Good morning, it’s Wednesday. The middle of the week is here already! Keep on keeping on.
I consider myself a fairly adventurous eater.
I like my food very flavorful and often spicy, which causes some division in our household when I actually make the time to cook a meal. There are few things I wouldn’t try – including street food when I travel – because, honestly, the best way to experience a culture is through its local delicacies.
I did draw the line at guinea pig while we were in Peru, I have to confess. Something about being served an entire fried small animal that here in the states some people (not me) keep as pets, really skeeved me out.
Since Covid, though, I’ve noticed that I’ve developed an aversion to food bars, buffets, and platters – basically, anything that is shared widely by a bunch of people, especially if they’re people I don’t know.
I’ve had Covid at least twice now, and not too long ago went through something that really knocked me for a loop and presented as Covid – even robbing me briefly of my taste and smell – but never tested positive. Whatever it was, I don’t want it – or anything remotely like it – ever again. Hence, the newfound germ aversion.
Sadly, this applies to fondue – both the cheese and chocolate varieties – though this isn’t actually new. I’ve never actually tasted either of these delicacies, while I certainly do understand the appeal. Who wouldn’t want a big vat of creamy, melty goodness in which to dip bits of bread, meat, cake, marshmallows or fruit (depending on which version you’re consuming)? But I just can’t do it.
Double dipping is just bad all around, folks. It’s bad on so many levels.
The concept of a chocolate fountain, which seemed to be a very big thing at weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs and galas a while back just gives me the shivers. First: Drippy chocolate around expensive fancy clothes is a hard “no” for me. Second, I don’t care if the liquid chocolate is getting constantly mixed by the fountain mechanism, the whole thing sill strikes me as highly unsanitary.
I know it’s possible to get your own personal fondue pot, but I’ve never had the opportunity (at least not that I can recall). With Valentine’s Day coming up, perhaps you’re thinking of chocolate fondue as a celebratory option, and since today is National Chocolate Fondue Day, I feel compelled to explore your options.
First let’s get something straight: Cheese fondue was created by the Swiss as a means of providing farm families with a vehicle by which to stretch limited resources and feed a crowd during the winter months when food got scarce. Chocolate fondue, on the other hand, was created years later by a Swiss chef in a now defunct New York City restaurant called – what else? – Chalet Suisse.
There’s quite the origin story there, so click on that last link only if you want to go very deep about the hows and whys of the creation of a dessert version of fondue. The original recipe called for chocolate (ideally, two kinds of Toblerone – regular and bittersweet), heavy cream, and kirsch, which is a German cherry brandy.
There are a lot of variations on that recipe available on the interwebs. From what I’ve been able to glean, if you want a really intense chocolate experience, you should consider using milk instead of cream and omit any butter, should the directions call for it. Also, pro tip: You can use chocolate chips, but baking wafers are better. (I think they melt more easily because they don’t include any stabilizers in their ingredient list).
It’s helpful if you have one of those handy fondue pots – some are heated by some sort of portable warming device that one lights on fire, others are electric – to keep your dessert dip warm. If you have anything left over (how this is possible, I’m not sure) consider repurposing it as a topping for ice cream or cut up fruit.
Happy dipping !
It will be perfect hot dessert weather today. Expect sunny skies but temperatures struggling to get out of the mid-20s.
In the headlines…
President Donald Trump said that the U.S. will “take over” the Gaza Strip, ‘level the site” and rebuild it, after earlier saying Palestinians living there should leave.
Trump declaration that the United States should seize control of Gaza and permanently displace the entire Palestinian population of the devastated seaside enclave, is one of the most brazen ideas that any American leader has advanced in years.
“They instead can occupy all of a beautiful area with homes and safety, and they can live out their lives in peace and harmony” in other areas or countries, the president said at a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump said he isn’t ruling out deploying U.S. troops to support reconstruction of Gaza and he envisions “long-term” U.S. ownership of a redevelopment of the territory. “We’ll do what is necessary,” he insisted.
Netanyahu is the first foreign leader to meet with Trump since he was sworn in last month, arriving at the White House and holding a press conference with the president last night.
Hours after Trump’s proposal, Saudi Arabia reaffirmed its support for an independent Palestinian state and said establishing diplomatic ties with Israel would depend on the creation of such a state.
The Foreign Ministry’s statement early this morning local time, which said that Saudi support for a Palestinian state was “firm and unwavering,” contradicted Trump.
The Senate voted 54-46 to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general, making the tenacious litigator the latest official to help fill out Trump’s administration. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania joined Republicans in supporting Bondi.
Fetterman told reporters after the vote that he decided to support Bondi because of her qualifications, even though she is not his “ideal” choice.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr, picked to Trump be the next US health secretary, was advanced by the Senate Finance Committee in a 14-13 vote that split along party lines. Only Republicans voted in favor of him.
The Senate Finance Committee pushed through Kennedy’s nomination after he managed to allay concerns raised by Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.
In a statement posted on X just before the vote, Cassidy said he had “very intense conversations” with Kennedy and the White House over the weekend, specifically thanking Vice President JD Vance “for his honest counsel.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said he’s eyeing next week for a final committee vote on Kash Patel’s nomination to lead the FBI, rejecting Senate Democrats’ request for a second formal hearing with the nominee.
The Central Intelligence Agency offered all employees buyouts that were previously extended to millions of federal workers – about eight months of pay and benefits in exchange for their resignations.
Trump said that he wants to send criminal US citizens to foreign jails to “get these animals out of our country” — after El Salvador’s president made the offer to Secretary of State Marco Rubio a day earlier.
“Frankly, they can keep them,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, citing New York City subway shovers as one example of the sort of offender who he’d like to ship off to countries that are known for harsh handling of felons.
