RH

lambrusco diaries 🫀

full heart full stomach 💫

j’adore le plonk is finally printed, published and posted with over 100 copies going all over to places like France, Germany, the US, Canada & Reading which is kinda wild to me 💥 to be horribly earnest for a second i’m really proud of this whole project, from that first tentative email over five years ago to working on this zine these last few months it has brought me so much joy and connection. i love wine and i love writing and the two have expanded my world in the most wonderful ways, my life would look very different without it & i’m so grateful for all of it! it’s good, I think, to push through that weird vulnerability barrier when making things in the pursuit of curiosity and creativity and intimacy, now more than ever thank you to everyone who ordered a copy and who came to have a glass of wine with us to celebrate - there are copies and caps available on the burum site now if you have FOMO 🫵 thank you also to @hardlinescoffee for kindly lending us the space to launch the zine & to @s0phiegracesmith for running the fizzy pink bar. thank you to @sam.k.thom for the mince pies, gossip and bottle of wine that only mildly derailed the packaging process. big brilliant thank you to @gergemanson & @ottoindiana for providing such beautiful, playful & vivid illustrations to go with the project. editors, commission them! everyone else, go buy & support their work this shopping season! biggest thank you, forever and always, to @helenannesmith for doing such an incredible job on the design, the zine looks so gorgeous and i am so in awe of their skill and talent. I love making things with my best mate, what a gift, thank you for making everything so brilliant and so fun, i am so lucky & ilysm 🫂 RIP j’adore le plonk ❤️

Now that the pre-orders are closed, and the book is off to the printers, we would like to invite you all to join us at the J'adore Le Plonk launch celebrations next Thursday at Hard Lines in Cardiff 🥂 There will be plenty of wine, and zines to enjoy, plus alcohol free options! It's going to be a lovely relaxed evening, you can drop in and chat to Rachel about the project anytime from 6pm, and if you fancy buying a copy for yourself or a friend for Christmas then you'll be able to do just that 🎁 See you on the 11th from 6pm for a little glass!

category five woman moment incoming !

RIP J’adore le Plonk 2020-2025! Long live j’adore le plonk the zine! 🫡 Im retiring my weird little wine newsletter for a whole myriad of reasons and in memoriam I’ve spent the year turning it into a physical zine with the help and creative contribution of some of my favourite people: @helenannesmith @ottoindiana & @gergemanson 🫂and after months of work pre orders are now live!! There are 18 essays in total, on cows and crisps and connection, on wine as something prone to faults and flaws and fantasy, like the best of us, on good wine as something we all deserve—bread and rosè, baby!—wine as something that makes our time on earth worthwhile, a medium for connection, a conspirator in adventure, a vessel for pleasure More and more i find i distrust the internet, i think it is actively working to erase our ability to connect and create and work through the magic and mess of being human so its been v fun transforming something thats only ever existed on phones and inboxes and as notifications into something real and tangible and physical to be used as a coaster and held in hands and stuffed into bags. in amongst all the horrors its just nice to push against it all and make things with your friends isn't it anyway the link is in my bio if you'd like to pre order one or three, i'm always amazed anyone takes the time to read any of my work and i am so grateful for all the wonderful people ive met through writing, my life is infinitely richer for it. end of an era, thank you xx link in bio etc etc ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ 🎨: @ottoindiana

for @pelliclemag i’ve written about the formation of The Waitress, this character of community who facilitates desires and manages expectations and performs to society via the women I’ve watched as waitresses on my tv screen over the years i think the use of waitresses on film reveals something about the way people view these women and their work - our work! - and i wanted to understand the tensions around waitresses, about what is asked of them, who they perform for and what it takes to be a good example of one whilst navigating social ideals of gender, sexuality and domesticity i had a very sharp idea of what I wanted the piece to be and i really struggled to get it there! i am so grateful to @clairembullen for the time she took to understand what I was trying to say and how, and the intellect and guidance she gave to help me write in a direction that felt good, she is a tour de force and i was so lucky to work with her on this! link in bio 🫡

