.....means dining Al Fresco!
27.6.10
The Magic Universe
Watching the sky,
from under your tree,
what is it, that you see?
I see houses made of hand carved stones,
wished for by kings and queens.
I see golden trees floating by,
would that be the nightingale's dream?
I see dreams and wishes from all over the world.
From the rich and poor,
from the little and big,
from me and you.
✶
✶
✶
✶
✶
Now in shop
'The Magic Universe'
✶
26.6.10
25.6.10
Wednesday
(and little words too)
Home schoolers,
I admire them
and I little envy them.
This wednesday,
I took my three children to the sea instead of school.
We had the most wonderful morning.
Roemer had an eye for the most tiny snail houses possible,
he kept finding them in forever sand land.
Kiefer went on a treasure hunt
and soon had a collection of shells,
shells in shells
and other beach treasures.
If I had more discipline.....
22.6.10
Pasteis de nata : recipe
I notice.
It's maybe strange to say,
but I did and I do.
My mother tells me hilarious stories,
about me noticing things when I was a little girl.
One of my favorite stories is when my mother's friend came to visit.
I was very little.
Of course I secretly stared from the corner of the room.
And when she was gone,
I began telling my mother stories about a lady with huge balls of
sand in her eyes.
And the way she ate her cookie was like this,
do you know she had a weird toe too?
My mother always smiled of course,
knowing I was telling all the details one could see about her friend today.
Today I still notice.
From people's new haircut to spotting a little change in make up.
Kiefer is just like me,
even before he could speak,
he pointed with his finger,
the little changes we sometimes made in the living room
while he was sleeping.
The world can be overwhelming and a little scary too
when you are little and notice a lot.
I notice in Kiefer,
and still notice in me.....
♥
To celebrate CV a little 'must bake'.
Pasteis De Nata
This is proper slow food.
Make sure you bake them for a crowd,
otherwise you will eat them all by yourself.
Recipe by the lovely, beautiful and talented (Yes, I am a fan):
For the Dough:
250 g cold unsalted butter
250 g flour
40 g fine white sugar
pinch of salt.
Mix all in a food processor till it forms crumbs.
Add two or three table spoons of cold water.
Make a dough,
leave in fridge for a couple of hours,
wrapped in cling film.
Take out the dough,
roll out
try to make a rectangle
(40 by 35 cm)
Cut in half
make two huge sausages.
Cut 6 little ones out of 1 big
Put a little sausage straight up,
push with your thumbs the dough
into the greased muffin tin.
Leave in fridge while you start the custard.
Custard:
100 g fine white sugar
30 g flour
185 ml milk
1 vanilla pod
rind of lemon (1 big piece)
3 egg yolks
125 ml single cream
In a saucepan:
3 tablespoons of water and all sugar.
Leave to simmer until it thickens a bit, but doesn't caramelize.
Put the flour in a bowl and add a bit of the milk.
Stir until it forms a paste.
Leave aside.
In another saucepan:
Put in the rest of the milk, the lemon rind and a vanilla pod.
When it's a bit warmed up, take the vanilla pod out and cut in half.
Scrape out the marrow with a knife and put in the milk.
Leave until it almost boils.
Take out the lemon rind,
stir in to the flour paste and whisk well.
Add the egg yolks,
put mixture back in the saucepan on a low heat
and whisk for two minutes until smooth.
Take off the heat and add sugar sirup slowly while whisking.
Put in something that pours easily.
Preheat the oven (220 degrees)
Pour mixture in dough cups,
fill for ¾ .
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or golden brown.....
20.6.10
Make Your Own!
✸ garland
We love this shape or origami stars,
they remind us of the beautiful home birth of Roemer.
Just after midnight,
Roemer arrived in total peace.
Full moon and candle light,
healthy and blessed.
Pure magic.
After his first mother's milk,
it was time for him to meet our midwife.
she took a measuring tape out of her bag
and gently measured his lovely little body.
When she was done
she folded a tiny little star,
for us to keep.
How cool is that?
These origami stars are so easy to make,
you can do this any time of the day.
