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Photography: Julie King

Photography: Julie King

My Plot | Greenhouse advice

Lottie Storey April 17, 2018

Every gardener craves a big, beautiful greenhouse. Julie King, who owns an enviable one in Suffolk, tells us how it gives her year-round blooms and much pleasure

  • Decide how you are going to use your greenhouse before you plan it. I like to grow flowers in a greenhouse bed, so only have staging (a shelf on legs) down one side. You might want more floor area for seating or more staging for seed sowing.
  • Choose your site carefully. My greenhouse faces south but is shaded by a tree on summer afternoons so it doesn’t overheat.
  • Try to include water and electricity in your plan. Being able to have lighting and a heatmator propagator will extend the winter use of your greenhouse greatly.
  • If your budget extends to blinds, fit them on the outside of the glass. Your greenhouse will be much cooler if you can stop the glass from heating up too much.
  • Most flowers find the heat of the greenhouse too much in summer, but tender vegetables, such as chillies, peppers, tomatoes and aubergines, thrive in the hot, humid environment. l Herbs that are grown in pots outside can be brought inside and will continue to grow all winter if you place them on a heat mat. Rhubarb and strawberries can also be brought inside in January for an early crop.
  • Include as many cold frames as possible in your greenhouse plan. Young seedlings that are kept in a greenhouse too long will be very tender and may not thrive when planted outside. Cold frames are basically mini unheated greenhouses sitting directly over the soil and are an ideal place to harden off your young plants.

Turn to page 106 for more greenhouse advice from this month's My Plot. 

  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

View the sampler here

 

More from the April issue:

Featured
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May 6, 2018
Make | Herbal tea bags
May 6, 2018
May 6, 2018
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May 5, 2018
Nest | Lily of the Valley
May 5, 2018
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Apr 24, 2018
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In Escape Tags issue 70, april, greenhouse, gardening, my plot
Comment
My kayak by Sara Pearse

My kayak by Sara Pearse

What I treasure | My kayak

Lottie Storey April 16, 2018

My kayak is a bright, cerulean blue, and sturdy, with smooth, solid curves. When I see photos of me in it, I look different, somehow – alone, strong, adventurous. This person, paddle slicing through glassy water, is free. She can take off on a whim, cope with whatever is thrown at her, and is always on the cusp of discovering something new – a hidden cove, a shoal of darting mackerel, a secret house only glimpsed from the sea. This person knows exactly where she is going, isn’t lost in the day to day.

My husband bought it for me after a hospital stay. Me, clock-watching as his 30-minute operation became four hours, words muttered about haemorrhaging, cauterising, complications. When he finally emerged, he still wasn’t well. I remember the nurse’s flushed face, the young doctor’s shaking hand as it dawned things weren’t quite going to plan. I’d never faced death like that, right in the eye. What scared me was how lonely it was – my husband was the one I turned to in a crisis, but this time the crisis was him. My stomach dipped as I thought about our two young daughters. What would I tell them?

But he made it through, and after, there was a freedom about him – something loose,
untethered. We did the things we’d only talked about before, dreams we’d squirrelled away inside our heads – took the risky job, adopted the kitten my daughter wanted (not just one but two), bought the kayak I’d been coveting.

There’s something primal about paddling. It feels ancient, the rhythm of it. I’m part of the water, literally feeling it, its movements, as it resists the paddle stroke by stroke. So low on the water, without the grumble or whine of a motor – the birds mistake me for one of them. They arc through the sky, or sit perched on a nearby rock, feathers slick with water. Cormorants dive headfirst into the waves right in front of me, reappear a minute later, black heads gleaming.

I chart the changing seasons from the water, and I’ve learnt that the sea has its own topography. I now know where the rocks are, crusty with barnacles, just jutting out of the water, and where the beds of sea grass hide, the swathes of seaweed – gelatinous green ropes and brown fern-like growths that loop around the paddle.

I can’t wait to show my daughters this world, but I’ll still kayak alone – remembering why we bought it, to become the person I am inside my head.

