Whatever amuses me

La rentree...

2010-09-25T06:03:00.000-07:00

This is the time of year I really love most of all. I do not (yet) mind the grey, stormy days, I find them exciting. I love the colours of the leaves, the smells, the acorns, the different sort of fungi that sprout up everywhere, the chestnuts, the autumn festivals and the general feeling of tranquility in the air.
This sense of contentment lasts till just after Christmas, I then start to feel depressed by the endless greyness of the skies, the everlasting rain, the darkness of it all... But as yet, I am nowhere near that stage. I always feel the same sort of excitement at this time as at the beginning of the school year, which the French so charmingly have named la rentree...
I was a weird child probably, but I used to love the first few weeks at school after the summer holidays. There were such countless possibilities of hundreds of new things to learn and do, the smell of new pencils and notebooks, the wonder at new subjects... So in that spirit ( and definitely inspired by the great British bake off) I decided to give bread baking a go. I never before did any of it, was always happy to leave that to my dad. And even he chickened out most of the time, and would bake Irish soda bread, however lovely that was none the less.
I did buy a book with lovely bread recipes 5 or 6 years ago and decided to dig it out. As I also found somewhere else a good recipe for toasted teacakes ( which you can not get in this country for love nor money), I had my first go last weekend.
This is my attempt at rye bread. I have always loved the idea of a Rueben sandwich or pastrami on rye, but that particular kind of bread is not to found in the shops here. So finding this recipe was a huge bonus for me. I find it a real wonder that from something looking like this...
After some pummeling and kneading gets to this, I loved the sheen on the dough, which unfortunately does not show in the photograph...
And after some proofing turns into a monster...
I forgot to take a picture of the end result, which tasted quite good, but would not have stood up to any close scrutiny. It looked a bit tight, and I am not sure what caused that, obviously I need to practise a lot more and read a bit more about baking bread.
As I had promised a friend to get her a recipe for Sacher Torte, I had to make a few first to see what the best recipe was. I like baking, which is funny as I am quite slapdash, and if there is one area in cooking where you should not be that, it is baking. Anyway, this is quite a fiddly recipe and I did not quite master the icing. It looks a bit rough and ready, but it did taste quite good.
Now I am off to find a few nostalgic recipes for a children's party, I guess I will find a few in here...

Have a gorgeous weekend, even if it is raining!

How to teach myself...

2010-08-16T12:34:00.001-07:00

Living in a small country, there is something you learn very early in life... there is a lot of foreign soil out there. Where people do things differently, talk differently and all together are different. This either makes you extremely curious about everything, some would say obsessively so, or it makes you just very anxious about everything and everybody that is slightly different from you and yours.
I definitely am a fully paid up member of the first (tribe, I was almost going to say) kind of person. It makes me very happy that I can read, speak and understand Dutch, German and Englisch equally well, to me all three are interchangeable. However, my knowledge of French is lacking far behind. I did quite well in school with it, then abandoned it altogether, on account of the fact that I did not understand the French and therefore that I was never going to France anyway for exactly that reason ( I am the queen of warped logic)... But then for no apparent reason, everything changed late last year.
I had been thinking that I really wanted to go to Paris for a few years, and last November I finally was brave enough to do so... and I fell hard for it. But, I also discovered that my rusty school girl French was really not taking me anywhere. It is the odd word I understand, and I usually can get the gist of what is being said, but I am not able to hold my own in a conversation.
So, being me, that frustrated me no end. I felt I had to do something about it.
I discovered the Petit Nicolas books in Paris, then through some other means discovered that I really love Sempe's drawings, so there was an easy choice. Also that they are children's books made me think that they would be good to start out with. I also got an audiobook with Petit Nicolas stories, to help me get a feel for the rythm of the language. To learn something about the French in general, their culture, way of thinking etc... I got myself a few newspapers, because they are brilliant for that. And just because I am addicted I got myself a few glossy magazines as well.
And there you have it, my self-styled teaching method ( should I patent it?) I really enjoy learning this way. And who knows, one day I could be fluent in French...
A little follow up on my sunflowers. They started to droop a bit, and even though I managed to revive them a couple of times, by the weekend they started to get a bit tired. So... I removed them from their stems alltoghether and put them on this blue plate, as I really like the colour combination. This way, I get a bit more wear out of them and they can cheer me up a bit longer.

Have a great, sunny week!

Somebody cure me...

2010-08-07T06:28:00.000-07:00

Off my E-bay habit! With the invention of Paypal, or rather my discovery of it, things went downhill fast... I just love browsing E-bay, and started treating it as my personal fleamarket. I can spend hours browsing and unfortunately will always find something that I really, really, really need...
These are a few of my most recent finds. I got really into Alfred Meakin stuff, and as that is something you do not find a lot of here in this country, E-bay came to the rescue. I adored this plate and had to have it, unfortunately it arrived broken, so now I am trawling the net to have another go...
I so loved the doggy teapot too, it really spells a certain era to me...
Carlton ware and what I call Torquay ware is another thing you will not really see here, so I got myself a few bits and pieces...
There is some more Alfred Meakin (the Montmartre pattern, for obvious reasons), a couple of lovely Susie Cooper platters, a Quimper pin dish, and, and, and...
Are you the victim of certain addictions, obsessions or whatever you want to call it? Please tell me I am not the only person who gets this stuck on things.
I have to apologise for the quality of the photos these last few posts, my poor little camera seems to be getting very tired these days. One day it will completely zonk out on me, I am afraid. So I am desperately looking for another one... Maybe there is one on E-bay?
Leaving you with a picture that I think Matisse would love to paint...
Minus all the dross of course, but there is no escaping books etc in my house.
Off now to my domestic goddess part, baking a lovely blueberry cake and making some ice cream ( my newest obsession). Oh, and to do some knitting of course, need to finish the cardi this weekend!
Enjoy a lovely summer weekend!

It is all yellow these days...

2010-08-05T09:28:00.000-07:00

Which is funny, as I never used to like the colour before, suddenly I have developed a " penchant" for it ( oh yes, my French is coming on in leaps and bounds!).
Hello to my lovely bloggy friends, I know, it has been months and months since you heard from me, but indeed, I am still alive and kicking. I am not going to apologise for not being around for so long. There was nothing the matter with me, it simply was a combination of too much working and not being very inspired. It should all get a bit better in this respect, I might get to bore you from time to time again! I am looking forward to catching up with all of your blogs and leaving the odd comment again! Diane, thank you for your comment on my last post, as ever it made me giggle... I wish is all I can say...
This morning I woke up to these lovelies, aren't they just the ticket? I love their colours, they really exude summer to me.
As I opened my eyes even further I noticed how this scarf actually echoes the colours of the flowers. I loved that, it is actually the background of a self portrait by Paul Gauguin. Which is not half as cheery as the background suggests. A couple of months ago I went to a show of paintings by him in the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. I really love paintings from that period.
Almost a year ago I knitted myself a pea green cardigan. The first thing I knitted again after about 25 years of a knitting free period. I was pretty proud of it, but nobody seemed to notice. Then suddenly as I started to wear it again early summer people started to comment on it. This even resulted in my first commision ever! I am so pleased with that and am really buoyed up now to get a few more. I really love this colour too, and if it were not for the fact that it is discontinued now, I would knit myself something in it too.
Is it just me, or has the light changed again. Suddenly there is such an early autumnal quality to the light again. It catches me by surprise every year right after this:
which spells truly high summer to me. I am glued to the tele every year for this. This year probably more than ever because of my sudden obsession with everything French. Ah well, we all have our little foibles...
Now off to read all your blogs, have a fabulous evening all!

Branching out...

2010-02-28T09:19:00.000-08:00

I love trees in all seasons and in all settings, I love their lushness in summer, and the fragile beauty of the new leaves in Spring. I adore the autumn colours, and the sheer whimsy of Christmas trees. But when I maybe love them most of all is in winter, without any adornements, in all their stark beauty.
I love them for their graphic qualities...
For their framing abilities...
But maybe most of all for the fact that they almost, but not quite manage to conceal what is behind them...

Green is the new black...

2010-02-24T02:36:00.000-08:00

Or so the word is out on the streets by the looks of it. If even one of my favourite statues is wearing it, it must be true...
On my last visit to Paris I went to the Rodin Museum and somehow was totally overawed by Rodin's statue of Balzac. So, this time round I had to go to the Balzac museum, which is in one of the houses he used to live in in Paris. And look what the museum is wearing...
This is a truly gorgeous spot by the way, the little garden must be lovely in summer, even now there were people sitting round here, just enjoying the sun.
I love the special hue of green that you see a lot around the city. Whether it is on the Musee de la vie Romantique...
Which by the way is in the former home of a Dutch painter that I had never heard of, or on the innards of the very special Grand Palais...
And look at what offsets these marvelous floral displays...
Do not you just want to sit down here and enjoy the sun in the Jardin de Luxembourg...
I definitely got some inspiration on the colours I want to wear this spring, pink ( think pink) by all means, but this kind of green is a must as well, there are so many signs, I can not ignore it.
It is just these guys that are still bucking the trend, but with a bit of peer pressure that should sort itself out...
Enjoy the rest of your week!

Reflections...

2010-02-22T09:40:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I really like the way photos turn out, whether intentionally so, or just by chance. They can either completely portray a certain mood or feeling, or at times there is an added effect in them that makes them special.

Like this one I took at the Gallerie Vero Dodat. You can almost sense the faded glory and the feeling of loss of a certain time, yet it is still beautiful, and I love the face that you seen the other side of the gallerie reflected in the windows.
Or there is this surprise, I took this in the Rue Fleurus, because there really was a lovely courtyard inside the gates. You do not see much of it this way, but you see the rest of the road, somehow it makes the photo very three dimensional.
This is possibly my favourite, it would be, as I took it in the Musee Zadkine. I looooooove Zadkine, this made me realise how much again. Maybe this way you do not see a whole lot of the sculptures, but you can see a bit of the house he lived in and the gorgeous weather! I was very lucky there... I love the effect of having being able to see the outside and the inside of things at the same time this way, I think it is magic!
Have a great week and hope for some sun!

Everlasting love...

2010-02-20T04:47:00.000-08:00

I honestly intended to do a quick post before I left for Paris, I even took a few photographs specifically for that purpose. And then I went and deleted them from my camera, I am extremely clever that way...
Anyway, I just returned last night and have not come up for air yet. I had the most fantastic time, even the weather was lovely, saw plenty of blue skies.
Is it possible to fall as heart stoppingly, not being able to breath in love with a place as much as a person? I never would have thought it was, but I can not get Paris out of my mind. I love everything about it, and I am not even a city girl.
I will sort my photos out later and post some for you, in the meantime I will leave you with some photos of Audrey Hepburn, for some reason I felt like her all the time I was there, really have to watch Funny face and Paris when it sizzles again...
I am off to plan my next trip, so much more to see! Have a great weekend!

Many happy returns...

2010-02-06T03:21:00.000-08:00

It is my birthday and you are all invited for tea...
And of course cake, I hope you all like coffee walnut cake, I made it myself...

