Good morning, it’s Thursday. How can it only be Thursday? I feel like I’ve lived a million lives since Monday. The end of this week cannot come soon enough.
What I need is a distraction. Something sweet and not too serious. Something like…marzipan? Well, there’s slim pickings on the “Day of” calendar today, so this sweet, almond-flavored confection with a Play-Doh-like consistency will have to do. Maybe it will help to get me in the holiday spirit a little early.
I am generally a fan of almond-flavored things. Macaroons, for example, are on my list of preferred cookies – especially the kind they serve at the Fort Orange Club in Albany. If you haven’t had the pleasure, drop me a line and I’ll be sure to procure you some during my next visit. Or, if you’re feeling crafty, try your hand at making a batch yourself using this recipe.
I have to confess, though, that my enjoyment of all things almond stops just short of loving marzipan. Maybe it’s the consistency? Maybe it’s a lack of familiarity, because really marzipan is more of a European thing – I definitely encountered it more when I lived in France.
Let’s start with the basics. Marzipan is made out of ground almonds (usually blanched to remove their skins), sugar and egg whites. Sometimes almond extract is added to boost the flavor further. The resulting paste is very pliable and can be molded into sheets or, as is frequency the case, shaped into a variety of fanciful items, which may or may not be dyed or painted to resume things like animals, fruits and/or vegetables.
Different countries have a variety of marzipan traditions. In Germany, for example, you might marzipan shaped and colored to resemble potatoes and bread. Also – particularly on New Years’ Eve – wee pink marzipan pigs are popular. In France, marzipan is often shaped into small candies that are subsequently coated in chocolate.
In Malta, marzipan is used as a filling, surrounded by a shortbread crust, in the traditional Easter treats called figolli that are usually shaped into eggs, bunnies, flowers, hearts, sheep, and/or butterflies. A high-end version of marzipan is also popular in Turkey, where it is called badem ezmesi.
We are nearing the tail end of Marzipan Week, which was established by the German company Niederegger to celebrate all things related to this sweet almond treat.
Marzipan may taste amazing but it offers health benefits too. It is good for brain activity. This is because a lot of lecithin is found in the almonds, which stimulates the nerve cells.
The temperature is on the downward trend, though still on the warm-ish side. Today will be in the low-to-mid 60s, with clouds in the morning giving way to partially sunny skies in the afternoon.
In the headlines…
Vice President Harris formally conceded the 2024 election on Wednesday, urging her supporters not to despair her loss to President-elect Donald Trump and to “never give up the fight for our democracy.”
“The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for,” Harris said. “But hear me when I say … the light of America’s promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting.”
“Sometimes the fight takes a while,” Harris said at Howard University, her alma mater, where she had hoped to make a victory speech after the election. “That doesn’t mean we won’t win.”
Harris has called Trump to concede the election and congratulate him on his victory and sent a letter to her campaign staff stating that “the work of protecting America from the impacts of a Trump Presidency starts now.”
Harris has been accused of picking the wrong running mate as the Democratic blame game over her humiliating election defeat began.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders unleashed a blistering takedown of the Democratic Party in the wake of its dramatic spate of losses on Election Day.
“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” the Democratic socialist said in a fiery statement on X.
Democratic strategist David Axelrod called out “racial bias” and “sexism” for what he labeled as their “impact” on the outcome of the presidential election.
Former President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama congratulated President-elect Trump on his election victory and urged the country to have “good faith and grace.”
In the wake of Trump’s resounding victory, many Democrats are casting Biden as a one-term president who set his party on a path to failure in 2024.
“Mr Biden, I need you to stand up, straighten your back and make some things shake before your departure. xoxo the women in america,” gymnast Simone Biles wrote on X.
Trump largely let the billionaire Elon Musk run his $175 million ground game — a gamble that future candidates could look to emulate.
Trump spent his first day as president-elect receiving congratulatory phone calls from his defeated opponent, world leaders and President Joe Biden as he began the process of turning his election victory into a government.
Trump made huge gains with black, Hispanic and young voters in New York this election — bringing him closer to turning the deep-blue state red than any Republican candidate has come in a generation.
Trump picked up support among Latino and Black working-class voters, giving the GOP hope for a new way to win in a diversifying nation.
The foreign policy establishment is set for one of the biggest shake-ups in years as Trump has vowed to both revamp US policy abroad and root out the so-called “deep state” by firing thousands of government workers – including America’s diplomatic corps.
Trump’s election as U.S. President could mark yet another major blow for the struggling German economy.
