Recipes: Wild cocktails for warm midsummer evenings part two

Rose Petal Syrup (for the Chelsea Fringe Collins cocktail)

Makes approximately 750ml

6 handfuls pink and/or red rose petals
1.2kg caster sugar
750ml water
Zest of half an unwaxed, organic orange
1 tbsp lemon juice
Pinch of salt

Equipment
Sealable presentation bottles, sterilized

1 Snip off the bitter white tip at the base of each petal. Or, when picking the petals from the rosebush, pull them in a clump with one hand and snip the base off in one go with the other.

2 Loosely pack the petals in a nonreactive bowl and add about 400g of the sugar. Gently massage it into the petals to bruise them and start the maceration. Cover with a clean dishtowel and leave overnight or for up to 12 hours.

3 You should return to a gooey mess; the petals have shrunk and the sugar has extracted some colour and flavour from them. Tip the mixture into a non-stick pan and add the remaining sugar, water, orange zest, lemon juice and a pinch of salt, and gently bring to a boil. The colour should transfer from the petals into the liquid. Simmer for 5 mins or until you have a thick, unctuous syrup.

4 Let the syrup cool. Strain it into a wide-mouthed pitcher, then funnel into the sterilized presentation bottles and seal. You can store it in the fridge for well over a month. As this is a rich simple syrup, you need only very small quantities in your sodas and cocktails.

Honeysuckle Syrup (for the Honeysuckle cocktail)

Makes approximately 500ml

8 large handfuls of unsprayed honeysuckle flowers, leaves and stems removed
400g caster sugar*
Juice of half a lemon

Equipment
Sealable presentation bottles, sterilized

1 Place the honeysuckle flowers in a non-stick bowl and cover with cold water, then leave to steep for 12 hours, or at least overnight, at room temperature. Make sure the flowers are completely covered by the water.

2 Strain the mixture into a measuring cup, discarding the flowers. Pour the liquid into a non-stick pan.

3 Measure an equal amount of sugar to the liquid and add to the pan.

4 Bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 mins.

5 Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

6 Add the lemon juice and funnel into the sterilized presentation bottles.

*Feel free to replace half the sugar with a handful of chopped sweet cicely leaves, but bear in mind that this will adjust the colour

Rowan, Honey and Lemon Foam (for the Honeysuckle Cocktail)

Makes enough foam for 15 drinks

1½  sheets gelatin (platinum grade)
60ml runny honey
60ml Rowan Syrup*
60ml lemon juice
180ml hot water
120ml pasteurized egg whites
Wild honeysuckle blossom

Equipment
Professional cream whipper with 2 N2O cartridges

1 Place the gelatin sheets in a bowl of iced water and soak them until they are pliable (about 10 mins).

2 Meanwhile, combine the honey, rowan syrup, lemon juice and hot water in a non-stick pan over a very low heat, until the honey is dissolved. Strain using a fine-mesh sieve into a clean pan.

3 Squeeze the excess water from the softened gelatin sheets. Drop the sheets into the pan containing the mix and heat gently to dissolve the gelatin. Stir constantly and do not allow to reach boiling point.

4 Turn off the heat as soon as the gelatin is dissolved. Let cool to room temperature (should take about 15 mins).

5 Place the egg whites in a bowl and lightly whisk until slightly frothy and pour into the pan.

6 Funnel this liquid into the whipper. Charge it with the 2 N2O cartridges, following the manufacturer’s instructions. Shake well for at least a minute and refrigerate.

7 Let the foam stabilize for a minimum of 2 hours, preferably overnight, before using.

8 Shake the whipper well before dispensing. Tip it upside down so that it is completely inverted over the cocktail. Let the foam settle for 20 seconds before garnishing with wild honeysuckle blossom.

*Rowan Syrup (for the Rowan, Honey and Lemon Foam, to go in the Honeysuckle cocktail)

Makes approximately 1 litre

1kg very ripe, bright red rowan berries
Approximately 2 litres water
1 heaped tsp salt
700g caster sugar

Equipment
Sealable presentation bottles, sterilized
Large jelly bag or muslin

1 Separate the rowan berries from their stalks, then wash and rinse the berries. Add to a non-stick pan and pour in about 1 litre of water and the salt, making sure the berries are covered.

