Rediscovering old friends...

It is really strange, but ever since the beginning of this year I have mainly been reading magazines and newspapers. Whereas I have been known for always having my nose in a book ever since... oh, since time began really.
I got a bit at a loose end though for one reason or another, not really knowing what I fancied to read and there being stacks and stacks of magazines I had not been able to read yet etc. However, it never felt quite right.
I read all sorts of things really, biographies, books on gardening, photography, art, literary criticism, history, cook books, psychology, but never much in the way of fiction, other than detectives and ( not my proudest moment this) chick lit. And then the other day I came across a lovely blog Ragged roses. In quite a few posts Persephone books were mentioned, and that peaked my interest. They print books by more or less forgotten writers ( mainly women) from the first half of the 20th century. I always found that period one of the most interesting in art, music and literature, so ... I was hooked again.
I started with a quick browse through the hundreds of books I own and have not read yet, and it turns out I have lots of books about the Bloomsbury Group. So... I started straight away on On or about December 1910, by Peter Stansky. This discusses various reasons on why that is a key date in the forming of the Bloomsbury Group, I find it really fascinating.
However, that did not satisfy my need for fiction, so a trip to Amsterdam was in order...
But wait... there is more...
This one I actually picked up because I like the pretty colours, I adore the combination of pink and blue...

And I am afraid there is more to come which I ordered via the internet. Finding a moment to read them all is going to be tricky, but I am so excited now that I want to read them all at once! Do any of you have that "problem"?

Oh, and for any of you that were wondering about what happened to the poor tree in front of our house... this is the very sad last chapter of its life...
Have an exciting week ahead!

Not a mouse in sight...

Occasionnely I get slightly stir crazy, so I went to Amsterdam this morning. One of the reasons being that I wanted to buy a few books, but mainly because I love that city. There is always a part I have never seen before, and I like to revisit "old friends" as it were as well.

I love walking along the canals, they always breath an air of tranquility, even though we are well into tourist season now...
Most of the houses along the canals have beautiful gardens, this is the one behind the house of Marseille, which is a photographic museum...

My visit also included a place I had never been to before, it is in one of the beautiful canalhouses and is called " Het katten cabinet". This means it is a cat museum, it is a collections of all sorts of things depicting cats. These things were accumulated by an American who used to own the house and who used to have a cat called JP Morgan. Both he and the cat are dead, but the house is kept open to visitors and there are 4 new cats now. These are not perturbed by all the strangers who march through the house at all, and who want to stroke them all the time, in fact they seem rather bored by it all.
I will leave you with pictures of some of the art works displayed in the house, if ever you are in Amsterdam and you like cats, go there, you will definitely like it...
Enjoy a splendid weekend!

Pizza, Pizza...

These beauties are in our garden, they are particularly loved by my mother. They are bearded irises which are called Eleanore's pride, as her name is Eleanore, she feels they do her particularly proud.

The other day I got a phone call from a friend I had not seen for a while in the morning. She asked if I wanted to come over that night for pizza and a chat. I love spontaneous invitations like that, so naturally I agreed. She picked me up after work, and we got some cheese, crackers, wine, strawberries and deep-freeze pizzas ( which I never get personally, but they were ok) and went to her house. We had a lovely, relaxed and very gossipy evening.

Then the next day I was stuck for ideas what to cook, and as it was a lovely day in the end decided on a pizza of my own making, as that seemed a Southern European thing to eat in the nice, warm weather.
I felt lazy though as well and could not be bothered to faff around with making pizza dough. We have a very nice health food store nearby, so I went in there and bought two very nice (spelt) pizzas and to continue the lazy theme some tomato sauce (organic) as well.

First I drizzled a teaspoon of olive oil over each of the pizzas...
Then I mixed three tablespoons of the tomato sauce with three tablespoons of creme fraiche, some homemade Harissa paste and loads of chives ( they were around and I had to use them up)...
I spread that over the pizzas and topped them with quartered artichoke hearts, spinach I had cooked and tossed with garlic and a bit of olive oil, the best ham ever (a grilled ham our organic butcher makes) and buffalo mozzarella...
When they came out of the oven I sprinkled them with a Swiss hard cheese which is called Belper Knolle, that made a lovely change from the Parmesan cheese I would have otherwise used, and this is the end result...

