Published Dec. 12, 2025Updated Dec. 12, 2025 Let’s be honest. As much as a big breakfast spread sounds great, no one wants to get up at the crack of dawn to cook a from-scratch feast on a holiday morning. Wouldn’t it be nicer to just crawl out of bed, pad into the kitchen, slip a…
By A.O. Scott A.O. Scott, a critic at large for the Book Review, recorded the poem that appears in this piece. Dec. 11, 2025 A famous poet once observed that it is difficult to get the news from poems. The weather is a different story. April showers, summer sunshine and — maybe especially — the…
Set up a table of stunning pies, cakes and pastries for the most wonderful time of year. By Genevieve Ko Photographs by Linda Xiao Styled by Yossy Arefi and Marina Bevilacqua Genevieve Ko is a deputy editor of NYT Cooking and Food at The New York Times, where she also writes a column, develops recipes…
By Genevieve Ko Genevieve Ko has developed more than three dozen holiday cookie recipes over the years. Published Dec. 11, 2025Updated Dec. 11, 2025 The taste of nostalgia matters, all the more so around the holidays. Maybe the floury mildness of sugar cookie cutouts, pasty under hard icing, is important to you. If so, enjoy!…
Published Dec. 11, 2025Updated Dec. 11, 2025 Dinner parties may seem like the domain of the well-to-do, but anyone can host one. If you’ve been putting off hosting your own gathering because it seems too costly to offer an impressive range of courses, don’t fret. Ask your friends to bring something to drink, the appetizers…
Ron Curtis, an English professor in Montreal, lived for 40 years with a degenerative spinal disease, in what he called the “black hole” of chronic pain. On a July day in 2022, Mr. Curtis, 64, ate a last bowl of vegetable soup made by his wife, Lori, and, with the help of a palliative care…
Published Dec. 9, 2025Updated Dec. 9, 2025 Like matzo balls, latkes are seemingly simple but provoke endless debate. Should they be thin and lacy or thick and craggy? Fried in schmaltz or vegetable oil? Made with Yukon Gold potatoes or russets? Should vegetables like carrots and zucchini be allowed to join the festivities? And what…
By Carolina Gelen Carolina Gelen is a recipe developer and James Beard Award-winning cookbook author. A Transylvania native, she draws heavily from her upbringing, creating resourceful recipes that focus on flavor and comfort. Published Dec. 8, 2025Updated Dec. 8, 2025 Maybe you’ve seen grease-fire videos circling on social media, and now the thought of frying…
The best way to start the celebration? Serving these unforgettable treats. By Yewande Komolafe Yewande Komolafe is a cooking writer and columnist for The New York Times and a recipe developer and video host for NYT Cooking. She is also the author of the cookbook “My Everyday Lagos.” Published Dec. 6, 2025Updated Dec. 6, 2025…
Inge Morath/Magnum Photos When a writer is praised for having a sense of place, it usually means one specific place — a postage stamp of familiar ground rendered in loving, knowing detail. But Kiran Desai, in her latest novel, “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny,” has a sense of places. This 670-page book, about the…
