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Taking Time to Live Well
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Goes down well with a mug of something hot.
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Here it is… the original ending to our murder mystery short story competition…
Back in August we printed (most of) a murder mystery story by crime writer Sophie Hannah and set readers the challenge of finishing it. You can read the winning entry (as well as the beginning of Sophie’s story) in our November issue. But here you can enjoy Sophie’s original, intended, ending. Did you guess who the murderer was?…
If you missed the original story, we’ll be printing it here in full later in the month, or buy the November issue, on sale now.
‘Tell me.’ I crouched down beside her.
She stared at the square of words. ‘Edward was right. It is a palindrome, if you lay the five words end to end — ROTASOPERATENETAREPOSATOR. Lily misunderstood. He wasn’t claiming that each word was a palindrome. What a clever magic square! And to be able to make the Paternoster cross, too! It’s really rather marvellous that they found it among the ruins of Pompei.’
‘What does this have to do with Stanley’s death?’
‘All this time, I’ve wondered, Philip: what terrible things might Julia and Lily have said that day that prompted you to threaten them? Odd, isn’t it, for us both to forget? And why would my sisters savage me? I had promised to share everything equally. Lily didn’t even want Father’s money. Why should she accuse you of having gone mad unless…unless you’d reacted to something that never happened?’
‘What do you mean?’ There was a limit to how much Alice could know. She was surely unaware (or she’d have mentioned it) that Stanley had consulted me about making a new will, to make things equal between his daughters. Julia, damn her, had persuaded him that was fairer. And then, if Alice had married me as I’d hoped she would, we’d have been unnecessarily poorer. Unless something were to happen to Stanley before the new will could be made…
‘You reacted with anger to nothing,’ said Alice. ‘I didn’t forget the dreadful things Lily and Julia said; neither did you. They said nothing offensive. You needed that conversation to end: the discussion about palindromes and words that were other words reversed. You were afraid I’d tumble to the truth: that you murdered Father. That, while dying, he managed to turn over that cup of tea — and in doing so, name his murderer. The word cup, upside down, gives us the letters p, u, c. Philip Unwin-Carruthers. As you say, Father wasn’t one for setting puzzles. Your words contained an assumption: that Father turned the cup upside down, not his murderer. How could you have known that unless you were there? Unless you killed him?’
What a fool I’d been, so secure and smug in the assumption that she’d never work it out.
Well, there was only one thing for it — though Alice hadn’t yet got that far in her deductions. She soon would. What choice did I have? I was hardly about to let her leave my room and go straight to the police.
It was a terrible pity. I sincerely loved her. We could have been so happy together.
THE END
Photography: Joseph Ford
Now you see me… now you don’t
We tend to think of camouflage as matching one’s background. And indeed, this can be used to good effect, as seen in the picture above from Invisible Jumpers by Joseph Ford and Nina , published by Hoxton Mini Press (you can see more of these fabulous photographs in our October issue).
But in the animal kingdom, it’s all a little more subtle and complex than this (and less knitted) and the theories of how camo works have been discussed by everyone from artists to zoologists for decades. Here are a few of the nifty tricks nature uses to make itself invisible.
Since the Cretaceous period, many animals have been darker on the top of their body and lighter on the underside (think about a shark with its dark back and white belly - it works just as well for predators as prey). When light falls from above on a 3D object of one shade the underside appears darker than the top because of the way shadows fall, giving the object a solid appearance. Countershading works against that, using shading to counterbalance light’s effects to make the object seem to disappear.
This is the sort of camo we often think of first - those mad stick insects that look like leaves, moths that have wings that look just like bark. Devious little so-and-sos.
This is a bit subtler but seen from below, most marine animals are able to be seen because they have a dark silhouette against the water. Some, like the firefly squid, produce light from bioluminscent photophores on their undersides, which counteracts the effect of their dark silhouette making them harder to see.
In layman’s terms, this is ‘splotchiness’, like on a leopard or a flatfish. The splotches make it harder to see the contours of the animal’s body.
Also known as ‘boundary disruption’. This makes the edges of an animal’s shape looks a bit roughed up so it’s harder to discern its body as a whole from its background.
