🍋 limcello shots + summer frooeccomendations

plus a must read book and a must swim spot

G’devening summer angels!

(don’t mind the gratuitous image!)

How is it hanging?

Can you believe the last email I sent out was all the way back in August? Time flies when you are having fun, and by having fun I mean questioning your entire life in the process of writing a sixty-five-thousand word book. Bubba got it done. 😌

I’m here with you tonight because I figured it’s high time to inject some value back into the lives of my beloved employees. The urge to correspond with you all has been overwhelming and tonight is the night because I have plenty of recommendations that I think will pass the… vibe-check 😏✅😝.

Should we just get straight to it?

LIMONCELLO SHOTS

A dear bestie of mine turned thirty last weekend. She hosted a long lunch to celebrate then we hoofed it to Universal for a dance. It was so packed that I swear I started levitating above my body as a coping mechanism. I resolved to leave immediately and got severely sweated on as I squeezed my way out of the club. Naturally, I walked directly to Indian Home Diner for a beloved curry kebab. And while I sat in a gutter eating it outside Manning Cartell, I went for a snoop through my Message Requests and came across this delightfully polite query:

I can’t ignore a message so sweet, so I went on an inter-iPhone expedition through my Camera Roll looking for the recipe. Lo and behold, it turns out I shared the recipe on my Instagram exactly one year ago, to the day. How cool is that. Serendipity is not to be glossed over in this life, and so tonight let me immortalise these Limoncello Jelly Shots in the annuls of Substack.

Credit where it is due, as per – I first came across this through Izzy of Izzy’s Famous Goulash fame, pictured here with a green bag because she is nothing if not a conscientious queen.

my lovely baby with her lemons

Ok, so the recipe is as follows:

• 5 titanium gelatine*

• 700mL limoncello

• 100g sugar

• 150mL lemon juice (from the squeezed lemons)

So, you juice the lemons then scrape out their innards. Make the jelly mixture as you would regular jelly, then pour the jelly into the halved lemons. Allow to chill as you would a regular jelly. Once you arrive at your destination and they’re ready to be served, cut them into wedges.

*(I googled what ‘titanium gelatine’ is allegedly titanium leaf gelatine sets much clearer and at a smoother consistency compared to powdered gelatine and that’s the main reason why leaf gelatine is preferred by professionals and regular bakers and girls named Izzy who live in the UK now so we miss her dearly.)

Yummy! Enjoy.

EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING

pictured here as I cook nagi’s lasagna aka best lasagna of all time on the infamous sims 1 stove

I’ve been devouring non-fiction books lately. Mainly manuals on how to write a non-fiction book but also books about eating disorders and therapeutic interventions. It’s giving… deprezzion.

That’s why I was very excited to get my mits on Everyone and Everything, the debut novel of Nadine J. Cohen. I first came across Nadine on Twitter (I’ll never call it X), where she’d write ‘FUCK YEAH’ in all caps followed by funny and insightful commentary on everything from politics to the trauma of Year 10 work experience. I can’t link to her Twitter cos she got banned… I’m not across the tea but I do know that she holds a deserved place as a legend of the tight-knit Australian comedy writers scene.

nadinevoncohen

A post shared by @nadinevoncohen

Her book follows a fictional character named Yael who, after a breakdown, finds solace in a women-only ocean pool in Sydney. It’s about friendship and grief and intergenerational trauma and being a sister and so much more. It just won Booktopia’s prize for Best Debut Book of 2023 and, in a glowing review, The Sydney Morning Herald says it’s not another “sad girl novel” because “what distinguishes Cohen’s book from the rest [of the genre] is the charismatic vocals of its disputatious heroine.”

And yes, I love the protagonist Yael. She’s cool and real and I won’t give anything else away but I think you’ll like her, too. When I read Everyone And Everything I’m reminded of author Alex Sarkis’ debut Something Blue (I wrote about it in a previous froomy’s top hat hits) in the sense that it’s so rich with references to specific places in Sydney. It’s a love letter to the city and I love love letters. You can buy a copy of Nadine’s precious book here. It inspired my next recommendation…

MCIVER’S LADIES BATHS

In the book, Yael goes to the McIver’s Ladies Baths every day. She describes it like it’s a wonderland utopia for women and children. It almost sounds like it isn’t real because it’s that magical. Lucky for us, it is real, and it rocks. It’s an ocean pool in Coogee where women frolick fancy-free with their tops off and their spirits sky-high.

The location is geographically ingenious – it’s built into a rockface so it’s totally private save for aircraft and boats (I saw a boat of water cops go past once but it’s probably illegal for them to look at your boozies so I’m fine with it). There is a special energy to this place – women from all walks of life, ages, ethnicities, religions and bikini types come here and convene. It’s the third space we need!

I considered writing about it in my original guide to sydney but I thought it would be blasphemous to lump such an ethereal place in with The Royal.

this is how it feels coming out of the royal on a saturday night while the line snakes around the corner… famous xx

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Also, omg guys! Who pledged this money to me for my newsletter?!

Unbelievably kind. I actually won’t take it because to access these hallowed dollars I have to turn this newsletter into a ‘paid subscription model’ (there’s a little peek into the sausage factory for yas). Thank you so much for your magnanimous gesture anyway. Surely some karmic retribution is on its way to you, no? (And if Substack took the money out of your account and is holding it hostage let me know and I’ll suffocate them with my milkers! Don’t say you haven’t been warned mista substack).

Love y’all as per.
Froomes