Meet our new music editor

Photo: Irene Baqué

In issue 33 we say a sad farewell to the wonderful Linnea Enstrom, who has left Oh Comely to start a creative writing course in Sweden. We're delighted to introduce you to Marta Bausells, who will be taking on the role of music editor. To get to know her a bit better, we sat her down for a little chat...

Hello Marta! Tell us a bit about yourself and your work.
I'm a freelance writer, editor and curator. I was born and raised in Barcelona. I started out by writing about music and culture at the same time as I studied politics. At the time, I thought they were two separate things and that I'd have to choose, but I later realised that culture is intrinsically linked to society, politics and social action. I then worked for a newspaper there, where I was lucky to report on all sorts of topics – social issues, environment, foreign news – before I moved to London four years ago.

I love that my work has allowed me to learn and explore all sorts of subjects and ideas. I always wanted to go back to writing about culture, though, and I eventually landed a job on the Guardian’s books desk, where I hosted discussions about books, created a series about books set in American cities, chatted to book-lovers around the world daily, and discovered the wonders of the literary internet. Currently, I’m really enjoying working with Literary Hub on covering books from this side of the Atlantic. 

I also do lots of other little things, like a collaboration with Subway Book Review (check it out!), which means I stop book-carrying strangers on the tube and chat to them about what they’re reading! It’s magical. No matter the subject, what I love the most about my job is that I get to meet fascinating people and share their stories. I can't wait to go back to writing about music!

What was the first single you bought? 
The Spice Girls' 'Wannabe'!* It caught me at the exact target age, and everyone at my school was crazy about them for a year.

*If by bought you mean copied on a cassette tape and passed on among friends countless times (oops). But I'm sure I ended up buying it too! 

What was the last gig you went to? 
Well, this is a bit random – but it’s the truth! It was this Catalan guy called Ferran Palau. I had gone back to Barcelona for a few days, it was the end of the summer and it was starting to drizzle (that sticky, humid end-of-summer Mediterranean rain). One neighbourhood was celebrating its yearly festivities, which means the streets are beautifully decorated by neighbours and there are gigs in almost every little square. I had just discovered this guy’s music a few hours earlier in the car, with friends – and there he was. One of those serendipitous musical moments.

What song will always get you up and dancing? 
Anything by Queen. I have a special weakness for 'Don’t Stop Me Now'.

Vinyl, CD or download?
The day I actually have space in the house and money to buy many of them, I’ll go back to vinyls – which is how I grew up listening to music. In the meantime, I’m a Spotify and downloads gal. 

Who, dead or alive, would you most like to interview? 
Frida Kahlo. I visited her house last year in Mexico and I was like “can I just move in here now?”. I would love to have been around her energy when she was alive, even if for five minutes. I am so inspired by how, despite being in horrific and crippling pain, she got up every morning, kicked ass and made the most amazing art – and lived her life in her own terms. 

And if I might cheat and add a couple from the realm of the alive, right now my musical dream interviewee would be Solange – what a queen! I’d love to interview Michelle Obama once she leaves the Oval Office and gets to talk more freely. And Tom Hanks, always. 

Outside of music, what else do you like to do?
Like I said, I love reading. My bedroom is ridiculously full of 'to-be-read piles' – it’s almost like I live around these book towers, and not the other way around. I also love film – I ran a film club with a friend for a while – good television and storytelling podcasts. I used to feel stressed-out or guilty about how little time there is to follow everything, but now I don’t mind being behind on TV shows or anything else. There’s this growing backlog of great culture waiting for me when I get home! What’s not to love?

Let us know a secret...
I don’t like chocolate… (!)

Find out more about Marta on her website, or follow her on Twitter. 

Recipe Friday: Crunching Bone Toffee

Yes, you read that right. In the run-up to Halloween, we're delighted to be sharing some of the recipes from the Hoxton Street Monster Supplies Cookbook. We're a big fan of Hoxton Street Monster Supplies, who sell "bespoke and everyday items for the living, dead and undead", and this is the first time their classic cookbook has been translated for humans. We'll let them introduce the recipe...

"In days gone by, Bone Toffee was a particular favourite of Werewolves and Giants, as the mouth-watering combination of lightly crushed human bones and sweet toffee was a rare treat. If you’re a stickler for the classics and can source human bones, you can ask your local human dismemberer to crunch them for you. If not, we’re confident you’ll find our 21st-century version of the recipe most agreeable."

You will need: 

Sufficient for 175g of toffee

about 50g milk chocolate, broken into pieces

50g firm toffees

4 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

75g popcorn kernels

1 Melt the chocolate in a small heatproof bowl set over a small saucepan of gently simmering water.

2 Meanwhile, unwrap the toffees and put them in a polythene bag. Place on a chopping board and tap firmly with a rolling pin until the toffees have broken into small pieces.

