John Cox

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The 100 greatest TV series of the 21st Century

BBC Culture surveyed 206 TV experts from 43 countries to rank the greatest television series of the 21st century, resulting in a top 100 list led by The Wire, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad. While the poll drew from 460 different series and represents diverse voting perspectives, it reveals significant industry biases: 92 of the top 100 are English-language shows, and only 11 were created by women compared to 79 by men. The list spans from early-2000s shows like Gilmore Girls and Curb Your Enthusiasm to recent releases like Barry Jenkins' The Underground Railroad, serving as both a celebration of television's artistic maturation and a snapshot of whose stories the industry has chosen to tell.

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We Tried 8 Ways to Cook Bacon and Found an Absolute Winner

Food writer Ann Taylor Pittman tested eight methods for cooking bacon—including skillet, microwave, oven-baking, air fryer, sous vide, and cast iron—to determine which produces the best results. Baking bacon on parchment paper at 400°F emerged as the clear winner, delivering evenly cooked, consistently crisp or chewy strips with virtually effortless cleanup and the ability to save drippings. Cast iron and sous vide methods also performed well for specific uses, while quicker methods like the microwave sacrifice texture control and drippings preservation.

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15 Fire Pits Perfect For Every Outdoor Lover at Every Budget

This is a shopping roundup rather than a reported piece: a Commerce SEO editor curates 15 fire pits spanning under-$100 wood-burning basics, portable Solo Stove and BioLite picks with fan-assisted airflow, smokeless Breeo designs, chimineas, propane fire tables, and glass-rock luxury options, with brief notes on materials, portability, and standout features for each. It's organized by budget and use case (camping, tabletop, patio centerpiece) rather than argument, making it a useful reference list to revisit when actually shopping rather than an analytical read.

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16 Bar Cart Essentials for Creating Perfect Cocktails at Home

A shopping guide built around the bar cart's resurgence (thank "Mad Men" and mid-century design trends), it walks new owners through the 16 essentials needed to stock one properly. It covers the full gamut—bottle openers, mixing glasses, strainers, shakers, jiggers, muddlers, three distinct glassware styles (rocks, highball, coupe), ice buckets, wine stoppers, a bartending knife, a cocktail reference book, and even a non-alcoholic mixer option—plus a reminder to stock the five core base spirits, with a delivery-service plug for sourcing them. Worth keeping as a practical checklist/gift-guide for setting up a home bar from scratch.

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15 Greek Recipes So Good They'll Make Your Yiayia Swell with Pride

Yiayia’s Favorite Greek Recipes gathers a selection of comforting, home-cooked dishes inspired by family kitchens and traditional flavors, spotlighting time-honored preparations like [[moussaka]], [[spanakopita]], [[tzatziki]] and [[baklava]]. The gallery emphasizes fresh, straightforward ingredients — abundant [[olive oil]] and tangy [[feta]] — and recipes for soups, salads and pastries that travel easily from weekday suppers to festive tables. Readers find classics such as [[Greek salad]], lemony [[avgolemono soup]] and stuffed vine leaves like [[dolmades]], alongside tips for flaky phyllo and balanced seasoning. Photographs and short recipe notes make each entry approachable, encouraging cooks to recreate these Mediterranean flavors while honoring the warmth and practicality of a yiayia’s kitchen. Suggestions for ingredient substitutions, make-ahead strategies and pairing ideas with wine or simple sides help modern cooks adapt recipes to dietary preferences while preserving authentic flavor.

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6 Southern Gravy Recipes Made for Biscuits

This gallery gathers beloved Southern [[gravy]] recipes and approachable variations that uplift breakfasts, brunches and dinners, from creamy [[sausage]] and country gravies to deep-flavored [[brown gravy]] and brisk [[red-eye gravy]]. Step-by-step directions highlight how simple pantry staples — rendered pan drippings, flour or cornstarch, milk or stock, butter and basic seasonings — transform into silky sauces to ladle over warm [[biscuits]], flaky [[chicken-fried steak]], creamy [[mashed potatoes]], buttered [[greens]] or coarse [[grits]]. The collection includes pork-forward options, chicken-based gravies, mushroom-enhanced versions and meatless cream gravies, plus tips for achieving smooth consistency, adjusting seasoning and reheating without separating. Serving suggestions, shortcut techniques and notes on texture make these Southern classics practical for weekday meals, holiday spreads and family-style comfort cooking.

