My Black Engagement Ring Embodies My Style As Much As My Love Story
This summer, my now-fiancé proposed to me. The engagement ring wasn’t a single-set oval diamond or a round moissanite. Instead, it was a black emerald-shaped onyx with a lab-grown diamond halo. It was classic yet edgy, traditional yet unconventional. The ring looked and felt like me.
2023-10-13 22:00
China's Luckin sells 5.4 million Moutai alcohol-infused lattes in a day
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Pub grub: Three recipes from Tom Kerridge’s new cookbook
These warming and hearty pot pies are filled with succulent chicken, chestnut mushrooms and artichokes in a delicious creamy sauce flavoured with mustard,” says Tom Kerridge. “The filling takes a bit of time, but it’s well worth it once you break into that crispy pastry topping and see all your efforts inside!” Chicken and mushroom pot pies Serves: 4 Ingredients: 750g chicken thigh fillets 500ml chicken stock 5 black peppercorns 4 sprigs of thyme 2 bay leaves 2 tbsp olive oil 200g baby chestnut mushrooms, halved 2 banana shallots, finely diced 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 150g chargrilled artichoke hearts, quartered 50g butter 50g plain flour, plus extra to dust 1 tsp Dijon mustard 1 tsp wholegrain mustard 1 tbsp tarragon, finely chopped 100ml crème fraîche 1 tbsp sherry vinegar 500g packet ready-made puff pastry 1 large free-range egg, lightly beaten with a pinch of salt Salt and freshly ground pepper Method: 1. To cook the chicken thigh fillets, put the chicken stock, peppercorns, thyme and bay leaves into a medium saucepan over a high heat and bring to a simmer. Add the chicken thighs, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is tender. 2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a frying pan, add the mushrooms and cook for two minutes. Add the shallots and garlic, stir and cook for three to four minutes or until softened. Remove from the heat, stir in the artichokes and set aside. Remove the chicken thighs from the stock and set aside on a tray. Strain the stock. Leave both to cool slightly. 3. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and cook for two minutes. Now gradually whisk in the chicken stock and continue to whisk over a medium heat until the sauce thickens. Stir in both mustards, the chopped tarragon, crème fraîche and sherry vinegar, then the mushroom mix. 4. Cut the poached chicken into bite-sized pieces and fold through the sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste and leave to cool slightly. Divide the pie filling between four individual pie dishes and place in the fridge to chill. 5. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a 5mm thickness. Cut out four rounds, two centimetres wider than your pie dishes. Brush the edges with egg, then lay a pastry round, egg-washed edge down, over each pie dish. Brush the tops with egg wash and rest in the fridge for 20 minutes. 6. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Cut a couple of slits in the top of each pastry lid, to let steam escape during cooking. Bake the pies for 30 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and deep golden brown. Let stand for a few minutes before serving, with a green veg and mash on the side if you like. Paneer and pea fritters “These spicy, rustic-looking nibbles are my take on South Asian fried street food,” says Kerridge. “Flavoured with chaat masala (a slightly tangy spice blend), the fritters are made with protein-rich paneer and gram (chickpea) flour, which adds a nutty, earthy flavour. They need little else other than mango chutney for dipping, and a cold drink to wash them down!” Makes: about 24 Ingredients: Vegetable oil, to fry 1 tsp cumin seeds 1 onion, finely chopped 150g frozen peas, defrosted 1 green chilli, deseeded and finely sliced 175g gram flour 1 tsp chaat masala 3 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves 250g paneer, coarsely grated Salt and freshly ground pepper To serve: Mango chutney Method: 1. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a small frying pan then add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle for a few seconds before adding the onion. Cook for five to seven minutes until the onion is softened, then remove from the heat and leave to cool. Preheat the oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2. 2. Once cooled, tip the onion and cumin mix into a bowl and add the peas, chilli, gram flour, chaat masala and chopped coriander. Stir to combine and season well with salt and pepper. Pour in 200 millilitres of water and mix well. Add the grated paneer and stir through gently. 3. You will need to cook the fritters in three or four batches. Heat a 4-5cm depth of oil in a sauté pan to 180C (check with a thermometer). When it is hot, drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot oil, spacing them apart. Cook for two to three minutes on each side or until golden and crispy. 