WANT TO INTERN AT ICEBERG PRESS?

Iceberg Press, home of The Simple Things, is a new independent publishing company that does things differently (read more here).

There’s an opportunity for someone to intern with us as a Publishing & Editorial Assistant. For now it is a jack-of-all-trades role with a huge learning curve. As we grow, we want to you to grow with us. We can promise you will learn a lot.

The internship is full-time for an initial six-month period and based in our office in central London. It includes handling reader enquiries, managing our subscription database, dealing with magazine orders and payments, organising renewal campaigns, general office admin, and helping to deliver our digital editions. 

Interested? You’ll need to be organised and good at managing your time; a self-starter and problem-solver who is technically competent and meticulous; a friendly communicator who can help our readers with queries and information; a creative thinker and curious researcher who is active on social media and interested in digital marketing. And most of all you’ll need to have a real feel for The Simple Things and what it stands for.

We’ll pay you a salary (it’s not huge though) but we are a fun company and you’ll learn about the business of running a magazine, have the chance to widen and sharpen your editorial skillset and get the satisfaction of being a key part of a much loved, beautiful, useful, quirky and fun magazine. We’ll even give you your own desk and Mac!

If this sounds like a role you could enjoy, then drop us an email with your cv and tell us why. We want the right person to join us as soon as they can, so get in touch before the end of April.

We're looking forwards to hearing from you.

Recipe: Campfire beef and beans

If you’re camping this summer and want to christen your brand-new Kotlich stove with a hearty stew, look no further than this delicious Campfire Beef and Beans recipe. You could easily use lamb or sausages instead, depending on your proximity to the shops.

Campfire beef & beans

Serves 8–10

1 tsp ghee or butter
1kg good-quality minced beef
8 bacon rashers, diced
2 large onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, diced
2 tsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
½ tsp hot smoked paprika (optional)
4 tbsp black treacle or brown sugar
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp tomato puree
Salt and black pepper
2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
8 large tomatoes, roughly diced
4 medium carrots, diced
400ml water
A large handful of fresh parsley
1 tin Haricot beans or two handfuls of dried Haricot beans that you have soaked and cooked yourself

1 Brown the beef in ghee or butter, then set aside. Put the bacon into the kotlich and cook until crispy.

2 Add the onions and stir for 8–10 mins until softened. Add the garlic and thyme and stir for a minute, adding the hot smoked paprika if you choose.

3 Add the treacle, vinegar, tomato puree, two pinches of salt, some black pepper and the mustard and fry for a minute, stirring well.

4 Finally add the fresh tomatoes, carrots, the browned beef, parsley, cooked beans and water. Simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Do keep an eye on it and add water as needed.

5 Serve piping hot with a hunk of crusty bread to mop up the plate.

Recipe taken from The Kotlich Cook.

Moments that matter

Making it back before sundown: “An invigorating day’s yomp in the summer sunshine led to a final, undulating stretch that was mainly downhill. Just out of sight lay our welcoming guesthouse, a glass or two of something chilled, and another tasty, home-cooked meal.”    

Moments that matter… brought to you by Inntravel, the Slow Holiday people

Subscription offer - FREE Seasalt socks - offer expired!

Take out a subscription to The Simple Things and pay just £11 every three issues. Save £26 and get these Seasalt Floral Feet socks (worth £23), inspired by Cornish gardens, free when you take out a subscription to The Simple Things.

Very limited stocks, so don’t hang around! 

Seasalt’s Floral Feet socks are made with bamboo, are beautifully soft and breathable and will keep your feet warm in winter  and cool in summer. In two colourful floral styles, these Floral Feet socks come as a  set of three in their own pretty gift box,  which can also be kept to look after all  your keepsakes and jewellery.

Seasalt is a family business based in Cornwall with studios looking across Falmouth Bay to St Anthony’s lighthouse, a daily inspiration to the team to design garments that represent the locality. With ranges of homeware, womenswear, accessories and Seasalt Rain® outerwear, Seasalt is famous for its quality, unique textile prints and nautical stripes.

Please quote SEAOFFERBL15 or enter code online to receive your gift*.

To see all our offers for UK and overseas subscribers visit:

www.icebergpress.co.uk/subscribe (or call 01342 859002 – 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: Offer open until 4 May 2015. Saving compared with buying 12 full-priced issues from the UK newsstand. This offer is for new UK print subscribers only, check online for overseas prices. Socks will be sent by Royal Mail. Seasalt Floral Feet Socks are available in the following colours: Assorted Boom and Assorted Ditsy. Colour selection will be made at random. Stocks are limited and will be distributed on a first come first served basis. No alternatives, cash or otherwise, are available. You will receive 12 issues in a year. Prices correct at point of print and are subject to change. For full terms and conditions, please visit www.icebergpress.co.uk/tandc.

