How to | Make a Could-Do List Happen

Apparently only one in ten of us sticks to our New Year’s Resolutions, although here at The Simple Things, we favour Could-Do Lists rather than strict rules and ideas that work at any time of year, rather than piling the pressure on all on one day.

These tips will improve your odds of making your could-do list happen… whenever you choose to do so…

1 Resolve to make a change that you want. Success is more likely when driven by internal, rather than external forces.
2 Focus on one thing. Scientists have shown that willpower requires energy. Channel it well.
3 Be specific about what you want to achieve, when and how. You’re more likely to succeed than if starting with a vague plan.
4 Tell those around you. In a study, more than 70% who sent weekly updates on their goal to a friend reported success (compared to 35% of those striving alone).
 

And here are a few ideas for things you might want to add to your 2025 Could-Do List…

• Mix a great martini 

• Book a trip somewhere on your bucket list

• Read a book by an author you’re unfamiliar with

• Spend a day wildlife-watching… birds, badgers.. it’s up to you

• Have a small party for no reason at all

• Spend time outdoors every day

• Learn a new craft

• Get a penfriend or strike up a correspondence with an old friend

• Go on a ‘pilgrimage’ to somewhere meaningful for you

• Use local ingredients to make a local recipe

• Watch a film in the open air or at a drive-through

• Keep a diary for a month and keep the habit if you enjoy it

This blog was first published in December 2018. You’ll find a Could-Do list in every issue of The Simple Things. Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

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Recipe | Roasted Brussels sprouts with nuts, lemon & pomegranate

The most traditional of side dishes gets a vibrant makeover

The best sprout dishes balance any bitterness in the leaves – in this case with tangy lemon and pomegranate and earthy, toasted hazelnuts.

Serves 8
1kg Brussels sprouts, halved
Olive oil
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 handfuls hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
Seeds from 1 pomegranate

1 Preheat oven to 200C/Fan 180C/ 400F. Put the Brussels sprouts in a single layer in a roasting pan; toss with a couple of glugs of oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until they soften and begin to turn a light golden brown – about 30 mins, but check and toss after 20.
2 Transfer the sprouts to a large bowl and toss through the lemon juice and zest. Scatter with the pomegranate seeds and hazelnuts. Season with salt, as needed, and serve.

Find more festive feasts in our December issue, which is on sale now.

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Recipe | Fruit and nut chocolate discs

These eye-catching chocolates work with any mix of nuts and dried fruit that takes your fancy. Just the thing with coffee after dinner, or parcelled up as a gift. If you’ve neglected to buy a present for someone you’re seen in the Betwixtmas period, a bag of these would certainly be very welcome - and they’re a great way to use up the mountain of Christmas chocolate, too.

Makes 12 discs
150g dark or milk chocolate
Handful of pistachio nuts, crushed (place in a bag and crush with a rolling pin)
12 pecans
12 yellow raisins
Handful of cranberries

1 Melt the chocolate in a pan, or in the microwave in a glass bowl – 30 seconds at a time, to avoid burning the chocolate.
2 Line a cupcake tin with cupcake cases. Add a teaspoon of melted chocolate to each case, swirl with the back of the spoon to spread evenly. Add a generous sprinkle of crushed pistachios to each. Place one pecan and yellow raisin per disc and 2–3 cranberries.
3 Place in the fridge to set; they should be ready in 15–20 mins. When ready to serve, remove the discs from the cases. 

This recipe was originally published in our December 2017 issue.

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Christmas | Why do we kiss under the mistletoe?

This is still a matter for Christmas debate – up there with what is the best/worst Quality Street.

Some link it to the Norse tale of the goddess of love, Frigge: mistletoe’s berries are said to be the tears she cried for her son; others say it’s a symbol of fertility, thanks to its seasonal rigour.

Either way, kissing under it seems to have started in the 18th century in Britain, reached mass popularity in the 19th and has provided fodder for sitcom and soap storylines for as long as there has been Christmas TV.

