redjanet's Reviews
205 recipes reviewed. Showing 1 to 50Sort by: Book Title | Date | Rating | Recipe Title 
Website: Bosh!
If you are missing certain savoury Chinese dishes on a vegan diet, this is a good dish to try. It is quick and easy and has that delicious umami flavour from the hoi sin sauce. Neither my husband or I are huge fans of aubergine, normally finding it a bit mushy, but we both really liked this.
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101 One-pot Dishes: Tried-and-tested Recipes (Good Food 101)
By B.B.C. "Good Food Magazine"
BBC Books - 2006
This wasn't so great. It tasted nice enough, but it was kind of a pain in the neck to eat. I thought it was pretty clever breaking up the spaghetti so it could be cooked in and at the same time as the sauce, but as my husband and I discovered, when spaghetti is shorter it's not as easy to get on one's utensils! I couldn't find a nice frozen mixed seafood pack, so I just substituted cooked prawns which I added at the last minute. Like I said, this tasted good, but this isn't a dish I think I'll make again.
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Nigella Christmas: Food Family Friends Festivities
By Nigella Lawson
Hyperion - 2009
Having recently rediscovered this cocktail, one of my favourite drinks back in college, I wanted to recreate it at home as Amaretto is a liqueur I almost always have in the house. All this consists of is amaretto and lemon juice. I have to admit, I didn't exactly follow Nigella's measurements exactly and came up with a drink that was probably too strong on the sour and even stronger on the amaretto, but I liked the sharp contrast of sweet and sour and will be making this again. Now I need to find some maraschino cherries to complete the recipe properly.
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Jamie's Ministry of Food: Anyone Can Learn to Cook in 24 Hours
By Jamie Oliver
Michael Joseph - 2008
An easy midweek meal, the use of fresh herbs adds a lot of flavour, as does the smoked streaky bacon that the fish is wrapped in before being baked in the oven. This goes well with any type of green vegetable or salad and/or potatoes.
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Website: BBC recipes
I decided to try this after seeing Simon Hopkinson make it in his new series, The Good Cook, which is based on his new book of the same name. This is a very tasty baked pasta dish for two people. It's fairly simple to make, though it takes a little bit of effort, but it was definitely worth it. The white sauce made from a roux combined with porcini-soaked milk gave the dish lots of flavour. I wasn't sure about the pappardelle I bought as it was quite large and the 100g specified by the recipe didn't seem to be enough, so I added in some more. It turned out to be very filling, but not too much, so I would do the same thing again in the future. This was really good comfort food and one I'll definitely want to make again (and will definitely consider buying the book!).
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Real Food
By Nigel Slater
Fourth Estate Ltd - 2000
This was very quick and easy to prepare, and the combination of the parmesan and butter with the breadcrumbs on top of the plaice, which has a very distinctive taste, was very nice. I prefer baking breaded fish in the oven to frying as it tends to fall apart less. However, my plaice fillets were probably a bit thinner than Nigel would have suggested (the fault of my grocery delivery, not his), and the fish came out a bit mushy and fell apart quite easily when dishing up, despite my reducing the cooking time. Still, it did taste good still and went well with the baked potato wedges I did at the same time, as well as with a green salad.
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Website: The Food Network
This is a Barefoot Contessa method for making potato wedges and it is my regular go-to way of making them. I've done them as described with rosemary and garlic, which is delicious, but I've also just used paprika instead (with a bit of salt and pepper) when I'm not in the mood for chopping rosemary and garlic and that works really well too. They always come out perfectly.
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Delia's How to Cheat at Cooking
By Delia Smith
Ebury Press - 2008
This is one of my OH's favourite dishes which I regularly make. It's a very easy way to make flavourful sausages by frying them in a pan and adding red wine, red wine vinegar, thyme, seasoning and caramelised onions from a jar and it comes out well every time no matter what type of sausage I have used. Delia gives instructions on how to make mash using frozen mashed potato, but I just make my own.
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Jamie's Ministry of Food: Anyone Can Learn to Cook in 24 Hours
By Jamie Oliver
Michael Joseph - 2008
A simple easy stew taken from a page of basic stew recipes from this book. I used ale when making this, though you could also use Guiness or stout, which I might eventually try as well. This came out a bit sharp tasting for me, though still good, but I suppose that depends on what type of booze you use.