We will all have sooooo much to talk about, as we all are creative people. Oh, and of course you can have a second piece of cake if you want to...

Have a lovely weekend!

Today I am enjoying...

2010-02-04T05:43:00.000-08:00

This simple vase of spring flowers...
Planning my itinary for Paris, so much to see, so little time...
My new book on the Stravinski fountain...
Loads of clever photography...
Colourful things that move, it is a children's book I think, but simple pleasures...
A few brilliant magazines...
Hooking a cushion cover ( I love working with Rowan wool)...And so definitely not the weather...

I wonder what happened to mister sun, has he gone in hiding? Wishing you all a bit of sunshine in your day, if not real than at least in your heart!

Been there, done that...

2010-01-30T05:11:00.000-08:00

I woke up in the middle of the night, had a quick glance out of the window, saw that the sky had a very strange look to it, but just turned over and fell asleep again. In the morning I found out why the sky had looked like that...
At first I very much felt like this...
But then decided that a) I should knit those mittens and scarf, and b) that it was infinitely preferable to the rain that had been falling all day yesterday, so much more pretty...
Particularly when the sun came out...
Maybe I do like January after all, I do love the calendar page for January...
And as I was taking pictures anyway, a little kitchen still life that I suddenly noticed...
After all this frolicking about I ended up in the attic. There really is a lot of dusting to do, but what are days like this for other than crafting, so I spent the rest of the day here...

Have a lot of snowy fun!

A few more kitchen frenetics...

2010-01-29T06:59:00.000-08:00

A bit of sunshine in another wise grey, grey, grey week. I do like winter to a certain extent, but January always succeeds in reminding me why I hate it too.
But the whole house is smelling of sunshine as I am making marmalade. For the first time ever, so I have no idea how it will turn out. We can not buy Seville oranges in this country unfortunately, but I have been able to lay my hands on some untreated oranges in our health food store, so these will have to do. The smell of oranges and lemons always makes me think of sunshine, so it does do a whole lot in cheering me up.
As I am in the process of using up Christmas leftovers, I stumbled upon this recipe and cooked it the other day.

White turkey chili
serves 1

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
coarse salt and ground pepper
1/4 pound ground turkey
1 can (15.5 ounces) Cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
Garnishes such as lime wedges, coriander, sour cream, and grated cheese

In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, jalapeno, garlic, oregano and cumin; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften, for 3-4 minutes.
Add turkey and cook, breaking up with a spoon, until no longer pink, 2-3 minutes. Add beans and 3/4 cup water. Bring to the boil, whilst mashing some of the beans against the side of the pan to release starch. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until thickened, 5-10 minutes.

Quicker and easier you can not make it. This recipe is easy to adapt for greater quantities. I did not actually use ground turkey, but the little pieces of turkey I took off the carcass after I had made stock from it. In our house nothing gets thrown out. This is actually quite tasty as you get the goodness of the herbs added to the stock as well. And, as I am a girl that a) simply can not follow instruction, and b) loves her greens; I added some chopped celery sticks, a few left-over Jerusalem artichokes and a small can of sweet corn to the mix. I spooned it over some rice which was left from the day before, and had a wonderfully satisfying meal.
Sometimes the telly is a good source of inspiration as well. I watched a re-run of Nigel Slater's programme and came across this marvellous idea. He sweated off some onions, then added two generous tablespoons of mustard ( smooth and grainy), some broken up sausages and a lot of double cream. All this he used as a pasta sauce. Now I liked the idea of the mustard as that is one of my favourite condiments. Thinking of the left-over stuffing from the Christmas turkey in the freezer ( which basically was sausage meat, sage onions, breadcrumbs and chestnuts combined in this case) this seemed an excellent recipe to use this up. So again, I added some extra veggies, i.e. leeks and celery sticks and softened those first with the onions. Then I added the mustard and cream, and a good bit of parmesan. I added the cream and the sausage meat which I had formed into meatballs. I then cooked some pasta and added that to the mix.
Again, even though this is not very sophisticated, more hearty winterfare, but I loved it.

And last but not least, a bit of progress to show you on my crocheted blanket...
As I am making this from wool from my stash, the colour combinations could start to be a bit tricky and daring at some point, but that is half the fun of it. Wonder when it will be finished though.

Enjoy a relaxing weekend!

Some new ingredients...

2010-01-22T08:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I lit a couple of my scented candles and did some crocheting. I felt completely content with the world at that moment. It is lovely to sometimes just sit quietly and enjoy the things you have around you. I do apologise for the mess on my dresser by the way, as hard as I try to ween myself away from it, I will always remain a clutterbug I am afraid.
I then proceeded to make the most fabulous soup. I love soup, homemade though, do not like the stuff out of packets or tins. The other day I discovered some jerusalem artichokes in the supermarket of all places. I love their taste, and as this was the first time I saw them for sale in the supermarket, I decided it would be rude not to buy them. So I called upon the ever fabulous Delia, and found this super soup/

Jerusalem artichoke and carrot soup
1 lb carrots
1 lb 8 oz jerusalem artichokes
3 sticks of celery
3 oz butter
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 1/2 pints of hot stock
salt and pepper

To garnish:
6-8 teaspoons creme fraiche
6-8 leaves fresh flat leaf parsley

Start by peeling and de-knobbling the jerusalem artichokes, as you peel them, cut them into large chunks and put them in a bowl of cold, salted water to prevent them from discolouring. Scrape the carrots and cut them into chunks.
Peel and chop the onion and cut the celery into chunks. Melt the butter in the pan and soften the onion and celery in it for 5 minutes, keeping the heat fairly low. Then drain the artichokes and add them to the pan, along with the carrots. Add some salt. Keeping the heat very low, put a lid on the pan and let the vegetables sweat for about 10 minutes to release their juices.
After that, pout on the stock ( I used turkey stock, as I have about 10 litres of it sitting in the freezer after Christmas, but really you can use any stock you like) and let is simmer gently for about 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Let the soup cool slightly and blend it.
Before serving reheat the soup gently and add a swirl of creme fraiche and a leaf of parsley to each bowl as decoration.

See, a simpler meal you can not dream up, why ever would you need to eat canned soup? After this as I was on a roll I also baked some cookies. Again, the whole freezer is full of left over Christmas baking bonanza, but I simply could not resist these...

Double-chocolate cranberry cookies
Makes 15 large cookies
16 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, chopped finely
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup soft brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place 10 ounces of chocolate au bain marie till melted. Set aside to cool a little. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and combine well. Beat in the melted chocolate. Then gradually add the flour mixture, beat in untill just combined. Then add the rest of the chopped chocolate and the cranberries.
Drop dough, 1/4 cupfuls, 3 inches apart, unto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake cookies till the edges are dry and the tops are cracked, 15-17 minutes. Let stand on sheets for 3 minutes, then transfer them to racks to cool completely.

After all that kitchen frenzy it was time to relax a little and play with my new books. OK. I know I should not have bought any, as really there is no immediate shortage of unread books in my house... but these are only little...
I bought the Isolarion book as it is about the area in Oxford that I lived in for a long time, I am really excited about it.
There is most definitely a theme developing here...
Have you spotted it? The Pere Lachaisse mystery I bought as this time round in Paris I will go to that cemetry... I might be too scared to after reading this though.

Have a lovely and relaxing weekend all!

A bit of cheer...

2010-01-16T06:48:00.000-08:00

I don not know about you, but I like winter up untill just around Christmas time, after that I get terribly sad and bored with it. Usually I am not one of the most happy people in January and February. This year I decided to do some thing about it, and just before Christmas I booked myself another trip to Paris mid February.
IThis means that I keep waking up every morning with a happy thought, it is really like looking forward to your birthday when you were a child. This morning the train tickets came through the post. now it is real and even more exciting. So, I got on the site of my trusted bookshop and ordered myself a few very interesting guidebooks. There is just so much to discover and see!
As I was in need of a quickie project and am quite obsessed with crochet at the moment, I was so glad to come across this in the Attic 24 blog. If you have not seen this blog before and like crochet and colour, really go over and have a look, there is so much fun to be had there.
My mother always feels the loss of the Christmas tree very much every year, so I decided to make her two of these. This was the first one ever, so there are a few things I will do slightly better with the second one, but I am sure you will get the idea. I can not wait till the bulbs will be in flower, I really love this idea as it is simple and colourful.
This year I thought I would start to list 3 things I have been grateful for that day every day, just for myself. But I am not disciplined enough to do this every day. But, as I was reading Diane's blog Heartshaped, (another lovely read), I came across this tag. Basically you are meant to list 10 things you love that are free. This is a great idea, both to cheer me yourself up and to get to know each other better. So, here are mine. If any of you would like to pick up this tag, please do, I am looking forward to your entries.
1. I love the scents and the feel of autumn. It is both the abundance in colour and produce as well as the sense that everything is winding down and the tranquillity.
2. I love watching snow flakes tumbling out of the sky, they make everything so pretty, and I think that snowmen are my favourite things on earth.
3. I love watching children discover the world, to them everything is new and to be discovered, it is that sense of wonder about the world that I find extremely touching.
4. I love discovering a book in my to-read pile that I had quite forgotten about, but that is so lovely that it stays with me for a while.
5. Connected to this I love re-reading childhood favourites, as they make me realise that you should never lose that sense of joy of discovering the world.
6. I love colour.
7. Pottering about in the garden is one of my joys, it is so lovely to watch things grow and develop.
8. Waking up in the morning and realising that you can spend an entire day reading, gardening, knitting, whatever it is that takes your fancy, must be one of the best treats from time to time.
9. Creating a lovely meal out of things that you find lurking in the fridge.
10. Reading and enjoying blogs, I have said it before and will say it again, what an inspirational lot you are!

Have a fab weekend!

White...

2010-01-10T06:23:00.000-08:00

This is a post for all my readers in Britain and elsewhere who are suffering from the unusual snowfall. I still think it is very pretty and magical, but that is the child in me speaking.
I was talking to a friend who lives in a village in West Sussex this morning, and she was telling me that it was very hard for her to get out of the house. The village shop has run out of a lot of things, notably bread and milk... There is no real saying when new supplies will come in, as nobody knows what the weather is going to do.
It made me think about how little we can do and know really, even though sometimes we think that everything is in our power. One little blip of nature, and we are powerless. It also made me worry about her cups of tea now, what would they be like without milk ( quite essential to her and indeed to me). Hence the cuppa at the top of my post! Hope that you are still all alright and that you can at least still make a nice brew!
I was meant to go to a concert in Amsterdam yesterday, but did not venture out because of the forecasts, which was a slight nuisance, but on the whole I am still enjoying this weather. It has been so long since I have seen it like this.
There are still loads of little pleasures to be had though, I trawled through some blogs and have picked up some ideas for a few quick project, more about those later, what an inspirational lot you all are.
A friend lent me this DVD as she knows I like Colin Firth and will watch anything featuring him...
I watched it last night and absolutely loved it. It is just one of those sweet, funny and totally impossible things I like to watch. If you are in need of a quick pick-me-up, watch it. It is a children's movie, but as such really lovely!

