Author Archives: Larry Sanderson

NYT Critic’s Pick Movie(s)

Crimes of the Future
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi | Directed by David Cronenberg
In his latest shocker, David Cronenberg prophetically reads the signs while Léa Seydoux performs surgeries on a beatific Viggo Mortensen.

From left, Léa Seydoux, Viggo Mortensen and Kristen Stewart in “Crimes of the Future.”
By MANOHLA DARGIS

Neptune Frost
NYT Critic’s Pick | Musical, Sci-Fi | Directed by Anisia Uzeyman, Saul Williams
An Afrofuturist fantasia about the state of the world and how to resist it.

Cheryl Isheja in “Neptune Frost,” Directed by Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman.
By A.O. SCOTT

Watcher
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Drama, Horror, Thriller | Directed by Chloe Okuno
In Chloe Okuno’s taut first feature, a woman is convinced a man is watching and possibly even following her.

Maika Monroe in “Watcher.”
By LENA WILSON

— Of Possible Interest —

After Blue
Fantasy, Sci-Fi | Directed by Bertrand Mandico
A planet of women is the eye-popping setting for this psychedelic movie, in which a mother and her daughter try to find an escaped criminal named Kate Bush.
By ELISABETH VINCENTELLI

Maika
PG | Adventure, Comedy, Family | Directed by Ham Tran
This children’s adventure movie from Vietnam is like “E.T.”—but sloppier and more eccentric.
By BEATRICE LOAYZA

Fire Island
R | Comedy, Romance | Directed by Andrew Ahn
The quips are almost as hot as the sexual tension in Andrew Ahn and Joel Kim Booster’s loosely paced but endearing romantic comedy.
By ELISABETH VINCENTELLI

Benediction
PG-13 | Biography, Drama, War | Directed by Terence Davies
Terence Davies’s latest film is a biography of Siegfried Sassoon, whose writing about World War I changed British literature.
By A.O. SCOTT

I watched a gawdawful amount of BBC whilst isolating in Belgium, and I was shocked, shocked I tell you to find out that not all the people on game shows were Whyte or walked or straight couples. Same with their ‘fix the garden’ and their shopping shows and antique hunting game shows. The host is often male and gorgeous, but the range of contestants was wide and more varied than standard American TV — not that I watch it like I did there. But they really presented a wide range of people and treated them well.

One of their ‘fix the house’ shows is about organizing a community fix-up project for a family in over their heads because of death or disabilities, where they redo the house so it at least looks like it meets the needs of the people living there where before it clearly did not. Obviously, it fixes a small number of houses for a small number of families, but it focuses and brings the community together to help some of the people in very serious ways — and it’s not to flip the house.

I should add, it’s a knock that wall down and back 10 meters and add a wheelchair wet room, and add on over it for two bedrooms, an office and a bathroom or two kind of fix-up, not just a paint job.

Last Post at the Menin Gate

We attended a Last Post this time in Belgium — Menin Gate, Ypres, West Flanders — and visited a few cemeteries. It was too early for any poppies, if in fact they bloom there. Australians were there for the ceremony. Held in a huge triumphal arch. Trumpets, wreaths, marching every night.

In the cemeteries, the English Empire graves were orderly; the German Empire less so. It probably meant the world to my grandfather, but we have seen so much worse since that bitter family squabble.

We got there a bit late to get great standing room, and it was packed without much masking. Many of the older people let the school children get ahead for a better view to carry the memory forward further than any of us can.

Peak Whinge

My peak whinge, after contracting covid in Brussels, after the night of the hotel fire, going down and up and down six stories of stairs often in the dark with asthma and covid and no longer young, I ordered a 19 euro breakfast over the phone in the new hotel. After room service told me how I was supposed to have done it by marking a form and putting it on the door by 2 am (when I’m not sure I’d reached the room by 2 am), she started suggesting things to order and suggested muesli, which is my standard breakfast — I love Bircher muesli! Anyway, what I got instead of my beloved Bircher muesli was instant oatmeal — it was absolutely dreadful even with European yogurt on it.

Food! Glorious Food!

