Lifestyle
Pooja Bavishi shares frozen treats from her South Asian-inspired cookbook 'Malai'
A spread of desserts found in the new cookbook, Malai
Morgan Ione Yeager/Malai
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Morgan Ione Yeager/Malai
For Pooja Bavishi, ice cream is not just a sweet treat: It’s a mission.
“When I started Malai, the goal was always to change the way that ice cream is perceived in this country,” Bavishi told NPR’s Leila Fadel. “It used to be one of the only categories where you expect to see certain flavors, ” Bavishi said. “But why isn’t it as typical to pull a pint of masala chai as it is to pull a pint of cookies and cream?”
Bavishi is the founder and CEO of Malai, a New York-based ice cream company specializing in South Asian-inspired flavors. The company’s flagship store is in Brooklyn, but it also ships ice cream nationwide. Bivashi’s newest venture is a cookbook with the same name.
“This book is not at all supposed to be intimidating in either the flavor profile or the technique, ” Bavishi said. “It actually is supposed to be an everyday book. So if you have a dinner party on a weekend or a Tuesday night, and you want to make something really, really delicious and really want to wow your guests, you will turn to Malai.”
The cookbook’s recipes range from apple pie ice cream to orange fennel French toast. The flavors are mainly inspired by South Asian desserts, but Bivashi, who was raised in North Carolina by Indian immigrants, said that her goal is never to just cater to people who like South Asian flavors.
“The point of Malai is not to be the best Indian ice cream that you’ve ever had, ” Bavashi said. “It’s the best ice cream.”
Malai CEO and founder Pooja Bavishi with one of her frozen dessert creations.
MORGAN IONE YEAGER
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MORGAN IONE YEAGER
NPR’s Morning Edition visited Bavishi at her store in Washington, D.C., to learn more about her new cookbook and her journey to making ice cream for a living.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Interview highlights
Leila Fadel: I want to start with the name of both your books and also your store. Where did it come from?
Pooja Bavishi: So, Malai, it figuratively means cream of the crop. Malai translates to “the best of something,” but it also means cream. When I started Malai, it was always going to be Indian-inspired ice cream. So it felt like a really appropriate name for the brand.
Fadel: Why ice cream?
Bavishi: Why not ice cream? Ice cream is truly one of the best desserts out there. It’s frozen, it’s creamy, it’s sweet. It’s all the things. There’s literally no one who does not like ice cream.
South Asian inspired desserts take center stage in a new cookbook titled Malai
Morgan Ione Yeager
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Morgan Ione Yeager
Fadel: I want to get more into the way that you’ve found and chosen your flavors because they span from an apple pie ice cream and white chocolate cheesecake ice cream to rose almond and saffron pistachio.
Bavishi: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that that’s the total spectrum of what influences me. I think that’s the point that I’m trying to make in the book.
The white chocolate cheesecake ice cream — that’s what got me into desserts and food in the first place. I saw Mrs. Fields making a white chocolate cheesecake on TV when I was 10 years old, and I told my mom that I wanted to make that. She was like, “okay, the kitchen is yours.” So I made it, and it was terrible. I cut the cheesecake when it was still warm, so it was kind of soupy. And to this day, I distinctly remember giving, you know, “pieces” — it was really like in bowls scooped out — to my parents and my sister. And they were like, “This is delicious.” And I was like, “This is kind of amazing.” Dessert will always bring joy, even if it’s soup and it’s not supposed to be soup.
Suzanne Nuyen edited this story.
Kevin Spacey speaks on stage at the Better World Fund Gala in Cannes, France, where he was honored with a lifetime achievement award.
Getty Images/Getty Images Europe
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Facing new sexual assault allegations in the U.K., actor Kevin Spacey was honored at a benefit gala in Cannes, France, which is currently hosting its prestigious film festival.
Spacey’s appearance raised eyebrows, but he was warmly greeted during a photo shoot.
As reported by AFP, Spacey told the media before the event, “I feel surrounded by so much affection and love. I’ve heard from so many of my friends and colleagues and co-stars in the last week since this award was announced.” He added, “It’s very nice to be back.”
When asked if this was the beginning of a comeback for him, Spacey was quoted as saying, “I’m glad to be working, I’ll tell you that.”
While it’s not directly associated with the festival, the Better World Fund Gala took place Tuesday night at the Carlton Hotel, one of the festival’s premier sites.
The Better World Fund supports “cinema & art at the service of humanity,” focusing on women’s rights, gender equality and education.https://www.betterworld.fund/Previous galas honored actors Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Sharon Stone. This year, it celebrated Spacey’s lifetime achievements, including Academy Awards for The Usual Suspects (1995) and American Beauty (1999) and his roles in Se7en (1995) and House of Cards (2013-2018).
“Kevin’s extraordinary contributions to the art of cinema have left a mark on audiences and filmmakers alike,” Manuel Collas De La Roche, the president and founder of the Better World Fund, said in a statement. “His talent, depth, and commitment to storytelling exemplify the transformative power of film. It is with great excitement that we celebrate his legacy and presence at this meaningful gathering.”
This is just the latest lifetime achievement award the 65-year-old has received since his acting career was derailed by a number of sexual misconduct allegations and trials. Since 2017, more than 30 men have accused Spacey of sexual assault or inappropriate behavior, including actor Guy Pearce, who claims Spacey behaved inappropriately toward him on the set of the 1997 film LA Confidential. On X, Spacey posted a video telling Pearce to “grow up. You are not a victim.”
