Christmas is this weekend, and people around the world who celebrate are preparing in all sorts of ways. For many Arab families outside the Middle East, that means stuffing a heady mixture of spiced rice and ground beef into grape leaves to make warak Dawali, and combining bulgur dough with a cinnamon-scented lamb and nut…
Ten years ago, I drove upstate with my friends to go apple picking. We roasted the apples alongside root vegetables and showered it all with fresh dill, and I made a big pot of risotto for everyone. After dinner, we sat on the dock by a lake, drinking red wine out of Solo cups and…
It’s a funny time of year. On one hand, we’re expected to kick back and relax — it’s the party season! On the other hand, it’s easy to feel surrounded, hemmed in even by the advice on how to best navigate it all. This is not a new thing. In fact, we like to think…
Some people know how they’re going to spend their New Year’s Eve well before Dec. 31. Then there are those who wait until the last minute, fretting over where to go and whom to go with, or whether they should just stay home and conk out at 10:30 p.m. (A completely understandable and excellent choice.)…
Lord’s is the second restaurant the chef Ed Szymanski and his partner, Patricia Howard, have built together in Greenwich Village. The first, which put down roots in the first pandemic summer, is called Dame. With its echoes of British nobility, the naming scheme is a way of letting us know that the two restaurants are…
Headliner Kobo Over about 12 years, Ruben Rodriguez has assembled a tidy little collection of Spanish and Spanish-influenced restaurants in the East Village, all inspired by his mother’s and grandmother’s cooking. This latest goes well beyond Spain, taking inspiration from throughout the Mediterranean. Mr. Rodriguez has also gathered together a staff from his other venues:…
DURHAM, N.C. — The chef Ricky Moore was 10 years old when his maternal grandmother, Bernice McClease Loftin introduced him to a tradition that would define his professional trajectory — and his holiday celebrations. For more than seven years, Ms. Loftin would hand Mr. Moore, her eldest grandchild, a cold 16-ounce glass bottle of Pepsi…
For a new angle on the traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner on Christmas Eve, a Southern Italian custom, consider serving an assortment of tinned seafood. Island Creek Oyster Farm in Duxbury, Mass., now imports high-quality tinned seafood from Conservas Mariscadora in Galicia, Spain. The varieties include clams, razor clams, scallops and mussels, all…
Who owns panettone? In the last decade, the Christmas classic has burst its Italian borders and gained a global profile. Like Basque burnt cheesecake and French croissants, panettone is being tested and transformed far from home, with new flavors like black sesame, Aperol spritz and cacio e pepe. There are Japanese versions leavened with sake…
The Monday morning after Thanksgiving, Rogelio Sierra, who goes by Roy, sat at a wooden desk at the front of his hog slaughterhouse, La Casa Sierra, answering dozens of calls from customers ordering whole pigs for Christmas Eve. “Tell me, papo. Four of them?” Mr. Sierra, 91, said into a speakerphone. He was talking to…