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Taking Time to Live Well
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Illustration: Joe Snow
Seed tapes – biodegradable strips with the seeds spaced at regular intervals – make planting a little easier. Simply bury the tape rather than faffing with fiddly individual seeds. Make your own and put aside for planting later.
YOU WILL NEED:
biodegradable unbleached loo roll
3 tbsp unbleached flour
1.5 tbsp water
toothpick
small spoon
pen
ruler
seeds
1 Pull off a few lengths of the loo roll.
2 Fold in half length-wise to create a fold line. Unfold.
3 Mix flour and water into a paste.
4 Dip the toothpick into the glue paste, before dabbing onto a seed.
5 Place the seeds into the middle of the paper on the fold, spaced per the packet instructions.
6 Once all seeds are in place, paste along the paper edge with the spoon, before refolding to seal.
7 Roll up, then store somewhere cool and dry in a sealed container. To plant, prepare the soil, according to packet instructions, and unfurl the tape. Cover over with soil and give it a good water.
Illustration: Joe Snow
Here’s how to knuckle down, focus and really get the job... ooh look, a badger!
Everyone is prone to a spot (or several hours) of procrastination. While there’s no magic fix, these strategies may help you tackle it. Start: the bigger the task, the more likely we’ll procrastinate. Just making a start makes stress levels fall. Break the task into small ones to tick off as you go.
Remove distractions: browser plug-ins such as StayFocusd can block distracting internet sites. Try working on your task in dedicated chunks. The ‘Pomodoro Technique’ advises doing one thing only for 25 minutes before a break.
Be answerable: procrastination increases with self-imposed deadlines, so ask your boss/a friend to give you one. Failing that, website stickK lets you set yourself a goal – if you fail, a pre-pledged amount of money is donated to something you don’t like. It claims to increase success by up to three times.
Forgive and forget: studies show people who forgive themselves for procrastinating go on to do it less. To lurk on Facebook for 37 minutes is human; to forgive – divine!
Photography: Kym Grimshaw
Everyday veg get a fiery makeover fit for a feast. This tangy recipe works with broccoli, cauliflower or any other brassicas you care to dress
Serves 6
Pinch of saffron
1⁄2 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 heaped tsp dried oregano
1⁄2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (a mixture of black and white if you can get both)
1kg brassicas (such as broccoli and romanesco cauliflower)
Olive oil
250g Greek yogurt
2 tbsp tahini
Juice of 1 lemon
1⁄2 garlic clove
1⁄4 tsp sumac
1 Preheat oven to 200C/Fan 180C/ 400F. Place the saffron in a small bowl or teacup and cover with 2 tbsp of just-boiled water. Give it a stir, then leave to one side.
2 Using a pestle and mortar, bash together the chilli flakes, oregano, sesame seeds and 1 tsp of sea salt until you have a finer-textured salt.
3 Slice your veg up into a mixture of florets and slices, including the stalks, so that they are evenly sized, and spread them over a couple of roasting trays. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle all over with flavoured salt. Toss everything together, then spread out into one layer.
4 Pop into the oven for 25–30 mins, and roast until the veg are just cooked through but lovely and charred at the edges.
5 While the brassicas are in the oven, make the yogurt dressing. Spoon the yogurt and tahini into a mixing bowl and squeeze in the lemon juice; mix until smooth. Peel and finely grate in the garlic and season well. The saffron water should now be cool, and a vibrant gold colour. Pour the liquid – saffron threads and all – into the yogurt, and stir it through.
6 Spread the yogurt on your serving platter and, when the veg are ready, arrange them on top. Finish by sprinkling over the sumac, and serve. This is delicious served at room temperature, too, making it a great get-ahead side dish.
Turn to page 24 of March's The Simple Things for more from our Cookbook Club Gathering, including recipes for Herby puy lentils, greens and smoked mackerel, Roast harissa butter chicken with cracked wheat, Creamy rice pudding with sherry and rosemary poached prunes and Special mint tea. Recipes from Stirring Slowly by Georgina Hayden (Square Peg).
