Goodness, is there an abundance of finds this week with fantastic Francophile finds — the return of a French series that takes us to the sunshine, pick up a new book that takes you throughout the country of France through its cheeses which reveal more about la Belle République than may have been previously understood by travelers and learn about French actress and Academy Award winner Isabelle Huppert’s new film and a new cookbook for cooking for one the French way. We didn’t forget about the Anglophiles — a book for anyone who loves popping into a traditional pub and where to find them all over Britain, Prue Leith simplifies things in the kitchen, and another cookbook that was just released shares real-life strategies to feed yourself when you just don’t want to do much, as well, Black Friday sales have already begun and they are quite steep in savings this year – clothing and home decor brands are shared. A long-anticipated new film is released that will leave you inspired to broaden your perspective on a variety of accepted ‘truths’. And if you are trying to get creative, yet ensure delicious pairings with cheese, yep a book for you as well, plus so much more to discover.

Books

—The Creative Life: Fashion Designers at Home by Robyn Lea

Released in October, step into the lives of “twenty fashion-world professionals from around the globe [who] give readers an intimate and authentic portrayal of creativity outside the studio or the office . . . the spaces captured cross six countries and represent thirteen different architectural styles spanning more than five hundred years, from a fourteenth-century Italian palace to a twenty-first century renovation in the English countryside. They range in size from one-bedroom apartments and compact country cottages to mansions, villas, and palazzos”.

—How to Think Like Socrates: Ancient Philosophy as a Way of Life in the Modern World by Donald J. Robertson

If the Stoic approach to living has captured your interest, then this new book, How to Think Like Socrates will be one to explore. Released just this past Tuesday, How to Think Like Socrates highlights the continuing value of the Socratic Method to modern life. As a practicing cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist, Donald J. Robertson uses his expertise to reveal many parallels between the evidence-based concepts and techniques of modern psychology and the philosophy of Socrates, and shows how his philosophical insights can guide and benefit all of us to this day”.

—Why We Love Tea: A Tea Lover’s Guide to Tea Rituals, History, and Culture by Gabriella Lombardi

Released just last week, a book (or gift!) for fellow tea lovers as I know there are many in TSLL community ☺️🫖. Why We Love Tea includes “a selection of unique recipes, along with advice on pairing tea and food, completes this gorgeous book—a must-have for any tea lover”. 

“Learn about 50 grand cru teas—including some of the best-known varieties available—with descriptions of appearance, color, smell, taste and specific brewing instructions . . .

“Illuminating full color photos of different types of tea, tea-making ceremonies, and methods of brewing tea.”

British Finds

—Life’s Too Short to Stuff a Mushroom: Really good food without the fuss — foolproof recipes, shortcuts and hacks by Prue Leith

I must admit, when Mary Berry left GBBO I was saddened, but Dame Prue Leith has really put her own stamp on the role of being a judge, and has become someone I absolutely adore. She has a new cookbook out, released just this past October, and it is all about keeping it simple, while still enjoying delicious treats. In Prue’s own words, “So, if you are whacked, short of time or just don’t like cooking, cheating is fine. I cheat all the time, and I LOVE cooking.”

“Every recipe in this book comes with a handy tip, plus you’ll find over 25 videos accessed by a QR code to help you learn a skill or get ahead . . . With recipes including Celeriac Rémoulade with Prosciutto, Rocket and Pine Nuts, Crispy Pork Belly, Buttermilk Chicken, Sushi for Scaredy-cats, Chocolate Almond Torte and Cherry Clafoutis, Prue’s handy hacks show you how a little bit of insight goes a long way.”

—Nigel Slater’s new collection w/Perfumer H for the senses, A Feast

Nigel Slater has been busy this autumn, and now he is stepping into a collaboration for Perfumer H to create his own line of candles, teas, soaps, incense and of course, parfum. Named A Feast, this limited collection “is a celebration of how food and smell unite people together, in collaboration with ‘cook who writes’ Nigel Slater.”​ Shop the entire collection here.

—A Pub for All Seasons: A Yearlong Journey in Search for the Perfect British Local by Adrian Tierney-Jones

Okay, travelers who love to wander about the countryside and of Britain, this is the book for us! Released just this past September from award-winning journalist and beer-expert Adrian Tierney-Jones, A Pub for All Seasons finds the author jaunting around the country over the course of a year after the world opened back up following Covid.

