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BBC apologises after ‘Manchester United are rubbish’ appears on screen

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The BBC has apologised after a message appeared on the news channel saying “Manchester United are rubbish”.

The text mistakenly popped up on the news ticker at the bottom of the screen during a tennis update just after 0930 on Tuesday.

Later in the morning, presenter Annita Mcveigh apologised to any Manchester United fans who may have been offended.

She said the mistake had occurred as someone was learning how to operate the ticker and was “writing random things”.

Another message which appeared on the ticker read simply: “Weather rain everywhere.”

Mcveigh told viewers: “A little earlier, some of you may have noticed something pretty unusual on the ticker that runs along the bottom of the screen with news making a comment about Manchester United, and I hope that Manchester United fans weren’t offended by it.

“Let me just explain what was happening: behind the scenes, someone was training to learn how to use the ticker and to put text on the ticker, so they were just writing random things not in earnest and that comment appeared.

“So apologies if you saw that and you were offended and you’re a fan of Manchester United.

“But certainly that was a mistake and it wasn’t meant to appear on the screen. So that was what happened, we just thought we’d better explain that to you.”

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

An official BBC statement added: “There was a technical glitch during training with our test ticker, which rolled over to live programming for a few seconds.

“We apologised for any offence caused on air.”

BBC presenter and Manchester City fan Clive Myrie tweeted he “had nothing to do with this!!” with the hashtag MCFC, after City won the Premier League title on Sunday.

Manchester United have struggled by their standards in recent seasons and missed out on a Champions League spot, coming sixth in the table. Their new manager and former Ajax boss, Erik Ten Hag, is United’s fifth permanent boss since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. – bbc.com

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Monkeypox virus outbreaks are containable – WHO

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Monkeypox can be contained in countries outside of Africa where the virus is not usually detected, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

More than 100 cases of the virus – which causes a rash and a fever – have been confirmed in Europe, the Americas and Australia.

That number is expected to rise still, but experts say the overall risk to the broader population is very low.

The virus is most common in remote parts of Central and West Africa.

“This is a containable situation,” the WHO’s emerging disease lead Maria Van Kerkhove said at a news conference on Monday.

“We want to stop human-to-human transmission. We can do this in the non-endemic countries,” she added – referring to recent cases in Europe and North America.

The virus has now been detected in 16 countries outside Africa.

Despite being the largest outbreak outside of Africa in 50 years, monkeypox does not spread easily between people and experts say the threat is not comparable to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Transmission is really happening from skin-to-skin contact, most of the people who have been identified have more of a mild disease,” Ms Van Kerkhove said.

Another WHO official added that there was no evidence the monkeypox virus had mutated, following earlier speculation over the cause of the current outbreak.

Viruses in this group “tend not to mutate and they tend to be fairly stable”, said Rosamund Lewis, who heads the WHO’s smallpox secretariat.

Meanwhile, a top EU health official has warned that some groups of people may be more at risk than others.

“For the broader population, the likelihood of spread is very low,” said Dr Andrea Ammon of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

“However the likelihood of further spread of the virus through close contact for example during sexual activities amongst persons with multiple sexual partners is considered to be high”.

Monkeypox has not previously been described as a sexually transmitted infection, but it can be passed on by direct contact during sex.

Dr Ammon suggested that countries should review the availability of the smallpox vaccine which is also effective against monkeypox.

A person is considered at high risk of having caught the infection if they have had household or sexual contact with someone with monkeypox, or have changed the bedding of an infected person without wearing personal protective equipment (PPE).

Symptoms, which include a high temperature, aches, and a rash of raised spots that later turn into blisters, are typically mild and for most people clear up within two to four weeks. – bbc.com

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Getting in the Groove on Africa Day at Pamugoti Restaurant.

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AFRICA is the birth place of humankind, and all of humanity shares an African heritage. Also the country of the future, Africa has the potential to become the world’s next super power. A vast continent with diverse cultures, the African Union’s goal is to create a united Africa, with an effective pan-African world view.

