Innehållsförteckning för January 2022 från The Simple Things

Modern stitches A designer giving traditional embroidery a modern twist ➛ It was while at the Royal College of Art that Amelia Ayerst created, DUO-HUE – a unique digital embroidery stitch that combines complementary colour-ways and differing stitch densities to create a colour-morphing effect as the product moves. Since launching last year, Amelia has developed a range of home, lifestyle and art products, all made, designed and embroidered in her hometown of Bristol. As well as expanding her collection, she’s embarked on a new project that focuses on studio waste where experimental and defect samples are turned into statement jackets using vintage denim and artist jackets. “Often I find amazing outcomes out of mistakes or by experimenting with new ideas and this is what keeps me excited about my work,”…

Favourite café LA FOLLE TABLÉE A gourmet café-crèmerie that’s unique in Québec City, where you can find the best brownies. They also have a food truck that goes around town. @lafolletablee (Instagram) Favourite museums MUSÉE NATIONAL DES BEAUX-ARTS DU QUÉBEC The exhibitions and the architecture are wonderful.mnbaq.org MUSÉE DE LA CIVILISATION An interactive museum that the whole family can enjoy.mcq.org Favourite café or bar MACFLY BAR ARCADE You can play on arcade machines from the 70s and 80s at this retro bar.macflybararcade.com Favourite restaurant CHEZ BOULAY A popular place to enjoy typical French-Canadian cuisine, it combines local northern territory ingredients with French culinary skills.chezboulay.com Favourite market LE GRAND MARCHÉ DE QUÉBEC The best place to buy local fresh food.legrandmarchedequebec.com Favourite hotel HÔTEL NOMAD Each of the rooms is beautifully decorated…

GLENFARCLAS 15 YEAR OLD, £74.95 The spice of haggis and the sweetness of neeps is a difficult combination to balance, and this rich and sticky whisky is 100º Proof special edition – it’s bottled at 57.1% (100º proof in the olde alcohol measuring scale) and the extra punch gives it an intensity that stands up to the haggis. GLENMORANGIE NECTAR D’OR, 54.95 Choosing citrus rather than berries is a great swerve for a cranachan, and one that works well with a citrusy whisky. Glenmorangie doesn’t only rhyme with orangey, but also has a great citrus character, and extra sweetness in this whisky, which adds extra chewy depth to your dessert. TALISKER 10 YEAR OLD, £42.95 The Rusty Nail has changed a lot over the years as has the recipe for…

Plan your flower bed now but don’t sow any annual seeds until late March. I grow seedlings in 3in pots and plant them out in May. You’ll save hours of weeding, and your plants will have a great start. Go bee-friendly! Mingle cornflowers with Ammi majus and Scabious – great for pollinators, and a big, tangled handful looks fantastic in a vase. Don’t ignore biennials – they kick-start the season much earlier than most annuals. Autumn-planted sweet williams rock the free world: foxglove, hesperis, wallflowers – they’ll never let you down.…

“Centuries of history has been woven into tartan” Growing up in Speyside, a part of north-east Scotland famed not only for its whisky, shortbread and salmon, but for its cashmere, too, meant that many a school outing was spent at the local woollen mill, stroking luxurious scraps of softness and looking at rows of bold, bright scarves – all the while wishing I was at the biscuit factory instead. Despite that adolescent ennui, I have always loved tartan. My childhood Black Watch party dresses at Hogmanay and flash of Royal Stewart for a Burns Supper made way for the pinafores, scrunchies and oversized plaid shirts – as the Americans taught me to call them – of my teenage years, and I’ve never been far from a colourful check since. It’s…

40 purpose-built pods will offer rough sleepers and homeless men in Manchester the opportunity to transition back into life indoors within a community, thanks to the gift of land in Castlefield, one of the city’s prime residential areas. 618 square miles of tropical rainforest are once again under the control of the indigenous people who live there after Australian authorities returned Daintree National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site, to the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people. 10k Monarch butterflies – and counting – have been seen in California where they overwinter. Numbers dropped as low as 2,000 last year, making this a strong start to the season and a sign of hope that the population is starting to recover.…

