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Taking Time to Live Well
Taken from Be Wild Be Free by Amber Fossey (Harper Collins), artist and mental health expert who instagrams at @zeppelinmoon.
We’ve reached the end of our March ‘Balm’ issue. We hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed making it.
Our April issue will be on shelves (and on your doormat too) if you order directly from us. In the meantime, we hope this gorgeous illustration by Amber Fossey cheers and comforts you a little.
Photograph: Alamy
Fancy a career change and something a little different? Apply within…
Do you have what it takes to keep Simple Things Lighthouse ship hape and Bristol fashion and ensure all ships pass safely around the rocks beneath? If think you fit the person spec below, drop us a line via seagull.
Skills required:
High level of fitness (the commute involves a lot of stairs).
Exceptional eyesight.
A head for heights.
Top notch organisational skills and a tidy mind.
Resourcefulness (particularly with reference to food preparation as deliveries can be sparse).
Experience of exterior decorating (on a large scale) would be helpful.
Must be able to confidently change a lightbulb.
Personality:
Must be capable of working independently.
An enjoyment of one’s own company would be an advantage.
Happy to use one’s own initiative.
Able to find the joy in solitude.
An appreciation of seagulls would be an advantage.
And did we mention the solitude?
Experience:
It’s probably best if you don’t have too much life experience; you’ll only miss it.
Applicants who self-isolated for long periods during lockdown are encouraged to apply.
In return, we can offer a fabulous coastal location, excellent views and plenty of opportunity for self-improvement (with the emphasis on ‘self’). Plenty of time off during daylight hours. While you will be required to work all night shifts, you will have the opportunity to read for pleasure while working the light - just one line at a time.
As you may have noticed, we got just a little overexcited by our ‘Outing’ feature on lighthouses in our March issue. It’s a ripping read, whether you’re a fan of lighthouses, or are yet to discover their charms.
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Photograph: Getty
Forget whether you have jam and then cream or cream and then jam on your scone, the most divisive culinary choices in Britain must be fish and chips.
Here we celebrate the glorious differences between chippies across the nation and discover a few chippy treasures (and a few battered horrors) we didn’t know existed.
What’s your poisson?
There’s a definite north/south divide here: haddock is the most popular choice in the north while cod is the fish of choice in the south. In major cities and chi chi seaside towns, you might find fancier items such as crayfish tails and Dover sole but, try as they might, nothing truly beats simple crunchy fish and fat chips. If you want to branch out a little, there’s always a fish cake to tickle your fancy, and if you’re in Yorkshire, you might be lucky and get a Yorkshire Fish Cake (originally from Sheffield), which is made up of fish sandwiched between two slices of potato, battered; all your fish and chip raw materials in one easy, crunchy parcel.
Chips with everything
Let’s face it, the chips are almost as important as the fish in this illustrious duo, if not more so. Chippy chips (or chipper chips, depending on your location) should be Proper Chips; hunks of potato in various sizes, occasionally with a bit of skin left on. French fries and skinny chips have no place here.
In some areas of Britain they’ve stopped even pretending the chips aren’t the main event, and we admire that. In London, wet chips (with gravy or curry sauce) make up a fine meal in their own right. In the Midlands you might find chips served with gravy and peas or beans, known as a pea mix or a bean mix, and probably two of your five a day. While in the Black Country, orange is the new black and you can buy Orange Chips, which are chips coated in batter and turmeric or paprika and deep fried.
What to put on your chips (or dip your chips in)
Salt and vinegar happens all over the UK but down south it’s pretty much de rigeur and there’s not an awful lot more choice, unless you’re going for ketchup or fancy yourself as continental and have your chips with mayonnaise.
Gravy is found more commonly in the north, though the preponderance of pie shops in London means ‘liquor’ (or gravy to you and me) has made its way onto the capital’s chippy scene, too. Whether you pour the stuff all over your chips or delicately dip is more a matter of class (and whether you’re wearing a dry-clean only top).
Of course, the chip condiment to end all chip condiments must be ‘chippy sauce’ - a mix of vinegar and brown sauce or simply brown sauce and water. If you’re new to this and are offered ‘salt’n’soss’ in a fish and chip shop in the north, that’s what you’re getting. Say ‘yes’!
