In place of the usual list of weekly reading (and because I haven’t read much this week), here are a few links to articles I’ve really enjoyed this year. Some are food-related and some are not. I hope you had a good Christmas, and enjoy the New Year.

• The ‘Busy’ Trap (NY Times) and In Search of Lost Time (The Economist) – two complementary pieces about stepping back from being always busy, and where this busy pressure comes from.
• The History Cook (FT Weekend) – historical Christmas food with food historian Ivan Day
• Why I’ll Never Cook Again (Cafe.com) – on cooking for others, and expecting too much, rather than cooking for yourself. This provoked a series of really interesting blog posts on other food blogs as well.
• A Foodie Repents (The New Yorker) – John Lanchester gets fed up with the cult of the foodie
• My newborn son, 4 billion years old (The Telegraph) – a lovely piece of science writing, giving a twist to the adoring new father genre.
• How did toast become a food craze? – yes, San Francisco has a hipster toast craze, but the story behind it is much more interesting than you might think, and includes a remarkable woman who started a cafe to save her own mental health.
• The Overprotected Kid (The Atlantic) – how kids play and how some are trying to re-introduce a little risk
• Why I am leaving the best job I ever had – a entrepreneur and CEO decides to step back and gives a frank and interesting explanation of why.
• More than 60 years after one summer together, a profession of undying love (Boston Globe) – a very sweet story of sweethearts who never really got together, until they were both retired.