Latest news with #Funfetti
New York Post
29-04-2025
- New York Post
AG Pam Bondi gets firsthand look at fentanyl in DEA lab as enough to kill 119 million seized this year
Attorney General Pam Bondi toured the only federal lab in the country providing end-to-end analysis of the ingredients fueling fentanyl trafficking Tuesday, getting an up close and personal look at how deadly the synthetic opioid is — and how quickly it can be manufactured. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) chemists briefed Bondi on the hardware, chemical components and scope of the drug trade at their Northern Virginia lab as part of National Fentanyl Awareness Day, before the AG shared shocking statistics with The Post and other reporters who accompanied her. Since Jan. 1, the AG's office revealed, the feds have seized enough fentanyl to kill 119 million Americans — roughly a third of the US population — with the Trump administration intercepting a massive 2,450 kilograms. Advertisement 8 'Had this been real, we would all be dead in this room,' Attorney General Pam Bondi said ominously, as a plume of blue smoke from counterfeit fentanyl rose in the room. Josh Christenson/NY Post Fentanyl, which comes in bright blue and red colors due to the dyes used in production, is 10,000 times more potent than heroin — and even more dangerous versions, such as carfentanil, have been appearing that deliver 100,000 times the payload of heroin. 'This machine is making drugs that can kill millions of Americans,' Bondi said, placing her hand on a giant metal pill-maker cranking out small, counterfeit tablets at a rate of 333 per minute. Advertisement 'Had this been real, we would all be dead in this room,' the AG said ominously as a plume of blue smoke escaped from the funnel through which powdery mix was being poured into the machine to produce the pills. 8 'This machine is making drugs that can kill millions of Americans,' Bondi said, placing her hand on a giant metal pill-maker that was cranking out small, counterfeit tablets at a rate of 333 per minute. Josh Christenson/NY Post Traffickers usually produce a kilo in around three days of work, one of the DEA chemists noted. Each capsule can then be sold on the street for as little as $10. One pure kilo of fentanyl can cause 500,000 potentially fatal overdoses, but traffickers rarely export with purity levels higher than 15%, a Justice Department official told The Post. Advertisement Some of the pills are colored with easily purchased bakery confections sold in grocery stores, such as the blue dyes used in Pillsbury-branded Funfetti. 8 Josh Christenson/NY Post David Guthrie, a senior DEA research chemist, said he and two other colleagues have worked to reproduce the recipes used by traffickers in order to help authorities better track fentanyl strands and the locations they're originating from. 'We were able to show that this is not a process that's necessarily going to turn out a kilogram of very dirty fentanyl, that's very impure, that might not get the end user as high, [and] it might not be as deadly — it is very pure at the end,' Guthrie said. Advertisement 'It took us four working days, about eight-hour days — the cartels don't work eight-hour days,' he added. 'They work sunup to sundown and possibly more.' 8 DEA chemist Jonathan Dumke showed The Post real fentanyl pills that can be purchased for as little as $10 on the street. Josh Christenson/NY Post 'I like to say that we're kind of the government's answer to Walter White from 'Breaking Bad,'' Guthrie boasted. 'We are trying to reverse-engineer what the cartels are doing at any given time.' For decades, the DEA has been raiding cook sites and obtaining the industrial machines used to make fentanyl in both the US and Mexico. The devices are supposed to be registered with federal authorities — but have been known to pop up and be sold without a trace on websites such as Ebay. 'Mexico tends to get the higher-producing instruments while we have the smaller ones,' said senior forensic DEA chemist Jonathan Dumke. 8 For decades, the DEA has began raiding cook sites and obtaining the industrial machines used to make fentanyl in both the US and south of the border. Josh Christenson/NY Post 'The smaller ones can be done in closets. They can be done in the trunk of cars, hotel rooms, while these,' added Dumke, pointing to the machine where Bondi was standing, 'are more in factory, industrial settings.' The chemist then picked out a blue capsule. Advertisement 'One of these tablets contains about 2 mg,' he said, 'so 2% of this tablet is the threshold to kill a person.' 