Defining Dishes is an IndyEats column that explores the significance of food at key moments in our lives. From recipes that have been passed down for generations, to flavours that hold a special place in our hearts, food shapes every part of our lives in ways we might not have ever imagined. As a teenager growing up in Hungary, the summer school holidays were usually spent at home because my parents were still working. They would leave us a list of house chores we needed to do before they left for work in the morning, and it included cooking our own meals, so I learned at an early age that I really enjoy cooking. I love cooking traditional Hungarian food, but I was also keen to experiment with other recipes and there was one day when I was looking for something to cook for that evening, just anything. My friends and I would go to the local library regularly, and on this day, I went and found an old cookbook in the food section. It looked about a hundred years old, it was falling apart, some pages were missing and others were stuck together. But I browsed through it and found a cake recipe involving plums soaked in rum that I thought sounded delicious. The recipe was incomplete because of the state of the book, but I wrote it down in my notebook anyway because it sounded good and I really wanted to try it. I resolved to make it for our dessert that evening. I went to the supermarket and went to search for all the ingredients for the cake. What I wasn’t expecting at the time was how expensive they would be – thinking back now, it makes sense that rum, plums and vanilla would not come cheap, but I was young and didn’t really know the price of things like that. It turned out to be quite an expensive shop, particularly for a 16-year-old using her own pocket money, but I didn’t mind too much as I was convinced it would be great! I got home and started getting ready to cook. It was around this time that I realised just how incomplete the recipe was. It confused me – for example, it seemed to call for just milk and eggs in the batter, there was no flour. But I pressed on and told myself that the recipe writers surely knew what they were doing. I mixed everything in a bowl and it was very, very liquidy, almost like water, which worried me. I poured the batter into a pan and into the oven it went. Now, the recipe said it would only take 20 minutes to cook. But as much as I wanted to trust the recipe, this part made me doubtful because of how liquid the batter was. So I waited and waited, but it remained stubbornly liquid. I wasn’t even sure if it would be edible. After an hour and a half of waiting, I used the toothpick method to see if it was cooked. I inserted the toothpick into the middle of the cake and when I removed it, it was sticky but no batter was left on it, so it looked like it might be OK to take it out. By this time, I had used so much electricity and energy that I was anxious to get it out of the oven. I took it out and left it on the kitchen counter to cool down. I told myself: “Maybe it will be solid by the time I come back.” It did smell amazing because of the vanilla and rum and plums, almost like Christmas cake that filled the house. But to be honest, I had a bad feeling about it. It looked horrendous, the most disgusting-looking cake I had ever seen. At least it looked solid, so I thought OK, that seems fine-ish. After a while, I figured it had cooled down enough so I tried to get it out of the tin. I had used a cake tin that you push up from the bottom to release the cake. While I was pushing the bottom, I don’t know what happened, but the cake slipped and the whole thing just fell onto its face on the floor. I remember standing there for a moment and thinking, I just spent a bloody fortune on this cake and it’s fallen in the dirt on the floor. I rushed to my room in tears, I just couldn’t deal with it. I was so sad. My 18-year-old brother had been in his room the whole time and heard me slamming my door. He must have wondered what happened because I heard him come out of his room and go downstairs to the kitchen. I stayed in my room for a little while feeling sorry for myself, before pulling myself together and heading back out to go and clean up the mess I made. I went down the stairs and I kid you not, saw the funniest scene before my eyes. My brother was on his knees in the kitchen, literally eating the cake from off the floor. I said: “What the hell are you doing?” He told me it smelled and tasted amazing, he couldn’t resist. It reminded me of the Friends episode “The One with All The Cheesecakes”, because there is a scene where Rachel and Chandler are eating cheesecake off the floor in their hallway. It was hilarious that it was happening to me in real life. I didn’t join my brother on the floor, but I did try a little bit of the cake once we picked it up from the floor. It was really tasty even though it wasn’t quite done, but it wasn’t the total failure I thought it was going to be. He offered to get me more eggs so I could try and recreate it again. The next time I made it, I made some adjustments and it turned out bloody amazing. Now, after a lot of experimenting and tweaking the original recipe, I’ve kind of mastered it. It is still expensive to make, so I decided I would only make it for celebrations and for Christmas. I even entered my recipe in an online competition. One of the prizes was a Jamie Oliver cookbook and my dad absolutely adored him. I enlisted his help to submit my entry because I didn’t have a laptop at the time, and it turned out to be a fun thing for us to do together. Some time later, I checked my email and found out I won the competition! Both Dad and I were stunned because I was worried my recipe was too complicated and nobody would want to make it. When we received the book prize, Dad was definitely more pleased than I was. It was a great thing for both of us to do. I genuinely believe that making this cake taught me the power of not giving up. That lesson has followed me throughout my life ever since. I am now an archaeologist living in Glasgow, but it hasn’t been an easy journey. I have had to persist with things even if they don’t go according to plan and keep motivating myself to get here. I think this random cake I picked out of an old book in a library has helped shape my attitude towards life. I’m also really glad my brother ate it off the floor because if he hadn’t, I would never have learned those lessons and maybe, I would be in a very different place today. Evelin Eros is a Hungarian archaeologist living in Glasgow. She makes her rum cake every Christmas and for other special occasions. Read More The dish that defines me: Mallini Kannan’s baked honey-soy salmon The dish that defines me: Frank Yeung’s prawn wontons The dish that defines me: Alex Outhwaite’s Vietnamese bun cha ‘It started with a radish’: Chef Simon Rogan reflects on restaurant L’Enclume at 20 The true story – and murky history – of Portuguese piri piri oil ‘My depression stopped me doing what I loved most in life – cooking’

