This Month through my Lens #7
'Tis the season to eat biscuits
Hello! And welcome back to the monthly newsletter from Lens Soup.
My aim with these is to share the things that have caught my eye in the world of Food and Photography, and occasionally random things that I think this Lens Soup community might love.
©Kirstie Young
My inbox is full to the brim with emails about Christmas food, and I am 100% on board with that delicious situation. Food-wise, December is my spirit animal, and I am here for every last brandy soaked, cinnamon infused, marzipan covered bit of it.
I have started maniacally filling tins with homemade biscuits, desperate for this month of treats to shimmy into full swing, and there seems to be no shortage of recipes pinging seductively into my inbox to feed this sweet habit.
TOP 5 BISCUIT RECIPES
(Well, 4 Biscuits, a bread and some nuts, but that sounds like a new film by Richard Curtis so I’m sticking with Biscuits as a title)
©Kirstie Young
NB: For the recipes/more info in general, I have put links that you can click on wherever you see words written in an Italic Bold font
From Italy there are two of my absolute favourites - these Florentines from brilliant GF blogger Laura, and these Biscotti with a mincemeat twist, from The Hebridean Baker in Delicious magazine this month
For a Swedish vibe, there are these Rye cookies from the always excellent Heidi from 101Cookbooks
With a Scottish Mum, there has to be shortbread in the mix. A classic biscuit from the queen of such fare, Mary Berry.
I am also going to try this delicious sounding Ukrainian Christmas bread, described here by the brilliant Olia Hercules.
And while these are not biscuits, I think they’ll be perfect with a mid morning coffee, so plotting to make a big jar of these Espresso Candied Walnuts
Top 5 COOKBOOKS recommendations
As good as the latest works by Nigel Slater, Meera Sodha, and Ottolenghi are, you definitely don’t need me to tell you that, so here are a few outliers, old and new, whose merits you may not have seen trumpeted this December
I love to read the stories behind chefs and restaurants, so this sounds perfect. Dinner with the Four Horsemen by Nick Curtola (Thanks to Fiona Beckett and her great Substack for the heads up on this first one.)
On that subject, one of my favourite chef authored reads is Eat a Peach by David Chang, the restaurateur behind Momofuku. If, like me, you enjoy wandering 2nd hand bookshops for stocking fillers, this is worth keeping an eye out
Good Time Cooking by Rosie Mackeen was recommended by new Delicious mag editor Laura Rowe, and as she’s someone who definitely knows her onions, this one goes on my wish list too.
Small Fires by Rebecca May Johnson came out in 2023, but a Vittles Substack post just reminded me of it’s radical brilliance so this one makes the list too. It’s more about the nature of cooking, and how we are shaped and exposed by the recipes and food we chose to eat. The review that hooked me read “It weaves together cooking, dancing and the Odyssey in a riveting, and moving exploration of what counts as knowledge”. Boom.
And finally, for your future pleasure, I really recommend pre-ordering Rough Patch by Kathy Slack, due out in Feb 2025. Kathy & I work together on a lot of magazine features, and this is a really honest account of how getting her hands deep into the soil and learning to grow and cook food brought her back to life after suffering from anxiety and depression. Despite the subject matter it’s a really uplifting read - if anything is going to have you building your own Veg Patch as a way of literally grounding yourself, it’s this book.
BOOZE
©Kirstie Young
One of many brilliant independent food businesses near Stroud is the Nailsworth wine shop, Vinotopia. This year I had the arduous task of photographing and sampling the wines they recommend for Christmas, so in the spirit of giving, I’m passing my favourites onto you.
Starting with Fizz - this Rathfinny is one of the success stories of UK sparkling wine, and the first grower-producer of sparkling wine in the world to achieve the B Corp accolade to boot. Made in Sussex, this is a delicious biscuity sip to see in the big day. And brilliantly, it comes in 50cl as well as 75cl bottles, in case you don’t like sharing ...
“There comes a time in every woman’s life when the only thing that helps is a glass of champagne.” - Bette Davis
©Kirstie Young
I’m a sucker for a classy looking label, and this duo from Montsablé ticks all my font-nerd boxes. The Chardonnay will persuade the most ardent ABC (Anything. But. Chardonnay) guest, and the Pinot Noir has a dark cherry, oaky taste that’s perfect for the season.
©Kirstie Young
Rightly or wrongly I only really think about Port on Christmas Day with a cheeseboard, so what to do with the rest of the bottle? This year as well as adding a generous glug to stews & casseroles, I’ll also be mixing up a Port Old Fashioned to any willing takers.
PORT OLD FASHIONED
2 oz bourbon whiskey - 1 oz port - 1 tsp simple syrup - 2 dashes Angostura bitters - Orange peel for garnish Directions: 1. In a mixing glass, combine bourbon, port, simple syrup, and bitters. 2. Add ice and stir until well chilled. 3. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. 4. Garnish with a twist of orange peel.
©Kirstie Young
Film
Before I was a Photographer, I was a Script Supervisor in the Film & TV Industry. I worked alongside the Director Steve McQueen on his first film, Hunger, the story of the deadly hunger strikes led by IRA prisoner Bobby Sands. It was groundbreaking film-making, not least for a bold, unbroken 17 and a half minute continuous shot, in which a Catholic priest (played by Liam Cunningham) tries to talk Sands (played by Michael Fassbender) out of the hunger strike that he and his fellow IRA members plan to start. It was a shot that was debated fiercely on set at the time, but director Steve McQueen stood his ground and a special roll of film had to be created especially to shoot the scene, because standard rolls of film only have the capacity for 10 minutes of footage. He had 4 of these special rolls made, which meant only 4 takes of the scene. He got it what he wanted on take 3.
McQueen is a fiercely intelligent, engaging storyteller. An extraordinary man who makes extraordinary films, so I can’t wait to watch his latest Blitz this week. I missed it at the Cinema, but it’s now streaming on Apple TV.
From the Web
So, potentially not the most traditionally festive of recommendations, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share this incredible body of work from Dutch photographer and filmmaker, Robin de Puy simply called AMERICAN. Commissioned by the Arts platform WePresent to travel across the US to find underrepresented voices, “Her images invite us to look closer at and listen to the stories of a cross-section of people who make up one of the world’s most powerful, extreme and divisive countries at a politically turbulent and poignant time”.
If you take nothing else from this post, (but also, definitely make some Biscuits ..) please take 5 minutes to dive into this extraordinary glimpse of the lives of complex people with hopes, dreams and fears, far removed from the stereotypes that the media would have us all buy into, and to admire the evocative, intimate images that show such a real connection with the people in them.
https://wepresent.wetransfer.com/stories/robin-de-puy-american