This blog was first published in the December 2017 issue of The Simple Things.

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Christmas | Clementine and sage posset

Posset is a beautiful creamy dessert that is ridiculously easy to make, and here its richness is tempered by the addition of the sage

This refreshing dessert will perk up a leftovers lunch for friends and use up and double cream and clementines left over from Christmas.

Serves 6
600ml double cream
200g caster sugar
8 sage leaves
Zest and juice of 3 clementines
3 peeled and sliced clementines, to serve

you will need
6 small glasses or ramekins

1 Heat the double cream, sugar and sage leaves together over a low heat, stirring until all of the sugar grains have dissolved. Bring to a gentle simmer for 1 min, then remove from the heat and fish out the sage leaves. 
2 Add the zest and juice to the cream mixture and stir well, then divide the mixture between the glasses. Leave to chill for several hours (you can make this a day before and keep it in the fridge).
3 Serve with the sliced clementines, topped with chopped sage and a little honey.

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Growing old is inevitable but growing up is optional

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Seasonal tonic

Make a batch of these immune-boosting shots to prevent a cold from ruining your Christmas

Opt for fresh, organic produce to maximise benefits – and if one ingredient is unavailable, just double up one of the others.

Makes 6 x 50ml shots
2 tbsp chopped garlic
2 tbsp chopped onion
2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp grated horseradish root
2 tbsp chopped cayenne pepper (or any other chilli)
350ml raw apple cider vinegar

1 Pile the garlic, onion, ginger, horseradish and pepper into a 350ml lidded sterilised jar. (To sterilise, wash it in hot soapy water, dry with a clean cloth, then place in a 200C/Fan 180C/ 400F oven for 10 mins.)
Fill the jar with raw apple cider vinegar, close the lid tightly and shake.
2 Store in a cool, dark place, shaking at least once a day for two weeks.
3 Filter the tonic through a clean piece of muslin, pour into a sterilised bottle. Take a 50ml shot three times a day (on an empty stomach) as soon as you feel the symptoms of a cold. It will keep at room temperature for up to six months.

Recipe from Tonics & Teas by Rachel de Thample (Kyle Books)

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Christmas hacks | Style up shop-bought stuffing

Style up shop-bought stuffing for an extra special side dish this Christmas

1. Heat a couple of tablespoons olive oil in a frying pan.
2. Add a chopped onion and stir until softened.
3. Add stock and bring to the boil (you’ll need roughly three-quarters stock to stuffing mix quantity).
4. Take off heat and add to stuffing mix.
5. Stir in a few tablespoons of herbs of your choice, such as parsley or rosemary.
6. Spoon out the mixture into a shallow tin and cook for 20 mins with foil on, and another 10 without it.

The December issue features a cracker of a Miscellany Christmas special (page 99), packed with puzzles, games, stocking fillers, bad jokes, amazing facts and forgotten wisdom, including:

• Mix a great martini 

• Secret Santa gifts

• Make sweet frumenty 

• Christmas i-spy

• How to carve turkey 

• Fizzy amaretto sours 

• Make invisible ink

• Froebel stars

• Wrapping awkward gifts 

• Beat the family at games

• The Simple Things’ sprouts & crackers board game

• Identifier: Bestseller toys 

• Bah humbug word search

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Christmas | How to be grateful

Being grateful is about more than the occasional thanks. It’s an attitude that helps you feel contented in even the most challenging of times 

As gratitude has become more mainstream, the ways to practise it have become more varied. Writing down gratitudes is crucial, as the act of putting pen to paper fixes the gratitude more firmly in your long-term memory rather than simply thinking or saying it, and regular practice is where the benefits lie.

TOOLS FOR THE JOB

Write in a journal
If you like any excuse for new stationery there are a several gratitude journals. Try the Year Long Gratitude Journal (thegreengables.co.uk), The Daily Greatness Journal (dailygreatness.co.uk), a planner that helps you to organise your entire life and features gratitude prompts. Or Be Great Be Grateful, by Anna Murray and Grace Winteringham of design studio, Patternity, is a journal which encourages you to see the unseen in everyday life.

