If an Orange Creamsicle was always your go-to order at the ice cream truck, we’ve got great news: Milk Bar, the NYC-born bakery chain from James Beard-winning dessert queen Christina Tosi, is launching a limited-time-only soft serve that conjures up nostalgic memories of that cream-meets-citrus classic. 

RECOMMENDED: The best ice cream shops in NYC include acclaimed, modern parlors and old frozen faves

Just in time for the official first day of summer, Milk Bar is partnering with Tropicana orange juice brand to debut a new dessert dubbed “Orange Squeeze” on Thursday, June 20. Available at all Milk Bar bakery locations nationwide through Saturday, August 31, the new soft serve is made with Tropicana Pure Premium juice—the good stuff, made entirely from oranges picked and squeezed within 24 hours for optimum deliciousness—that gets churned with the bakery’s smooth and sweet soft-serve ice cream. 

“As a life-long OJ enthusiast, I’m so excited to partner with iconic juice brand, Tropicana, to create our new summer treat obsession – Orange Squeeze soft serve,” Tosi shared in a statement. “I grew up racing to the ice cream truck to score my favorite creamy, orange and vanilla-flavored bar. Orange Squeeze is our take on that childhood classic, transporting you back, Milk Bar style, to sweet summer memories of that bright, fresh-tasting combo.”

Along with the Orange Squeeze treats, which you can enjoy in a cup ($7) or a pint ($13), Milk Bar will also have single-serve, no-pulp bottles of Tropicana Pure Premium Original for sale in-store throughout the summer. And the brands are also hosting a giveaway over on social media, starting today through July 21, a.k.a. National Ice Cream Day. Visit @tropicana_juices or @milkbarstore on Instagram and comment on the Orange Squeeze post with your favorite nostalgic ice cream or juice memory, using #TropicanaMilkBar #Sweepstakes, for a chance to win a special prize, including a countertop ice cream maker. 

* This article was originally published here

Although folks from around the world know all about the U.S. Open, not many are aware of the fact that the event’s fan week, which usually takes place a few days before the tournament’s official kickoff, actually offers a wider (and cheaper!) roster of things to do related to the competition.

This year, US Open Fan Week runs from August 19 through 25, offering everyone free grounds admission ahead of the August 26 main draw. 

You can browse through the full list of events right here. Below, we call out some of the week’s most exciting activations:

U.S. Open Qualifying Tournament

If you’ve seen Challengers, you know that a grand slam’s qualifying tournament might be even more exciting than later games in the competition. Add to it the fact that the initial matches are completely free to watch, and you’ve got yourself one of the best things to do in NYC this summer.

A Special Mixed Doubles Contest

The US Open Mixed Madness is a new addition to Fan Week, featuring games between outstanding duos like Coco Gauff and Ben Shelton, Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa. The tournament is scheduled for August 20 at 7pm and tickets for it are available here. 

A Massive Music Party 

Taking place on Friday night, August 23, at between 7pm and 10pm, the festival-like U.S. Open Block Party happening will feature music from a number of well-known DJs alongside exciting player appearances. No passes are needed to access this free event!

A Family-Friendly Day Out

One the most beloved parts of Fan Week, Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day will take place on Saturday, August 24, starting at 9:30am. Expect family-friendly activities, entertainment options and more all throughout the grounds, which you’ll get into gratis.

A Culinary Extravaganza

You’ll need tickets for this one (which you can find right here), but they’ll be totally worth the price tag. Flavors of the Open is happening on August 22 starting at 6:30pm, when attendees will get to try a diverse array of signature foods and drinks created by chefs like Alex Guarnaschelli, Kwame Onwuachi, Pat LaFrieda and more. The chefs might make appearances as well!

A Unique Exhibition

Stars of the Open is a tennis exhibition focusing on some of the most renowned players in the history of the sport, including John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, the Williams sisters, Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic and Frances Tiafoe. Tickets for the event, which takes place on August 21 at 7pm, are available here starting $35. 

* This article was originally published here

Last week at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the eminent Rev. Herbert Daughtry had a book signing of his latest publication “The Passing of Giants,” and also recalled many legends, including three more notables who joined the ancestors: the Rev. James Lawson, Dr. Nathan Hare, and Dr. Wilson J. Moses. There’s a good chance that all three may be profiled in Rev. Daughtry’s next volume, though Dr. Moses may be missed since to date there has been no widely circulated published obituary.  

