The Kitchen Table Chronicles - Useless magic and musical alchemy.
TV, films, books, music and simple superpowers.
Unruly teens, Jurassic Park, Maid, The Bear, the Dessner brothers, Florence Welch, and more.
The Kitchen Table Chronicles
Notes on good things shared from the place all the best conversations happen, straight from my kitchen table, to you.
Genuine conversation from the kitchen table
Multiple musings on how to deal with a 14 year old whose decency chip has stopped working. As someone who was madly in love with films, music and art and a pretty decent teen, I was not prepared to deal with this level of anarchy. Anyone who has survived tough teen years, please send help (whilst talking to my son earlier about what he was doing on Minecraft I burst into tears after the tirade that came my way whilst she was getting ready for her ballet show this morning, I no longer know what to do with her).
Watching
I mentioned The Outrun and The Salt Path in this posting - a change of pace to last month and Thunderbolts* for sure. I really wanted to write to you about Jurassic Park Rebirth but haven’t managed to see it yet. Early next week. I can’t wait. Have I ever told you I completely love the original? (I think I might have) When I was small I alway loved dinosaurs and anything with a whiff of adventure. I often think I chose entirely the wrong life and should have been making archaeological / palaeontology discoveries in far off places. In another lifetime maybe.
T.V - I devoured Maid. And then the new season of The Bear. Oh my jeez. I forgot how much I love that show. The episodes where no one really says anything for about ten minutes and it’s just macro cookery process shots are my favourite. I think there’s definitely a niche need for a silent (food noises only) cookery show.
On the record player
Anything by a Dessner. I honestly don’t even mind which (they’re twins), they are both magicians in their own right. Bardo showcases Bryce Dessner beautifully and I love pretty much every Taylor Swift song Aaron laid hands on. It’s like he never has a particular production style but lets whatever the artist is feeling flow through him. And of course they both bring magic to The National. Oddly enough I picked up on them years ago firstly for their tour posters in this book. I’m glad my T.S obsession reignited the flame for their beautiful music.
Towering on the nightstand (because it’s perfectly normal to have a book stack that looks like The Leaning Tower of Pisa)
Working on imagery for Sweet Tea in the Summer (A Pop inspired, Taylor Swift infused space of creativity, community and old fashioned charme), I keep finding myself drawn back to Useless Magic by Florence Welch. I have the clothbound version and it feels like an actual book of spells and goodness knows, with the screaming teen I could do with some more magic in my life right now. I suspect we all could.
What’s going on in the garden?
Have eaten the first crop of peas, (top and tail them, slick of oil in the pan, flash fried to heat them through and ease the crunch, sprinkle a little sea salt - it’s like alchemy) they were delicious. The tomato plants are loving their life in the little greenhouse and are as tall as me, and the slugs are yet to figure out I’ve planted lettuces in pots - hurrah! I think the radishes are ready too. There have been so many strawberries and raspberries this year that I think we could survive a month on jam alone.
Nothing tastes as good as food that was growing mere minutes earlier.
That is a mantra I will live by forever. I’m also enjoying the fact that from a handful of seeds we have entire meals, it feels like a superpower.
Foods on the table lately…
All the fresh things. Salads with nectarines and halloumi are one of my absolute favourite summer foods in the hot weather.
Soul nourishing
Films. Have been loving the stack of narrative based films we’ve managed to take in lately, there’s something just beautiful about watching a film that feels more like reading a book but without the eye strain.
If you know someone who would like to join us at the kitchen table, invite them!
What have you been watching / reading / growing / eating / listening to / nourishing your soul with? If you’ve got something good that doesn’t feature in that list, I would love to hear about that too. Be sure to leave your kitchen table talk in the comments, or over on the chat - conversation very much encouraged.
With love,
V.V