But ‘things that go on chips’ vary from one area to another. In Newcastle you’ll find Bolognese and chips, in Liverpool Salt and Pepper Chinese Chips, in Cardiff cheese, chips and curry sauce, and in Weymouth, comforting cheese, chips and beans is considered a local speciality.
And what of the best bits… the crispy bits?
The leavings at the bottom of the fryer have long been recognised as being the best bits. Once upon a glorious time, they were free and considered the rightful property of children and teens, who hadn’t the money for a meal but could usually cobble together enough from between the sofa cushions to buy a buttered bun into which kindly fish and chip shop owners would add ‘scraps’. Or if the sofa was ungenerous, you could just have them out of newspaper.
But were they called ‘scraps’ in your home town? In Lincolnshire they’re often ‘bits’, in South Wales, ‘scrumps’. In Yorkshire they’re sometimes ‘scrags’ and in Cornwall they’re ‘screeds’. They’re ‘scratchings’ in Leicestershire but ‘fish bits’ in Scotland. But whatever you called them, we’d like to start a campaign to make them free again.
And while we’re as big a fan of a Marks and Spencer dinner as the next man, on principle we eschew their tubs of M&S Chip Shop Batter Bits. At £1.05, that’s a gentrification too far, we think.
Give peas a chance
Mushy peas are a northern staple but available everywhere and we don’t think you should trust a chippie that doesn’t offer them. Some pea purveyors have gone still further, however.
We’d like to give a metaphorical medal to those chippies on the south coast that are proficient in the alchemy that is making mushy pea fritters. How you envelop something that is essentially liquid in another liquid and get the whole thing into hot oil is beyond our kitchen skillset.
In Nottingham, we’re told they serve mint sauce on their peas, which seems like such a grand idea, we can’t believe we’d not thought of it ourselves.
Pea wet, meanwhile, (the reduced liquid left from cooking dried peas, or simply skimmed off the top of the mushy peas) proliferates in chip shops in Cumrbia, Lancashire, Durham and Yorkshire, and was apparently an acceptable breakfast (with bread) as far back as the 17th century.
And finally...
We must make mention of all the eclectic and surprising non-fish-and-chips items available in various hallowed corners of this sceptred isle, from Cumbrian patties (mince, encased in mash, battered and fried), to rag puddings in Oldham (minced meat and onions wrapped in suet pastry and cooked in a cheesecloth), via faggot and pea batches in Coventry (speaks for itself) to the Wigan kebab (essentially a pie in a buttered barm - you need a big mouth and a big napkin for this one).
And in this category, Wigan emerges as the clear winner, with not only that potato and meat pie sandwich (why have only one carb when you can have three, after all?) but also the fabulously monikered Smack Barm Pey Wet: deep-fried potato with salt and vinegar served in a buttered barm with a drizzling of pea wet. Wigan, we salute you (and pray for your arteries).
Whether you like your haddock and chips with white bread and butter and a cuppa, or your scampi tails accompanied by prosecco and tartare sauce, the diversity of British fish and chips is certainly something to celebrate.
In our March issue we take a look back at takeaways over the years, from oyster stalls on the banks of the Thames to McDonald’s Chicken Katsu nuggets.
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Take a pinch of righteous anger, a sprinkling of political disappointment and a good dollop of marital misery and you can make your very own Kitchen Sink Drama in minutes!
Life has been a little more gritty than usual for most of us recently, and we’ve all spent more time at the kitchen sink than we would in normal times. We’re thinking that before the predicted artistic revolution of ‘roaring 2020s’ arrives, we must surely be due a kitchen sink revival.
With that in mind, we’ve decided to pen a short kitchen sink drama of our own, and we’d love you to join in the fun. Phone a friend of family member with a talent for writing (or just a tendency to the dramatic), choose six items from the following list and build your own kitchen sink drama. Start with a gritty location somewhere in Great Britain, decide on a scenario and build your story around your six items. We’ll take any messages from The Royal Court theatre while you’re busy. Go!
