🎙️ Welcome back, you magnificent mix of elder millennial magic and emotional intelligence! This week, we're serving up a hearty helping of chaos and comfort- just like a good beef stew. We're diving whiskers-first into the smokey fever dream that is the 40th anniversary Australia tour of Cats: The Musical (yes, again, because these cats have nine lives too), unpacking our most irrational male icks (spoiler: it gets oddly specific), and sprinkling in a few hard-won life lessons because, you know... growth.
Oh, and grab a tissue - because we (and the whole internet) also stumbled upon the most heart-melting ad featuring everyone's favourite gentle soul, Tanner from Love on the Spectrum. Trust us, this one goes straight to the feels.
Let’s get into it.
Caitlin’s Peak of the Week is the just announced Australian cast of Cats the Musical which opens at the Theatre Royal Sydney from 17 June, before touring to Her Majesty’s Theatre Adelaide from September and at Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne from December. So many talented people in this cast!!
View the full cast and book tickets here: catsthemusical.com.au
Zara’s Peak of the Week is her beef stew recipe…. the people asked, and here is her recipe below:
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Zara’s Sunday Best Beef Stew
2kg of beef oyster blade cut into generous chunks
1/2 cup of plain flour for dusting the meat
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (to season the meat)
1 teaspoon of dried Herbs de Provence (or whatever you have)
2 bay leaves
bunch of fresh rosemary (pull it out when its done)
3 large shallots, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons of tomato paste
half a bottle of red wine
400ml of beef stock
veggies of choice - i used baby carrots, potatoes and mushrooms - but next time ill use bigger carrots cut into chunks and add in some peas at the very end.
The method is simple;
pre-heat your fan forced oven to 150 degrees
put the flour, dried herbs, some salt and the Worcestershire sauce in a big bowl, add the meat and combine til the meat is totally dusted in the mix.
brown off the meat in batches in a dutch oven in neutral oil (I actually use olive oil, because I use it for everything) the meat wont be cooked through and thats ok.
leave all the lovely brown in the pan, add the shallots and tomato paste and cook down til yummy and caramelised.
add the garlic in about 7 mins in - careful not to burn it!
add back the beef, the stock and the wine and bung into the oven with the lid on for 1.5 hours.
take out the pot after that time and add in your veggies… taste for seasoning and put back in for another 1.5 hours or until meat is stupidly tender. For the last half hour of cooking I took the lid off to help reduce the sauce.
serve with crusty buttered bread!
Zara’s Pit of the Week is this Reddit thread highlighted by the fabulous Zara Wong about charity donations… If you aren’t following Zara Wong, you should - she is cool and clever in equal measures. I like her broadcast channel on insta - it goes off all day with cool tidbits!
Here is the Reddit thread link and we implore you to read it!
Here are Zara Wong’s takeaways;
Caitlin’s Pit of the Week is Icks… one of hers being men in no-show sockettes. Zara’s ick is… men in anything sleeveless - a tank, a singlet….GROSS!! What are your icks? DM us!!
Caitlin’s Plug of the Week is this gorgeous Mothers Day ad from cosmetics juggernaut Sephora. Such a beautiful collab with Tanner from Love on the Spectrum - it’s made Caitlin want to shop there! Zara obviously already shops there with gusto… below is her top Sephora buys that you can not get at Mecca.
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Zara’s top Sephora buys;
Amika - The Shield Anti Humidity Spray - Its a dry heat protector, genius.
Ouai - Detox Shampoo - remove yucky product build up!
Make Up For Ever - Artist Colour Pencil (Best shades are Wherever Walnut and Anywhere Caffeine IMHO)
Make Up For Ever - Super Boost Lip Gloss (Best shades are ALSO Wherever Walnut and Anywhere Caffeine)
Make Up For Ever - Super Boost Skin Tint! - Dewy, light and un-fuckup-able
BONUS product - Rare Beauty Eyebrow Gel - Its just an elite brow gel, nothing else holds like this without the white cast!
We’re Pondering the concept of serving or service and how that leads to true happiness… Michelle Obama summed it up nicely in this clip:
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Also made Caitlin think of a recent newsletter from India Hicks sharing her mum’s 10 life lessons as she nears the end of her life.
Think of Lady Pamela Hicks as the royal adjacent it-girl of a bygone era—an aristocratic insider who’s lived history from the front row. Born into the Mountbatten dynasty, she’s Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin, Prince Philip’s first cousin, and the daughter of the last Viceroy of India. But beyond the bloodlines, Pamela carved out her own quietly rebellious path—traveling the world, serving as the Queen’s lady-in-waiting, and bearing witness to the end of the British Empire from inside the palace gates. Elegant, sharp-witted, and occasionally unfiltered, she’s the kind of woman who’d have held her own at Studio 54 and a state banquet. Basically: royal-adjacent with big main-character energy. Her first lesson listed? You guessed it…. serving others…. it’s a true life hack.
10 Life Lessons from Lady Pamela, recorded by her grandson Amory Flint Wood, and shared on India Hicks Substack.
DUTY & SERVICE
“Duty and Service above everything, a lesson learnt from my parents and observed through Queen Elizabeth’s absolute ridged dedication to both. To whom much is given much is expected”
LOYALTY & FAMILY
“Family; love those closest to you unconditionally. Loyalty; to know you can really rely on someone and they can rely on you.”
ENDURANCE
“Whatever happens, you must move forward.”
INTROSPECTION ( and a QUIET WISDOM)
“Not being self-involved, but being self-aware. In the old days you didn’t think about yourself, now everyone only thinks of themselves”
CURIOSITY
“A curious mind is the secret to a broader life.”
A SENSE OF HUMOR, A SENSE OF FUN & A SENSE OF ADVENTURE
Lady P has inherited her father’s wicked sense of humor, she remembers him addressing 500 boys of the Dragon School in 1977, among them his youngest grandsons Ashley, Nicholas and Timothy, he said ‘ I well remember being your age. At school, in my boarding house. On the first evening we all went up to the 2nd floor and had a competition to see who could lean farthest over the bannisters. I won. When they picked me up off the ground floor I had surprisingly few injuries.’
MULTI FAITH and MULTI RACE
“Taught by my parents to respect all faiths. During my late teenage years when I was living in India I saw this illustrated by my time with Gandhi, ‘Religion is one tree with many branches’ he would say. During this time I was friends with Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists. We never felt any division, although these were politically heavy times. When I heard of the divisions that existed elsewhere, I quickly appreciated the way I had been brought up, without prejudice or suspicion of any other religious group.”
MANNERS
“Manners make life more comfortable for everyone. Rudeness just upsets everyone.”
UNDERSTANDING
“Always look at things from other people’s perspectives”
GRIEF
Dealing with the death of family and friends “Be grateful you knew them, and had a chance to love them, and be happy you have the memories of them, but look forward, don’t look back.”
‘Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you’
That’s all from us! Have a lovely weekend
Cait & Zara
xx
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