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Christmas shoppers warned to avoid plastic toys due to toxin levels
Christmas shoppers are being warned to avoid plastic toys after they appeared in more than half of EU intergovernmental alerts for products containing banned chemicals this year.
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In all, 290 of the 563 warnings sent out on the EU’s rapid alert system concerned toys with illegally high levels of toxins, most of which were plastic dolls, and all of which could be on sale on British high streets.
Nearly half of the slime and putty toys tested in a separate survey of UK stores last week overshot EU safety limits for boron, which can cause diarrhoea and vomiting and may impair fertility.
The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) warned governmental agencies were fighting a losing battle against what the UN calls a “silent pandemic” of toxic pollution.
The EEB’s chemicals policy manager, Tatiana Santos, said: “Manufacturers do not fear the law and government inspectors are outnumbered and outgunned. We need proper chemicals control and enforcement more than ever. Yet the EU last week put a wide-ranging and overdue strategy to tackle the problem on ice. It should reverse that decision.
“In the meantime, shoppers this Christmas might want to try and avoid plastic toys altogether.”
Last month, a joint EU customs operation announced that more than 30,000 mostly Chinese dolls had been destroyed by market surveillance authorities after being deemed of “serious risk” to children due to high levels of phthalates.
More than 90% of 722,000 toys impounded across Europe in the EU haul carried a CE stamp for health, safety and environmental standards.
Pelle Moos, the chemicals officer for BEUC, the European consumers group, called for shoppers to be wary of “cheap, soft, plastic toys from China or elsewhere in Asia”.
“Consumers should follow their nose,” he said. “If a toy smells funny, it could be that it is giving off chemicals – as happened with ‘squishies’”. These were soft foam toys shaped like cute animals but made of suspected carcinogenic chemicals, banned in Denmark four months ago.
In Sweden, illegal levels of “substances of very high concern” – such as lead and cadmium – were found in Christmas lights last month.
Some of the world’s most dangerous chemicals were discovered in recycled toys and other products, in a recent survey of 19 European countries.
Products containing hazardous chemicals above legal limits were found by most UK councils that tested for them, according to a survey published on Monday by the Chem Trust charity.
However, 35% of councils did not check and, of the 65% that did, none took legal action where violations were found.
Kate Young, a spokeswoman for the charity, said: “Chem Trust was shocked by the results of our survey. The high number of councils not conducting any testing at all means that a large proportion of the population is at risk of exposure to hazardous chemicals in the products they use. It’s a postcode lottery.”
Cooking at Christmas can be daunting. If you’re catering for a crowd, there are likes, dislikes and allergies to navigate, as well as a perennial lack of time. This week’s recipe is a pudding you can make a few days ahead and appeals even to the anti-Christmas brigade. The two oranges in the base make it light, but it has intensely chocolatey top, and it is even gluten-free.
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Chocolate orange truffle cake
A layered cake of citrussy zing and chocolate truffle ganache.
Prep 15 min
Cook 45 min
Chill 4 hr Serves 10-12
2 oranges 125g caster sugar 125g ground almonds ½ tsp baking powder (gluten free if needed) 3 eggs Candied orange, to top (optional)
For the torte 300g dark chocolate, plus extra to shave (optional) 3 tbsp liquid glucose 3 tbsp Cointreau, Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur 400ml double cream
Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4. Put the oranges in a pan, cover with water, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes to remove the bitterness from the pith. While these are cooking, line a 22cm springform cake tin with greaseproof paper and cover the outside with foil to stop any leaks.
Once the oranges have simmered, take them out of the water, cut in half, scoop out the seeds and put in a food processor with the caster sugar, almonds and baking powder. Whizz for a minute, add the eggs and process for a minute longer – a few lumps are OK. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 12-14 minutes, until pale golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Meanwhile, break up the chocolate and put in a heatproof bowl resting above (but not touching) a pan of barely simmering water. Add the liquid glucose and orange liqueur, and leave to melt, stirring occasionally. Once melted, set aside.
Beat the cream until it has slightly thickened (but not so it’s stiff), fold half of this into the slightly cooled chocolate, mix gently, then fold that back into the remaining cream. Pour the mixture over the sponge, tap the tin gently to even out the filling, or use a palate knife, and refrigerate for at least four hours.
To serve, run a hot palette knife around the torte and loosen. Transfer to a plate and decorate with shaved chocolate, or candied orange.
And for the rest of the week
Any remaining chocolate cream is great for ice-cream – my favourite at this time of year is caramelised brown bread ice-cream with hot chocolate sauce.
“This cake is pretty decadent as it is, but you could always sneak an extra shot of Cointreau or Grand Marnier (both widely available) – whatever you use to make the cake.”
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Bangkok shrines all look alike after you’ve visited your fifth one. However, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything like Wat Pariwat, a temple complex in the city’s south-eastern corner. At first sight, it may look like your typical run-of-the-mill wat – but look closer and you’ll discover ornate depictions of emoji pandas, Wonder Woman, Pikachu, Disney figures and an angelic bare-chested Obama (to name a few) all blending in with the traditional intricate mosaics covering the walls and ceiling. It’s a visual feast and worth spending some time at as you hunt for pop culture references, including David Beckham, after whom it is nicknamed.