3 Tip the pieces into a small saucepan and add the milk. Cook over the lowest possible heat until the toffee has melted (this will take several minutes, depending on the firmness of the toffee). Remove from the heat.

4 Put the oil in a large saucepan with a tight- fitting lid and heat for 1 minute. Add the popcorn kernels and cover with the lid. Cook until the popping sound stops, then tip the corn out on to a large baking sheet or roasting tin and leave to cool for 5 minutes.

5 Using a teaspoon, drizzle lines of the toffee sauce over the corn until lightly coated. Drizzle with lines of the melted chocolate in the same way. 

For more fiendish recipes, The Hoxton Street Monster Supplies Cookbook is published by Mitchell Beazley, £12.99 (octopusbooks.co.uk). And to add a bit more magic to your day, pick up a copy of Oh Comely issue 33. 

Issue 33, Magic, is out now!

Arriving in WHSmiths, independent newsagents and in our shop, Issue 33 - 'Magic' - is officially on sale! 

Photo: Lara Watson

There's a little bit of magic - everybody has it. In Issue 33, we celebrate the magic of coincidence, superpowers and sisterhoods and encourage you to create your own urban myth. 

Highlights include: an interview with one of France's most-loved actors, Isabelle Huppert; we meet teenage actor Bebe Cave, chat to experimental musician Anna Meredith and genre-busting singer-songwriter Law Holt and explore the golden beauty of the magic hour. 

To buy our latest issue direct from us, click here. 

Want a taster of the magazine first? Have a flick through a sample of the issue first. 

More curious things: Magic

In issue 33 - out on 13 October - we pick out a selection of magic-inspired products, suitable for dressing your home and mortal form. We always find more treats than we can include in the magazine, so - abracadabra! - we've pulled a few extras out of our hats...

Who, with more than a passing interest in magic, could resist a book whose topics include: "Alchemy, Astrology, Chaos Magic, Love Magic, Necromancy, Phantasmagoria, Runes, Shamanism, Talismans, Tarot, Voodoo and Wicca"? Certainly not us. Over 400 pages and with plentiful illustrations, this authoritative book explores all of the above and even more, tracing them from Palaeolithic cages to the digital age. 

The Occult, Witchcraft & Magic: An Illustrated History by Christopher Dell, £24.95, Thames & Hudson 

And should you need something to keep your place in your new book, we think we've found the ideal thing. This bookmark, designed by Barcelona-based Octaveo, is inspired by a nazar, an eye-shaped amulet of Turkish Ottoman origin that’s believed to protect against the evil eye. Made from finely cut metal, with a black finish, you’ll never need to look for the right page again.

Nazar bookmark by Octaevo, £10, Unique & Unity

On the list of things you perhaps don't want to bump into on a dark night - a Belionota Prasina (or Jewel Beetle). That doesn't stop us marvelling at it in this beautiful shot by Goran Liljeberg. There's a whole host of prints to pick from including all kinds of bugs and beasts.

Goran Liljeberg's insect prints, £33, Natural History Direct

Empty Casket specialises in "witchy jewellery, crystals and treasures", meaning that they gave us plentiful inspiration for this Magic-themed issue. We don't really need another tote bag, but we really, really want to be part of their coven. 

Coven tote bag, £6, Empty Casket

We've also been eyeing up this laser cut perspex brooch by Jennifer Loiselle, with the glitter making it extra bewitching (if only we could get our eyeliner to look this good!). The brooch is sold by the British Library, meaning that every purchase helps a wonderful institution. 

Brooch eye blue, £28, British Library  

Ancient alchemists may have been concerned with turning base metals into gold but we'd be pretty pleased simply with keeping our skin soothed and happy over the winter. Hence this kit that harnesses the power of botanicals to leave facial skin, lips and hands feeling hydrated, soft and protected. Magic indeed! 

Grown Alchemist Amenity Kit Gift Set, £19, John Lewis

Order a copy of Oh Comely issue 33 to see more Magic-inspired picks. 

Culture Monday

Georgia O’Keeffe, Abstraction White Rose, 1927.

Oil on canvas, 36 x 30 (91.4 x 76.2). Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. Gift of TheBurnett Foundation and Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation ©Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

The nights are getting longer and the days cooler so even more good reason to throw yourself into all things cultural. To inspire you, here are our pick of events happening this week, ranging across art, film, music and books. One strong piece of advice, if you can get yourself to London - don't forget to visit the Georgia O'Keeffe exhibition before it closes at the end of the month - as the curator told us in issue 30, it's a once in a generation chance to see the artist's work in Britain. Enjoy! 

Art

Georgia O’Keeffe @ Tate Modern, London (Until 30 October). Read our interview with the exhibition's curator in issue 30. 