If not for a notice from Dr. Errol Henderson, who for many years taught with Professor Moses at Penn State, we may not have known of his passing. That brings to mind many of the rather obscure personalities Dr. Moses discussed in one of his books, “Afrotopia: the Roots of African American Popular History” (1998). William Henry Ferris is among the numerous social and political activists and leaders Moses gives considerable attention to, with a particular interest on his ideological underpinnings.

Ferris’s political seeds were planted in New Haven, CT, where he was born on July 20, 1874 to David Henry Ferris, who fought for the Union in the Civil War, and Sarah Anne Jefferson Ferris.  Upon finishing high school, he attended Yale University and fell under the influence and guidance of Professor William G. Sumner, a social darwinist who extended no good graces to the lower, marginalized members of society.

Ferris graduated in 1895 and began working as a freelance writer before entering the Harvard Divinity School in 1899. A year later, he received a master of arts degree in journalism and began teaching at two Florida schools,Tallahassee State College and Florida Baptist College. From 1903 to 1905, he taught at Henderson Normal School and Kittrell College in North Carolina. While still in North Carolina, he was the pastor of the Congressional Church in Wilmington and by 1910 he was an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. He later began  missionary work in Salem, Massachusetts.

Ferris was highly critical of Booker T. Washington’s accommodationist ideas and expressed his opposition in articles published in the Boston Guardian newspaper, under the editorial direction of William Monroe Trotter.  Such an outlook aligned him with W.E.B. Du Bois and the Niagara Movement as well as with the American Negro Academy.  As a member of the so-called “Talented Tenth,” helmed by Du Bois, Ferris was not a dyed-in-the wool proponent of such thinking, which often put him at odds with other African American thinkers and activists, especially Du Bois and Monroe Trotter.

Professor Moses captured some of Ferris’s ambiguity, noting that he was “typical of twentieth century Black nationalists in his commitment to the mythologies of progress and change, and his enthusiasm for confusing the two ideas.” His most acclaimed book “The African Abroad, or His Evolution in Western Civilization” did little to distill or mollify the disturbance among his colleagues. In fact, if anything, it only muddled his standing, particularly with his introduction of the term “Negro Saxon,” as a substitute for Negro. What clearly became unacceptable for the Black intelligentsia around Du Bois was welcomed by the Garveyites, and soon he was a member of the UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association) and an editor at the Negro World, where his adoration for the great leader bordered on the excessive.

In Tony Martin’s book “Literary Garveyism,” Ferris is quoted extensively, most poignantly on Black arts and the middle class. “One of the stumbling blocks in the pathway to Negro progress,” Ferris wrote in the Negro World, “is the Negro’s false conception of art. Art to him, be it music, poetry, drama, sculpture, painting [or] literature…is a thing that appeals exclusively to cultural-minded, the bourgeoisie, to the lords and ladies who try, and fail miserably, to develop a genuine Bohemianism….” He concluded that great art did not have to lose touch with the masses.

Ferris elaborated on these concepts and conclusions in “The African Abroad,” which Moses opined “was a most impressive blending of Afrocentric and cosmopolitan ideas.” Moses also offered an encomium for Ferris, citing that he died on August 23, 1941, penniless and obscure in his room on 10 W. 123rd Street in Harlem. “His obituary in ‘The Journal of Negro History’ described him as ‘a man whose career is difficult to estimate…His body was saved from Potter’s Field through the action of the treasurer of Yale, a member of Ferris’s class of 1895.’” Ferris was a complex man of intriguing thoughts and actions.

The post William H. Ferris, a progenitor of Afrocentric thought appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here

We’re surprised it took this long but Netflix is officially getting into the immersive experience world: the streaming giant has announced the opening of two massive entertainment venues—one at King of Prussia mall near Philadelphia, about a two-hour drive from midtown Manhattan, and the other at Dallas Galleria in Texas. 

Both scheduled to open in 2025, the 10,000-square-foot Netflix Houses will basically be the company’s version of a theme park, complete with set recreations, themed culinary offerings, shopping possibilities and more. Notably missing from the plans: in-house cinemas. Talk about diversification.