2 Bring to a boil and simmer long enough for them to become soft (about 25 mins). Remove from the heat.

3 Using the jelly bag/muslin, slowly strain the berries and liquid into a wide-mouthed pitcher.

4 Return the pulp to the pan and add the remaining 1 litre of water. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat.

5 Strain the pulp, as above, into the pitcher.

6 Return all the strained liquid to the cleaned pan, add the sugar, bring to a boil, and boil hard for 5 mins. Remove from the heat.

7 Funnel the syrup into the presentation bottles while still piping hot. Seal. 8 Store in a cool, dark place. Once opened, keep in the fridge and use within a month.

Cocktail recipes from Wild Cocktails from the Midnight Apothecary by Lottie Muir (CICO Books, £16.99). Over 100 recipes using home-grown and foraged fruits, herbs and edible flowers. www.thecocktailgardener.co.uk

Life in colour: FREE colouring card download

Grown-up colouring is having something of a moment; colouring books for adults are currently rubbing shoulders with the likes of Mary Berry in the bestseller charts and this month, The School of Life and the Tate launch a range of eight grown-up colouring posters. Colouring is an absorbing activity that forces you to focus – an alternative to mind-numbing flicking from electronic screen to screen.

Download our free design now, and ready those pencils, felt-tips and crayons. And – you know what? – we really don’t mind if you go over the lines.

Share your coloured-in design with us via Twitter or Instagram – use the hashtag #simplecolouring and we’ll show-and-tell our favourites. And in the next issue you can see how some talented designer-maker types did it, as we feature their designs.

Want more colouring cards?

Buy June's issue of The Simple Things and get a set of colouring cards free.

 

READER OFFER

Mindful colouring needs mindful pencils. Those nice people at The School of Life are offering readers 20% off their ‘The Psychology of Colour’ pencil set (usually £18). Along with musical notes and the letters of the alphabet, colours provide the building blocks of our emotions. An accompanying booklet reveals your inner qualities through colour preference (red: adventurous, witty, a little heartless?) and each pencil is stamped with a defining characteristic (Violet: ambiguity; Light blue: clarity). You get the gist. Use the code ‘SIMPLE’ at www.theschooloflife.com/shop 

Offer closes 24 June.

If you get the colouring-in bug you can buy The Mindfulness Colouring Book (pictured left, Boxtree, £7.99). 

June's The Simple Things is available from all good newsagents, supermarkets and our official online store. Sold out? Download it from Apple Newsstand or subscribe now.

Music: Here comes the new folk

Although the vernacular music of England has always been around, many of us have been distracted by the pleasures of pop music and put off folk music by witnessing middle-aged men in pubs singing through their noses. Which is a shame as traditional folk songs, with songs covering a variety of subjects including yearning maidens, laments, farewells, daring lassies, murders, drowned sailors and blowing winds, offer much in terms of storytelling and social history.

Thankfully, contemporary musicians including Northumbrian sisters The Unthanks have hauled it back into our consciousness by recording old songs as well as writing their own. Many others have picked up the folk baton with sub- genres including ‘alt-folk’, ‘psych-folk’ and ‘nu-folk’ springing up.

Download our Spotify playlist for a selection of our favourite new folk, including Lady Maisery, Telling the Bees, Mad Magdelen, The Black Feathers and the Hare and the Moon.

FIND OUT MORE

Bright Young Folk is a compendium of interviews, reviews, directories and listings of traditional British folk music artists.

HAVE A GO 

If you fancy singing a few traditional ballads, join a folk choir, now growing in popularity. The Great Sea Choir in Bristol welcomes singers of all ages without an audition. The Morris Choir in London is fairly full but welcomes those who can sing, play a fiddle or bang a bodhran. 

Turn to page 91 of June's The Simple Things for a run-down of dance, craft and folk traditions through the year.

Words: Clare Gogerty
Illustration: Alice Patullo

Ideas: Smile in portraiture

Why do we so seldom see people smiling in painted portraits? It’s a lot about how we want to be viewed, says Nicholas Jeeves.

Today when someone points a camera at us, we smile. Such are our expectations of a portrait. But, as a walk around any art gallery reveals, the open smile has been largely, as it were, frowned upon.