Jeff Koons @ Newport Street Gallery, London (until 16 October)

Lie of the Land @ Gallery 40, Brighton (until 22 October)

Girl Town @ St Margaret’s House, Bethnal Green, London (until 1 November)

Music

Wild Beasts @ The Junction, Cambridge (10 October)

Sussex Songfest @ Snape Maltings (15 October), featuring issue 33 interviewee Anna Meredith. 

Hackney Wonderland @ various venues, Hackney, London (15 & 16 October)

Mystery Jets @ Coventry, Cambridge, Bath, London (11 to 15 October)

Film

London Film Festival @ various venues, London (until 16 October). Our associate editor, Jason, recommends: 

• American Honey, directed by Andrea Arnold @ Odeon Leicester Square (11 October)
• Certain Women, directed by Kelly Reichardt @ Embankment Garden Cinema and Hackney Picturehouse (12 & 13 October)
• Prevenge, directed by Alice Lowe @ Haymarket and Picturehouse Central (13 & 16 October) 
• A United Kingdom, directed by Amma Asante @ Curzon Mayfair (11 October)
• Heal the Living, directed by Katell Quillévéré @ Prince Charles Cinema (14 October)

The Greasy Strangler @ general release (requires a strong stomach!)

Books

London Literature Festival @ Southbank Centre, London (until 16 October)

Birmingham Literature Festival @ various venues, Birmingham (until 16 October)

Waterstones presents Vivienne Westwood @ St James’ Church, Piccadilly, London (14 October) 

Workshops 

Plant Life Drawing @ Ace Hotel, Shoreditch, London (11 October) 

Wool weaving workshop @ Wool BnB, De Beauvoir Town, London (12 October)

Show us where you've been and tell us what we should include in next week's round-up via our Twitter or Instagram.

Sunday Reading: Chasing Rainbows

words : Helen Duncan photo : Tom Eagar

It had rained in the night, but the sky showed signs of clearing. Newly arrived on the Isle of Skye we were ready for adventure and set off along the road to Broadford to explore. Colours danced alongside us on the moor above the Black Lochs. And as we drove Beinn NaCaillich began to shrug off the shawl of grey fog she had wrapped around herself in the night for protection from the mizzle.

The colours – a mere smudge of watery pink turning to orange merging into green and then blue – danced on, wavering above the tawny moor. It became a day of chasing rainbows.

Some appeared in much the same way: broad blocks of colour that painted the mountainside in damp hues, barely there. Others took shape as graceful arches, rising high into the sky, as if to defy the very dampness that had helped to create them.

We drove on, transfixed by the alchemy of light and water. Elements transformed into arcs of colour. Magic happening before us, and all around us, in the air.

We counted seven in all as we traversed an enchanted landscape of druid groves and marshes, moorland and reed beds – at times climbing high on winding mountain roads, at times skirting the sea edge where the glowing amber, deep carnelian, and yellow ochre of the seaweed lay bright against a black shoreline.

The rainbows appeared and disappeared, illuminating Viking past and warrior heritage; places steeped in myth and historical fact in equal measure. And all the while the vibrant colours of autumn, of scarlet rowan berries, russet bracken, and turning leaves, paraded against changing skies that moved from charcoal, slate, and dove, to reveal glimpses of the clearest blue.

At Elgol where empty lobster pots were piled high against the sea wall, we breathed in the view of the Cuillin, its distinctive ridges and peaks still shrouded in cloud.

Weather improving, we took the road back and made our way over to Ord. Stunted birch, warped ash, and gnarled oak cast shadows that belied their stature, stretching out across the green grass as the road made its way down to the sea.

There, the warm light of the late afternoon picked out mussel shells on the beach and fronds of green-grey lichen on the rocks. And as it shifted, past and present merged and parted, like the tide gently lapping at the shore.

Standing alone on the ground-down fragments of sea-life as the sun claimed at last what was left of the day, it felt possible to understand why our ancestors believed the veil between our world and the realm of spirits is at its most diaphanous at this time of year.

I wondered how many others have stood looking out across the water in that very same spot. The retreating waves, like lives that have been lived, returned to the ocean, as more came forth to make their imprint on the sand.

That night, as we stood gazing into the ever-expanding depths of a sky unspoilt by light pollution, we remembered how insignificant we are, how transient our lives. And then – right there! A shooting star struck across the blackness. It was so close.

So close.

To this day I am sure I heard it fizz.

Helen spent the last 12 years as a grantseeker for Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum: her words brought in over £14 million for projects including a major redevelopment. As a writer, she covers the natural world, folkore and fairytale, and special places. She is currently investigating the Welsh concept “Hiraeth” - a longing for one’s homeland.

Discover more stories of everyday magic in issue 33 of Oh Comely, on sale 13 October. 

Celebrate World Post Day

Not-Another-Bill celebrating World Post Day

Today is World Post Day. As keen letter writers, we don't really need the excuse to put pent to paper, but we were interested to discover the history behind the day. The first World Post Day actually took place in the 1960s to mark the anniversary of the creation of the Universal Postal Union back in 1874. The Union was a way of getting different country's postal systems to work together. Today, with 192 member countries, it means that the stamp you put on the letter to your friend in Australia will be accepted and delivered once it arrives down under.