The kettle went on before my clothes came off. “Any tips?” I asked as I stepped out of my jeans and slipped into a snuggly dressing gown. “Take your socks off first,” she laughed. Such small talk to a relative stranger before getting totally starkers is far from my usual Saturday afternoon behaviour. In a way, I’d shocked myself that an idea on my birthday bucket list had gotten this far. The stranger in question was artist and art teacher Kim Plowright who was prepping her pencils – and me – with kind words and a sugary tea for my first and only session as a life model. Turning 50 had felt like the most landmark-y of my landmark birthdays. A halfway point that deserved a bit of attention from…

The glamour, the gallantry, the gizmos – we can’t help but get swept up in a gripping spy story. On television, in books and at the cinema, tales of derring-do and double agents seem so gloriously far-fetched – but for these real-life spies of days gone by, the pursuit of truth was even stranger than fiction. Move over, Mr Bond… DRESSED TO DECEIVE Spying isn’t all tuxedos, evening gowns and martinis, despite what 007 would have us believe. Going incognito is an important part of espionage – the CIA even has a Chief of Disguise (what a job title!). But you’ll find more than just wigs, fake noses and stick-on ‘taches in the agency’s wardrobe – every aspect of a spy’s appearance is carefully masterminded, and local trend advisors are…

Gorse Even in the darkest depths of winter, gorse flowers are little pops of sunlight. However dire the weather, gorse persists – as the old saying goes: “When gorse isn’t blooming, kissing’s out of season.” If you walk along a coastal path, head out to a heath or go exploring in the woods, you’ll find gorse aplenty. So, bring some branches home to enjoy their coconut-meets-almond scent (while avoiding their thorny stems). As well as being cheering to look at, the flowers also work in syrups, cakes, jams and even cocktails*. * Only the flowers of the gorse are edible: not the long pods or dark seeds.…

Come in from the cold and indulge in an hour or two of armchair gardening. One of my favourite spots in winter is curled up by the fire, a mug of tea and a pile of seed catalogues to hand, making hopeful lists of the fruit and flowers I’d like to grow. A little dreaming and planning while the new year is young means every season in the garden brings something exciting to look forward to. The anticipation is joyful and it brings almost as much joy as the gardening itself. In my small courtyard garden, every plant has to work hard to earn its place, so I’m always looking at how well each variety thrives, both for me and the wildlife. Keeping a notebook for ideas, sketches and recording…

“My favourite thing about our shelves is that they display all of our most adored pieces. From the sketch of my wedding dress, pictures of my beloved mum, and my husband’s grandmother’s shopping basket to the model of our home, travel books and our record player – everything brings back memories, from happy times to missed loved ones, and creates talking points among our guests. It’s such a large area that I wanted to create depth and personality, which can sometimes get lost in open plan spaces. I wanted it to be a backdrop for the room. I also wanted to hide the TV so I incorporated it into the shelving so that it blends in.” Tanya Lee Conroy, Galway, Ireland @florenceandhenri “We inherited these fitted Ikea shelves. They were…

SISTER & CO A blend of coconut and rapeseed wax infused with essential oils. The refill ‘naked’ version of your candle slots into the existing jar. From £27, sisterandcompany.co.uk 7OVER7 A brand rooted in self-care, their 100% natural wax refillable candles each come with an intention, such as Ground, Create or Connect. £65, live7over7.com EARL OF EAST An East London company known for their cult candles (we love ‘Greenhouse’). Refill their ceramic vessels in store, or use them for something new at home. From £20, earlofeast.com QUICK FIRE QUIZ 1 The name of which city translates as River of January? 2 Little shaggy, silky forklet and fox-tail feather are all types of what? 3 Who became the first woman judge to sit at the Old Bailey, 50 years ago this…

The January House is my home, named, so I’m told, for being the first house in the village – or the last, I say, depending on how you look at it, but either way one whose name predisposes me to have a fondness for a month others tend unfairly to malign. I have lived here for a year now. I have challenged local standards of decency by painting the outside seaside yellow, instead of misery grey, and the gate and front door deep blue instead of carbolic green. I have painted and polished and planted for three hundred and sixty-five days. I am a local outrage and I am exhausted, but I am happy. I have done all this and here I am, lying right here in this bed just…

