A monthly check in: November
What I've been doing, wearing, watching, cooking, interested in, reading and listening to
Doing:
Unpacking! Lots of unpacking, and settling in. We finally moved to our permanent (for a year at least) accomodation which meant we could at last empty out our storage unit. Having all of our things has definitely helped to make this place feel more like home; we’ve put up some of our art, bought a couch and have put down our rugs; I arranged all of my books in our bookshelves, coordinated by colour like I had them back home–a cathartic experience. What’s more is that I now have all of my baking things and am just starting to get to grips with our new oven (which runs incredibly hot but with the help of an oven thermometer, we’re making progress and I have successfully baked many things which for a while I didn’t think was possible), so it feels like I am able to fully flex my creative muscles again where baking is concerned, which is a great feeling. I’ve been spending a lot of time walking around our new town and surrounding areas, familiarising myself with it which has been nice. Rob and I took a hike through the snow on a nearby mountain one morning last weekend to go to a very sweet little waffle cabin and I felt incredibly lucky to have the ability to do that on our doorstep. It’s a snowy wonderland at the moment, and I imagine it will be that way for a good few months, so I’ve been lighting candles each afternoon when the sun sets at around 3pm, and the views from all windows in our home show the snowy scenes that lie outside. Our living room and bedroom windows look out into a small expanse that is the walkway to our and other houses around us, and our kitchen and spare room look out to the very beautiful and immaculate town church with its perfectly uniform white scalloped walls.
We’re going back to Scotland for Christmas and New Year which I am incredibly excited for and I’ve been writing lists of all the things that I’d like to do, places I’d like to go, people I’d like to see and also (importantly) the foods that I’d like to eat. At least one trip through to Glasgow for the day is a given, visiting all of my old regular spots; a venture over to the West End for bakery and friend visits and a wander through my old stomping ground of the Southside, through Queens Park and to my favourite Sunny Acre, amongst many other places. Things have changed even since I left, notably with the closing of my favourite bakery Two Eight Seven, so it will be sad to walk by and not see the comforting glow emitting from their windows–but, we move. I’d also like to spend some time in Edinburgh. We lived in Edinburgh for a good few years and while Glasgow will forever have my heart, I think Edinburgh will always be a special place–it holds so many memories for me and is just a very enchanting city. I’ve had lives in nearly all corners of the city, and it would be lovely to be reunited with the streets of Quartermile, Bruntsfield and Stockbridge, with a visit to Lannan if I’m lucky.
The list of foods I want to eat and also the ones I plan to bring back to Sweden is in process–I suspect it will be long and I will be packing as light as possible when heading over in preparation.
Wearing:
Winter has unofficially been here for a while now–we’re averaging temperatures of around -3C to -9C each day, with the coldest being -19C. Snow has been on the ground permanently for the past couple of weeks which means I’ve been wearing nothing else but snow boots. Rob and I each bought a pair of Polyver boots a month or so ago per recommendation and under the assumption that we would definitely need them very soon–and that we did. They’re lined with a synthetic fur, a black rubber outer and are incredibly warm and comfortable but not the most visually appealing. So, I’ve been on the hunt for some more snow boots that I will happily wear. The brands that I’ve been looking at mostly are FUBUKI and Tretorn but I am all ears and eyes if any of you have other suggestions.
I’ve also been wearing a lot of Rob’s clothes because they’re oversized, warm and comfortable, plus there’s just something more satisfying about wearing oversized garms when it’s chilly. My current favourite is his Camber USA hoodie which is so huge that I then insist on wearing his jackets over it, most frequently his Black Nylon Metal Stone Island Down jacket.
I’ve also been getting a lot of wear out of a black cashmere jumper that I found in a charity shop in Morningside in Edinburgh (so many great charity shop finds to be had in that area, as well as Stockbridge) a black ARKET wool-mix jumper i’ve had for a few years–it’s discontinued but similar to this–and a grey marl alpaca blend ARKET vest I bought in Copenhagen a couple of years ago.
Since getting all of our things out of storage, I’ve been reunited with all of my beauty things, including my perfumes. I’ve worn Amber by Laboratory Perfumes for years now, so it feels nice to be wearing it again now–more like myself. Another scent that travelled over with me is WD / 2018 by A.N OTHER –I bought it a couple of years ago after smelling it and being quite transfixed. It is a powerful fragrance with top notes of cardamom and violet–it’s gorgeous but you only need a tiny amount for it to make a big impact.
Watching:
I’ve been watching a lot of videos on the YouTube channel Soft White Underbelly recently. The channel was created by photographer Mark Laita, and each video follows the same format where the camera is on the subject for the entirety of the video, with Mark behind the camera interviewing. The stories that the videos tell are incredibly captivating but often harrowing, hard hitting and could be triggering, so proceed with caution. Mark talks with drug addicts, cult survivors, sex workers, gang members and the homeless among many more, the majority of whom are based in Los Angeles on Skid Row. Mark allows for stories to be told that otherwise likely wouldn’t.
Cooking:
With the early setting sun and colder temperatures, we’ve naturally been gravitating to more comforting dishes for our evening meals. Some things that I’ve cooked recently have been this Tartiflette-inspired dish with layers of thinly sliced potatoes, onions and cured sausage, dotted with butter and sprinkled with creamy präst cheese between each layer. I then poured over some homemade chicken stock and let it bubble away in the oven until golden brown on top.
Another very easy dish was this one of brothy beans. I sautéed a whole leek, chopped into rings, in butter then added a rasher of smoked bacon, some salt and lots of black pepper. I added two containers of drained and rinsed butter beans before pouring over about 700ml of homemade chicken stock and let it reduce down by about a third. Half way through cooking I smooshed down about a quarter of the beans to release the starch and thicken the broth, then 10 minutes before serving I chopped up a chicken breast that we had in the fridge and added that. I plated each bowl with a drizzle of olive oil and grating of parmesan and served with seeded bread and butter.
