Home Truths: Brunch

The boom in restaurants serving brunch is unstoppable and, while the joys of going out for this most leisurely meal are not to be sniffed at, hosting brunch at home is even better and costs a great deal less. Not only do you handpick your guests (no rowdy people or ill-behaved kids on neighbouring tables), but you can collapse on the sofa with the papers afterwards.

Brunch feels very modern but the term was first coined in an 1895 feature in British magazine Hunter’s Weekly, which described the meal as “cheerful, sociable... it sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week.” All of which is as true today. 

The great advantage of this hybrid meal is that it is easy to assemble and doesn’t involve fancy cooking, table-laying and general showing-off like a dinner party might. It’s an easy-like-Sunday-morning affair, laden with everyone’s favourite carbs (Bagels! Toast! Waffles! Muffins!), eggs cooked in various ways and lashings of juice and Bloody Marys. It’s unhurried, unpretentious and the antidote to weekend hangovers. The king of meals. We love it.

How to brunch

As this is the most laidback meal there is, there are no rules. But a few pointers might help make yours even more chilled, so here you go:

• Don’t even think of doing anything else: brunch is long and leisurely and will easily expand to fill the entire day.
• Ask your guests to bring something: extra pastries, smoked salmon, juice and coffee will always be demolished.
• Have a few post-brunch activities up your sleeve. A gentle stroll around your neighbourhood or a rowdy karaoke session are good options.
• Hold your brunch late-morning on a Sunday to give you time to prepare and the hungover, time for a lie-in.
• Have a pile of Sunday papers for those who aren’t feeling chatty.
• Start a brunch club and take it in turns to host. Although this could add a certain competitive element...

Turn to page 114 of May's The Simple Things for more of our look at Brunch.

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Home truths: Houseplants

Maybe it's our love for all things Scandi that kickstarted the houseplant revival. The Danes and Swedes have always appreciated the power of plants in the home, whereas we lost sight of it in the 80s when too many parched spider plants expired on windowsills. Or perhaps it’s because we now spend between 80–90% of our time indoors, and hanker for a link to nature, however slender.

Whatever the reason, a potted plant does us good both mentally and physically, and is a cheap way of enlivening a room. Try one of these five lovely house plants:

1. ALOE VERA (Barbados aloe): a very undemanding desert plant, above, with sharp spiky leaves and tubular flowers. Can withstand both direct sunlight and damp and humid conditions. 

2. CHINESE MONEY PLANT (Pilea peperomiodes): can be tricky to find but worth the search. Its lily-pad shaped leaves on long stems have a white spot in their centre. 

3. MONEY PLANT (Crassula ovata): a bringer of fortune. It needs little attention but is happiest in direct light.

4. PURPLELEAF FALSE SHAMROCK (Oxalis triangularis subsp. papilionacea): each stem has three butterfly-shaped leaves that fold up at night. Pretty pink flowers in spring.

5. STRING OF BEADS (Senecio rowleyanus): trails prettily from a hanging planter. It looks delicate but is hardy and requires infrequent watering.

Turn to page 118 of April's The Simple Things for more on the wonderful world of houseplants, including planters, displaying your plants, terrariums, airplants and house plant accessories.

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Home truths: Things to help you sleep

This month in our series on what really goes on in a home, we curl up under the duvet and have a good night’s sleep

Insomnia is a mean and unhelpful thing. Anyone who has woken up at 4am, eyes wide and mind racing, knows how hard it is to get back to sleep. It can also be hard to get to sleep in the first place. There are, however, things that can ease your passage into the Land of Nod.

• Essential oils: lavender, chamomile and marjoram are known to aid relaxation and help you sleep. Add a few drops to a warm bath before bed or sprinkle some on your pillow.
• Music: small children know the restful power of the lullaby. Adults can do similar by rocking themselves to sleep with soothing tunes or with the sounds of nature. (Try the British Library’s free recordings, including gentle lapping waves, at sounds.bl.uk.)
• A good book: reading (or listening to an audiobook) until you slump into slumber is one of the best ways to get to sleep. May also produce dreams.
• The right curtains: your bedroom needs minimum light for maximum sleep. Lining your curtains with black-out fabric (137cm wide, £7.50 per metre, John Lewis) helps.
• An electric blanket: wrap-around toastiness guaranteed when you slip between the covers on chilly nights.

Turn to page 118 of November’s The Simple Things for more sleep ideas and home truths.

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Home truths: Literary cakes

This month in our series on what really goes on in a home, we sift some flour to bake bread and pop a cake in the oven

As well as a look at all the cakes we’ve loved before, a glossary of which tin to use, bread making and bread makers, the five types of icing and a list of baking bloggers, we find eight extra somethings for the shopping list.Turn to page 118 for more, or read on for a look at literary cakes.

Classic bakes that have appeared, tantalisingly, in books:

Madeleines 

In Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust, the narrator eats madeleines and has an olfactory epiphany as he remembers dipping similar cakes in tea with his aunt.

“She sent out for one of those short, plump little cakes called ‘petites madeleines’ which look as though they had been moulded in the fluted scallop of a pilgrim’s shell.”

