Waltz Chocolate Fudge Cake

October 1, 2016

Preparation time: 10 min.

Cooking time: 60 min.

Total Time: 1 hour 10 min.

Serves: 8-10 persons.

Ingredients

240g Dark cooking chocolate, preferably 70% cocoa, broken into pieces

385g Caster sugar (superfine sugar)
250g, or 2 Sticks unsalted butter
1¼ Cups milk
¼ Cup oil
2 Eggs
½ Cup, or 45g cocoa powder
1 Tsp baking powder
1¾ Cups / 265g plain flour
2 Tbsp coffee granules (optional)

Ganache

1 Cup heavy whipping cream
250g Dark melting chocolate chips (semi sweet chocolate chips)

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Butter or spray a 22-25cm/9-10” spring form cake tin and line with parchment/baking paper.

Combine sugar, butter, half the milk and chocolate in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir until the butter and chocolate have melted and sugar is dissolved. Do not let it simmer or boil.

Pour the chocolate mixture into a bowl. Whisk in oil and remaining milk.

Whisk in eggs until combined.

Sift cocoa, baking powder, flour and coffee directly into the bowl. Whisk until smooth – some small lumps are ok.

Pour into the cake tin and bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove sides from the cake pan and transfer to a cooling rack to cool.

Ganache

Place chocolate in a bowl.

Place cream in a saucepan over medium-high heat. When it is about to start simmering, remove it – don’t let it come to a boil! Pour cream over the chocolate; shake the bowl to submerge all the chocolate under the cream. Cover bowl with a plate and set aside for 5 minutes.

Stir chocolate with a spoon until smooth. Refrigerate for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until thickened to a spreadable consistency like peanut butter.
Spread over the cake – tops and sides.

Strawberry Tartar Red Pepper And Basilic Spume

October 1, 2016

Strawberry season is just around the corner, so keep this recipe close at hand. The combination of the sweetness of the strawberries with the tang of balsamic is addictive, be warned!

Ingredients: (makes 4 servings)

300gm strawberriesMethod:

Wash and cut the strawberries, seasoning the fruit with the

Balsamic vinaigrette.

Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

50 ml olive oil

30 ml balsamic vinegar

20gm sugar

Basil Spume:

35gm water

100gm sugar

25gm basil

500gm cream

1.5 pieces gelatine leaves (suggest where to find these)

Method:

Heat the sugar and water, infusing the basil. Heat the cream and add the dissolved gelatine Mix everything and filter, put into a siphon and load with two gas cartridges. Cool in the refrigerator for two hours.

Ice-Cream

Ingredients:

35gm water

10gm glucose syrup

10gm sugar

150gm strawberry puree

3gm balsamic vinegar

15gm cream

15gm red pepper juice

Method:

Mix whole peppers to obtain a juice, mix all ingredients and heat. Process in an ice-cream maker and keep in the freezer.

Pickled Red Peppers

Ingredients:

40gm sugar

100gm water

100gm red peppers

Method:

Make a julienne of the red pepper (i.e. cut into short thin slices). Heat the water and sugar. Put all together in a vacuum pack (really?) and cook in a 60°C immersion heater. A saucepan on a very low heat can be used if no immersion heater is available.

Garnish

Fresh basil leaves

Octopus Spaghetti

October 1, 2016

Ingredients (per portion)

60 gm mini Roma tomatoes on the vine

90 gm squid ink spaghetti

1 tsp salt

2 tsp butter

250 gm baby octopus

1 small red chilli

1 lemon, zest only

1/2 tsp lemon infused olive oil

Method:

Arrange the tomatoes on a piece of foil on the tray for your griller. Turn the grill onto high and grill the tomatoes till they just char. This will probably take as long as it takes to prepare the rest of the dish.

Cut the hoods off the baby octopus, remove the beaks or any undesirable parts and cut the tentacles into pairs. Remove the skin from the hood, discarding the skin and any other undesirables. Using a sharp knife, very gently score a crosshatch pattern into the hood of the octopus. Set aside.

Fill a saucepan of water to the boil and add the salt. You want the water to taste as salty as the sea. Bring the water to the boil, add the spaghetti and cook till al dente.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small frying pan. When it’s bubbling, add the octopus tentacles. Grate the zest of the lemon into the pan. Slice the chili and add it to the pan. Stir the tentacles, flipping them over so they cook on both sides. After a minute or two, add the hoods and cook till they just become translucent.

