Latest news with #Amor
Times
19 hours ago
- Times
Amor Arenal hotel review: sleep in the shadows of a Costa Rican volcano
Just 5 per cent of Amor's 250-acre undulating land was used to create this adult-friendly boutique hotel, which edges a rainforested canyon in full view of Arenal volcano. Each of the immaculate shiny-wood casitas (cottages) stands alone, lusciously enveloped by tropical foliage, and with the restaurant, bar, open-air spa, pools and gym all hidden amid this intense greenery, the resort feels deceptively small and looks empty, even when full. Guests either cocoon themselves in their casitas — taking full advantage of their rainforest-view spa pools — wander local trails or explore Arenal's zip lines, aerial walkways and thermal springs. This article contains affiliate links, which may earn us revenue Score 9/10Amor's 31 casitas are essentially chocolate-box cottages, crafted from at least six varieties of precious hardwood, with private terraces for peering up at Arenal's famous volcano. It's heaven for honeymooners — think cloud-soft beds heaped with cushions, heated whirlpools and strong, rainforest-view double-head showers — and also suits friends travelling together (some rooms have twin queen beds). Yoga mats, kettle bells, plates of sweet treats and even hair straighteners are welcome touches. Light sleepers might find the lack of curtains unnerving, but even if the dawn light doesn't wake you up the howler monkeys will certainly sound the alarm. Just be aware that while all casitas are volcano-facing, the encroaching rainforest conceals the view from some. Buggies can be called upon to whisk those staying in the furthest flung accommodation to the restaurant sweat-free. Score 9/10The chefs are very selective with their produce, favouring organic, seasonal and regional ingredients. El Rancho, the main restaurant with a volcano-view terrace, infuses Latin American flavour into its dishes, though Mexico, Italy and Peru are well represented too. Breakfasts are hearty (think burritos bursting with fillings) but there are also lighter options: homemade pastries, fresh fruit and creamy oats. For something different, amble down the boardwalk from the restaurant (look out for resident red-eyed tree frogs) to La Jaranita Bar and Tico Grill where in-table barbecues are poised for socially grilling gallitos (soft corn tortillas). The hotel has a considered wine menu and a cocktail cart championing sugar cane-based guaro cacique concoctions. Foodies can also sign up for cookery demos, wine tasting and a chef's table dinner. • Read our full guide to Costa Rica• Best places to visit in Costa Rica Score 9/10It's hard to resist the allure of the gorgeously designed spa. Peeping between curtains of vines are sensual open-sided massage rooms, a thatched yoga shala and a meditation pavilion. It's rightfully popular, so worth booking a treatment before you come, though anyone can join the daily morning wellness classes focussing on yoga, meditation or sound therapy. Two trails explore Amor's canyon, past waterfalls, bubbling streams and pristine rainforest, though you'll need a guide if you are tackling the more challenging route. The hotel also has a couple of spring-fed pools backed by trickling waterfalls, lipstick palms and ginger, and a very well equipped gym furnished with functional training and cardio equipment as well as free weights. Score 9/10Arenal is Costa Rica's most photographed volcano and nothing but rainforest stands between Amor and this pointed peak (but don't worry, the volcano is currently 'resting'). This region is the country's undisputed adventure capital with treks, trails and aerial walkways leading through wildlife-dense rainforest, lakes for paddleboarding and meandering rivers for gentle floats or white-knuckle rafting — the accommodating hotel team can help craft you an itinerary. For a change of (culinary) scene, there are plenty of places to eat and drink in La Fortuna, a ten-minute drive away, along with shops selling souvenirs and supplies. Price B&B doubles from £470Restaurant mains from £20Family-friendly over-13s onlyAccessible Y Emma Boyle was a guest of Amor Arenal ( • Best places to see wildlife in Costa Rica• More great hotels in Costa Rica
Evening Standard
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Evening Standard
Best cord necklaces to embrace Y2K nostalgia
Based out of Miami, Martha Calvo's creations are ones you can wear the world over. The timeless jewellery, as the Amor necklace is the perfect example, offer a city chicness with a fun beachy fusion. Worn doubled up as shown in the picture or tied once around the neck and stacked with other styles, the piece throws back to the Noughties with its long black leather cord and two puffed hearts.