4. Remove the fritters from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Keep warm in the low oven while you cook the rest. 5. Once they are all cooked, season the fritters with a little extra salt and serve with mango chutney and lime wedges on the side. Sticky date and banana pudding “This naughty, boozy pud is one of our pub classics,” says Kerridge. “Sticky, caramelised bananas shine alongside a sweet date pudding, and the easy-to-make toffee sauce served alongside takes it to another level of indulgence.” Serves: 4 Ingredients: 1 tbsp softened butter, to grease the dishes 100g plain white flour, plus 1 tbsp to dust 100ml dark rum 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 150g pitted dates, chopped 85g vegetable suet 85g soft dark brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 large free-range eggs For the toffee sauce: 200ml double cream 100g soft dark brown sugar 75g butter A small pinch of salt To finish: 2 small bananas 2 tbsp demerara sugar Method: 1. Brush four individual ovenproof dishes (250 millilitre capacity) with the softened butter and dust lightly with flour, shaking out any excess. 2. Pour the rum and 100 millilitres of water into a saucepan and bring to the boil, then take off the heat and add the bicarbonate of soda and dates. Pop a lid on the pan and leave to stand for 10–15 minutes to allow the dates to soak up the liquid and cool down. 3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. 4. Tip the dates and liquid into a large bowl and add the flour, suet, brown sugar, vanilla extract and eggs. Beat until evenly combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared dishes and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until golden brown. 5. Meanwhile, to make the toffee sauce, pour the cream into a saucepan and add the brown sugar, butter and salt. Place over a low heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved, then bring to the boil. Simmer for two to three minutes, then remove from the heat. 6. Peel and thinly slice the bananas. Once you’ve removed the puddings from the oven, arrange the banana slices, overlapping, around the edge of each dish. Sprinkle the banana slices liberally with demerara sugar and run a cook’s blowtorch over them to caramelise the sugar. 7. Serve the date and banana puddings with the toffee sauce in a jug on the side. ‘Pub Kitchen’ by Tom Kerridge (Bloomsbury Absolute, £27). Read More From Nepal to Tibet: Eight warming dishes from the coldest places on earth Obsessed with Boursin? It’s the perfect way to elevate your leftovers Two seasonal stews to keep the chill off this autumn Farmers’ markets in autumn are a cornucopia of colour Spice up your life: Three recipes from Nadiya Hussain’s new book that bring the heat Budget Bites: Three one-pan recipes that minimise on washing up
2023-10-18 13:50
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Breville’s indoor pizza oven is the best way to cook pizza without using actual fire
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Five easy recipes to cook with your kids
If you caught the recent series of Gordon Ramsay’s Future Food Stars on BBC1, you will no doubt be familiar with Florence – usually Flo – Rebattet. After searching in vain for cookery classes for her young son that would offer healthy options and make him as passionate about food as she was at his age, Rebattet decided to found her own cooking school for children and teenagers. She was inspired by the time she spent with her Italian grandma during the school holidays. “I used to spend weeks at her home and cooking was our daily activity,” she says. “I still love to remember how long our spaghetti was and she always let me lick the spoons!” For Rebattet, it’s fundamental to see the new generations cooking from scratch with seasonal ingredients. “To add flavour to our meals, we used to go to the garden and pick the necessary aromatic herbs. We also had plenty of strawberries that we would pick in the morning before it became too hot.” She decided to leave her nine-to-five job in HR and train as a chef in order to open her business, drawing on her experiences cooking with her son, who around 13 months old at the time. “Because of the memories I have of creating and enjoying food with my family, my dream is to recreate some of that with my son and all the kids who come along my cooking school, En Cuisine.” Here, she shares some recipes that are suitbale for children (with adult supervision if necessary) and are some of the many recipes she teaches at the school. Gateau de Savoie “I spent most of childhood in Biarritz, on the beach, with this cake stuffed in my mouth! I absolutely loved it and couldn’t get enough.” Prep time: 60 minutes | Resting time: 10 minutes | Cooking time: 15-20 minutes Ingredients: 75g sugar 3 eggs 50g flour 20g cornflour 2 drops vanilla extract 60g sugar Utensils: 2 large bowls Wooden spoon Cake mould Weighing scale A whisk Method: 1. In two large bowls, separate the egg whites and yolks. 2. Whisk the egg yolk until you reach a smooth texture. Then, add the sugar and keep whisking. 