How Big?

Starbucks rolls out its belated entry into the super-size category, the bladder-bursting Trenta (that's "thirty" in Italian)— 31 ounces of iced coffee, milk, and sugar—in 14 states across the USA. The coffee-drinker's version of the 'Big Gulp' will become available nationwide by May 3. Lord help us all.

Not only does the drink contain the caffeine equivalent of four cups of coffee, but, as the excellent graphic from Canada's National Post demonstrates, it's nearly equivalent to the average stomach capacity and about a quarter the volume it could take to rupture your stomach.

WOW.

You also end up with an alarming-sounding proposition if you scale up an iced hazelnut mocha made with semi-skimmed milk and whipped cream (from Starbucks' UK offering). As a Trenta this would add up to 929.2 calories, 24.3g of saturated fat, and 122g of sugar.

And of course for most people, the problems with a 916ml iced coffee will be purely logistical - where do you put it, how quickly can you drink it and one may have a slight apres consumption toilet issue?

In a nation fighting obesity, the arrival of a giant new cup in the US coffee shops of Starbucks might leave some people scratching their heads.

Hair of the Dog? A Big Dog.

So, engaging in some mid-week 'public house' action seems like a good idea until you wake up with your tongue stuck to the roof of your mouth and your head beating like an African drum. I can safely say I cannot cope with even entertaining the idea of boozing on a school night any longer.

But is there really anything you can do to relieve the morning after the night before? S

Such is the desperation to find a hangover remedy (at this very moment in time), that I'm going to do a minor bit of research to hunt down THE cure. If all else fails, I should really just go to bed and stay there until the world becomes clearer.

Milk thistle

Theory: An extract of the milk thistle plant — available as a tablet or a liquid — is thought to aid liver function and help the body to metabolise alcohol more quickly.

Hangover rating: 2/5 Milk thistle contains silybin and silymarin that have been shown in some studies to protect the liver from toxins and to possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. However, most studies have been carried out on alcoholics and there is no proof that it can help TO cure or prevent a hangover.

Bacon sandwich

Theory: It is the hangover cure for many — its smell and taste often prove irresistible. Tradition has it that the bread soaks up the alcohol.

Hangover rating: 5/5 A recent study at Newcastle University’s Centre for Life confirmed that a bacon sarnie can indeed provide relief. “Bread doesn’t soak up alcohol but is high in carbohydrates that boost blood-sugar levels and speed up the metabolism, helping to get rid of alcohol quickly,” says the researcher Elin Roberts. “Bingeing on alcohol depletes brain neurotransmitters but bacon, which is rich in protein, contains amino acids that top these up and make you feel better.”

Black coffee and paracetamol

Theory: Caffeine is thought to kick-start your system, while paracetamol can ease the aches and pains.

Hangover rating:0/5 Black coffee alone can make your hangover worse, according to researchers at Temple University in Philadelphia. Take paracetamol, too, and the effects could be deadly, suggest scientists from the University of Washington. Caffeine triples the amount of a toxic by-product created when paracetamol is broken down. It’s the same as the substance responsible for liver damage when alcohol and paracetamol react together.

Isotonic sports drinks

Theory: These contain tiny, easily digestible particles of carbohydrate that makers claim can help to rehydrate at a faster rate than water.

Hangover rating: 4/5 Dehydration causes loss of body salts, or electrolytes, including magnesium, potassium and chloride. “Sports drinks are probably among the best remedies as they also help to restore blood sugar levels,” says Louise Sutton, a dietician from the Carnegie Centre for sports Performance and Wellbeing at Leeds Metropolitan University. “The drink will provide some calories and can rehydrate the body up to 40 per cent more effectively than water.”

Exercise

Theory: According to new research from the Government, one person in five believes that sweating off a hangover is the most effective approach. Findings from a recent Department of Health survey suggest that 3.8 million adults pull on their trainers the day after over-indulging on alcohol.

Hangover rating: 0/5 No chance it will work, says Gillian Merron, the Minister for Public Health. “You’re not going to compensate with a workout.” Sutton adds that exercise will simply compound the body’s fluid debt.

Water

Theory: Drinking water throughout a drinking session and before bed will negate the effects of alcohol.

Hangover rating:3/5 According to Sue Baic: alcohol is a diuretic so many symptoms are linked to dehydration. If you alternate alcoholic drinks with water, it will dilute some of the nasty by-products of alcohol.”

Hair of the dog

Theory: Having another drink can ease you into recovery.

Hangover rating: 1/5 Withdrawal symptoms from alcohol do contribute to suffering, but drinking more is not advisable. “Although another drink might alleviate symptoms, you are really postponing the point at which you will feel better,” Sutton says.

Prickly pear cactus

Theory: Available as a powder or in pill form, an extract of this cactus plant taken prior to a night on the tiles could reduce the likelihood of a thumping head.

Hangover rating: 4/5 It could help, according to a study at Tulane University in New Orleans, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers tested 64 healthy medical students and the extract reduced three of nine hangover symptoms — nausea, dry mouth and loss of appetite — and halved the risk of a severe hangover.

