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This is the First Meal Cameron Diaz Cooked for Benji Madden

Posted on11/05/202408/08/2023Author

published about 4 hours ago

Two of Charlie’s Angels found themselves taking on a new mission together this week, as actress Cameron Diaz joined bestie and talk show host, Drew Barrymore, on Wednesday’s episode of the latter’s eponymous daytime talk show. Channeling true “besties in the kitchen” energy, the pair gave us a peek at their relationship and revealed Diaz’s most coveted kitchen recipe — which happened to be the special addition to the first meal she made for her now-husband (and Good Charlotte guitarist /vocalist), Benji Madden.

The entire back and forth of giggling through Hollywood-normal memories took place while Diaz demonstrated her recipe for what she calls “Shallot Gold,” a dish which Barrymore noted was pretty much the only reason she and Diaz’s friends ever came over to visit. “She’s going to show us how to make literally something that none of us ever want to come over to the house without it being prepared,” Barrymore said.

But let you get your hopes up for some new recipe that will knock Alison Roman’s shallot pasta off its throne, shallot gold is quite literally just caramelized shallots. Sure, Diaz gives a few tips — like adding a bit of salt to your shallots as they cook down to drive off more of the allium’s water content and coax out the sugars — but at the end of the day, the true key to shallot gold is time.

As evidenced by Diaz reaching for a pan of previously caramelized shallots to put over the roast chicken that miraculously appeared on set (TV magic!), the only way to make shallot gold is to sit there and let those shallots cook down. Caramelization is a wonderful process that does not comply with the time constraints of a television cooking segment. At the end of the day, though, the true treasure in Diaz’s shallot gold might just be the chance to reminisce with a friend during the time it takes for those shallots to transform into caramelized perfection.

So what about that dish she made for her current husband on their first date? Lamb chops, of course. “Mediterranean lamb chops, some couscous, and some broccoli and sautéed zucchini,” Diaz told the audience after Barrymore urged her to reveal the meal. And in case you’re wondering, the shallot gold was mixed in with the couscous.

The entire segment, however, is one to watch, with the pair discussing everything from Gwyneth Paltrow’s disappointment in Barrymore’s previous home’s oven to dual diving experiences — both sky and scuba, the latter of which took place in Tahiti with curious sharks. Much in the vein of other celebrity friends cooking together for television (think: Ina and Faith Hill), the two icons give viewers a show to remember with personal touches that will make anyone feel at home.

On the breadline: inflation overwhelms Europe’s food banks

Posted on28/03/202408/08/2023Author

With no job and speaking little of the language, Olena Vinykova has relied on her local food bank to cope with the “very hard” situation she found herself in since fleeing Ukraine for Germany seven months ago. If she had arrived any later, her situation could have been even worse.

Surging food and fuel prices mean millions more people in Germany are struggling to make ends meet, forcing many food banks to shut their doors to thousands of new applicants. That includes the one used by Vinykova in Friedberg, about 15 miles north of Frankfurt.

The former nurse, who left her husband and grown-up children in Bakhmut, now on the front line of Ukraine’s war with Russia, asked the Financial Times to “say thank you” to the volunteers for their “amazing” work.

Across Europe food bank use is soaring as the highest inflation for a generation hits the region’s poorest, who spend a greater proportion of their income on energy and food, the hardest.

Charities from Spain to Latvia report 20 to 30 per cent higher demand than last year and expect a further increase this winter. In Bulgaria, one of the poorest countries in the EU, there was a three-quarters jump between September and October in people using the national food bank, according to the country’s food bank director Tzanka Milanova. “Inflation is gnawing away at people’s finances,” said Milanova. “More people end up below the poverty line.” Government bodies have exhausted their budgets for food aid, forcing Bulgarian charities to turn to food banks.

Over a third of Germany’s 962 food banks — called Tafel — have stopped taking new applicants beyond the 2mn they already help. This is the first time many have taken such a drastic step, after which demand rose more than 50 per cent this year for access to the fruit, vegetables, bread and other essentials they collect from shops and donors.

“We could double the number of customers if we took everyone who asked,” said Peter Radl, chair of the Friedberg food bank, which provides a basket of supplies every two weeks to 700 families, of which about 130 come from Ukraine. “But space is limited, we have a total of 120 baskets, and there is only so much our volunteers can do,” he added.

“It is surprising for a rich country like Germany to have so many people who cannot afford to feed themselves properly,” said Katja Bernhard, a board member of the food bank association for the Hesse region.

Yet soaring energy prices, triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have pushed over a quarter of the German population into “fuel poverty” — defined as spending more than 10 per cent of income on energy — up from 14.5 per cent last year, according to the country’s council of economic experts.

More than a fifth of the EU population was already unable to heat their home sufficiently last year, before the latest price surge, according to the latest data from Eurostat, the EU statistics agency.

In November, eurozone price growth slowed for the first time in 17 months, dipping from 10.6 per cent to 10 per cent. But this was little consolation for people struggling to make ends meet, especially when average wages have risen only 4 per cent in the past year.

Peter Radl, chair of the Friedberg food bank: ‘We could double the number of customers if we took everyone who asked’ © Martin Arnold/FT

Energy prices across the single currency area are still almost 35 per cent higher than a year ago, while food, alcohol and tobacco cost more than 13 per cent extra, according to Eurostat.

