Food & drink

Food & drink

What's better than melted cheese? Not much. You readers seem to agree, based on this week's top recipes. Take, for example, smoky Chiles Rellenos, oozing with Monterey Jack. Or this spring-forward risotto packed with tender asparagus and Parmesan-according to one reader, it's the "best I've ever made." In need of some stellar last-minute ideas for the big game? We've got options.

A new contender has surfaced at Costco, but instead of in the pantry section, this one lurks in the frozen dessert aisle. Meet the newest fish making waves at the warehouse: Binggrae Samanco frozen dairy desserts. These confections are a classic Korean treat made by the same company that makes Melona frozen ice cream bars. They are just as adorable as the iconic cheesy snack crackers, with an even more realistic look (they're reportedly made specifically to look like carp).

The marketing stunt has been launched by Polymarket, a company that has made a name for itself by letting people bet on real-life occurrences, like celebrity news and political events. The Polymarket grocery is scheduled to open on February 12, with passersby able to walk in and pick up groceries without shelling out cash. The idea is that a fully-stocked market won't require any purchase from New Yorkers to access groceries inside the store.

Think of it this way: You're not making a salad with eggs - you're making an egg salad with complementary, highlighting ingredients. Besides messing with the flavor of your bite, going overboard with mix-ins can also spell trouble for the texture of your egg salad. If you aren't adding enough binding ingredients to support your mix-ins, you could be dealing with a salad that doesn't hold together on a sandwich and a mouthfeel that feels discombobulated rather than cohesive.

The ad leans into the truth about Raisin Bran that, for decades, it tried to obscure with messaging about its plentiful raisin content: This cereal makes you poop. I'll admit: I laughed. I can't deny a good poop joke, and its frankness about the reason some people enjoy bran cereal reminded me of my favorite SNL sketches for " Colon Blow" cereal.

While many of us were heading to the gym, embarking on Dry January, or trying to meditate, McDonald's was starting out 2026 on a particularly bad note. The fast food giant came into the new year with a lawsuit. Yep, in January 2026, four people filed legal action against McDonald's, claiming that its popular McRib is lying to everyone because it's not really made with rib meat.

To prepare, I spent a lot of time meal planning, before combing through Aldi's website to compile my shopping list and get a price ballpark for everything. I made swaps to keep costs down - IE buying uncooked beans, or white bread instead of whole wheat - and was able to stay under budget. Still, these meals are pretty limited when based purely on the serving size on the nutrition label.

I had only just stepped aboard the Riverside Ravel in Avignon, France, and it was already clear this would be no ordinary cruise. There were no lines, no waiting for my suite-just a butler offering to unpack in my room while I enjoyed a flute of vintage Taittinger. My husband and I were sailing the Rhône River from Avignon to Lyon, eating our way through the legendary towns of southeast France, including Arles and Dijon.

According to the Member's Mark Seasoned Rotisserie Chicken nutrition facts, the chicken "contains up to 18% of a solution of water, sodium phosphates, [and] seasoning." That means that some of the retail cost is for that water and sodium phosphate mix that keeps the chicken plump, juicy, and flavorful. Sodium phosphate is a food additive commonly used to cure meat and ensure it doesn't go bad as quickly.

When you want a flavorful base for soups, stews, risottos, and beyond, making your own broth at home is the way to go. A lot of recipes call for broth, but you may not want to make it from scratch every time you need it. In those instances, there are a few store-bought options available to you. First, you could buy a carton of broth. However, they don't go very

In Mexico, the official standards governing tequila production are set by the Norma Oficial Mexicana (NOM) and certified by the Consejo Regulador del Tequila (CRT), an agency of the Mexican federal government. Per the NOM, tequila sold in Mexico must fall between 35% and 55% ABV. In fact, the same tequila brand may sell a 35% tequila in Mexico and export a 40% version to the U.S. This is also prompted by the fact that lower-ABV spirits are subjected to lower taxation rates in Mexico.