We’d like to know what you treasure - whether it’s a sentimental artefact, a person, a place or something else. Tell us in 500 words what means a lot to you - email thesimplethings@icebergpress.co.uk

 

More from the April issue:

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May 6, 2018
Make | Herbal tea bags
May 6, 2018
May 6, 2018
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May 5, 2018
Nest | Lily of the Valley
May 5, 2018
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  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

View the sampler here

In Think Tags what i treasure, issue 70, april
Comment
Photography: Kirstie Young

Photography: Kirstie Young

Turmeric pickled cauliflower & chilli

Lottie Storey April 15, 2018

Cauliflower makes a good crunchy pickle with a touch of heat – just the thing to go with cheese and crackers

Makes 2 jars
1 head cauliflower
4 chilli peppers
400ml distilled vinegar
400ml water
2 tbsp granulated sugar
11⁄2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp coriander seeds

1 Break the cauliflower into florets, halving or quartering the larger ones so that each is bite sized. Slice the chillies in half and scoop out and discard the seeds (unless you want a very fiery pickle, in which case leave them). Pack these into sterilised jars.
2 In a pan gently heat the vinegar, water, sugar, salt and spices until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil and simmer for 5 mins.
3 Pour the hot liquid over the veg, making sure they’re completely covered. Seal and store in a cool, dark place.

Cook’s note: You can eat this after a week, but the flavours will have more chance to mellow and develop if you wait for a month or longer. Will store, sealed, for at least a year.

Turn to page 42 for more cauliflower recipes from Lia Leendertz.

 

  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

View the sampler here.

 

More from the April issue:

Featured
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May 6, 2018
Make | Herbal tea bags
May 6, 2018
Read More →
May 6, 2018
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In Eating Tags issue 70, april, preserving, cauliflower, today tomorrow to keep
Comment
Illustration: Kavel Rafferty

Illustration: Kavel Rafferty

Stories behind superstitions | Umbrellas

Lottie Storey April 13, 2018

Why is it bad luck to open an umbrella indoors? Is it a snub to ancient gods or just health and safety?

One suggestion links it to the Egyptian goddess Nut, also known as “coverer of the sky”. Man-made umbrellas, to shield their users from the sun, were said to have been crafted as a tribute to her – and were therefore as symbolic as they were practical, their use associated with nobility. Being able, or asked, to stand under one was an honour – and not one that should be violated.

A more practically minded explanation comes from 18th-century London, where foldable umbrellas were still a relatively new invention. These large and unwieldy metal-spoked brollies had a habit of violently springing open, making them likely to cause damage to belongings or people if opened in too close a proximity.

Prepared to risk Ancient Egyptian wrath and trust in the safety of a modern brolly? Mark 13 March in your 2019 diary: it’s National Open an Umbrella Indoors Day.

  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

View the sampler here.

 

More from the April issue:

Featured
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May 6, 2018
Make | Herbal tea bags
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In Miscellany Tags superstitions, miscellany, issue 70, april
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Photography: Cathy McKinnon

Photography: Cathy McKinnon

Beautiful bluebells

Lottie Storey April 11, 2018

You can have a mindful walk in any woodland, but a bluebell wood is one of the sights of spring that never fails to bring joy. About half the world’s population of bluebells (hyacinthoides) grow in the UK; they love our ancient woodland, where the ground has been undisturbed for many years. Never be tempted to pick wild bluebells down to the root – they take five years to grow from seed into bulb and native bluebells are a protected species in the UK.

If planting bluebells, make sure they are natives (var. non scripta), as they’re under threat from their interloper cousins. Bluebells flower from early April, before the trees come into full leaf and the sunlight from the woodland floor.

Find your nearest wood at woodlandtrust.org.uk. Join its Big Bluebell Watch by recording your sightings and help to monitor the status of UK bluebells.

Turn to page 76 for more on our walk in the woods feature.

  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

View the sampler here

 

More from the April issue:

Featured
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May 6, 2018
Make | Herbal tea bags
May 6, 2018
May 6, 2018
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May 5, 2018
Nest | Lily of the Valley
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In Escape Tags issue 70, april, bluebells, woods, woodland
Comment
Photography: SHANTANU STARICK

Photography: SHANTANU STARICK

Toast | Spring peas, broad beans & flowers

Lottie Storey April 10, 2018

Full of the things that shine in spring.*

Serves 4
100ml extra virgin olive oil
350g podded broad beans and peas
Handful of parsley, stalks and all, finely chopped
Handful of mint, leaves picked, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 dried chillies
1⁄2 lemon
4–8 slices of sourdough

TO SERVE
Lemon
Ricotta
Edible flowers
Cook’s note: You can now buy edible flowers at the supermarket, usually stocked alongside the fresh herbs.

