Paul's Departure: Hope & Offers Codes Included

Preamble

I’ve a number of wee treats for you today, but before I get stuck into them, there are a couple of points that I want to mention before I begin.

Firstly, we are looking for a full timer position in Reigate. Sadly, after 17 years with us (minus a short break in Australia ) Paul T has decided that he needs a new challenge in life and is leaving us at the end of this month.  He started with us in 2008 and I thought he’d probably end his working days with us. Sadly, this is not to be and I’d like to wish him well in whatever it is that he finds (or that finds him) to do next. He will be sorely missed around here for his caring, hardworking and intelligent attitude and of course because he is a foodie, to his very core, which so many of us have benefitted from over the years, both as his colleagues or as customers. If you’ve met Paul in our shops over the years, I’m sure you’ll want to join me in thanking him for his help, experience and knowledge, freely and generously imparted.   

Secondly, I was put in mind of a conversation that I had last weekend with a good friend who is anxious about the state of the world and, in particular, the polarisation in American politics, as that is where she lives. As a result, she’s been left with a feeling of helplessness about the situation. This, we discussed in some detail, it was only later that I read something that encapsulated the advice I would have liked to have given. Several times a month the musician Nick Cave answers readers’ questions and shares his thoughts on a variety of very human challenges. He thinks deeply, and clearly, and then communicates that in simple understandable English (impressive, it’s not his native language, he’s Australian). If I were the jealous type, I’d be highly envious. So, the question & answer that resonated with me on this topic was this.

2025 is coming. The world seems to be in such a catastrophic state. Where is the hope? What is hope?
BAILEY, SEATTLE, USA

Happy New Year! 😬
ANON, EARTH

He answered with these words….

Dear Bailey and Anon,

It is understandable to feel alarmed by the current state of things, to feel fearful and depressed. We are presented with a constant communiqué of despair, that we exist in the worst of times, indeed, the end of times. Many feel impotent in this dreadful imminence - words like ‘Happy New Year’ ring hollow, like a hangover from a bygone better time. We become what we consume, living embodiments of a catastrophe foretold. We turn in on ourselves, trapped within the dark pathology of our time. Now, here we are at the beginning of a new year, and Bailey and Anon, like you, many feel 😬 and hopeless.

So, what is hope, and what is hope for? Hope is an emotional temper that emboldens the heart to be active, it is a condition, a mood, an aura of being. It is a feat of the imagination, both courageous and ingenious, a vitality that inspires us to take innovative action to defend the world. Hope is essential to our survival and our flourishing.

We achieve this vitality of spirit by rejecting the relentless promotion of despair and opening our eyes to the beauty of things, however imperilled, degraded, or difficult to love the world may appear to be. We try to view the world not as it is packaged, presented and sold to us, but as we imagine it could be. We do not look away from the world, we look directly at it and allow the spirit of hope - the necessary driver of change - to inspire us to action. 

I wrote in Faith, Hope and Carnage, ‘Hope is optimism with a broken heart'. This means that hope has an earned understanding of the sorrowful or corrupted nature of things, yet it rises to attend to the world even still. We understand that our demoralisation becomes the most serious impediment to bettering the world. In its active form, hope is a supreme gesture of love, a radical and audacious duty, whereas despair is a stagnant rejection of life itself. Hope becomes the energy of change.

Over Christmas your question went around in my mind, Bailey. I write this on New Year’s Day, and Christmas has come and gone. Ours was a large, noisy family affair that revolved around my infant grandson, Roman. Magisterial in his highchair, I watched him being fed by his doting parents - this bright, new child - and your question seemed to melt into the vision of that little boy, his face covered in avocado, a radiant affirmation of that small word - hope. On that Christmas day, I saw the vitality of hope in action.

Bailey, Anon, and everyone else - have a wonderful and joyful new year.

Love, Nick 

PS. For Christmas, I was given Byung-Chul Han's The Spirit of Hope, a beautiful book on the nature of hope. It greatly informed this answer, and I highly recommend it.