So let's get posting to celebrating this wonderful achievement! Should you need inspiration, we've got an entire issue of Oh Comely devoted to the joy of Letters.  Or we've got ten ideas for letters to write here. And we love this initiative from our friends at Not-Another-Bill. 

As a company whose aim to make letterboxes a more magical place they want to give everyone the chance to receive something good. 

To celebrate World Post Day, their pop-up post box will be appearing at various London locations (accompanied by helpful postmen) offering you the chance to send a free postcard. They'll be at The Other Art Fair at Truman Brewery today, 9 October, or you can send one from anywhere in the UK through their website. Check out their Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for more information and postal fun. 

Oh Comely issue 32 celebrates Letters. Order your copy (with free postage in the UK) here.

Issue 33 playlist: Dark Magic

Jinnwoo, featured on this issue's playlist, created this exclusive illustration for us. Read the story of how he sees his music before it's written in issue 33, out on 13 October 2016.

Sounds seem louder, more eerie, in the dark. The crackling footsteps against a dirt track, a rustle in the leaves. Lullabies. Creaking doors. But darkness brings out the stars too. Milky pools of moonlight filtered through a forest.

The songs chosen for this playlist have grown out of darkly magical places. Like watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer with your friends, hoping to get a glimpse of Spike. Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Voodoo Child’ hasn’t earned the epithet “supernatural brag song” for no reason, whereas the beautifully creepy ‘Willow’s Song’ from The Wickerman stirs images of cult-like disappearances, orgies and fire. ‘Silent Shout’ by electro duo The Knife is simply what darkness would sound like if it had a sound. Bassy and brooding.

So get your freak on with our issue 33 playlist and plug into Spotify here.

Recipe Friday: Savoury Cheesecake with Roasted Pickled Shallots

We've had a fair few healthy options lately for Recipe Friday and now that our polo necks and opaque black tights are back out of the wardrobe, it's time for something truly hearty, extra tasty and somehow warming whether you eat it hot or cold. 

Everyone loves cheesecake. But do you know what's even better? Cheese-y cheesecake. A really herby, cheddar-y, savoury version with an oatcake crust. Essentially, a cheese pie. You'll want those roasted pickled shallots, or a spicy chutney, to cut through the creaminess. It's also worth making this a few hours in advance as it will set and let the flavours develop nicely if you leave time to chill it after baking. This keeps for a good four days in the fridge if it isn't gobbled up in the first sitting. 

You will need:

200g fine-milled oatcakes, crushed up
125g butter, melted
350g cream cheese
150g double cream
2 eggs
100g cheddar cheese, cut into tiny squares
a handful of finely chopped chives
a sprinkling of thyme
a few pickled shallots
olive oil

1 Pre-heat your oven to 170 degrees C.

2 Give the oatcakes a good whack in a freezer bag with a rolling pin until they're finely crushed, pop them in a bowl and then pour over your melted butter. Give it a good stir.

3 Press the oatcake mixture into a small non-stick bread tin and shape it up the sides with a teaspoon. Chill for 30 minutes.

4 While that's chilling, make your filling. Whisk the cream cheese, double cream and eggs together until silky and add a third of your diced cheese and chives, a sprinkle of thyme and a good twist of salt and pepper.

5 Scatter your remaining cheese cubes on top and place in the oven for 40 minutes.

6 Take the savoury cheesecake out of the oven when it's still a bit wobbly in the middle, but browned on top.

7 Leave to cool. Once cool, chill in the fridge.

8 When you're ready to eat a slice, roast some pickled shallots in the oven first for around half an hour. Place them in a greaseproof tin with olive oil and remove when they've started to caramelise and go crisp at the edges.

9 Serve a generous slab of cheesecake hot or cold with the roasted shallots and a green salad with traffic-light tomatoes. 

Contribute to our 'Return' issue

Photo: Liz Seabrook

Winter - a time to re-read your favourite books, head home and review the year's hopes. Take stock of how far you've come and go back to bed. Dream deep before starting afresh. 

Issue 34 - out in December - will be themed on 'Return' and we're looking for your contributions. 

To be considered, email a 100-word outline of your idea to ohcomely@icebergpress.co.uk, along with two samples of your work by Monday 10 October. Please state 'Issue 34 contributions' in the subject header. 

Unfortunately we don't accept fiction or poetry samples. 

Look forward to hearing your ideas! 

Culture Monday

Duwa a and Shahd Sarshan, Forty Out of One Million, Syrian Collateral, Kai Wiedenhöfer, 2015. Part of Childhoods @ Side Gallery

And suddenly we're in October. We can hardly believe that we've been compiling these cultural tips for a couple of months now! Anything you'd like to see more or less of? Let us know. And we always love to hear your tips too. 