I can not say it often enough, keep safe and warm!

I like the ring of it...

2010-01-07T08:43:00.000-08:00

Am I the only one who is getting more excited about the year 2010 than the year 2000? I always have a surge of optimism at the beginning of the new year, but somehow this time it feels even more true. I also just like the ring of the decade, it somehow has a better feel about it than the noughties. Maybe it is just wishful thinking, but then again, a bit of hope and optimism never did do anyone any harm.
I never make New Year's resolutions, but always think of a few things that I am going to do differently, and inevitably I change those within 5 minutes again. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow. One of the things I decided is not to buy anymore magazines before I had read, sorted through, passed on the stacks that are lying around all over the house. But then... I saw this, and immediately all sort of projects sprang to mind.
I just love Margaret Sherry's cross stitch designs, they are always so much fun. And even though I am a very slow cross stitcher I always feel drawn to it. I am really looking forward to embellish a few aprons and tea towels with these.
The other day I was sorting through my stash of yarn and inspired by a free tutorial on the royal sisters blog, I decided to make a blanket or a throw. I like working with wool and love knitting and crocheting most of all. I tried to work out how many of these little stars I would need to make them into a decent size blanket, but that gave me a headache, so I will just see how I go.
I also decided not to buy any books as my to-read pile is getting ridiculous, but then could not resist getting these...
It also ties in nicely with my aim to use up my wool stash. Hey, I can sell these ideas to my self... The first one I will make is this one I decided, is not it fun?...
And, my last project so far...
I had loads of wool left over from the jumper I knitted a couple of months ago. This is the most wonderful yarn, and a couple of years ago I had bought a few skeins of it without really having a particular plan about what to do with it. Turns out that I can perfectly marry them up with my left overs, so I started knitting a scarf. I love the total different feel just the substitution of a few colours gives...

OK, off to do some cooking. Stay safe and warm!!!

Oliebollen and fireworks...

2009-12-31T06:20:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

May you have a wonderful year full of love, friendship, warmth, sunshine and general merry making!
All my best wishes to everyone!

Enjoy and be safe!

Random musings...

2009-12-30T13:21:00.000-08:00

I suppose I am not being highly original as I tell you that this is the time of year that you start reminiscing, but also try to figure out what certain relationships mean in your life and how you fit into the environs you have created over the years.
I will not bore you with too many details, but in our Queen's speech this year the main theme was that people are getting lonelier and more and more inconsiderate, I suppose more selfish, because of the digital age. People do not communicate face to face anymore because of all the instant messaging, texting, twittering and blogging that is going on. They lose sight of what binds them together and get more and more individualistic.
And sometimes that feels true, but for me, I sense a turning point this year. I really, truly think that at the same time people are getting more aware of the need of others and are getting more community spirit. ( something that never has been very prevalent in this country). When I look around me, indeed when I look at the last two weeks in my neighbourhood, I see things that never happened before. We had a massive snowball fight in which almost everyone in our street took part, we had a Christmas singalong in which a lot of people took part and tomorrow we will have a street party for New Year's Eve. We will all gather around 23.30 hours, count in the New Year and let off fireworks together and if the Christmas do was something to go by it will be tremendous fun! Anyhow, these are all things that did not happen before, so I think that there is hope for humanity yet.
Hope I did not bore you too much with all this, it was just playing on my mind today. Tomorrow I will bake/fry loads of oliebollen (traditional Dutch New Year's Eve fodder) for the party, and the house will probably smell much the same as the stall I started this post off with.
I started the other day on my to-read pile, which is about 4 times my height now, so really something needs to be done about that, as by no means that stops me from buying new books. I bought this one last summer, and was actually really looking forward to reading it, but somehow did not get round to it before...I am sure it is not meant to be read from cover to cover, but I am really enjoying it that way. It makes me realise that I can create a very cozy, safe atmosphere around me by doing the things I enjoy and by making time to be creative or do things together with other people. I love it, and there is lots of inspirations to be got from it, if only it was to wear Cashmere (this one made me giggle).
If ever you feel you want to read something heart-warming (for want of a better word), I can not recommend anything better than this, it is truly lovely.

Keep safe with the fireworks!

May all your days be merry and bright...

2009-12-24T14:19:00.000-08:00

Wishing all my marvelous blogging friends a warm and cozy Christmas.
Have fun with friends and family, enjoy each others company, and make this a time to remember!

Hope you will all have a glorious time!!!

Hurray for the Hobbits...

2009-12-21T09:55:00.000-08:00

I know he really was not the best dancer this series, but I just love these two dancing together, they just ooze fun... together they are just so watchable...

Not sure whether that was my favourite dance or whether this one is...

Either way, I totally agree with Len Goodman, this turned into the best final ever, just so completely entertaining.

What is the weather like at your end. I really do not think that ever in this country I have seen it snow like this before...
It is just so much fun. Yesterday afternoon suddenly everyone in our street was either having a snowball fight, children and grown-ups (?), not sure who had the most fun, or building a snowman, they have built giants, there is that much snow. It has been too dark to take pictures, but if they are still here at the end of this week, I will certainly post some.
Christmas has really arrived now, it could be the snow ( although in truth I have never known a white Christmas in real life) or because we had a gathering in our neighbourhood last night. It was truly magical because of the weather, there were fire pots and gluhwein and hot chocolate and everyone ended up singing carols together. It was truly lovely.

Now Christmas can start!

Coasters and cookies...

2009-12-19T14:26:00.000-08:00

Do not you love the coasters I got through the post yesterday from Heidi. My blurry picture does not exactly do them justice, but you can at least see the lovely colours. The card she sent with them has the same sort of colours on it, which I thought very clever, I like that kind of detail.
I als received the new Christmas cookbook from Delia Smith today. Maybe a bit late in the day, but it has some great recipes in it, and most of them you do not particularly have to make for Christmas. Any other day in winter will do just as well. If you like cookbooks (personally I am obsessed by them), this one is well worth a look.

Ooh and I promised you cookies last time. These are truly delish, if you only bake one kind of biccies this Christmas, make it these, they are quite special!

Pfeffernussen
Makes 3 dozen

1 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (125gr)
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 160/350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the confectioner's sugar in a brown paper bag.
In a medium bowl combine flour, pepper, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, and baking soda, set aside.
Place butter, brown sugar and molasses in a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture, beat until just combined. Pinch off dough in tablespoon amounts; roll into 1 1/4 inch balls. Arrange balls 1 1/2 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets.
Bake until cookies are golden and firm to the touch with a slight cracking, about 15 minutes. Transfer sheets to a wire rack to cool slightly. Working in batches, place cookies in paper bag, shake until well coated. Let cool completely on the wire rack.

Have fun with your last minute preparations, keep breathing and do not forget to enjoy the festive season!

Winter wonderland...

2009-12-18T04:44:00.000-08:00

Look at what we woke up to... OK, admittedly that was yesterday, but with all the baking and dusting to do ( I am getting to the cleaning now) I did not get round to post a few piccies yesterday.
Snow always make me feel like a child, it makes everything sooooo pretty! And yes, I know it causes a lot of havoc too, but I blissfully ignore that.
Off to take some fab cookies out of the oven now, if they are any good, I will post the recipe tomorrow.

The chickens felt a bit frozen...
It looks like this picture has been taken in the middle of the night, a good argument for a new camera if ever I needed one...
Another early morning delight...
Is not our street gorgeous like this...

Enjoy the snow!

Christmas Express...

2009-12-16T06:23:00.000-08:00

First of all I would like to thank you all for your kind comments on my last slightly panicked post. I feel much better now, I have decided just to go with the flow, and enjoy what gets done and forget what does not get done. I managed to do a lot of baking and cooking in advance, the cards are all written, and the frost can set in as far as I am concerned. There are still a few nigly little things in the back of my mind, but I will not bother you with them.
A special thanks too to the lovely Heidi from All my scattering moments. If you have never seen her blog, just hop over, as it is really lovely, as is her other one, the Cranberry chronicle. Anyway, because I commented on one of her posts I won a couple of Christmas coasters she made, and they look really lovely. It turns out that she lives in my hometown, so maybe one day next year we will meet up.
Every year there is a small Christmas Fair in the hall of the train station in our town. My mother and I go and have a look every year, there never is a lot of crafty things unfortunately, but it has a nice atmosphere and for us it is one of our Christmas rituals.
Besides, I love the Christmas lights in our station, there is something magical about it, it makes you even forget that this is one of the filthiest trainstations you have ever seen (truly)...
Afterward we went to the florist near us, as she always has a nice selection of wreaths and boughs. I love the fact that everything starts to look really festive now...

Wishing you all a peaceful week before Christmas...

Who is counting...

2009-12-06T08:33:00.000-08:00

Are you all beset by an ever so slight panic now? Please do not tell me I am the only one...
I swear it was only Christmas last week! I thought I was organised this year, I even started making lists of what to bake, what to do with the turkey, who to make presents for, what to organise...
And really, all of a sudden it December,6. I did do some baking and crafting, but am nowhere near as far with it as I would have liked. Am really nowhere near as far as this...

I have been reading some of your blogs and am just in awe, can you send me some organisation skills? That is really all I want for Christmas this year. In my defense, I have really suffered with my back the past week, could not walk, could not cough, and worse of all, could not laugh, am a lot better now... So, watch out Santa, here I come...

Have a lovely, relaxed week! I am sorry for my little whinge by the way...

Paris, je t' aime...