If the wind is from the weston New Year’s Eve,our island will flourish.And the first foot to enterour dwelling on New Year’s Dayshould be the bootof a black-haired man or boy.Let’s not forget the cake theoryand how we all need to throwbarmbrack at our front doorsto banish hunger and famine.A time of bells, fires,the banging of potsand omens for the coming year.Some say that dropping a plateon the first dayguarantees a special year.That’s why I will beeating the cake– not throwing it –and dropping the platefor a cracking good year. About the author: With an ear finely tuned to the absurdities of life, Irish American poet Julie O’ Callaghan wryly celebrates the superstitions surrounding the coming of the New Year in New Year’s Omens – taken from Magnum Mysterium (Bloodaxe…

THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO DIVIDE A YEAR. We’re used to four seasons. Spring, summer, autumn, winter – so entrenched in our consciousness that we forget they really apply only to the temperate parts of our planet. Kurt Vonnegut reckoned the eastern seaboard of America had six: the usual four, plus ‘locking’ (November and December) and ‘unlocking’ (March and April). You’ll find variations on that theme everywhere. Little additions, taking local conditions into account. The Hindu calendar has six seasons, or ritu, including the monsoon and a two-part winter. The Gulumoerrgin language group in Australia’s Northern Territories divides the year into seven. Perhaps the most extreme example is the Ancient Japanese calendar. Four seasons, each divided into six, with each subdivision (sekki) in turn divided further, for a total of…

1969  Born in Northampton. 1990s  Travels around New Zealand, acquiring the taste for a peripatetic life. 2000s  Trains and works as a gardener in Cambridgeshire. 2011  Grows sunflowers for a friend’s wedding and the Higgledy Garden seed is sown. 2013  Moves to Cornwall, hooking up with This Rugged Coast flower farm. 2014  His beautiful walled garden at the Port Eliot festival in Cornwall becomes gardening legend. 2018  Decides to have a three-year adventure on the waterways and buys Casper the narrowboat, planting at various sites along the way. 2019  Joins forces with Bluebell Cottage Gardens in Cheshire, where they both weather the Covid storm. 2021  Rents land in Suffolk, and starts to till...…

At the International Spy Museum in Washington DC, some of the world’s most intriguing and ingenious gadgets can be found: • An unassuming lump of explosive coal was issued with its own dinky camouflage kit so that spies could colour-match it to local coal. • America’s dog poo homing beacon directed planes to missile strikes in the 1970s. It doesn’t look very convincing, truth be told, but who’s going to be staring that intently at it, really? • The trees have ears! During the Cold War, a solar-powered tree stump listening device was placed near a Soviet airbase to eavesdrop for the CIA. • Pigeons are the world’s most decorated birds, and for good reason – 95% of wartime pigeons successfully completed their missions. Some even wore a tiny camera…

Growing up in far away New Zealand, Nicky de Bouillé fell in love with the idea of Europe. It felt like a magical place, and she swore one day she’d move across the globe to find her home there. “It didn’t help that I was in love with Alexander the Great as a teenager,” smiles Nicky. “All I wanted was to retrace his steps and explore ancient places.” Nicky arrived in France 20 years ago to live in a Renaissance chateau with her then-fiancé. Five years ago, after the relationship ended, she bought herself a terrace-house in pretty and historic Saumur on the Loire in western France, where she now lives with her two teenagers and their little dog Vespa. “It was my lucky day when I found our house.…

PROUDLY HOMEMADE SEALED TERRARIUM Your very own home-grown ecosystem – how cool is that? And there’s minimal care required too. You will need: Container with cork lid Clay pebbles Potting soil Cork tamper Brush Activated charcoal Sand Spoon Plants (we used Ficus microcarpa ‘Ginseng’, but you could also use Calathea, Fittonia, Ivy, Parlour palm or Syngonium) Bun moss (also known as cushion moss) Tweezers Decorations: such as rocks, pebbles, pea shingle Filtered or distilled water We got all of the equipment and plants from tropicalglass.co.uk 1 Add about 2cm of clay pebbles to the bottom of the container for drainage. With no drainage holes in the bottom of the container, a drainage layer helps to keep any excess water out of the soil and away from the roots. Flatten the…

