Uncategorized

The rum baba sits somewhere between a cake and a pudding: made from an enriched, yeasted dough, full of butter, called savarin, which is like a very dry brioche. It isn’t quite as enriched as brioche and, after baking, it can be left to stale, and dry out further, which means that when it’s soaked in the sweet boozy syrup, it will drink up even more. Savarin dough can be used to make enormous bundt cakes, often decorated with fresh cream and fruit, but I have a soft spot for the individual baba. Once soaked, they are squidgy and extremely alcoholic – put it this way, I wouldn’t want to

Beneath the polarised political spats that characterise our national conversation, there is a surprising degree of consensus between left and right on what is wrong with society. Selfishness, corruption, tribalism and a failure to build for the long term – these are universally decried. We can all see the same glitching appliances, but we seem determined not to follow the leads back to the same plugs. There appear occasionally thinkers that dig beneath the political fray and offer insight into how these political differences have come about. Three such writers that were published a generation ago, and have since been proved unequivocally right, are now available in my new preferred medium,

Even before the news of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh was announced, Buckingham Palace had had to suspend ticket sales for visiting its gardens this summer, due to overwhelming demand. With the annual summer opening of the State rooms cancelled for the second year running due to the pandemic, the opportunity to picnic in the grounds of the Queen’s London home has proved irresistible. Even the US networks have carried the story. Tickets, at the time of writing, were not available. But don’t despair. If the State rooms are anything to go by (more plush velvet and gilt than a 1930s provincial Odeon), then — whisper it —

A long time ago, a seasoned old hack gave me some wise words of advice: never to trust anyone who did not know the Sunday pub opening hours. This was back in the days when the Nanny State got to decide when pubs could open on the Sabbath. This year, after thirteen long months of the Gestapo State in charge of whether pubs could open at all, I’ve decided to write off anyone who didn’t have ’12 April’ circled and underlined in red ink three times in their diaries to mark our return at long last, after a long hard lockdown winter, to the pub. It was hailed as the

The stark simplicity of the music performed at Prince Philip’s funeral service will have made a gentle but huge impact on the mourners, inside St George’s Chapel Windsor and on the millions watching on television around the world. Those of us who have some involvement in the world of choral music were mightily impressed at how the music was delivered, by only four choristers when the norm is a full complement of about 30 singers, adults and children. Three of the four singers were Lay Clerks of St George’s Chapel Choir (countertenor, tenor and baritone) with an added female soprano voice, conducted by James Vivian and the organ was played

Have you been watching Shtisel during lockdown? Or maybe you are just one of the hundreds (thousands?) of us eyeing vaccination rates and realising the obvious candidate for this year’s summer holiday green list: Israel. Land of mountains, sea, multiple religions, ancient and knotty history, and copious amounts of houmous. Whether the 8,550 square mile country, just a fifth of the width of England and its widest point, can fit us all is another matter but if you are searching for more or less any type of holiday, it’s likely that Israel can provide. Historic city break No prizes for guessing Israel’s most storied city. Legends, tales and parables seem

So many headlines over the last year have read more like deadpan satire than actual news that it’s hard to believe we don’t live in an episode of Chris Morris’s still unequalled The Day Today. Take this example last week from the Guardian: ‘Tom Hanks’s son criticized for using “racist” font on merchandise collection.’ As I sat down to interrogate Times New Roman’s imperialist past to ensure my letter to the editor wouldn’t be similarly charged, I discovered CNN had run an entire feature on those belittling artefacts of Orientalism, the ‘Chop Suey’ fonts. So now here we are, coming up on two hundred years since The Spectator leant its shoulder to driving through the

Last summer, when Covid forced the cancellation of our holiday, my husband and I had a staycation. We read books, played games, drank Pimm’s on our patio and invented ever more imaginative ways to avoid our DIY to-do list. Each morning brought the usual bills and junk mail to our door rather than a hotel breakfast tray, and there was no one else to do the washing up or freshen up the bathroom towels. As of this week, apparently, millions of other people are doing the same thing. The Sunday Times heralded ‘the return of the staycation’ as ‘the great unlocking begins in earnest and we are allowed to stay

Those with a watchful eye might spot something this week (or next)  not seen in a while. And I’m not talking about a freshly poured pint, or the sight of your forehead after three months without a barber’s care. Rather, as England and the whole of the UK, begins to ‘open up’ after the third national lockdown, and as we emerge socially emboldened into the spring sunshine inoculated to the tune of some 32 million first doses of Covid vaccine, there’s a chance we might see the handshake make a tentative return. I can’t be the only one who has begun to wince slightly every time I see someone on TV shaking hands in

A cooker is not just for cooking. That is the starting point to understanding the Aga. It is impractical, environmentally unfriendly, and expensive. Everyone – including the Aga’s most ardent devotees – knows that. And yet the Aga cooker next year will celebrate its centenary. Despite all the modern appliances that should long ago have rendered it obsolete, these enamel-coated cast-iron behemoths continue to soldier on indefatigably. They are one of the twenty first century’s great survivors. The brand has a glorious history. The Aga cooker was invented by a Nobel Prize-winning Swedish physicist. Having been blinded by an explosion from an earlier invention that went awry, he decided to

The National Theatre’s made-for-screen production of Romeo and Juliet (currently available on Sky Arts) has been delighting theatre-starved Shakespeare fans over the past week. Starring Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley this intimately shot film version of the Shakespeare play makes for perfect viewing for an audience starved of both social contact and theatre.  If you’re in the mood for more of the Bard, and can’t wait until theatres reopen, here’s our pick of the best film adaptations. A Midsummer’s Night Dream (2016), BritBox With a judicious trim of the text, the ever-wonderful Russell T Davies turns Shakespere’s classic comedy into the perfect prime time romp. Whether it’s the campy fascism of