After I signed up for my insurance plan, I got an email with a link to a “wellness program” that, if I traded some health data — such as steps from a pedometer or smartwatch exercise data — could earn me a small monthly payout and some gift cards. But the second I logged in,…
Good morning. We’ll get to the recipes soon enough, to this insanely good macaroni and cheese (above), to Julia Moskin’s hashed brussels sprouts, to gravy instruction and a whole lot more. This is perhaps the time you need recipes most, of any time of year. But there are two important points to make before we…
In 2019, celebrities used the red carpet to whisk us away from worry, inspire our closets, and drain our clothing budgets. Consider this a formal ode to Timothée Chalamet’s glittery hoodie and a remembrance of everything Zendaya’s ever owned. From Billy Porter’s revolutionary Oscars ensemble to Beyoncé’s Lion King premiere gown, we reflect on the…
Most of the time, I have no idea what Mohammed is saying when I hear him on the phone with his family in Morocco. But I feel a sense of comfort in his elevated tone and unfamiliar words often laced with laughter and strung together to form an Arabic conversation that my daughter and I…
The morning walk before a holiday meal can feel like an act of advance penance: a show of restraint before the feast, best performed under a pale sun, amid a lonely scatter of leaves and with a determination to keep the campfire in sight. March off too slowly — or too far — and you’ll…
The annual consumer blitz that is Black Friday, has seeped into the wedding landscape, like smoke from Romeo y Julieta cigars, frequently given as groomsmen gifts. (They’re 28 percent off at the Famous Smoke Shop.) The advertised deep discounts, offered by retailers beginning Friday, Nov. 29, and that often continue through Cyber Monday, Dec. 2,…
Great snow conditions can make a ski trip magical. Skiers can weight the odds in their favor by picking their destinations according to the time of winter. Two factors determine how a ski resort’s snow typically evolves across a season: snowfall and geography. Inside of those two elements, however, exist several layers. Here’s how to…
When winter came to Beijing, it arrived as it often does, as a snarling Siberian wind. The cold howled through the hutongs and around the ring roads. It weaseled under the doors and through the seams of your shirt. It was early December. “Da xue” season had arrived, the time for “major snow.” But there…
IN THE HILLY Boaco region of central Nicaragua, the turmeric plants on Celia Dávila and Gonzalo González’s farm stand over four feet tall — thriving giants, although as natives of South and Southeast Asia, they’re actually newcomers to this land. Coffee once ruled these fields, but as its price has grown unstable, smallholder farmers like…
Working out on an empty stomach could amplify the health benefits of the activity, according to a well-timed new study of the interplay of meal timing, metabolic health and moving. The study, which involved sedentary men and moderate cycling, suggests that whether and when we eat may affect how exercise affects us. In general, any…