“From mellow, gentle pubs in autumn and dim, cosy spots in winter to bright, lively bars in spring and wondrous, buzzing gardens in summer, Adrian speaks to locals and landlords, hears unique sounds and stories, and samples food, drink and atmosphere. He watches the wild and beautiful similarities, differences between pubs, and notices how they all shift, tonally, throughout the year”.

“What started as a simple quest to find a nice place to sit and drink, ends up revealing to Adrian so much the secret to what truly makes the perfect British local across the four seasons”.

Cookbooks

—The Complete Cheese Pairing Cookbook by Morgan McGlynn Carr

With entertaining season kicking off in full swing, a perfect book for providing inspiration for what to pair with what when it comes to cheese. Released this past June, from an expert in cheese (explore Morgan McGlynn Carr’s two previous books on cheese here), “you’ll gain fascinating insights into what cheese pairing actually is, what makes cheese cheesy, and how to pair like a professional.

“With carefully curated pairing boards containing both classic and unique combinations, cheeses from around the world, and a seasonal pairing guide, the book also contains a range of cheese-focused recipes suitable for all occasions. The Complete Cheese Pairing Cookbook is a must-have for any cheese lover looking to explore a new culinary world, and the only cheese guide you’ll ever need”.

—Epic Salads: For Every Mood, Craving and Occasion by Jessica Prescott

We might be entertaining the land of sweets galore, but that doesn’t mean we have to forget delicious salads. Released this past Tuesday, Jessica Prescott “walks you through the five key elements for building delicious salads: leaf, body, protein, dressing and crunch. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll never make a boring salad again. From a simple soba noodle salad to a showstopping haloumi, chickpea and rice salad or the ultimate loaded guacamole, there’s something everyone will love”. 

Discover 60 recipes from light and fresh to hearty and wholesome. Rather than a side or simple starter, this book shows you how to make delicious and filling salads that are meals in their own right.”

—You Gotta Eat: Real-Life Strategies for Feeding Yourself When Cooking Feels Impossible by Margaret Eby

Life, it can become quite a bustle, and yet, eating well, while always important, becomes all the more important during these times in our lives when our schedules perhaps speed up and fill up a bit too quickly.

A trained chef, Margaret Eby’s new cookbook and “help-book”, and author-described as “part pep talk, and part action plan, You Gotta Eat offers tips and tactics—plus ten ‘do exactly this’ recipes—for making effortless food that’s nourishing, tasty, and even a little fun. Choose your current energy level and learn important kitchen hacks such as the following”.

Films

—Joy, Netflix

This British biographical film shares “the true story of the world’s first in vitro fertilization baby, Louise Brown. Starring James Norton, Bill Nighy and Thomas McKenzie, Joy brings to the screen how IVF came to be a reality and possibility for so many who desired to have children. Look for the film today on Netflix and take a look at the trailer below.

—Wicked

For what feels like a year, we’ve been waiting in anticipation of what we knew would be released during the big weekend of Thanksgiving here in the states, the two-part film adaptation of the long-running and magnificent Broadway play Wicked. Starring Emmy, Grammy and Tony winning and Oscar®-nominated “powerhouse Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, a young woman misunderstood because of her green skin who has yet to discover her true power, and Ari Grande as Glinda, a popular young woman gilded by privilege who has yet to discover her true heart, director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights), takes on this beloved story in the first chapter of a two-part immersive, cultural celebration. Wicked Part Two is scheduled to arrive in theaters on November 21, 2025″.

Have a look at the trailer below and look for the film in theaters beginning today.

Francophile Finds

—Balzac’s Paris: The City as Human Comedy by Éric Hazan

Arguably France’s most famous novelist and observer of the nineteenth-century, in Éric Hazan’s new book Balzac’s Paris (released this past June), he follows in Balzac’s footsteps (through what was shared in his 91 completed novels and stories), “criss-crossing the city in the novelist’s outsize boots, running between printers, publishers, coffee merchants, mistresses and friends, stopping for a moment, struck by a detail that would be fixed in Balzac’s photographic memory”.

Capturing Balzac’s admiration and adoration of “this ageless city [that] he makes a declaration of love in an accumulation of finely observed detail – the cafés, landmarks, avenues, parks – and captures the populace in countless meticulously drawn portraits: its lawyers, grisettes, journalists, concierges, usurers, salesmen, speculators”.

Pick up this book and be swept away to an earlier time in Parisian history, a time that in many ways still remains and awaits each to discover anew.

