Good morning, it’s Wednesday.
Researching for a topic today took me deep into a rabbit hole on a subject I have never spent terribly much time thinking about – and I bet you haven’t either: Canned lunch meat.
When I was growing up, after my mom and dad split and my step-dad, Larry, came into my life, two things appeared in our pantry and refrigerator that had never before graced those locations – condensed milk and Vienna sausage. Larry is a veteran of the Vietnam War, and apparently while in country, developed a taste for these two products, both of which have a long shelf life and do not need to be kept cold.
I can speak from experience that condensed milk in one’s coffee is indeed a treat. If you have never had Vietnamese coffee – hot or iced both feature condensed milk to cut the strong, bitter taste – I suggest you give it a try.
I cannot, sadly, say good things about Vienna sausage, because I never worked up the courage to eat them. I’m not even sure that Larry even ate them, but rather kept them around in case of an emergency. (I need to ask him this question). Once upon a time, though, canned and dehydrated meats were a frequent staple of American diets, especially during WW II when rationing made fresh meat hard to come by.
If you hadn’t already guessed this, by the way, it’s National Canned Luncheon Meat Week, which the interwebs tell me is also sometimes known as “SPAM” Week, though that apparently also might be held at a different time and/or refer to a different thing altogether?
While we’re on the topic of Spam, though, I vividly recall the first time I tried it, which was at the home a childhood friend, whose mother served barbecued slices of perfectly square pink met substance for dinner. It was very salty and not altogether offensive. I’m not sure I ever had it again, but I do remember that I didn’t hate it.
Officially speaking, Spam is a combination of pork shoulder and ham that is mixed with salt, water, modified potato starch (as a binder), sugar, and sodium nitrite (as a preservative). It appears to be packed in jelly, but that’s actually a form of natural gelatin that is produced during the production process, according to the company that makes it, Hormel Foods Corp.
Spam is high in fat and salt and calories and therefore not particularly good for you. That hasn’t dissuaded people from eating it though – far from it, actually.
The growing popularity of Spam (Hormel has reported record sales of the square, pink luncheon meat for multiple years in a row) is reportedly due in part to the key role it plays in the cuisine of Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Island cuisines, and also TikTok. Spam, once linked with economic hardship and war, has undergone a reputation transformation and is now…well, cool.
The granddaddy of canned meats is deviled ham, which is technically a spiced ground meat spread. The William Underwood Company, based in Boston, originally focused on producing pickled vegetables and condiments, but started making deviled ham way back in 1868, and is known for having the nation’s oldest food trademark for a pre-packaged product that is still in use, which consists of (what else?) a red devil logo.
The culinary term of “deviling” food, which really just means adding spices and perhaps Dijon mustard and/or chopped hot peppers to it and chopping it up very fine, also applies to a range of other foods – including, most notably (and deliciously, IMHO) eggs, but also lobster and turkey.
A deviled meat (or egg) sandwich is a nice alternative to a picnic (assuming you don’t let it sit out in the heat, if there’s mayo involved), and today would be a good day for lunching outdoors under a nice shady tree. We will see more clouds than sun and only a slight chance of rain, with high temperatures reaching into the mid-80s.
In the headlines…
The Trump administration can move forward with plans to slash the federal work force and dismantle federal agencies, the Supreme Court announced. The unsigned order lifting a lower court ruling that blocked mass layoffs, did not include a vote count.
The decision could result in job losses for tens of thousands of employees at agencies including the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, State and Treasury.
“Because the government is likely to succeed on its argument that the executive order and memorandum are lawful — and because the other factors bearing on whether to grant a stay are satisfied — we grant the application,” the court said.
The question of whether the layoffs are legal remains unanswered. For now, workers remain in limbo, this time waiting for their agencies to decide who stays, who goes and when.
Trump held one of his semiregular cabinet meeting extravaganzas yesterday that turned into a forum for him to vent about some of the many things that happened to be frustrating him.
Search and rescue efforts continued as the death toll from catastrophic flash flooding in Central Texas grew to at least 110 people, including 30 children. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said there are still 172 identified people who are unaccounted for after the flooding.
As questions swirl surrounding the timeline of who was notified about the flooding when, and if more could have been done, Abbott punted on questions about emergency notifications, saying the word “blame” is a “word choice for losers.”
While Texas may feel far from the Northeast, the lessons from the Texas Hill Country disaster matter here, too, particularly as hurricane season ramps up and summer storms become more frequent.
Just two days before devastating floods claimed at least 27 lives at Camp Mystic, the Texas Department of State Health Services signed off on the youth camp’s emergency plans.
The camp complied with a laundry list of regulations regarding “procedures to be implemented in case of a disaster,” including evacuation plans, according to records from the Department of State Health Services obtained by The Associated Press.
Trump and AG Pam Bondi once suggested they would expose the hidden, potentially sinister truth about Jeffrey Epstein’s death in 2019. Yesterday, they had a message to supporters incensed by the decision to close the case once and for all: Get over it.