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The Hairy Dieters Eat for Life: How to Love Food, Lose Weight and Keep it Off for Good! (Hairy Bikers)
By Hairy Bikers, Si King, Dave Myers
W&N - 2013
I made this last night in an attempt to get back on track with eating healthily after the indulgences of the holidays. The beef was not as tender as I was hoping for it to be, but the sauce had a lovely flavour. It was a bit on the spicy side, but a dollop of sour cream (as suggested by the authors) helped cooled things down a bit and it all went very well with rice.
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Ching's Chinese Food Made Easy: 100 Simple, Healthy Recipes from Easy-to-find Ingredients
By Ching-He Huang
Harper - 2010
This is a really delicious, simple and quick meal that is perfect for a week night. I always end up using more oyster sauce than the recipe specifies, but it's so full of flavour that I don't care. Goes beautifully with rice and the baby pak choy adds an extra element to the dish.
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The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime: Comfort Classics, Freezer Food, 16-Minute Meals, and Other Delicious Ways to Solve Supper!
By Ree Drummond
William Morrow Cookbooks - 2015
Another excellent stir-fry from this book with a delicious sauce. Also, surprisingly healthy for PW! I think next time I may substitute broccoli florets for the snow peas as suggested as I think the textures would work better, but overall this was another hit I will be making again.
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Jamie's Ministry of Food: Anyone Can Learn to Cook in 24 Hours
By Jamie Oliver
Michael Joseph - 2008
A quick easy way to prepare new potatoes. The addition of lemon, mint and butter adds terrific flavour and this is a great side dish for most chicken, lamb or fish main courses.
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Nigella Express: Good Food, Fast
By Nigella Lawson
Hyperion - 2007
These are easy to make and come out chewy and delicious. The last time I made them I stored them in the "throwaway" foil tin I baked them in, a la Nigella, but as I was the only one in the house eating them they turned a bit hard and crumbly rather quickly. The next time I make them I'll store them in a more airtight container and see if they last any longer, as they're really worth making for a get up and go portable breakfast.
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Easy Meals
By Rachel Allen
Collins - 2011
An easy, tasty way to serve broccoli. The soy sauce and oyster sauce might make it more appealing to those who are not overly fond of broccoli, though I did find the proportions slightly overpowering and made it the dish a bit too salty for my tastes.
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101 One-pot Dishes: Tried-and-tested Recipes (Good Food 101)
By B.B.C. "Good Food Magazine"
BBC Books - 2006
Eh, this was okay. It was a pretty typical stir-fry of broccoli and chicken with a lemon sauce made of chicken stock, cornflour and honey. I was expecting a bit more flavour, which I probably would have got more of from a just as cheap to make packet of Blue Dragon lemon stir-fry sauce. The cashews added a good crunchy texture and it was certainly edible (my OH liked it!), but I didn't think it was worth the effort in the end.
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Appetite for Reduction: 125 Fast and Filling Low-Fat Vegan Recipes
By Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Matthew Ruscigno
Da Capo Lifelong Books - 2010
This is a quick and easy recipe I can make for two people. I usually serve it with brown rice and tenderstem broccoli for a healthy mid-week dinner.
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Delia's How to Cheat at Cooking
By Delia Smith
Ebury Press - 2008
I'm not really sure why Delia classifies this as cheat's recipe. Not that it was difficult, in fact quite the opposite, but unlike a lot of other recipes in this book it didn't use a lot of pre-packaged ingredients (unless you count tinned tomatoes). It was a simple enough stew to throw together and then leave for a couple of hours while I got on with other things, so perfect for a Sunday. Overall, the results were okay, if a bit bland, so I was kind of disappointed. This didn't taste bad and was perfectly edible, but when I have something bubbling away in the oven for a couple of hours I generally expect something a bit tastier when it's ready.