—A Cheesemonger’s Tour de France by Ned Palmer

This book. Oh, this book is on my Christmas gift list. ☺️ In A Cheesemonger’s Tour de France, Ned Palmer “wends his way around the country’s regions, meeting the remarkable cheesemongers who carry the torch for France’s oldest and most treasured traditions. As he explains the mysteries of terroir and why each of those different fromages taste as they do, he shows that a French cheeseboard offers genuine insights into la Belle République”.

“Charles de Gaulle famously said it was impossible to govern a country with 246 different cheeses. And perhaps he was right. Every French cheese carries an essence of the place where it’s made – its history, identity and landscape. Sometimes that’s a physical thing, as the hard texture of Comté echoes its mountainous home in the Jura. Other times it’s about power and politics – Brie swelling to royal dimensions due to its proximity to the French court, or Camembert gaining national status after being supplied in patriotic boxes to First World War soldiers”.

Released on October 3, 2024. Pickup your copy from Blackwells as it is not yet available in the states.

—Deadly Tropics, season 5, MHzchoice

I was tickled to discover a brand new season of Deadly Tropics has just been released on MHzChoice, with two new episodes being shared each Tuesday with eight total in this new season. Slip away to the Caribbean island of Martinique and solve a mystery an episode with the sleuthing duo and close friends who could not be more different except for their mutual respect for one another Melissa and Gaelle.

—French Cooking for One by Michèle Roberts

This new cookbook has flown under the radar, so I am happy to have found it, and think you too will enjoy and appreciate it if you like cooking and exploring the French approach to meals. Especially if you are cooking for yourself or two people regularly, this cookbook offers 160 recipes, primarily vegetarian ones, this ‘quirky take on Édouard de Pomiane’s classic has been described as containing “piquant storytelling and feminist wit, this is a working cook’s book with French flair, bursting with life”.

British-born novelist with dual citizenship as her mother was French, Michèle Roberts has stepped out of her typical genre of story-telling to bring us a playfully illustrated cookbook that is also part memoir in French Cooking for One, released on November 7th.

Learn more about the author here.

Published by Les Fugitives, the publishing house’s very first cookbook, part of its fast-growing ‘quick brown fox’ collection of English originals: a unique work of literary and culinary joie de vivre.”

—A Traveler’s Needs

Another quirky French find, and with Academy Award winning actress Isabelle Huppert at the helm, it is sure to be one worth watching. Set in South Korea, Huppert’s character in A Traveler’s Needs has lost her financial means of support and while playing a recorder in a park in South Korea has a chance meeting which eventually leads to her becoming a French teacher for two women. The film had its world premiere in the Main Competition of the Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Silver bear Grand Jury Prize.  Have a look at the trailer below and look for it in select theaters beginning today.

Holiday

—William Morris Christmas Baubles

If you have a love for William Morris’ signature fabrics and wallpaper designs, you can find them on baubles for your treat for a fairly low price.

Shopping

—Anthropologie Living, 40% sale

The Black Friday sales have already begun (I am sure you have already noticed this with all of the email reminders and ads), but they are worth checking out for impressively steep savings if the item you want is included.

I will be compiling a detailed list of sales and putting them all into an individual post that will be shared next Thursday, but just to give a preview, I have included a few of the sales here today.

Anthropologie’s Living collection is cutting prices at least 40% on oodles of items and sometimes even steeper. I have shopped a few items below, but be sure to shop the entire sale here.

~SHOP THE SALE:

—Everlane Black Friday Sale, 50% off nearly everything

This sale as well is quite impressive and yep, you read that correctly, nearly 50% off everything. Brands are seriously competing for our hard-earned moolah, and trying to get ahead of everyone else which just means more choices and more savings so long as we know what we need and is worth the value.

I have shopped a few items below.

The Oversized Blazer in Wool Camel, different colors and fabrics

~SHOP MORE FINDS:

—J.Crew Sale, up to 50% off more than 1400 styles

One more vast sale to explore, and after going through nearly 1000 of the 1400 styles on sale, I found my favorites below.

Cotton Cable Crew-neck sweater, ivory

Cotton turtleneck in stripe (navy & ivory), other colors available

Baroque pearl necklace

~SHOP THE SALE:

Interesting random fact, today’s date could be and has been many times and will be again in the future, the day upon which Thanksgiving occurs, and this year is the latest Thanksgiving could ever occur, falling on the 28th of November, the fourth Thursday in the month, which makes each holiday season unique as it unofficially ‘starts’ on a different date each year.