It’s commonly thought that for centuries people didn’t smile in pictures because their teeth were awful. This is not true – bad teeth were so common that this was not seen as necessarily detracting from a person’s attractiveness. Lord Palmerston, Queen Victoria’s Whig prime minister, was described as being devastatingly good-looking, despite having a number of prominent teeth missing due to hunting accidents. Nonetheless, both painters and sitters did have a number of good reasons for being disinclined to encourage the smile. The primary reason? It’s hard to do. In the few examples we have of smiles in formal portraiture, the effect is often not very pleasing, and we can still see this today. When a camera is produced, we perform gamely. But should the process take too long, our smiles become grimaces. A smile is like a blush – a response, not an expression, and it can neither be easily maintained nor recorded. 

Turn to page 96 of June's The Simple Things for more, 

A longer version of this article was originally published as ‘The Serious and The Smirk: The Smile in Portraiture’ in The Public Domain Review under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 

If you wish to reuse it please see: http://publicdomainreview.org/legal/

10 Wildflowers to spot in June

1. Bee Orchid, Ophrys apifera 

A gorgeous little pink orchid that, as its name suggests, looks as though a bee has landed on its petals for a quick snack. Usually found on dry, grassy slopes with poor soil, they can also be spotted on roadsides and industrial estates. 

2. Red Campion, Silene dioica 

Keep a look out in shady woodland areas where bluebells have finished flowering, and on rural roadside verges to catch a glimpse of this pretty deep pink flower. Known as ‘Bachelor’s buttons’, it is thought it used to be worn as a buttonhole by unmarried men.

3. Sea Campion, Silene uniflora 

The perfect plant to track down on coastal walks, you’ll spot this white-flowered, waxy-leaved plant on cliffs, shingles and sand dunes from May to July.

4. Birds Foot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus 

A member of the pea family, this low-growing plant has the best collection of common names, which include ‘Granny’s Toenails’, ‘Eggs and Bacon’ and ‘Hens and Chickens’. Whatever you call it, you’ll find it in grassy spots like lawns, verges and heathlands.

5. Cow Parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris 

These frothy white umbellifers are ubiquitous on country verges in summer. Also called wild chervil, this is an edible herb, but be careful when foraging for it as it looks much like many other umbellifers that are poisonous, like Fool’s Parsley and worse, Hemlock. Perhaps play it safe side and pick bunches of it to fill vases instead.

6. Ox-eye Daisy, Leucanthemum vulgar 

These large flowers used to be commonly found in traditional hay meadows, gently swaying in the breeze. You’re most likely to spot them now along the edges of fields that are managed as wild meadows, grasslands and on roadsides. Also called ‘Moonflowers’, they glow as night falls.

7. Wild Garlic, Allium ursine

Last chance saloon if you fancy a bit of foraging for your supper. Wild garlic makes a delicious pesto and is delectable in an omelette! Ancient woodlands are the best place to find it – look out for a cluster of white flowers atop a tall stem and strap-like leaves. Check for the garlic scent as the leaves can be mistaken for Lily of the valley, which is poisonous.  

8. Black Horehound, Ballota nigra

Growing in hedgerows, fields, along paths and in wasteland since the Iron age, this perennial herb grows up to a metre tall, so should be easy to spot. Clusters of flowers are loved by bees and sit atop sepals that fuse and form a tunnel.

9. Sainfoin, Onobrychis viciifolia

A beautiful pyramid-shaped perennial herb that looks a bit like a glammed-up lupin. Widely grown as a fodder crop until the 1800’s, you’re most likely to find it in a sunny spot on grassy banks or undisturbed chalk grassland. 

10. Goat’s-rue, Galega officinalis

A mini lavender-coloured sweet pea-type flower which you’re likely to see growing amongst shrubs in dappled shade on light, sandy soils, as their delicate frame benefits from the support. 

Words: Cinead McTernan

Turn to page 70 of June's The Simple Things for an extract from Meadowland by John Lewis-Stempel (Black Swan, £8.99), which won the 2015 Thwaites Wainwright Prize (see page 81 for the full shortlist). 

---

Turn to page 74 for Tania Pascoe's picks of wild flower meadows to visit. Tania Pascoe is the author of Wild Garden Weekends.

