
All In on Asparagus
Happy Asparagus Month — known sometimes, to people who aren't me, as 'May.'
The month officially kicked off this past weekend, when I laid eyes on the first purple-tipped local bunches at the farmers' market. Despite the fact that currently I'm dining out for all my dinners (and many of my lunches) as an interim restaurant critic, I still carried home a wheelbarrow's worth of the grassy green stalks. I've been enjoying them for breakfast, seared in butter and topped with fried eggs, which is also how I like to have them for dinner. Sometimes I can fit a few in as a midmorning snack. I take my work-asparagus balance very seriously.
Asparagus with eggs is one classic pairing, and asparagus and pasta is another that I can't get enough of. Ali Slagle's lemony orzo with asparagus and garlic bread crumbs has legions of fans devoted to its tangy, crunchy, savory goodness, and it takes only 20 minutes to make. Does it live up to its hype? With five stars and over 11,000 ratings, signs point to yes. It's just science, people.
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Grilled asparagus with burrata and furikake: More asparagus sorcery from Ali, this time paired with scallions and grilled until charred. Serve it as a show-stealing side dish (maybe with grilled chicken or fish), or with lentils or grains for a satisfying meal.
Miso-honey chicken and asparagus: You knew there'd be sheet pans in this asparagus party somewhere. In this easy meal from Yossy Arefi, asparagus and marinated chicken thighs are broiled until speckly brown, and then topped with a miso-honey sauce liberally seasoned with garlic, chile and ginger.
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Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Discovery of 300-Year-Old Coins May Prove $17 Billion ‘Richest Wreck in History' Has Been Found
Centuries-old coins have been found by researchers looking into the San José shipwreck, thought to be located in the Colombian Caribbean Sea The wreckage is reportedly worth approximately $17 billion The 150-foot-long Spanish galleon ship was sunk by British warships in 1708Researchers believe they have uncovered coins from a 317-year-old shipwreck, which sank in 1708, containing treasure thought to be valued at approximately $17 billion. On Tuesday, June 10, a study was published in the journal Antiquity, stating that "hand-struck, irregularly shaped coins — known as cobs in English and macuquinas in Spanish — that served as the primary currency in the Americas for more than two centuries," were among the key finds amid the ongoing research into the sinking of the Spanish galleon ship, San José. British warships sank the vessel off the coast near the port city of Cartagena. As previously reported by PEOPLE in March 2024, Colombian authorities had decided to move forward with the recovery of the ship, which had a cargo full of treasure. The Times stated that the Colombian navy had identified a wreck that "appeared to be a good candidate" for the sunken ship in 2015, but noted that "its identity has not been conclusively proven." The 150-foot-long, 64-gun, three-masted ship sank with 600 men aboard while carrying 200 tons of silver and emeralds, 11 million gold coins, and porcelain pottery, Colombian Navy divers said in June 2022, according to ABC News. Only 11 individuals survived the incident. Per The Times, the sunken ship is "the richest wreck in history." The latest study, which included photos of some of the coins that had been found, stated that the wreck was situated "at a depth of 600m in the Colombian Caribbean Sea, a location that requires specialized underwater equipment for research." "The exact number of coins visible on the seabed is difficult to determine due to the dynamic nature of the site, but the cobs identified via high-resolution in situ photography conducted by a remotely operated vehicle have an average diameter of 32.5mm and probably weigh around 27g," according to the study. The results added that markings on the coins helped to identify their authenticity. An "L" indicated that they had been mined in Lima, Peru, while the presence of the number 8 represented the denomination in escudos, the highest value at the time. The coins were also marked with the letter "H', which was the mark of Francisco de Hurtado, the Chief Assayer in 1707. The study said that one coin displayed "a small pellet next to the '8', which is a mark of distinction of the cobs of this assayer." While on another, "three letters 'P. V. A.' can be seen marking the motto expression 'Plus Ultra', or 'Further Beyond' in Latin." "This motto was used on the coins as a reference to the expansion of the Spanish monarchy in the Atlantic. Finally, the year of minting is represented by three digits, 707, meaning 1707," the study tated. "The be clearly made out from the images, but on other coins from the same year and mint these bear a reference to King Philip V, the first Bourbon head of the Spanish monarchy," the study continued. "Most of the gold coins from this period come from shipwrecks." Daniela Vargas Ariza, lead researcher from Colombia's Naval Cadet School and the National Institute of Anthropology and History, said of