🛁 Table Talk #54 - Homemade Hygge 🕯️

TABLE TALK #54

Welcome to Table Talk, where every week we deliver the cosiest, comfiest dinner table conversation straight into your inbox.

This week we are talking hygge, fika and friluftsliv. And no, a cat did not prance about our keyboard. These are actual words with meanings we might be better off for knowing. Let’s get into it.

🍡 AMUSE-BOUCHES 🍡

Settle into the good stuff.

See: An entire house! Covered! In doodles! 

Visit: A free exhibition by Soheila Sokhanvari at the Barbican is celebrating Iranian women. 

Cook: It’s apple season, and Ravneet Gill has the perfect recipe for you.

🍝 MAIN COURSE 🍝

Happy to be here.

Last Sunday the clocks turned back, plunging us officially into winter. There’s no way to sugar coat what feels like a glum time of year: things are cold, dark and wet, and there seems to be just too much time between us and our next Aperol Spritz drunk on a far-flung beach.

The seasonal blues has got us thinking about our collective obsession with summer. Not to blame social media for all our woes, but it does feel as though a high saturation in sun-soaked photos of gorgeous people on the Amalfi Coast has created an unhealthy relationship with the season. We might be better off taking lessons from nations that have learned to live happily within the colder months. Hygge is the Danish answer to Italy’s summer motto of “dolce far niente”. If the latter is about lazing in the sun with a glass of wine, then hygge is about cultivating the art of coziness. Think wooly socks, roaring fires, hearty meals, candlelight and good company. The Swedes have their own strategy: fika, meaning sharing conversation with a loved one over tea and cake. It’s unsurprising that the common thread behind these two secrets to happiness is company. Winter is long, and isolation is the danger zone. 

One theory that veers from that trend is the Norwegian view of friluftsliv - please don’t ask us to pronounce it. It means “outdoor living”, and not just for the summer, but year round. By enthusiastically embracing the outdoors no matter the weather, there is less opportunity to long for a specific season. Genius. 
Whatever the approach, we are going to make a concerted effort to enjoy this season more. It’s time to layer up for a stroll in the rain, or snuggle into the couch with a mug of something hot. Summer will come. Let’s enjoy being right here, for now. 

 

🍮 SWEET ENDINGS 🍮

What we're watching. 

We have been sharing our favourite films to keep you company during the earlier evenings, and we may have saved the best for last. The 2016 masterpiece Moonlight is currently streaming on Netflix, and is not to be missed. 

Watch for: beautiful cinematography, stunning soundtrack and moving performances. 

 

🍷 WHAT'S NEW
FROM
WEDNESDAY'S DOMAINE? 🍷

If last week brought news of us touching down in the North West, this week sees our first few bottles hit shelves in the South West, and more specifically, at the Beckford Bottle Shop and The Bradley Hare. Both spots align perfectly with our love of good food, great company and warm hospitality, and we hope some of you will get the chance to experience it for yourselves very soon.

We’re also finalising plans for our first appearances at Soho Works this month, so if you find yourself working out of one, come say hello on Wednesday 9 and 23 November (details to follow).
That's all for now. See you around the table next Wednesday.

The Wednesday's Domaine Team x