Sumptuous mazondo, road runner and sadza nezviyo on Africa Day.

In Zimbabwe, Africa Day last week was a day to celebrate, to put African art up on the walls, and groove to the rhythms of Nigerian Afropop star @burnaboy and iconic musician @jahprayzah. Whether a full English breakfast was on the menu, or you warmed up the previous night’s sadza and fish, an hour or so was needed to delve into Together, a volume of short stories and poems by notable Zimbabwean writers, Julius Chingono and John Eppel. Cultural considerations aside, priority should be given to getting glammed-up for a traditional meal at one of Harare’s many restaurants.

Deciding where to eat out can be as important as making life choices – both require careful consideration. Whether you’re impecunious or simply watching your pennies, $50 for a three course meal on Africa Day is a big ask. A number of restaurants, some in attractive surroundings with comfortable seating, offered traditional fare ranging in price from $25 to $15.

The Restaurants Association of Zimbabwe posted a listing on social media of a number of restaurants open for business on Africa Day. They ranged from 5 star to family dining establishments, from ethnic restaurants, such as Chang Thai on Churchill Avenue, to The Village Greek in Sam Levy’s Village. Pamugoti Restaurant, on Ridgeway South advertised a taste of Zimbabwe with an Africa Day buffet lunch, and live entertainment with the Marimba Boys, priced at $20 per person.

Pamugoti, with its green lawns, trees and pleasant surroundings, seemed a good choice. As a buffet was advertised, we could sample a number of traditional favourites, and with luck could come back for second helpings. In addition, Pamugoti being close to my house, the chances of dealing with aggressive drivers and badly-behaved traffic were much reduced.

On arrival, we discovered that Pamugoti, closed since the Covid shutdown, had transferred the action to its nearby sister restaurant, The Mustard Seed. Our courteous waiter Albert seated us comfortably on the verandah in the warm winter sunshine. There were only a couple of other patrons, but as the afternoon wore on, more diners arrived. Albert explained that the spiralling cost of living meant that fewer people were able to eat out.

The buffet never materialised, and Albert explained that as very few bookings had been received for the event, diners could simply request the dishes they required, and the meal would be plated up in the kitchen. Choices could be made from mazondo, aka knuckle bones, road runner chicken stew, goat stew, and beef stew. These would be served with beans, covo, and either white sadza or sadza re zviyo, a nutritious dish rich in fibre, proteins and calcium, made from finger millet.

Bony and gelatin-rich mazondo are a Zimbabwean delicacy, best eaten at home, where you can roll up your sleeves and enjoy every morsel, but difficult to resist when they are cooked with skill, and feature on the menu at a restaurant. Sometimes praised as an aphrodisiac or a cure for hangovers, mazondo stew is the ultimate comfort food, with the richness and depth that comes with bone marrow and slow cooking. Needless to say, the chef at Pamugoti nailed it with all the traditional dishes.

Asking for details of this talented cook, I was told that she is a lady, but her identity remains clothed in mystery. If I discover that she’s a permanent feature at Pamugoti, I’ll be buying meal tickets and eating there every week.

Back home, the afternoon was spent admiring the highly-collectible landscape paintings of Zimbabwean artist Richard Witikani, and the multi-layered, textured paintings of Zambian artist and educator, Patrick Mumba.

On Africa Day, consider how every new year brings renewed talent in every field to the African continent. It’s only a matter of time before the continent is recognised as the super power it is destined to be.   A Matter of Taste  Charlotte Malakoff

Comments to: cmalakoff@gmail.com

 

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Shakira and footballer Gerard Piqué announce split after 12 years

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Colombian pop star Shakira and her longtime partner, Spanish footballer Gerard Piqué, are separating.

“We regret to confirm that we are separating. For the well-being of our children, who are our highest priority, we request respect for (our) privacy. Thank you for your understanding,” the couple said in a joint statement on Saturday.

