Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2021 i The Simple Things

Light a fire first thing in the morning, just for a change Have a baking day and fill your biscuit tin with homemade treats Buy some thick wool socks and go for a welly walk with toasty toes Spend an afternoon listening to a talking book and remember the joy of a grown-up reading you a story Claim an early night and retire to bed with a big cup of tea and the radio, before 9pm Write down three things that you could do to make your home a little lovelier and then do one right away……

COPPER CANDLE CENTREPIECE A copper pipe isn’t just for plumbing: it also makes for a modern statement candle holder. YOU WILL NEED: 1 metre of 15mm copper pipe (we got ours from Wickes, but any large DIY or plumbing supplies store will sell the pipe and fixings) 4 x 15mm copper tees 2 x 15mm copper corners 4 x 15mm x 28mm copper end feed fitting reducers 4 x 1p pieces Pipe cutter 2 part epoxy resin Marker pen Ruler 1 Take your pipe and measure it into the following lengths: 2 x 12cm, 1 x 10cm, 1 x 8cm, 1 x 6cm, 3 x 5cm and 3 x 3cm, then cut with your pipe cutter. 2 Start by taking your two copper corners and gluing them at either end…

41/ 2 decades after wolves were listed as endangered in the US, the species has recovered enough to come off the ‘at risk’ list. Forty-five years ago there were fewer than 100 grey wolves living in northeastern Minnesota and Michigan. However, now there are around 6,000, thriving across the lower 48 states. 3,509 old bikes have been repaired and are now safely back on the road, thanks to Cycling UK’s Big Bike Revival. As more of us dug out unused bicycles to get out and about during lockdown, the campaign, which started in May of last year, taught people how to fix their bikes and to ride them safely. 28 paid days’ leave is what French fathers will now get as their paternity allowance, after President Emmanuel Macron announced he’d…

*There’s no better way to get to the heart of a city than through the people who live there. Every month we ask someone, clearly in love with their city, to take us on a personal tour and tell us what makes it so special. You may feel inspired to visit one day, but for now just sit back, relax and enjoy some armchair travel. Where are you from originally? I was born in a small village in the Tuscan countryside, between Siena and Florence. I’ve always lived in the same house, where my grandmother was born and then my father – I still live there next to my family, with my husband, Tommaso, daughter, Livia, and two dogs. It’s where I work, write and teach. What drew you to…

Tahini hot chocolate Tahini might sound like a strange addition, but it’s reminiscent of peanut butter and chocolate, making for a thick and creamy drink. Serves 1 250ml milk 3 tbsp cocoa powder 1 tbsp tahini ¼ tsp ground cardamom 2 tbsp raw honey Sea salt, to taste 1 In a blender, combine all the ingredients except for the sea salt. 2 Transfer to a small pan and warm gently over a medium heat, stirring regularly. 3 When the hot chocolate is beginning to steam, turn off the heat and pour into a mug. Top with sea salt crystals, to taste. Sweet Adeline Hot and fruity, a Sweet Adeline is best described as iced tea without the ice. Serves 1 FOR THE CINNAMON SYRUP: 3 cinnamon sticks 250ml water 200g…

Always busy? Try niksen. Afraid of failure? Time to harness your inner sisu. There’s much more to these concepts than just another wellness trend. You don’t have to apply them all to your life but taking inspiration from different cultures and ways of living where we feel we need it most can help to ease us out of old ways of thinking and perhaps start the year with a new perspective. Ikigai Finding your purpose Try if... you’re feeling a bit lost or are looking for a new direction A Japanese concept that translates as ‘reason for being’ and is about discovering your passions and talents and harnessing these both in the work that you do and the way you contribute to the world around you. A helpful way to…