By far our favourite camo trick. The eye can be a bit of a target for predators, as it stands out, so concealing it can be the difference between being a survivor and being dinner. Some animals have a dark band or stripe across the eye (like a raccoon) to hide the dark pupil, others have dark patches around the eye (pandas). While others still go for total misdirection, like some fish which have a fake ‘eye’ near the end of their tail and their real eyes are tiny and easily missed. Sneaky!
You can find more pictures of the fabulous knitted camo from Invisible jumpers in our October ‘Create’ issue. Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe
We’re making two lovely posters. Vote below to let us know which one you like best…
We made some The Simple Things manifestos to put on your wall some time ago. They went like hot cakes and readers have been asking about them ever since…
So, by popular demand, they are back! We designed two colour ways but we have to choose just one to print, so we thought we’d leave it up to you.
Click below to vote for your favourite and as soon as we have a winner we’ll rush it to the printer’s.
Illustration: Zuza Misko
A little legend about one of our favourite creepy crawlies
There’s no doubt there’s something a bit special about spiders. In our October issue (in shops now), we are celebrating our eight-legged friends on our Magical Creatures page. But why did Mother Nature decide they needed quite so many legs? We suspect there’s a very scientific evolutionary answer, but we quite like this one...
The Greek myth of Arachne has several versions but Ovid told a slightly terrifying story about how the spider got eight legs.
Arachne was a mortal woman, the daughter of a shepherd, and a top-notch weaver, but more than a little boastful regarding her skill. Foolishly, she began to boast that her weaving was better than that of the Goddess Athena, who overheard (as Gods are wont to) and popped to earth, disguised as an old lady to urge her to retract her claims in hopes the Gods would forgive her.
Bumptious Arachne refused to say that her weaving was inferior to that of Athena’s and went one step further, in fact, saying that if Athena thought her weaving was so spectacular she should come to earth herself and join her in a weaving competition. Athena cast aside her old lady costume and they both began to weave.
Athena’s weaving depicted contests between mortals and the Gods in which mortals were harshly punished for daring to set themselves against the Gods (an unsubtle hint of what was to come, but one Arachne chose to ignore). Arachne, meanwhile, ill-advisedly wove a picture showing the ways in which the Gods had abused mortals over the years. More inadvisedly still, her weaving turned out to be far superior than Athena’s.
Furious at both Arachne’s cheek and her talent, Athena struck her about the head three times and tore her work to pieces. Shamed and fearful, Arachne hanged herself.
Athena, who shows a frightening lack of moral compassion here, we must say, even for a Goddess, told her: "Live on then, and yet hang, condemned one, but, lest you are careless in future, this same condition is declared, in punishment, against your descendants, to the last generation!" She sprinkled her with some of Hecate’s poisonous herbs, at which point Arachne’s hair fell out, her nose fell off and her head and body shrank. Her talented weaver’s fingers stuck to her sides and became legs, which would spin thread from her belly for ever.
The moral of the story? Keep your light under a bushel… unless you’re a Goddess with a bit of an anger problem.
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Photography: Jacqui Melville
How not to be beaten by bobbing or tricked by a toffee apple this season
We love an apple, but they’ve been causing trouble for millennia, what with tempting innocent folk going about their business in the garden of Eden, causing discord among Greek Gods and all sorts of trouble in Norse legend, too.
And even today, if you’ve ever tried bobbing for apples or munching on a toffee apple at this time of year you’ll know they can be tricky customers. Here’s The Simple Things’ guide to getting one over on apples this autumn.
Here’s how to avoid a very sticky face, sugar in one’s hair and the risk of dropping your toffee apple on the floor and it rolling into the bonfire….
Etiquette dictates that one should cut a toffee apple into slices and, indeed, this is the way to eat one if you wish to eliminate all the above risks. Take a sharp knife and a plate and simply slice the apple and remove the core as you would any ordinary (non-toffeed) apple and eat it in bite-sized slices.
