The Morning: A summer preview

May 30, 2022

By the staff of The Morning

Good morning. We've got some recommendations for the start of summer.

Pioneer East Meadow in San Francisco.Jason Henry for The New York Times

Getaways and cookouts

This holiday weekend is the unofficial start of summer, and we're turning today's newsletter into a summer preview. We'll cover food, travel, books, sports and movies.

Travel

Many Americans are starting to travel again. "The travel rebound is shaping up to be even stronger than airlines expected," our colleague Niraj Chokshi reported last week. Even so, traveling this summer won't be completely normal.

If you're returning to the U.S. from another country, you will need a negative Covid test to board your plane. Some other countries, including Canada and Britain, have lifted their testing rules.

Be aware that airlines can legally cancel flights and place passengers on less convenient routes, with layovers. Those disruptions have seemed to become more common in the past two years, because of crew illnesses and aircraft shortages. Our columnist has advice on how to avoid them.

One big tip: Don't assume that old travel patterns will necessarily continue. Public transit schedules may have changed since the start of the pandemic. Renting a car may be more expensive or require longer wait times. Beach houses may be harder to find in some places and easier in others.

And what should you do if you haven't yet decided what to do? The Times is running a series — A Summer of Cycling Around the Globe — with reports on Vancouver; Vermont; Alaska; Hawaii; a 150-mile journey from Italy to Croatia; and seven cities around the world that are fun to explore on a bike.

Food

Armando Rafael for The New York Times

The summer is barbecue season, and The Times's Genevieve Ko has some recommendations that are meant to be prepared ahead of time. That way, you don't need to be working in the kitchen while everyone else is having fun. Other dishes (like these hamburgers) are best grilled while you're talking to your guests.

The ultimate advance-preparation meal is a picnic, and David Tanis has plenty of advice.

Some of Sam Sifton's recommended dishes for Memorial Day will also work for the rest of the summer: jalapeño grilled pork chops and brown sugar-cured salmon. Other staples for today include reverse-seared steak, broccoli salad (if you're looking for some vitamins) and a strawberry galette for dessert.

Sam encourages people to remember that Memorial Day is a holiday with a purpose. "I always make sure to pay my respects to those who died in service to the nation before I get to the brats and beer," he said. We encourage you to read this profile of Sgt. Nicole Gee and Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, two Marines killed while helping evacuate Kabul last year.

Movies

In the '80s, Pete Mitchell was a brash upstart striving to stand out in the elite Top Gun program. Now he's a captain in the Navy, and he's one of the best fighter pilots.

Times have changed, but Pete's still got it — as does Tom Cruise, who played the character in the original "Top Gun" and in the sequel, "Top Gun: Maverick," a classic summer action movie that premiered last week. "On the brink of 60," the critic A.O. Scott writes, Cruise "still projects the nimble, cocky, perennially boyish charm that conquered the box office in the 1980s." Here's The Times's review, the trailer and a profile of Cruise.

Also this summer: "Thor: Love and Thunder," "Jurassic World Dominion" and "Nope," a Jordan Peele film, top The Times's list of the 101 most interesting movies of the season.

Books

Illustration by Millie von Platen

Before you head to the beach, consult our Books desk colleagues' guide to summer reading. They have 88 books to transport you, including thrillers, historical fiction, romances and cookbooks.

Melissa Kirsch also highlighted literary fiction on the way in the coming months: Mohsin Hamid, Maggie O'Farrell and Jean Hanff Korelitz all have new novels, and 24 years after "Election," Tom Perrotta is bringing back his ambitious high-school protagonist in "Tracy Flick Can't Win." (She's an assistant principal now.)

Here are summer reading guides from The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal and NPR's "Fresh Air."

Sports

An early event on the summer sports calendar will be a glamorous N.B.A. Finals matchup between the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics. The Warriors have experience on their side: This is the sixth Finals for the star trio of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. But the Celtics have youth — their top scorer, Jayson Tatum, is a decade younger than Curry — and an excellent defense.

Shortly afterward, the N.H.L. will stage the Stanley Cup Finals. The Tampa Bay Lightning, the two-time defending champions, are one of five teams remaining, along with the Edmonton Oilers, the Colorado Avalanche, and the New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes (who meet for a Game 7 tonight). Edmonton hopes to win the first Stanley Cup for a Canadian team since 1993.

The rest of summer will include tennis Grand Slams, featuring the rising Spanish star Carlos Alcaraz; a W.N.B.A. season that will likely be the last for the legendary Sue Bird; and an M.L.B. season that has Yankees and Mets fans dreaming of another Subway Series.

One footnote: 2022 is a World Cup year, but the tournament won't take place in the summer, for the first time in its history. It begins on Nov. 21 — to avoid the hottest months in Qatar, which is this year's host.

THE LATEST NEWS

Uvalde Shooting

President Biden and Jill Biden at Robb Elementary School yesterday.Cheriss May for The New York Times

President Biden and the first lady met with victims' families in Uvalde, Texas. Some of them expressed frustration with Washington's inaction.
The Justice Department will review law enforcement's response. Officers allowed the gunman to stay inside the school for more than an hour.
A local Catholic church has become a hub for grief.
Some liberal states are moving to pass stricter gun-control laws.
After recent mass shootings, an old debate is back: Would disseminating graphic images of the results of gun violence jolt the nation's leadership into action?
This is how the 78 long minutes of the shooting unfolded.

War in Ukraine

The Ukrainian army is mounting a counterattack to reclaim territory around Kherson, a southern port city that was the first to fall in the invasion.
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, made a rare journey outside Kyiv, visiting frontline troops in the northeast.
European leaders will discuss more sanctions against Russia, including an oil embargo, in Brussels this week.

MORNING READS

Farmers harvesting opium in Afghanistan's Kandahar Province.Bryan Denton for The New York Times

Poppy fields: In Afghanistan, green energy is a boon to the drug trade.

Fleet week: It's no longer just a night out for the boys.

Metropolitan Diary: A museum trip with dad that she never forgot.

Quiz time: The average score on our latest news quiz was 9.3. Can you do better?

A Times classic: How to light a room.

Advice from Wirecutter: Tips to help you waste less food.

Lives Lived: Ronnie Hawkins brought turbocharged rockabilly music to roadhouses from Arkansas to Canada. But his greatest claim to fame might be his backup musicians, who went on to form the Band. Hawkins died at 87.

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

What to Cook

Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Victoria Granof.

This lemony cake uses the zest, juice and flesh of lemons.

What to Watch

"Stranger Things" has gone from "lovingly echoing 1980s touchstones to industriously copying itself," the critic Mike Hale writes about Season 4.

What to Listen to

Hear new tracks by Wynonna & Waxahatchee, Superorganism, Rico Nasty and others.

Now Time to Play

The pangrams from yesterday's Spelling Bee were belatedly and debatably. Here is today's puzzle.

Here's today's Wordle. Here's today's Mini Crossword, and a clue: Personal growth? (five letters).

If you're in the mood to play more, find our games here.

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow.

P.S. Unknown soldiers from World War II and the Korean War were buried at Arlington National Cemetery 64 years ago today.

Here's today's front page.

There's no new "Daily" today. "Sway," is about the new "Top Gun" movie.

Claire Moses, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Tom Wright-Piersanti, Ashley Wu and Sanam Yar contributed to The Morning. You can reach the team at themorning@nytimes.com.