Drain the pasta and mix through the sauce. Arrange pasta on the plate and reduce the sauce before tipping it onto the pasta.

The tomatoes should be charred on top. Arrange them atop the pasta and drizzle with lemon infused olive oil.

Serve immediately and enjoy.

The Perfect Fall Beverage

October 1, 2016

Taking you from Summer into Winter

It is the time of the year where you spend most of your time staring at your wardrobe wondering what you’ll wear because you don’t know if it’ll be warm or chilly outside. You want to start getting into the blanket-sofa-hot chocolate mood but cannot let go of the ice cold drinks and the shorts yet.

Cherry Berry Chai

Crave has put together the perfect fall drink for you, the Cherry Berry Chai. A mix of summery fruits and wintery teas in a, mouthwatering cold glass with a little hint of cinnamon; perfect for the fall.

Ingredients:

Earl Grey tea
Chai flavored tea
Raspberry chai tea
Mixed berry tea bags – 4
Water – 6 cups
Honey, according to taste
Lemon juice – 1 tbsp
Ice cubes
Sliced ginger – 2 tbsp
Fresh mint leaves – 4 tbsp
Lemon slices – 4-5

Cherry Berry Chai is not only delicious, colorful and refreshing, but also quite nutritious. Cherries are a great source of vitamin A, full of antioxidants to help improve immunity and heart health and also reduce cholesterol. Raspberries, another vital ingredient used in the drink, are surprisingly a very strong fat burner that helps take care of the skin. Earl Grey tea is not like any other tea, it reduces stress, helps relieve toothaches and helps lower the risk of heart disease.

Here is how to make an easy Cherry Berry Chai at home:

Boil water. Pour boiled water into a pitcher and seep tea bags for 8-10 minutes.
Remove tea bags. Chill covered for about 1-2 hours, or until cold.
Stir in honey and lemon juice.
Add mint, lemon slices and ginger slices to pitcher, and keep in refrigerator for about 10 minutes.
Add ice cubes to the serving glass and pour tea ice.

BEST HIGHLIGHTERS AND WHERE TO HIGHLIGHT

October 1, 2016

By Lydia Schoonderbeek

The basic rule of highlighting is to highlight in the places where the light would hit your face, making them more prominent.

How to highlight your face:

Always use a foundation 2 shades lighter than your skin tone to highlight
Apply a concealer in an upside-down triangle share underneath your eyes. And also using your ring finger tap some concealer onto the inner corners of your eyes.
Highlight between the brows where a furrow may appear.
Highlight under the eyebrow bone to lift the brown and brighten the eyes.
Highlight the high point of the cheekbone to define the cheek.
Blend in a straight line along the bridge of your nose. But don’t highlight your nose if you don’t like its shape. It can make it look longer.
On the centre of your chin.
Highlight the creases that create shadows such as in the nasal fold area.

TV Oct 2016

October 1, 2016

The Walking Dead

Season 7. Ep.1

23 October 2016

Negan decides to punish Rick’s group for their crimes against him (they’d previously killed a number of his troops) and uses “Lucille”, a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire, to beat one of them to death.

The thrashing is seen from the POV of the victim, leaving the viewers none the wiser as to who Negan picked.

The cliffhanger left fans peeved, to put it mildly, with viewer outrage and petitions. So who did Negan kill?

The Flash

Season 3. Ep.1

4 October 2016

We pick up on Barry three months after him changing the timeline,he has trapped the reverse flash in a cage,his parents are alive but his love interest Iris West does not know who he is,neither do his friends at Star Labs. With his changes comes new enemies,new speedsters and a whole world of, Flashpoint.

Arrow
Season 5. Ep.1

5 October 2016

Spoiled billionaire playboy Oliver Queen is missing and presumed dead when his yacht is lost at sea. He returns five years later a changed man, determined to clean up the city as a hooded vigilante armed with a bow.

Supergirl

Season 2. Ep.1

10 October 2016

The adventures of Superman’s cousin in her own superhero career.

Legends of Tomorrow

Season 2. Ep.1

13 October 2016

Focuses on time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter, who has to recruit a rag-tag team of heroes and villains to help prevent an apocalypse that could impact not only Earth, but all of time.