The Simple Things method: Open your mouth as wide as possible and take a huge bite at the first pass, showering yourself with shards of sugar, getting sticky bits in your hair and dicing with a trip to the dentist. Because where is the fun, and what on earth is the point otherwise, we ask you.
Any activity that involves getting wet, probably outside, at the end of October should be undertaken in a wetsuit really. But assuming you’re going to wing it in civvies (or a Halloween costume) here’s how the pros think you should proceed.
Don’t just randomly grab at apples with your mouth. You’ll get very wet. You need to think strategically here and go for one of two methods. Either look for an apple floating right way up with a prominent stalk and try to catch the stalk between your teeth (don’t bother with this method if you have a significant overbite), or pick an apple you’re going for and push it up against the side of the bowl using the bowl as leverage in order to sink your teeth into the apple.
The Simple Things method: Come dressed as a witch in a black bin liner, so the top half of your body is essentially waterproof. Don a swimming cap and nose clip. Take a deep breath and plunge your head into the water, using the bottom of the bowl to push against to get your teeth into the apple. Remove swimming cap and witch bin liner and emerge victorious.
If you’re making your own toffee apples for Halloween (or just because) you might like to try the recipe for the toffee apples on twigs (above) from Apple by James Rich (Hardie Grant). You can find the recipe on p71 of our October Create issue or buy it in the link below.
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Illustration: Kavel Rafferty
Go stargazing without straining your neck with this clever make
This make is fairly easy to put together and will provide you with hours of fun on a clear Autumn night. Head out with a Thermos and your guide to the night sky and see what you can spot.
You will need
A mirror, the bigger the better
Weather-proof sealant (optional)
Robust table or flat, stable surface large enough to hold the mirror
Binoculars
Planks of wood (one per viewer)
Clean pieces of cloth
1 Find a mirror and give it a clean so it’s as clear as possible. Treating the frame with weather-proof sealant can help it last longer.
2 Lay mirror onto your flat surface facing upwards. Secure in place.
3 Prop your plank against the mirror and wedge into place so it doesn’t move. Put your binoculars on top and angle so you can see the mirror.
4 Keep the mirror covered up until it’s dark, then use your binoculars to look at the reflection of the skies. Use a bit of cloth to wipe the mirror if it gets fogged up.
5 Make sure you take the mirror back inside or cover it up once you’re finished staring at the stars.
Find more makes, fun and facts on our Miscellany pages every issue.
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Photography: Kirstie Young
Here are The Simple Things, we always enjoy sharing excellent words. Here’s one for autumn
An adjective meaning of, like, or pertaining to walnuts. It comes from the Latin juglans, (walnut), which is derived from ‘ju’ a shortened form of Jupiter (as in the God) and ‘glans’ meaning ‘acorn’, so: Jupiter’s acorn.
We are unsure what Jupiter had to do with it all.
You can use it in a literal way, meaning ‘to do with walnuts’, but we prefer the less common metaphorical use, for example: ‘Great Uncle Arthur’s nose was large, misshapen and tanned. A juglandaceous feature that entered the room before he did.’
We have a very juglandaceous Finders Keepers feature in our October ‘Create’ issue, by Lia Leendertz, in which she gives advice on foraging walnuts and sweet chestnuts and recipes for using your haul.
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Photography: Ali Allen
Why we love a larder, and why you should, too
Somewhere in the last 50-or-so years, larders were lost and became a bit of a thing of the past. We probably all remember a grandparent or auntie who had a really decent larder. If you were lucky it was a proper cold room with shelves on all four sides, precariously stacked with tins, jars, packets and boxes. Otherwise it might have been an outhouse, or just a particularly big kitchen cupboard. Either way, they were a bit magic. A woman of a certain age could don a tabard, stick her head briefly inside the larder and - ta dah! - emerge with an armful of packets and tins from which a cake would appear, or a jelly filled with fruit, or simply a tin of cocoa powder and a packet of biscuits.
But, as post-war kitchens became smaller and fridges ever bigger, the larder fell out of favour, no longer needed as we filled our American-style fridges with food that would last for days and freezers took more of the strain.
