Perhaps you aspire to fill your diet with nutrient-packed smoothies, homemade almond milk, or tropical cocktails. Maybe you just like soup. If any of that sounds like you, finding the best blender—full-size, personal, maybe even portable (though, probably not portable)—is crucial. As higher performance blenders have found homes more and more kitchens, the range of … Read more
A lazy morning sipping a cup of well-made coffee can be a real moment of zen. Unfortunately, most weekday mornings aren’t so tranquil. If you’re on the go, and need your morning coffee to go with you, you need a good, reliable travel coffee mug. But which cup, tumbler, or carafe is best for toting … Read more
Picture this: you’ve spent an afternoon lovingly tending to a stew simmering on the stove as you gear up to serve dinner to your friends and family. The table is set, the candles are lit, and mealtime is moments away. In the final countdown to dinner, you give it a taste only to be hit … Read more
Glazing is about as chic as cooking techniques go. Enrobing meat or veggies in a thick, mirror-like sauce that’s as shiny as lip gloss is an impressive move. A roasted carrot is great, sure; a glazed carrot is a stone-cold stunner. But replicating a restaurant-quality glaze at home requires a bit of practice. Too much … Read more
A good pantry pasta is a thing of beauty: Simple ingredients you might already have on hand come together in basically no time to create a filling, fuss-free dinner. While these recipes are great to keep on hand for impromptu cooking, their fatal flaw lies in the fact that they often skew bland, which makes … Read more
A classic Smith Island cake is a thing of beauty. With its eight (or more) layers of yellow cake, sandwiched together with glossy dark chocolate, all enrobed in a smooth layer of ganache, it’s a dessert that demands attention. Named after its birthplace—a group of three island communities off the Chesapeake Bay—the cake is said … Read more
Hannah says New Orleans drinkers have always gravitated to the flamboyant. It is a city known for the Café Brûlot—a coffee drink always made with brandy lit afire—and the Ramos Gin Fizz—the classic cocktail that calls for a famously long shake to create its luxuriously foamy texture. “A pousse-café,” Hannah says, “is the most elegant … Read more
Once spring rolls around, vibrant red stalks of rhubarb slowly start popping up at markets, and when that moment strikes, you have to act fast. Making strawberry-rhubarb pie with your haul is a no-brainer, but using it in a cake is not as common. Perhaps it makes sense: Rhubarb cake is tricky because the stalks … Read more