With a glass of rose wine, that actually made a gorgeous meal. Sometimes the uninspired days can work out quite well.

Wishing you all some lovely meals this weekend!

Breaking news...

I was going to post a completely different story, but...as with all current events, something happened in between, and the other story will have to wait...
Not a particularly brilliant photo, but in the little plot in front of our house there is this brilliant lime tree, which is big, green and allround gorgeous.
Last night we had the freakiest thunderstorm EVER, I have never before witnessed anything like it. The weatherman had warned us that there was a lot of instability in the air and that the whole situation was very explosive, and for once he was not far wrong.
At around 4 o'clock this morning the sky started to come down I think. For at least half an hour there were continuous flashes and instead of thunderclaps we had one continuous roar. Really weird, I have never heard anything like that before.
And the rain... I am not sure how to describe it, but if you watch movies that were made in the forties, they have dramatic storms like that. You just know that it is done in the studio, but in reality it can look like that.
And then this morning, I woke up to this...
And a bit later, there was this...
Because that was the exciting bit, here gratuitously is another image of that... (there was miraculously no harm done to the car though)
Our back garden is actually ok, as is the front garden, but there is a bit of this...
And I guess if you lived here you would not be too happy, luckily it is a vacant property...
But our neighbour was not that lucky...These are some branches that came of a tree from a garden behind our houses.
This is a real shame, as this tree gave us such a lot of pleasure, I hope it will survive. For now our poor neighbour has a lot of clearing up to do, her garden was really lovely before all this.
I find it incredible that something like this can happen, but it only goes to show, you can never harness nature.

Have a terrific Tuesday all!

A bit of vanity...

There is nothing like a bit of sunshine to make you understand that you need some colour in your life!
Yesterday I went to the hairdressers in Utrecht, and as I was there I also payed a visit to a woolshop there. I wanted some Rowan books and yarn, but they did not have any of the ones I wanted unfortunately. They did have a lot of half price end of the batch stuff, I will defenitely go back for that as I can do something with some of the stuff. However... I was not quick thinking enough at that time, which means I ended up a bit out of sorts as I was in the spending mood, and did not find anything to spend money on...
So... I ended up buying clothes. I know, I should not have, but there are times a girl just can only put up so much resistance. For years now I have been walking around in black/white clothes, with the odd bit of red, and a splash of, oh well, grey... I was just so bored with it, although I kept seeing some gorgeous black and white things. But... the sun was out and I was going to be strong! So I ended up with the tops and the two scarves which I particularly love. The colours may not seem very adventurous to some of you I guess, but it is a whole new departure for me, and, most importantly, they make me smile!

Hopefully you will find some colour this weekend, have a lovely one!

I am pecan nuts...

As pecans do not grow in our climes, I always feel deprived. I really love them! My love of them is possibly only surpassed by my love of pancakes, which is why, when I came across this recipe, I simply had to make it.
Looks like I am not the only one who likes pecans, he seems to enjoy them too.
This is a recipe from one of my must trusted cookery books by Nigella Lawson. I really love the almost haphazard way in which she cooks, and to be fair, I would really love to look like her as well. Ah well, failing that, I can at least try to cook like her. I find that you really never can go far wrong with her recipes, they are fairly simple, but always work beautifully.