• 734 Rama III
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Street food central
Satay chicken stall on Phraeng Bhuthorn Road
In the thick of Rattanakosin, one of Bangkok’s oldest districts, the area around Phraeng Bhuthorn Road is home to some of the city’s most legendary street food institutions. If you’re an adventurous eater, start at Samong Moo Thai Tham, famous for its bowls of pork broth loaded with crispy fish skin, innards and melt-in-the-mouth … pig brain. A few doors down, a meal at Udom Pochana requires less courage. The stars on the menu of this decades-old restaurant are creamy Chinese-style curry, made with stewed beef and served over rice, and fresh spring rolls drizzled with spicy gravy and flecked with succulent crab meat. Cool down with a bowl of corn-topped coconut ice-cream at Nuttaporn, arguably the best place in town for this classic Thai dessert.
Vintage design studio
Papaya Studio
There are few better places to rummage through vintage goods than Papaya Studio, a furniture depot in the far-flung Lat Phrao suburb. You name it, they probably have it – in multiple shapes and sizes: lifelike Star Wars figures, pompous rococo mirrors, chinoiserie vases, classic Eames chairs – organised by era and function in one of the many warehouses or mock living rooms. The collection is brought together by Mr Tong, a long-time antique dealer and respected figure in the city’s design scene. While all items are technically for sale, the hefty price tags discourage potential buyers; instead, they’re often rented out for films or photo shoots. Admission is free but those toting professional camera equipment are asked to make a small donation.
Stepping inside Muslim Restaurant feels like stepping back in time. The interior of this Islamic-Thai eatery in the multicultural Bang Rak district hasn’t changed a bit since it opened in the 1940s. With its wooden booths, sky-blue walls and faded family portraits, it’s as charming as it is photogenic. People don’t just come here for the old world atmosphere, though – the food is fantastic. My personal favourites include roti mataba, a flaky pocket of beef and spices; and sup hang wua, spicy oxtail soup with a nice tang to it. Drop by on a Monday or Friday for their signature khao mok phae, a fragrant mutton biryani with falling-off-the-bone goat meat hidden under a pile of bright yellow rice. Best of all, a full meal with multiple curries, snacks, and drinks will only set you back a couple of pounds.
• 1354-56 Charoen Krung Rd
Bangkok’s green lung
Ban Krachao island
A short rickety boat ride from Bangkok’s business district, Ban Krachao – also known as “the green lung” – is a welcome respite from the busy streets. This small peninsula in a horseshoe bend of the Chao Phraya river is home to a patchwork of banana plantations, dense jungle, and small villages. Only the occasional sight of the city’s skyline shimmering through the dense foliage reminds you that you’re still in the middle of one of Asia’s most sprawling metropolises. It’s best discovered by bicycle (available at the arrival jetty, £2.30 for a full day or £1.20 an hour), which allows you to pedal the stilted pathways meandering through mangrove forests and local backyards. While simply getting lost here is an adventure in itself, it’s worth plotting the Sri Nakhon Khuean Khan Park and the Bang Namphueng floating market on your map.
Unique Chinese mansion
Sol Heng Tai Mansion
Hidden in a maze of alleyways in Talad Noi (a workers’ district bordering Chinatown), stately Sol Heng Tai Mansion is one of the last remaining traditional Chinese houses in the city. Built by a notable Hokkien family some 200 years ago, the structure consists of four wings surrounding a courtyard, all in traditional Hokkien style. Passed down through eight generations, it still functions as a family residence. The current residents operate a diving school (including a four-metre deep pool) and a beagle breeding kennel on the premises. Parts of the house have seen better days. (Sadly, its owners don’t receive financial support from the government to help restore it – the city is notoriously indifferent about preserving heritage buildings). Visitors are encouraged to order something from the makeshift coffee shop as a way of contributing.
• 282 Soi Wanit 2, Khwaeng Talat Noi
A taste of the north
Khao soi
In a district dominated by glitzy restaurants and mall food courts, Gedhawa stands out for its quirky decor and unfussy atmosphere. In a quiet alley off Sukhumvit Road (the area’s main thoroughfare), this small eatery is packed with northern Thai prayer flags, Lanna-style wood carvings, and retro knick knacks against a backdrop of shocking pink walls. The handwritten menu focuses mostly on northern Thai fare – a rarity in Bangkok – such as the classic khao soi (curry noodle soup) and the nam prik num, a northern Thai chilli dip served with boiled vegetables. Despite its “hidden gem” appearance, it’s popular with the area’s large Japanese community, so call ahead (+66 2 662 0501) to secure a table.
• 24 Sukhumvit Soi 35
Classic neighbourhood cafe
Kope Hya Tai Kee
Recent years have seen hipster cafes pop up like mushrooms in Bangkok. And while exposed-brick walls, bare light bulbs and letter-board menus are all the rage, few cafes can drum up to the atmosphere that Kope Hya Tai Kee, opened in 1953, exudes. There’s no hipster-chic here; instead, the place is littered with marble-top tables, old-school tea boxes and black-and-white photos of the original owners. It’s usually packed with uncles chatting the day away in Teochew dialect. They’re friendly, and you’re more than welcome to join them over a cup of kafe boran, a robust brew served with generous helpings of sugar and sweetened milk. Simple “American style” breakfasts are served here, too. Try the signature kai kata, with fried eggs, sweet Chinese sausage, ground pork and peas alongside a slice of buttered toast.
