| | | | | | Dear Reader, | I took Thursday off to spend it with a friend. An enforced bedside day, if you like, as she was having a second round of chemo for a recent breast cancer diagnosis. While that part of things wasn't so great, having the chance to spend eight hours with someone you adore and have known for 40 years felt like a huge privilege. In a week where the news headlines have seemed more bonkers and surreal than ever – from over a one in ten chance that AI will wipe out humans in the next ten years to Trump saying he'll grease the palm of any Republican voter with $5,000 should they win the mid-terms – we were able to offload 'end of the world' anxieties, reminisce about the past, gossip about the present, commiserate about how hard bringing up children can feel (plus the joys, natch), and decide how capable we'd be in the apocalypse. A full range of excellent conversation, basically. And, despite the hardcore drugs coursing through her body and the grimness of some of our chat, we both agreed at the end of the day we felt much better for having had that precious time. Grab it with both hands. | | Lucy Cleland
Editorial Director | | | Staying In | WATCH: Colin from Accounts | | Titled for the strangely named dog at the show’s heart, this is an Aussie comedy that, on paper, doesn’t seem like it would be a hit, swimming as it is in an oversaturated genre of will-they-won’t-they romances. But Colin from Accounts – which opens with the throwing together of strangers Gordon (Patrick Brammall, now of The Devil Wears Prada 2 fame) and Ashley (Harriet Dyer) when they both play a hand in accidentally maiming a runaway border terrier – has been just that: a runaway hit (and, thankfully for Colin, not a hit and run). After the sad ending to season 2 (Colin is fine), season 3, streaming now on BBC iPlayer, opens three years later and delivers the triumphant ending we’ve been rooting for. | | MAKE: Jay Rayner’s Meatballs & Braised Spaghetti |
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| What does a food critic cook at home? Find out with Jay Rayner’s new cookbook, Nights Out in the Kitchen – and try one of his favourite pasta recipes, shared below. |
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| | Ingredients: | 400g highly seasoned sausages (probably about 6). I favour Toulouse sausages, but it works equally well with Cumberland, or Italian fennel. Just don’t use something bland and mimsy. 400g pork mince Vegetable oil, for cooking 1 large onion, chopped 1 litre chicken stock, from cube or gel pot 350g spaghetti Parmesan, to serve
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| Method: | Heat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6. Squeeze the sausage meat from the skins and mix thoroughly with the pork mince with your hands, then form the mix into roughly golfball-size meatballs. You may find wetting your hands occasionally helps with this. This amount should give you between 16 and 20 balls. Heat a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large oven-safe casserole or pot with a lid and fry the meatballs in the oil in batches until a little coloured on at least a couple of sides. Do not worry about cooking them all the way through. You just want some colour on them. As each batch is cooked, remove them to a dish, to await their return. Turn the heat down to low and gently fry the chopped onion in the mixture of oil and pork fat until translucent, stirring occasionally. This should take about 5 to 10 minutes. If the pot looks at all dry, add a knob of butter. Now pour in the chicken stock, scraping around the bottom of the pan to get up any caramelized bits of meat or onion. Then turn up the heat until the stock is on a gentle boil. Break up the lengths of dry spaghetti into thirds, add them to the stock and give it a very good stir so the pieces separate and are properly below the surface of the stock. Add the meatballs back on top so they are bobbing slightly in the stock. Don’t worry if it looks like too much liquor. It will be absorbed. Put the lid on the casserole and put it in the oven for 10 minutes. After this time take the pot out, remove the lid and give it a good stir. The spaghetti will still be very much al dente. Check whether any strands have clumped together. Separate those with a couple of forks. Put it back into the oven with the lid on for another 5 minutes. At which point we are dealing with the variables of your spaghetti, your casserole and your oven. For example, if, after this time, the spaghetti is still not quite there, you will need to put it back in for a couple more minutes, with the lid off. The pasta will eventually swim in its own rich, buttery, starchy sauce. The meatballs will be cooked through. Serve with grated Parmesan and a good grind of black pepper. Do not tell any Italian friends what you have done.