We may not always pay attention to them, but quilts are a quiet, ever-comforting part of our lives: we add them to our beds on chillier nights or we snuggle under them as we watch TV. On one hand, quilts are straightforward, functional objects. Their definition seems simple, too: ‘a cover made by stitching one cloth over another with some soft substance between them,’ as Samuel Johnson wrote in his 1755 A Dictionary of the English Language. But, as so often, that simplicity is deceptive. Historical quilts made by hand often reveal astounding skills and creativity. And there are many different global traditions of quilts, such as Bangladeshi Kantha – stitching together several layers of, often previously used, fabric, using beautiful embroidery to create patterns – or Hawaii’s use of…

Hellebores By Emma Harris While we all wait for the arrival of spring, hellebores continue to remind us that there is life beneath the soil. They also work surprisingly well as a cut flower – if you cut them at the right time – lasting as long as three weeks. They may droop, but that allows the arrangement to evolve as the weeks pass. However, if it bothers you, you can plunge the stems into boiling water for five seconds before putting them back into fresh water, which can perk them up again.…

Our homes are often a haven, but in recent months that has taken on a far more powerful meaning. Staying home, as instructed, for much of the past year forced us to look at our houses in a new light. Whether that was the need to reorganise space to work or reevaluating how we actually live and use our homes. Perhaps decorating has taken on more significance and made you look a little closer at the cornicing or the floor tiles and wondered about their origins or, for the first time, you have stopped and thought about the history enveloped within your home’s four walls? Many of us have already dabbled in some family history and learned more about the way our ancestors lived. Whatever the inspiration, there has been…

• Watch the garden: how does the light move across it throughout the day and the seasons? Noting this helped us plan seating and planting. • What do you want the garden to give you? Think about how you want to use your plot. If you love entertaining, think about a dedicated cooking area that keeps the chef at the centre of all the fun. • Don’t default to a lawn. If you don’t love the idea of one, it’s not compulsory. Consider wider borders, a mini orchard or dense planting for a secret garden feel. • You do you – no-one else pays the mortgage! If you love something, and want it in your garden, give space over to it. • Think about wildlife. We left a patch of…

Run by husband-and-wife-team, Karen Sims and Tim Leahy, Know & Love prides itself on its eclectic mix of home and lifestyle products by independent makers and designers. Working with the mantra: “We know who makes our products, how old they are and how many hours a day they work,” the shop in London’s Stoke Newington stocks a wide range of products including a range of Portuguese homewares reflecting the couple’s long-standing love affair with the country.knowandlove.co.uk…

“When we moved a few years ago, it seemed very natural to turn the extra room in our new house into a home library. We filled up six bookcases and two walls instantly, than hired a local carpenter to build four more shelves to cover the last free wall. Those bookcases are all full now, mostly with vintage Penguins. I generally collect British editions from 1935 to 1970. These typically weren’t available originally in the US, so it’s a fun challenge to find them over here. This room is the most popular in the house. Not only do I spend a lot of time reading here (sitting on the orange beanbag with a cup of tea), but my three kids, husband, and five cats all hang out here, too. I…

Easy win Tangled Christmas lights? Save on next year’s pain by winding them around a coat hanger before storing away. CAPTION COMPETITION OVER TO YOU… Make us giggle with a caption for this ptarmigan in an icy Cairngorms National Park. Each month we pick our favourite and send a lovely book to the winner. Post your best efforts at facebook.com/thesimplethingsmag COLLECTIVE NOUNS A raft of penguins (technically only applied when penguins are on water, not land) DREAM DECODER FALLING Falling in a dream is a clear sign that some situation or relationship in your life is tumbling out of your control. It’s unlikely to be significant whether you fall from a cliff, roof, plane, building or other high place. Whatever the precise scenario, you find yourself with nothing to hold…

Branston’s Pickle We’ve been bringing out the Branston since 1922 – a favourite in a ploughman’s. But we’ve only been using that slogan since its TV ad in 1972. Golden Shred James Robertson brought the taste of sunny Seville to Scotland in the 1860s. Even reaching (stories say) deepest, darkest Peru. Baxter’s horseradish 1868: a good year for larders. McIlhenny founded his tabasco company, and the Baxters opened a grocery, creating preserves and pickles. HP Sauce This is one Parliamentary gravy train we can get behind: it was once nicknamed “Wilson’s gravy”, thanks to PM Harold’s fondness for the stuff. Heinz Ketchup Pittsburgh created – by Henry John Heinz – and Pittsburgh painted – by Andy Warhol, who honoured the iconic bottle in the 1960s. Marmite You either love it…

