My first stop at the Place Monge market in Paris is always the smallest booth on the corner, next to the Metro escalator. The stand is filled with fresh dill, basil, rosemary, and thyme waiting to be wrapped in brown paper, and rows of fresh eggs waiting to be sold, with the largest boxes boasting seasonal French produce, from fresh garlic to radishes to beets.
The line grows quickly — this is the first stop for all my neighbors, too — but it’s worth the wait.
The main lesson taught in Grocery Shopping 101 is to start with a list — otherwise, if you wander the store without a plan, you’ll get home to find you’re missing key ingredients or wind up with just freezer full of ice cream. And ideally that list is organized by row — or at least by sections — so you don’t have to zig and zag all around the store because you wrote down zucchini and then milk and then onions.
“Life is busy, though!” you might opine. How in the world are you supposed to find time to make a grocery list that’s any more organized than a bunch of chicken scratch on a Post-It? We asked these smart — and extremely busy —people to give us their tips.
Standing in the tasting lab of the Colombian Coffee Federation in Bogotá, learning about coffee aromas, I listed off flavors I couldn’t previously identify. It was like the scene in Napoleon Dynamite where he declares that the milk came from a cow which got into an onion patch. My brain flooded with scents: jasmine, burnt rice, sweet pea. I was eight weeks pregnant, and had just discovered an upside to a condition that had, so far, only caused nausea: super-nose.
My hosts in the lab watched, impressed, as I instantly and flawlessly matched coffees to a chart of the flavors in various regions. I beamed: I had no idea where or why I could suddenly do this (theory is that the additional estrogen heightens the sense of smell), but I was already charting my future with super-nose. A sommelier, perhaps? Weeks later, I discovered the downside to super-nose when I could play “guess the age” of the fish on display in a Singaporean seafood market from 50 feet away.
We ask a lot of breakfast. On most days, we need it to be quick, nutritious, and delicious. Tall order? Not if you’ve got a great list of easy breakfast recipes that make you feel like you’ve got everything under control. This list of recipes includes some of our tastiest, smartest ideas. From kid-friendly muffins for on-the-go Mondays to a hearty egg casserole for the days when you’ve got time to sit down with a cup of coffee, these easy breakfast ideas will help any busy cook master their morning.
Do you hear that? That soft, but forceful whooshing sound? It’s the sound of summer coming to a close. You might be sitting beachside this weekend with a cold beverage, but Starbucks has other plans that involve cable knit sweaters and cozy nights by the fire. It might only be the second week of August, but this week the coffee giant announced that two new Pumpkin Spice Latte products would be hitting grocery shelves near you.
That’s right, you no longer have to live near an actual Starbucks to get your long-waited PSL.
Costco memberships can cost a pretty penny, but there’s a pretty sweet Groupon deal happening right now that makes it more accessible for consumers. The deal offers a one-year Costco Gold Star Membership Package for $60 — a package that usually goes for over $200, according to Groupon. But if you go to the Costco website, you can get the same membership for that flat $60 fee at any time.
What makes the Groupon deal more of an incentive than Costco’s? There are other small perks.
(Image credit: Halo Top)
It was only last week that Halo Top announced seven additional flavors to their roaster. We were blessed with additions like “Pancake & Waffles” and “Rainbow Swirl.” Well, Halo Top has another pint of their sleeve, and I have a feeling you’re going to be very excited about this addition. Just in time for fall, the low-calorie ice cream brand is releasing a pumpkin pie flavor.
Who needs a PSL from Starbucks, when you can eat ice cream? No one, that’s who.
I am completely and utterly failing at having a low-key, lazy summer. In part because, wait, didn’t summer just begin (NYC schools go to essentially the last day of June) and more largely because I seem to be jumping from big project to big project, we’re suddenly approaching the midpoint of August and I’m faintly panicked that this summer will be over before I have taken in sufficient levels of sun, sand, toasted marshmallows, vacation, and hot, sticky laziness that veers into boredom to fortify us for a big exciting fall and an always-too-long and always-too-cold winter. The fix begins now.
First up: pie. Look, I too enjoy the look of a stunning, woven lattice of a pie lid. Chevron, braided, plaid and twisted ribbon spirals too. I am not immune to the charms of elaborate pate brisee crafts. But I would like to postulate that were we all to eat pie in the dark, only a tiny fraction of those of us who respond to butterfly-leafed lids with heart-eyes emojis (that is, me, me, me) would choose the taste over that of a fluffy, rubbly, cobblestoned crumb lid.
A healthy dinner means different things to different people. For me it means using as many “real food” ingredients as possible. I lean hard on fresh produce from my CSA and the farmers market and lean proteins like fish, chicken, pork, beans, and legumes. I have a soft spot for baked goods, cheese, and the occasional creamy sauce. It’s all about balance and moderation for me — mostly wholesome with a side of indulgence once in a while. Maybe you can relate?
From Asian-inspired cauliflower fried rice and stuffed sweet potatoes, to veggie stir-fry and easy chicken tacos, these are my 10 favorite recipes for a healthy, comforting dinner.
The way we have saved our favorite recipes has changed drastically in the last couple decades. Recipe cards were the norm in the past, alongside clipping recipes out of magazines and newspapers. But then came the internet, and with it new ways to keep track of recipes were available, including Paprika and Pinterest. It can’t get much easier than these digital, right? What could possibly be better?
Well, it turns out that there actually might be an easier way to keep track of your most-used recipes — and if you’re reading this on mobile it’s staring you right in the face. Last week on Twitter writer Adam Erace said he used his phone contact list to save the basic recipes and ratios he uses all the time. When he wants to use a recipe, he simply asks Siri to pull it up on his iPhone.
Seriously, how brilliant is that?
