The Simple Things

Flowers can cheer up a bad day, pretty up a salad and adorn countryside hedgerows and meadows as well as city parks and gardens. And June is the month for maximum appreciation of them; we’re outdoors more during the long light days and slow sunsets of midsummer and there’s something about this abundance of blooming all around us that makes us bloom, too. With the sunshine we unpeel the layers and gradually feel more comfortable in our skin. We begin to relax, glow even, and that’s when the magic happens. We seem to reclaim time in the summer months, stretching our days, going places and doing more, yet there always seems to be time to sit for a moment, too. It’s time to wake-up and smell the roses.…

There aren’t many things better in life than a lazy lunch in the sunshine with friends around the table. Linger for as long as you like as summer days and good company seem to stretch time – a weekend lunch can easily last until at least 5pm, then move seamlessly into cocktails before it’s time for dusk, tea-lights, blankets and a fire pit. It is midsummer, after all. Start (and end) with strawberry mimosas made with fresh fruit, nibble on creamy asparagus, goat's cheese & pesto puffs that melt in the mouth, before moving on to a big slab of quiche served with the prettiest salad. It tastes as gorgeous as it looks. Share out lemon biscuits with added flowers* that look super fancy – despite being a cinch to make…

“They serve me well as a mask when I’m not able to face the world” There’s a moment of private joy when you try something new and realise that it really works for you. Like a dramatic haircut, or a red lipstick. That moment first came for me when I was a student, and tried on my first pair of cat-eye sunglasses. A huge vintage tortoiseshell pair that cost £3 and lasted for years. I’ve been an avid cat-eye fan ever since. It’s the shape of them, you see; those little flicks work hard. They lift my cheekbones, they arch my brows. There’s a little humour to them, but they look incredibly chic. They are unambiguously feminine. Everyone has their favourite sunglasses shape, but the cat-eye was the first shape created with…

Much as we love the UK’s scenery and mountains, the Alps are a unique landscape of glacier-carved valleys, clear lakes and thundering waterfalls that we just don’t have on the same scale. And what better way to immerse yourself in this landscape than to, well, immerse yourself? Whether bracing swims in glacier-fed lakes at higher altitudes appeal, or warmer (relatively!) dips among the foothills in flowing rivers and pools, there’s a wide variety of spots for wild swimming across Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy and Slovenia. And the Alps can be reached by train in a day – travel to Zurich, Salzburg, Innsbruck or Milan via Paris or Brussels. There’s lots of information on planning a journey on seat61.com. Just don’t forget to pack your cossie. LITTLE LOVELY LAKES Königssee-Salet, Obersee, Schönau am Königssee,…

RHUBARB & CUSTARD VICTORIA SPONGE Serves 8-10 4 eggs225g sugar225g self-raising flour2 tsp baking powder225g butter FOR THE CUSTARD BUTTERCREAM: 75g butter, softened150g icing sugar½ tsp vanilla extract2 tbsp custard powder2 tbsp milk TO SERVE: 200g rhubarb jamIcing sugar, to dust 1 Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/ Gas 4. Meanwhile, grease and line two 20cm sandwich tins. 2 In a bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder and butter. If using a hand mixer, take care not to over mix. Divide the batter evenly between the two tins. 3 Bake for 20-25 mins, or until golden-brown and a skewer comes out clean. Set aside to cool in their tins for 5 mins before turning out onto a wire rack. 4 To make the custard buttercream, beat all the ingredients together until smooth, light and fluffy, using a hand…

Good morning! How are you? Time for a cuppa? Blinky-eyed! We both like strong tea with milk to wake us up. If time allows, we love masala chai infused with crushed cardamoms. Sometimes we add ginger or saffron, too – the smell captures our heritage; Indian tea spiked with East African spices. Delicious! Tell us what you do We run an ethical shop offering hand-crafted goods made in East Africa, designing and sourcing everything ourselves. We both work from home (Naeema’s in Singapore and Aniqah’s in the UK) managing different aspects of the business. When we catch up, and there’s always a kettle on in the background. How did you end up doing that? Both of us left our previous jobs to explore an idea that followed our heritage back to East Africa. Our aim…