| | | | | | | STAYING IN | Rest like the experts Watch Eternity Celebrate Valentine’s at home
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| GOING OUT | Plan your family holiday Join a bookshop crawl See Wuthering Heights
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| | Dear Reader, | Those who read this newsletter regularly will know that I am making 2026 the year of doing things – differently. Well, I'm not doing badly. Last week I was walking by myself with a guide in the Lower Himalayas for five days, with a company called Shakti – the sort of trip that becomes part of your story, so memorable and different that it's hard to describe (although I'm giving it a bash in the next issue). And last night I dusted off my 1990s cowboy boots and hit a line-dancing class in Chiswick at Lil Nashville. In a previous life, I once lived in Montana for just under a year, and fancied myself as a bit of a do-si-do queen. Well, that couldn't have been further from the truth. I was utterly hopeless. Two left feet and a lot of stamped on toes. However, and this is what will take me back, I got an hour out of my head and into my body. I had to concentrate so hard on something that my mind couldn't wander. My husband says the same of the choir that I cajoled him into joining at the start of the year. Anything that gives my monkey mind a break, even if my body needs to learn to keep up, is good for me. | | Lucy Cleland
Editorial Director | | | Staying In | | Rest like the experts | | For lots of us, night is the only time we ever truly pause from our busy lives – yet sleep doesn’t actually meet all our restorative needs. To replenish our minds and bodies, we also need other types of rest to access the parasympathetic nervous system, as C&TH’s wellness editor Camilla Hewitt discovered on a recent retreat with The Collective. ‘In today’s fast-paced world, we spend most of the day in a state of sympathetic activation – the body’s fight-or-flight mode,’ explains one of The Collective’s yoga instructors Tara Lee. ‘This response is essential for focus and performance, but it becomes exhausting when it’s constant.’ We can do this through practices like yoga Nidra, breathwork and meditation: ‘By slowing the breath, especially by lengthening the exhalation, and gently humming or chanting, we stimulate the vagus nerve, the body’s main communication pathway between the brain and internal organs,’ explains Lee. ‘This sends a signal of safety through the entire system, lowering heart rate and blood pressure and reducing stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline.’ Need a helping hand? Join Maude Hirst’s virtual meditation members’ club and app, or The Breath Space, an app featuring a library of breathing practices. Find more meditation apps here. | | Watch Eternity | | Following its cinema run, buzzy fantastical rom-com Eternity is now streaming on Apple TV. Starring Elizabeth Olsen, Callum Turner and Miles Teller, the film reinvents the well-trodden love triangle trope by setting it in the afterlife. It’s centred around Joan (Olsen), who wakes up on a train realising she has died. There, it’s explained to her that she has one week to decide who to spend eternity with: her first love who died young (Turner) or her second husband Larry (Teller), who she has spent 65 years happily married to. It’s feel-good and laugh-out-loud funny, with dazzling sets and stellar performances from the leading trio – well worth a watch this weekend. Out today on Apple TV+ | | Celebrate Valentine’s at home | | Forgot to book a restaurant for V-Day? Or just can’t stand the pricey set menus and being stuffed in a room full of couples? Fear not: often cooking dinner for your other half at home is more romantic anyway. You could impress your date with this beetroot tortelli recipe paired with a floral, fruity cocktail, or go all out on the aphrodisiacs. But if you’d rather a helping hand, get next-day delivery on a meal kit. Options this year include Angela Hartnett’s Dishpatch x Waitrose box, an Italian-inspired feast of baked gnocchi and chocolate olive oil cake, and Abel & Cole’s steak supper. If you’ve really got cash to splash (£500 to be exact), Fortnum’s Ultimate Valentine’s Day Meal Box includes lobster thermidor, beef wellington, Oscietra caviar and champagne – plus a honey candle to set the mood. | | | | Baked Honey & Soy Chicken Rice | The new cookbook from Ping Coombes is a homage to rice: how to cook it perfectly and make it sing. Our top recipe is this flavour-packed baked honey and chicken soy rice, which Coombes describes as ‘your new favourite one-pot rice dish’. She adds: ‘I have been looking at ways to add more fibre into my rice dishes to make them more balanced. What I ended up with is a dish that has flavour, texture and fibre from the lentils and sweetcorn.’ |
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| | | 5 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs 1 teaspoon vegetable oil 2 tablespoons butter 2 garlic cloves, crushed 300g (10½oz) jasmine or basmati rice 1 tablespoon chicken stock powder 380ml (13½fl oz) water 160g (5¾oz) canned sweetcorn 340g (11¾oz) canned green lentils 20g (¾oz) chives, chopped, to garnish