Shakira and Gerard Pique are separating

The 45-year-old “Hips Don’t Lie” singer and 35-year-old FC Barcelona defender have two sons together: Milan, born in 2013, and Sasha, born in 2015. They’ve maintained a residence in Spain.

The two met 12 years ago when the footballer featured in the music video for Shakira’s song “Waka Waka,” the official song of the 2010 World Cup. The video has over 3.1 billion views on YouTube.
During a podcast appearance in February, Shakira said that she and her “poor husband, slash boyfriend, slash baby daddy” sometimes disagree about timeliness because of their different upbringings.
“Cause Colombian time is not the same as Catalonian time, Spanish time,” she said during an interview on “Planet Weirdo with Holly H.” – cnn.com

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Harvey Weinstein to be charged with indecent assault in UK

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Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein will be charged with two counts of indecent assault against a woman in London in the summer of 1996.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge the 70-year-old after a review of evidence gathered by the force.

The Metropolitan Police said it is alleged two offences took place between 31 July and 31 August 1996.

The alleged victim is a woman who is now aged in her 50s, the force said.

Rosemary Ainslie, head of the CPS special crime division, said: “The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against the defendant are active and that he has the right to a fair trial.”

The CPS said it was “extremely important” there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice the case. – bbc.com

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Chilling out with authentic sushi at The Beach House

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BORROWDALE Park Racecourse, founded by the Mashonaland Turf Club in 1892, has been the home of thoroughbred horse racing, once considered to be the sport of kings, for over a hundred years. In addition to horse race meetings, Borrowdale race course has now become a trendy shopping centre, with outlets for wine, fine foods, antique furniture, clothing and interior design.
It is also home to the Beach House, a funky restaurant popular with generation Zers, youngsters who grew up with the internet, social media and cell phones.
Marketed as a place to sip pina coladas, ‘enjoy the beach vibe’ and ‘dance the night away’ with Harare’s favourite DJs and the soulful sounds of @divinemahara, a chilly mid-winter visit to the Beach House on a Sunday afternoon might have been ill-advised.

Authentic sushi at The Beach House

But in addition to the excitement of visiting a restaurant for the first time, the lure of enjoying a platter of authentic sushi created by Oh So Sushi, now operating from the Beach House in addition to Queen of Hearts, proved irresistible.

Unless you know where you’re going, Borrowdale Race Course is a veritable rabbit warren, with signs pointing hither and thither, and roads leading to nowhere.

Grilled Queen prawns and chips.

Following vague directions from management that the Beach House was ‘in the middle of the race course’, we eventually followed a long and winding road that led across a wide open space resembling the ‘blasted heath’ where Macbeth met up with the three witches.

On arrival, we checked out signs warning guests to beware of cell phone thieves, before being greeted by a friendly maitre d’, who directed us to a table for five, reserved in advance.

During the winter months, the Beach House Restaurant probably ranks high for having the coldest dining area and the most uncomfortable furniture.
Dining at a picnic table placed on top of imported beach sand beneath a minimal canvas awning doesn’t appeal to the average Baby Boomer (born between 1946 and 1964), although this is probably part of the adventure for most Generation Zers.

Having said that, the Beach House also ranks high for serving the very best sushi.
We all wanted to eat sushi, and ordered individual platters with 10 pieces each, based on the popular Red Plate that consists of salmon crunch, prawn California, roses, rock shrimp tempura and Philadelphia sushi.

Each piece of sushi was a delicious revelation, made with skill and using many elements including authentic Japanese short grain rice, the freshest salmon, prawns and avocado, and a light sprinkling of black sesame seeds.

The perfect foil for the sushi was the bottle of Graham Beck Brut sparkling wine we brought with us (corkage $10, champagne glasses supplied).
The menu also includes a wide variety of charcoal grilled chicken, beef and seafood dishes. The platter of queen prawns grilled in garlic butter that we shared was well-prepared and seasoned, if slightly cold by the time it arrived at the table. The chips, however, were golden, crisp and freshly fried.

