We are all under a very stressful cloud right now. The world is a mess, our personal freedoms being threatened, daily life just seems difficult at every turn, and just ahead, the holidays are fast approaching. It’s a lot! So this season’s book, and accompanying dinner, was chosen to give us all a few moments of calm. Nigel Slater, English prize-winning author, journalist and TV presenter, has written beautiful tributes to small moments of delight he has observed in foods, gardens and the kitchen. If, like me, you turn to food and cooking to be the calm in the eye of the storm, you will love this book. Each tiny “chapter” celebrates one of those moments. Read them one at a time like a daily meditation, and revel in the way he helps you focus on the pleasure that abounds in our lives if only we take the time and a step back to appreciate it. “Nigel Slater has a magical capacity to find beauty in the smallest moments. A nourishing, sustaining book” says Olivia Laing, author of The Garden Against Time. I couldn’t have said it better. Our dinner and discussion will, in the same way, be focused on tiny pleasures and moments of joy. Take a deep breath and share them with your fellow Dames and readers. Registration is limited to 20 and will close at noon on Friday, October 31.