8 Dumke and his colleagues guided Bondi through several rooms at the lab where they analyze real fentanyl and then reverse-engineer the chemicals that go into making the product, giving them a fuller picture of the supply chain. Josh Christenson/NY Post The chemists guided Bondi through several rooms at the lab where they analyze real fentanyl and then reverse-engineer the chemicals that go into making the product, giving them a fuller picture of the supply chain. Some components, like acetaminophen, are available over the counter, while others such as dipyrone are banned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and have to be purchased in Mexico, Central America, or South America. Advertisement 'How well the mix is will determine how the dye looks,' Dumke said of the intercepted pills the chemists have analyzed from cartels and traffickers by observing different dyes and blends used in the fentanyl powder. 8 Some of the pills can even be colored with easily purchased bakery confections sold in grocery stores, such as the blue dyes used in Pillsbury-branded Funfetti. Josh Christenson/NY Post 'If you think of chocolate chip cookies, one cookie usually has a couple chocolates, another one will have a bunch more chocolates,' he explained. 'So someone might get all the chocolate … they're getting all the fentanyl. … but now your friend next to you on the couch–' 'Is dead,' Bondi interjected. Advertisement The DEA has mostly been seizing tablets with blue dyes, which are imported cheaply from China, in order to put together full ingredient lists, calculate how the tablets are being moved through the milling process — and then work with 'the intelligence side' to find production sites. 8 'I like to say that we're kind of the government's answer to Walter White from 'Breaking Bad,'' said David Guthrie, a senior research chemist at the DEA. Josh Christenson/NY Post 'It's a constant cat and mouse game,' said Guthrie. President Trump has also given the DEA's fentanyl crackdown a leg-up by deploying up to 145% tariffs on China to halt its export of precursor chemicals to Mexican cartels and other traffickers. Advertisement But fentanyl remains the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 44 and is costing the US health care system as much as $107 billion annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All told, the fentanyl trade cost the US around $2.7 trillion, or 10% of US GDP, in 2023.
NBC News
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
All icing and no cake: People are eating frosting straight from the jar on TikTok
Are you team cake or team frosting? TikTok has certainly made its choice. It all started when creator Audrey Rose (@enidandaudrey) posted a video of herself eating bright-blue Funfetti frosting in March. 'Let's try blue Funfetti icing,' she says before tapping her manicured nails against the tin for a little extra ASMR. 'It's like yogurt but unhealthy.' After adding a smattering of sprinkles on top, she does what most of us would never dare do. She dunks her spoon into the tub and takes a bite. And another. And another. The video, which she claims was the first in what is now a viral trend across Foodtok, has amassed over 11 million views. And people have thoughts in both directions: 'I miss eating icing out of the container bru,' one user wrote in the comments. 'I would start gagging soooo bad,' wrote another. 'Is anybody worried about their health,' asked someone else. 'Did somebody say 'Diabetes?'' commented another. 'Am I the only one who loves eating icing too,' asked yet another. To answer that last one: No, you are certainly not the only one. Since the March video went viral, eating Funfetti's vibrant frosting on camera has become incredibly popular on the food side of TikTok, with some of the most viral posts under the hashtag #frosting being these types of videos. Among those posts is one by Hallie Perez of @hallieiseating, whose video of herself eating bright-pink frosting with crystalized sprinkles also garnered over 11 million views. And like many of the TikTokers engaging in this trend, eating frosting is nothing new to her. Perez has always had a sweet tooth. 'Growing up, it was always such a joke because whenever [my family and I] would go and travel anywhere, everyone would always want to try the new cuisines and stuff like that. And I was always like, 'I want the chocolate cake for breakfast,'' she tells So when she started her own mukbang account — a social media page dedicated to eating foods for an audience — it became very easy to satisfy that craving. Why are these cavity-inducing videos so popular? As far as Funfetti mukbangs, specifically, it seems that audiences continue to tune in for two reasons. First, the satisfying colors and textures make users stop dead in their scrolling tracks. From blue to pink and beyond, watching someone eat colorful icing seems to wake up the senses in a way that seeing someone eat a cup of yogurt with granola just doesn't. 