Hi all! Coming to you from a comfy sofa hiding from the wind and rain this weekend.
First thoughts
This week hasn’t been one of those - oh I discovered SO many interesting things - weeks. It’s been slow and tricky, like moving through treacle. I have no idea where it went. Most of it has been rather selfish: trying to work out what to do over the “festive” period (the quotation marks are very deliberate here), career decisions, housing decisions, what to get at the supermarket. Having the highlight of my day being a zoom workshop in the evening, for it to be cancelled hours before. That kind of week. No tragedy, no horror, no kind of deep misfortune, hunger or poverty. But a low level grey cloud hanging around. Dreich. The weather has also been dreich to be fair, so that probably was part of it.
This week, lacking a square tin, we made a circular lasagne, which turned out rather nicely. I also bought some amazing panettone, and plan on eating it for breakfast every day this week.
I did find some little interesting bits and bobs for the newsletter, albeit a little less than last week. (It was probably overwhelmingly long. I had no idea that Substack has an email size limit. It does.)
Really hoping you’re all cosy and comfortable, and most of all being extremely kind to yourself these days.
Photo by Megan Nixonon Unsplash
YouTube
Her channel is sort of a love letter to France. She’s Californian, and if I understand correctly, a French New Wave and Wes Anderson fan. That pretty much sums it up. I would highly recommend her videos: The BEST Films for Wes Anderson Fans (ie. alternatives: “if you liked Wes Anderson you might also like…”), Perfect French Film for Each Zodiac Sign, Everything Wrong With Emily in Paris (no spoilers), and her ‘about me’ video c’est moi, nicolette (a short film) is cute.
The style reminds me a bit of Maddie - Madelynn De La Rosa on YouTube, and her film l’ermite.
(The Emily in Paris thing reminds me: I found a huge number of of very thoughtful refections on the series by knowledgable and intelligent women (both French women and those who have lived in France): eg. Pearl, Rosie, Kate & Géraldine. Worth having a watch if you’re looking to see how realistic the series is, a critical approach, and some in-depth analysis.)
Comedy
I can’t stop watching this guy on Instagram and TikTok. His Kiera Knightley impressions are RIDICULOUSLY good.
Positive News - Positive Stories in December
Positive News - a news outlet that only publishes positive stories - are doing a lovely positive stories sort of advent calendar. Of course I realise that ‘positive’ for one person, might not be something desirable for another, but I think generally it’s a lovely concept and I am really enjoying seeing these pop up every day on my Instagram.
and a present idea -
This is a book dedicated to helping those whose sense of taste have been dulled by cancer treatment, find the joy of flavour and eating at this very food-centric time of year. It’s free to order (just postage needed) from @lifekitchencookery. (But if you would like and can afford to make a donation, you can.)
Please do not hesitate to get in touch with your thoughts, ideas and suggestions at catrionamedia@gmail.com
(If you are nosy - like I am - you can find out a bit more about me here).
Until the next time,
Catriona
(🔊“cah-tree-nah”)