This publication aims to cover a range of semi-related topics. If you’re new here, you can start with issue No 1 for the whos and whats of it. I’m hoping you’ll be able to pick what interests you most, and select to receive more or less of that in your mail.
Much of this doesn’t really fit under a simple umbrella, so I will share an old chestnut from the crazy-but-on-point Oscar Wilde:
“I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.”
And good for Oscar Wilde, good for him. One can only sympathise, really.
Broadly, these topics fall under the following headings:
Cuisine
This is going to include some lively breakdowns of the most important cultural markers of different regional and national cuisines, and some opinionated writing on non-blasphemous ways to prepare famous dishes. Special attention will be given to doing so without horrifying Italians or the French. No recipes strictly speaking, because measuring things largely forces us to disconnect from what matters about the culinary experience, which is haptic and visceral.
And further to that, there will be a series on learning to cook without recipes for everyone so you can be free and expressive, and possibly impress people you’re trying to bed for the first or thousandth time.
I will be making a concerted effort to teach cooking with an eye to keeping fitness goals in mind, so there will be some basic macronutrient breakdowns. If you don’t know what that means, not to worry, I’ll be explaining that as well. Let us all work to be the most beautiful and healthy versions of ourselves!
There will be some articles on how to choose your kitchen kit, your ingredients, what to look for on menus, and how to pick restaurants to try. Plenty of encouragement to cultivate a sense of joy about the daily obligation we have to feed ourselves.
Finally, a bit on the history of food and ingredients as well. I’d like to write a series on the incredible variety of French cheeses, for example, and where they come from, the meaning of terroir, et cetera.
Travel
Essentially, this is an Anti-Travel-Magazine section. Instead of lists with blandly soothing descriptions, I want to help you to get great at working out for yourself how to travel well. It’s a muscle; make it stronger.
Some thoughts on hotels, and flights, and trains, and yes, some thoughts on places. Prioritising what to see and do so that you actually relax. How to spend money well when travelling to maximise experience at the very high end.
I’d like to encourage you to travel lighter, with less. I’ve travelled carry-on only for over a decade, sometimes for months on end. I’ve never really felt I was missing something, and when I did, I just bought it. I’ll show you how to do it.
Especially some thoughts on the magic of travelling at the right time of year for a specific place. I gleefully avoid all tourist traps and anything with any sort of overcrowded, overrated queue.
But you should know that I’ll be making a conscious effort to avoid naming any specifics too gratuitously (at least in the free articles) because I would rather encourage people to make their own discoveries and give them the tools to do so.
This is because my own discoveries abroad have been the experiences which proved most precious to me in my memories when I look back at my travels, during which I have seen most of the world at this point.
Objects New
It has been in vogue roughly in step with the rise of cost of living and wealth inequality to eschew any kind of materialism, at least publicly. I have lots of thoughts I’d like to share about beautiful artisanal works, great things I’ve discovered of all kinds, both high and low tech that have added a lot of joy to my life, and might to yours.
To this extent, there will be some articles on what goes into quality, what luxury really means, how to identify these things, why individuality matters or doesn’t, et cetera. How to have great taste and not be one of those dreadful nouveau riche types. Some bits about fashion, and textiles – everyone should be more passionate about the quality of their bedding; you only stand to 1sleep better and enjoy your life more.
I might even interview some of the many fascinating people I know who aren’t on the radar so you can hear how their wonderful and unconventional minds tick.
Lastly, perhaps some articles along the lines of ‘How to Stop Buying & Wearing Hideous Shit’, for example, with an eye to including and encouraging everyone in this uplifting pursuit.
Objects Old
I’d like to share a bit occasionally about the history of design, share some of the most beautiful antique jewelry, furniture, et cetera from ancient Rome all the way up through the current day, from cultures around the world. Some breakdowns of how I restore antiques, and fix centuries-old pieces of this or that with period-appropriate techniques. And yes, a little on how you can work the odd statement piece into your sleek and modern lifestyle to help show some more character here and there.
Art
I’ll be very careful with this, because I realise that people tend to get tired of it quickly. Sometimes there is great value in appreciating sensuality and meaning in the visions of people long dead, and exploring what their world meant to them. It is magical to be able to walk into a great museum and have a sense for what is being communicated – it’s enormously fulfilling to have a sense of ownership for our various cultural heritages, and learn a bit about how we fit into the rest of the world.
So, I’d like to take you into some of the world’s greatest museums, and I don’t know, poke around a bit, point at things, and see if we can’t fire up some 2joy in your soul.
Afterall, that is fundamentally what this is all about, here in the Autumn of Civilisation. I don’t mean to be too forboding with that statement. It’s just that, well, the world is looking rather grim at present, so perhaps it’s best to breathe deeply of the magic that can be had while we still have the chance. We all die eventually, right?
For today’s valediction, I’ve long been rather fond of this old Latin epicurian gem, which sums up the memento mori ethos rather nicely:
Dum vivimus, vivamus – while we yet live, let us live.
Talk to you soon!
Sleep is strongly associated with a decrease in all-cause mortality, and boosts testosterone, which has been in freefall in men since the 1950s (this is one of the biggest emergencies of our times, believe it or not).
My Grandmother, bless her for she is no longer with us, (and whose name was Mary, but who wished she could have used her middle name, which was Helen) always said ‘never do anything that takes the joy out of your life’. I can hear her say it in my head, and hope I will be able to forever. Perhaps someone will create an AI one day that can reproduce a voice from a memory. It was always worked into the most profane situations, such as not worrying about one’s floors or shoes, or similar things, but I remember it fondly.