Officials with the Education Department told employees in the civil rights office that Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team was scrutinizing the department’s operations, which could lead to further staff reductions.
Trump reiterated that his top objective for Department of Education secretary nominee Linda McMahon is for her to bring about the elimination of the position altogether.
Employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are being placed on administrative leave with pay “until further notice,” though they must be available by phone and email during business hours.
House Republicans are scrambling to find a solution to internal disagreements over passing Trump’s sprawling agenda, which kicked into high gear after leadership was forced to punt a key vote and as the Senate inches closer to its alternative plan.
A shooting at an adult education campus in central Sweden left at least 10 people dead and injured an undisclosed number of others, in what the prime minister called the worst mass shooting in the country’s history.
Police said the suspect is among the dead and is believed to have acted alone. They added that the motive was still unclear but ruled out anything “ideological”.
Police said that the perpetrator was not known to them before the shooting and that he was not connected to any gangs. They also said there is currently no information indicating that the shooter acted based on ideological motives.
New Yorkers would feel the effect of tariffs on Canadian goods first in their energy prices, a top Canadian diplomat said yesterday during a visit to Albany.
Gov. Kathy Hochul met with Canadian Consul General Tom Clark to discuss key issues impacting the New York-Canada relationship, with a focus on affordability for New Yorkers.
“As far as Canada is concerned, the relationship with New York State is one of our most important relationships anywhere in the world,” said Clark.
Just 1 in 3 New York voters say they would vote to reelect Hochul, a new survey found. The results are similar to a 2024 survey, where Hochul also received a largely negative favorability rating. Currently, just 55 percent of Democrats view her favorably.
Republicans view New York as on the precipice of a powerful political change that could hand them more control over the Empire State than they’ve seen in two decades — and they have a plan to get there.
Democratic leaders have selected dairy farmer Blake Gendebien to run in the special election for New York’s 21st Congressional seat — although when that election will take place is increasingly unclear.
The death of Robert L. Brooks, who was beaten by multiple correction officers at Marcy State Prison in December, has been ruled a homicide and a special grand jury in Oneida County is scheduled to begin reviewing evidence in the case next week.
Advocates with incarcerated family members joined state lawmakers yesterday in calling for sweeping changes to New York’s sentencing laws.
Hochul is facing fierce opposition to her overhaul of a popular but pricey home care program that allows people with chronic medical issues to choose their own caregivers and pay them through Medicaid. An unknown donor is fueling the campaign.
State Attorney General Letitia James is positioning herself to defend New York’s interests during the Trump administration, making her a talked about contender for governor, U.S. Senate or even mayor of New York City.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams yesterday traveled to Albany to urge state lawmakers to provide the city with more than $1 billion to help fill a looming budget shortfall in the city’s program for housing asylum-seekers and other migrants.
“Without your help, we will have to close a $1.1 billion budget shortfall for this program within 12 weeks and ask for the state’s assistance to do so,” he said.
Adams urged state lawmakers to provide his administration with more migrant crisis funding this year — but his plea didn’t move the needle with Gov. Hochul, who has already declared she’s not looking to earmark more such resources for New York City.
During Adams’ Albany visit, some lawmakers, including two who are facing the mayor in the June Democratic primary in New York City, challenged his credibility and accomplishments.
Adams poured cold water on the idea that deportation fears since Trump’s inauguration have led to a drop-off in New York City public school attendance — despite early signs that some immigrant families are fearful about sending their children to school.
Now a new poll is testing out the best attacks against former Gov. Andrea Cuomo—a man with a long list of liabilities who is widely expected to jump into the New York City mayor’s race, perhaps as soon as this month.
New York City bodegas and delis are struggling to keep the city’s signature morning sandwich affordable as egg prices soar amid a bird flu outbreak that is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month.
New York City could lose up to 19,300 homes in the next 15 years due to flooding from high tides and storms – more than the toll of 2012’s Superstorm Sandy – estimates a forthcoming report by the Regional Plan Association.
NYC subway crime has dropped significantly so far this year even as ridership increased in the congestion pricing era, according to the newest NYPD data released yesterday.
The city Taxi and Limousine Commission will hold a hearing today to consider proposals that would raise pay for Uber and Lyft drivers and deal with the egregious company practice of “locking out” drivers.
Daniel Penny, a Marine veteran acquitted on a charge of criminally negligent homicide in Manhattan in December, has been hired by one of Silicon Valley’s most prestigious venture capital firms to join its “American Dynamism” team.
The Trump administration has opened a federal civil rights probe into reports of antisemitism at Columbia University and several other colleges in the wake of last year’s Gaza protests, the Education Department said.
A man who pleaded guilty to federal terrorism charges nine years ago after being accused of plotting a suicide bombing at Heathrow Airport in London in support of Al Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate was sentenced to 44 years in prison.
A Rensselaer County town justice has resigned from the bench after being charged with trying to evade jury duty by claiming he could not be impartial because he was convinced that everyone who appeared in court to face charges “did something wrong.”
Computer chip scientist and Albany NanoTech founder Alain Kaloyeros and other defendants in the “Buffalo Billion” bid-rigging case face the prospect of retrial two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned their convictions.
Albany County Executive Dan McCoy says developers want to buy the county office building and the Department of Social Services building and convert the structures into much-needed downtown housing.
A Berne-Knox-Westerlo High School teacher resigned last week after the school district and the Albany County Sheriff’s Office looked into allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a student.
A 7-month-old chihuahua-terrier mix named Willow from Lake George has been selected to play in Animal Planet’s “Puppy Bowl XXI” at 2 p.m. Feb. 9.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
