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A cooking teacher who lost her sense of taste and smell and “never fully recovered” after catching Covid last summer has decided to shut her business because she can no longer gauge the quantity needed or quality of ingredients in her dishes. Raisa Ali, 51, said to continue teaching people how to cook Indian food would be like “the blind leading the blind” as her sense of taste and smell have never been the same since she caught Covid in July 2022. The mother-of-three, who lives in Kingston, south London, knew “something was missing” after her husband Akbar, 52, and her students found she was being heavy-handed with the spices but could not tell the difference. Raisa made the difficult decision to close her Sweet Sultry Spice cooking school after teaching a class how to make the Indian spice mix garam masala and realising that, while she knew the recipe from memory, she could not smell the pungent ingredients. Covid has “killed the joy of cooking” and dried up her source of income, but Raisa has now accepted what happened and is looking for a fresh start. Raisa, who has three sons, twins Zain and Zakir, 16, and Yusuf, 19, said: “I can’t dwell on this anymore and just have to move forward. “My main mode of cooking and learning and teaching has been to follow my nose. “I used to make my students take whiffs of everything at every stage. “I decided to close the school because when I lost my sense of taste and smell, my passion died. “Covid killed the most important part of food for me.” Raisa started giving cooking classes in her kitchen after completing a nutrition course in 2018 and taking advice from a friend. “I did a one-year nutrition course and started working online, trying to build a small business, but it wasn’t going anywhere and I was feeling very isolated,” she said. “A friend of mine came over and said ‘you’re doing it all wrong, why don’t you just open a cooking school’. “I was scared but she was like ‘feel the fear and just do it anyway.” She soon found herself giving two or three classes per week to groups of around five people for between £60 and £70, teaching them to cook Indian cuisine. “People would come over to my house and they wouldn’t leave – it was great,” said Raisa who moved to the UK in 2008 after her husband was transferred to the country for work. “It was a really great experience and then when it went away, I just thought now what am I going to do?” Just when her budding business started taking off, bringing in between £500 and £800 per month, Covid struck. “Suddenly Covid’s happening and from one day to the next the business totally died,” she said. “The income that I had was gone and everything that I had built was gone. “I spent that first year (2020) feeling sorry for myself.” Then while travelling back to her native California, in July 2022, Raisa caught Covid and spent two weeks in bed. “I spent the first two weeks in bed and then started to recover slowly,” she said. “When I came back, I had brain fog, I couldn’t smell things properly and I couldn’t taste things properly.” She noticed her taste buds were not firing on all cylinders after eating some tortilla chips which tasted like “cardboard”. “I’m eating them and thinking, I don’t understand, what is this?” she said. “And it has just never come back properly.” While Raisa started to recover after spending two weeks in bed, some of her symptoms lingered for months. Once lockdown rules lifted, Raisa went back to giving cooking classes, but it was not the same. In January 2023, while teaching a group how to make garam masala from scratch, Raisa’s sense of smell was put to the test. “When they could smell it across the room then I knew, at that point, that this wasn’t going to work for me because it would be like the blind leading the blind,” she said. “I remember telling my customers, look I’m telling you everything from memory and my past experience because I don’t have have my sense of taste and smell. “Isn’t that depressing?” On another occasion, she was cooking a chicken dish and a student asked about the ingredients but Raisa could not “taste anything”. “It turned out it was black pepper but I couldn’t even taste it,” she said. Her husband and children also started picking up on strong flavours which appeared relatively mild to her. “I knew something was missing because when I cooked things for my husband he would say ‘oh, you put a lot of this in’,” Raisa said. “But I could not tell the difference.” Even to this day, Raisa says she has not fully recovered her sense of taste and smell. “If I would sum it up, Covid killed the joy,” she said. “I just feel like I don’t want to bother anymore because I feel like my drive is gone. “So I decided, either I can be upset about it or I can reinvent myself again.” Raisa has decided to see her Covid nightmare as a positive step towards new beginnings. “If you are cooking something, you have to be able to smell and taste the ingredients and I knew I couldn’t do that so I decided it was time for a complete shift,” she said. She has not been to see a doctor about her long-lasting symptoms as she believes there are many other people who are “far worse off” and that the NHS already has “too much on its plate”. She is now looking to explore other business opportunities which do not rely on having a sense of taste and smell. “Sustainable living” is one area in which Raisa is particularly interested, but what this will look like in practice remains to be seen. “I want to get rid of my carbon footprint,” she said. “I don’t need to prove anything to anyone, it’s just what I want to do.” For more information about next steps, follow Raisa on Instagram. Read More Covid Inquiry could see unredacted Johnson WhatsApp messages despite legal clash I decide what’s relevant, says Covid inquiry chair in Boris WhatsApp row Covid Inquiry head making ‘no comment’ on legal row over Johnson messages Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