When weekends get taken over by a relentless round of children’s activities, household chores and life admin, perhaps it’s time to press pause. Glamping isn’t just for the balmy days of summer; if you combine a well-insulated wooden eco lodge with a log burner, private hot tub and the mild microclimate of the Isle of Wight, you’ve got a peaceful winter escape just a short ferry-ride away. Pared back, TV-free, eco-friendly accommodation helps the whole family to switch off from their busy schedules and daily dose of devices and switch on to sea views, wildlife watching and warming wintry walks. Where we stayed Tom’s Eco Lodge is based at Tapnell Farm, near Yarmouth centre, and offers a range of accommodation – from eco pods to wood cabins – all cleverly…

Use your loaf, and whatever is still lurking in the fridge, for this spectacular sarnie The original sandwich, taken by Edwardian gents on their shoots, became a 21st century craze when shared by Tim Hayward. Layered mushroom and steak, squashed into a loaf: portable and very tasty. It's easy to customise, and great for leftovers: all you need to add is the bread… and a little time. 1 Slice an inch off the top of a cob loaf and set aside. 2 Scoop out the loaf's middle (save for breadcrumb recipes), leaving a good ‘wall’ barrier. 3 Slather walls with condiment of choice, such as butter, mayo, olive oil or pesto. 4 Layer up ingredients (pat anything moisture-filled with kitchen roll first). Creativity is encouraged but there's a turkey, bacon…

• Find a favourite spot in nature. Make notes on what you can see or take photographs and re-visit every week until spring. • List down any regrets on paper and find the silver living. Give yourself a full 20 minutes to reflect on the feelings they bring up with compassion and forgiveness. • Scrapbook the year ahead. Using some of your favourite magazines, cut out recipes, images, quotes and colours that spark happiness and use them to create a mood board of fresh intention that you can keep adding to throughout the year. • Spend a rainy afternoon combing through your phone/ laptop image bank. Choose 6-8 pictures from the last year that make you feel joyful, print them out and frame them. • Write a letter for your…

GRAPEFRUIT POPPY SEED SNACK CAKE  Serves 12–15 225g unsalted butter (softened), plus extra for greasing 300g caster sugar Zest of 2 pink grapefruits 225g ground almonds 225g fine cornmeal 4 tbsp poppy seeds, plus extra for sprinkling ¾ tsp baking powder 6 large eggs 2 tsp vanilla extract Pink grapefruit segments, to serve FOR THE GLAZE: 140g cream cheese (at room temperature) 70g unsalted butter (softened) 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract 240g icing sugar Juice of 1 pink grapefruit 1 Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/ Gas 4. Meanwhile, lightly grease a 23 x 33cm baking tin and line with a strip of baking paper that overhangs the long sides. 2 Put the sugar and zest into a large bowl and rub together with your fingers until the…

In the middle of dark and gloomy January, Burns Night is a much-needed chance to make merry. Traditionally celebrated in Scotland to mark the birthday of the poet Robert Burns, this annual knees-up takes place on or near 25 January. Burns suppers have followed the same format for over two centuries, with a traditional Scottish soup to start, haggis as the main course, and puds made with Scottish oats, whisky and cream. It never hurts to give a few of the classics a modern twist; a veggie haggis means more people can have a slice, and the addition of orange to creamy cranachan celebrates seasonal citrus, too. After supper, get your bard on and take turns reading Rabbie’s poems aloud* before the evening ends with a rousing rendition of Auld…

There’s nothing worse than a midwinter cold. It usually strikes just as you reach the home straight and are looking forward to some time off at Christmas or after it’s all over and you finally pause to breathe. Suddenly you’re dealing with daggers in your throat, a dripping red nose and limbs that feel like lead. Everybody has their preferred cold remedies, often passed down through generations, from chicken soup to garlic and hot toddies, but does any of it really work and, if so, how well? We asked the experts for the latest thinking on fighting viruses and delved into the science behind those old wives’ tales. Why does this winter’s cold seem so bad? So far it feels like this winter has brought an onslaught of colds and…

