Recipe | Christmas kraut

This delicious, good-for-your-gut sauerkraut is full of festive flavour. It beats braised cabbage hands down and is brilliant with leftovers on Boxing Day and beyond.

Makes about 1 litre
1 red cabbage
1 apple, unpeeled, finely diced
1 heaped tbsp sea salt
10 cloves and/or a grating of nutmeg
1 tsp mixed spice
2 star anise
4–5 slices of fresh ginger
3 bay leaves
Zest of 1 orange or 2 clementines
1 cinnamon stick

WELL PRESERVED

• Always use sterilised jars and thoroughly clean equipment.
• Use sea salt. Avoid table salt with iodine and/or anti-caking agents, which can inhibit fermentation.
• If water is needed, opt for filtered or mineral water. Most tap water contains chlorine, which can inhibit fermentation. You’ll want to rinse your veg in it, too.

1 Peel off the first few leaves of the cabbage, rinse, pat dry and set aside. Finely shred the rest of the cabbage. Pile it into a large bowl with the apple, salt and cloves. Scrunch together for 5 mins or until the mixture releases about 6 tbsp juice.
2 Add the remaining spices, ginger, herbs and zest, and give the mixture a final scrunch. Tuck in the cinnamon stick, cover with a clean tea towel and set aside for a few hours or overnight.
3 Pack into a sterilised jar (a large 1–2 litre one, such as a big Kilner jar is ideal), pressing it down to help the cabbage release more of its juices. Set the big cabbage leaves on top and press down so that the leaves are fully submerged. Set a little jam jar on top of the mixture and weigh it down (or a sealed ziplock bag filled with pebbles works well). Secure with a lid and leave at room temperature in a warm, dark place for 3–4 days, or as long as 2 weeks, opening the lid every day to release any gases and check the liquid still covers the veg.
4 The best way to know if the cabbage is done is to taste it. If it tastes like kraut, it’s kraut. If it’s too salty, it’s not quite ready. Once you’re happy with it, pop it in the fridge, where it will keep for up to 6 months. 

Turn to page 39 of October's The Simple Things for more preserving recipes, including spiced blackberry vinegar, woodchip-fermented chilli sauce, dried apple rings and dried mushrooms.

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Halloween | Alla Helgons Dag

In Sweden, instead of celebrating All Hallow’s Eve, they commemorate Alla Helgons Dag - All Saints’ Day - an altogether more gentle, thoughtful affair

How to do Alla Helgons Dag at home

• If you’re not comfortable walking through a cemetery at night, take a walk through your nearest graveyard before it gets dark and contemplate the people you’ve lost as well as those you still have around you. Come home to a cosy fire and light a candle in honour of each person you want to remember.
• Create a miniature shrine to your lost loved ones including a photograph, a candle and perhaps a couple of mementoes. Use the evening as an opportunity to share happy memories about that person.
• Share a candle-lit meal with the loved ones you still have around you – Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam would be just the thing. Raise a glass to those you’ve loved and lost.

Turn to page 60 of October's The Simple Things for more on Alla Helgons Dag.

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Competition | Win a denim Susie pinafore apron from The Stitch Society

In November’s issue of The Simple Things, we meet Charlotte Meek of The Stitch Society in our Job Well Done feature, who tells us about how her passion for vintage fabrics inspired her to create a business making aprons celebrating Yorkshire’s textile heritage.

All The Stitch Society aprons come with a 10-year guarantee and are all made in Yorkshire from UK sourced fabrics. We’re giving away a denim Susie pinafore apron, worth £49.

How to enter

For your chance to win a denim Susie pinafore apron from The Stitch Society, enter below before the closing date, 29 November 2017. The winner will be chosen at random and notified after this date. You can find full terms and conditions on page 129 of November’s The Simple Things and at  icebergpress.co.uk/comprules.

Enter now

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Listen | Fire songs

You're a firestarter, twisted firestarter. 

Listen to our fire playlist now

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Recipe | Traditional Parkin ginger and treacle cake

Traditionally enjoyed in Yorkshire on Bonfire Night, parkin is a seasonal treat, packed with black treacle and spiced with ginger. It's the oatmeal in the recipe that gives it a unique, not quite ginger cake, texture. Bettys have been making it in Harrogate for 30 years, so they should know what they're on about! Bag yourself a Bettys traditional Yorkshire parkin for Bonfire Night.

