Life & Style news

• The strawberry and raspberry hybrid theory: Country diary 100 years ago

  17-09-2017 23:30
  Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 20 September 1917Kew Gardens
  A Manchester correspondent writes that there is such a fruit as “raspberry and strawberry crossed,” and that he has seen about a pound of it on a shop counter. A friend told him it was exhibited at the Shrewsbury Show a year or two before the war, that the French call it “orbust,” and that it makes a nice-flavoured preserver. He describes it as “round in shape, the size of a small walnut
  
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• Agriculture holds the key to unlocking Africa’s vast economic potential | Letters

  17-09-2017 19:51
  Anna Jones says that, through selling its cocoa cheaply, Africa is exporting its wealth overseas; while Sue Banford claims that the soya moratorium in the Amazon has done nothing to halt deforestationOnly the final paragraph in your article on cocoa farming causing deforestation in Ivory Coast (Forests pay price for world’s taste for cocoa, 14 September) mentioned the most fundamental thing – the farmer’s livelihood, or lack of it. The low value of his (or more likely her) crop
  
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• Warm waters off West Coast has lingering effects for salmon

  17-09-2017 18:58 via winnipegfreepress.com
  SEATTLE - The mass of warm water known as "the blob" that heated up the North Pacific Ocean has dissipated, but scientists are still seeing the lingering effects of those ......
  
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• Riding the waves to health and happiness

  17-09-2017 16:21 via winnipegfreepress.com
  Our son, Dan, hit all of his early life milestones on time — walking, talking, playing and interacting — until he was three, when worrying changes began to emerge. He ......
  
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• The yoga industry is booming – but does it make you a better person?

  17-09-2017 16:00
  ​It’s now arguably more of a lifestyle than a form of exercise in the west​. ​And rather than becoming more enlightened and compassionate, I felt I was just pouring energy into ​myself
  It was 2010 and the newspaper I worked for in Sydney commissioned me to interview yoga entrepreneur Bikram Choudhury.He was in town to open the first of a chain of hot yoga studios. Choudhury’s brand of yoga – which he had trademarked and franchised – involved 26 pos
  
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• Wine festival for moms sparks firestorm over drinking culture

  17-09-2017 15:02 via winnipegfreepress.com
  TORONTO - A Toronto woman who organized a daytime wine festival for new mothers has found herself caught in a firestorm over the pervasiveness of alcohol at a time when ......
  
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• Welcome to September’s Observer Food Monthly

  17-09-2017 15:00
  This month, we have Nadine Levy Redzepi’s practical, tempting family recipes, the story of amateurs turned professional chefs at Darjeeling Express, and Simon Hopkinson’s classic cookbook Roast Chicken and Other StoriesChefs continue to intrigue and amaze us, but what fascinates me just as much (more, perhaps) is the food we cook at home. The everyday, essential sustenance we make for ourselves and those we love: an early meal for the kids; a meticulously planned celebration dinner;
  
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• Uproar in Turkey over removing evolution from biology class

  17-09-2017 14:24 via winnipegfreepress.com
  ISTANBUL - Students in Turkey are returning to school Monday where they will be taught evolution for the last time in their biology classes. Next fall, evolution and Charles Darwin ...
  
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• Politics and food: President Nixon in China, February 1972

  17-09-2017 14:00
  Etiquette is the least of Tricky Dick’s worries at a state banquet in Shanghai, as he struggles with chopstick diplomacyNixon in China is John Adams’s famous opera, but it’s also a phrase, describing a clash of civilisations, loaded with political jeopardy – plus some bizarre superpower chow-downs. Food is central to the Chinese.The banquet pictured here took place in Shanghai in February 1972, and placed an awkward US Republican loner in the dragon’s mouth. Everyth
  
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• From margherita to the controversial Hawaiian: which British supermarket has the best pizza?

  17-09-2017 14:00
  Restaurant critic Grace Dent’s rates the finest high-street pizzas Continue reading...
  
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• Serbia's leader attends gay pride march for first time

  17-09-2017 13:37 via winnipegfreepress.com
  BELGRADE, Serbia - Serbia's first ever openly gay prime minister joined several hundred gay activists Sunday at a pride event in Belgrade amid tight security in the conservative Balkan country.Holding ...
  
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• Lemn Sissay: ‘For the first time, I’m enjoying my life. I feel I have a purpose’

  17-09-2017 13:30
  Life begins at 50 for the acclaimed poet, who’s overcome a traumatic childhood in care. Next up: more theatre and television projectsWhen I arrive at Benares, the Indian restaurant on Berkeley Square in London, Lemn Sissay has got there first and is on the way back outside for a smoke. I’ve never met Sissay, but he has the true poet’s gift for immediately making you feel like an old mate. We stand outside the Bentley showroom next to the restaurant – this isn’t any
  
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• It's elemental: does wine have a language problem?