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Nigella Express: Good Food, Fast
By Nigella Lawson
Hyperion - 2007
I really liked these. The ingredients gave the chicken a nice, gentle flavour. These can be eaten hot or cold and I can imagine them being a good thing to take to a picnic, as Nigella did in the episode of the show in which she made them. In fact, that's probably what they're perfect for.
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Good Mood Food: Simple Healthy Homecooking
By Donal Skehan
Mercier Press - 2010
This was a quick and tasty way to grill salmon for a weeknight dinner. I thought the blend of spices such as cayenne pepper, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, white pepper and black pepper that I dredged the fish in might be too spicy for my tastes but it was fine and went well with rice and a salad. A good quick dinner to have up my sleeve.
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The Hairy Dieters: How to Love Food and Lose Weight
By Hairy Bikers
W&N - 2012
I used this more as an inspiration than as an actual recipe as I already had a tin of Cajun seasoning lying around, which I used instead of the prescribed recipe. I pretty much make my potato wedges the same way anyway most of the time so the only thing I really did word for word from this recipe was the chive dip which is just two ingredients - low fat yogurt and chives! Still, it made for an easy, healthy weeknight meal which my partner and I both enjoyed.
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Every Day
By Bill Granger
Murdoch Books - 2009
This was really good. I had my doubts about it staying intact when my salmon cubes started falling apart a bit in the frying pan, but the flavour of the sauce was so good that it didn't matter that they were a tiny bit crumbly. Except for the red onion, I halved this recipe as I was just cooking for two, and the sauce, which was basically garlic, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar and lime juice, tasted great. I even used light soy sauce instead of dark as that was all I had. This went perfectly with steamed basmati rice and I'll definitely be making it again as it's a very tasty, quick meal that is perfect for weeknights.
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Delia's How to Cheat at Cooking
By Delia Smith
Ebury Press - 2008
This was a bit different for my OH and me, but as it was pretty straightforward I thought I'd give it a go. The marinade on the chicken worked quite well and tasted better than I thought it would once it was cooked, as I was worried it might be a bit too sour with all the ginger and lime juice. The mango salsa was very nice, though maybe slightly too oniony. I left out the coriander as I don't really like it, and it wasn't missed. I stirred in the leftover black beans (unheated) with the basmati rice I made on the side as suggested and overall it was a colourful, flavourful dish which was very filling.
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The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime: Comfort Classics, Freezer Food, 16-Minute Meals, and Other Delicious Ways to Solve Supper!
By Ree Drummond
William Morrow Cookbooks - 2015
This was a resounding success. The combination of flavours (the sauce is incredible) and textures was perfect and I would be very happy if a dish I ordered in a Chinese restaurant tasted as good as that. This also reheated very well for lunch the next day. I will definitely be making this again.
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BBC Olive
(June, 2011)
Sometimes the simplest dishes, such as this, are the best and this was really very nice. Flattening the chicken thigh fillets and then griddling them made them soft and tender and juicy. I can imagine that cooking the chicken pieces like this would make them excellent to use in chicken burgers, which I will probably try in the future. I used a griddle pan (I assumed by charcoal grill they meant a barbecue and I didn't think it was necessary) and I also just used bagged salad instead of the watercress and tomato. I accompanied this with potato wedges and it was all really simple and flavourful and felt like the OH and I were eating a nice, summery pub meal.
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BBC Good Food
(May, 2012)
This doesn't have the buttery deliciousness of chicken Kiev, but it does have flavour thanks to the parsley and garlic mixed in with the breadcrumbs and the garlic and herb cheese stuffed into the chicken. Quick and easy to make, so a decent midweek meal.
This recipe appears on page 12 in the insert "40 low-fat recipes."
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101 One-pot Dishes: Tried-and-tested Recipes (Good Food 101)
By B.B.C. "Good Food Magazine"
BBC Books - 2006
This was a simple enough recipe to put together quickly on a weeknight. I thought the combination of cheese and ham on fish might be a bit weird, though it tasted okay, especially with the fresh green spring onions on top.
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BBC Good Food
(August, 2011)
This was a light and fresh pasta dinner that seemed perfect for a late summer evening. A good way to use up frozen broad beans and that half a tub of creme fraiche that always seems to be going spare.
