Good morning, it’s Wednesday.
If you’ve been here a while you know how I feel about vanilla. In short, it is not my favorite flavor. Quite frankly, I do not understand why anyone bothers when chocolate is available (unless you’re allergic, in which case you have my deepest sympathies).
Vanilla, in my opinion, is little more than a blank canvas. It’s a sweet, bland, accompaniment and/or improvement to any number of things – pie, espresso, coffee, yogurt…you get the picture.
My husband, who (sorry, babe), has a far less complex palate than mine, has a go-to ice cream order of vanilla in a dish with rainbow sprinkles. In my mind, the sprinkles are the only redeeming quality of this particular choice, though I’m acutely aware that he knows I will never say “yes” to the offer of a bite, which means he never has to share – perhaps the boring choice is by design?
It’s fitting that today is both National Vanilla Ice Cream Day AND National Sprinkle Day. It’s also National Peanut Butter and Chocolate Day, which, in my opinion, is the PERFECT ice cream combination, but I don’t want to overcomplicate things here, so we’ll leave that one for another day.
It probably won’t surprise you to know that if given a choice of sprinkle flavors, I will opt for chocolate 9 times out of 10.
But truthfully, sprinkles don’t add all that much in the taste department – they’re mostly just sweet, with the slightest hint of chocolate – and aren’t that great as a stand-alone bite. They’re really more of a texture thing, in my opinion, and also add a fun visual element that elevates any dessert.
Mass produced sprinkles are made out of sugar, corn syrup, corn starch, shortening, food-grade wax, and artificial colors and flavors. If you are squeamish, you might opt to skip this next part, because sprinkles usually are Not vegan, as they either contain gelatin (generally made from animal parts) OR they are sprayed with a sort of edible glaze made from insects.
Yes, you read that right: There are bugs on your ice cream. You’re welcome. (As an aside, there are sprinkles made with natural coloring, if you’re looking for them).
Some people – especially in New England, Philly, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and parts of the Pacific Northwest – may still be referring to sprinkles as “jimmies”, though (and I didn’t know this until I started researching this post) there is a belief out there that this word has racist overtones, and some people avoid it altogether as a result – even though that concept has been debunked.
The sprinkles/jimmies origin story is, like so many other good things, a little murky. The practice of sprinkling stuff on your food to make it taste better dates back many centuries, of course.
If you’re a bug for Brooklyn history, you might be familiar with the tale related to a candy company called “Just Born” – now located in Pennsylvanian and perhaps best known for PEEPS, Mike and Ikes and Hot Tamales – and a worker named James Bartholemew who was supposedly the “jimmies” creator and namesake.
Or, then again, maybe not.
You probably won’t be surprised to learn that sprinkles (or jimmies or nonpareils or confetti, or whatever you want to call them) re big business, with the U.S. market along worth more than $1 billion and growing. The growth likely had something to do with the introduction – and explosion in popularity – of Funfetti cake in the late 1980s.
I have never tried the sprinkles-on-bread-and-butter treat known as a “fairy bread” in Australia and New Zealand – featuring the rainbow variety – and “hagelslag” (“hail-storm”) – the chocolate version – in the Netherlands. But I imagine the combination of soft, crunchy, salty, carby, and sweet is delectable. It’s definitely on my to-do list.
Another nice day is on tap, though it will be warmer – in the mid-to-high 80s – with partly sunny skies.
In the headlines…
House GOP leaders cancelled today’s votes and sent members home early for a month-long recess as the Jeffrey Epstein crisis deepens on Capitol Hill.
The House was scheduled to hold votes today before lawmakers departed for their five-week recess. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., even told reporters Monday night that he wouldn’t send lawmakers home early this week.
The GOP’s decision to shut down the House floor to avoid a vote on Epstein-related legislation highlights the growing political tension over transparency and accountability in one of the most infamous criminal cases in recent memory.
The powerful GOP-led House Oversight Committee will “seek to subpoena” convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell for testimony about the Epstein case “as expeditiously as possible,” a spokesperson confirmed.