the findings, 'This body of evidence substantiates the identification of the wreck as the San José Galleon,' per The Times. The recent study said that over the past decade, "four non-invasive campaigns" had surveyed the wreckage, "providing valuable insights into the age and provenance of artefacts found on the seabed." The study's conclusion added, "This case study highlights the value of coins as key chronological markers in the identification of shipwrecks, particularly those from the Tierra Firme Fleet. The finding of cobs created in 1707 at the Lima Mint points to a vessel navigating the Tierra Firme route in the early eighteenth century. The San José Galleon is the only ship that matches these characteristics." Spain, the United States, Bolivian indigenous groups and Colombia have all claimed rights to the shipwreck in past years. But in 2011, a U.S. court determined that the ship was the property of the Colombian state, per ABC News. The Times noted that an American salvage company, Sea Search Armada, had also claimed a share, claiming that it had located the wreck. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. In 2015, then-Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos spoke at a news conference regarding the shipwreck's initial rediscovery, telling attendees, "This is the most valuable treasure that has been found in the history of humanity," ABC News reported. Since it was sunk by British warships some 317 years ago, the vessel has been remarkably untouched, officials previously said. The Colombian government didn't immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for additional information. Read the original article on People


Atlantic
3 days ago
- Atlantic
Six Books That Prove Abstinence Can Be Abundance
To the uninitiated, the words abstinence and divestment may connote a sense of deprivation or sacrifice. When applied to a person, they bring to mind someone who has given up, for example, salt, sugar, alcohol, smoking, or sex—and has thereby consigned themselves to a dry, joyless fate. Not so, in my experience. In my new book, The Dry Season, I recount how, in my mid-30s, after 20 years of nonstop committed relationships, I decided to spend some time being intentionally celibate. I knew I needed to take stock of and change my romantic patterns, and ended up going a year not only without sex, but without all the attendant activities, including dating and flirting. The great surprise of that period wasn't how it changed my outlook on love and sex, but how enjoyable it was. For 20 years I had been relentlessly falling in and out of love, and withdrawing from those obsessions meant devoting my recouped attention to other passions: friends, family, activism, art. I read more books and went dancing more often that year than during any other in my life. Even mundane experiences came into more vivid focus: I was taken by the tang of fresh raspberries and the crispness of clean bedsheets, along with the sweet freedom of solitude. I had always looked for the sublime in lovers, but in their absence I found it everywhere. Writing a book on the abundance of that year got me thinking about all the other kinds of reneging I've experienced, and how many of them led to unforeseen delights. As a young addict, I thought that my artistic practice relied on drugs and alcohol, only to find that my work bloomed in recovery. Similarly, when I gave up obsessive control of my eating habits, I began to truly relish food again. Rather than grimly depriving us, purposeful refusal can open us to all the bounty we have been forgoing. This realignment applies not only to attachments that rise to the level of addiction, but also to idle penchants or habits that we seek repetitively for comfort. The six books below describe other forms of abundance found, counterintuitively, through abstinence. Fasting for Ramadan, by Kazim Ali This lucid memoir originated from a journal that Ali kept while fasting during one Ramadan, and it retains the intimacy of that private beginning while evolving into a resonant meditation on hunger and worship. In the opening he writes, 'One feels, at the end of a day of fasting, like a tree branch or a bone bleached in the sun.' Readers will find sensual pleasure in his sumptuous writing about hunger, its passing, and what swells to fill that space; his tremendous poetic gifts capture that richness. 'I will miss the feeling of emptiness that foodlessness offers me,' he admits later. 'I will miss the weird focus that comes from removing consideration of this huge thing from my mental space.' In anticipation of swearing off something, we typically focus on what we give up or will lack. But the experience so often reveals the things we've been neglecting. As Ali depicts so beautifully, 'holiness is everywhere,' and sacrifice can sharpen our attunement to it. , by Pema Chödrön Probably no other book on Earth has given me more comfort over the years than this one. Chödrön is a kind of patron saint to Buddhists in the United States, and for good reason. Her warm explanations of Buddhist principles make clear their application to everyday struggles. This book is her most direct explication of the First Noble Truth—that life is suffering—and it locates the freedom of living in that truth. She instructs readers to cultivate compassion and curiosity, and to stop running from fear. This final invocation, against choosing comfort over distress, is the most challenging kind of abstinence for many of us, myself certainly included. 