Send a letter
Robert Emmons found that writing letters expressing how thankful you are had a strong positive impact not only on the writer but also the person receiving the letter.
The Personalised Letters of Gratitude to Mum envelope book (andsotheymade.co.uk) makes a great gift. Little Notes of Gratitude Notecard Set (wearebreadandjam.co.uk) contains appreciative messages as well as space to add your own.

Do it digitally
What’s Good is a daily gratitude app that tracks your happiness over time and has a calming breath animation. Then there’s the Happijar app, a virtual jar where you store happy memories, ready to shake up, tip out and revisit on your phone, whenever you need a lift.

Take a snap
If writing it down doesn’t appeal, take pictures of things you’re grateful for. If you’d like to share, there are several gratitude hashtags #capturinggratitude #thisjoyfulmoment, #thehappynow and #savouringhappiness.

Turn to page 86 of December's The Simple Things for more on why saying thank you matters.

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Christmas | Give a little back

Charitable acts at Christmas not only help people but make you appreciate what you have

Beth Johnson has been involved with the charity Cry in the Dark (cryinthedark.org) for 13 years,
and is about to make her seventh Christmas trip to Romania to distribute 1,500 gift-filled shoe boxes collected over the past three months.

“To me, this is what Christmas is all about,” says Beth. “We take 18 volunteers and distribute the boxes personally to the children. To be around people who see the value in the gifts they’re receiving is quite incredible.”

Volunteer opportunities for the trip to Romania in 2018 will be allocated in January, and there are other initiatives throughout the year.

It might be too late to send a Christmas box abroad this year but there’s plenty you can do here. The homeless charity Crisis (crisis.org.uk) relies on volunteers to cook and serve meals, share skills or simply to spend time with guests over the festive period.

FareShare is having its annual Christmas food collection in Tesco stores from 30 November to 2 December (fareshare.org.uk), and don’t forget to donate to your local food bank this month and in January, when stocks run thin as people are feeling more frugal.

Get the kids involved by making a reverse Advent calendar: every day starting on 1 December, put
a nice food product in a box, then deliver the hamper of goodies to your local food bank on Christmas Eve (visit trusselltrust.org to find your nearest).

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Christmas | How to make a great martini

Glamour distilled. Best served with the inevitable Bond on the telly

1 Add a measure of dry vermouth into a martini glass, swooshing it around so the glass is coated. Then pour into a cocktail shaker, swirl before chucking out anything remaining.
2 Add a measure of gin into the shaker along with a couple of ice cubes.
3 Shake gently, before popping it into the freezer.
4 Prep your glass, by wiping the rim with lemon zest. Then it goes in the freezer too.
5 Patiently wait for 30 minutes, then strain into a glass.
6 Garnish with an olive.

The December issue features a cracker of a Miscellany Christmas special (page 99), packed with puzzles, games, stocking fillers, bad jokes, amazing facts and forgotten wisdom, including:

• Mix a great martini 

• Secret Santa gifts

• Make sweet frumenty 

• Christmas i-spy

• How to carve turkey 

• Fizzy amaretto sours 

• Make invisible ink

• Froebel stars

• Wrapping awkward gifts 

• Beat the family at games

• The Simple Things’ sprouts & crackers board game

• Identifier: Bestseller toys 

• Bah humbug word search

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

View the sampler here

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More Christmas drinks:

Three of the best modern carols

Hark the herald angels (and all the rest of us) sing. As we tra-la-la-la-la our way through the season, we take a look at the stories behind our favourite carols

ARVO PÄRT: ‘BOGORÓDITSE DJÉVO’ 

With his native Estonia folded into the Soviet Union, it took a 1981 move to Berlin for the world’s most performed living composer to freely express his Christianity. This beauteous choral piece, drawing deeply on his love of medieval music and Gregorian chant, was commissioned in 1990 by King’s College Choir, Cambridge.