See, do, stay, love the UK. This month: SarahLou Francis stays in a farmhouse nestled in Devon's coastal hills
Our regular travel series comes from online UK travel guide This is Your Kingdom, whose handpicked contributors explore favourite places, special finds and great goings on.
You can read about one we love each month in The Simple Things – turn to page 60 of the March issue for more of this seaside adventure – and plenty of others at thisisyourkingdom.co.uk.
Sarah-Lou Francis specialises in storytelling photography (sarahloufrancis.com). She’s on Instagram @lapinblu, and also contributes to This is Your Kingdom.
Getty Images
The pinafore dress is just right for this time of year when there is still a nip in the air and the threat of chilliness is afoot.
Its bib provides an additional layer, like an external vest, under which garments of varying thickness can be worn. Try it with a T-shirt, a polo neck jumper, a blouse – they all work. Plus you can throw an additional layer of cardigan or jacket over the lot for extra warmth if required. It is what the fashion press would call a ‘transitional garment’, and who are we to argue with that?
Turn to page 22 of March's The Simple Things for more on this classic look.
Getty Images
The census, taken on a spring night every decade since 1801, is a record of both everyday sexism and the emancipation of women
When the idea of a national census was first championed in Britain, it was argued that, “the intimate knowledge of any country must form the rational basis of legislation and diplomacy”. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t always so “rational”, especially when it came to the female proportion of the population. Each decade’s census gives us a – sometimes unintentional – glimpse into society’s attitudes towards women.
In 1811, the second time the census was taken, households were asked to give only their chief source of income. In most cases, this this overlooked the contribution of women who, while likely not the primary earner, frequently did odd jobs, such as selling handicrafts, that kept the family from the breadline. Twenty years later, it changed so only adult male employment was registered, with the exception of the 670,491 female servants in England, Scotland and Wales, once again completely ignoring the long hours put in by women.
Turn to page 76 of March's The Simple Things for more.
Photograph: Alexander Dummer/Unsplash
Training a dog for most of us never goes much beyond ‘sit’ and ‘stay’, so how wonderful it would be to have a dog that can obediently fly over jumps and dart through tunnels. Dog agility is basically an obstacle course for dogs and a test of the handler’s ability. Agility pros claim most dogs naturally love it and it is a fun and friendly way to keep you and your dog fit.
To see if you can teach an old dog new tricks, try it out first in your garden: it is as simple as setting up some (low) jumps with garden canes and buckets and bringing out a bag of dog treats. Entice your pet over and pretty soon they’ll get the idea and jump without even being asked just to get the tasty treat over the other side.
You don’t even need your own dog – schemes like borrowmydoggy.com will loan you one to exercise. Puppies and young dogs that aren’t fully grown can’t do agility, so it’s a good way to bond and train with older or rescue dogs (top agility dogs peak aged 4–6).
It’s easier than you think to get started – there are hundreds of groups and clubs around the country, not all of which involve competing, if that’s not your thing. But if the bug (as opposed to the dog) bites, then there are plenty of competitions to choose from, at every level. Breed doesn’t matter a jot, but if you do take it seriously, you probably need a border collie – they nearly always win!
See how it’s done at Crufts (9–12 March at The NEC Birmingham and on Channel 4 and More 4; crufts.org.uk).
Photography: Hugh Johnson
The days are getting longer, hens are laying again, and suddenly getting up and preparing a special breakfast on a weekend doesn’t feel like an effort, more a pleasure. There’s something very satisfying about a savoury breakfast, but of course these little bowls of goodness would be equally suited to the lunch or dinner table.