Art

Childhoods @ Side Gallery, Newcastle (until 27 November)

Ai Weiwei: Cubes and Trees @ Downing College Cambridge (until 9 October)

Frieze @ Regent's Park, London (6 to 9 October)

The Other Art Fair @ Truman Brewery, London (6 to 9 October) 

Music

Campfire Club @ London, E3 (7 October) 

Eastern Promise @ Platform, Glasgow (7 & 8 October) 

Film

London Film Festival @ various venues, London (5 to 16 October)

Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival @ various venues, Edinburgh (6 to 20 October) 

The Philadelphia Story @ Kinema & Kocktails, Cellar Door, London (9 October)

Backyard Cinema Lost World @ London, SE1 (until 22 October) 

Theatre and Comedy

Epic Sundays @ British Museum, London (9 October) 

Josie Long @ Soho Theatre, London (until 16 October) 

Books

London Literature Festival @ Southbank Centre, London (5 to 16 October) 

Daunt Books Autumn Festival @ Daunt Books, Marylebone, London (6 & 7 October)

Birmingham Literature Festival @ various venues, Birmingham (6 to 16 October) 

Explorer’s Sketchbooks @Stanfords, London (6 October) 

Events

Letters Live @ Freemasons Hall, London (4 to 8 October) (And for even more letters, don't forget to check out Oh Comely, issue 32)

Cookbook Confidential: How to Break Into the Restaurant Industry @ Foyles, Charing Cross Road (5 October) 

Crafty Fox Market @ Bussey Building, Peckham, London (8 and 9 October)

Norwich Does Vintage @ OPEN, Norwich (8 October) 

Show us where you've been and tell us what we should include in next week's round-up via our Twitter or Instagram.

Recipe Friday: Chickpea Dip

Colourful chickpea-based dips. Photos Andy Sewell

We're big fans of the book The Kitchen Shelf by Eve O'Sullivan and Rosie Reynolds (Phaidon), all about how to use the basics in your food cupboard to whip up a range of treats. 

Today we're sharing their ultra simple chickpea dip recipe - it's tasty by itself but also a great base for flavoursome additions. In issue 32 you can find out how to use it to stir up a trio of nibble accompaniments - beet and cumin dip; smokey red pepper dip; and pea and mint dip - or have fun inventing your own! 

Chickpea Dip

Serves 4

You'll need:

400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 clove garlic, crushed

4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to serve

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Put all the ingredients into a food processor and process until smooth, then check the seasoning.

2 Serve immediately, drizzled with extra oil, or cover and chill until ready to use. 

Order issue 32 to see more delicious recipes from The Kitchen Shelf, or pick up a copy of the book here.

Culture Monday

Natasha Khan photographed for Oh Comely issue 32 by Clare Hewitt 

What's happening this week? As usual, we're bringing you a selection of the best cultural offerings going on around the UK. Seen anything we really should know about? Then get in touch and let us know. 

Music

- By the Sea Festival @ Margate (30 September & 1 October), featuring Oh Comely issue 32 star, Natasha Khan, aka Bat For Lashes. 

- Pictish Trail @ Leith Theatre, Edinburgh (1 October) 

Art and exhibitions

- The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize (until 2 October) @ Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh

- Jukebox, Jewkbox! @ The Jewish Museum, London (until 16 October)

- Hand Craft Manchester @ Manchester Craft & Design Centre (until 30 October) 

Books

- Prize Winning Authors: Discover a Future Classic @ Waterstones Bath (26 September) and Liverpool (27 September) 

- Meet Maria Semple @ Waterstones Islington, London (28 September). Read our review of Maria’s Where’d You Go Bernadette? in issue 32

- Wales Book of the Year Showcase event @ Waterstones, Cardiff (29 September) 

- Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor @ The Institute of Light, Hackney, London (30 September) 

Film

- Raindance Film Festival @ London (until 2 October)

- The Girl With All The Gifts screening and Q&A with MR Carey @ Picturehouse Liverpool at Fact (30 September) 

Events

- Conflict Cafe @ Waterloo, London (29 to 2 October) 

- Riposte Presents Ways of Looking @ Patriot Square, London (30 September) 

- Aberdeen Minstry of Crafts @ Methodist Church, Crown Terrace, Aberdeen (2 October) 

- Sunday Papers Live @ Cambridge Union (2 October)

Show us where you've been and tell us what we should include in next week's round-up via our Twitter or Instagram.

Recipe Friday: Quinoa, Plum and Cardamom Frangipane Pudding

In our final instalment of delicious wholesome recipes from Alex Hely-Hutchinson of London's 26 Grains restaurant is this very autumnal dessert. Alex says, "I could tell when the summer holidays were coming to an end when my mum starting baking her buttery plum pie slices. She made little sponge pillows for the fruits – when baked, the sponge grows sweeter while the plums caramelise on top and become tart in the middle. This is my version of her pie. I adore the earthiness of the quinoa set against the plums and the maple syrup. I like to bake it in a rectangular tin so everyone can get a little half-plum square of their own."

