内容摘要：Kate and Sutton Bulkeley talk in the living room, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in Westport, Conn. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Kate and Sutton Bulkeley talk in the living room, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in Westport, Conn. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Heat the oven to 400°F with a rack in the lower-middle position. In a large Dutch oven over medium-high, heat 3 tablespoons of the oil until shimmering. Add the onions, bell peppers and 1 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes.Add the garlic, paprika, mint (if using) and ½ teaspoon pepper; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the beans and reserved liquid, árbol chilies and 1½ cups water. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, then nestle the sausages into the pot and drizzle the surface with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Transfer to the oven and bake, without stirring, until the sausages are browned and the beans on the surface are slightly crisped, 1 to 1¼ hours.

Remove the pot from the oven and let stand, uncovered, for about 15 minutes; the bean mixture will thicken as it cools. Transfer the sausages to a cutting board. Cut them into pieces, return them to the pot and stir into the beans. Remove and discard the árbol chilies (if used). Taste and season with salt and pepper, then sprinkle with the parsley. Serve from the pot.EDITOR’S NOTE: For more recipes, go to Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street atwas more reflective than festive in the final episode of its 50th season.

Scarlett Johansson, who set a record for a woman with her seventh appearance as host, used her monologue to lead most of the current cast of the NBC sketch institution in a song sung to the tune of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man.”The performance looked back on an eventful year that included an election, an

“Sing us a song, it’s your monologue, the 50th season is through,” Johansson sang, along with Bowen Yang, Ego Nwodim, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner and others. “It’s lasting forever, we did it together, and we got to spend it with you.”

Johansson teased, then took back, a guest appearance that would have been in keeping with the season’s excess of guest stars.“We are helping people,” he said. For an able-bodied man to work, “it’s good for his own personal dignity. It’s good for his purpose. It’s a win-win-win.”

The debates in Congress come during a time of great soul-searching in the United States and the world. People are divided as ever, politically and economically, yet also yearning for a sense of community and togetherness that seems to be slipping further out of reach.House Democrats, who have fought Johnson and his party every step of the way in opposing what they call the “big, ugly bill,” were not about to cede any moral ground to Republicans or to Trump.

“This is the United States of America — the wealthiest country in the history of the world. It is indecent to rip food out of the mouths of children and everyday Americans,”said during his own lengthy floor speech ahead of the vote.