The Brew #001: What We Do In The Shadows, Nac Mac Feegle, and Rooibos
Pop culture and home comforts for February
The front door
At the end of last year I needed a serious pick-me-up (I mean… we all did, and still do), so I turned, as I always do, to a book. But this wasn’t just any book, this was Terry Pratchett’s The Wee Free Men, about nine-year-old farmer’s daughter Tiffany Aching teaming up with a clan of blue ankle-high Nac Mac Feegle (who are most definitely NOT fairies) to rescue her snotty baby brother from the Queen of the Fairies. (Also, welcome to my newsletter, it’s lovely to have you here, etc. etc.). Maybe you’ve read Pratchett’s work, maybe you haven’t, or maybe you’re obsessively collecting the special edition hard covers and keep them on a shelf above your desk so they’re always there to guide and inspire you… or maybe not. Anyway, I first read The Wee Free Men as a young teen and I instantly resonated with Tiffany’s character and absolutely everything she does, says, and thinks, ever, in this and all her subsequent books. She is fiercely protective of her community and her home, even when she doesn’t like them that much; she cares so deeply that it is ingrained into the fabric of her being; and she is practical and level-headed and hits things with frying pans. I wanted to be her so badly. A semi-well-known quote from this book—and an attitude that underpins all of Pratchett’s witch characters—is:
‘“All witches are selfish,” the Queen had said. But Tiffany's Third Thoughts said: Then turn selfishness into a weapon! Make all things yours! Make other lives and dreams and hopes yours!’
And it is this determination, this fierce nine-year-old’s ability to examine her own thoughts and use what she has at hand to help those she loves, that began my lifelong interest in witches as keepers, curators and curers of the world; growing things, knowing things, and helping people, but not always being nice about it because people and life are not always nice.
So I read the book, it picked me up, and so far 2021 has been a roller coaster—as everyone knew it would—but now you are here and we’re going to take a deep breath, relax, and find something to enjoy, because people and life are not always nice, but for a time we can choose to mentally surround ourselves with what we enjoy in order to help someone we love: ourselves.*
Welcome to The Brew.
*I’ll try to be less cheesy next time.
Library
Books
Lately I’ve been madly reading entries for the 2020 Aurealis awards - 59 books read since October. I can’t comment on the entries themselves as the award is not yet complete, but I will say that I have read more widely in the last few months than I ever have before. I always knew that spec fic was a broad genre, but reading 59 books across every spec fic genre—from horror to soft sci fi to weird fiction to collaborative fantasy novellas—has really broadened my perspective on what the genre can look like.
And aside from Aurealis I have a looooong TBR list waiting for me this year (I always, always do) that includes: Leonie Kelsall’s The Farm at Peppertree Crossing; Roberta Park’s The Disappearing Shore; Jannali Jones’ My Father’s Shadow; Sophie Gonzales’ Perfect on Paper, and so on forever. The way things are going I’m going to have to apply for immortality just so I can put a dent in this list.
Lounge
TV
The Watch—I already mentioned Terry Pratchett’s The Wee Free Men above. Well The Watch is a show by BBC America that is heavily ‘inspired’ by his Discworld series, the Sam Vimes sub-series to be precise. The manner in which the show came to exist is not great, and a lot of people already reeeeaaallyyy don’t like it, but as a show itself it’s a lot better than I expected. Historically, TV and movie adaptations of Pratchett’s work haven’t translated very well. But The Watch is very watchable—ha—and if you can look past the over-reliance on eye liner to denote grittiness of character, then the plot, ambiance, characterisation, sub-plots, grimy atmosphere, etc. etc. are all really well done, even if it’s not a perfectly faithful rendering of the source material.
What We Do In the Shadows—Back in 2014 Taika Waititi made a fantastic movie called What We Do In the Shadows, about vampires living in modern-day Wellington, NZ, filmed in the mockumentary style of The Office and Parks & Recreation. This movie is so brilliant that they made a spin-off, adapted for TV by Jemaine Clement—who also starred in the original movie—with the vampires living in modern-day New York and the main cast including Kayvan Novak (Four Lions), Natasia Demetriou (Pls Like; The Festival ) and Matt Berry (Toast of London; IT Crowd). This show is a strange mixture of awkward humour, hijinks, and over-the-top gore, and it works perfectly. There’s even an episode featuring a smorgasbord of famous faces who I guess really wanted to be vampires for a night: Tilda Swinton, Dave Bautista, Wesley Snipes, Danny Trejo, etc. It’s not for everyone, but if you like Waititi’s other movies you’ll probably love this show.
