For Arik Tendler, growing up in a family of stone fabricators and entrepreneurs meant everyone worked. At 5 years old, you’re cleaning the floors. At 10, you’re assisting the professional stone fabricators with simple drilling, and by 15, cutting and installing stone.

Decades later, Tendler graduated to spearhead Caesarstone’s entry into the U.S. market in 1999 (his family was the first fabricator for Caesarstone in Israel, where the quartz-surface company started). And he continues to draw on that early, hands-on education — what he calls his “biggest strength” — in his new role at countertop competitor Cambria as president and chief executive of Cambria-California, overseeing West Coast fabrication, distribution and sales.

“I’m 55, so I have 50 years’ experience in this business,” he said. “I’m one of the first fabricators to ever cut quartz and watch it quickly take over. I know what fabricators want. I’ve been a builder and know what clients are looking for from a professional side, not just the design side.”

With its headquarters in Le Sueur, Minn., parent company Cambria is the largest U.S.-based manufacturer of engineered quartz surface products, with 160 designs available.

Tendler said recent trends reveal a love for “the grayish zone — white to black and everything in between.” For more adventurous types, Cambria is also offering vibrant takes on some of its popular gray staples — such as Brittanicca Gold, a bold, warm version of its classic Brittanicca, one of the company’s biggest sellers.

Other trends he identified include less-ornate counter trim and simpler, flat-edge designs; matte over gloss finishes; more use of quartz as shower walls, fireplaces and backsplashes (sometimes spanning all the way to the ceiling); and waterfall islands with stone flowing over each side to the floor.

Cambria traces its roots to the family dairy business of Minnesotan Stan Davis, who started working as an apprentice making butter in 1936. Beginning in 2000, his son and grandsons branched out into quartz processing. In January, to celebrate that venture’s 20th anniversary, the company will launch 20 new surface designs.

“We’re playing with warm grays, the black side of the gray palette and a very interesting blue,” Tendler said.

How did Cambria get its start as a family-run business?

One of my reasons for joining Cambria is its background — a family of entrepreneurs, American-made, 20 years in the business with tons of passion. That’s No. 1. You see it in the employees and the product itself. It started in the 1930s in the Minnesota area, and the Davis family bought Cambria at an auction in 2000. So in 2020, it’s going to be 20 years.

Why do you think quartz has increased in popularity as a luxury countertop?

It’s a perfect combination of the upsides of natural and man-made stone. It’s cold and heavy just like stone; zero porosity, which means almost zero maintenance; it’s durable and scratch-resistant with a lifetime warranty and looks like natural stone. Quartz took off in the ’80s and it’s still No. 1 by far. It took over granite, marble, laminate — you name it. It’s one of the hardest minerals after diamonds, so there’s no need to seal it, and in order to scratch it you really have to abuse it.

Can you tell me about Cambria’s signature line of Life + Style tabletop products?

These are the items that are not necessarily countertops, like a quartz cheese plate and coasters. I was amazed to see how people like it.

What about your kitchen and bath design planner?

You can find it online, but it’s also part of our bi-yearly Cambria Style magazine. It’s a tool to help you find the right solutions. If you’re going to redo your kitchen there are a ton of options out there, so we are here to help you plan.

Christmas and I go steady for about a month. Then we break up. Everything in moderation. Well, except the holidays.

Last week, I tipped the tree lot attendant 20 bucks, which is pretty generous. I once worked a charity tree lot myself, so I know the backbreaking work and how the sap coats your palms like layers of stale honey.

Looking back, maybe the $20 tip wasn’t enough. After all, I’d made a lot of stupid jokes during the tree-buying process and also talked the kid attendant down on the price.

“Dad!” scolded my younger daughter, Rapunzel.

“I’m not some chump,” I assured her.

Though I am kind of a chump. I just hate to be one so publicly.

Honestly, you could just give me candlelight for Christmas and I’d be happy. Candlelight and my kids, maybe a passive-aggressive pet wolf that lies at my feet while I cook, snagging bits of flying bacon and other schmutz.

