Author: Jawdah Hannad Basara

There’s a certain type of confidence that doesn’t show itself. It’s evident in the way a cook navigates a kitchen, in the silent choices made at a stove without consulting anyone, and in the lack of a folder of laminated sheets on the counter. Jess Shadbolt exudes such self-assurance. It is the kind that has been gradually developed over years of absorbing rather than merely learning, and it is what sets her restaurants apart from others in New York. Suffolk, the type of English county that makes a lasting impression, is where Shadbolt was raised. Her first culinary recollection is…

The discrepancy between what people look for and what the record actually reveals is subtly startling. What the official record does reveal is nearly the opposite: a politician who, by the time she resigned in February 2023, was clearly exhausted from leading a nation through one of its most turbulent eras in recorded history. Sturgeon’s successor as First Minister, Humza Yousaf, spoke candidly about her condition during the COVID-19 pandemic. He claimed she had been “chronically fatigued” and had lost weight while leading Scotland through lockdown in an interview with the Pod Save the UK podcast in February 2024. Politicians…

For the better part of fifteen years, Lauren Goodger has been observed, photographed, discussed, and scrutinized. Tabloids have treated her body, including its size, shape, and appearance in a particular top or on a particular beach, as almost public property. It is important to state clearly that this is not typical and that there have been repercussions. This is also true, though. Goodger has continued to speak throughout it all. Not always flawlessly. Not all the time on her terms. However, she has continued to participate in the discussion, frequently pushing back and disclosing information that most people in her…

Jelena Ostapenko’s approach to the 2026 tennis season is subtly illuminating. In January, she won a doubles championship in Brisbane. In Doha, she advanced to the semifinals. At the Italian Open, she advanced to the quarterfinals and defeated Zheng Qinwen. She then became a Grand Slam champion for the second time in her career when she and Marcelo Arévalo lifted the Wimbledon mixed doubles trophy in July. It has been a good year by any standard. However, none of it has anything to do with the loudest discussion about Ostapenko in 2026. One topic has dominated tennis forums and social…

A common misconception is that gaining weight entails allowing yourself to eat anything you want. The idea behind processed snacks, sugary drinks, and doughnuts is that calories are calories. Given how important what ends up on the plate is, this concept may have caused more harm than good. Calorie-dense, nutrient-rich food is the source of true, long-lasting weight gain, the kind that increases muscle mass rather than just waist circumference. And it doesn’t need any added sugar. Most people who are serious about healthily gaining weight start with the blender. The kind of slow-digesting fuel that keeps the body anabolic…

When it comes to seafood, London has never been the obvious choice. Usually, that honor goes to a location where you can see fishing boats outside the window and salt air. Nevertheless, London’s seafood scene has quietly emerged as one of the most fascinating in Europe, despite the city’s history of obtaining its catch from a River Thames brimming with fish and later from the frigid waters of the North Sea via Billingsgate Market. The fact that the eateries here are truly diverse is helpful. There isn’t just one dominant style. Instead, you get a variety of options, from casual…

A cookbook with a cracked spine and a few lightly stained pages is typically found propped open on the counter in any well-used British kitchen. Seldom is it the most ostentatious one available. It’s usually Delia. It’s Jamie sometimes. And more and more, it’s an unknown person who managed to sell 250,000 copies by January. The cookbook market in the UK has always been an odd, devoted, and sometimes sentimental place. Here, some names have significance that they just don’t elsewhere. Mary Berry is a national icon, not just a baker. Even though Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course has been…

Baking a cake for a baby girl’s first birthday carries a certain amount of pressure. It must be gorgeous, take good pictures, and, if it’s the smash cake, be something the birthday girl can actually eat without anyone being concerned about refined sugar getting into a one-year-old. Three recipes that cover every aspect of the party table are listed below. Recipe 1: Healthy Smash Cake (No Added Sugar) This is the one for the birthday girl herself. Dense, naturally sweet, and perfectly sized for small hands to dig into — it tastes like banana bread dressed up for a party.…

Chef Dave White has an almost ridiculous quality, but in the best way. This man has climbed Mount Everest, broken numerous bones while skiing in the French Alps, prepared meals for refugees in conflict areas, and managed to become one of the most talked-about chefs in Below Deck history. In Season 7 of Below Deck Mediterranean, Bravo gave viewers a glimpse of a person whose life had already been richer and stranger than most reality shows could ever create. Growing up in the UK, Dave White was a restless, challenging child who would completely lose himself in a kitchen but…

When things aren’t going well in a professional kitchen, a certain silence descends. Monica Galetti is aware of that quiet. She has experienced it firsthand, worked through it, and witnessed aspirational chefs fail under it on national television for more than ten years. She has established herself as the standard and the person whose endorsement truly matters as a judge on MasterChef: The Professionals. Galetti was raised in Wellington, New Zealand, after being born in Pago Pago, American Samoa, in 1975. At first, her career as a professional chef wasn’t especially glamorous. She trained at Timothy’s restaurant in Lower Hutt…