2009-11-30T12:09:00.000-08:00

Earlyish next morning, we went out in search of a proper French breakfast, none of that usual continental stuff for us. We ended up in this little cafe, both because there were quite a few people in there already and because I fancied the guy behind the counter. Both of those are perfectly valid reasons to enter any establishement in my book. If in addition, food is being served, what more can one want. We had a lovely Tartine, orange juice and the best hot chocolate ever, made with real chocolate, none of the powdery stuff. If I marry him, will he make me one every morning?
Suitably fortified we walked down to Rue Mouffetard...
For a bit of this...
And really, where else do you find displays like this...
I guess by now you have rumbled me, I keep telling you I am quite arty and bookish, but my main priority seems to be food... I am just greedy!
We again walked round there for hours, and in one of the streets running of the Rue Mouffetard found my first fountain of the day, I liked this one...
Coming across little surprises like this is the real joy of just walking around with no apparent aim. We had a good map with us, so even if we did get lost, we were always able to find our way back somehow.
After we had our fill ( see what I did there?) we went up to the Place de la Justice, because I really wanted to see Saint Chapelle. I just love stained glass windows, and even on quite a grey day they immensely cheer me up.
Really, where do you see more impressive gates...
I took this picture because of the man conducting a phonecall in a quite precarious place, but to me these kind of houses just seem so quintessentially French...
From Saint Chappelle we walked to the Notre Dame, where on the square we ate our brioches and drank our tea. It just felt so amazing to be there and it was almost unreal to be able to quite comfortably have a little picnic outside at the end of November.
Inspite of my good intentions, we did not actually go into the Notre Dame, as there was a long queue and by then I had spotted this...
It would have been sacrilege not to enter here. I have read so much about this place over the years, and it did not disappoint. It is ridiculously stocked, overly full, and completely gorgeously welcoming at the same time. I loved it more than I had expected to.
I still had not viewed any bouquinistes though, probably because of the time of year. But when we walked up to the Institut du monde Arabe, there were a few in situ as it were, and I actually found a few lovely little books.
Now, how is this for sun blinds...
This is the most amazing sight, both from the outside and the inside. As it is a real workplace for a lot of people, I was amazed that as a tourist you can enter it as well and go up to the roof. I would find it really astonishing if at work I would enter a lift full of tourist. Nobody here seemed to think that was worth batting an eye lid about though.
And now for my real treat of the day... You all know how much I had been looking forward to seeing the Strawinsky fountain! My friend first took me the Centre Pompidou, which I am not sure about by the way, and then finally what I saw was this...
Trust it to spring a leak when I come to pay hommage to it! Now I know for sure I will have to return, maybe it is a sign.
Even though I did not like the Centre Pompidou much, I do like the area around there, and we ended up browsing quite a few shops. From there we wandered to Les Halles, where in the neighbourhood we went into a gorgeous yarn, beads etc store, La Droguerie, and probably one of the most amazing cooking ware shop, Dehellirin, I have ever seen.
After all that we were exhausted, so we went back to the hotel, put our feet up for an hour and then had a lovely meal in a place near the hotel.
After that, it was straight to bed, this is hard work, all this sight seeing malarkey...

And still there is more to come...

Bonjour Paris...

2009-11-29T12:19:00.000-08:00

After a bit of a disaster getting out of my hometown on Sunday morning ( there was no conductor on the train) which basically meant that we could not make the train to Paris, we eventually arrived there about an hour and 20 minutes later than we had planned. Which really was not too bad, considering we had to change trains in Brussels as well because the train we were on had broken down.
We quickly put that all behind us though, we were met at the Gare du Nord by my friend Marion who had been in Paris for a couple of days because of Paris Photo.
It had seemed a brilliant plan to meet up for lunch and in the end it was, but there is always this sticky moment when you mix two sets of friends, particularly when you know they are completely different in their ways and tastes. I ended up having to tell both Karin and Marion to behave, as we would only be all together for a couple of hours, this was my first time ever in Paris and hey, who's party was it anyway?
After that it all went swimmingly. We dropped our luggage off at the hotel, not one I would recommend for anything other than its location, and went our merry way.
We had decided to go and have a late lunch at Le Fumoir, and were met by these little boyscouts in front of the Louvre...
After a lovely meal, a gorgeous mousse au chocolat and pleasant surroundings, we strolled down Rue Rivoli...
This is where I realised I really need to get myself a better camera for next time.
Next morning we headed out to the Marche aux Puces St Ouen, only to find that even though it says it opens at 9, it very defenitely does not. This was actually a lot of fun, because we kept wandering around for hours, every time discovering new stalls that had just opened.
After having had our fill of bric a brac, we went up to Montmartre and a lovely cup of coffee within view of the Sacre Coeur...
What is it with French trees, even they are a lot prettier than Dutch ones...
After having enjoyed the views and braved the winds...
We walked down into Montmartre, past the painters...
Up to the restaurant where we had lunch...
This really was the tiniest place ever. We arrived at what I deduced later must have been 5 to two, and were seated. After that, nobody was allowed in anymore. The place was full, and you basically had to eat what they were giving you, but the food was great. Plus I do not think I have ever seen anyone serve a full house as efficiently as the owner did. It really was a joy.
Fortified we started just to walk around, which is fun, as that way you really see such a lot of things that otherwise you would not have seen. However, after a few hours my little legs decided they had enough and we took the Metro to Lafayette, as I really wanted to see the dome.
I could not get a good picture as it was already dark by the time we got in there and my camera did not really like that, but I think you get the idea of how pretty it is...
We walked around there for a bit, they have a great bookstore (trust me to find that one), and we treated ourselves to a gorgeous cup of tea there. Even though the French are not really tea drinkers themselves, they serve remarkably good tea everywhere you go.
By then it was time to find our way back to the Place de la Republique, have a glass of wine in the local cafe and prepare ourselves for the day ahead.
Are not you curious about what we did next? You will have to wait till tomorrow though.

Have a wondreous week!

A-MA-ZING...

2009-11-27T06:58:00.000-08:00

Very reluctantly I returned from Paris last night. I already feel homesick! It was completely gorgeous, even I, so defenitely not a city person, adored it.
I felt so at home there, autumn really suits it as well. Feel that I have not even seen the beginning of everything there is to see and do there. Yet, we walked and walked and walked all day for 4 days.
I will organise my photos soon and will post them in a later post. For now I leave you with the first bar/restaurant I entered soon after arriving( and probably one of my favourites) and the gorgeous Christmas lights on the Champs Elysees.

Sigh... how quickly can I return without it looking indecent?

Still four more nights...

2009-11-18T13:00:00.000-08:00

I am almost exploding now with excitement!!! It has been soooo many years that I have been planning to go to Paris, and it just never happened. This time round it will, I can not breathe, I can not sleep, basically I am a hyperactive child on speed.
This is a picture of one of the things I really want to see in the flesh as it were, I just adore Niki de St Phalle and Jean Tinguely, that was just one brilliant partnership!

I was in Waterstone's this afternoon (really, when am I not there) because I felt that it was time for me to start reading Terry Pratchett. I know, it is almost sacrilegious, but I have never ever read anything he has written, for the simple fact that I do not like fantasy much. Even of the Lord of the Rings I have only read The Hobbit (feeling very brave tonight, I am).
There are two reasons I want to start reading him now, one is the programme he did on the BBC on his onset of Alzheimers, which I found impressive and very courageous. Also someone recommended Little Gods to me.
However, they were stocking two different editions of the Disc world series, but of neither edition that one was in stock. And then I chickened out and got this instead...

Well, in my defence, it says Terry Pratchett on the front... It is brilliant, really funny. If you love cats, and possibly even if you hate them, get it. It really is a hoot. I love the Gray Joliffe cartoons as well.
I did pick up a copy of Philip Pullman's Northern Lights when I was there as well, another one of those books I have been meaning to read and just never get round to actually buy... again I left it in favour of something else. Guess I am not quite ready for fantasy yet.

Have a turbulent Thursday!

Randomly...

2009-11-15T05:51:00.001-08:00

Just a couple of things I absolutely love at the moment...

Is not this a truly evocative painting. Even though weirdly I do not like the colour orange that much, I find this one of the most lovely paintings I know at the moment. I love that period in time and this really sums it up for me.

I am always one of the last people to actually buy a best seller, and this again is a case in point. I had been looking at it for a while, but never actually picked it up. I was in Waterstone's the other day and was paying for two books I bought, when the girl behind the counter pointed out to me that I had actually bought two of the 3 for 2 books, and why did not I pick up a third one ( neat trick that). So I quickly scanned the other ones available, and thought, oh, why not! I am glad I did, as I am immensely enjoying it. It truly evokes the spirit of that time. This must me the most beautiful thing I have ever made ( and definitely the most expensive one!). I only have a couple of more row to knit on the collar and then it is done. I adore this... the colours, the yarn, I will feel sooooo special in this.

My secret addiction has been Strictly come dancing for a few years now. I started watching series 3 I think, and have watched them all since. I love it, I find I have to watch it takes two every day as well, as I just adore Claudia Winkleman. She is just mad.
This is my favourite couple this year, though I do not think we will see them again, poor Jade!

And last but not least... this time next week I will be in Paris!!! I am getting so excited about it, I can hardly sleep. I have never been there, so it will be magical I guess. I will take my camera, so hopefully I will be able to show you loads of pictures. Cannot wait!

Have a gorgeous week and do not get too stressed about Christmas yet ( less than 6 weeks to go, Yikes!)

I seem to be back...

2009-11-12T09:23:00.001-08:00

I know I have been awol for a while... do not ask me what happened, I am not entirely sure myself, but I feel like I am starting to be myself a bit again now.
I have enjoyed the autumn this year, I thought it to be particularly pretty. Really love those colours. I had wanted to do a lot of crafting, but did not, nothing really came out of my hands. Do not you just hate those times? I guess we all have them, luckily we get through them as well.
I have started reading a few blogs again, and as ever have been truly inspired by them. Thank you all for being around! I will catch up with you all soon now, and I will be better at posting again.
I have loads of ideas about Christmas crafting, but there are only 42 days left. Do you know that feeling when there are so many ideas bouncing around in your head, and you just do not know where to start. So you start somewhere, then 5 minutes later you start something else and 10 minutes later, something else again... Please tell me I am not alone in this. Well, at least I ordered a Kelly Bronze turkey today, so I guess that shows you what my priorities are!
Only a shortie today, as I am off to catch up with all your blogs again... I will leave you with some photos of a sailing trip with my colleagues. I am not a great sailor, but we had a brilliant day!
Me and my colleagues...
Not sure that that is really where we are going...We are sailing...
Have a wonderful evening!

In a bit of philosophical mood...

2009-09-13T05:46:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I am suddenly reminded of why I read... it is amazing how from time to time jigsaw pieces in your head occassionally come together in your head. I always feel very invigorated when that happens.
I have just finished a book called, how I lived for a year on a pound a day, which is a fun read. If only for the fact that you become aware approximately halfway through of a shift in the writer's attitude towards consumerism, but even more so towards life itself. It is amazing how much more creative people become if they have to make do and mend as it were, even if that is a voluntary choice. It gave me a few things to look at myself, which is interesting.
I also started reading Alan Bennett's The clothes they stood up in. Now, I love Alan Bennett ever since the Talking Heads series on the BBC. But until recently I had not read any of his prose. A couple of months ago I read The uncommon reader and straightaway loved his way of writing. It is deceptively simple. devoid of any unnecessary descriptions. Very bare in a sense, but witty and to me very insightful. I do not know whether it is because I just finished Kath Kelly's book, but I certainly saw a parallel. This little book is about a couple who come home one day, finding they have been burgled and literally everything has been taken. It shows how they cope, and how the eyes of the woman suddenly are opened to all sorts of things (the corner shop, a cafe etc.) which had always been there, but which before she simply had not noticed. To me it shows how suddenly your life gets enriched if you look beyond your own littly box, or comfort zone even. How you get more creative with life, how you discover new interests and places to see.
That is a wholly positive outcome of something, anything that can happen to anyone of us in life. We all encounter adversaries throughout our lives, but I guess there is something after all in the saying: What does not kill you, makes you stronger... It does open new doors.
The other day I went to a little fair in a tiny village in the Eastern part of the country. This one has been held every year for the last 30 years, but I never had heard of it before... you learn something new every day...
It was not hugely exciting, but it was a fun day out, there was a fun fair and live music and a market with the usual crappy commercial things. But, there was a little sections with some traditional crafts, which was great. It is lovely to talk to these people as they take so much pride in what they make.
There was a basket weaver...
And he was churning away... I bought some buttermilk for my mother from them which she absolutely loved.
And witches can not have been far away, I had meant to buy a broom, but forgot in the end...
And as it is called Klompenfeest (wooden shoe festival), he certainly had to make an appearance...