A day in the life of a jeweller

Alison Macleod is a jeweller based in Glasgow, who makes delicate jewellery based on the treasures she finds in junk shops and flea markets. 

Watch a day in Alison’s life as she works on a jewelled ring.

A Day in the Life from Eileen Dunn on Vimeo.

Nest: The record player

Tomorrow is Record Store Day, celebrating the UK's independent record shops. With much of today's music arriving at our ears digitally, it's a day to go tactile. Queue up with the rest of the record nerds for limited edition vinyl and CDs on sale for one day only, live performances entertaining the dedicated throng.

In April's The Simple Things, Clare Gogerty pens a love letter to mechanically played music - turn to page 97 to read her nostalgic notes.

And on our Pinterest Style board, we've been collecting images of analogue players in contemporary settings, such as the image above. A calm and feminine take on a stereo system, it's a good example of how to integrate technology into your home in a fresh and attractive way. 

Follow The Simple Things's board Home on Pinterest.

April's The Simple Things is out now - buy, download or subscribe today.

Reader offer: Fresh coffee delivered to your door for just £1

Do you love a good cup of coffee? If you haven’t tried Pact Coffee yet we think you might like it… With this great offer for readers of The Simple Things you can get a 250g bag of delicious fresh roasted coffee for just £1 (including free P&P).

The thing is, coffee tastes best just a few days after the beans have been roasted making much of the coffee you buy in the supermarket that has been sitting on the shelves for months past its prime. Pact is on a mission to get the UK drinking better, fresher coffee. Some of the best coffee in the world can be on its way to your home or office in letterbox-friendly packages, just days after it has been hand-roasted at the Pact London HQ. 

Single origin Arabica beans are sourced directly from dedicated coffee farmers who are paid a rate even better than Fairtrade. Fancy something nutty from Brazil? A fruity blend from Colombia? Pick your favourite, or ask Pact Coffee for their recommendation – they’re happy to help. Pact will send you the coffee wholebean or freshly ground, making sure the grind is suited to your regular brew method, be it espresso machine, stovetop percolator, filter or the classic cafetiere. 

Pact is set up as a subscription service but is completely flexible, so you can set your delivery preferences to suit the amount you drink (the usual cost for a bag is £6.95 including P&P). Request a spur-of-the-moment, next-day delivery when you’re running low, or pause deliveries if you’ve got all you need. Find out more about them on Twitter or Facebook.

Simply visit www.pactcoffee.com and enter the code SIMPLETHINGS15 to claim your first bag for £1 . Full terms and conditions at www.pactcoffee.com/terms

Follow The Simple Things's board Tea & Coffee on Pinterest.

Nest: Style tips from Sandra Lorch

The colourful Hamburg home of Sandra Lorch and Tom Oehne, both jewellery designers, manages to pull off modern-meets-vintage without a hint of fustiness. Turn to page 94 of April's The Simple Things for a tour of their beautiful home, or read on for Sandra's top style tips.

Sandra's style advice

1. Group your collections. I love Danish teak candlesticks, and grouped them together with other things in the same material, like my bird by Danish architect Kristian Vedel. I put my collection of single bud vases together on a table, too.

2. Be selective. Once we came up with the look of our apartment, we were rigorous about what to include and what to leave out.

3. Don't be afraid of contrasting colours. I love to combine yellow with the colours of the sea, and red with green. It brings out the luminosity of each colour.

4. Resist perfection. I hate it when an old building is totally sanitised and its original features removed. We sanded the floors in our flat to reveal the beautiful old planks, for example. 

More style tips from back issues of The Simple Things are appearing on our newest Pinterest board, Nest: Interiors tips. Head over and take a look, or read more interiors posts now.

Follow The Simple Things's board Nest: Interiors tips on Pinterest.

April's The Simple Things is out now - buy, download or subscribe today.

Seasonal blooms: See the Amsterdam spring snow, and more

See the spring snow! Dutch elm trees create a blanket of petals in April, drawing visitors to Amsterdam

From clever ideas and amazing architecture to nature at its most beautiful, we’re loving all things Dutch right now (see My City on page 74 and our garden feature on page 110 of April's The Simple Things). Along with the famous tulip fields that are in full bloom this month, another wonderful spring display is the ‘spring snow’ in Amsterdam. From around 21 April the city’s 75,000 elm trees scatter their seeds, creating a shower of fragrant elm confetti.

