Indice dei contenuti per January 2019 in The Simple Things

full of cheery optimism is a fine way to begin. And worth celebrating with a party or two, or even just by taking a contented afternoon nap. Making plans – for holidays,for your garden and your home – is a January tradition, but there are more everyday rituals you can weave into your life, too. There’s no need for abstinence, instead see the new year as a time to be open to new ideas (and resolve to drop everything for some outdoor fun should it snow).…

Pondering or embarking on Dry January? New book Sober Curious by Ruby Warrington and website clubsoda.co.uk offers light-hearted support. HAVE AN ADMIN DAY Write thank you notes and fill in new calendars and diaries. Note expiry dates of any Christmas vouchers and delight in a job well done. LAUGH IT BETTER Cheer up Blue Monday with a comedy night. The Vault festival in south London is billed as the capital’s Edinburgh Fringe. From 23 January; vaultfestival.com. "Joy is the simplest form of gratitude"Karl Barth, Swiss theologian It’s Burns Night and it’s Friday, so at the very least don a spot of tartan and enjoy a dram or two. HAPPY HOUR Spend an hour counting the birds that land in your garden or park this weekend as part of the Big…

TREACLE TART WITH THYME & ORANGE  Serves 8–10 725g golden syrup 1 egg 50ml double cream 50g unsalted butter Zest of 1 orange 2 tsp thyme leaves, chopped, plus an extra sprig to decorate 200g white breadcrumbs FOR THE PASTRY 45g icing sugar 170g plain flour 85g butter, cubed and chilled 1 tbsp iced water 2 eggs 1 To make pastry, combine icing sugar and plain flour in a medium bowl. Rub in the chilled butter cubes until mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs (or use food processor). Add iced water and 1 egg and stir through. 2 Tip out dough and bring it together with your hands, kneading lightly to a smooth finish. Wrap pastry tightly in cling film and place in fridge for at least 30 mins. 3 Preheat…

My parents have a photograph of me as a child. I’m about eight in it and next to me is my best friend. We’re in the doorway of our old house and, behind our heavy fringes and freckles, we’re grinning from ear to ear. I can remember that picture being taken; we d just found out that school had been cancelled, torn off our itchy uniforms and hurriedly dressed in the warmest clothes we could find. I’m wearing mismatched gloves, a tatty bobble hat and dungarees. My friend has grabbed a thin coat and her sister’s wellies – she’s holding two empty feed bags from her dad’s farm. We look cold and impossibly cheerful.  It’s snowed heavily overnight. And we’re going plastic bag sledging. Waking up to a world covered in snow still has that…

Type to remember A new font – Sans Forgetica – is capable of boosting people’s memories, say its designers. Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia devised the typeface, which slants to the left and is full of holes. The gaps are said to make it more difficult to read, tricking the brain into using deeper cognitive processing, boosting memory retention. Helpful policy Labour peer Lord Dubs, who came to the UK after fleeing the Nazis during the Second World War, is spearheading the cross-party Compassion in Politics project, in hope of making British politics more sympathetic. They plan a manifesto, a parliamentary group, and to campaign for a ‘compassion test’ to be introduced. It would require all new policies to “raise the living standards of the most vulnerable”.…

Favourite shop DONA COISA A sophisticated blend of a French café, with local Brazilian ingredients and a plethora of local designers. If you like to spend your afternoon lost in a glass of local wine while browsing beautiful little things, then this is for you.donacoisa.com.br Favourite market IPANEMA FARMERS’ MARKET A vivacious typical Brazilian food market, held on Friday mornings, busy with vendors selling tropical fruits and veg. Praça Nossa Senhora da Paz Favourite café BAZZAR Right above a book shop on the main street of Ipanema this café is known for its jams, so if you order breakfast be sure to try a tropical inspired flavour.bazzar.com.br Favourite bar RIBA Seaside, fun music, cold coconuts, delicious been-on-the-beach-all-day food and fabulous cocktails. Make sure you go to the one on Leblon…

Shetland is like another country but isn’t one. To find it, jump on the boat from Aberdeen; you’ll arc around Orkney, which is really only a hop, skip and a jump off the mainland, keep going right a bit and after 12 or 14 hours you arrive in Lerwick, the capital. It’s also the only town on a long scattering of over 100 islands and islets, only 15 of which are inhabited by humans. Welcome to Shetland. On a map you’ll usually find us in a little box, near the oil. It’s not, never has been and never is ‘The Shetlands’. Despite what it says in your newspaper, magazine, dictionary or that guy you met down the pub who says he used to work in the North Sea oil industry.…