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A student of Goethe's color theory and a member of Rudolf Steiner's Theosophical Society, she eschewed traditional painting methods in order to pursue what she encountered through séances and mediumship: an invisible life force undergirding everything. Years before Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian created their nonrepresentative canvases, af Klint assembled a massive body of abstract work marked by esoteric spiritual codes, diagrams, and symbols. Before she died in 1944, she indicated that she did not want her paintings revealed to the public for at least two decades, claiming that the world was not ready for them—and, true to her prediction, her work found a rapturous audience when it was shown in the 21st century. Notes and Methods includes a glossary of her meanings along with reproductions of her sketches and paintings. It provides a guide to the thoughts behind the great artist's works. It is also, more implicitly, an ode to the freedom found in relinquishing the need for recognition in one's lifetime. The Art of Sleeping Alone, by Sophie Fontanel This memoir describes the period of time that its author, a glamorous French fashion-magazine editor, spent voluntarily celibate in her late 20s. At the start, she imagines a life turned 'soft and fluffy'; she claims, 'I was through with being had.' Fontanel goes on to elegantly describe the gratification of aloneness, and offers keen social observations about the mistaken assumptions of others, foremost among them the idea that a woman needs a partner to find happiness. 'I don't know if love makes us blind,' she ponders, 'but I do believe that solitude allows us to see inside people's minds'—that is, it hones a person's ability to accurately perceive others, and oneself. Set against a classically Parisian backdrop, this tour through Fontanel's head is pure pleasure, especially her moving reflections on how celibacy led to healing her own relationship with her body and sexual desire: 'Could it trust me, this body, after the rough treatment I'd put it through?' She finds that it can. Drinking: A Love Story, by Caroline Knapp Knapp's memoir of sobriety is just one entry in a robust genre, standing among books such as Confessions of an English Opium -Eater by Thomas De Quincey, The Night of the Gun by David Carr, The Recovering by Leslie Jamison, Lit by Mary Karr, and The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll. But Drinking: A Love Story was pivotal for me; I borrowed it from a sober person when I first started trying to stop. Knapp's depiction of addiction as a doomed love affair struck home. 'For a long time,' she writes, 'when it's working, the drink feels like a path to a kind of self-enlightenment, something that turns us into the person we wish to be, or the person we think we really are.' Every book about abstinence is also, inevitably, a book about indulgence—and what lies at its bottom, eventually demanding that we go without. As Knapp puts it, 'In some ways the dynamic is this simple: alcohol makes everything better until it makes everything worse.' Her book details the glory and devastation that precedes the liberation of quitting, including the way that our excesses can subtly (or violently) affect our intimate relationships. Knapp's lushly written story illustrates the insidious way that romanticizing a dependency of any kind distorts its true impact on our lives. Writings, by Agnes Martin I had long loved Martin's famous, minimalist mid-century grid paintings, but for a long time I didn't know much about their creator. During my period of celibacy, this changed. Something of a mystic, just like af Klint, Martin found meaning and structure in artistic practice and spiritual rigor. Raised by Calvinists, she rejected formal religion but was influenced by many philosophies, particularly Taoism. Martin lived an ascetic and solitary life, and often denounced overly cerebral art. 'A lot of people will think that social understanding or something like that is going to lead us to the truth, but it isn't. It is understanding of yourself,' she said in a mid-1970s interview. Or, as she put it to a class of students at the Skowhegan School in 1987: 'The intellect has nothing to do with artwork.' Writings is full of notes, poems, micro-essays, lectures, and aphoristic passages that ring in my memory years after I first read them. Though Martin was diagnosed with schizophrenia and psychotic episodes plagued her, she never described her life as an unhappy one. She chose the path she wanted, one that structured and directed the insurmountable forces intrinsic in her and alchemized them into great art.


Los Angeles Times
5 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
She became a ‘hotshot' wilderness firefighter to write about being on the front lines
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