There’s an 8km walking and cycling ‘Elm route’ through the city, from the elm arboretum to the city’s botanical garden and special art installations around the city inspired by the spring snow. 

Want more seasonal blooms? Try the violet festival, taking place every March since 1952 in Tourettes-sur-loup in the south of France. After a violet procession, take part in the town's annual petal battle. The month before, mimosa is celebrated in Mandelieu-La Napoule, where 12 tonnes of flowers are used to decorate the town over eight days of festivities.

Japan celebrates its 'sakura' (blossom) season with picnics, parties, and a national blossom forecast. In this country, head to Batsford Arboretum, Gloucestershire, for a shower of cherry blossoms. From 11 April 2015.

And May sees the annual Rochester lilac festival, New York. Taking place in the Highland Park, over 1200 lilac bushes bloom alongside a festival of art, music and food.

Words: Lottie Storey

 April's The Simple Things is out now - buy, download or subscribe today.

Think: Leaping Hare Press

Ever wonder what would happen if you lobbed a seed bomb into a shabby urban wasteland? Or, instead of galloping along the usual route to work, you took time to really see what you pass by every day?

Leaping Hare Press (an imprint of Ivy Press) is about encouraging moments like this – a mood of mindfulness – whether it’s during the working day, strolling through the natural world, baking bread or heading out for a spin on a bike. The books present “edgy, exciting subjects from passionate, expert authors,” says Nikki Tilbury. They’re all about “helping us to embrace those little creative steps that engage us as individuals and communities with each other, and the natural world.”

With the mystical hare as their emblem – “fast and free, rare” – and their eye-catching jackets, the books are original, fun, accessible and share practical know-how. They are also a great way to kickstart a habit of curiosity about the world around us. 

Words: Eithne Farry

Moments that matter

Deliciously Danish: “Cycling along the Danish Riviera was wonderful, as were the mouthwatering open sandwiches – piled high with juicy prawns and creamy mayonnaise. One came from a simple café in Gilleleje harbour that has been in the same family for generations… absolut lækker!”

Moments that matter… brought to you by Inntravel, the Slow Holiday people

Find out more on pages 74-75 of April's The Simple Things.

Pottering in the potting shed:

In her Pottering in the potting shed series, our garden editor Cinead McTernan, shares ideas for things to do in your plot. This month, try planting wasabi.

"OK - first of all I should be clear that growing wasabi requires a bit of patience! Just like asparagus or rhubarb where you need to wait at least until the second year to really get a bumper crop, you have to wait for at least 18 months to harvest the tuber. However, it's worth the wait - the taste of genuine wasabi is far more firey and complex than the shop-bought lurid green wasabi paste (which is actually a mix of mustard and horseradish... and colouring!). If you can't wait that long, in the first year you can pick a few of the spring flowers and make a tempura with them as well as harvesting a few leaves of the wasabi, using them to add a kick to salads or, as Suttons Seeds suggests, wrap them around smoked salmon or cream cheese. The flavour isn't as strong as the tuber but it's sill delicious.

To grow...
Perfect for our climate, wasabi is most happy in overcast, damp chilly weather so make sure you can find it a shady spot. I planted a tuber in a container this time last year and overwintered it in a sheltered corner of the garden under a table - it's looking incredibly healthy already with a glossy clump of heart-shaped leaves showing all the promise of a big, juicy tuber that I'll harvest at the end of the growing season.

You can buy plants from The Wasabi Company or Suttons Seeds. Plant the tuber in a 9cm pot and when it's had chance to get established, about 6 weeks later, plant out in a larger container (I went for a 40cmx40cm) or in a shady spot in the border or by the edge of a pond with other marginal plants and keep well-watered. Given its preferred growing site, I was vigilant about slugs and snails - they seemed to get a taste for it and the only answer was a night-time visit to pick them off! 

Once it comes to harvesting, pull out the entire plant and remove the leaves from the rhizome. Give it a wash and you can then keep it, wrapped in damp tissue in the fridge until you're ready to use it."

Words: Cinead McTernan

More from Cinead's Pottering in the potting shed series

Recipe: Homemade 'Nutella'

Kerstin Rodgers is better known as the blogger Ms Marmite Lover. She was a pioneer of the secret tea room. These recipes are from her book MsMarmiteLover’s Secret Tea Party.  

Kerstin says "the thing I don’t like about Nutella is the claggy palm oil sensation in your mouth. Making this at home means you know exactly what’s going into it."

