Imagine a painting of a pastoral scene on a fair summer day, a splendid feast laid out, fine carpets for lounging and guests nibbling on carefully transported morsels — a proverbial picnic in the grass, with dogs and children at the edges. That’s one kind of picnic, but there are so many ways to picnic.…
I was initially struck by the salinity of the Chagnoleau, a wine that was lean in texture compared with the other two bottles, and with earthy, floral and herbal flavors underscored by that salty quality. The salinity was there as well, though to a lesser extent, in the Merlin, which was both richer and more…
Among French wine regions, Alsace is unusual. It’s one of the few places in which the name of the grape takes precedence over the plot of earth in which the vines grow. In that respect, Alsace may have more in common with Germany than France, which only makes sense. Because of its location in France’s…
I’m driving off in the morning to spend a long, and hopefully restorative, weekend with friends, cooking and swimming together, reading books and taking long walks. I’ll stop at the farmers’ market when I get there, but since I’ll be cooking in a rental-house kitchen, and I’m not sure what to expect, I’m also bringing…
MISSOULA, Mont. — Wearing a crisp gray chef’s coat over a pink sweater, Ghalia Ahmad Fayez AlMasri doled out instructions to her kitchen team as Egyptian and Lebanese dance music thumped from a cellphone’s speakers. On this Tuesday evening in March, Mrs. AlMasri’s crew of eight had 150 meals to prepare — a total sellout.…
HERMITAGE, Pa. — The ice cream cone is never the star of the show. Its role is clear: Keep the scoop upright, don’t leak and don’t upstage the main player, the ice cream. But being that supportive takes work. Which is why David George believes that the cone deserves more respect. “When you have a…
These are the most difficult mornings: the sun rising after senseless acts of violence, shining on beds that weren’t slept in, that won’t be slept in again. There are 19 dead schoolchildren in Uvalde, Texas, as of this writing, along with two dead adults and the dead 18-year-old gunman. Several other children were injured in…
The package arrived, unbidden, two days into New York City’s lockdown in March 2020. We were adapting to our new life, prowling through the apartment at all hours. I was trying to figure out how to hand-stitch masks using old jeans and shoelaces. I wasn’t sure what to do with the mail — whether we…
MALIHABAD, India — No fruit in India is as universally loved and as eagerly anticipated as the mango, which, for one brief window each year, cools and sweetens the long days of summer. Mangoes are added to kebabs, used to sour dishes and puréed with mint to make refreshing drinks. Connoisseurs argue fervently about which…
I strongly believe that baseball is the kind of sport that you don’t need to know much about in order to enjoy it. Long before the Atlanta Braves were the 2021 World Series champions, my Georgia-born friends and I would shell out $10 to watch them play the Mets at Citi Field in Queens. (Most…