I'm Cassie.
A writer based between Lisbon and a small village in the Alentejo. I write slowly, eat well, and take the train whenever possible.
I started this journal in 2021, in a rented apartment in Lisbon with bad Wi-Fi and a very good bakery downstairs. I had left a job in editorial publishing and moved to Portugal with two suitcases and a vague plan to write more. The plan, mostly, worked.
The journal began as a way to slow down — to notice things properly rather than at speed. A meal, a morning, a train journey. Over time it became something I could not stop doing, even when I had nothing useful to say. Especially then.
I write most Sundays, sometimes on Tuesdays when the weather is good and I have had enough coffee. The letters are long because I do not know how to write short ones. They are honest because there is no point in writing them otherwise.
Read the journal →I grew up in the south of France, in a family that treated meals as the main event of any day. My grandmother kept a kitchen garden. My father baked bread on Sundays. These were not unusual things where I came from, but they shaped the way I pay attention to food — as something worth slowing down for, worth thinking about, worth writing about.
I spent my twenties in publishing, first in Paris and then in London. I edited other people's words for a living, which is a fine way to learn about writing and an exhausting way to remember why you wanted to do it in the first place. Moving to Lisbon was, in part, about recovering the appetite.
Portugal has been generous in ways I did not anticipate. The light is different here — softer, more forgiving, especially in October. The food is honest. People eat lunch as if it matters. These are not small things if you are a person who writes about small things.
I spend parts of the year in a village in the Alentejo, which I will not name because I have seen what naming does. It has a square, a café, a bakery. The bread is better than anything I deserve. I go there to write, to read, and to be reminded that a very quiet day is not a wasted one.
Work with me.
I occasionally collaborate with travel brands, food producers, and publishers whose values align with the spirit of this journal — slow, considered, and made with care. I do not write sponsored content I would not read myself.
If you are working on something that might be a good fit, I would be glad to hear about it. The best way to reach me is by email.
Get in touch →