  17-09-2017 13:30
  When it comes to wine-tasting is the fashion for certain words, such as ‘minerality’, a help or a hindrance?There’s always a moment of self-consciousness the first time you use a fancy new description for wine in public. Until you’ve used it a few times without being corrected, you can’t be quite sure you’ve got the meaning right, and you can’t help feeling not just pretentious but fraudulent.Such was the case for me with “minerality”. I can&
  
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• Serbia's leader to attend gay pride march for first time

  17-09-2017 11:58 via winnipegfreepress.com
  BELGRADE, Serbia - Serbian police have cordoned off central Belgrade with metal fences to secure a gay pride march that is expected to be attended by the conservative country's first ......
  
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• The pursuit of loneliness: how I chose a life of solitude

  17-09-2017 10:30
  Hayley Campbell quit her job and moved into an empty flat. Here she explains the tough but peculiar pleasures of seclusionSince the late 1980s, scientists have been tracking a whale who sings at a sonic frequency higher than any other whale of its species: at 52 hertz, just above the lowest note on a tuba. It sings songs no one answers. Internet societies have been following it for years like sad Ahabs, transposing their own feelings on to it, believing they understand it. Alone in their bedroom
  
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• Japan restaurant highlights dementia awareness

  17-09-2017 09:30
  TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) - Diners have no complaints about the service at a pop-up restaurant in central Tokyo, where the 17 waiters and waitresses all suffer from dementia.
  
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• ‘I can’t wait to work, but I’m not allowed to’: young refugees on living in limbo

  17-09-2017 09:29
  A new exhibition, Claiming a New Place on Earth, gives a voice to some of the young people who fled war, poverty and persecution and are now coming of age in the UKWhat is it like to grow up in an Afghan village with no water or electricity, then to find yourself alone in London at 18, not speaking a word of English? How does it feel to have to wait for life to begin because you can’t get a driving licence, go to university or find a job until you get your papers?Thousands of teenagers arr
  
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• Victoria Derbyshire: ‘After cancer, I’m squeezing life out of every second’

  17-09-2017 09:00
  Renowned for her tenacious journalism, the BBC broadcaster dealt with her cancer treatment by documenting every moment. Here she talks about the power of positivity and why she got a dogOn Monday 27 July 2015, at 4.35am, Victoria Derbyshire was in her kitchen, with the kettle on, Googling “inverted nipple” before leaving home to present her daily BBC2 current affairs programme. Google came up with a list of explanations, one of which was breast cancer. It is usually best to ignore on
  
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• Suits you: men's tailoring gets relaxed and slouchy – in pictures

  17-09-2017 09:00
  The catwalk shows for autumn/winter 2017 displayed a new take on tailoring: oversized, untucked, with leather in the mix. And don’t be afraid to add a jumper to your workwear• Read more from the autumn/winter 2017 edition of The Fashion, our biannual fashion supplement Continue reading...
  
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• Two wheels good: a beginner's guide to commuting by bike

  17-09-2017 08:00
  Keen to avoid overcrowded buses and tubes and arrive to work brimming with endorphins? Here are some tips to cycling to work, safely and stylishlyHave you ever noticed how cheerful your cycling colleagues are when they arrive at work in the morning? That’s because their commute is quicker and cheaper, they are full of endorphins from the exercise, and they have avoided being crammed on to hot, overcrowded public transport.
  The good news is it’s actually very easy to follow their lead
  
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• Fashion stylist's picks: space age style on the catwalk – in pictures

  17-09-2017 08:00
  Think pointy shoulders, planetary motifs and lots of metallic shine as you channel your inner astronaut• Read more from the autumn/winter 2017 edition of The Fashion, our biannual fashion supplement Continue reading...
  
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• Zanussi turns up heat on new boiler installation. Is it a con?

  17-09-2017 07:59
  The salesman offered me a grant that I don’t think I’m eligible forI’ve been offered a non-means-tested government grant towards a Zanussi gas boiler installation, but am worried it may be a new take on the double-glazing hard sell. Try as I might, I can’t find out whether it’s genuine or not. It started with a cold call from what I understood to be the Energy Saving Trust, saying that if I had an old boiler I was entitled to a grant for a new one. Ten minutes later
  
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• The ‘how to…’ questions the internet needs to answer | Eva Wiseman

  17-09-2017 07:00
  When we want to know something we are all very quick to turn to the internet. But why do we never ask it anything that really matters?Google (have you heard of Google? How to explain. OK, imagine shouting questions at a very tall pile of leaflets) has noticed a 140% increase in “how to” searches. Top of its list is “how to… tie a tie,” followed by, “how to… kiss.” “How to… get pregnant,” is number three, followed by “lose
  
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• The day Van Morrison remembered me – and impressed my girlfriend

