Innholdsfortegnelse for 12/25-1/7/18 i New York Magazine

Corn Syrup = Soft, Wide, Dark, and Flexible Cookies Compared to using only sugar (left), substituting just an ounce of corn syrup completely alters the cookie’s texture. White Sugar = Thin and Crisp Brown Sugar = Tall and Moist White sugar makes the cookie spread wide, while slightly acidic brown sugar causes it to rise higher. Creaming Butter = More Texture Melting butter before combining it with sugar and eggs makes the cookie squatter and denser, while beating cool butter until it’s fluffy leavens the cookie and gives it some lift. Warm Dough = Perfect Melt Warming the dough to 80°F and gently swirling it melts the tiniest bits of chocolate but leaves the larger chunks intact.…

THE GOAL: Find a stylish electric kettle that heats water to the precise temperature for pour-over coffee, steeped tea, and the occasional Cup O’ Noodles. Master tea blenders and frequent kettle users guided us toward stainless-steel and copper options that boil quickly and retain heat. THE VERDICT: While most electric kettles have wide mouths that pour out like a faucet, the Stagg EKG ($149 at fellowproducts .com)—released in November by the start-up Fellow—has a thin gooseneck spout allowing for the definitive pour. An elegant matte-black cover encases the stainless-steel body, which sits on a low-profile base, where there’s a scroll to set the temperature at an exact heating point (about 180°F for green tea, 200°F for coffee). The kettle holds water at your temperature of choice for up to an…

Some people look at noodle kugel and see an Ashkenazi-Jewish artifact, derived from the round dumpling historically steamed inside the Sabbath stew cholent, that evolved over time and migration into the egg-and-dairy-enriched pudding we know today. But Celestine chef Garett McMahan sees a pasta-course vehicle for some of his favorite ingredients, like rabbit, prunes, and the Yemeni spice mix hawaij. Elegant as his rendition may be, it’s no lightweight. “At the end of the day, it’s a pasta casserole,” he says. “It’s going to be heavy.” On the menu at Celestine; $18; 1 John St., nr. Adams St., Dumbo; 718-522-5356…

MAYBE IT WAS that story you heard about the guy who bought a Lamborghini with money he made off something you didn’t even really know existed until six months ago. Maybe it’s those eye-popping charts you keep seeing—from $5,800 per unit to $19,000 per unit in just one month! Maybe all your friends are constantly watching their phones, tracking their own investments, and you just hate feeling left out (and wondering how the hell they found out about this gold rush first!). However you heard about it, you are now, finally—but cautiously!—intrigued. The problem is, well, what … is a bitcoin, exactly? Secretly, you know you don’t understand the thing, even though you may pretend to. Isn’t it mostly for buying drugs? Where would I even buy one? And aren’t…

BAGS: Cryptoassets being held, generally as longer-term plays. BITCOIN MAXIMALISTS: The truest believers in bitcoin’s original mission and design, often paired with a disdain for altcoins. #BTFD: “Buy the fucking dip.” Advice to other traders to pick up a coin that’s presumably hit bottom. #DYOR: Do your own research. The trader’s caveat that advice shouldn’t be taken on face value. EXIT SCAM: Traditionally a term for dark-net markets and vendors that, after building up a good reputation, accumulate bitcoins and disappear; exit scams are also feared by ICO (see page 62) participants who worry that, once they’ve raised hundreds of millions in hard-to-trace money, the developers will take the money and run. FIAT: Government-issued currency. FUD: “Fear, uncertainty, and doubt.” A non-crypto term that describes attempts to scare weak-handed coin-holders…

Sure! Just head to Fort Greene, which has inadvertently become the real-world cryptocurrency capital of New York thanks to Daniel Sim, who introduced the payment at a number of stores owned by his family, including a restaurant, three grocery stores, and a nail salon clustered in the neighborhood. When the rare customer paying with bitcoin comes in, an employee at one of the stores will either text Sim for the payment QR code or just give his number to the customer and complete the transaction via text. Sim says there have been only a few transactions in recent months: “Nobody is really selling bitcoin right now while its value is so high.”…

IN 2017, comedian Michael Showalter— founding member of the sketch troupe the State, regular collaborator with David Wain and Michael Ian Black—pulled off a remarkable trifecta: He directed the widely embraced film The Big Sick; produced a second season of the acclaimed and unclassifiable TBS hit Search Party; and shepherded and starred in another installment of the most unlikely comedy franchise in history, Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, on Netflix. In fact, Showalter seems to have had the best coming-out year that (almost) nobody noticed. Here’s how his breakthrough happened. 1 Write, Direct, and Star in a Movie That Leads Nowhere In 2005, Showalter made his directorial debut with The Baxter, a romantic comedy co-starring Michelle Williams. Though he was best known for projects like the State, his…

