Latest news with #Citron
Fox Sports
4 days ago
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Injuries hit Team Clark, rookies prepare for the WNBA All-Star Game
Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Caitlin Clark is out but most of the WNBA's best are in for the league's All-Star Game. The Indiana Fever's injured superstar won't be able to play Saturday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse when the team she drafted, Team Clark, faces Team Collier, picked by opposing captain Napheesa Collier. The events started Friday night with 3-point contest, headlined by event record-holder Sabrina Ionescu, and skills challenge. Clark had also been scheduled to compete in the 3-point contest. Here are a few things to note heading into the busy weekend. Injuries bog down Team Clark Clark, the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year, will be sitting out after sustaining a groin injury in the Fever's game against the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday. As the player who received the most fan votes and the captain of Team Clark, Clark said she is 'looking forward to helping (coach Sandy Brondello) coach our team to a win' in Thursday's announcement of her withdrawal. 'I will give the coaching hat to her as much as she wants, to be quite honest,' Brondello said. 'You've seen it with the Fever, she's been very active on the sideline when she wasn't playing.' Phoenix's Satou Sabally, a fellow starter on Team Clark, will also be sidelined. She announced Wednesday that she will be sitting out this weekend with an injured ankle. A'ja Wilson, a third Team Clark starter, said Friday afternoon that it's still to be determined if she will play in Saturday's game, after sustaining a wrist injury against the New York Liberty last week. The absence of two members of Team Clark led the league to appoint two replacements for the All-Star Game, bringing Washington's Brittney Sykes and Atlanta's Brionna Jones onto the roster Thursday afternoon. The Fever's Lexie Hull will be replacing Clark in the 3-point contest. Rookies on the roster It's a young All-Star Game this year, with rookies Paige Bueckers, Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen making up the largest rookie contingent at the game since 2011. Citron and Iriafen are on Team Clark, and Bueckers is a starter for Team Collier. 'It's amazing,' Citron said. 'This rookie class is really talented, and I'm just happy that I'm one of the ones here. It's really cool.' Before the recent three-year string of rookie starters — Aliyah Boston in 2023, Clark in 2024 and now Bueckers — only seven rookies had ever been selected as All-Star starters in the game's 26-year history. A fun format This year's All-Star format is different from last year's, when the U.S. women's Olympic team played against Team WNBA. This time, each team is headed up by a captain (Clark and Collier) who drafted players from a pool of selected All-Stars. It's a return to a more traditional format after the 2024 Olympic year shook things up. 'It's a little more loose, has that fun element to it,' Team Collier coach Cheryl Reeve said of this year's game. 'It's obviously very player centric, and you just want to have fun and enjoy the experience. It's for the fans, so it's a fun year.' ___ AP WNBA: recommended Item 1 of 1
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
All-Star Rookie Duo Gives Mystics Stability Amid ‘Uncertain' Future
Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers will be one of the headliners for the WNBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis on Saturday. But the former UConn All-American isn't the only rookie set to showcase her skills in front of millions of fans in person and at home. Washington Mystics rookies Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen—the No. 3 and No. 4 overall picks from April's WNBA Draft—are the first rookie teammates chosen for the All-Star Game since 1999. They were selected to play for the team captained by Caitlin Clark. Advertisement More from The rookie duo's emergence comes at a pivotal time across the league. Citron and Iriafen's early on-court returns provide a source of stability for the rebuilding Mystics, while both the WNBA and its teams navigate a future clouded by ongoing labor negotiations. Washington's first-year general manager Jamila Wideman says the unknowns—more than 100 WNBA players are set to be unrestricted free agents next year—didn't alter her draft strategy but did give greater clarity. 'What any team can do right now is try to control what [they] can,' Wideman said in a phone interview. 'For us, that meant digging in to get incredible talent and building an atmosphere where we thought we could do a good job in developing that talent.' WNBA All-Star weekend will be the latest example of the league's economic boom as sponsors, partners and other stakeholders convene in Indy. Amid this wave of momentum, the Women's National Basketball Players Association is fighting for a myriad of enhancements in the next collective bargaining agreement. Advertisement The players association's goals include a sizeable increase to the rookie wage scale, which currently pays rookies, including Citron and Iriafen, $78,831 in Year 1 and increases annually until reaching $100,510 in Year 4. That means the Mystics were able to secure both players on the last rookie deals signed under the league's current CBA. The next CBA is expected to increase salaries dramatically, with top stars slated to receive their biggest raises ever. The incoming accord is why most players on non-rookie deals didn't sign contracts past this year, knowing the current agreement expires Oct. 31. 