Don’t Call It Pilaf

Potato salad has its charms, but you probably wouldn’t eat a whole plate of it. Rice salad, on the other hand, can make a fine summer meal. Popular throughout the Mediterranean, there are many types, and all are summery. Italians claim insalata di riso as their own. There are variations, of course. In the North,…

Finding Clarity in Their Partnerships

Shortly after Olivia Landau discovered Kyle Simon in July 2013 at the Gemological Institute of America in New York, where each was studying precious stones, she went underground to unearth more information about him. “Kyle was so handsome, and I noticed that he often looked at me at school, and I definitely wanted to have…

This Is the Best Chicken

Good morning. Maangchi, the YouTube cooking star whose real name is Emily Kim, was on vacation on the far eastern end of Long Island this summer, staying in a condominium just steps from the Montauk beach. One day I went out to visit her, and she taught me to make cheese buldak (above), fiery chicken…

Where I Find Romance in Marriage

I feared that my childhood had ruined me for romance. My mother raised me alone, just the two of us, in five states and nine different houses. Sometimes we were broke, but we always had fun. She made every day beautiful. We ate pancakes for dinner, grew watermelon in the garden, picked raspberries. I had…