Sam Sifton

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Sam Sifton

Good morning. I'd grilled 50 cheeseburgers, as many hot dogs, 18 brats and six veggie burgers, all of it over charcoal on one of those Americana grills you can get pre-assembled at the big-box store for less than it costs to buy a single porterhouse at Gallagher's in Manhattan.

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Sam Sifton

Good morning. We're a week out from Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer grill season. For those who take part in the festivities, first with a holiday cookout and then with regular meals cooked outside over flames and coal, as many as they can manage for the next few months, the next two days are important. Because how's that grill looking, after half a year spent alone and untouched in the yard, on the deck, in the garage, under the stoop?

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Sam Sifton

Good morning. Happy Mother's Day to all who serve. Mine loathed the holiday. She called it a conspiracy of the Hallmark-florist industrial complex. Still, I think she was always secretly thrilled when one of us children cobbled together something delicious for her to eat or gave her a hand-crayoned card. Which is to say: Reach out to the moms today and raise their status high. Cook one of them Belgian waffles (above) for breakfast, with salted butter, maple syrup and a bowl of fruit salad on the side.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Sam Sifton

Good morning. The Kentucky Derby kicks off tomorrow at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., two minutes of excitement bracketed by drinks and snacks, a prelude to dinner with as many people as you can fit around your table. The race is a reminder that while our young nation may have birthed itself in opposition to the British crown, its culture rhymes with the one across the ocean. Louisville is our Ascot, our Cheltenham.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Sam Sifton

Good morning. I fixed and filled the bird feeder and Mr. Cardinal was on set within the hour, bullying the grackles away and getting on the seed. He hung out while I worked on a lawn wrecked by dogs, on a wood pile that needed stacking, on the piles of stuff that'll have to go onto the boat before fishing can commence. It was a weekend of promise and anticipation, the start of the season, a time for regrowth. For dinner: broiled salmon with asparagus and herbs (above).