However, in the last decade, larders have been having a moment again, with several big kitchen companies creating beautiful, freestanding larder-armoires, that open their capacious doors as if to hug you to the bosom of their dried goods and tins. And we’re not surprised. Because what is nicer than a larder?
We all aspire to the sort of larder stocked with home-bottled tomatoes, chutney from the allotment and jars of apples dried in a low oven (the sort of larder that calls for large Kilner jars and chalkboard labels).
But all larders are a joy. The kind you can lean on one Thursday night when the supermarket shut just as you arrived and the fridge is bare, but just at the back of the larder is a packet of dry pasta, a jar of roasted peppers that came in a hamper at Christmas and a bottle of red, and suddenly dinner is saved. Or the sort of larder that seems to be full to the gunwales with flour, currants, rice and other utilitarian things, but you know that one rainy afternoon, if you have a bit of a dig about you will emerge, victorious, with the remains of a homemade fruit cake and a chocolate orange you hid from yourself for just such an occasion.
You don’t even need to have a larder to larder well. Got a shed? Give it a tidy and set up a small book shelf in there for your jars and tins. An outdoor bunker does the job equally well, with the addition of a small storage unit. A cupboard under the stairs makes a good larder, and means you don’t have to set foot outside in inclement weather. Or, for ultimate convenience, dedicate a cupboard in your kitchen to be a larder cupboard and feel the joy every time you open the door. Wherever you choose to create your larder, do make sure it’s mouse and bug proof (there’s nothing sadder than another creature stealing all your hard work). Once you’ve got your space sorted you can set about planning the contents.
There’s an art to squirreling away, you see. Some squirreling requires hard work and forward planning while other aspects require a bit of recklessness and a glint in your eye. You have to consider not only what you might need, but also what you might just fancy. October is prime squirreling time: you can use up the last of the summer gluts making jams, biscuits and other goodies that will cheer the winter months. In fact, we have some fabulous ideas for this from Rachel de Thample in our October issue, everything from marrow marmalade to homemade Worcestershire sauce. But it’s also a good time to stash away a fancy tin of biscuits, some posh chocolates (or maybe simply a Crunchie bar, just for you, hidden on the top shelf behind the butter beans, to be eaten under the duvet with a book on a sad, snowy Sunday). The Norwegians might say: ‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes’. We say ‘there’s no such thing as bad weather, only a badly prepared larder’. Get ready to hunker down.
Our October issue has several recipes from Gifts from the Modern Larder: Homemade Presents to Make and Give by Rachel de Thample (Kyle Books). Photography by Ali Allen. The ‘Create’ issue is in shops now.
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Am I Overthinking This? by Michelle Rial (Chronicle Books)
We’re waving off our September issue with the final thought from our back cover
Our September issue will soon be off the shelves and we’re welcoming in October. We hope you enjoyed the Begin issue. Perhaps it inspired you to take up a new hobby, learn a new skill or just mark the beginning of a new start, or a new season.
The illustration we used on our back cover made us all laugh so we’re sharing it with you here. It’s from Am I Overthinking This? By Michelle Rial (Chronicle Books).
Photography: Clare Gogerty
A stroll is good for body and soul but a canter along the coast is a true tonic
Why is there nothing quite like a stroll along the sea? Walking anywhere outdoors is good for you; a chance to get your heart pumping, fill your lungs with fresh air and clear your head a little. But there’s definitely something a bit special about a coastal walk, especially at this time of year.
Perhaps, as we straddle two seasons, the idea of walking in hinterlands, along ‘the edge of something’, strolling between one world and the next, is appealing: one foot firmly on land, the other lapped by waves. Autumn’s a bit like that isn’t it?
Or maybe it’s that a day spent in the sunshine is something of a last hurrah right now. As Autumn Proper beckons and evenings get darker, managing a day out by the sea feels like an easy win against the elements, as well as a chance to bank some fresh air and sunlight before we all become just a little more home-based.
