That’s ace!

Welcome to this week’s roundup of three things I’ve been enjoying, and a short piece about something that’s on my mind. This week: what it is to be ‘ace’.

• 📕 Second Chance Summer by Phillipa Ashley. I was lucky enough to get an advance reader copy of Phillipa Ashley’s new book, which follows high powered entrepreneur, Lily Harper, through her escape from London to the Scilly Isles at a time when she really, really, needs a break. She’s the founder of a company that’s a bit like Not On The High Street, facing a dilemma about its future, and has just gone viral for some poorly chosen words (and editing which made her look even worse) on a TV programme like Dragon’s Den (Shark Tank). Of course, things don’t quite go to plan, and there’s a romantic storyline which will have you turning the pages as fast as you can. If you like the sound of this but can’t wait til June, check out Sophie Kinsella’s The Burnout, which I really enjoyed on audio last year. (Amazon affiliate links)

• 🍝 Mac and cheese. Every so often I love to make a big batch of macaroni cheese - this time with pancetta, canned tuna, and tomatoes in it for extra goodness - and then eat it for the next few days. I made one last weekend and it was every bit as good as I’d hoped. My secret ingredient: a bit of Dijon mustard in the cheese sauce.

• ☕️ Going Decaf. This is something I could never have imagined a couple of months ago, but it’s now been over two weeks since I’ve had a coffee or Diet Coke with caffeine (turns out I still get the crispy zippiness from a no-caffeine can of the latter! Who knew?!). But the new meds I’m on (if your thyroid doesn’t make enough hormones, shop-bought is fine!) left me feeling less dependent on the ‘black gold’ and then I read a great piece by

  Devon
  here on Substack about the experience of giving it up. So I thought I’d give it a try. The lovely Kat at her.ie had also written a piece exploring the caffeine-free journey which I didn’t find until I was a week into mine but is very much worth a read.

This week’s essay is one of those things I don’t necessarily want to post all over the internet, so I’m gonna use the paywall; if you’d like to subscribe but it’s not in the budget, do send me a message and I’ll get you a complimentary subscription sorted.