Good morning. I’m lucky to have a grill out back, and it’s been put to good use of late: baby back ribs and beer-can chicken and hot slaw and glazed carrots and grilled peaches straight from the jar. Now it’s back to the uncomfortable chair and the rickety desk, my makeshift office a step from the bed, with sardines on crackers with a swipe of mayonnaise for lunch, and late dinners to follow: rice and beans; beans and rice; rice on beans (above). I play the legume catalog as if it were a binder of standards these days. I’m the Bucky Pizzarelli of beans.
You needn’t be, yourself. (Though check out Bucky playing “I’ll See You in My Dreams” with Pearl Django, and you’ll see it’s not a bad life to lead.) You might make sheet-pan chicken with jammy tomatoes and pancetta if you have the ingredients, and a whole lot more in Melissa Clark’s new From the Pantry column, same.
(And maybe because I can’t help myself with the beans, here’s a white bean and avocado salad with garlic oil as well.)
We have many thousands more recipes for you to consider this week waiting for you on NYT Cooking. A lot more than usual are free for your use even if you’re not yet a subscriber to our site and apps. (Of course we’d be happy if you did become a subscriber, to support our work.)
Please visit us on Instagram while you’re out and about, and on Facebook, too, where we have a lively community group you may wish to join. We are on YouTube, too, and on Twitter. And you can reach us directly if anything goes wrong along the way. We’re at cookingcare@nytimes.com. Someone will get back to you.
Now, it’s a far cry from dumplings and coq au vin, but this Dan Kois essay in Slate, about a high-school crush on an older actress, is a perfect distraction, a beautiful letter from the past.
And how about this old bathroom photograph from the Met Gala, unearthed by The Cut?
At the end of the day, I can’t look at a screen. Have you read “Long Bright River,” by Liz Moore? I’m gonna. (That said, “Unorthodox” on Netflix is pretty good.) And there is much more to read and watch and listen to and do while you’re cooped up at home on our new collection of articles devoted to just that, At Home. Please visit.
Finally: How are you doing, really? I hope you got a couple days there to breathe this weekend, if you’re working from home, if you’re working from home while your children are schooling from home, if you’re working from home alongside a bunch of other people working from home. I hope you got that time especially if you’re not working from home, or not working at all. There are small moments of joy to be found in each of these days that many of us spend away from others, and for me a lot of them are in the kitchen. But reality’s oppressive. Reach out if you want to vent: foodeditor@nytimes.com. I’ll be back on Wednesday.
