Karen Lo – FoodWatcher

This Is “America’s Best Loaf of Bread” (& Here’s Where You Can Get It)

What makes an ideal loaf of bread? Is it the texture, the flavor, the ratio of bread to air pockets, or how much it lends itself to the formation of an excellent sandwich? As it turns out, the only way to answer this question is to conduct a national taste test—enter the Tiptree World Bread Awards. (Fittingly, the awards are sponsored by jam and preserves company, Wilkins & Sons, located in Tiptree, England).

Hosted in New York City on Oct. 30, 2019, the World Bread Awards compared freshly baked loaves of bread from across the country, all of which were delivered on the morning of the competition for maximum freshness. More than 30 judges, including Dana Cowin, the former editor-in-chief of Food & Wine and current host of the Speaking Broadly podcast; Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery, and David and Tracey Zabar of Zabar’s, the landmark speciality food store on New York City's Upper West Side.

The 10-Second Trick to Clean Your Gunky Cheese Grater

Like a mandoline slicer or a vegetable peeler, a cheese grater is one of those kitchen tools that comes with an extra touch of danger. Sometimes, a little extra danger is a fun thing, like how one out of every 10 shishito peppers turns out to be spicy, and you don't know which one. But in the kitchen, where I’m already contending with fire and knives, I don’t need the extra stress.

I’m talking about how annoying it is to be able to clean a cheese grater without a) the shredded cheese getting stuck everywhere, making the process take way too long and b) putting my knuckles in danger. And spare a thought for your poor sponge!

The Powerhouse Ingredient You’re Almost Definitely Throwing Out

The older I get, the more pleasure I get out of things like actually using all the groceries I buy—remember when we found out that the average American is throwing out nearly 3,000 pounds of food per year?—and being able to recycle containers that are …

But when it comes to baking, unless you’re a professional baker or a very busy hobby baker, you probably have quite a few items in your kitchen pantry that were used once, and then more or less forgotten. How many times have you used a full container of baking soda before it expired?

Benjamin Moore’s Color of 2020 Is Here—& We’re So Into It

It’s pretty wild to think that in just a little over two months, we’ll be starting a whole new decade—or, depending on how you like to observe time, witnessing an all-new “Roaring 20s.”

Marking the occasion, Benjamin Moore has announced its Color of t…

It’s pretty wild to think that in just a little over two months, we’ll be starting a whole new decade—or, depending on how you like to observe time, witnessing an all-new “Roaring 20s.”

Marking the occasion, Benjamin Moore has announced its Color of the Year 2020, “a soft, rosy hue blooming with potential” called First Light. I'll be be honest, to me it looks rather like a certain pale shade of pink that you and I might call “millennial pink.” To be even more honest, as someone’s whose first order of business after closing on my first apartment was to paint both my living room and bedroom pale pink, I’m completely on board.

You’ll Be Shocked by How Much Food Americans Waste Each Year

Every year of my 20s, I’ve made some version of a resolution to limit food waste, whether that means shopping more carefully or finally becoming a meal prep person.

I’ve had some success, but I still end up throwing away more food than I’d hope to—whe…

Every year of my 20s, I’ve made some version of a resolution to limit food waste, whether that means shopping more carefully or finally becoming a meal prep person.

I’ve had some success, but I still end up throwing away more food than I'd hope to—whether it’s fresh fruit that I didn’t get to in time, vegetables that I put away in the crisper and barely looked at ever again, or, of course, leftovers that never again saw the light of day.

This Is How Often You Should Be Cleaning Your Phone

Even though using my phone is more or less an all-day activity that involves direct contact with my hands or my face—or, let’s be honest, the sidewalk—my phone’s cleaning schedule has traditionally depended less on its actual need to be cleaned, and mo…

Even though using my phone is more or less an all-day activity that involves direct contact with my hands or my face—or, let's be honest, the sidewalk—my phone’s cleaning schedule has traditionally depended less on its actual need to be cleaned, and more on whether or not I’ve happened to acquire a free alcohol wipe recently. Plus, until recently, I genuinely had no idea how often I’m actually supposed to clean my phone.

However, if the last few months have taught me anything, it is that keeping your phone sanitized is a smart way to keep germs off your fingertips. I've learned that the average user touches their phone nearly 3,000 times a day—and that the heaviest users are up to 5,427 touches a day, according to a study by web research platform dscout. During a pandemic—but also otherwise—that's far from good news.

Why You Should Stock Up on Used Coffee Grounds Right Now

The end of summer is here, and in all seriousness, I have officially begun planning my winter moisturizing regimen. Which is to say that, in conjunction with the single, beautifully variegated green-to-red leaf I saw on the ground today, I have to acce…

I’m decidedly not a cold weather person and prefer to spend December through February in another climate, or else, inside with my windows plastic-wrapped. But in my quest to figure out how to have the mildest winter possible, I stumbled on a piece of advice that’s clever enough to make me look forward to putting on my winter coat and boots—that is, for as long as it takes me to try out this new winterizing technique.

This Is the Best Way to Get Rid of a Coffee Stain

Coffee stains are a fact of life if you a) drink coffee and b) weren’t born with the balance of a gymnast. And since I drink coffee almost every day of my life and have no sense of balance to speak of, the number of times I’ve spilled coffee on myself,…

And since these coffee stains usually happen to me in the wild—on my way to the office, on the train, in the middle of a restaurant meal—I usually don’t have the option of tossing something in the washing machine until the end of my day. Not to mention, if all stain removal were just a matter of doing a load of laundry, none of us would need hacks on how to remove them.

10 Labor Day Deals That Are Actually Worth It

Almost everything about the transition from summer to fall makes me a little sad, but that’s just the way it goes. At the very least, it makes my annual autumn soundtrack—Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks, and pretty much the whole Practical Magic soundtrack…

Still, I think we can all agree that one one of the best things about fall is that the shopping gets better—it is the September issue of Vogue that matters, after all. But it’s not just the fashion that gets better.

The Container Store Is Having a Sale of Their Most Popular Products

No matter how old I get, I don’t think I’ll ever outgrow the feeling that August is the season for back-to-school shopping (even though I graduated years ago and have no plans to return). Unfortunately, since I’m not a student anymore, all that back-to-school hubbub isn’t really for me—which means it can be hard to capitalize on my yearly urge to fill a shopping cart with a classroom’s worth of stationary and storage options.

Fortunately, as I’ve entered into adulthood and possession of my own credit card, there is one place that was made to fill the void of school shopping: the Container Store. You know, the place that turns modular storage bins into dreamy visions of a completely efficient home, hanging racks into space-saving technology, and rolling racks into a thousand different answers for the question, “You know what we could do with this room?”