A north of England accent, Salford for preference
An angry young man, preferably wearing a grubby white vest, reading a left-wing tract aggressively
A secret but unwanted pregnancy
A difficult conversation about communism over the dinner table
A youthful and hot-headed idealist with a ‘jolly good sort’ name, such as Helen or Jo
An amiable but awkward lodger
The Sunday papers, strewn messily across the floor
An endless basket of ironing and a utilitarian-looking ironing board that’s seen some action
A cameo featuring a future Labour party MP*
A Raleigh bicycle, leaned rakishly against the set somewhere
If you love a kitchen sink but could have enough of the angry young men, turn to page 112 of our March issue, where we’ve gathered together some of the most covetable kitchen sinks we’ve seen in our My Place feature. The one above belongs to Aisling Kirwan @mylimestonehome.
*It’s true. Hazel Blears did in fact appear as a street urchin in the 1961 film of Shelagh Delany’s A Taste of Honey.
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A good spring clean always gives us a bit of a lift, and making your very own, natural products will add an extra level of satisfaction
This fresh-smelling DIY cream cleanser tackles stubborn shower scum and helps lift rust from stainless steel. It makes around 230g
180g bicarbonate of soda
20 drops lemon essential oil
10 drops eucalyptus essential oil
2 drops tea tree essential oil
3 tbsp pure liquid castile soap, plus more if needed
Equipment: Medium bowl, mixing spoon and an airtight jar
1 In a mixing bowl, combine the bicarbonate of soda and essential oils. While stirring, slowly pour in the castile soap and mix until it becomes a smooth paste.
2 Transfer to a small airtight jar or similar container to store. It can dry out over long periods, if that happens, add a little more castile soap and mix.
To use: Add 1 tsp or more to a clean cloth. Run the cream over the surface to be cleaned, lightly scrubbing until any dirt and grime comes away. Rinse or wipe the surface clean.
This project is taken from Home By Natural Harry: DIY Recipes for a Tox-free, Zero-waste Life by Harriet Birrell (Hardie Grant). Photography: Nikole Ramsay and Ed Sloane. We’ve featured more of the recipes in our March issue, including a glass cleaner and a stain remover.
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Photography: Emma Croman
A lovely, lazy dish for brunch, lunch, or whenever you like…
We’ve all spent more time at home recently. While we’re all dreaming of a weekend away, why not have a ‘weekend away at home’, with fancy food, time to sit over the lunch table and chat and plenty of board games and books. This hot smoked salmon kedgeree is delicious served hot or cold. The brunch dish was first given the royal seal of approval by Queen Victoria, and if it’s good enough for her, it’s good enough for us.
Serves 4
2 tbsp ghee
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp grated ginger
2 bay leaves
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 leek, chopped (white part only)
2 large tomatoes, finely chopped
750g of cooked basmati rice
2 tbsp medium curry powder
Juice of 1 lemon
1½ tsp sea salt flakes (or to taste)
200g cooked hot smoked salmon fillets
2 boiled eggs, cut into quarters
Lemon wedges, fresh coriander and dill to serve
1 Heat the ghee in a large sauté pan or frying pan over a medium heat. Add the garlic, ginger, bay leaves, cumin, fennel and mustard seeds and sauté for a few seconds until the seeds start to crackle and become fragrant.
2 Add the leek and sauté for a further 1-2 mins, or until it starts to soften and caramelise, then add the tomatoes and cook for another 1-2 mins, or until they’re glazed and softened.
3 Add the cooked basmati rice, curry powder, lemon juice and salt and mix well, ensuring that the rice breaks down and all the spices are evenly incorporated throughout.
4 Flake the cooked salmon fillets into the pan and mix thoroughly, taking care not to break up the salmon flakes too much. Reduce the heat, adding a couple of tablespoons of water if it looks a little dry. Cover and cook for a further 2-3 mins, or until the dish is completely warmed through.
5 Spoon onto a platter or serving dish and garnish with the boiled egg quarters, lemon wedges, fresh coriander and dill.
Cook’s note: Use ready-cooked basmati rice to make this recipe super-quick and easy to prepare.
This kedgeree recipe by Lousie Gorrod is part of our Weekend Away at Home feature from our March issue. You can find the rest of the menu, including a garlic dip, rosemary spiced nuts and a triple chocolate cake - as well as lots of ideas for making a weekend away out of a weekend at home - starting on page 48. Photography by Emma Croman.
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Photography: Issy Wilkes
What’s that whispering in the breeze? Could it be elves?