back on location for Pellicle mag dot com today contemplating the weird, wild and wonderful world of beer mats. Tiny discs of pulp that soak up and support and siren call to drinks past present and future. A conversation between tastes and desires and aesthetics where so much can be learned from if you lot would just give them a second and stop ripping them up and throwing them to the floor! It’s rude! what a joy to finally be edited by @lilywaite_ who I just look up to so much & who added so much sharpness and play to the piece, the essay is the better for her The illustrations are by @adam__menzies and they’re so good I gasped. it felt v cool to see previous Pellicle essays and themes woven into this one - I have motifs now! Thank you also @brause513 of @newbarnsbrewery & Adam of @beerstainedpulp & Garry of KATZ for the thought and discernment and my man Gary Moore who sent me “some notes” in response to my questions on beer mat collecting that turned out to be a 5 page PDF of insight and intel I will treasure forever Handle a beer mat with respect for me this week, even better send me a pic of one of your faves, link in bio you know the drill by now & thank you for having me @pelliclemag 🫡

le goût du jour

i get bored of the discourse around locals and regulars, so much reduces this intimate customer / server dynamic to “how nice to have someone remember my name and my order” without really interrogating or dissecting the relationship any further so @burumcollective put together a zine focussing a little more closely on the dynamic of the local, who gets to have one & what is required for it to be a success & after a lot of work from so many talented people it’s published and printed and posted through my door! ❤️ Oli @thetrafalgarsw19 has written a beautiful piece on the rhythm and ritual of running a local ❤️ @rosemary_richings wrote about what accessibility means to disabled people & the many barriers of access in place that many take for granted ❤️ legend @sameri8383 wrote a brilliant piece on menu modifications as signs of familiarity and where the line is ❤️ @dabuttdoctor contributed a stunning piece of artwork on the bar, the regular & the trade ❤️ I wrote about social boundaries in the workplace which Helen described as the essay equivalent of fuck off & leave me alone, which feels apt ❤️ Jorie wrote about navigating the threat of being recognised in their third spaces as a trans, queer person ❤️ Vaishnavi contributed a really beautiful piece on the effect Chaitinis in Glasgow had in her search for a local as a Scottish-Indian woman ❤️ @helenannesmith wrote a v funny and fantastic essay on the difference between their local spaces now they no longer work a hospitality shift pattern What a collective! And what a feat of design and thought and creativity from @helenannesmith who put it all together in such a gorgeous way, I am so lucky I get to make work like this with my best mate! Order it on the burum site, share it with your local, if your barista knows your name and order ask yourself whether you can return the favour. ❤️❤️❤️

a real honour to have my name alongside @anahlcq for todays @pelliclemag dive into the popularity and phenomenon that is litre bottles of Cidre Breton. Anaïs is so smart and warm and generous as both a writer and a friend and I was so lucky to work with her on this. How fun to write sentences knowing a much more informed writer was going to sweep in a few lines later to contradict and correct my confined British viewpoint! We wrote about growth and image and tastes and translations and what happens when something moves from one country to another and I got to drink a lot of cidre breton and file it under research. A joy, to think and drink about. Thank you Trevor @st.john.restaurant and Brodie @topcuvee for being so generous with their time and thoughts. Big love also to @jonathan_hamilton_ for the idea, @totalcurtis for trusting us to execute it and @katiematherkm for making it read so much better. Illustrations are by @alexandra_hochreiter and they’re so gorgeous! on pelliclemag dot com now 🫡

i won a silver for my writing last night in a v tough category & i got dressed up with my best mate & drank copious amounts of pink prosecco to celebrate. i feel so proud of the work i put my name to & so fortunate for all the people it has brought into my life. i just fancy all my friends so much! i love getting to read & write & think like this for a job! grateful for all of it!