'For me, wellness is a huge part of my mental wellbeing...' Scarlett Johansson shares the exercise schedule that keeps her healthy and happy
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2023-10-11 19:22
Get a $25 Amazon credit for buying paper towels and laundry detergent
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How to watch U.S. Prime Video for free from anywhere in the world
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Get the Best Deals: 5 Amazon Prime Day Shopping Tips for Bargain Hunters
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2023-10-03 00:57
Hermine Dossou: Being thrifty in the kitchen helped me get on the housing ladder
As a trained accountant and a long-time baking enthusiast, Hermine Dossou knows a thing or two about saving money in the kitchen. “My first breadmaker was from Panasonic – I bought it from Gumtree,” the former Great British Bake Off contestant says. “It was basically somebody’s wedding present that they didn’t want and they sold it half price.” A devotee of Martin Lewis’s Money Saving Expert website, the 42-year-old, who was born in Benin, West Africa, and moved to the UK for university aged 20, tries to avoid ever paying full price for a big ticket item. “If I wanted to buy, let’s say, a mixer, I would go online, and type ‘Kenwood discount vouchers’ and then something always comes up,” says Dossou, who lives in Kettering and came fourth on the 2020 series of Bake Off. But the mum-of-one – whose son Steven is 13 – wasn’t always such a frugal foodie. “That came from that period where I became a single mum on a reduced income,” she says. “I couldn’t work full-time because I had to look after my son, and also I didn’t want him to have the processed kind of bakes.” Whipping up cakes and cookies filled her “empty afternoons” as a new mum and was a lot cheaper than buying ready-made baked goods. “I would cook from scratch and prep my vegetables when I could get them on offer,” she continues. “Same for fruits – they are often very discounted when they become a bit soft, and that’s the best time to make jam.” Even post-Bake Off and her book deal (she works full-time as an accountant), Dossou remains a savvy shopper, knowing that a higher price doesn’t always mean a better product. “Like a bar of chocolate, if it’s the same quantity of cocoa, why are you paying three times the price? Especially if you’re going to bake with it. “Wonky onions at half the price is the same… they all come from the same farm.” Her accountancy skills came in handy, too, and she still uses a spreadsheet to track her income and outgoings every month. “I think generally in life it is important to budget and know where your money goes, because I think it allows you to achieve a lot more than if you were just living freestyle,” Dossou says. “It’s a nightmare trying to get on the housing ladder here in the UK – that’s something I’ve been able to do through being thrifty in every area of my life.” That’s why she decided to call her first cookbook The Thrifty Baker: “I just really wanted to bring that awareness of how we choose what we eat, and how we can save through making little changes here and there.” “Now, more than ever, when people are struggling with the cost of living, I think it’s even more important to go back to those values of cooking from scratch, trying to cook at home, and making meals from, you know, not much.” With lots of advice for beginners, the book focuses on affordable dishes, from basic breads and simple biscuits to special occasion puds and impressive-looking desserts. There’s a distinct Gallic influence (Benin, where Dossou learned to bake as a child, is a former French colony) felt with recipes such as pain de campagne, orange and brown butter madeleinesm and pear frangipane tart. The author points out when a recipe can be cooked in an air fryer – a recent Black Friday bargain she loves because it allows her to enjoy fried Benin delicacies using less oil and without turning on the oven. “Because we have a really small family, just me and my son, you don’t always want to put the oven on just to bake something for two. “With an oven you’ll need to preheat it for a good 15 to 20 minutes before you can even bake in it. With the air fryer you just put the cake in and 15 minutes later it’s out – easy and convenient.” There’s also a section devoted to microwaveable mug cakes, with peanut butter and jam, speculoos (aka Biscoff) and chocolate hazelnut flavours of the cheap and easy-to-make single-serve puds. “In the microwave you can make a cake in five minutes from weighing, mixing and baking,” says Dossou, who loves how kid-friendly they are. “With my son I feel more inclined to let him make a mug cake than maybe something bigger. “Even if it goes wrong he’s not wasting a lot of ingredients and, you know, he’s not turning the kitchen into a bonfire.” ‘The Thrifty Baker’ by Hermine Dossou (White Lion, £18.99).
2023-09-06 13:58
'Flamin' Hot review: Does it matter if a feel-good movie is a lie?
