The Most Magical Place to Be This New Year’s Eve

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.

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. —

Massive expansion plans have been announced for Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World.

Wherever I'm headed, near or far, whether it's a two-week trip to Europe or a two-day stay down the shore, I'll always have a pair of comfortable sneakers on my feet (and maybe a second pair in my suitcase). The most comfortable sneakers can make the difference between a perfect travel day spent exploring a new city and a painful afternoon at the hotel with a foot full of blisters.

If you’re an avid traveler (and even if not), you’ve probably heard the rumblings that sometime soon the 3.4 oz. TSA liquids rule is going to change. Currently, you’re not allowed to bring containers larger than 3.4 ounces (or 100 ml) of liquids, gels, or aerosols through security. Commonly referred to as the “3-1-1” rule, it traces its origins back to a failed plot in 2006 when terrorists in the U.K. tried to smuggle liquid explosives onto planes. The rules were originally intended to be temporary but nearly 20 years later remain in place.

While most American cities aren’t considered easy to navigate by foot, a recent study by travel insurance experts AllClear ranked one popular Southern city as the most walkable in the country. AllClear examined topographical information for more than 240 cities around the world, taking into account average elevation and range, and assigned each city a score — and ultimately, it was New Orleans that was named the most walkable city in the U.S. and the fourth most walkable city globally.

Europe dominates in a new ranking of the world’s most beautiful cities, filling nine of the top 10 spots.

Alaska Airlines was the most on-time carrier in North America in July in a month that saw mass flight delays due to the fallout from the CrowdStrike IT outage.

Hampton by Hilton is turning 40 this month, and the hotel chain has something festive up its sleeve (or should I say waffle iron?). This month, the hotel will be celebrating its fourth decade with birthday cake waffles.

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.

Fireworks, but make it totally silent and all-natural. That’s my kind of light show, and the Perseid Meteor Shower—the most popular meteor shower of the year—peaks this weekend, August 11-13. While you can probably see the natural display from your backyard, heading to darker skies pays off. I’ll never forget my first time watching the Perseids during a summer I spent at a dude ranch in a remote Colorado canyon. There were so many meteors, my fellow spectators and I eventually stopped counting, observing the myriad meteors flying through the sky in total awe.

Aug 7, 2024 • 8 min read