Much can be said about salmon. Its life cycle is so remarkable that its sheer survival seems to invoke some odds-defying metaphors. Tenacity, audacity, resilience: If anyone wants to anthropomorphize salmon, its heroic qualities are there for the taking. To get through life’s upstream struggles, we all just need to be a bit “more salmon.”…
Good morning. The nest that was empty is empty no more, as children return from college, as in-laws descend, and suddenly we’re up a few animals and down a few beds. The grocery bills are back to the mesosphere and yet we’re out of milk again, the second time in a week. I’m at it…
In Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book, “Where the Wild Things Are,” the Wild Things are hardly mild. When the main character, a little boy named Max, meets these monsters, he first notices their “terrible” roars, teeth, eyes and claws. A rumpus ensues, and Max comes to learn that these monsters aren’t terrible at all. They’re…
Kay Chun has a brilliant way to unleash the magic of miso. In her beloved, five-star recipe for coconut-miso salmon curry, she adds a dollop of white miso to the pot at the very beginning, letting it sear, caramelize and integrate with the ginger and garlic to deepen their character. Then she stirs in some…
Good morning. I took a fantastic drive the other day across the top of Connecticut, from Simsbury over to Kingston, N.Y., through old tobacco fields and cow pastures and apple orchards and into the Hudson Valley under a bluebird sky. There wasn’t much to eat along the way save the half-bag of Combos I found…
Eric Kim has just written a luminous essay about Japanese breakfast, with its constellation of small savory dishes (rice, miso soup, fish, pickles), and the daily practice of preparing it. You could make it bespoke every day, but the more pragmatic approach is to cook some of the elements ahead and fill out the meal…
Gary Weinstein, a retired lawyer, has lived in Manhattan for 30 years, and for most of that time, he has used his oven for storage. “It stares at me with mockery,” he said, gesturing to the forsaken pans inside. His relationship with his microwave, however, is far more collegial. Mr. Weinstein relies on it to…
Is it me, or is a clear sky bluer in winter than in summer? Maybe it’s because, on my daily jaunts in the park, everything else is muted with little or no greenery or blossoms to compete with, so the blue always seems ready to burst between the bare branches. In daylight-starved January, I also…