Some 2015 research by the National Trust showed that a coastal walk also gave us 47 minutes’ more rest on average the following night. And who couldn’t do with some extra sleep as summer draws to a close? The NT has put together a list of some of the best coastal walks around the UK. Why not get out there and make the most of an Indian summer this weekend? You’ve nothing to lose and 47 minutes’ of sleep to gain (plus the possibility of squeezing in some last-minute sand-between-your-toes, pebbles-in-your-pocket end-of-summer fun).
In our September ‘Begin’ issue, Clare Gogerty visits East Neuk for our Weekend Away feature, and walks some of the Fife coastal path. Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe
DJ: Frances Ambler. Illustration: Anneliese Klos
Pick up a pen, pick up a paintbrush. Listen at thesimplethings.com/blog/creativityplaylist
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Image: Shutterstock
See your design printed for all readers of The Simple Things to enjoy
We know it’s only October and generally at The Simple Things we don’t like to even mention Christmas until at least after Bonfire Night. But this year we wanted to invite you to bring a bit of extra joy to the giving process by designing a gift tag for others to use and to share.
We’ll turn our favourite designs into a sheet of actual gift tags in the December issue so everyone can enjoy your handiwork.
Download the gift tag template here.
You can print it and draw on it directly, or use a computer to help you design it, or any other creative means that you have at your fingertips.
Email us a PDF or jpeg of your design with your name and phone number to
thesimplethings@iceberg press.co.uk, marked Gift Tag Competition, or post it to The Simple Things, Iceberg Press, Exchange Workspace, 1 Matthews Yard, Off Surrey Street, Croydon, CR0 1UH. You have until 23 October. Good luck!
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Photography: Jonathan Cherry. Recipe: Bex Long. Styling: Gemma Cherry
Crunchy, spicy biscuits ideal for eating with pumpkin ice cream
Our October issue has a very special ‘gathering’ feature with recipes for a pumpkin party. It’s got everything from autumnal salads to a fabulously moreish sausage roll and even a pumpkin beer keg. But we have made a date to create the pumpkin ice cream sandwiches pictured above - sweet pumpkin ice cream squidged between ginger snaps and rolled in pistachios. Who says ice cream is for summer?
You can make them using any shop-bought ginger snaps but if you fancy going the whole hog, you can make the ginger snaps using the recipe below.
Makes 24
225g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp ground ginger
Pinch of salt
120g unsalted butter
120g caster sugar
5 tbsp (75g) golden syrup
1 Preheat oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4. Line 2 baking trays with greaseproof
paper.
2 Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and salt into a large
bowl. Cut the butter into cubes and rub into the flour until the mixture
resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3 Stir in the sugar. Add the golden syrup and mix together well. Bring it all
together with your hands to make a smooth ball of dough.
4 Break off small walnut-sized pieces, roll into balls and place on the lined
baking trays. Allow space between each ball as they will spread during cooking.
5 Bake for 10-15 mins until the ginger snaps have spread and turned golden
brown.
6 Leave to cool for 5 mins on the baking trays before using a spatula to
carefully move them to wire racks to cool completely.
Don’t forget to buy the October ‘create’ issue for the rest of the recipes for our pumpkin party.
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Find your bi-focals. Who could resist a teeny, tiny, elf-sized book?
Hands up who DIDN’T, at least once in their childhood, try to write a teeny tiny book? We thought not. It’s a rite of passage, like making perfume from rose petals that smelt like drains and building a den from old wood and rusty nails in the garden that collapsed on top of you and gave your mother an attack of the vapours.
We were reminded of the joy of making a tiny book as we put together the Weekend Project, Booksmarts, for our September issue. (Pick up a copy of our ‘Begin’ issue in the shops this week and learn how to make various tiny books yourself.) The project is by The Travelling Book Binder, Rachel Hazell, who has many more similar projects in her book Bound: 15 Beautiful Bookbinding Projects (Kyle Books) and extolls the excitement of making something three-dimensional out of a bundle of old paper.
Being able to write a story is an amazing talent, but having the ability to create a story from nothing and immediately transform it into a physical thing that can be held and shared by others is simply magical.