Pumpkin pancakes with sticky maple pecans

For the pancakes
2 eggs
375 ml buttermilk ( you can substitute this with milk, soured be vinegar or very runny yoghurt)
1x 400 gr tin of pumpkin puree
250 gr plain flour
3x 15ml tablespoons caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking bicarbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vegetable oil

For the sticky pecans
175 gr pecans
2 tablespoons maple syrup, plus more for pouring over pancakes

Whisk together the eggs and buttermilk until frothy, then add the pumpkin puree and whisk again.
Beat in the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt, whisking until you have a smooth batter. Or just pour everything into the blender together and liquidize.
Heat a heavy based frying pan or flat griddle, and pour in the oil. Wipe away any excess with kitchen paper, taking care not to burn your fingers, so that the pan is very lightly oiled. Anymore than that, and the pancakes will burn.
Using an espresso cup, pour small amounts of batter into the pan or onto the griddle, gently coaxing them into 7-8 cm diameter circles.
When bubbles form on top of the pancakes, flip thlem over.

This amount of batter actually makes loads of pancakes, but they are not very big. They are incredibly yummy though, and if you really think there are too many to eat in one sitting, you can easily freeze them. They will keep in the freezer for up to a month, if they last that long that is. We did freeze a lot of them, I am so looking forward to next Sunday!

We ate this "sauce" with them, which is the reason I wanted to make them in the first place.

Sticky maple pecans.

Toast the pecans in a large, hot frying pan.
When the pecan nuts are warm and smelling nutty, spoon the maple syrup over, stir to coat them, and keep sauteeing them in the pan until they are stickily, glossily coated.
Take the pan of the heat, and when you serve the pancakes, sprinkle a few pecans over them and pour over maple syrup.

So there you have it, my Sunday brunch treat. I did not get up to a whole lot this weekend. I pottered around in the garden for a bit and then made some more granny squares. I am now looking for some backing fabric for the yellow and white wonder to make it into a cushion. Even though the yarn is quite chunky, I do love the way it has turned out. I feel that this would make a very nice cushion for the chairs on a patio or in the garden. Unfortunately I have not been able to locate anymore of this yarn, so I had to change my original plan, but I have some nice other ideas now. This is the beauty about making things, you really have to use your creativity and be resourceful sometimes.
The books are by Alexander McCall Smith, and I bought them because I adored the BBC series they showed a couple of weeks ago, based on his books about the ladies no.1 detective agency. I thought the series was very atmospheric and really rather sweet. I like the books as well, they are quite philosophical.
The other thing I did this weekend was watch the programmes on the Chelsea Flower show. I watch this every year and think it is great, I really have to go some year. The garden that makes me really giggle this year is James May's plasticine garden. Only he could come up with a whacky idea like that...
Now I know, it is nothing like a real garden, but it is actually very cleverly made by a mix of all sorts of people, including school children and professionals. Somehow that really appeals to me. I think it is highly original to not just think of it, but actually execute the idea as well and have the guts to enter Chelsea Flower show with it.
It really made my day when I heard that the RHS had awarded him a plasticine gold medal. especially made for the occasion.

Enjoy your garden and the sun this evening!

Really quickly, because I am obsessed...

I can not believe I have never made these before. Probably because I have never done much crochet ever. I started making a couple yesterday and just do not seem able to stop now.
Do you know that feeling, when you are getting loads of energy and are jumping up and down inside, because you have just so much inspiration? That is me at the moment.
The yellow ones I did with a cotton yarn I could buy somewhere cheaply ages ago. I did not buy a lot, as I did not know what it would be like to work with, it turns out to be brilliant. So, I went out this afternoon to get some more, but of course the shop did not have anymore. Tomorrow I will be out and about to see if I can find some more anywhere. I am off now to make a few more squares. Is there a programme for crochet addicts?

By the way, I did not get the job in the end for which was interviewed last week. They felt I was too nervous. Ah well, thinking of becoming a postman now, well... over summer at least. I will need a black and white cat though.

Have a great weekend!

Summer storms...

The last couple of days we had such incredibly strong winds, the poor trees in the garden behind us are loosing a lot of leaves, it seems like autumn. It has been sunny though and out of the wind not at all bad temperature wise.
The flowers in our garden seem to cling on for dear life, but they are doing well.
These poppies are, even though they come out yellow in the photograph, bright orange and really cheery.
I love these pelargoniums, we have several different ones in the garden, there is a pretty blue one as well, but at the moment that only has got one flower.