Ginger Cake

In Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton, ginger cake features in a typical feast:

“Aunt Fanny had made a ginger cake with black treacle. It was dark brown and sticky to eat. The children said it was the nicest they had ever tasted.”

Crumpets

In Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, the narrator thinks longingly of the food they ate at Manderley:

“Those dripping crumpets, I can see them now. Tiny crisp wedges of toast, and piping-hot, flaky scones.”

Key lime pie

In Heartburn by Nora Ephron, a wronged wife throws a key lime pie at her husband:

“The pie I threw at Mark made a terrific mess, but a blueberry pie would have been better since it would have permanently ruined his new blazer.”

Chocolate eclair

In Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, the family’s unlikeable tutor tucks into an éclair:

“Miss Kilman opened her mouth, slightly projected her chin, and swallowed down the last inches of the chocolate éclair.”

Find more cakes in literature at thelittlelibrarycafe.com 

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Home: Easy alfresco dining

This month in our series about what really goes on in a home, Clare Gogerty grabs a plate and invites us to eat out in the garden.  

Eating every possible meal in the garden is one of the most blissful things you can do during the summer months. The simple act of sipping a cup of tea on the doorstep while listening to the birds and feeling a warm breeze on your face can transform this humdrum activity into something special. Pile a tray with toast and coffee and head outdoors for breakfast and suddenly it feels like you’re on holiday. And a glass of rosé and some nuts dished up on the patio or a balcony becomes a celebration.

Meals in the garden are simultaneously liberating and fun. Entertaining family and friends takes on a more chilled dimension when you sit beneath a tree, children and animals run around your feet and the light gradually dims. The only rules about eating alfresco is that there are no rules: the more relaxed and informal the better. 

“Picnics always taste so much nicer than meals we have indoors”
Five Go Off in a Caravan by Enid Blyton

• Put on a buffet: ideal for larger groups of people who can heap up their plates with your delicious food and then settle on rugs to eat it.
• Use brown paper instead of a tablecloth. Then scrunch up and dispose of it when everyone has gone home.
• Keep tableware relaxed. Nobody wants elaborate settings when they are eating in their shorts.
• Invest in a garden parasol to keep sun and rain at bay.
• Platters of cold meat, bowls of salad, chunks of cheese, bread on boards and jugs of drink (alcoholic and non) are probably all that’s required, food-wise.
• Stock up a drinks trolley with glasses, drinks and trappings, then wheel back in when stocks run low. Have lots of ice handy to keep drinks cool. 

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How to Instagram flowers

This month in our series on what really goes on inside a home, we fill the house with vases and jugs of cut flowers. Turn to page 114 of the May issue for more of Clare Gogerty's Home Truths: Flowers. 

Stylist and blogger Emily Quinton is a whizz on Instagram and posts flower pictures daily. This is how she does it:

1. Choose flowers carefully – not all photograph well. The more you photograph, the more you get to know them. My favourites are stocks, ranunculus, peonies, anemones, tulips and roses.

2. Photograph in natural light. Flowers do not look good under artificial lights. If shooting outside, early morning and late afternoon/early evening are best. If shooting indoors, move near a window to get the best light.

3. Use different vessels and backgrounds to make the most of one bunch of flowers.

4. Choose lighter coloured flowers. They are easier to capture than dark ones. Dark red roses are my nemesis!

5. When flowers are nearly over, cut off the stems and lay down to make flat pictures. Gather plates, linen and notebooks as props. To make flowers last longer, pop in the fridge or in a cool room. Some flowers don’t last like this but peonies, roses and ranunculus will.

Follow @emilyquinton, on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest 

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Home: Make the most of your shower

This month, in our series on what really goes on in a home, Clare Gogerty considers bathing and the pleasures of keeping clean.

Turn to page 116 of April's The Simple Things for the full feature.

Make the most of your shower

The mere experience of standing beneath a steady stream of falling warm water is pretty joyful and can be enough to revive and soothe. Especially if you sing while you’re about it. But there are a couple of things you can do to make the most of your shower time, so that you emerge ever more squeaky clean and sprightly.

❊ Keep the temperature moderate. It is tempting to crank it up and watch your skin turn rosy, but too-hot water dries out the skin. Somewhere between 95F and 100F is about right.

❊ Hang a bunch of fresh eucalyptus near the shower. It will release essential oils as the bathroom steams up. Eucalyptus is a good cleanser, helps fight bacteria and smells lovely.

❊ Apply conditioner to damp hair and then put on a shower cap. Continue to wash as the conditioner works its miracles. Then rinse it off.

❊ Avoid shower curtains if at all possible, as they have a propensity to get mouldy and cling creepily to your skin. If you can’t avoid one, wash it regularly with a couple of old hand towels and half a cup of white vinegar to prevent mildew. 

For more on bathing traditions, our pick of the best bathroom cabinets, towels 101, a word on flannels, the definitive answer on why your skin wrinkles, plus eight extra somethings for the smallest room, turn to page 116 of April's The Simple Things.

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