10 Kinds of Contouring

Contouring is on its peak now – or maybe there’s still a way to go? Judging by how many contouring techniques have been capping one another during the past year, at least it’s time to do some summing-up and recapitulate the most exciting ideas there are, no matter whether they are all right for the…

Like LaCroix, but With a Buzz

Trent Mooring was tired of mixing drinks. At beach gatherings and garden parties, Mr. Mooring, the president of Mother Earth Brewing in Kinston, N.C., was stuck on cocktail duty for his wife and sisters-in-law, who don’t care for his craft brewery’s pilsners and I.P.A.s. Last year, his wife, Caroline, started buying alcoholic seltzers as convenient…

Cook a Chicken on Sunday

I did something on Sunday that I almost never do: I cooked a whole chicken specifically so we would have it for the week, to shred and toss into noodles, salads and quesadillas, and to give to my daughter so she could drag each piece through a little pool of ketchup (one of her passions).…

When My Mother Forgot Me

On the day my mother forgot I existed, I sat across from her in a small cafe in the Berkshires, watching her sip her cappuccino and delicately tear off a piece of the croissant we were sharing. As she looked up and met my eyes agreeably and impersonally, I worked to get my bearings in…