Head to the San Juan Islands and the very northern Washington coast for the best seafood, Skagit Valley for the best bread and produce, Whidbey Island or the Olympic Peninsula for the best rainy-day bites, and Fidalgo or Guemes Island for the best lunch anywhere. And it makes sense. The coast and fjords are known for the plentiful Dungeness crab, salmon, oysters, and other marine

readers will find beautifully photographed, step-by-step recipes alongside behind-the-scenes insights from one of America's most storied kitchens. Peet has spent his 45-year career developing recipes, and the cookbook includes some of his personal classics. "The crab cake is probably 30 years or so that I've been using it," he said of his classic offering, equal parts crab and sea scallops. "The chopped vegetable salad is another. It's 11 different vegetables, grilled, raw or boiled, all cut really small, very colorful. It's gluten-free and it's vegan."

Can food exist without love? And, inversely, can love exist without food? The answer to both is yes, of course, but the two are so intertwined that it's hard to imagine a romantic date without dinner, or a form of care greater than cooking a loved one their favorite meal. With Valentine's Day approaching, we at New York Times Cooking took a spin through our reader comments and found many tales of courtship and connection, of partings and proposals.

Valderrama and Senior were introduced by a friend because of their mutual interest in food and advocacy and decided to work together after just one phone call. "We had a 30-minute conversation scheduled, and we were at an hour and a half, and we just kept talking," Senior says. "It was just really a connection immediately, and we really were like, 'We need to make this into something.'"

Hot take: football was invented to get us, personally, through the winter. That may not be 100% factual, but it sure feels true when it's freezing and dark and spring is roughly 800 years away. What's a girl to look forward to? Game day, that's what. While the temps are still low, there's no better feeling than gathering with friends for a couch- and vibes-based activity that's best enjoyed with snacks.

A string quartet was playing in the hotel's lobby on our arrival, and the music drifted gently through to the Green Parlour as we took our tea. The tea room itself is unmilitary in style, with lots of soft greens and botanical art on the walls. For those who like their afternoon tea with bubbles, there's a choice of English sparkling wines at the Green Parlour.

"Most of the people who left reviews are from outside our region and community," said owner and chef Geoff Davis in a phone interview with SFGATE. "They're using this as a crusade against Oakland, DEI, and the moment that we're in. People are upset about a lot of things in America right now."

Straight from the oven, monkey bread is defined by sweet, buttery flavors and occasionally, a hint of cinnamon warmth. Anything other than that, and you'd have to branch out into other unique ingredients that make monkey bread more irresistible. Of course, you can turn to what's already inside your own kitchen. Just open the fridge and grab that trusty packet of bacon, and all of a sudden, you've got a new, interesting take on monkey bread.

On January 26, Beacon Promotions Inc initiated a voluntary recall of some of its M&M products. Beacon Promotions, based in Minnesota, sells third-party products featuring its clients' logos and branding. Businesses use promotional product companies like Beacon to produce everything from tote bags to chocolate with their logos, which they then give out as freebies to employees or customers. One of the products Beacon offers is packages of candies, including M&M's.

The front door is locked and we have the back door locked at all times. People have to wait for us to open the door. There are people of color who work for us who are all trying to do the right thing and go through the right processes, but they can be scared to come to work. We have people that have seen neighbors being snatched. It's no longer a Democrat versus Republican issue. It's a human issue.

The analysis of nearly 500 varieties of tinned and chilled soups sold in supermarkets found that 23% contained too much salt. Of the 481 soups Action on Salt and Sugar (AoSS) tested, nearly half (48%) of branded soups and 6% of supermarket own-brand soups still exceeded the government's voluntary salt target of 0.59g per 100g serving. The saltiest was Soup Head's Tom Yum soup, with 3.03g in a 300g pack more than half an adult's recommended total daily limit and saltier than eating two McDonald's cheeseburgers.

I noticed this shift in my own life when I started having dinner with my partner most nights, phones deliberately tucked away in another room. We made this change after too many evenings disappeared into "just checking one thing" that turned into hours of parallel scrolling. The difference was immediate and profound. Conversations went deeper. We actually looked at each other. Time seemed to stretch in the best possible way.

The smell hits you before you even open the door. That rich, warm aroma of garlic and herbs mixing with something deeper, something that makes your stomach growl even if you just ate lunch. It's the same smell that filled our house every single Sunday growing up, and now, years later, it still has the power to bring us all back to my mother's kitchen table.