There are certain things that are essential on a winter break. As late afternoons and evenings are most likely spent indoors, a place to stay that offers a crackling fire and a snug bar is one. So is a tasty menu – as the night draws in, you don’t want to put a foot outside (unless to stargaze). Deeply comfortable beds and a mountain of pillows are another. Happily, the St Tudy Inn, near Bodmin in Cornwall, delivers all these winter-hunkering necessities. The pub with rooms is also a short drive from the sandy beaches and rocky coves of North Cornwall. Wonderfully unpopulated at this time of year, they’re just right for blustery walks that make your cheeks tingle, and fill your lungs with gasps of good, clean air. The…

Liberty, London Established as an Arts and Crafts alternative to the rest of London’s department stores: we still love getting lost in their haberdashery. Le Bon Marché, Paris Classic architecture designed by the firm of Gustave Eiffel (of tower fame), now part of the luxury group that owns Louis Vuitton, Dior and more. Dover Street Market The department store gets a conceptual makeover, with designers and artists invited to create their own installations. Stores in London, New York, Tokyo, Singapore and Beijing. Shinsegae, South Korea The largest department store in the world, in Busan. Even has its own ice rink. Saks, New York Featuring an amazing ‘wellness’ and beauty store – a fantastic blend of experience and products, according to retail trends expert Cate Trotter. Isetan, Tokyo It started life…

WALL LIGHTS Wired into a base on the wall, these create pools of lighting without using up floor space. Try: The Bazar Wall Lamp by By Rydens, with an extendable, articulated arm, £109, scandinaviandesigncenter.com PENDANT LIGHTS Hang from the ceiling, either singly or in rows. Try: Bloom light shade, looks like a flower, £39.99, bluemarmalade.co.uk TABLE LAMPS More a decorative addition than lighting itself. Try: Morten table lamp, a black glazed ceramic base topped with linen drum shade, £89.95, westelm.co.uk FLOOR LAMPS Place near an armchair to create a snug reading corner. Try: Curved Floor Lamp, a generous metal shade, £395, nordichouse.co.uk (pictured) TASK LIGHTING Lights with a purpose: from an Anglepoise on your desk to overhead spots in the kitchen. Try: Loft Task Lamp, fully adjustable, £28, marksandspencer.com BARE…

Joules is celebrating three decades of making memories and delivering fun, quality clothing for families to enjoy their time together, whatever the weather. Share your pictures of you and your family getting outdoors, whatever the weather, and you could win a family getaway worth £1,000. Visit joules.com/making-memories to find out more. #JoulesMakingMemories…

Snow has so many different forms – it changes and mutates as it falls, lands and melts – that it’s no surprise different regions have come up with their own words to describe what they experience. From the subtle differences between types of snowfall to trying to describe the worst a snowstorm can throw at you, here are just some of the more unusual or long-forgotten terms: Blenky An old West Country word to describe very light snowfall, from blenks, an old word for ashes. The Scots called a light snow shower flindrikin, which also means flimsy or frivolous. Blind smuir A fantastic historic Scottish word for a snow drift. Smuir meant to ‘smother’ or ‘suffocate’, so a ‘blind smuir’ was a snow storm that not only blinded you, but…

Over the past decade, podcasts have been increasingly filling our phones, ears and minds. They can help you switch off, or switch you on to new ideas and discussions. From the bizarre (Sleep With Me’s rambling but surprisingly effective stories to help you get to sleep, sleepwithmepodcast.com) to the headline-making (Bryony  Gordon’s Mad World was where Prince Harry spoke about counselling, bryonysmadworld.telegraph.co.uk, and Serial got the world hooked on solving crime, serialpodcast.org), you can find shows about whatever you fancy. No really, anything: “One of the podcasts I enjoy the most is Always There (alwaystherepod.co.uk), an exploration of the 1980s period drama Howard’s Way,” says Daisy Buchanan, presenter of You’re Booked (acast.com/booked), devoted to the books that have shaped someone’s life. “Every episode [of Always There], a different guest talks to Julia Raeside about what they’ve seen…

