Vegetable of the month ... sweetcorn

It's vegetable of the month time again! Our champion veggie for October is *drumroll* ... sweetcorn! We'll preface this by saying that of course, all anyone really needs to do with sweetcorn is slather it in butter. Boom - delicious. However, that doesn't make for a great round-up. So, if you're in the mood to branch out a little, read on ...

First of all, how pretty and lovely is Naturally Ella's sun dried tomato and sweetcorn risotto? Very, is the answer. This recipe makes sweetcorn look a whole load classier than we ever imagined it could. Rustic, hearty and perfect for a nippy October evening.

Another option for a simple sweetcorn supper is Love and Olive Oil's sweetcorn ravioli recipe. Home-made pasta is little labour intensive, but absolutely worth the effort once in a while. Show off your hard work with pared-back and delicious flavour combinations - fresh herbs, rich ricotta and a light white wine sauce.

Another fan of the sweet-corn/creamy cheese pairing is Naturally Ella. If we had an 'interesting party nibbles we'd like to try' list, her sweetcorn and cream cheese potstickers would be at the top.

For a casual lunch with friends, A Couple Cooks has come up with a recipe for sunshine yellow sweetcorn muffins that could brighten up the dullest day. Serve with fried root veggie crisps for all the colours of autumn on a plate!

Finally, we need to give an honourable mention to a recipe which sounds totally barmy, but received so many rave reviews on foodie blogs we couldn't ignore it any longer. That recipe is ... (wait for it) ... sweetcorn ice-cream. Click over to Cook Republic for a how-to, and let us know if it's as ridiculous as it sounds!

Video : Cheese of the month

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV3iw_YgGMg Ann-Marie Dyas from The Fine Cheese Co. is The Simple Things' resident cheese expert. Each issue, she'll be sharing with us her favourite cheese of the month.

The Simple Things team are huge cheese fans (could you tell by our choice of launch party venue?!) but we're the first to admit we're not exactly experts.

In contrast, what Ann-Marie Dyas doesn't know about cheese isn't worth knowing! Her enthusiasm for her produce at The Fine Cheese Co. is so infectious we knew we had to get her involved in The Simple Things.

In this, the first of her cheese of the month videos, Ann-Marie shares with us her favourite goats' cheese, plus a delicious looking (and super-easy to make!) supper idea.

Don't forget to subscribe to The Simple Things YouTube channel to keep up to date with all our latest videos!

Air freshener pouch DIY

This air freshener pouch tutorial from Sincerely, Kinsey is a cute way of making your home smell sweet.

Sincerely, Kinsey is always full of beautiful craft and DIY ideas, and none more so than this air freshener pouch DIY. The little cotton bags with retro stamped labels are surely the loveliest way to keep your rooms sweet-smelling.

We can't wait for festive season, when we can fill our pouches with cinnamon and spice and enjoy the aroma of Christmassyness all over the house!

Pop over to Sincerely, Kinsey for a photo how-to and more crafty inspiration.

Try unplugging

Unplug for one day each month. Sounds a little scary, doesn't it? Blogger Emily from Peck Life says it's worth it.

How often do you check your phone each day? How long do you spend Tweeting, or surfing the net? When we stumbled upon Sarah's project to 'unplug' herself for 24 hours once each month, it got us thinking. How difficult would it be to go a day with no phone, email, social media, no TV?

And would we see any benefits?

Sarah says that unplugging helped her to feel more present and really connect with what she was doing, not to mention giving her a whole chunk of time back! Pop over to Peck Life to read all about her experiment.

Has anyone else tried going 'unplugged'? Share your experiences with us below!

October Gardening tips from Rural Mums

The allotmenteers at Rural Mums share their tips for gardening jobs to do in October.

Autumn may have well and truly set in, but there's still plenty to do in the garden. Rural Mums - an online community of countryside-dwelling mums and dads - includes a top team of growers dedicated to sharing their seasonal gardening tips.

Their most recent post is a round-up of things to do in your garden in October. There's also a collection of helpful posts to guide you though a year in your garden, whether you're after a beautiful floral display or something that'll provide you with veggies for the table!

Book launch: Wonder Walls

Wonder Walls by Sarah Bagner is a scrapbook of interior design ideas with a difference.

