AUGUST
A monthly roundup, now available to all because I'm nice like that.
The month of August always stinks. There are far too many anniversaries of endings at this time of year, and this time around I also contended with the death of my Granny. Granny was excited by nature, and I am sorry that I’ll never again walk amongst a cacophony of flowers she planted, or be chased by ducks she fed. She was a powerful and inspirational woman. Even to the last, she cared that we all took care of each other, understanding that nobody should shoulder anything alone.
I was honoured to be able to lead her funeral service, writing for her a eulogy I imagined was more like a lifetime achievement award than a final goodbye. Her coffin—why was that word so difficult to write? It’s just a box—was decorated in gorgeous garden flowers. It was as though she was in the room. At the end of my eulogy I wrote:
One of my favourite poems, The Summer Day by Mary Oliver, ends with the lines:
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
I will live it, Granny.
And I hope I can keep up that promise, because the past couple of weeks have been difficult to wade through. We’ve done it though—we’re in September now, and the leaves are changing, and the nights are colder, and there are different things to look forward to.
Things I’ve Written
Wine Myths: Italian Wine is Only For Italian Food — Glug Magazine
The Indigenous Grapes of Lazio — Glug Magazine
Foodies’ favourite: the Italian tipple beloved by in-the-know chefs and bar staff — The Guardian
Our Friends Electric-Brewing AI Beer — Ferment Magazine (print only)
AI and Me — The Gulp
Drinking in Whitby & Robin Hood’s Bay - The Gulp
How to pair sparkling wine with food - The Gulp
Great Langdale — The Gulp
“That’s the magic of the hills. Not that they appear to be doing any meaningful cheeriness themselves, as clouds continue to slowly drag themselves across the valley roof and Langdale Fell broods darkly in the shadows. I think about erosion, and time. I think about the fallen boulders on the valley bottom, as old as the Ice Age. The hills widen into a perfect scoop, as wide as a village, and soon there will be no other way to go but up.”
Things I’ve Done
Working behind a bar again
This month I’ve been behind two bars, almost exactly a year since Corto closed (I told you this time of year was the worst for Bad Anniversaries.)
The first was a long shift throughout Clitheroe Food Festival on an outside bar for The Ale House, Clitheroe. It was fun, I got to see so many people I’ve not seen since we closed down our bar, and I learned that people still say the funniest things to bar staff. One lady thought it was £5 for a whole bottle of wine and refused to pay once she realised it was for a glass. My answer of “in what decade?” didn’t help the situation.
Bar work. Never change.
Took on freelance editing work
August saw me connecting with an author and beginning to work with them on editing their first memoir. It’s the first time I’ve ever worked on a book project, and I’m grateful to Martha Bullen for seeing potential in me and putting me up for the job. I’m very excited about it.
Visited the Isle of Man for the Manx GP
A flagship event in my personal calendar, I was super jazzed to be able to visit the Isle of Man again this summer, this time for the Manx GP. A much smaller event than the TT, it’s a special set of races attended by a special set of nerds. Sadly the weather was absolutely atrocious, the worst they’d seen in 20 years, and many of the races were cut down to one lap—hence why I’ve no real reports written about the trip. It was mostly rain and naps. Still, we saw the bikes go out on Bank Holiday Monday, my friend Shaun Anderson won the Classic Senior race ahead of John McGuinness, and it was important for me to be on the island just after the funeral. Granny loved the Isle of Man.
Represented Nightingale Cider at Rivington Farm Trip
Farm Trip is Rivington Brewing Co.’s annual festival held on their idyllic family farm in Rivington (believe it or not) and despite its amazing reputation, I’d never been able to attend before thanks to work. This year I was asked by Sam at Nightingale Cider to pour for him on his behalf at the festival—what a treat. The weather was perfect, the guests were super interested in cider, and we sold out before the end of the last day. What more could you want?
Things I Read
I’m reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
To Be Alive by Gregory Orr — a poem that says everything I need to say
This wonderful piece on Dora Kulka, the first lady of British lager
Bernadine Evaristo on gossip for British Vogue
Things I Saw
La Vuelta
Motorbikes speeding down Bray Hill at 140mph
Bats circling my head in the woods above Robin Hood’s Bay
A bucket full of crabs in Whitby
My family all sitting in front of me while I read out a eulogy
Milky Quayle live-narrating an on-board lap of the Mountain Course
A pirate grave (or more likely, the grave of a Knight Templar)
Things I’ve Drunk
Charcoal Burner, a deliciously complex but easy to drink cider by Nightingale
Two bottles of a Lidl Sauvignon Blanc called Sunny Day
Twisted Metal, a 13% ABV Imperial Stout by Blackout Brewery, aged in Dalwhinnie Single Malt barrels
Thornbridge 90/- Amber Ale, brewed on their Burton Union kit
A very excellent cappuccino at Mr Cooper’s Coffee House in Whitby
A lot of Old Peculier
Things I’ve Eaten
In Whitby I had Lindisfarne oysters so creamy and huge I could barely chew them. This was at The Magpie, Whitby’s best fish and chips restaurant. Highly recommended.
In Douglas, I was incredibly shocked to learn that the carvery roast dinner at 1886—widely regarded to be the town’s premier “let’s get shitfaced” nightclub—was absolutely banging. The restaurant upstairs in the rafters is classy and clean, the pork was tender and delicious, and the service was friendly. Who’d have thought it? Of course, on the way out Tom did come across a man yelling at himself in the bathroom mirror, but that was after we’d eaten.
I’ve not been very creative in the kitchen this month for obvious reasons, so my sandwich obsession has returned. Any mortadella producers who would like to become my official sponsors, please get in touch.
Call me gullible but I just bought some birthday cake flavoured protein powder because I think it will work well in things like banana bread. I have never managed to successfully bake something using protein powder, but something tells me this time will be different.
That’s this month all lined up and done with. This time next month I’ll be in sunny Lanzarote—who likes reading about macro lager and calamari???
Katie xox