Many Ice Creams, but One Cone to Rule Them All
Joy Baking Group has cornered much of the market with one guiding principle: When it comes to cones, people want what they know.
By Priya Krishna

A Heat Wave’s Lamented Victim: The Mango, India’s King of Fruits
Blistering spring temperatures have devastated crops of the country’s most beloved fruit. “The soul of a farmer shudders at seeing these fruitless trees,” one grower said.
By Suhasini Raj

Six Easy Recipes for the Ultimate Picnic Spread
Summery salads, vibrant open-faced sandwiches and pecan shortbread: Impress your friends with this portable feast from David Tanis.

Clockwise from bottom left: a white bean salad with roasted cauliflower; Caprese-style marinated mozzarella with cherry tomatoes and olives; open-faced cucumber-ricotta sandwiches; and sardines on buttered brown bread.
Recipes: Hibiscus Punch | Marinated Mozzarella, Olives and Cherry Tomatoes | Sardines on Buttered Brown Bread | Cucumber-Ricotta Sandwiches | White Bean Salad With Roasted Cauliflower | Pecan Shortbread
By David Tanis

Nigel Slater’s recipes for puddings to celebrate the jubilee
Orange custard tart, gooseberry fool and meringue roulade – summer sweet treats worthy of the long bank holiday weekend

Nigel Slater’s orange custard tart.
Nigel Slater

WINE SCHOOL
The Surprising, Saline Whites of the Mâconnais
The wines are getting better, more distinctive and more expensive in this region once known for cheap, innocuous bottles.
By Eric Asimov

WINE SCHOOL
Alsace Whites, From Three Different Grapes
It’s in France but is not quite French. It seems German, but it’s not. Alsace has its own singular character and style.
By Eric Asimov

Well! That was exciting!

I made it home last Saturday, May 21, after testing positive for COVID on Sunday, May 8. I was supposed to fly out on May 9. I only changed my departure three or four times which was great fun in itself. Fortunately, I usually had three BBC cable channels to keep me entertained while on eternal hold with Delta and Delta Vacations.

On May 11, the hotel I was staying/isolating in, Aloft Brussels Schuman, caught fire. I spent the next mumble days sweltering on the 8th floor of a nearby hotel, NH Hotel, that they moved us to after a rather long interval quite late night/early morning.

The night desk guy, who was quite friendly when I checked out at 4:45 am on Saturday, May 21, said that Aloft had called and asked for rooms — all the hotel rooms.

The first test I ran after testing positive on May 8, was on May 19, and I tested negative. I had to spring for an ‘official’ test at the Brussels airport to get out of Belgium, and got a CDC interview here after I got off the plane.

Waay too much fun. Fortunately, the beer I packed all made it home, and Allianz should cover most of the extended stay. I did abandon two bottles of Belgian beer in the last hotel. In retrospect, I probably could have packed it, but my luggage was heavy enough already.

Food! Glorious Food!

To Tip, or Not to Tip?
Automated payment and the spread of tipping to every corner of the food-service business have helped workers weather the pandemic. But some consumers feel overwhelmed.
By CHRISTINA MORALES

Greens on Greens on Pasta
Based on the Greek spinach pie, Ali Slagle’s baked spanakopita pasta with greens and feta is reader-approved.

How to Turn Any Vegetable Into Pasta Sauce2
With five simple techniques that pair fresh ingredients with any kind of noodle, you can create countless produce-based meals.
Recipe: Skillet Broccoli Spaghetti
Recipe: Gnocchi With Roasted Peppers and Tomatoes
Recipe: Spring Soba With Tinned Fish
Recipe: Caramelized Zucchini Pasta
Recipe: Pasta With Chopped Pesto and Peas
By Ali Slagle

A Coveted Recipe From Jamaica Is Finally Shared
This is fish rubbed with garlic and allspice, shallow-fried until the skin crisps, then doused with hot vinegar, carrots, onions and wicked Scotch bonnets.

Recipe: Escovitch Fish2
By Ligaya Mishan

A Beloved Indigenous Dessert Evolves With Each Generation2
Different versions of grape dumplings have been passed down and adapted over time — and they are all delicious.

Dumpling dough is rolled flat to better soak up the grape sauce while simmering.
Recipe: Grape Dumplings
By Kevin Noble Maillard

NYT Critic’s Pick

Paris, 13th District
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Comedy, Drama, Romance | Directed by Jacques Audiard
In his latest movie, the French director Jacques Audiard tells the story of lovers finding their way in Paris.

