Before she entered the Community of St. John Baptist in 2012, Claudette Monica Powell performed in an acoustic rock duo and an improv comedy troupe in Los Angeles. Now she goes by Sister Monica Clare, sings in a church choir in Mendham Township, N.J., and posts matter-of-fact videos about convent life on TikTok. “Most people…
A former nurse whose medication error killed a patient in Tennessee was sentenced to three years of probation on Friday, ending a case that had prompted concern among health care workers fearful that medical mistakes will be criminalized. The nurse, RaDonda Vaught, apologized to the relatives of the 75-year-old victim, Charlene Murphey, who was injected…
Susan Pollack, a property manager who was shopping one afternoon last week at a Costco in Marina del Rey, Calif., said she was startled that the price of a bulk pack of toilet paper had surged from $17 to $25. At her local kosher butcher shop, the prices were rising even higher: more than $200…
Former bad boys of New York’s downtown art scene spent last Sunday in the polo fields of Greenwich, Conn., where the Brant Foundation Art Study Center held a pared-back opening for Spencer Sweeney, the artist, D.J. and party ringleader. Instead of a lavish affair with spit-roasted lamb, artists like Dan Colen, Nate Lowman and Tabboo!…
The quest to cook the perfect steak has been a challenge since slabs of meat were roasted over fire. But what constitutes a great steak? It should take you through a complex strata of textures and flavors: dark crust, rosy meat, tenderness balanced by chew. You want a steak you can sink your teeth into.…
Reverse-searing can be done on a charcoal or gas grill, but it’s easier to smoke with charcoal. The method requires little more in the way of special equipment than a grill with a lid and an accurate meat thermometer. Ideally, you’ll use a wired remote thermometer, like ThermoWorks Smoke X2 or ChefsTemp Quad XPro, or…
Jack Cakebread, who with his wife, Dolores, turned a 22-acre cattle ranch in Rutherford, Calif., into one of Napa Valley’s leading wineries, along the way helping to propel the once-obscure region to global viticultural stardom, died on April 26 in Napa. He was 92. His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by his son Dennis,…
When she graduated from Hollywood High School in 1961, Carrie White did her hair up in a bubblegum-pink beehive. She had learned, she wrote in her memoir, that “if I could get my hair right, my life would work better.” After attending beauty school, she developed a reputation for getting other people’s hair right. And…
Both Jenny Dhoumo and Lauren Kirshenbaum found out on Instagram. Ms. Dhoumo, a 24-year-old New York University senior was in a cafe, doing schoolwork, when she saw a friend’s repost from Rolling Stone, announcing that Taylor Swift would speak at the N.Y.U. commencement this month and receive an honorary doctorate of fine arts. Ms. Dhoumo,…
On my last prepandemic trip to the Loire Valley, in 2018, I found myself in a familiar place. Ten years after my first road trip on the region’s castle route, I was back at the 500-year-old Château de Chambord, joining a small group of European and American tourists on a guided tour. Within seconds of…