This morning we went to a nursery not too far from here. I like nurseries, they are always full of new and exciting things. This one has spectacular shrubs and trees, and loads of different perennuals. Nowhere to have a coffee though, which is a pity as that really seems to be missing. Anyway, we just wanted to have a look around and where not going to buy a lot...
So much for that then, I spent the rest of the afternoon potting everything up in this...
I love this, it really appeals to my sense of the slightly surreal. It is a compressed potting compost, made from coconut shells. This makes it sustainable, I am really not in favour of peat. Anyway, this is sold in tiny packages, you just unfold the bag, pour 3 litres of water onto the "cake" and hey presto... 10 litres of potting compost is yours to play with. It is completely magic, no more lugging heavy bags...
So, after a very pleasant afternoons work, this is what it looks like. We are now the proud owners of 8 varieties of mint (nothing beats a good cup of mint tea) and still counting.
The blue pots were painted by my mother, she is clever like that. I planted the blue phloxes in them which are incredibly pretty and have a lovely scent too.
You can not see them very well in this picture, but here are two different phloxes, one is a pretty pink and white striped variety, called candy stripe, and the other one has very lovely white flowers.
I have still have not heard anything about the job interview I did last Wednesday, and am slightly worried now. I guess this means that I did not get it, I will phone the agency tomorrow morning to find out what is going on.

Have a gorgeous evening all!

Strawberry fields for ever...

I have just been watching Gardener's World from the Malvern Flower show. I love these shows, they are just so inspirational, it is a shame we do not have anything like it in this country. It was really windy there, everything was just blowing about, it is much the same here at the moment, it feels decidedly autumnal. The weather has been funny this week, it feels like this year will be the same as the last two years, where summer happened over April and that was it. Ah well, it can not be helped and it all has its charm.
I have had a nice couple of days really. Wednesday morning after the job interview I decided to go on to Utrecht on the bus as I was already halfway there. Now that did actually take a long time, which is a drawback about travelling on the buses. You see a lot of places though that you would normally never see and it is actually quite a pretty drive, so I did enjoy it. I had been planning to take the train to Rotterdam from Utrecht as there is an exhibition of Robert Frank's photographs there, but as it was already later than I wanted it to be, I decided to go to Amsterdam instead, which is nearer, and anyway, I could probably just make that train...or not. The next one came along 15 minutes later, so that was not too long a wait. It was quite crowded, so I had to share a bench with someone. I was looking at a few ladies thinking how much they reminded me of my best friend as I was sitting down. I looked at someone else, and slowly it dawned on me that I was looking at my best friend. She had to work in Amsterdam that day, so that was a real surprise. As she only had to work till 2, we met up afterwards, then had a nice lunch in the park and walked to the Jewish museum to watch an exhibition about Morocco.
This was a real eye opener, it was an exhibition by two different photographers, one ( a Jewish Moroccan) who took pictures in the 1950's and a Dutch photographer who took pictures in the last few years. It was fascinating, particularly the story behind it all, as for several centuries Jews and Moroccans had been living peacefully together, helping each other out in very many different ways. This peaceful co-existence only became disturbed under the influence of Europeans. This does make me wonder sometimes. Anyhow, this is not a show I would have gone to, but she wanted to and I am glad I did go too. This only goes to show how valuable friends and friendships are.
Yesterday I met up with a former colleague, she is Australian and moved back home 3 years ago. She was over here for two weeks and we had a quick coffee and catch up. She had a son last year and it was about time I met him. I managed to knit him a cute sailor's jumper and a very colourful dog, which he loved. Unfortunately I did not take my camera, so no pictures...you have to take my word for it that he is the cutest thing...

The other day I was reading something about strawberry lemonade. Now as soon as I see the word strawberry I start drooling. I really think they are the best things on earth, although I will tell you this about raspberries and blueberries and cherries as well...OK. I am a bit fickle, but it is fun. I will eat strawberries morning, noon and night given half the chance, but I had never before heard about strawberry lemonade. I had to make it. I hunted round a bit for a recipe, and soon figured out that it had to be something North American. Sure enough, Martha Stewart (again) came up with the answer.