We’ve been catching colds since at least the Iron Age when we started gathering in communities – and many remedies and old wives’ tales go back generations. FALSE Getting cold and wet can give you a cold It used to be thought that a cold came from having a cold body. Bathing wasn’t advised and hot drinks, steamy baths and warm liquids were recommended. While hot drinks are soothing, it’s now widely known that colds are caught by the transmission of airborne viruses. TRUE An apple a day keeps the doctor away Apples are loaded with important nutrients. “They contain pectin, a form of soluble fibre that will help maintain a healthy digestive system and support immune function,” says Dani Clarke. They’re also rich in antioxidants which can reduce the…

WENDY TARPLEEMORRIS’S daughter Hannah was just four when she was diagnosed with cancer. Losing her hair during treatment was distressing, so her parents set out to find her a real hair wig. It took a lot of effort, but when they did, it made all the difference. Sadly, Hannah died a year later, in 2005. Her school friends raised money in her memory, and when they were asked how they should spend it, her parents decided to buy a wig for another child. “It snowballed from there,” says Wendy. While one wig was being made, enough money was raised to buy another two. Then people started to send their own hair to be made into wigs and, in 2006, the Little Princess Trust was founded. From the start Wendy has…

Bought for me over 20 years ago at our local coffee shop by my now ex-husband, this delightful cartoon-like image of a polar bear wearing a green scarf flapping in the breeze caught my eye as soon as I’d entered the shop. I’ve always liked bears and I immediately liked the simple yet colourful design – it made me smile. Although I’ve kept very few possessions from my marriage, selling or donating most over the years, somehow I could never part with my polar bear coaster. It’s a memento of a former life in a different location, one I sometimes almost forget I once had. The coaster was sold as a set with a companion mug, which unfortunately got broken during one of my many long distance moves. I remember…

The great minds at Bletchley Park unpicked incredibly complicated codes and ciphers during the Second World War. Budding spies can look to other professions, and the playground, for simpler ways to chat clandestinely. • Beloved by schoolchildren, Pig Latin is actually nothing to do with Latin. It’s easy to master – the first consonant or consonant cluster (such as ‘th’ or ‘sm’) before a vowel is shifted to the end of the word, and ‘-ay’ is tagged to the end of the whole lot. Words that already begin with a vowel stay the same, but get a suffix of ‘-yay’, ‘-way’ or ‘-hay’. So The Simple Things becomes Ethay Implesay Ingsthay in Pig Latin. • In Sweden there’s a similar slang called Fikonspråket, or fig language, and the French equivalent…

• Avoid succulents in a closed terrarium. They prefer dry fresh air, so if you put them in a closed container, they’ll most likely rot and die. Select plants that prefer a moist environment and enjoy low light. • If you notice that your bun moss has become light green or silver in colour, then it’s time to spritz it with water. • Don’t over-water. This is one of the most common mistakes. If you see big droplets of water on the glass, open your terrarium and let the excess water evaporate. • Don’t fertilise the plants inside a closed terrarium. You don’t want them to grow quickly and outgrow the container. • Keep your terrarium out of direct sunlight. The glass can act as a magnifier and burn the…

Raclette-ish This dish sits tastily between a fondue, with its oozy cheese, and a tartiflette, with its layers of potatoes and onions. Raclette-ish Serves 2 300g baby new potatoes ½ small onion, thinly sliced 4 tbsp crème fraîche 1 tsp dijon mustard 150g raclette cheese, pre-sliced Cornichons, to serve FOR THE ENDIVE SALAD: 1 tbsp olive oil ½ tsp white wine vinegar ¼ tsp dijon mustard ¼ garlic clove, crushed 2 endive heads, broken into leaves 1 tangerine, peeled and chopped 1 Cook the potatoes in a saucepan of boiling salted water for 10 mins, or until really tender. Meanwhile, put the sliced onions in a sieve, then drain the cooked potatoes over the top. Leave to steam dry. 2 Preheat the grill to high. Transfer the potatoes and onions…