| Nights Out in the Kitchen by Jay Rayner is out now (Penguin Books, £22) |
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| | READ: Our Noble Selves by Kate Atkinson | | It feels like summer is winding down, but for a spot of sunsoaked escapism we will be turning to Kate Atkinson’s new crime caper, which is backdropped by 1951’s Festival of Britain (the year of the author’s birth, no less). True to the Whitbread Award winning author’s form, Our Noble Selves is witty and warmhearted in equal measure, centring on hardened former war reporter and foreign correspondent Harry Flynn who joins an eccentric team preparing to ready the celebratory festival for its launch. At the same time, Harry attempts to resume some semblance of a romantic life now he’s settled back on home shores – but when one of his dates goes missing and the journalist is deemed the last person to see her alive, he finds himself in hot water. Could he really have somehow enabled her disappearance? Little does he realise, the answer may lie in the hands of the sharp tongued 13-year-old Veronica. Out now. | | Going Out | JOIN: The Hideaways Club | C&TH Partnership |  | @emilytierneyofficial |
| Why own one holiday home when you can enjoy 45? That’s the concept behind The Hideaways Club: a £52m portfolio of luxury escapes across Europe, Asia and Africa, exclusively available to members. Whether catching a show in London, strolling the streets of Spain, skiing in Japan, or relaxing by the beach in Mauritius, there’s a property available for you. Spanning everything from Mediterranean villas and Alpine ski chalets, to city pied-à-terres and island resorts, each residence in The Hideaways Club catalogue was chosen for its character, location, and ability to bring people together. Alongside co-ownership of these stunning escapes, The Hideaways Club’s 400 like-minded members gain access to a treasure trove of exciting events – from trackside supercar days, art gallery evenings and wine tastings, to more adventurous group departures to one-of-a-kind destinations around the world. Find out more here. | BOOK: Goldsmiths’ Fair | C&TH Partnership | | Returning to London this autumn is the Goldsmiths’ Fair, an annual event and exhibition showcasing British craftsmanship and design in precious metals. Held at Goldsmiths’ Hall, the 2026 festival will once again bring together a sparkling selection of the UK’s finest contemporary jewellers and silversmiths, with 138 exhibitors on display. It’s an opportunity to buy directly from makers, as well as listen to talks and browse shows. 22 September – 4 October 2026, goldsmithsfair.co.uk | EXPLORE: celebrASIA at Battersea Power Station | | London’s largest South East Asian festival returns to Battersea Power station for its third edition this weekend. New for 2026 is the celebrASIA Film Festival, which will include screenings of a whole host of South East Asian cinema – from Malaysian football drama Ola Bola to Thailand’s food documentary Aroi Mark. Alongside this there will be an eclectic range of street food from favourites like Eat Lah and Old Chang Kee, plus live music and dance events, cooking classes, panel talks and more. 11 – 13 September 2026, batterseapowerstation.co.uk | | Share This Newsletter With A Friend | | | | Staying in Forever… | Property Of The Week | | She may be best-known for possessing the ‘voice of an angel’, but these days Charlotte Church spends less time singing and more time running a Welsh wellness retreat known as The Dreaming. Hosted in a sprawling 15th-century manor named Rhydoloh House, Charlotte’s own Barry cottage (now for sale) is much humbler in size. Take a look inside. | On the market for £695,000, fineandcountry.co.uk | | Competition Time | | | | Psssst… | Chelsea Arts Festival is just a few days away, and there’s still time to book tickets to an exclusive talk with the cast and creators of Sense and Sensibility. Screenwriter Diana Reid will be in conversation with actors Fiona Shaw (Mrs. Jennings) and Bodhi Rae Breathnach (Margaret Dashwood) at Cadogan Hall for an in-depth conversation on bringing Jane Austen’s novel to the screen. Don’t forget you can get 15% off with the code CTH15. 17 September, 1pm | | | | Sign up for 12 print issues and instant access to every digital edition for only £39 |
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