Recipe: Sunshine hash

Sunshine hash

Serves 4 very generously

Ingredients
4 sausages (take the opportunity to buy an interesting flavour from the butcher, like caramelised onion, sweet chilli or apple)
800g new potatoes, scrubbed clean
olive oil
8 rashers streaky bacon, roughly snipped or chopped
4 large ripe tomatoes, chopped, or 12 cherry tomatoes, halved
4 spring onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped (optional)
salt and pepper
4 large free-range eggs

1 Cook sausages over a medium heat for about 10-12 mins, then remove from the pan and set aside. Wipe the pan with a piece of kitchen roll. 

2 Chop the potatoes into small cubes. Put two tbsp olive oil into the frying pan over a low/medium heat. Cook the potatoes for about 15-20 mins until they are golden.

3 Add the bacon and cook for a further five mins. 

4 Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until they just start to soften, but don’t let them go too mushy. Stir in the spring onions and garlic if using. Then add the sausages (I like to slice them thickly before adding to the pan). Season well with salt and pepper. 

5 Push the hash to one side of the pan and add another tbsp oil. Crack two eggs in the space, and fry until they are cooked to your liking. 

6 Divide the hash between four plates, and pop an egg on top of two of them. Return the pan to the heat and fry the remaining eggs for the last two plates. 

7 Serve with ketchup and big mugs of tea. 

Recipe from Pitch Up, Eat Local by Ali Ray (£16.99, AA Publishing with The Camping and Caravanning Club)

FREE! My City guides

In each issue of The Simple Things we publish a local’s insider guide to some of the coolest, most interesting and simply favourite cities to visit. As the summer holiday season begins, we’re releasing one online each week in association with our friends at Inntravel – The slow holiday people

This week it’s Florence -  download  food blogger Giulia Scarpaleggia's guide for free here

This article was first published in October 2013 - issue 15.

If you missed Copenhagen you can get it here.

Coming soon!

28 May - Amsterdam

4 June - Marrakech

11 June - Paris

18 June - Helsinki

25 June – Berlin

2 July – Palma

We'll post on our Twitter and Facebook when they are published.

MY CITY is supported by INNTRAVEL, the Slow Holiday people, who have spent the last three decades exploring Europe’s most beautiful corners along the lesser-trodden path. When it comes to cities, their self-guided walking tours have been carefully researched using their own expert knowledge and insider tips from locals. These specially created routes take in the best-known sights, but also those hidden gems that others miss. Find out more by visiting www.inntravel.co.uk

Competition: Win a £500 shopping spree at Great Plains (closed 30 June 2015)

Need a capsule wardrobe of modern classics for fuss-free dressing? Look no further than Great Plains' stylish separates.

Sartorial consideration is often a luxury lost in the hubbub of daily life. Who has time to style an outfit before breakfast or space to think about a change of clothes for after-hours dinners or family gatherings? Thanks to Great Plains’ versatile collections – premium designs that fulfil the demands of a modern lifestyle – you don’t have to.

The British brand sets its sights on quality and longevity, meaning collections are always on-point without feeling too trendy and fashion- forward without appearing overt. Ticking the boxes for every eventuality, tailored shift dresses and premium separates are well-considered, savvy investments, made to work for every hour, whether you’re en route to the office, dropping the kids off at school or hosting Sunday brunch.

Building a capsule wardrobe you can be confident in, day in, day out, means choosing the right pieces. Jeans that fit like a second skin, sumptuous knitwear that can be layered and loosened, basic tops, tees and skirts that can be mix and matched to reflect your own personal aesthetic – these are your fail-safe go-to pieces. For evening, embellished party dresses, feminine florals and striking prints are anchored by simple silhouettes, making them effortless to wear. The only thing to decide on is your favourites.

Great Plains is offering an exclusive 10% discount to readers of The Simple Things. Just visit www.greatplains.co.uk and enter the discount code GPTST10. 

WIN A £500 SHOPPING SPREE!

Enter below by 30 June.

Iceberg Press’ full terms and conditions

Competition: Win a beautiful armchair and a good read (closed 30 June 2015)

Curl up in this rabbit-print armchair by sofa.com and Thornback & Peel - and lose yourself in a book on the natural world.

Founded in 2005, sofa.com offers exceptionally well-made, stylish and comfy sofas, chairs and beds, and service that’s second to none. A new addition, the Peggy armchair can be upholstered in any fabric from their house range of over 100 from £460, or in a fabric of your choice. It looks perfectly dressed in the Thornback & Peel Rabbit & Cabbage fabric in delft blue.