1 Heat 80ml of the olive oil in a heavy-based frying pan over a low heat. Add the broad beans, peas and a pinch of salt and pepper. Fry for about 10 mins.
2 Grind the parsley, mint, garlic and chilli with the remaining oil to a paste using a pestle and mortar. Add to the pan with the veg and fry for 2–3 mins. Remove from heat and add a squeeze of lemon juice.
3 Boil the eggs for 6 mins and toast the bread.
4 To serve, peel and halve the eggs, spoon the broad bean mix on the toast, then top with the eggs, a squeeze of lemon, some ricotta, a pinch of salt and freshly ground or cracked black pepper, and a scattering of flowers.

Turn to page 31 for more from our Grown & gathered feature to find out how Australians Matt and Lentil have learned to live alongside nature, adapting an ancient way of life for the modern world. Hear their story and try a few more of their recipes. 

* ...if you’re in Australia. In temperate Britain, you’ll have to wait until early summer!

  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

View the sampler here.

 

More from the April issue:

Featured
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May 6, 2018
Make | Herbal tea bags
May 6, 2018
Read More →
May 6, 2018
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May 5, 2018
Nest | Lily of the Valley
May 5, 2018
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May 5, 2018
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Apr 24, 2018
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In Eating Tags issue 70, april, toast, bread, sandwich, spring, edible flowers
Comment
back cover 70.png

The secret to getting ahead is getting started

Lottie Storey April 8, 2018

More from the April issue:

Featured
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May 6, 2018
Make | Herbal tea bags
May 6, 2018
May 6, 2018
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May 5, 2018
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  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

View the sampler here.

In Magazine Tags back cover, april, issue 70
Comment
Photograph: Cathy Pyle

Photograph: Cathy Pyle

How to host a salon

Lottie Storey April 7, 2018

A salon supper, dotted with informal talks, brings the promise of knowledge to the table, and good food, too

We all know a bit about something – whether from work or study, travel or a hobby. These pearls of wisdom, however, are unlikely to come up in conversation. Yet, with the right setting, good food and willing friends, you can create a memorable evening, peppered with stories shared (see how on page 29). A modern salon calls for dishes that impress without stealing the show – a menu that needs only the lightest of last-minute prep. The result? Appetites sated and minds broadened.

How to host your own salon

Think about space
How much room have you got for people to sit comfortably? A nice full room creates a buzz, but too many people makes the space seem squashed. Where will you position food and drink? It needs to be accessible without disrupting speakers.

Check, one, two
If you’re not meeting in a house or flat, but in a pub or another borrowed venue, it’s worth checking your speakers can be heard without a microphone.

Be the curator
What do you want your salon to look like and who speaks? It could be that you’re
a group of friends and you all share, or that each of you brings an interesting person to speak.

Choose a theme
This will help an evening hang together. Keep it broad to allow for interpretation and creativity. You can either go abstract – new or lost, for example – or concrete – topics such as holidays or school.

Play the host
Beyond serving food and drink, you’ll need to introduce the event (or ask someone else to): thank people for coming, set out the theme of talks, and describe the shape of the evening – how many speakers there are, when breaks will be – so that guests know what to expect. Then just see where the night takes you.
 

Turn to page 22 of the April issue for more from our salon Gathering, including Beetroot & horseradish dip, Mixed olives with lemon zest, Asparagus spears with parma ham & toasted almonds, Spring lemon & cardamom chicken, Rainbow roasted carrots with cumin and Jewelled couscous with watercress, peppers & pomegranate.

  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

View the sampler here.

