Photo: Thinkstock

After a certain point in life, you start to realize your limits. In my case, it's how many ingredients I will buy to make a weeknight supper. I don't have a set number, but generally, I'm willing to pick up two, maybe three things--4 tops. The rest of the meal usually comes out of the pantry. At the risk of sounding like a complete nut, sometimes the prospect of buying one more ingredient is enough to make me not make a dish. ("And I need to get cream cheese? Forget it.")

Which is why I love when a recipe tells me to thicken a sauce with yogurt. I adore cream cheese and sour cream (which many recipes rely on to make dishes creamy), but they aren't staples in my house. Yogurt is, though, since it's healthy, kid-friendly and something everyone in the family will eat for breakfast, a snack or dessert. And with the cool weather, my weeknight suppers have taken a heartier turn, so now yogurt's popping up on my dinner menu, too. I'm using it in in soups and stews from carrot-ginger to curried lentil; cooling dips, which go well with spicy chicken dishes; and salad dressings accompanying winter greens like endive.

Cooking with yogurt is easy. Here's how to do it.

Photo: Marko Metzinger/Studio D, Adam: Patrik Andersson

Camel on one side, rich chocolate on the other, this reversible, faux-shearling coat pulls way more than double duty. Zip off the bottom and it goes from knee-length piece to motorcycle jacket; mix and match the colors for a total of six (!) different looks.

JIA, originally $680, now $600 with code OPRAH600; jiacollection.com.


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Photo: Thinkstock

When I was falling in love with my now-wife, a decade ago, it helped that I had a raging sweet tooth and she made a killer cake. An athletic science nerd, Rebekah turned into an artist around dough—coaxing spongy almond loaves from her tiny dorm oven, always volunteering to bring triple-layer cakes to potluck dinners. “You could start with cheddar cheese and sawdust and still bake something insanely delicious,” a friend once remarked.

So when Rebekah was diagnosed with celiac disease—an autoimmune condition that requires you to scrupulously avoid eating gluten—it was a deep blow. Bread and pasta were immediately off the table, but so was birthday cake at office gatherings and the cookies-and-cream ice cream at a neighbor’s dinner party. When it came time to pick our wedding cake, our options narrowed to a precious few (though we found a place that knocked it out of the park). And when our foodie friends came in to town last year, obsessed with trying out the cookies and pies at a hot new bakery, the only thing Rebekah could buy was a tiny tub of artisanal butter and then watch while everyone moaned over the buttery pastries.

Sure, gluten-free baking recipes exist, but most of the fava-bean flour and xantham-gum experiments we tried were arduous, and the results disappointing (“Is this cupcake supposed to look gray?”). And how do you figure out how to swap wheat flour for tapioca and rice flours in Grandma’s rosemary loaf?

Photo: Flavorpill

Books that transport us to far-off places are usually the only ways to get through tedious waits in drab doctors' offices or dingy DMVs. But sometimes novels take a hold of us so strongly that it's not enough to just envision a hobbit hole. You need to see with your own two eyes what Tolkien described as, "Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort." And while you'd have a hard time booking a flight to Wonderland, or asking even the most well-traveled driver in Derbyshire, England, to bring you to Mr. Darcy's Pemberley, many other locales mentioned in famous novels--including those hobbit holes--really do exist.

Flavorpill's list of fictional places you can actually visit in real life covers locations that have been created for the movie version of the novel, or because they've actually existed all along. The photo of Ashdown Forest in Sussex, England, is reason enough to visit (it's where Pooh perfected Pooh-sticks with Piglet and the rest of the gang), but what we love best about the list is the joy in learning that such iconic places do not just live in our heads. It's similar to the feeling of watching a movie based on a book you loved without the inevitable let-down. Because seeing those hobbit holes in person (which you'll be able to do starting next year) is actually pretty amazing.