MAKES FOUR BOWLS
300g undyed smoked haddock
570ml full-fat whole milk
60g butter
1 onion, finely diced
2 tsp light curry powder, plus extra
to garnish
60g plain flour
200g basmati rice*
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 eggs, softly boiled for 7 mins, peeled
Small bunch coriander, roughly chopped
1 Gently poach the haddock in the milk for 8 mins. Remove the haddock, reserving the milk. Cover and set aside.
2 Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the onion and curry powder and cook gently with a little salt until the onion is soft.
3 Add the flour and cook briefly to form a roux. With the pan off the heat, add one ladleful of the warm poaching milk to the roux, stirring constantly. Return the pan to a gentle heat and continue to add the milk gradually, stirring all the time. Once the milk has been incorporated, leave to simmer for 5 mins.
4 Meanwhile, cook the rice in a steamer or in boiling water, then drain. Season to taste. 5 To serve, spoon the rice into four bowls. Halve the boiled eggs and place each half in a bowl. Spoon the sauce and flaked smoked haddock into the centre and garnish with chopped coriander and a sprinkling of curry powder.
Recipe from Spoon by Annie Morris and Jonny Shimmin (Hardie Grant).
Photography: Kirstie Young
In a new series, Lia Leendertz picks herbs from her garden to cook in her kitchen. Could it be simpler? To begin, try these unusual ways with herbs:
Turn to page 33 of March’s The Simple Things for more advice on what to grow and where.
Photography: Maja Smend
A classic lemon meringue pie is a joy. Zingy lemon curd sitting inside a buttery, crumbly pastry case, all covered with a blanket of fluffy, white meringue. This recipe is from Jasper, courtesy of his mum, Julia.
Serves 4–6
FOR THE PASTRY
225g plain flour
1⁄2 tbsp caster sugar
170g butter, chilled and diced
1 egg yolk, beaten with 2 tbsp water
FOR THE LEMON CURD
110g butter
170g caster sugar
Finely grated zest and juice of 2 lemons
3 eggs, beaten
FOR THE MERINGUE
3 egg whites
150g caster sugar
1 To make the pastry, place flour and sugar in a bowl and rub in the cold butter until it looks like breadcrumbs.
2 Add half the beaten egg yolk and water and bring pastry together with your hands. Add a little more water if it needs it. Don’t knead, but shape into a round, 2cm thick. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge for 30 mins or up to 24 hours. You can also make the pastry in a food processor. If you have any egg wash left, reserve it for brushing over the pastry after the blind baking. Preheat oven to 180C/Fan 160C/350F).
3 Take a 23cm metal tart tin with removable sides. Put pastry between 2 sheets (larger than your tart tin) of cling film. Using a rolling pin, roll it out until it is 3mm thick. Make sure to keep it round, and large enough
to line the base and sides of the tin.
4 Removing just the top layer of cling film, place the pastry upside down (cling film side up) into the tart tin (no need to flour or grease the tin). Press the pastry into the edges, cling film still attached and, using your thumb, ‘cut’ the pastry on the edge of the tin. It should look quite neat. If there are any holes or gaps, patch with some spare pastry. Remove the cling film and chill the pastry case in the fridge for 15 mins or the freezer for 5 mins.
5 Bake blind by lining the pastry with baking parchment, fill with baking beans or dried pulses and bake for 20–25 mins in the oven until the pastry feels just dry to the touch on the base. Remove the paper and beans, brush with a little egg yolk and water and return to oven for 3 mins. Again, if there are any little holes or cracks in the pastry, just patch it up with any leftover raw pastry as the filling will leak out of these in the oven if not patched up. Once the pastry is baked blind, take out of the oven and set aside in the tin to cool. This can be easily made a day in advance and covered until you need it. Leave the oven on at the same temperature.
6 To make the lemon curd, over a very low heat melt the butter with the sugar, lemon zest and strained juice. Add the beaten eggs and stir carefully over a low heat until the mixture has thickened and will coat the back of a spoon, holding the mark that your finger makes when you draw a line through it. Take off the heat and pour into a bowl to cool. Scoop the cooled lemon curd into the cooled pastry shell and set aside.
