I took a job in New Zealand after my life turned upside down. I love it here, but the pay isn't sustainable.

Europe's scorching hot summer is showing no signs of cooling down, with Italy facing its warmest weekend of the year so far and heatwave warnings issued in southern France.

Aug 12, 2024 • 7 min read

The tonka bean, a wizened-looking South American seed, is beloved for its complex almond-vanilla scent, often appearing as an ingredient in perfumes. Outside the United States, it has also long been utilized by chefs, but studies have indicated that coumarin, a chemical compound in the plant, can cause liver damage in animals, and the Food and Drug Administration banned the bean in commercial foods in 1954. Now, with reports that the minuscule amounts used to impart big flavor are harmless (and the F.D.A. seemingly not particularly interested in enforcing the ban in recent years), tonka is showing up on dessert menus here. Thea Gould, 30, the pastry chef at the daytime luncheonette La Cantine and evening wine bar Sunsets in Bushwick, Brooklyn, was introduced to tonka after the restaurant’s owner received a jar from France, where it’s a widely used ingredient. Gould says the bean is an ideal stand-in for nuts — a common allergen — and infuses it into panna cotta, whipped cream and Pavlova. Ana Castro, 35, the chef and owner of the New Orleans seafood restaurant Acamaya, discovered tonka as a young line cook at Betony, the now-closed Midtown Manhattan restaurant. Entranced by the ingredient’s grassy, stone fruit-like notes, she’s used it to flavor a custardy corn nicuatole, steeped it into roasted candy squash purée and grated it fresh over a lush tres leches cake. And at the Musket Room in New York’s NoLIta, the pastry chef Camari Mick, 30, balances tonka’s richness with acidic citrus like satsuma and bergamot. Over the past year, she’s incorporated it into a silky lemon bavarois and a candy cap mushroom pot de crème and whipped it into ganache for a poached pear belle Hélène. “Some people ask our staff, ‘Isn’t tonka illegal?’” she says. Their answer: Our pastry chef’s got a guy. —

When it comes to cruising, Australia and New Zealand are often intertwined into a single sailing — these two countries have a complementary relationship, offering a diverse array of attractions and experiences. Plus, their relative geographic proximity makes it convenient to check both of these bucket list destinations off your list simultaneously, creating one unforgettable vacation.

Like many TPGers, I've been sucked into credit cards with annual fees, but when I'm out and about, I use just two credit cards in my daily life.

Aug 8, 2024 • 6 min read

Paris is hosting this year's Summer Olympics — but that's not where we kicked off the Games.

The Paris Summer Olympic Games are coming to an end this weekend, but there are still plenty of disciplines to go, including a new sport at the Games this year: breaking.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Charissa Enget, a content creator and cybersecurity architect who gained her graduate degree in Thailand. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Singapore has been recrowned as the country with the world’s most powerful passport in 2024.

Flight cancellations are mounting Monday after Hurricane Debby made landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast — disruptions that come in the wake of a messy weekend for air travel amid severe storms up and down the East Coast.

British Airways released its newest in-flight safety video in late July, styled as a classic British period drama, along the lines of "Bridgerton" and "Pride and Prejudice."