Good Tuesday morning.
I think it’s well established by now that I am a pie person. The best thing I can say about cake, generally speaking, is that it is a vehicle for icing. I also think the best part of a pie is the crust, so that’s a little incongruous, isn’t it?
I guess there’s no accounting for taste.
There are so many kinds of pies – double crust, lattice top, graham crust, Oreo crust, whipped cream topped, ice cream, crumble topped, meringue topped, hand pies, whoopie pies (more of a cookie, really), and so on.
A pie without a top and a somewhat thicker all around crust is considered to be a tart. There’s also flan, which in Britain is an open pastry or sponge tart filled with custard, fruit or both. A free-form tart is a galette.
Note that we are focused here on dessert pies, not the savory variety, which would, of course, include things like pizza pie and Shepherd’s pie (more of a casserole than anything else), meat pie, and Spanakopita (AKA Greek spinach pie) – just to name a few. Just to make things extra confusing, flans can also be savory.
The ancient Egyptians are believed to have invented pie, which they made with honey, oats, wheat, rye or barley. And sometimes there was a chicken version, too. The ancient Greeks were also big a pies, and made a pastry using flour, water, and oil.
In Medieval times, pastry containers known as “coffins” were used to preserved all manner of foods and were rarely eaten themselves. Apple pies became associated with the New World, though they, too, originated in England.
I have eaten a lot of pie in my lifetime, but there’s one about which I feel particularly nostalgic, even though I think I might have actually consumed it maybe a handful of times – if that.
Maybe I have a soft spot for Hostess fruit pies because they – along with Twinkies and Ho Hos and pretty much every pre-packaged dessert or candy was completely off limits to me as a child. My mother did not believe in such things.
When I was finally introduced to these wondrous delicacies, I was well into grade school. I used to beg, borrow, and sometimes even steal to get my hands on these preservative-filled treats. I preferred Twinkies, but I wouldn’t say “no” to pretty much anything Hostess created – including those sugar-drenched, fake fruit filled pies.
Of course, I loved the crust the best. The glaze flaked off in your hands when you ate it, and I would always eat the crust first, sometimes even discarding the inside because it was a little TOO much – even for a hedonist like me.
I haven’t had anything Hostess created in years, and I had no idea that the company actually went bankrupt back in 2012. That was actually the second of two bankruptcies for the once iconic junk food maker. It took them a while to get the hint that American tastes really had changed.
Thankfully, and also unbeknownst to me, J.M. Smucker (the coffee, jelly, and peanut butter company) purchased Hostess in a $5.6 billion cash-and-stock deal last September. Some Hostess favorites – like a limited number of the original fruit pies, though not blueberry – are still produced. Twinkies, for example, are back after a hiatus that apparently hit some snackers very hard.
Others, like the infamous pudding pies, which I wasn’t even aware existed until today, are not.
I’m not entirely sure how I got so far afield from the original subject, which was National Pie Day (not to be confused with National Pie Day, which is something else altogether and celebrated on March 14). Apparently, there are some chain restaurant deals to be had today, if you go in for that sort of thing.
Just remember, fruit is full of vitamins! Carbs are the building blocks of energy! Dairy (in the form of whipped cream or ice cream) contains calcium that’s good for your bones. Pie for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner? Why not?
It will be cloudy with a chance of snow showers in the later afternoon, and temperatures will be in the mid-30s. Bikini weather!
In the headlines…
Nikki Haley raced across New Hampshire to hustle for voters in what may amount to her last, best chance to prevent or at least delay a 2024 rematch between President Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Haley is looking to beat the odds in New Hampshire as she gets the one-on-one contest with Trump she’s long relished in the Republican presidential primary.
A push by some Florida Republicans to use taxpayer money to help pay for Trump’s multiple legal battles quickly fell apart after Gov. Ron DeSantis threatened to veto the legislation.
The former president’s brutal, yearlong campaign of humiliation helped torpedo the Florida governor’s White House hopes and left his next moves in politics uncertain.
A rally held by Trump ahead of the New Hampshire primary was disrupted last night by protesters, who repeatedly interrupted his speech to bring up fossil fuels.
At the rally, Trump accused Haley of “making an unholy alliance” with “RINOs, Never Trumpers, Americans for no prosperity.”
GOP senators say there is less enthusiasm for Trump among Republican-leaning voters compared to 2016, a drop in voter energy that was apparent when only 15 percent of Iowa’s registered Republicans showed up for the state’s caucuses.
The trial of E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit against Trump was delayed until tomorrow after a juror fell ill.
Minutes after Trump arrived in the Lower Manhattan courthouse — where he’d been expected to testify later in the day — US District Judge Lewis Kaplan sent all parties in the case home.
A Georgia judge unsealed a divorce case that has entangled the Atlanta district attorney prosecuting Trump, but halted plans to force the testimony of the prosecutor, Fani T. Willis.
The United States and Britain carried out large-scale military strikes against eight sites in Yemen controlled by Houthi militants, according to the two countries.
They struck eight sites, according to the statement from the US and UK, which conducted the strikes, and Canada, the Netherlands, Bahrain, and Australia, which supported the attacks.
Two US Navy Seals who went missing during an operation to seize Iranian-made weapons – bound for Houthis in Yemen – are now presumed dead, the US military says.
Special Operator First Class Christopher J. Chambers, 37, and Special Operator Second Class Nathan Gage Ingram, 27, were lost on Jan. 11 when SEALs in two stealthy combat speedboats, shadowed by helicopters and drones, boarded a dhow in the Arabian Sea.
The Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration in a dispute over a concertina-wire barrier erected by Texas along the Mexican border, temporarily lifting an appeals court’s ruling that had generally prohibited federal officials from removing the wire.