“At Netflix House, you can enjoy regularly updated immersive experiences, indulge in retail therapy, and get a taste—literally—of your favorite Netflix series and films through unique food and drink offerings,” Marian Lee, Netflix’s chief marketing officer, said in an official statement, specifically mentioning the various pop-up experiences that the company has set up throughout the country in the past. Netflix Houses will build on those concepts, serving as marketing tools to support the streaming business, according to Variety. 

If you can’t quite imagine the new spaces, which will be built inside former department store locations that are now empty, this might help: “Imagine waltzing with your partner to an orchestral cover of a Taylor Swift song on a replica of the Bridgerton set—and then walking around the corner to compete in the Glass Bridge challenge from Squid Game,” reads an official press release. “After pretending to fight for your life, you’ve worked up an appetite and want to get a bite. You see a nearby restaurant with food inspired by Netflix shows from around the world; the meal is memorable, but you still want to buy some Stranger Things merch. Luckily, there’s a shop that sells that Hellfire Club T-shirt you’ve always wanted.”

Given the public’s seemingly incessant hunger for all things immersive and the popularity of Netflix productions like Bridgerton and Stranger Things, among many others, we imagine the new Netflix Houses to be sure retail magnets adding sizable business opportunities to the streaming giant’s portfolio, despite the absence of theater-like areas within the plans. Netflix clearly knows what it is doing.

* This article was originally published here

What if we told you that you could have the chance to win the ultimate getaway by entering an ice cream sandwich sweepstakes? If that sounds like a dream come true, here’s the scoop on how you can enter for the opportunity to turn it into reality.  

We’ve partnered with Chips Ahoy! to bring readers a spectacular opportunity to indulge your sweet tooth and enter for the chance to win an incredible getaway. All you have to do is create the ultimate Chips Ahoy! ice cream sandwich recipe inspired by your happy place, share it with us here, and you could win an unforgettable trip to the U.S. destination of your choice.*

About the sweepstakes

Think about your happy place. Whether it’s a sunny beach or a vibrant cityscape, what sorts of flavors remind you of that special destination?   

Once you feel like you’ve captured the essence of your happy place, round up the necessary ingredients to build your ice cream sandwich. Use Gopuff for an easy, convenient grocery delivery that will bring your Chips Ahoy! ice cream sandwich supplies right to your door in as fast as 15 minutes.

Be sure to include Chips Ahoy! cookies in your Gopuff order, the base required for your ice cream sandwich entry. With so many versatile flavors to choose from, Chips Ahoy! cookies will make your creations look as good as they taste – which is important for this next step. 

After carefully designing and constructing your happy place-inspired ice cream sandwiches, snap an Insta-worthy photo of the final product and submit it here. It’s as simple as that!

If you don’t feel like inventing your own recipe, you can also browse a variety of pre-selected ice cream sandwich bundles inspired by our favorite Secret cities. From NYC to L.A. and Chicago, you’ll find a delicious variety of city-inspired ice cream sandwich kits that we’ve curated with Gopuff to represent our own happy places.

NYC-inspired ice cream sandwich recipe

If you hadn’t already guessed, our happy place is right here in NYC. That’s why our Chips Ahoy! ice cream sandwich creation celebrates some of the city’s most iconic and nostalgic flavors, specifically New York cheesecake and good old fashioned pretzels.

Enjoy a taste of NYC by testing out this mouthwatering recipe yourself:

NYC-Inspired Ice Cream Sandwich

Ingredients

• Chips Ahoy! Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Cheesecake Ice Cream
• Pretzel Toppings
• Chocolate Drizzle

Assembly 

Place one upside down Chips Ahoy! Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie on a plate and top with a scoop of ice cream. Using the ice cream scooper, gently spread the ice cream to the cookie’s edges. Then sprinkle the pretzel topping and drizzle chocolate syrup over the ice cream. Sandwich another cookie on top and lightly press it all together into a compact sandwich. Enjoy immediately or after freezing!

The post Create An Ice Cream Sandwich With Chips Ahoy! For The Chance To Win A Trip To Your Happy Place appeared first on Secret NYC.

* This article was originally published here