It's the queen's birthday...

Well the former queen's that is, as the current Queen's birthday is January 31. But that is not a very good day to have outdoor festivities. So, as a tribute to her mother, Queen Beatrix has kept her birthday always as the official Queen's day.
Therefore, the flags are out...
And these are flowering in the garden, they always flower, very appropriately on April 30, even though this year they have only just started...
Now these do not grow in the garden, but they are still much appreciated...
I found them here. On this day the ladies in the shop always were their special shirts, one side is the Dutch flag and the other side is orange, somehow it makes the day feel extra festive...
And, we had a festive breakfast in the garden...
Meet my mother...

Have a glorious day all!

Food, food, glorious food and a slight panic...

Of my own making, but more about that later.
As ever, I was not able to resist the call of a few magazines, and really I buy all sorts and love them all equally, but maybe food magazines are the ones I love most.
In my more lucid moments I wonder why I need them, as there is only so much food a person can eat in a lifetime. I do find them often immensely inspirational, and these two are particular good issues, they are full of spring cooking and I find myself drooling at every page.
I try to eat as many different things as I possibly can and will make a recipe never really more than twice, but sometimes I find myself returning to old friends. About 10 years ago I made Melanzane Parmigiana, I think out of a Swiss cookery magazine and I loved it sooooo much. Unfortunately I never found the recipe again, but lo and behold, there was a recipe in this month's Olive. So, what was a girl to do. I made it last night and found it every bit as gorgeous as my memory. Sometimes you build these things up in your head and it is a let down in the end, but this certainly was not.
So if you like eggplant, try this recipe. We had just a green salad with some black olives with it, but you could have some pasta too and I suppose a nice piece of chicken.

Melanzana Parmigiana

Olive oil
Garlic, 2 cloves, thinly sliced
Chopped tomatoes, 2x 400 gram tins
Cinnamon, 1 stick
Basil, 1 small bunch, shredded
Aubergines (Eggplants), 3 medium
Mozzarella, 2 balls
Parmesan, a handful of grated

Heat the oven to 180 C ( I think that is around 400)/ gasmark 4
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan, add the garlic and sizzle gently for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cinnamon stick and simmer for 15 minutes until thickened. Stir in the basil and season.

Slice the aubergines (eggplants) lengthwise about 1/2 cm thick. Brush both sides with oil, season and griddle, turning them a few times until completely tender. You could also do this in a non-stick frying pan. It is important to get the aubergine (eggplant) as tender as possible, so give it time.

Remove the cinnamon stick and put a few spoonfuls of the tomato sauce in the bottom of an ovenproof dish. Cover with the aubergine and mozzarella ( I used Buffalo mozzarella, as I feel that has more flavour) and repeat, ending with a thin layer of sauce (it will be roughly 3-4 layers). Sprinkle with the parmesan and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until bubbling and golden.

So really, it is a very simple dish, but completely gorgeous!

And now for my panic. This morning I got a message from an Australian girl who I used to work with. Three years ago she moved back to Australia, and we have more or less stayed in touch, when life did not get in the way. Last summer she had a little son, anyway, she is in Holland for 2 weeks and we have arranged to meet for a coffee next week. So far, so good. I am excited to see her and her son, and want to make him a little present. Now, by coincidence there was a whole article in the paper I read this morning with photos of about 9 babies and the gifts they were given at birth. In itself quite lovely, but what shocked me was that of the at least 1000 gifts in total, there were only around 3 handmade ones. To me that seemed a real shame and I decided there and then that whenever I was going to give a baby gift, it would always be handmade. So there, sometimes you make rash decisions. I have no idea what I will make yet, and I have only a few days to do it in. Tomorrow I will be running out to get some yarn... it will have to be knitted, as that is quickest.
There you have it...my panic in a nut shell. It will be alright in the end though, I might even show you the picture.

Sleep well all!

Loads of lovely tulips and an award...

A few years ago I had this real urge to go to the Keukenhof, I had been there as a child, but never since. I do not know why I so much wanted to go, as a negative voice in my head just kept saying that all it is is a tourist trap, but I could not get it out of my head.
Then three years ago I did finally manage to get there, and was blown away. Do you know moments in life that you just feel so elated and at peace that you simply do not know what to do with yourself? I had one there at that moment, I remember calling a friend and just gushing about it, he could not really understand what all the excitement was about, but there you go. It simply is such a beautiful park!
Anyway, since then it has become a tradition that my mother and I go there every year, it is always different. Last year we went there with my mother's friend from Little Rock, Arkansas, who came to visit us for two weeks. And this year I actually managed to go twice... Once on my own, a couple of weeks ago, as I never had been that early in the year, and last Friday, with my mother and one of her neighbours. It is one of these places that gets very crowded, in fact I have never seen it as busy as on Friday, but somehow you never feel it is crowded. Everyone is enjoying their day and really stunned by the displays. It truly is one of my favourite places in the country.

