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The better way to make tomato toast

The mind keeps a strange little pantry of its own. It shelves a photograph you paused over, a dish you ate three summers ago, a flavor combination you praised enthusiastically in public and then apparently continued discussing with yourself in…
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“I Want Your Sex” is deliberately unsexy

Are you having sex? Do you want to be?  These days, there are a million different possible answers to either question. Our culture has confused sex — a relatively uncomplicated, biological thing — with desire, which is an entirely different,…
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Your magical burnout cure is in this Miyazaki film

Throughout July, The Swell is celebrating the lasting cultural inspiration of animator Hayao Miyazaki and the legendary films he created with Studio Ghibli. As part of GKIDS’ annual Studio Ghibli Fest, which kicked off in June, you can enjoy theatrical…
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The art of the beach sandwich

It’s a $16 disappointment every time. These days, the airport sandwich tends to emerge from a fluorescent-lit vending machine with a name like Farmer On-the-Go or Nutrition Inc. The machine is usually white, decorated with soothing green or blue iconography…
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The cult of New England Chinese food

Walk into any American-style Chinese restaurant in New England, and you’ll find locals sipping from umbrella-topped Scorpion Bowls and flaming Pu Pu Platters (pronounced plattah). Piled high with chicken fingers, chicken wings, spare ribs and teriyaki skewers crowded around a…
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A no-spend week, starting in the kitchen

This is the time of year when the thrill of post-holiday spending gives way to the quiet guilt of all those little indulgences. That’s when a no-spend week starts to feel less like deprivation and more like a little ritual:…
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Is ChatGPT Health the new WebMD?

For a few days around Christmas, Holly Jespersen, a 50-year-old living in New York, did not feel great. It felt like a cold was coming on, but she wasn’t sure if she should go to the doctor or not. “When…
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