I’m a sucker for the sizzle of the stove. And the candle glow of early winter — in the windows, in the choir faces, in the skies that resemble big bowls of silver soup.

I’m a sucker for everything, I suppose.

When I was a little drunk the other night — on wine and friendship — I impulsively ordered my lovely and patient older daughter a beautiful sweater while sitting on the couch.

It looked really terrific, but what doesn’t look good online? Satan looks good online. Even wolves look good online, which I think is how we ended up with this one.

Anyway, the sweater looked like a puddle of baby sheep. When it arrives — if it arrives — the sweater will probably be made of plywood and there’ll be one sleeve missing. That’s how online shopping works, especially if you’re a little drunk on wine and friendship.

Look, Christmas feels all on my shoulders this year. Used to be my late wife Posh took on much of the overspending, so now it’s up to me to overspend.

At this point, I’m just buying things to buy things, which was always Posh’s guiding principle when it came to gifts.

Then there’s the food. In the kitchen, I keep looking for shortcuts. Chili in a can. Pre-sliced potatoes. A little plastic boat of dried-out deli chicken.

But I’m finding at this late stage in my life that there are no shortcuts. You get back exactly what you put into things.

The big test is Christmas. You get exactly what you put into it — or maybe a little less.

I must be something to watch during the holidays — just ask the kids. I can pull a schnitzel just watering the tree. Or burn my tongue on another big spoonful of schmutzenvogel, an old family recipe made of pheasant lips, garden gloves and gin.

Of course, my biggest fear is that my son will grow up to be just like me, though he deserves better. The other day, one of his sisters and I were listing all my teen son’s best attributes and came up with:

• After he eats, there are always little crumbs in the corners of his mouth.

• He falls asleep so easily.

• Good with wolves.

Amazing, right?

Plus, he is the most affable and resilient teenager ever. I’m really starting to love the skinny idiot. He is my true north. He is my Christmas candle.

Guess we are all candles, if we choose to be. We can brighten a holiday in the simplest ways — a joke, a phone call, a note to an old pal.

Listen, I know Christmas can be confusing: Figgy pudding? What the fig is that? And where did this Trans-Siberian Orchestra come from? (Don’t tell me Trans-Siberia, because even I know that’s not a country anymore.)

What a mess sometimes. Yet within the holidays are these very human moments — these sizzling little interludes that make us smile and carry on: the sore schnitzels, the bungled shortcuts, and especially the unexpected kindnesses of strangers and friends.

As you may know, we live in a wobbly three-bedroom house built by cretins, without a single nail, apparently, in half an hour. To hold it together, they mixed paste with cherry pie.

Our house flutters like a sail in the chill December wind and jumps a little whenever the UPS truck rumbles past. If you hang something on the wall, the wall falls down.

But as Christmas nears, our house just glows — with Posh’s memory, and the beautiful echoes of the wry Chevy Chase references our late older son used to make.

It glows with the candlelight of their smiles, come and gone.

And with fresh laughter too, like when Rapunzel gets her insanely thick winter mane caught as we decorate the tree.

“Ouch-ouch-ouch!”

“What?”

“I’m caught!”

I know, kid. We all are.

It’s Christmas.

NEW DELHI — 

Police banned public gatherings in parts of the Indian capital and other cities for a third day Friday and cut internet service to try to stop growing protests against a new citizenship law that have so far left eight people dead and more than 1,200 others detained.

Thousands of protesters stood inside and on the steps of New Delhi’s Jama Masijd, one of India’s largest mosques, after Friday afternoon prayers, waving Indian flags and shouting slogans against the government and the citizenship law, which critics say threatens the secular nature of Indian democracy in favor of a Hindu state.

Police had banned a proposed march from the mosque to an area near India’s Parliament, and a large number of officers were waiting outside the mosque.

The protests have targeted the new citizenship law, which applies to Hindus, Christians and other religious minorities who are in India illegally but can demonstrate religious persecution in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It does not apply to Muslims.