If you're in the mood for baking one yourself here's Bettys' recipe for mini parkin.

Ingredients                                                 Special Equipment

100g butter                                                 8 mini loaf tins
40g black treacle                                       or x 1 1lb loaf tin
180g golden syrup
110g soft brown sugar
100g self raising flour
3 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
40g oats
40g ground almonds
2 tsp whole milk
2 eggs

Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan assisted). Line the base of the mini loaf tins with a piece of baking parchment paper.

1. Place the butter, black treacle, golden syrup and soft brown sugar in a heavy based pan over a medium heat. Gently warm through to melt the butter and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. When the mixture comes up to the boil, turn off the heat and set aside whilst you prepare the other ingredients.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the self raising flour, spices, oats and ground almonds until they are well combined.

3. Pour the warm mixture over the dry ingredients and mix in well.  Set the mixture aside to cool a little.

4. Beat the milk and egg together thoroughly and then gradually stir into the warm mixture.

5. Pour the mix into the prepared loaf tins and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until well risen and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

6. Leave the loaves to cool down slightly before turning out onto a wire cooling rack.

Did you know Bettys also run a cookery school in Harrogate? Find out more.

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How to stop being scared of something

Fear can be useful – a way of coping with extreme situations. However, fight or flight mode kicks in whether the danger is real or imagined. Not in actual danger? This advice may help you bump off things that go bump in the night...

Short term

• Breathe: deep breaths help the body to get back under control.
• Walk: make good use of adrenaline if you’re about to approach something frightening.
• Write it down or speak it out: this helps stop the fear from circling around (and around) your brain.

Long term

• Identify what it is that scares you and why, and tackle it through exposure. But gradually – don’t dive straight into that shark tank.
• Look after yourself – those old chestnuts of balanced diet, sleep, exercise and avoiding stimulants all equip you better to cope.
• If it is too big to manage on your own, get help from a professional.

Even longer term

• In August, scientists managed to erase fear memories in mice brains using light, so a solution may be possible for humans.

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Recipe | Turmeric balls

A delicious snack with health benefits, these balls are loosely based on a traditional Ayurvedic preparation of turmeric and honey. They offer a simple way to introduce the antioxidant-rich super spice into your diet

2 tsp high-quality turmeric powder (or freshly grated turmeric)
1 tbsp set/thick honey
1⁄2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp ground almonds, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp coconut oil

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together to form a stiff paste.
Roll the mixture into balls about the size of a chickpea, then coat with a dusting of ground almonds.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a month.
Eat 1–2 balls daily.

HEALTH BENEFITS
Turmeric has long been used throughout Asia with mentions of the herb dating as far back as 4,000 years. Traditionally it was used as a digestive and to promote longevity. It is rich in antioxidants and recent research shows it can lessen the effects of oxidation damage. Incorporate it into your diet to reduce inflammation in chronic conditions such as arthritis and rheumatism and in skin conditions such as acne and eczema. Turmeric has also been shown to lower cholesterol.

Taken from The Handmade Apothecary by Vicky Chown and Kim Walker (Kyle Books). 
 

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Garden hacks | Turn a shoe-hanger into a tool rack

Old shoe-hangers, re-used as somewhere to hang garden tools, mean you’ll always have your tools to hand when needed.

You will need:
An old shoe-hanger or tie-hanger
Drill
Screws
Tape measure and pencil

1 Measure where you want to install your hanger. Remember to think about the length of your tools as well as the width of the hanger.
2 Line up your hanger, marking with a pencil where to drill.
3 Drill holes and insert screws.
4 Ta-da! Your new tool-holder is ready to hang.

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Nest | Ferns

With its delicate, feathery leaves, a potted fern will bring a soft lushness to any room.

Cluster a few different varieties together and the effect is even lovelier, conjuring up the speckled shadows of the forest floor.

Alice Howard, owner of Botanique Workshop Artisan Store & Flower Shop, recommends keeping its woodland origins in mind when bringing a fern home: “Don’t place it in direct sunlight,” she says. “And don’t let the soil dry out – mist regularly, especially when the air is dry.”

A little sylvan corner right there.