There’s something rather magical about a willow and the way they’ve insinuated themselves into cultures across the globe, waving breezily on the banks of the river in Kenneth Grahame’s stories of the riverbank one moment, and standing beautiful and blue on Willow Pattern plates the next.
Go as far back as ancient Greece and you’ll know that Orpheus was said to have gained his gifts for music and poetry by touching the willow trees in a grove sacred to Persephone. Shakespeare featured willows frequently, too, though by then they were getting rather a bad press, with Viola begging an unrequited love to “make me a willow cabin at your gate”, Ophelia falling to her death from a broken willow branch, and Desdemona having her death foretold by a song about the trees. Shakespeare’s heroines don’t have a great experience with willows, all told.
In Japan ghosts are said to dwell where willows grow, while in British folklore willows are believed to be capable of uprooting themselves and stalking travellers.
But despite this, the trees have also been strong symbols of good fortune and positive magic.
European folklore told that the sound a weeping willow makes in the breeze is the sound of elves whispering. Perhaps they were begging the wood to reveal the secrets of those who have told their innermost thoughts to a willow, to have them bound safe forever in its wood, as the story goes. As any Harry Potter aficionado will tell you, willow makes for the most magical of wands (and the strongest of broomsticks - well, if it’s good enough for cricket bats…)
Meanwhile, Native Americans tied willow branches to their boats in order to protect them in a storm. And if all that is not protection enough for you, folklore tells that if you knock on the trunk of a willow it will disappear your bad luck for you, which is where the superstition of knocking on wood was born.
Superstition aside, willow bark has been used for thousands of years both as a pain killer and an anti-inflammatory. The Native Americans sometimes referred to it as the Toothache Tree. They were likely onto something there, as willow bark contains salicin, a natural form of aspirin. Magic indeed, when your wisdom teeth are giving you trouble and knocking on wood has done you no good.
In our March issue, we meet some real people who perform magic with willows; the mother-daughter team at Willow With Roots willowwithroots.co.uk/, who weave their homegrown willow into everything from lampshades and magic wands to sculptures and garden hideaways. Now, if they’d like to make us a willow cabin at anyone’s gate, we’d probably be happy to forget all about unrequited love. Read more on page 60.
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A new idea to help use your early spring veg box well
Traditionally known as the ‘hungry gap’, early spring is the time of year when home-grown seasonal veg is harder to come by as winter veg comes to the end of its run but many spring varieties are yet to arrive. This may mean your weekly veg box feels like it is lacking excitement, but with a few new recipes ,there’s always a way to liven up a leek!
You could easily transform this crispyon-the-bottom, fluffy on the top flatbread into a pizza but, equally, the dough with more modest toppings is more akin to an Indian naan bread or a Persian bread made for dunking into dips. Whichever way you go, it’s delicious and a brilliant staple.
Makes 6-8
7g dried yeast or 150g active sourdough starter
4 tbsp lukewarm water
500g strong white flour
Sea salt, plus extra for topping 225ml cool water
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for kneading and glossing
2 leeks, thinly sliced
A handful of thyme, leaves only (you can infuse the stalks in vinegar with garlic skins for a fantastically tasty garlic and thyme vinegar)
A crumbling of goat’s cheese, blue cheese, mozzarella or grated cheddar (optional)
1 Tip the yeast into a large mixing bowl and whisk in the warm water until frothy; if using a sourdough starter, simply mix in the warm water. Add the flour, a pinch of salt and cool water. Leek and thyme flatbreads
2 Use your hands or a spoon to bring the dough together. Add the oil and knead the dough for 5-10 mins, or until smooth and stretchy. Add a little more oil as you knead to keep it moist and prevent it from sticking.
3 Put the dough in a clean bowl. Cover with a plate, a lid, or clingfilm and set in a warm place for about 30 mins, or until it has doubled in size. If you’ve used sourdough in place of yeast, it will need longer to rise – at least 2 hrs or overnight.
4 Once the dough has risen, heat your oven grill to high and warm a large frying pan over a high heat.
5 Roll out pinches of dough (roughly golf-ball size) on a floured surface. Roll them thin for crispy flatbreads or about 2cm thick for fluffier (more naan-style flatbreads). Thicker flatbreads keep better.