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The Best Things to Do in Mexico City

This is the Arena México write-up, covering Friday-night lucha libre matches in the Doctores neighborhood — a piece that pitches Mexican wrestling not as kitsch but as a legitimate window into the country's mythology and performance culture, complete with dancing girls, costumed characters, and real athletic skill. It's worth keeping for practical tips (buy tickets in person, arrive early, shop the outside stalls for masks and capes) as much as for the argument that skeptical concierges and cabbies undersell how worthwhile the spectacle is.

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17 Scenic Waterfalls to Visit on Kentucky's Wildlands Trail

Kentucky Wildlands tourism office launched a curated 553-mile trail linking 17 standout waterfalls across the 14,000-square-mile Wildlands region, whittled down from over 800 candidates based on accessibility and uniqueness—including record-holders like Yahoo Falls (Kentucky's tallest) and Cumberland Falls (the "Niagara of the South," famous for its rare moonbow). The piece is especially useful for noting which falls have ADA-accessible or paved routes, such as Cumberland Falls' Moonbow Trail and Flat Lick Falls' one-mile loop, making it a practical guide for travelers with mobility considerations who want to combine waterfall-chasing with a Kentucky road trip.

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The 8 Best Norway Cruises to Book Now

A roundup piece profiling Norway as a fjord-cruising destination, covering what travelers actually see along the coast—Bergen's Hanseatic old town, aurora viewing above the Arctic Circle in Tromso and Alta, Geirangerfjord's waterfalls, Flam's railway, and Viking history in Trondheim—while flagging that 2026 emissions regulations will restrict which ships can enter UNESCO-protected fjords like Geiranger and Nærøyfjord. It then breaks down specific line recommendations by traveler type, from Havila Voyages' hybrid battery-powered ships (eco-friendly pick) to Disney's Frozen-themed sailings (family pick) to the tiny chartered HMS Gåssten (most intimate) and century-old local operator Hurtigruten. Worth keeping as a practical reference for choosing a Norway cruise line based on priorities like sustainability, luxury, budget, or itinerary scope rather than just scenery.

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Where are the best places to see the Aurora Borealis?

A travel writer with a physics background rounds up six top spots beneath the Auroral Oval—Fairbanks, Whitehorse, Lofoten, Svalbard, Akureyri and Abisko—rating each for a distinct angle, from Svalbard's rare daytime aurora sightings to Abisko's reliably clear skies at its chairlift-accessed Sky Station. It also explains the science of why the equinoxes (around March 20 and September 22) offer the best viewing odds due to optimal alignment between solar and terrestrial magnetic fields. Worth keeping as a practical shortlist for planning an aurora trip, pairing each destination with complementary activities like hot springs, dog sledding, whale watching and glacier hikes.

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50 Mediterranean Diet Recipes: Rice Bowl & More

This is a recipe roundup from A Couple Cooks author Sonja Overhiser, compiling dozens of tested Mediterranean-style lunch and dinner recipes (salmon, shrimp, lentil soups, grain bowls, salads) organized around olive oil, seafood, legumes, and whole grains. It frames the collection with credentialing context—her Harvard lifestyle-medicine coaching certificate, an upcoming cookbook with husband Alex, and physician endorsements—plus a plain-language explainer on what the Mediterranean diet actually entails, its lifestyle components beyond food, and cautious notes on its links to cholesterol and blood sugar management. Worth keeping mainly as a reference hub for specific weeknight recipe ideas rather than for any single argument.

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28 Day Mediterranean Diet Meal Plan

This free four-week Mediterranean diet meal plan from A Couple Cooks organizes dinners into weekly sets of three recipe options rather than a rigid daily schedule, letting readers pick which nights to cook and fill remaining days with leftovers or eating out. It covers fish, shellfish, chicken, vegetarian, and vegan dinners with make-ahead prep notes for each, plus simple no-recipe suggestions for breakfasts and lunches so cooking energy stays focused on dinner. Worth keeping as a flexible, low-overwhelm framework for sustainable healthy eating rather than a strict day-by-day menu.

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Homemade Sour Mix

A recipe for a honey-sweetened homemade sour mix, built for making a properly balanced classic margarita rather than relying on artificial bottled mixers. It lays out the reasoning behind a good margarita—equal parts lemon, lime, and honey dissolved in warm water, plus a pinch of salt—and explains why a salted rim matters scientifically, since salt suppresses bitterness and heightens the perceived sweetness and sourness. Worth keeping for the simple ratio-based formula and the vegan swap (simple syrup for honey) if needed.

