Friday, where have you been all my…week? I thought you would never arrive. I had almost given up hope and the world seemed dark and dim.
No matter, you are here. Welcome.
Those of you who have been here a while are familiar with my nut butter obsession. I’ve written about it a few times before, and certainly referenced it in too many posts to count. Peanut butter was my first love. But I have since branched out and the cupboards now contain multiple jars of a wide variety, including (but not limited to) almond, hazelnut, pumpkin seed, walnut, and macadamia.
I am, at the moment, on a almond butter kick. A day without nut butter is a sad day indeed. If someone would put this on a bumper sticker I would buy it in a heartbeat.
There isn’t much that can’t be improved by a dollop of nut butter. Oatmeal. Toast. Pancakes. Bagels. Smoothies. Yogurt bowls. Ice cream. Noodles. Salad dressing. Marinades. I have added nut butter to all of these with varying levels of frequency, but always to great taste success.
I will inevitably return to peanut butter at some point. And I never pass up an opportunity to celebrate this nutritious (in moderation) and delicious (come at me, I will defend this one to the end). foodstuff. Today presents just such an opportunity, as it is National Peanut Butter Day.
For the record, I cannot really figure out WHY today has been designated as such, as much as I welcome it. There are a number of different “fathers” of peanut butter, without whom the delightful modern-day spread most likely would not occur.
In 1884, a Canadian chemist and pharmacist named Marcellus Gillmore Edson received a patent for “peanut paste” created from roasted peanuts. His goal? To create a nutritious food source for those who had difficulty chewing.
In 1895, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (namesake of the Kellogg’s cereal company), filed yet another patent – this time for a process, not a product – that employed raw peanuts to create a precursor to peanut butter that was known as “nut meal” (far less delightful a moniker, in my opinion). Again, the idea here was to create a protein supplement for those who had difficulty chewing.
In 1903, a more effective peanut butter-making machine was patented by Dr. Ambrose Straub of St. Louis, Missouri. A year later, Straub convinced a food company to develop a peanut spread to be showcased at the St. Louis World Fair where it was a big hit – so much so that grocery stores began ordering it for their shelves.
The non-separating, easily spreadable peanut butter with which most of us are familiar with today was the brainchild of a California food distributor named Joseph Rosenfield, who is the father of a brand that’s still around today: Peter Pan. (For the record, the story of Peter Pan’s creation is pretty convoluted; if you want to go deep on that, click here).
Of course, long before ANY of this happened, and long before the global peanut butter market grew to be something in the neighborhood of $8 billion a year – and growing – the Aztecs were grinding peanuts into paste using a mortar and pestle.
All I can say is thank goodness for human ingenuity.
We may break into the 30s today! Fingers crossed. Skies will be partly cloudy. The weekend is a mixed bag. Tomorrow we’re back into the 20s again, though skies will be mostly sunny. Sunday, a veritable heat wave is on tap, with temperatures soaring into the mid-to-high 30s. Skies will be partly cloudy.
In the headlines…
U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order that aimed to end birthright citizenship for children born to migrants in the U.S. temporarily or without legal status, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional”.
The judge signed the temporary restraining order in response to a lawsuit brought by Oregon, Arizona, Illinois and Washington state, one of several suits opposing the administration’s effort to curb the right of citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil.
“I have been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case whether the question presented was as clear,” Coughenour said.
Republican funding leaders have made an opening offer to Democrats as the two parties launch negotiations toward a deal to fund the government before the mid-March shutdown deadline.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, told reporters expectations of a topline agreement by the end of this week or next are “reasonable.”
Rep. Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican, introduced a proposed change to the Constitution that would allow Trump to seek a third term in office.
There is a high bar to amend the Constitution. A proposed amendment needs the backing of two-thirds of the House and the Senate or a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of state legislatures.
Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth paid his sexual assault accuser $50,000 in a settlement agreement with the woman, identified only as Jane Doe, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s health secretary pick, said he’s “very grateful” for the president’s executive order to declassify documents related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his late uncle, and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, his father.
The order also declassified documents related to the assassination of Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.” Trump said of the entire order: “That’s a big one, huh? A lot of people are waiting for this for a long — for years, for decades.”
RFK Jr. is keeping his financial stake in major litigation against Merck over a widely used vaccine given to young people, according to an ethics agreement made public this week and court documents.
The ethics document said Mr. Kennedy would continue to collect fees for cases in which he referred clients to Wisner Baum, a law firm suing Merck over Gardasil, a vaccine that protects against the human papillomavirus, or HPV.
RFK Jr. is distancing himself from his anti-vaccine work as he seeks to become the leader of the nation’s top health agency, according to the government ethics documents. He has has earned roughly $10 million in income from his work over the past year.
Actor Cheryl Hines, of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” fame and RFK Jr.’s wife, has agreed to cease sales of her cosmetics company’s inventory if her husband becomes the next secretary of Health and Human Services, according to the new financial disclosure.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he had yet to hear from Trump on the eve of the president’s planned tour of wildfire damage in LA today. Whether he’s invited or not, Newsom confirmed he’s planning to show up at the airport for a customary greeting.
Trump is using the first trip of his second administration to tour areas where politics has clouded the response to deadly disasters.
