In this cozy reading vlog, I’m making a brilliant cheat’s marmalade recipe, as well as seville orange and cardamom gin. I also review Wintercombe by Pamela Belle (a great winter read) and Mum and I chat about our Commonplace Books.
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BOOK CLUB: I host the Comfort Book Club with my Mum, and every month we pick a comforting read and discuss it on the last Thursday of the month. Everyone is very welcome to read along with us. Learn more about the Comfort Book Club (and see upcoming reads) here: https://mirandasnotebook.com/the-comfort-book-club
#TheComfortBookClub
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LINKS:
(affiliate links used for Blackwells)
Wintercombe by Pamela Belle (available free on Kindle unlimited): https://tinyurl.com/ynafb9kk
Amanda Goes to Italy by Mabel Esther Allan: https://www.ggbp.co.uk/product/mea-amanda-goes-to-italy-by-mabel-esther-allan/
Mount Grace Priory House and Gardens: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/mount-grace-priory/
Sour by Mark Diacono: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Sour-by-Mark-Diacono/9781787132269?a_aid=mirandamills
Jam and Genius by Angela Milne (out of print)
Commonplace Books: https://www.starsmeadbookbinding.co.uk/ruled-commonplace-book
Tidelands by Philippa Gregory: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Tidelands-by-Philippa-Gregory/9781471172755?a_aid=mirandamills
All Sorts of Lives by Claire Harman: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/All-Sorts-of-Lives-by-Claire-Harman/9781784744762?a_aid=mirandamills
Wild Places – Katherine Mansfield short stories: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Wild-Places-by-Katherine-Mansfield-author-Claire-Harman-editor/9781784878146?a_aid=mirandamills
MUSIC: all music in my videos are from either Epidemic Sound or Artlist, to which I subscribe.
00:00 – Frosty winter mornings in the English countryside
00:55 – Reading catch-up
08:35 – Outing to Mount Grace Priory
09:47 – Making seville orange and cardamom gin
18:37 – Making a great cheat’s marmalade recipe
27:21 – Discussing our Commonplace Books
37:44 – Reading wrap-up
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Loved this video! My Mom and I also enjoy our afternoon G & T's. I can't wait to try this recipe out.
What lovely videos you share, Miranda! Thank you for keeping me such inspired company. It does make all the difference.
Miranda Mills you've helped me such a lot the last 6 months have you read Katherine Swartz the lost Garden love to know Scriptures Union Sold these books The Mustard Seed sold it up here in North Scotland love to hear from you Miranda Mills love Skye Blue x
Lovely to see you visit Mount Grace Priory. Worth another visit in the summer.
What a wonderful vlog! The music and scenery were so calming. You and your mom are precious together. Makes me miss my mother. ❤ I enjoyed the orange gin recipe and am definitely going to try that. And I so appreciate all the book reviews and recommendations. Thank you and have a wonderful week! 😊
What an interesting vlog, thank you both. I love the coral blouse you are wearing in the first piece Miranda, I wonder if it’s from Toast? I have been really inspired to make marmalade and gin and have ordered the tin of Marmade I don’t have a bottle of whiskey though 😂
I’ve recently enjoyed receiving scented paper whites by mail from the Isles of Scilly, again after watching your channel! Both things I used to do years ago but had totally forgotten about so thank you. Also I have ordered both Katherine Mansfield books. I was saddened to hear your personal account of how your injury prevented you progressing with your ballet career, but look where it has lead you now and how wonderful it is to find such likemindedness through this channel.
Wishing you both a hugely successful and happy New year. With best wishes Sally
Love the idea of the common place book. I think a seasonal theme is a good idea. I know I would be writing in my favourite Louis McNiece poem snow. I was so pleased to have recommended it on Poetry Please and it was read out on Xmas day on the programme .
Hi Mirand
Hi Miranda I used the same tin for my marmelade a few days ago, and I was just about to share this on my Instagram! I'm a big fan of this so easy and handy method 😊👍
Thank you Miranda!
It was pleasure to watch it, so cozy and useful ❤️
Miranda what a joy this has been. I use canned pre-prepared marmalade by Lakeland, it is wonderful and I can be sure it sets! I too keep snippets of prose and poetry, helpful sayings, recipes, planting ideas for the garden, places to visit, music I have enjoyed etc sometimes in books and often on pretty notelets which I can pop straight into a rather beautiful box on one of my bookshelves. I started this myself as a way to keep a physical contact with my daughter when I am no longer here. I hope she can feel that I have still things to tell her and be close to her. Thank you for all you share with us.