Amid declining crime rates reported across the state, the Fourth of July weekend this year was marked with fatal fireworks incidents, drownings, shootings and burned buildings.
Retired doctors, police officers, psychiatrists and government administrators around the state were paid hefty pensions this year, according to new data compiled by the nonpartisan Empire Center for Public Policy.
After several years of sluggish business, computer chip sales have been surging globally, especially in the Americas, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, an industry trade group based in Washington, D.C.
An animal rights group accused the American Kennel Club of harming the health of French bulldogs and several other popular dog breeds by promoting physical characteristics that cause deformities.
A special panel appointed by Mayor Eric Adams is formulating a plan that would scrap the current closed primary election system in favor of an open primary where all the candidates — regardless of political party affiliation — would be on the ballot.
Four former high-ranking police officers are suing Adams, accusing him of enabling corruption in the Police Department, an agency where they said anyone who spoke out faced retaliation and humiliation.
The lawsuits allege that friends of Adams tapped unqualified officers for prestigious department jobs and worked to quell internal investigations. At the same time, officers who knowingly violated department policy were promoted to a new quality-of-life unit.
Trump said he aims to root out political corruption in New York City but he begged off making an endorsement in the mayor’s race on July 8, saying: “I’m not getting involved.”
Zohran Mamdani clinched a historic, and deeply polarizing, victory by officially receiving the most votes ever recorded in a New York City mayoral primary, according to updated ranked-choice voting totals released by the NYC Board of Elections.
The city Board of Elections’ unofficial figures showed that in round three of the Democratic Party’s ranked-choice voting primary last year, the democratic socialist netted 565,639 votes after 102,000 votes were transferred from other candidates.
Trump vowed to “straighten out” New York City if Mamdani wins the race for mayor, calling the Democratic primary winner a “communist.” “We’re gonna make New York great again,” the president pledged.
The president warned Mamdani that if he becomes New York City mayor, he “better behave” or he will have “big problems,” after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked if he’s worried about Mamdani arresting him.
Mamdani co-founded a college club that invited a radical speaker who called Israel a bigger terror threat than Hamas – and boasted he was greatly influenced by a Palestinian leader nicknamed the “godfather of Middle-eastern terrorism.”
Almost 600 people have signed an open letter to leaders at venture firm Sequoia Capital after one of its partners, Shaun Maguire, a vocal Trump supporter, posted what the group described as a “deliberate, inflammatory attack” against Mamdani.
The New York City teachers’ union endorsed Mamdani for mayor last night — despite his radical platform to cede City Hall’s authority to oversee the nation’s largest public school system.
Adams wants to register 1 million new voters in his uphill re-election battle against Mamdani and argued that polls ahead of November’s mayoral election are underestimating unregistered voters who may not approve of his progressive policies.
Adams is starting to build out his re-election campaign staff and bringing on a few new faces while again leaning on his longtime confidante and former chief of staff, Frank Carone.
Fix the City, a super PAC that spent an unprecedented amount of money to boost Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral primary campaign, is continuing to raise cash despite his loss with an eye toward backing a “free-market candidate” in November’s general election.
City Comptroller Brad Lander and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams urged migrants to skip out on their immigration court cases and go into hiding to avoid being “abducted” by federal agents.
NY DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said construction of new bus lanes had begun yesterday to improve wait times and provide faster service for 22 bus routes in Eastern Queens once completed later this year.
A 76-year-old woman died after being trapped inside a Queens pizzeria that caught fire on the Fourth of July, fire officials said. It marks the first death this year that fire officials have attributed to a blaze caused by a lithium-ion battery.
The metro area’s once-dimming firefly population has made a dazzling comeback this summer thanks to the abnormal amount of rain dumped on the region in the past few months.
IKEA has confirmed plans to open a nearly 70,000-square-foot store at Destiny USA in Syracuse, the largest shopping mall in New York. The announcement by IKEA U.S., marks the first IKEA store location in upstate New York.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the completion of a $19 million infrastructure improvement project on the Thruway (I-90) in Albany and Schenectady Counties.
A woman faces harassment charges for allegedly yelling at Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin — and then embracing him without his consent — during a tense encounter outside a Wynantskill restaurant last month.
A fire over the weekend that displaced more than a dozen people from two Schenectady homes and led to those properties being demolished was sparked by discarded fireworks, according to City Fire Chief George Burns.
Plug Power CEO Andy Marsh told Wall Street analysts in a conference call that the hydrogen fuel cell company will benefit greatly from President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
The trustee overseeing the federal bankruptcy case of jailed Albany loan broker Kris Roglieri has closed on the sale of Roglieri’s former 13-acre estate in Queensbury for $1.6 million.
After a deadly crash last week, Town of Westerlo officials are seeking changes to the four-way intersection where an SUV and tractor-trailer collided — one of nearly a dozen wrecks at the crossroads.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