Music
Triple J Hottest 100—This is one of those ‘You know you’re Australian when…’ things, but until this year I had never voted in the Triple J Hottest 100. Commercial radio is not something I choose to listen to much, but ever since our builder friend had this station playing every second he was in our house I began to understand the appeal. I guess it’s a side-effect from all those lockdowns; it makes one feel connected to the outside world. Anyway, I voted in it this year partly because they had a nifty feature where you could upload what you’ve been listening to on Spotify and it’d tell you which of those songs you could vote for. At the risk of being lampooned, below were my votes this year:
Now I think that everyone should vote in the Triple J Hottest 100, not because more people need to quantify their opinions on music, but because it’s a good lesson in the democratic process: you vote, you get worked up about the whole deal, the one you voted for doesn’t win, you field the outrage of your peers because their top picks didn’t win either, everyone has a good whinge, then you all have to live with whatever the outcome is. It’s not perfect, but it sort of works.
Kitchen & Garden
Recipe
Stewed rhubarb & cream—I won’t always have a recipe in The Brew, but I do like cooking and sharing my favourite foods, so when I have something interesting it’ll go here. Stewed rhubarb and cream is pretty straightforward; it is what is says on the tin.
Dice an amount of rhubarb (I usually use about 500g), put in a pot with a few cups of water, add a cup of sugar, and stew gently until it’s at the consistency you want.
There are, however, some variations that I’ve been experimenting with:
not using sugar—instead of a cup of sugar I use a cup of stevia
rhubarb and apple—peel, dice and throw in 4-5 green apples to stew with the rhubarb
rhubarb and strawberries—add the strawberries when the rhubarb is mostly stewed.
you can also add vanilla, cinnamon and/or lemon rind to change up the flavour
And then add your favourite consistency of cream for that lovely juxtaposed taste and texture of mild/tart and stewed/smooth!
Tea
Rooibos and vanilla—It sounds pretentious, but I buy it at Woolies so I don’t think it counts. Rooibos is naturally caffeine free and brews up real nice for a morning cuppa. Also, fun fact, rooibos comes from the same plant family as lentils: legumes.
Plants
My strawberry is still alive! I bought and planted this little guy in May last year and nursed it through winter into spring, when my arch-nemesis the common garden snail devoured every strawberry it produced despite my best efforts to stop them (curses!). But it’s still alive and thriving, and I’ve beaten back the snails after discovering their hidey holes under the house, so fingers crossed I get to eat a strawberry off it one day.
Crafts
Darning—I hadn’t given darning a good go until recently when a series of events conspired to give me the last push: my favourite pair of socks—dark blue with hot pink flamingos—were on their last fiber-segment legs and I discovered the existence of something called visible mending. Visible mending is the practice of fixing old clothes (often things like knitwear and denim) in a way that is visible, making them even more colourful and beloved. I follow Creative Visible Mending on Instagram, a knitwear repair service in Scotland where they do amazing work and often share videos of how they fix things. My first few attempts are alright, and they’re socks so no one’s going to see them, but I saved my flamingo socks and that’s what really matters.
And another thing…
I’d to take a hot second to celebrate the brilliant illustration on The Brew’s banner. I commissioned it from Alex E Clark, an artist and illustrator I met four years ago when we both had stalls at the Melbourne Polytechnic Spring Markets, where I sold bookish crafts and she sold prints, postcards, and gorgeous zines full of her amazing artwork. I bought a zine of hers called ‘Don’t f*ck the bear! And other life lessons from fairytales’ and have followed her on Instagram ever since: @lexlotl. A huge thank you to her for turning my weird little idea into something wonderful that makes me want to fully commit to writing this newsletter. That tentacled teacup—or teantacle, if you will—brings together two of the best things ever: delicious home comforts and cute, mysterious creatures of darkness that definitely don’t want to take over the world…
The Brew is created and sent from the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation
and I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which I live and work, and pay my respects to the Elders, past and present.