Clicking on the title in the e-mail will take you to the substack website where you will be able to see the photos. Four or five years ago Colin Jardine of the Specialists in Cape Town invited me along to have a look at a home on the western coast of the Cape Peninsula where the homeowner was complaining of flies invading the house. We found masses of kelp flies in the house.

On Boxing Day the Ministry for Foreign Affairs announced that it is imposing sanctions on US company Kharon. The sanctions are in response to due diligence and compliance work by Kharon related to forced labour and human rights abuses in Xinjiang. ‘Kharon’ (or ‘Charon’) is the name of the ferryman in Greek mythology who carries the souls of the dead across the rivers Acheron and Styx to the land of the dead.

Hello, Welcome to today’s edition of Kitchen Projects, my recipe development newsletter. It’s so lovely to have you here, especially because today we are delving into one of my fave subjects: Buns. And not just any buns - apple butter cinnamon buns. Over on KP+, I’m sharing a bit of a secret technique to take today’s (already gorgeous) cinnamon buns to the next level: It involves soaking in custard and an apple butterscotch icing.

I was hoping to do an Industry Insights newsletter today that’s a little different but very important to anyone it impacts. As happens every season, I’m working on a few stories this year related to food and wine/spirits that are kosher for Passover. (You might have caught some I’ve done in the past, such as, for Forbes: Shopping For Passover Wine And Spirits Requires Careful Preparation, for Wine Enthusiast:10 Passover Wines to Make Your Seder Shine, and for Southern Living: Invited To Your First Passover Seder?

My friends and I dressed as The Heathers, from the 1989 cult-classic movie of the same name, starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. (Nine years prior, my boyfriend of the time cheated on me with Winona Ryder. I found out by opening a tabloid magazine at a nail salon and seeing them holding hands. The fact that I dressed as her on this Halloween is testament to how we as humans are capable of moving on.