Innholdsfortegnelse for 27 March 2017 i New Idea

My eldest daughter is off to her school camp today for four nights. When I write it like that, it all seems very straightforward – but actually, it’s far from that! She cannot wait until the bus pulls out of the school car park, but me? Not so much. At the moment, I am trying to pretend I am delighted for her and am just as excited as she is, but deep down I know how quiet our house will seem, how I’ll worry who she’s going to share a cabin with... and just how tired and cranky she’ll be when she returns on Friday and we work out she’s had about three hours of sleep across the week! Last year was her first-ever camp and I wrote notes for…

‘She was totally looking at me like: “This is a stalker, this is my worst nightmare”’ Hugh Jackman has revealed how he was so starstruck meeting Olivia Newton-John, he was convinced she thought he was a stalker! Hugh, 48, who’s starring as Wolverine in the smash-hit movie Logan, had a poster of the Aussie legend on his bedroom wall growing up. He was introduced to Olivia, now 68, by her Grease co-star John Travolta, when Hugh and John, 63, were filming the 2001 movie Swordfish. The actor even compared his wife, Deborra-lee Furness, 61, to the Grease star! ‘Olivia Newton-John was my crush – yes, I have met her,’ he says. ‘I had a poster of her on my wall. ‘And if you find a photo of my wife at…

Controversial groom Anthony has almost been kicked off the set of Married At First Sight for his controlling behaviour towards TV wife Nadia. Practically writing his own storylines for the reality show, Anthony often made producers reshoot scenes he wasn’t happy with, leading the crew to petition for his dismissal. ‘Anthony was often worried about how he looked, what he said or what he was doing while they were filming,’ a well-placed insider reveals. ‘If he didn’t like something, he would refuse to move on unless they filmed it again. The crew were ready to fire him on the spot.’ Dubbed a bully and ‘arrogant’ by outraged fans of the reality series due to his brash views and blunt way with words, Anthony is said to be furious at being…

The Real Housewives Of Sydney star Lisa Oldfield has caused a stir with her unorthodox parenting style when it comes to her sons Harry, six, and Bert, four. But what many may not realise is that the controversial star actually has another child. The 42-year-old revealed that she donated her eggs to help a close friend. ‘My best friend, who was 41 at the time, had been through IVF for two years,’ she told Mamamia. ‘I said: “Well, I obviously make good-looking kids, do you want one of mine?” And I donated my eggs to her.’ However, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Lisa and husband David Oldfield on their journey to provide the egg – especially when it came to the topic of circumcision! ‘I suggested…

KAREN & ROS ‘Our favourite ingredients to use with pasta are fresh herbs, garlic, chilli, onion and tomatoes. With these ingredients as a base, you can add whatever is in the fridge or cupboard — some fresh chicken strips, bacon, mince, mushrooms or a tin of tuna!’ Spicy Capsicum Rigatoni Serves 4, Prep 5 mins, Cook 10 mins 375g rigatoni pasta 290g jar ajvar mild 400g can crushed tomatoes ½ tsp dried chilli flakes ½ cup pitted kalamata olives Salt and pepper, to taste 100g Greek feta, crumbled Baby rocket leaves, to serve 1 Cook pasta in a stockpot of boiling, salted water until tender. Drain, reserving ½ cup cooking liquid. Return pasta and reserved liquid to pot. 2 Place stockpot over a medium heat to high heat. Add ajvar,…

Creamy Spinach and Bacon Pasta Serves 4, Prep 5 mins, Cook 15 mins 375g spiral pasta 1 tblsp olive oil 8 bacon rashers (550g), rind removed, thinly sliced 1 onion, finely chopped 250g baby spinach leaves 2 cloves garlic, crushed 300ml tub light cooking cream 1 cup finely grated parmesan 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh parsley ½ cup finely chopped semi-sundried tomatoes 1 Cook pasta in a stockpot of boiling, salted water until tender. Drain. Return to pot. Cover to keep warm. 2 Meanwhile, heat oil in a large, deep, non-stick frying pan over a high heat. Add bacon. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until crisp. Remove bacon. Cool frying pan slightly. Reduce heat to low. 3 Add onion to pan. Cook, stirring, until soft. Add spinach…