There was a long wait between courses, and although our waiter did his best, the demands made upon him by a large group of youngsters kept him occupied. We had planned to stay for coffee, but eventually gave up the wait, and decamped to Cafe Nush in Borrowdale for a macchiato and a slice of baklava.

While the Beach House is currently a favourite destination (especially on a Friday evening) for younger generations, we were not the only middle-aged fogeys having lunch on the beach last Sunday. But unless you’re impervious to winter chills, time your visit for the warmer months.

Comments to: cmalakoff@gmail.com

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Covid: Dozens of Covid cases linked to Beijing bar

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A total of 166 Covid infections in China have been linked to a single bar in the capital Beijing, officials say.

A government spokesman described the outbreak as “ferocious”.

All residents living in the area where the bar is located will be tested over the next three days.

The number of infections in the city is low by international standards but high for China, which is the world’s only major economy still maintaining a “zero Covid” policy.

The outbreak was traced to a venue called the Heaven Supermarket Bar, in the well-known entertainment area of Sanlitun in Chaoyang district.

Two buildings housing hundreds of people in Chaoyang were put under strict lockdown on Sunday after a positive case was reported, a residential committee worker told Reuters news agency.

Some people in Beijing said they were sent texts telling them to report to authorities if they had recently visited Sanlitun’s bars.

Chinese officials have reversed the relaxation of some Covid rules in Beijing because of the outbreak.

Most children in the capital will not return to school next week as originally planned, officials said.

The capital has reported 1,997 local Covid cases since 22 April.

China’s overall policy of “zero Covid” remains in place and people catching Covid face quarantine or hospital.

Their close contacts also face the prospect of removal to quarantine and the area immediately around where they live being locked down again.

The city of Shanghai, the country’s economic centre and a global trade hub, recently eased Covid curbs after a two-month lockdown. – bbc.com

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Beyoncé announces her first album in six years, Renaissance

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Beyoncé has announced what appears to be her first solo album in six years, Renaissance, due out on 29 July.

It will be the follow-up to 2016’s Lemonade, a meditation on black identity and marital infidelity that topped multiple end-of-year lists.

Fans had been waiting for the news ever since Beyoncé deleted her social media profile pictures last week.

She put them out of their misery on Thursday morning, by sharing the words “act i … RENAISSANCE” on her accounts.

Streaming sites including Spotify and Apple Music swiftly posted artwork for the record, offering fans the chance to pre-save the release.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

Tidal, the company owned by Beyoncé’s husband Jay-Z, also shared the information but, crucially, it will not carry the album as an exclusive.

Lemonade, by contrast, was a Tidal exclusive for three years. Beyoncé’s joint album with Jay-Z, Everything Is Love, was an exclusive for just two days in 2018.

Now the relationship has been severed, a recognition that the streaming service – which has about a 2% market share – cannot deliver the numbers Beyoncé needs to dominate the charts.

A listing on Apple Music suggests that Renaissance will contain 16 songs. It is not clear whether the title “Act i” means this will be the first of a multiple-album project, or whether the 16 tracks will be released in multiple parts.

Beyoncé’s charitable foundation BeyGOOD, tipped fans off that something was coming earlier this week, when it shared a montage of album covers to celebrate Black History Month in the US.

Hidden amongst the records was an image of a gloved hand pointing to the Brandy album B7 – the codename Beyoncé’s latest record had been given by her followers.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

Last year, the 40-year-old confirmed to Harper’s Bazaar that she had begun working on new music. “With all the isolation and injustice over the past year, I think we are all ready to escape, travel, love, and laugh again,” she said.

“I feel a renaissance emerging, and I want to be part of nurturing that escape in any way possible. I’ve been in the studio for a year and a half.”

She also discussed her habit of collaborating with dozens of people to construct songs; refining and shaping the music in her own image.