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Ching's Chinese Food Made Easy: 100 Simple, Healthy Recipes from Easy-to-find Ingredients
By Ching-He Huang
Harper - 2010
This was okay, but nothing to write home about. I've come to appreciate the method of coating sliced chicken in a mixture of egg whites, cornflour and salt as it really does make the chicken extra soft with a nice texture, but that was my favourite thing about this recipe. I didn't realise until it was too late that I'd run out of onions, so just doubled the peppers, so that may have explained the slight blandness, but overall, it didn't really feel like it was worth the effort and still wasn't as good as from a take-away!
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Jamie's Ministry of Food: Anyone Can Learn to Cook in 24 Hours
By Jamie Oliver
Michael Joseph - 2008
This is a very easy to make version of stroganoff using chicken instead of beef. The result is a quite creamy, tasty dish. It might be a little bit too creamy for some, but with some added squirts of lemon at the end it is more refreshing than you would imagine.
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101 One-pot Dishes: Tried-and-tested Recipes (Good Food 101)
By B.B.C. "Good Food Magazine"
BBC Books - 2006
A simple chicken stew that can be put together fairly quickly. The recipe specified skin on chicken breasts, though I used skinless, and I also used frozen mixed vegetables instead of fresh. I don't think either changes would have made much difference. The overall results were a tad bland, though the tarragon (which I don't normally like that much) added a nice flavour.
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I don't think I'll never want to get another Indian take-away again after making this recipe, as the book suggested, but it certainly was a very solid, easy recipe to make that I enjoyed eating. I used a mild curry powder as I don't like my food too spicy anyway, and all this basically consisted of was crisping the skin of the chicken thighs first before adding onions, rice and stock and then baking it in the oven for half an hour before adding frozen peas for a final few minutes. The quantities specified made plenty for my OH and me, so I have a nice amount of rice and peas left over for a couple of lunches to take to work over the next couple of days.
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Website: BBC recipes
A hearty, healthy curry that is full of flavour and easy to make. I used mild chilli powder instead of hot as I am a wimp, but this still left a nice warmth on the tongue without detracting from the flavours. This recipe did make an awful lot of sauce, which I found slightly wasteful, but I suppose you could save it as soup, as it is quite hearty and thick due to the lentils.
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Jamie's Ministry of Food: Anyone Can Learn to Cook in 24 Hours
By Jamie Oliver
Michael Joseph - 2008
Using a lot of easy to find store cupboard ingredients, this is a simple recipe that provides delicious results. Though I wouldn't say that it tastes quite like a korma you would get from a takeaway, it is still a fulfilling hearty meal, which also reheats very well for lunch the next day.
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Easy Meals
By Rachel Allen
Collins - 2011
This had a nice, gentle flavour, though, as I used flat rice noodles, which took longer to cook and were still too al dente, it was quite messy to eat. Not completely Rachel Allen's fault, but still kind of put me off making it again.
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Website: Tracey's Culinary Adventures
Easy and flavourful pasta dish that invokes the tastes of one of my favourite Italian American restaurant dishes. Makes plenty and I'm looking forward to the leftovers. My only small criticism is that I thought the sauce would be a bit thicker.
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Jamie's 30-Minute Meals
By Jamie Oliver
Michael Joseph - 2010
I had never made a meat pie before and this was a good recipe to start with. It is quick and easy (if a bit messy) to assemble and once the initial prep is done and it's in the oven it only takes 15-20 minutes to cook. I've made it twice; the second time I realised I'd run out of eggs and used milk to glaze the puff pastry instead and it came out almost as well, though not as golden brown and crispy as with the egg.
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The Hairy Dieters Eat for Life: How to Love Food, Lose Weight and Keep it Off for Good! (Hairy Bikers)
By Hairy Bikers, Si King, Dave Myers
W&N - 2013
This dish was simple and flavourful and went well with rice as suggested. I felt that the sauce was still slightly too thin even after adding cornflour, but perhaps I didn't stir it for long enough. The leftovers re-heated well for lunch the next couple of days.
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Nigella Express: Good Food, Fast
By Nigella Lawson
Hyperion - 2007
This is a quick and flavourful way to prepare chicken in the middle of the week. This recipe requires chicken escalopes, streaky bacon, garlic oil and white wine and goes very well with a green salad.
