How We Passed the Time this Year

Welcome. My colleagues are looking back at the ways culture was upended in 2020, and their reflections are helping me make sense of a year that frequently seemed senseless. James Poniewozik put it best, I think, pointing out that this is the year “everything became TV”: We watched “I May Destroy You” on Netflix, and…

Love Letter: He Had Her at Sourdough

Many extroverts have gone to extreme measures for a social fix during the pandemic. Albertina Coacci, a self-proclaimed people person, turned to daily phone calls with strangers to pass the time while in lockdown in Italy. What started as a harmless habit soon led to an affair of sorts with a man who spoke her…

How to Make a Spectacular Holiday Trifle

Of all the British puddings with their whimsical names — the roly-poly, the spotted dick, the whim wham and the Eton mess — none is as popular on this side of the pond as a custardy, boozy, cream-topped trifle. Flamboyant, fruity and exceedingly merry, trifles are a show-off dessert with a self-effacing name. For all…

Roast a Chicken

Hello and welcome to Five Weeknight Dishes. On Tuesday, I roasted a chicken for dinner, which I don’t do nearly enough. It’s typically faster to cook chicken breasts, thighs or legs instead, and easier to serve them too (no carving). Those little advantages spell big impact when everyone is hungry and cranky. But it’s not…