List of All Articles with Tag 'life'

Sanjay Aggarwal’s now-booming business was based around a family heirloom: a 100-year-old spice mill. He started selling spice blends with his mother in 2012 almost by accident. “It wasn’t meant to be a business,” the 40-year-old admits. “It was only started as a retirement hobby for my mum. What started off as a silly little idea, so to speak, just grew. We started online and moved after a few years to selling in shops.” Spice Kitchen has been wildly successful, and now Aggarwal is adding another string his company’s bow by writing a cookbook. Above all the success, he’s really just appreciated spending time with his 72-year-old mother, Shashi. “She’s incredible – she’s a whirlwind. She was born in Kenya and raised in India, so she’s got a really eclectic mix of culture. And she’s a real spice expert – we’ve got a 100-year-old spice mill in our family that’s travelled the world and I’ve got it here now; we started the business using that.” Aggarwal says it felt “natural” to work with his mother, after helping his parents run their Birmingham shop when growing up. But he’s “learned loads” from her during their new venture. “It’s certainly made me realise how entrepreneurial my mum is, how creative she is… I’ve been really impressed by how similarly we think.” He says: “We’re certainly closer for it. It’s got the ups and downs and challenges that everything has, but we’re still talking!” While there are plenty of flavour-packed Indian dishes in the new cookbook – including coriander and tandoori fishcakes, chickpea curry and tarka dal – the recipes have a decidedly global outlook. Think fish tacos, jerk-inspired pork, crispy duck with pancakes – and Aggarwal credits this to growing up in the diverse city of Birmingham. “I was born and brought up there, so for me, that was all I knew. But for my mum, it was very much a big influence on her,” he explains. When she came to the UK as a young married woman, “her cuisine and culture was all very Indian” – something that soon changed. “My mum has really seen that development of food and culture, and that cosmopolitan nature of Birmingham. It’s had tidal waves of immigration – my mum being one of them from India – and from West Africa and Asia and all different places. She’s witnessed that, when she came to the UK.” Aggarwal recounts how in the early days of living in Birmingham, Shashi would grind her own spices – you couldn’t buy blends at the time – which “reminded her of home and made her less homesick”, but then her palate expanded. “She’s vegetarian, but got to try all these amazing different sorts of vegetarian food from all around the world, be it Middle Eastern, Chinese or Japanese or whatever. Some of those things weren’t accessible when she first came, but were as time went on – and my mum’s very experimental. “She’s a real foodie. She loves trying new things and experimenting – probably more than anyone else I know. I think she’s quite unique, because I think a lot of people from cultures where they’ve got a really strong food culture – certainly like Indian culture – a lot of my aunts and uncles, they don’t really eat or experiment outside of Indian food. They find it quite scary, not very flavoursome, or quite bland. But my mum really gets it – she’s got a really deep palate, and she can really appreciate different cultures.” This love of different cuisines means both mother and son are quite free with the way they cook– and they want other people to be the same. For example, if you’re making a frittata and you don’t have any Italian seasoning, Aggarwal says: “Try it with Mexican [spice blends], try it with jerk and you could still create something amazing. Don’t be afraid to experiment.” One of the more unusual combinations he’s tried? Mexican spices in a shepherd’s pie: “It actually tastes amazing in there. We’re just trying to get people to be a bit more free thinking and adventurous. What’s the worst that can happen?” Aggarwal says he’s often asked how to make an “authentic” dish – a question he struggles to answer. “It’s very difficult to understand what they mean by that – what is the meaning of authenticity? I’m a second-generation British-born person… Food has evolved over time. We wanted to make sure the dishes [in the cookbook] were authentic in terms of linking back to the original recipes and what they’re all about, and especially the blends being as authentic as possible – trying to respect the tradition. “But we’re also trying to say, we can only take our take on things. I can take my take on things and my mum can take her take on things – and things have changed over time.” That’s why Aggarwal advises against getting “too hung up on authenticity, because there is no way of achieving it”. Instead, he recommends taking a dish you like and “play with the flavours a little bit” to “make it your own”. ‘Spice Kitchen’ by Sanjay Aggarwal (Quadrille, £22).