Lucie Zhang and Makita Samba in Jacques Audiard’s “Paris, 13th District.”
By MANOHLA DARGIS

The Tale of King Crab
NYT Critic’s Pick | Adventure, Drama | Directed by Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis
This fiction feature debut follows a scandalous son of a physician turned adventurer in spite of himself.

Gabriele Silli as Luciano in “The Tale of King Crab,” a film from Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis.
By GLENN KENNY

— Of Possible Interest —

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
PG-13 | Adventure, Family, Fantasy | Directed by David Yates
Mads Mikkelsen plays an evil wizard with political talent in the latest “Harry Potter” spinoff movie, which also stars Jude Law and Eddie Redmayne.
By AMY NICHOLSON

Food! Glorious Food!

‘Cheap as Chips’ No Longer True in U.K. as Prices Soar for a Favorite Meal
The costs for fish and chips, a working-class staple in Britain for well over a century, have rocketed as the war in Ukraine has made the main ingredients scarcer. Of 10,000 shops, 3,000 may close.
By STEPHEN CASTLE

The Home Cooks (and Start-Ups) Betting on Prepared Meals
Tens of billions of dollars are being spent on what, where and how consumers will eat in the coming years. Laws and regulations aren’t always keeping up.
By JULIE CRESWELL

The ‘Consummate’ London Restaurateur Is Briskly Shown the Exit
Jeremy King fell out with his Bangkok-based partner. His A-list customers vow never to return to the restaurants he made famous.
By Mark Landler

The Secret to
How to Cook With Fava Beans
Answering a popular reader question, with a few tips and recipes.
By TEJAL RAO

FRONT BURNER
Calabrian Chile Flakes to Use With Abandon
Boonville Barn Collective’s chile has a balanced heat that perks up pizza and pasta.

$10.99 for 1.2 ounces, boonvillebarn.com.
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

The Secret to Deliciousness
Crunchy and creamy, chewy and runny, crisp and tender: These recipes are loaded with contrasting textures.
By EMILY WEINSTEIN

The Most Flavorful Easter Ham Starts on the Stove
Want to avoid a dry ham? Wary of too many boiled eggs? Genevieve Ko has solutions for two common Easter entertaining challenges.

The pops of tiny seeds in whole grain mustard give this honeyed crust a light crackle.
Recipes: Honey Ham | Tea Eggs | Hot Cross Buns
By GENEVIEVE KO

A GOOD APPETITE
You Can Have This Rich Easter Pie Any Time of Year
Melissa Clark’s take on torta rustica, a Southern Italian mainstay, is full of ricotta and spinach.

The ham is optional in this filling pie, though you could swap in chopped olives or sundried tomatoes for savoriness.
Recipe: Torta Rustica With Ricotta and Spinach
By Melissa Clark

This Cake Gives You a Moment of Warmth in the Middle of the Day
Chamomile cake is just right at teatime, an excuse to give yourself and friends an hour to sit down and linger.

Recipe: Chamomile Tea Cake With Strawberry Icing
By ERIC KIM

3 Thrilling Dishes to (Finally) Celebrate Spring’s Arrival
A shaved asparagus salad, roasted chicken and potatoes infused with green garlic, and a bright rhubarb crumble: This menu from David Tanis puts the season’s best on display.

Green garlic and a selection of herbs nicely perfume this dish of chicken and potatoes.
Recipes: Shaved Asparagus and Radish Salad | Roast Chicken With Green Garlic, Herbs and Potatoes | Rhubarb Crumble
By David Tanis

How to cook the perfect …
How to make the perfect cardamom buns – recipe
Smaller, bouncier and zestier than the cinnamon bun, this Swedish teatime treat is a great alternative to the hot cross bun – but who makes the best?

Felicity Cloake's perfect cardamom buns
Felicity Cloake’s perfect cardamom buns
Felicity Cloake

For One Black Whiskey Maker, Accolades and Now a Lawsuit
Eboni Major was blending award-winning bourbon at Bulleit but she alleges that just as she was becoming a public face of the brand, she faced discrimination at the distillery.
By CLAY RISEN

Tony May, 84, Restaurateur Who Championed Italian Cuisine, Dies
A native of Italy, he was crucial in bringing Italian fine dining to New York and beyond, determined to break the stranglehold of French haute cuisine.

Tony May in 2013, when he was being honored at an event at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan. His restaurants and nonprofit educational organizations have elevated Italian cuisine.
By Florence Fabricant