Friday night dinner for two (behind the scenes)

As it's a Friday and only 7 more days until Valentines,  we thought we'd share a few more captured moments from our dinner for two special (p104 - p111) in this month's The Simple Things.

Duck with spinach and pomegranate recipe found in this month's magazine.

MENU

Aubergine with pistachio

& sesame seed crumbs

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Duck with spinach

& pomegrante

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Poached pear with

gingerbread biscuits

Have you tried any of these delicious recipes? Leave a comment below or hop on Facebook and share your perfect romantic meal menu with us.

Happy Friday all!

Get the look: mimic the style of the Fat Radish in your home

In this month's issue of The Simple Things Alice Gao visits the Fat Radish in New York for lunch and picks up some of her favourite recipes to share with us (found in the mag on pages 34-39). Just as Alice did on her first visit we instantly fell in love with the restaurant's charming farmhouse vibe, and wanted to show you a few simple ways to recreate the style in your home.

Hang a vintage map

Food and travel go hand-in-hand, so hanging a map is a great way to inspire you in the kitchen. You can find antique and modern maps all over the web, but we're particularly fond of these two we found on Etsy.

North Pole antique map: artic sea exploring expeditions 1914 available from Carambas Vintage

Antique map of the World 1777 (high quality digital image) available from Patterns n Prints

Create a modern chalkboard

At the Fat Radish you'll find chalkboards painted directly onto the exposed brick walls, such an easy and quick way to transform a bare wall into something useful and beautiful. We found the perfect DIY over on A Beautiful Mess to save you spending a fortune on chalkboard paint, with this tutorial and a little imagination you could transform pretty much any surface into your own chalkboard, cupboards, table tops even your own coffee cup! (See pg 114 of this month's mag for details)

Here are some of the chalkboard ideas that caught our attention, we particularly like the wedding chalkboards from Her Majesty's Pug - a great way to upcycle scratched or unused silverware!

Wedding chalkboards from Her Majesty's Pug, antique framed chalkboard: Nixey and Godfrey, Barkboards available from Olive Manna

Build your own floating shelves

The restaurant also uses floating shelves to display an impressive wine collection, simple, stunning, and perfect for adding a more modern feel to a kitchen. Vintage revivals has a fantastic tutorial on how to make your own.

We've shown you how to get the look of the Fat Radish in your home, now make sure you have a go at mimicking the taste on your plate with the exclusive recipes found in this month's issue.

Win a wine tasting class with The Simple Things and Inntravel (closed)

Love the grape but have trouble telling your Chablis from your Chardonnay? Want to learn the difference between old and new world wine? Well, we've teamed up with our friends at Inntravel to offer you the chance to win a full day wine school experience for two at Britain's oldest wine and spirit merchant Berry Bros and Rudd. Perfect if you wish to condense all your learning into just one day, and also indulge in a mouthwatering luncheon where your new-found knowledge is put to immediate use with the wines served with lunch.

To be in with a chance to win this fantastic prize worth £490 simply click on this link and 'Like" Inntravel's page: http://on.fb.me/YkRIAw - good luck!

(Please note: Competition is open to UK residents only)

Michel Roux Jr recipe: authentic lamb tajine

Warm-up your weekend with this tasty recipe for an authentic lamb tajine. 

We've got the perfect recipe from two-star Michelin chef and slow food movement advocate Michel Roux Jr. A chef who  has won numerous awards for his cuisine and understands the importance of  appreciating food and respecting where it comes from.

Lamb Tajine

1 boned lamb shoulder

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves, chopped

3 onions, chopped

2 teaspoons turmeric

2 teaspoons coriander seeds, crushed

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges

1 tablespoon honey

300ml chicken or vegetable

stock (page 208)

50g whole blanched almonds, toasted

Serves 4-6

Preheat the oven to 140°C/Gas 1. Cut the lamb into 3cm chunks. Heat the olive oil in a cast-iron casserole dish and pan-fry the lamb until golden. Add the garlic, onions and spices to the dish and continue to cook and stir over a medium heat for about 10–15 minutes.

Add the lemon, honey and stock to the dish and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook in the oven for 1 hour.

Stir in the toasted almonds and serve in traditional tajine dishes if you have them.

If you liked this recipe you'll love Michel's exclusive recipe booklets which come free with this weekend's Telegraph (one on Saturday and Sunday), that's 40 of Michel's favourite dishes to inspire you in the kitchen - our mouths are watering at the thought!

Visit The Telegraph to find out more and for a chance to win dinner for two at the infamous Le Gavroche!

Meet The Amazings

As one of the most overused words in the English language, you could argue the term ‘amazing’ has lost some of its sentiment, but not when it comes to this truly incredible group of people...