To celebrate the start of autumn, I made myself this cocktail yesterday.

Blackberry-mint julep
Serves 4

1/2 cup packed fresh mint leaves
1 pint blackberries
6 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup bourbon
4 cups small ice cubes
4 sprigs of mint for garnishing

Roughly chop 1/2 cup mint leaves.
Puree the mint, blackberries and sugar in a blender. Push through a fine sieve in a bowl, discard seeds.
Rinse blender, then return puree to blender and add bourbon and small ice cubes; blend untill smooth. Divide mixture into 4 glasses. Garnish with a mint sprig.

Then sit back, enjoy greatly and start planning your Autumn/ Halloween decorations and crafts. Or at least that is what I did!

Have a fun and colourful week!

Something is coming, something good...

2009-09-04T13:23:00.000-07:00

Glorious, glorious autumn!
I can not tell you how much I love the onset of autumn. About 10 days the quality of the light changed and ever since them this whole sense of tranquility ( in nature) and expectation (in me) has been apparent.
Bulbs are being planted, which must mean that summer is over...
The trees are starting to get tinged with red and russet...
There is this excitement of new beginnings in the air, it must have something to do with the start of a new school year as a child. I always feel myself drawn to new pens and paper at this time of year, and glue and crafty things. I bought a whole lot of coloured pencils today, simply because I loved the smell of them ( and ok, I admit, they are sparkly ones... how could I resist them).
It has felt particularly autumnal today as there have been some really fierce rain storms. I just love the sound of the rain, it makes me huddle onto the sofa with a book and loads of cups of tea. I have lit my pumpkin spice scented candles for the first time since last winter again and have just spent a happy few hours trawling the internet for Halloween crafts and decorations. I am going to have some fun with those this year.
Also this is the time of year for all the fairs to start again, tomorrow I am going to visit one in the east of Holland with a couple of friends. Really looking forward to that, there will be lots of interesting things there.

Have a cozy, colourful weekend all!

Sadly, no pictures...

2009-08-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

I guess there are too many pictures lurking on my computer for me to download anymore at the moment. I will sort it out one of these days, but till then, this is sadly going to be a quick post without pictures. Not much fun in that, but I hope you will bear with me anyway.
The other day I went to The Hague with my mother, which always makes for a nice day. We went to the Gemeentemuseum and saw some pictures by Lord Leighton, William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. There was also a show on about painters of roughly the same period, from the Netherlands. It is really fascinating to see how different those pictures are in feel and subject, from the English ones.
The Hague is lovely in summer, they always have a sculpture exhibition on one of the main streets, this year it was all by a Brazilian sculptur, Javier Marin. I thought they were great, as soon as I can get pictures again, I will post them.
Oh, here is one picture of the bowl I bought at the fleamarket, I was particularly pleased as you never see a lot of Carlton ware around here. For me it has such a 30's feel.
One last thing and I will close this boring post, (just felt I had to post though as I had not written anything for a while), it now definitely looks as if I have got my old job back. Next week I have a week off, but after that I start again... it is just too funny. But... I am glad to be working again!

Enjoy the weekend and do something wonderful!

A bit of gratuitous ogling...

2009-08-09T13:19:00.000-07:00

But oh so much fun! Do you ever get the feeling that you just need to watch something lovely and romantic? I know I do, and that was certainly my mood this weekend... There are two staples I will always return to, anything with Colin Firth, and Richard Armitage in North and South ( or the Vicar of Dibley, come to think of it). So North and South it was this weekend, and generous spirit that I am, I just felt I had to share some of it with you all.
Well, this meant that I had to spend another (happy) hour or so on finding the best trailer on youtube, it was an awful job, but someone had to do it;). There are actually loads of trailers, so have a look at the other ones if you do not like this one. By the way, do not forget to turn off my playlist at the bottom of my blog, otherwise this will not play... and that would be a waste! If you have never watched this series, go and get it on video. It is a real treat, I promise you, the last scene is one of my favourite moments ever.
Other than that, my weekend was nice but unremarkable. However, on Friday I met up with one of my old friends who I do not see that often and we spend a gorgeously girly afternoon. We went for lunch into town, then did some shopping and later we sat in a cafe and had a couple of glasses of wine. There was loads of chatting and lots of laughter, I love these girly times. We are planning a trip to Paris in November, maybe I should warn the French!

Have a lovely week, I am off to brush up my French!

A lemony weekend and a fun tag...

2009-08-03T06:32:00.000-07:00

Is not this the most gorgeous image? I feel I can smell the lemons... at the moment there is almost nothing I like better than the scent of lemons. It is really fresh and uplifting.
I got myself the August edition of Good Food the other day, it is one of the best ones ever! I almost want to make every recipe. Because of a small matter of size etc. that is probably not recommended, but it really is that good.
However, I really could not resist the two recipes below... I unfortunately could not find my camera, so there are no pictures, but they should speak for themselves.

Ginger lemon fizz
makes ml of syrup

50 g/2 oz fresh root ginger, roughly chopped
300g /10 oz caster sugar
2 lemons, sliced, plus extra to serve
Sparkling water

Place the sugar, ginger and lemon slices in a pan. Bring to the boil, then cook until the sugar dissolves. Take of the heat, leave to cool, then press through a sieve.
You can store the syrup in the fridge for up to a week.
To serve, pour into a pitcher and top up with sparkling water and extra lemon slices.

See... it could not be more simple and it tastes great! I used an extra lemon, as I like things quite sharp, but will next time also use less sugar, however that is a matter of personal taste. The ginger just adds a bit of warmth to it and works very well with the lemon. There is an almost citrussy quality to fresh ginger I always feel.

A slightly more fiddly recipe, but so worth it, is the following:

Blueberry lemon cakes with cheesecake topping
makes 12

100 g/ 4 oz butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
100 g/ 4 oz golden caster sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
zest and juice one lemon
140g /5 oz self-raising flour
50g/ 2 oz blueberries

For the topping
250 ml/ 9fl oz soured cream
25 g/ 1 0z icing sugar
1 large egg
1tsp vanilla extract

Lightly grease a 12-hole deep muffin tin. Cut out 12 strips of baking parchment, each about 1,5 cm wide. Cut each strip in half, then lay inside each muffin hole to make a cross. Trim the ends so that they rise about 1 cm above the rim of the holes. You'll use these as handles to remove the cakes when they are cooked.
Heat oven to 180C/ gasmark 4. Beat together the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in the eggs, a little at a time, add the lemon zest and half of the juice. Mix together well, then stir in half of the flour. Stir in the remaining lemon juice, then the remaining flour.
Spoon the cake mixture into the tins, about 1 heaped tbsp per case, then smooth over with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle a couple of blueberries over each cake, then bake for 10 mins.
To make the topping, whisk together the soured cream, icing sugar, egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Take the cakes out of the oven, they should be pale and just firm. Gently press down to make a flat top, then spoon some cheesecake topping over each cake- the holes should be filled almost to the top. Scatter over some more blueberries and bake for 5-7 minutes more until the topping is just set and gives only a little wobble when tapped.
Leave the cakes to cool in the tin, then gently ease away from the sides of the tin and lift out using the paper handles.

Enjoy, these are really quite special.

One last thing to mention is that I got tagged with quite a fun tag by Lisa from Jumble and jelly. Hers is a truly lovely blog, if you do not know it yet, hop over and have a look, it is great. Really colourful and lively and fun to read.

The tag works like this. Grab the book that is nearest to you and write down the 5th sentence on page 161. Then you get to tag 5 more people.

The book I grabbed as it was on top of my to be read pile is: The perfect summer, by Juliet Nicolson. She is the grand daughter of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson. The book is about the summer of 1911. I really want to read this book because of my obsession with Bloomsbury and that period in history in general.

The sentence is:Yet another Times contributor quoted Juvenal to demonstrate that human nature had not changed for many centuries.

These are the people I am tagging:

Heidi The cranberry chronicle
Michelle Chocolate and marmalade tea
Diane Heartshaped
Angie A book a day
Sibylle In training for a heroine

These are all gorgeous blogs, so if you have time, have a look at them.

Enjoy a warm and sunny week!

Brilliant summer treat and the fab shabby chic's giveaway...

2009-07-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

Feeling a bit hormonal today, in sharp contrast to how I felt over the weekend. I just could not stop smiling, for no particular reason at all. Do you have day like that, where you really feel on top of the world.
Not sure what brought this feeling on, the fact that I bought some lovely books, or the fact that I lost my first stone... And no, there is no way I will tell you how long that took me, or how many more I need to lose, it is gone, and that is the most important thing. To celebrate, I made myself the most wonderful dessert, and only 281 calories a portion... OK that is quite a lot, but then, it counts towards my five-a-day. It is gorgeous though, and if you are in need of a treat, I highly recommend it.

Raspberry and cherry gratin (serves 4)

7 fl oz milk
1 vanilla pod, split lengthwise
2 eggs, separated
4 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp plain flour
squeeze of lemon juice or eau de vie
10 oz cherries, stoned
10 oz raspberries

Heat the milk and vanilla pod in a pan until nearly boiling, then leave to infuse for 10-15 minutes. Whisk together the egg yolks with 2 tbsp of sugar until pale and light, then whisk in the flour to make a smooth paste. Whisk the warm milk into the paste. Pour the mixture into a pan, than cook for 3-5 minutes until thickened and the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon. Pour through a sieve into a large bowl, discarding the vanilla pod, then leave to cool a little.
Whisk the egg whites until trebled in size and stiff peaks form. Add the remaining sugar a little at the time, whisking well between each addition, untill the mix is thick and glossy. Stir in the lemon juice or eau de vie ( I used the latter I am afraid, it worked really well with the fruit) into the custard mix. Add a third of the meringue to the custard, stir well to incorporate then carefully stir through the remaining meringue in two goes.
Scatter the fruit into a large, shallow heatproof dish. Put under a medium grill for 3-5 minutes to soften the fruit slightly. Spoon over the custard mix. Return to the grill for 3 minutes until the topping is golden brown.

Apparently these count as 1 of 5 a-day...
I never made custard from scratch like this, particularly not a meringuey one...
Before it went under the grill...
And just after... The last thing I want to mention is the wonderful giveaway Mel from Country in the town is staging. If you do not know her blog, you simply must have a look. It is incredibly fun and colourful. She really is a very creative and talented lady. I am sure her give away will be worth entering as she makes gorgeous things and has a really good eye for pretties.

I realise I have not been able to read a lot of blogs in the last few weeks, I really missed you all and will do my utmost to catch up with you all in the next few days.

Have a gorgeous evening!

Summer colours...

