MARBELLA CLUB

 

Lulu is swapping singing for salsa

Ex-Neighbours stars Jason Donovan and Holly Valance have also agreed to take part in the show, according to The Sun newspaper.

It has been confirmed by show producers thatDaybreak's sport presenter Dan Lobb,Waterloo Road actress Chelsee Healey and impressionist Rory Bremner, will also be taking part in the hit TV show.

Sven-Goran Eriksson's ex Nancy Dell'Olio and ex- EastEnders star Anita Dobson plus astrologer Russell Grant are also set to be swapping their day jobs for salsa dancing.

Speaking about the line-up, a source told The Sun newspaper, "Lulu is lots of fun and will bring in viewers who remember her from the Sixties - but also younger fans who know her from her duet with Take That on Relight My Fire. Harry will tick the heartthrob box."

The BBC will officially confirm the Strictly Come Dancing line-up on The One Show on Tuesday.

You’ll need a car to reach Ojen. It was made famous by a local liqueur and Julio Iglesias has a home here. It’s heaven for nature lovers, set in the mountains just above Marbella and is definitely worth a detour, not just for a taste of some fine Spanish wines, but for a feel for the quieter side of Marbella, where birdsong and the whizz of mopeds are the soundtrack in spring and summer. This is Malaga’s “spiritual” home, but it’s not just wines that are on display or for tasting. Resident guide Antonio will tell you it’s Ojen’s own special Eau-de-Vie (a concoction of aniseed and aromatic herbs that packs quite a punch) that originally put the Ojen on the worldwide map. In 1840 a man called Pedro Morales started distilling the special liqueur but he kept the recipe a secret. Soon, visitors were asking for a “copita de Ojen” in bars around Spain and it was exported all over the world. Picasso probbly enjoyed a swig or two – he immortalised a bottle of the anisette liqueur in his work “Bodegon Espanol”. But after being passed down from father to eldest son over four generations, one father died suddenly before he had the chance to pass the formula on, so the recipe remains a mystery. Also worth visiting: The local 16th-century church with its square minaret-style Mudejar tower; the Caves of Ojen; the Los Chorros fountain; and Juanar Palace, a very old hunting lodge (game is still shot here) that is now a hotel and restaurant, set in the hiker’s and rider’s paradise in the Sierra Blanca mountains.

Lady Gaga is serious about fashion and she doesn't take its criticism lightly. In her latest column for V Magazine, she sends out a memo slamming negativity from critics, including New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn, and poses the question: when does criticism become "insult and not insight"?

"Doesn’t the integrity of the critic become compromised when their writings are consistently plagued with negativity?," Lady Gaga writes. "When the public is no longer surprised or excited by the unpredictability of the writer, but rather has grown to expect the same cynicism from the same cynic?"

Lady Gaga does name one critic specifically, Horyn, but not a particular story the pop singer may have found offensive. She does "copy" the memo to her friend Nicola Formichetti, who she collaborated with for Thierry Mugler. For the most part, Horyn had good things to say about the collection.

"What I think is so promising about Nicola Formichetti’s first women’s collection for Mugler is that he created a look for the runway; for magazine stylists like himself; for performers like his friend Lady Gaga, who modeled two outfits at Wednesday’s night show; and for the girls who love fashion and always have some place to go," Horyn said about the collection back in March, also noting that Gaga "worked it" on the runway.

Not so negative. Could it have been some negative words said about Gaga's other friends in the fashion biz such as Galliano or Jean Paul-Gaultier? She doesn't say. But Gaga wants to put less emphasis on professional fashion critics and more on, well, everyone else who's got a pulse and an Internet connection.

"In the age of the Internet, when collections and performances are so accessible to the public and anyone can post a review on Facebook or Twitter, shouldn’t columnists and reviewers, such as Cathy Horyn, employ a more modern and forward approach to criticism, one that separates them from the average individual at home on their laptop?" Gaga writes.

Gaga instead names Tavi Gevinson as the "future of journalism," that infamous 15-year-old fashion blogger who famously began writing for fashion well before she could land a driver's permit and can now be found sitting front row at some of the biggest runway shows.

