Life & Style news

• The Da Vinci road: walking through Tuscany

  09-02-2019 12:00
  Five hundred years after the death of Leonardo, our writer sets off on a walk between the Renaissance cities of Florence and Siena, sampling sublime food and wine along the wayOn the first morning, I lean out of my hotel window in Florence and admire the garden below. Whose can it be? There’s a wonderful curving greenhouse that leans on an ancient wall. There are palms and lemon trees, fragments of time-worn statuary, an elegant wrought-iron table with a chair. On the table is a folded new
  
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• Liam Charles’ recipe for luurve sandwich biscuits | The Sweet Spot

  09-02-2019 12:00
  Hit that sweet spot on Valentine’s Day with these heart-shaped shortbread sandwiches with royal icing and a white chocolate fillingValentine’s Day was a bigger deal when I was at primary school than it is now. I remember working up the courage to tell the girl I fancied that I loved her ... Cringe! Nowadays, I can still dial up the romance – but in the form of these biscuits.Continue reading...
  
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• Sleep fact and fiction: does counting sheep work?

  09-02-2019 11:00
  Is an hour’s sleep before midnight as good as two after? Can a lie-in at the weekend make up for late nights during the week? We separate the fact from the fictionA siesta is not the same thing as a power nap. Siestas are a cultural norm in certain places (particularly in hot countries) where people take a brief rest after lunch. We can do this because our circadian biology (body clock) has a natural dip in the afternoon and there is a natural lull in our alertness. If we are extremely sle
  
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• Siesta no more? Why Spanish sleeping habits are under strain

  09-02-2019 11:00
  Spaniards eat later and stay up longer than their European neighbours because of the siesta. But now that’s under threatMidweek in Madrid on a summer’s evening, it’s 25C and at 10pm the bars, cafes and squares are full of Madrileños, chatting and drinking. They’re still there at midnight, only now some are eating too. Not until 2am do the bars start to close as the crowd thins out. Most of these people will have to go to work in the morning, so the question is: whe
  
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• Meera Sodha’s recipe for vegan aubergine fesenjan | The New Vegan

  09-02-2019 11:00
  Woo your loved one with these roast aubergines in a rich, sweet-sour walnut-and-pomegranate sauceThe first thing I noticed about my now-husband Hugh when we met wasn’t his beautiful face or wit, but the hugely disconcerting red splatters over him and his kitchen’s walls. He’d been juicing pomegranates to make me this ancient Persian dish, in which walnuts and pomegranates combine to make a rich, tart and sweet sauce. These days, you can buy pomegranate molasses everywhere, whic
  
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• Yotam Ottolenghi’s Valentine’s Day recipes

  09-02-2019 10:30
  Unconventional Valentine’s recipes for confit duck legs with herby roast kohlrabi, topped off with a fragrant coffee cream pud to give your evening a liftValentine’s Day can be troublesome. Apparently loving couples can end up running in opposite directions halfway through a meal, even in my restaurants. Though that isn’t true for most lovebirds celebrating this Thursday, I have decided to embrace the contentious nature of the day with a meal that is anything but predictably mu
  
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• Clean, crisp bedding brings comfort like nothing else | Hannah Jane Parkinson

  09-02-2019 10:00
  Research shows fresh sheets improve sleep (and even our romantic lives)There is something more comforting than luxury spa trips, or even indulgent massages. Something that soothes bones, costs (almost) no money, boosts the mood and makes the nights softer and the mornings lighter. Fresh bedding: clean, taut sheets, plumped pillows, the crinkle of a rejuvenated duvet cover.As an insomniac, I look to any possible positive source of influence for a good night’s sleep. Exercise often doesn&rsq
  
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• The best full coverage concealers | Sali Hughes

  09-02-2019 09:00
  Perfect for those awkward spotsFull-coverage foundations are huge right now, but I’m broadly averse. Unless your complexion is as problematic as you believe (unlikely), serious cover-up comes best from heavy-duty concealer, since this can be applied judiciously only to the areas in extra need, allowing the rest of your skin to look healthy and real – dewy, living, not uniform in colour and finish. A full-coverage concealer over a lighter foundation, tinted moisturiser, or even nothin
  
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• ‘Stress-related illness has wrecked my financial plans’

  09-02-2019 08:45
  Carol O’Halloran, 48, on how illness has changed her life – and her hopes for the futureName: Carol O’Halloran
  Age: 48
  Income: £60,000
  Occupation: PR consultantBefore my divorce I earned at the highest £144,000 but regularly above £75,000, plus pension, medical and other benefits. I was the main wage earner in our marriage and, as part of the divorce, I had to give my ex-husband a high payout so that I could keep the house. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Our MDF furniture brought toxic fumes into our home’

  09-02-2019 08:45
  A couple paid £16,000 for high-end wardrobes, only to discover high levels of formaldehydeA science journalist is warning others to beware of the risks of MDF after her new bedroom furniture appeared to produce toxic fumes that were 13 times the World Health Organisation’s limits.Tracey Logan, who lives in Chiswick, west London, says she and her husband Richard Szwagrzak could not spend more than a minute in the room without their eyes stinging after new wardrobes and shelving were i
  
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• Energy bills: are your cuppas costing more than you thought?