3. Whisk the egg whites until you get a stiff peak. Don’t forget to add a pinch of salt. 4. Add the egg whites to the egg yolk by folding the white into the yolks. Do not mix and always fold in the same way. 5. Add the vanilla, and the plain and corn flours into the mixture. Fold the flours into the egg mix. 6. Pour the mix in a mould and cook it for 30-40 minutes in a preheated oven at 170C. Gratin dauphinois “This is a typical dish from Savoie in France and is regularly eaten over the winter. The recipe below is from my mother-in-law who lives in Grenoble.” Prep time: 40 minutes | Cooking time: 1 hour Serves: 4 Ingredients: 1kg of potatoes 1 litre of double cream 5 garlic cloves Salt and black pepper 1 tsp grated nutmeg Utensils: Chopping board Big knife Peeler Grater Method: 1. Wash the potatoes and peel them. Keep the skin in a separate bowl. (These can be fried later to avoid wasting them.) 2. With your knife slice your potatoes (1cm thickness), using the bridge technique. 3. Peel your garlic cloves. Chop them into small pieces and then crush them using the blade of your knife. 4. Put some crushed garlic in the bottom of your pot and rub it all around. 5. Pour some double cream into the pot, sprinkle in some salt, black pepper and grated nutmeg. 6. Lay the potatoes on the cream until covered then pour more cream and seasoning. Repeat until you don’t have any more sliced potatoes. 7. Put in the oven at 190C for 1 hour. Little chef tips: The quality of the potatoes is very important. Don’t use jacket potatoes as the texture won’t be good when cooked. Instead use potatoes for frying. Belle de Fontenay and Desiree are the best varieties for the Gratin Dauphinois. Lemon and chia seed muffin cakes “One of my first sweet recipes when I started teaching children to cook at En Cuisine. This recipe can also be found in my cookbook Cook with Flo.” Prep time: 20 minutes | Cooking time: 20 minutes Makes: 6 muffins 100g of plain flour 80g of coconut sugar 80g of unsalted butter ½ lemon + zest 1 tablespoon of chia seeds ½ tablespoon of baking powder 2 eggs Utensils: Wooden spoon Weighing scale 2 large bowls Method: 1. Melt the butter and let it cool down on the side. 2. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs and the sugar until the mix is slightly white with bubbles on the top. Then, pour the flour into the mixture and stir. 3. Squeeze the lemon and add the zest. Pour the melted butter in the mix. 4. Add the chia seeds and the baking powder. Stir until you combine all the ingredients together. 5. Pour the mixture into the muffin tray and put it in the oven at 220C for 15 minutes. Little chef tips: You can swap the chia seeds with poppy seeds for a different flavour. Madeleines “This recipe for mouthwatering madeleines is from my recipe book Cook with Flo.” Prep time: 20 minutes | Cooking time: 15 minutes Makes: 20 madeleines Ingredients: 120g of plain flour 120g of granulated white sugar 120g unsalted butter 3 medium eggs Zest of one unwaxed lemon 1 lemon 1 teaspoon of baking powder Utensils: Madeleine tray 2 bowls Wooden spoon Grater Scale Method: 1. In a large bowl, mix the flour, the sugar and the baking powder. 2. Crack the eggs and separate the yolks from the whites. The yolk goes with the dry ingredients and the whites in a separate bowl. 3. Whisk the white with a fork until you get bubbles on the top. Add them to the flour and yolks mix and combine. 4. Melt the butter and wait until it cools down before pouring it on the mix. 5. Add the lemon juice and the zest. Stir well. 6. Pour into madeleine moulds and put them in the oven at 240C for 6 minutes and then 180C for 8 minutes. Your madeleines are ready when you see a little mountain on the top and a nice golden colour Little chef tips: Swap the lemon for ½ an orange or rose water. Roasted vegetable tray “I really like mine with rose water and dry pieces of rose in the dough! A classic dish which will bring crunchiness and colour to any meal and is particularly delicious served with the gratin dauphinois.” Prep time: 10 minutes | Cooking time: 1 hour Serves: 4 1 butternut squash 6 carrots 2 onions 250g Brussels sprouts 4 potatoes 2 heads of garlic Fresh thyme and rosemary Utensils: Chopping board Big knife Peeler Method: 1. Wash your vegetables and preheat your oven at 150C. 2. Boil some salted water and cook the Brussels sprouts for 15 minutes. 3. Peel your butternut squash and chop it into big chunks. Do the same for the carrots, onions and potatoes. All the vegetables need to be the same size to cook evenly. 4. In a tray, drizzle some olive oil and add all the vegetables. Toss with some salt, black pepper, rosemary and thyme. 5. Put the tray in the oven for 40 minutes. Check if the vegetables are cooked before getting them out of the oven. Little chef tips: You can play with the flavours by adding some spices. Smoked paprika and turmeric deserve a go for this recipe. Read More Is there such a thing as British pizza? The dish that defines me: Rosie Grant’s grave recipes Courgette season is nearly over – here’s three ways to make the most of them London’s new dessert was made by space engineers – and cost £50k How to cook to keep your gut healthy Leave Rick Stein alone – it’s totally reasonable to charge £2 for mayo and ketchup
2023-09-26 13:45
New York woman breathes new life into discarded Barbies to help migrant girls find hope
Barbara Lakin sits on a bus in New York City, her fingers busy sewing blue thread into a tiny dress. On the seat beside her, six disheveled Barbie dolls stick out of her backpack.