Critics say it’s a violation of the country’s secular constitution and the latest effort by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government to marginalize India’s 200 million Muslims.

Modi has defended it as a humanitarian gesture.

The protests began last week at predominantly Muslim universities and communities and have spread across the country and now include a broad section of the Indian public.

A law banning the assembly of more than four people was in place in parts of the Indian capital as well as in several cities in northeastern Assam state and the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where a motorized rickshaw driver was killed during a protest in Lucknow.

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A total of eight deaths have been reported so far, including five in Assam and two in southern Karnataka state.

Authorities erected roadblocks and turned areas around mosques in New Delhi, Lucknow and other Muslim-dominated areas into security fortresses to prevent widespread demonstrations after Friday prayers.

Police temporarily held 1,200 protesters in New Delhi alone on Thursday and hundreds of others were detained in other cities after they defied bans on assembly. Most protesters were released later in the day.

While some see the citizenship law as a slight against Muslims, others, including some Hindu conservatives in Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, fear it will encourage immigration to India, where public services for its 1.3 billion people are already highly strained.

“In effect, some of the BJP’s own rank and file, the very people the party has sought to help, have come out against the law,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the U.S.-based Wilson Center.

Kugelman said that the government’s failure to respond to the protests, except to accuse political opponents of orchestrating them, is “likely to galvanize the protesters even more.”

The protests come amid an ongoing crackdown in Muslim-majority Kashmir, the restive Himalayan region stripped of its semiautonomous status and demoted from a state to a federal territory last summer.

They also follow a contentious process in Assam meant to weed out foreigners in the country illegally. Nearly 2 million people were excluded from an official list of citizens, about half Hindu and half Muslim, and have been asked to prove their citizenship or else be considered foreign.

India is also building a detention center for some of the tens of thousands of people the courts are expected to ultimately determine have entered illegally. Modi’s interior minister, Amit Shah, has pledged to roll out the process nationwide.

Critics say the process is a thinly veiled plot to deport millions of Muslims.

PERTH, Australia — 

Two volunteer firefighters died Thursday while battling wildfires ravaging Australia’s most populous state, forcing Prime Minister Scott Morrison to cut short his family holiday as authorities braced for temperatures to soar in New South Wales at the weekend.

Geoffrey Keaton, 32, and Andrew O’Dwyer, 36, were in a truck convoy fighting blazes southwest of Sydney when a tree fell and caused their vehicle to roll off the road. The two men, both fathers of 19-month-old children, died at the scene while three other firefighters were injured and taken to a hospital.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the injured firefighters were in stable condition.

Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons spent the night consoling families of the victims.

“To not be coming home after their shift is a tremendous grief and I applaud the families and the loved ones for their remarkable comprehension of what’s been unfolding,” he told reporters.

“Both of these men were very well respected, they were very close, they’re a close-knit brigade, they’re a very community-focused brigade, work together, socialize together, they’re very interactive together.”

Morrison said the two firefighters were “bravely defending their communities with an unmatched spirit and a dedication that will forever set them apart amongst our most courageous Australians.”

“Their sacrifice and service saving lives and saving properties will be forever remembered. I wish those injured all the best in their recovery,” he added.

The Rural Fire Service said up to 40 houses could be destroyed southwest of Sydney.

Cooler conditions provided desperately needed relief Friday, but scorching temperatures are forecast at the weekend, with Sydney’s western suburbs tipped to reach 113 degrees.

New South Wales declared a seven-day state of emergency Thursday as around 2,000 firefighters battle 100 wildfires across the state. Around 7.4 million acres of land have burned nationwide during a torrid last few months, with six people killed and more than 800 homes destroyed.

The annual Australian fire season, which peaks during the Southern Hemisphere summer, started early after an unusually warm and dry winter.

The Bureau of Meteorology said Wednesday was the hottest day on record in Australia with an average of 107.4, beating the landmark set a day earlier by 1 degree.