A ramshackle drinking den in the shadow of the Shangri-La Hotel, Jack’s Bar is a favourite with local chefs, in-the-know tourists and expats. And for good reason: the combination of prime river views, cheap drinks and an unpretentious atmosphere is hard to beat. Perched on a stilted platform over the water, it’s a perfect spot to watch the river with a cold beer (drink it the Thai way, poured over ice, as there is no air-conditioning to cool you down). And come hungry if you’re a fan of no-frills, authentic Thai food. The seafood-centric menu covers the usual classics and harder-to-find southern dishes that pack a spicy punch. Chef’s recommendations are the stir-fried stink beans with shrimp, and the khua kling, a peppery dry curry with minced pork and lemongrass.
This pastel colonial villa in the Surasak district was once surrounded by fruit orchards and canals. Fast-forward 70 years and it’s now sandwiched between buzzing expressways – but hasn’t lost a pinch of charm. It now houses Baan Pra Nond, a homey B&B operated by the granddaughter of the villa’s original owner (whose portrait is the centrepiece of the living room). It’s a far cry from the luxury digs around the corner, but what it misses in amenities, it makes up with heaps of old-world charm and genuinely friendly service.
• Doubles from £35 B&B, 18/1 Charoen Rat Road, baanpranond.com
Best time to go Bangkok is busy year-round but especially so at Songran (Thai New Year), in mid-April. January and February are good times to visit, when the sun shines but the hottest weather hasn’t yet set in. September and October are the rainiest months.
Chris Schalkx is a writer, photographer and Bangkok resident who scours the city for his travel blog Rice/Potato
All dressed up in a striking ceramic jar, Fortnum & Mason’s famous blue stilton gets a grandiose twist with heady truffle honey. Great to get, hard to give away. Truffle & Honey Stilton, 100g, £14.95, fortnumandmason.com
Star baker
Cinnamon-laced spiced almond biscuits with toasted meringue icing – AKA Christmas crack. Cinnamon star cookies, £6.50, konditorandcook.com
Well bread
The mother of all baking gifts, Brick House’s sourdough starter set kicks off their carb-loading career with a sourdough mother, cane banneton, organic flour, dough scraper and instruction booklet. Standard sourdough baking kit, £45, brickhousebread.com
Give a fig
Addictive organic apple, fig and balsamic chutney. Likes blue cheese, Gloucester ham and long walks on the beach. Fig and balsamic chutney, £6.99, daylesford.com
Block-a-choc
Award-winning chocolatier Paul A Young is renowned for his Christmassy choccy mash-ups (try the ludicrously decadent fudge brownie mince pies), and these filled chocolate boxes make for a splendid seasonal sweet treat – featuring ferociously festive flavours such as mulled wine; gold, frankincense and myrrh; and cranberry and goose fat caramel. Filled chocolate boxes, from £7 for four, paulayoung.co.uk (for orders outside of London, call 020 7437 0011)
Upper crustacean
A fabulously fishy olive oil in a snazzy rose-gold bottle, perfect for seafood salads, risotto, pasta, grilled fish, or pouring straight down your throat. Savor & Sens Très Or Olive Oil With Lobster, £13.95, harveynichols.com
Bittersweet booze
For when only an espresso martini will do. Mr Black’s cold brew coffee liqueur is handmade from top-grade arabica coffees and Australian wheat vodka, all served up in a cool graphic bottle. Mr Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur, £30, ocado.com
Jamón hamper
Brindisa’s box of delights packs in a proper foodie fiesta of traditional Spanish fine wines, cheeses, jamóns and sweet treats. Buen provecho. 30 Years Basket, £150, brindisa.com
Children’s books have had a record-breaking few years. The sector was worth £381.9m in 2017, according to Nielsen BookScan, and 2018 may well top that. One in every three physical books sold is now a children’s book. Judging by bestseller charts and supermarket displays you’d be forgiven for thinking that most of those were by celebrities. Famous faces certainly continue to sell in big numbers: David Walliams’s The Ice Monster (HarperCollins), David Baddiel’s Head Kid (HarperCollins) and Greg James and Chris Smith’s Kid Normal series (Bloomsbury) are among the year’s most notable. But beyond this, a rich and varied landscape of books for children and young adults is very much in evidence. This year, Jacqueline Wilson returned to her best-loved heroine in My Mum Tracy Beaker (Doubleday) and magical “middle-grade” fiction became the hot ticket, in adventures like Jessica Townsend’s Nevermoor (Orion) and Abi Elphinstone’s Sky Song (Simon & Schuster). Fresh interpretations of classics conjured up some of the season’s most beautiful gifts, including Lauren Child’s Mary Poppins (HarperCollins) and Jessie Burton’s The Restless Girls (Bloomsbury), illustrated by Angela Barrett. In picture books, the Oi! Frog series (Hodder) by Kes Gray and Jim Field began to challenge Julia Donaldson (and her various illustrators) in popularity. Poetry is having something of a boom, particularly anthologies like Chris Riddell’s Poems to Live Your Life By (Macmillan) and I am the Seed That Grew the Tree (Nosy Crow), gloriously illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon. Children’s nonfiction has seldom looked better and sales are soaring, led by Matthew Syed’s You Are Awesome (Wren & Rook) and Fantastically Great Women Who Made History (Bloomsbury).
