Recipe: Apple-Raspberry Crisp captures the flavors of fall

Colorful displays of fall apples have made their way into the marketplace. Each variety has its own unique taste, texture, fragrance and appearance. Cooking traits vary, too. Some are best cooked, while others are best eaten out of hand. Some are delectable either way.

In the supermarkets, many apples are coated with wax to extend their shelf life. But organically grown apples are wax-free and have a lovely natural sheen.

Apple crisp, sometimes dubbed apple crumble, shows off autumn apples to their best advantage. The crisp streusel topping spiked with cinnamon and nutmeg, provides a delicious contrast to the juiciness of the cooked apples that it crowns. This version includes some fresh raspberries for a little added sweet-tart edginess.

If you want to double the recipe, use a 9-by-13-inch baking pan and double all ingredients. Bake 55 minutes at 375 degrees. Do not increase heat during the last part of baking.

Apple-Raspberry Crisp

Yield: 4-6 servings

INGREDIENTS

Topping:

6 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

3/4 cup coarsely chopped nuts, such as walnuts or pecans

Filling:

3 medium Granny Smith apples

2 medium Fuji, Honeycrisp or Gala apples

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel (zest), colored part only

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup fresh raspberries

Garnish: whipped cream or ice cream

PROCEDURE:

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. For topping, place flour, sugars, spices and salt in food processor. Add butter and pulse 10 times, about 4 seconds each pulse. Mixture should look like coarse cornmeal. Add nuts; pulse 4-5 times. Do not overmix. Refrigerate while preparing fruit filling.

2. For filling, peel, core and cut apples into 1-inch chunks. You should have about 6 cups. Toss apples, zest, lemon juice and sugar in medium bowl. Add raspberries and gently toss. Scrape mixture with rubber spatula into 8-inch square (2-quart) baking pan. Distribute chilled topping evenly over fruit.

3. Bake 40 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees and bake until fruit bubbles and topping turns deep golden brown, about 5 minutes more. Serve warm, accompanied with ice cream or whipped cream if desired. If making in advance a few hours, reheat in 300-degree oven until warm.

26.09.2018No comments
US home prices rise at slowest pace in nearly a year

By Christopher Rugaber, The Associated Press

U.S. home prices rose in July at the slowest pace in 10 months as climbing mortgage rates become a more significant factor for a growing number of prospective buyers.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index increased 5.9 percent in July compared with a year earlier, down from a 6.4 percent annual gain the previous month.


ICYMI: Southern California homeowners rush to sell as analyst sees ‘new cracks in the market’


Home prices are rising at twice the rate of wages, which has likely contributed to a cooling in the market this year. Sales of existing homes have dropped 1.5 percent in the past 12 months. Mortgage rates last week reached their highest level since May.

“Coupled with mortgage rate increases, higher prices are stifling home sales as more buyers are priced out of the market,” Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, said Tuesday after the report was released.

Las Vegas, Seattle and San Francisco reported the biggest annual gains, with all three cities seeing double-digit increases. Yet in 15 of 20 cities, price gains were smaller in July than in the same month a year earlier.

The combination of rising home prices and higher mortgage rates has made homes less affordable, even as a strong job market and some signs of higher pay have lifted demand.

The average 30-year mortgage rate rose to 4.65 percent last week, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac. That is up from 3.83 percent a year ago.

Any rate below 5 percent is very low by historical standards, but many homeowners locked in rates below 4 percent in the past five years. That means they would have to accept a higher rate to buy a new home. Plenty of homeowners are choosing to remodel their current homes instead.

Home prices in 12 of the 20 cities in the Case-Shiller index have rebounded from the housing slump and have reached new heights. Four of the cities that are still below their housing bubble peaks are seeing strong price gains: Las Vegas, Miami, Phoenix and Tampa. The other four are seeing modest increases: Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York and Detroit.

The number of homes for sale remains limited, which has sparked bidding wars in many cities. However, the supply crunch may be easing: There were 1.92 million homes for sale at the end of August, up from just 1.87 million a year ago.

26.09.2018No comments
UCLA offensive line shuffle: Boss Tagaloa returns, Zach Sweeney retires

LOS ANGELES — UCLA’s last line of reinforcements has arrived.

Offensive lineman Boss Tagaloa and tight end Devin Asiasi are eligible to return from their three-game suspensions Friday against Colorado, giving the Bruins their full roster in a game for the first time this season. With an offense ranked 118th and 120th nationally in yards and points per game, respectively, UCLA (0-3, 0-0 Pac-12) could use any personnel changes for an immediate boost.

“Devin’s a big-time athlete, one of the most talented tight ends I’ve been around,” tight end Caleb Wilson said. “So him being back will definitely help our group as far as productivity and just bringing new aspects to the field. And Boss, he’s a leader. Strong, experienced player. So we’re excited to have him back as well.”

Head coach Chip Kelly said he will see how Tagaloa and Asiasi react to training before putting them on the field for Friday’s season opener, but the offensive lineman already caused shuffling on the offensive line this week.

