Jen Karetnick

Weekend Getaways
As more and more companies embrace remote workers, flexible hours and shorter workweeks, employee lifestyles are changing — as are ideas of what exactly a weekend might look like. As people maximize this hybrid living, second homes — weekend bases, as it were — become even more tempting prospects.
Read on to discover eight locales that make excellent second-home bases, where the local culture is enticing and the benefits of living there three days per week are yours for the t...

Don't make upset stomachs part of the menu this holiday season.
Cookbooks and recipes make it sound like roasting a Thanksgiving turkey is a fairly simple process. But if you’ve ever manned a Thanksgiving hotline, like my sister did for many years when she was the talent for Martha Stewart’s Sirius XM Morning Drive show, then you might get an inkling that a lot of home cooks are somewhat mystified by the process.
Some have never handled whole birds before. Others don’t realize that most Thank...

During a recent national broadcast about rising food costs and inflation, I was struck by the graphic: An empty shopping cart in front of a refrigerated display of expensive imported cheeses. I don’t think whether or not we can afford a regular supply of brie is what we’re really worried about right now.
Instead, I’d wager that most of us have noticed how our bills have tripled in the past months just from buying staples such as produce, eggs, poultry and meat. And we’re all searching for way...

Always be prepared.
After several years of pandemic separations, this Thanksgiving promises to be epic for get-togethers. So you might be thinking about preparing now.
But if you've ever cooked a Thanksgiving meal—and most of us have, of course—then you know how frustrating it can be to prepare ahead of time, given that supermarkets like to mostly showcase seasonal items.
But there are some elements you can decide on now and then buy products accordingly.
In fact, "I think that one of the mos...

My welcome-to-Miami party was a hurricane party. In 1992, newly married, I moved to South Beach just in time to be clobbered by Hurricane Andrew. Back then, we didn’t have a lot of warning either. On Saturday, we spent the day at the beach, and on Sunday we were shipping out under mandatory evacuation orders. The Category 5 hurricane struck early Monday morning, on Aug. 24.
Since then, my family and I have been through many tropical systems, ranging from Kat...

Don's store these fruits and vegetables together, or else you'll end with a bowl or fridge full of spoiled produce. The culprit? Ethylene gas.
If you typically buy a bunch of fruit and vegetables and throw them all in a bowl on the countertop or one bin in the refrigerator, then it’s time to talk about your gas buildup. No, not that kind of gas—ethylene gas.
Ethylene gas is a naturally occurring plant hormone that causes various actions during a plant’s life cycle, such as seed germination an...

Proof dinner really can be fun.
So-called for how easy it is to wander around with them in hand, Walking Tacos are bags of snack-size Fritos—and/or Doritos or any kinds of chips, really—that are garnished with a variety of taco or nacho toppings. The garnishes, ranging from meat to cheese to guacamole, are added right in the bag. Then the whole thing is eaten with a fork (or your fingers, if you don't mind getting pretty messy).
What Is in a Walking Taco?
The walking taco, also called taco in...

As a comestible, raw oysters run the gamut from a luxury commodity that begins a quality meal in a high-end restaurant to a $1 item happy hour attraction. Regardless of where or how they get them, though, many diners love this versatile treat, which is found around the world.
Part of the appeal of eating oysters in their uncooked form is their crisp, mineral flavor and velvety texture. The other part is the ceremony that goes along with it. First, much as you do with a wine list, you mull ove...

One of the great pleasures of traveling around the South is staying in a wide variety of hotels that have been deliberately designed to reflect their historic roots. It doesn't matter if they're original buildings that have been modernized or new-built facilities that replicate pre-existing architecture, or if they're located in cities, set against mountains, or perched by lakes. We admire these treasures equally—for both their iconic history, as well as the reimagined present that we get to ...

Should you put bottles in the bottom or the top? Find out from the experts.
Have you ever wondered why the cooler you bought says your ice will last five days, but yours melted in five hours? Maybe it’s not false advertising. Perhaps you didn’t choose the right cooler for the job, or you’re packing your cooler incorrectly. Or both. Here’s what you need to know if you want to properly chill this summer.
Types of coolers
Coolers come in such a range of styles, materia...

If you think going to culinary school to master techniques and concepts, apprenticing with demanding chefs, and working your way up the line to becoming an executive chef is the right way to win Top Chef, well, you'd be wrong. That's a good path toward achieving culinary prowess over a particular type of cuisine, maybe, or even opening your own restaurant.
But to own the Bravo TV reality show, you need a different formula altogether, according to Buddha Lo, winner of the recently completed To...

The trend toward restaurants that only offer pricey omakase and prix-fixe, counter-tasting menus in Miami and elsewhere is not slowing down despite rising inflation and an impending recession. The more complex the plating and intricate the beverage pairings, the more we're here for it, it seems.
Until we're not.
This is what chef-owner Michael Bolen discovered when he opened the tasting menu-only Lion & the Rambler in Coral Gables in mid-June. His ever-changing nine-course menu was priced at ...

Olive oil's anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties might help soothe sunburned skin from the inside out—and research shows that drinking or eating olive oil may even provide some pain relief.
As the extreme heat continues across the country this summer, those of us who need or like to spend time outdoors sometimes suffer the consequences of sunburns, despite our best efforts with SPF creams and sun-protective clothing. However, one of the easiest ways to help heal your sore or damaged s...

Photo: Jen Karetnick
Grilling outdoors with a charcoal or a gas grill is an excellent way to prepare a meal, but cooking outside isn’t always possible. Inclement weather can sideline an outdoor grill. And those who live in an apartment or a condo might not have the option to cook outdoors. In these cases, fortunately, smokeless indoor grills make it possible to grill inside right in the kitchen.
These electric smokeless grills are suitable for indoor use because they use an electric heating e...

Owning a swimming pool can be awesome. It’s also an awesome responsibility, as open standing water of any kind is a potential safety hazard. Anyone can slip and fall on the pool deck and end up in the water. Pets and wildlife can also slip into pools and be unable to find their way out. Additionally, kids can enter a backyard with a pool without homeowners’ knowledge. In 2021, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reported drownings to be the most common cause of death among toddlers and on ...