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A signature cocktail at fine dining gem The Grill in New York City will set you back $18 to $25, while an experimental concoction at The Aviary in Chicago (and now NYC), can run you as high as $85 when ordering à la carte, or $65 a head for a three-course cocktail-tasting menu. If these prices are giving you sticker shock, you’re not alone — how in the world does a cocktail end up costing just as much as (or even more than) a full meal?

When it comes to craft cocktails, there are two major factors to consider: the cost of doing business and the overall drinking experience.

The complex cocktails crafted by talented mixologists and the swanky dens they’re served in are enabled by a cocktail culture that has developed rapidly over the past 10 years, with social media further fueling the movement as a way for bartenders to share their creations with a global audience.

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The Dutch like to start their mornings with toast coated in butter and chocolate sprinkles. And considering the Netherlands is the sixth-happiest country in the world, maybe we could take a cue from them.

While most European-style breakfasts usually consist of toast, an assortment of jams, perhaps some cold cuts and fruit, another feature is often the presence of chocolate. And for the Dutch, this comes in the form of chocolate sprinkles.

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Baking a fruitcake in 2018, when there are so many other delicious holiday treats out there, is like choosing to drive a Model T when you have a Tesla in the garage ― especially if you have an Instant Pot in your kitchen.

We have five holiday-friendly dessert recipes for you, two of which are from the brand new The Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook and three more that come from expert Instant Pot food bloggers. We’re sharing the best holiday desserts (and one decadent brunch favorite perfect for a weekend morning) that taste way better than fruitcake. And they’ll be ready in no time.

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Huff Post: ‘While you may know Hanukkah as the festival of lights, it’s really the festival of oil. I won’t get into the full story, but basically, a band of Jews fought in 168 BCE to rededicate a temple desecrated by the Greeks. While victorious, they only had enough oil to light the eternal light of the temple (a flame that is supposed to burn 24/7) for one day. The miracle was that the oil lasted for an incredible eight days. Today, we celebrate by ingesting as much oil as we possibly can as tribute to this holy story. That means a spread of latkes galore and the king of all holiday doughnuts: sufganiyot.’

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“The Lion King” is known for many iconic scenes, but not for one of its most prescient: when Simba, a natural carnivore, asks about dinner and is told that in lieu of meat, bugs are on the menu. “Slimy, yet satisfying,” is how they’re described.

Disney surely couldn’t have imagined that two decades later, the same audience who enjoyed grub jokes would be saying hakuna matata to protein powder made from pulverized crickets or ordering roasted grasshoppers at baseball games.

Experts agree that this is a good thing. Many argue that entomophagy, aka eating insects, is our dietary destiny, and is well overdue.

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When it comes to coffee shop menus, less has become more. Those long lists of drinks, bean varieties, teas, non-caffeinated beverages, sizes and prices are shrinking, and Starbucks is leading the way.

The coffee chain known for offering everything that you could possibly want inside of a cup has Marie Kondo’d its store menus. Upon entering any given Starbucks, you’ll look above the barista to find a trimmed list of select drinks priced out at the Grande (medium) size and a corresponding calorie count. You might also find a few photos of seasonal beverages or an illustrative breakdown of a new offering.

According to a spokesperson for Starbucks, the move to focus only on core and select seasonal beverages was rolled out this past spring in an effort to “simplify the ordering experience for our customers.” However, it wasn’t a complete spring clean. The chain still offers its usual size range (Tall, Grande, Venti) and every drink that used to be featured — but you’ll only see the prices and offerings in the Starbucks app, which now accounts for 14 percent of store transactions.

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