Tagaloa took snaps at center with what appeared to be a possible starting offensive line during practice Tuesday, moving freshman Christaphany Murray to right guard and grad transfer Justin Murphy to right tackle. Murray played mostly guard in high school at Mater Dei, and Murphy made starts at both right guard and right tackle at Texas Tech. Redshirt junior Andre James was not on the field Monday, but returned Tuesday and resumed playing in his left tackle position next to left guard Michael Alves.

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Freshman quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson took snaps with the No. 1 line and with Tagaloa during a specific drill for quarterback-center exchanges and running back hand-offs. Grad transfer Wilton Speight, who has increased his activity in practice during the past week while recovering from a back injury, took snaps with the No. 2 line and was paired with Alves during the quarterback-center drills.

Tagaloa, the first player in De La Salle High history to play varsity football as a freshman, played offensive tackle in high school while also turning into one of the top defensive line prospects in the country. He played in 24 games as a defensive lineman at UCLA, including eight starts, and collected 51 total tackles, but switched to center during winter workouts and also worked at guard this summer.

“He’s picked up a lot of things,” Kelly said of Tagaloa’s progression from spring practice. “I think he’s sharp. … He just adds more depth to a position where we don’t have a lot of depth.”

UCLA got even thinner at offensive line this week as Zach Sweeney was forced to medically retire over the weekend due to a shoulder injury, Kelly confirmed Tuesday. With the redshirt freshman’s retirement, the Bruins have lost all five of their offensive line signees from the 2017 recruiting class.

In what was former head coach Jim Mora’s final recruiting class, the Bruins signed two four-star offensive linemen and three three-star prospects at the position. Kanan Ray, a former U.S. Army All-American from Sierra Canyon, grayshirted what would have been his true freshman year while recovering from a high-school injury, and then transferred to Colorado in January when the new coaching staff arrived. Stephan Zabié, a four-star prospect from Texas, and Sean Seawards, a three-star recruit, had left the team by the time UCLA opened spring practices. Jax Wacaser retired at the end of spring practice due to concussions.

Sweeney was the only one out of the group to appear in a game for the Bruins. He played briefly off the bench in the season opener when Murray was suffering from cramps. Kelly said he believes Sweeney, a former three-star prospect from Florida prep powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas, will remain at UCLA as a student to finish his degree.

Quick hits

Receiver Christian Pabico was the only player dressed in a yellow jersey Tuesday. The redshirt senior wore a brace on his right knee while doing individual conditioning drills. … J.J. Molson made 6 of 7 field goal attempts, with his one miss coming from 34 yards on a low snap and a bad hold.

26.09.2018No comments
Undercover RTW Spring 2019

Following on from his men’s show in June, themed around “new warrior” tribes, Jun Takahashi divided the hyper-playful collection — “The Seventh Sense” — into seven groups, each with their own universe.
The designer paid tribute to the work of British photographer Mick Rock, who documented David Bowie’s fifth studio album, “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars,” on a capsule of colorful basics embroidered with the singer’s face, including a bright pink-and-green Lurex sweater, and a black shirt with an allover print and star-shaped buttons, which will likely set the tills ringing.
An out-of-this-world group inspired by John Derian’s decoupage technique featured planet-print platforms and coats swirling with glow-in-the-dark planet motifs. More down to earth was the “otaku” geek-themed line centered on colorful knitwear and shirt hybrids and mesh blousons sporting transfers of cult Eighties manga hero, “Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel.”
Other highlights included the smocked bombers and girly dresses embroidered with pixelized hearts, and a wardrobe set for lovers of all things bright and chemical, including a high-shine plastic blue anorak and oversize yellow parka.

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Anrealage RTW Spring 2019

For a label aimed at breaking down the boundaries between real and unreal (that being the inspiration behind its unusual name), Kunihiko Morinaga’s Anrealage was true to its ethos this season. A believer in fashion tech if ever there was one, Morinaga played tricks with the mind, using photochromic fabrics that changed color as the models walked down the runway. Wasn’t that white dress almost black just a moment ago?
The chimeric effect would not necessarily have been easily readable had not Morinaga demonstrated backstage before the show, shining a torch on a white dress with geometric motifs sewn on by hand, turning parts of the futuristic fabric black as if scorched by the light, a trick that was also particularly effective on his macramé shift dresses.
The futuristic bent was contrasted with a strong focus on embellishment and craftsmanship. Boxy-yet-feminine dresses in a transparent fabric were adorned with hundreds of color-changing buttons, balls and studs. Elsewhere, standouts included a series of jackets with structured top parts — in denim or gabardine, for example — that poetically, gradually morphed into trapeze shapes in transparent polyester on their lower halves. Incongruous as this may sound, the effect was well orchestrated and decidedly less

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Jour/Né Spring 2019

Léa Sebban and Jerry Journo had Ibiza — and the Spanish island’s iconic Mar y Sol café — in mind when designing their highly wearable spring collection full of elevated beachwear, long spaghetti-strap dresses and short combos of various lengths.
Models walked a red and orange runway whose undulations were echoed in some of the fabrics used, such as the printed long-sleeve shirt and trousers or the suit made of wavy eyelets.
There was a naughty-yet-nice attitude to this collection. For one look, a mint-green, two-piece satin swimsuit with high-waisted, frilly bottoms and ribbon looped around a model’s midriff was overlaid with an open printed Oxford shirt. In another, a cropped white sleeveless eyelet top was worn with a long side-slit tie-dyed skirt.
Colorful beaded accessories, like handbags, belts and a necklace, and summery prints — think fruits and veggies — helped inject even more zing into this spirited collection.