  09-02-2019 08:30
  The UK uses more electricity on kettles that we do an oven. We could cut the cost in halfHere’s a trick question for a quiz: which uses the most electricity every year? An electric oven, hob, microwave or kettle?The answer? The humble kettle, which eats up about 6% of all the electricity supplied to British homes. Continue reading...
  
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• What is the first planet from the Sun to have a moon? The Weekend quiz

  09-02-2019 08:00
  From Prince Augustus to Prince Harry, test your knowledge with the Weekend quiz1 The world’s largest annual gathering, where does the Arbaeen pilgrimage take place?
  2 What Nashville concert series began in 1925?
  3 What is the first planet from the Sun to have a moon?
  4 What title comes from the Japanese for “barbarian-subduing great general”?
  5 Oflag IV-C was better known as what?
  6 What distinction is claimed, in the 1660s, for Margaret Hughes?
  7 What shade is IKB?
  8 What is A
  
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• Peaks and Downs: the best family-friendly breaks in national parks

  09-02-2019 08:00
  England and Wales’ national parks date from a law passed 70 years ago. Our writer, who has walked all 13, picks fun breaks and youth hostels in eachLegal protection of England and Wales’ national parks began with a law passed by the post-war Labour government that also created the NHS. The 1932 mass trespass at Kinder Scout in the Peak District helped bring about the 1949 National Parks Act, and two years later the upland area was designated Britain’s first national park. It em
  
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• Is money to go travelling a suitable 21st birthday present?

  09-02-2019 08:00
  He’s asked for cash, but we’re not sure whether relatives will think it’s rudeEvery week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it’s up to you to help him or her out – a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturday’s paper.My son turns 21 in a few weeks and would like cash for his birthday so he can go travelling. Relatives have started asking what he would like. Can we just tell them to give him money, or would that be rude? Would it be
  
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• Four recipes for breakfast in bed … for Valentine's Day and beyond | Jane Hornby

  09-02-2019 08:00
  Get on your partner’s good side on Valentine’s morning: tempting toast toppers, smoked salmon and cream cheese pancakes, or asparagus and bacon frittataBuckwheat flour gives a light nuttiness to these pancakes. A traditional blini would be made with yeast, but baking powder is a lot simpler and quicker to use. Continue reading...
  
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• Fit in my 40s: ‘Judo, yoga and ballet in a week? There’s an app for that’ | Zoe Williams

  09-02-2019 08:00
  I’m trying ClassPass - a single membership to billions of gymsFitness tips: how to get the most out of exercise classes
  ClassPass is global, but has a few hundred studios in the UK, in Bristol, Bath, Manchester and the London area. The principle is that you pay a monthly fee for credits that allow you to go to any of a billion gyms, at any point of the 24/7s, and do any class. It’s not quite as liberty-hall as it sounds: they have lots of different deals, but it’s £65 a m
  
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• How to have a good death

  09-02-2019 07:39 via winnipegfreepress.com
  When Angelika Jantz’s mother died in the spring of 2017 at the age of 87, her family made a decision that seems at once both perfectly natural and totally radical.They ......
  
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• Vatican ex-doctrine chief pens manifesto amid pope criticism

  09-02-2019 07:31 via winnipegfreepress.com
  VATICAN CITY - The Vatican's former doctrine chief has penned a "manifesto of faith" to remind Catholics of basic tenets of belief amid what he says is "growing confusion" in ......
  
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• The best thing you can do for your health: sleep well

  09-02-2019 07:30
  ‘A consistent seven to nine-hour sleep each night is the most effective thing we can do to reset our brain and body health’Do you think you got enough sleep this past week? Can you remember the last time you woke up without an alarm clock, feeling refreshed, not needing caffeine? If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” you are not alone. Two-thirds of adults throughout all developed nations fail to obtain the recommended eight hours of nightly sleep.Indeed, surve
  
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• Bedtime routines: five ways to get a good night's sleep

  09-02-2019 07:30
  From avoiding screens to sidestepping that evening nightcap, here’s what you can do to improve your chances of an undisturbed night Continue reading...
  
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• How to turn rhubarb into a Valentine's drink | Waste Not

  09-02-2019 07:00
  Make the most of seasonal rhubarb with a quick jam, and use up the excess cooking juice for a romantic belliniForced rhubarb is grown mostly in Yorkshire, where it’s kept in the dark in heated warehouses, to create and maintain and maintain its shocking pink colour.This candy-coloured perennial vegetable, which comes from the same family as buckwheat, is plentiful right now, but has only a short season, until about the end of March. It’s a real treat for the seasonal eater, and a wel
  
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• Extra! Jeremy Scott makes news (literally) on the runway

  09-02-2019 06:31 via winnipegfreepress.com
  NEW YORK - CHAOS! HORROR! PANIC! BABY, IT'S HOT! Designer Jeremy Scott has always liked to make news, but with his latest collection he did it literally, drawing design inspiration ......
  
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• Palm Angels lights up NY Fashion Week with strobes, stags

  09-02-2019 05:03 via winnipegfreepress.com
  NEW YORK - With a strobe light show worthy of a seizure warning and classic statuary in clear boxes, Milan streetwear cool guy Francesco Ragazzi brought his celeb-popular Palm Angels ...
  
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• Prize crossword No 27,740

  09-02-2019 01:00
  Continue reading...
  
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