In the opening days of the second Trump administration, the defense by Democratic governors and mayors of the term “sanctuary city” has been far less vocal than it was the first time Trump was in the White House.
The Trump administration is giving Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials the power to quickly deport migrants who were allowed into the country temporarily under Biden-era programs, according to an internal government memo.
The mayor of Newark, N.J. slammed the “egregious” raid by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who, he says, raided a local establishment and detained undocumented immigrants and U.S. citizens.
Baraka said the agents detained several people, including U.S. citizens—in an incident that comes as the Trump administration has vowed to go after so-called sanctuary cities.
In New York state, ICE agents took several migrant criminals into custody, including the suspected terrorist, the agency claimed.
A New York City education panel issued a sharp rebuke to Trump’s order allowing federal immigration officials to make arrests at “sensitive” locations, passing a resolution that affirmed the longstanding practice of barring the authorities from school grounds.
New York’s racing and pari-mutuel law, with its labyrinthine clauses and subparagraphs that few in Albany truly understand, would see some simplifications under a state budget proposal unveiled this week by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is worried the new $9 congestion toll to enter Midtown Manhattan will actually reduce traffic — and revenue — at Hudson River bridge and tunnel crossings.
Banning transgender women from participating in women’s sports at public facilities is not a clear violation of laws in New York that protect against discrimination based on gender identity, a state judge ruled this week.
Hochul and her top advisors are standing by the payroll services overhaul for CDPAP, after moving to consolidate approximately 700 firms into one hand-picked company to pay people to take care of older relatives in last year’s budget deal.
Private equity company Yellowstone Capital will pay $1 billion to settle predatory lending charges, the state attorney general’s office said.
New York’s City Council passed a bill to limit top city officials from lobbying city agencies after leaving government. It was inspired by Frank Carone, an adviser to Mayor Eric Adams.
The new bill, which passed the Council in a 39-9 vote yesterday afternoon, would beef up the law so ex-senior City Hall officials can’t lobby any city agencies for two years after departing.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said Mayor Adams had “no plan” to deal with the Trump administration’s deportation efforts and urged the mayor to join legal fights against the president’s executive order seeking to overturn birthright citizenship.
Mayor Adams defended his decision to present Sean “Diddy” Combs with the key to the city—a move that has since been reversed following federal sex trafficking charges against the disgraced music mogul.
Hundreds of schoolyards could stay open on weekends and for three hours after school ends on weekdays if New York City officials were willing to pay $49 million a year in overtime wages, according to a report from the city’s Independent Budget Office.
The Big Apple went five days without a single shooting victim in a milestone that hasn’t been reached in 30 years, the NYPD announced.
Richard Davis, the president of New York City’s largest transit worker union, TWU Local 100, has abruptly gone on sick leave — a move multiple sources say comes amid efforts to force the union boss from his job less than 3 weeks after his re-election.
The five-alarm fire at a Bronx apartment building earlier that forced the evacuation of hundreds and caused the roof to nearly collapse was caused by faulty electrical wiring, which also caused recent fires at two other buildings owned by the same landlord.
PETA activists tried to dump a truck full of manure outside the Manhattan office of the group’s rival, the ASPCA — but the stinky stunt was stymied by the frigid weather.
Crescent Duck Farm in Aquebogue, Long Island, must now kill its entire flock of almost 100,000 ducks and may go out of business, its owner said in an interview. The highly infectious virus, H5NI avian flu, was detected last week.
More than 20 staff members at Upstate Correctional Facility, a state prison in Franklin County, were transported to a hospital after they may have been exposed to a synthetic drug that caused many of them to become lightheaded and begin vomiting.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan vetoed a Common Council ordinance intended to increase the potential benefits under the city’s affordable housing incentive over her frustration with the city’s inclusionary zoning law.
With $131,723 in his campaign treasury and no Democratic opponent yet ready to take him on, Republican Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin announced yesterday morning that he is seeking a third consecutive term in office.
A lender is looking to foreclose on a $12.5 million mortgage for the Harbour Point Gardens apartment complex in Troy after its owner allegedly failed to pay on it since May.
Saratoga County officially closed on the purchase of a Ballston Avenue property to turn it into a permanent Code Blue shelter — a decision embroiled in controversy as some nearby residents who worry what the new addition will mean for the neighborhood.
Testimony resumed yesterday in the trial of Lucas Healey, the man charged with attacking the owner of a Madison Avenue restaurant after he allegedly tried to leave without paying a large bill.
In a state Supreme Court decision, the city will not be required to make up for the Saratoga Springs school district’s budget shortfall of $215,805 after the district mistakenly budgeted two school tax payments from Quad Graphics for the 2022-2023 school year.
In the wake of devastating wildfires in Los Angeles that struck at the heart of the movie industry, an embattled Hollywood lined up behind the Netflix narco-musical about trans identity “Emilia Pérez” in Oscar nominations yesterday.
The administrators of the Facebook group 518 Foodies “paused” the group after posting a defense of its practices a following a TU report on a lawsuit its founder filed against the married proprietors of a Latham restaurant.
Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,” a Spanish-language, French-made film, dominated the nominations with a leading 13 nominations, including best picture and best actress for Karla Sofía Gascón, making her the first openly trans actor ever nominated for an Oscar.
Here’s the first list of nominees. The awards ceremony will air on March 2.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
