NEWSLETTER | My latest reads, eats, and receipts
Hi Bestie,
Today I’m excited because I’ve decided what to spend my birthday money from my dad on. (Yes, I’m 40. Yes, my dad still gives me birthday money. Yes, I’m thrilled.) I’m going to splurge on some fine cutlery, the Sabre Paris set. It feels like such a fun, grown-up gift, and I just know it’ll make dining at home feel special.
What I'm Reading
You Have a New Memory by Aiden Arata
A surreal, poetic memoir that explores illness, digital identity, memory, and the distortion of time. It’s written in fragments, glitchy, soft, defiant, and it’s exactly what I needed to re-enter my reading era.
I’d been resisting buying new books because I have so many unread ones waiting. But I’ve realised I’m the kind of reader who needs the right book at the right time, and the ones I already have aren’t quite speaking to me right now. So I’m being kind to myself and letting new books in. The new rule is: if I read one, I can buy the next. Not collecting, just reading.
What I Did
MIFF Pre-Launch Lunch
Kate Jinx (MIFF’s senior programmer) reminded us to:
“Choose a few you know you want to see, and one you wouldn’t usually pick.”
Not just good film advice. I’ve been thinking about it as a creative rule too.
Have you booked any tickets yet? Or are there any films on your list?
Also, I just found out Kate Jinx is one of the hosts of the See Also podcast, which I haven’t listened to yet, but I’m excited to dive into. It feels like I’m slowly plugging back into things.
Mario’s (Receipt Observed No. 7)
If you saw my last newsletter, you’ll know I wasn’t sure what to expect. But it turned out to be one of those dinners that lingers. Not just for the pasta, but for David, our waiter of 35 years, who made the whole night feel like a character study in garlic bread and loyalty.
[Read it here →]
Stefanino Panino e Vino (Receipt Observed No. 8)
Yes, the sandwich place. They’ve started doing dinner, and it was extraordinary.
Cotoletta better than Milan. Wine in Duralex glasses. Pickleback shots with the staff around the deli fridge.
Every dish felt like it was made with memory and care.
[Read it here →]
Sneak Peek
- I’m finishing a commission of two illustrated family recipes, to be printed on tea towels as wedding favours.
- I’ve also illustrated a shopfront that’s being turned into magnets for their customers. (The Cobb Lane ones are finished and should be live soon.)
Studio Note
At the MIFF lunch, I met someone who works for a creative agency. We started talking about work, and I found myself saying something I didn’t realise I’d fully learned until I said it out loud: I’ve stopped trying to make work that looks like something I’ve seen, or something I think people want. I just make what I want to make, because I need to. However it looks, it’s mine.
Reader Corner
Thank you for the birthday wishes and sweet replies after last week’s letter. A few of you asked about the cake (yes, Sam really made it, red bow and all), and I had someone say they’re still deciding what kind of list to send. I loved that. I’m still collecting them, the best-ofs, the memories, the tiny lists that say a lot.
They’ll all be going into the birthday zine, alongside the gifts, the reflections, and all the beautiful chaos of that night. If you haven’t sent one yet, there’s still time.
Coming Up
Kimberly Akimbo opening night with MTC
Another 40th birthday this weekend
New entries for the croissant diaries
Using my new Sabre Paris cutlery (once I purchase it)
That’s all for now.
If anything in this letter resonated, the reading, the dinners, I’d love to hear from you.
Love,
Juliet
Originally shared as a The Juliet Report Newsletter.
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