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Recipe | Nana’s Fruit Cake

This is an extraordinarily moist and intensely fruity cake – and one that will keep for months, its flavours developing nicely as it matures

NANA’S FRUIT CAKE
1kg mixed dried fruit
50g sultanas or golden raisins
50g currants
12 pitted prunes, chopped
1 x 400g tin sweetened condensed milk
225g butter, plus extra for greasing
1 tbsp black treacle
1 tbsp golden syrup
Dash of vanilla extract
Dash of brandy
50g flaked almonds
1 slightly heaped tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground nutmeg
300g plain flour
1 slightly heaped tsp baking powder

1 Preheat oven to 140C/Fan 120C/375F. Grease and line a 23cm square cake tin with baking parchment.
2 Tip all the dried fruit and prunes into a large pan. Add the condensed milk, butter, treacle, golden syrup, vanilla extract and brandy. Stir in 350ml water, bring to a simmer and bubble gently for 5 mins.
3 Leave the mixture to cool slightly before stirring in the almonds, bicarbonate of soda mixed spice and nutmeg. Finally, add the flour and baking powder, a little at a time, stirring well between each addition.
4 Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 21⁄2 hours. Turn off the oven and leave the cake in there to settle – I usually leave it overnight. The following day, turn the cake out, wrap it in baking parchment and store in an airtight container, where it will keep for many months. (The oldest one I’ve ever eaten was 18 months old and it tasted excellent.)

Recipe from The Great Dixter Cookbook by Aaron Bertelsen (Phaidon). 

Cake in the House is our monthly recipe feature - get a cake recipe every month in The Simple Things!

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A stick in a bundle can't be broken

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How to live lagom

Ideas for a more balanced life, Swedish style

Just as you’ve mastered hygge, along comes another Scandi concept to get your head around. Lagom (pronounced “law-ghum” or “lah-gum”) is Swedish and means “just the right amount”, or being satisfied with your lot. As Anna Brones explains in Live Lagom, “It’s a happiness drawn from contentment with now.” 

Quality not quantity
Unlike hygge, lagom is not an excuse to stockpile candles. Roughly translating as “less is more”, it’s about valuing what you do have, whether it’s furniture or food. 

Look for balance in all aspects Including work/life 
Switch off, take proper holidays, embrace the Swedish fika coffee break (cinnamon buns encouraged). 

Live in awareness of the wider picture
Taking just enough means there should be plenty for all, a concept that encourages respect for the environment. 

Think more lagom
Ask yourself “Is this good enough?” rather than “Can I do better?”

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Recipe | Crab apple whisky

Harvest crab apples from a local wood or hedgerow while they’re ripe for picking and make this gorgeous tipple, which will be ready just in time for Christmas.

Serves 10–12
About 750g crab apples
70cl whisky
5 tbsp honey or sugar
3 slices of fresh ginger

1 Give your crab apples a good wash and dry. Halve them and place in a 1-litre sterilised jar. Top up the jar with whisky as you go. Swirl in the honey or sugar. Tuck in your ginger slices or any other spices you might want to add (a cinnamon stick, halved vanilla pod, cardamom, cloves).

2 Make sure the apples are fully covered by the whisky. Secure the lid. Let it infuse till Christmas, or longer if you can wait. If you can, leave it for up to 3–5 years it’ll veer towards the likes of Calvados. So, maybe make one for now, and one for later.

Recipe from How to Eat Brilliantly Every Day by Abel & Cole (Ebury Press). 

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A could-do list for October

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

• Put on your boots and kick up the leaves
• Make an autumn salad with colourful root veg and leaves
• Pull out your woolly jumpers and look forward to wearing them
• Go to bed an hour earlier for a week before the clocks change
• Start a cold-weather project
• Go to the cinema in the afternoon
• Write a list of words that describe an autumn day, including sounds, sights and smells

What would you add? Come over and tell us on Facebook or Twitter. 

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Reader offer | Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair

This year the award-winning Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair celebrates its tenth anniversary and takes place from 12 -15 October at its new home of Upper Campfield Market, in Manchester city centre.

Buy and commission outstanding contemporary craft & design from 150 designer-makers, all selected for their excellence, from fine jewellery and fashion accessories to functional and statement pieces for the home. As well as a unique shopping experience, the event will feature artist demonstrations and talks giving visitors the chance to learn more about the inspiration, materials, making process and stories behind the work on sale.

The event will feature emerging and established makers, including those who have exhibited at the GNCCF for every one of its ten years and the curated ‘Great Northern Graduates’ will showcase best new Northern design talent to emerge from the UK’s creative courses.