| For the marinade: | 5 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs 1 teaspoon vegetable oil 2 tablespoons butter 2 garlic cloves, crushed 300g (10½oz) jasmine or basmati rice 1 tablespoon chicken stock powder 380ml (13½fl oz) water 160g (5¾oz) canned sweetcorn 340g (11¾oz) canned green lentils 20g (¾oz) chives, chopped, to garnish
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| | Score the top of the chicken thighs a couple of times so that the marinade penetrates deeper into the chicken and place in a bowl. Add all the marinade ingredients and marinate for at least 30 minutes at room temperature or in the refrigerator overnight. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) fan or Gas 4. In a large ovenproof pan, heat the oil over a medium heat. Add the chicken thighs to the pan, skin-side down, and fry for 5 minutes to brown the skin. Flip the chicken over and pour over the marinade in the bowl. Cook for 2–3 minutes to reduce the marinade a little, then remove the chicken to a plate. Add the butter, garlic and rice to the pan and give it a good stir, then add the chicken stock powder, water, sweetcorn and lentils. Stir again to distribute the ingredients evenly in one layer. Nestle the chicken thighs into the rice mixture, cover with a lid and bake in the oven for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it stand for 5 minutes before serving. Sprinkle some chives on top, fluff up the rice and serve.
| Recipe from Rice by Ping Coombes (Murdoch Books) |
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| | Going Out | | Plan your family holiday | | If all this rain has got you craving a getaway, now is the perfect time to secure your family escape for the summer holidays or October half term. In north-east Brazil, trade screens for 4x4 adventures in Lencois Maranhenses’ dunes, swimming in rain-fed lagoons and hopping between laid-back islands. Prefer autumn sun a little closer to home? Morocco in October is made for families: vibrant souks to tantalise the senses in Fez, a few nights in the Atlas walking and cycling, and a dune buggy adventure in the Agafay desert. Steppes Travel will craft you a tailor made adventure across over 100 destinations. Speak to one of their specialists today to find out more and start planning your trip of dreams. steppestravel.com | | | Join a bookshop crawl | | Readers, at the ready. Established in 2016, the London Bookshop Crawl is back for another year. Much like a pub crawl (but with more books and less booze), this annual event is designed to help purge bookworms of their Amazon addiction and instead get them exploring the plethora of independent retailers right on their doorsteps. Either go it alone with the Self Guided Bookshop Crawl Kit or force your nose out of the pages and into some friendly faces by booking into the range of group activities on offer. From the Big Bookish Quiz, book swaps and scavenger hunts to guided bookshop crawls, literary tours, writer talks and a Rare Books Rendezvous at the British Library, this three-day itinerary is the perfect spot to meet potential new book club members and add a tower of tomes to your ever-growing TBR. 13 – 15 February, bookshopcrawl.co.uk | | | See Wuthering Heights | | The wait is over: for the first time since Kaya Scodelario took on the role of Catherine Earnshaw in 2011, Saltburn director Emerald Fennell is bringing Wuthering Heights back to the big screen. Described variously as the greatest love story of all time, it’s based on the seminal Gothic romance penned by Emily Brontë in 1847, featuring a heady mixture of love, death, strife and yearning, all backdropped by the windswept Yorkshire Moors. Characterised by her daringly provocative approach to filmmaking, Fennell’s new adaptation isn’t one for purists – as we all found out when the teaser trailer launched in September. But Fennell has never claimed to be in the business of producing a word-for-word adaptation of Brontë’s enduring novel, marketing the film’s title in quote marks and recently declaring at a BFI event: ‘I can’t adapt the book as it is, but I can approximate the way it made me feel.’ Early reactions out of Los Angeles following a preview boiled those feelings down into words like ‘intoxicating’, ‘tantalising’ and ‘bewitching’... If intense yearning is on your Valentine’s Day ticklist, it’s time to book your cinema seat. Out today | | | Share This Newsletter With A Friend | | | | | | Three of the Best… | Family-Friendly Hotels | | Fowey Hall, Cornwall | ‘Beautiful Fowey is one of my favourite spots in Cornwall to visit with my son, with its sheltered beaches, friendly cafes and rockpools for exploring. The coastal manor of Fowey Hall makes the perfect base for exploring, with gorgeous views across the Fowey estuary, plus an adventure playground, games room and cinema to keep everyone occupied, whatever the weather. There’s a big outdoor pool, plus a steam room, sauna and horsebox sauna to give grown-ups some (fleeting) relaxation.’ luxuryfamilyhotels.co.uk | Rebecca Cox, Digital Director | | Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire | ‘I find overtly “family friendly” hotels off-putting, which is why the Four Seasons in Hampshire works so well. There is enough for the children to do – climbing, fishing, riding, and (best of all) Sharkie’s reef, with its huge slide and splashy fountains – but it is stylish and sophisticated too. We had what felt like an apartment with doors onto a huge terrace, all designed by master of hotel chic, Martin Brudnizki. Plus it’s only an hour from London, because we all know long car journeys with small children are intolerable.’ fourseasons.com | Lucinda Baring, Deputy Editor | | Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London | ‘I always think a night at a glittering grande dame London hotel is sometimes just as good as somewhere far flung. Being a tourist with your children in the city allows you to see it with fresh eyes – and if you head somewhere like the gorgeous Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, they can organise money-can't-buy treats like riding in the park (down paths normies aren't allowed), spa treats for my daughter and I and then it's just a five minute walk from Harrods, where my son and I can go and gawp at the toy department.’ mandarinoriental.com | Lucy Cleland, Editorial Director | | | Staying in Forever… | Property Of The Week | | Though there's still a long way to go until we’re treated to The White Lotus season 4, that hasn’t stopped us dreaming of life among its French Riviera setting. Want to feel like you’re on holiday all year round? This stunning estate on the Cap d'Antibes peninsula has a history of attracting the rich and famous. Having started life as the Hôtel Provençal Tennis Club, Domaine de la Belle Étoile once hosted the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Coco Chanel, the Duke of Windsor, Jackie Kennedy and Charlie Chaplin. | On the market for £51.16m, domaine-de-la-belle-etoile.com | | | Competition Time | | Win a stay at New Forest hotel Lime Wood, complete with a three-course dinner | | Win a two-night stay at Minos Beach Art Hotel in Crete | | Win a Wodar boiling water tap worth £1,499 | | Psssst… | Good news for caffeine addicts: a new study has found people who drink a couple of teas or coffees a day have a lower risk of dementia and a slightly better cognitive performance than their non-drinking counterparts. Source: The Guardian | | The Full Story | ‘I Tried The New Weight-Loss Pill’ | Olivia Falcon tests the latest wonder drug which promises to boost GLP-1 naturally | | I’ve been using weight-loss injections (first Ozempic, then microdosing Mounjaro) on and off for over three years with significant results. They transformed my health – lowering high cholesterol, taking me out of the pre-diabetic zone and helping me shed ten kilos – but I am not keen to remain on medication for life. So I decided to see if I could wean myself off Mounjaro without piling the weight back on. | Last time I tried this, it was a disaster: pre-Christmas, stressed, ravenously hungry and fuelled by empty Champagne calories – the pounds piled on. This time I have a more calculated plan and a new tool to help. | Enter Elcella (£535.50 for a 12-week course, elcella.com), a supplement marketed as a natural alternative to Ozempic, with clinical claims that it boosts GLP1, the appetite-regulating hormone, leading to reduced food noise, weight loss and long-term gut regulation. | Rather than microdosing Mounjaro, I am now swallowing four large dark green pills twice a day, three to four hours before lunch and dinner. The first three weeks of trying to establish this new habit were not successful: I missed days, took half doses and started to panic as I could feel my jeans getting tighter and my serving sizes getting larger. But on the days I did remember to take the recommended dose, I genuinely had less of an appetite – enough to encourage me to focus. I now have an alarm set on my phone, and six weeks in I do think Elcella is working to keep middle-aged spread at bay. | Elcella was a eureka moment for two neuro-gastroenterologists researching the relationship between the gut and hormone regulation. Their discovery? That L-cells in the gut release appetite-regulating hormones GLP-1 and PYY, but modern processed foods are broken down earlier in the digestive tract, so these cells are not properly activated. Instead of replacing your hormones with synthetic drugs, Elcella aims to jump-start your own system with a blend of plant-derived fatty acids, delivered straight to the colon using a patented capsule. By triggering a surge of GLP-1 and PYY – the ‘satiety superstar’ peptide – it helps you feel full, reduce cravings and take back control of your appetite. | Building a healthy gut rhythm takes time, so for best results a 12-week course is recommended. I am six weeks in and doing well; my tummy is flatter, I’m still a size ten and it feels good to give the Mounjaro a break. | | | | | Sign up for 12 print issues and instant access to every digital edition for only £39 |
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