 

More from the April issue:

Featured
SIM71.MAKES_IMG_2891.png
May 6, 2018
Make | Herbal tea bags
May 6, 2018
Read More →
May 6, 2018
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May 5, 2018
Nest | Lily of the Valley
May 5, 2018
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Apr 24, 2018
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Apr 24, 2018
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In Eating Tags issue 70, april, gathering, salon, how to
Comment
Photography: Peter Cassidy

Photography: Peter Cassidy

Recipe | Brown butter and toffee cookies

Lottie Storey April 6, 2018

The addition of browned butter gives these cookies a rich, nutty edge, making them all the more moreish. The recipe also works well with white chocolate

BROWN BUTTER & TOFFEE COOKIES
Makes 16
150g unsalted butter
1⁄2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1⁄2 tsp mixed spice
300g plain flour
1⁄2 tsp salt
150g light brown soft sugar
100g caster sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp whole milk
150g chocolate-covered toffees, such as Fazer’s Dumle*, or white chocolate, chopped
Sea salt flakes (optional)

1 Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat until it starts to bubble noisily. Eventually the bubbles will become smaller and stop. Swirl the pan – you will see and smell the change from yellow butter to brown. Immediately remove from the heat. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool a little.
2 In another bowl sift together the bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice, flour and salt.
3 Mix both sugars into the browned butter until well incorporated. Add the egg and egg yolk, syrup, vanilla extract and milk. Add the dry ingredients, then the toffees or white chocolate and stir to combine. Cover the bowl or wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for a few hours.
4 Preheat oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment. Form egg-sized rounds of cookie dough using your hands and place on the lined baking sheets. These cookies spread a lot during baking, so leave a minimum of 8cm between each round.
5 Sprinkle with sea salt flakes, if using. Bake for around 8 mins until slightly brown at the sides but not entirely puffed up. Remove from the oven and let cool (if using Dumle, let cool for a bit longer before eating).

Recipe from ScandiKitchen Summer by Brontë Aurell (Ryland, Peters & Small).

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

  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

View the sampler here.

 

More from the April issue:

Featured
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May 6, 2018
Make | Herbal tea bags
May 6, 2018
Read More →
May 6, 2018
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May 5, 2018
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May 5, 2018
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May 5, 2018
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Apr 24, 2018
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Apr 24, 2018
Read More →
Apr 24, 2018

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In Eating Tags cake in the house, cake, cake recipe, cookies, april, issue 70
Comment
cut flower garden.png

How to grow cut flowers

Lottie Storey April 5, 2018

Here's an idea: turn a tired area of your garden into a cutting-flower patch and you'll be picking blooms all summer

If you don’t have green fingers, start with long-lasting perennials and shrubs from your local nursery or garden centre. A trio of scented ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ roses underplanted with pincushions of astrantia, daisy-like echinacea, and the foliage of bronze fennel all make good picking and will supply dozens of fragrant bunches. While autumn is the time for planting daffs and tulips, spring is good for getting gladioli and allium bulbs in the ground, as well as dahlias, with their stunning cactus and anemone shapes. 

For everyday bunches of loveliness, sow sweet peas. They’re easy to grow, and so benevolent with their blooms, you can pick every day of summer. There’s a wide range of colour, too. Build a hazel or bamboo wigwam for them to twine around and plant at the base of each strut. As seedlings appear, encourage them to clamber onto the frame with twine. Tender seedlings are a gift to molluscs, so sprinkle some wildlife-friendly slug pellets, too.

Turn to page 118 for more cutting patch advice, including how to do the groundwork, growing from seed and how to arrange your blooms.

  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

View the sampler here.

 

More from the April issue:

Featured
SIM71.MAKES_IMG_2891.png
May 6, 2018
Make | Herbal tea bags
May 6, 2018
May 6, 2018
SIM71.NEST_DSC_1598.png
May 5, 2018
Nest | Lily of the Valley
May 5, 2018
May 5, 2018
shutterstock_93713581 (1).png
Apr 24, 2018
Being boring
Apr 24, 2018
Apr 24, 2018

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In Nest Tags plants, nest, issue 70, april, cut flowers, flowers, growing flowers
Comment
david-marcu-45275-unsplash.jpg

Things to note and notice in April

Lottie Storey April 4, 2018

From lifting your head up to making time for tea, there are lots of little ways to brighten up April

If still too chilly to pitch the tent, check out Canopy & Stars’ latest spring-friendly additions (think hot showers, duck-down duvets and four-poster beds). 
canopyandstars.co.uk

‘The best thing one can do when it is raining is to let it rain’
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet

Dust off your trainers – 6 April is Walk to Work Day. Why not aim to walk every Friday this month (to the shops/ school/pub)?

