The Journal

The Letters

Excerpts from the monthly letter. Recipes, rituals, herb notes, and stories from the kitchen and the desk. Members receive the full version each month.

Monthly LetterLatest

The March Letter: On Waiting for Spring

There is a particular quality of light in Edinburgh in early March — not quite winter, not yet spring. The snowdrops are up. The crocuses are thinking about it. I have been thinking about patience.

1 March 2026· 8 min

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Recipe

A Recipe for Leek and Potato Soup (the real one)

Not the blended kind. The kind where the leeks still have texture and the potatoes are soft but not dissolved and there is a good amount of butter and you eat it with bread that you have torn, not sliced.

15 Feb · 5 minRead

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Ritual

A Ritual for Morning Light

Before the phone. Before the news. Before the day begins. Five minutes at the window with something warm in your hands, watching the light change. That is all.

1 Feb · 4 minRead

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Herb Notes

Herb Notes: Rosemary

Rosmarinus officinalis. The herb of remembrance. Of clarity. Of the sea. It grows in my window box and I brush it every morning when I open the window because the smell is extraordinary.

20 Jan · 6 minRead

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Monthly Letter

The February Letter: On Candlelight

February is the month I light the most candles. Not because it is romantic — though it is — but because the dark is so complete and the light is so particular. A candle in February is a small act of defiance.

1 Feb · 9 minRead

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Supper Club

Notes from the January Supper Club

Twelve people. A long table. Braised lamb, roasted roots, a salad of bitter leaves. We talked until midnight. Three people exchanged numbers. One person cried — in a good way, I think.

15 Jan · 7 minRead

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What you see here is just an excerpt. Members receive the complete letter each month — the full recipe, the full ritual, the full story.

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