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Valentine’s Day has long since passed, but for the great white sharks off the Outer Banks, the romance, albeit violent, is just getting started. Experts have long suspected that the sharks congregate off the coast of North Carolina in order to mate, but they’ve never had real proof. But that’s all about to change. OCEARCH’s Expedition Carolinas is a groundbreaking research expedition set to launch from Wilmington Friday with the goal of finally determining why the giant sharks keep gathering in the area from February through April....

Oriental lilies have colossal blooms that crown tall, graceful plants. Blossoms come in white, pink, yellow, or a combination of these colors. Some even sport stripes or spots. They all look elegant in the garden or in arrangements. Just give them what they need, and they’ll thrive. Oriental Lilies Planting GuideOriental lilies prefer rich, moist, well-drained soil. If you have soil with lots of sand or clay, you can improve it by adding organic matter such as peat, leaf mold, or composted manure....

All aboard! Special train rides inspired by The Polar Express are returning to the N.C. Transportation Museum this holiday season, and you’re invited. The timeless adventure comes to life when the train departs from Spencer, North Carolina, for a round-trip journey to the North Pole. Led by a cast of talented actors and set to the sounds of the motion picture soundtrack, passengers are whisked away on a real-life version of The Polar Express for a trip to meet Santa....

Samantha Fore joins Sid Evans to share her personal journey, why Lexington is one of the South’s culinary hotspots, and which country music superstar will always eat at Tuk Tuk for free. Get to Know Samantha Fore In 2016, Samantha Fore founded her pop-up restaurant Tuk Tuk Sri Lankan Bites in Lexington, KY, after brunch service in her own home became the talk of the town. Though Tuk Tuk is one of the few representations of Sri Lankan cuisine in the South, Samantha has quickly developed a loyal following, with her pop-up dinners selling out all over the country and her recipes showing up on the cover of magazines....

Pour it out for Maddie, Helen, and Dana Sue! Netflix’s Sweet Magnolias has been renewed for a second season, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show, which is based on the books of the same name by Sherryl Woods, is a tale of friendship, family, and romance set in the fictional South Carolina town of Serenity. The feel-good series centers around three best friends, Maddie (JoAnna Garcia Swisher), Dana Sue (Brooke Elliott), and Helen (Heather Headley) as they navigate life, love, and business in their charming small town with a little help from a long-standing margarita night....

Baking is all about science. I’m not going to try to explain why ingredients react to make perfectly fluffy soufflés or horribly crunchy cookies, but it all goes back to science. Science is also why certain recipe directions seem odd or pointless. For example, some baking recipes call for room temperature eggs. You may have ignored those words, but they’re more important than you think. Why? Science, of course! Since I’m no expert baker and I’m certainly not a scientist, I reached out to one of our Southern Living Test Kitchen Pros, Sarah Epperson, to learn why room temperature eggs are important when baking cookies and other sweet treats....

Three years ago, on what was to be a joyful family vacation, Angela and Kimmy Spann faced every parent’s worst fear. Their perfectly healthy, strong, 15-year-old son died. Now, Angela has made it her life’s mission to turn their tragedy into actions that will hopefully save many other families from sharing the same horrible grief. Angela and Kimmy’s older son was busy with football and college, so they let their son Tyler pick the vacation spot and his choice was Panama City Beach....

In case the story of the escaped python lost inside the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge was keeping you up at night, rest assured: The snake is fine. The 12-foot albino Burmese python called Cara normally made its home inside a glass enclosure at Blue Zoo, an aquarium located in the remains of a former Hollister store in the Mall of Louisiana. The snake vanished from her residence on Monday, leading staff to do the only logical thing when a 150-pound python disappears—they shut down operations....

In the small farming community where I grew up, everyone celebrated Christmas in much the same way. We put up a tree and hung it with lights, ornaments, and tinsel. We decorated our houses inside and out with magnolia leaves, holly, and cedar wreaths. We sang carols in church and posed as angels, wise men, or shepherds. We exchanged gifts with friends and kin. Santa Claus came down the chimney with a sack of toys....

We’ve learned a lot over the past few months and now, more than ever, it’s important to put these new safe practices to good use whether we’re heading to the grocery store, church, school, or even the salon. While getting back in your stylist’s chair might be something you’ve looked forward to over the past few months of staying at home, there are going to be new protocols and practices that you can anticipate on your arrival....

