Think twice about your resolutions December 21, 2009 AFTER a season of excess, it’s no wonder New Year’s Day comes with a hearty dose of self-recrimination and impassioned vows to improve. There’s no doubt that the more your liver is aching, the more painfully your belly is straining against your belt, and the emptier your bank account, the more you feel the need [...]
Coffee is good for you, but I’m eating broccoli instead December 21, 2009 IT SEEMS like only yesterday that we were writing in these pages about how bad coffee is for you. Too many cups a day, we reported, can lead to exhausted adrenal glands, an increased chance of osteoporosis, huge swings in blood sugar levels and other more obvious effects such as indigestion and sleeplessness. Enough to [...]
Sun, sea and Hinduism all come together in Mauritius December 14, 2009 THE first thing that you notice about Mauritius is that it is a real place. By that I mean that it is a contrast to its holiday competitors in the Indian Ocean, the Seychelles and Maldives. They are made up of dozens of tiny islands which are often owned by resorts and have been turned into [...]
Galvins open a temple to fine food December 7, 2009 Galvin La Chapelle35 Spital Square, E1 6DY, tel: 020 7299 0400FOODSERVICEATMOSPHERECost per person without wine: £50 THE Galvin brothers first struck gold with their close-to-perfect Bistrot De Luxe in Baker Street, which fused rusticity with the fineness of serious French cuisine. Then they took over Windows at the Park Lane Hilton, turning it into a [...]
Keep your eyes on the pies December 2, 2009 CHRISTMAS without mince pies would be like a British summer without rain – simply not possible. We love our mince pies – at least before a month of over-eating them makes us a stone heavier and permanently nausceous. But they can vary in quality. At their best, they are a combination of sweet, sour, gooey [...]
MY OTHER CAR’S AN ASTON, BUT THE G-WIZ IS PERFECT FOR LONDON December 1, 2009 IF YOU watch Top Gear, you will have recently seen Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond trying to build an electric car to rival the best-selling G-Wiz. The presenters hate electric cars as they stand for everything that they don’t. I am no greenophile – my other car is an Aston Martin. Yet I [...]
Warning: anger is bad for your heart November 30, 2009 NEXT time you feel you’re going to burst a blood vessel from rage because a colleague undermined you or stitched you up or just generally made you feel crap, think carefully about how you deal with your feelings. Repression could be deadly – a study from Stockholm University’s Stress Research Institute found that men who [...]
Both black and white beers will bring out the best in oysters November 26, 2009 London's connection with oysters goes back as far as the city itself. The eating of oysters in London began in Roman times, when the British product was shipped as far as Rome. They continued to be popular in medieval times, when the church imposed lots of “fish days”, during which seafood had to be eaten [...]
How to control Xmas party damage November 23, 2009 THE revelry of the Christmas season always carries the same sting in its tail: hangovers, weight gain and liver strain. On average, people gain five pounds over the four-week period, the result of consuming 500 extra calories a day (a few handful of crisps, a mini sausage roll, a couple of glasses of wine and [...]
An East End gastropub on the up November 23, 2009 The Princess of Shoreditch76 Paul Street EC2A 4NE,Tel: 020 7729 9270Cost per person without wine: £34 THE NEWLY revamped Princess of Shoreditch describes itself as a “gastropub and restaurant”, which might be seen as having your cake and eating it, but the owners have grand ideas. In the bar downstairs you can get souped-up pub [...]