The price of some essentials has risen even faster. In the wider EU, milk prices have soared 43 per cent in the past year, while pork costs 55 per cent more and Japonica rice 68 per cent more.

In central and eastern Europe, the cost of staples has increased even more sharply. In Hungary, bread prices have risen by 80 per cent over the past year. There, the national food bank works via a network of charitable groups, which has expanded by almost a quarter to 530 this year. Its spokesman András Nagygyörgy estimates it helps 221,000 people, adding: “Since the start of the inflationary spiral, we have been witnessing an inflow of organizations.”

Giovanni Bruno, president of the Italian food bank foundation, estimated an additional 85,000 people had sought their help this year. “Many people who ask for food are now young, even students trying to save money to pay electricity or heating bills,” he said.

Inflation has also led to a fall in the amount of

‘Shockingly unimpressed’ judge orders prison for man who killed girlfriend with spiked drink

Posted on21/07/202324/07/2023Author

A man found guilty of manslaughter after his girlfriend died from a drug he put in her drink was sentenced Tuesday in 3rd District Court. (Yukai Peng, Deseret News)

Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes

WEST JORDAN — Stacey Buchanan’s four kids had to grow up fast when she died unexpectedly in 2016 from a drink her boyfriend spiked with methamphetamine.

Aaliyah Angelique, Buchanan’s oldest daughter, told the court on Tuesday that she and her siblings were split up and sent to live with different family members, some of whom they barely knew. Angelique was close to graduating from high school at the time, and had been looking forward to sharing the occasion with her mom; when, suddenly, she was ordering flowers and doing her mom’s hair and makeup for the funeral.

Angelique said the months after her mother’s death were absolutely difficult. She couldn’t leave the house for work and school and she struggled eating and drinking, afraid it was all being poisoned. She “self-sabotaged” her relationships out of anger, and at one point was hospitalized with anxiety and panic disorder.

Eventually, Angelique said she gained legal custody of two of her siblings and has since been their sole provider — putting her own plans and dreams on hold to pay for an apartment, car, food, clothes and other expenses.

“I had to abandon my youth … because of one man’s selfish actions and decisions,” Angelique said in a 3rd District courtroom on Tuesday. “I feel as if we all died along with (my mother) that day.”

Angelique’s comments came during the sentencing proceedings for Taylorsville resident Joshua Ryan Bridgewaters, 41, who was found guilty in September of manslaughter, a second-degree felony, and tampering with a witness, a third-degree felony.

Judge L. Douglas Hogan ordered that Bridgewaters serve one to 15 years in prison on the manslaughter charge and one to five years on the witness tampering charge. The sentences will run consecutively, and Hogan will recommend Bridgewaters receive “zero” credit for the time served.

He added that while the parole board isn’t bound by his recommendations, “I don’t believe you deserve credit for any of the time served.”

Bridgewaters spent nearly five years at the county jail as he rotated through different attorneys. His trial was set 10 different times, Hogan noted Tuesday, and all but one of those date changes occurred because Bridgewaters dropped “numerous competent counsel.”

Buchanan was 33 when she died on May 29, 2016. Bridgewaters told police, at the time, that the two were drinking wine when Buchanan started to feel sick. According to the police, Bridgewaters sought help from a neighbor who was a paramedic, but the neighbor later told investigators that by the time he saw Buchanan she was not breathing and her lungs were full of vomit and fluid. Police said Bridgewaters had not called 911, despite his girlfriend’s condition.

Police affidavits said that earlier in the day, Buchanan called her mother, Robin Bingham, “and told her someone had poisoned her drink.” When Bingham was called back a short time later, she said she could hear Buchanan tell Bridgewaters to “stop it” and “stop grabbing my phone,” before Bridgewaters took the phone and told Bingham that everything was fine, according to the court documents.

Bridgewaters contacted a friend who was with them earlier that day and asked what he had told police so their stories would match, the charges state. This made the friend suspicious and prompted him to confront Bridgewaters about what had happened.

Police also found marijuana in Bridgewater’s coat, something he asked his friend to take the blame for because he was on parole and was not supposed to be around drugs, the state charges. Court records show Bridgewaters pleaded guilty in 2007 to aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony.

Bridgewaters was charged in 2017 with murder, a first-degree felony, along with obstructing justice, a second-degree felony, and tampering with a witness, court records show.

During his trial in September, the jury was given the option to convict Bridgewaters of a reduced charge of manslaughter, instead of murder — meaning he recklessly caused his girlfriend’s death but did not show indifference to human life or knowingly create a great risk of death. The jurors found Bridgewaters guilty of manslaughter and tampering with a witness, but not guilty of obstructing justice.

‘A piece of me that I will never be able to get back’

During Tuesday’s sentencing, friends and family members described Buchanan as “a beautiful soul,” “fun to be around” and someone with “such a big heart.”

Bingham, Buchanan’s mother, said Bridgewaters had caused her family to become additional angry by dragging out the proceedings, “keeping us from getting the justice we deserve. … He was still just looking out for himself.”

Wendy Ortega, Buchanan’s aunt, added that Bridgewaters deprived