Small Ways To Live Well from The Simple Things

Join The Simple Things’ Editor Lisa Sykes and Wellbeing Editor Rebecca Frank as they find reasons to celebrate during February, including the returning daylight, time spent with friends and loved ones and joyful occasions from Lunar New Year to Shrove Tuesday. 
If you are in the UK, you can try an immediate start subscription to the The Simple Things and receive the current issue straight away. Or buy current and back issues here
Editing & music by Arthur Cosslett. 

On the blog
Seville & blood orange marmalade 
Blood orange posset
Blood orange Negroni
Vietnamese summer rolls recipe
 
In the February issue (164) on sale now available to buy here
Foods of love – what we eat and how we eat it has long associations with romance
Friends for life – the mood-boosting, life-enhancing benefits of friendship
Kitchen therapy – Sensory baking (Herb and black olive fougasse and Cavolo Nero Gnochi) and simple embroidered onions
My City Taipei – cherry blossom and feasting during Lunar New Year
What to do with orange peel – from scented kitchen spray to joyful garlands
 
In the January issue (163) available to buy here
The Big Idea: Could you be an Otrovert? Explore the thinking behind Dr Rami Kaminski’s book The Gift of Not Belonging: How Outsiders Thrive In A World Of Joiners (Scribe)
 
In our A Year of Celebrations Anthology
Lunar New Year gathering – recipes to share and celebrate with friends
 
Find out more
Travelling sun sculpture myhelios.org
 
Thanks to our partner for Season 9, Friends of Glass, an organisation that celebrates and supports glass packaging for food, drink and cosmetics. Find out more about why glass is better for health, taste and the environment and follow them on instagram @friendsofglassuk

In the STAR episode The Simple Things’ Editor Lisa Sykes and author of The Slow Traveller and regular contributor Jo Tinsley celebrate Twelfth Night and look for other reasons to cheer up what feels like the longest month of January.
If you are in the UK, you can try an immediate start subscription to the The Simple Things and receive the current issue straight away. Or buy current and back issues here
Editing & music by Arthur Cosslett. 

On the blog
Candle Holder
How To Wassail Well
How to hold a Wassail
Buttered bourbon apple cider
Tangerine and nutmeg hot chocolate
Blood Orange Posset
Slow Orange Poppy Seed Cake

In the January issue (163) on sale now
The appeal of ice skating
A winter of care and repair
 
In our In our A Year of Celebrations Anthology
Gathering: Twelfth Night with the La Fête des Rois
Candle holders 
 
In previous issues, available to buy at picsandink.com
Life lessons from the north: the value of age-old customs and community in enduring the long, dark winters. (Issue 151)
Looking back why we are fascinated by the stars (issue 152)
Snow lanterns (issue 138)
 
Learn more
Candles: A modern guide to making candles by Ebi Sinter and Emmanuel Sinteh
Watch out for the Quadrantid meteor shower between 28 December-12 January, peeking around 3-4 January 2026
Slow Down And Be Here Now by Laura Brand and Freya Hartas
A Winter Dictionary: A Collection of Words for the Festive Season by Paul Anthony Jones

Thanks to our partner for the Merry Midwinter season, the Marine Stewardship Council, which sets certification standards for sustainable fisheries and awards the blue ecolabel on fish and fish products. Find out more about the best fish to choose at msc.org and follow them on instagram @mscintheuk

If you’ve got some time off, now’s the chance to kick back a bit. Join Wellbeing Editor Rebecca FrankAuthor of The Slow Traveller and regular contributor Jo Tinsley
In Episode 5 PAUSE, as they share ideas for carving out some time to relax and reset in this in-between bit of Christmas.
If you are in the UK, you can try an immediate start subscription to the The Simple Things and receive the current issue straight away. Or buy current and back issues here
Editing & music by Arthur Cosslett. 

On the blog
How to do a jigsaw properly
 
In the January issue (163) on sale now
Long views from tall towers
Taking cues from the  people, animals and nature that surround us 
Life lessons from David Attenborough
Fish pie and cheddar mash
 
Learn more
Is a gansey a Guernsey?
Mindwandering: How It Can Improve Your Mood and Boost Your Creativity, by Moshe Bar (Bloomsbury Tonic)
Fish pie hash 
 
In previous issues available to buy at picsandink.com
Wearing well: Mittens (issue 127)
Panettone French toast (Issue 138)
Favourite annuals (issue 138)
 
Thanks to our partner for the Merry Midwinter season, the Marine Stewardship Council, which sets certification standards for sustainable fisheries and awards the blue ecolabel on fish and fish products. Find out more about the best fish to choose at msc.org and follow them on instagram @mscintheuk

Join The Simple Things’ Editor Lisa Sykes and Wellbeing Editor Rebecca Frank as we get stuck into festive feasting. We’ll be talking turkey, side dishes, tipples and nibbles, how to explain Christmas Eve to kids with science and just why we love Boxing Day so much. 
If you are in the UK, you can try an immediate start subscription to the The Simple Things and receive the current issue straight away. Or buy current and back issues here
Editing & music by Arthur Cosslett.  

On the blog
 Root veg peel crisps
 Christmas Eve explained 
 Cheese board pairings 
 Brussel sprout bhajias 
 Which Christmas character are you? 

In the December issue (162) on sale now  
Boxing day buffet – roast cranberry and mustard gammon, winter goat’s cheese salad, meringue nests with fruit and boozy cream
Grow your own Christmas Day veg 
Sprout slaw 
Homemade blinis 

In previous issues available at picsandink.com
Kitschmas – snowball, devilled eggs, mozzarella and pineapple sticks (Issue 150)
Why we love Boxing Day (Issue 150)

In our A Year of Celebrations Anthology
Side dishes as celebratory as the roast they surround 

Thanks to our partner for the Merry Midwinter season, the Marine Stewardship Council, which sets certification standards for sustainable fisheries and awards the blue ecolabel on fish and fish products. Find out more about the best fish to choose at msc.org and follow them on instagram @mscintheuk

Join Wellbeing Editor Rebecca Frank and Author of The Slow Traveller and regular contributor Jo Tinsley as they help you discover ways to find your own little pockets of calm in the run up to Christmas. In this episode, we appreciate the quiet of the approaching solstice, press pause and take some time for ourselves before curling up with some winter reads. 
If you are in the UK, you can try an immediate start subscription to the The Simple Things and receive the current issue straight away. Or buy current and back issues here

Editing & music by Arthur Cosslett. 
 
On the blog
How to solve an Agatha Christie novel
Books that Embrace the Cold
Why We Love Cosy Crime


In the December issue (162) on sale now
Pressing pause: Whether it’s a few minutes to yourself or a day away, giving yourself time to do the things you enjoy this month will help prevent overwhelm 
Kitchen therapy 
Reading: awell-chosen book can bring moments of comfort, calm and cheer over the coming weeks.
Modern eccentrics: Solstice revellers 
My place: Festive foliage
 
Learn more
Nature’s Calendar: The British Year In 72 Seasons by Kiera Chapman, Lulah Ellender, Rowan Jaines, Rebecca Warren (Granta) 
 
In previous issues available at picsandink.com
A day in December: images that captured the magic of this month (150)
How to get on with your siblings as grown-ups (and have a more harmonious yuletide). (126)
A winter walk is a breath of fresh air. (150)
Tuning into the month’s micro-seasons (138)

Thanks to our partner for the Merry Midwinter season, the Marine Stewardship Council, which sets certification standards for sustainable fisheries and awards the blue ecolabel on fish and fish products. Find out more about the best fish to choose at msc.org and follow them on instagram @mscintheuk