6 Put the dough on the hot, dry pan. Drizzle a little oil on top, then add the chopped leeks, thyme and cheese, if you’re using it. Add a finishing gloss of oil and season with salt and pepper.
7 Once the bottoms are firm and look like they’ve been in a tandoor oven, remove from the pan and put them under the grill. Cook until golden on top. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Cook’s note: The dough will keep in the fridge for a week. It also freezes beautifully if you want to make it ahead of time or have any left over.
This recipe is just one of the ideas from our Veg Box Suppers feature by Rachel de Thample with photography by Ali Allen, which also includes creamed kale, coconut, cardamon and beetroot soup, rhubarb frangipane tart and an array of veg box pickles.
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We hope you might find something here you’d like to do (but no pressure)
At The Simple Things, we’re all about finding the small pleasures in life and making the most of them.. Every month, we put together a ‘could-do list’ (because we don’t believe in ‘to-do lists’) of things y ou might like to do, see or think about. Feel free to choose on or two, do them all (though probably not all at once) or just read and enjoy the idea of doing them. Sometimes just thinking about things you could do is the most fun of all.
Whatever you do, or don’t do, have a very happy March!
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In our new series for Miscellany, we answer the green questions you were too afraid – or too confused – to ask. This month: is digital working really greener than paper?
This answer may at first seem obvious but it’s worth remembering digital documents are not carbon neutral. By 2040, if current trends continue, storing our digital data will account for around14% of global emissions – the equivalent CO2 impact of the entire US today. So, while cutting out unnecessary use of paper is a good idea, a virtual declutter will also reduce the environmental impact of your work day:
• Make the effort to regularly look at what you’re storing digitally, deleting documents you no longer need.
• Many internet activities can be made greener: switch to an eco-friendly search engine that carbon-offsets the emissions from searches (such as by planting trees), and don’t leave music or videos playing on your computer.
• Change your email habits. A 2019 study concluded that if each person in the UK sent one less email a day, national COÇ emissions would be reduced by just over 16,333 tonnes.
• When you use paper, take time to figure out those printer settings so you can print doublesided and in black and white as a default, use scrap paper for notes and lists, and make sure you recycle everything
The answers to our eco-dilemmas are taken from Is It Really Green? by Georgina Wilson Powell (published by DK)
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This playlist is compiled by Norwegian reader Katrine Wang. The direct translation of ‘vårdrypp’ is spring (vår) drip (drypp), meaning “the dripping from the roofs when snow is melting in spring.” This melting begins in March across Norway.
Stop, look and listen here.
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Beautiful, thoughtfully produced pieces to bring colour to your wardrobe
With the new season comes new hope and energy – and that’s precisely what Gudrun Sjödén has captured in her Spring 2021 collection. Described as a love letter to nature, it features the rich palette that Gudrun encounters on her outings into the Swedish countryside, including jewel-like blues and greens complemented by spicy reds and yellows, all with her striking patterns and embroidered details, themselves inspired by traditional folk art.
As well as pouring her heart into each collection, creating clothes that will be cherished by several generations for many years to come, Gudrun is mindful to produce pieces that are kind to the planet, too. The company works hard to minimise its carbon footprint in all areas from design to production and freight and it supports its manufacturers to help them become as eco-friendly as possible – such as helping to create an organically certified production line and establishing water recycling systems. In fact, this season’s collection features digital printing, which uses a minimum of water, while still producing beautifully vivid colours. For more information, visit gudrunsjoden.com
We have two prizes of £200 to spend at the online store…
For your chance to win one of two £200 vouchers to spend in store or online at Gudrun Sjödén, simply click the button below and answer the question: The countryside of which country inspires Gudrun’s lines?
This competition closes at 11.59pm on 7 April 2021. Two winners will be selected at random from all the correct entries received and notified soon after. The winner cannot transfer the prize or swap for cash. Details of our full terms are on p.127 and online at icebergpress.co.uk/comprules.
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We celebrate slowing down, enjoying what you have, making the most of where you live, enjoying the company of of friends and family, and feeding them well. We like to grow some of our own vegetables, visit local markets, rummage for vintage finds, and decorate our home with the plunder. We love being outdoors and enjoy the satisfaction that comes with a job well done.