JOHN TAVENER: ‘EX MARIA VIRGINE’

A gift for good friend Charles’ wedding to Camilla in 2005, the man once signed to The Beatles’ Apple label references everything from ancient Islamic text to ‘Ding Dong Merrily On High’ in his altogether heavenly, typically universalist Christmas-themed song cycle.

BOB CHILCOTT: ‘THE SHEPHERD’S CAROL’

A singer with King’s College Choir as man and boy, in 2000 Chilcott was commissioned to write a piece for their annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols and offered up this sublime evocation of nativity. No less an arbiter than ‘Mr Christmas’ himself, composer John Rutter, reckons it “the most beautiful modern carol there is”.

Turn to page 92 of December's The Simple Things for more on the stories behind our favourite carols

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Christmas | How to wrap awkward presents

This nifty gift wrap bag trick can be scaled up or down to fit your gift

1 Place the pressie in the middle of the paper, making sure you have enough paper to go around it.
2 Pop your present aside. Fold the paper edges to meet and overlap in the centre (ideally hiding ‘raw’ edges) and tape down the overlap.
3 Fold up the bottom of the paper. This will be your base, so make the fold at least as wide as your pressie.
4 Unfold and bring each open ‘side’ towards the centre: you’re creating two triangles that touch to create a diamond shape. Tape.
5 Take the top and bottom points of the diamond and fold them onto each other and tape into place to make a secure base.
6 The pressie goes inside the newly formed bag. Fold the top over to hide raw edges for a pro finish.

The December issue features a cracker of a Miscellany Christmas special (page 99), packed with puzzles, games, stocking fillers, bad jokes, amazing facts and forgotten wisdom, including:

• Mix a great martini 

• Secret Santa gifts

• Make sweet frumenty 

• Christmas i-spy

• How to carve turkey 

• Fizzy amaretto sours 

• Make invisible ink

• Froebel stars

• Wrapping awkward gifts 

• Beat the family at games

• The Simple Things’ sprouts & crackers board game

• Identifier: Bestseller toys 

• Bah humbug word search

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

View the sampler here

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Childhood craft | Make invisible ink

Snaffle an onion from the stuffing for TOP SECRET purposes

You will need:
1 onion
Bowl
Small, empty jar
Old-fashioned (empty) ink pen
Writing paper

1 Cut your onion in half and shed a few tears for your lost youth as you squeeze its juice into the bowl.
2 Pour this watery liquid into the jar.
3 Then decant this liquid into your pen, as if it’s ink.
4 Write your TOP SECRET message onto the paper and leave it to dry.
5 When the time comes to reveal your secret to the world, hold it up to heat and your message should magically appear.

*The Simple Things bears no responsibility for any secrets revealed and reputations ruined during this process (IDST – if destroyed still true).*

The December issue features a cracker of a Miscellany Christmas special (page 99), packed with puzzles, games, stocking fillers, bad jokes, amazing facts and forgotten wisdom, including:

• Mix a great martini 

• Secret Santa gifts

• Make sweet frumenty 

• Christmas i-spy

• How to carve turkey 

• Fizzy amaretto sours 

• Make invisible ink

• Froebel stars

• Wrapping awkward gifts 

• Beat the family at games

• The Simple Things’ sprouts & crackers board game

• Identifier: Bestseller toys 

• Bah humbug word search

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Christmas | Know your festive lights

There are certain things in your home that are like good friends: they always cheer you up. This month we feel the love for festive lights 

The advent of LED bulbs has meant that fairy lights now come in various permutations, last for ages and are low voltage. Powered by transformers, they can connect up to 1,280 bulbs. Most can twinkle, flash, fade, chase or just be still.

String: a single length of cable, usually clear or green, with a variety of uses, from tree
decoration to trailing along mantelpieces and scattering among trees.
Most are 8m in length with about 80 LEDs. Cost: £19.99.

