On dark and gloomy mornings this week, I’ve been cheered by the fact that Friday is Holi. Also known as the Festival of Colors, the Hindu holiday welcomes spring and emphasizes love, community and the triumph of good over evil. It’s famously marked by partygoers throwing brightly hued powder and water, but another defining aspect of the vibrant festivities is an abundance of sweet treats. So even if there are no colorful street parties in your area, you can still celebrate by preparing a batch of Coconut Burfi Truffles from food writer Varu Chilakamarri.
The banner hanging from a pole outside the McDonald’s on Eighth Avenue - just a block or so from Penn Station - alerts tourists and locals alike that the location is open 24 hours. In the city that never sleeps, it seems, you can grab a Big Mac and fries practically anytime insomnia strikes. I find this information oddly comforting, as if some innocent part of my brain still equates the Golden Arches with postgame celebrations and secret lunchtime jailbreaks from school. McDonald’s clearly got its hooks in me early.
Chef Adam Hegsted kept a busy pace with his regional eateries, but that was interrupted more than a year ago. A September 2023 open heart surgery repaired a life-threatening aortic aneurysm and leaking aortic valve – a congenital issue. After recovery and slow return, Hegsted has hit reset, with more time back in the kitchen.
Most of us are familiar with St. Patrick's Day and the whys and hows of its celebration, so let's not revisit them here. Instead, I'd like to mention several interesting things about the holiday's namesake and Ireland's patron saint. No, he didn't invent snake repellant.
I was hungry for an Asian-inspired quick dinner and thought of this dish. Lo Mein, which when translated means mixed noodles, is a staple of Chinese cooking. It’s served at birthday dinners, because the noodles represent long life.
Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the last day of a three-day festival (some believe longer) known as Carnival, characterized by plenty of celebration and indulgence. It precedes Lent, the Christian season leading up to Easter. Fasting during Lent is traditional, though not as widespread nowadays. Abstaining from meat, alcohol and/or dairy products is common in Lenten fasting. Feasting followed by fasting, that’s not unlike bears fattening up before hibernation.
When egg prices started rising over the past year, restaurant co-owner Mike Tabb had to face a few options. But there were a couple of non-negotiables. For starters, there was no downplaying the egg options on his menus: The ingredient is literally the star of the show at the two locations of Cracked Eggery, where it shares space in bowls and between challah buns with ingredients including locally smoked salmon, lemon aioli and prosciutto.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has a suggestion to help curb the growing population of an invasive species that bears a resemblance to a very large rat: Eat them.
If my 5-year-old daughter had her way, she would eat homemade pancakes every morning. But flipping a pile of from-scratch flapjacks on a busy weekday is not a reality in my home. (And try as I might, I cannot jump on the sheet pan pancake trend – rectangular pancakes just don’t compute for me.) Instead, a couple of times a week I reach for a bag of pancake mix that allows me to whip up one or two pancakes for her in about the same time it takes to toast a frozen waffle.
It’s a special treat for me today as we revisit a tribute to Dr. Seuss, published one year ago. Dr. Seuss, also known as Theodor Geisel, remains one of the most cherished and prolific children’s book authors. Two of his books are in the top 10 of Time magazine’s 100 best children’s books. Two are in the top 10 best-selling children’s books of all time, according to Statista. Green Eggs and Ham and How the Grinch Stole Christmas were among my favorite books as a youngster. Even today, copies of both are valued additions to my book collection.
My refrigerator is a graveyard of half-used jars. Jams, condiments, spreads, pickles – you get the idea. Even so, there’s at least one personal favorite staple I like to keep around all the time: jarred curry paste.
Just five years ago, U.S. tourists visiting Japan would have paid a small fortune – close to $500 – for a 50,000 yen omakase meal at a high-end sushi counter in Tokyo. Today, the same meal will cost visitors just a little over $300.
