NAPERVILLE, Ill. — The internet should have killed the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line years ago, but all the Google searches, YouTube videos and turkey tweets in the world can’t match the small-bore magic that happens here on the fifth floor of a suburban office building 34 miles southwest of Chicago. Each year from Nov. 1 through…
On Oct. 30, an inspector from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene was making her rounds when she came across a vending machine unlike any she seen before. Called Farmer’s Fridge, it was made of washed white wood, with a giant touch screen and a built-in recycling bin. Inside was not…
Having Friendsgiving at your place this year? Luckily, it’s easy to find advice on the internet. Well, not advice as much as rules. So many rules. For instance, Epicurious has “The 7 Golden Rules of Friendsgiving.” (Rule No. 3 is “Sit on the floor.”) Chowhound sets forth “9 Rules for Planning a Perfect Friendsgiving,” including…
If you get off the No. 7 train at the 74th Street-Broadway station in Queens and walk east along Roosevelt Avenue, you’ll have an opportunity to eat a new taco every few yards. By the time you’ve gone a mile, if not sooner, you’ll have found every kind of taco that is consumed in New…
As Thanksgiving approaches, would-be chefs and hosts, including apparently my editors, are perfecting their techniques for making the all-important gravy for the turkey and potatoes. I have my moments as a cook — come over for my stardust waffles some Sunday morning — but I have never had the patience or skill to master gravy,…
The demand for a no-waste lifestyle has led a distiller, Jack Rabbit Hill Farm in Hotchkiss, Colo., to come up with a clever way to minimize trash. Not content with having the empties of its MEll vodka hauled away from the bars and restaurants, where most of it is sold, the company picks them up…
Joyce Chen kitchen shears have been my do-it-all utensil for decades. But now, Material, a direct-to-consumer kitchenware company, has come up with an improvement. These new shears with cushioned handles are similar in shape to mine but sturdier, with 3-inch-long stainless-steel blades. One of the blades has microscopic serrations, and the silicone handle cushions can…
For years, the New York company Beyond Sushi has been selling and serving dazzling vegan sushi, and now there’s a book on the subject. “Sushi Modoki: The Japanese Art and Craft of Vegan Sushi” by Iina, a Japanese chef working in Tokyo. Modoki means “to mimic” in Japanese, the book explains, and that’s precisely what…
Occupying a repurposed Greyhound bus terminal, the Grey in Savannah, Ga., is a highly regarded restaurant with New York roots. Its owners, John O. Morisano, and Mashama Bailey, the executive chef and partner, are both from the city, though Ms. Bailey’s family originally came from Georgia. Now, the ethereal biscuits for which she is known…
Peter Shire, Los Angeles Color, form and playful provocation are Peter Shire’s visual language — even at the Thanksgiving table. The painter, sculptor, ceramist and furniture designer was one of the founding members of the Memphis design group, and his work is in museums around the world. Every year, he hosts 30 people in his…