Serves 12–15

You will need:

300g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for the tin
150g quinoa flakes
150g ground almonds
Seeds from 20 cardamom pods, ground in a mortar and pestle
1½ teaspoons sea salt
200ml maple syrup
Seeds from 1 vanilla pod
3 medium eggs, beaten
6 plums, halved and pitted
Crème fraîche, to serve (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Grease and line a small brownie tin, about 25 × 20cm.

Beat together the butter, quinoa, almonds, cardamom seeds, salt, maple syrup and vanilla until well combined. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until nicely incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and top with the plums, cut sides up, gently pushing them into the frangipane. Bake for 45–50 minutes, or until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Leave to cool completely in the tin, then cut into squares and serve with a good dollop of crème fraîche.

Alex Hely-Hutchinson's Quinoa Plum Pudding.

26 Grains by Alex Hely-Hutchinson is published by Square Peg at £20, out now.

Brighton Art Fair / MADE BRIGHTON 2016

Fancy some creative inspiration this weekend? Brighton Art Fair / MADE BRIGHTON is happening from Friday 23 to Sunday 25 September at Corn Exchange at the Dome, Church Street, Brighton.

Tutton and Young are hosting a joint art, craft and design fair, featuring fifty each of the best contemporary artists and designer/makers from the UK and abroad. Showing and selling their work directly to the public, they promise an inspiring balance between established and emerging artists and makers. 

Tickets are £7.50. Find out more and buy your tickets here. 

Gobbles Loves You

Photo: Andrea Allan, from Gobbles Loves You

Artist Andrea Allan introduces us to her photographic project, Gobbles Loves You, inspired by the written correspondence between two lovers. 

Tell us a little about yourself and your work.

I’m an artist working with photography, text, sound, installation and artists’ book. Through my work I like to explore the real and the imaginary, in an attempt to better understand the links between our past, present and future. Combining photography with the written word, I weave past narratives into the fabric of present places, casting old social and political understandings in a contemporary light.

And could you introduce us to Chambre and Margaret? 

Edward Chambre Hardman was a Liverpool portrait photographer who documented many of the city’s most prominent figures from 1930s through to the 1950s.  It was during the mid-twenties that he employed 17-year-old Margaret Mills as an assistant. After a few years she decided to train as a photographer in Scotland, thus leaving Hardman, and the point at which their letter writing began.  They had pet names for each other – Gobbles for Hardman and Pearl for Margaret.

How did you discover these letters? 

I was studying for my MA at Manchester School of Art at the time. One of the modules was to work with archives, specifically looking at Hardman’s legacy. The most natural place people started was with their house, which has been kept the same since they died. I wanted to delve a little bit more into their relationship, and to find out what type of people they were – what better way than personal letters.

Was there anything unexpected about these letters?

One of the first things that struck me about the letters, and why I spent so much time reading through them all, was the way in which they wrote to each other. Business was nearly always discussed, a shared passion, that they could discuss in detail. Then the narrative would switch entirely, sometimes mid sentence, to how they missed each other. These parts were always written in the third person, and they referred to each other by their pet names.

There were some pressed flowers between some of the pages; the pollen had stained the coarse paper yellow after all these years. Telegrams had also been kept, these more than anything show how technology can never replace the value of analogue. Text cut into strips, pasted onto starched white sheets, stamped with the telegram office details, draw entirely away from the intimacy that a letter can hold. Even pet names became confused – instead of Gobbles someone mistyped and put “Gopples”.

How did you select what line of each letter you’d reveal? 

I’ve worked as a document controller and thought that I would draw on my experiences of working with and organising copious amounts of information by imposing guidelines on the way that I photographed the letters. I decided to show only one line of text (although I broke this rule a few times), to only use the back of the envelope so that you couldn’t see the postage stamp for date or location. The text had to be either on the top, bottom or either side of the crease in the middle of the letter so that I didn’t damage the letters in anyway. In the end it turned out a lot of Margaret’s letters were in plastic dividers and could not be removed, making the narrative biased towards him. 

What was it like to read through correspondence originally intended for each other’s eyes only?

For most of the letters it was interesting to see how being a photographer has changed over the decades, and how some elements are very much the same. The only moments when I got embarrassed was when reading through lines like “he wants to whisper something into her ear...” and I won’t finish that sentence!

The tongue twister makes me laugh, and there’s a section where Hardman is off walking in Scotland with friends and complains that a woman in the group can’t manage the mountains, but he has no doubt that his Pearl would have been straight up without any fuss at all.

Are you a letter writer yourself? Did this project shift your ideas about them at all?