You can check Gaga's full column at the V Magazine website. Meanwhile, we'll be awaiting Cathy Horyn's response and maybe a clue as to what angered Gaga so. Did Horyn slam her drag king look at the VMA's? Or maybe her faux penis accessory?

An Italian businessman and his wife were arrested Thursday, accused by Naples prosecutors of extorting money and favors from Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in return for what prosecutors described as “cooperation” in an investigation into a high-end prostitution ring in the southern city of Bari.

While the prosecutors consider Mr. Berlusconi a victim in the case, the arrests further weaken, and distract, him at a time when he is struggling to rally his fractious center-right coalition around a package of austerity measures expected to go before Parliament next week.

Few details about the extortion case were officially released. But the Naples prosecutor Francesco Greco called “credible” an account that appeared in last week’s edition of the newsweekly Panorama, which is owned by Mr. Berlusconi. Panorama said that the prime minister had paid the businessman, Gianpaolo Tarantini, about $715,000, as well as sizable monthly payments, to encourage him to strike a plea bargain if necessary to keep the case in Bari from going to trial.

In that case, Mr. Tarantini admitted that he had paid a prostitute and other women to attend parties at Mr. Berlusconi’s residences, saying he aimed to curry favor with the prime minister, a billionaire businessman himself.

A trial would have the potential of uncovering yet more unsavory details of Mr. Berlusconi’s dalliances. He is already on trial in Milan, accused of paying for sex with an under-age Moroccan woman. He denies wrongdoing.

Mr. Berlusconi told Panorama that he did not deny the payments, but that he had simply wanted to help Mr. Tarantini, “who found himself and still finds himself in very serious economic difficulty.”

“I have nothing to repent,” Mr. Berlusconi told Panorama. “On the contrary. I did nothing illicit. I limited myself to helping a desperate man without asking for anything in exchange.”

The Naples prosecutors say that Mr. Tarantini and his wife, Angela Devenuto, forced Mr. Berlusconi to pay their legal bills and housing costs, among other favors.

They have long been maligned as fattening and shunned by those  following the Dukan and other low-carb diets.

But potatoes could be the latest superfood. For eating a portion twice a day can lower blood pressure, researchers say. What is more, it seems there is no weight gain involved.

However, before you get out the roasting tin or rush to the chip shop, read on.

Microwaved spuds, free of butter, oil or ketchup, are best for health, scientists say. Baked potatoes and boiled spuds, including mash, are also acceptable.

In the study, 18 men and women were asked to eat six to eight golf ball-sized potatoes with their lunch and dinner, as part of their normal diet.

Most of those taking part were overweight or obese and on pills to lower blood pressure.

After a month of the ‘tattie treatment’, their blood pressure readings dropped significantly – suggesting the potatoes were powerful enough to take over when the tablets could not do any more.

Yet almost daily, defendants in court plead guilty to crimes and agree to serve time, some begrudgingly, others acquiescently and a select few happily.

Mbarek Lafrem, a native of Morocco who had been arrested in Manhattan, was the picture of ambivalence when it came to accepting punishment.

Mr. Lafrem, 32, pleaded guilty in July to attacking a woman in the restroom of a Midtown bar, and the judge, Justice Ronald A. Zweibel of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, said he would be sentenced to 16 years in prison. But on Thursday, Mr. Lafrem, mumbling and visibly agitated, asked Justice Zweibel if he could withdraw his guilty plea.

In court, Mr. Lafrem’s lawyer, Yana A. Roy, said she did not quite understand her client’s reasoning and did not support his request to renege on his plea. Outside court, Ms. Roy said she believed he was having a difficult time dealing with the length of the sentence. This arrest was Mr. Lafrem’s first time behind bars, Ms. Roy said.

Mr. Lafrem gave the judge a lengthy letter explaining why he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea.

Justice Zweibel took a few moments to read it. He quickly flipped through some of the pages. At times while reading, he inhaled deeply and breathed out heavily.

Then he said, “I find no merit to the papers whatsoever.” Referring to what Mr. Lafrem had conceded to about the crime, the judge continued, “The defendant was fully allocuted by this court when the plea was taken.”

