FINAL INSPECTION

Ofcourse there must be a large patch of soft green grass in the V&F (vegetable & fruitgarden) for the little monsters to do some sunbathing while the plants are growing. So obviously this was on top of the long 'to do list'. You can see Nando is inspecting thoroughly that the green carpet is well soaked. In most cases he is not particularly fond of water... but his wet feet do not seem to bother him this time!

VEGETABLE & FRUITGARDEN

Did i mention that a dream came true? nooooooo??? this blog has just recently purchased it's very own vegetable and fruitgarden to grow it's own ingredients for cooking! Just now, planting has started and little by little the world of modern farming is starting to open up to me! Those past few days the sun was smiling bright and i have too many ideas to put into practice....will tell you more about it soon! Must run off now to do some sowing!

starting up (with a view!)

protecting the crop!

fresh herbs

SPRING IS IN!

Lou Rota

NO HOUSE WINE

This beautiful bottle of 'vonkelwijn' was a present at a dinner party in my home! The bottle cover was designed by Studio Boot they designed a number of Fair trade 'no house wines'. The title is catching because part of the takings are used for charity in South Africa, helping homeless children who lost their parents because of HIV.

I am now held responsible :-) for the task of finding a suitable occasion to open this bottle....!

PANINI RICAMATI

by Catherine McEver

SPRING IS IN THE AIR!

They are here!...the days that you wake up from the birds singing ...while the sun is shining! Yes! 

FOOD STYLING

What a lovely way of styling colorful dishes! It's so fresh & bright and the combination of food and illustration is catching. See more styling from Dietlind Wolf on her blog.

PORTE COUVERT

Very subtle and original creations from Emilie on her Griottes blog! I always had a soft spot for the kittens tree... it think it's one of the funniest things in nature!

Emilie's porte couvert

Kittens tree branches in my '3sisters' vase

VALENTINE'S TREATS

a nostalgic but modern valentine's treat!

ONE WEEK TO...VALENTINE!

= 1 week to get my act together for surprising ideas...

CHOCOLATORANGE!

There's a cute little teahouse in Zuiderwoude, in the middle of the countryside, close to Amsterdam. It's called 'Theetuin en theeschenkerij 't Einde' where you can sit outside and enjoy the homemade pies in summertime. Yesterday the sun was out and Holland was covered in snow. It was 15C below zero! the canals were covered with a thick layer of ice and i had been taking photo's of landscapes all morning. Ice skating people on tour stopped by this place to eat peasoup by the fire. After a strole on the ice with the dogs we enjoyed a big piece of cheesecake (the dogs had a little whipped cream tasting..) And than it suddenly struck me.... we were drinking hot CHOCOLATE in an ORANGE interior! Besides having a lovely day there was no escaping making a blogpost about this cosy coincident.

NANDO'S

Check out this funny interactive website of Nando's! a worldwide Afro-portugese take-away restaurant chain.

recipe book

funny adds

how it all started

You can even contribute to their packaging, clever concept thinking!

N.Y.E. TRADITION!

My mother has started the tradition to bake us "appelbollen" at New Years Eve! it's a slightly more healthy variation to the Dutch tradition of "oliebollen" which are baked in hot oil. The appelbollen are baked in the oven and are actually very easy to make. 

You take out as many sheets of squaire frozen puff pastry you need and have them defrosted (1 per apple). Preheat the oven for 10 minutes at 200C. Use small sized firm apples like Elstar. Peel them and take out the middle with an appledrill. Cut a bit from the bottom so they stay up better on your plate. Make sure the hard parts and the seeds are gone and make the hole +/- 2 cm wide. Make a filling of rinsed raisons, brown sugar (or cane sugar) and cinnamon for as many apples that you want to bake. I mix also a bit of grated lemonpeel in the mixture for a fresh bite. Fill the hole of the apples with this filling and fold the puff pastry around them. Place them on the oven plate and brush them with a bit of egg yellow. Bake them for 20 minutes. Nice with a glass of bubbles....!

COOKBOOK TOP 5 OF 2011

For 2011 i cropped my newly purchased list of books about food, design and cooking to a top 5! 
I love all of these for different reasons as you can see below. One thing they all have in common: they make me happy and even more eager for cooking and entertaining friends!

1

for it's original theme and breathtaking drawings...gasp!

2

for it's original graphics and fun to cook the 'favourites' of many people

3

for it's original recipies...I'm taken by the personal stories and great irish journey! (on my wish-to-go-list) I love also last years Homemade!  and will most probably love coming SUMMER issue about France..

4

for the sweet additional stories and comments, french country cooking... makes me smile and want to explore more of my favourite Brittany!

5

for moving forward from cupcakes, it was an immediate YES!

WISHING YOU....

CAKE DECORATION

pimped tiny candle holders by Katie Bush from thedailytelecraft

what about these ones Katie made in bright colors? i say YES!

DANCER AND PRANCER PASTA..

good idea for the holidays by Ikea

COLOURED KITCHEN GEAR

Matching colours is a part of my job as a fashion designer but it does not stop with clothes...No no no!

I have a soft spot when it comes to colours of kitchen gear too. Take the design of a simple handsoap bottle, the colour of the fluid or the clever designed package. They can make a real difference to me....