Chilly Scenes of Winter

Teapot Shopping, Snow-Enrobed Oreos, What I Wore to the Video Store

Katie Merchant

Jan 05, 2024

Hello friends and Happy New Year! Here’s an early January letter of what I’ve been enjoying lately:

Watching

Chilly Scenes of Winter, 1981

I love director Joan Micklin Silver’s films (especially Crossing Delancey and Between the Lines) but hadn’t been able to watch Chilly Scenes of Winter until TIFF included it in a director retrospective in March 2022 - apparently it is quite difficult to screen. Recently I had been in the mood to watch it again, remembering Joel and I both laughing out loud in the theatre, so I rented it from Bay Street Video. This film falls into my favourite category of movie, romantic (albeit in this case tragic) comedy-drama. It’s told in part through flashbacks - a favourite of mine being where the two main characters Charles and Laura (John Heard and Mary Beth Hurt) are sitting on the floor, sharing a chocolate soufflé off a cardboard box with paper-towel table cloth.

Reversal of Fortune, 1990

These screenshots from Barbet Schroeder’s Reversal of Fortune - Glenn Close’s character Sunny von Bülow having a sundae and cigarette for dinner while wearing pearls and sunglasses, the correct amount of white-ruffled throw pillows and Sunny smoking and reading in bed (I need a glasses ID here) - should be information enough to make you want to watch this immediately. Absolutely perfect nineties legal drama (my other favourite movie genre) <3

Full Moon in Paris, 1984

I periodically check eBay for old movie posters and ordered the above (pictured freshly unfolded and waiting to be framed) to hang in our living room. I asked Joel if he had any requests for the movie store recently and he asked for this having never seen it. Rohmer films are one of my favourite sources of inspiration - the colours, interiors, outfits, I love it all. Full Moon in Paris is no exception. I especially love the scene where Pascale Ogier’s character Louise goes teapot shopping in her giant pink scarf.

Tea and Cookies:

Like Louise, I also recently went teapot shopping, wanting one that didn’t require the use of a tea ball or bags. I bought this one from Good Egg in Toronto and it is lovely. The Japanese to English translation on the side of the box reads that “the lid and strainer is united so it is easy to handle” (true) and that “the tea leaves will open slowly inside the wide jug while jumping, so it will make good tea” (also true). We’ve used it every day since - current favourites being Harney & Sons Lapsang Souchong (I was inspired by the breakfast scene in Phantom Thread) and mint tea from Churchtown Dairy (four types of mint grown in their medicinal garden).

To go with the tea I made some cream scones. I love to use this basic cream scone recipe which I usually alter by substituting half the flour with whichever whole grain option I have on hand. This time I added some finely chopped candied peel of the giant Amalfi lemon I bought before the holidays (“This lemon cost 10 dollars!” I exclaimed when walking in the house, but I figured it was worth it because I can’t resist trying a new variety of citrus and recognized the peel would be exactly right for candying). Another ideal snack for tea is a Walker’s Oat Cracker with a generous swipe of butter and a date on top (an idea I got from the endlessly inspiring library of Canal House cookbooks).

GIANT lemon - clementine for scale, Lapsang tea with candied lemon scone, Oat cracker + butter + date

I always take a cursory scan at the Oreo shelf in the grocery store to see what limited edition flavours are available (hoping for the elusive Marshmallow Crispy Oreo - please review in comments if you’ve tried these!) and my friend Hannah often texts me updates with what’s on offer in the States - most recently Caramel Coconut and Java Chip. The best flavour in my opinion is the White Fudge Covered Oreo. I hadn’t seen these in years and was thrilled that they recently made a return (presumably for holiday). They are beautiful, snow-enrobed cookies - see one below holding its own on a plate full of other objectively stunning treats (a marzipan watermelon, silver almonds, a large calisson, turrón from Spain, the sparkling candied peel of a 10 dollar lemon). A premium Oreo experience.

What I Wore to the Video Store:

Having recently recovered from Covid and with little energy to get dressed, my main outings have been trips to the video store wearing ‘winter casual’. Here are some variations of the same look (jacket, sweater, soft pants, slouch socks, sneakers):

Shrimps balaclava, babaà ruby and cream diamond sweater, Soop Soop sweatpants and slouch socks, Max Mara jacket, ASICS (these I wear so much I wore my first pair out after three years and tracked down the exact same style and colour-way to order again, not ready to move on from this sneaker).

A black balaclava and my Shrimps Judy coat (one I don’t wear often but it’s fun to put on every now and then for an errand - or a trip to the ballet), extreme cashmere tomato red sweater, Soop Soop perfect 80s stirrup pants (currently out of stock, but this is the vibe), slouch socks and ASICS.

Comfort supreme in full Soop Soop sweatsuit (borrowed my husband’s turtleneck for this), Max Mara coat, slouch socks, The Row fairy shoes (cozy shearling slippers for outside)