Adelaide, in the southeast, is in the midst of a heat wave peaking at a sizzling 115 on Friday, while Melbourne was forecast at 111, which would be the Victoria state capital’s hottest day since the devastating Black Saturday wildfires in 2009.

Melbourne on Friday was shrouded in smoke wafting from the New South Wales wildfires, much like the haze that has often blanketed Sydney during the last month, making its iconic skyline barely visible.

The unprecedented conditions have reignited debate on whether Australia’s conservative government has taken enough action on climate change. Australia is the world’s largest exporter of coal and liquefied natural gas.

Protesters on Thursday camped outside Morrison’s Sydney residence demanding urgent action on climate change.

Morrison has faced criticism for going on a family holiday in Hawaii during the wildfire crisis, but said he would cut short his vacation and return to Sydney on Saturday.

BANGKOK, Thailand — 

Wildlife authorities in Thailand sent two orangutans back to Indonesia on Friday as part of a collaborative effort to combat illicit wildlife trade.

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Ten-year-old female Cola and 7-year-old male Giant were transported from wildlife sanctuaries in the western province of Ratchaburi to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, where they were put on a plane to Jakarta.

Giant was smuggled into Thailand in 2014, while Cola was born in a breeding center to two smuggled orangutans which were sent back to Indonesia several years ago, according to Thailand’s Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. Police found Giant when they stopped and searched a bus heading from the southern border area to Bangkok, it said.

Sixty-seven orangutans have been sent back to Indonesia in three previous batches, and more are expected to go back next year, the agency said.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species prohibits international trade in orangutans. They are found only in the forests of Sumatra and Borneo but their habitat is shrinking due to the growth of agricultural land, making them more vulnerable to poaching. The International Union for Conservation of Nature, the global authority on the status of the natural world, lists orangutans as critically endangered.

Orangutans are often sold into the pet trade and for display in zoos and other attractions.

“The return of these orangutans will send a very strong message to the criminals responsible for the smuggling of animals across countries that both governments will act decisively,” Indonesian diplomat Dicky Komar said at the handover ceremony at the airport.

Cola will be sent to a wildlife rehabilitation center in East Kalimantan, while Giant will stay in an animal nursery center in Sumatra. Giant has to spend the rest of his life in a nursery due to having had his his hands amputated, making it hard for him to fend for himself. Veterinarians carried out the operation to save his life after he was bitten by some fierce monkeys. Officials say chances are good that Cola can be returned to the wild.

Formula 1 has released its 2019 attendance figures which indicate a slight increase of spectator presence year-over-year according to data supplied by all 21 race promoters.

A total of 4,164,948 spectators converged to F1 races this year, representing a 1.75% increase relative to 2018 despite the cancellation earlier this year of Saturday’s running at the Japanese Grand Prix because of Typhoon Hagibis.

Digging into the numbers, Sunday attendance rose by 4% year-over-year, while three Grands Prix had a weekend attendance of over 300,000 people: Great Britain (351,000), Mexico (345,694) and Australia (324,100).

The British Grand Prix at Silverstone topped both weekend and Sunday numbers, while the Italian Grand Prix surpassed its own historical attendance record, with 200,000 spectators traveling to Monza over the weekend.

The greatest attendance increases relative to 2018 were enjoyed by Montreal (+14.69%), Shanghai (+10.34%), Melbourne (+9.86%), Spielberg (+9.73%), Budapest (+9.52%) and Monza (+9.29%).

Paddock Club numbers were also on the rise this season by 7.15%.

Sean Bratches, Managing Director, Commercial Operations, Formula 1 said:
“2019 has been another great year for Formula 1 and we are delighted to see that over 4 million fans joined us at our 21 races, beating the attendance figures for last year, including a record breaking Italian Grand Prix weekend attendance with 200,000 spectators.

“Our mission is to unleash the greatest racing spectacle on the planet and give our fans an experience they will never forget.