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Why such a renaissance? The stock answer is that children’s books offer an antidote to screen time. But I think it’s more profound than that. In troubled times, books have the power to help children and young people make sense of the world, and a look at 2018’s award winners reveals just how writers and illustrators are responding to our challenging times. Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris’s The Lost Words (Hamish Hamilton), a winner at The Bookseller’s British Book Awards, is a symphony to the wonders and vulnerability of the natural world and a stand against the disappearance of wild childhood. Katherine Rundell’s The Explorer (Bloomsbury) and Geraldine McCaughrean’s Where the World Ends (Usborne), which claimed the Costa and Carnegie prizes respectively, are ultimately stories of bravery, survival and resilience. Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different (Quercus) by Ben Brooks and illustrated by Quinton Winter, looks beyond gender stereotypes at alternative male role models and won the Specsavers National Book Award. Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give, awarded the Amnesty CILIP Honour, is a political call to arms rallying against racism and prejudice, and its success is helping to fuel long-overdue investment in writers from more diverse backgrounds. Fiona Noble
The best picture books, chosen by Imogen Carter
Julian Is a Mermaid.Photograph: Walker Books
Call me optimistic, but change definitely seems afoot in children’s picture books, with more female characters and people of colour taking centre stage. More of a trickle than a flood… nonetheless, as many of them stole the show, hopefully the industry will continue evolving in line with the world itself.
Julian Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love (Walker) is fabulous in every sense. Riding the subway home from swimming with his Nana one day, Julian, a young afro-Latin New Yorker, is entranced by a trio of ladies dressed up like colourful mermaids. Back at Nana’s, while she’s in the bath, he resolves to transform himself into a mermaid too, trashing the place in the process. The moment Nana first sees Julian in trailing skirt, lipstick and a headdress fashioned from ferns is both moving and a landmark for acceptance and gender portrayal in picture books. “Oh,” she simply says (ignoring the mess), and hands him a necklace to complete his look before sweeping him out of the house to join in at a mermaid parade.
With a palette that’s both earthy and carnivalesque, Love has created the year’s most striking illustrations, and urges readers, with minimal words, to be who you want to be, dress how you like, find your own tribe. The sultry heat of New York, where Californian-born Love now lives (and where there’s an actual mermaid parade annually), radiates from the pages, and its cast of cool extras – old guys hanging out, two girls sipping soda – seem to have wandered straight off the streets of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. A remarkable debut that should be sashaying off the shelves, it will particularly appeal to those parents and carers with a penchant for RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Billy and the Beast by Nadia Shireen.Photograph: Penguin Random House
Aided by all the kit she stashes in her curly bouffant, the bold and brilliant heroine from Nadia Shireen’s Billy and the Beast (Vintage) saves her woodland friends from a terrible green beast. A refreshing picture book star, Billy wears a cagoule and wellies, she’s warm but no-nonsense, and proposes, after the beast has been beaten, they all go home for chips.
Elsewhere, more role models, from Boudicca to Beyoncé, can be found in Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo’s Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2 (Timbuktu Labs). A publishing phenomenon, the first collection of tales about inspiring real-life women spawned dozens of imitators, but this follow-up proves the original is still the best.
My funny favourites of the year are Baby’s First Bank Heist (Jim Whalley and Stephen Collins, Bloomsbury), which zips along in rhyming verse, telling the tale of a kid so desperate for a pet that he turns to a life of crime. Collins’s drawings are so rich in detail that repeated reading pays off. (Spot the animals cunningly hidden by Frank in his house or ‘The Getaway’ film poster on the bus where Frank sits, rotund as a watermelon, babygrow stuffed with bank notes).Dave the Lonely Monster (Simon & Schuster) is a whiskery, purple monster holed up in a retirement cave, having quit terrorising the townsfolk and taken up knitting. This riot of colour and craziness from the creators of Dogs Don’t Do Ballet, Anna Kemp (words) and Sara Ogilvie (pictures), finds old raver Dave teaming up with a six-year-old knight to persuade a crowd of bored locals that love – not monster bashing – is the answer, by getting them to hit the dancefloor.
Meanwhile, the animals in The Antlered Ship (Frances Lincoln) from Dashka Slater and illustrators the Fan Brothers are sailing the seven seas. While some, like Victor the pigeon, seek adventure, Marco the fox wants answers. “Why don’t trees ever talk?” “Do islands like being alone?” A thoughtful, philosophical tale which beautifully captures the natural world, it also features 2018’s most motley crew of pirates.
Non-fiction picture books are a booming market, and some of the year’s best explore natural history. While this sub-genre is full of innovation – outsize formats, pop-ups, pull-outs – sometimes there’s a style-over-substance problem with dry copy and too-busy pages. Migration (Bloomsbury) keeps things simple, telling the tales of 20 animal journeys over 20 clear but captivating double-page spreads. The duo behind it, travel/wildlife writer Mike Unwin and illustrator Jenni Desmond, like all of the other creators here, know just how to make children’s precious imaginations soar.
The best chapter books, chosen by Kitty Empire
Twice Magic by Cressida Cowell.
There’s nothing middling about this year’s so-called “middle-grade” books. Unburdened by the imperative to be as hard-hitting as YA, but permitted to roam beyond the comfort of picture books, this bookshelf bowed with peril, humour and comings of age – often all within the same two covers.
Famous names abounded, of course, and themes emerged. My Mum Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson (Doubleday) was not a gratuitous return to Wilson’s defining heroine, all grown up with a headstrong daughter of her own; it had urgent things to say about celebrity, material comfort and love.