It reminded us of seeing the Bronte children’s teeny tiny books years ago at the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth. The elfin-sized novels with stories that looked like they had been penned by fairies are spellbinding to see in the flesh. Particularly, perhaps if you saw them as a child, or through a child’s eyes. These tiny manuscripts, unlinke the later Bronte novels, were never penned to be read, and certainly not by mere grown-ups whose shoddy eyesight and sausage fingers would barely be able to turn the pages and read the words. They were written by the Bronte children for their own, and no one else’s, pleasure. So they’re without pretence, uninhibited by any perceived lack of skill or concern to impress.
Many of the stories follow the rise of two pretend worlds: Angria (penned by Charlotte and Branwell) and Gondal (written by Emily and Anne). Before that, the children wrote about the part-fictional, part-reality-based Glass Town, as well as many miscellaneous stories. Some have been uploaded by Harvard University and they can be read (squinted at) online here. They’re well worth an afternoon’s browsing with a cup of tea when you have a moment.
And if you’re inspired to pen your own nano-novel, The Bronte Parsonage Museum has kindly made its own printable, which you can download to help you get started. Click here for the printable.
Happy tiny crafting.
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A splash of pampering Himalayan Pink Salt Bath Soak and Body Wash makes any bath or shower an event
As autumn makes an appearance the idea of a long soak seems suddenly very appealing. JASON Pink Salt 2 in 1 Foaming Bath Soak and Body Wash is a luxuriously nourishing cleansing product formulated to soothe both body and mind. Its delicate blend of essential oils is just the boost you need whether you’re in the shower preparing to tackle the day ahead or winding down in the bath for the evening. The ingredients include:
Lavender oil: relaxing and refreshing when you need a moment of calm.
Bergamot fruit oil: a zesty aroma that’s energising and uplifting.
Clary sage oil: said to help bring a youthful appearance to the skin.
Himalayan pink salt: used in a variety of wellbeing practices from sole water to pink salt lamps, the salt is rich in minerals including soothing magnesium and hydrating potassium to help soothe away physical and mental tensions.
Now all you need to do is decide between bath and shower. Pour a generous amount into a warm bath as it runs, or apply to damp skin with a wash cloth or shower pouffe and massage gently over your body.
You can buy a bottle of this new indulgent bath & body and get 20% off your first purchase by using the code SIMPLE20. Just click here. Happy bathing!
Stay together, ladies and gents! We’re off on a tour of some of Britain’s best kept cathedral secrets
We’re so lucky to have some of the world’s best cathedrals on our doorsteps. Almost every town in Britain has a cathedral within striking distance and nearly all have their own peculiarities and curiosities to explore, from secret passages and underground tunnels to irreverent carvings and ancient graffiti. Here are a few to look out for to get you started next time you’re exploring a cathedral near you...
At Westminster Cathedral, make your way to the Henry VII chapel where you can see a statue of St Wilgefortis, a female saint best known for her flowing beard. Not something you see every day. It’s said that St Wilgefortis prayed for God to make her unattractive to her husband, and, overnight, she grew the luxuriant beard.
The strong of stomach will be fascinated by the West facade of Lincoln Cathedral. The building is best known for its carvings of the Lincoln Imp but look up at its Western exterior and there are some altogether more impish goings on to be seen… Among them fornicators being punished by having their, ahem, fornicatory equipment eaten by wyverns, and devils torturing sinners by pulling their hair. Ouch!
Look up, but with caution in the cloisters of Norwich Cathedral, where there are hundreds of beautifully carved bosses on the ceiling - including one of a naked man defecating on the people below.
Sneak a peek under the seats in the choir stalls of Wells Cathedral and you’ll find dragons eating their own tails.
At St Magnus’ Cathedral in Kirkwall, Orkney, 12th century graffiti artists have been at work. Have a look at the pillars in the interior of the building and you may spot waves, boats, harpoons and fish hooks.
Have a careful look at the stained glass in Gloucester Cathedral. A window that dates back to 1350 depicts the earliest image of golf! Thankfully, 14th century golfers hadn’t yet discovered Pringle sweaters or lairy trousers, which might have proved too much for the stained glass artists.