Q I had a dream that pitbull puppies hatched out of eggs and I was very excited and happy to get an egg that hatched into a white puppy. The egg was more like a shark egg than a bird’s egg. Maddy, via email. A This dream has a number of symbolic elements. Eggs represent new ideas and opportunities for growth. However, it’s concerning that pitbull puppies were hatching, and you describe the egg as similar to a shark egg. While dogs are often viewed as loyal friends, that particular breed of dog and the description of the egg suggests you may want to beware. Any new opportunity that seems too good to be true, or relies on the promise of a friend, might well come back to bite you.…

TRUE CRIME As a big fan of crime podcasts such as Serial and Case File, I was excited to see the new show Million Dollar Cold Case. It’s good to know the poor murder victims haven’t been forgotten, and hopefully the show will jog some people’s memories and lead to some closure for the victims’ families. S. Hughes, via email. GOING TO THE SNOW I love reading travel stories to get inspiration for my next trip. The story on Finland (NI Mar 20) made me super excited to start planning a trip to Scandinavia – I’d love a white Christmas, so fingers crossed it happens! Tai Patira, Alexandria, NSW. LOVING FEELING I’m excited for the new series of The Bachelor to start – especially now we know Matty J will…

An open book Fact: Blokes hate Joe Manganiello, who keeps setting the relationship bar waaaay too high. He wrote Sofia Vergara a BOOK for their first anniversary. ‘It was about how we met, as well as our courting, and was about 40 pages long… I love my wife a lot,’ Joe said, landing himself in all blokes’ bad books once again. Lip think Catching sight of herself on TV made PR queen Roxy Jacenko question the surgically enhanced size of her lips. ‘I may have overdone it,’ Roxy admitted, as she vowed to ‘ease off’ on the cosmetic surgery. Do we think she’ll see it through? Our lips are sealed… Bad review ‘The kids won’t be seeing this one, I can tell you that much!’ Well, Deborra-lee Furness clearly thinks…

Natalie Barr reveals she was told she may never walk again. The sunny, popular TV personality has opened up about her terrifying brush with a life-threatening illness. Natalie’s spine began crumbling after she contracted a ferocious superbug, which began attacking her vertebrae. ‘I distinctly remember thinking I would never walk again,’ she told The West Australian. ‘I can distinctly remember lying on my back for that long, your muscles start wasting away – all your organs don’t work properly.’ At the age of 15, the Sunrise star, now 48, was struggling to sleep through the night, thanks to a searing pain in her back. After being passed from a doctor to a physio, the WA-raised presenter found herself in an orthopaedic surgeon’s office. ‘He saw me for 10 minutes and…

‘When I saw them leave together, laughing and smiling... it made me think there was more to it’ Georgia Love was meant to have found the love of her life in Lee Elliott when she was the Bachelorette – so what is she doing with his love rival on the show? Eyebrows were raised at the Sydney premiere of Beauty And The Beast, as Lee was nowhere to be seen and Georgia cuddled up to former flame and ex-Bachelor Cameron Cranley. Onlookers reveal they were startled to see the two so openly cosy together in public. ‘When I saw Cam and Georgia next to each other, I thought surely Lee was nearby,’ a guest at the premiere explains. ‘But when I looked around, it was just the two of them…

THE REAL REASON MICHELLE AND THE COMMANDO QUIT Rumours began swirling when the news broke Michelle Bridges and Steve ‘The Commando’ Willis wouldn’t be returning to the new season of weight-loss show The Biggest Loser . And now New Idea can exclusively reveal that tensions between 46-year-old Michelle and the show’s cast and crew reached boiling point during the 2015 season. ‘She hardly ever came out of her trailer,’ an on-set insider says of the trainer. ‘She was constantly grumpy and thought she was too good for the show. She was always talking about how successful she is and that the franchise relied on her star power to stay strong in the ratings.’ However, when the 10th season of The Biggest Loser failed to gain ratings, Channel…

Devil's Food Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting Serves 8-10, Prep 40 mins, Cook 1 hour, 10 mins ¾ cup boiling water ¾ cup cocoa powder 225g unsalted butter, chopped, at room temperature 1½ cups brown sugar, firmly packed 3 eggs, at room temperature 1¾ cups plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 cup buttermilk FROSTING 250g punnet strawberries, hulled 125g unsalted butter, chopped, at room temperature 125g cold cream cheese, chopped 1 cup icing sugar mixture 1 Grease a 22cm round cake pan. Line base and side with baking paper. 2 Whisk water with cocoa in a heatproof jug until smooth. Cool. 3 Beat butter and sugar in a small bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at…