Steve Clarke savoured the chance to celebrate Scotland’s Euro 2024 qualification with the Hampden crowd after his side rounded off their campaign with a “strange” 3-3 draw against Norway. Scotland had qualified with two games to spare and finished second behind Spain in Group A after a second consecutive draw ensured they have only lost once in the section. The players, including injured captain Andy Robertson, did a lap of honour afterwards to mark their achievement. Clarke said: “It was nice – and nice for the supporters – to say thank you to the team, a nice night for the team and staff to thank the supporters. “It’s always nice to qualify for a major tournament. Obviously the last one was Covid-restricted so we missed that connection and that feel with the fans. “It’s great for everyone in the country that we have something to look forward to next summer.” Clarke’s side twice came from behind in the first half through John McGinn’s penalty and an own goal before Stuart Armstrong netted a well-worked goal to out them in front just before the hour mark. However, former Celtic winger Mohamed Elyounoussi came off the bench to head home in the 86th minute as Norway scored their third goal from a cross originating from right-back Julian Ryerson. “It was a strange game,” Clarke said. “I need to go away and analyse it. “What we have worked really hard at is being competitive, being a competitive team every time we go on to the pitch. “That’s why I was a little bit disappointed with the first half, I didn’t think we were competitive enough. Much more competitive second half. “We are Scotland, we have a certain way of playing, we like to play on the front foot.” A two-goal win would have put Scotland in pot two for the December 2 draw, although they are arguably better off in pot three given they will now avoid the likes of the Netherlands, Italy and Croatia. “I’m not bothered,” Clarke said. “I don’t know even know who else is in pot three and pot two. I’m sure I will find out when I get to Hamburg.” Norway head coach Stale Solbakken felt his side should have been ahead at half-time but feels Scotland will pose problems in Germany. “Overall we were the better team and should have won but it’s not easy, Scotland are always very well organised,” he added. “They have a great coach and have very disciplined players who know their strengths and limitations. That’s very important – they play to their strengths and don’t pretend to be something else. “They also have tournament experience so I think they can be a handful for everyone next summer. They also play two systems which is valuable. “There will be no easy games for those teams who meet Scotland.” Read More Gareth Southgate targeting top of the world as England drive for Euros glory Rico Lewis hopes his versatility helps him make late push for Euro 2024 squad Declan Rice putting pressure of price tag behind him to pursue biggest prizes Trevor Lawrence leads Jacksonville Jaguars to victory against Tennessee Titans Scotland sign off on successful Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with six-goal thriller Ludvig Aberg keen to ‘love golf for long time’ after clinching RSM Classic title

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AUSTIN, Texas & CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 6, 2023--

On a parched pitch in an impoverished South African township, a group of young men do push-ups on the hard ground before kicking...