We were inspired to seek out these cathedral secrets after we read Walkie Talkie, our ‘outings’ feature in our September issue on how to get the most out of walking tours. Before you fill your Thermos and don your rucksack, pop to the shops and buy a copy of September’s’Begin’ issue for more inspiration.
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September means new pens and pencils and lots more goodies besides. We’re reminiscing about stationery we have known and loved
There’s something deliciously lovely about a new notebook, a set of matching pencils, or a virgin rubber, isn’t there? As adults we still think of September as a time to stock up and treat ourselves to a few new things for our workspaces. It must be a hangover from our school days. The last week of the summer holidays was always a melancholy few days, with the prospect of early mornings, uniforms and trigonometry looming, as memories of long days in the sunshine faded. But there was one small chink of light… the promise of new stationery to be purchased before the start of term.
Of course there were the necessary, but slightly boring items to be bought - set squares, protractors and HB pencils… Even boring stationery items are nice when they’re new though, aren’t they?
But the main stationery event of the summer was always the buying of the novelty stationery items. If your heart doesn’t beat a little faster to this day at the thought of a four-colour Bic biro, you may be missing part of your soul. And they were just the start…
Tintin pens that erased ink as if by magic (and left a strange yellow patch on the paper that could only be written over in biro); smelly rubbers (that would later be banned from most schools following a rumour that a rather dim child ate one); double-ended coloured pencils, giving you twice the colouring joy. The stationery aisle of John Menzies (or wherever your parents took you for your back-to-school shop) was an Aladdin’s cave of treasures.
The lucky few among us had parents who would indulge such whims as pop-out pencil cases - the ones with ten or so tiny compartments that popped out on a spring (and would likely be broken by half term). Oh to be a girl that had a special compartment for her rubber and pencil sharpener, let alone a tiny slot in the lid in which to store your lessons timetable and slide-out sections for felt-tip pens… All of which gadgetry ensured there was little room for any actual stationery inside, but that was beside the point.
Luckier still were those of us who had been to France over the summer and had the opportunity to buy ridiculously cheap and incredibly chic French stationery in hypermarches on the continent. Brightly coloured rubberised Naf Naf pencil cases and Chipie notebooks with squared <swoons> paper, marked out these most fortunate children with their covetable lives.
But the wonderful thing about stationery is that there was something for every budget and every taste. If you didn’t have a pop-out pencil case, you could still bring a bit of colour and magic to your (inferior, ordinary) pencil case, with a pink-haired troll pencil topper, a Pepsi Cola rubber (King of all the scented rubbers) or the simple addition of a few ‘googly eye’ stickers to the exterior of your Pukka jotter.
Stationery is as covetable today as ever, with chains such as Paperchase and Smiggle enchanting the youth of today with garish, scented, ever fluffier, furrier and zanier stationery. We’d like to say that ours were the glory days but really, any company that is helping bring the frisson of brand new pens and pencils to another generation, easing them gently into a new school term is ok by us. Viva, fancy stationery!
Do you remember particularly lovely stationery items from your childhood? Share your memories with us in the comments below.
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Eating out in the wild this month? Why pack a salad when you can scour hedgerows for woodland treats?
Al fresco dinners take on a new, more exciting element in early autumn. You can still enjoy mild days and longer evenings but also bring out more robust flavours and warming dishes that just shout ‘Autumn’ at you.
In our September issue, we have a very special ‘gathering’ feature we’ve called Into The Woods, with recipes by Rachel de Thample. It’s all about cooking over a fire and making the most of the great outdoors before the days become shorter, with everything from koftas and flatbreads to pear crumble and apple hot toddies. We particularly liked this simple Wild September Salad, which you can serve as part of this campfire feast or at any late summer, early autumn picnic. Just find your way to a likely looking hedgerow and see what nature has provided.
Yarrow Feathery leaves resembling camomile – delicious aniseed flavour.
Alkanet Use the smaller, newer leaves and pretty blue flowers, which taste like cucumber.
Three-cornered leek Looks like wild garlic, tastes like wild garlic, but its triangular stems enjoy a late flush in early autumn.
Wild rocket Resembles farmed rocket, although the leaves range from greyish green to dark green. Smells peppery.