Makes 2 200g jars
200g whole hazelnuts, shelled 
350g milk chocolate, chopped 
2 tbsp groundnut or hazelnut oil 
3 tbsp icing sugar
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder 
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp sea salt or vanilla salt

1 Preheat the oven to 180/Fan 160/350F.
2 Place the hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven for 5–10 mins, watching that they don’t burn. Remove from the oven and carefully rub off the papery skins using a rough tea towel. Leave to cool.
3 Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie or in a bowl in short bursts in the microwave (on full power).
4 Grind the toasted hazelnuts with the remaining ingredients in a blender until they form a paste, adding the melted chocolate. The paste will thicken as it cools. 

Homemade ‘Nutella’ will keep for up to a month in an airtight container in the fridge.

Recipe by Kerstin Rodgers from her book MsMarmiteLover’s Secret Tea Party (Random House, £20). Turn to page 24 of April's The Simple Things for the rest of her high tea menu, including recipes for: 

Rachael’s Secret Tea Room Muffins, Hobbit Seed Cake, Lemon, Almond and Pistachio Cake with Lemon Cream Frosting, Homemade Nutella, and Cupcakes baked in a cup.

 April's The Simple Things is out now - buy, download or subscribe today.

My City: Calling all city snappers

Would you like to share the great things about the city you live in?  Are you a photographer, blogger or keen snapper with a good selection (around 30) of high res images of your city?

We're currently looking for new destinations for our My City feature.  If you think your photographs would grab the attention of our readers and you’d be happy to answer a written q&a revealing the hidden gems of your city, please email becs@icebergpress.co.uk with details of your website or blog so we can take a look at your work. 

We’re particularly interested in lesser known European cities for our mid and late summer issues.  No UK destinations at the moment please. 

Joyce Hatto: Love and lies

Love can mean so many things. A person, a passion, a life’s work. Pianist Joyce Hatto was blessed with all three – a talent for playing music, the drive to perfect her skill, and a loving husband who adored her playing and championed her career.

Joyce and her husband William Barrington-Coupe became implicated in one of the biggest scandals to hit the music world, involving love, lies and digital manipulation. But there’s a strong case to be made that this sorry tale is also a love story.

In retrospect, the idea that a pianist could spend her twilight years making recordings whose critical reception surpassed that of any of the live performances of her youth never quite added up. Joyce Hatto had a solid, consistent career in the 1950s and 60s, but never hit the dizzy heights of a piano star like Lang Lang (listen to a 1959 recording here). Yet in her 70s, she apparently recorded multiple works for both solo piano and piano and orchestra which received some serious critical acclaim. William, who had established his own career as a producer, released his wife’s recordings on his Concert Artist label. After a career during which she had at times felt either ignored or patronised by the music establishment, Joyce seemed at last to be receiving the credit she deserved.

But it was too good to be true. The recordings – over 100 of them – were discovered in 2007 to be fakes. Perhaps the truth is that William’s abilities as a producer outweighed those of his wife as a player – he cleverly manipulated her playing on hundreds of recordings, ‘patching up’ weak passages and her moans of pain (she was suffering from cancer) with extracts from existing recordings by, in some cases, world-famous players, ultimately rendering average playing extraordinary. This in itself requires a high level of musicality and brilliant technical skills, but William couldn’t escape the fact that he had been caught in a huge lie.

He was disgraced and his wife discredited; their names have become a byword for musical fraud. And yet, despite the scandal and shock of William’s actions, he said it was all done out of love. He always maintained that Joyce never knew what he’d done – she died in 2006, before the discovery was made – and that he was motivated by wanting to give her the gift she craved above all; recognition of her talent, and acceptance by an industry that she felt had rejected her.

Only somebody who knew her intimately, perhaps better than she knew herself, could have both recognised that need and, disregarding the consequences, fulfilled it for her. Joyce died feeling that her playing had been heard and appreciated.

It’s a favourable reading of William’s actions, for sure – but he has had ample censure. Let’s reserve that for the men like Walter Keane, who did rather the opposite – keeping his wife captive, drawing pictures that sold in their millions, while he took the credit himself. The Keanes’ story inspired Tim Burton’s 2014 film Big Eyes. Unfortunately he was far from the only artist to overshadow his talented wife.

In the April issue of The Simple Things, out now, we explore the ‘con artists’ who did just that, and redress the balance by highlighting the female artists who were stifled by their partners.

April's The Simple Things is out now - buy, download or subscribe today.

