The Kitchn Archive: Sep 2017

Wait, wait … don’t tell me! Yes, there’s a new wine delivery club on the block! Just in time for the holiday season, media favorite NPR has released some amazing picks from around the globe. Ever wonder what the backstory is behind your favorite bottle of red? They’ll share the inside stories of each bottle and send you a few free bottles, too!

If you’re a renter, it’s pretty likely that you’ve had to sacrifice at least one or two “wish list” items when you moved into your place. Maybe it’s a few extra blocks from your favorite supermarket, lacks a pantry, or has a really ugly vintage kitchen. While landlords can be tough — the majority of them are pretty reluctant to allow renters to make any major home improvements — you may be in luck if your cabinets have seen better days.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z have finally settled on a spectacular place in the Hamptons. It has windows like you wouldn’t believe, dueling fireplaces in a single room, and rich woodwork — it looks like an overall amazing retreat for this family of five when they can catch a moment to get away. It sold for a cool $26 million. But I couldn’t help but notice as I was flipping through photos of their home that their kitchen left something to be desired. I had higher hopes for Bey!

I’d like you to picture a series of alternate universes with me. Mary Berry, after leaving the Great British Baking Show, sets up shop on Broad City where she uses her gentle voice and kitchen wisdom to grade Abbi and Ilana’s munchies. There are complex challenges with obtuse recipes, and the three of them are deeply glad and well-fed. They use all this positive energy to write a buddy comedy about their upcoming cross-country road trip.

When my husband and I got married four years ago, a friend of mine who had already celebrated several wedding anniversaries gave me one piece of unsolicited advice: Sometimes you’re going to eat dinner in silence — and you both should be okay with that. It’s not like we had never eaten in silence (or near silence) before. We had already been dating for many years and had hundreds (thousands?) of meals together.

You never know what’s going to get people riled up over next. This week it was a suggestion from the Food Network on Instagram for making your morning routine easier. Who doesn’t love a good food hack, right? But when the hack takes longer than the task it’s trying to replace, look out — the internet will come after you!

Cruises are known for being really good deals. Unless, of course, you decide to upgrade your stateroom. Or go for that top-tier alcohol option. Or add on a cooking class in Tuscany. Yes, cruising can get very expensive indeed. It is possible to avoid sticker shock if you take advantage of what’s included in your base package. This includes, of course, the cruise buffet — that smorgasbord of culinary delights, from bountiful baked goods to sliced-to-order filets.

They say you can tell who a person is by looking at the shoes in their closet. But spying on strangers doesn’t have to be quite so intrusive — just look at their coffee order. Whether you drink straight black coffee or take five minutes at the counter just to order, your morning habits say a lot about you. (All in good fun, of course.) You’re an environmentally conscious urbanite, and possibly a road bike racer.

A question for the ages: If you spend an hour in the kitchen creating a wholesome, nourishing, delicious meal from scratch and don’t Instagram it, did it ever really happen? (More importantly, who is actually eating all those smoothie bowls Nigella Lawson, whose new cookbook hits shelves this week, recently wrote in the Guardian about the many ways in which the internet has changed the way we cook.

Trick-or-treating is an experience many children see as the best part of Halloween. The only thing better than birthday presents is free candy, face painting, and pretending you’re someone else for a few hours. Unfortunately for the residents of Bathurst, New Brunswick, it’s not always seen as such a glorious activity. The town is stopping anyone 16 or older from trick-or-treating, and is also making a curfew for tiny tots.

Have you devoured the first season of This Is Us yet? If not, I highly recommend a binge-watch. But be warned: You’re going to want to upgrade your breakfasts. And maybe your family relationships. And definitely your wardrobe if you, like me, are entranced by ’70s Mandy Moore’s entire closet. But let’s stay on topic! Past or present, the Pearsons always connect at breakfast. They have rituals, important conversations, and waffles piled high with toppings.

We spent five days watching Chris and Lexi Dowding, of Michigan-based SwatchOut, paint an entire kitchen. They worked like total pros because, well, they are pros. They were neat, efficient, and full of brilliant ideas to make any painting job easier — which we spotted and gathered together in this handy post. Whether your next painting job is tackling your kitchen cabinets or you just want to add color to an old kitchen table, you’re going to want to steal these extra-smart tips.

Welcome to a column from The Financial Diet, one of our very favorite sites, dedicated to money and everything it touches. One of the best ways to take charge of your financial life is through food and cooking. This column from TFD founders Chelsea Fagan and Lauren Ver Hage will help you be better with money, thanks to the kitchen. A version of this post originally appeared on The Financial Diet. I was very sick yesterday.

Usually the solution to a clutter problem is to get rid of the clutter in the first place, not to buy something that claims to be able to help you corral the mess. That said, most professional organizers have a short list of products they turn to again and again. We interviewed two experts to get their picks for the few products that really are worth the money — and will actually help make a difference in the mess. Here’s what got nominated.

There are some words in life you just assume you’re saying incorrectly. Is “quinoa” pronounced ke-NO-wah or KEEN-wah? I’ll let you figure that one out for yourself. And while there’s a good chance you have heard of (or enjoyed a can of) LaCroix, everyone’s favorite seltzer, it’s pronunciation isn’t second-nature.

The Danish term describing the concept of coziness — hygge — embodies a feeling of warmth, and it was the “it” phrase for the end of 2016. At the start of this year, hygge faced fierce competition from lagom, yet another Scandinavian buzzword. Now there’s a new lifestyle concept from Japan: ikigai. At its core, ikigai is the exact opposite of hygge.