Come new year, it can be therapeutic to spend some relaxed time in the kitchen. Perhaps using leftovers to create something simple and hearty like a fruit loaf or bread and butter pudding to share. The word ‘company’ derives from the Latin cum panis, literally ‘with bread’. When we bake, and share the results, we deepen our connection with our companions or ‘with bread ones’. Sharing happens on many levels: at home and in the community. In these days of cake sales and pot-luck dinners, the chance to give and share baking may bring new connections. It’s a creative process, too, allowing you to identify yourself – you put a bit of yourself into your baking, nurturing friendships from the warm heart of your home. Read more in The Art…

This is one for connoisseurs of darkness. Of a winter’s night, one of my prime occupations is to sit by our peat-fired stove, sipping hot porter. Add a few spices, maybe an egg yolk, and some obligatory dark rum and you have food, drink, comfort and restoration. Perhaps you’ve been indulging too much in the pleasures of Up Helly Aa or some other midwinter celebration. This is your remedy. 2 pints of dark porter or stout (locally brewed, if possible) 2 large measures of dark (Stewart’s) rum 75–100g dark brown soft sugar 2 egg yolks ¼ nutmeg, finely grated Pinch of ground cinnamon More grated nutmeg and cinnamon sticks, to serve 1 Gently warm the porter or stout in a large pan on the hob (or over the fire, if…

Nobody Michael Laskey If you can’t bring yourself to builda snowman or even to clencha snowball or two to flingat the pine tree trunk, at leastfind some reason to take you out of yourself: scrape a patch of grass clearfor the birds maybe; prod at your shrubsso they shake off the weight, straighten up;or just stump about leaving printsof your boots, your breath steaming out. Promise. Don’t let yourself infor this moment again: the endof the afternoon, drawing the curtainson the glare of the garden, a wholeday of snow nobody’s trodden.…

Icy blue BY IAN TODD River Ayr, Catrine, Ayrshire “I had been watching this male kingfisher visit the same quiet spot on the river almost daily, learning his favourite perches. This was the most photogenic.” Mountain hare in full sprint BY BEN HALL Peak District National Park, Derbyshire “I visited my local population of mountain hares every time we had a good covering of snow. This particular day the sky turned a beautiful shade of pink and a helicopter spooked the hare into flight.” Backlit boar BY CRAIG CHURCHILL Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire “I arrived early on a frosty morning with low expectations but then suddenly there was this female wild boar with her young, crossing in front of me, outlined by the sun.” Winter red squirrel…

As her family grew, Maria Lindell decided to run her interior design business from home. This meant she could spend time with her three girls when they came home from school and had the time to concentrate on making the house function both as a family home and her work space. Built in 2004, it’s a fine example of well considered domestic modern architecture. Highlights are an outside space reached from the upstairs living room. And a multi-purpose living room with a central, rotating wood-burning stove. Maria and husband René bought the house in a suburb of Espoo in 2012. Although it needed no structural alterations, they decorated it throughout, mostly by painting it white: “We liked the panelled wooden ceiling upstairs, so we painted that white,” Maria says –…

1 Make It takes a little knowhow and several components to create your own ceiling light. But how satisfying. Apart from the shade, you’ll need a base to attach to the ceiling, a flex, and a bulbholder. If sourcing these is a little daunting, you can assemble the parts, including the red and white cable, above, £3.99 per metre, on the dowsingandreynolds.com website, and they will make up the result, from as little as £12.03. Also try baileyshome.com for a variety of different coloured flex, £5 a metre. 2 Buy As we all know, re-purposing old items is a satisfying way to give them a new lease of life and keep them from landfill. Vintage kitchen items like aluminium jelly moulds and colanders (see Customise) are the ideal shape and…

Starling Noisy and gregarious, starlings spend a lot of the year in flocks. At their most attention-seeking in murmuration. Blackbird Males live up to their name but the females are actually brown, often sporting spots and streaks on their breasts. Blue tit Not just blue but also yellow, white and green, making this colourful tit one of the most recognisable visitors to our garden. House sparrow House sparrows fill their nests with hairs, string, paper and even feathers plucked from a live pigeon. Robin Sings nearly all year round. All day too: it’s usually one of the first in the dawn chorus and last to stop in the evening. Song thrush Got a musical earworm? The song thrush’s habit of repeating song phrases distinguishes it from singing blackbirds. Great tit…