2009-07-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

Normally I am a pastel colours kind of girl, I love pinks, soft greens and greyish blues. But in summer, I am sure it has to do with the quality of the light, I really feel drawn to the hot colours. Like these ones...
Just look at these cheery beauties. I had meant to eat out in the garden tonight, but just as I went outside, it started to rain again. So that was a bit of a disappointment. But... on the plus side, have a look at how incredibly vibrant these Zinnias look after a shower. I have always loved Zinnias, but have not always been able to find them in the nurseries I have been to. Which makes these ones extra special...
The little sunflowers are a fun story. Apparently a mouse stashed them in one of my little flowerpots for later and then forgot about them. So, they came up, incredibly cramped together and with not much room for a root system, but they have also decided to flower. Which makes me smile every time I see them.

Have a colourful evening!

Thoughts of future projects...

2009-07-18T09:09:00.001-07:00

This morning I received this book that I ordered from Bol.com ( the Dutch equivalent of Amazon). I simply could not resist it, I just love the look of the one with the red, white and blue border... I can not wait to start this project, it will just be so much fun, I love things that are made up of smaller parts, they seem to finish just that little bit quicker.
I have also decided on two other tops to knit, after my success with the first one.
I will have to pick my time to get the yarn though, as I have to go to Amsterdam for it. The next few weeks I will be working full time, and my weekends are pretty much booked, so I fear I will have to bide my time I am afraid. Patience is not my biggest virtue, but it can not be helped.
I am happy to be at least working again for a few weeks, all be it in my old job (long story) as a temp. My colleagues are over the moon, I just think it is funny!
The other thing I did this morning is have a walk around the fleamarket that is held in the middle of town every fortnight. I did not bring my camera, so unfortunately there are no pictures. There was a lot of dross, but there were two stalls that had quite nice utility crockery. I nearly succumbed to the temptation, but did not have enough money on me. Oh well, maybe next time...

Have a fun weekend and do not drown in the rain!

Grasshopper...

2009-07-10T04:47:00.000-07:00

That is the name of the colour of the yarn I used... Not sure that that is very flattering, but as everyone, including me is obsessed with being green these days, it seems oddly appropriate that I should use it.
Anyway... as you can see I have actually finished this project from a few posts ago. Remarkably quickly for me, I have to be honest, but I tremendously enjoyed knitting it. The border took a few attempts, and I had to frog ( see what I did there?) the beginning a couple of times, but it all went remarkably smoothly.
To celebrate my accomplishment, and to stay in the green theme, I baked myself these cookies. I love cornmeal anything and lime is truly one of my favourite scents and tastes. There is something so uplifting about it.

Lime cornmeal glazed cookies
Makes about 2 dozen

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
4 teaspoons freshly grated lime zest, plus 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (about 6 limes total)
2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest (2 medium oranges)
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal, plus more for coating glass
Lime glaze

1. In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add egg, beat until just blended. Add citrus zests, lime juice and almond extract.
2. With the mixer on low speed, add flour and cornmeal. Continue beating until well blended. Transfer dough to a piece of plastic wrap. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap and chill until firm, about 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line to baking sheets with baking parchment. Fill a small bowl with cornmeal. Using a 1 1/4 inch ice cream scoop, form balls from chilled dough. Place balls on prepared sheets, spaced about 3 inches apart. Dip bottom of a medium drinking glass in the cornmeal. Flatten balls with the bottom of the glass until dough is about 1/4 inch thick.
4. Bake cookies until crisp and light-golden brown around the edges, 14-16 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to a wire rack and let the cookies cool completely.
5. Meanwhile, make the lime glaze;
3 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar
8 table spoons fresh lime juice, plus 2 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated lime zest.
Stir the ingredients together and use glaze immediately.
6. Place a wire rack on top of a piece of parchment paper. Pour the lime glaze over the cool cookies, allowing the excess to drip over the edges. Let glaze set.
Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Enjoy the weekend and do a little sun dance!

Summer drinks...

2009-07-07T03:37:00.000-07:00

It has been so hot and dry here for a couple of weeks now, that I feel like I am in the south of France... And even though it is not the best feeling to be unemployed, it is lovely to be able to enjoy this summer. I suddenly realised that the last summer I had been as free as this was my last year at school, and that is a very distant memory I can tell you.
Is it me or does seem all fruit to be particularly good this year? I do not think I have ever eaten as many strawberries as I did this year! The other day I bought a whole lot of gorgeous raspberries, they were amazing. So, when I found this recipe of raspberry lemonade I had to try it. It is completely fab, I imagine it to be good in sparkling white wine or vodka even, but have not tried that yet.

Raspberry lemonade
10 oz/ 300 gr caster sugar
1 1/2 lemons, sliced
1 orange, sliced
3x 170 gr punnets raspberries
ice and fresh mint to serve, optional

Place all the ingredients in a large saucepan and pour over 350 ml cold water. Bring to the boil, stirring often, then leave to cool. Pour through a sieve, pressing down with a spoon to extract all the juices.
The syrup can now be stored in the fridge for up to a week. To serve, pour a little into a glass and top up with sparkling or still water, ice and mint.

As ever, I could not leave alone and added a bit less sugar than specified, as I like things a bit sharp. I do not really like the way sugar tends to drown out the taste of the fruit, but this really is one of the best lemonades I know.
The other thing I have been enjoying a lot of so far is a drink that I have developed after buying it once at a juice bar.
Just put a good chunk of watermelon, a glass of applejuice, a sizeable sprig of mint and the juice of approx. half a lime in the blender. Whizz and pour over ice. Truly summer in a glass!
Enjoy the summer, it is tipping it down here now...

Mushy peas anyone...

2009-06-30T07:39:00.000-07:00

Please do not get me wrong, I love mushy peas as much as the next person, but I keep drifting in and out of love with this colour. I wandered into a yarn shop a week or so ago and got completely seduced. They stock all the Rowan yarns, and I simply adore Rowan yarns. I love the colours and to my knowledge it is the loveliest yarn to work with.
I used to knit a lot as a teenager, but that is many moons ago, and have not done much of it since. But I decided there and then that I was going to make this...
It was actually great discovering that knitting apparently is in my blood, it all came back to me immediately and I have not been without my needles for the past 8 days or so. It is nearly finished now, only part of the border to go. If only I was more sure about the colour...
To make myself love it more, I got some shoes in the same hue...
I will show you the finished project when it is done, I am already looking at more projects...Am as addicted to knitting as I am to crochet now!

Enjoy your crafting and the sun!

A campsite treat...

2009-06-29T05:06:00.001-07:00

As I was camping out in front of the tv for a big chunk of the weekend watching Glastonbury festival, I felt that a campfire treat was appropriate.
The idea of s'mores has always held a particular fascination for me. As you can not get plain graham crackers in this country for love or money, I decided to make these instead. I was amazed at how quick they were to make. And not only that, they are quite special too...
I halved the recipe as I felt that 30 cookies would be a bit much, but as I am the original ditzy queen (can I blame the weather?) I used the full quantity of oatmeal. This also meant that I could use the whole egg and not just half a one which would have been awkward, so in a sense it worked out perfectly. I guess the cookies turned out a bit drier than they would otherwise have been because of the oatmeal, but they are gorgeous anyway.

S'mores Cookies
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (125 gr) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup light-brown sugar
1 large egg
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into 30 squares
15 large marshmellows, halved horizontally

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, pulse oats until finely ground. Add flours, cinnamon, salt and baking soda, pulse to combine. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, scraping down the side of the bowl. With mixer on low, beat in flour mixture until just combined.
Drop dough by tablespoons, 1 inch apart, onto two baking sheets. Top each with a chocolate square. Bake just until lighly golden, 11-13 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Remove sheets from oven, heat grill. Top each cookie with a halved marshmallow. One sheet at a time grill until marshmallows are lightly browned, 1-1/2 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.

The other thing I did this weekend is set myself a reading target. I saw this on another blog I was reading the other day and thought that was a great idea. I set myself a summer reading challenge. Between now and September 21 ( which is the official start of autumn) I want to read the following books.
1. The Knickerbocker glory years, Martin Lampen
2.The language instinct, Steven Pinker
3. Cheerful weather for the wedding, Julia Strachey
4. Bloomsbury, a house of lions, Leon Edel
5. Pastures nouveaux, Wendy Holden
6 Cover her face, P.D. James
7. Consequences, E.M. Delafield
8. Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell, Jane Dunn
9. Bloomsbury in France, Caws and Wright
10. A vintage affair, Isabell Wolff
11. Matisse, a life in the south of France,
12. Austerity Britain, David Kynaston
13. Millie's flirt, Jill Mansell
14. Mrs Woolf and the servants, Alison Light
15. Home to roost, Deborah Devonshire
16. Howard's End, E.M. Forster
17. The voyage out, Virginia Woolf
18. My turn to make the tea, Monica Dickens
19. How to run your home without help, Kate Smallshaw
20.Cold meat and how to disguise it, Hunter Davies.
I might have been a bit over ambitious, but ... see how I will fare.
Enjoy a gorgeously warm week!

Aaaah summer...

2009-06-23T03:18:00.000-07:00

You just know that summer has arrived when you have Royal Ascot, Wimbledon and The tour de France in succession. Can you tell I am an extremely fanatic armchair athlete?
And there is the summer solstice of course...
We have just had the longest day of the year, but there is still plenty of sunshine to enjoy! The garden is looking lush at the moment, and everything seems to vie for your attention.
The lily in the front of this picture needs an award. It appears every single year, yet has never bloomed, for the simple reason that is is eaten every single time by one of those pesky orange lily beetles. This year however, it has come further than ever, so ... we live in hope.
The rest of the garden is just a lush riot, it is gorgeous, if you like the ordered chaos style of gardening that is.
My favourite rose of all time deserves a little spot in the limelight too...

Enjoy the sun and the green spaces in your area!

Where did all the trees go...

2009-06-21T12:34:00.001-07:00

Has any of you ever witnessed from nearby how huge trees, twice as high as the house. are felled in urban areas. I certainly never had seen it, and even though it is a sad, sad sight, it is totally fascinating.
Two huge trees that were in the garden of our neighbour at the back of our house were badly damaged by the storm we had a few weeks ago and they had to be taken out completely. As their house fronts on to a main road and their gardens are incredibly long, there was no way it could be done from their end. This meant that the trees had to be hoisted over our roof and the bits of tree would be deposited and disposed of in our road. Believe me, this was something the whole neighbourhood came to see...
First there was the guy who had to fell the tree, no climbing trees for him, he was hoisted over the top of our roof by a huge crane...
Then he was gingerly lowered into the tree. This is actually a very delicate and skilled procedure, as the guy steering the crane can not see a thing, he is looking at our house, and has to rely on what the man dangling from the crane tells him what to do. Apparently that takes a few painful manoeuvres before they have got that down pat... These two had obviously worked together before.
After he has secured himself, the sawing starts...
And we have bits of flying tree, the crane driver again has to rely on the description of the bit he is getting over the roof in order for him to know how to place it in the road without damaging everyone's front gardens. This was truly one of the most skilled performances I have ever witnessed.
And this is where the tree goes... This machine eats huge trees in about 30 seconds, awesome and frightening at the same time.