Create a meal using food that could have been binned, take a photo and post the recipe on social media, #RecipeforDisaster, with a donation of £5 to combat food waste.
insight.wfp.org

Note the time the sun rises and sets on the same day each week and watch the days lengthening.

More on pages 16-17 of April's The Simple Things.

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

View the sampler here.

 

More from the April issue:

Featured
SIM71.MAKES_IMG_2891.png
May 6, 2018
Make | Herbal tea bags
May 6, 2018
May 6, 2018
SIM71.NEST_DSC_1598.png
May 5, 2018
Nest | Lily of the Valley
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May 5, 2018
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Apr 24, 2018
Being boring
Apr 24, 2018
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In Magazine Tags could do, april, issue 70
Comment
Photography: Clare Winfield

Photography: Clare Winfield

Homemade nut butters

Lottie Storey April 2, 2018

All you need is a blender and a bag of nuts and you can make your own homemade nut butter in no time. Delicious spread on hot toast or oatcakes, stirred into porridge or sneakily licked off a finger.

Hazelnut butter

Makes about 150g
130g hazelnuts, skins removed
1 tbsp neutral-tasting oil, such as grapeseed or sunflower
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa or cacao powder (optional)

1 Blitz the hazelnuts in a food processor for 8–12 mins, depending on your machine. First you’ll get a fine powder, but continue blending until you get a denser, softened nut butter.
2 Add the oil, vanilla, salt and cocoa or cacao powder (if using) and blitz to combine for 2–4 mins until smooth. Store in the fridge in an airtight jar for up to a month.
 

Cashew butter

Makes about 250g
240g raw cashews
Pinch of sea salt
1 tbsp neutral-tasting oil, such as grapeseed or sunflower

1 Preheat oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4. Place the cashews on a baking sheet in a single layer and bake in the preheated oven for 6–9 mins until lightly toasted.
2 Allow the cashews to cool completely before transferring to a food processor. Add the salt and blitz. Once you have a rough paste (after 6–7 mins), slowly add the oil with the motor running. Blend for 8–12 mins in total. Be patient: you will get a nut butter eventually! 

Cook’s notes: You’ll have to scrape down the sides a few times between blitzes. Store in the fridge in a jar for up to a month.

Recipes from The New Porridge by Leah Vanderveldt (Ryland, Peters & Small).
 

  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

View the sampler here.

 

More from the April issue:

Featured
SIM71.MAKES_IMG_2891.png
May 6, 2018
Make | Herbal tea bags
May 6, 2018
Read More →
May 6, 2018
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In Eating Tags issue 70, april, nuts
Comment
SIM70.NEST_09_1.png

Nest | Pilea

Lottie Storey April 1, 2018

Once a rare sighting, the round, glossy leaves of pilea are now seen increasingly in our homes. This is largely because they are so easy to propagate.

Plantlets that spring up around their base can be snipped off and potted on in a twinkling, with the resulting plants dispersed among friends.

“They’ll lean towards the light,” says Alice Howard of Botanique Workshop, artisan store and flower shop, “so keep them out of direct sunlight. Otherwise, they are as easy to care for as they are to propagate.”

  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

View the sampler here.

 

More from the April issue:

Featured
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May 6, 2018
Make | Herbal tea bags
May 6, 2018
May 6, 2018
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In Nest Tags plants, houseplant, House plants, nest, issue 70, april
Comment
toa-heftiba-487247-unsplash.jpg

A could-do list for April

Lottie Storey April 1, 2018

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

  • Open the window and breathe deeply
  • Express gratitude, don’t just feel it
  • Read a book of poetry and copy out your favourite poem(s)
  • Start a new collection of things you love
  • Keep a dream journal
  • Walk with a little more pace and purpose today
  • Write down five things you’re proud of

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

  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

View the sampler here.

 

More from the April issue:

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May 6, 2018
Make | Herbal tea bags
May 6, 2018
May 6, 2018
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May 5, 2018
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In Magazine Tags could do, april, issue 70
Comment
Photography: Alamy

Photography: Alamy

Grand days out

Lottie Storey March 29, 2018

Think stately homes - think splendid architecture, immaculate gardens, tempting tea rooms and the chance for a good nose around

Easter is traditionally the date in the calendar when stately homes, dormant over winter, come back to life and open their doors for us to visit. 