Justice Zweibel said he would not revoke the plea deal.

Before the judge formally imposed the 16-year sentence for first-degree assault and attempted sexual abuse — after the completion of which Mr. Lafrem is to be deported to Morocco — Shanda Strain, an assistant district attorney, provided her interpretation of the defendant’s change of heart.

“It does appear to be a boilerplate motion filed by many defendants who are often having buyer’s remorse, so to speak, after having time to contemplate their plea,” Ms. Strain said. “It appears to be a last-ditch effort.”

When Justice Zweibel asked if he had anything to say, Mr. Lafrem spoke a few words that could not be heard in the courtroom gallery. Later, Ms. Roy quoted him as saying, “Whatever the judge decides, that’s the way it’s going to be.”

According to prosecutors, Mr. Lafrem punched a 29-year-old woman several times in March 2010, leaving her unconscious and with her slacks partly removed in a restroom at Social, a bar on Eighth Avenue between 48th and 49th Streets.

Thursday was not the first time that Mr. Lafrem had reconsidered a decision to plead guilty.

At an earlier hearing, he had gone to court ready to accept a plea deal, his lawyer said, only to decide against it. The difficulty then, Ms. Roy said, was that Mr. Lafrem did not want to admit to attempting to sexually abuse the woman because he was a Muslim and his faith considers that crime to be one of the ultimate acts of wrongdoing.

The lawyers had in fact arranged a plea in which Mr. Lafrem would have had to concede only that he could have been found guilty of trying to sexually abuse the woman if the prosecutors had been able to prove certain things, Ms. Roy said. But at that hearing, there was no interpreter to properly explain that to Mr. Lafrem.

On Thursday, an interpreter was by his side.

But as he left the courtroom, he wore a scowl on his face and grumbled to himself, his hands cuffed behind his back.

If you are passionate about food and wine, there is no such thing as a holiday from the subject. It is impossible for me to visit any new destination without first inquiring about the most interesting chefs or restaurants in the region, regardless of why I am going there.

Enough of my friends had mentioned Marbella's Calima (www.restaurantecalima.es), a two-star Michelin restaurant run by the young Andalusian chef Dani García, for me to know it was worth the journey down Costa del Sol's tourist-polluted coastline during a recent holiday to Spain. Quests like this always have a certain risk. There are too many Michelin-starred establishments in the world that create cuisine of technical excellence but without any clear identity—if you were blindfolded, you wouldn't know if you were in Helsinki, Munich or Lyon. This is not an affliction I suffered at Calima, which offered the most pleasurable and original meal I have had for some time.


Andalusian chef Dani García promotes regional flavors using Molecular Cuisine techniques.

Mr. García is a native of Andalusia, and is firmly rooted in the traditions and food of Spain's southern heartland. The jovial 35-year-old chef first worked with Martín Berasategui, the acclaimed Basque chef from San Sebastian, then spent time in and around neighboring Malaga before coming to Marbella in 2005 to open Calima on the raised terrace of Gran Melia Don Pepe, a luxury hotel with uninterrupted views over the Mediterranean.

Spanish cuisine has been at the forefront of the international food world for the past decade, thanks in large part to Ferran Adrià's El Bulli and the Molecular Gastronomy movement with which it was associated. But that Modernist style isn't one that would immediately come to mind if you were contemplating a chef in southern Spain who takes special pride in promoting regional flavors.

This would be an error. Mr. García is actually a devotee of many of Mr. Adrià's techniques, and even if the young chef's end result isn't overwhelmed by "molecular food," he uses the methods to put on a brilliant exposition of the culinary heritage of Andalucía in a set meal of 20 or so courses.

"Ferran is extremely important in my evolution—both personally and professionally," says Mr. García. "He is not just a major chef, but he helps people who come to him with culinary problems. I have never actually cooked with him in El Bulli, but we travel a lot together." (In fact, the chef was about to head off on a tour of China with Mr. Adrià.)