7 For the meringue, put the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl and, using an electric whisk, beat until they hold stiff peaks. Next, add 1 tbsp of the sugar and continue to whisk until stiff, then fold in the remaining sugar. Spread the meringue over the lemon curd to fill the tart tin, using the back of a spoon to lift up little snowy meringue peaks all over the top.
8 Place the pie in the oven and bake for 10 mins until deep golden on top. Remove from oven and leave to stand for 5 mins before transferring from the tin to a serving plate.
Taken from Recipes from My Mother by Rachel Allen (Harper Collins)
Illustration: Madalina Andronic
Pomegranate has long been hailed as a promoter of fertility and for having amazing health benefits such as boosting the immune system, preserving youthful vitality and promoting longevity – claims that stand up to modern research*.
Enjoy this tangy recipe as an energising breakfast blend or add a splash of vodka or rum for cocktails.
1 x 500ml bottle pure pomegranate juice
Juice of 2 limes
Juice of 1 orange
2 tsp finely minced ginger
Lime or orange slices for garnish (optional)
To make
Combine all the ingredient except the garnish in a small glass or plastic storage container and chill in the fridge for at least two hours to allow the zippy flavour of the ginger to infuse the juices.
To serve
Decide whether you want to strain out the ginger. If you leave it in, just chew it as you enjoy the drink – it freshens breath and aids digestion, too.
Shake the punch well and pour into chilled glasses with or without ice.
Garnish with citrus slices if you wish.
Recipe from Making Love Potions by Stephanie L Tourles (Storey)
* Pomegranate is a rich source of antioxidants.
Image: Kari Shea/Unsplash
Use the seasonal urge to clean as an opportunity to try living with a little less. Here’s why...
Image: Forage For
Of all the spring-flowering bulbs, the snake’s head fritillary must be the prettiest. Its chequered, bell-shaped flowers are often compared to an Art Nouveau Tiffany lampshade, and you can see why, especially as the yellow stamens resemble filaments.
Seek cut blooms in florists or, if you are especially fortunate, in a damp grassy bit of your very own garden. Cut near the base of the stem and enjoy its delicate, patterned petals and slender leaves – surely the embodiment of fresh spring days.
Go and see them:
One of the most famous meadows is at Magdalen College, Oxford, where fritillaries have been growing since about 1785.
Evening daylight returns this month with a golden hour added to the clock; make it a time to appreciate and wonder a little at the everyday magic of ordinary things. The way the light catches the colour on the wall, a flower bud about to burst open, the shape of a chair and the smell of toast. But you don’t have to sit still to make small discoveries and quiet revelations. Feel the joy of spring energise you into getting outdoors and galvanise you to change the world in small ways. Anything is possible.
Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe
View the sampler here.
Buy back issues, subscribe or try our sister mag, Oh Comely.
Love colour? Love clothes? Have you ever wondered what colours really suit you or what look and style is best for your personality?
Mandy Griffiths of itsmycolour.com is offering one lucky reader a colour consultation at her Essex studio worth £100.
What’s a colour consultation?
Mandy will take you through the theory and impact of colour, help you understand your best colours against your skin tone and eye colour and find the perfect foundation, blusher and lipstick to ensure your whole look works. In addition, you will have some fun practising putting colours and outfits together so you look fantastic and confident! You will get your own personal fan with your seasonal colours and details of your best colours and make-up.
For full terms and conditions visit icebergpress.co.uk/comprules.
You’ll need to enter before the closing date, Wednesday 19 April 2017.
Prize is for a Colour Consultation for one person, subject to availability, and is to be taken by 31 July 2017.
No cash prize alternative will be offered.
Reader offer:
Book an itsmycolour® consultation before 30 June 2017 and you will receive a complimentary scarf, in a perfect shade to suit you. Contact Mandy for your personal consultation by calling 07967399996 or email mandy.griffiths@itsmycolour.com.
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.