Trans-Europa Express Kraftwerk (Germany) Chociaz. Raz Iza Lach (Poland) Écoute Chérie Vendredi sur Mer (Switzerland) Venus as a Boy Björk (Iceland) Keep Me Warm Ida Maria (Norway) Good Bad Times Hinds (Spain) 1901 Phoenix (France) Sopra Gazzelle (Italy) Tout Oublier Angèle & Roméo Elvis (Belgium) I Think I’m in Love Pip Blom (The Netherlands) Missing Feeling Nothing Please the Trees (Czech Republic) I Give Up and It’s Ok Marinho (Portugal) Familiar Agnes Obel (Denmark) Everything I Am Is Yours Villagers (Ireland) Thank You for the Music ABBA (Sweden) thesimplethings.com/blog/europeplaylist stop look listen  Book your seat on the Trans-Europe Express for an audio trip around our neighbours…

Midnight. A twig snaps with a crack, as deep in the darkness, a blue light follows the fox that slips through the copse. High above, the moon glistens. Stop. And listen. A ringing, like the sound made by a wetted finger tracing the rim of a wine glass, is singing through the trees. It fills the frost pocket and resonates through the thicket, while in the distance there comes a crackle that spreads in spidery slow motion, onwards and outwards, then forward and away. The encroaching cold unrolls its frozen tidings, despatching icy formations. They span out, travelling across the ground and along each and every branch until the copse is transformed, covered in a coating of hoary crystals. The master of sublimation is on his way, causing moisture to…

The colour red, as everyone knows, draws attention. I started my Instagram project @womeninredinart for fun last year, when I noticed that I’d unconsciously saved a disproportionate amount of artworks that featured women dressed in red. Since then, I’ve shared hundreds more through my account: women wearing red doing their hair, sleeping, shopping, painting, all united by a simple splash of red. But one of my favourite uses of the colour is when you see it against the crisp whiteness of snow and ice. This selection of women in red are all partaking in winter sports, images drawn from adverts, prints and fine art. However, it’s not just the considerable pleasure of looking at the images themselves that I enjoy – it’s also what else the image tells us. You…

ALMOND BUTTER COOKIES Makes 15 cookies 120g almond butter 125ml maple syrup 3 tbsp coconut oil 1/2 tsp sea salt 90g almonds, chopped 130g spelt flour 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/ Gas 4 and line a baking sheet with baking parchment. In a large bowl, mix together the almond butter, maple syrup, coconut oil, sea salt and most of the chopped almonds, reserving some to decorate. 2 Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine the spelt flour and bicarbonate of soda, then add to the almond butter mixture, stirring well. Set aside for 5 mins. 3 Form the dough into 15 individual balls and arrange on the baking sheet, spacing them well apart. Flatten the balls to about 5mm thick and scatter over the…

GROWING UP IN THE 1980s, Ursula Myrie was placed in a home in Croydon that became notorious for its links with paedophiles. In the 1990s she was relocated to Sheffield to escape domestic abuse, and it’s there, in 2012, that she set up Adira (meaning strong, dignified and powerful), a mental health and wellbeing organisation aimed specifically at supporting the black community. “Adira was born out of my pain, my trauma and my lived experience,” she says. “I wanted a safe haven for the black community, so that the first person you see is someone who looks like you, who understands your culture, your religion, your faith.” Earlier this year, Ursula also pioneered a Food Pharmacy, recognising that accessing food banks can be culturally challenging. During lockdown they fed 4,000…

