Top Lifestyle News

Sep 24, 2026 - Lifestyle

A well-seasoned and comforting meal to ease you into the autumn monthsAt this time of year, baked tomatoes stuffed with rice and surrounded by a packing-chip sea of potatoes are typical all over central and southern Italy, and in many other places besides. So much so that when I see a tray of those wrinkled red caps in a bakery or canteen-like tavola calda (literally, “hot table”), it doesn’t cross my mind that the hollowed-out tomatoes underneath might be filled with something other than rice. It was only when the woman behind the counter was wrapping my two portions of cannelloni and four slices of margherita pizza that another person’s order alerted me to the fact that these tomatoes were in fact filled with breadcrumbs, chickpeas, sausage, cheese and herbs. Suddenly, the tomatoes were the most appealing item behind the steamed-up glass, and the only thing I could want. We were in Tavola Calda in Latina, just south of Rome, during the lunchtime rush, which is why I didn’t feel able to add to my order, but then I was dissatisfied with my lunch.But dissatisfaction gave me a reason to pull Claudia Roden’s A Book of Middle Eastern Food from the shelf, for her chapter dedicated to stuffed vegetables, which draws inspiration from Turkish, Uzbekistani, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Greek, Egyptian, Persian, Syrian, Lebanese, Saudi Arabian and north African recipes. Having noted that almost any vegetable can be stuffed, Roden adds that the most common filling for a hollowed-out vegetable is a well-seasoned mix of chopped onion, minced meat, rice, chopped parsley, and maybe chopped tomato; and she then goes on to give seven filling variations – some with rice, some with meat (no pork), and with various herbs and spices. She also provides a not disappointing filling including chickpeas, which is what I have adapted, also with inspiration from the busy Tavola Calda, for this week’s recipe. Continue reading...

Sep 23, 2026 - Lifestyle

A feature called AI Overviews has been a profound change, and the browsing habits of billions of people are shiftingGoogle has put artificial intelligence at the front and center of its search bar. The most-visited site on the internet still shows the same list of links to users, but they have to scroll past a summarized response from an AI chatbot, a feature Google calls AI Overviews. The change to what was once the gateway to the rest of the internet has been profound, and the browsing habits of billions of people are shifting.“AI is driving the most significant upgrade of the Google Search experience ever,” wrote Liz Reid, Google’s vice-president of search, last August. In May, the company said more AI is coming. Continue reading...

Sep 23, 2026 - Lifestyle

Milan show full of diaphanous dresses and visible bras celebrates ‘incredible feminist’ of the 1970s, Raffaella CarràMaria Grazia Chiuri has been having more fun with clothes since she decamped from Paris back to her native Rome to work at Fendi. “I have less of a uniform these days. I think it is because being back here makes me feel young again. I’m not sure my daughter appreciates [this attitude]! But I don’t care,” she said at a preview before her Milan fashion week show.Not that Chiuri doesn’t approach her work as a designer seriously. She described her second ready-to-wear season at Fendi not as a show, or a collection, but as “the second part of the project I am working on for them”. Continue reading...

Sep 23, 2026 - Lifestyle

It’s natural to want to soothe eye irritation, but mishandling could lead to more problems, experts warn. We asked them for advice on how to deal with it properlyIt may feel like a gritty, annoying sensation, or a sharp pain. Either way, you may have the same problem: something is stuck in your eye and needs to come out.Addressing the situation incorrectly can lead to bigger issues such as infection, scarring, an ulcer or corneal scratches, which are abrasions on the clear covering of your eye. Ignoring the dilemma can lead to similar consequences. Continue reading...

Sep 23, 2026 - Lifestyle

With a scarf, shirt, skirt or some clever cuffing, four fashion experts explain how you can achieve this season’s messy-but-chic lookEarlier this year I was having lunch with a friend who is a fashion buyer and trend forecaster. She arrived in a blue and burgundy striped, knitted long-sleeve minidress with a white button-down shirt tied around her waist. The look was finished with see-through sandals and a heavy choker made of clear, round beads. We were in Paris and, as we made our way down the street, it occurred to me how in a single outfit she had incorporated the biggest trends of this coming spring: colour, makeshift belts, oversized jewellery and no-shoe shoes.Alongside the season’s other big looks – balloon pants, jaunty hats, the rogue use of scarves, knee-length skirts and underwear-as-outerwear – it’s clear the mood in fashion is messy-but-chic. Not quite the luxurious chaos of early 2000s boho, but similarly pretty and off kilter. Continue reading...