'There's a large ASMR audience. The crunch is really good with the sprinkles and creaminess of the icing,' Rose tells 'I think those just work really well together for ASMR.' And the second reason these videos seem to have skyrocketed in popularity might be our human response of wanting what we know we shouldn't have. 'I think it's because it's not something that most people would want to do themselves,' adds Perez. 'And most people are like, 'Oh my gosh, how could you eat a spoonful of frosting like that?'' And while this kind of content has drawn criticism for promoting unhealthy eating habits, Perez says she is able to eat in moderation. 'If I'm craving some frosting that day, I'll eat a couple spoonfuls of frosting. We're not restricting ourselves,' Perez explains. 'But I'm not going sit there and eat frosting every single day. [Moderation is[ what I'm always preaching in my comments. When people are like, 'Oh my gosh, this is so unhealthy,' I'm like, it's unhealthy if you do it in an unhealthy way.' Is there a healthy way to eat frosting on its own? According to registered dietitian Shyla Cadogan, the answer is complicated. If one decided to eat copious amounts of icing regularly, the effects stretch far and wide. 'In the immediate, what you are mainly providing your body with is a high amount of added sugar, but also you're providing your body with a significant amount of fat as well if you were eating most of or even just a significant amount of frosting in one sitting,' Cadogan tells 'You are eating large amounts of added sugar without anything to really buffer it. So there really isn't much protein. There is no fiber to help to slow how quickly your blood sugar is increasing, so it's much more likely to spike if you're eating large amounts of frosting in one sitting.' In the long term, eating large amounts of frosting has a whole other host of risks. 'Lasting effects could absolutely be insulin resistance, which could eventually lead to type two diabetes if this is done in the long term,' she shares. 'Obviously, we don't know people's other habits outside of [doing Frosting mukbangs], but it could potentially lead to excessive nausea, bloating, and GI issues overall.' We also can't 'forget the potential dental effects like cavities and all of that as well,' she adds. 'And you know, depending on overall diet quality, it can promote excessive weight gain, as well.' Many of these risks are exactly what users point out in the comment sections of these videos, as well as suggesting that these mukbangers aren't swallowing the food at all. In that same vein, Cadogan warns users against engaging in copycat behavior, especially since we only get a snapshot of people's eating habits online. 'I think there's a difference, at least from what I've been seeing, between having a spoonful of icing and also having multiple spoonfuls and adding more sugar on top of that via sprinkles, and also eating the entire thing,' Cadogan says . 'I think that's a spectrum. And so for the people that I have seen who are over eating that, it can normalize a skewed, unrealistic relationship with food.' But on the other end of the spectrum, some say these videos can help heal people's complicated relationship with food. 'A lot of people have messaged me and said, 'You've really helped me with my relationship with food and my eating disorder. You've helped me know that food's not the enemy,'' Perez shares. 'I'm not saying frosting is necessarily fueling your body in the best way, but you're allowed to indulge and enjoy your life. It's not that serious. Don't sit there and be like, 'I can never have frosting. I can never have a brownie.' Live your life.' And as Cadogan notes, indulging in the foods that you like in moderation shouldn't be shameful, but it's important to take that extra step to identify what's an actual craving and what's something you've just seen on your For You page five minutes ago. 'Something that I always talk about in my patient care is bringing awareness to your own hunger and fullness cues,' Cadogan says. So, if your heart is in it, don't be afraid to take a spoon to that icing in the back of your fridge. As Perez would say, 'Life is too short to not eat the spoonful of frosting.'