'It's created a landscape that is incredibly exciting and dynamic but also uncertain,' Wideman said. The list of players set to be free agents includes stars like A'ja Wilson, Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart and Kelsey Plum, though it remains unclear how many All-Star caliber players will sign with new teams. The offseason movement will likely hinge on the union's ability to secure changes to the salary cap and the core-player designation, which resembles a franchise tag in the NFL. The earnings gap between the Mystics duo and the league's highest-paid stars in coming years could give the team a player-budget edge on its foes. It could also help Washington try to lure one of the top-billed free agents in 2026 to the district by dangling a stronger compensation package and the chance to play alongside a promising young core anchored by Citron and Iriafen. Advertisement The Mystics, which drafted four rookies this year, could also potentially receive strong value out of Georgia Amoore. The former Kentucky star, who was chosen No. 6 overall and will make slightly less than her All-Star teammates at $75,643 this year, is out indefinitely after tearing her ACL in April but is expected to play a role in the rebuilding process. It remains to be seen which players Washington will protect during the expansion draft after this season as the WNBA expands to 15 teams next year. Like the Golden State Valkyries, who drafted last December ahead of their inaugural season, the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo, both set to start in 2026, will select from a pool of designated players submitted by each team. In the meantime, Citron and Iriafen continue to be bright spots during the Mystics' transition period under first-year coach Sydney Johnson. A former assistant for the Chicago Sky, Johnson witnessed the star power of Angel Reese firsthand fresh out of an All-American career at LSU. After going 14-26 last season and missing the playoffs, Washington enters the 2025 All-Star break at 11-11. WNBA rookies—at least the ones who survive preseason cuts—continue to have an immediate impact on their teams, both on the court and off it. Citron, who will compete in the 3-point contest against the likes of Clark and Sabrina Ionescu this weekend, and former USC standout Iriafen have the chance to grow their marketing profile while the league experiences highs in TV viewership and worldwide interest. Advertisement This past draft was highlighted by Bueckers, the No. 1 overall pick who helped UConn win its 12th championship almost four months ago. There was little national attention paid to other prospects, but the Mystics duo will get their time in the spotlight this weekend. It's an unexpected boost for a Washington team that was expected to have a forgettable season. 'They have a tremendous amount of development that remains possible for them,' Wideman said. 'We're excited about that but [so far] they have definitely not disappointed.' Best of Sign up for Sportico's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Otago Daily Times
15-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- Otago Daily Times
Classic recipes made ‘own way'
Many of her Wendy Morgan's recipes have been developed using a combination of seasonal vegetables from her own garden. Photo: supplied Chef and Cordon bleu cook Wendy Morgan is sharing some of the food she likes to cook at home in her new book Comfort Cooking. The author of Who Made All the Pies? has worked in the food industry for more than 35 years, owning the successful Citron restaurant with her husband, fellow chef Rex Morgan, and deli Plentifull. Having stepped out of the day-to-day of hospitality, Morgan, who lives in Christchurch, has had time to spend in her home kitchen once again and to enjoy cooking everyday food. With parents who were bakers and caterers, she spent a lot of time around kitchens growing up so many of her early food memories involve her mother — especially her silky, flavoursome porridge. "There was nothing more important to my mother than feeding people: it was her way of expressing her love for not only her family but for everyone who walked through our door." She says her latest book is a nod to her mother who passed on those skills to herself and her siblings. Another important influence was her first employer Felice Mannucci, owner of El Felice restaurant in Christchurch. "I went on to learn some amazing skills from Felice, skills that have stuck with me for my whole career." Decades in the busy hospitality trade, did not leave time for gardening, something Morgan has discovered the joy of now she has the time. It is her garden that centres her as it is about nurturing, providing, sharing and nourishing. "Everything tastes better straight from the garden. My garden is also my go-to place to relax, as it not only nourishes my body, but also my soul and my mental wellbeing." Many of her recipes have been developed using a combination of seasonal vegetables from her own garden topped up with produce from the local farmers' market and supermarket. "These days I cook a lot of classic recipes. But I cook them my own way and I have no guilt whatsoever in changing them to suit myself." The book includes retro recipes such as crumbed mushrooms with sherry cream sauce and prawn toasts (see below) to classics such as brown butter sage sauce with gnocchi and apricot and blackberry cobbler. Morgan also admits to being an over-caterer — "it's the way I was brought up" — so there is always food in the fridge. "I'm also big on preparing for rainy days: the days when you don't feel well, the days when you are too busy or too tired to cook. Being able to pull a nutritious soup or stew or pie from the freezer makes me pretty happy." There is plenty of inspiration to do the same in the book with chapters on feeding friends, comfort meals for family, as well as sides, preserves, sweets, salads, breads and snacks. THE BOOK This is an extract from Comfort Cooking: Enough for leftovers and lazy days in Kiwi homes, by Wendy Morgan, published by Bateman Books, RRP $45. This is a classic ginger biscuit recipe that I've tweaked a little bit here and there over the years to suit myself. It is an