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Wildfish Cannery

This is a brand/e-commerce page for a small-batch tinned seafood company (Alaska-based, packing wild-caught fish by hand since '87) rather than an article proper — worth keeping for its recipe ideas (sockeye stir-fry, salmon wiggle, rockfish nachos) and product philosophy of limited, tide-dependent runs over mass co-packed tinned fish. It's useful as a source for pantry-meal inspiration and a specific brand to try if you're into the current tinned-fish trend but want something more artisanal than supermarket tins.

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MANHATTAN Wallet

**MANHATTAN Wallet — $42.99 (Sale, originally $54.99) — Sold Out** A refined, RFID-safe wallet designed with a fold along the short side of bank cards, giving it the extra length needed to fit USD and other banknotes of similar dimensions. This makes it best suited for US currency users specifically. If you carry GBP, EUR, or other shorter banknotes, the CITY wallet is the recommended alternative instead, as its proportions are tailored to those note sizes. Currently this item is out of stock, though pickup availability could not be confirmed at checkout.

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How to Beautifully Fold and Display a Throw Blanket on Your Couch

This article from Martha Stewart explains practical methods and styling tips for folding and arranging a [[throw blanket]] to elevate any space. It covers a range of easy techniques — neat folds, rolls, drapes, tucks, and layering — and shows how to adapt each method to different pieces of furniture such as a [[sofa]], [[armchair]], [[bed]], [[ottoman]], or a decorative [[blanket ladder]]. Guidance includes using baskets and trays for casual storage, mixing textures and patterns for seasonal updates, and choosing appropriate materials to balance warmth with aesthetic. Photographs and step-by-step instructions demonstrate quick everyday looks and more polished arrangements for guests, helping readers maintain a tidy, welcoming room while expressing personal style through simple, affordable changes. Tips include quick no-sew fixes and suggestions on caring for different fibers to prolong longevity.

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Worth Driving For: Healdsburg, California

This travel piece champions Healdsburg as the unpretentious heart of Sonoma wine country, positioning it as a more soulful alternative to Napa, and maps out a practical itinerary spanning tasting rooms, redwood hikes, galleries, and standout restaurants like SingleThread and Dry Creek Kitchen. It also flags Charles M. Schulz Airport as an underused entry point and recommends specific hotels (Montage Healdsburg, The Madrona) for a full trip-planning reference. Worth keeping as a ready-made guide for a Sonoma visit, with concrete names rather than generic recommendations.

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AC Feels Great, But It’s Terrible for the Planet. Here’s How to Fix That

Traces air conditioning's history from a business tool for factories and stock exchanges to a symbol of American class and racial status, showing how Freon's ozone-destroying properties nearly caused catastrophe before the Montreal Protocol, and how its replacement, HFCs, became a potent greenhouse gas driving the very heatwaves AC is used to combat. Argues that swapping refrigerants alone won't solve the problem since cooling still demands massive energy and individual AC units worsen urban heat for those without access to them. Concludes that the real fix is cultural and infrastructural—shifting from private comfort toward public cooling solutions like shade, green space, and water infrastructure, since equitable communal cooling is both more effective and less destructive than everyone chasing personal comfort.

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The Prepared - Common sense emergency preparedness

This is The Prepared's hub site rather than a single article — a large, curated library of checklists, gear reviews, and skill guides covering everything from bug-out bags and water storage to first aid, self-defense, and disaster-specific plans (EMPs, hurricanes, earthquakes). Its value lies in the practical, apolitical, product-tested approach (reviewed 100s of backpacks, ranked water filters, prioritized medical supply lists) aimed at rational, non-fringe preppers. Worth keeping as a reference index to dip into for specific how-tos rather than a single argument or report.

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Delicious Greek Food – 29 Traditional Greek Dishes To Try Now

This is a practical food-primer for travelers heading to Greece, compiled with a Zakynthos-based local expert alongside the authors' own repeat visits and Toronto Greektown experience, running through nearly thirty dishes organized by course: dips like melitzanosalata and taramosalata, mains such as moussaka, pastitsio and stifado, street food like gyros and souvlaki, and desserts including baklava and galaktoboureko. Beyond definitions and recipe links for each dish, it explains dining customs—ordering order, portion sizes, the theatrical presentation of specialty meals, and drink pairings like ouzo and Mythos beer—so it doubles as etiquette coaching for ordering confidently at a taverna. Worth keeping as a quick-reference glossary plus cultural cheat sheet rather than a single-recipe piece.

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