MAKER OF THE MONTH Chloe Harrison’s birchwood lights softly brighten dark evenings It’s a deceptively simple idea: low light LED lamps encased in FSC birch plywood, casting a cosy glow through an eye-catching design. These magical lights are the work of Chloe Harrison, whose online shop, Bright Corner, is the place to find her current trio of designs – Townhouse (pictured), Woodland and Star Tent. They’re just right for rescuing a forgotten corner of the living room or as a characterful night light. You can find more lamplight inspiration on page 114. brightcorner-shop.com FROZEN PLANET From the factual to the fantastical, Nancy Campbell curates The Library of Ice Poet Nancy Campbell spent seven years heading into the world’s coldest places, finding out all she could about ice and the history…

During the nippier months, it’s hard to imagine life without gloves. Sure, you can tug your sleeves over your hands like a disaffected teenager, but why would you when you can pull on a garment designed to keep each digit protected in its own envelope of warmth? And there are so many different types to tempt you – from tailored, leather ones that make you feel like a fully fledged grown-up, to jolly knitted ones in cheerful colours, to soft cashmere pairs that are a wrench to take off. There are even ‘smart’ gloves that allow you to use your phone while wearing them. These days, gloves are mostly worn as a functional item; the last thing you pull on before stepping outside and facing whatever the weather is throwing…

PEAR, STILTON & WALNUT SALAD  Cave Orschwiller Les Faitieres Pinot Gris 2015, £13.50 Notes of acacia and elderberry. The off-dry style of this largely crisp wine will go brilliantly with the sweetness of the pear, the tang of the stilton and the bitterness of the walnuts. HEARTY WILD VENISON CASSEROLE AND ROOT VEGETABLE GRATIN  Domaine Roche Audran Cuvee Nature, £15 A completely natural Rhône red, with no added sulphites. Deeply flavoured and intense with a long, fruity, lasting finish, making it an ideal partner for rich venison. GALETTE DES ROIS  Chateau de la Roulerie Coteaux du Layon, £25 This sweet Loire white has clementine and apricot flavours layered with date notes. The long finish lets sweet and tangy notes play out beautifully, so will work wonderfully with this indulgent, nutty…

Cabbages are never really out of season. If you’re a nifty grower, you could have them all year – sowing spring varieties in summer, summer cabbages in late winter, and winter ones in spring. And if not, there are plenty of growers out there who are, making them available year round. Cabbages get a bad press, partly because they are always there, never elusive or unattainable, but also because they’ve been treated badly, served boiled and plain, which will do nothing to bring out their best qualities. When they are to be eaten as a side dish, the trick is to add fat – ideally butter. Shredded savoy sautéed in butter, salt and pepper until collapsed and lightly caramelised is an entirely different beast to bland, watery school-dinners-style offerings. It’s…

If you want to listen on your phone, you probably have an app pre-installed, otherwise Podcast Republic, Player FM or TuneIn Radio are good choices. You can also find and listen to podcasts through your laptop/home computer: try the podcast’s own site or search iTunes or acast.com. To find new podcasts, you could haunt the #podernfamily hashtag on Twitter or Instagram for inspiration. In addition, Miranda Sawyer has a regular podcast column in The Guardian, and New Statesman’s head of podcasts, Caroline Crampton, co-writes an email newsletter called Hot Pod (hotpodnews.com). Dolly Alderton and Pandora Sykes also regularly highlight great podcasts on their own (very good) show The High Low (acast.com/thehighlowshow).…

*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 or to rediscover the charms of a city closer to you, but for now just sit back, relax and enjoy some vicarious travel. How long have you lived in Rio? I’m a California native who came to Rio de Janeiro on holiday to tick that ‘Travel Bucket List’ box and never left. I fell in love with the dramatic landscape of the city, the kindness of the locals and the passionate, happy culture. Five years later, I…

Shetland is dark. Darker than dark, for a good portion of the year. That’s the time for lighting the fire, for visiting, for telling tales over a dram and a bowl of tattie soup. Despite the darkness, we are happy. This is perhaps because there are more jobs than people, and partly because we do all the best things in life so well. Music. History. Art. Community. Food. Drink. Jumpers. There is one aspect of our culture that we do particularly well: celebration. Shetlanders enjoy a bit of revelry. They make you feel welcome, like you can only say the right thing and it’s never getting late. We call this concept ‘foy’, an old Scots word that’s still in frequent use on the isles today. Make no mistake: we don’t…