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Corner Bakery Cafe Celebrates 34 Sweet Years with Smiley Mugs, Free Coffee, and Funfetti Treats
DALLAS, April 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Get ready to raise a mug and share a smile! Corner Bakery Cafe®, is turning 34, and to mark the occasion, the brand is bringing back a fan-favorite tradition with a one-day-only Smiley Mug Giveaway on Thursday, April 10. This milestone event is more than just a birthday—it's a celebration of community, reflection, and, of course, coffee! To kick off the festivities on the big day, the first 34 guests in line at all Corner Bakery locations will receive the brand's Limited Edition iconic Smiley Mug, a nostalgic favorite making a special return for this limited-time birthday celebration. As an extra treat, these lucky guests will also receive an offer for FREE coffee for a year—no purchase necessary. "Turning 34 is a milestone worth celebrating, and what better way to do that than by giving back to the guests who have supported us," said Chris Dharod, CEO of Corner Bakery. "We're thrilled to bring back the Smiley Mug, a symbol of warmth and hospitality that has been a part of Corner Bakery's history for years. This is just the beginning of an annual tradition that ensures we never let another year go by without celebrating what makes Corner Bakery so special -- our guests." The celebration doesn't stop with the Smiley Mug. Corner Bakery loyalty members can enjoy FREE coffee all day long with any purchase, making the day the perfect opportunity to indulge in a favorite brew. And because no birthday is complete without cake, every guest who walks through the doors will be treated to a FREE Funfetti Bundt Bite, a delightful, bite-sized nod to the joy of birthdays. All day, guests are invited to join in the celebration by snapping a photo with their Smiley Mug or Funfetti treat and tagging Corner Bakery on social media. Whether stopping by for a morning coffee or an afternoon pick-me-up, it's the perfect chance to celebrate the moment, share in the fun, and make lasting memories. Founded on a philosophy of creating a warm and comfortable place for people to relax with friends, family and neighbors, the restaurants feature artisan-inspired, seasonal hand-crafted menu options made with fresh ingredients every day, while delivering a premier bakery experience in the heart of neighborhoods across the nation. Mark your calendars, set your reminders, and join us on April 10 for an unforgettable day of celebration and smiles! Be the first to be in line at the location near you -- the Smiley Mugs are back, the birthday candles are lit, and Corner Bakery is ready to celebrate 34 delicious years—one smile at a time. #sharethesmiles For more information, visit or follow Corner Bakery CafeⓇ on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or TikTok. *Pricing and hours vary by location. ABOUT CORNER BAKERY CAFE Corner Bakery Cafe is a fast-casual restaurant serving kitchen-crafted breakfast, lunch, dinner and catering to guests in 18 states and Washington, D.C. In 1991, inspired by great fresh ingredients, the small neighborhood bakery on a corner in downtown Chicago began creating artisan breads and freshly baked sweets. For the last 33 years, Corner Bakery Cafes have been a neighborhood favorite. Guest favorites include the crave-worthy Anaheim Scrambler for breakfast, the grilled-to-perfection Chicken Pomodori Panini for lunch, the kitchen-crafted Pesto Cavatappi pasta for dinner and a slice of rich, flavorful Cinnamon Creme Cake for a sweet treat. The catering menu includes freshly scrambled eggs and Berry & Almond Overnight Oats, baskets of assorted specialty sandwiches, signature pastas and hot and delicious soups. Corner Bakery Cafe is owned by an affiliate of SSCP, a Dallas-based enterprise and an award-winning leader in the restaurant industry. To learn more, visit or follow Corner Bakery CafeⓇ on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or TikTok. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Corner Bakery Cafe
New York Times
06-03-2025
- Lifestyle
- New York Times
Your Dinner Needs, No, Deserves Sprinkles