The GNCCF has become a much-anticipated highlight in the North’s cultural calendar and one of the leading and most popular craft events in the UK. This not-for-profit event is supported by Arts Council England through Grant for the Arts with the aim of championing and promoting contemporary craft and designer-makers in the North.

We’ve teamed up with the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair to offer 2-4-1 tickets to our readers to this unique shopping and cultural event.

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair
Thursday 12 – Sunday 15 October 2017

Upper Campfield Market, Manchester

Ticket prices: In advance £6.50 (£5.50 concs)* / On the door £7.50 (£6.50 concs) 

www.greatnorthernevents.co.uk
www.facebook.com/GNCCF / @GNCCF 

For advance tickets please visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/great-northern-contemporary-craft-fair-2017-tickets-36794223513

Exclusive code for 2-4-1 tickets for readers of The Simple Things: GNCCFST241

*Eventbrite booking fee applies to advance ticket bookings.

Weekend project | Post-it reminders

This sewing project by Sarah Corbett reinvents the Post-it as a form of activism, giving a moment to pause and reflect

You may have been spurred into action by Sarah Corbett’s wisdom on page 34 of October's The Simple Things. If so, this project is a way of trying out a little craftivism (activism using craft) for yourself. Inspired by the simplicity of the Post-it Note, it was created as part of Bystander Revolution, a global anti-bullying initiative (bystanderrevolution.org). We’re so used to living and acting quickly, but a physical object like a Post-it Note can take us out of auto-pilot and remind us to stop and think. These are stitched rather than scrawled on, the act of hand-stitching bringing an opportunity to really consider our words and action, while the #crafterthought questions help to focus reflection on the message being created. You could keep your embroidered sticky notes or give them as gifts – or display them in your office, park or local café for people to see.

#CRAFTERTHOUGHTS

• If I was being bullied, how would I want people to help me?
• How can I show love to a bully to help them stop bullying others?
• Using my talents and voice, how can I be part of the Bystander Revolution? 

Post-it reminders

GIVE YOUR WORDS WEIGHT WITH THESE PERMANENT POST-ITS

You will need

Post-it Notes
Biro or fabric invisible ink pen
Thin cotton fabric, ideally in Post-it Note colours
Black embroidery thread
Embroidery needle, ideally size 5–7
Embroidery hoop (not essential)
Bondaweb
Felt fabric, ideally in Post-it Note colours
Fabric scissors

1 Use a biro to write your message on a Post-it Note. Use one of the ideas opposite or come up with your own. Use the biro or fabric invisible ink pen to trace the message onto your cotton fabric (you can use a light box, or place it against a window or the light of
your computer screen to see the message through it).

2 Cut a finger-to-shoulder length of thread, thread your embroidery needle and embroider your message using a simple back stitch, with the help of an embroidery hoop, if you like. Use six strands of thread for thick words and two or three strands for smaller messages in thinner pen.

3 Cut out a piece of Bondaweb a little larger than your Post-it Note shape, and iron onto the back of your cotton fabric.

4 Place your Post-it Note on the back of your fabric, over the Bondaweb in the position you want your fabric Post-it, and cut around with fabric scissors to the shape and size of the real Post-it note.

5 Peel off your Bondaweb, then place the cotton, Bondaweb side facing out, onto your piece of felt fabric.

6 Heat your iron to low. Put your felt and cotton Post-it under a towel and briefly iron so the fabrics fuse. Cut your felt to the same size as the cotton square.

Place your handmade Post-it Note messages where they will have the most impact. Share your process and final piece online with followers or friends. You can tag @craftivists on Instagram or Twitter, or share on the Facebook page Craftivist Collective to encourage others to take part.

Project courtesy of craftivist-collective.com 

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The comfort of things | Layering up

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

A bed can have many layers, each of varying quality, cost and sophistication. Take your pick from the smorgasbord of tog ratings and thread counts and assemble yours to your own specification.

Mattress

The foundation of a good night’s sleep so worth investing in. The perceived wisdom is to change it every eight years, but this depends on the quality of the mattress.

Mattress protector

A thin, often quilted, cover to keep the mattress unsullied.

Mattress topper

An affordable option to changing your mattress. Padded with feathers or made from Memory Foam, it is an extra layer of support.

Electric blanket

A necessity as the temperature drops, even when the central heating is on: little makes you sigh with pleasure like getting into a toasty bed.