Eater
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
Salt Bae's Reign of Golden Steaks and Arm-Sprinkled Salt Ends in Beverly Hills
Nusret Gökçe, better known as Salt Bae, has sprinkled his last steaks in Los Angeles. The Beverly Hills outpost of Gökçe's global steakhouse chain, Nusr-Et, suddenly closed on June 4, four years after opening in 2021. In early 2025, Nusr-Et shuttered its Las Vegas location, but plans to reopen elsewhere in the city. Gökçe, a Turkish butcher and chef, first infiltrated the public consciousness when a video of him slicing into a steak and then sprinkling salt down his flexed forearm onto the meat waiting below went viral in 2017. His tight white T-shirt and tiny sunglasses instantly became recognizable — he even recreated the infamous post, sunglasses and all, at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019. Gökçe opened the first location of Nusr-Et in 2010, when only his immediate audience could enjoy his salt-slinging, forearm-seasoning tactics. However, in the years following his sudden rise to fame, Nusr-Et quickly expanded globally and announced a future location for Los Angeles. After years of development and moving on from its planned location in the Arts District, Nusr-Et opened in Beverly Hills in 2021. Gökçe was on-site for the opening weekend to sprinkle meat on request (hopefully, he had a strict forearm sanitation protocol). In Beverly Hills, Nusr-Et served a menu of steaks from the char-grill, including the mustard-marinated Amor (#Saltbae's Private Reserve Cut), a thick-cut wagyu Woww steak, and the #Saltbae tomahawk. The restaurant also served a Golden Experience menu, with enough gold-gilded meat to kick off another Gold Rush. A 24-carat gold-coated tomahawk went for $950, a golden Amor for $1,500, and a four-pound wagyu New York strip steak for $2,000. Meat sushi with Parmigiano (separate from the beef carpaccio on the menu) was also served atop mounds of sushi rice. But Salt Bae's rise and fall from virality wasn't without its issues. In 2019, Mr. Bae was accused of tip-skimming at his Manhattan restaurant. Two years later, in 2021, the restaurant group was sued for allegedly misclassifying employees to avoid paying overtime wages; the suit was later dismissed. And in 2023, Gökçe was banned from the 2023 U.S. Open Cup after he kissed the World Cup trophy. In 2023, Nusr-Et had seven locations in the U.S.; as of June 2025, there are only two remaining, in Miami and New York City. As Salt Bae and his salty forearms bid farewell to Los Angeles, Nusr-Et eyes further international expansion, with new locations planned for Mexico City, Rome, Ibiza, and more. Sign up for our newsletter. 184-188 Canon Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
NZ Herald
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Dating and relationship advice from sexologist Morgan Penn, host of Sex.Life podcast
Ooooh this is a tough one. Let's just say actively dating and sexually fulfilled. What do you enjoy about being single? Being footloose and fancy-free. Not having to consider anyone else in my spontaneous and rogue decision-making. Orienting my life around pleasure, whether that's spending all day with my darling girlfriends, eating crackers and cheese for dinner or having a drawer full of sex toys. Sexologist Morgan Penn. What do you dislike about being single? Not having forehead strokes at the end of the night. The loneliness that seeps in when you just want to be held and share the thoughts that are all-consuming. How do you approach dating? I just live my life, say yes to every invite so I'm out in the world and rely on my friends to set me up with people they vouch for. I treat it as a fun time and a chance to meet lovely new humans. Do you use apps? If so, which ones and why do you like them? Not currently. I've tried all of them over the years, not always for myself, but so I can recommend ones to my clients. It really depends on what you are looking for. I like Hinge for people looking for something serious. FEELD for the more conscious and kinky, Amor for a unique match-making experience. What are some of the best dates you've been on? Ones where the man is creative and takes the lead. One was when someone picked me up took me to the beach, built a bonfire, poured me champagne and cooked me venison skewers he had killed himself. Or the one where someone picked me up and drove me to Rainbow's End because I had had a very serious week and he thought I needed to play. And some of the worst? Recently, he picked me up and called me his passenger princess, drove me to a surprise restaurant, only for me to notice he was wearing two gold and diamond grills on his eye teeth. He proceeded to take them off at the table and put them in a miniature container, and put in his pocket. I left my jacket at the restaurant, and he kindly went back the next day and picked it up. When I let him know we weren't the right fit, he was gutted. He never returned my jacket. features Morgan Penn and Hayley Sproull. Photo / NZME What tips do you have for other Kiwi singles looking for love? Work on your self-worth so that you don't settle for crumbs. Put yourself in places you don't normally frequent. Sign up for things that you've always wanted to try, chances are, you'll meet new people and bond over a common curiosity. The hottest tip: be brave and use eye