Photo: The Rubin Museum of Art

Mike Albo (one half of the duo behind the book that we oh-so-loved, The Underminer)  recently spent the night in a museum. On purpose. With no Ben Stiller in sight. Instead, this grown-up sleepover, at New York City’s Rubin Museum of Art, asked participants to consider the influence of art on their dreams.

Albo writes in Well+Good, “The museum is dedicated to the art of the Himalayas and surrounding regions, and every floor (there are 6) presents gorgeous shrine-worthy work that throbs with meaning and wisdom...Still I was concerned.” He worried “that my dreams would not be worthy. They are often crazily vivid, and involve B-list celebrities from ’90s sitcoms. Basically my brain is like an old copy of People you may find in a dentist office.”

After talk on Tibetan dream interpretation and some bedtime tea, participants cuddled up on their yoga mats beneath large works of art. In the morning, “dream gatherers” wrote down each person's dreams. Albo notes that he was “sort of proud that for once there were no celebrities in my head for a night. Maybe, the Dream Over did its work, and some of the nattering cultural residue that dirties my mind was scrubbed away.” (Read the whole essay for Albo’s wild dream and to see his dream-inspiring artwork.)

There’s something very appealing about the idea that sleeping near art could clear your mind and intensify – or even improve – your dreams.  But in the end it seemed like the most valuable part of this experiment (other than, maybe, the “Tibetan cream of wheat” they were served for breakfast) was the simple act of being mindful. Of going to bed thinking of dreams, of waking up ready to receive and assimilate the night’s mental activity.  After all, life coach Cheryl Richardson says, “Your dreams can contain important messages about your body and your health.” So whether you’re sleeping beneath a 19^th-century tapestry depicting the wheel of life, or a print of your favorite painting wedged in a cheap IKEA frame, it can’t hurt to be open to the idea that maybe your dreams may be magnificent, to try to be your own dream-gatherer each morning.

More on listening to your dreams:

The deeper meaning of dreams
Deepak Chopra on dream interpretation

Photo: Boxsal

The weekend is within reach...let these little splurges make getting there more fun.

Office Escape Lunch Box, $25. Have an eco-friendly picnic before the park near your office is covered in snow. This cardboard box looks like a briefcase and contains four compostable trays, small and large bowls, utensil sets, cold cups, napkins and a trash bag.
Air Quote Mittens, $65. It's no longer impossible to make air quotes when your hands are hidden under mittens, thanks to these inventive handwarmers. "Yes," "please"!

Scratch Map, $24. This poster lets you track your travels in a fun way: Scratch off where you've been to reveal pops of color and local facts.

Jumbo Hair Clips, $15. Holding your hair in an updo, half-updo or off to the side, these oversized barrettes will definitely turn heads.

Inspired by the eye-opening effects false lashes had on Gayle King, O's Deputy Photo Director Christina Weber split a big box of them (left) with another staffer to see if she could achieve the same look at home. Following makeup artist Carmindy's instructions, Weber has been wearing false lashes to the office almost every day—and the results are surprisingly natural-looking. Although it took her two or three times to get the hang of it, she says allotting yourself plenty of time to apply (it used to take her up to 15 minutes, she's since narrowed it down to five) and wearing them consistently is key. "One eye is going to be easier to do than the other," she says, "But with practice it becomes less of an event to put them on." We asked Weber (our new resident lash pro) to give us three of her best tips:

• While Carmindy used black lashes on Gayle, Weber (who has light hair and fair skin) suggests brown for a more subtle effect. Her go-to's: Andrea Lashes in #53 and Ardell Demi Lashes in #110.

• Weber prefers black glue to clear. "It's easier to conceal any gaps along your lash line," she says.
  

• Don't peel your lashes off (or risk losing your natural ones). Instead, she dips a cotton ball in makeup remover and soaks each strip before gently taking it off. If you're careful you can re-use them same pair of false lashes more than once.
  

Have you ever tried false lashes? Do you have any tricks for applying?

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