“Sometimes it takes a year for me to personally search through thousands of sounds to find just the right kick or snare. One chorus can have up to 200 stacked harmonies,” she said.

“Still, there’s nothing like the amount of love, passion, and healing that I feel in the recording studio. After 31 years, it feels just as exciting as it did when I was nine years old. Yes, the music is coming!”

Beyonce on stage
Beyoncé’s last major project was the 2018 “Homecoming” concert at Coachella

The star launched her career as part of the R&B girl group Destiny’s Child in 1997, before going solo in 2003. With hits like Crazy In Love, Single Ladies and Hold Up, she is one of the most successful and influential recording artists of her generation.

Over the course of her career she has won 28 Grammy awards and 79 nominations, more than any other female musician.

In the six years since her last album, she has curated a soundtrack for Disney’s Lion King remake and staged an historic performance at the 2018 Coachella Music Festival, which celebrated the culture of historically black colleges and universities in the US.

The concert was immortalised in a Netflix special, Homecoming, which itself won a Grammy for best music film.

Her most recent musical release was the surprise single, Black Parade, which came out in 2020 as Black Lives Matter demonstrations spread across the world.

The track included powerful lyrics about black history, police brutality and the George Floyd protests, with the star singing: “Put your fists up in the air, show black love / Need peace and reparation for my people.”

The song was released on Juneteenth, a holiday marking the official end of slavery in the US. – bbc.com

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Ed Sheeran was the UK’s most-played artist of 2021

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Ed Sheeran was the most-played artist in the UK last year, according to new data from music licensing body PPL.

The star also had the most-played song of the year with Bad Habits.

It’s the fourth time in five years that Sheeran has been named the UK’s most-played artist, calculated by plays on radio, TV, pubs, clubs and shops.

The singer last topped the most-played song chart in 2017 with Shape Of You, over which he recently won a High Court copyright case.

Sheeran’s continued success is “a testament to the quality of his output [and] the strength of UK music at a time when the global music landscape is more competitive than ever,” said PPL chief executive Peter Leatham.

But Bedford-born singer Tom Grennan could coming for Sheeran’s crown.

The singer, who was recently hospitalised after being attacked in New York, had the second and third most-played songs of 2021.

His Calvin Harris collaboration, By Your Side, took the runner-up spot, with his solo single Little Bit of Love in third place.

Most-played artists of 2021. .  .

The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights was the fourth most-played track of 2021, even though it was originally released in November 2019.

The song, which has sold three million copies in the UK, was also recently named the biggest hit of all time on the US Billboard charts, overtaking Chubby Checker’s 1960 single The Twist.

Another long-in-the-tooth chartmaker was Miley Cyrus’s Midnight Sky – a modern riff on Stevie Nicks’ Edge Of Seventeen – which took ninth place on the UK chart.

French DJ David Guetta also had two tracks in the top 10: Heartbreak Anthem, a collaboration with Little Mix; and Bed, which was recorded with Raye and Joel Corry.

The feat helped him become the second most-played artist of 2021; while Dua Lipa took third place.

Little Mix, who announced an indefinite hiatus last year, also made the top 10 for the fifth year in a row.

Pink appeared at number 10, illustrating the enduring popularity of her back catalogue on UK radio. Last year, the PPL named the US star the UK’s most-played female artist of the 21st century.

The organisation announced its charts to coincide with its annual report. It said it had collected a total revenue of £252.8m, the proceeds of which were shared between 147,000 performers and rightsholders. – bbc.com

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Feast, famine and food security

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ZIMBABWEAN architect Mick Pearce, award winner for his ecological and sustainable designs at home and in Australia, China, the UK, Zambia and South Africa, recently celebrated his 84th birthday at home, with a grand return to partying.

After the privations of lockdown, here was an opportunity to once again greet friends with a full-body hug, to have fun, and indulge in an all-you-can-eat buffet for family and friends.