In my early 20s I used to write all the time, and then I’m ashamed to say, I seemed to lapse. After doing this project I started reading up on letter writing and came across a TED talk given by Hannah Brencher. Brencher wrote love letters and left them all over the city for strangers to find, eventually turning it into a global initiative ‘The World Needs More Love Letters’, which posts handwritten letters to those in need of human kindness. After creating these photographs and reading up about this initiative, I’ve felt the need to get to know people's handwriting again, to know that someone’s mused over what paper to use, to create that very personal, intimate connection, something technology will never be able to replicate.  

You can see more of Andrea's work on her website, and for more Letters written from the heart, pick up a copy of Oh Comely issue 32. 

Culture Monday

Installation image for 'You Say You Want a Revolution? Records and Rebels 1966-70', V&A Museum. Photo (c) Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Monday need hold no fear, as we've pulled together enough cultural tips to keep you going eight days a week (that's a reference to the new Beatles film - see below). There's a bit of a sixties feel to this week's tips but, thanks to events like the London Design Festival and Brighton Art Fair, plenty of contemporary inspiration too. Let's go! 

Art

- You Say You Want a Revolution? Records and Rebels 1966-1970 @ V&A Museum, London (until 26 February 2017)

- Es Devlin's Mirror Maze @ Copeland Park, Peckham, London (21 to 25 September)

- 1966 and all that: Graham Keen @ Lucy Bell Gallery, St Leonards on Sea (until 24 September)

- David Hockney @ Royal Academy, London (until 2 October 2016)

- International Print Biennale @ across North East England (until 30 October)

Music

- Dilly Dally, on tour @ Manchester, Cardiff, Bristol and London (19 to 22 September)

Film

- The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou @ The Nomad Cinema, Hyde Park Lido, London (21 September)

- The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years @ nationwide

Books

- Write on Kew literary festival @ Kew Gardens, London (22 to 25 September)

Theatre

- Tony's Last Tape  @ Everyman Theatre, Liverpool (22 to 24 September)

Events

- Burberry Makers House @ Manette Street, London (21 to 24 September)

- Neu! Reekie! Celts @ National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh (23 September) 

- London Design Festival, throughout London (until 25 September)

- Brighton Art Fair @ Brighton Dome (23 to 25 September)

Show us where you've been and tell us what we should include in next week's round-up via our Twitter or Instagram.

Sunday Reading: Min and Twinkle

words: Alys Key image: Liz Seabrook

It has been more than ten years since I last heard from the fairies.

I’m not sure whether I stopped writing to them, or whether they stopped responding. Things fall behind during childhood and the next thing you know they’re shut up in the attic, difficult to find and covered with dust. Somewhere in the eaves of our house there is a box which holds all of my letters from the fairies, but it’s been years since I last looked through them.

I was maybe seven or eight the first time I left a carefully-sealed note for them.

Dear Fairies, do any of you live in this garden? Please write to me if you do. I would like a fairy pen pal.

Anticipating their response was the innocent version of waiting for a text from a potential lover. Even after their first letter arrived, introducing themselves as two sisters called Min and Twinkle, my excitement was unabated, driven by the childish energy that makes little girls skip all the way home from school. Every day I went outside to see if my last note had gone, or if theirs had arrived. Sometimes I had to rescue our letters from the rain, and every now and then I would find a slug had taken a bite out of one. The garden became a wild enchanted habitat to me; the plants and insects were all part of Min and Twinkle’s world.

The letters themselves were so beautiful that I felt a compulsion to protect them, as though the paper itself was a living thing. They were written in small, elegant script on bright pink or purple paper, always smudged with fairy dust. I tried to make my responses look the same, using bright gel pens to do my best handwriting and fastening the letters inside little pink envelopes from Paperchase.

Over time, the part of the garden which served as our mailing point became known as ‘Fairy Corner’. We still call it that now, even though the fairy shelter my daddy made from spare wood has long disintegrated, and the Magnolia tree – planted so they could enjoy sitting in the soft flowers – is overshadowed by shrubbery.

I was the first of my friends to have fairy pen pals, but I was not the last. The back gardens of Winchester were, it seems, practically infested with them. The fact that it was particularly my friends making contact with magical beings was in no way strange to me. Girls who talked to fairies had a little bit more stardust in them than everyone else, I reasoned, and we would naturally all band together.

But it was through this community of fairy enthusiasts that I first sensed something amiss. The other letters I saw looked different to mine. Some had the same crisp whiteness as the printing paper we used at school. Once, a friend’s fairies gave her a picture of a woman bending down to look at a crowd of glowing lights dancing around her feet. “Here is a picture of us at one of our fairy dances!” they wrote. When I saw it, I recognised the image as a well-known painting; it was on the front a notebook I had been given the previous Christmas. I acknowledged, silently, that this letter was the work of my friend’s parents, and from that point the subsequent realisations followed.