"Also, Ferran spoke to the hotel group who own this place and actually helped me buy the restaurant," he adds. "He is my 'godfather'—he created new formulas, new philosophy and new techniques. My kitchen has many influences from chefs all around the world, but the most important one is Ferran."

Although it wasn't apparent in the dishes coming out of that kitchen, Mr. García frequently uses liquid nitrogen to create certain effects, which are in no way Modernist or Molecular. The culinary disappointment of virtually tasteless and completely hollow squid croquettes is rectified when the diner removes the ceramic saucer holding them to find a richly textured soup and squid in the bowl below. Another dish appears to be a glazed tomato but is in fact solidified tomato juice, enveloping a brandada de bacalao of cod.



Ferran Adria on the True Nature of Food
"I use nitrogen quite a lot in my kitchen, but I am quite pleased that people do not notice it or other Modernist techniques, as it is merely a means to an end and not important," he says. "Too many chefs think they are artists rather than cooks. For me, it is critical to always remember that you are a chef and that you only have one objective and that is to provide pleasure for your guests. It is perfectly acceptable to have a concept and philosophy behind your cooking, but first and foremost the diners have to enjoy themselves—that is more important than the concept." He sums up his beliefs with the phrase La técnica debe estar siempre al servicio del gusto ("It is fine to use technique, but only if it enhances the flavors").

That philosophy is nowhere more evident than in a tiny bowl of clear soup with what appears to be three chickpeas in the middle. The "chickpeas" have a delicious, unctuous texture and a depth of flavor I have never experienced before. When I mention this to Mr. García, he laughs because the dish is, again, a molecular creation—using a silicon mold, he shapes sesame butter into the form of a chickpea. "This dish is one that demonstrates perfectly that technique can be successfully used in the service of taste and flavor."

There is one other fundamental difference between the cuisine of El Bulli and Calima: Virtually no fine wine matched or complemented the multiplated cuisine of Mr. Adrià, but at Calima, sommelier Jose Godoy manages to enhance the experience with his selection of Spanish white wines and aged sherry.

While Mr. García is determined to remain in Marbella, running his flagship restaurant from Easter until the end of October, he has also created a number of more casual restaurants called La Moraga (www.lamoraga.com), which he hopes to export around the world in the coming year. "Because of the economic crisis in Spain at present, I would prefer to expand abroad," he says. The chef is planning to open these simple tapas bars in Beirut, Morocco, Dubai, Germany and New York.

There are no plans, however, to try to emulate Calima at any other destination, either in Spain or abroad. "Sometimes, people come to me saying they would like to back a Calima in New York City or Paris, but it is impossible to do that," Mr. García says. "This is my flagship and it requires all of my time and effort to make it work. I only desire to have one Calima, here in Marbella and no more. It is my baby."

The streets of the eastern Spanish city were left awash with red pulp after tens of thousands of people pelted each other with 120 tons of ripe tomatoes in the traditional annual battle.
Participants jumped and flopped in the sea of red as tomatoes were hurled at the crowds from five loaded trucks.
The hour-long street fight known as the Tomatina is an event that has its roots in a food fight between childhood friends back in 1945.
At one point the civil guard had to step in to control some over-zealous participants, and every year the festival ends in a huge clean-up operation where the town's streets and walls are hosed down.

The new Sacha Baron Cohen film, ‘The Dictator, aka ‘Finchley Dreams’, moves to location shooting in Sevilla at the end of this month, which according to Paramount Pictures, will, ‘tell the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.’

The British comic actor plays two roles in the film: the dictator, and the look-alike goat herder who secretly replaces him, forcing the man whose place he usurped to start a new life in New York City.

Most of the scenes are shot in New York, but Diario de Sevilla reports that the capital of Andalucía and the Canarias island of Fuerteventura have been chosen to represent the backdrop of an Arab country.

The film is directed by Larry Charles, who also directed ‘Borat’ and ‘Bruno’, and is due for release in May next year

Hen and stag company Redseven has seen a four-fold increase in hen weekend bookings to Marbella following the success of the award-winning TV show, The Only Way is Essex. 