Thornback & Peel was established in 2007 to create beautiful, intricate screen- printed pieces for the home. Designers Juliet and Delia borrow imagery that plays on artistic traditions and combine modernist geometric patterns with 19th-century wood engravings. Their work is inspired by an eclectic mixture ofVictoriana, Mrs Beeton’s household management, Mr McGregor’s garden, 17th-century microscope imagery of the natural world, Norfolk and Devon. The Rabbit & Cabbage print is one of their most popular designs; this version is inspired by British blue and white tableware.

We’re even throwing in some reading material – the full shortlist of the Thwaites Wainwright Prize, which rewards the best nature writing. So you can enjoy the great outdoors even when you’re staying in.

What’s included and how to enter

• Sofa.com’s Peggy armchair, upholstered in Thornback & Peel’s delft blue Rabbit & Cabbage print on Ivory Linen, worth £910.
• The six nature books shortlisted for the Thwaites Wainright prize (for full details see page 81).
• Enter below by 30 June 2015. View Iceberg Press’ full terms and conditions

Moments that matter

Gazing on lush, rolling fields as they’re illuminated by warm, Tuscan sunlight.

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

Two seasonal salad recipes from Abel & Cole for National Vegetarian Week

It's National Vegetarian Week and we're going bright and shiny with two beautifully colourful salad recipes from our friends at Abel & Cole. 

* Offer: The Simple Things readers get a free Abel & Cole grow-your-own-garden - a box of mini plants all ready to plant out in the garden, with an RRP £35 - and 4th veg box free when signing up to a delivery.  Use the code TST15 on sign up. *

Piñata Salad

Grab your salad spoons and whack away at this zesty (thank you, limes) spring number. Blindfold optional of course.

It’ll take
15 mins (prep)
1-2 mins (cook)

It’ll feed
2 people

Ingredients
1 beetroot
2 carrots
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 lime
A punnet of alfalfa sprouts
A handful of coriander
1 avocado

Step by step

Peel and coarsely grate your beetroot and carrots.

Set a dry frying pan over high heat. Add your cumin seeds. Lower heat. Toast for 1-2 mins till just fragrant*. Scatter all (hang onto a pinch for later) in with your grated veg.

Grate the zest of your lime into the salad mix. Add a good squeeze of juice. Gloss with a little oil. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Toss to mix.

Rinse and drain your alfalfa sprouts. Roughly chop your coriander. Set aside a pinch of coriander. Gently mix the sprouts and remaining coriander through the salad.

Halve, stone and peel your avocado. Divide the salad between two large bowls or plates. Pop the avocado halves in the centre. Season well. Add a good squeeze of lime juice and a gloss of oil. Finish with the reserved cumin seeds and chopped coriander.

* Going raw? Skip toasting your seeds. If you do toast them it’ll bring out the oils to make them more fragrant and tasty.

Golden Sunshine Salad

It takes 8 minutes and 20 seconds for light to travel from the sun to us. It takes just a few minutes more to whip up this organic sunshine salad.

It’ll take
15 mins (prep)
2 mins (cooking)

It’ll feed 
2-4 people

Ingredients 
1 lettuce
½ pineapple or 1 ripe mango*
A thumb of turmeric
A few pinches of sea salt
A drop of honey (optional)
100g mixed bean sprouts
1 carrot
1 lime
A handful of fresh coriander
2 tsp cumin seeds
A gloss of oil
2 garlic cloves
1 chilli

Step by Step

Slice the base from your lettuce. Tumble the leaves into a large bowl. Gently tear any larger leaves. Rinse well. Drain. Pat dry.

Slice the mango or pineapple into chunks. Cut the skin off. Place all the flesh from your fruit into a food processor or blender. Peel a 2cm chunk of peeled turmeric. Add it with a pinch of salt. Blend till smooth. Taste. Add a drop of honey or more turmeric, if needed, till it’s just right for you.

Gently mix your dressing through the leaves. Arrange the dressed leaves on a large platter or on individual plates.

Rinse your sprouts and carrot. Tumble the sprouts into the bowl you used for the lettuce (let them lap up any leftover dressing). Peel the carrot into thin ribbons using a veg peeler. Add them to the sprouts. 