Republicans and Democrats have agreed to try to reduce the number of migrants granted parole to stay in the United States, but cementing the compromise will take money and persuasion on both sides.
Biden is taking steps to expand access to abortion medication and contraception, the latest moves by his administration to counter a wave of state abortion bans while he makes reproductive rights a centerpiece of his reelection bid.
The Biden campaign will hit the airwaves in battleground states with its first abortion-focused ad of the year, featuring stark, emotional testimony from a woman personally affected by a state abortion ban who lays the blame directly on Trump.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will share the stage today in Virginia as they campaign for abortion rights, a top issue for Democrats in an election expected to feature a rematch Trump, the former Republican president.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s standing with New Yorkers as risen from November, and her favorability rating is positive in nearly a year, majority of voters remain relatively unenthused, according to a Siena poll released yesterday.
The Siena poll found Hochul’s favorability rating is now at 45%, up from 40% in November. Her job approval has also gone up since November, from 48% to 52%.
New Yorkers don’t have a lot of faith in Hochul’s abilities to tackle the major problems facing the state, that Hochul has identified including addressing the affordable housing crisis, improving public safety, and making New York the AI capital of the world.
Nine Democratic governors – led by Hochul – have joined together to urge the Biden administration and congressional leaders to address what they call “a humanitarian crisis” created by the surge of migrants seeking refuge in the United States.
The nine-governor coalition, including Hochul and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, penned a letter to the White House and leaders in Congress to call for more federal action on immigration and a comprehensive border security legislative package.
Biden’s popularity has plummeted so precipitously in New York that he trails Trump among Latino voters amid the unrelenting migrant crisis — though the Empire State would still vote blue in a 2024 matchup between the two, according to the Siena poll.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York announced legislation aimed at combating food deserts in New York, areas where most residents have limited or no access to grocery stores with healthy food options.
The proposed legislation would support the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “Healthy Food Financing Initiative” program, which provides grants and loans to grocery stores and other food retailers.
Hochul wants to “level the playing field” between vacation rentals like Airbnb and hotels by taxing both lodging providers the same way.
GOP lawmakers are criticizing Hochul for her proposal to end ‘hold harmless’ school aid policy.
Hochul appointed the daughter of a veteran gambling lobbyist, Marissa Shorenstein, to the state board that regulates the industry — raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest from government watchdogs.
Only small amounts of the funds that New Yorkers donate to various charitable causes by checking off boxes on their tax returns are being spent on their intended purposes, according to state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office.
Nearly three years after marijuana was legalized in New York, regulators are poised to adopt rules that will allow anyone 21 or older to lawfully cultivate their own plants.
New York City intends to wipe out more than $2 billion in medical debt for up to 500,000 residents, tackling a top cause of personal bankruptcy, Mayor Eric Adams announced, investing $18 million in a partnership with a nonprofit.
The city is working with RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit that buys medical debt in bulk from hospitals and debt collectors for pennies on the dollar. The group targets the debt of people with low incomes or financial hardships and then forgives the amounts.
“Up to half a million New Yorkers will see their medical debt wiped thanks to this life-changing program — the largest municipal initiative of its kind in the country,” Adams said.
Assemblywoman Inez Dickens, a Democrat and longtime fixture in Harlem politics, said that she intends to retire, capping a political career that included a stint in the leadership of the New York City Council.
Cops say the controversial NYPD bill that would force officers to document even the most minor interactions will make the city less safe and hamper investigations — especially during major incidents like the West Side Highway terror attack in 2017.
New York City has agreed to change the way it selects tenants for affordable housing in order to settle a long-running civil rights case that asserted the city’s housing system reinforced segregation.
Under the agreement, the city will set aside 20% of units for local residents in affordable housing lotteries through April 2029, down from a current “community preference” allotment of 50%. Beginning in May of that year, that cap will further shrink to 15%.
Housing costs a lot in New York City: about $30,000 per year for the average household, according to a report from the state comptroller that tabulated rents and home prices from 2021 and 2022.
The city Department of Education unveiled a plan to deal with growing tensions in public schools after a series of high-profile incidents over the Israel-Hamas war — including one that left a Queens teacher cowering in fear from a mob of students.
New York City will offer new curriculum materials on antisemitism and Islamophobia in its public schools and train principals and teachers on how to have difficult conversations about politically charged issues, officials said.
A group of pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University have filed a police report after they claimed two students sprayed them with a powerful stink spray.
Columbia University and the NYPD are investigating reports that pro-Palestinian student demonstrators were sprayed with a foul-smelling chemical during an event last week, leading the university to bar the people accused from campus.
A Bronx lawyer and his son were arrested and charged with orchestrating a seven-year immigration scheme that defrauded hundreds of immigrants and caused some of them to be deported, federal prosecutors said.
The MTA plans to tear up five blocks of streets in East Harlem in order to keep costs down on its $7.7 billion extension of the Second Avenue subway.
New York City lost an estimated $108 million last year from drivers who used fake or obscured license plates to evade speed cameras, according to an audit published by city Comptroller Brad Lander.
A 44.9-acre site in Colonie just to the west of the Watervliet Arsenal that for decades was a locomotive shop and rail yard is the target of an expedited cleanup by the state.
James “Jay” Gerace took over Friday as the Town of Colonie’s eighth police chief.
A development firm wants to put what it says will be a leading regional cancer treatment center next to Crossgates and the Costco site.
A veteran educator and real-estate investor is the new owner of Dove + Deer, a restaurant and bar in a historic building in the Center Square neighborhood since fall 2018.
Jack’s Oyster House, the oldest and most storied restaurant in New York’s capital city, is officially closed and being put on the market, owner Brad Rosenstein said, making the announcement two days before what would have been its 111th birthday.