Recognise any of these great houses of literature?

Manderley 
‘Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.’ The evocative first line of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca sets the tone for this atmospheric story. And while the house was based on Milton Hall near Peterborough, the longing was taken from du Maurier’s own desire for Menabilly near Fowey in Cornwall. 

Thornfield Hall 
Who hasn’t been haunted by the idea of the mad woman, hiding the attic at Thornfield Hall in Jane Eyre? Many believe Charlotte Brontë based her fictional house on Norton Conyers, near Ripon. 

Satis House
The faded grandeur of Miss Havisham’s house in Great Expectations is chilling, with its grand gates and dark, dusty rooms. Restoration House in Rochester, Kent – a beautiful Tudor building – lays claim to being Dickens’ inspiration. 

Glamis Castle 
Most of the action in Shakespeare’s Macbeth takes place at Glamis Castle. The castle isn’t fictional, and neither is the story of the killing of Duncan by Macbeth, but the bard did take some poetic licence in placing the murder at the castle.

Turn to page 64 of April's The Simple Things for more of our Grand Days Out feature.

  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

View the sampler here

 

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Featured
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May 6, 2018
Make | Herbal tea bags
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In Escape Tags issue 70, april, stately homes, literature
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70 COVER.png

Think | April cover reveal

Lottie Storey March 28, 2018

There’s no better time than spring for fresh thinking. But often good ideas arrive when you least expect them – usually when you stop trying so hard. Being absorbed in doing a jigsaw or going for a run makes space for clearer thoughts. And who knows what a chance encounter could spark when you’re taking a wander in the woods. Whether you’re trying to make the pieces fit together or to plant a clever thought, there’s inspiration out there if you take time to note and notice. Then feel those new shoots flourish.

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

View the sampler here, buy back issues or try our sister mag, Oh Comely 

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May 6, 2018
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  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

In Magazine Tags cover reveal, april, issue 70
Comment
Photograph: Cathy Pyle

Photograph: Cathy Pyle

Lemon posset pots with ginger crunch

Lottie Storey March 28, 2018

Easy to make ahead, and refreshing with orange and mint

Serves 8
600ml double cream
150g caster sugar
Juice of 2 lemons
150g stem ginger biscuits
1 orange
1 small bunch fresh mint

1 Place the cream, sugar and lemon juice into a large saucepan and bring to the boil, simmer for 4 mins, stirring constantly to avoid it catching on the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

2 Once cooled, tip the mixture into a jug and pour into small vintage glasses (you could also use pretty china tea cups, ramekins or wine glasses). Chill for at least 4 hours in the fridge to firm up.

3 Roughly crush the stem ginger biscuits using a pestle or heavy-duty rolling pin and scatter on
top of the possets.

4 Finely slice the skin of the orange so you get a flat piece of orange peel. Cut it into thin strips with a sharp knife and arrange the strips of zest on top of the biscuits. Top each glass with a couple of small, fresh mint leaves and serve.

Turn to page 22 of the April issue for more from our salon Gathering, including Beetroot & horseradish dip, Mixed olives with lemon zest, Asparagus spears with parma ham & toasted almonds, Spring lemon & cardamom chicken, Rainbow roasted carrots with cumin and Jewelled couscous with watercress, peppers & pomegranate.

  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

View the sampler here.

 

More from the April issue:

Featured
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May 6, 2018
Make | Herbal tea bags
May 6, 2018
Read More →
May 6, 2018
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In Eating Tags lemon, issue 70, april, dessert, pudding
Comment
microfiction.png

Competition | Writing microfiction

Lottie Storey March 26, 2018

Fancy having a go at writing a story in 100 words? The theme is summer, the closing date, 30 April 

We’re full of admiration for a good microfiction: the format may be short, but there’s a wonderful sense of economy, every word polished and shaped with care. In just a few sentences, authors capture fleeting moments – the look of a flower in sunlight, say; the emotional weather in a relationship, or a tale of intrigue, filled with plot and peril.

If you fancy having a go, let our competition be your cue to action. It’s really just for fun, although the winner will receive a parcel of books to say well done. We’re looking for stories on the subject of SUMMER, with a feelgood vibe. The word count is 100 maximum (not including the title) and the work should be all your own and not previously published.