Add the lime zest and juice. Season with a pinch of salt. Rinse, shake dry, roughly chop and add your coriander to the carrot/sprout mix.

Set a frying pan over medium heat. Add your cumin seeds. Toast till just fragrant. Scatter them over the sprout mix. Arrange this over your dressed leaves.

Pour enough oil into your pan to coat the bottom. Peel and thinly slice your garlic. Thinly slice your chilli. Fold them through the hot oil with a pinch of salt. Sizzle till just golden. Remove with a slotted spoon. Scatter over the salad. Drizzle a hint of the warm, spiced oil over and serve.

*Mango a little firm? Pop it in a paper bag with a banana and it should ripen in day or two. 

These recipes are from Abel & Cole's new Super Salad Box - available weekly for £19.50.

Make: Terrarium PLUS introducing the Urban Jungle Bloggers

Creative gardening need not be restricted to outdoors. Or, indeed, to off-the-shelf plant pots. Making a terrarium is a craftier way to display greenery and is a great project for anyone finding themselves low on either time or space. Building terraria is a revival of a past craze, which - hopefully much like your plants - has refused to die. Turn to page 106 of May's The Simple Things to find out how to make your own.

Got a taste for the green stuff? You're a born Urban Jungle Blogger.

Urban Jungle Bloggers is a mutual project initiated by Igor of Happy Interior Blog and Judith of JOELIX.com. They share a passion for plants and living with plants and decided to kick off a monthly blog series about living with plants, which soon turned into a thriving green community with almost 600 international bloggers joining in.

The Urban Jungle Bloggers team announces a monthly topic around styling with plants and informs the community through a monthly newsletter. Everyone who wants to can then join in and interpret the given theme according to their own style and home. There is no obligation to join in every month, so Urban Jungle Bloggers can pick whatever topic they like and share their green inspiration. Every blogger's efforts are then shared with the community on www.urbanjunglebloggers.com and on social media.

Don't have a blog? You can still join in. The team uses the hashtag #urbanjunglebloggers on Instagram which allows everyone to share and tag their green pics, with the images then shown in an interactive gallery on the Urban Jungle Bloggers website.

To join in, sign up for the monthly newsletter here. 

Find the terrarium make in May's The Simple Things. Buy, download or subscribe now.

FREE! My City guides

In each issue of The Simple Things we publish a local’s insider guide to some of the coolest, most interesting and simply favourite cities to visit. As the summer holiday season begins, we’re releasing one online each week in association with our friends at Inntravel – The slow holiday people

First up is Copenhagen - a city where everyone cycles, even in heels. Download blogger Melanie Haynes' guide for free here.

This article was first published in October 2013 - issue 15.

Coming soon!

21 May - Florence

28 May - Amsterdam

4 June - Marrakech

11 June - Paris

18 June - Helsinki

25 June – Berlin

2 July – Palma

We'll post on our Twitter and Facebook when they are published.

MY CITY is supported by INNTRAVEL, the Slow Holiday people, who have spent the last three decades exploring Europe’s most beautiful corners along the lesser-trodden path. When it comes to cities, their self-guided walking tours have been carefully researched using their own expert knowledge and insider tips from locals. These specially created routes take in the best-known sights, but also those hidden gems that others miss. Find out more by visiting www.inntravel.co.uk

Think: Go slow with a series of unhurried programmes from BBC Four

Inspired by the concept of slow TV, when an event is filmed in real time, BBC Four Goes Slow features a series of three deliberately unrushed programmes celebrating traditional craftsmanship, an uninterrupted two-hour canal boat journey down a historic British waterway and a recording of the birdsong of sunrise, devoid of voiceover or added sound effects.

Another brilliant example of something only BBC Four would do, this surprising selection of programmes is the antithesis to the general direction much of television is going in. Slowing everything right down gives us the time to really observe things as they happen and this series of programmes celebrates the simple pleasures of life in the slow lane.

Sounds right up our street. Want to watch again? Follow the iPlayer links below…  

Handmade is a series of three half-hour films celebrating traditional craftsmanship. In a world of fast-paced, high-tech mass production, Handmade takes a quiet, unhurried look at the making of a series of simple objects. Beautifully filmed and edited at a leisurely pace with no voiceover, each film is an absorbing, often hypnotic portrait of time-honoured skills and techniques, observing in exquisite detail the slow and careful crafting of objects such as a classic steel knife and a wooden chair.