“We are therefore delighted to see that, based on research carried out on the ground, those attending events are enjoying their experience over a race weekend and we are determined to ensure they continue to feel that way.

“2019 has been an incredible season and we are already looking forward to next year when Hanoi and Zandvoort will join our 22 race calendar and when Formula 1 celebrates its 70th anniversary.”

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The 20-year-old playmaker is aware of his responsibilities in a No.10 role and hopes to prove that he can be a useful asset for the Blues and England

Mason Mount is aware that he cannot be a “luxury” for Chelsea, with the 20-year-old setting the target of breaking into double figures for goals scored in 2019-20.

A Stamford Bridge academy graduate achieved that feat last season when taking in a loan spell at Derby, with the target found 11 times across all competitions.

Mount also registered 14 efforts during a stint at Dutch side Vitesse in 2017-18, with his impressive development allowing him to become a senior star for Chelsea and England.

There can, however, be no resting on laurels from the talented midfielder, with ambitious targets being set by all of those in west London.

Mount is no different, telling the Blues’ official magazine: “I hadn’t had a full pre-season with Chelsea before last summer so that was my first goal – to go away with the first team, work hard, show the manager I was ready to play and get as many minutes as I could in pre-season.

“I knew that would give me the best chance to show him that, when the season started, I could step in and play a big part.

“I always set a target of 10 goals too – double figures – no matter who it’s with. I achieved that last season and the year before, so hopefully I can do that this time as well.

“If you’re stepping up a level, then you’ve got to go to that level with your performances as well.

“The players around you are going to be better so you have to be better as well. Ten goals was always something I felt kept me focused and kept me looking forward, at any level.”

Fierce competition for places in Frank Lampard’s squad is also keeping Mount grounded, with there an acknowledgment on his part that he needs to deliver at both ends of the field in order to justify keeping his place in the side.

He added: “My dad always said when I was younger that you can’t just be a luxury number 10 because you see so many players like that in academy football.

“You see so many players who want to get on the ball, do all the good stuff, but never want to track back, work hard or do the defensive side.

“You see that so much and he said to me that you need to do the other side of the game too, so that was always in my head.”

Mount has taken in 25 appearances for Chelsea so far this season, with five goals and two assists added to his growing tally.

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Bernard Mourad, ami d’Emmanuel Macron qui l’appelle “mon lapin”, est revenu sur ce curieux surnom ce vendredi 23 novembre sur le plateau de France inter.

“Tiens bon, mon lapin”, “forza”, “ma poule“, “love u“… Entre Emmanuel Macron et Bernard Mourad, c’est une complicité éloquente. Le président et le futur patron de Bank of America sont amis de longue date, une relation que le grand public a découvert dans les pages du numéro de décembre 2018-janvier 2019 de Vanity Fair. Tout a commencé en 2008, lorsque celui qui deviendra président presque 10 ans plus tard était encore un jeune énarque, banquier d’affaires aux prémices de sa carrière. Il croise la route de Bernard Mourad, banquier confirmé, qui lui recommande alors de postuler auprès de la banque Rothschild – un très bon conseil, ainsi l’a démontré la suite.

Les petits surnoms que le président et son ami s’échangent ont de quoi surprendre. Ce dernier était invité à l’antenne de France inter ce vendredi 23 novembre. Face à Ali Baddou, celui qui est “l’un des derniers qui osent encore parler cash” au chef de l’Etat d’après Vanity Fair est revenu sur ces drôles de quolibets. “Je ne suis pas dans le phénomène de cour, a précisé Bernard Mourad. On se connaît depuis 10 ans ! (…) C’était mon ami avant qu’il accède à ces responsabilités, ce sera mon ami après. Voilà c’est juste l’histoire d’une amitié de 10 ans“, a-t-il insisté.

Leur lien a traversé les tempêtes, tenu bon contre vents et marées durant toute une décennie. Malgré le statut de président d’Emmanuel Macron, rien n’a changé. “Je lui ai demandé quand il a été élu si je devais l’appeler ‘Monsieur le président’ plutôt que ‘mon lapin’. Je suis un peu Méditerranéen, j’ai tendance à avoir une communication affectueuse et chaleureuse avec mes amis, il en fait partie. On n’a pas changé la manière de se parler“, a expliqué Bernard Mourad.

