BOO + FRIENDS

At the Design District fair in Zaandam (NL) beginning of this month i met with BOO + FRIENDS.(design projects and interior products for office, home and garden)

'BOO + friends' is represented by founder Ben Oostrum and his designer friends.I was struck by these eye-catching garden tools. Any of you owning a garden would agree these fun products are an absolute must have!

watering-can by Davy Grosemans for Xala

garden tags: TALK & THINK by BOO + FRIENDS

greenhouse by BOO + FRIENDS

GARDEN DAY

Charming little video about gardening and growing vegetables told from a kids perspective, enjoy!

HOMEGROWN VEGGIES & FRUIT

It's time for a celebration because the first homegrown veggies have reached my kitchen! Yeaaaaaah! It's a miracle that in just a few months time my vegetable garden already gives these beautiful and tasty products!.. i'm pleasantly surprised.

Here's what i made with products 'straight from the garden' so far: 1)Beetroot summer salad, 2)beetroot & apple juice, 3)beetroot risotto, 4)stir fried fennel, 5)braised endive with garlic, sourcream and pine nuts, 6)eatable flower salad, 7)mint & lemon balm tea, 8) a lovely salsa verde with mint and parsley, and 9)apple rubarb crumble...i say: not bad for a start!

This morning i picked 2 big bowls of strawberries for my yogurt smoothies and early mornin' toast :-) MMMMMMM delicious!

BEEP EGG

In my home you'll find more than one blue-white piece of ceramic, in tableware, vases etc. I started collecting them years back because i like ceramics and the history of how the Dutch people started to make Delft Blue ceramics and became famous for it (1650-1750). The real credits of course are to be given to the Chinese.

Now, this blue-white egg alarm has joined my kitchen lately because it has a cute 'old houses print' and because i dislike the tone of a regular alarm clock one uses to boil an egg. Can you imagine this egg plays 3 traditional Dutch songs!

Soft egg:'in Holland staat een huis'

Medium egg: 'twee emmertjes water halen' 

Hard boiled egg: 'our national anthem Wilhelmus'

SUGARED FLOWERS ON CHOCOLATES

Did you know you can actually order your eatable sugared flowers from the internet? You sure can! from Corwen, Denbighshire, North Wales, UK. That's a mouth full! Go quickly to their site 'Eat my flowers' and make yourself a pile of these lovely chocolates.

LA DOLCE VITA

Life is sweet! especially with these two beautiful presents i received yesterday from a dear friend!

'La dolce vita' celebrates life with glamourous recipes.

'Ciao bella' is a book from Tessa Kiros about Italian food from the region of Venice.

Last year i received another one of her very nice books called:'De smaak van mijn herinnering'. 

I do love one of her quotes where she says:" I wish that everyone would go back to old-fashioned ways: growing their own fruit and vegetables, eating with their families and eating less convenience food, also eat seasonally like for example in Tuscany". I think she's got a point!