contact, no one will know you're interested if you're too shy to look at them. What should people who are looking for love NOT do on dates? Treat the date like a job interview and interrogate the other person. Talk about your ex in a bad light, or if you do, make sure you share your own self-reflections of how you contributed to the ending of the relationship. Keep checking your phone. I know we use it as a safety blanket these days, but put it away. Don't overshare. People have to earn the right to hear all the juicy details of your history. How does it feel to be sharing your personal stories with listeners? It's always a bit tender, and I usually get a vulnerability hangover after every episode drops, but I always get the most beautiful responses from listeners and a lot of 'me too' stories, which makes it all worthwhile. What do you hope listeners will learn from your stories? I want people to feel less alone in their journeys, whether that's with their bodies, relationships, sex lives or self-worth. I hope to bring healthy sexuality into the light so we can live in a more safe and sex-positive world. is available on iHeartRadio
Metro
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Star Wars actor says the series has ‘gotta give us Battlefront 3 ASAP'
One of Andor's stars has helped bring Star Wars Battlefront back into the spotlight and he's not the only one amongst the cast to be an avid gamer. It's been more than five years since EA wrapped up support for Star Wars Battlefront 2 and while the company has continued to push out new titles for the franchise, it appears to have little interest in making a Battlefront 3. Over the last few weeks, though, Battlefront 2 enjoyed a sudden surge in players, on both PC and consoles, which has prompted some hope that EA will be encouraged to start work on a new sequel. It's not entirely clear what promoted the surge in interest, but it seems to have been a combination of Star Wars Day in early May, the 20th anniversary of Revenge of the Sith (which became the highest-grossing re-release of all time in the US), and the second season of Andor on Disney+. Speaking of which, actor Muhannad Ben Amor, who played the role of Wilmon 'Wil' Paak in Andor, has also expressed his interest in seeing a third entry in the multiplayer shooter series. In the wake of the show's conclusion earlier this month, he took to Instagram to say, 'Star Wars gotta give us Battlefront 3 ASAP.' He also shared a screenshot of his playtime on Battlefront 2, revealing he's spent about 469 hours on the game: 'Been a veteran since day one. Let's hope Battlefront 3 happens!' Considering Amor would have been a young teenager when Battlefront 2 was out (he's roughly 19 or 20 years old and the game launched in 2017), he's clearly in pretty deep. His original posts were Instagram Stories, so they've already automatically deleted themselves, but fans on Reddit were quick to save them as screenshots to spread Amor's comments around. According to SteamDB, Battlefront 2's concurrent player count has reached over 18,600 players, the most it's ever been since the game launched on Steam in 2020. The game has also shot up the best-seller lists on Xbox and PlayStation 5. Mats Helge Holm, who served as associate producer on Battlefront 2's Celebration Edition, has weighed in on the situation, stating on Reddit that there's interest amongst the old team to work on a sequel: '… having heard around my group of ex-colleagues, we want to get the gang back together.' It's not him but the bean counters at EA who get to make that decision, although this wouldn't be the first time a Star Wars actor influenced one of their games. John Boyega, who played Finn in the sequel trilogy of movies, publicly complained about the lack of a single-player campaign in the 2015 Star Wars Battlefront, which led to EA offering him an invitation to its UK studio. EA never publicly said Boyega's comments contributed to the decision to add a campaign mode to Battlefront 2, but it did get one and Boyega agreed to do some marketing for it. Perhaps surprisingly though, Ben Amor is not the only keen gamer amongst the Andor cast. Ben Mendehlson, who played Director Krennic (a role he reprised from Rogue One), has previously expressed his love for the likes of The Last Of Us, Fallout, and the Civilization series. More Trending He was no doubt surprised to discover then, that Andor co-star Denise Gough was the voice of Yennefer in The Witcher 3; a role she admits she forgets she's done sometimes. That suggests that Mendehlson is probably more of a single-player fan, but we get the sense he'd jump at the opportunity to lend his voice to Battlefront 3 if it featured Krennic. As for what Star Wars games EA is working on, its next release is strategy game Star Wars: Zero Company, which has enough similarities to XCOM to make it one of our most anticipated releases of 2026. A third Star Wars Jedi game is also on the cards and will serve as the 'final chapter' of protagonist Cal Ketis' journey – although it's not yet been formally announced. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: The greatest Star Wars game ever created could never be made today MORE: The 10 best Star Wars games to play right now on PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC MORE: Star Wars Jedi: Survivor review – best lightsaber game ever
