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Taking Time to Live Well
Photography by Jonathan Cherry
We could hardly stop tapping our feet after we finished reading all about the swing dancers in our December issue. So we’ve put together a playlist of songs that are great to swing dance to.
You can listen to our Swing Dance List here on Spotify, and meet the dancers from page 76 of the December issue, which is on sale now.
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Photography by Kym Grimshaw
Inspired by the clove-studded oranges traditionally used to decorate homes at Christmas – move over Bucks Fizz!
Serves 6
5 oranges or clementines
Cloves
Bottle of cava
1 Juice 4 of the oranges/clementines.
2 Cut the final orange/clementine into 6 segments and stud each one with 2 cloves. 3 Divide the juice between 6 glasses, add a clove-studded slice and top with cava.
This tipple idea is from our feature ‘How the Brunch Stole Christmas’ from our December issue, by Lottie Storey, with photography by Kym Grimshaw. It includes lots of ideas for a festive brunch with friends or family, including Parsnip Rosti with Fried Eggs & English muffins, Panettone French Toast with Bacon & Maple Syrup, Cinnamon & Cranberry Rolls and Mince Pie Breakfast Pots.
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A great way to reuse wrapping or parcel paper that maybe isn’t in the best condition. Painting the paper makes them stand out, so choose any colours that take your fancy.
You will need:
Scissors
Recycled paper
Watercolour paints
Sponge
Needle and thread
Glue stick
How to make
1 Cut a strip of paper with a width around the size you’d like the decoration to be. Make the length 2–3 times as long as the width.
2 Paint the paper with watercolours using a sponge. Pick two or three shades and create an abstract pattern – it doesn’t matter if it’s messy as the folds will hide any imperfections. Allow to dry.
3 At one end, fold over a strip around 2cm wide. Turn the paper and fold again, creating a concertina effect. (A bit of advice for making a concertina is to double the length of the first fold, then fold it back towards you halfway.)
4 Fold the paper in half and cut the unfolded edge to a point.
5 Using a needle and thread, sew the middle fold together and secure. Then glue the ends together, open out the star and glue the two other two ends.
6 Sew a second piece of thread and tie in a knot to create a loop to hang the decoration wherever you like – on the tree or in a window works well.
From Festive by Francesca Stone (Pop Press). Photography: Francesca Stone
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Photography by Kirstie Young
A veggie centrepiece to knock their socks off. This moreish main course uses seasonal root veg in a comforting cheese sauce with a Marmitey twist.
Serves 3-4
You will need
250g King Edwards potatoes
200g celeriac, peeled weight
200g carrots, peeled weight
250g parsnips, peeled weight
325g pack ready-rolled all-butter puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
For the sauce:
30g butter
2 tbsp plain flour
350ml whole milk
100g cheddar, grated
1-2 tsp Marmite (depending on if your guests are lovers or haters)
1 Peel the potatoes, celeriac, carrots and parsnips and cut into 1cm cubes. Put in a pan of cold, salted water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 mins, drain and steam-dry in a colander.
2 Meanwhile, make the sauce. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a low heat. Add the flour and give everything a gentle stir for a couple of minutes so the flour has a chance to cook. Next, gradually add the milk, stirring as you do, to make a thick sauce. Let it bubble for a minute, then stir in the cheddar and Marmite, some more salt and a turn of pepper. Gently stir in the root veg. Tip the mixture into a heatproof bowl and leave it to cool – and it’s important that the filling is cooled, otherwise it will melt the pastry.
3 Preheat the oven to 210C/Fan 190C/Gas 6-7. Cut two circles out of the puff pastry sheet – one around 18cm in diameter and the other a couple of centimetres bigger. Place the smaller pastry circle on a lined baking sheet. Pile the cooled filling in the middle in a dome shape, leaving a little bare rim of pastry around the outside.
4 Place the larger pastry circle on top of the filling and use a little water to glue the top sheet to the pastry border on the bottom sheet. Press the seams together with a fork, score a spiral shape in the top of the pastry, but don’t cut right through, and poke a little steam hole in the top. Brush the pie with beaten egg and bake for 25-30 mins, or until golden brown and crisp
This root veg pie is just one of the recipe from our December Veg Patch Pantry, in which Kathy Slack serves up ideas for growing, harvesting and eating with the seasons. This month’s pages also have recipes for Cumin Roast Root Veg Salad, Celeriac Gnocchi with Hazelnuts & Parmesan, Root Veg Gratin and a Root Veg Remoulade. Photography is by Kirstie Young.
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A few things to see this month, and a folk tale to read, too
December’s evergreens bring a feeling of hope in an otherwise frozen landscape. It’s no wonder stories have been written around the evergreens for centuries.