1. Glass

Filmed in real time and without voiceover or music, this is a beautifully-filmed portrait of the making of a simple glass jug by glass designer Michael Ruh.
 

2. Metal

Filmed without voiceover or music, this film is an absorbing portrait of the complex processes behind the crafting of a steel knife by bladesmith Owen Bush.
 

3. Wood

Filmed over five days, this film reveals the complex, time-consuming processes involved in creating a Windsor chair, made by Jim Steele in his Warwickshire workshop.
 

All Aboard! The Canal Trip

All Aboard! The Canal Trip is an uninterrupted two-hour canal boat journey down one of Britain's historic waterways filmed in real time. Inspired by the concept of slow TV, when an event is filmed in real time, the film is a rich and absorbing antidote to the frenetic pace of modern life. Take in the images and sounds of the British countryside, spot wildlife and glimpse life on the tow path, as if you were there. Guidebook facts about the canal and its history are delivered by captions imbedded into the passing landscape.
 

Dawn Chorus: The Sounds of Spring

The birdsong of sunrise in all its uninterrupted glory, free from the voiceover and music of traditional television. With the first glimmers of sunlight, the birds of Britain's woodland, heathland and parkland burst into song. This is an opportunity to sit back and enjoy a portrait of three very different habitats and the natural splendour of their distinctive chorus.
 

Recipe: Blackcurrant leaf ice lollies

"While the blackcurrant blossom is just considering its change into berries, I’m eagerly picking the leaves. It can be hard to tell the black from the red from the white currants by sight, but if you rub them, blackcurrant leaves are thick, full and sweet in fragrance, and make my favourite sorbet, which can easily be twisted into lollipops, as my daughter insists I do." 

Try these unusual ice lollies from our green-fingered foodie, Mark Diacono. Pinch a couple of handfuls of early leaves from across the whole bush, so as not to deplete any part of the plant. The summer and early autumn leaves are still good, but the May leaves are best. This also works well with elderflower and midsummer scented geranium leaves. This makes a fine sorbet, too – just pour the liquid into a plastic tub, freeze for a few hours, then whisk an egg white into the slush and freeze.

Blackcurrant leaf ice lollies

2 large handfuls of young blackcurrant leaves/a 500ml jugful, fairly tightly packed
270g sugar
700ml cold water 
Juice of 3 lemons

1 Crush the blackcurrant leaves to help release the aroma and flavour by either squeezing them tightly in your hand or gently pounding with the end of a rolling pin.

2 Put them in a stainless steel saucepan with the water and sugar. Bring slowly just to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, and simmer for 3 mins only.

3 Allow to completely cool.

4 Add the lemon juice, then strain. 5 Pour the juice into lollipop moulds and freeze. 

Recipe from May's The Simple Things. Buy, download or subscribe now.

Shop of the month - Mason & Painter

Meet Michelle of Mason & Painter, our Shop of the Month in May's The Simple Things.

'Mason & Painter has been open on Columbia Road since October 2013 - just over 18 months. The location is famous for its Sunday Flower Market so, like most of the shops on the street, we only open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Sunday is always our busiest day. Last Autumn we moved across the road to a premises double the size of the original shop, to number 67 Columbia Road, and now have more space to house the vintage furniture and homewares.

'The products we stock are inspired by the horticultural flavour of the market though not exclusively. We buy from antique fairs up and down the country as well as France so we stock a real eclectic mix, ranging from 1950s French cafe chairs, old trestle tables, vintage fabrics and the occasional piece of Victorian taxidermy. We also stock new homewares, books, toys and candles, and one of our most popular items is the pre-war Dolly wash tub; customers use them as planters for trees and shrubs. I'm currently interested in illustrations from old books of birds and butterflies, which we mount in lovely zinc and copper edged frames. I've also designed a couple of tea towels especially for the shop showing Columbia Road market and another one with Chelsea Flower Show, both of which sell incredibly well to locals and visitors alike.