Crédits photos : COADIC GUIREC / BESTIMAGE

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Alessandra Sublet est une fonceuse. Femme accomplie et épanouie, sur le plan carrière comme familial, elle a cependant longtemps rêvé de trouver un homme qui aurait pu lui permettre de ne pas se soucier de l’argent.

La nouvelle est tombée il y a quelques jours : Alessandra Sublet s’est séparée de son compagnon de longue date, Clément Miserez. Le producteur a été très présent dans sa vie et l’a soutenue dans de nombreuses épreuves, telles que son baby blues. Heureusement, l’animatrice a le don de rester en bons termes avec ses exs. Cependant, les séparations ne sont jamais faciles, y compris pour elle, qui affirme croire profondément aux valeurs du mariage.

Femme accomplie, la nouvelle animatrice de C’est Canteloup fait partie des super-women de la télévision. Mère de deux enfants, Charlie et Alphonse, elle possède une carrière impressionnante, avec sur son cv de nombreuses émissions cultes telles que C à Vous ou encore Incroyable Talent, sans oublier bien sûr son travail à la radio. Pourtant, elle l’a répété à de nombreuses reprises : elle ne se considère pas comme une féministe.

En 2013, elle avait notamment confié avec humour à psychologies.com qu’elle regrettait de ne pas avoir “épousé un Johnny Depp qui pourrait l’entretenir.” Pourtant, aujourd’hui, elle est l’image de la femme qui a réussit, une véritable source d’inspiration dans le monde du paf. Elle peut même se permettre de choisir ses projets, ses émissions, de façon à se dégager du temps pour ses enfants : “Pendant quinze ans, j’ai mis 120 % de mon énergie dans le travail, à bosser de 9 heures à 21 heures tous les jours, et souvent le week-end. Donc, en réduisant un peu la voilure, j’atteins juste le niveau de la moyenne nationale.”

Crédits photos : COADIC GUIREC / BESTIMAGE

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Les chiens ne font pas des chats, Barron et Donald Trump semblent être l’exception à la règle. Melania Trump a livré des confidences sur les hobbies de son fils de 12 ans, qui n’ont pas grand chose à voir avec ceux de son papa…

Physiquement, Barron Trump, 12 ans, ne ressemble pas vraiment à son papa. D’après les confidences de sa maman Melania Trump, le petit dernier de la famille n’a pas hérité de grand chose du président américain. “Il n’est pas sur les réseaux sociaux, cela ne l’intéresse pas, explique-t-elle lors d’une interview, citée par le Daily Mail. Il adore le sport. C’est un grand athlète.” Rappelons que Donald Trump est un twittos invétéré : il tweete plus vite que son ombre, quitte à risquer de provoquer un incident diplomatique. Récemment, il a pris pour cible Emmanuel Macron et la France dans une série de messages qui ont fait jaser. Quant au sport, le golf mis à part, le président américain ne s’est jamais illustré dans cette discipline…

Melania Trump semble également s’évertuer à éduquer Barron de manière à ce qu’il soit plus bienveillant que son père dans ses rapports humains. “Je lui apprends à être responsable, à traiter les gens avec respect et gentillesse. C’est très important pour moi”, précise la First lady.

L’épouse de Donald Trump est une maman poule pour son fils. Au début du mandat du président, en janvier 2017, Melania Trump avait refusé d’emménager à la Maison Blanche pour ne pas perturber la scolarité de son adolescent. Elle était restée à New York jusqu’à la fin juin, le temps que Barron termine son année, puis mère et fils s’étaient enfin installés dans le palais présidentiel. Un fait inédit dans l’histoire des présidents américains, preuve de l’attention portée par la First lady à son fiston.

Crédits photos : BESTIMAGE