  17-09-2017 07:00
  A chance encounter in a restaurant in Bath with Van the Man leads to a bizarre series of events for one fan, recalls Jon BewleyIn 1994 I was travelling around the UK visiting various arts festivals with an eye to setting up a new arts organisation, the future Locus+. At the Bath Festival, I was travelling alone. Not knowing the city, I chanced upon a small, out-of-the-way restaurant and during the meal I noticed to my great surprise that Van Morrison was eating there, too, with a companion.I was
  
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• Renovo x Glenmorangie Original bike preview | Martin Love

  17-09-2017 07:00
  A stunning wooden-framed bike made from old whisky casksPrice: £5,300
  Frame: whisky cask
  Weight: 8.1kg
  Gears: Shimano UltegraGlenmorangie owes much of its famously smooth drinking style to the years it spends maturing in casks of American oak. Now an Oregon bike company, Renovo, has found a way of harnessing some of the whisky’s complex character by turning its old casks into beautifully polished bicycles. Renovo has been building wooden bikes for the past decade because, as its foun
  
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• Nigel Slater’s jam and pickle recipes

  17-09-2017 07:00
  Making preserves can be fun. But don’t expect them to last long when they taste this good…I love sitting in the kitchen, coffee in hand, listening to jam bubbling on the stove. Another day it may be the pickling liquor lined up for bottling figs or apricots with the sting of vinegar and spices in the air.None of this means I’m the sort of person with a larder full of neatly labelled preserving jars, destined to last for months, if not years. I make preserves in small amounts,
  
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• My parents put me down, so I moved in with the boy I love | Dear Mariella

  17-09-2017 07:00
  Most parents are just trying to do their best, but laying down the law can be damagingThe dilemma My parents found out that I had this white boyfriend, from going through my phone. Now they are constantly putting me down and making me feel worthless. I have grown to love this boy more and more, to the point where I can’t be without him. When I turned 18, I spoke to my boyfriend’s parents, who agreed that I could move in, as my parents hated me leaving the house. I walked out after my
  
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• Is this really a post-truth world? | Julian Baggini

  17-09-2017 07:00
  The truth used to be plain and simple. Just because it’s now complex doesn’t mean it’s false, argues Julian BagginiThe promise of the truth has always been alluring. The most-quoted Gospel verse on evangelical posters and literature is John 14:6, in which Jesus proclaims: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” It resonates because we all have a sense that truth is somehow essential to living well. If your life turns out to have been built on nothing but lies, it is
  
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• Da Maria: ‘The kind of place that keeps London human’ – restaurant review

  17-09-2017 07:00
  This tiny outpost of Naples is the pride and joy of Notting Hill. Now comes the terrible news that it is under threatDa Maria, 87B Notting Hill Gate, London W11 3JZ (020 7792 4491). Meal for two, including drinks and service: £30-£60Da Maria on London’s Notting Hill Gate is not much to look at, literally. It is less a fully fledged restaurant than a strip-lit, table-laid cupboard. It looks like a sandwich bar with ambitions above its station, which is exactly what it is. The sp
  
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• Bringing colour home: a fashion designer’s house

  17-09-2017 07:00
  Psychedelia meets folk art in Holly Fulton’s home to create a trove of curiositiesHolly Fulton once flew back from Majorca with Marlene Dietrich in her hand luggage. It was the only way of getting around Ryanair’s stringent baggage restrictions. Marlene – or, rather, a shelf painted with Marlene’s distinctive face and expressive hands – was an irresistible market find and Fulton, the Scottish-born, London-based fashion designer, was determined to get the piece home
  
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• Action Bronson: the rapper sending food TV fans into raptures | Ed Cumming

  17-09-2017 07:00
  He’s big, bearded and very sweary. He’s also on a mission to tell you about great food. Ed Cumming talks to Action BronsonSpeaking to Action Bronson, the thick-bearded, 300lb tattooed Albanian-American rapper who has forged a second career as a gourmand TV presenter, it seems surprising that more musicians aren’t foodies. Surfing from city to city on expense accounts, with plenty of free afternoons, life on tour offers a lot of scope for exploring out-of-the-way restaurants and
  
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• Chin Chin's slow-roasted lamb marinated in curry leaf and stir-fried chickpeas recipe

  17-09-2017 03:47
  A weekend away doesn’t have to mean eating out every night, with recipes from Melbourne’s favourite restaurant to cook wherever you stay Getting out of town doesn’t have to mean resorting to takeaway food and roadside meat pies. With a bit of preparation, Chin Chin chef Benjamin Cooper says, a meal of slow-roasted lamb and chickpeas can be enjoyed on a weekend getaway. Continue reading...
  
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• London Fashion Week: Burberry brings back vintage check

  17-09-2017 00:18 via winnipegfreepress.com
  LONDON - Unfazed by the London subway attack, celebrities, models and fashion editors flocked to London Fashion Week on Saturday to celebrate all things stylish.Designers showcasing their latest visions included ......
  
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