Shepherd’s purse Its tiny love-heartlike seed pods have a nice punchy, mustardy flavour.
Wood sorrel Small clover-like leaves, only smaller and tinged bronze; lemony tasting.
(There’s a good hedgerow food guide at wildfooduk.com.) Wash freshly picked leaves well, then pat dry with kitchen towel. Tumble together in a large bowl to mix and either pack into flatbreads or serve as a side with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
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Photography: Nassima Rothacker
This month marks Sourdough September and we can’t think of much that’s more worth celebrating
As summer draws to a close our minds turn to home comforts, particularly those that involve flowery hands and warm smells emanating from ovens. For our September ‘Begin’ issue, we visited Sourdough School to begin finding out from sourdough guru Vanessa Kimbell how to make that delicious, crusty, chewy bread. You can read all about it on p22 of the issue. To give you a flavour, though, we’ve posted one of Vanessa’s simple sourdough recipes here. Don’t say we aren’t good to you. You can find out lots more about sourdough at The Sourdough School.
Allow yourself about 3 –4 hours for the dough to be mixed, folded and shaped ready to place in the coldest part of the fridge to prove overnight.(If you are new to bread making, you can, instead of shaping the dough and putting it into a banneton, grease a 2lb bread tin liberally with butter, let the dough rise in it overnight in the fridge and then bake as per the recipe instructions below.)
Equipment:
A large mixing bowl
A round cane banneton
2 clean tea towels
A Dutch oven or La Cloche
A large heatproof pan, a sharp knife or ‘lame’ to slash the dough with
Ingredients:
300g water
100g sourdough leaven (made with your starter)*
100g of stoneground organic wholemeal flour
400g organic strong white flour
10g fine sea salt mixed with 15g of cold water
25g rice flour mixed with 25g of stone ground white flour (for dusting your banneton)
Semolina to dust the bottom of the baking surface
Makes 1 loaf
Late afternoon
In a large bowl whisk your water and starter and mix well. Add all the flour and mix until all the ingredients come together into a large ball.
Cover with a clean damp cloth and let the dough rest on the side in the kitchen for between 30 mins and 2 hours – this what bakers call Autolyse
Add the salt mixed with the water and dimple your fingers into the dough to allow the salty water and salt to distribute evenly throughout the dough. Leave for 10 mins.
Next lift and fold your dough over, do a quarter turn of your bowl and repeat 3 more times. Repeat 3 times at 30 min intervals with a final 15 min rest at the end.
Shape the dough lightly into a ball then place into a round banneton dusted with flour (If you don’t have a banneton then use a clean tea towel dusted with flour inside a colander). Dust the top with flour, then cover with a damp tea-towel
Leave your dough to one side until it is 50% bigger then transfer to the fridge , and leave to prove there for 8 – 12 hours.
The following morning
The next morning preheat your oven to 220°C for at least 30 mins before you are ready to bake. Place your cloche or baking stone in the oven and a large pan of boiling water underneath (or use a Dutch oven). The hydration helps form a beautiful crust.
Once the oven is up to full heat, carefully remove the baking stone from the oven, taking care not to burn yourself, dust with a fine layer of semolina, which stops the bread sticking, then put your dough onto the baking stone and slash the top with your blade. This decides where the bread will tear as it rises. Bake for an hour.
Turn the heat down to 180°C (and remove the lid if you are using a Dutch oven) and bake for another 10 -15 mins. You need to choose just how dark you like your crust but I suggest you bake until it is a dark brown – it tastes much better.
Storage
Sourdough is really best left to cool completely before slicing and is even better if left for a day to let the full flavour develop. Once your sourdough has cooled, store in a linen or cotton bread bag, or wrapped in a clean tea towel. If you don’t like a crunchy crust on your sourdough bread, simply wrap your bread in a clean tea towel whilst it is still warm.
* To make 100g of leaven, use 1 tbsp of sourdough starter, 40g of water and 40g of strong white flour, mix well and leave, covered on the side in the kitchen in the morning. It will be lively and bubbly and ready to bake with in the evening.
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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.