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This MS alternative is as low as $45 for life
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11 ways to work autumnal wonder at home
As we wave goodbye to summer and the low autumn sun signals a shift in seasons, a woodland vibe is suddenly where it’s at. Think harvest time, nature trails, fiery oranges, pumpkins, log baskets and cosy furnishings to come home to. Here’s how to style up your space and rework existing pieces with autumnal-themed decor and a countrycore aesthetic… 1. Autumn Harvest Floral Wreath – Orange, £27.99, The Range Adorned with autumnal shades of yellow, orange and burgundy with petite pumpkins peeking out, this rustic wreath can be hung on the door, or placed as a centrepiece to elevate your timely tablescape. 2. Yankee Candle Autumn Daydream, £29.99, Yankee Candle With top notes of clove, lavender, balsam and eucalyptus, we’ve a burning desire to evoke warming woodland scents for a homely ambience. 3. Emma Bridgewater Vegetable Garden Tomatoes Soup Plate, £25, Daisy Park With thoughts turning to comfort food, this is the soup plate to cosy up with. 4. Toadstool Ceramic Salt & Pepper Shakers, £18.50, Oliver Bonas We’ve fallen for these fairytale toadstools. 5. George Natural Reactive Glaze Dinner Set 12-Piece, £30, George Natural Vintage Ceramic Bottle, £12, Direct.asda Think cottage-style interiors, reclaimed wooden tables, rustic woven hanging baskets – and this timeless stoneware is the finishing touch. 6. Glass BonBon Jar Set of 2, £32.90, Solavia Glassware What could be lovelier than rambling through the countryside and foraging for pine cones, conkers and their spiky green shells? These glass vessels are perfect for showcasing favourite finds. 7. George Orange Halloween Pumpkin Teapot, £8, George Orange Halloween Pumpkin Serving Bowl, (23.3 x 20.3 x 28.5cm), £12, rest of items from a selection, Direct.asda It’s pumpkin season which means earthy, sweet squash recipes topped with a warming cuppa. 8. Geometric Square Scatter Cushion Cover, Brick, £12.99, Fausley Log Carrier, £62.99, and other items from a selection, Wayfair Time to transition your soft furnishings – switch out light covers and throws for heavier fall fabrics. Chunky cushions, faux fur, thick knits and a log basket are your best bet to get the look. 9. Autumn Harvest Pod Garland, £55, Sophie Allport This harvest garland features faux leaves, simple straw, pinecones and seasonal berries for an autumn colour palette. Lay on a fireplace or drape along a windowsill and style with LED pillar candles… 180cm of length to play with. 10. British Wildlife Collection – Hedgehog Side Plate, £22.50, Jimbobart When it comes to prickly friends, this sweet side plate imbibes thoughts of country living and spotting hedgehogs amongst the hedgerows. 11. Hello Pumpkin Autumn Cushion, £18, Next Every accent chair calls for a pumpkin cushion to snug into this time of year.
2023-09-28 14:45
World's oldest beauty adviser sitting pretty
Tomoko Horino's neighbours gossiped when she first went out to work in patriarchal 1960s Japan, but now, at age 100, the world's oldest beauty adviser...
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