Category Archives: food

Kitchen Style To Make Your Mouth Water

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For many families, the kitchen is the heart and soul of the home, and there is certainly no shortage of inspirational kitchen furniture and accessories to choose from these days. Whether your style is to create a cool, contemporary cooking space or if you love the idea of a traditional shaker style kitchen, you’ll be able to create your dream cooking and dining space with very little difficulty. Clever design means that even the smallest space can be utilised in order to give you plenty of storage, and your colour scheme is totally up to you – with classic wood, high gloss colours and sleek monochrome all popular in our anything goes culture.

For the perfect balance of style and practicality, you need to look carefully at the kind of countertops and worktops you choose. Premier Surfaces Zodiaq Countertops are beautiful quartz worktops which add a touch of luxury to your kitchen and are a great alternative to Corian designs. These are both attractive and durable surfaces that will complement a range of design schemes due to the expanding range of colours. Quartz worktops are a great investment for your kitchen, and it could be that you are able to update the look of your kitchen and make it more modern without completely changing the cupboards and units, but simply adding new countertops. This is great if you are want to upgrade, but have a tight budget.

When you choose a new design for your surfaces, try to find something that will compliment your flooring to make a real kitchen style statement. The London Sky design featured below is white, but tinged with the softest grey which means it looks great when paired with a crisp white floor, but as this can be hard to maintain, especially if you have a family, it would also contrast beautifully with a mid grey or even a charcoal tile.

If you are still struggling for a little kitchen makeover inspiration, why not turn to the celebrity world and the kitchens of the most in demand chefs?  You may not be able to copy the complete look, but are sure to find ideas that you can steal and adapt to your own home.

The following three cooks have created kitchens that are guaranteed to get your creative juices flowing.

Wolfgang Puck

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When it comes to interior design panache, it’s hard to top Wolfgang Puck. The charismatic Austrian-born chef has created the ideal cooking space in his Spanish-style villa in Beverly Hills. Featuring a simple, white color scheme and plenty of storage, it offers the perfect

balance of elegance and practicality. Dominating the room is a center island featuring built-in wine racks and shelves. Meanwhile, glass-fronted cabinets house a host of items, including raw coffee beans from his mother-in-law’s home country of Ethiopia. The design is completed by a striking black floor.

Ina Garten

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Ina Garten is another well-known cook with a kitchen to die for. In her barn-inspired house in East Hampton, New York, the author and Barefoot Contessa host has created a large cooking and entertaining space that exudes style and sophistication. It features a sizable central island complete with a bar and high stools. In an unusual touch, she has positioned table lamps on top of her work surfaces to provide soft lighting. To give the room a chic, contemporary look, the appliances are hidden away behind cabinet doors. Meanwhile, for extra storage, she has created a separate pantry area with simple wire shelving.

The kitchen also benefits from beautiful exposed ceiling beams and a large dining space complete with a circular table. Perfect for cold winter evenings, the room has a cosy log fire too.

James Martin

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The cooking space of British chef and TV presenter James Martin is well worth checking out too. Boasting a large glass-fronted fridge, heavy duty chopping boards, open shelving, glass storage jars and a scattering of potted herbs, the kitchen contains elements of both the rustic and the contemporary. Giving the room added character, James has added a large feature clock to the back wall.

By taking a look at the design ideas of renowned chefs like these, you should find all the inspiration you need to create the perfect kitchen in your property.

 

 

Food hygiene #Gloves Are All You Need

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There is nothing worse than food poisoning. And whilst many of us get this when on holiday, or from eating out in dodgy restaurants, or even from food that hasn’t been cooked properly, it is also true that poor hygiene in our kitchens, on work tops and in fridges, can also cause a lot of her stomach irritations and tummy bugs. Our own personal hygiene, especially when it comes to preparing food, is also very important.

Brosch Direct, who deal with all things healthcare and janitorial have put together a useful magazine looking at germ trails at public events like festivals, and also basic food hygiene, both in public and within the home. Some of the information it gives is simple and should be obvious – washing hands before you prepare (and eat food) is something that I think most of us are doing. But did you know that your toilet is not the dirtiest place in the home when it comes to germs, and that places like your kitchen sink, sponges and washing up brushes, and even your toothpaste holders can contain more germs and be a source of far more stomach upsets. And what about our handbags? We are constantly placing them on the floor in public toilets, or on public sinks as we wash our hands and retouch our lippie. Brosch reveal the horrifying fact that our handbags can house as much as 10,000 bacteria per square feet, with a third testing positive for faecel bacteria.