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A video claiming to show food going to waste at Starbucks has gone viral, despite the company previously pledging to donate all unsold food. Aidan Stockin, who works at the coffee chain, alleged that throwing away “perfectly good food” has become common practice at Starbucks. In a clip that has been viewed 2.2m times and liked by more than 189,000 viewers, the 23-year-old showed food waste allegedly left over at the end of his shift. “It’s not just one restaurant, it’s all of them,” the biology student from Massachusetts told NeedToKnow.co.uk. “I’ve worked in several over the past seven years and every single one says that they have a food donation service, then turns around and throws out a substantial amount of food daily. “It made me feel sick to be forced into throwing out so much perfectly good food when the homeless shelter is 10 minutes down the road.” In the video, he began by showing a shopping cart being filled with different packaged food items. He then revealed another trolley filled to the brim with pastries, before showing a picture of all the alleged waste in total. Users have taken to the comments to share their reactions, with many left upset and confused. “Nooo why can’t they donate it,” one viewer asked, while another said: “I would legit cash app you right now for those chocolate croissants.” “Just call your local Salvation Army to pick it up,” someone else suggested, while another viewer claimed the food waste should be “illegal”. In 2016, Starbucks announced its “FoodShare” programme, where it said it would donate unsold food from 100 per cent of the US stores. In 2020, it was alleged that Starbucks locations were throwing away unsold food, as investigated by the New York Post. According to Aidan, food is allegedly still being thrown away in 2023. Referring to the incident in the TikTok, he said: “The exact same scenario happened with our savoury sandwiches two days prior, in which two full carts were thrown away. In total, five carts were thrown out in less than three days. “I felt trapped and conflicted because if it were up to me, I would have loaded the food into the back of my car and drove it straight down to the homeless shelter.” Jam Press contacted Starbucks for comment. A company spokesperson said: “At Starbucks, our goal is to donate 100 per cent of approved to donate food, including perishable items like salads and sandwiches, furthering Starbucks resource positive commitment to reduce waste by 50 per cent by 2030. “Since 2016, Starbucks has been committed to supporting hunger relief through its innovative Starbucks FoodShare food donation program in partnership with Feeding America, Second Harvest Canada and other hunger-relief organisations. “Expanding our efforts to rescue food and divert from landfills is key to helping us reach our aspirations. We have developed a process which enables us to donate our fresh, ready-to-eat food items in addition to the pastries that we have been donating for years. Our commitments and FoodShare programming are carried out in company-owned stores. We encourage our licensed store partnerships to include Starbucks donations in their existing food waste reduction and donation programs.” Read More How can you save money on your wedding food? Woman praised for telling guests not to eat the food at her sister’s wedding 7 TikTok food hacks that actually work Schoolboy almost dies from swallowing magnets for TikTok challenge Woman shares honest review of New York City apartment TikTok mom slammed after making 5-year-old son run in 104 degree heat

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John Goodman showed off his dramatic weight loss transformation over the weekend, but his weight loss journey didn’t “happen overnight”. The Big Lebowski star, who turned 71 on 20 June, recently attended the 2023 Monte-Carlo Television Festival in Monaco on Sunday (18 June) where he debuted his slimmed-down figure on the red carpet. In photos from the event, Goodman looked sharp in a navy blue double-breasted suit and khaki pants, which he paired with a yellow tie, brown loafers, and round-framed sunglasses. The actor’s transformation is the result of more than a decade of hard work, after he reportedly started working on his health back in 2007. In a new interview with Rolling Stone published on 17 June, Goodman revealed that he has lost a total of 200 pounds, ever since he first revealed to David Letterman in 2011 that he was “pushing 400” pounds when he was at his heaviest. “I’d get off of Roseanne every spring. I’d lose 60 pounds every spring [but] I’d gain it back and then some, every year,” he told the late-night host at the time. At the start of his journey, Goodman hired health coach Mackie Shilstone who helped him to give up sugar and work out six days a week. The actor, who’s been open about his struggles with alcoholism in the past, also stopped drinking after checking into a rehabilitation center in 2007. “It takes a lot of creative energy to sit on your a** and figure out what you’re going to eat next,” he said in an interview with People in 2010. “I wanted to live life better.” Five years later, Goodman’s health coach revealed to the New York Post that the Roseanne star had lost 100 pounds through a combination of diet and exercise. Goodman unveiled his 100-pound weight loss transformation at the premiere of his film Trumbo in 2015. “This didn’t happen overnight – it’s been an ongoing process,” Shilstone told the Post. He introduced Goodman to a “Mediterranean-style eating plan,” which heavily leaned on a diet of fish, nuts, olive oil, vegetables, and fruit. The Monsters, Inc actor also racked up 10,000 to 12,000 steps a day, along with getting in some miles on the elliptical bicycle and treadmill. At the time, Goodman’s then-100 pound weight loss took around two years. In an interview with ABC News, Goodman revealed that he decided to make a change to his habits after he would look in the mirror and not like what he saw in his reflection. “I just got tired, sick and tired of looking at myself. You’re shaving in the mirror and you don’t want to look at yourself. It gets dangerous,” he told ABC’s Peter Travers in 2016. Goodman also explained that his weight loss journey was made easier after he “just stopped eating all the time”. “I’d have a handful of food and it’d go to my mouth,” he said. “In the old days, I would take three months out, lose 60 or 70 pounds, and then reward myself with a six-pack of Bud or whatever and just go back to my old habits.” “Then this time I wanted to do it slowly, move, exercise. I’m getting to the age where I can’t afford to sit still anymore. And it gives me the energy to work, ‘cause work is very draining.” These days, John Goodman has been busy balancing his ongoing health journey with his many roles in television – reprising his role from Roseanne as beloved father Dan Conner in ABC’s The Conners, and televangelist patriarch Eli Gemstone in the HBO comedy, The Righteous Gemstones. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Goodman detailed that he stays active by “getting out and walking the dogs” amidst his busy schedule. Before production began on The Conners in 2018, Goodman said he spent much of his time boxing too. “I was boxing up until then and I haven’t been able to do that since Covid because I’m lazy,” he shared. “I haven’t been exercising, but I’m going to start a routine again this summer where I can get some stuff done. I’ve just let everything go just because I haven’t had the energy because of the jobs.” The iconic Hollywood actor also opened up about his past struggles with alcohol and “anger as a younger man,” which he admitted was “fuelled by fear”. “But I was probably born an alcoholic,” he joked. “But most of the anger’s gone. If I don’t watch the news, I’m cool.” Read More John Goodman weight loss: Fitness expert explains how actor lost 100lbs Scientist behind Ozempic says drug can make life ‘so miserably boring’ What to know about prescription drugs promising weight loss What are the symptoms of laryngitis and how long does it take to recover? What is egg freezing and how does it work? Regular napping could be good for brain health, research suggests

Ireland’s Our Living Islands program will pay for housing rehab on its beautiful but sparsely populated islands.