A hasty round up
February has galloped, with all the quick pace of a triumphant racehorse. I’m not sure where these few short weeks have slipped by to, nor how March is staring me squarely in the face, but nonetheless Spring beckons. It would feel spoiling if it weren’t for the wet weather, still an odds-on favourite across forecasted skies. We’ve earmarked a few days in Malaga in the hope of blue skies that hold warmth, though rain threatens in the immediate days before we travel. Weather watching is high on our daily agenda right now.
Heads up for all of my community here with a paid subscription - my next Kitchen Clinic will be at 4:00pm (GMT) on Wednesday 4th March - DM me for details to join (via zoom, no travel required) and I look forward to chatting with plenty of you over there. If you’re not subscribed, I’ve dropped the link below. At just £6 per month for a subscription, (or discounted for an annual subscription) each weekly clinic dilutes down to just £1:50 a session. Cheaper than parking for an hour in my home town. A paid subscription also gives access to all my archived articles, recipe ideas, audio conversations from my kitchen, more personal writing and a long page of notes that follow up each kitchen session. To sign up, click below
Plenty that I’ve intended to share here is still parked in drafts. Away from my desk, we’re busy on the homefront. With every new year come the next wave of works needed to keep momentum with the renovation of these old bricks. The back kitchen is priority number one this time around, whilst a snagging list as long as your arm is a close second. Loose ends are commonplace here. For those who don’t know me, I’m frustratingly particular with how a space needs to feel for it to represent home and precisely what will be needed in its conjury. The aesthetics of a room can soothe or scream at me, and at this intersection when midlife & menopause meet, I’m all about hushed tones, a colour palette that whispers rather than shouts if you will. It’s one thing being blessed with the ability to visualise an end result with my minds eye, but sourcing every single detail that make up this bigger picture can be a protracted process. For me, it’s all about the threads that make up the tapestry of a room - hardware, lighting, fabrics, colour, texture, patina, function & form. My screen time is all consuming right now and new places explored in search of treasures. ALL spare hours are committed to sourcing fabrics (blinds & furnishings) cookers, wall tiles, bioethanol stoves, slimline base carcasses, quartz, paint for walls & wood, tradespeople, pendant lights, aged brass fittings, cabinetry furniture and hotels in Malaga. Such first world problems I know.
All this research however has led me to discover some brilliant brands, dreamy homeware, lush paint and articles worth a read; distractions are plentiful when scrolling. I’ve also discovered Facebook marketplace (I have never used FB itself, hence me being late to the marketplace party) and Vinted continues to throw exciting items into a feed mostly curated by searches for vintage, scrubbed pine, cashmere, Sezane, Baum und Pferdgarden - specifically a Bebeth salt & pepper jacket - aged brass cupboard pull handles and french slubby linen.
These cabinets, both new into the house this month, came by way of witching hour scrolling, putting some miles on my trusty Mini that’s larger than it’s name suggests to ferry them home, and following up their arrivals with elbow grease, varying grades of sandpaper and knowing where to source replacement glass. Bargains in their own right nonetheless and playing into my fondness for blending old with new.
Mealtimes have been pushed down the pile, relying on the comfortable and familiar, dishes plenty able to satiate hunger without demanding much of the cook. I could quite happily live off bread & cheese if a jam-packed schedule necessitates it, but I frequently itch to cook for others. The rhythm of the kitchen also steadies my mind, too often running away with itself. Shop bought pasta stuffed full of this or that - in this weeks case it was pesto & pine nuts & mascapone - is easily pimped with a natty little sauce of roasted tomatoes and a scoop of burrata. Chicken clad in breadcrumbs, puddles of eggs on toast & things in or on bread have all played their part.
A few things I’ve read, listened to and put in my basket . And if you fancy a poke around the shelves of my little shop, which are forever being added to, you can visit it via the link below.