oldie but a goodie. Makes 16* Ginger biscuits 150g butter, softened 225g brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla essence 1 egg 185g plain flour 1½ tbsp ground ginger ¼ tsp baking soda Salted caramel 175g caster sugar cup cold water 2 tbsp honey ½ tsp vanilla essence 100ml cream 60g butter 1½ tsp flaky salt Vanilla ice cream Method Preheat the oven to 180˚C fan bake. To make the ginger biscuits, in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter, sugar and vanilla for 5 minutes. Add the egg and beat for another 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Sieve the flour, ginger and baking soda and add to the bowl, mixing on a gentle speed until all combined. Set a bowl of cold water beside you and use wet fingertips to roll the dough into walnut-size balls. Place the balls on to a baking tray lined with baking paper, leaving a good-sized gap between each ball. Wet your fingertips again and press the balls down to make them about 1cm thick. Bake for 10 minutes until golden brown. Transfer the biscuits to a cooling rack. To make the salted caramel, combine the sugar and water in a heavy-based saucepan and place over a low heat. Allow it to boil without stirring until it turns a deep golden colour. Add the honey, vanilla, cream and butter to the pan and stir to combine. Keep stirring until the caramel is smooth. Turn off the heat and stir in the flaky salt. To assemble, place the required number of the cooled biscuits on the bench and spoon a teaspoon of caramel on each, followed by a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Top with another biscuit and gently push down on each sandwich to ensure the ice cream spreads to the edges of the biscuits. Place the sandwiches in the freezer until ready to eat. *If I am planning to divert some of the biscuits to the cookie tin, I press them down a little more before baking so they become nice and thin and crispy. *Microwave the ice cream for 10 seconds to make it easier to scoop. *Makes about 16 sandwiches with maybe a few biscuits left for the cookie tin A word (or two) about crumbing: I like to crumb things for a few reasons. Firstly for texture; they add crunch, and crunch is an important part of the psychological response to food. Next, crumbs provide a protective coating and can keep things juicy. And finally, crumbing food can in some cases make it go further, which can make more expensive main ingredients such as lamb cutlets and fish a bit more accessible. Serves 4 This relish goes well with pork, fish or chicken or simply with cheese and crackers. Best served at room temperature. Curry apple relish 1 heaped tsp butter 1 apple, peeled and grated 1 onion, grated 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1 tsp curry powder ¼ cup white wine ½ cup chicken stock ¼ cup cream 1 tsp honey Pinch salt Method To make the relish, in a saucepan melt the butter over a medium heat. Add the apple, onion and garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Stir in the curry powder then add the wine. Gently simmer to reduce until all the liquid is gone. Add the stock, cream, honey and salt. Continue simmering the mixture until it thickens. Set aside until required. Season the flour with the salt, pepper and cumin, then place in a dish or shallow bowl large enough to accommodate one cutlet at a time. Place the egg mixture in a similar-size dish. Put the panko crumbs in a third dish also large enough to fit a cutlet. Lamb cutlets ½ cup flour Salt and pepper 1 tsp ground cumin 2 eggs, whisked with a pinch of salt 1 cup panko crumbs 12 lamb cutlets ½ cup olive oil Method Toss the cutlets, one at a time, in the seasoned flour. Transfer the cutlet to the egg and coat well before tossing in the panko crumbs, making sure to press as many crumbs on as you can. Heat the oil in a frypan over a medium heat and cook the lamb cutlets in batches until golden on each side, about 34 minutes each side. As they are cooked, transfer them on to a paper towel to rest for a couple of minutes before serving with the relish. I think that prawn toasts are too easily forgotten by most of us. But when they are offered my first thought is that I really must make them more often. Makes 18 Sweet and sour chilli dipping sauce 100ml white wine vinegar 50ml water 100g caster sugar 3 fresh chillies, finely chopped 1 Tbsp chopped fresh mint 1 Tbsp chopped fresh coriander 1 spring onion, sliced Toast topping 400g raw prawns, tails removed, roughly chopped 1 clove garlic, roughly chopped 1 makrut lime leaf, finely chopped 1 fresh chilli, deseeded and finely chopped Small bunch coriander, roughly chopped 1cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped 1 Tbsp soy sauce 2 Tbsp coconut cream Pinch salt ½ cup sesame seeds 6 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed Method To make the dipping sauce, place the vinegar, water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. Add the chilli and set aside to cool. When you are ready to serve the toasts, add the chopped herbs and spring onion to the sauce. To make the toast topping, place all of the ingredients except for one-third of the prawns into a food processor and whizz until well combined. Add the rest of the prawns and pulse a couple of times just to combine. Refrigerate the mixture until well chilled. Heat a deep fryer or a saucepan of oil to 175˚C. Spread the sesame seeds on to a plate. Spread the prawn mixture evenly over each slice of bread then gently flip them upside down on to the sesame seeds to coat. Cut each slice into three portions. Fry the prawn toasts in batches for 3 minutes, flipping over halfway. Serve nice and hot with the dipping sauce. *This dipping sauce is great to have on hand in the fridge for spring rolls, poached prawns or even as a salad dressing. Have the base on hand and add the fresh herbs at the time of serving. Remove all the seeds from the chillies for a mild version or leave some or all of them in, depending on how hot you like it.
