Author: The Guardian

One essential baking tool is simply not enough, according to Benoit Blin, pastry chef, judge on Bake Off: The Professionals and author of Bake with Benoit Blin. A rolling pin, fluted cake tin, balloon whisk and silicone spatula – to “get all the batter out” of a bowl – top his baking kit list.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.But this isn’t a sign that you need everything but the kitchen sink to be able to whip up a showstopper. As with most things in life, you often…

cincinnati tigersSlow starts are familiar territory for Cincinnati. In Zac Taylor’s six seasons as coach, the Bengals have started 0-2 five times. But losing the first three games is a new situation, and now their odds of winning are slim. Since 1990, only four of the 162 teams that started the season 0-3 have made the playoffs.If you take a positive view, the Bengals have looked flawed in all three games this season but are just a few games away from 3-0. On a negative note, they struggled offensively once again and bottomed out defensively for the first time since…

In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s shock victory in 2016, one common explanation for why the Democrats had not seen it coming was that they had succumbed to the social media echo chamber. The fact that many digital platforms, such as Twitter (now X), tended to be dominated by liberals had lured Democrats into a false sense of security. This, so the explanation went, made them complacent, leading to inconsiderate gestures that alienated sections of the electorate: Hillary Clinton’s infamous jab at Trump’s supporters as “deplorables” was often cited as a prime example.With the internet ever more captive to the…

“I”I’m certainly not a typical Welsh half-fly and I won’t apologize for being different,” Danbigh said with a wry smile in a small restaurant on Toulon’s seafront. “I love the fact that I’m different and do things my own way.”Stormy clouds roll in from the sea, and the atmospheric setting adds to the engaging conversation with Biga, a friendly and thoughtful man in contrast to his lively persona on the rugby field. The darkening sky reminds us of Wales, which for Bigger “has always been the land of poets and dreamers”.It has also long been a rugby-mad nation, where the…

Caroline Ellison, the former crypto executive and romantic partner of the disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, is slated to be sentenced in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday. Ellison was a central figure in the FTX bankruptcy saga and key witness for the prosecution in the $8bn fraud trial that ended with Bankman-Fried’s conviction.Ellison served as the CEO of Alameda Research, which was the trading arm of the now defunct FTX crypto exchange. The collapse of FTX, once valued at $32bn, was directly linked to revelations that it was attempting to financially prop up Alameda with fraudulent accounting. Subsequent investigations and…

timeThere’s still a page or two left of the cricket season, with three last-day internationals between England and Australia, and the wreckage of the County Championship coming to an end this weekend. It will all be done next Sunday on the stumps eight days before the equinox, although whether weather permits is another question.The story of the year includes three Tests against a slightly worse-than-expected West Indies side, three Tests against a slightly better Sri Lankan side, four huge wins in a short space of time, and one at Old Trafford. Ford’s game looked as if it might be close…

Late one night during the first Covid lockdown in 2020, my partner, Louisa, and I were watching TV in the sitting room when a tabby cat appeared in the darkness outside the patio door. He stared in through the glass, sat down and miaowed loudly.Next morning he was still there, still miaowing. By the evening, since he hadn’t moved or even slept, we decided we had to give him some water. The next morning, we fed him. The evening after that we let him in and made him a bed out of an old fleece jacket. Because he was an…

nitrogenNot long ago, it seemed like Sam Darnold’s days in the NFL were numbered. The New York Jets’ No. 3 overall pick in 2018 has been bounced around from team to team over the past few years and will serve as the backup to Minnesota Vikings first-round pick JJ McCarthy this fall. However, McCarthy suffered a knee injury in the preseason, forcing Darnold to take action, and the veteran made the most of the opportunity. In Sunday’s 34-7 win over the Houston Texans, Darnold completed 17 of 28 passes for just 181 yards through the air but avoided an interception…

Society tells us that love stories should be linear, that marriage is until death us do part. We’ve learned, though, that things are often a little more complicated. The average adult may have five relationships and fall in love with three people (bad news for two of the five, then). Divorce has recently neared the 50% rate in the UK, a percentage that is now falling, mostly because fewer can afford it. Despite these statistics, we are still fed the idea that the ultimate goal is to find “the one”. Is it any wonder then, that divorce is often viewed…

one A BBC documentary about sexual abuse by Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed between 1985 and 2010 found that more than 20 women testified that they were abused by Fayed, including five Women were raped by him. Since the show aired last Thursday, attorneys representing the victims have said there may be more victims.This seems likely. As a former british editor vanity fair The people responsible for defending Fayed against the libel case he brought in the mid-90s, three of whom I know of, were unable to appear in the documentary, and anecdotal evidence from that period suggests that Fayed…