 

The Costa del Sol holiday hotspot features heavily in the ITV2 ‘reality soap’, with the cast’s passion for the Spanish resort even delivering the now popular dieting mantra ‘No carbs before Marbs’.

 

The TOWIE effect has had a much bigger impact on the girls than the guys, according to the company, which sells commissionable hen and stag weekends.  Although it has seen more interest from stags for Marbella this year, it says boys-only breaks still only make up 5% of this summer’s bookings to the Spanish resort.

It is the band's only date in Spain 

British funk band, Incognito, have chosen Salobreña for their only concert in Spain. It will take place on the Paseo de las Flores at 2230 on August 12 as part of the Tendencias festival.

The festival has been held for the past 20 years and has attracted many top national and international names, but this year is the first time it is to be held in the beautiful setting of the Paseo de Las Flores, close to the Salobreña Arab castle.

Swilling gallons of beer, wine and sangria, Spaniards and foreigners jammed into the main Plaza del Ayuntamiento to hear the traditional shout from a City Hall balcony: "Viva San Fermin".
Seconds later, a firecracker known as the "chupinazo" detonated, setting set off celebrations among a writhing mass of people dressed in white with red handkerchiefs, who sprayed each other with sangria.
The frenzy marked the start of a nine-day festival charged with alcohol, and laced with danger.
The most courageous, or inebriated, of the revellers are drawn by the daily thrill of being chased through the northern city's streets from a pack of huge, charging bulls.
It's a combination expected to draw more than a million tourists to Pamplona, popularised worldwide by Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel, The Sun Also Rises.
Party-goers were already drinking copious amounts of alcohol before the official start, squeezed into the main square. Some sat on friends' shoulders. One woman had stripped to the waist.
"I'm here to have fun, to enjoy with the locals and to run with the bulls," said 24-year-old Australian Adam Espron, wearing yellow sunglasses.
Two large glasses of sangria in his hands, Californian tourist David Panijelene was euphoric. "It is the first time for me. Today is my birthday," he said.
The festival's first bull run will be held at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) on Thursday, when hundreds of people race ahead of six fighting bulls and six steers stampeding through an 848.6-metre course from a holding pen to the city's bull ring.
The bull run takes on average just under four minutes, with 2,000 to 3,500 runners daring to get as close as possible without being trampled or pierced by the beasts' horns.
Every year between 200 and 300 participants are injured. Most are hurt after falling but some are trampled or gored by the bulls despite increased safety measures.
The most recent death occurred two years ago when a bull gored a 27-year-old Spaniard to death, piercing his neck, heart and lungs with its horns in front of the hordes of tourists.
This year organisers have launched a free iPhone app in English to help revellers to assess the chances that they will emerge from the festival unharmed.
It asks users about their behaviour at the festival, including how much they have had to drink and how many hours of sleep they have received.
The daily bull runs are the highlight of the festival, which ends July 14, but there is also dancing and drinking, lots and lots of drinking.
In the evening the beasts are killed in the bull ring and their meat is served up in city restaurants.
The city of some 200,000 residents expects the number of people who will take part in the festival this year will be at least as much as last year when 1.5 million people turned out and hotels reported a 95-percent occupancy rate.
The official opening of the festival and the morning bull runs are broadcast live on public television, drawing millions of viewers.

SHE has worked with the likes of Prince, Jools Holland and James Morrison and had a string of top ten hits.
Now British soul sensation Mica Paris, 42, is heading to Marbella for two solo shows.
Following a smash appearance at London’s Royal Albert Hall, where she covered a moving Dusty Springfield classic All I See is You, she will perform at restaurant Polo House.
“I am really excited as I haven’t done anything like it for a while,” she explained.
“It is going to be really stripped down, just me and the piano. It is nice to get rid of the band sometimes. There is something magical about that kind of performance.”
She added: “I like some of the smaller venues, they are more intimate and you are closer to the audience, you can see their faces and know what they want.
“It is like singing in your living room. I love it.”
Born Michelle Wallen in London in 1969, she is currently recording a new album, following her hits Black Angel and the debut platinum-selling So Good.
Already installed in a Top 10 list of the ‘100 Great Black Britons’, she was only 17 when she recorded her first hit album.
“It will be 23 years this year since I started and time has gone so quickly.
“When I made that first album I was like a baby. I was only 17 and I was a precocious little thing.”
She continued: “And for me it has always been about the music although I enjoyed doing other things.
“It was great to come back after seven years in TV. When I was making my record two years ago I felt like a kid again. I had forgotten how much I loved it and I love performing.”
Meanwhile, she is really looking forward to the show in Marbella.
“I have been over quite a few times before – in fact I was there last year when my friend Stephen Webster opened a jewellery shop – I just love it, particularly the great food and climate.
“Every time I come I have nothing but fun. I always see a lot of English friends I haven’t seen for ages. It will be great.”

