The Simple Things Issue 161 November

SPICE – Stove-top chai & toffee apple cake. Falling for autumn. Think like a stoic. Capers in a cape. Bring back sleepovers. Kitchen dancing & scenic saunas. How to solve an Agatha Christie. Gnocchi veg pie. Mast years & library days. Harvest roasts & bonfire snacks. The joy of a dressing table. How to pang-wangle.Is there a more evocative word than spice? We’re won over by the burnished colours, which form the outdoor palette, too, at this time of year. There’s also a whiff of fun and flamboyance about them; a fiery spirit and a cheeriness most welcome on gloomy days, when darkness beckons.

The month of November can be lost as autumn slides into winter and all eyes are on the festivities to come – so, if you need to get out of a rut, find ways to ‘spice up your life’ they say. Try kitchen dancing, wearing a cape, having a grown-up sleepover or unwinding in a sauna with a view. Sometimes nature’s fireworks can do the trick, or a spicy language in the form of slang offers a way to connect with like-minded others.

Whether it’s through healing remedies (soothing ginger and turmeric) bonfire snacks with a cumin kick, or the ritual of stirring cinnamon through warm milk for chai, spices add flavour, colour and can evoke feelings of both home and far-off places. Adding spice is like tasting history, culture and travel in a mere spoonful. That rack of jars promises adventure…