Raised on a farm, Marina van Maanen wanted to make sure that when she set about renovating her small former worker’s house in the city of Haarlem, in the northwest Netherlands, that she would capture the feeling of her family’s dairy farm, while keeping the space bright and modern. Initially, Marina had a simple industrial interior in mind, but as a farmer’s daughter, she longed for a touch of the countryside in her city block. This is most obvious in the kitchen where an image of a cow takes pride of place on the tiles. “I wanted to reference my background. Illustrator Karlijn van de Wier came and drew it directly onto the tiles with a special marker. I get so many compliments about it. Everyone wants to know where…

Begin at the end Work back in time – it’s common for house numbers and names (and street names) to have changed, so working backwards will help you spot when these changes occur. Online house history records are increasing (free and subscription), but several key sources still need to be viewed in archives. Maps There are a wealth of historic maps for each county, town, and parish, but start with the historic Ordnance Survey maps online, which were produced from the 1860s and then periodically through to the late 20th century, allowing you to track your house over time (or even narrow down roughly when it was built). A wide selection for England, Scotland, and Wales can be viewed at the National Library of Scotland (maps.nls.uk). Local history Check out…

Lia Leendertz’s lovely almanac encourages us to celebrate the unfolding year, month by month as nature changes, animals migrate and food comes into season. Moon phases, sunrise and sunset and tidal timetables are set alongside hedgerow and field recipes – including Potato, sorrel and Cornish yarg pasties; Saffron, pickled nasturtiums, wild greens and dandelion leaves. There are pilgrimage suggestions, ancient sites to visit and sea shanties to sing as we head into the garden to broadcast seeds, neaten up beds, prune trees and pop in new plants to herald the start of a hopeful new year. (Mitchell Beazley)…

Home should be a place that restores, rejuvenates and replenishes, but all too often it’s overflowing with things that we don’t need or want. Michelle Ogundehin firmly believes that the state of our surroundings impacts on every aspect of our lives, and that making small changes can bring enormous benefits to health and wellbeing. Comfort and cushions are important, as is a cosy chair or sofa to curl up in; natural materials such as wood and wool will help, while a healthy diet and cleaning little and often are key to ultimate happiness. But Michelle’s most important lesson is to embrace the calmness that decluttering brings. (Ebury)…

CHRISTMAS TREE TEA This is one of the simplest things to do with leftover Christmas tree branches. Pine, fir and spruce are said to be rich in vitamin C. Add a dash of lemon and honey to enhance the flavour and help to keep winter colds at bay. Serves 2 YOU WILL NEED: 1 handful of pine, spruce or fir needles Juice of 1 lemon 2 tbsp honey 1 Prepare the needles (see Needlework guide, right). 2 Add a handful of needles to a jug or teapot, fill with freshly-boiled water and leave to steep for 6 mins. 3 Add a dash of lemon juice and 1 tbsp of honey to each cup, then pour over the brewed needle tea, pouring through a strainer, and serve. Needlework Before you’re ready…

WE’VE ONLY JUST BEGUN by The Carpenters. John Lewis wasn’t the first to create heart-tugging adverts that appeal to the heart more than the wallet. Meet Crocker Bank who – in 1970 – were eager to attract younger customers to the bank. They commissioned songwriters Paul Williams and Roger Nichols to come up with the goods: a soundtrack to a TV advert, showing a couple getting married, then heading off into the sunset. Williams also did vocal duties. As he explained, “we added a song, not a sales pitch.” The melody caught the ear of Richard Carpenter, who requested the full version. The success of the song had really only just begun: The Carpenters hit number two in the States with their version, Williams went on to pen music for…

A better bot Women standing for public office often find themselves the target of online abuse and sexism. But during New Zealand’s general election, ParityBOT, a social media bot, sent out hundreds of positive tweets to counter every negative one levelled against over 260 female parliamentary candidates. The pre-written tweets had statements such as “great women like you are running to make NZ a better place”. Happy hobbies Brush off your knitting needles or scuba gear – a study by University College London suggests having a hobby can reduce, and maybe even prevent, depression. The English Longitudinal Study on Aging noted that having a hobby reduced the risk of developing depression by almost a third, while people with depression who took up a hobby had a 272% higher chance of…