Another interesting fact is the one about ice in your drink. Most of us ask for ice for our G&T or our diet Coke, but ice can be a major source of bacteria. Some ice tested in a survey by the Mail on Sunday had more bacteria than found in the same establishments toilets. Definitely a reason to avoid ice!

Washing hands, using hand sanitisers that can be carried in our bags, using anti-bacterial wipes to clean or surfaces, and using disposable gloves for both cooking and cleaning can all help to stem the spread of germs, which can lead to less stomach/tummy bugs this Autumn. With so much of this being common sense, it seems like an easy way to improve home hygiene.

If you want to find out more information or follow the campaign, look for the hashtag #GloveIsAllYouNeed on social media, and maybe share your own tips for improving hygiene.

 

 

A Healthier You This Autumn

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If someone questions you about how healthy you are, can you give him or her the right answer? The truth is probably not with the reason being you are not sure if you are healthy on the inside. You may be healthy on the outside, but what about your inner body? Can you reallybe confident that you are both healthy on the outside and inside? However, whilst your body is not built to perfection, it can be managed for whatever lifestyle you may have for now.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes to become healthier? No matter what your age or profession is right now, you need to stay as healthy as you possibly can.  But this is often not the case. Here’s the reality check on why people are not valuing their health right now:

Reality Check #1: We do not invest in our health

It is ultimately our choice whether to become healthier or not.  And this effects whether we live longer or shorter lives. But modern life has many reasons why we  don’t invest in our health, with our monetary priorities focused on mortgages, bills, food, education and many other things. In other words, we have to to spend and invest on things other than ourselves. Yet we are only given one chance to live.

There are health checks that you certainly should not ignore. This often cost more time than money. Smear tests, breast checks, and, for men, prostrate tests should certainly not be missed. Any concerns we have about our sight or our hearing should be acted on immediately, these may be minor issues, needing a stronger prescription glasses or the need for ear wax removal from a clinic like Auris Ear Care, but may also point to something more serious, so should definitely not be ignored in the hope they will go away.

Reality Check #2: Prevention is expensive

People have limited financial capabilities when it comes to prevention. Instead of spending on prevention, we tend to spend on synthetic medication once we develop illnesses and conditions. But if you can’t afford prevention, can you really afford illness?

Reality Check #3: Too Many working hours for a quality lifestyle

In this era, people try to ignore health concerns for as long as they can. Long hours spent working per day, which can include overtime, working through lunches, and taking work home to burn the midnight oil, does not give the body a quality life. As a result, people are getting stressed and this can lead to cell degenerating, which, in turn can lead to you being prone to certain degenerative disease later on.

 

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Step #1: Get rid of processed foods in your refrigerator and kitchen

The first step that you have to do in terms of getting healthy is getting rid or eliminating the bad food clutter. In other words, you need to throw away processed foods that contribute to damaging your cells.

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Step #2:Take a Good look at your body

A new season is always a good time to take a look at our bodies, and if you have had a Summer of over-indulgence, you may feel you want to shift a few pounds. Eating more healthily and making sure you have some exercise every day will certainly start to make a difference, but sometimes these things alone are not enough. but the sort of treatment offered by Hypoxi Knightsbridge can help you to shift stubborn fat.

Hypoxi regimes and Hypoxi machines are designed to target specific areas of the body where you might be struggling to lose weight, like the stomach or thigh areas. It is recommended to book sessions in blocks of 12, so you give the regime time to really make a difference, and you can actually book a free consultation in order to find out more.

Step #3: Drink water everyday

Water is the healthiest liquid that you will ever drink. Instead of drinking carbonated soda, energy drinks and coffee, you can replace them with mineral or purified water. Water cleanses your cells from toxicity and can contribute to fat or weight loss. Try to drink between eight to ten glasses a day, and remember, some times when we feel hungry, we are actually thirsty and just need a drink.

Step #4: Better sleep quality

Finally, it is important that your body has quality sleep.  A good night’s sleep is around eight hours a night. Oversleeping regularly is not healthy and can lead to weight gain, as well as a loss of  productive hours. But a lack of sleep means your cells are not well-rested and given time to repair.

Follow these steps  for a better you?

Once you  follow these steps to a healthier you, there is no doubt that you feel the benefits in the long term. Being healthier should lead to a happier, more contented person, and this can only be a good thing.