Dragon-wrangler Cressida Cowell came back strong too. The second instalment of her new universe, Twice Magic (Hachette), found her misfit young Wizard and her magically misfiring Warrior princess striving to unite their enemy tribes against a clear and present danger: the malevolent Kingwitch, so horrible you can smell him on the page.
In recent years, Piers Torday has emerged as a major new voice; his 2018 offering, The Lost Magician (Hachette), rewrote The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a tale of war-weary siblings entering a parallel world. There’s a conflagration raging there too, between fantastical storybook characters and the harbingers of cool, hard logic – a false binary that has to be resolved, if some truly annihilating forces are to be stopped. Cue the “never reads” – the ghoulish ranks of the badly informed, the unimaginative and the incurious. Remind anyone of any other worlds?
Crime remains a buoyant sub-genre in this age group. The Last Chance Hotel (Chicken House) by first-timer Nicki Thornton was all kinds of fun: a locked-room murder mystery paced breathlessly, but fruited with humour, poignancy and great character names (Dr Thallomius, Count Marred). The orphaned Seth is a Cinderella figure, cooking for the titular hotel, taken over for a strange convention. One of the guests expires after a fancy dessert, and Seth must nail the culprit to clear his own name and discover his true identity.
Big Ideas For Curious Minds: An Introduction to Philosophy from The School of Life.Photograph: The School of Life
Natasha Farrant, who has been shortlisted here and longlisted there, reimagined the boarding school novel with acuity and an unexpected criminal undercurrent. Recently bereaved, the bookish Alice is banished to a kind of rough-and-ready Bedales-alike somewhere in Scotland in The Children of Castle Rock (Faber). A forced orienteering mission coincides with her need to locate her adored – but flaky – father. There are goosebumps of both kinds as people show up who will stop at nothing to get what Alice has.
Unreliable adults came under scrutiny in former adult novelist Adam Baron’s almost realistic and contemporary Boy Underwater (HarperCollins), which involved a missing person, a painting and a dire lack of swimming lessons. Mental illness was treated candidly, but with sympathy. The grownups didn’t make things OK: it was down to Cymbeline Igloo and his friends to face his crisis bravely.
The nonfiction shelves were vast too, but one pick was Big Ideas for Curious Minds: An Introduction to Philosophy (The School of Life) – a plain-speaking guide to philosophers, what matters and how to deal with things. A nine-year-old of my acquaintance was struck by a Mary Wollstonecraft idea – “why we hate cheap things” – about rarity and value. Plus, they boiled down the meaning of life on pages 112-114.
The best children’s poetry books, chosen by Kate Kellaway
An illustration by Chris Riddell from A Kid in my Class.Photograph: Chris Riddell/Otter Barry Books
TS Eliot was talking to his chauffeur about his book on cats (Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats – first published in 1939 – and later the basis for Cats, a musical possessed of more than nine lives) when the idea of writing a companion piece about dogs came up. The chauffeur said his own dog had no pedigree, that he was lovable but not “consequential”.
Charmed by the adjective and its implications, TS Eliot resolved to write a book of consequential dogs. Sadly, the book never materialised. Or rather, it has had to wait for Christopher Reid who was once, like TS Eliot, poetry editor at Faber and is, in his own right, a topping poet who now brings hounds, curs and pooches to heel in an entertaining, frolicsome and nondeferential homage. With Old Toffer’s Book of Consequential Dogs (Faber), Reid might even unwittingly have started a new genre: rescue poetry. Whatever you want to call it, he catches in his buoyant, amusing and playful verse, the joy dogs bring into the world.
The range of dogs includes absurdly academic Flo, whose bemused parents are at a loss to understand how they produced such a high-flyer. There is a hint that Flo’s intellectual prowess may not be quite as meteoric as they dotingly imagine: “For years we’ve lived in expectation/ of Flo’s first, major publication.” Then there is Lola, a lively, courageous French poodle who joins a circus in Finsbury Park and, finally, let us not omit the romantic heros in Don Juan – “Romeo, a Schnauzer from York Way” and “Juliet, an adorable red setter from the City Road”.
Elliot Elam’s smart, affectionately lifelike black-and-white drawings against a mustard background convey the all’s-well-with-me insouciance that is the good dog’s default position. Reid ends in merrily evangelical mode with a poem that could double as a canine Christmas carol; “Fill Your Home with Happy Hounds!” he urges; “Embrace the dog that’s friend to man,/ Get in as many as you can.” Who needs holly and ivy with hounds around? This is a must-read for this Christmas – for bark and bite – and is slim enough to smuggle into any child (or adult’s) stocking.
Children are an altogether trickier subject in Rachel Rooney’s unusual, absorbing A Kid in My Class (Otter-Barry). She has divided her poems into the different types of child one might meet in a single class – an absorbing psychological handbook, while wisely acknowledging that life’s patterns are endlessly varied. She introduces characters with nuanced confidence, chaperoned by Chris Riddell’s breezily offbeat illustrations. She even sneaks in (every class has one) a furtive young poet scribbling in front of a Venetian blind. Everything, for this child, is a poem in the making.
