内容摘要：AP correspondent Julie Walker reports a rare voice box transplant helped a cancer patient speak again.

AP correspondent Julie Walker reports a rare voice box transplant helped a cancer patient speak again.

“They stand out, but it isn’t a three-day time commitment,” she says. “Pull-apart breads give you lots of flavor flexibility. You can use herbs, sprinkle in chopped greens or cheese, and you can make sweet versions for brunch or dessert. They’re fun and interactive.”She suggests making a tasty

to accompany your pull-apart bread.“Just mix some grated lemon zest and chopped herbs into softened butter, freeze, and take it out when you’re ready to serve,” she says.Norton also sees bread fusions: loaves stuffed with creamy cooked chicken, or roasted vegetables. Plump fluffy loaves brimming with melty gruyere. Soft French bread full of an oniony spinach-feta mixture. And for game day, maybe chili-stuffed bread balls, or a pan of spicy Buffalo chicken flavored bread bites.

And he notes a revival of bread bowls. Restaurants and home cooks are filling hollowed-out, crusty round vessels with hot stews and chowders. The pairing of bread and soup is eternal.Got a bread baker on your gift list? Etsy.com has sellers of personalized loaf pans; proofing and baking kits; patterned linen bread bags; and handmade baskets and crockery. Or have your fave bread recipe etched into the bottom of a glass baking pan.

One book that captures the various allures of bread is Malin Elmlid’s “The Bread Exchange” (Chronicle, 2014), which traces her experiences traveling the globe baking and trading bread for recipes, stories and meaningful objects.

New York-based writer Kim Cook covers design and decor topics regularly for The Associated Press. Follow her on Instagram at @kimcookhome.NEW YORK (AP) — It’s been eight months since I closed the door for the last time to my childhood home in suburban New Jersey and said goodbye to more than a half century of memories.

I sometimes still struggle to let it go.Mom passed away in February 2023 after a brief battle with cancer. My sister and I didn’t want to sell the family house right away, but we soon realized we couldn’t maintain it in the fastidious manner Mom had since she and Dad purchased it back in 1962. But more importantly, without Mom, our home had become just a house.

Losing Mom, my best friend, was hard enough. Dismantling my childhood home only magnified her loss — and made me ponder my own legacy. Mom’s house had been the center of gatherings for relatives and friends who enjoyed her Italian cooking of manicottis, chicken cutlets and baked goods and then convened around her restored 1936 baby grand piano singing showtunes — sometimes off key.So how do you clear out a childhood home to prep for a sale while honoring Mom’s passion for all things cultural and love of family?