Trump’s election victory could delay the sentencing for his conviction in the Manhattan hush money case and kill the federal cases against him, since his sentencing in Manhattan had been scheduled for Nov. 26.
Justice Department officials are reportedly evaluating how to wind down Trump’s two federal criminal cases before the president-elect takes office.
Incumbent Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin is projected to defeat Republican challenger Eric Hovde in what was one of the most closely watched Senate races.
The nightmare that U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer was dreading is shaping up to be worse than he could have ever expected, since next year he will no longer be Senate majority leader and may be leading a smaller than anticipated Senate minority.
Trump’s return to the White House could significantly affect a range of issues in his hometown, including immigration policy and congestion pricing.
Gov. Kathy Hochul addressed New Yorkers alongside Attorney General Letitia James. They congratulated the winners of the 2024 General Election and highlighted preparations they’ve taken to uphold the rights of New Yorkers going forward.
New York’s top officials wasted no time in announcing their plans to protect residents from any potential threats that may accompany Trump’s second term.
James said her office had been “preparing” for a potential second Trump administration. “I am ready to do everything in my power to ensure our state and nation do not go backwards,” she said in a statement.
Empire State Democrats appear set to reclaim three of the four seats in the House of Representatives they lost to the GOP last year, as national control of the chamber remains uncertain.
Although Democrats flipped at least two House seats in New York, Trump did better than any Republican presidential candidate since the 1980s.
Trump must commit to supporting the CHIPS and Science Act, the federal law that helped lure Micron Technology to Central New York, Hochul said.
Trump improved his showing in nearly every Empire State county during the 2024 presidential election – a dramatic “red shift” by voters toward Republicans led by massive gains in New York City, unofficial vote tallies reveal.
With Trump now in position to keep his campaign promise to kill congestion pricing once and for all, time is running out for Hochul to unpause the plan that she stopped back in June.
In a silver lining for Democrats, Proposition 1, meant to expand equal rights and codify the protections of Roe v. Wade in the State Constitution, passed easily despite a Republican campaign against trans rights.
Mayor Eric Adams pledged to work with Trump on the migrant crisis — as officials insisted that the Big Apple will remain a sanctuary city.
Adams declined to say whether his administration would participate in mass deportations promised by Trump on the heels of his victory over Harris, despite pledging to uphold the city’s sanctuary laws.
Adams faces a legal and political bind: He could benefit from the incoming president’s sympathy as he fights federal corruption charges, but risks suffering politically by cozying up to his party’s most powerful adversary.
The rightward shift in New York City was especially pronounced in Queens, southern Brooklyn and parts of the Bronx, as Trump made gains among South Asian and Orthodox Jewish communities.
Prosecutors charged the parents of a 4-year-old boy who starved to death in Harlem with murder, manslaughter, and four counts of assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
The death of a 1-month-old Staten Island boy from severe malnutrition during the summer has been ruled a homicide, the police said, the second such case to come to light in a month.
Former Rep. John Sweeney played an important behind-the-scenes role in Trump’s re-election, been crisscrossing the seven battleground states for the past several months on behalf of Republicans, addressing reported election irregularities.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Albany has filed a civil forfeiture complaint in federal court in Albany seeking control of an expansive sports car and watch collection seized by the FBI in the wire fraud case against Albany loan broker Kris Roglieri.
Jerry Gretzinger, Benita Zahn and Jessica Layton are together again for their “The Singing Anchors’ Reunion Holiday Show” on Nov. 23 at Proctors’ Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs.
A former judge who served prison time for trading favorable decisions for sexual favors was arrested after threatening to burn a St. Lawrence County poll site down or return with a gun when he was not allowed to cast a ballot, State Police said in a news release.
Black smoke billowed from the local garbage incinerator plant late Tuesday afternoon, once again sparking residents to call for the closure of the 33-year-old Wheelabrator Hudson Falls.
A Schenectady man faces up to 40 years in prison — and a fine of up to $5 million — after admitting that he sold fentanyl disguised as oxycodone, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of New York.
Newburgh Free Academy’s promising season in the Hudson Valley was canceled before the Goldbacks were set to play Middletown in the Section 9 Class AA semifinals this week, the Middletown Times Herald-Record reported.
First they cancelled their football season as it was on the verge of a championship, now at least one member of the Lake George-Warrensburg-Bolton team has been arrested.
The man accused of crashing into a state trooper and tow truck driver was under the influence of heroin, according to court documents.
Photo credit: George Fazio