The Vampire Diaries

Season 8. Ep.1

21 October 2016

Despite their best efforts to help Bonnie through the harrowing predicament she now faces, Damon, Enzo and Caroline realize their options are running out and drastic measures need to be taken. With their only chance of saving their friend lying inside the Armory, Stefan breaks the news to Caroline that they may need help from an unlikely source – her and Alaric’s twin daughters. Elsewhere, Enzo keeps Bonnie preoccupied by bringing her back to their cabin but when his plan takes an unexpected turn, it’ll be up to Damon to make the ultimate sacrifice to save his closest

Man with a Plan

Season 1. Ep.1

24 October 2016

A dad finds out that parenting is harder than he thought after his wife goes back to work and he’s left at home to take care of the kids.

PURE GENIUS

Season 1. Ep.1

27 October 2016

A young Silicon Valley tech-titan enlists a veteran surgeon with a controversial past in starting a hospital with a cutting-edge, new school approach to medicine.

People of Earth

Season 1. Ep.1

31 October 2016

Journalist Wyatt Jones is skeptical when he investigates a support group for oddballs who think they have been abducted by aliens, yet the more he learns, the more confused, intrigued, and seduced he becomes.

Born to Swim

October 1, 2016

Nagwa Ghorab Sets the Pace

We love what our new generation of Egyptian swimmers has been managing these days, but let’s also give our total respect and admiration to an amazing Egyptian swimmer who has been keeping Egypt in the spotlight for decades. Vivacious, sun-kissed and looking nowhere near her years, Nagwa Ghorab shares her journey with Cairo West Magazine.

CWM: Nagwa, when and where did you first start swimming?

NG: I was born in 1943 so I am now 73 years old. I started swimming when I was four years old. At the time we lived in Heliopolis, and had to make the journey to swim near the Opera House Club because the Heliopolis Sporting Club was only for foreigners in those days.

How often did you practise?

I adore swimming, and when Heliopolis Sporting Club near our home started accepting Egyptians I did my training there every day. The trainers predicted that through my special style I would one day become a backstroke champion. I stopped swimming after marriage to give my time to family life, raising children and work. I started again after retiring to realize my dream, even with the passing of the years the champion spirit was strong and alive … waiting to start again! I went back to swimming every day for about two hours, and I was lucky and relieved to have maintained my fitness.

When did you start entering competitions?In my youth I was an Egyptian champion with very high records, then went back to competing when I was 64 years old.

What do you enjoy most about swimming?

Oh my dear, the feel of the water is magnificent. When I came back to swimming I wanted to realize my dream to compete with foreigners. It is great to gauge your own abilities by competing with other strong swimmers. When competing in Europe I would immediately check the screen when I touched the end, the elation of doing well was unmatchable. Being a champion was something instilled in my very being.

Do you still swim regularly?

Yes, my life is geared around swimming. Five days a week I start with a training swim of around 2 km, followed by about two hours of very organized training. I take a break of two days every week to relax my muscles.

How many countries have you visited and competed in?

First Turkey, then Sweden, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Canada, Russia and recently the USA. The national competitions are always the most important though; there you gain the title of champion. In foreign countries you receive the title of winner.

What medals have you won?

Each time I competed in France I collected three medals, for second and third place, and valuable medals from world championship in Montreal, Canada 2014. In Russia in 2015 I won five medals and was rated third in the world. When I competed in the USA national championship this year I won three medals, one of them for second place in 50 yards backstroke with a time of 48.60 seconds. Medals were also awarded for my 5th and 6th placing in the 100 yards backstroke and 50 yard freestyle.

Is swimming a sport that everyone can benefit from, and how?

Yes sure. A swimmer can practice at any age because the water supports him or her. In world championships I meet all ages, even 90 years old and more.

How do you see the prospects for Egyptian women in sport?

I strongly believe that Egyptian women in sport are on a level to compete with the whole world… God bless Egypt!

Movies Oct 2016

October 1, 2016

Inferno

Thriller

28 October 2016

The latest bestseller in Dan Brown’s (Da Vinci Code) billion-dollar Robert Langdon series, Inferno, finds the famous symbologist (again played by Tom Hanks) on a trail of clues tied to the great Dante himself. When Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), a doctor he hopes will help him recover his memories. Together, they race across Europe and against the clock to stop a madman from unleashing a global virus that would wipe out half of the world’s population.