The orderly vogue for organising poetry in calendar format persists and this year sees I Am the Seed That Grew the Tree (Nosy Crow/National Trust). It is a handsome, heavyweight book, jauntily stencilled with oak leaves and blue tits and contains enough good poems – Emily Dickinson, Thomas Hardy, Ted Hughes and others – to give it ballast but, within the mix, is let down by some unpardonably duff contemporary work. (“Oh lonely trees/ As white as wool/ That moonlight makes/ so beautiful.”) If what you are after is a tip-top poetic calendar, you would be better off with A Poem for Every Day of the Year and/or A Poem for Every Night of the Year (Macmillan), each edited by Allie Esiri and full of wonders, published last year and earning their status this year as classics.
The best young adult fiction, chosen by Fiona Noble
A detail from the jacket of Bone Talk by Candy Gourlay.Photograph: PR
Hilary McKay’s The Skylarks’ War (Macmillan), nominally for ages 10 upwards, is one of those rare books that defies categorisation. Following the Penrose family – Clarry, her brother Peter and charismatic cousin Rupert – through the events of the first world war, their idyllic childhood summers contrast with the horror of what lies ahead. A timeless story of love, loss and growing up that already feels like a classic.
Also creating some of the finest work of his career is David Almond in The Colour of the Sun (Hodder), a semi-autobiographical novel that showcases his transcendent, otherworldly storytelling. Over the course of a single summer’s day, protagonist Davie’s journey through his home town and into the sunlit hills shows us life, death and the wonder of the everyday.
Candy Gourlay’s mesmerising Bone Talk (David Fickling) gives voice to a near-forgotten period of history, the 1899 US invasion of the Philippines, and characters seldom heard, pitching a boy’s coming of age against the backdrop of colonialism. For Samkad, life in his remote mountain tribe is about to change for ever, as the first white men arrive in his village during the invasion, talking peace but harbouring cruel intentions. Rich in the culture and traditions of this community, Gourlay’s writing utterly transports the reader.
Elaborate world-building, inspired by west African mythology, is also evident in Tomi Adeyemi’s fantasy epic Children of Blood and Bone (Macmillan). In the land of Orisha, a 16-year-old girl is her people’s only hope to restore magic and overthrow the oppressive ruling classes. Resonant themes of racism and persecution lie at the heart of a passionately realised, action-packed thriller. A debut that attracted both big advances and a film deal, a sequel will follow in 2019.
Closer to home, debut author Muhammad Khan takes the story of Bethnal Green schoolgirls fleeing to Syria as the starting point for I Am Thunder (Macmillan) His 15-year-old protagonist Muzna feels invisible, stifled by loving but controlling parents and the spectre of racism. Charmed by the charismatic Arif, she encounters radicalisation and uncovers a terrible secret. Despite the gritty plot, it’s an uplifting and empowering read, made human by its complex and vulnerable heroine.
Fairytale retellings, an ever-popular trope of teenage fiction, have this year been delivered with blood and bite. Melissa Albert’s debut The Hazel Wood (Puffin) centres on a cult book of fairytales, often terrible and murderous. When Alice’s mother is kidnapped, the extraordinary truth about the book leads her into the supernatural hinterland of the stories. Realism and fantasy blur in this strange and bewitching tale. In The Surface Breaks (Scholastic) Louise O’Neill harnesses the darkest visions of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid in her contemporary retelling, transforming the mermaid’s plight into a tale of feminist awakening.
Feminism has also informed much of the year’s best nonfiction, from the rousing contemporary essays of Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (and Other Lies) (Penguin) curated by Scarlett Curtis to Suffragette: The Battle for Equality (Macmillan), a lavish illustrated history from David Roberts. Graphic novel Women in Battle (Hot Key) offers a whirlwind tour through 150 years of the fight for women’s rights. Marta Breen’s witty text and Jenny Jordahl’s dynamic art covers topics including reproductive rights, gay marriage and the #MeToo movement. International and inclusive in outlook, it’s both relevant and inspirational.
• To save up to 30% on any of the books mentioned in this article go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99
It was once a simple choice of stilton or cheddar with a few grapes on the side and the pleasure of assembling a course that requires no cooking.
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But for many households the Christmas cheeseboard has become an elaborate affair – often resulting in a vast amount of waste. Now, as a new survey estimates that 2.2 million kilograms of cheese from the festive dining table will be chucked in the bin this year, specialists are urging shoppers to aim for a “zero waste” cheeseboard. “If you buy cheese that tastes amazing you’re far less likely to waste it,” said Dominic Coyte of Borough Cheese Company. “In my house I tend to end up with lots of small bits left, so I grate and freeze it. Freezing can affect the texture so it loses its rigidity, but it’s still good to use for cheese on toast or in sauces or gratins. The remainders of a boxed soft cheese can also be baked in the oven with garlic, rosemary and white wine – day-old bread with a bit of bite is ideal for dipping in it.”
The new research from Borough Market shows that the average seasonal platter will be heaving with up to five pieces of cheese, yet six in 10 consumers surveyed (57%) admitted they will throw much of it away. According to the findings, two-thirds (63%) are planning to serve at least one cheeseboard over the festive period, while one in five (22%) will push the boat out and offer three or more.
A cheese stall at Borough Market.Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian
Cheese experts at the foodie haven in London are urging shoppers to try to reduce their waste, offering tips on choosing and storing cheeses, along with recipes to help “repurpose” cheese that is past its best but still edible.