Interested in:
I’m not sure if its the change in weather, stress or other factors (inc. getting older), but recently I’ve noticed a change in my hair and skin. I’ve always had an interest in skincare and like to think that I’ve taken good care of myself over the years where that is concerned, but I think with the move to Sweden and not having access to the products that I used back in Scotland, I’ve become a bit lazy/basic when it comes to looking after my skin. It’s a kind of every-three-month-or-so occurrence that I do a deep dive into the world of skincare in terms of researching products, ingredients and so on, and I am in the midst of that right now.
I’ve started double-cleansing again, have resumed my retinol journey and started using SPF on my face every day again (I’m not sure why I stopped when this is arguably the most important thing you could do for your skin), and I noticed a huge improvement within a couple of days.
My current routine looks like:
AM: double cleanse (I rotate between Liz Earle’s Hot Cloth Cleanser, Low PH Good Morning, Cerave Smoothing Cleanser and Lumene HERKKÄ Cleansing Milk, I’m currently using the two latter), SPF 30, day moisturiser, eye cream
PM: double cleanse (same as AM), retinol, night cream, eye cream
I’m in the process of trying to write a short wish list for our family secret santa that we started to do a few years ago–I suspect the main theme will be skincare, so watch this space for the skincare routine developing.
Following along the lines of skincare, I was recently sent a Pocket Blush by rhode in the shade Freckle and have been really loving it. It is beautifully creamy and buildable, and for me being fairly pale, Freckle is the perfect colour. It’s described as ‘neutral peach’ and looks lovely and natural and works alongside my bronzer to give a healthy glow (which is desperately needed and appreciated given our 2-4 decent hours of daylight now).
Reading:
I’ve admittedly been bad with reading as of late, but I recently started reading Between Two Waters by Pam Brunton which I pre-ordered months ago and finally received when my mum brought it with her when visiting us a few weeks back. Pam owns Inver, a gorgeous restaurant on the shores of Loch Fyne on Scotland’s west coast. I was lucky to have spent a month there earlier this year, and gained an even bigger appreciation for Pam and her ethos, as well as the team behind the beautiful and meaningful food that is made there, and the space that they maintain. Pam writes beautifully and honestly, and creates wonderful imagery of the Scottish landscape. I think that this book particularly resonates with me at the moment, as a Scot outwith her homeland, with her writing making me long to be back in Scotland and also be incredibly proud to be Scottish. I look forward to reading more. Here’s a little excerpt that struck me:
’Autumn is peaking outside my window. First, in the sheep field, burnished pheasants dart through worn green marsh grasses, evading the staccato march of black crows. Highland cattle, the colour of spice, slouch over mossy stone dykes and turn their scratchy red heads slowly over black-faced white sheep. There’s a flit of dead leaf and a sudden drop of small birds. Beyond the field a buzzard lifts heavily off a fence post and is momentarily framed by the still, slate-grey water. At the far shore of the loch, the long low line of the land tapers away as if drawn by a skimmed stone. The near hills are rawest rust-orange, layered beyond with deep blues the colour of ancient royalty. The far bank of the loch is bolted with stone castles. Breezes glance white on the water, eddying round fishing boats drawing up creels of crabs and prawns, nets of herring and mackerel lines. Time and tide for no man bide, but here they slow. The small ferry drags through water like a metronome.
Directly over the loch in a traditional pre-Clearances farming township, the walls stand still. This is Auchindrain (from the Gaelic ‘Achadh an Droighinn’, the blackthorn field’). On mornings like this one, thick white frost seizing the long-shadowed fields, women like me once lit fires from last night’s embers, scraping cold sticks from the dyre floor and banking peat in a stone hearth. Through the reek of smoke and animal hides, the warming scent of boiling oats drifts like a thin winter sun. It’s the landscape of Jacobite rebels, commando-crawling like adders through bracken; nascent dreams of nationhood flowering with the summer heather on the hills and in the glens. It’s where tweed-swathed clan chiefs ruled and riderless horses returned home faithful from ancient battles on faraway fields. It’s the dark, antlered head of a red stag mounted high against white snow and pine-green shadows. It’s the island-blistered horizon-lines in ballad and lyric and poem; murmured round hearths and campfires[.]’
Listening to:
The early part of my November listening was entirely taken up by Ethel Cain’s album Preacher’s Daughter. It was released in May 2022, but up until a few weeks ago I had never listened to it. I heard the song Crush by Cain a couple of years ago and loved it, but for whatever reason that didn’t prompt be to explore her music any more.
Rob had been listening to the album at work, and one day in the car he put it on. We were driving to an art exhibition in the nearest big town–about an hour and a half on the road–and our journey took us through mostly quiet lands; sprawling fields and working farms, dense woodland, the occasional break in the trees to reveal a mighty, black, still lake. We saw barns and ranch-style houses both maintained and disheveled, some buckling beneath themselves while standing on short plinths above the ground. I think this whole journey added to the experience of listening to Preacher’s Daughter for the first time–IYKYK—and additionally, after hearing the first song I became curious to learn more about the album and the meaning of each song. I found this blog which detailed what was happening throughout the album, and I became so invested in the character of Ethel Cain and the journey that she went through. The album feels like a movie in music form, with so many of the songs being incredibly emotive and powerful and oftentimes dark. I feel it does more than simply provide some nice listening, but you are able to visualise the entire tale as you listen. It tells a story unlike any other album I have listened to.