Jerk chicken, tofu, coriander rice and glazed carrots with hacha nuts.

Celebrity private chef, De Ankarra Chef, alias Chef Tafadzwa, was our host for the day. Chef Tafi is passionate about using traditional ingredients in Afro-fusion dishes, and on this occasion he created a fusion menu based on the Pacific Rim countries visited by Mick and his wife Carole.

Vegan mapo tofu, a Sichuan dish, was made in a rich and flavoursome sauce, and served with coriander rice. Tamarind and coconut fish curry, and sweet and sour eggplant were accompanied by curry leaf fried rice, and a butternut and beetroot salad. Glazed carrots were garnished with hacha nuts, fruits of the muhacha or mobola plum tree. Said to be tastier than almonds or pine nuts, hacha nuts provide an important source of protein during food shortages. For good measure, Chef Tafi served up a favourite from the Caribbean, a platter of Jamaican jerk chicken, slow cooked over a fire with fragrant spicy flavours.

Having acquired a sophisticated palate while travelling regionally and abroad, De Ankarra Chef is redefining African food and taking indigenous and organic vegetables, seeds, grains and fruits upmarket. Indigenous foods obtained from local, natural environments are delicious and healthy, and can play an important part in providing food security. Legend has it that when food was scarce, the ancestors would pray under the muhacha tree, and delicious fruit would appear on its branches. Considered a sacred tree in Shona religion, traditional ceremonies are still held in its shade.

Seated next to me at the party was Anna Brazier, a freelance consultant in sustainable development. A consultant for BIZ (Bio -Innovation Zimbabwe), a research organisation promoting underutilised plant species as new crops to strengthen food security, Anna is also the author of Harnessing Zimbabwe’s Indigenous Knowledge for a Changing Climate, published by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. The book reveals that people in different communities still make traditional dishes, gather wild fruit, and make herbal medicines. Although some rural farmers continue to try and grow maize, poor soil, dry climate and extreme weather patterns contribute to crop failure.

Expensive maize seed and costly artificial fertilisers that further degrade the soil have encouraged a return to growing the crops of their grandparents – pearl millet, sorghum and rapoko.
Brazier pointed out that non-communicable diseases like BP and heart problems are on the rise. While these are exacerbated by eating processed foods, meat and many imported foods rich in sugar and oil, changing your lifestyle and eating smart foods such as zviyo sadza, mutakura (combination of peanuts, nyimo beans, nyemba and sugar beans, simmered together until soft), or okra and nyheve (spider flower), both cooked with onion and tomato, can give you a new lease on life.

As Zimbabweans, particularly those with wealthy lifestyles, become more health conscious, the range of delicious, nutritious indigenous foods continues to grow. As an alternative to a sugar fix, crop scientist Tracy Mapfumo has come up with a range of seed-based, and gluten-free health bars, marketed as Eny’s Treats.

A Zimbabwean startup, Hutano foods, makes snacks, breakfast cereals and porridges from locally grown millet, sorghum, marula, baobab fruits and mangongo nuts. Sourced from scores of small-scale farmers, and available in supermarkets countrywide, Hutano products create value on many levels.

The annual Good Food Festival, held in Harare’s Botanical Gardens, welcomes stall holders for traditional and organic seed, fresh produce and exciting lifestyle products. There’s something for everyone at this event, from traditional grains, legumes and herbs, to teas, cosmetics and small livestock. A food court supplies delicious food, while celebrity chefs compete in a fully equipped kitchen in the Battle of the Chefs.

Since being a winner in the Battle of the Chefs in 2016, De Ankarra Chef’s career has taken off. There’s always something to celebrate, whether it’s an 84th birthday, a promotion at work, a wedding anniversary, or a life well lived. To mark the occasion, can anything beat a traditional feast for family and friends, hosted by Chef Tafi?

A Matter of Taste with Charlotte Malakoff

Comments to: cmalakoff@gmail.com

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