Photos from 1993 confirm for the first time that Epstein attended Trump’s 1993 wedding to Marla Maples. Epstein’s attendance at the ceremony at the Plaza Hotel was not widely known until now.
In addition, footage from a 1999 Victoria’s Secret fashion event in New York shows Trump and Epstein laughing and chatting together ahead of the runway event.
Democrats are showing they’re ready to get dirty and hit Trump where it hurts by stoking the Epstein controversy that’s severed his MAGA movement.
Trump yesterday attempted to shift the public’s focus away from the building crisis around the release of sealed documents detailing the Epstein case by urging his Justice Department to go after his predecessors.
“Whether it’s right or wrong, it’s time to go after people,” Trump said, accusing former President Barack Obama of “treason.”
Obama denied Trump’s “bizarre allegations” that he was the Russiagate “ringleader,” in a rare public statement yesterday evening.
“Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response,” the statement read. “But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one.”
Trump announced that his administration had reached an agreement with Japan on trade, which would see the U.S. impose a 15 percent tariff on Japanese goods.
Trump posted on Truth Social that Japan would invest $550 billion in projects in the US, though he did not specify what those investments would entail. He also said Japan would open its markets to U.S. automobiles, rice and other agricultural products.
Following Trump’s post, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said that auto tariffs on Tokyo will be lowered to 15% — from the current 25% that is levied across countries — as part of the deal.
With less than a week left for Canada to reach a trade deal with Trump or face additional tariffs, Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday downplayed the possibility of a breakthrough and suggested that Canada might walk away empty handed.
The Trump administration has reportedly drafted a plan to repeal a fundamental scientific finding that gives the United States government its authority to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions and fight climate change.
The head of the FEMA’s urban search and rescue unit has resigned, telling colleagues he was frustrated by bureaucratic hurdles the Trump administration imposed that delayed the agency’s response to deadly flooding in Texas.
Trump has claimed that the future owner of the US TV network CBS will provide him with $20m worth of advertising and programming – days after the network canceled The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
The White House intends to send Capitol Hill a second request to claw back congressionally-approved funding — this time targeting the Department of Education.
Democratic leaders from both sides of the Capitol met last night to define their government funding demands — avoiding explicit ultimatums to their Republican counterparts with 10 weeks left before federal cash lapses.
The US Olympic & Paralympic Committee quietly changed its eligibility rules on Monday to bar transgender women from competing in Olympic women’s sports, and now will comply with Trump’s executive order on the issue.
The new policy, expressed in a short, vaguely worded paragraph, is tucked under the category of “USOPC Athlete Safety Policy” on the site, and does not include details of how the ban will work.
The change was confirmed in a letter sent to national sport governing bodies and follows a similar step taken by the NCAA earlier this year.
The countdown has begun. New York public schools have just one more week to file their plans for banning all “smart” devices that students might bring to school.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that an additional $200 million is now available for zero-emission school buses through the third installment of the $4,2 billion Clean Water, Clean Air & Green Job Environmental Bond of 2022.
Hochul is announcing the start of phase two of the School Tax Relief (STAR) program benefit season. Eligible homeowners that live in communities with school tax due dates in August or September will start receiving their benefits within the coming weeks.
There is one agency that Hochul does not have control over – the New York State Education Department, which impacts every resident of the state in one way or another – and she wants that to change that while she’s still governor.
Hochul announced new cybersecurity regulations aimed at protecting New York’s water and wastewater systems from cyber attacks.
Nearly 2,000 National Guard troops remain deployed across multiple state prisons as many of the facilities remain understaffed, with correction officer vacancies is more than double what it was before an unsanctioned three-week strike that began in February.
New York will soon make phone calls free in its state prisons, officials said, explaining in a statement that “improved family connection reduces tension and conflict inside facilities.”
Socialist New York City mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani once implied House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was an Islamophobe and likened the highest-ranking black House lawmaker in US history to notorious segregationist George Wallace.