This article chimed with me, not least the habit I have of rotating three handbags - a vintage tan leather tote, this camel leopard shoulder bag now on sale and a well worn jute shoulder bag with leather straps I’ve relied on for the last few years - across all months of each year. I turn to the same trusty leather jackets I’ve had for nearly twenty years and live in the same special and sentimental pieces of jewellery I never remove from my wrists, arms and ears. If my approach to wearing something to death and shirking trends in favour of pieces that nod to my style makes me chic, I’m here for it :)
On the subject of style, Lucinda Chambers oozes it. From what she wears to how she decorates and furnishes her home, she embodies her authentic self at every turn. This article in house and garden offers a glimpse into her house in France and is a worthwhile read if only to crush on the rooms and jazzy colours used.
These oversized rattan ceiling pendants have just arrived, ready to be strung up in our hall. I first clapped eyes on them last Autumn, suspended low from the ceiling in a shop in Burnham Market, but when I reached out to them in the new year they have sadly closed. It turns out my irritating habit of snapping pics of things I spy on my travels pays dividends, for I was able to search the image and locate them elsewhere - hurrah! Since I’ve spent the best part of eighteen months with one eye out for just the right size and colour of rattan pendants to hang in the hallway, running front to back and cutting through the centre of the house, it feels like a big deal to be able to tick this box.
I’ve also gotten around to framing this print which brings a shot of vivid colour to the room where I mostly work. By which I mean slurp tea, pore over cookbooks, write up my recipe notes from one dish or another and daydream.
Talking of colour, of which our home offers little by way of, (unless you count the sorts of shades that mimic natural materials and the outdoors once it’s been bleached by a summer sun) I’m using these paints by Atelier Ellis in the kitchen. Just jumping on a call with them for ten minutes, talking colours and finish and the very names each shade is known by, was all the research needed to know I want to jump into their paint feet first and drench my kitchen and cabinetry in it; Lunching Ladies and Tea & Toast anyone?
Listen here for a lively and interesting interview with Darina Allen, co-founder of the internationally acclaimed Ballymaloe Cook School and font of all culinary knowledge. I’ll be adding my name to the waitlist for her Homesteading course.
For the uninitiated or trepid where podcasts are concerned, they have become my best friends in midlife. I glean so so much knowledge, inspiration, general joie de vivre and ideas from the conversations I tune into. I'll listen in the car, on the treadmill, whilst ironing to pass the time and against the clock of housework. It’s only when I’m outdoors that my penchant is for the sound of nature and the (sometimes noisy) hum of daily life playing out, rather than buds in my ears to drown out sounds that become comfortable white noise unless we attune to them. A dawn chorus remains my morning anthem of choice.
Lastly, these are on their way. No matter I am gardening from the indoors right now, trying my hardest to gen up on what I can get in our veg beds and when, (any tips from my community here will be received with huge dollops of gratitude) and poring seed catalogues akin to the Next Directory circa 1990 (if you know, you know) I fall HARD for aesthetically pleasing tools able to do more than simply talk the talk. Dry skies are all I need to start snipping.
In spite of this weekends forecast - more rain anyone? - I hope you’ve all got equal measures of fun & rest pencilled. I lean into the concept of French Sundays’ these days, and feel all the better for it. Slow, intentional, restorative hours. A day to press pause and reset, where Monday feels all the better for a day of being kind to the body & mind. Vogue shone a light on this concept in an article earlier this month - you can take a read here
Thanks as always for being part of this growing community on Substack, it remains my most favoured corner of the internet right now. For any of you wanting to join my kitchen clinic next week, - Wednesday 4th March at the later time of 4pm (GMT) Dm in the Substack App or use the ‘message Amelia’ button I’ve dropped below, to register and receive Wednesdays clinic zoom link. Aside from these newsletters I share plenty in Substack Notes, via the easy to use Substack App, so do join me over there for plenty of chatter around daily life and all the tiny dots that make up the bigger picture of each day.
Millsie :) x