Like something out of a marvel comic, The Amazings have been brought together for their invaluable set of skills in order to pass on what they know to the next generation. They are doing this by providing us with courses and classes ranging from the classic to the curious, with lessons in woodturning, bookbinding, interior design, and even perfume making available in and around London.

without colour we are lost

The Amazings was born out of a simple idea. Society has always learned from its elders. But along the way that connection between generations is often lost – which means sometimes losing rich, valuable, and rare skills. Skills such as those of Christina, The Amazing's resident interior designer, who has spent the last ten years creating beautiful spaces for people to live in with a focus on colour, attention to detail, and the notion of space.

Christina, Interior Designer from The Amazings on Vimeo.

One off classes start from as little as £15 and what’s more, the team are offering 20% off all courses until 7^th January, simply enter the code ‘FacebookHQ’ at the checkout when you visit The Amazings’ website. So perhaps this year we should all try something old, to learn something new!

Don’t forget to like and follow The Amazings on Facebook and Twitter for daily updates from the team.

How to make your own butter

At The Simple Things, we think that sometimes it's worth putting a little extra effort in to make something everyday a little more special.

With that in mind, take a peek at this recipe for homemade butter at Longest Acres. The instructions require no specialist equipment and are so simple, they made us wonder why we'd never tied this before.

We're planning on having a go at this when we next have a free hour. We're daydreaming of toasted English muffins spread with butter made with our own fair hands, eaten tucked up in bed on a lazy weekend morning. Totally idyllic.

Wordless Wednesdays ... afternoon tea

By Alice Gao at Lingered Upon.

Vegetable of the month ... courgette

Champion of the veggie patch this month is the courgette. Join us as we round up our fave recipes for you to get stuck in to...

Kicking off our collection is Gourmande in the kitchen's raw courgette ribbon salad which we'll be trying out while there's still a little summer warmth in the air.

This salad was born when garden-less blogger Sylvie offered to help take some home-grown courgettes off her friends' hands - what a good Samaritan! We love that it requires barely any ingredients. A little dressing, some crunchy pine nuts and crumbled goats' cheese are all that's needed to make the courgette shine.

When the weather starts getting a little chillier, Cafe Johnsonia's spicy courgette wedges will be just the thing to warm us up. Blogger Lindsey 'made this up as she went along' and assures us that we can do just the same. We're thinking cumin, garlic and a little paprika...mmm...

Finally, we had been hunting out courgette cake recipes for this post, but when we came across this beautiful harvest cake on Roost we just had to share it with you. This recipe combines courgette with apple and carrot, and is sweetened with honey and vanilla cream. We think it'll taste as wonderful as it looks.

Do you have any favourite courgette recipes? Share 'em below!

Remember to check out the rest of our vegetable of the month series.

Welly boot liner DIY

It's half-way through September now and we can't ignore it any more ... we've officially reached autumn.

We might be waving goodbye to the sunshine for a while, but it's definitely not all bad. Autumn means blackberries and apples, brightly coloured leaves and blustery strolls in the countryside.

Combat the nip in the air and the drizzly days with these welly boot liners from H is for Handmade. We especially like her clever scarf upcycling for the turnovers.

Do our readers have any ideas for autumn craft projects? We'd love to hear from you!

Vertical pallet planter DIY

We’d all love to have acres of space outside our back doors – giant lawns where we can sit out for breakfast, embark on elaborate landscaping projects and perhaps host a small football match.

Sadly, as our city-dwelling readers will know, this isn't always a possibility. Which is why we love Fern Richardson so much. Her blog (and book), Life on the Balcony, is a haven of tricks and tips for those of us who only have a small space to work with but still want to get a little mud under our fingernails.

One of her most genius ideas is this vertical pallet planter DIY. It ticks all the boxes of a good small-scale gardening project - easy to do, looks great and takes up barely more ground space than a plant pot. If you make like Fern and hunt out a second hand pallet, it’s dirt cheap too!

Do any of our readers have useful ideas for making the most of small gardening spaces that they’d like to share? We’re always on the hunt for inspiration!

Cool camping at Canopy and Stars

‘Camping’ and ‘luxury’ are not two words that often go hand in hand. Don't get us wrong, we're big fans of getting back of nature, but for all this chat of ‘glamping’, in our heart of hearts we know a floral Cath Kidston tent and beribboned Hunter wellies do not an indulgent getaway make. And yet … when we stumbled upon the Canopy and Stars website, we were more than ready to eat our words. The Bristol based company hunts out exceptional, eco-friendly camping places, cabins and tree-houses.

All Canopy and Stars' destinations manage to couple unmistakable luxury with a sense of adventure that has our inner child hopping with excitement (did we mention there are tree-houses?). Wood-burning stoves, sofas and iron bedsteads, these are tents unlike any tent we’ve seen before.

Click over to the Canopy and Stars website to plan your next getaway, or simply gawp at the photos.

Shop love: The Shop at Number 57

The Simple Things readers, meet The Shop at Number 57. It's our new fave online home store, and its bursting with old, new and revamped treasures.