Email your microfiction to: thesimplethings@icebergpress.co.uk. Include your name and phone number and use the subject heading: MICROFICTION.

We’ll print our favourites in the June issue of The Simple Things, just in time for National Flash Fiction Day (nationalflashfictionday.co.uk). The closing date for submitting stories is 30 April 2018. Good luck!

  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

View the sampler here

 

More from the April issue:

Featured
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May 6, 2018
Make | Herbal tea bags
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Comment
My hand-written recipe book by Jacqui Hitt

My hand-written recipe book by Jacqui Hitt

What I treasure | My hand-written recipe book

Lottie Storey March 26, 2018

Among my collection of recipe books is a special one with a plain, blue cover. It’s filled as much with unforgettable moments as it is with edible delights. Whenever I flick through its pages, I find myself back in 1986. I’m 17 and living with a family in Belgrade in what is now Serbia. At that time, it was the capital of the ‘non-aligned socialist republic’ of Yugoslavia: neither Western nor fully behind the ‘Iron Curtain’.

My strongest memory is of sitting at the table in the hallway that doubled as a dining room in my host family’s flat, noting down recipes in my notebook. Most were ones my host mother, Marija, taught me to cook. We had little shared language and cookery was an activity we could do together without words. Weighing, chopping, stirring, and rolling could all be done by watching or gesturing to each other.

I wrote down some of the recipes in English, others in Serbo-Croatian, occasionally a mix of the two. Many only detail rough quantities: three cups of flour, two cups of sugar, one of oil and large amounts of eggs (10 or 12 is not unusual). There are smudges and stains showing where ingredients strayed onto the page.

Marija’s cooking was different from what I knew from home, restricted by shortages imposed by a communist state. Food was strictly seasonal and local. Special dishes stood out because they were a rare treat.

On birthdays and important holidays, Marija would spend hours making cakes or savoury bakes from scratch. Filo-pastry filled with spicy ground meat or salty cheese; a strawberry cake with whipped cream that will forever be the best I’ve tasted; and plum dumplings so juicy that they burst in my mouth at first bite.

I still make these dishes, and just looking at the list of ingredients sends me back to a specific moment in time. The little chocolate, cream-filled išleri biscuits Marija made for my 18th birthday. The cinnamon-scented apple cake she baked to celebrate her son’s return from military service. The simple delight of a pile of pancakes filled with rosehip jam on a cold winter’s night.

I treasure my recipe book for many reasons – for the memories it contains and the fact that, woven into every page, are recipes for a good life as well as fabulous food.

We’d like to know what you treasure - whether it’s a sentimental artefact, a person, a place or something else. Tell us in 500 words what means a lot to you - email thesimplethings@icebergpress.co.uk

 

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  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

View the sampler here

In Think Tags what i treasure, march, issue 69
Comment
Getty Images

Getty Images

History of the t-shirt

Lottie Storey March 25, 2018

The t-shirt evolved from 19th-century underwear. Light, well fitted and easily washed, it became popular as a bottom layer of clothing for workers and those in the armed forces, and made its first written appearance in 1920, in F Scott Fitzgerald’s debut novel, This Side of Paradise. The first printed t-shirt ever worn publicly is believed to be an Air Corps Gunnery School t-shirt, which appeared on the cover of LIFE magazine in 1942. While in 1938, an American marketing campaign argued that “you don’t need to be a soldier to have your own personal t-shirt”, the style really took off thanks to film appearances on Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and James Dean in 1955’s Rebel Without a Cause. They’ve been worn by everyone, from heartthrobs to more normal types since.

Turn to page 80 of the March issue for more on the T-shirt and how much it says about who we are, what we believe and where we belong. 

  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well

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

View the sampler here.

 

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In Think Tags march, issue 69, style, clothing
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  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well
Feb 27, 2025
Feb 27, 2025

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The Simple Things

Taking time to live well

We celebrate slowing down, enjoying what you have, making the most of where you live, enjoying the company of of friends and family, and feeding them well. We like to grow some of our own vegetables, visit local markets, rummage for vintage finds, and decorate our home with the plunder. We love being outdoors and enjoy the satisfaction that comes with a job well done.

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