This year's SXSW has brought a collection of comedies delving into the stranger-than-fiction true stories
2023-06-09 18:23
The Mill food recycling bin keeps your kitchen scraps from going to a landfill by feeding them to chickens instead
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2023-10-31 05:22
Popular weight loss drugs linked to higher risk of stomach paralysis
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How to watch all Chelsea pre-season games for free
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2023-07-19 12:18
Etihad Bets on Premium Leisure With Return of ‘Apartments’ in Sky
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Kevin Magnussen’s car catches fire in scary flashpoint at British Grand Prix
Kevin Magnussen’s car caught fire in a flashpoint during the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The Dane, driving for American-owned team Haas, came to a halt on the Wellington Straight while under pressure from the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll. Magnussen weaved to the left of the straight before the engine of his car blew up, with a huge fireball forming at the rear. Fortunately, Magnussen rapidly disembarked the car, with the incident resulting in a safety car in which the majority of the field pitted. Max Verstappen currently leads the race with British driver Lando Norris in second and Lewis Hamilton in third. More to follow… Read More F1 British Grand Prix LIVE: Race updates as Lando Norris falls behind Max Verstappen at Silverstone
2023-07-09 23:26
Selma Blair says ‘older male doctors’ misdiagnosed her multiple sclerosis as menstrual issues
Selma Blair has opened up about how “older male doctors” dismissed her early multiple sclerosis symptoms, and suggested she get a boyfriend to help with the pain. The Cruel Intentions star, 51, discussed how her multiple sclerosis (MS) went undiagnosed for years during an interview with Kristen Welker on Meet The Press. While speaking with Welker on 26 November, Blair revealed that doctors had chalked up her early MS symptoms as simply menstrual issues. “Everything does not need to be blamed on menstruation or something,” she said, noting that the long delay in her diagnosis was likely due to “older male doctors who really probably did not know the intricacies of a girl”. One medical professional even told Blair that maybe she “needed a boyfriend” after seeking help for her chronic pain, the actress said. “I just cried,” Blair said, when asked about her response to the doctor’s suggestion. “I had no capability to process: ‘What am I supposed to do with this information?’ I knew the pain was real. I thought it was. But I did start to convince myself: ‘You’re overly sensitive. There’s nothing wrong with you. Get it together, you lazy, lazy whatever.’” The Legally Blonde actor went on to explain how she began experiencing symptoms of MS as early as just seven years old. “There is a prodromal period so I’m not certain that it actually was full on,” Blair told Welker. “I had very clear signs at that time. I had optical neuritis as a child, which really is only from brain trauma or MS, and yet they didn’t recognise it even though I was seeking doctors my entire childhood.” Blair admitted that she’s experienced “so much medical trauma” due to doctors “taking advantage of that time” or “really just not seeing me” while trying to be diagnosed for her chronic health condition. “I’ve been advocating for myself for a long time, trying to find what was ailing me, why I was not able to keep up with anyone really my entire life,” she said. The Mean Baby author acknowledged that much of her misdiagnosis has to do with “gender bias” in medicine. She recalled an incident when a boy in her class was experiencing “the exact same chronic headache and fever” and he received “surgery and an MRI within the week”. “But they just said: ‘Oh, [you’re] just dramatic,’ you know?” Blair recounted. While she noted that MS symptoms are “different for everyone”, the actor explained how she began experiencing symptoms that were “disguised as emotional” mood swings. “I have prefrontal damage that would cause hysterical crying and laughing,” Blair explained. “I just thought: ‘Wow, I’m just that wild one that wakes up in the middle of the night, like, waking myself up laughing hysterically, or sobbing, or in front of people just very moody maybe.” “And I believed all these things,” she added. “I was put on really strong antidepressants from a really young age. And I drank. I drank because I felt so other. I just went in the basement and I drank from a really young age.” In October 2018, Blair publicly shared that she had been diagnosed with MS - a condition that affects the central nervous system, disrupting the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and body, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Since then, she’s offered deeper insight into her health struggles in the Discovery+ documentary Introducing, Selma Blair. The film, which was released in 2021, follows Blair as she undergoes a risky stem cell transplant to treat the disease. In August that year, Blair revealed that she was in remission following the stem cell transplant. Read More Revealed: Healthy mental health patients trapped in hospitals for years Major study focuses on key lifestyle change that can add decade to life expectancy Dan Walker recalls having ‘out of body experience’ during a kidney cancer scare Revealed: Healthy mental health patients trapped in hospitals for years Major study focuses on key lifestyle change that can add decade to life expectancy Dan Walker recalls having ‘out of body experience’ during a kidney cancer scare
2023-11-28 01:16
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