Have a wild Monday!

To market, to market...

2009-06-20T12:44:00.000-07:00

It is always lovely to catch up with old friends, particularly on a nice day out. Last week I met an old friend at the station and we went to a town about an hours trainride away from here. It is in the south of Holland, Den Bosch, and it is a gorgeously relaxed town. Originally I hail from that part of the country, and I always feel like I am at home again when I am there. People really are a lot more open, relaxed and friendly around there.
They also make a lovely cake there, called Bossche bol, which is basically a giant profiterole to be marginally rude about it. It is a real speciality of Den Bosch, and they make them nowhere better than there, particularly at one bakery called Jan de Groot. The thing that always make me smile is that he obviously has his marketing down pat as well. There is a little tearoom attached to the bakery which is always chock-a-block, but in all the other cafes that serve his Bossche Bollen as well it is either advertised outside or specified specifically on the menu that they come from his bakery... there is someone who understands his trade. Anyway, as ever, the first thing we did when we arrived was have a cup of tea and a cake, we both skipped breakfast that morning in view of this, now, there is dedication for you.
My friend had made a long list of all the things she wanted to get, so after our cake we set out to do some serious shopping. First we went to the market...
This is a gorgeous market, really quite big and well laid out. There are always loads of plant and flower stalls, and fruit and anything else you can think of.
We had a look at the cathedral and strolled on to the main square next to that. We then discovered that there would be a Tattoo that evening and all the bands that were taking part were having a march through the city that afternoon. That was a real surprise, as we both love brassbands and show bands. As a teenager my friend used to play in one and I just adore the sound of brassbands. So, we abandoned our shopping plans and had a look at all the bands, there were a few quite special ones there. Unfortunately we could not stay till the evening, otherwise we certainly had done so. However, we will go to the military Tattoo in Breda in October. I have never been, and she is just very glad to have found someone who will gladly come with her, as she does not know anyone else who likes things like that.
So, we learn something new about our friends every time we meet up with them, and that is just truly lovely. They open our eyes to new things and make the world really a richer and more interesting place. I love it when things like this happen and when people are flexible enough in their minds to just throw plans overboard and do something different from the original plans. We had such a lovely time!
Hope your weekend is not too windy... it is blowing like mad here again...this is a glimpse of what happened to the poor trees in our neighbour's garden after the big storm we had a couple of weeks ago, more of that in a different post.Enjoy your weekend!

My granny is a giant...

2009-06-12T05:37:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of yarn in my stash and as I have been obsessed with crochet for a while now, I decided to start a giant granny. I guess it is going to be a picnic blanket... I will make a few cushions to go with it as well.
As I could not help myself I also bought a few skeins of wool in pretty, pretty colours, I intend to make a blanket with that consisting of lots of little squares, I have started on it, but there is not much of it to show you.
My main obsession these past few weeks however have been these...
I think I mentioned it before, but I am not a girl that does things by halves, and lately my days have looked like this: breakfast, reading, cups of tea, reading, some light housework (never overdo it, reading, tea, reading...oh well, you get my drift.
I have really immersed myself in the era of roughly 1900-1950 of late and have become obsessed with the Bloomsbury Group (again). Imagine my surprise and joy then to find these two lurking amongst the books I already owned...
Such a lot of inspiration and sheer delight I get out of these books, I cannot even begin to tell you.
Look at some of the projects...
And some of the pictures in the book (which are immeasurably better than the pictures I took of them)...
What else have I been doing? Taking a break, I guess we all have these moments where we do not really feel too well in ourselves, it is never very serious, but it can throw you off course slightly.
After a lot of watching Spring Watch (brilliant this year I thought), tennis at Queen's (watching that is)and the Derby at Epsom I feel a lot better again. Which is just as well, as on Monday I have got a very unexpected job interview for a job I would really love, love, love to get.
Wishing you all a very sunny, warm and fulfilling weekend!

Rediscovering old friends...

2009-05-31T13:08:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-30T06:15:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-29T05:09:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-26T02:32:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-22T05:46:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-15T09:09:00.001-07:00

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...

2009-05-13T12:31:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-08T13:23:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-05T09:03:00.000-07:00

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!

Rhubarb, rhubarb, two fools and a new interest...

2009-05-01T05:10:00.000-07:00

To start with one of the fools, this is not a particularly uplifting story, but as it has affected the whole of our country, I will mention it.
Yesterday should have been a true day of celebration. It was Queen' s day, which this year was going to be extra special, as it would have been our former Queen's 100th birthday. She was really very beloved, and all the festivities were geared towards that. It was a gorgeously sunny day and nice and warm. The Royal family had already been taking a walk en masse in the Oranje park in Apeldoorn, they always go and take part in the festivities in one town or another every year. They then all got into an open topped bus, and went on their way to the palace in Apeldoorn, het Loo. They were nearly there, when all the festivities were abruptly brought to a halt by a fool (for want of a stronger word) who had driven his car through two roadblocks, through the thousands (literally) of people that were lining the streets and towards the bus. Somehow he veered a bit off course and crashed into the needle, a monument on the street there.
Obviously, after that, all the festivities were cancelled. What should have been a day of fun, sun and celebration ended in a real tragedy. Seven people died, 10 were wounded and nobody knows how many were traumatised all because he had a grudge against the Royal Family. He himself died in hospital last night as well, before he could be formally questioned, and that then, naturally, is the end of all investigation. There was no indication that it was anything more than a deed by an individual, he was not known to the police, nor where there indications of a personality disorder. Yet he managed to ruin this day for many more years to come, it all feels wrong. My thoughts are with the people who have lost family members yesterday.

Ah well, that is my rant done, now onto things more positive.
As I went out early yesterday morning to get some Queen's day cakes, I encountered this family...
I hope that you can make them out, as my camera is not very good. This duck was marching down the street with about 12 ducklings quacking after her, it was just so sweet.
Then I came across these lilac trees which I love. Unfortunately they are not ours, but they grow in a garden really near us and are beautiful every year.
This one is ours though...
I love Wisteria, and even though it is a young one, this year it is flowering like mad.

Rhubarb is something that belongs to spring, look at the gorgeous colour.
When I was living in England, I used to buy rhubarb fool from time to time, as I really love it, but never thought to make it myself. I wonder why, because it is the easiest thing to make, and loads better than the shopbought stuff. As I am now living in a country where you can not buy it for love or money, I tried my hand and making it myself this year, and a wonderful success it was. This is a very luxurious version, as it calls for both Mascarpone and cream ( bang goes the diet!), but truly special. This recipe serves 6.

Rhubarb fool

600 grams rhubarb
200 grams caster sugar
250 grams Mascarpone cheese
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or extract
300 ml double cream

Trim the rhubarb and cut into 1cm slices. Put in a saucepan with the sugar and 3 tablespoons of water. Cover and cook gently for about 5 minutes until very tender. Break down lightly with a potato masher, than tip into a bowl and let cool.

Whisk the mascarpone with the vanilla bean paste or extract until softened. Add the cream and whisk until the mixture is fairly thick.

Beat in the rhubarb and juices until the mixture again starts to thicken. Turn into a large serving bowl and chill until ready to serve.

As you can see, a true diet buster, but just irresistible!

Now, this picture actually leads me very neatly to my last subject today. I have always loved the little bowls I served the fool in. They were my grandmother's, and sadly these are the only ones that survived the years. They are Lu-ray pastels bowls, and I just love their colour and shape. I also have some blue plates, which I had always assumed where of the same make, but they are actually Early California by Vernon Kiln.
I took a real interest in them, and was looking up information on them today. Now that has sparked a whole new interest in them, I really would love to collect both patterns. I think that whole era in which they were produced is just so interesting, I love the depression glass patterns too. So...I had a look on e-bay, as that seems to be my only source at the moment. It is not something that you would find in Europe, as it is so specifically American I feel. Problem with E-bay is the shipping costs, but I am going to bid for a few pieces, as I really would like to expand my (budding) collection.

Oh, one last thing, I have just heard that I have been invited for a job interview next Wednesday. Now that is a lovely start to the weekend.

Have a great weekend all!

It's the queen's birthday...

2009-04-30T04:56:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-28T14:27:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-22T08:03:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-20T06:57:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-19T06:16:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-17T03:35:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-13T08:41:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-04-12T05:56:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-11T05:37:00.000-07:00

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.

Just quickly, some progress...

2009-03-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

Well, you are absolutely right, these pictures are virtually the same. I did not like the expanse of pink in the first one that much, which is why I took the second one. I took these to show you the progress I made on the spring garland. I am actually really happy with the way this is coming along. I like doing cross stitch patterns like this, you start off with a plain fabric and suddenly you are creating a plaid fabric, it is almost bordering on the magical...
Anyway, I reckon I will finish this next week and I am already thinking and planning what I will do next. I am one of these people who likes to start a lot of different things all the time but who has real problems finishing any of them. That will have to change though if I want to start selling some of my creations, and so far I actually have been very good. The only thing I have abondoned working on this year is some Christmas decorations, but I feel justified in that as it is spring...
This is going to be a short post, as I am in a bit of a mood today. I received my last payslip today and it is not right... I hate it when these things happen, particularly as I have left that company now. They did not pay out a lot of reserves that were due to me and I am not a happy camper. I am sure I will get the rest of the money at some point, but I just do not need the hassle.
On a more cheerful note... I am going to a horse show tomorrow, I am really looking forward to it. I have not been to anything like that for ages, so it will be really good. Hoping to post some pictures soon.
Wishing you all a great evening.

And again... Friday 13th...

2009-03-13T06:14:00.000-07:00

We seem to have been blessed this year, two in a row... At least the sun came out for a little bit today, what a difference that makes!

Do not you think that chickens are the most decorative creatures ever? I just love them, someone nearby us has some real ones in the garden, I just love to hear them cluck...

A close-up of the lovely hellebores, they are doing so well this year.

This is actually quite a funny picture, I had intended to snap some of the Gooseberry Patch books I got myself for Christmas last year. I absolutely love them, and even though I am sure I paid way too much for them, in a funny way I am glad I did. There really are a lot of lovely things in them. Anyway, she kept getting in the way... She is a doll my ridiculously talented mother made me quite a few years ago. She loves doing things like this, but unfortunately at the moment cannot find the time to do so. I hope that she will again so though, as apart from being able to make fantastically beautiful dolls, she is an amazing painter too.

As the sun was out I had a little wander around and ended up in my favourite junktique shop. These are the things I could not resist:

The cup is lovely, it has an insert for loose tealeaves, and that even has a little rose painted on it! Another Christmas tree pin for my collection (of course) and a lovely red ( it looks quite a different colour in the picture, but it is red) cut glass thingy. I love glass thingies, so that had to come with me as well.

So, all in all, a really pleasant Friday 13th, hope yours is enjoyable as well.

Bits of inspiration...

2009-03-10T07:01:00.000-07:00

Look at these cheerful little things, don't they make your heart just sing? They really cheer me up on a gloomy day like this, it has not stopped raining for one second yet. You must be getting bored with me harping on about the weather, but at this time of year I always start to hanker after sunshine and blossoms...

