By Judy Gordon-Conde and Jennifer Conde-Powers Recently, family and friends celebrated the 90th birthday of Marisa Vela (widow of Dr. Rosendo Vela) in Puerto Rico at a surprise party organized by her daughters Angela, Luisa and Lucé (the former first lady of Puerto Rico) at the residence of Angela and her husband, Antonio Morera. The celebration was full of traditional and festive moments, including dear friends who had traveled from Spain and joined the celebration. Guests a

By Emily Weinstein The best part of shrimp scampi is arguably the garlicky sauce, usually poured over pasta or mopped up with bread. This recipe offers another take: Pillows of potato gnocchi are crisped in a skillet that is then used to cook the shrimp. The gnocchi add heft, and their soft yet chewy texture goes nicely with the springiness of the shrimp. Serve this with a big green salad to round out the meal. By Melissa Clark Yield: 3 to 4 servings Total time: 25 minutes In

By Kristen Miglore Cheese is, by nature, a means of preservation, shrinking gallons of milk to around a tenth of their volume and sending the highly perishable liquid on its “leap toward immortality,” as essayist Clifton Fadiman once wrote. Or, as Anne Saxelby, the champion of American cheesemaking, noted in “The New Rules of Cheese,” published a year before her death in 2021, “There’s a reason the Romans used to carry rations of Pecorino Romano with them on their long conque

By The New York Times Planes, trains, highways, they’re all going to be packed over the Thanksgiving holiday, traditionally one of the busiest periods for travel. The Transportation Security Administration is expecting to screen 18.3 million airline passengers from Tuesday to Dec. 2, up approximately 6% from the same period in 2023, and a record number. It projects the three busiest travel days will be the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after the hol

By Eric Asimov Here’s an easy answer to the perennial question of what to drink with Thanksgiving: Anything you want. It is wine most often, but it doesn’t have to be. Cider is a wonderful choice, both alcoholic and nonalcoholic. So is beer, or iced tea, cider-wine blends or even just water. On a day with many moving parts, beverages ought to be the least of your worries. Nobody comes to Thanksgiving to train their critical faculties on how wine pairs with whatever you choose

By Christine Chung Yes, it will offer grab-n-go purchases, specialty cocktails, and plenty of alcoves for suitcases and charging outlets. It is backed by a credit-card issuer, with a world-famous chef attached. But the new Capital One Landing, opening Tuesday at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, is far from the typical airport lounge — or at least that’s the goal of José Andrés, the Michelin-starred chef with a sprawling global food empire and head of a disaster-reli

By Elaine Glusac After a summer of overtourism in cruise ports like Barcelona, Spain, and Amsterdam, and talk of caps on ship arrivals in Greece and other places, the cruise industry has come up with a surprising suggestion for where to sail in winter: Europe. Traditionally, ships stationed in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe in the summer move to the Caribbean and other warm regions in winter. But a growing number of cruise lines are positioning ships in the Mediterrane

Chris Renfro in his retail wine shop Friend of a Friend in San Francisco, Oct. 22, 2024. President-elect Donald Trump asserts tariffs will benefit American manufacturing and create jobs, but many economists and trade experts have argued that tariffs could result in higher costs and damage American businesses. (Carolyn Fong/The New York Times) By SETH KUGEL The wine world is bracing for the potential effect of the tariffs that President-elect Donald Trump has said he will impo

By Julie Weed Last Thanksgiving, Dennis Friedrichsen, a 43-year-old tech worker from Minnesota, found himself dining on the banks of the Nile, sharing a feast of kebabs and chickpea stew with 11 strangers from three continents. Then he spent Christmas in Tanzania. Like a growing number of travelers, Friedrichsen saw the holidays as the perfect time for a solo adventure. Spending the holidays away from friends or family has long carried a stigma of loneliness. But that is chan

By Christine Chung We’ve all been there, waiting impatiently at the baggage carousel, anxiously hoping for that first glimpse of our checked luggage. Then we breathe a sigh of relief, collect it and get on with our travels. Or we don’t. Last year in the United States, airlines lost or damaged one out of 200 checked bags. It’s a small slice of the millions of bags flown each year, but a lost bag can have oversize consequences. Airlines have a series of steps passengers need to