The Shop at Number 57 is the brainchild of interiors stylist Marie, graphic designer Simon and their dog Dudley. Their home (at, you guessed it, number 57) became a little too full up of flea market gems and antiques fair finds and the rest is history.

Our pick of the shop? Vintage chemistry flasks re-imagined as quirky vases (genius) and monochrome  cross stitch kits, in which embroidery gets a modern make-over.

Mud pie kitchen

Remember making mud pies as a kid? The inner child inside of us is clapping their hands and hopping about in excitement about this mud pie kitchen idea from Ginny for  Rhythm of the Home.

Old packing crates are turned into kitchen cabinets, a line of bricks in a sunny spot make the perfect mud pie oven, and old metal pots and pans are stacked up ready for the baking to begin!

Video #3 What's your simple thing?

http://youtu.be/c9lqgTfGUwk We love the smell of freshly baked bread. Share your simple pleasure with us below!

Three best cushion customising ideas

Sometimes we want a room revamp when are purses are feeling a little empty. Luckily, we've discovered that all that's really needed to turn the plainest cushion into a thing of beauty is a little imagination and few craft supplies. Join us as we round up three of the best crafty cushion customising ideas ...

1. Print it

Grab some fabric paint or a marker and get back in touch with your artistic side. We love this dotty cushion design from Hello Milky on Etsy, which uses neon fabric paint to tap into this summer's trend for all things hi-vis. You don't just have to stick to circles either - those are designer-maker Jess' fun star cushions in our cover pic.

If you have something to get off your chest, use a stencil to scribble out your message, like Wit & Whistle's stencilled cushion tutorial. Take a tip from blogger Amanda and draft out your design in pencil first to avoid any spelling disasters!

2. Get colourful 

Adding a pop of colour is a really easy way to inject some life into a neutral design. Made in Oxford has mixed up simple applique and contrast stitching in their adorable elephant cushions.

Alternatively, nip down to your local fabric shop to sift through their cute buttons and trims. And remember, if your cushion is plain you can get away with being a little crazy with your trims! Check out Bentley Bicycles' bright pom pom trim and coconut shell button combo if you don't believe us.

 3. Add another dimension

If you want a total revamp, its time to crack out the sewing machine and add a little texture. Pay homage to the blooms in your back yard with a rose cushion from Burlap and Blue or go girlie with Say Yes to Hoboken's oversized bow pillow. We especially love that both bloggers have opted for a neutral fabric and decided to let the shape do all the talking.

Braided rug tutorial

We've just unearthed this braided rug tutorial on A Beautiful Mess and we're itching to get plaiting. This DIY requires no sewing whatsoever, just a little patience and a big scrap fabric stash (check, and check!).

It may not be rug weather at the moment, but we thought we'd give you a little heads up on this one as it looks like it's going to take a little time. We love Elsie's bright colour choices and the fact she's mixed up plain fabric with gingham for a laid back, shabby chic effect.

Wordless Wednesdays ... bookshop nook

From Found, Now Home.

Vegetable of the month ... lettuce

All different types of lettuce hit their peak in the balmy summer months, ready to coincide with the days when we're craving a crunchy, crispy salad. Don't you love it when mother nature does that? We've rounded up our top lettuce recipes for you to enjoy.

Proving first off that lettuce can be the star of the dish, is this garlic scape dressing recipe from The First Mess. Blogger Laura thinks a dressing can make or break a salad, and this is her fave (psst... don't worry if you don't have any garlic scapes, regular cloves will do just as well).

Once you've mastered a top-notch dressing, you can go crazy with the extras. If you're having trouble awakening your inner Jamie Oliver, check out Emma's  five favourite summer salads on A Beautiful Mess for some inspiration.

Next we've got something a little different. Sprouted Kitchen's rustic goats' cheese pizza is scattered with a generous handful of dressed lettuce once it's out of the oven. A thin, crispy base and crunchy salad leaves make this pizza light, fresh and perfect for summer evenings.

Finally (and you'll notice we're getting gradually less and less healthy here), we couldn't have a lettuce round-up without featuring everyone's top sandwich, the BLT.

You'd be right in thinking you don't strictly need a  BLT recipe - the acronym pretty much covers everything. However, if you're interested in elevating the already-mighty sandwich to something even more special, click over to Not Without Salt. A touch of slow roasting, a spoonful of basil and ... oh, we'll let Blogger Ashley share the rest. We can't wait any longer, we're off to make one.

P.S. Click to check out the rest of our vegetable of the month posts!

Papercraft heart bookmark tutorial

Reading in the sunshine with a big mug of tea is surely the best way to spend a stolen hour or two. Papercrafter Clara from Bloomize has come up with a sweet little paper heart bookmark tutorial to help her keep her place.

All you need is a square of pretty paper and some nifty fingers. Pop over to the Bloomize blog for a photo how-to, and get folding.