris and risk-taking across the crypto industry.
A jury was unconvinced by the ex-FTX CEO’s claims he didn’t know about billions in missing customer funds.
Judge Lewis Kaplan set Sam Bankman-Fried’s sentencing hearing for March 28. He is expected to remain in a federal jail in Brooklyn while he awaits sentencing. His legal headaches are far from over.
Outwardly, many crypto advocates say they wanted to see Bankman-Fried prosecuted, arguing his firm was the bad apple sullying the industry. But the headlines are hardly a PR win for crypto firms.
More than $108 million in financial assistance has been approved for water infrastructure improvement projects in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office announced.
Hochul is opposing the use of the state’s billions of dollars in opioid settlement funds for overdose prevention centers where people use drugs under the supervision of staff.
Just hours after her father’s funeral Sunday, Hochul called the president of Cornell University to talk about the terroristic threats made against Jewish students as antisemitism raged throughout the state during Israel’s war with Hamas.
Lawmakers are pushing Hochul to sign a law requiring the state to develop a mobile application with real-time information about the available charging ports statewide and the city of Albany’s first fast-charging EV hub was installed this week.
New York state is in the process of potentially opening the door for developers of large offshore wind farms planned off Long Island to submit new bids for the projects in light of the soaring costs of construction that have put the projects in jeopardy.
A subsidiary of tobacco and consumer goods giant Altria Group is wading into the ongoing battle over flavored e-cigarettes, or vapes, with a lawsuit filed on the West Coast — but targets two New York companies among a slew of others.
Addiction services across over 400 substance use or gambling addiction treatment programs are at risk of lapsing during emergency situations, according to an audit released by the state comptroller’s office.
The state AG has secured “landmark settlements” totaling $328 million to resolve a multiyear investigation into Uber and Lyft that found they had cheated thousands of drivers out of hundreds of millions of dollars and prevented them from receiving benefits.
Uber agreed to begin making quarterly payments to the New York State Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, which funds benefits for unemployed workers, and a retroactive payment for sums owed since 2013.
Thirty students walked out of Hillary Clinton’s class at Columbia University to “shame” the Ivy League school for how they perceive it allowed its students who signed an anti-Israel statement to be publicly named and pictured.
Two dozen top US law firms sent a letter to more than 100 law school deans telling them to take an “unequivocal stance” against antisemitic harassment on their campuses.
Republican Brooklyn City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov – who was spotted toting a firearm at a pro-Palestinian rally –quietly slipped in and out of court yesterday morning after being cut loose without bail on gun charges.
Former NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell has been hired by the New York Mets for a newly created public safety role, her first-ever private-sector job, the team announced.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison, who helped the department finally crack the infamous Gilgo Beach serial killings case, suddenly announced last night that he is stepping down after nearly two years on the job.
A Rochester-based developer is seeking a third phase of redevelopment along Clinton Avenue, this time centered around the intersection with Henry Johnson Boulevard.
Dozens of people were injured in a gas explosion that caused the collapse of an apartment building at 4 Brick Row in the village of Wappingers Falls yesterday afternoon.
Democrat nominee Brian Owens has gone on the offensive as the independent, anti-machine candidate in the race with Republican Kyle Bourgault to be Rensselaer County’s next sheriff.
The fiber arts event held last month at Foreland in the Catskiills has drawn criticism from vendors and attendees for widespread communication and access failures.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation wants your moose pictures.
Photo credit: George Fazio
