It can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the busyness of the holiday season — from perfecting your home décor to searching for gifts for everyone on your list to creating a delicious holiday menu. To help simplify the holidays, here are a few easy tips, so you can spend more time enjoying the most...

Travel can be stressful in the best of times. Now add in the high-level anxiety that seems to be baked into every holiday season and it’s clear that travelers could use some help calming frazzled nerves. Travel pros say there is plenty you can do ahead of time to make for a happier and less-stressful...

In the era of social media, online dating and Netflix and chill there are few pleasures as tactile and satisfying as entertaining. Whether it’s a couple of friends and a bottle of wine or a couple dozen and a homemade antipasto bar, there is a world of face-to-face fun out there just waiting to get...

Pie crust looks like it should be the easy part of making a homemade pie. All you need to create a flaky foundation for your favorite filling is a handful of basic ingredients most home cooks already have on hand: All-purpose flour, a bit of fat to give it texture, salt and a little liquid...

Whet the appetites of your holiday party guests with this grand antipasti platter. The assembly directions and recipes come from San Francisco food stylist Bebe Black Carminito and her new cookbook, “The Curated Board: Inspired Platters & Spreads for Any Occasion” (Abrams, $25). This board curates a selection of antipasti — it means “before the...

Brunch has a special seat at the table: It bridges savory and sweet and breakfast and lunch, and appeases both early birds and late risers. It’s a meal with very few rules, which is especially welcome to cooks as we head into a season filled with tradition and culinary expectations. Want to serve pancakes alongside...

Every new year, as the clock strikes midnight, we make resolutions to change our habits, eat better and lose weight. We often turn to the latest diet trends, hoping that, this time, we’ll find the answer. But what if, instead of searching for the next diet, we focused on something deeper? What if we gave...

There’s something about this time of year that just calls out for a great, big, steaming bowl of chili. And it’s not just because it’s beginning to get cold outside, though it’s true we start to crave warm, comforting dishes when the weather forecast calls for pulling on a jacket instead of shorts. Rather, I...