I met my step-grandmother (the mother of my stepmom) when I was 4. She didn’t have any other grandchildren at the time, and I thought she considered me family. But 14 and 11 years ago, when my stepmother’s daughters were born, it became clear that I was a second-class grandchild. It didn’t help matters when…
You’ve found your dream wedding dress. Now it’s time to make sure you look your absolute best in it on your special day. If you’re looking to tone up — whether you are aiming to lose, gain or maintain weight — consider customizing your workout routine to address targeted areas that may be highlighted in…
Agatha Wallen’s son, Mason, has autism, and when he was 7, she heard about an initiative in San Diego aimed at children with special needs. It involved an unlikely tool: a surf board. She wasn’t sure how it would work for her son, who struggled with behavioral and sensory issues. “Even getting the wet suit…
Mark Fischbach recently had an existential crisis, ranting that he had squandered his life playing video games. His lamentations, which he filmed and posted on YouTube three months shy of his 30th birthday, were viewed nearly one million times. Insanely, that number is rather on the low side for Mr. Fischbach, who is better known…
The large, white caps-lock words on the door at Jiang Diner serve as an easy shorthand for the menu that waits inside: Cumin Flavor. The decals are at a convenient eye level for curious diners peering in from the street. The restaurant opened in March in the East Village, and serves food from the Xinjiang…
At Jiang Diner in the East Village, lamb abounds, but chicken still gets a few opportunities to stand out. In the sautéed spicy chicken with bone, bits of sesame-spackled fried chicken are outnumbered by blistered dried chiles, the chunks of meat peeking through a thick canopy of red. The heat is subtle, more a smoky…
On a Friday afternoon in July, the temperature was in the high 90s. But inside Brrrn, the cool fitness studio in the Flatiron district where the temperature is kept cool, it felt like a brisk November morning. “Fifty minutes, 50 degrees, 100 percent,” is one of its mottos, and, indeed, the thermostat in the workout…
Summer Fun 15 Photos View Slide Show › Image Rebecca Smeyne for The New York Times A select group of “Hamptons influencers,” meaning people who Instagram their Aperol spritzes, gathered at a rented McMansion in East Hampton Friday evening for a screening of “The Politician,” a forthcoming Netflix series starring Gwyneth Paltrow and created by,…
In a modern oven in Pasadena, Calif., this week, yeast that could be as old as ancient Egypt was used to bake an especially aromatic loaf of sourdough bread. The baker, Seamus Blackley, was experimenting with yeast he had extracted from a 4,000-year-old Egyptian loaf. He was trying to make his own bread using the…
During an extended period of travel last year, my husband and I lent our house in the Ozarks to an older couple who were having work done on their own house. We returned after a month away to a spotless house and two hostess gifts. But there was also a distinctive smell in the air:…