Sesame Beef with Garlic Miso Greens Serves 4, Prep 5 mins, Cook 12 mins 4 x 150g beef sirloin steaks 1 tblsp sesame oil 1 bunch gai lan (400g) 1 tblsp vegetable oil 2 cloves garlic, crushed ¼ cup white miso (shiro) paste 200g green beans, trimmed 200g snow peas, trimmed 1 tblsp sesame seeds, toasted Steamed jasmine rice, to serve 1 Toss beef with sesame oil in a bowl. 2 Trim gai lan. Cut crossways into thirds. Separate leaves and stems, cutting larger stems lengthways in half. 3 Heat a large, deep, non-stick frying pan over a medium to high heat. Add beef. Cook for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until cooked to your liking. Remove. Rest, loosely covered with foil, for 5 minutes. 4…

ARIES MAR 21 – APR 20 A surge of action with an ambitious career or personal enterprise will get it off the ground with a rush! You’ll be in the driver’s seat and there will be major decisions at every turn. Singles, an encounter buzzing with romantic prospects will fire your imagination. Surprise news or information will inspire bold ideas and plans. Negotiating an important arrangement with another requires give and take. LUCKY NUMBERS: 1, 6, 25 TAURUS APR 21 – MAY 21 A mighty domestic or family undertaking will forge ahead. There will be a string of details to sort out as you go. Working towards a long-term personal or professional goal will take patience – keep your eye on the beam to avoid going off on tangents. A…

CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE QI live with another couple who are both good friends of mine. I love them dearly but they bicker so much and it can sometimes make for an uncomfortable living situation. I don’t want to move, but I also don’t want this to damage our friendship! Tessa, Chester Hill, NSW. A Two’s company, three’s a crowd. You may love your friends but they constantly fight. From where I sit, this is a disaster about to happen! You walk on eggshells and worry about the friendship being damaged. Home should be a haven. Look around, find more peaceful lodgings and remain friends with the couple. If you choose to stay, then accept the fiery relationship. Do not take sides – and buy some earplugs! SHOULD I ASK…

In Sydney for her Specsavers collaboration launch, songbird Kylie Minogue was every bit the megastar we know and love. Pushing her personal ups and downs to the side, she spilled on the music she’s working on right now – and by the sounds of it, she has lots of material up her sleeve. ‘It’s been an interesting few months, but fantastic for moving forward creatively,’ she says. ‘Funnily enough, I feel like I just want to spread the love and that’s what the album’s going to be about.’ In fact, the Spinning Around songstress is already recording in the studio. ‘I’m busy in the studio working on a new album, I’m so excited,’ the 48-year-old pop star revealed. ‘I’ve signed with a new label. [It’s] fantastic... new energy and I…

Prince’s former wife Mayte Garcia has told of the heartache the pair suffered when their newborn son Amiir died from a rare genetic disorder. Prince, 57, died last April from an accidental overdose of the painkiller fentanyl. Since then, Mayte, 43, whose four-year marriage to the star ended in 1999, has been writing a book about their time together. Belly dancer Mayte, who first became friends with Prince as a 16-year-old in 1990, gave birth to their son in October 1996. But sadly, baby Amiir was diagnosed with Pfeiffer syndrome type 2, which causes abnormalities such as eyes forming outside their sockets and bones fused in the hands and feet. After little Amiir was born, Mayte recalls Prince saying: ‘Why is he not crying?’ In her book The Most Beautiful: My Life With Prince, she writes about the full extent of Amiir’s condition becoming apparent. ‘They’d sewn his…

They’ve shared a roller-coaster ride of emotions on Married At First Sight , but since the cameras stopped rolling, Sharon Marsh and Nick Furphy’s relationship has gone from strength to strength. The smitten pair are now in the throes of planning their future – and it seems all signs are pointing to an impending baby announcement. Spotted shopping in Perth last week, Sharon was seen gazing affectionately at adorable newborn outfits, unable to wipe the giddy smile from her face as she browsed the aisles. ‘Sharon was absolutely glowing,’ says an onlooker. ‘She kept picking up all of these tiny romper suits and cooing over them.’ And while the couple have only been together for a matter of months, Sharon, 31, has been unable to contain herself…