Stars: Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Ben Foster

The Girl on the Train

Mystery | Thriller

7 October 2016 (USA)

The Girl on the Train is the story of Rachel Watson’s life post-divorce. Every day, she takes the train in to work in New York, and every day the train passes by her old house. As she attempts to not focus on her pain, she starts watching a couple who live a few houses down — Megan and Scott Hipwell. She creates a wonderful dream life for them in her head, until one day, as the train passes, she sees something shocking, filling her with rage. The next day, she wakes up with no memory of the night before. She has only a feeling: something bad happened.

Stars: Emily Blunt, Edgar Ramírez

The Accountant

Crime | Thriller

14 October 2016

Christian Wolff is a math savant with more affinity for numbers than people. Behind the cover of a small-town CPA office, he works as a freelance accountant for some of the world’s most dangerous criminal organizations. With the Treasury Department’s Crime Enforcement Division, run by Ray King, starting to close in, Christian takes on a legitimate client: a state-of-the-art robotics company where an accounting clerk has discovered a discrepancy involving millions of dollars.

Stars: Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick

Priceless

Drama

14 October 2016

After the tragic death of his wife and losing custody of his little girl, James Stevens is at the darkest crossroad of his life. Angry, desperate, and unable to hold down a steady job, he agrees to drive a box truck on a shady, one-time trip cross country for cash — no questions asked. But when he discovers what he is delivering is actually who, he is compelled to save two beautiful and frightened sisters who are unaware of the danger that awaits them.

Stars: Jim Parrack, Amber Midthunder

A Monster Calls

Drama | Fantasy

21 October 2016

The monster does not come walking often. This time it comes to Connor, and it asks for the one thing Connor cannot bring himself to do. Tell the truth. This is a very touching story about a boy who feels very damaged, guilty and mostly angry. He struggles at school with bullies, and pity looks from everyone, and at home with his mother’s sickness. Will Connor overcome his problems?

Stars: Morris Chestnut, Theo Rossi

Rings

Horror

21 October 2016

Julia becomes worried about her boyfriend, Holt, when he explores the dark urban legend of a mysterious videotape said to kill the watcher seven days after viewing. She sacrifices herself to save her boyfriend and in doing so makes a horrifying discovery: there is a “movie within the movie” that no one has ever seen before.

Stars: Bonnie Morgan, Aimee Teegarden

Diwan Book Reviews

October 1, 2016

New Releases

THE MARBLE COLLECTOR – CECELIA AHERN

When Sabrina Boggs stumbles upon a mysterious collection of her father’s possessions, she discovers a truth where she never knew there was a lie. The familiar man she grew up with is suddenly a stranger to her.

THE SYMPATHIZER – VIET THANH NGUYEN

With the pace and suspense of a thriller and prose that has been compared to Graham Greene and Saul Bellow, The Sympathizer is a sweeping epic of love and betrayal.

SEE ME – NICHOLAS SPARKS

Colin Hancock is giving his second chance his best shot. With a history of violence and bad decisions behind him and the threat of prison dogging his every step, he’s determined to walk a straight line. To Colin, that means applying himself single-mindedly toward his teaching degree and avoiding everything that proved destructive in his earlier life.

AFTER YOU – JOJO MOYES

Louisa Clark is no longer just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. After the transformative six months spent with Will Traynor, she is struggling without him. When an extraordinary accident forces Lou to return home to her family, she can’t help but feel she’s right back where she started.

SOLOMON CREED – SIMON TOYNE

The author of the acclaimed Sanctus trilogy conjures an eerie epic of good and evil, retribution and redemption—the first novel in the mesmerizing Solomon Creed series in which a man with no memory of his past must save a lost soul in a small Arizona town.

Bestselling

I AM ZLATAN: MY STORY ON AND OFF THE FIELD – DAVID LAGERCRANTZ

Daring, flashy, innovative, volatile—no matter what they call him, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one of soccer’s brightest stars. A top-scoring striker and captain of the Swedish national team, he has dominated the world’s most storied teams, including Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, and Paris Saint-Germain.

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT TIME – MARK HADDON

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.

This improbable story of Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.

THE NEW ONE MINUTE MANAGER – KENNETH BLANCHARD & SPENCER JOHNSON

With a new foreword by Ken Blanchard, the original bestselling blockbuster has transformed businesses worldwide. This easily-read story quickly demonstrates three very practical management techniques: One Minute Goals, One Minute Praising and One Minute Reprimands.