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A Deal on Economic Aid, at Last
For eight months, members of Congress have talked about the need for another economic aid package to help struggling Americans in the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, congressional leaders have finally agreed on
The leaders from both parties under increasing pressure from constituents and rank-and-file lawmakers, and confronted with a slowing economy and surging coronavirus infections and related deaths are racing to pass it into law and have it signed by
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The season for cooking too much and sharing it all
Sugar-dusted mandazi kick off a day of feasting on Christmas morning for L.A. cook and video producer Kiano Moju.
(Silvia Razgova / For The Times; food and prop styling by Kiano Moju)
Dec. 20, 2020 8 AM PT
With no gatherings for celebrations this year, I’ve managed to avoid cooking too much for any one meal, slimming down my favorite recipes to feed two. That is, until now. It’s five days until Christmas, and I just can’t
not cook a lot. This whole week, I’m baking cookies, cakes and all sorts of fruitcake-like holiday breads that I’m sure no one loves as much as I do (but my friends will still smile and accept them because they’re wonderful people). Come Christmas Eve, I’ll be making way more food than my partner and I can eat, and the leftovers will as I did for my Thanksgiving spread go again to friends who are alone for the holiday or can’t bring themselves to cook. And this year, it will be
How do we even begin to make any larger, lasting sense of 2020 the loss of lives and livelihoods, the government failures and the tapped reserves of fortitude and ingenuity and kindness? Flipping a calendar page to a new year doesn’t make everything suddenly better, but I’m going to trust the world won’t look quite as dire by next December.
For the final 2020 installment of the Tasting Notes newsletter (thank you for subscribing and reading!), it felt appropriate to round up the year’s most meaningful work written and produced by the Food team.
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1 medium red bell pepper, stem and seeds removed, roughly chopped 2 medium yellow onions (1 roughly chopped, 1 thinly sliced crosswise) 1 habanero or Scotch bonnet chile, stem removed (remove seeds for a milder sauce) 4 pounds bone-in beef short ribs, room temperature Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped 4 Nigerian Maggi seasoning cubes, crushed, or 1 ½ tablespoons crushed bouillon cubes or liquid bouillon base, such as Better Than Bouillon 2 teaspoons Nigerian curry powder, preferably Lion brand, or regular curry powder 1 teaspoon dried thyme
1
Heat the oven to 325 degrees. In this order, add the tomatoes, bell pepper, the roughly chopped onions and the chile to a blender and puree to a very smooth sauce; reserve the stew base. Season the short ribs generously on all sides with salt and pepper.
2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons everyday olive oil, plus more as needed
1
In a large, wide bowl whisk together the flour and salt. In a liquid measuring cup, measure out 1 ¼ cups room-temperature water. Make a well in the center of the flour, then pour in 2 tablespoons olive oil and ½ cup of the water. Using your fingers, begin mixing the wet ingredients into the flour, rubbing the flour through your fingers in a pinching motion to form small, shaggy bits of dough and tossing the shaggy bits in the dry parts to keep them separate. Continue in this fashion, adding splashes of water to any large dry patches of flour and mixing in each before adding the next, until the shaggy pieces of dough start sticking together and there are no patches of flour left. Take your time here; the whole mixing process should take between 3 ½ and 4 minutes. After all the water is added, the dough should feel lightly sticky; if the dough still seems too