There’s nothing worse than bumping into your ex, so when Sam Frost and Sasha Mielczarek attended the Sydney premiere of Beauty And The Beast, all eyes were on the former couple to see if they had an awkward encounter. Fortunately for the pair, they were able to avoid each other, with Sam, 27, making a swift exit alongside a gaggle of girlfriends as soon as the film ended. Meanwhile, Sasha, 31, took his mum Kym along as his date. Ever since their split in December last year, the former lovebirds have avoided attending the same events at all costs. The pair met and fell head-over-heels in love on The Bachelorette in 2015, but after an 18-month courtship, they decided to go their separate ways. While the cause of the split…

MENU BEEF WITH PINK PEPPERCORN SAUCE STUFFED SWEET POTATO SKINS SALAD WEDGES Beef with Pink Peppercorn Sauce Serves 6, Prep 5 mins, Cook 23 mins 6 x 200g thick-cut beef sirloin steaks, trimmed Salt, to taste Celery micro greens, to garnish PINK PEPPERCORN SAUCE 25g butter, chopped 1 eschalot, finely chopped ¼ cup red wine 2 cups beef stock 3 tsps cornflour 3 tsps canned pink peppercorns in brine, rinsed, drained 1 Season steaks with salt. 2 Heat an oiled, large, heavy-based, non-stick frying pan over a medium to high heat. Add beef in two batches. Cook for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side for medium, or until cooked to your liking. Remove. Rest, loosely covered with foil, while making the sauce. 3 To make sauce, melt butter…

Peaches and Cream Cupcakes Makes 12, Prep 30 mins, Cook 17 mins 5 yellow peaches (750g) 125g unsalted butter, chopped, at room temperature 1/3 cup caster sugar 1 tsp vanilla bean paste 2 eggs, at room temperature 1 /3 cups self-raising flour 1/3 cup milk ¼ cup apricot jam MASCARPONE FROSTING 300ml tub thickened cream ½ cup icing sugar mixture 250g tub mascarpone 1 Line a 12-hole muffin pan ( /3- cup capacity) with paper cases. 2 Peel and chop two of the peaches into 1cm pieces. 3 Beat butter, sugar and vanilla in a small bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined. Transfer to a large bowl. Add sifted flour and milk, in two batches. Stir until combined. 4 Fold…

1 Wash, fold and sort your way to weight loss! Doing 45 minutes of laundry can help you lose up to 105 calories. 2 Hit the shops – 30 minutes of grocery shopping can equal 120 calories. 3 Play with the kids. Just 20 minutes of outside actvity can burn off 100 calories. 4 Get busy in the name of weight loss! A romp between the sheets for 30 minutes could burn off at least 100 unwanted calories. 5 A 45-minute yoga class 6 will smash 130 calories. A seven-minute stair run equals 130 calories. 7 Taking the plunge with 30 minutes of swimming equals 245 calories. 8 Burn 100 calories with just 9 22 minutes of housework. Depending on intensity, a 30-minute pump class can burn up to 260…

Ask any parent and they will tell you that screen time is the issue that bothers them most. In just over a decade, kids have gone from using toys or their own imagination for play to being agitated and bored unless they have a screen in front of them. It’s an issue troubling parenting expert Justin Coulson, who has addressed the impact technology has had on children’s intellectual abilities, physical health and their resilience. In Justin’s book 9 Ways To A Resilient Child (ABC Books, $29.99), a study of 2000 Aussie kids concluded that compulsive screen use led to worsening mental health and resilience. Yet, he’s wary of ruining the parent-child relationship by having ongoing battles over it. Justin believes the best way to address screen time is to talk…

Q I am worried sick about my son. He’s had issues in the past with drugs and I’ve found evidence that he is using again. When I confront him, he denies everything. I am terrified of losing him. I have called drug assistance but they say unless he wants to stop using, I’m helpless. Josie, via email. A Josie, it’s a helpless feeling when kids grow up and don’t make the best choices. Your son has to want sobriety – you can’t force him to do what’s in his best interests. Your options are limited. You could call the police and report him, but there would obviously be a backlash from him. Another route is using law enforcement’s resources or suggestions, to help you to navigate your son’s drug problem.…