There are always loads of sculptures dotted throughout the park, they are different ones every year, and they are on sale. If I could have afforded it, I would have bought this one I think, as there is a robin on top.

I was simply blown away by this colour combination, isn't it stunning?

A fun picture, reflected in the window from left to right you can see my mother, the neighbour and me...

Some impressions of the park.

Before I go... I am thrilled to have received this sweet award.
It was given to me by Michelle from Chocolate and Marmalade tea. Please go over and have a look at her blog. She has such a zest for life and is just such a lovely, inspirational and positive person. Plus, she is possibly even more addicted to magazines than I am! ( it is a close call though!)
I am really touched by the fact that she nominated me, so, thanks Michelle.

These are the rules to go with the award:
1 The winner may put the logo on their blog
2 Put a link to the person who sent you the award
3 Nominate 10 blogs
4 Put links to their blogs
5 Leave a comment for each nominee

As I am still relatively new to the blogging world and not terribly good at networking I felt at first I did not know 10 people who I could nominate. But then... there are so many blogs I love to read and that give me such a lot of pleasure and inspiration that I just had to mention a few of them. Some of these bloggers do not accept awards, but I like them so much that I still will award them, because I think other people will enjoy them too. For me this is also a great way of getting to know blogs you have not looked at before. So here they are:
1 The vintage sage
2 Kareltje en ikke
3 The thriftshop romantic
4 Nostalgia at the stone house
5 Country in the town
6 Cowboys and Custard
7 Vintage to Victorian
8 Molly Cupcakes
9 Celebrate the seasons
10 The farm chicks

In the meantime, the sun has come through again, have a gorgeous relaxed evening all!

Ever so slightly frustrated...

It has always been like this, and I guess probably always will be, I have so many more ideas than I have time... Apart from the fact that the ability to focus has never been one of my noticable character traits. I have finished stitching the spring garlands, I will soon make them up. A while ago I started this teatowel, and there are loads of other things that I am working on at the moment, but none of them ready to have their picture taken yet. I have started a few things as well that are quicker to finish, as I love doing cross stitch, but it takes a long time and needs a lot of patience.
I keep getting distracted by loads of things, not in the least by the garden and the gorgeous weather.
This little apple tree was a gift from work last year, it did not flower then, and this year has produced these blossoms, so it is getting better and better...
And look at the buds on the wisteria, I am terrible excited about these, it will be sooooo pretty once they are in full bloom...
Have a gorgeously sunny evening everyone.

Oooh, I have won...

Sometimes I truly am a lucky girl... today I have won one of these journals courtesy of Jenn at the thriftshop romantic. If you do not know her blog, go over and have a look, it really is great! Thank you Jenn for my chance to win this.

Yesterday was another one of these marvelous spring days, where it is sunny and warm without being hot. A leisurely brunch was in order to make it perfect, so we made it pancake day! I found the perfect recipe in my Betty Crocker Christmas book. It incorporates some sugar and vanilla in the batter, which makes them smell wonderful while they are cooking. The taste is great as well. Because I can never choose between blueberries and cranberries, we made both sauces. The blueberry one was very easy, just bubble up some blueberries with maple syrup. To the cranberries sauce we added fresh ginger, which was great. This might sound slightly eccentric, but it actually worked really well. The cranberries also worked surprisingly well with the pancakes.

Have a lovely, sunny week everyone! ( I am told that this weather is going to last till at least Saturday here, yeah!!!)

I love spring cooking...

There is nothing as evocative as a trip to the greengrocer's at this time of the year. All the produce looks so fresh and cheerful and full of promise. Maybe it is just the fact that after winter it is just so lovely to see the new things in the store again, there is the bright red of the redishes, the gorgeous fresh orange of the carrots, all the different shades of green of the spring greens, the beans, the peas ...
I get very greedy at this time of the year, and always think that this is my favourite, than it gets to automn and I think exactly the same, I can not really choose between the two of them.
But as I was watering the pots in the herb garden there were al these fantastic scents around me, it really felt a bit like early summer, and I was perfectly content.
Last night I had a ball with some of the fresh produce I bought earlier. I got myself some shell peas, and even though I now that it is just as good to buy frozen ones there is something satisfying about shelling peas. I really love the look of them, particularly the inside of the pods.
I cooked the peas for a short while and combined them with radishes, some spring onions and loads of fresh mint, I simply can not resist the smell of that. I made a very simple dressing of olive oil, a bit of lemon juice and pepper and salt to go over it. Nothing too overpowering to allow all the fresh flavours to come out. Live does not get easier than that!
With that I had some flatbread with spring onions, leek, minced lamb and feta cheese, and again loads of mint, it was rather delicious.
All is helped along I guess by the fact that it is possible to eat out in the garden at the moment, there is nothing as wonderful as a bit of al fresco dining.