Icicle: a fringe of different lengths of lights best positioned over windows or from eaves. Most come in 2m lengths but each set is connectable and can be extended to a total length of 20m.
Cost: £17.99 for 2m.

Curtain: a 2m line of vertical strands, each 1m long, that look good hanging from a banister or lining a wall for a full-on twinkly grotto effect. Low voltage, so they don’t get warm and can safely hang alongside fabric. Indoors only. Cost: £27 for 2x1m curtain.

Net: a mesh of fairy lights that can be draped or hung, or used to net furniture or foliage. Cost: £34.99 for a 2x2m net.

All from lights4fun.co.uk    

Turn to page 140 of December's The Simple Things for more from The Comfort of Things festive feature.

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Christmas | LAST ORDERS for giftwrapped subscriptions to The Simple Things

Make someone’s Christmas. A gift wrapped subscription is the gift that keeps on giving.

** Last order date: 17 December **

Who’s the special person in your life who would love recipes for slow food shared with friends, inspiration for home and garden, and learning new skills?

ALL WRAPPED UP

• They’ll enjoy 12 months of The Simple Things delivered to their door.
• We’ll giftwrap the first issue of their subscription in brown paper and string and send it (just in time for Christmas) along with a Christmas card on your behalf. Want to hand over the first issue yourself? That’s fine, too – just let us know in the box on the order form.
• Just £44 – saving 26% on the usual cover price.

To order this brilliant Christmas present, use code GIFTWRAP17. Visit ICEBERGPRESS.CO.UK/CHRISTMAS or call 020 7415 7238

We are a small team so at busy times we may be an answerphone – leave us a message and we’ll call you back.

Terms and conditions: Saving compares to buying 12 full priced issues from the UK newsstand. This o er is for UK subscriptions only – if you’d like a giftwrapped subscription and live overseas, then please contact us. Giftwrapped issues will be the January 2018 issue and will be delivered in time for Christmas. Last order date: 17 December 2017. Prices correct at point of print and are subject to change. For full terms and conditions please visit icebergpress.co.uk/tandc.

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Make | Marbled tree baubles

Give baubles a quick marble makeover courtesy of bright nail varnish 

You will need:
Colourful thread or string
Scissors
White Christmas tree baubles in various sizes (try hobbycraft.co.uk)
Large bowl
Nail varnish in two colours, here orange and lilac

1 Attach a piece of string to a Christmas tree bauble. Fill a large bowl with enough lukewarm water to completely submerge the bauble (leaving room for displacement).
2 Add a few drops from each of the bottles of nail varnish to the water. The nail varnish will form a thin, colourful film on the surface.
3 Now immerse the bauble completely in the bowl, holding the cap and ring to push it underwater.
4 A thin layer of nail varnish will coat the bauble. Hang it up to dry for a couple of hours.

Taken from Supercraft Christmas by Sophie Pester and Catharina Bruns, (Dorling Kindersley).

Turn to page 38 of December's The Simple Things where we celebrate the role of the bauble in Christmases past, present and many more into the future.

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A could-do list for December

Things you might want to do this month (no pressure!)

• Take a night-time walk to see the Christmas lights
• Remember your time is as valuable as any present
• Aim to do one small act of kindness every day
• Do things one at a time rather than multi-tasking
• Replace perfect with good enough
• Sing, dance, play and smile...!
• Write down what you really want this Christmas to be like and start from there
  
  What would you add? Come over and tell us on Facebook or Twitter. 

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Recipe | Soft gingerbread tiles with rum butter glaze

A tin of Ottolenghi’s fabulously festive biscuits will prove invaluable over the coming weeks. Serve to unexpected guests with a pot of coffee, offer to eager little hands searching for something sugary, or simply dip in whenever you need a sweetly spiced pick-me-up.