However or whenever you begin stepping into the season, for us here, when we have the first snow so early as we did this past weekend and I know those of you in part of Britain received snow as well this past week, it is hard not to dive right in and get jolly with it, non? 😉

The pups and I went up to the mountain and did some snow-shoeing this past Saturday: They with their booties and I with my camera and in awe of the beauty, we had a wonderful walk and stretch of the legs. Speaking of the booties and many other finds and wonderings, look for the monthly Ponderings . . . post to go up on the blog tomorrow to kick off your Saturday, a more intimate This & That post exclusively for TOP Tier Members (and be sure to explore becoming a member before the end of the year as prices will going up on January 1st for any new members!).

I want to thank everyone who stopped by this past Saturday and took the tour of the primary bedroom closet tour post! I so enjoyed your comments and went back through and answered each of your questions if you included one – you can revisit the post here. This past week has been a full on on the blog with a new podcast episode focused on a topic ideal for holiday-time, a detailed French-inspired Petit Plaisir written review as well as audio form, the monthly garden post, a video taking you to the Japanese Gardens here in Portland, Oregon, and Monday’s petite motivational post.

And with that, the Thanksgiving voyages have begun or will soon commence for those of us celebrating the holiday. I so enjoy this time of year with all of the delicious food, festivities and cozying in that takes place. Whether intimate or grand (for me, it is usually the former), a time to give thanks and savor all that this special time of year has to offer is quite special. I hope you have a wonderful (and delicious!) Thanksgiving if you are celebrating, and if you are a TOP Tier member be sure to stop by tomorrow to check out the Ponderings . . . post as one item shared is a recipe for Pumpkin Pie you will be assured to have great success with (it is the recipe I will be making this year) as it is from a reliable baking source ☺️.

Thank you for stopping by today, and may you have fabulously fun and loving stories that transpire, may your turkey be cooked just right and that first bite of pie be rapturous. In other words, I hope you have many everyday moments to savor. Below are a few posts and one video I thought you might enjoy. Until tomorrow, bonne journée.

~Cook like a French professional chef with this Butternut Squash and Girolle Tortellini recipe. Yep, you can! 🙂 [Le Cordon Bleu]

~So much cozy inspiration in this Arts & Crafts house in Putney. Along with many details, I especially love the upholstered banquette surrounded by windows in what looks like the library. Take the tour here. [House & Garden UK]

~Prue Leith shares 8 kitchen hacks with NPR.

~10 things highly successful people always keep quiet [Hack Spirit]

~It’s Turkey Time here in the states, but really everywhere as we step into the holiday season, and I have to admit, sweet potatoes have my vote. Here is a run-down on how and why they are so healthy, as well as ideas for baking and cooking with them for the upcoming gatherings. [NYTimes, gift link]

~I found this list thought-provoking as someone who often keeps my phone on silent, definitely more and more over the past three or so years and it has been quite lovely to do so. People always keep their phone on silent typically display these 7 traits. [Hack Spirit]

~Slip away to the Cotswolds and cozy into this romantic house that combined three different cottages into one. [House & Garden UK]

~Thank you long-time TSLL reader Edel for sharing this article with me! 🙂 6 slow living activities to savor the season of autumn [Country Living]

~Coming in 2025, Betty White gets her own stamp. 🙂 [NPR]

~If you will be entertaining in a small dining room, similar to here at Le Papillon, here are some decorating ideas [House & Garden UK]

~The 25 most influential cookbooks from the past 100 years [NYTimes gift link]

~Thoughts on healthy eating [Zen Habits]

~A new limited series is coming in May to PBS Masterpiece that looks quite good and Jane Austen fans as well as cosy mystery fans will enjoy – learn more about Miss Austen here.

~Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu reveals her simple skincare and makeup routine with Vogue France and it isn’t all about products but her approach to living and eating. Taking note because her skin is radiant.

~Explore last week’s This & That: November 15, 2024

A super full This & That to enjoy perusing with books about honoring yourself, as well as stepping over the 50-year marker well and into mid-life with ample knowledge about to make it an awesome second half; also, wisely modeling Mother Nature; along with a mystery to solve in Westminster Abbey, and still more titles. A trove of treasures will go on sale this weekend from a favorite American expat living in Provence, a luxury travel duffel at a great price, a new comedy series, a holiday film that is a bit different than the rest, and a British series I have been most eager to finally arrive for viewing in the states. And there are clothes as well as décor finds too! These and so much more to explore, so let’s get started!

~Please note: TSLL is supported by you, readers who take the time to stop by (merci!), peruse and sometimes welcome into your life mentioned and recommended finds. Affiliate links are present in today’s post and may earn commissions for TSLL when you purchase. View TSLL’s full Privacy Policy here.