Roasted pumpkin gnocchi No need to suffer a less than satisfying lunch when this can be made any time and frozen. Butternut squash works as a tasty alternative. Serves 4 1 medium pumpkin, tough skin and seeds removed, flesh roughly sliced 2 tsp dried sage Drizzle of sunflower oil 6 leaves of cavolo nero, stem discarded and roughly shredded 500g gnocchi 400ml hot vegetable stock 1 Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/ Gas 4. Arrange the pumpkin over a couple of baking trays and sprinkle with the sage. Drizzle over the sunflower oil, then roast in the oven for 25–30 mins, or until softened. 2 Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil and add the cavolo nero and gnocchi. Cook for 3 mins, then thoroughly drain. 3…

Yoga in the pink Take a yoga class bathed in warming orange, yellow or chromatic light. Chromayoga combines light therapy, sensory soundscapes and natural scents, and works with our body’s circadian rhythms. (chromayoga.co.uk). Sunshine calling A new wave of LED tunable lighting adjusts to the day/night cycle, flooding us with blue light in the day and melatonin-inducing orangey-yellows by evening. The Lumie Bodyclock, which mimics the rising and setting sun, is now part of a vast market of wake-up clocks (lumie.com). Syncing up Owaves helps users plan sleep, meals and exercise into their day via a holistic app. The Body Clock podcast features interviews with experts (owaves.com). Specs appeal Working through the night on your computer? It’s thought blue light-blocking glasses could help alleviate eye strain to short-wave blue light…

The Natalie Isaacs CV 1961 Born in Brisbane, Queensland 1980 Moved to London to study aromatherapy 1985 Started producing and selling cosmetics in Australia 1989 Launched Natalie, her own cosmetics brand 1990 Married Murray Hogarth, who became Environment Editor at the Sydney Morning Herald 2006 Watched Al Gore’s The Inconvenient Truth for the first time 2009 Founded 1 Million Women 2013 UN Momentum for Change Award winner 2017 Named Australian Geographic’s Conservationist of the Year 2018 Published her practical handbook Every Woman’s Guide to Saving the Planet (ABC Books)…

Nothing beats a warming bowl of chicken soup and this Algerian version is thickened with egg and enhanced with butter, making it extra comforting and nourishing. Chorba Bayda Serves 4–6 2 egg yolks, from large eggs 60ml lemon juice 2 tbsp rendered chicken fat or vegetable oil 15g butter 1 onion, cut into 5mm cubes 1 large carrot, cut into 5mm cubes 1 celery stalk, cut into 5mm cubes 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced ½ tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1.35kg chicken, quartered 1.45 ltr water or chicken stock 1 tbsp salt 40g basmati rice 450g cooked chickpeas, drained 1 small bunch coriander or parsley, roughly chopped, to garnish 1 Whisk the yolks and lemon juice in a bowl, beating until blended. 2 In a large…

• Think big. Don’t be afraid to have ideas that others think won’t work – you’d be surprised how often they do! • Simple terracotta pots look stylish and work well for both plants and candles. • Don’t buy new – upcycle! For example, Marina’s coffee table is an old ammunition chest that was once army green and black. However, she painted it and attached wheels underneath. “It’s very convenient – it has plenty of room for objects and I can also put my feet up.”…

In these thirteen evocative and elegant essays, contemporary writers discuss food, family, love and loss. Rachel Roddy unspools her life in the cookers that she’s conjured up food on in A Life in Cookers. Joel Golby’s gloriously funny Who Are You When No One Is Watching riffs on the revelation that “the deepest and darkest crevices of you – your true and real nature,” are made plain by your choices at the breakfast buffet, while Ella Risbridger’s beautiful Cupboard Love is a celebration of love – “The kind of love that’s most at home in the kitchen; a domestic kind of love; an intimate, easy, buttery kind of love.” (Daunt Books)…