If you've ever browsed the virtual walls of Sarah's online store, Supermarket Sarah, you'll know she has something of an eye for displaying things beautifully.

Wonder Walls: a Guide to Displaying your Stuff takes its lead from the Supermarket Sarah site, and is filled with ideas for using your possessions to adorn the walls of your home. You know all those trinkets and fabulous vintage pieces of clothing you're hoarding in wardrobe and under your bed? Here's your chance to get them out and show them off.

Sarah has travelled all over the world to meet the people who have found ways to turn their treasures into wonderfully off-kilter design features, then picked the most inspiring, interesting and quirky walls to share.

Wonder Walls by Sarah Bagner is published by CICO and is available to purchase online here.

Wordless Wednesdays ... autumn skies

By Janis Roseanne at My Suitcase Heart.

Slow holidays with Inntravel

Holidays are meant to be relaxing. We don't know about you, but we're big advocates of taking a little extra time and making the effort to turn something ordinary into something special and personal.

That goes for what we eat, how we shop and approach our days. It also goes for how we spend our holidays. When work and family life is crazy, nothing is better than escaping the real world for some R&R.

One idea we like are 'Slow Holidays', by our friends Inntravel, which aim to let you 'see more, discover more, remember more'. Ahhh, sounds bliss!

Slow holidays are not about following the tour group, but carving your own way, immersing yourself in another way of life, exploring and taking your own time - no matter whether you're after a hike in the Himalayan foothills or a gentle cycle round little villages in Europe. With detailed guidance from Inntravel’s notes, you’re free to go entirely at your own pace, and to unearth some enticing little finds along the way.

What is your idea of a slow holiday? We'd love to hear!

Apple butter recipe

This apple butter recipe is perfect partner to the dee-licious rugelach we shared in our firework night feature in issue 2.

Rugelach is a bite-size pastry filled with spices and chewy dried fruits - perfect for a nippy firework night. Any kind of jam can be used for the filling, but for a wholehearted autumnal flavour, nothing beats apple butter.

Our recipe of choice comes for one of our fave baking blogs, apt 2b baking. Baker Yossy ropes in friends to help her make a big batch every year. Check out the apt 2b baking blog to see how she does it.

Have any of our readers tried our rugelach recipe? Let us know how it went and don't forget to Tweet us a pic!

WIN an iPad with Gathered by Mollie Makes (closed)

Our sister mag Mollie Makes is launching a weekly digital craft mag, Gathered, and giving you the chance to win an iPad!

Gathered by Mollie Makes is a brand new digital craft magazine exclusive to the iPad, coming soon. Each week, the Mollie Makes team will bring you an interactive mag full of inspiring crafts, interviews with designer-makers and new projects to inspire you to get crafting!

To mark this exciting occasion, they're offering you the chance to WIN a brand new iPad, and a whole year's subscription to Gathered along with it. To find out more and enter into the draw, visit the competition homepage.

Gathered will be hitting Apple Newsstand  store later in October, so follow on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with all the latest news!

DIY painted terracotta pots

Give your houseplants a makeover with this colour block terrracotta pot DIY from Lovely Indeed.

We have a lot of time for a touch of gold in the house, especially when pared with simple matte white to tone it down. Make like blogger Chelsea and hang your new plant pots from the ceiling with twine to show them off properly. Lovely, indeed!

Chocolate Week 2012

Chocolate Week starts on Monday 8th October, and we are licking our lips already.

We're all massive chocoholics in the Simple Things office, so we were very excited when rumours of Chocolate Week reached our ears. A whole seven days dedicated to our favourite sweet treat? The right side of swimsuit season? Events all over the UK? Sign us up!

If you can make it down to London, the grand finale Chocolate Unwrapped, with top British chocolatiers, demonstrations, and lots and lots tasting opportunities is a no-brainer. If not, check out the Chocolate Week website for more info on what's going on near you.

Book Launch : My Berlin Kitchen

We've been feeling the Berlin love ever since reading all about Sandra Juto's experiences of her city in The Simple Things issue 1.

Luckily, tying in neatly with our feature is the release of The Wednesday Chef Luisa Weiss' My Berlin Kitchen: A Love Story (With Recipes).