I was going to abbreviate this, one way or another, but the more I read it and reread it I found it harder and harder to remove any of his words. The fella may hark from the antipodes, but he certainly can think and put his deep thoughts into words. I found his words spoke clearly to me, to my heart and to my head. They reminded me of one of my favourite quotes from F Scott-Fitzgerald that I have mentioned before “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time,  and still retain the ability to function” and on occasion dear reader, even I manage to do just that.   

To Product:

Le Creuset

The wee treats I promised you today come in several forms. Firstly, just before Christmas, Le Creuset did a pretty good offer on a set that includes a 22cm Casserole and a 25cm Grill. The casserole will happily serve 4 people, and at 25cm the circular grill is a pretty decent size. You don’t need me to tell you what to do with a casserole but you may not realise that a cast iron grill will seal your steak better than a nonstick pan and will give you more flavour, and this one you can even use on the BBQ in the summer. The RRP on these two items comes to £354.00 and they were suggesting an offer price of £235.00. We are currently price matching it at £209.95, but somehow even at this price, which is 40% off the recommended price, the sets haven’t caught the imagination. So, for this weekend you may buy one of these sets in either Volcanic, Cerise, Meringue or Satin Black for £189.00, that’s only £95.00 per piece, in round figures! To get this extra discount, please tell us who you are if shopping in Reigate or Cobham or use the code LCSET25 if shopping online. Happy casseroling and grilling.

Tala

Tala make a basic set of three stainless steel saucepans in 16cm, 18cm & 20cm, that normally sell for £99.00. This is a good basic quality stainless steel range but we’ve reduced to £79.95 (because sales have been slower than we anticipated) whilst our stocks last.  A good starter set or even one to send with your (very lucky) child departing for university. Use code TALASET25.

Another Tala bargain that I obviously over-bought before Christmas, is their Performance Nonstick Roaster with a Non Stick rack. We’ve got a number of these left. They were a bit of a bargain £19.95. Currently, I couldn’t find it on the internet under £20, with most companies selling it between £24.00 to £30 . Our current price is £14.99. This is a bargain at this price. But (as with all non sticks on steel) please remember not to use it on the hob. Making gravy on the hob, for instance, will shorten the life of the coating dramatically*

  *High heat and nonstick coatings don’t (usually) mix very well. For more info on this, click here to be taken to my blurb on the subject.

 Le Creuset Paella Pan 34cm

Lastly, it’s back to Le Creuset for their one-off Paella pan. It’s a pretty generous 34cm* in diameter supplied just in their Volcanic colour. So, what is a paella pan you might be asking. Well, it’s really just a very big frying pan that you sling all sorts of stuff in. Paella, a dish originating in Valencia in Spain, I think.  It may have been originally a meat and rice based dish, but its probably better known for the seafood version, with shrimps, mussels, prawns, calamari, clams etc etc. Whichever one you go for, and vegetarian is the other option of course, then the Le Creuset pan should cope with it well. And don’t feel it’s just for Paella and nothing else. It will happily survive the BBQ, and also might see service as a platter, a (rather heavy) tray and certainly good for pancakes, or even pavlova. If your imagination has thus been stimulated and you see a myriad of other uses, please do let me know.

*We do larger Paella pans from other brands, up to 46cm

The RRP is a little tricky to be sure of, but I think £215 is about it (although I did notice a seller on Ebay at just under three hundred…doubt they’re selling many of those!). We have a number left in the company that I want to be shot of, so I’m reducing these to £159.00. Again, a lot of Le Creuset cast iron for your money. Use code LCPP25 to get this price if you are shopping on line or just tell us who you are if coming into the Cobham or Reigate shops.

That’s it for this week

I trust you have a pleasant and peaceful weekend.

Warm regards

Andrew

Andrew Bluett-Duncan

Director

Art of Living