In wine circles, the yachtsman and industrialist Bill Koch represents the extreme collector: Before auctioning 3,400 bottles at Christie's a few years back, he had about 28,000 bottles in his two cellars in Osterville.

Between what Koch does and what those who keep a couple of bottles of Robert Mondavi above the fridge do, however, there's plenty of room, and it's there that Sanford and Katariina Anstey have found their comfort zone. They keep about 2,500 bottles in a cellar they built in the basement of their 100-year-old carriage house in a North Shore suburb. Read more »

One of the problems of the information age is information, flowing from endless electronic orifices. It can be so complicated: finding the right ones for you, getting hooked up to them, and then staying connected. This collection of electronic wonders may help you stay in touch.

A N T E N N A Read more »

CAMBRIDGE - Carving turkey the traditional way has never been a strength for Harvey Baumann, a plastic surgeon who practices in Providence. "I get one or two good slices, and then it looks like an explosion in a meat factory," he says. "It's embarrassing. Here you are a surgeon and you can't carve a turkey." Read more »

I lost more than 250 pounds on the Atkins diet.

It's exactly the sort of statement the doctor himself would love, would seize upon for another notch on his smugly cinched belt. But just like the subheading of a recent New York Times Magazine cover story - which suggested that "maybe Dr. Atkins was right" - it's an incomplete thought. Read more »

Gordon Hamersley, Chef/owner, Hamersley's Bistro, Boston

"I could not do without my cast-iron braising pot. It's a 15-quart, very heavy, black cast-iron pot with a lid, and I bought it years ago. It's what I cook all my braises in. It's just this fabulous piece of equipment that conducts heat beautifully. You can lower the heat in your oven to almost nothing and it cooks beef stew, lamb shanks, or veal osso bucco in a wonderful way." Read more »

The listing at 10 Buick Street is pretty impressive: seven-and-a-half furnished rooms, including full kitchen and two baths; totally wired and well-maintained; air-conditioned; 24-hour security; exercise facility; and other generous amenities.

But it's the view, from the Harvard boathouse to the Blue Hills, with the Charles at your feet and the best parts of Cambridge and Boston in between, that sells the place. When they tell you the rent, only about $1,000 a month per person, your elation comes with a queasiness that tells you there has to be a catch. Read more »

The freshness of fruit teams with tarragon to add zing to simply prepared salmon. For each serving:

4 ounces salmon (or preferred portion size)

1 stalk tarragon

1 tablespoon diced fresh figs

1 tablespoon diced nectarine

few drops lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Read more »

The Patriots may be on a hot streak, but vice chairman Jonathan Kraft, 39, has a hot streak of his own that goes back to childhood.

He’s a jalapeno man, on eggs, crackers, or on burgers, pickled or plain.

“When we were just down in Houston [for a November game], I had some that were deep-fried with cheddar cheese, and that was pretty good. But that was a dish,” he says. “Jalapenos as jalapenos, I don’t think you could improve them. I guess you could make them spicier, but I’m pretty much happy with the taste as they are.” Read more »

On a typical weekend, the Food Network serves up four hourlong helpings of "Iron Chef," the campy cook-off show from Japan that approximates what would happen if you folded Julia Child into an hour of World Championship Wrestling. Read more »

Cory Doctorow, the uber-blogger and award-winning science-fiction writer, says that all science fiction is about the present. That truism shows itself repeatedly in "World Made by Hand," a novel by James Howard Kunstler set in a post-oil, post-climate-change, post-pandemic, and post-holy-war future that's not too far off. Read more »