Legend has it that evergreens don’t lose their leaves as a reward for their kindness one winter, long ago. Folklore tells that as the birds flew south for winter, one bird broke her wing. With snow falling, she asked the trees for help. The birch, oak and willow refused, however, the spruce offered to let her shelter on its warmest branch, the pine offered to protect her from the north wind, and the juniper offered berries to eat. By spring, she’d healed and rejoined her friends. Having heard what happened, the Frost King told the north wind it must never touch one leaf of the spruce, pine or juniper trees, but should strip the oaks, beeches and willows bare for their unkindness. And that is what happens each winter to this day.
This folk tale was featured on our Almanac Pages, where each month we collate a few seasonal things to note and notice, plan and do. The nature table image above was taken by Alice Tatham of The Wildwood Moth who takes a photograph for our back cover each month, featuring things to appreciate in nature. She also runs workshops on seasonal photography and publishes seasonal journal stories from her home in Dorset.
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Photography by Catherine Frawley
With the crumbliest of pastry, these are ideal for impromptu callers, or just a quiet five minutes alone. Ginger just adds a little surprise to a Christmas classic.
Makes 12
200g butter, diced and chilled (plus extra to grease)
300g plain flour
75g golden caster sugar
1 tbsp ground ginger
Gingerbread mince pies
1 egg, beaten
For the filling:
3 pieces of stem ginger, chopped
250g mincemeat
To make
1 Preheat the oven to 200C/Fan 180C/Gas 6. Meanwhile, grease a 12-hole cupcake tin with butter.
2 Make the filling by mixing the stem ginger and the mincemeat. Set aside.
3 In a large bowl, add the butter and flour and, using the tips of your fingers, rub together until you have a fine breadcrumb consistency.
4 Add the sugar, ginger and a pinch of salt, and combine as much as possible. Roll a walnut-sized amount of pastry into a ball, flatten and push into each cupcake hole. Generously fill the pies with the mincemeat mixture, then top the pies by rolling smaller balls, flattening them and covering the mincemeat, or cut out shapes to top your pies if you’d prefer.
5 Glaze with the beaten egg and bake for 10-12 mins, or until the pastry is golden. Allow to cool in the tin for 5 mins before transferring to a wire rack. Enjoy them hot or cold. Cook’s note: If you’ve had enough ginger for one Christmas, you can leave it out of the dough or replace it with the same quantity of cinnamon. You could also mix the mincemeat with 2 tbsp of chopped morello cherries or nuts.
You’ll find more recipes using ginger in our feature Sugar and Spice in our December issue. It includes ideas for a Gingerbread House, Stem Ginger Shortbread, Chocolate, Orange and Ginger Babka, and a Cider, Rum and Ginger Beer Cocktail.
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We asked you to share your Christmas favourites and we made them into a playlist. Take a listen here. Find yourself a mince pie, sit back and enjoy.
If you want more Christmas tunes, you can listen to some of our previous playlists here, here and here.
Enter for your chance to win a Lake District shepherd hut break, where you can immerse yourself in nature while enjoying the very best of home comforts
A new year is on the horizon, and with it there’s a blank canvas of fun and adventures to be had. If one of those plans is to enjoy more down time, relaxing in the best surrounds that nature has to offer, then Another Place, The Lake might just fit the bill. Set in 18 acres of Lake District National Park, this contemporary hotel has a private shore and views of Ullswater and the fells.
For the active, there’s open-water swimming, sailing, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, cycling and walking, while those seeking a quieter pace of life can switch off at Swim Club – the hotel’s indoor pool and treatment rooms – or they can reconnect with nature at one of the many gathering spots found around the grounds. To top it all off, Another Place’s chefs are serving up the finest food and drink that Cumbria has to offer.
In addition to the spacious hotel rooms and the impressive architect-designed treehouse, there are six cosy and inviting Blackdown shepherd huts within the landscaped grounds, all making the most of the mesmerising views. As night falls, guests can cosy up around their firepit to watch the stars – a pastime that can be continued long after it’s time to retreat indoors, thanks to the stargazing roof positioned over the double bed.
If this sounds like your cup of tea, then Blackdown Shepherd Huts and Another Place, The Lake have joined forces to offer one lucky reader of The Simple Things a one-night Bed and Breakfast shepherd hut stay, worth up to £600. So the best of luck and you could soon be snuggling up under the covers watching the best twinkling light show that nature has to offer. Winter breaks don’t get much better than this.
For your chance to win a shepherd hut stay at Another Place, The Lake, enter our competition by clicking the button below and answering the following question by the closing date of 10 January 2024.
Q: Another Place looks out over which lake?
For more information and inspiration, visit blackdownshepherdhuts.co.uk, or follow at: @blackdownshepherdhuts; or see another.place, @anotherplacehotels.
The comp closes at 11.59pm on 10 Jan 2024. One winner selected at random from all correct entries received and notified soon after. Excluding school holidays and subject to availability. The winner cannot transfer the prize or swap it for cash. Details of our full terms and conditions are on p125 and online at icebergpress.co.uk/comprules.
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.
