extra crispy

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King is now a classic Christmas tale, inspiring the famous ballet as well as many other productions, like the recent Disney movie. Originally written by German author E.T.A. Hoffman and published in 1816, the young protagonist Marie is dazzled by her family’s Christmas tree. During a climactic scene in many stagings of the ballet, it magically expands to fill half the stage.

There are a million little decisions through which we can make our lives a smidge happier. Sometimes we may not even know we can make them. Most grapefruit just happens. There it is, showing up in the fruit cocktail.

Food crimes are rampant all years. There are frauds perpetuated on consumers, large shipments stolen, and that horrifying time that Australian strawberries all seemed to be contaiminated with needles. And crime, as McGruff the Crime Dog has told us, is no laughing matter. Except...when it kind of is? I mean, the news is hard these days. If it's not a horrible natural disaster wreaking havoc on one corner of the country and reminding us all about ever-worsening climate destruction, it's a mass shooting.

Like Funfetti goddesses Molly Yeh

In most American homes, the poultry of choice is chicken. It's widely available and versatile and cheap. It tastes good in salad. People may roast a turkey for Thanksgiving, or pheasant or goose if they're adventurous. But it's rare to see a duck, at least in my experience, which is a shame because duck is incredibly delicious, not that hard to cook, and gives you the generous byproduct of so much precious duck fat.

When Avi Moskowitz first tried home-cured, home-smoked lamb bacon a few years ago at a friend’s house, he knew it would be the perfect addition to the bar food menu at Beer Bazaar, his Israeli chain of craft beer pubs. Having never tasted ordinary bacon, due to the Jewish dietary ban on eating pork, the gamey sweet and salty taste opened up a whole new world for Moskowitz. “It really provides a unique savory flavor that I hadn’t been exposed to before,” he said.

This year had some really bright spots in food television. We got the endlessly charming and smart Samin Nosrat's Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, even more Great British Bake-Off with Noel Fielding, the gentle goth uncle we all need. And there was the debut of Ugly Delicious and The Final Table, Netflix's take on Iron Chef, just to name a few stand-outs.

It is so difficult to be a person some days, but there really isn't much of an alternative unless maybe you are a furry in which case, please go on enjoying that.

At my last birthday, the desserts were dark chocolate mocha brownies and Guinness cupcakes with Irish cream frosting. However, there was also a supermarket sheet cake with my name on it in multicolored frosting for the ritual candle-blowing.

I’m a huge fan of a one-dish breakfast or brunch recipe. Anything that can be made ahead and reheated, cooked in a slow cooker, or at least assembled or prepped in advance encourages morning entertaining, and makes visiting houseguests feel most welcome.