Good morning, it’s Thursday.
As mentioned yesterday, this is the week (Passover) during which Jews traditionally abstain from eating chametz, broadly interpreted to be any leavened grain product. Bread is the most obvious no-no at this time, and it is replaced by matzo (or matzah), AKA the “bread of affliction“.
For the uninitiated, matzah is a sort of large, unsalted cracker that is made out of flour and water that is mixed together and then baked within 18 minutes to prevent rising. This is intended to commemorate the speedy exit by the Jews from Egypt where they were enslaved, as detailed in the Biblical story Exodus that is retold during the Seder while Passover is celebrated.
I have consumed a lot of matzah (my preferred spelling) in my five-plus decades of life. I have eaten it in a variety of forms – fried with eggs, ground into meal and made into dumplings for soup, etc. – and combinations. One of my favorite spreads, unsurprisingly, is peanut butter, though I will be the first to tell you that spreading anything thicker than melted butter on matzah and keeping it largely in tact is a challenge of epic proportions.
If you’ve been here a while, you know that I consider peanut butter to be a near-perfect food – especially when combined with something sweet, like jelly (anything but grape) and/or jam and/or honey. I can’t even begin to tally the amount of PB&J I have eaten to date. It is my preferred race food of choice and I never seem to tire of it, even after many miles on the roads or trails.
A peanut butter and jelly sandwich, when made correctly (with whole grain bread, natural peanut butter and sugar-free jelly) is a nearly perfect, nutrient dense combination. It provides a variety of vitamins, healthy fats, protein, and fiber, and is easily digestible for quickly accessible, yet sustainable energy.
There has been some debate over who, exactly, invented the PB&J, though it is generally accepted to be a wholly American dish. (Oddly, the U.S. doesn’t even come close to the top of the list of countries that eat the most peanut butter annually per capital).
Most interweb searches will tell you that credit goes to an American home economist and writer named Julia Davis Chandler, who published a recipe in 1901 in the Boston Cooking School Magazine of Culinary Science & Domestic Economics for a sandwich made with peanut paste with currant or crab-apple jelly.
The popularity of this unique (at the time) combination skyrocketed thanks to the invention of commercially available ultra-creamy peanut butter, which happened in the 1920s and 30s, though the oldest still operating peanut butter manufacturer in the nation, the Krema Nut Company in Ohio, was established in 1898.
The world wars – both I and II – helped further solidify the presence in the national zeitgeist of peanut butter and jelly, which was a good, cheap, and filling option for soldiers in theater AND also for those on the home front who were rationing things like butter.
Today, the PB&J is a national icon and staple, with the average American reportedly consuming about three sandwiches a month – according to the National Peanut Board.
Most people apparently prefer creamy to crunchy, but I am here to tell you that is just wrong. Also, spreading peanut butter on BOTH sides of the bread to guard against jelly/jam leakage is, of course, the best way to construct your PB&J. And anything red is going to trump anything purple in my book any day, though apricot or raspberry are my hands-down favorites.
Happy National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day! I know how I’ll be celebrating.
You might experience a bit of weather whiplash today as temperatures drop into the low 40s after a few blissful (if damp) days of warmth. We’ll kick off the day with some showers, which will then give way to largely overcast skies in the afternoon.
In the headlines…
More than a month into the war in Iran, President Donald Trump gave a 19-minute prime-time address to the nation last night to make the case for why he believes the conflict is necessary.
During the speech, Trump said that Iran’s missiles and drone systems have been “dramatically curtailed and their weapons factories and rocket launches are being blown to pieces.”
Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism about the Trump administration’s arguments in favor of an executive order aiming to end automatic birthright citizenship for babies born in the U.S. to unauthorized immigrants or people living here temporarily.
In a sign of trouble for the Trump administration, Chief Justice John Roberts told Solicitor General D. John Sauer that he was struggling to understand a key argument the Trump administration was making about birthright citizenship.
The justices grappled with questions about domiciles and foundlings, avoided policy debates and mused about the sweep of possible rulings.
Senate and House Republicans announced an agreement to move ahead with legislation to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, resurrecting a bipartisan deal that President Trump and the House G.O.P. angrily rejected last week.
In response to the news that Republicans agreed to pass the bill to fund DHS, Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, said: “House Republicans caved.”
Iran’s military threatened today to launch crushing and destructive attacks on the US after Trump declared Operation Epic Fury an “overwhelming” victory in an address to the nation.
The Trump administration is seeking a federal court’s approval to fire more than half of the remaining staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — a step back from prior attempts to eliminate at least 90 percent of the bureau’s staff and close it.
Trump has discussed firing Attorney General Pam Bondi in recent days as he grows frustrated with her leadership at the Justice Department and her handling of the Epstein files, according to four people familiar with the conversations.
Frustrated by the backlash and anger in his base over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, Trump has asked about replacing Bondi, who faces a deposition later this month on Capitol Hill related to the congressional investigation into the late sex trafficker.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she would vote against all U.S. military aid to Israel, a shift that underscores how opposition to the Israeli government has grown among various wings of the Democratic Party since the war in Gaza.
A towering orange-and-white NASA rocket blasted off from Florida yesterday, lifting four astronauts toward space and transporting spectators’ imaginations to a future in which Americans may again set foot on the moon.