Alka-Seltzer

Theory: The effervescent tablets contain aspirin, paracetamol and caffeine, and the idea is to take them when you get home rather than the following morning, when you might not be able to keep them down.

Hangover rating: 1/5 They can be helpful for a headache and to neutralise excess stomach acid. “But the main benefit probably comes from the water they are dissolved in,” says Sutton. ”They are worth a try unless your stomach is sensitive, in which case they could prove an irritant to the lining.”

Artichoke extract

Theory: Extract of artichoke leaves help the liver to process alcohol.

Hangover rating: 2/5 The journal Phytomedicine last year showed that a supplement containing a 400mg extract of artichoke leaf extract (such as Cynara Artichoke and Digestiherb) helped stomach problems, and there is anecdotal evidence that it reduces indigestion, an upset stomach and nausea. But not all experts agree and a review in the Canadian Medical Association Journal said that it does nothing to cure a hangover. A review of herbal hangover cures in the British Medical Journal a few years ago found none of them to be beneficial.

Eggs

Theory: Often consumed as part of the hangover fry-up, eggs are also consumed raw by some who believe a substance called cysteine helps to fight free radical damage to the body.

Hangover rating: 1/5 “I can’t imagine anyone wanting cooked eggs, let alone raw ones, when they feel queasy,” says Sutton. “Eating helps and the albumen in eggs could offer relief to the stomach, but toast and water is an easier option.”

Sleep

Theory: James Garbutt, a professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina who specialises in alcohol studies, recently concluded that no hangover cure will work. So, why not crawl under the duvet and sleep it off?

Hangover rating: 3/5 In theory it will work; in practice many symptoms are an indirect result of a chemical called acetaldehyde, produced as your body metabolises booze. It makes you hot and sweaty, increasing your heart rate and making your stomach churn. It is when acetaldehyde accumulates that you vomit. But the metabolism of alcohol interferes with rapid eye-movement sleep, which means that you find it difficult to drop off or you keep waking up. You could try the Hangover Pillow (ruthwhiteyoga.com) stuffed with juniper, fennel, mustard and peppermint, designed to prevent a sore head.

Worcestershire sauce cocktail

Theory: Jeeves confronted Bertie Wooster’s hangover with a supposedly magic cocktail of raw egg, Worcestershire sauce and red pepper. “Gentlemen have told me they have found it extremely invigorating,” Jeeves said.

Hangover rating:0/5 “I can’t imagine anyone being able to stomach Worcestershire sauce, nor having the patience to follow a recipe,” says Sutton. And eating a raw egg could increase the risk of salmonella poisoning. Not quite what your stomach is after.

To conclude, the only real way to deal with a hangover is with gumption. Bring it on and make a mountain out of it. I'm now lining up water on my desk, contemplating eating a huge amount of pasta for breakfast, telling my colleagues my head is about to fall off and speaking to my partners in crime, explaining that I'm NEVER going to look at a bottle of vodka ever again. Standard. Oh, and I believe a cream cheese sandwich can pretty much cure anything and that is what I shall consume for lunch.Apparently it's all in the balance of carbs and fats for the perfect way to treat a hangover.

My new rule. Prevention is better than cure.

That'll work until circa 12 noon tomorrow when I frequent Supper Club for Love Brunch. Oh dear.

Fancy some Scarlett bubbly?

No one could ever really accuse the sultry and mysterious Scarlett Johansson of being bubbly.

Moet & Chandon has announced its new international advertising campaign featuring Scarlett Johansson, the ambassador for the brand since March 2009, and shot by British photographer Tim Walker. The campaign took place on the Moet & Chandon Estate in Epernay, France. Walker's new photographs bring to life the rich heritage and savoir-faire of the world's leading champagne.

Judging on these pictures, sales of the champagne are no doubt set to go through the roof.

The 'Plane' Truth

An anonymous flight attendant recently posted an open letter “to the flying public” on the Internet: “We’re sorry we have no pillows. We’re sorry we’re out of blankets. We’re sorry the airplane is too cold. We’re sorry the airplane is too hot. We’re sorry the overhead bins are full. ... We’re sorry that’s not the seat you wanted. We’re sorry there’s a restless toddler/overweight/offensive-smelling passenger seated next to you. ... We’re sorry that guy makes you uncomfortable because he ‘looks like a terrorist. ...’ ”

This sorry state of affairs ends with an admonition: “The glory days of pillows, blankets, magazines, and a hot meal for everyone are long gone. Our job is to get you from point A to point B safely and at the cheapest possible cost to you and the company.”

Let us now observe a moment of silence for the golden age of travel.

The changing dynamic of airline service seems to parallel the shifting role of airline personnel, whatever they’re called. In the earliest days of commercial flight, there were teenage “cabin boys,” and the first female stewardesses had to be registered nurses. (Such know-how would have been most welcome several years ago when, en route to back from Australia, I cleverly gave myself food poisoning from the sushi I consumed mid-journey in Hong-Kong airport.It’s bad, very bad, when you hear “Is there a doctor or nurse on board?” over the loudspeaker and realise it’s for you.)