There is one detail that separates the birthday cake from the everyday cake. It is not candles. It is not layers. It is not a perfectly piped, personalized inscription. For the birthday cakes I make, anyway, it is edible glitter. When I bestowed a birthday cake topped with shimmering potato chips upon an unsuspecting friend recently, it did all the things you hope a little glitter will do. It surprised. It delighted. It elicited oohs, ahs and at least one incredulous 'Wait, is that edible glitter?' The line of demarcation between quotidian and celebratory is made of sparkles and sprinkles. And I'm here to tell you to cross it more than just once a year. Check your pantry (and fridge). Do you see pistachios? Black and white sesame seeds? Bread crumbs? Poppy seeds? Halloumi? You have edible glitter, savory sprinkles waiting to embellish even the simplest meal. They may lack the gleam of gold, but surprise and delight remain. Pistachios are the sprinkle supreme of the nut world, imparting dishes with texture and color. Their softened green tones pop against the fiery orange backdrop of Hetty Lui McKinnon's roasted spiced squash with whipped feta like nature's Funfetti. The pistachio sprinkles are so striking that you may glance over the dish's tangy base. But even if your eyes do, your taste buds will not. View this recipe. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
13-02-2025
- Lifestyle
- New York Times
It's Little Treat O'Clock
These homemade sweets are ready in 25 minutes or less. Make yourself a sticky toffee pudding in no time at all with this easy microwave recipe. Kelly Marshall for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. By Ali Slagle Ali Slagle is a recipe developer and regular contributor to NYT Cooking who specializes in low-effort, high-reward recipes. She is also the author of the cookbook 'I Dream of Dinner (so You Don't Have To).' Published Feb. 13, 2025 Updated Feb. 13, 2025 That familiar feeling hits: the craving for a little something sweet. But it's late, or the emergency chocolate stash went poof, or you're really 'not a baker.' It's going to be OK because you probably already have the ingredients you need to rustle together one of these homemade treats. You can make yourself a warm cake faster than it takes an oven to heat, a joyful bite of Funfetti (sort of) when there seems little reason to blow out candles, a jammy fruit crisp when summer is far, far away, and a chewy chocolate-chip cookie without creaming butter or sifting flour — and without butter or flour, period. The four recipes below are far from projects; they serve just one or two people, take five minutes to half an hour, and skip the mixer in favor of a bowl and spoon. They're gentle, lazy, and, much like petting dogs, doing the crossword and saying thank you, small ways to sweeten any day. Beloved in Australia and New Zealand, fairy bread can be a Funfetti-like sweet treat. Kelly Marshall for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Triangles of untoasted white bread covered with margarine or butter and 'hundreds and thousands' (those are sprinkles stateside), fairy bread is a much-loved treat often served at children's birthday parties in Australia or New Zealand. Even if you didn't grow up with it, fairy bread might still taste familiar because the sugary-waxy sprinkles, tender crumb, butter and vanilla are reminiscent of Funfetti cake. These simple cookies are rich with nut butter and miso paste for a perfect salty-sweet balance. Kelly Marshall for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Forget what you thought you knew about making a great chocolate-chip cookie. This two-step recipe delivers crisp edges, gooey middles and rich salted-caramel flavor with any nut or seed butter, brown sugar, miso paste and an egg. These may be dairy- and gluten-free, but they're not lacking in any way. Microwaving the topping while the filling simmers on the stovetop balances this crisp's texture. Kelly Marshall for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Sink into this berry crisp any night of the week, no matter the season. The topping clumps and crisps in the microwave, and fresh or frozen berries simmer on the stovetop until jammy. Because the two elements are cooked separately, the topping won't get soggy, delivering a brown sugary crunch to every bite. Ice cream, sour cream or whipped cream are all great on top of this gooey cake. Kelly Marshall for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Feel the warmth of this ready-in-10-minutes take on sticky toffee pudding cake as soon as you spoon out a bite. You don't have to top the soft, date-flecked cake with vanilla ice cream, sour cream or whipped cream, but the cold dairy swirling with the warm, glistening toffee sauce is something special. Follow New York Times Cooking on Instagram , Facebook , YouTube , TikTok and Pinterest . Get regular updates from New York Times Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice .
