A Smoky and Bright Pasta

Dinner always seems a little beside the point this time of year, which I fondly regard as cookie season. Why think about chicken when you could be daydreaming about hibiscus-ginger cookies, minty lime bars or chocolate babka rugelach? The brilliant recipe editors and bakers of New York Times Cooking have come up with 24 cookies…

Our Most Popular Recipes of 2021

Phew, it’s been a wild year, but New York Times Cooking readers still found their way into their kitchens. (Cooking is a great escape, and, despite the news, you do have to eat.) Simple, quick dishes like Ali Slagle’s five-ingredient cucumber-avocado salad and Hetty McKinnon’s cauliflower piccata dominated our list of most popular recipes, but…

He Was the ‘Buli’ to Her ‘Schmuli’

When Avital Epstein and Gal Cassif met six years ago, they quickly realized they had something in common: rhyming nicknames. His, “Buli,” came from childhood. Hers, “Schmuli,” was coined when she was an adult. Their friends loved it. “I tried to fight it,” Ms. Epstein said. “But no one listened. Now our close friends call…

Captivated by Her Yellow Glow

Maybe it was the sunlight. Or, perhaps the yellow shirt Dannie Lynn Fountain wore the day she met Kaitlyn Aurora Murphy in person. “When I saw her she looked absolutely gorgeous, with a yellow glow,” said Ms. Murphy, who on July 25, 2020, traveled an hour and a half — first boarding a train from…