On Shab-e Yalda, the Iranian celebration of the winter solstice, elders take turns reading from a book of poetry by the celebrated 14th-century Persian poet Hafez, and interpret the rhyming couplets as a form of fortunetelling. Their families listen and tell stories by candlelight, sing, laugh and fill the house with light and warmth while…
Female doctors make less than their male counterparts starting from their very first days on the job, according to a large new study. Over the course of a 40-year-career, researchers estimated, this pay gap adds up to at least $2 million. The survey of more than 80,000 physicians, published on Monday in the medical journal…
With the publication of her latest, “Baking with Dorie,” the baker and New York Times contributor Dorie Greenspan now has 14 cookbooks to her name. This one — a thicket of new ideas, with a few old favorites tossed in — places some emphasis on savory baking, with recipes for mushroom and herb ricotta tart,…
Restaurants have been using dish towels as table napkins for years. Here’s a tea towel that begs for that application, or even to be used as a place mat. Based on the famous Spot paintings by Damien Hirst, it’s a 21-by-17 ½-inch cotton rectangle from Gagosian Gallery’s newly redesigned online shop. Damien Hirst spot tea…
Holiday chocolates are given an interesting twist in some new assortments by Delysia Chocolatier in Austin, Texas. One is defined by the theme of the “Nutcracker,” with decorative images from the ballet and chocolate truffle flavors like rosemary-orange, Lebkuchen and plum pudding. “Winter Wonderland,” with snowy scenes on each piece, includes truffles seasoned with hot…
Julie Green, the artist who commemorated death row inmates’ last meal requests on 1,000 blue and white plates, died in October. While working on that “Last Supper” series, for the past three years, she was creating a companion piece, “First Meals,” requests by exonerated prisoners for what they wanted to eat when freed. She collaborated…
Is anyone on your gift list a tea lover? For the first time Sotheby’s will auction off rare Chinese teas and tea implements. The online auction will be held in Hong Kong from Wednesday through Dec. 16. The teas, more than 20 lots of them, are all puerh, a type of black or green tea…
Originally Italian, the Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner has a wider audience now. It makes for an interesting, if challenging, celebratory menu. The wholesale Fulton Fish Market has simplified assembling the essential ingredients, and you do not have to be a chef to gain access since the market has been selling to…
Last year was a tough one. Americans grappled with a global pandemic, the loss of loved ones, lockdowns that splintered social networks, stress, unemployment and depression. It is probably no surprise that the nation’s blood pressure shot up. On Monday, scientists reported that blood pressure measurements of nearly a half-million adults showed a significant rise…
Hell hath no fury like a social media mob that thinks it has identified a luxury scam. Or so it seemed this weekend, when a series of viral TikTok videos involving an $825 Chanel advent calendar and the disappointed customer who bought it went viral, inspiring a multitude of users to call foul on the…