Daily 17 Feb

Ellie Smith & Parm Bhamra
February 17, 2026

Staying In

Make Pancakes

Today is Shrove Tuesday, which means a stack of pancakes is obligatory. Don’t worry if you didn’t get round to any flipping this morning: whip up this simple recipe for pudding tonight, courtesy of Twelve Triangles co-founder Emily Cuddeford.

Puffy Pancakes

Ingredients

220g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
40g caster sugar
A pinch of salt
3 eggs
150g buttermilk (the thick stuff from the supermarket)
30g butter

Method

Weigh the dry ingredients into a bowl.
Melt the butter in the frying pan you will use to cook the pancakes, then wipe off the excess with kitchen roll.
Whisk the eggs and buttermilk with the melted butter. Add this into the dry ingredients and whisk to mix, it will be quite thick and start to bubble as the bicarb starts to react with the acid from the buttermilk.
On a medium heat, drop spoonfuls of the batter into the frying pan and cook for a few minutes on each side, you will see bubbles start to come through the batter and you are looking for them to be a nice deep golden colour on each side.
Serve with yoghurt, roasted rhubarb and sweet dukkah for some crunch. These are also great with butter and jam if you have leftovers.

Find more pancake recipes here

Going Out

Book Belmond’s Private Dining Carriage

All aboard: filmmaker Baz Luhrmann has designed a new private dining carriage for the UK’s most luxurious train, the Belmond British Pullman. Created alongside the Oscar-winning costume and production designer Catherine Martin (also Luhrmann’s wife), the cinematic space is called ‘Celia’ and looks suitably glamorous: think velvet furniture, a rich palette of purples, yellows and reds, a mosaic ceiling and a powder room decorated in mystical motifs. Inspired by vintage cinema and the West End scene of the 1930s, as well as Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the carriage will seat up to 12 and boast its own cocktail bar and dining area – with a private chef available upon request. Travellers will depart from London Victoria and embark on a personalised journey through some of England’s prettiest towns and landscapes. ‘For Catherine and I, creating Celia was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, allowing us to push the boundaries of creativity, luxury, and uniqueness,’ said Luhrmann. ‘Stepping inside the carriage is like being transported into another world, and one in which guests are invited to become part of the story. Celia, at its heart, is a magical mystery tour – a traveling dining experience for friends or an intimate celebration, filled with food, music, wine, laughter, and performance.’

Launching summer 2026, prices start from £15,000, belmond.com

Property Of The Day

Sat just behind the King’s Road, the interiors of this six-storey Chelsea townhouse were designed by Axel Vervoordt – art dealer, antique collectors, curator and interior designer to the stars (namely Kim Kardashian, Robert De Niro, Calvin Klein and Sting). Key features include a sound-proofed projection room, a rooftop garden with automated irrigation, a home gym with a ballet barre and steam shower, plus a climate-controlled wine vault. Residents also gain access to the gated communal gardens of Ormond Gate and membership to the adjoining Burton Court.

On the market for £21.5m, sothebysrealty.co.uk

Little Luxury

Ruggable has joined forces with Anthropologie Home on a new collection of rugs. Drawing inspiration from Anthropologie’s archives, the designs feature Scandinavian folk motifs and heritage florals; we’re particularly loving the Julietta Soft Pink Rug, sure to brighten any corner of your home. From £119, ruggable.co.uk

Competition Time

Thanks to this prize draw from Raffle House, this £3m Buckinghamshire dream home could be yours for as little as £10. Sound exciting? Plus, enter now to be automatically entered into the draw to win a £2.5m Dorset dream home.

Psssst…

Harry Styles will be curating this year’s Meltdown festival at the London Southbank Centre, following in the footsteps of Little Simz. He’ll also be performing an intimate gig at the event, which returns from 11 – 21 June.

Whatever You Do, Don’t

Eat white foods, sweep the house or cut your hair today – according to Chinese tradition, all these things can bring bad luck on Lunar New Year. Instead, cook up one of these dishes, believed to symbolise good fortune.