I just finished Wintercombe today and have moved straight on to Herald of Joy! So grateful to you and your mum for the recommendation – I was hooked the whole way through and can't wait to see what happens next.
Dear Miranda, I enjoy your videos very much. You and your mum together just bring me so much joy and comfort, I can’t describe it but it really warms my heart! You have inspired me to make marmalade and start journaling more.
Have a lovely Friday 🧡
Hello Miranda and Donna, I'm almost embarrassed to say that because I live just fifteen minutes from the famous jam factory in Tiptree (where they have a lovely shop and tea rooms) I left my marmalade making days behind me many years ago but the wonderful sight of those glowing jars of orange yumminess cannot be bought so thank you so much for showing us your recipe. What a lovely diary and what a delightful series you have begun, it is so cheering. Teresa 🟠♥
Hi Miranda,
I know your channel is about books and lifestyle, but I noticed how your complexion is always so radiant, glowing and absolutely flawless in your videos. Would you consider doing a video one time on your skin care routine? You have absolutely gorgeous skin!
A delightful video. Thank you.
Hello miranda. Please can you remind me who made the commonplace books you both have. Many thanks as always for wonderful videos. I watch them all xx
Thanks!
Another wonderful video Miranda I love journaling love how your marmalade turned out so going to give it a try myself. Im just starting tidelands looking forward to Sundays video. Much love and kindness to you and your mum have a wonderful weekend and keep warm in this weather x Lynne x
Wishing you and your mom a wonderful weekend. I always get a little sad when your videos come to an end because I so enjoy them and wish they'd go on and on,lol I watch them while I knit away. I'm presently knitting a blanket for my daughter who moved to another province and so I don't get to see her too often. Knitting her something makes me feel "close" to her. And watching your videos while I do so is so much fun. 🙂
That was pure delight from start to finish, Miranda! Your opening shots are so evocative and set the mood of this cozy vlog perfectly.
I'd never realized until I saw you and several other British people I follow on Instagram making marmalade that it was a January tradition. I'm with you – I'd go for the easy route too. Just slicing up some citrus fruits to make dried Christmas tree ornaments last month was enough work for me!
I really loved hearing you and your mother discuss your commonplace books. I've been keeping one since you first mentioned it and enjoying the experience so much.
LOVE the dusty pink velvet dress! So beautiful!
Hi Miranda, lovely to see your latest video. It certainly is the time of year to do cosy things. One of the books you recommended in your previous video – Lucy Worsley's captivating biography of the life of Agatha Christie – we purchased. My wife and I are both avid readers and at present we are on our second reading of Willkie Collins' The Woman in White. We have the Agatha Christie biography close at hand and it will be our next read. Best wishes, Paul and Moira, Sheffield.
I loved your videos Miranda!!! So lovely..and loved your beautiful mauve dress!!! Love your fashion!! Do you remember where you got the wonderful dress? Thank you!!😊
Hello Miranda, it is the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year today, and what a great way to start the eve with viewing a new video from your channel. I loved the conversation you and your mum had whilst making orange gin and marmalade – witty, funny and from the heart. As 2023 is the year of the rabbit, wishing you a hoppy rabbit year. 🙂 Best wishes, Jason
Do you give the jars a hot water bath to seal them so they last longer?
Thank you so much for the Marmalade "cheat" secret. I am So excited that I am able to find the tin in the U.S. and I am determined to make it before the month is up. I feel like I have somehow fallen through a "portal' to a delightful new world ( on your videos) and keep asking myself how I could only just be learning about all these wonderful things? I SO loved the visual tour of Mount Grace Priory…it was a nudge to look it up and learn further about it. You have expanded my world and may I just say…one of my favorite things is hearing you and your Mum laugh! THANK YOU Miranda and Donna for sharing some of the wonders of your lives. You and your channel are a tonic to these crazy times. Truly! P.S. My very first Commonplace "vegetable garden" is sprouting nicely and giving me such joy already. Many hugs of thanks to you both! -Grace
Hello Miranda, I am just so delighted to have discovered your videos and I simply love watching you and your mum – I realize everytime you post a video. Which happens
lucky mequite a lot 🙂I find them inspiring and invigorating but also calming and just very lovely <3 Aaand I am very exited to try making Marmelade now; here in NL it is not very common in shops but I always love it when I am in the UK so why not give it a try 🙂
Where did you get Wintercombe from can’t seem to get it sounds so good
Thanks
Miranda I'm really enjoying the new lifestyle vlogs!! I'm definitely making the gin too. Have a lovely weekend. Best wishes, Sara