Irish apple crumble cake recipe By Donal Skehan

Donal Skehan is a home cook, food writer and television presenter who has written five cookbooks. He presents the TV show Kitchen Hero on RTÉ One in Ireland, Grandma's Boy on FOX International and is a judge on BBC's Junior MasterChef.
"Apple crumble is one of my most favourite desserts of all time, I remember making it growing up and to this day still swoon at the smell of it coming out of the oven. This Irish apple crumble cake is a nice little twist on the classic with a moist apple cake interior and a light crumbly topping. That classic combination of apple and blackberries could also be used here." - Donal Skehan.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients
4oz butter plus extra for greasing
5oz soft light brown sugar
2 large free range eggs
7oz plain flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
11oz peeled, cored and sliced cooking apple (Shouldn’t be more than one large one)
For the crumble topping:
2oz of vanilla sugar (or substitute with caster sugar)
2oz of plain flour
2oz of butter

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 360°F, grease and line a 8in cake tin with a removable base. With an electric hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until they are incorporated.
   
2. Fold through the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until you have a thick cake batter. Stir through the apple and pour the batter into the cake tin. The batter will be thick, so use a spatula to spread across the base of the tin.
   
3. Using a hand blender with a food processor attachment, blitz the ingredients for the crumble topping until you get left with rough crumbs. You can also do this by hand in a bowl using your fingertips to combine the ingredients together. Sprinkle the crumble topping on top of the batter.
   
   
   
4. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
   
5. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Irish Central

Added: Grease and Flour Tin, best to use parchment paper on base of tin. You can mix the crumble topping with a fork instead of your fingertips. Careful with baking time -- cake might possibly need 50-60 minutes. Check for doneness at 45 minutes though. I also can't imagine that one apple would be enough. Your choice. 

Jamie-Lee Kriewitz

Germany's choice, Ghost - Eurovision Song Contest 2016. Jamie-Lee Kriewitz (born 1998) is a German singer who is best known for winning season five of The Voice of Germany. She will represent Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 on 14 May 2016 with the song "Ghost".  Kriewitz was born in Bennigsen near Hanover, Germany. At the age of twelve, Kriewitz joined the gospel choir Joyful Noise. Her father plays the drums, however the rest of her family is not musical. Kriewitz has a preference for the Japanese Decora kei fashion style and for South Korean K-pop, with her favorites being the Korean boyband Block B. Generally fond of Korean culture, she originally intended to pursue a degree in Korean studies. Living vegan since 2012, Kriewitz participated in the "Vegan life is the best life" campaign of animal rights organization PETA. Photo Wikipedia

J&J must pay $72 million for cancer death linked to talcum powder By Jonathan Stempel

Johnson & Johnson was ordered by a Missouri state jury to pay $72 million of damages to the family of a woman whose death from ovarian cancer was linked to her use of the company's talc-based Baby Powder and Shower to Shower for several decades. In a verdict announced late Monday night, jurors in the circuit court of St. Louis awarded the family of Jacqueline Fox $10 million of actual damages and $62 million of punitive damages, according to the family's lawyers and court records. The verdict is the first by a U.S. jury to award damages over the claims, the lawyers said. Johnson & Johnson faces several hundred lawsuits claiming that it, in an effort to boost sales, failed for decades to warn consumers that its talc-based products could cause cancer. Fox, who lived in Birmingham, Alabama, claimed she used Baby Powder and Shower to Shower for feminine hygiene for more than 35 years before being diagnosed three years ago with ovarian cancer. She died in October at age 62. Jurors found Johnson & Johnson liable for fraud, negligence and conspiracy, the family's lawyers said. Deliberations lasted four hours, following a three-week trial. Jere Beasley, a lawyer for Fox's family, said Johnson & Johnson "knew as far back as the 1980s of the risk," and yet resorted to "lying to the public, lying to the regulatory agencies." He spoke on a conference call with journalists.

Carol Goodrich, a Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman, said: "We have no higher responsibility than the health and safety of consumers, and we are disappointed with the outcome of the trial. We sympathize with the plaintiff's family but firmly believe the safety of cosmetic talc is supported by decades of scientific evidence." In October 2013, a federal jury in Sioux Falls, South Dakota found that plaintiff Deane Berg's use of Johnson & Johnson's body powder products was a factor in her developing ovarian cancer. Nevertheless, it awarded no damages, court records show. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (VRX.TO) now owns the Shower to Shower brand but was not a defendant in the Fox case. Reuters and MSN

Added: I would never use Baby Powder. There's been articles of warnings and also knowing some chemistry, it's not healthy. Wonder if Johnson & Johnson will take the product off market. Would other corporations follow suit ? It's a shocking outcome for Jacqueline Fox to have died from ovarian cancer directly linked to her use of baby powder. And what about cornstarch in general ? We use cornstarch for preparing gravies and puddings, for example. Would it be a matter of quantities ? What will the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decide regarding baby powder and what would the FDA say about the consumption of cornstarch in foods ?
*****
By Ivana Kottasova. Talc is a naturally occurring mineral composed of magnesium, silicon, oxygen, and hydrogen. It's used to absorb moisture in many kinds of cosmetic products, from baby powder to make up. The American Cancer Society says it is not clear if products containing talcum powder increase cancer risk. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, classifies talc as "possibly carcinogenic to humans." Because products containing talcum powder are classified as cosmetics, they do not have to undergo review by the Food and Drug Administration. However, they must be properly labeled and "they must be safe for use by consumers under labeled or customary conditions of use," the FDA states. CNN

Stephony Smith

It's Your Love (original songwriter) Photo Wikipedia

GELATO WORLD TOUR 2016: THE AMERICAS AND ITALY TAKE CENTER STAGE By Chiara Mancusi

After the stages in Singapore and Tokyo, the Gelato World Tour now turns to the American continent with two stops in the United States, open also to artisans from Central and South America. The first is scheduled for May 27-29 in Chicago; in September, the tour will continue on to the West Coast. 2016 will also see a busy calendar for the Gelato World Tour Italian Challenge, the traveling competition that will travel throughout Italy, stopping at Carpigiani dealers. Registration for the Americas East stage will close on March 31, 2016 (www.gelatoworldtour.com and, for more information, committee@gelatoworldtour.com ). After the success of the inaugural stage in November 2015 held at the offices of Omab, Carpigiani’s dealer in Rome, the Gelato World Tour Italian Challenge has already scheduled another 18 stops for 2016, and still others are being organized. The top two flavors of each stage will participate in the Italian final to be held on March 23-24, 2017 in Anzola Emilia at the Carpigiani Gelato University campus. Here the 8 Italian participants will be chosen to compete in the Grand Finale of the Gelato World Tour. At Sigep 2017, selections will be made for the German stage, which will be held in Germany during the summer of 2017; the grand finale of the second edition of the Gelato World Tour will be held in Rimini in September 2017. Pasticceria Internazionale