From a feminist perspective, it was progress when flight attendants won the right to gain a few pounds, to let their hair go gray, to be pregnant, or to have a Y chromosome: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 insisted that men could do the job, too, thus making a little full circle back to those early cabin boys. Fishnet stockings and hot pants were replaced by androgynous trouser suits. But as the dress code changed, so did the up-in-the-air experience. Air travel became democratic and accessible. The 800 million of us who pass through airports all over the world every year now comprise a remote and motley crew. We book our flights online, check in at kiosks, board in T-shirts and flip-flops, and withdraw under headsets and earbuds.

There’s a slightly schizophrenic message from the industry these days, as if it’s taking the temperature of public nostalgia for the era of “coffee, tea, or me,” at the same time that technology is replacing the “me” factor. Continental is experimenting with subway-style “self-boarding” that bypasses an agent at the gate. The most overt sign that airlines no longer view flight attendants as personal service providers is Virgin America’s touch screen for ordering food on board; the intimate exchange with the person who brings your meal down the aisle approximates the bond with a delivery guy who brings kung pao chicken to your house. No tipping.

On the completely opposite hand, Virgin Atlantic has a new commercial featuring stunning young women in lipstick-red uniforms and super duper high heels pointing out the exit rows with vampy choreography and ripping open their bodices to serve ice cream.



So what’s it to be? Androids handing out peanuts, with a hologram showing how to inflate a life vest? Or stewardesses in stilettos and Spanx? Perhaps a return to teenage boys, recruited out of the Scouts?

Until the industry decides on a paradigm for the 21st century, better pack a sandwich and fasten your seatbelt. It could be a bumpy ride

Top 10 things to throw yourself off

Have you had a good plummet lately? No? Nor have I.

It seems to have come to light that, after reading the top 10 list of 'things to throw yourself off', I have a distinct lack of accomplished 'weightlessness'.

I have achieved 1/10. I obviously need to up my game.

I managed the 15,000ft dive over Lake Taupo, one of the last remaining active-volcano regions in New Zealand. Snow-capped volcanoes beckoned me whilst I was roaming the word. It was epic to say the least. (See picture).

Well, if you’d like to add an adrenaline rush and an element of danger to your next trip, see below for a list of ten of the best places around the world to enjoy the feeling of weightlessness you can only get from the perfect fling. Are you ready to take the plunge?

1. BASE jumping the New River Gorge Bridge, USA

2. Bungee jumping at Victoria Falls, Zambia/Zimbabwe

3. Skydiving over Lake Taupo, New Zealand

4. Paragliding Sedona Red Rocks, USA

5. Zip lining the treetops of Dugango, USA

6. Hang-gliding the mountains of Barlioche, Argentina

7. Paragliding Mount Baba Dağ, Turkey

8. Hang-gliding the Sierra Nevada mountains near Granada, Spain

9. BASE jumping from the Sky Tower, New Zealand

10. Cave-diving in the caverns of Cenote Dos Ojos, Mexico

Chanel Makeup Meets Robots In Disguise? Yes, Please!

Animating Chanel from lionel bui on Vimeo.

Talking about creativity, while taking sips of my morning grande skinny vanilla latte (with an extra shot), I stumbled upon this animated short film from Chanel.

Makeup guru, Peter Philips, Chanel's Global Creative Director of Makeup, conceptualised the animation and whipped up this ridiculously epic short film (I believe semi Transformer inspired).

Cleverly titled "Here Comes the Beauty Pack," Philips fashions compacts, glosses, lipsticks, and brushes into a flying robot, a spider, a model, and more. It creatively features such adorable characters as a jet-propelled robot, a spider, a Sun God and a miniskirt-wearing model—all created entirely with Chanel's compacts, glosses, nail polishes and brushes.

Animation has never been so chic.

Makeup powers, activate!

(Extra bonus points for creative use of Chanel's tweed blush!)

Familyship

My Step-Mother decided it was 'time' to purchase 'familyship' bracelets.

Not wanting to go down the generic Links or Pandora route, we all fell in love with Antonio Ben Chimol's leather rainbow bracelets in a little boutique in a nearby village of Ashburton (Devonshire).

Antonio Ben Chimol knows how to mix passion, courage, elegance, irreverence and provocation into each of his designs.

It is quite obvious his inspiration is taken from unusual places. Technology, mechanics, or aeronautics, which have influenced his creations in their usablity, resistance and originality. What impressed us the most about these bracelets is the versatility. Chimol became known as the first jewellery designer to use the magnetic locking clasp, giving these bracelets a unique edge, simplifying the ease of use as well as increasing their durability.

Made from the finest quality Italian leather and in a range of colours, the bracelets suit both my father (who owns a more sturdy 'manly' version), as well as my teenage sister.

They are definitely a mark of sophisticated style, and a reminder of my strong 'Familyship'.

The only problem is that I now want one in every colour.