Simon Cowell’s ex-girlfriend Jackie St Clair, who is a regular at the five-day meeting, wore an elegant grey dress and contrasted this with a larger-than-life bright yellow hat – perfect for a sunny summer’s day.

Danielle and Gary Lineker were also in attendance and did their best to take the crown as the new Posh and Becks with Danielle posing in a nude Victoria Beckham design – she even had the pouting pose on the go.

Danielle’s outfit was given the edge with an on-trend floppy hat and Gary scrubbed up well in his top hat and tails.

Holly Valance added a little sophistication to the day with a black knee-length dress and went against the grain of oversized hats by opting for a small, folded tilt hat.

There were also those in attendances who decided to take their hat off to mark the venues 300 year anniversary.

UK Natural History presenter Anneka Tanaka-Svenska stood out from the crowd with a two foot headpiece of blonde hair with pink and green roses. The hat was designed by Louis Mariette and inspired by the Queen Anne period.

Hatmaker and designer David Shilling also dressed for the occasion, wearing a black top hat decorated with two cocktail glasses, some red white and blue balloons and some bank notes and candles to spell out the phrase Happy Birthday.

Racegoers applauded members of the Royal family - the Queen, Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and princess Beatrice and Eugenie - as they entered the parade ground in a traditional horse drawn royal carriage procession.

The Queen dressed in pale green and wore an Angela Kelly hat which was decorated with a pale pink, blue and nude weaved bow.

There was also a sense of anticipation as Princess Beatrice arrived, following her controversial Philip Treacy hat at Will and Kate’s royal wedding.

However, this time the 22-year-old opted for a more traditional design - a fawn coloured wide brimmed hat accompanied with an elegant nude and black outfit.

This safe choice left others the opportunity for their moment in the hat spotlight …and boy were there plenty of people ready to take on the role!

Forbes' annual list of the Best-Paid Celebrities Under 30 is out once again, and joining it this year are a number of new faces—including Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood—while Twilight stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart maintain their staying power.
All told, 20 young celebs raked in a total of $690 million between May 2010 and May 2011. But topping them all is the diva herself, Lady Gaga. So how did she and her fellow fame monsters do?


Coming off the massive success of her recent Monster's Ball tour, an HBO special and an appearance on the finale of American Idol, the 25-year-old hitmaker took the top spot by grossing $90 million this year. That figure is based on the $170 million her Monster's Ball trek earned from 137 shows in 22 countries and the 15 million albums she sold worldwide during this past year—not counting sales of Born This Way, which dropped last month.
Bieber meanwhile landed in second place with $53 million in earnings at the tender age of 17, the youngest to grace the chart this year. Much of that money hailed from his world tour and 3-D film, Never Say Never, tallying $100 million globally.
Meanwhile, Miami Heat star LeBron James can take heart. He may have choked in the NBA Finals on Sunday, but his $48 million nabbed him third place on Forbes power list, which also includes a smattering of sports stars.
In the fifth spot is 21-year-old Swift who raked in $45 million based on touring and various endorsements, while sixth place went to Katy Perry with $44 million.
Other musicians singled out by Forbes include Rihanna, in 10th place based on the $29 million the "Umbrella" singer generated from her tour and album sales, including her most recent, Loud. Miley Cyrus also made the cut with $15 million, while Underwood's country career has propelled her to $15 million in income for 19th place.
Last but not least, Twilight's lovebirds R.Pattz and K.Stew tied for 15th place with $20 million each, much of that of course coming from the popular franchise but also other non-Twilight flicks as well (like Stewart's The Runaways and Pattinson's Water for Elephants). And both are expected to stay strong with the release of the final Twilight two-parter, Breaking Dawn.