A sheet  

Flat sheets beat fitted in our book: you can fold them easily before putting into the airing cupboard, and you get to show off hospital corners. Thread count of 300 is ideal; it’s high quality and launders well. Ironing sheets may be considered a waste of time, but slipping into a bed made with freshly laundered cotton sheet is a civilising thing.

A duvet

There are too many choices of fillings and togs to go into here but a tog of 10.5 suits most, reduced to 4.5 in summer.

Duvet cover

Tempting though patterns and designs are, plain colours are more versatile, with white top of the heap.

Pillows

A better-quality pillow really does mean a better night’s sleep. Try a firmer pillow (mixture of down and feather) topped by a pure duck down pillow (expensive but dreamy) for a blissful combination.

Pillow cases

Choose between the annoyingly named ‘housewife’ (simple and plain, fits snugly over pillow) and the Oxford (has a fabric border with a mitred corners). Ideally, they should match the duvet cover.

A pillow protector

(a plain pillow case slipped inside) to prevent staining and ensure longevity of the pillow is a sensible addition.

Bedspread or quilt

An extra layer of warmth and handy for covering up rumpled bedding and toast crumbs.

Throw

Adds a touch of interior designer show-offiness and handy on chillier nights.

Cushions

Can be changed at whim. Also useful for propping yourself up if reading in bed. Pile neatly on to an ottoman at night.

Turn to page 114 of October's The Simple Things for more on the comfort of beds, including how to get that elusive plumped up showroom look.

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Recipe | Mugestrone

There is great comfort to be had from a cup-a-soup – especially if made fresh from scratch

Serves 1

1 mug vegetable juice (such as V8 or tinned tomato soup)
40g tinned borlotti beans
60g frozen vegetables
15–20g vermicelli noodles

to serve – all optional

A drizzle of pesto
1⁄2 tbsp parmesan shavings
Fresh parsley
Pinch of chilli flakes

1 Pour the juice or soup into a mug and then add the borlotti beans, vegetables and noodles. Heat in the microwave on high for 2–3 mins. Alternatively, bring the mixture to boil in a saucepan on the hob. You want to heat it enough to cook the noodles and frozen veg thoroughly – around 4 mins.

2 Serve topped with a drizzle of pesto, parmesan shavings, fresh parsley leaves and chilli flakes, if using.

Taken from Pimp My Noodles by Kathy Kordalis (Hardie Grant). 

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Cherish | October cover reveal

Sometimes we need to look back to find our way ahead; it’s only by cherishing the past and what it teaches us that we can unearth forgotten wisdom to help us live our lives. History is punctuated with moments of change, but recognising what we have now and the things we love is just as important. It might be something simple like passing on a recipe for fruit cake or recording a weekly treasure in your journal; noticing the colours change on the trees, or exploring a derelict building. Observing and collecting are not merely pastimes, but also creative prompts for a more contented life.

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Recipe | Preserved lemons

Come the cold weather these are just the thing for tagines and stews

Makes 5 x 250ml jars
330ml white wine vinegar
350ml water
150g caster sugar
1⁄2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black peppercorns
5 bay leaves
5 sprigs of rosemary, leaves stripped
5 large unwaxed lemons

1 Heat the vinegar, water and sugar together in a saucepan over a medium heat and simmer for no more than 2 mins until the sugar has dissolved completely. Add the salt and peppercorns. Take the pan off the heat and let the mixture cool. 
2 Put a bay leaf and the leaves of 1 rosemary sprig into each sterilised jar. 
3 Trim the ends off each lemon, then slice the lemons into six or eight rounds, depending on size. Put 1 sliced lemon into each jar.
4 Divide the cooled vinegar mixture between the jars. (If your lemons are on the small side, you may run out of liquid. Top up jars with a splash more vinegar and some boiling water.)
5 Seal the jars and store in a dark cupboard for at least 8–10 days. The lemons will keep for up to 4 months if the jars are unopened. Once opened, keep refrigerated and consume within 4 weeks.

A WORD ON STERILISING
Heat washed and rinsed jars, upside down, in a low oven (130C/Fan 110C/275F is fine) for half an hour. Build in some cooling time before you fill jars, but don’t let them go cold or they’ll crack, on filling. New lids are ideal or for used lids, boil in a pan of water for at least 10 minutes.

Turn to page 100 of September’s The Simple Things for four more preserve and pickle recipes. Adapted from Gatherings by Flora Shedden (Mitchell Beazley). 

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