Wahoo has launched the Kickr Move, a new indoor cycling trainer aimed at improving the experience of riding indoors - and overcoming a range of problems experienced by home training companies in recent years. The new Kickr Move adds movement to indoor cycling. Until now, riding a bike indoors has almost uniformly meant mounting a bike onto a smart trainer that allows for little movement, either sideways or forwards. That lack of movement in turn leads to problems with comfort, as well as realism, given that riders are stuck in the same position. In recent years, indoor cyclists have undertaken increasingly complicated ways of solving that problem, including putting their bikes and turbo trainers onto large “rocker plates” – essentially big wooden platforms intended to allow them to move a little more. Wahoo said that building a system like that was never on the table. While those rocker plates showed there was clearly an "unmet need", the company's founder Chip Hawkins told The Independent that "doesn't make any sense at all" and that the company therefore set about building a new kind of solution. Without that kind of movement, the forces that usually move a bike do not happen on a fixed trainer, which leads to "unnatural pushing and pulling", Hawkins said, which can make long rides inside uncomfortable and unrealistic. Fixing that added a completely different appeal that aims to make indoor riding more appealing, he said. Wahoo did so by taking its existing smart trainer and essentially mounting it on a track, to allow movement back and forth, with about 14cm of space back and forth. If a rider gets out of the saddle, for instance, the bike will drop back and then forward again – something that’s so natural in the real world that it hardly takes any thought, but which has been almost entirely missing in indoor cycling. (Wahoo’s rival, Tacx, released its own “Motion Plates” last year, but they are added on to the trainer separately.) The Wahoo Kickr that is on the market today looks almost identical to the one sold ten years ago, though there has been the addition of new technologies such as built-in WiFi; the new Move is the first noticeable different smart trainer Wahoo has released in years. Even in the new release, the changes are minimal: the Kickr Move takes most of the components from Wahoo’s existing smart trainer and puts them in that track. At the same time, it has also announced a new, cheaper version of its premium Kickr Bike, an entire indoor bike, aimed at broadening the appeal. But even if the changes are humble, the new Kickr Move marks the first major change to the design of indoor bike training equipment in years. And, perhaps more importantly, they come at a time when the future of indoor cycling's future is being decided. Indoor cycling as an industry and an activity has been no stranger to dramatic movements in recent years. When the pandemic began, early in 2020, many took to working out indoors, and the connected fitness and indoor training industry experienced a surge in demand so strong that it became a problem. For the first year, Wahoo and other indoor training companies couldn't make enough stock to sell, and as soon as turbo trainers appeared on retailers' websites they would disappear again. Orders came in and shops stocked up heavily, to avoid any similar difficulties in the years to come; factories were coming back online and were ready to make those smart trainers. "And then everyone went outside," Hawkins recalls. All of the indoor training equipment that had been ordered had nowhere to go. "Our sales took a horrible nosedive." Prices were reduced to clear out those now full shelves at bike shops, and sales fell too. "It was a really, really tough year last year," Hawkins says. This time around, as the autumn approaches and trainer season begins again, the industry is having the opposite problem: for the most part, that glut of trainers has been sold, but bike shops are anxious about ordering too much to replace them. What's more, the effect of the pandemic on bikes was much the same – bikes were impossible to buy, so more were made, and they are now stuck on shelves – meaning that those shops might not have space or money to buy trainers even if they wanted to. At the same time, things were looking especially shaky at Wahoo. At the height of covid – when people wanted indoor fitness equipment, and investors wanted the companies that make them – Wahoo was sold to a private equity firm. Wahoo commanded a chunky valuation as the lockdown sales rolled in, benefiting from the same excitement that also sent the share price of rivals Peloton soaring. Then lockdowns eased, and people started leaving the house. Interest in indoor cycling started to fall away. Peloton’s stock plummeted; it has lost 97 per cent of its value since its highs in early 2021. Wahoo’s financial analysts started to use words like “unsustainable” about the company, and it looked as if its debt problems could lead the company to collapse. Some 18 months after a sale built on frenzied excitement about indoor cycling, Wahoo looked in peril. The debt taken on to support the sale was called in and the company was taken over by the banks, and the "shareholders lost everything", Hawkins said. Wahoo's marketing activities went away, product development slowed, staff were let go, and the company looked in danger. Then Hawkins stepped back into buy the company, along with three other strategic investors. It was a "fresh start", he says, and the company was free of its debt. Wahoo's operations "never really missed a beat" throughout the financial chaos, and so the company was able to get back to work again. "We're not trying to raise quick bucks or anything – I'm really trying to set us up for long-term success, which is exciting", he says. The Kickr Move and the Bike Shift are the first major new products to come out of Wahoo since all of that happened. As well as the new products, it comes with a new approach: more sustainable packaging, and a new setup experience – as well as a new, higher price. The Kickr Move costs £1,399 – £300 more than the existing Kickr smart trainer, which will stay on the market. Encouraging people to pay that extra might be difficult, given so many cyclists have just bought trainers in recent years, especially through the pandemic. But Hawkins says that while the market might look mature, there are still plenty of people out there still to be reached. Hawkins' instinct is that indoor cycling is a mature market, but Wahoo's data suggests that only 11 per cent of "committed cyclists" have a smart trainer. "There is still a tonne of people that haven't discovered smart training yet – I don't know exactly where they are, but it seems like there is a lot of room for kind of continuing to expand the category". The Kickr Move is another attempt to reach those people, as well as being extra innovation intended to make those with older trainers upgrade. In use, the Kickr Move is considerably more comfortable: it is hard to understand how much discomfort is caused by a lack of movement until you're able to move back and forth. And the relative lack of innovation elsewhere means that setting up the new trainer is familiar and simple, and that it works easily with Wahoo's other products. (The only problem is Wahoo's Kickr Climb, which allows people to tilt the front of their bike up and down as if they were ascending and descending, and which needs an extra foot to be compatible with the Kickr Move, sold separately.) The new trainer is far from the only innovation planned by Hawkins in the time to come. "You've got other things coming besides this launch," he teases; "we are 10, 12 years old in this market, compared to 150-years or something for cycling. So I think we've got a long way to go." Read More Apple is about to launch what could be the most controversial iPhone in years Apple is about to reveal the new iPhone – and a lot more Here’s when you will actually be able to get the new iPhone Apple is about to launch what could be the most controversial iPhone in years Apple is about to reveal the new iPhone – and a lot more Here’s when you will actually be able to get the new iPhone

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