What do you think of my "herb garden"? It is the smell of the mint that really inspires me.

A truly magical place to eat...

Have a wonderfully sunny Sunday all.

I do not like doing the laundry...

Can anyone tell me if doing the ironing counts as a full body work-out? I certainly was working up a sweat... but that could easily be a psychological effect, as that is a chore I really do not like. However, I saw a wonderful recipe for lavender ironing water on ( the wonderful) Michelle's blog, The Vintage sage. Check that one out, there really is some fun stuff on there. I, for one, am certainly going to make that, as I love the scent of lavender, it always makes me think of summer.
Talking about summer, it almost felt like it yesterday, I spent a lot of the time in the garden. There is a lot of tidying today, as well as a lot of demossing the pavement, a boring job, but somehow strangely satisfying, as the whole place looks so much better after that.

The Morello cherry and the Saskatoon berry are really putting their best feet forward this year.
And what about my little friend? He is not at all shy, just very hungry...

Productive weekend...

Last weekend my mother took down a completely rampant wild Clematis down from the wall. It was rather lovely when it bloomed, with small pink flowers, but truly wild and getting way to big for its boots. Anyway, it is sprouting from the roots again, so it did not suffer too much after all.
But...that left me with loads of lovely material, and we have spent the weekend weaving wreaths, with no twine needed. I have lots of lovely ideas for these, so I am sure they will in some way or other feature in this blog again. I love doing things like this, to me it is relaxing and oddly therapeutic in some way.

Here is one we made earlier, at least 8 years ago, those are sheep by the way, for those of you who were wondering.

My other indulgence this weekend was a Cadbury's Creme egg. In a convoluted way it is a good thing I am not living in Britain anymore. I adore these and could eat loads! Here they are really hard to come by, I have to go to Amsterdam or The Hague to get hold of one, and they are expensive. This means that I only get one, which makes them much more of a treat though.Have a great week!

Happy Easter!

Hope that you are all enjoying a nice and relaxing family day and will not eat too much chocolate. Though I am not making a lot of promises on that account...

Here are pictures of some of our indoor and outdoor decorations we have done.
The basket with the hyacinths has a funny story to tell. Originally I put in some decorated blown eggs my brother and I did when we were children, many moons ago. Unfortunately a couple of magpies took offence at those and stole most of them. Something my mother regrets a lot. Anyway, I have replaced them with some broken egg shells, a bit more boring, but so far they have left the basket alone.

We had a freak thunderstorm last night, but the weather now seems to perk up a bit. By the way, these must be amongst my favourite flowers in the world.

And like with Christmas, there is always eating involved with Easter as well. The table cloth, though nothing special in itself has a lot of sentimental value. We now only use it at Easter for its yellowness (if there is such a word), but it is the table cloth my grandfather always put on the table when we came for lunch. So to us it is very special, days like this need some family stories as well I always feel.
Now I am going to enjoy my brunch...again, these plates only come out to play at Easter, I think they are very pretty.

Enjoy a nice family day!

Stella has got her grove back...

Well alright, strictly speaking my name is not Stella, but it does feel a bit like that. I never quite know whether it has to do with the winter blues, or whether at times I just get miserable, but it feels like whenever the weather perks up, I do too. I am suddenly full of brim and vigour, and defenitely full of the joys of spring.
I feel like I really want to do things again and that I am actually really enjoying them. Other than just going through the motions...

Anyway, enough of that, I realise that it has been a long time since my last post, but apparently I needed that time, from now on I will at least try and post more regularly. I love reading other people's post and find them very often inspiring, which has prompted me to become part of this community in the first place. One thing I particularly want to mention is that I received an award from Anya at Kareltje en ikke. I really was quite touched by that, as it felt particularly welcoming. After having given it some thought I decided not to post it here though, for the simple reason that you are meant to send the award on to ten more people. Not that I do not want to do that, but I feel that I am so new to this that I simply do not know enough people yet. However... I want to thank Anya for her kind gesture, and urge you all to go and visit her blog, you will like it, particularly if you love cats as much as she does.

The other week I went to two of the most inspiring art shows I have been to for a long time. One was about Man Ray, not just is photography, but his whole output as an artist as it were, the other one was about artist couples, they were both lovely. I felt really energized when I came out of the exhibitions, which is always a sure sign that it has been good I have been in.
A couple of days ago I went to the Keukenhof, because I have never been this early in the year. It is always lovely to go, but completely different if you go this early.
The main colour scheme now is yellow and white.
However, some different colours are starting to seep through.
And look at these beauties...
And again, the art pieces seem to be particularly inspired this year...
Have a lovely Easter weekend.