Rather than drawing up the usual list of resolutions, this new year you could start to build some simple rituals into your day. A ritual doesn’t have to be religious or an crystals or complicated ingredients, it is simply a moment in which you pause, pay attention and set an intention. You might already be thinking you don’t have time, but the simplest way is to link it to something you do already. Can you close your eyes and focus on your breath for the time it takes the kettle to boil? Can you add a drop of lavender essential oil to your moisturiser at night to help you sleep? Think of it as a way of making ordinary things special and special things extra special. A ritual should give…

Emile Zola, The Ladies’ Paradise (1883) Modelled after Le Bon Marché and detailing many of the store’s innovations. Of Human Bondage W Somerset Maugham’s 1915 autobiographical novel features a spell as a poorly paid shop worker in a Regent Street store. It (1927) In this silent movie, Clara Bow plays a spunky shop girl who sets her sights on the handsome and wealthy boss of the store. Bond Street Story by Norman Collins (1959) Follows the hopes and dreams of post-war workers in London store ‘Rammell’s’ from model to manager. Are You Being Served? The comedy dealings of the staff of Grace Brothers kept people amused throughout the 1970s. Mannequin (1987). Andrew McCarthy plays a window dresser at…

An involved knitting project can create pressures of time – and ability. One way of getting the needles going could be to go large. Knitting with extra chunky wool and correspondingly chunky needles means that you should be able to complete something recognisable in a day – such as this cushion cover. “It’s addictive, getting to see it grow so quickly!” says Helen Hickman of Nellie and Eve (nellieandeve.co.uk), who has devised this project. Helen is addicted to most things wool based: spinning, dyeing, weaving and knitting wool – as well as passing on her skills to others through workshops and classes. Helen was taught to sew, knit and crochet at a young age, although it all came together when she moved to rural Carmarthenshire 15 years ago and joined…

Scandinavians know a thing or two about lighting. They tackle being plunged into almost non-stop winter darkness by filling their homes with bright and twinkling light. Numerous winter traditions involving candles and lanterns are held to generally raise spirits. Lights (notably multi-branched candelabra during Advent) are placed in windows day and night to cheer passersby with a glowing beam. The Swedes’ example is one we would do well to follow. Coming home and switching on the lights banishes the darkness, replacing it not just with visibility but with emotional reassurance. “Coming home and switching on lights banishes the darkness” How you choose to light the home is worth giving some proper thought. A single overhead light is cheerless and depressing (even more so if it’s a single swinging bulb), whereas…

Like many others, I like to read before I go to sleep and at the moment do so by the light of an Anglepoise lamp. Although this gives a good clear light, the beam is pretty strong and can be blinding when caught at the wrong angle or when I switch it on in the morning. It also takes up a lot of room on my, admittedly small, bedside table. Is there another, more subtle, way of illuminating my night-time reading? Answer in brief: liberate the bedside table by hanging a light above. The trick here is to look up. Free space on your bedside table by suspending a light from the ceiling. If you share a bed with another person, do the same on their side for balance…

Capricorn 22 December – 19 January ★ There may be a lot to contemplate as 2019 gets underway; January especially may feel intense, but with that intensity comes the power to make things happen. This is a good time to consider what you want to do next and then to start taking steps to make it a reality. It may also help to clear out the dead wood. Once that’s done, you’ll be in a much stronger position. The arrival of March sees the end to domestic problems, at which point you can take a creative idea and run with it. As film director Frank Capra said: “A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something.” Aquarius 20 January – 18 February ★ “The most beautiful things are not associated…

The call came early. “It’s your Uncle Diarmuid,” Shona, the weekend nurse on the Island, said. At least, Fiona thought as she started her car, he had the decency to fall when the one with a bit of civility was on duty. She marvelled at her uncle’s timing as she rounded the blind corner s ve were . the morning. January 1st – he knew it was one of her few days off from skippering the ferry. His third fall, but the worry of him made it feel like ten. He’d broken nothing yet, but it was only a matter of time. He sat in his pyjamas in the kitchen, his foot resting on the stool, looking sheepish but still flashing that smile. “What were you doing up anyway?” she…