I’m at home in Los Angeles, vaccinated, boosted, happy to be alive and absolutely exhausted — frazzled and shattered in ways I didn’t even know I could be. What a year. I’m not going to a party tomorrow, but I’ll celebrate with my husband, a couple of friends, two good dogs in silly hats and…
And so closes the second year of the pandemic, 12 months more of worry, of working from home, of trying to make each meal feel like something new. The articles that readers of the Food section and New York Times Cooking craved this year acknowledged this new reality. Many of our most-read stories offered tips…
I used to be convinced that the only way to get truly crisp tofu was to fry it. I’d roasted it and broiled it, but I was never able to achieve those burnished, crisp corners that a pan full of screaming-hot oil reliably delivered. Then I tried a technique from Jenny Rosenstrach’s excellent cookbook, “The…
How to Decant Wine With Sediment Drinking sediment is not harmful, but it’s unpleasant, like having a mouthful of grit. To decant, make sure to stand the bottle upright long enough for the sediment to settle to the bottom. If you don’t have time for that, pour carefully and let any sediment settle in the…
These are the pictures that defined an unpredictable year across the worlds of art, music, dance and performance. A crush of vaccinated fans pumping their wristbanded hands in the air as rock music returned to Madison Square Garden after 460 days. A masked standing ovation as “Hadestown” became one of the first musicals back on…
While travel is fraught amid the rise of the Omicron variant, people are still dreaming of their next getaway. There are even new apps to make trips easier to plan and enjoy. A number of them were introduced (and some old favorites were updated) back when travel was at a standstill. Wondering which to try?…
The very first time I boiled a whole chicken, nearly 10 years ago, I was overwhelmed by how much it perfumed my apartment with the scent of my mother’s kitchen. I wasn’t trying to recreate her samgyetang, but I did, by accident. Fortified with ginseng and jujubes, this Korean chicken soup is a garlic lover’s…
Shipped off to boarding school as a teenager in 1920 “to get the edges polished off and prepare for college,” the artist Doris Lee cut her hair to rebel against her surroundings — “the least adventuresome and imaginative” in her life, with no access to painting. This act of rebellion was met with suspension and…
Twenty twenty-one was the year we cautiously returned to dining at our favorite restaurants and hosting loved ones at our own tables. For those not still recovering from numerous failed focaccia attempts, it was also a chance to try new recipes — we’re fond of Roxane Gay’s take on a basil-y chicken Milanese, and Batsheva…
Five years ago, when I was still in college, my parents and I agreed not to discuss politics. They have become extremely conservative, which leads to conflict between us. We have mostly lived up to this pact. But this week, during my holiday visit home, they have been out of control. Every day, they make…