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Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home
By Nigella Lawson
Chatto & Windus - 2010
There are plenty of recipes for this classic French dish out there, but being a fan of Nigella's easy to follow recipes, I figured I'd try this one. If you fear the overpowering sound of so much garlic, don't worry. Garlic gets much sweeter when roasted for a long time, as it is in this dish. This is easy to put together, and tasted very nice, but it didn't have the wow factor that I thought it would, considering it's such a well-known classic.
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The 20-minute Cookbook: 200 Fuss Free Recipes - Quick and Easy Cooking for Every Kind of Occasion, with Over 800 Photographs and Step by Step Instructions to Guarantee Success
By Jenni Fleetwood
Lorenz Books - 2006
Though my OH didn't like this because he thought the lemon juice added at the end made it too sour, I thought this had a nice fresh taste. The garlic, shallot and parsley gave it more flavour and texture and stir-frying the thinly cut strips of chicken made this very quick and easy. Oh well, each to their own. I served this with a green salad and boiled new potatoes to which I added butter and parsley. Not bad for a quick worknight meal, but possibly not to everyone's tastes.
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Easy Meals
By Rachel Allen
Collins - 2011
This was easy enough to put together, and nice enough, but a bit bland and not very special. A good way to use up some spare potatoes and parsnips though.
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Feed Me Vegan
By Lucy Watson
Sphere - 2017
Surprisingly lovely curry that is fairly quick to make. At first I thought it might be a bit bland, but the flavours were good and tasted even better the next day when reheated for lunch. Definitely one to add to the roster.
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Deliciously Ella Every Day: Simple recipes and fantastic food for a healthy way of life
By Ella Mills (Woodward)
Yellow Kite - 2016
A very good, hearty curry for those cold winter nights. It could possibly do with some more herbs or onions added in, but still satisfying without. That said, I may make it with reduced-fat coconut milk next time to keep the calories down.
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Nigella Express: Good Food, Fast
By Nigella Lawson
Hyperion - 2007
Very quick and easy to make. Just a matter of frying up some cumin seeds and warming through some chickpeas and rocket with sherry. The sherry flavour was a bit too strong for my tastes, but it served decently as a side dish to the chorizo and scallops dish on the preceding pages.
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Isa Does It: Amazingly Easy, Wildly Delicious Vegan Recipes for Every Day of the Week
By Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Little, Brown and Company - 2013
This is an excellent substitute if you are missing tuna salad sandwiches at all. Even if you've never had tuna salad, this is a terrific sandwich filler. The crunch and texture is very satisfying, especially on toast. That said, I have trouble waiting for it to be on the toast before I start shovelling it into my mouth! I do recommend adding the dulse flakes as recommended as it really does help add that extra fishy taste, but of course without the actual fish!
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Forks Over Knives - The Cookbook: Over 300 Recipes for Plant-Based Eating All Through the Year
By Del Sroufe, Julieanna Hever MS RD CPT, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Darshana Thacker, Judy Micklewright
The Experiment - 2012
This sauce is used throughout the book in several recipes and I'm sure I will make it many times in the future. It adds a sweet but also savoury flavour to dishes that is similar to hoisin sauce or sweet chilli sauce. I really liked it.
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Feast: Food That Celebrates Life
By Nigella Lawson
Chatto & Windus - 2006
This was a very easy cake to make and turned out moist and delicious. I don't like Guinness (or any beer for the matter), and I was pleased that instead of giving it a any flavour of beer, the stout just added a more intensity of flavour. The cream cheese frosting gave the perfect contrast to the rich chocolate cake.
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Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home
By Nigella Lawson
Chatto & Windus - 2010
This is a must make for any fans of the chocolate and peanut butter combination. Easy and makes a wonderful, rich and impressive dessert for a big gathering.
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Website: Clean Food Dirty Girl
I made this to take to a barbecue because a barbecue just isn't a barbecue without potato salad, IMO. This was delicious! Mayonnaise was not missed at all as the dressing had so much flavour. I will definitely keep this recipe in reserve for future use.
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