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While looking for ways to cut spending on luxuries, consumers have embraced DIY beauty during the cost-of-living crisis. A Currys survey of beauty search terms found that ‘how to do gel nails at home’ was the most in-demand pampering technique with nearly 180,000 searches a year, ahead of fake tanning (101,280) and acrylic nails (85,320). With UV lamps costing around £50 and polishes from top brands like Essie, OPI and Shellac around £10 each, doing your own gel mani is cheaper in the long-run than paying upwards of £20 for every salon visit. But can you replicate a nail technician’s precision and ensure a long-lasting finish? We asked nail pros for their tips on how to master a gel manicure at home… Prep your nails “Good natural nail prep before applying gel polish can be the difference between a polish that lasts weeks and a polish that is likely to chip and peel prematurely,” says manicurist Tinu Bello, senior brand ambassador for Mylee. Start by gently pushing back your cuticles (use cuticle remover gel if they’re very dry or hard) then clipping off the excess. Bello explains: “Cuticles are dead pieces of skin that attach to the nail plate at the base of the nail. Once removed, you will find that gel polish adheres to the nail much more smoothly.” Buff away shine “After shaping your nails in your desired shape, your nail plate should be lightly etched using a soft buffer file,” says Julita Fagan, manicurist and nail expert for 14 Day Manicure. “This helps to remove the natural shine or oils from your nails, assisting in product adhesion.” Avoid moisture With a regular manicure, the technician might soak your fingertips to soften the cuticles, but with gel polish you want to keep your nails dry. “It’s important to avoid using water on the nails or any products that contain moisture or oil prior to applying gel polish, such as hand soap or moisturiser,” says Bello. “Fingernails quickly absorb water and expand, meaning nails that have been painted post-soak will contract once dry and cause polish to chip.” Apply a primer Gel products and kits vary so you must follow the instructions carefully, but if you can use a primer your polish is likely to last longer. “Applying a nail primer before your base coat will act as a bonding element between your natural nails and the product,” says Fagan. “This is particularly useful if you continuously experience chipping or lifting of your gel polish.” Paint precisely When applying polish it’s crucial to only paint the nail, not the cuticle. “A trick in ensuring a seamless polish application is to leave the tiniest gap between your cuticles and the first one or two layers of your gel polish, getting as close as possible to your cuticles on your last layer,” says Fagan. “This will ensure a less bulky finish at the end of your application.” She also recommends ‘capping’ the polish by applying the top coat over the tip of the nail to seal in the colour. Try builder gel As an additional defence against chipping, add a layer of extra-strength builder gel to your mani, which comes in clear or a range of colours. “Builder gel is a stronger consistency than the standard gel polish,” explains Fagan. “Using it at the end of your gel polish application, prior to top coat, will provide even more longevity to your manicure.” 14 Day Manicure Bestseller Gel Polish Starter Kit, £79 (was £164.80) Mylee Pro Salon Series Convex LED Lamp Black, £50 Rio Salon Pro Rechargeable UV and LED Lamp, £50, Argos

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Black-tie weddings mean floor-length gowns and elevated cocktail dresses. Think rich fabrics — satin, silk, chiffon, tulle, and velvet — in styles reminiscent of the red carpet. However, what at a black-tie wedding guest dress doesn't need to be is black (unless the invitation specifies it does). If you're stressed about what to wear to an upcoming black-tie wedding (even where to look) we're here to help with a roundup of the best black-tie wedding guest dresses.

This recipe is so simple and versatile – I use it to top fruit throughout the seasons,” says chef Emily Scott. “It is lighter than a traditional oat crumble topping, and delicious served with custard or crème fraîche.” Blackberry and peach crisp Serves: 4 Ingredients: For the Amaretti crumble topping: 160g (5½oz) amaretti biscuits 80g (3oz/scant 1 cup) flaked (slivered) almonds 75g (2½oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature 50g (2oz/scant ½ cup) plain (all-purpose) flour 50g (2oz/scant ¼ cup) caster (superfine) sugar For the bramble and peach filling: 350g (12oz) blackberries 6 peaches, skinned and stoned (pitted), sliced (if using frozen peaches, thaw and drain first) 100g (3½oz/scant ½ cup) caster (superfine) sugar 3 tbsp cornflour (corn starch) slaked with 2 tbsp water Zest and juice of ½ lemon Method: 1. Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan/400F/gas 6). For the crumble topping, blitz the amaretti biscuits with the flaked almonds in a food processor to a rubble. 2. In a mixing bowl, rub the butter and flour together to resemble breadcrumbs, then add the sugar along with the almond rubble and mix together. 3. Spread the mixture out over a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until golden. Allow to cool. 4. For the filling, place the blackberries, peaches, sugar, cornflour mixture, lemon zest and juice in a heavy-based saucepan and slowly bring to a simmer, stirring all the time to allow the sugar to dissolve. Cook until the fruit is tender. 5. Transfer to an oven-to-table baking dish and sprinkle over the amaretti crumble topping. Finish off in the oven for 5–6 minutes. Don’t forget the cream. ‘Time & Tide’ by Emily Scott (Hardie Grant, £28).