The deep doldrums
Tissues and cough syrup all the way down
Highly Enthused is a newsletter, once a podcast, concerning all the best things to consume in life. It’s written twice per month by Sophie McComas-Williams and Sophie Roberts, and today’s dispatch is written by SoRo! The majority of each newsletter is free, but there are five extra recs in each for paid subscribers. That’s often where the gold nuggets lie. Thanks for being here!
Hello from day eleven of the never ending sickness that struck me down mid June. Coughing, phlegmy and covered in dog hair, I am deep in the doldrums. If Soph’s dispatches from Athens and Hydra are at one end of the June spectrum I am so far at the other end that you can’t even see me. But I’m there, lying on the ground, covered in a pile of used tissues.
If I ever get over this sickness I’m hoping to turn my winter vibes around. I want glamour! I want leather and velvet and high heeled boots and martinis and steak and chicken liver parfait and red wine and late nights out somewhere fun. I wanna try the new spot by the Fratelli guys and eat at Corner75. I want to go to a sauna and jump in the freezing ocean and do a really hard Pilates class three days in a row and maybe book a weekend in Melbourne on a whim. I don’t want to see my couch again for a couple of weeks. Hopes and prayers that I get there soon are appreciated.
June has been a month of many failed kitchen riffing sessions. Tortillas that have stuck to the pan, unbalanced salads (too salty, too acidic), blah curries etc etc. (Can someone read my birth chart or go deep on astrology TikTok and tell me it’s all going to get better soon?) I have had one unmitigated kitchen success with a roast chicken recipe which came from an Instagram story posted by Kitty Coles. Kitty is an English food writer and recipe developer who splits her time between London and Mallorca. I swear every time she posts a roast chicken recipe I immediately bookmark it! I want to eat everything she eats.
With that screenshot as guidance, the recipe came together easily enough. I grabbed my shallow, ceramic cast iron pan and followed her basic roast chicken recipe method, but also added about three red onions cut into generous wedges to sit under the chicken as it roasted and with about ten minutes left to go in the cooking time, poured some vermouth (no white wine open) into the pan . When it was cooked I took the chicken out of the oven and out of the pan, letting it rest loosely covered in foil while I got on with the pan sauce. In went about a cup of cooked Puy lentils, and a little bit of chicken stock (to bulk up the juices), and that simmered for a few minutes to warm everything through. Had leftover mascarpone in the fridge so a big dollop of that went in along with a little champagne vinegar and a whole pile of chopped parsley. Chicken carved, popped back on top of the lentils and caramelised red onions and the whole dish taken straight to the table. A zesty green salad on the side and it’s a perfect, comforting meal that still feels a little special.
All the couch time hasn’t been completely wasted this month. On Saturday night I watched I’m Still Here (Youtube, Apple, Prime) which won the 2025 Academy Award for Best International Film. Based on a true story, it follows Eunice Paiva, a house wife in 1970s Rio, married to an ex-congressman who in January 1971 is taken away to be interrogated and then never seen again. The movie is beautiful - 1970s Rio is lush and saturated, the Paiva house filled with dancing and music and friends and cheese souffles and puppies and children - but in the background of the beach shots you see the army vans driving past, the helicopters thundering overhead. The military dictatorship that ruled over Brazil from 1964 to 1985 is in full, chilling effect. The performance by Fernanda Torres as Eunice is incredible, her face is so compelling, and it’s a movie that lingers long after you’ve finished watching it.
Of all the new products I’ve tried for my skin in the last few years, the Emma Lewisham Supernatural Blemish Face Serum has been the biggest gamechanger. We were very kindly gifted a bunch of products from their range, many of which I really like, but this is the one I’ve finished and already bought a refill of. I’ve been plagued with hormonal breakouts around my mouth and along my jawline, of varying intensity, for my entire adult life. When they’re bad they can linger for weeks and weeks, leaving behind scars and dark marks that never fully fade.
Since I started using the serum they’ve stopped completely. I very occasionally get a small whitehead bubbling up, but those deep, painful blind ones have completely gone. The serum contains a live probiotic that is naturally present on healthy human skin, intended to crowd out any pathogenic bacteria you might have that’s causing breakouts. Studies indicate that after 2 years the beneficial probiotic strain is still present on your skin so the change is long-lasting. I’ve never had really intense acne, so I can’t speak to how effective it is for that, but if you’re struggling with recurring breakouts and want to find a way to nip them in the bud - this has been revolutionary for me.
A quick-fire rundown of the miscellaneous finds we’ve loved this month. In this edition: An easy eye makeup trick, a sweet little earring, Vietnamese gelato!, the cutest socks for pilates and not one but TWO books you should add to your list.