😱🍦 This scoop might make you scream

✨ Apparently, it was written in the stars: This professional astrologer predicted if President Biden were pressured to step down, it would be at the Capricorn Full Moon at 29° Capricorn … which was Sunday. She also predicted in 2020 that Kamala Harris would run for President in 2024. Sooo … maybe you should go read your horoscope. 

👀 What’s on tap today:

Up first…

I scream. You scream. Local ice cream shops scream for ice cream. On this month’s edition of small business telephone tag, we asked a few local ice cream shops to share their picks on who’s making some of the funkiest flavors around town (that aren’t their own).

Here’s what they said: 

🌹 Toscanini’s loves Dizin Frutti Berri in Watertown. And let us preface this rec by saying this means a lot given Toscanini’s is consistently rated one of the best ice cream shops around Boston. Dizin Frutti Berri is an unassuming hole-in-in-wall frozen yogurt shop run by Ali Toloui, who’s known for experimenting with Middle Eastern flavors, from saffron and rose to date and honey. Toscanini’s owner Gus Rancatore is partial to the rose cardamom. Toloui compares taking a bite of his saffron rose ice cream to the “sensation of kissing your first love.” 

🤝 Dizin Fruitti Berry loves Dizin Fruitti Berry … and Toscanini’s. Despite prodding, Toloui asserts that no ice cream compares to what he’s pumping out. But he’s got a soft spot for Rancatore, who’s a repeat customer, calling him “The ice cream man of Massachusetts.” 

🍓 So … back to Toscanini’s, who ALSO loves Sofra Bakery in Cambridge. You may know Sofra for its Middle Eastern-inspired pastries that landed it on this New York Times ‘best of’ list, but Rancatore thinks its ice cream deserves its own praise. Café manager Adriana Guerra said executive pastry chef and owner Maura Kilpatrick makes two to three flavors at a time, and is always thinking seasonally (right now, it’s black raspberry sherbet and strawberry basil sorbet). She’s also made flavors like salted caramel coconut and Meyer lemon saffron. 

🥕 Sofra loves Honeycomb Creamery in Cambridge. Honeycomb’s vegan Horchata scoop made with homemade brown rice milk and coconut cream is one of Guerra’s go-tos. The only thing you won’t find on Honeycomb’s menu is a basic flavor (see: this bunny tracks ice cream that went viral). Similar to Sofra, Honeycomb owner Kristen Rummel is also inspired by the seasons, according to Grant Burley, Honeycomb’s community engagement manager. And speaking of, a late-summer fave — sweet corn and blackberry jam — is coming back next week. 

🥝 Honeycomb Creamery loves Far Out Ice Cream in Brookline. Blending together homemade ice cream with fresh fruit (think: mango, banana, and berries), this New Zealand-style soft-serve-esqe ice cream is one of Burley’s favorites. He’s a fan of mixing chocolate and cherries for a black forest moment, but also loves the new hokey pokey flavor, a sweet and creamy ice cream with crunchy honeycomb toffee chunks.

🗓️💃 Who says weekends get to have all the fun? On Tuesdays and Thursdays you can head to The Superette in Seaport for fun (and free) weekly activities all summer. Unleash your creativity with guided drawing at Sketch Sesh, snip fresh herbs to cook with from the Herb Garden, and learn to dance with Urbanity Dance instructors at Salsa Nights. Then, cap it off with a cocktail at Borrachito. Try the Snappy Murph cocktail, made with fresh herbs from the garden or grab a dance card after salsa for an $8 margarita, and head home knowing you made the absolute most of your weekday.

🗳️ Mass. delegates hop on the Kamala train. It’s safe to say VP Kamala Harris had a solid first full day on the campaign trail: She bagged a flurry of endorsements from key Mass. politicians, members of the Mass. delegation to the Democratic National Convention voted to back her as the party’s presidential nominee, and donations poured in from Mass. donors (she also set a new fundraising record). But perhaps the biggest news of the day: according to an Associated Press survey, Harris has the support of enough Democratic delegates (more than 1,976) to become the party’s presidential nominee.

👩‍⚖️ Karen Read’s new trial gets kicked down the road. If you were hoping for a retrial to begin soon, you’ll have to wait till 2025. Judge Beverly Cannone, who declared a mistrial after jurors on the Karen Read case remained gridlocked, set Jan. 27, 2025 as the date for Read’s retrial, with a final pre-trial conference scheduled for Jan. 14. That said, Read and her lawyers will be back in court Aug. 9 for oral arguments on the defense’s motion to dismiss two of the three charges against her. Stay tuned!

🤑 The days of asking HR for the salary range might be numbered. Hopefully we can kiss goodbye awkwardly asking our coworkers what they make, as Mass. lawmakers reached an agreement on a bill that would require employers with 25 full-time employees or more to disclose salary ranges in their job postings and protect an employee’s right to ask for salary ranges. Both chambers are expected to vote on it this week, and assuming it passes, it’ll be off to Gov. Healey for her John Hancock. If signed, it’ll go into effect sometime next year. 

⛈️ Well, this gorgeous weather was nice while it lasted. Make sure to pack an umbrella and a rain jacket this week because we’re entering another unsettled weather pattern that could unload at any moment. Now through Thursday, expect lots of mugginess, a near daily chance for showers and thunderstorms, and the possibility of downpours that could cause localized flooding. The good news? Assuming the weather clears, it looks like we have another gorgeous weekend on deck.

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There’s a new TikTok travel trend called “rawdogging.” And no, it’s not what it sounds like. 

Globe travel writer Christopher Muther unpacked this growing trend in his latest piece, which, unlike other TikTok crazes that require you to eat Tide Pods or Nyquil chicken, this one entails just sitting on a flight … doing absolutely nothing. No sleeping, bathroom breaks, food, water, entertainment, or conversations with fellow passengers. It’s the airplane equivalent of solitary confinement.

Before TikTok, Muther would have called this “Flying on Spirit Airlines.” But the bro-dudes who’ve co-opted this sexual euphemism talk about this trend as if they’re testing their mental toughness. Seriously, this guy thought watching the flight map for seven hours straight was a flex.

Muther’s verdict? He’s all for it, as long as it means no one is reclining their seat in his face or clipping their toenails. That said, he won’t be partaking.

— Written by Emily Schario

✈️ Thanks for reading! If watching the flight map for hours on end is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.  

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