The UK’s largest producer, Arla, is predicting that Britons will fork out £2bn on cheese this Christmas, with cheddar the overall favourite. But supermarkets have been “pimping up” the traditional selection, tickling shoppers’ tastebuds with cheeses stuffed, for example, with cranberries, mango and apricots, and infused with alcohol.
Quizzed on the reasons for the waste in this poll, nearly one-third of respondents said there was always an entire cheese left over that no one likes, while one-quarter complained that everyone was stuffed to the gills by the time it got to the cheese course.
The huge scale of waste is driven by consumer ignorance: 18% of respondents to the poll admitted they didn’t know what to do with the leftovers, and 22% were unsure how long they could store cheese in the fridge once the pack had been opened.
According to the government’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign, on a typical day 3.1m slices of cheese are wasted, but this takes no account of the huge festive spike.
Borough Market advises shoppers to buy individual cheeses rather than a prepackaged selection, and to stick to smaller portions.
Advising on storage, Florent Gacon, from Borough Market retailer The French Comté, said: “The two main things to avoid are open air and humidity/water, as cheeses will dry and rot respectively if in contact with them. As long as you keep your cheeses in a dry, cool place, they should be fine. It’s also much better to keep them in a container with nothing around them rather than wrapped in clingfilm.”
There’s nothing like a long-distance flight to test your immune system – my neighbour spluttered while the row behind hacked and the other side sniffled. Once home, and with the day the right way up, I lost no time in gathering some herbs to keep those germs at bay. The common cold is a beast, I believe, that cannot be tamed – you just have to ride it out – but a choice handful of our common culinary herbs are brilliant medicine. And they are far kinder to you, the environment and your purse than many over-the-counter cold medicines.
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Rosemary and sage are classic herbs for colds and sore throats. Both are known for their antimicrobial and antiviral properties. Rosemary is said to stimulate the circulatory system and thus is thought to encourage blood flow to the brain to relieve headaches. I find a steam inhalation of a handful of bruised stems and leaves works wonderfully for blocked sinuses.
Broadleaf plantain.Photograph: Alamy
Sage is good for the first tickle of a sore throat, and is known to tone irritated tissues and kill bacteria. It’s a strong-tasting tea made more palatable with the addition of dried apple and a little honey, but it certainly soothes. You can combine it with thyme, which is a good expectorant.
Lemon balm, Melissa officinalis, may be in thin supply at this time, but it is usually possible to find some low-growing leaves. It is a gentle and kind herb for a cold, helping to sweat out a fever, and has mild antiviral properties. It also has a very mild flavour, helping to improve the taste of other herbs. Again, aim to add a tablespoon of chopped herb to a cup of boiling water.
‘Sage is good for the first tickle of a sore throat.’Photograph: Getty Images
I’m also partial to adding the weeds ribwort or broad leaf plantain to these teas. Both are known for their astringent and demulcent properties, meaning that they reduce inflammation, particularly of membranes. They are brilliant against insect bites and cuts, but equally, chopped up in a tea, they will soothe irritated mucous membranes, such as sore sinuses. You can use the leaves fresh or dried.
The trick to all of these is to brew a good cup of tea. You want roughly one teaspoon of dried or one tablespoon of fresh herb chopped in a cup of boiling water (200ml). Add honey or lemon peel, if you desire. If you are pregnant, avoid sage, rosemary and thyme, but plantain and lemon balm are safe for general use. If you do not cover the boiled water for 10 minutes, you will lose precious volatile oils. Grandma knew best: use a teapot. If you hate herbal tea, turn the tablespoons into handfuls and add to a bath instead.
There is a certain fast-food purveyor of legendary apple pies. Why are they so good? They’re fried, with a super-crisp pastry and a piping hot filling. Here’s my take on them and, hey, since it’s Christmas, I thought I’d introduce some festive flavours. My friends, I bring you deep-fried mince pies.
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Deep-fried mince pies
You will need a deep-fat fryer or a deep pan and a cooking thermometer.
Prep 30 min
Chill 30 min
Cook 5-6 min a pie
Makes 12
600g plain flour, plus extra for rolling 1 tsp fine salt 1 tsp ground mixed spice Zest of 1 large orange 375g butter, frozen (pop it in the freezer for two hours or so) 2 litres sunflower oil, for deep-frying 600g mincemeat (homemade or shop-bought) 1 egg, beaten, for brushing
For the brandy glaze 250g icing sugar, sieved 75ml milk 75ml double cream 1 tbsp brandy
Start with the pastry: put the flour in a large bowl and stir in the salt, mixed spice and orange zest. Grate half of the butter into the flour and give it a quick toss. Repeat with the rest of the butter and mix through the flour mixture with a table or palette knife – you want to make sure all the butter is well coated in the flour.
Slowly pour 190-200ml cold water into the mixture, constantly stirring, until it comes together into a light dough. Divide the dough into two squares, wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Heat the oil in a deep fryer or a large saucepan – you need it to come up to 180C/350F. Roll out the pastry to about 3mm. Using the base of a 15cm springform cake tin, or anything flat and round of that size, cut out as many pastry circles as you can; gently knead together offcuts to make more circles.
Now spoon a couple of heaped tablespoons of the mincemeat on to one half of each pastry circle. Brush around the edges lightly with the beaten egg. Fold the pastry over the filling to make a crescent shape and press together the edges with a fork.
Fry the pies a few at a time for two to three minutes on each side, until golden brown. Carefully remove the pies with a slotted spoon, to drain off the excess oil, then pop them on to paper towels to absorb any remaining oil.