Makes 12–14 depending on size of stamp and cutter*
85g unsalted butter, at room temperature
90g soft dark brown sugar
100g black treacle (or blackstrap molasses)
1 egg yolk
235g plain flour, plus extra for dusting and printing
1⁄2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1⁄2 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch ground cloves
1 tbsp Dutch processed cocoa powder (such as Green & Blacks)
For the rum butter glaze:
80g icing sugar
tiny pinch ground cinnamon
15g unsalted butter
1 tbsp dark rum (or lemon juice if you want to keep the glaze booze-free)

1 Place the butter, sugar and treacle in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment in place. Beat on medium speed until smooth.
2 Sift all the dry ingredients into a bowl with 1⁄4 tsp each of salt and black pepper. Reduce the speed of the mixer and add the dry ingredients to the butter and treacle. Once the mix comes together, tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently.
3 Roll out the dough so it’s about 6mm thick (no need to chill it first, but the dough can be wrapped in cling film and kept in the fridge for up to two days before baking). Preheat oven to 170C/ Fan 150C/325F. Line two baking trays with baking parchment and set aside.
4 Dip the biscuit stamps in a small bowl of flour, shake off any excess and then press them firmly into the dough, one at a time, to create a deep imprint. (Bear in mind the biscuits will rise when cooked so light imprints will disappear.) Using a round biscuit cutter that is slightly larger than the pattern, cut out the pieces of imprinted gingerbread.
5 Transfer the biscuits to the lined baking trays about 2cm apart. Re-roll the dough and continue to stamp and cut until all the dough is used up. Bake for 9-10 mins, rotating the trays halfway through, until firm to the touch. They will continue to firm as they cool.
6 Prepare the glaze while the biscuits are in the oven, as it needs to be brushed on while they are still warm. Sift the icing sugar and cinnamon into a bowl. Add the melted butter, rum (or lemon juice) and 1 tsp of warm water and mix with a spoon until smooth. The glaze will thicken slightly if it sits around, so stir through a little more warm water if you need to – it should be the consistency of runny honey.
7 Remove the biscuits from the oven, leave to rest for 5 mins, then brush or dab the glaze all over with a pastry brush. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Biscuits will keep for up to five days in an airtight container.

Recipe from Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh (Ebury).

*Try to get hold of some biscuit stamps if you can – they can easily be bought online. Sold as ‘springerle’, they come in all patterns, shapes and sizes. If you can’t get hold of any, the biscuits can be made using regular round cutters or cut into squares or rectangles with a knife, or try using the ornate base of a cut glass tumbler.

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Make | Foraged Christmas wreath

If you’re short of foliage in your garden, a wintry walk to fetch some is just the thing before getting creative with your finds

You will need:
Bronze medium flat wreath frame, approx 25cm across
Hobby wire
A selection of greenery (we used eucalyptus, ivy, holly, thistle and gypsophila)
Length of narrow ribbon for hanging Ribbon for decoration (we used velvet ribbon)
Scissors
Secateurs

1 Using secateurs, trim the ivy and eucalyptus to manageable lengths of approx 20–30cm. Secure the foliage to the wreath ring, using wire to hold the sprigs in place at various intervals. Gradually work around the ring. Continue attaching the foliage until the ring is covered and none of the wire ring can be seen.
2 Once you have an initial layer secured to the ring, you can start to add in shorter lengths of foliage among the greenery. You should be able to secure these additional pieces without wire by weaving them into the base coverage.
3 Next take some of the holly, thistles and gypsophila and trim them into lengths of approx 7cm each. Gather two or three together to create small bunches and wrap the stems with a little wire to secure. Make three of these and place them at regular intervals around the wreath. Push each one into the wreath and secure with wire from the back.
4 Add in a few further individual thistles and gypsophila sprigs until your wreath has enough interest and balance.
5 Take a length of ribbon and tie centrally around the base of the ring, securing with a bow. Trim the loose ends to make it neat.
6 Finally, turn the wreath over and, using your fingers, feel to find the top of the wreath ring. Thread a length of narrow ribbon through the ring to create a hanging loop. Your wreath is now ready to hang. To keep it fresh and green, spritz it with water every few days.

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