This week in California, fires have devastated the northern part of the state, including wine country. As of Tuesday night, 15 deaths were reported, and the two biggest blazes have burned nearly 115,000 acres of land. At least 1,500 homes, businesses, wineries, resorts, and other structures have been destroyed and almost 20,000 people have had to evacuate, leaving behind homes, schools, land, and belongings. Most of the fatalities come from Sonoma County.

Right now thousands of firefighters all over the state continue to battle the firestorm. Vice President Mike Pence said President Trump has approved a major disaster declaration for the state of California due to these fires.

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Raise your hand if every day for lunch you prepare a homemade, Instagram-ready meal featuring seasonal ingredients sourced from local farms. Or maybe you sit down to a dazzling Michelin-star spectacle of culinary genius. Perhaps, on any given Tuesday, you tuck into a gorgeous bowl of glistening sashimi caught by Hawaiian fishermen, with your feet in the sand and the South Pacific sun overhead.

Doesn’t sound like you? No, me neither.

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(Image credit: Joe Lingeman/The Kitchn)

Chicken Alfredo pasta was my favorite “fancy” restaurant order as a kid — luxe sauce clinging to fettuccini topped with crispy chicken. It was about as close to macaroni and cheese and chicken fingers as a 6-year-old could get at any good Italian-American restaurant. Perhaps this is why most takeout Alfredo falls short for me — it’s too entwined in my own culinary memories. Or it could just be that the rich sauce gets too cold and clumpy while waiting for delivery.

Hellbent on enjoying my childhood favorite from the comfort of my own couch, I set out to recreate the Alfredo of my memory (and I bet yours too — whether it was eaten at your family’s favorite Italian-American restaurant or your local Olive Garden). We’ve eschewed the authentic “no cream” Alfredo for a reliable take on this classic that’s just as creamy, garlic-rich, and fun to slurp up as you remember.

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(Image credit: Chiltern GRC‏ /Twitter)

Britain is known for being a nation of tea-lovers, but nobody in the U.K. loves tea as much as Yorkshireman Nathan Garner. In fact, nobody has ever loved any food as much as he loves tea. I’m serious! This dude loves his tea more than Proust loved Madelines and Monty Python loved Spam, and he just proved it by legally changing his middle name to “Yorkshire Tea.”

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If anybody deserves a good meal, it’s a person who just had a baby. Giving birth is an exhausting, incredibly difficult experience that in a just world would be followed immediately by congratulatory cake and ice cream. Unfortunately, many new parents are lucky to get a vending machine sandwich and a cup of water.

That’s why one new mother in Japan was so shocked by the beautiful food her hospital served that she started posting photos of it online. Now the entire world wants to go have babies in Japan.

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Avocados are pure food magic. They’re delicious and buttery and can be eaten at every single meal. They’re excellent in everything from smoothies to sushi rolls. You can even pickle them! And they’re full of monounsaturated fat, which is the “good fat” credited with lowering levels of bad cholesterol and reducing a person’s risk of heart disease.

Now a new, low-fat avocado has been developed to improve upon what already seemed like a perfect food, but was anybody really looking for a low-fat avocado?

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To bake bread is to tap into a long lineage of human ingenuity, community, and satisfaction. Flour, water, yeast, and salt come together and hours later you’re slathering butter on your daily loaf. But just how does all that work? And what does it truly feel like to master this simple process? These are the questions we’re seeking to answer. In our series, The Soul & Science of Sourdough, we’re partnering with the minds behind Modernist Bread and the larger community of sourdough bakers to explore how the intersection of soul and science can help you learn the fundamentals of sourdough. Amy Halloran, author (and one of the most curious home bakers we know!), will be your guide as we walk you through the major stages of the bread baking craft, sharing stories and tips along the way. You’ll be inspired as a new baker and nurtured in your current practice. As Amy says, the perfect loaf of bread is simply the one that’s fits in your life. Here’s to finding it!

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(Image credit: The Recipe Critic)

Chicken and mushrooms have been saving dinner for years now. There are so many recipes out there that include this famous kitchen duo, and most of them are easy to make (lots of 30-minute recipes!) and totally delicious. Here are 10 of the recipes you need to try out right now.

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(Image credit: Christine Han)

If you eat a lot of rice with your meals, or if you feel plagued by a rice-cooking hex, then a rice cooker is a must-have in your kitchen. It turns out perfectly cooked rice, night after night, meal after meal. Almost more than any other kitchen gadget, this one is all about making one thing in your life easier. Here’s how to use one to make a pot of rice tonight.

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(Image credit: Joe Lingeman/The Kitchn)

While those inexpensive pumpkin carving kits you see at the grocery store may seem appealing (they promise everything you need — and when is the last time a plastic saw ever hurt anyone?), they’re actually not your best bet.

“I don’t use them,” says expert pumpkin carver Hugh McMahon, who heads a team that makes 300 jack-o’-lanterns a season (including portraits of Michael Jackson and Albert Einstein!). Not only do those chintzy orange knives break too easily, but they’ll also never give you very detailed results. They’re not always the sharpest, and you know what they about using dull knives (they’re more dangerous than sharp ones!).

Instead, McMahon says there are only two tools you need to carve a pumpkin safely.

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