My grandmother has always been the creative type. She refuses to use recipes, even if that means experimenting at the big family holiday—when in doubt, add more seasoning and a dash of Durkee’s or Crystal Hot Sauce, she always says—and could make a leopard print couch go with the queen’s fine china. Let’s just say, rules aren’t really her thing. Until I was older, I didn’t know that she’d once even put her artful skills to work by doing flowers for weddings....

They say a chef is only as good as the tools that they have at hand. The proper nifty purchases will ensure you have everything you need, especially for the upcoming holiday baking season, without overwhelming your utensil drawers. There are countless kitchen tools out in the market, but the best ones go beyond their initial purpose and work like a culinary Swiss Army Knife. That’s why bakers and home cooks can’t get enough of the Gifbera Professional Pastry Blender....

For as long as I can remember, my mom put this Tomato Cracker Salad on the table as soon as the summer tomatoes started producing well. I can still see the cut-glass bowl filled with the salad sitting on her freshly pressed Battenburg lace tablecloth. When I was a kid we always had a pretty little garden tucked in the back corner of our yard, even if it was as simple as a few tomato and pepper plants....

Maren Morris is on a roll this February with her single, “The Bones” topping the country Billboard charts for the second week in a row. But another tune has her gaining some new pint-sized fans, thanks to a performance on Sesame Street that aired this past Saturday, per CMT.com. Sporting a simple, short-sleeve blue jeans jumpsuit, the country music singer burst into a song titled “Oops! Whoops! Wait! A-ha!” alongside friends like Elmo, Big Bird, the Cookie Monster, and other familiar faces....

I am a native Floridian, which means I grew up in a very weird (but wonderful) state and have a lot of thoughts on Key lime pie. There are a lot of ways to make this deceptively simple dessert. At its most basic, Key lime pie has a filling made with sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, and egg yolks, that is baked in a press-in cookie crust. I prefer the buttery flavor and crunchy texture of a classic graham cracker crust, but some people opt for crusts made with crushed shortbread cookies or vanilla wafers, or even cookies mixed with nuts....

If you’ve been on any social media platform recently, you may have come across a video showing a method of laundry deep cleaning called “laundry stripping.” The videos typically show a person’s bathtub filled with water and everything from towels and sheets to stuffed animals floating in it. After pouring in several powdered cleaning products, the bathtub water slowly becomes a sludgy rainbow of gray, brown, and black, as the contents of the tub receive an extreme deep clean – it’s both disgusting and oddly mesmerizing....

During the holiday cocktail season, eggnog—a “punch” made with heavy cream, milk, egg yolks, and bourbon or brandy—tends to show up everywhere, much to the delight of partygoers and barflies who love its rich texture and indulgent flavors. But if eggnog’s heaviness doesn’t suit your palate (or the warmer outdoor temperatures that define the holiday season in the American South), then we have a lighter alternative that’s widely beloved and features many of the flavors that make eggnog so iconic: New Orleans Milk Punch....

Anyone who has ever enjoyed Chinese food knows how hard it can be to get through a meal without having to stop and marvel at an ear of baby corn. All those teeny tiny kernels lined up in neat rows are all it takes to inspire even the most practical person’s imagination. Well, we know where your mind has gone, and unfortunately tiny farmers don’t harvest baby corn from tiny farms, nor are they created by mad scientists with shrink rays....

Georgia cancer patient Luc Mire was given the honor of throwing the first pitch at the Atlanta Braves game against the Phillies on Sunday. The 17-year-old senior at Lassiter High School in Cobb County, is receiving treatment at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA). Luc, whose mom is a breast cancer survivor, was diagnosed with leukemia in May of 2021—just one week before he turned 16....

As we head towards the peak of hurricane season, a nonprofit aims to help restaurants be a light in the dark. After Hurricane Ida struck Louisiana in the summer of 2021, power went out across the greater New Orleans area. Restaurant owners and staff were forced to throw out all of the food in their refrigerators and freezers. This massive food waste sparked an idea. New Orleans-based nonprofit group, “Feed the Second Line,” launched the project Get Lit, Stay Lit, with the goal to outfit restaurants with solar power panels and batteries to store the electricity they generate....