I have a little confession to make. Whenever I go to Amsterdam I simply have to stop by the American Bookstore there and the Waterstone's bookstore. Unfortunately it is never just stopping by that I do... One of my friends once asked me if I really needed all the books I buy, I did not have to think about the answer, yes, I do! These are the ones I bought at the last trip:The books by Sark are a particularly good find for me, I already have two of her books and find them really inspirational. They are very life affirming, and I love their message. I like their lay-out, a welcome difference to just plain text books. The other two books I wanted to get for a long time, this time round they were discounted by 70%, so it would have been rude not to buy them, LOL. I simply love reading all sorts of books, as there is always something new to learn, but I find that I do not really read a lot of fiction. Sometimes I wonder if there is anybody else out there who shares this addiction to the written word with me.

Despite the rain and gloom I am having quite a good day. I have done quite a lot of dusting ( I confess, not really my favourite hobby) and to reward myself after that I have been working on my spring garland. It is amazing how quickly the hearts stitch up, and I am not a fast stitcher. It is so much fun to be able to spend time on doing something creative, it always makes me feel very contented and at peace with the world (particularly after I have been doing housework)!
I made myself a very nice sandwich for lunch. I toasted some sourdough bread, I used not to like this, but these days find it really fab! As I had some nice ham left over, I mixed up some cottage cheese (another addiction of mine, I know, I am weird) with parsley and mustard powder, put some salad leaves on the bread, then added the ham and the cottage cheese mixture. Fantastic lunch, and all made with things that were just lurking in the fridge.

To finish this post I leave you with a picture of a glass cruet I found in the Goodwill store, it is glass and it is pink, so, as far as I am concerned, what is not to like.
These are the seeds I bought at the garden fair the other day and simply cannot wait to plant!
Wishing you all a great day!

Has it really been over two weeks...

2009-03-07T05:34:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it is really hard to believe how time flies; I had some computer problems and not a lot of time on my hands otherwise, and before you know it, February has turned into March again...
This morning was really sunny and it made me long for this again:This picture was taken on the little square near my home, there are loads of these trees planted there, and in spring they all turn into candyfloss.It really always is the most amazing site. These pictures were taken at the end of March last year, so really it should not be long now. This winter has been quite miserable though, so it might all be happening a little later this year. I am glad the sun was shining this morning, as I do not mind the cold, but I cannot stand it being grey all the time.

I went to the most amazing exhibition of Richard Avedon's photographs in Amsterdam today. I love photography, but are not normally that taken by portrait photography, however, these were really amazing. I had intended to go to Paris in September last year to see this show, but simply could not afford it. I knew it would be coming to Amsterdam as well, and in a way I am glad I waited. It felt truly special to be able to go and see these wonderful pictures.
As I was in Amsterdam anyway, I walked around a bit and went to a grocery store that sells British stuff. If you are on a tight budget you really should not go there, but I could not resist, I got some English muffins and Cheddar there. They also sold some rhubarb and custard sweets and barley sugar, I simply had to give in. These things really help from time to time when I am feeling particulary homesick.

Last weekend I had a marvelous time. I went to a singing masterclass again, which I had not attended for years. It was amazing, and I thoroughly enjoyed being there again, it is truly fascinating to see the development of these young artist in the space of about 45 minutes.
Together with an old friend I went to a garden fair as well. I had not seen her for over a year, and it was just really fun to spend a day with her again. I always marvel at the character of some friendships, even if you do not see a lot of each other, when you meet up, you pick up right again where you left off last time. Anyway, I bought a lot of seeds and will start planting these in the next few weeks, I am really looking forward to that.
As I was there I saw a poster for a horse jumping event in a couple of weeks time. I used to love going to events like that, but again, have not done so for a long time. So, inspired as I was, I booked tickets for it then and there, so that is something else I am looking forward to.

As of today I am officially unemployed. I am not panicking yet though, as I have never been unemployed for very long. This also gives my an opportunity to do a bit more crafting and build some stock. My spring garland is coming along nicely and I will post some pictures of it soon.
Hope you will all have a lovely weekend.

Oooops, I did it again...

2009-02-19T05:33:00.000-08:00

I had been so good for at least a month, and really thought that I had conquered my addiction... However, look what happened over the last two days:

Not only did I buy those, but as I was at it anyway, I thought I might as well get these
in for a penny, in for a pound. I have never been a girl that did things by halves.
As I was feeling slightly under the weather, I decided that it was time to treat myself to these. I used to buy almost every magazine around, because there always is the idea that there is something in each edition that you do not know about or that you need. And... I am always right about that. They are a real source of inspiration to me ( well, that is how I justify spending oodles of money on them) and I will stick to that story. Anyway, I had loads of fun flicking through them yesterday and will read them properly over the next week or so. See, lots of value for money.
I was particularly excited about the Romantic home magazine as I had not seen that before. It reminded me of the Victoria magazine that I can very occasionally get here, I adore that one. The last issue I got my hands on is September/October 2008. It is really hard to come by here, the ABC store in Amsterdam used to stock it, but I can not find it anymore there, which is a real shame.

I am brimming with new ideas about things I want to make. At the moment I am very into cross stitching, which I love doing, but which takes a lot of time. I really have to start some sewing projects again as well, I want to build some stock for a craft fair.
For the moment I have abandoned my Christmas stitching for a spring one:
I am making this for a dear old friend of my mother's. They were at school together at Southern Seminar in Virginia, many moons ago. She lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, and came to stay with us for a fortnight last year. We all had a lot of fun! She loves tulips, and as it is her birthday in April, I thought I would stitch her this. (Look: I have finally figured out how to post bigger photographs than I did before, can you tell I am pleased?) I also came across this idea:I will adapt this and make it into a Spring garland instead of Noel. There is a complete alphabet included in the chart, so you can adapt it anyway you like. I thought I would make the hearts into scented sachets and add that to the care package I will send Nancy for her birthday.

This morning I got a little boost as I opened my e-mail account. An old friend who I worked with in Oxford contacted me again through Facebook. This really lifted my spirits, as I had lost touch with her, sadly, but had been thinking of her from time to time. Through her friend list I came across another old colleague as well who responded straightaway. This gave me the same feeling as reading the comments people place on this blog, it is just really fun to feel connected to people. Even if you do not really know one another.
I hope your day will be as much fun and as rewarding as mine was.

I intended to...

2009-02-13T05:09:00.000-08:00

I was all set up yesterday to write another post with pictures, but I made a mistake in uploading the pictures. As it already was quite late I could not be bothered to try again, so here is my Friday the 13th post then. Does anyone actually know why a Friday 13 is so particularly bad?
To add some cheer to a particulary wet and miserable (well, weatherwise anyway) day, I wanted to show you the flowers I got from my colleagues for my birthday. Aren't they gorgeous. They are pink, and pink is for girls. My colleagues thought that this was a particular " Caroline" arrangement and I must say... I agree.
And look at these brave things that are popping their heads up in the garden, it may well be that we are in for another 4 weeks of winter, but spring is definitely on its way!

As I had to so some food shopping this afternoon, I popped into the junktique (great word) shop around the corner from where I live and bought another 2 Christmas brooches, I just think they are very pretty. The lady in the shop told me that the other day there were people from a completely other part of the country that came into her shop particularly for these pins. She sells them at a good price (at least it is the price I am prepared to pay for them) and they always make me smile, they are very twinkly. I reckon they will make a great collectors item.

Aaaah, forgot to put the picture the right way round, but maybe you will get the idea of them. The heart is something my mother gave to me, I intend to make a few more of these and will try to sell them, as they are actually really fun to display a collection of brooches or pins on.

In my next post I will try and show you some of the things I am working on, for the moment a lot of things are just in the planning stage.
Doing this post has really cheered me up, I started it after I had written two more job applications which somehow always depresses me. Thank you all for bearing with me so far and for inspiring me with all your wonderful blogs and friendly comments. This could actually really get addictive.
To finish this post I have added some photos of the food I cooked yesterday, cooking always makes me happy as I feel I can be quite creative with it. The soup was some spruced up left-over Brussels sprouts soup I made last week. I put the left-overs in the freezer, where would I be without it? The stock I used was turkey stock, which I made from the carcass of the Christmas turkey. I got about 8 litres of that ( again, long live the freezer), I really get a buzz about doing stuff like that.
The salad was a recipe out of Good food's February issue. However, as I have been practically incapable to follow instructions since... oh, probably since birth, I spruced it up. I did not have spinach as was required in the recipe. As the carrots had to be roasted in the oven, I though therefore I could as well roast a few different kinds of vegetable with them, so I added some celery stalks ( they actually roast really nicely) and some onions. I also added some chilli flakes to the mix to liven it all up. The dressing was very nice and I must say it all added up to a lovely meal. Sometimes you really do not need much.

Trying to post a few pictures...

2009-02-09T12:23:00.000-08:00

I was talking to a friend in Switzerland yesterday, and she said that they were knee deep in snow again. It was all very pretty for sure, but she was so longing for spring again. And I know how she feels!!! Nobody adores winter and snow more than I do, but I long for snowdrops and daffodils and the like. So... I decided to bring some indoors.

They really cheer me up. I am not usually a girl who likes the colour green a lot, but I really fell for the pot with the paperwhites, it really was calling out to me. I have a very talented florists just round the corner from me, I can almost never pass her shop without getting something. The basket with the muscari in it, I got after a museum trip to Hoorn, somehow the text on it seemed appropriate at the moment. How happy little things like this can make you.

I was so thrilled to actually get some lovely comments on my first post, it felt really welcoming and encouraging. I am looking forward to read a lot more blogs and keep adding to mine. This seems such a great community.

This is a first...

2009-02-08T07:05:00.000-08:00

My first tentative steps into blogging country...
Over the past 2-3 weeks I have read a lot of blogs and have found some truly inspiring. So I have decided to take the plunge and start one myself. If you can bear with me I will ramble about anything that interests me and will use this as an update on my business plans as well.

I like a lot of things, but am at my happiest when I am crafting. As in four weeks time I will lose my job, as so many others seem to do at the moment, that has galvanised my into some thinking. Instead of dreaming about it for a lot more years, this seems to be the moment to spring into action and seriously try to set up a small business. I will try to sell things over the internet first, and am currently learning how to do that.

I had a good weekend this weekend. It was my birthday last Friday and I went to Rotterdam with my mother to an art show. We had a lovely lunch in the museum restaurant, it was a toasted sandwich, but very nicely presented, these little trips can be really inspiring. That is something that you will learn about me in due course... I love to cook and eat.
I also discovered a gorgeous little antique shop just up the road from where I live, it sells all sorts of small things, a lot of glass and some really nice Chrismas pins as well. I could not resist, as it was my birthday and bought two and a really lovely glass cruet set. I will post some pictures as soon as I have figured out how.

Thanks for bearing with me so far, I hope that over time my blog might be as inspiring to you as some of yours are to me.