Triston Casas hit a two-run homer and Alex Verdugo finished a homer short of hitting for the cycle as the Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 9-5

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’

The head of the U_N_ agency for Palestinian refugees is telling a U_N_ emergency meeting “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire has become a matter of life and death for millions.”

Police in New York City have revealed they are exploring potential links between Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann and other unsolved murders outside of Long Beach. An NYPD official told ABC News the 59-year-old is being looked at in connection to missing persons cases and murders across all five boroughs of New York City. The married father-of-two’s DNA has been entered into a statewide database and his alleged MO is being compared to other cases – including those during the period he was allegedly active in Gilgo Beach. Mr Heuermann is charged with the murders of three women who vanished between 2007 and 2010, and is the prime suspect in a fourth murder. It’s not clear whether he committed any more alleged crimes between the discovery of the bodies in 2010 and his arrest 13 years later. He lived close to Gilgo Beach in Massapequa Park but worked in the heart of Midtown Manhattan where he runs an architecture firm. He also has ties to South Carolina and Las Vegas, owning properties in both locations. Mr Heuermann’s attorney released a statement on Monday, insisting he is innocent and that officials have ignored “more significant and stronger leads”. Read More Police release haunting 911 call from woman later found dead as possible serial killer probe continues: ‘There’s somebody after me’ Long Island police search for ‘body parts’ in storage unit tied to Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann Rex Heuermann’s lawyer dismisses evidence against ‘loving father and husband’ in Gilgo Beach murders case

Benoit Badiashile scored the opening goal as he made his first appearance of the season in Chelsea’s 2-0 Carabao Cup victory over Blackburn at Stamford Bridge. The France defender had not started a Blues match since he was injured in their draw with Nottingham Forest in May and got himself involved at both ends of the pitch in a game that also saw Reece James return to the starting XI. Raheem Sterling fired home after the break, and while the visitors had defended well, they never looked close to coming back into the contest. Chelsea have now reached their 24th quarter-final in 33 attempts, and are one step closer to lifting a first League Cup since 2015, when Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino was in charge of runners-up Tottenham. Backburn had not played a League Cup contest at Stamford Bridge in 26 years and over 3,000 supporters made the trip, hoping to do one better than they did in 1997 when Rovers were knocked out after a penalty shootout. There was little excitement inside the opening exchanges, which, save for two wasted corners for the hosts and Dilan Markanday’s left-footed effort running wide, was largely characterised by two sides simply trying find an early footing. It took just over 15 minutes for Chelsea to finally test Leopold Wahlstedt through a drilled effort from James which the Swedish goalkeeper just managed to get enough of his body in the way to make the stop. Badiashile did well to clear away a Blackburn chance before James tried again, this time with a low effort from distance before Enzo Fernandez forced Wahlstedt into a low save at the right post. Blackburn continued to frustrate the Blues, winning back possession inside the penalty area, while Wahlstedt was able to palm away Conor Gallagher’s dangerous cross, but the rebound somehow sailed between a sea of bodies. It eventually landed at the feet of the fortunate Badiashile, who dutifully finished to open the scoring after 30 minutes of a half that also saw penalty shouts from both sides brushed aside by referee Tim Robinson. Harry Leonard fired inches wide of the right post to start off the second half, while Fernandez could only send his next effort straight into the arms of Wahlstedt, who would soon have no chance of stopping Chelsea’s second. After some good work by Cole Palmer to win the ball deep inside Blackburn’s half, Sterling latched on to the ball at the edge of the area and powered a shot into the top right. Both managers took the opportunity to make changes, and the visitors were prevented from conceding a quick third when Palmer’s effort took a dangerous deflection off James Hill and whizzed toward the goal before Blackburn were saved by the left post. Chelsea pushed for a third with both Gallagher and Sterling sending efforts across the face of goal as the clock wound down on Blackburn’s cup campaign, though not before substitute Arnor Sigurdsson came close to firing in a stoppage-time consolation. Read More Manchester United and Arsenal knocked out of the Carabao Cup Sean Dyche wants Everton squad to be happy playing three times a week Mauricio Pochettino will not take risks with Chelsea captain Reece James Sean Dyche wants Everton squad to be happy playing three times a week Mauricio Pochettino will not take risks with Chelsea captain Reece James Carabao Cup draw: Liverpool, Newcastle and more discover fate

Man Utd announced new long-term extension of partnership with adidas that began in 2015.