'We try not to get too attached to things - our shop motto is everything's for sale. Even the counter! Vintage school wall charts of the botanical and biological variety are always popular and we sell a lot of handblown glassware - large, old preserve jars that make great vases and vessels. And I design mugs, wallpaper, rugs and fabric for cushions which means we have a comprehensive mix of old and new.

'Outside the shop, we work on takeovers such as the Festival Terrace shop at the Southbank Centre in March. We curated all the products around a floral theme and even built a potting shed in the window. Now, we're giving our shop a new coat of paint, adding some colour, and bringing in new products to get ready for summer.'

Mason & Painter,
67 Columbia Road,
London E2 7RG

Recipe: Wild garlic pesto

If you’ve been to the woods recently and noticed a rather pungent smell, you’ve probably stumbled across wild garlic, otherwise known as Ramsons, which carpet our woodlands at this time of year. 

We asked expert forager Chris Westgate of Heavenly Hedgerows for her advice on how to pick and eat this most delicious wild plant:

• The whole plant is edible but the young leaves have the best flavour and their late arrival this year means they should be just about perfect now. They’re best eaten raw in a salad or used as the base for a pesto (see right). Cooking will help reduce the pungency if you find the flavour too strong.
• Try drying the leaves and adding them to sea salt. They keep for ages and taste wonderful on roast lamb or potatoes.
• Use the star-like, white flowers to prettify a spring salad.
• Once flowering, the seeds are also good to use. They pack quite a punch in salad or on top of a soup. They’re great pickled, too. Just pop in a clean jar and cover with vinegar for use during the winter months (they contain Vitamin C). 
• The plant is most easy to identify by its smell but it can be confused in looks with the poisonous Lily of the Valley, Lords and Ladies and Dog’s Mercury, which also likes to grow alongside wild garlic, so pick it with caution. Always wash the plants carefully at home before eating, making sure the leaves definitely smell of garlic.
• Abundant as it may be in parts, it’s good practice, as with all wild plants and fruit, to only take what you will use, leaving lots for wildlife and other people. And remember that it’s illegal to uproot a wild plant without the landowner’s permission.

Wild garlic pesto 

60g wild garlic
60g rapeseed oil
22g parmesan cheese
Salt
35g pine nuts
15ml rice or white wine vinegar or lemon juice

1. Wash the wild garlic, ensuring there are no other leaves in the mix. 
2. Finely chop and add to a blender with the pine nuts. Blend to a smooth-ish consistency.
3. Add cheese, salt, vinegar and oil. 
4. Stir with knife or spatula. Put in small jars until ready to use. Use within two weeks.

Sniff out wild garlic in a woodland near you, forage away and, if you’ve got a garlic glut, try one of these three recipes as well.

Wild garlic hummus

A vibrant green dip/spread with a wonderfully, earthy garlicky element, its Middle Eastern heritage remains.

Wild garlic and goat’s cheese pie

Based on the Greek dish, spanokopita, this pie is made with a mixture of wild greens.

Wild garlic gnocchi with tomato ragout

You'll need a translation for this lovely recipe from Fraulein Glucklich blog, but we think it's worth it.

Escape: Bluebell woods

Is there anything more uplifting in spring that a walk through a bluebell wood? That mass of colour, at once so exotic in its exuberance yet, at the same time, such a quintessentially English country scene.

'Don't march along (or worse, job through it, headphones in) but stay awhile. I like to perch on a fallen log, listen to the birdsong and notice the sunlight reaching the forest floor through branches with leaves in bud. And that's when my dog, Biscuit (above), scampers around like a mad thing, full of the joys of spring. Then we both head home happy. Simple pleasures, easily found.' 

Lisa Sykes, Editor

Inspired by the May cover of The Simple Things, we'd like you to share your snaps of this year's bluebells over at our Facebook page, on Twitter, or on Instagram (use the hashtag #simplebluebells). We'd love to see your patch of blue and green.

Want inspiration? These photographs from Annie Spratt really evoke the quiet calm of a shady glade. Have a listen to the sounds of the forest - scroll down and hit play.

Moments that matter

Making it to the market on time: “Fortified by a delicious breakfast, we arrived in the main square to find Provençal life laid out before us: cheeses and meats galore; piles of fresh fruit and vegetables; and cafés full of coffee and Pastis-sipping locals. It was a Monday morning like no other.”

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

Turn to page 68 of May's The Simple Things for more.