Strawberry lemonade (serves 2)

1 pint strawberries
8 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons superfine sugar
8 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Seltzer water

Puree strawberries and 2 teaspoons of sugar in a blender. Set out two glasses and spoon out 3 tablespoons of the resulting strawberry puree, 4 tablespoons of sugar, 4 tablespoons of lemon juice in each one. Stir the lemonade and add ice. Top up the glasses with Seltzer water.

Really the easiest thing ever. I cheated a bit though, as my blender would not puree the straw berries as there was no liquid in the beaker. That could mean that I have an inferior blender, or that I put too many strawberries (there is no such thing...) in there, as I have no real clue as to how much a pint of strawberries is. I was too lazy to look it up, so I used 500 grams which I took it to mean. I also just added the 2 teaspoons of sugar, as I thought that was all it needed, but that could just be me... However, I really loved it.

As I was feeling a bit blah today I decided to do some baking as well, and this is the result. Now these I like tremendously!

Rhubarb/ Strawberry Crumb bars

For the Streusel:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus room temperature butter for the pan
1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus extra for the pan
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
For the cake:
1/2 pound rhubarb (cut into 1/2 inch pieces) and strawberries (quartered)
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line with parchment paper, leaving a 2 inch overhang on 2 sides. Butter and flour parchment, tapping out excess flour.
2 Make streusel: Whisk toghther butter, brown sugar and salt. Add flour and mix with a fork until large crumbs form. Refrigerate until ready to use.
3 Make cakeL In a medium bowl, combine the fruit (rhubarb and strawberries), brown sugar and a 1/4 cup of the flour. In another medium bowl whisk 3/4 cup of flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and confectioner's sugar until light and fluffy, beat in eggs, one at a time. With mixer on low, beat in vanilla, then flour mixture. Spread batter in prepared pan. Sprinkle with the fruit and top with the streusel.
4 Bake cake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out with moist crumbs attached, 45-50 minutes. Let cool completely in pan. Using paper overhang lift cake from the pan. Cut into 16 bars,

Tomorrow I am meeting another former colleague and we are taking a road trip to the eastern part of this country. I am really looking forward to this as I have not seen her for a while and I really love that part of our country.

Enjoy a sunny weekend!

Every time it rains, it rains...

It made me giggle as I read a few posts of fellow bloggers today... it seems that at the moment it is raining everywhere all over the world. Made me wonder whether there is just one template for the weather each day where ever you live... not true of course, but it did make me think. I know we need rain, it makes this country a very green and pleasant one, and we certainly needed some now, but somehow at this time of the year the sun seems so much more pleasant. So I thought I would give you some nice sunny pictures.
I know I am way too late, but I was reading a post on Chocolate and marmalade tea about an award Michelle received: Attitude of gratitude. She asked everyone to think about their attitude of gratitude.
This is why I enjoy blogging and reading blogs a lot, it inspires you and makes you see how other people live, what is important to them and ultimately that leads to a better understanding ( I think) of people all over the world.
I am very grateful for the fact that I have a roof over my head, which in these uncertain times is not always a given. I am glad I was born in a part of the world where there is no war, and violent incidents are few and far between. I am very grateful for my family, they have allowed me to become who I am. I am thankful for the fact that my parents brought me up with a make do and mend attitude. This fuelled and still fuels my creativity on all levels and makes the current crisis not as daunting as it seemingly is to a lot of people all around me.

I am very grateful for the fact that I have ( both by nature and nurture) a very positive attitude to live. As one of my colleagues in Britain once said to me " Weebles wobble, but they do not fall over". ( not entirely sure that she was not referring to my shape, but hey...) Somehow I made that my motto in live and always bounce back smiling.

Last but not least I am grateful for my friends, as they stimulate and inspire me. I count my blogging friends as well, through them I encounter new aspects of life, new interests and new things. This way you all keep me on my toes and I love you for it.

Enjoy a lovely cup of coffee this evening in the sun!