Words: Catherine Smith

Recipe: Homemade crumpets

The most important thing when making crumpets is getting enough holes into them. Flat crumpets have nowhere for the butter to sink into! Make sure you beat the butter sufficiently, don’t overfill the rings with butter and cook them very slowly so that the bubbles have enough time to form and then pop.

Makes 12

70g strong white bread flour
70g plain white flour
1 sachet (7g) fast-action dried yeast 
1⁄2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp caster sugar
275l milk, warm (not hot)
1⁄4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
75–100ml warm water
Melted unsalted butter, for greasing 

Lots of salty butter, for spreading! 

Equipment

Cast-iron or good-quality heavy- based frying pan (or griddle)
At least 4 metal crumpet or egg rings or plain metal pastry cutters about 7.5cm in diameter
Heatproof pastry brush

Method

1 Mix together the flours, yeast and salt. Add the sugar and milk and beat until you have a smooth batter. Cover and leave to rise for 45 mins.

2 Combine the bicarbonate of soda with the warm water and mix it into the batter. Cover again and rest for 20 mins. 

3 Heat the pan, then butter it and sufficiently grease the insides of the rings or cutters with the pastry brush. Allow the rings to heat up in the pan, then fill each one with about 2cm batter. Don’t overfill them as the crumpets will take too long to cook and the holes won’t have time to form.

4 Wait. Be patient. Turn your crumpets over only once you can see holes starting to poke through the batter. Then lift away the rings and flip over the crumpets to continue cooking.

5 Brush the empty rings with more butter and ladle in more batter.

6 To keep the crumpets hot, lay them one by one in a large ‘envelope’ of tin foil and keep them in the oven on its lowest heat. Or butter them copiously and rush them out to your guests, piping hot. 

Recipe by Kerstin Rodgers from her book MsMarmiteLover’s Secret Tea Party (Random House, £20). Turn to page 24 of April's The Simple Things for the rest of her high tea menu, including recipes for: 

Rachael’s Secret Tea Room Muffins, Hobbit Seed Cake, Lemon, Almond and Pistachio Cake with Lemon Cream Frosting, Homemade Nutella, and Cupcakes baked in a cup.

 April's The Simple Things is out now - buy, download or subscribe today.

Moments that matter

It was an exhilarating descent, from the foothills of the Picos Mountains to the beach of La Vega on Spain’s rugged north coast. Once there, we were greeted by miles of golden sand and a beach bar selling luscious grilled sardines. A paddle in the sea was the icing on the cake.

Moments that matter… brought to you by Inntravel, the Slow Holiday people.

Curious: April cover reveal

The circus has come to town. Let the show begin! Top of the bill is Easter: bake a pie and rabbit  biscuits. Put on a record, hang the Alice in Wonderland bunting and throw a tea party. For the grand finale, take a walk, be curious. There are primroses, and is that a bird of prey high in the sky? Feel the sun on your face, play cards around a campfire and potter peacefully in your shed. That's slow business. That's The Simple Things.

April's The Simple Things is out today - buy, download or subscribe now.

Escape: Islands of adventure

For a real get-away-from-it-all day out, hop on a boat and sail to a British island. Timeless, remote and teeming with wildlife, they are the places for a carefree escape. 

In the March issue of The Simple Things, Clare Gogerty explores some of the 6289 islands around the British coast - turn to page 72 for her adventures.

Alternatively, read Clare's new book: The National Trust Book of the Coast. Many of our happiest memories are made at the coast. And little wonder whether we head there for a bucket-and-spade holiday, a blustery walk along a coastal path or a day's sailing around a choppy headland, the British coast has plenty of opportunities for mood-boosting pleasure. It's where we go to get away from the frenetic pace of modern life, to stare at the horizon and stride out on a long stretch of sand, a dog scampering before us. 

Fifty years ago the National Trust launched Enterprise Neptune, a landmark campaign to protect our coast. Today, thanks to the Neptune Coastline Campaign, the Trust looks after some of the most beautiful and important coastline across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This book is a celebration of those places; a book for all those who love the British coast, from the wide sweep of Northumberland's dunes to the drama of the Giant's Causeway. It's the place to discover the endless sandy beaches of the Gower Peninsula, the secluded coves of Cornwall and the iconic white cliffs of Dover. 

As well as paying homage to Britain's coastline, this is an inspirational and practical guide on everything from beach coming and wild swimming to birdwatching and geology. There are spotters guides to coastal wildlife, together with suggestions for local accommodation, popular walking paths and nature trails, and nearby National Trust properties to head to once you've shaken the sand from your shoes. Whether you're an armchair explorer or keen to get out there yourself, this is a vivid picture of the landscape, history and wildlife of our dynamic coastline.