As you'll have gathered from the title, this is not just a cookbook, but a memoir of Luisa's journey so far, punctuated with the recipes that defined these different phases in her life.

In her own words, from when Luisa first decided to put pen to paper:

'I'm moving back to Berlin and I'm writing a book, about Berlin, about my life, about cooking and home and family and love, about being divided and finding a way back to being whole again, about a city and its recipes, and a girl who's learning how to find her way.'

Wordless Wednesdays ... in the garden

From Carrots and Kids.

Shop love : Rockett St George

We've been crushing on Rockett St George for quite some time now.

They're top of our list for very, very cool tea towels, and just generally excel in hunting down homeware designs with a sense of humour. Superb case in point, this tableware range including a glass milk carton and glass ziplock bag.

Also going straight into the basket are this homemade biscuit stamp (if we're baking, we want some credit) and fab typewriter tea towel. Told you they made cool tea towels!

Check out the Rockett St George online store to pick out your favourites.

Blackberry buckle cake recipe

This blackberry cake recipe makes the most of blackberries, which are at their juicy, inky purple best right about now.

Blogger Sarah from Lemon Fire Brigade baked this cake after a day out berry-picking with her family. Her snaps made us want to drop what we were doing immediately, pull on some wellies and track down the nearest blackberry bush.

Sarah has mixed together her blackberries with blackcurrants, which are also in season at the moment, and created a recipe with a high proportion of berries. This makes for a very beautiful cake (she calls it tie-dye style, which sums it up pretty perfectly), and provides a tart counter to the sweet vanilla sponge.

Do you have any favourite berry recipes? Share below!

The Simple Things launch party video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIKZVN5B3TU *Sigh* We loved our launch party. So many fab people, so much amazing cheese.

In the midst of all our excitement for issue 2, this gorgeous little video of the launch party provided us with a moment of calm. Spot anyone you recognise?

P.S. You can also see some pics from the party here ...

Wrist Worms by Sandra Juto

Sandra Juto's Wrist Worms are just the best way to fend off the early autumn nip in the air.

Hand-crocheted and available in a range of gorge autumnal shades, these keep you cosy and let you type on your computer, swipe on your iphone or eat your cupcake (fluff-free) in a way that is rather tricky with regular mitts.

Head over to Sandra Juto's online shop to get your hands on a pair.

Issue 2 - out soon!

Tah-dah! The Simple Things Issue 2 goes on sale in the UK on 4th October! What do you think of our cover?

As it's our October issue, we're embracing all things autumnal. We'll be chatting crusty loaves with a fabulous baker brother, seeing the sights of Amsterdam, whizzing through fallen leaves on bicycles and rounding the day off with a bonfire party. All, of course, with crafts and recipes worthy of fireworks.

Issue 1 is still available, but not for much longer. If you've not got your hands on one yet, get down to the shops sharpish to start your collection!

For a rundown of where you can get your hands on the mag, check out our 'Find us' page, or download our digital version here.

Postage stamp craft

Our friends at Oxfam got in touch last week in search of some crafty ideas to go with the bags of vintage stamps they're selling in the Oxfam online shop. We love a challenge, so here you go - a round-up of our tip-top postage stamp craft ideas...

First up is A Law Student's Journey, who's put her own twist on a well-established trend to create this postage stamp bunting.  Very simple, quirky and somehow much more winter-appropriate than fabric bunting. We love.

Requiring a little more patience and dexterity are Just Something I Made's miniature stamp houses. Blogger Cathe has tucked a roll of stamps inside hers and made it into a stamp dispenser, and we think this would be a super-cute way to store stickers. Pop over to Just Something I Made for a free printable template.

Finally, we couldn't do a postage stamp craft round-up without a little découpage (they're already sticky on the back, for goodness sake!). Crafty blogs are awash with postage stamp découpage ideas, but our favourite is this dresser from The Next Stitch. A gorge display of stamps, dove grey paintwork and a little gold leaf. Perfectly imperfect and shabby-chic at its best.

For the best range of vintage stamps around, pop over to the Oxfam online shop (and check out their new Oxfam Shops Facebook page while you're at it!).