Annaliese Griffin

Not to shame sexy Halloween or side-eye scary Halloween, but this year we’re kind of nostalgic for a good old-fashioned gross-out Halloween.

Last week Arby’s briefly added a duck breast sandwich to their menu that was seared, sous vided, then dropped in a fryer, and and finished with a smoked cherry sauce and crispy onions, all for $7. If that sounds delicious, then you’re going to have to figure out how to make one at home, because they were available in very limited numbers at 16 restaurants around the country—all in prime duck hunting areas—and they’re all gone now.

In an effort to reduce harmful wintertime smog, Montreal has set strict standards for residential wood-burning stoves and fireplaces, essentially making it illegal to burn wood within the city limits using anything other than the newest, cleanest stoves. With the ban in place, city officials have indicated that they will now focus on commercial wood-burning ovens, and grills, namely those used to produce Montreal’s famous bagels, as well as Portuguese-style piri piri chicken.

The “scary black cherry” slushy at Burger King might just give you two Halloween thrills for the price of one. Of course, that depends on how you feel about drinking something that might turn your poop bright blue or neon green.

If you’ve been wondering what to do with your crockpot ever since you bought an Instant Pot, I have three suggestions for you: Use it for warming drinks such as spiced apple cider, hot toddies, or mulled wine at your next winter party. Make your stuffing in it at Thanksgiving, and pop the inner container in the oven after the turkey comes out to crisp up the top.

Tequila and Twitter might just mix for Elon Musk. Last week CNBC reported that Tesla had filed an application with the US Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the brand name “Teslaquila,” an idea Musk came up with on Twitter

It’s not the fermented shark, it’s you.

Twenty years ago today (Oct. 12), Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay college student at the University of Wyoming, was killed. He had been beaten, tied to a fence, and left for dead. On Oct. 26 his parents will finally lay him to rest, at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC.

Most chefs write cookbooks to show you how to make their food. Samin Nosrat teaches home cooks how to make their own food, just more deliciously.

Pecan farmers in the state of Georgia are worried. Hurricane Michael is predicted to barrel through the state’s pecan belt, where the trees are loaded with nuts and the yearly harvest has just begun.

Lately, the world of snacks has been a battleground.

There are many types of lifestyle gurus. Some sell vitamins. Others sling colorful cookware. But to properly inspire others to lead their best lives, three elements are non-negotiable: Lifestyle leaders must have a well-defined personal mythology. They need a distinct but replicable personal aesthetic. And they must have a cookbook.

Now that Brett Kavanaugh has been confirmed as a Supreme Court justice, one thing is clear: Someday, sooner than we think, there’s going to be a movie version of all this.

Maybe you’ve seen her in your social media feed. A woman in the midst of an unsavory, unrequested task, she stands naked, her hair a tangle of serpents, a sword in one hand, a severed head in the other. Her gaze is not triumphant, exactly, but resolute.

Kanye West treated Saturday Night Live viewers to a puzzling performance over the weekend, performing one song while in a water bottle costume, wearing a red Make America Great Again hat, and then launching into a pro-Trump speech at the end of the show when performers usually mill about on the stage hugging.

The US is currently home to close to 13,000 detained migrant children, the largest population ever. Today (Sept. 30), The New York Times reports that in recent weeks a growing number of them have been moved, often in the middle of the night, from foster homes and shelters all over the country and transported to a tent city in Tornillo, Texas, a remote location near the Mexican border.

There’s too much choice on my television. When my husband and I sit down for a movie night finding something to watch sometimes seems to take almost as long as the film itself. As the parents of two small children our time together feels too precious to spend bickering over what to watch. Even with all the time in world, scrolling through Netflix becomes annoying after about five minutes.

In 1928, Ernst Mayr, then one of the world’s most respected evolutionary biologists, spotted a species of tree kangaroo he hadn’t seen before high in the mountains in what is now West Papua, Indonesia. He shot it and sent the pelt to the Natural History Museum in London. That was the first, and last, recorded contact between the Wondiwoi tree kangaroo and Western science.

“I know I never did that,” US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh told a Fox News interviewer earlier this week, addressing a New Yorker story claiming that, as a student at Yale, he thrust his penis in front of a fellow student’s face to mock her during a drinking game. ”If I had done that, it would have been the talk of campus.”

Earlier this week, the diet company formerly known as Weight Watchers changed its name to WW, and reminded the public that its tagline is “Wellness That Works.™” It’s completely reasonable to be cynical about all of this.

Breast pumps have completely changed the game for mothers who want to breastfeed. They make it possible for someone else to feed the baby while the nursing mother sleeps, takes a shower, or does something completely unrelated to childrearing. They allow women who breastfeed to work full-time jobs. They can help stimulate milk supply. They’re an essential tool of modern parenthood.

“I believe food has power,” says Cristina Martinez in Spanish in the new season of Chef’s Table, as the Philadelphia chef juices oranges over hunks of raw lamb to make the barbacoa she has become famous for. “Through food we can find home.”

Good meat loves salt. That butcher’s refrain might be best expressed by the bistecca alla fiorentina—a giant, bone-in cut of beef that is dusted with salt and pepper, grilled over scorching hot coals, and served very rare. A brush of rosemary and other herbs is sometimes used to baste the steak with olive oil during cooking, and it is meant to be sliced and served family style, sauced only by its own meaty juice.

Are Burt and Ernie gay? The cohabitation of the two puppets in Sesame Street has always raised that question. Fixtures of the US children’s show since it debuted in 1969 (the same year that Mike and Carol Brady become the first television couple to snuggle up on screen) the male puppets share a room, but not a bed.