Inna Vernikov, a Republican councilwoman, said voters in her heavily Jewish district are “petrified” about the prospect of Mamdani becoming the city’s next mayor.
Long Island Democratic Rep. Laura Gillen said Mamdani, with whom she has not met, is a “threat to my constituents” and predicted his policies will “crater” the city’s economy.
Of the dozens of policy proposals in Mamdani’s platform, few have generated as much debate as the Democratic mayoral nominee’s call for city-owned grocery stores, six of which already exist.
Business leaders are anxious over the prospect of Mamdani in City Hall, while the Democratic Socialists of America are contemplating how they would wield power and influence policy.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams could bring Bally’s Bronx casino bid back from the dead if he vetoes the City Council’s measure that denied zoning changes needed for the $4 billion project, and some council members are urging him to do just that.
The seemingly endless squabbling between Adams and New York City Comptroller Brad Lander has now reached the esoteric issue of the city’s pension funds’ recent selloff of Israeli government bonds.
Forty schools across New York City will receive 5,000 new after-school seats this fall under a plan from Adams to significantly expand such programs in the coming years.
“Now children from working class families will have a spot in after school programs where they can learn and, most importantly, where they can thrive,” Adams said from P.S. 152 The Evergreen School in the South Bronx.
Adams went to Brooklyn on Sunday morning to champion public safety for NYCHA residents, and ended up doing pull-ups off a street light on a resident’s dare.
Adams may be the new favorite candidate of the city’s business and real estate community. Interviews with its members show many are opting to back Adams in the general election over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, some telling NY1 Cuomo had his chance.
Cuomo is attempting to run a different sort of mayoral campaign than he did in the primary, in which he limited interactions with the media and the public and projected an air of inevitability around his candidacy.
Cuomo squeaked out a slight lead over Mamdani in a two-way race, a new poll released yesterday shows. The numbers are still within the margin of error for a statistical tie.
At least two dead voters had absentee ballots submitted under their names in a tightly contested GOP primary last month between two south Brooklyn New York City Council hopefuls – with the winner still up for grabs.
A man detained at the notorious Rikers Island jail complex died due to a medical emergency, jail officials said, marking the ninth reported death of someone in or recently released from the New York City Department of Correction’s custody so far this year.
More than 70 students are being disciplined for their participation in a pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia’s Butler Library in May, the university announced as it continues to negotiate a deal with the Trump administration over frozen research funds.
Columbia University has expelled and suspended students who were involved in a pro-Palestinian demonstration that shut down the main campus library in May, moving more quickly to hand down punishments than it has in the past.
Anti-Israel protester Mahmoud Khalil repeatedly refused to denounce Hamas during a tense CNN interview – insisting it was “disingenuous” for the anchors to demand his position on the terror group.
A teenage boy was arrested for allegedly shooting a 16-year-old girl in the head during a chaotic Pride celebration near the historic Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village last month, the NYPD said.
A judge ordered the driver who fatally struck two people in Manhattan’s Chinatown on Saturday held in jail on murder and other charges, prosecutors said — roughly three months after she was charged in a Brooklyn crash that seriously injured a pedestrian.
Melina Galanis Frattolin, the 9-year-old subject of a weekend Amber Alert which triggered a frantic, regionwide search before her father was later arrested and charged with her murder, died by drowning, State Police announced yesterday afternoon.
Six stores recently owned by Stewart’s Shops are now in the hands of competitors Mirabito and Prestige Petroleum Corp. due, in part, to regulatory conditions.
Despite early efforts to enact a 50-point plan aimed at reforming Saratoga Springs policing policies, attempts have languished — including those that were meant to create a restorative justice program.
Ozzy Osbourne, the legendary Prince of Darkness and one of heavy metal’s most iconic voices, has died at 76. He died “surrounded by love,” his family said in a statement.
News of Osbourne’s death comes more than five years after he announced his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis — and less than three weeks after his final show with Black Sabbath in the band’s hometown of Birmingham, England.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
