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In the past two weeks, I have gone out to eat all by myself twice. And I’m not talking about a rushed lunch on a workday, a hastily dispatched fast-food meal, or some shopping-break grub at a mall food court — my meals were leisurely dinners at full-service restaurants where I drank and dined alone, seated solo at a two-top.

Right about now you may be thinking something along the lines of, “You poor thing! Eating all alone! Were you dumped? Did your friends cancel on you? Do you — sob — not have any friends?”

But please, don’t pity me: My solitary dining was entirely my own choice. In fact, I relished every single delicious second of it.

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Erin’s Warm & Wood-Wrapped Austin Budget Bungalow

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We get kind of a thrill from trying out a new kitchen — after all, you might win the vacation rental kitchen lottery and get more counter space, nicer appliances, and beautiful cookware. Then again, during the busy summer season you might also encounter a kitchen that hasn’t been so well-kept. Hopefully you won’t walk into a disaster kitchen, but it’s always a good idea to clean a few key spots before you start cooking.

And, of course, before you hit the road, don’t forget to do these five things in your own kitchen. It’ll make your return home that much better.

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When it comes to a lot of things in the kitchen, I mostly lean towards Type A — precise and particular — but I am definitely not that way about everything. In fact, there are a handful of things that I am just plain ol’ lazy about, and eggplant is one of them.

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Most of the choices I make in the kitchen are done in the service of function. I brine tough cuts of meat because I know that process makes them tender, and I roast Brussels sprouts to round out their assertive bitter edge. Eggplant is often salted, but not out of habit and certainly not because it’s simply what has been done. There’s function behind this choice as well.

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A summer vacation rental gives you the freedom and space to unwind and really settle into your time off. It also means you can cook your own meals (versus heading to a restaurant) when you want to stay in. Don’t let that task feel daunting, though — you’re on vacation, after all, and the last thing you want to do is sweat away in the kitchen the whole time. So how do you make rental kitchen cooking successfully stress-free? By following these 10 commandments.

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Eggplant can be one tricky fruit to cook (yes, it’s actually a fruit — not a vegetable), particularly when fried and sautéed. Often the result of being mistreated, it can get a bad rap — one it doesn’t entirely deserve.

When handled right, eggplant’s texture ranges from tender and creamy, to silky and smooth. When things go wrong, it’s another story entirely. Its inner flesh acts like a sponge, soaking up every drop of oil it touches. It becomes sodden, greasy, and ultimately makes for quite a heavy dish. But it doesn’t have to be that way — this is how to prevent greasy eggplant from happening.

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A systematic review of the effect of Vitamin D supplementation on strength levels in athletes was published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research this week. 

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Sometimes there’s an occasion to make a beautiful, towering strawberry shortcake to grace the dessert table. But much more often we’re managing a busy weeknight when the hankering for a slice of soft, spongy cake accompanied by fresh sliced berries and whipped cream hits. Even if you had the time and energy, you don’t need a whole cake, and you definitely don’t want to turn on the oven if it’s high summer. This sweet mug cake is your single-serve solution.

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The smell of pasta, tomato sauce, and cheese baking together is one of life’s most comforting scents. I know that what’s going to come out of the oven will appeal to adults and children alike, feed a crowd without breaking the bank, and be just plain delicious. It’s no wonder that baked ziti is the go-to for potlucks. Here’s how to make an all-star pan of baked ziti — one that’s never dry, made with a generous amount of cheese, and layered for the ultimate eating experience.

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When you’re burning the midnight oil and your stomach starts to grumble, what should you reach for to fuel you through the night? We decided to go directly to the source. We mean writers, of course. After all, who knows better the pain and pleasure of the midnight munchies than the literary set?

This month, we asked 20 authors, past and present, to share what they snack on in the wee hours.

Vladimir Nabokov was one of the greatest novelists of the 20th century, and his achievement is even more remarkable because he wrote his finest fiction in what could be considered his third language (he was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1899, and grew up speaking Russian, French, and English). The author of 10 novels in Russian and nine in English — Pnin, Pale Fire, and Lolita are generally considered his greatest works in English — Nabokov was also a prodigious writer of letters to his wife, Vera, to whom he was married for 52 years up to his death in 1977.

Nabokov wrote about food often and brilliantly in his fiction, and in June 1926, while Vera was recovering from depression in a Swiss sanatorium a year after they were wed, Nabokov wrote to her about indulging in a second dinner. There was good reason he was so hungry — at the time, living alone in Berlin, his writing barely paid his rent, so he was also teaching boxing and tennis.

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