RNZ News
14-07-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Chef Wendy Morgan's best classic recipes
Photo: Supplied: Bateman Books Wendy Morgan is a qualified chef and Cordon Bleu cook who has worked in the food industry for over thirty-five years, and ran Wellington restaurant Citron for many years. In addition to her Who Made All the Pies ? book, she's back with another called Comfort Cooking: Enough for leftovers and lazy days in Kiwi homes . There's everything from fluffy yoghurt flatbreads and herby dinner rolls to crumbed lamb cutlets, mousetraps and hearty soups. Wendy says this book is a nod to her mother, who ran a bakery with her dad and loved nothing more than feeding people.
Time of India
12-07-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
Cathy Engelbert's All-Star announcement hits wrong number, blindsiding Washington Mystics rookie in bizarre twist of fate
Cathy Engelbert. Image via: Melanie Fidler/NBAE via Getty Images In one of the most unusual All-Star reveals the WNBA has ever seen, Washington Mystics rookie Sonia Citron learned of her selection not from her team or the league, but from a stranger on social media. While Commissioner Cathy Engelbert traditionally calls each selected player personally, a misdial this year created a story no one could've scripted. Citron's All-Star moment arrived via direct message from someone she had never even spoken to before. Cathy Engelbert mistakenly dials the wrong WNBA rookie, turning an All-Star selection moment into a surreal phone call mix-up During an appearance on Between The Lines with WNBA legend Lisa Leslie, Sonia Citron recalled the moment she realized something strange was going on. "Usually Cathy calls you and she lets you know. That was not the case for me… I was checking my phone, maybe an hour before a game," she told Leslie. What she found was a direct message from Seattle Storm forward Gabby Williams — a player Citron had never met. "I saw that Gabby Williams had followed and DMed me, and I was like, 'Oh, this is super random, because I've never met her, never talked to her.' I was like, 'She's not just doing this out of nowhere.'" Inside the message was a screenshot of a voicemail from Commissioner Engelbert. But the voicemail wasn't intended for Williams. Engelbert had dialed the wrong number, and Williams, realizing the mistake, passed the message along. 'In the DM, she was like, 'Hey, Cathy called me thinking that this number was your number. I hope this isn't how you found out, but congrats,'' Citron said. While the situation added an awkward twist to what should've been a celebratory moment, it didn't dampen the honor. Citron was later officially drafted by Caitlin Clark to Team Clark for the All-Star Game, which will be held July 19 in Indianapolis. As Citron gears up for the game and the 3-point contest, Engelbert's misfire has reignited conversation about communication and leadership in the WNBA. With a new collective bargaining agreement on the horizon, players have expressed the importance of direct, respectful engagement with league officials. New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu weighed in during a recent shootaround, noting, 'I think it's important to have real conversations. I've talked to Adam Silver about it a lot when I've seen him… We need to be able to be in the room with Cathy and talking to her and her leadership group about what we want.' Also Read: LeBron James appeared in Bad Bunny's concert amid Los Angeles Lakers trade rumors Though Citron's All-Star journey began in a rather unorthodox fashion, the rookie's rise has been commendable. Catch Manika Batra's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 3. Watch Here!
