The Guardian — Life & Style • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

Poland’s capital is now rated above cities like San Francisco and Copenhagen for its vegan options. We sample plant-based schnitzel, ramen and, of course, pierogi Pinny on, hands dusted with flour, I rolled out dough, cut it into circles, added a spoonful of filling and sealed it into little parcels.

I was getting stuck into a dumpling cooking class in one of the most vegan-friendly cities in the world. Making gyoza in Tokyo, perhaps?

Wontons in Singapore? Potstickers in Taipei?

The Guardian — Life & Style • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

Our popular readers’ tips column has been running for 20 years. We’ve selected some highlights from the past 12 months to help you plan your 2026 adventures • Enter this week’s competition, on life-changing holidays Continue reading...

The Guardian — Life & Style • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

Dara, 24, a trainee accountant, meets Alexia, 24, a healthcare worker What were you hoping for? Something a little different for a Tuesday night, and a fancy meal with some good company.

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The Guardian — Life & Style • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

The Guardian’s sex advice column is coming to an end after 20 years. Here are some of the most memorable questions and answers • Pamela Stephenson Connolly on two decades of solving readers’ sex problems My wonderful new wife is everything I have always looked for in a woman.

The issue is that she is openly and proudly bisexual. When we first became involved, she even joked that she didn’t want me getting mad when it was time for her to visit her friend on girls’ trips.

A threesome with a bisexual woman has always been my fantasy. She even gave me permission to go online and find a “unicorn” for us.

The Guardian — Life & Style • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions. In this week’s replies, readers ponder whether acting wins success • Read this week’s question: Should speed cameras be hidden?

Can you really fake it to make it? Does bluffing – or even, arguably, “manifesting” lead to success?

Gareth Edwards, by email Continue reading...

The Guardian — Life & Style • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

Nolo beer is becoming easier, cheaper and tastier, so tip one back in Dry January without a care As the last of the liqueur bottles are consigned to the recycling and the festive hangovers subside, even those of us who scorn the very concept of Dry January (no booze at all ? In the gloomiest month of the year?

Are they mad?) tend to take our feet off the alcohol pedal and give our livers something of a rest. Water, of course, is the easiest, cheapest and probably most effective way to detox; it’s also the most boring.

We can zap our inner organs with herbal infusions, turmeric/kale/spirulina shots and smoothies, or with the fermented goodness of kombuchas and kefirs, but sometimes the mindful drinking halo of virtue can become too heavy to bear and we want something that feels like a “real” drink.

The Guardian — Life & Style • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

A wholesome and indulgent pudding that’s a great way to use up dried fruit left over from the festive season After the excesses of December, these baked apples are a light, refreshing vegan pudding. The filling makes good use of any dried fruit lingering still from Christmas, and is brightened with lemon and bound with nutty tahini.

As the apples bake, they turn yielding and fragrant, while the sesame oat topping crisps to a golden crown. Serve warm with a splash of cream, yoghurt or ice-cream (dairy or otherwise), and you have comfort that feels wholesome and indulgent.

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The Guardian — Life & Style • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

A sweet and sparkly way to use up cocktail cherries at the 19th hole If, like many people, you’ve got an opened jar of cocktail cherries in the fridge after the festivities, here’s a very classy way to use up some of the syrup. Emilio Giovanazzi, head bartender, The American Bar, Gleneagles , Auchterarder, Perthshire Continue reading...

The Guardian — Life & Style • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

Earthy, sweet swede soaks up a curry sauce like a champion, and this ginger, tomato and coconut number is no exception As a day-in-day-out home cook, there is no more welcome tool in my dinner toolbox than a bung-it-in-the-oven dish. A second necessary tool in the month of January is the ability to dispose of or transform a swede into an evening meal.

For the uninitiated, when roasted, the swede, that pretty, purple-creamed, dense little ball, is part-creamy, part carrot-like in nature, and earthy and sweet in flavour. It also takes to big-flavoured sauces such as this tomato, ginger and coconut curry like a chip to vinegar and couples up well with its seasonal pal, fresh, crunchy purple sprouting broccoli.

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The Guardian — Life & Style • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

Whether it’s a weighted blanket or a cup of chai, enjoy a purposely gentler start to the new year to revitalise you for the months ahead • Rather get up and go? Try these motivation boosting buys for 2026 After a year that resembled an endurance test, you’d be forgiven for wanting 2026 to land with a gentler, more humane tempo.

But an Arctic snap, winter bugs and insane world events (Donald Trump, we’re looking at you) have probably already put paid to that. So instead of hurtling into another “new year, new fitness routine”, perhaps consider the opposite: January as “sofa season”.

Think duvet mode, but more intentional – honouring winter’s natural pause with rituals that centre rest, warmth and proper recuperation. What does that look like?

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