Even now, at the age of 21, I have still never discussed the truth about the fairy letters with my parents. I know where they came from. But there is a difference, I think, between what we know and what we believe, and I can still believe in Min and Twinkle. At least, it is hard not to feel that something special belongs to that portion of the garden. When you visit a site for a religion you no longer subscribe to, there’s that scent of belief in the air, and the silent urge to pray. Magic works the same way.

Alys Key is a student and writer on a quest to spend her life writing and listening to Radio 4. Take a look at her website to read more of her work. 

Find more stories about letters in Oh Comely issue 32. 

Recipe Friday: Autumn Salad with Roasted Buckwheat, Walnuts and Labneh

In the second of our recipes from Alex Hely-Hutchinson of London's 26 Grains restaurant, we bring you a hearty autumn salad. That's also rather pretty. Alex says, " Autumn is my favourite season; I’m known for being endlessly distracted by the light, colours and the produce. In my little garden I can watch the pears on the tree grow plump and hot pink chard stems sprouting up. The air becomes just cool enough to hang the labneh on any outside door handle, to let it strain. You can let it drip into a bowl while you get started on pickling the beetroot and preparing the salad. Buckwheat adds a unique earthy crunch to the salad and lends a smokiness when it’s all combined."

Serves 4

For the labneh:

200g Greek-style yogurt
200g natural yogurt
Pinch of sea salt
For the beetroot pickle
1 beetroot, thinly sliced with a mandoline
1 golden beetroot, thinly sliced with a mandoline
60ml apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
Pinch of sea salt
¼ teaspoon dill seeds
¼ teaspoon yellow mustard seeds

For the salad:

100g buckwheat groats, soaked in water for 30 minutes
4 tablespoons olive oil
200g rainbow chard, stems removed, washed and torn
1 pear, cored and thinly sliced
1 cucumber, sliced into8cm sticks
Bunch of radishes, washed and halved
Juice of 1 lemon
½ garlic clove, crushed with a little sea salt
Sea salt and black pepper
30g walnuts, roughly chopped, to serve (optional)

Make the labneh first, either the night before or over the course of an afternoon. Combine the yogurts and salt in a bowl, then transfer to a sheet of muslin or a clean tea towel, pull up the sides, tie up the top with an elastic band or string and suspend over a bowl to let the liquids drain out for at least 6 hours, or overnight if possible.

Meanwhile place all the ingredients for the beetroot pickle in a bowl with 60ml/4 tablespoons of water. Leave to pickle in the fridge for several hours or overnight.

The following day, rinse the soaked buckwheat under running hot water for 2 minutes, then drain and pat dry with kitchen paper. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil to a frying pan and place over a medium-low heat. Add the buckwheat and toast for 2 minutes until golden, stirring continuously so it doesn’t burn.

Mix the rainbow chard, pear, cucumber, pickled beetroot, radishes, remaining olive oil, lemon juice and garlic together and season well with sea salt and pepper. Stir in half the toasted buckwheat.

Divide between 4 plates and top with a good dollop or so of labneh, a sprinkle of the remaining buckwheat and walnuts, if using.

Alex Hely-Hutchinson's Autumn Salad.

26 Grains by Alex Hely-Hutchinson is published by Square Peg at £20, out now.

The Oh Comely guide to pens

Photo: Liz Seabrook

From Berol fine liners to leaky cartridges, most of us paid little attention to the implements we were handed as we learned to write. In issue 32 we took a handwriting lesson to find out just how easy or difficult it was to change your handwriting – turns out your choice of pen makes a big difference.

Seeing as September will almost always be associated with going back to school, it may be worth taking note of our handy pen guide.

words: Aimee-lee Abraham

The rollerball

The best of both worlds, a rollerball combines the convenience of a ballpoint with the smooth ink flow of a fountain pen. The ink dries more slowly and is more prone to smudging, but if you’re diligent enough to keep the lid screwed on tightly it works a treat.

The fountain

Containing a reservoir of water-based ink that dispenses through a nib onto the page, the fountain pen we remember is scorned for its tendency to leak all over whatever ensemble we decided to put on that morning. Though it’s the stuff of playground nightmares, it’s a thoroughly grown-up investment; deeply personal, beautifully old-fashioned and with an air of importance all at once.

The ballpoint

The ballpoint rarely leaks, doesn’t smear and dries at record speed. Thanks to its oil-based ink, you can write easily in virtually any environment. However, there are few things that look more unprofessional than whipping out a cheap biro with a slobbery lid chewed beyond recognition.

Photo: Liz Seabrook

The wild card (as pictured)

Grossly impractical, completely unprofessional, totally endearing. Be it a garish Lady Liberty ignited in neon green each time you press down on the nib, a sugar-scented gel, or a fluffy quill that moonlights as a tickling device, novelty conquers all. 

For more pens and stationery goodness, take a look at Oh Comely issue 32.