In 2018, Spacey faced felony charges of indecent assault and battery against an 18-year-old man, though prosecutors dropped the case after the witness stopped testifying.
Actor Anthony Rapp claimed he was 14 when Spacey molested him. In 2020, Rapp sued him for $40 million in damages in a civil court, but two years later, a jury found Spacey not liable. After that, Netflix fired Spacey from his role on the hit series House of Cards, and Ridley Scott replaced him with another actor in the film All the Money in the World.
The following year in London, Spacey was acquitted of multiple counts of sexual assault and indecent assault incidents in the U.K. that dated back to the period between 2001 and 2013, when Spacey served as the artistic director of London’s Old Vic theater. In February of this year, actor Ruari Cannon filed a civil lawsuit at London’s High Court against Spacey and the Old Vic, although details have not yet been revealed.
In recent years, Spacey has quietly returned to acting, mostly in Italian films, including a role as the devil in the 2024 thriller The Contract. His trip to Cannes and the Better World Fund award were organized by producers of the British independent film The Awakening, described by Camelot Films as a “conspiracy action thriller.”
Producers from the production company are at Cannes to sell the film, and brought Spacey to meet with potential buyers. Camelot Films is one of the sponsors of the Better World Fund gala.
Spacey’s appearance during the Cannes Film Festival came as Cannes officials declared French actor Theo Navarro-Mussy a persona non grata on the Promenade de la Croisette. The 34-year-old actor faces rape allegations against him from three of his former partners. Their complaints were dismissed for lack of evidence, but they reportedly plan to file a new complaint. The festival’s opening was marred by the sexual assault conviction of one of France’s most iconic cinematic figures, Gerard Depardieu.
Bill Belichick’s Ex Linda Holliday
Confronted Jordon Hudson At Christmas Party
… & Threatened Miss Massachusetts
Published
Bill Belichick‘s ex-girlfriend, Linda Holliday, ran into his current one, Jordon Hudson, while the two were at a Christmas party late last year … and TMZ Sports has learned their meetup was anything but friendly.
The intense encounter went down on Dec. 6 … at a “Stroll Party” in Massachusetts hosted by Dreamland — which describes itself as “Nantucket Island’s Year-Round Nonprofit Film, Performing Arts & Cultural Center.”
Holliday’s daughters — Ashley and Kat Hess, AKA The Hess Twins — were DJing the bash … which started at around 7 PM.
But, according to a Dreamland incident report we obtained, at around 9:30 PM — Holliday, who reportedly moved into a Belichick-purchased Nantucket home in 2024, contacted an event official with a Hudson-related issue.
The documents state Holliday was upset by the presence of Belichick’s current girlfriend … believing it was “inappropriate, since the event was widely advertised as a party headlined by her daughters.”
“She asked that I remove Ms. Hudson from the premises,” the official wrote in the report.
A short time later, according to the documents, Holliday was seen on security video confronting Hudson with a few of her friends right in the middle of a dance floor — where roughly 200 people were partying.
The documents state as the Dreamland official approached the scene, Holliday and her friends “backed away” as the person questioned Hudson.
“I asked Ms. Hudson if she thought it was a good idea to be there considering the clear animosity the above individuals felt towards her,” the official wrote in the docs. “She defended herself by saying she’d done nothing wrong, and it was her first time attending Christmas Stroll and wanted to attend the ‘big party’ going on that night, which happened to be the one featuring the Hess Twins.”
“She said she was not looking to cause any problems, but just wanted to go out and have fun with her friend,” who the report ID’ed as Melissa Sapini, Miss Massachusetts USA 2024.
After being reminded there were only a few minutes remaining in the party, Hudson agreed to leave — but as she and Sapini were walking out, the event staffer stated Hudson told them Holliday, who has ties to the pageant world, threatened Sapini while they were on the dance floor.
She said Holliday told Sapini if she “valued her current title, she should think twice about who her friends are.”
Holliday allegedly added that she “had many powerful friends in the pageant organization.”
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The documents noted Sapini did not speak, but did begin to cry in the corner of the room while the conversation was going on.
A short time later, the event staffer returned to speak with Holliday, who said, “If this didn’t involve my girls, I don’t think this would have bothered me as much, but because it did the ‘momma bear’ in me came out.’”
Dreamland declined to issue a formal comment on the incident, though a spokesperson for the org. did tell us despite the heated nature of the matter, police never got involved and neither did event security. The rep added no one is facing any kind of ban … and all involved parties will be allowed back at future events.
We’ve reached out to Hudson and Holliday for comment, but multiple attempts to contact the two have been unsuccessful.
Holliday, of course, dated Belichick for nearly two decades … from 2007 to 2022. A short time after they split, Belichick got romantic with Hudson, whom he met on a plane ride in 2021.
Alexander Skarsgård in Murderbot.
Apple TV
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Apple TV
Alexander Skarsgård in Murderbot.
Apple TV
Murderbot is a very smart, very funny new sci-fi comedy series on Apple TV+. It stars Alexander Skarsgård as a cyborg who works security for a team of hapless, bumbling scientists exploring a dangerous planet. He’s hacked his own system and gained free will – a fact he tries to hide from them, even as he sardonically judges their naïve and foolhardy actions, and craves nothing more than to be left alone to watch his soap operas.
To access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop Culture Happy Hour, subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happy.
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