The mission, known as Artemis II, is the 21st century equivalent of Apollo 8, when NASA astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders captured the attention of the world.
In 2022, New York lost billions of dollars in taxable income from residents leaving the state, trailing only California for the most revenue lost, according to the most recent data from the Internal Revenue Service.
The state recorded a nearly $10 billion decrease in annual adjusted gross income from 2021 to 2022, tax data shows, with an estimated 425,000 people departing.
Hochul announced more than $25 million in funding will be distributed to farms across New York to help combat the impacts of climate change.
Hochul last week marked the five-year anniversary of New York’s cannabis law, highlighting its impact on creating a regulated, equity-driven industry and the Office of Cannabis Management.
State Budget Director Blake Washington doesn’t think that this year’s budget will be as late as last year’s, nor will it be done in May.
Trial lawyers and several New York lawmakers are going toe-to-toe with Hochul over car insurance reform, saying the governor’s proposal will put money in the hands of insurance companies — not New Yorkers — and will further burden car crash victims.
More than 50,000 New York taxpayers who filed their returns early got a bit of scare this year when a typo resulted in them being issued reduced refunds or receiving notices demanding they pay more taxes before the error was corrected.
Proposed changes to a bill aimed at guaranteeing people with developmental disabilities the right to choose their preferred way to communicate has sparked outrage in the disability community, including among members of Helen Keller’s family.
The City Council released its plan for filling the city’s $5.4 billion budget deficit over the next two fiscal years, mostly through reestimating the city’s revenues and spending.
In big picture terms, Menin’s team estimated that the city’s deficit stands at $6 billion. That’s worse than the $5.4 billion gap projected in Mamdani’s preliminary budget proposal from February.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his allies slammed the City Council’s budget plan yesterday, zeroing in on one person – Speaker Julie Menin – saying she wants to cut city services instead of bringing in new revenue.
Menin did not respond directly to Mamdani’s accusations in a video where she explained the council’s proposal. But the City Council’s X account called the mayor’s claims “untrue.”
CityFHEPS, the rental assistance voucher program expected to cost $1.8 billion in this fiscal year, was supposed to be expanded under 2023 City Council mandates. But the speaker’s budget response did not include that expansion in its list of priority items.
New York City Council members joined advocates to push for $40 million in state funding to ensure an accurate headcount of New Yorkers for the 2030 census — regardless of their immigration status.
Despite his budget challenges, Mamdani wants to hire at least 79 more staffers, at a total cost of $10 million, including an enforcer of “economic justice,” a pair of World Cup managers and a special adviser to the advocacy community.
New York City families now have a one-stop-shop to search all available child care options in the five boroughs, Mamdani announced – the NYC Child Care Hub is the city’s first-ever comprehensive directory.
A baby was killed in an apparent stray-bullet shooting in Brooklyn yesterday. One person of interest is in custody, and police are looking for at least one other person. “A life that had barely begun was taken in an instant,” Mamdani said.
A longtime pal of ex-Mayor Eric Adams who ran one of the nightlife mayor’s favorite haunts was indicted in an alleged scheme to submit tens of millions of dollars of bogus no-fault car insurance claims.
An explosive verdict was reached last night in the slaying of hero NYPD cop Jonathan Diller — with the jury acquitting the shooter of the top charge of first-degree murder and settling on manslaughter.
Amid a scheduling nightmare presented by his dueling state and federal cases, a Manhattan judge pushed back the schedule in Luigi Mangione’s federal prosecution, saying his right to a fair trial was “paramount.”
Murders in the city dropped by 30% in the first three months of the year, according to NYPD statistics. Shootings in the city were also down by 5%, from 147 last year to 140.
Diesel-powered refrigeration units that have long spewed toxins into neighborhoods with some of the country’s highest rates of respiratory ailments are being phased out at the Hunts Point Produce Market.
An ugly, black fence sprawled across Battery Park’s only strip of open waterfront is blocking views of the iconic statue — infuriating neighbors who had been patiently waiting for that section of the park to reopen after a lengthy redesign.
A jury found a former New York state corrections officer guilty of five of six charges in the beating death of an inmate last year in a state prison in Oneida County.
The death of the mostly blind Rohingya refugee in February who went missing after being dropped off by federal agents miles from his home has been ruled a homicide by the Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Syracuse University is closing or halting enrollment in about 20 percent of academic programs, in a move that the school’s provost said was designed to create a university that would be “more focused, more distinctive and more aligned with student demand.”
Leon Botstein saved Bard from near ruin. Now, as an outside firm conducts a review, the campus is home to arguments about his legacy and future.
Dippikill, the beloved forest retreat owned by the University at Albany Student Association, will reopen under new ownership, the university announced. No date was announced, and the university said the reopening would not occur this year.
For the third time in less than a month, the partial flooding of SUNY Schenectady’s parking lot prompted the cancellation of all classes and finger pointing over who is to blame is well underway.
Firefighters battled a blaze with “numerous hazards” at an auto repair shop Tuesday night in Clifton Park, according to the Clifton Park Volunteer Fire Department.
The fight to provide more habitat for grassland birds facing displacement by 527 acres of proposed solar arrays in Fort Edward continues with an appeal of a state ruling on how much land would cushion the birds’ expulsion.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