David Hasselhoff, 58, switched rooms three times at London’s Trafalgar Hotel.

A hotel source said: “Porters were called up to his room on the fourth floor after he complained.

“He said the room didn’t have the right feng shui and wasn’t giving him the right vibes.

“His room stank of funny cigarettes and there was rubbish all over. We had to climb over all the mess to get his stuff out.”

The porters then heaved five black bags of gear to a new room on the fifth floor.

The mole added: “David lost tens of thousands of pounds worth of his trademark garish suits, which he left in one of his abandoned rooms. He finally settled on the fifth-floor room with a different view.

“Moments later he complained there was a flood outside his door and he wanted to move. We all started laughing.”

Undaunted, The Hoff turned up next day to start the Gumball 3000 Rally in Covent Garden with new girlfriend Hayley Roberts, 31

Though it's considered one of the most the exclusive dinner reservations in the world, editors of Esquire Spain magazine are bringing the olfactory experience to the wider public with a scratch-and-sniff cover that smells like El Bulli, the restaurant.

The June cover features a stubbly Ferran Adrià, mugging for the camera with furrowed brows on the eve of El Bulli's closure, set for July 30. Meanwhile, readers can release the smells of his restaurant - the scents that greet Adrià every morning by the bay of Cala Montjoi in Spain - by scratching the Esquire logo.

The scent is a combination of the ocean, eucalyptus and pine trees - essences meant to conjure up the Mediterranean Sea.

In a video interview with the magazine, Adrià waxes on about how pleased he is with the result, a collaborative effort with Dario Sirerol who has created scents for El Bulli in the past, and magazine editor Andrés Rodriguez.

"There is no doubt this Esquire cover smells as El Bulli," Adrià said. "It's just amazing that people can smell this little piece of the coast...When you smell this, you smell the Mediterranean Sea."

As the countdown to the closure continues, the din of noise from food writers has reached a steady, high-pitched drone. The restaurant - often cited as the best in the world - has reached a reputation of mythic proportions.

Bloggers, journalists and diners lucky enough to score a reservation have been falling all over themselves trying to squeeze in one last, hyperbole-laden review before the restaurant shutters, a trend Slate.com refers to as the "I Ate at El Bulli Piece" or IAAEBP.

Last year, for example, two million people tried to snag one of 8,000 seats - a 0.4-percent admission rate, writer Noreen Malone pointed out.

Stories also follow a predictable, unoriginal formula, she noted. Many begin by describing the treacherous path to the restaurant with common terms like "hairpin curves"; next up is a history of its origins; and some reviewers will try to detach themselves from the set of privileged dining elite - what Malone calls "modest throat-clearing" - by attributing their dinner to dumb luck or a happy mistake.

In 2014, the restaurant will reopen as the El Bulli Foundation, a gastronomic think thank and research facility

REALITY star Joey Essex's holiday in Marbella has turned into a nightmare - after thieves broke into his villa and stole £10,000 in cash and all his designer gear.
The Only Way Is Essex favourite, 20, discovered the secluded pad had been ransacked after returning from a night out early yesterday.

The thieves got into the villa - situated in the hills above the Costa del Sol town - through a window.

Among the expensive clobber stolen were a Hermes tan belt, a pair of orange Ugg boots and an Alexander McQueen T-shirt.

Joey - who is dating Sam Faiers, 20, from the Bafta-award winning ITV2 show - told pals: "Everything's gone, I've nothing left."

Joey, above, was staying with three friends, who aren't on the show.

The majority of the TOWIE gang are staying in plush hotels.

A friend told TV Biz: "Joey thinks he was targeted because they knew about him being on TV and thought he'd have a lot of valuables and money.

"He had nothing left apart from the clothes he was wearing."

Joey has reported the theft to Spanish cops. Last night his manager jetted out with clothes and cash.