Put all the fried pies on a wire rack with a baking tray underneath. Mix all the ingredients for the glaze in a bowl.
While the pies are still warm, coat them with the glaze, one side at a time, using a pastry brush. If you fancy a little extra sweetness, go for two coatings.
Wait for the icing to harden and … Merry Christmas!
My guide was wearing odd socks. One was green, the other a bright shade of yellow, so as he walked, it was like being flashed by the Australian flag. With his Steve Irwin-style khaki shorts and shirt, thick grizzly beard, brown Tilley hat and aviator sunglasses, Trevor looked every bit the outback hiker.
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“Admit it,” he reasoned, as we walked along the coast, waves crashing and frothing beneath our feet, “it will make it difficult to forget me.”
I was in South Australia, the often-overlooked state Down Under. Queensland has the Great Barrier Reef, New South Wales the Sydney Opera House and harbour, Victoria the Great Ocean Road; Western Australia has the stunning Kimberley Ranges; and the Northern Territory lays claim to the mighty Uluru. But South Australia? I admit I was sceptical about Kangaroo Island. Having been made to feel a fool before – with no monkeys in Monkey Mia, for instance, and a distinct lack of cerulean in the “Blue” Mountains, I was still not convinced that it would actually have any marsupials at all – never mind the additional koalas, sea lions and echidna that were promised on what is often called “Australia in miniature”.
I’d booked a hike on the Wilderness Trail, a 61km footpath that follows the island’s south-west coast – there’s nothing but ocean between here and Antarctica. But I wasn’t going to be roughing it entirely. A new service from the Wilderness Retreat – the only lodge inside Flinders Chase national park, offers the chance to walk the whole five-day trail but with the option to end each day with a transfer back to the comforts, hot showers and chef-cooked meals of the lodge.
A grey kangaroo at Kelly Hill conservation park, Kangaroo Island.Photograph: Thorsten Milse/Getty Images
I spent the first two days on the trail walking with Trevor, staying overnight at Rocky River Campground, which, with its designated pitches in secluded bays, some on raised decking, felt decidedly like glamping. Those days passed in a blur of wildlife sightings – from red-capped plover nesting in the sand dunes at Maupertuis Bay to red-bellied flame robins in the forest, koalas in the eucalyptus trees and fur seals leaping above the white caps out at sea. My evening ended with a blazing sunset of peach, damson and vermilion beneath the stalactites of Admirals’ Arch, while bats swooped in the beam from the lighthouse. It was hard to see how it could be bettered.
So at the end of my third day – after bountiful encounters with kangaroos (proving the island’s namesake very accurate) and a wedge-tailed eagle, and a wander among the cracked orange-coloured Remarkable Rocks – I had mixed feelings when my lift arrived to take me back to the lodge. I left the trail with a heavy heart, feeling somehow like a cheat.
Admirals’ Arch boardwalk.Photograph: Mark Daffey/Getty Images
That was until I had my shower and watched the ground-in bush dirt from my legs swirl satisfactorily down the plug hole.
A sumptuous dinner at the lodge included bread with herb and honey butter from the island’s Ligurian bees (thought to be the only remaining pure breed of its kind in the world), sheep’s milk cheese from Island Pure just down the road, and gin from Kangaroo Island Spirits. As the sun set, I sat on the veranda watching a tammar wallaby grazing just metres away. Who needed camping?
A room at the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Retreat
Next day, I shouldered my tiny daypack and headed to the track to pick up where I’d left off the day before. Feeling rested and refreshed, I bounded along the dust and mud path, marvelled at the rainbow-coloured sea spurge that grew on stretches of white sand beach (where not a single soul lingered or paddled) and lay on the ground for half an hour photographing a monitor lizard, unconcerned by the fact that my sweaty body was getting caked in a fresh film of dirt.
When I was picked up at the meet point that evening, in undulating landscape near an old farmstead, I lingered a while to watch the kangaroos graze. Even though my stomach was rumbling, I would soon get a hot meal, prepared by someone else, without a dehydrated packet in sight.
Kangaroo Island Wilderness Retreat
On my final day I met Alison Buck, the trail manager and park ranger who worked on establishing the Wilderness Trail just two years ago. “At first, local people were sceptical about the benefits of it,” she confessed as we wandered the last section of the coast, “but then the permits [obligatory tour passes, £43pp] started selling, bringing more people to this section of the island and encouraging them to stay in the park for longer.”
She said the popularity of the trail and new options – such as hiking and staying at the lodge – has meant access to those not able (or inclined) to carry a heavy pack for the five days.
I asked whether hardcore hikers had also been convinced. Did they perhaps see it as a “cheat’s” a way to walk a trail.
“Perhaps,” she admitted as we neared Kelly Hill show caves at the end of the trail. “But you don’t have to rough it just because you like to hike.”
I smiled, the image of Trevor and his coloured socks flashing through my mind. “And admit it,” Alison added, as an echidna waddled past us in the undergrowth, its blonde needles quivering, “no matter how you do it, it will certainly be hard to forget…”
• Accommodation and local transport were provided by the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Retreat; its five-night package, including transfers to and from the trail each day, pickup from the island’s Kingscote airport, breakfast, map and permits costs from A$750pp (around £580). More details of the trail from kangarooislandwildernesstrail.sa.gov.au
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