003. Coming to Something Late.

The delight from discovering things after everyone else, not being tardy with time.

This year, by far the best Halloween look for me was Steve Buscemi recreating his “how do you do fellow kids” meme - truly iconic in fact, mainly because it’s my most used gif. I’m not known for keeping up with popular culture in any way - I find it dizzying and overwhelming and no matter how hard you try to stay in the loop there’s always some other debacle or tik tok star to acquaint yourself with. Only recently I tried explaining two podcast hosts to my best pal and it turns out they’re quite popular daytime TV frequenters. Bless my soul for thinking I was first to something for once.

The pressure to have an opinion on things as they happen is almost too much for me, despite my twitter addition. Current affairs is fine, pretty much everything else I prefer to come to late. As mentioned in my last newsletter I am a huge Jilly Cooper fan, enjoying the Rutshire Chronicles a solid twenty years after the first was published. Game of Thrones and Peaky Blinders both had four series released before I started them - I still have the trauma from watching twelve GoT episodes in one day (including the Red Wedding!) Perhaps it’s my greedy nature but being able to binge watch them rather than week by week meant I enjoyed those series far more than the later ones. The quickest way to put me off something is to tell me I need to watch / read / listen to it right now – not because I’m contrary (even though I am) but the pressure to enjoy things ruins the experience for me, whereas coming to something after Opinions have died down is much more pleasurable. I’ll probably settle down to watch Succession when I’m in my fifties – lest the discourse distract me from following what’s going on. Being able to come to something long after everyone else has allows me to work out if I’m actually enjoying it or if I’m just pushing on because everyone is talking about it - meaning I only spend time on things I really love. Which, in a world of an abundance of options, is priceless.

Another late coming delight for me – seafood! It took me to my thirties to realise that not all fish tasted like canned tuna and could actually be quite enjoyable. As an ode to enjoying things whenever you bloody well please – here’s a recipe for Mussels with Pancetta.

Mussels with Pancetta and Cider Sauce

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Ingredients.

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1kg bag of mussels

250g pancetta

2 fat cloves of garlic

1 onion, finely diced

2 tbspn olive oil

1 knob of butter

1 bay leaf

2 sprigs of thyme

250ml dry cider

150ml veg stock

Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley

1 crusty loaf of bread

Method.

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Follow these guidelines for prepping the mussels before cooking – remember to discard any that are already open.

1.    Melt the butter and olive oil in a wide based pan with a lid, and when hot add the onion and turn down to a medium high heat and cook until translucent.

2.    Add the pancetta, garlic and herbs and cook until the pancetta is crispy.

3.    Add the cider and stock to the pan and turn up the heat. Once the liquid is bubbling add the mussels and turn the heat back down until just simmering. Put the lid on the pan and leave the mussels to steam for 3-4 minutes, or until the mussels start to open, giving the pan a good shake towards the end.

4.    Discard the herbs and serve the mussels and the cider sauce in bowls, with the chopped parsley sprinkled over and crusty bread to dip.

Micro Doses of Delight.

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1.    This explainer on the recent “post a picture of your dog and we’ll plant one tree” trend on Instagram. Essentially – no trees will be planted and even the money donated almost definitely won’t be going towards saving the planet. Not a day goes by where I’m not astounded by the depths people will go to to scam on the internet.

2.    Some absolutely gorgeous theatrics here in Dear Philip, Dear Kingsley. Larkin and Amis wrote to each other throughout their lives after striking up a friendship at Oxford, and if petty moans and privileged exasperation is your bag - this will be right up your street! . If the letters aren’t dramatic enough, being read by Alan Bennett and Robert Hardy really adds a flourish.

3.    There’s a word for the beautiful sprouts of hair on cats ears – furnishings. Enjoy a glorious rabbit hole of google images here.

4.    This Lunch with the FT interview with Fergie. Abolish the monarchy, sure, but please keep this outrageous woman in the public eye.

5.    I’ve been finding it extremely satisfying squishing my used coffee pods in this EcoPress from Dualit – it means the pods can be recycled as aluminium and the left over coffee granules can be added to the compost heap, plus it looks like a giant coffee pod - what’s not to love.

6. Finally, the latest offering from Armando Iannucci, Pandemonium, is a hilarious and at times heart-breaking poem on our current times. A satisfying one sitting read.

And that’s it from another edition of Afternoon Delights, if you enjoyed and you haven’t already, I’d love it if you’d hit the button below to subscribe and get the next edition straight into your inbox as soon as it’s published. I’m off to (maybe) start The Sopranos.

Thanks once again for reading, N xo