You will need:
beautiful paper (I used Japanese paper in midnight blue with bleached dots)
scissors or scalpel/cutting board
beautiful thread (I used thin gold thread)
a thin needle
1. cut strips of paper,
various widths will be various sizes stars
2. make a knot
3. make it tight, but don't go over the folding line with your fingers.
this will need to stay a bit puffy.
4. Fold the beginning of the paper back.
You will see which way it should tucked in.
5. Start to wrap the strip around and around and around.
The strip will lead you to the right side.
6. Tuck the end in the star.
7. With the end of your thumb,
gently push to puff up a side.
8. continue to do so.
9. Make lots!
10. Put on a beautiful thread with a thin needle.
Have fun!
✸
18.6.10
Dolce Vita & being Dutch
I like the cookies made by our local baker.
But when I found out how much they cost,
I simply can not buy them again.
Is this about being Dutch?
I wonder....
This basic cookie recipe is perfect
for adjusting, experimenting and mixing in.
And the dough is perfect for cookie cutters.
90 g soft unsalted butter
100 g caster sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon real vanilla extract
200 g plain flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon fine salt
Cream butter & sugar
Beat in eggs & vanilla
combine dry ingredients separately,
mix in gently
form in ball, wrap in cling film,
leave for at least 1 hour in refrigerator.
Today we chose for these flavors:
Thumbprint with organic 'More' jam, all the way from Italy.
Lavender
Chocolate Hazelnut
&
Pine nut & Rosemary
They sure taste lovely,
but best of all....
baking brings peace in mind and soul.
Have a great weekend everyone!
♥
15.6.10
Magical series
In the middle of the night,
I heard a little bell ringing.
Where was it coming from?
And what was I to do?
I opened every door in the house,
looked in all the beds...
nothing peculiar could be found.
I went up the stairs
and had a peek in my studio.
From the corner of my eye,
I saw a tiny little Tinker,
spraying magical dust
all over my screens.
The wooden floor squeaked,
little Tinker flew out of the window.
When finally the dust settled down,
I could see what she had done.
She'd taken my screen and printed
with pewter, grey and golds....
14.6.10
13.6.10
12.6.10
A day at the beach; the screen print
A day by the sea....
Magic buttons holding the stars and the sun.
Little bird flew out of his cage to stretch his wings.
If you can't go to the sand yourself,
the ocean must come to see you!
50 by 70 cm
Background circles (position and colors can vary in each print!)
But I always will use sky blue and white partly mixed.
Light grey.
heavy quality off white paper
limited edition
signed
♥♥♥
♥♥♥
11.6.10
A day at the beach
When I design,
I usually have someone in mind,
who inspires me to make what I make.
I know in the big picture it is not much at all,
but for me,
it is a way of coping with life stuff.
Sometimes I'm just not good in words.
Girlfriends was made with Kelly in mind.
The fragility of life,
to honor what's closest around us.
That is why the Girlfriends are my give-away.
The little lion was made for my little nephew,
he was in hospital with serious burns.
Thankfully he's now dancing the ChaChaCha again
and will fully recover.
This print, or what you now see is the paper cut,
is made with a dear friend in mind,
who has been ill for a while.
She is longing for some fresh air in body, mind and spirit.
We all know this kind of healing breeze can be found at sea.
So dear Marjolijn,
I'll bring you your day at the beach,
when the three of us sip our cup of tea!
All my love,
Guusje
10.6.10
'No- knead' bread
One million years ago I found this link:
I never made it,
but never forgotten it.
Yesterday,
I felt like trying something special.
Something exciting.
Something worldly.
Once this could mean a trip to Paris
and run straight to Poilane,
or maybe Italy,
to have a coffee with cornetti.
These days,
I have to use my own oven.
I got used to it,
maybe even prefer it.
So I got my pots.
Blindfolded Misses Kitchenaid
and start to blend.
And that was it.
Job done for 18 hours!
This morning I finally could do something to the bubbly mixture.
I could not imagine
what this blurb would turn in to.
I had to get a pastry scraper to handle the dough.
A really hot Creuset casserole pan
My oh My, does the smelly blob really turned in this beauty?
This taste like a pro bread,
really,
maybe beginners luck,
who knows?
but next on the list is her whole meal sister.
So my tip for today:
Press that link
and bake one tomorrow,
You won't look back!
Happy baking
♥
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