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Jonathan Sexton gave Ireland and its fans a scare when he rubbed his left wrist after being slammed by a Romanian when scoring a try in a Rugby World Cup match in Bordeaux

Thomas Tuchel reacts to the news of Bayern Munich sacking Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic. Their departures were announced minutes after Bayern secured an 11th consecutive Bundesliga title.

Max Verstappen saw off Lewis Hamilton’s early challenge to claim victory in Saturday’s sprint race at the United States Grand Prix. For the first time since their 2021 championship duel for the ages, Verstappen and Hamilton ran line astern in the 19-lap dash at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas. But Hamilton was unable to prevent Verstappen from taking the spoils, and accumulating yet another win of this most one-sided of Formula One campaigns. Hamilton took the chequered flag a distant 9.4 seconds adrift of Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc third. Verstappen, crowned champion of the world for a third time in Qatar a fortnight ago, took pole position earlier on Saturday and then put his elbows out at the start to ensure Leclerc did not sneak up his inside on the uphill drag to the opening bend. Verstappen moved over to his left to squeeze the Ferrari man allowing Hamilton a clean shot at Leclerc on the exit of the first corner. Hamilton ran over the kerbs and past the Monegasque, and then set his sights on Verstappen. Hamilton has not won a race for nearly two years, the longest losing streak of his career. Indeed, 685 days have passed since he claimed victory at the penultimate round of the 2021 campaign in Saudi Arabia. But for half-a-dozen laps here, Hamilton will have dared to dream that a victory could be on the cards. Hamilton has triumphed six times in America – with five of those victories in the Lone Star State – and his early pace certainly provided Verstappen with food for thought. The seven-time world champion stayed within one second of Verstappen to provide him with a possible DRS slingshot past his Red Bull rival. “Driveability is not there,” moaned Verstappen on the radio. “I lost the rear completely.” Hamilton then hinted his nemesis was gaining an advantage by using more of the track than is allowed. “Max has gone off quite a few times,” said the Mercedes driver. Hamilton has lauded the improvements from his updated machine, but the superiority of Verstappen’s Red Bull came to the fore. Six laps had passed and Verstappen was suddenly out of DRS range. A slim hope of victory for Hamilton was dashed. Yet the 38-year-old, who starts third for tomorrow’s 56-lap main event, will expect to be a contender again. And his chances of a possible win will be aided by Verstappen starting only in sixth after his pole lap in Friday’s qualifying was deleted for exceeding track limits. “Once I cleared the DRS I was settled in my own rhythm and the pace of the car was good,” said Verstappen. “Starting sixth tomorrow will be different to today, but it makes it interesting and hopefully we can have fun. But of course I want to win.” Hamilton said: “That was a fun race. A good start down to Turn 1 and a good battle with Charles. “I was trying early on to get close to Max but their pace is undeniable at the moment. I am happy we are closer, but we still have a long way to go to compete with the pace they had in the race.” Lando Norris took fourth spot ahead of Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, with Carlos Sainz sixth. George Russell finished seventh but was demoted to eighth after he served a five-second penalty for an illegal move on McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Read More I can do something wiser with my time – George Russell stops using social media Charles Leclerc snatches pole position after Max Verstappen’s lap was deleted Daniel Ricciardo ready for AlphaTauri return at United States Grand Prix On this day in 2009: Jenson Button crowned Formula One world champion in Brazil FIA to review Qatar GP as ‘dangerous’ temperatures prompt driver complaints Lewis Hamilton and George Russell vent anger on radio after collision in Qatar

At least 17 people, including three children, died in a slum near Johannesburg from a leak of toxic gas apparently used for scavenging gold at an...