NYT Cooking 12+

The app has one shortcoming: it lists ingredients in one pane, then it lists directions in another. “Add the salt and baking powder” means flipping back to the ingredients pane to see measurements. For those cooks who pre-measure all their ingredients then line them up on the counter waiting to deploy them, that’s great. Nothing in my life is that planned. Regardless, when my significant other got sick, I discovered that this app helped me keep both of us alive with excellent, tasty food, brilliant how-to videos, and an awesome depth of recipe types and cuisines. Something like 15,000 recipes, searchable and categorized, much larger and more efficient than any cookbook. The handy shopping list feature lets me download the ingredients to my phone to take to the grocery store, giving me more time to care for our house, our pets, and her. I use this app every day. As her health declines, my other half says she just wants plain, no fuss food, then gladly accepts the NYT grilled cheese and tomato soup, or Sifton’s smash burger. It doesn’t take hours of preparing a Julia Child-worthy meal in order to find little gems in this app that are simple and delicious. And quick. This app has restored a great bit of my quality of life. I love it, and I love the NYT for providing it. It’s really a life saver in the sense that life is more than continuing to breathe and pump blood. For that, we have doctors. For life, we have the NYT.

I am an enthusiastic cook during normal times. Living in Seattle and fortunate to be able to source great ingredients—specifically fish and shellfish just hours out of the water, meal preparation has never been a chore. But during pandemic times, even the occasional special meal “out” has been put on ice since February, due to a high risk situation that makes it really not worth the bother. So I’ve sharpened my knives, organized my pantry and soldiered on. I’m not generally a cookbook user—yes, I do collect them and subscribe to all the usual suspects on a monthly or quarterly basis, but I rely on a book or magazine more for a concept to riff on or a food trend to explore. But when I began delving into NYT Cooking—a part of my Times subscription at large, that changed. There are so many great recipes it makes it easy to cook anything and everything from a pantry pasta to the most elaborate meal and have an excellent outcome—and fun along the way. I am a lifestyle journalist, so I love the context and backstory of each recipe—reading the accompanying article is a great source of pleasure. But these recipes really work and the shopping list tool is a handy helper. In short, I’ve found an endless source of material, entertainment and great food at my fingertips. Thank you for keeping me inspired and cooking with joy! ❤️