Happy August.
I hope this letter finds you hopeful in the height of summer. Around this time of year, the over ambitiousness that overcomes me in the spring finally catches up with me, and forces me to stand still.
As such, I consider it a good time for reflection and realignment. What are your plans? How do you hope to find pleasure in the eighth month of the year?
(If you need ideas, have a read of Kelly Pochyba’s favourite summer activities.)
Last year, fresh from a trip to Marseille and deep in smashburger research for i-D, I bought a charm bracelet from a vintage jeweller in Norwich, along with two charms. Today, the bracelet carries eleven, with room for many more.
I like to use the bracelet as a marker of time and my life’s many great stories.
I’m growing ever more sentimental, and this summer tale, of a Loquat Tree in De Beauvoir by Songsoo Kim, had me immediately reflecting on my own histories.
If you haven’t read it already, I hope it lingers with you too. Here is my favourite part:
“Seeing a tree one can identify is a flutter inside. An awakening of a thing you knew before you even knew the knowing. An ancestral draw towards curiosity, towards openness, towards deliciousness, and sharing.”
I love to spot loquat trees, and it’s easy to learn their deeply ridged leaves. Although I don’t eat the fruit much, I think of the trees often, hearing my dad’s voice pointing out the pale orange flash of the fruits – mousmoula, as he says – poised on the tree’s dark branches.
I was born in Leicester, and in the front garden of my first home, my dad planted loquat stones, carried back from a trip to California, into pots. We visited the house decades later and the plants had prospered and transformed, proving the miraculous consequences of cross pollinating cultures, of blending our dreams.
Monday night was invigorating and eye-opening, emboldening and comforting, and I’m over the moon that others felt the same way about it too.
75 guests showed up to the second edition of An Audience With The Goal is to Eat on the subject of where are the women restaurateurs? which doesn’t so much answer the question, as address many of the cultural constraints surrounding it.
I had planned to share notes and quotes, to identify takeaways and needs, but I’ve decided to plot my next steps first. So, if you want to know more about what goes on at TGITE’s events – besides a lot of laughter and honesty – make sure you attend the next one(s).
In the meantime, have a read of Danielle and Kristina’s reflections on informal investment, shunning virality and the value of ingredients, or Immy and Ana’s notes on being audacious, building a dream team, and creating cultural transmission.
I love to produce parties, I thrive on the mic, I live for a smart segue between points of view, and I’m happiest when engrossed in conversation.
There’s a lot to come.
These photos are by the wonderful Natasha Chalmers. It’s clear that Toklas’ terrace is the best outdoor dining room London has to offer.
Hasan Semay AKA Big Has is opening a restaurant. A small grill spot in N13.
Carmen Mac, previously of Super8 and The Standard, is now Head of Brand for MJMK. She’s also opening a vintage clothes store, CIF, with her partner, photographer Zac Gates (as above) later this summer. Mark my words, MJMK are about to glow up. It also now makes more sense why Carmen has been eating so much New Haven apizza of late: MJMK have partnered with Lenny’s on a site in Covent Garden in the autumn. Proof that the pub residency to prime real estate pipeline does work out sometimes.
