Christmas food shop: The pros give their top tips December 4, 2024 With less than a month to go, it’s time to start thinking about your Christmas food shop… Or is it? I spoke to some top chefs and restaurateurs about how they approach the most important meal of the year and asked them for their pro tips on making it one to remember (for the right [...]
Libby’s Naked Diary December 4, 2024 Scrooges stay away, Grinches get ye gone! I had heard that nowhere does Christmas time like Buckinghamshire’s Cliveden House, but this surpassed expectation. As a parent, Christmas can be all about the children, but stepping through the entrance’s stone pillars, wrapped in wreaths and fairy lights, to the hall’s enormous glittering tree, I felt that [...]
To find the soul of another country, head to the supermarket December 3, 2024 My favourite thing about travelling abroad isn’t the sun, the sand, nor the sea – it’s going to the local supermarket. Walking through the doors of a foreign grocery store is like passing through the looking glass into a place where everything is both familiar and alien, a fairground mirror that reflects a strange, distorted [...]
Last Orders: An appreciation of the takeaway menu, a dying cultural artefact December 3, 2024 When I walked through my front door in Gateshead as a teenager, the doormat would be covered in a carpet of brightly coloured paper. A cherry-blossom pink menu from the local Chinese takeaway, the red and gold of an Indian place, and pictures of row upon row of bargain buckets from the local chicken shop. [...]
Pearl Mackie: The Doctor Who star on her dream last supper December 3, 2024 Pearl Mackie, star of Netflix thriller The Diplomat and the upcoming production of Noel Streatfeild’s Ballet Shoes at the National Theatre, tells us what she would eat for her last meal on earth My mum was vegetarian so I was veggie when I was growing up, until I was about 12. Back then it wasn’t great [...]
My Top Christmas Wines December 3, 2024 As much as I love the tradition of turkey and think pigs-in-blankets are delicious, unsurprisingly the wine is the star attraction at my house, and I put a whole lot of thought and care into what I serve my guests. Nothing kicks off a celebration better than a glass of something sparkling and I will [...]
The weird and wonderful world of Japanese model food December 2, 2024 Japan is famous for the way its cultural artefacts seem to evolve separately from the rest of the world. Travel to Tokyo and you can find fax machines that have continued to develop new bells and whistles long after their use in the west began its terminal decline in the 1990s. Shokuhin sanpuru (literally: food [...]
Will our Christmas dinner guests soon be AI chatbots? December 2, 2024 Glad tidings of comfort and joy! Christmas has traditionally been a time for congregating with your fellow homo sapiens – but play nice over the turkey and sprouts this year: it could be one of the last where unmediated human interaction is still the norm. We’re about to enter a world in which AI bots [...]
Bad Gastein: Skiing with a touch of belle époque glamour December 2, 2024 They say first impressions matter, and my goodness, Bad Gastein certainly makes a great first impression. When approaching the resort, visitors are met with what at first glance, looks like a Wes Anderson film set. A spectacular cliff amphitheatre is crowned by elegant and imposing turn of the century palaces and hotels. As our taxi [...]
Best gifts for 2024: Our bumper Christmas Gift Guide of 44 must-buy presents November 29, 2024 It’s time to get serious about your presents, whether you’re looking for the best gifts for mum, top presents for dad or filling up a stocking for the rest of the family, we have you covered, from fashion to technology, fashion, fragrance and spirits. Check out our incredible annual gift guide, complete with links to [...]