THE GOAL Getting the most flavor out of hard-to-grind ingredients like chiles and coriander in the shortest time possible. THE PROBLEM “The best method by far to extract flavor from inside plant cells—and this isn’t an old wives’ tale—is a mortar and pestle. But when you’re making a big batch of curry paste, it can take an hour.” TRIAL AND ERROR Using a food processor or a blender sped up the process but didn’t bring out the flavors. “I probably tried 18 different variations. I started with tough ingredients in the food processor to see if I could break them down enough. I added water in a blender and made it more of a smoothie, but it’s really difficult to fry a milkshake.” THE AHA MOMENT Freezing is your friend.…

TOM TAYLOR Designer What are you up to today? I’ve getting ready to fly to Florida, which is where I’m from. For many years, I was a banker and was married with three kids. Then about ten years ago, when I was 50, I moved to New York to see if I could live a creative life and explore another part of my sexuality. I live as a gay man now. I ended up in Chelsea, and then Williamsburg, and now I live full time in Hudson, where I work as a set designer and a visual artist. Do you have a romantic partner now? I don’t have a partner, no, but I have what I call an Edwardian letter-writing companion. He lives in the Berkshires, and for four years…

1 Karrottom  BYGGYZ 37–39 Clinton St. It all began, as these genius-sandwich-maker brainstorming sessions often do, with a provocative question: What if you made a PB&J (with the ne plus ultra of peanut butters, Koeze) but swapped out the jelly for sweet roasted carrots? And what if you threw in some arugula, wilted red onion, roasted red pepper, harissa mayo, Fontina cheese, toasted pepitas, sweet-and-sour pickles, and a toasted semolina roll? That might sound like something that came out of a cooking-show mystery-box challenge or an epic weed-smoking binge, but what can we say? Flavors meld, textures unite, Fontina and peanut butter actually go together. In short, this sandwich sings. And so for unbridled originality and derring-do, plus the fact that it’s freaking delicious, the Karrottom takes home the coveted…

(1) Yes. New York City is dotted with bitcoin ATMs, where users can put in cash and load up their “wallets” with fractions of bitcoin. The machines make it easy for casual users to turn cash into crypto and are often found in delis. Some of them, though not all, even allow you to take out American cash in exchange for bitcoin. (2) ATM users simply set up a wallet using the machine—those who already have a wallet can add to their existing account—and then begin feeding cash into the ATM to add to their bitcoin account. (3) This bitcoin machine, located in a Greenwich Village bodega, is manufactured by Coinsource, which operates about 40 ATMs in the city. Coinsource pays businesses a flat fee, starting at $300 a month,…

IT’S A LAZY SUNDAY morning, and I’m away from my family, sitting in a hotel room in Montreal, and I’ve got $160,000 in my pocket. Or, rather, my “pocket.” With a few mouse clicks, I could liquidate my positions and transfer the proceeds (minus fees) into my bank account overnight. But here’s the rub: Twenty-four hours earlier, my portfolio, which I started six months ago with an investment of just $3,000, was worth less than $80,000. Overnight, one of my positions—a low-cap coin named Verge—caught fire on the Asian markets. By the same time tomorrow, that $80,000 might evaporate. Or double again. Welcome to the wild world of cryptocurrency. For every 1,000-times windfall, thousands more in investments have gone south over the past nine years, wiping out trading accounts and…

Last year, Ian Petrarca left his postgrad job in audio production to build mining computers. Building turned into trading which turned into cryptocurrency consulting. Now Petrarca, who lives in his mother’s apartment in Tribeca, does this full time and has some thoughts that may just confuse you more. 1 “The bitcoin futures market, which opened in early December, is much less volatile than the cryptocurrency markets, and safer for noncrypto experts to ease into. (Though you'll usually need at least $25,000 to buy into it.)” 2 “Follow Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite), the creator of Litecoin. He was one of the first people to alert everyone that the Chinese exchanges were closing.” 3 “I'm interested in proof-of-stake coins, which use a lot less energy than proof-of-work coins like bitcoin. Ethereum is switching…

Television Bowery Ballroom, 9 p.m. The legendary hometown punks play the Lower East Side, where they made their name. Phish Madison Square Garden, 7:30 p.m. New York can’t get enough of the jam band, which returns for its customary holiday run December 28 through 31 (sold out; check resale outlets). They Might Be Giants Music Hall of Williamsburg, 8:30 p.m. The beloved alt-rock goofballs play two Brooklyn shows on December 30 and 31, then head out on a 50-city tour in January. Sandra Bernhard Joe’s Pub, 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. The fabulously mouthy actress-comedian promises psychic respite in her annual “Sandemonium” cabaret-show run with two performances on New Year’s Eve. For more holiday events, visit nymag.com/guides/holidays…