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Ottolinger RTW Spring 2019

Cosima Gadient and Christa Bösch’s collections always trace back to their native Switzerland, utilizing its traditional lace, craftwork, even bucolic cowbells, yet taking them way out of their comfort zone in interesting ways.
For spring, they sent everything on a trip, perhaps psychedelic, emotional, or physical, maybe all of the above. The models were dressed in clothes indicating they had been through something. Their signature denim, with its warped seam work, was cut into an acid green cropped vest with curvy, homespun laces and worn with pants that had had a run-in with a blowtorch. Denim biker shorts and jackets were also burned and battered and knits came in angry, flame patterns. Then the look shifted from postapocalyptic to a happier new world with satin techno pieces, lace, gingham, Hawaiian florals and The New York Times logo that were cut up, reassembled and layered into do-it-yourself looks appropriate for an otherworldly rave.
The overall effect of the curving cutouts, ad-hoc layers and ample lace-up, strappy accents was improvisation, as if everything was made with whatever limited resources were lying around, but it belied some of the complexity and creativity of the collection.

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26.09.2018No comments
Marine Serre RTW Spring 2019

Marine Serre may very well be the new model for what a designer starting her own brand in today’s complex fashion/geo-political/digital/hyperconnected world. It’s not enough to bring just good designs to the table, so Serre showed up, just two years ago, ready to engage on all relevant levels. She had logo-ready iconography; references to sport, street and societal/cultural awareness, and ideas on how to confront the fashion’s eco system of excess and waste in a proactive way. She also had very good designs.
Serre’s spring collection marked an expansion and escalation of strategy. Aesthetically the lineup, titled Hardcore Couture, reinforced the scarf-dressing, silk moire turned sporty, crescent moon motifs and upcycling of her past shows, with a Formula 1 theme as an access point to new decorative motifs and riffs on racing gear. The show also introduced four new lines within the main collection: Gold Line, which show notes described as “avant-garde ready-to-wear”; Green Line, “upcycled eco-futurism,” assembled from preexisting product; White line, “core brand rtw,” which included collabs with Trylex, Nike, Converse and Melissa, and finally Red Line, which is “couture.” The terms calls for a second set of quotation marks since Serre’s definition of couture adheres to the notion

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26.09.2018No comments
EXCLUSIVE: Fashion Takes a Twirl at New York City Ballet

NEW YORK – Backstage at the David H. Koch Theater here last week, red devils and modernist clowns intermingled off stage right, as dancers of the New York City Ballet ran through a dress rehearsal for the company’s Fashion Gala.
The annual event — set to mark its seventh iteration on Thursday evening — assigns fashion designers and choreographers the team objective of creating a new work that’s innovative in both its movement and visual appeal.
Demonic flamenco dancers are the invention of Gareth Pugh, the London-based designer, who has created costumes for a new piece by choreographer Matthew Neenan.
Monochromatic excess was conceptualized by Giles Deacon, a mad-hatter of London’s fashion scene who currently presents his collections as part of Paris Couture week. His costume designs — a fleet of kicky Renaissance court jesters — will accompany dancers in a new work choreographed by Kyle Abraham.
Flotsam chiffon dresses by Italian designer Alberta Ferretti will also whisk across the stage — hers to join a new work by Gianna Reisen.
The NYCB will dance these new pieces one week into a fall season that began mired in controversy. Following sexual misconduct allegations by a former student, City Ballet terminated two male principal dancers and

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26.09.2018No comments
Lululemon Introduces Lightweight Bra for Day and Night

Lululemon continues to build out its bra assortment.
The activewear brand is launching the Like Nothing Bra, a style that they’ve worked on for more than four years in Lululemon’s research and development lab, Whitespace. While surveying women, Lululemon found that women wanted to feel “better than naked” in their bra.
“We started doing research on bras about four years ago. We wanted to get to the heart at how women want to feel in their sports bra,” said Alexandra Plante, director of Innovation Management at Lululemon’s in-house R&D hub, Whitespace. “So many women feel like they have to compromise comfort and we identified some opportunities to create a bra that was supportive and still comfortable.”
The bra is meant for everyday use but still features performance details. Its constructed with Light Ultralu, a fabric created by Lululemon that features Lycra and molds to the body. It also provides sweat-wicking and breathability. For added comfort the there are very few seams and free-cut edges with a hook and eye closure that lies flat against the body and is stitch free.
It retails for $68, comes in 20 different sizes ranging from 32B-E; 34A-E; 36A-E and 38C-DD. To accommodate different breast sizes and densities, molded

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26.09.2018No comments