ON THE AFTERNOON of the Alabama Senate election, Jemele Hill is sitting in a makeup chair at ESPN headquarters. She’s getting ready for her job as co-host of the 6 p.m. SportsCenter but thinking about politics. “What was Nick Saban’s responsibility?” Hill asks, referring to the head football coach at the University of Alabama, the most famous man in the state, who had offered no opinion on the Senate race. “Considering that one of the candidates has said some ignorant and pointed things about African-Americans, and with [Saban] having mostly black players, did he bear some responsibility to speak up?” The responsibility to speak up has been on Hill’s mind. Several months ago, Hill tweeted that President Trump was “a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white…

TO HEAR MAKEUP ARTIST Stevie Huynh tell it, he and his friends (a half-dozen-strong crew of fashion-forward queer Asians) just wanted to go out. “I don’t care if you’re going to a bar in the East Village or Bushwick or Hell’s Kitchen or Chelsea, you walk in and you just feel different,” says Huynh, 33. “There is no Asian nightlife in the city—literally none.” So he and his friends, artists Nicholas Andersen and Vivianne Yi and designers Pedro Vidallon, Paul Tran, and Karlo Bueno Bello (who performs as Bichon), decided to create their own roving monthly dance party catering to creative Asians in the Williamsburg-Bushwick-Greenpoint triangle. ¶ It’s called Bubble_T (after the Taiwanese drink), and since it began in May, it’s become a fashionable party (Opening Ceremony co-founder Humberto Leon…

AT FIRST GLANCE, nothing about Chez Ma Tante tells you what to expect: not the French name, swiped from a Montreal hot-dog shack (it means “my aunt’s house”). Not the location on a sleepy residential Greenpoint block. Not the spare corner space, with its plain white walls and bare dark-wood tables. And not the menu, which advertises such humdingers as Caesar salad and pancakes. But all becomes clear with a bite of bread—She Wolf Bakery miche, a sort of supercharged bruschetta, lavishly garlicked and oiled and charred on the grill to a crisp but chewy-pliant fare-thee-well. A panel of bruschetta experts would rise to their feet and clap their hands in appreciation of this wonder bread, and you’d probably be happy eating it sans accompaniment, washed down with a glass…

IT’S A RARE thing to discover a new pastry, which is probably why the Cronut became such a sensation. But New York sweet tooths can now make the acquaintance of the tourteau fromagé, an obscure cheesecake that originated in the Poitou-Charentes region of western France and hasn’t made much headway since. “You can find it in a few cheese shops in Paris,” says chef Marie-Aude Rose, wife of Le Coucou’s Daniel Rose and the person responsible for the confection’s local debut. Inspired by childhood memories of being intrigued by its (intentionally) burnt domed surface—achieved by baking at very high, then low temperatures, to replicate the defect that became its signature—Marie-Aude has included it in her repertoire of baked goods for sale at La Mercerie, the all-day café inside Roman and…

“I cashed out some of it over the summer to pay off student loans. I kind of regret that.” CHRISTINA LUPINACCI: “In 2013, I bought a tenth of a bitcoin, but just to get a meme coin called Dogecoin. It was a joke. Then I forgot about it. In 2016, a friend posted some article about bitcoin on Facebook, and I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, whatever happened to that?’ ” “The most extravagant purchase I’ve made is an Arne Jacobsen egg chair.” MATT RUSSELL: “In 2013, I paid $120 for one bitcoin. In 2015, I sold my apartment and bought $50,000 of bitcoin. I’m now comfortable enough where I do not have to worry about living for the next five years, and I’m probably underselling that.” “Sending $33,000 in bitcoin…

Wonder This 2017 film, based on a 2012 YA novel, tells the story of August “Auggie” Pullman (Jacob Tremblay), a boy with Treacher Collins syndrome, and his parents (Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson). Their lives are upended as Auggie prepares to start fifth grade in a new school. Wonderstruck This 2017 film, based on a 2011 young-adult novel, is directed by Todd Haynes and tells the twinned stories of two children, both deaf: a boy in 1977 seeking his father and a girl in 1927 searching for her mother. Their lives are upended when each decides to head to New York. Wonder Wheel This 2017 film, written and directed by Woody Allen, tells the story of Ginny (Kate Winslet), the wife of a Coney Island carny, who falls for a…

HIGH BROW Everybody who isn’t a corporation or a plutocrat hates the tax plan, but that doesn’t seem to make any difference to the GOP. The petition demanding that the Met take down the (admittedly creepy) Balthus painting Thérèse Dreaming. Yes, the Puritans are back! (But the Met refused, anyway.) “No one gets creamed more than New Jersey from this tax bill,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics. Cornel West v. Ta-Nehisi Coates Twitter beef ft. white supremacist Richard Spencer. A joint study by Artnet Analytics and Maastricht University puts numbers to the way sexism limits how quickly women can find success in the art world. The rise of “fake news” as a phrase. A Marist poll put it as the second-most annoying this year, after perennial empty…