Children's room 1

Don't worry, house keepers of the world:

5 minutes later, it was a mess again!

♥♥♥

Sleep Well everyone!

Peach tart and competitions

Me proudly presenting

my first prize

won in England

for baking a cake!

I'm not really into contests,

competitions or games.

But in two weeks,

there will be a cake/tart/pie contest

in our street!

We are all practicing.

I'm ashamed to say,

I would love to win this contest.

Isn't that hilariously childish?

I'm already thinking of strategies,

recipes and methods.

It will not be easy,

we all love to bake around here.

And there are lots of foodies in our little street.

I wouldn't stand any change if this was a cooking contest,

but baking......

Yesterday we tasted the lime coconut cake next door,

today we will taste my peach pine kernel tart.

I combined several recipes,

hopefully it will taste good.

I made a plain crust dough,

added a hint of vanilla

and some toasted pine kernels.

I blind baked the crust for 12 minutes.

I bought some firm, but ripe peaches

sliced them up and covered them in melted butter(20 g),

a table spoon of fine caster sugar

and a table spoon of honey

I placed them carefully in the hot crust,

and baked till golden.

I finished with a glaze,

some peach jam with a tablespoon of water,

heated up in a saucepan.

We will taste it later,

when I bought some cream.

This tart screams for some added white stuff.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Help the planet with Appeltaart....

.....one baby step at the time.

It might be a small gesture,

but maybe together,

you and me,

can make a little difference.

My small company Appeltaart and I,

think it is time to donate in

small projects around the world.

Appeltaart has joined PIFWORLD today .

From every print you'll buy,

there will be a 10 euro donation

to a charity of Appeltaart's choice.

At the moment donations will be for :

Afganistan's Midwifes

Go on, have a look!

They can use all our support.

To celebrate this Appeltaart event,

I made a unique screen print,

for sale in my shop,

but I, and so we, will donate the full amount paid for this print

to the midwifery program.

(KIVA will be one of our charities too)

50 by 65 cm

unique print

signed

(click to enlarge and print)

Here you go,

a recipe for clotted cream.

In Holland we don't have double cream,

I guess, we just reduce the cream mixture a bit more.

Bon appetit!

(click to enlarge and print)

This time I chose for a national favorite,

not Dutch,

but British.

My home from home.

They're probably a million ways to make scones,

but since my mummy is a mama,

I didn't learn it from her.

I need to rely on recipes.

You don't need an electric mixer,

you could use your hands of course to make the dough.

(I'll bet the Women's Institute would never ever recommend to use a machine!)

A perfect reason to make scones is

to use up all those homemade jars of Jam.

You don't want to get stuck with those,

right?

Have a Bliss monday!

x Guusje

ZOOlifant

The very best part in our big renovation has began,

decorating!

We had to change rooms again,

so forget everything you've seen so far!

I won't reveal the rooms yet,

but I made a new print for upstairs.

Of course I made some for the shop too.

Every single color is printed separate.

a bit of work,

but so rewarding to see the print taking shape.

I love screen printing.

I just can not believe, I will ever stop.

It's my true passion.

Only 5 screen prints are available in my shop!

Size 50 by 65 cm

Have a lovely SUN-day

☀

x Guusje

Dog biscuits & kitchen tables

In England,

my dear friend B always had fig cookies in her tin.

She served them with a cup of white PG tips.

Bless the days we were endlessly discussing the pleasures of life

and our brand new experiences being a parent.

Back to the biscuits....

I love their taste,

but you must agree,

they do look like dog biscuits.

I am making lots of recipes from:

'van de bakker'

It's just the book for me.

If you are Dutch and love to bake,

go and buy a copy today.

You won't regret.

When we went to the recycle store on tuesday,

we picked up a new highchair for toddlers

and a new kitchen table.

Of course we had to paint the table.

It didn't come in this bright ocean green.

I think it suits our house very well!

If you really, really would love the recipe for these cookies,

please ask and I will write it down for you.

Have a great weekend everyone!

x Guusje

Weekend and stuff

We were having an Italian sunday over here.

My kids love Italian food.

We made large pizza's and fed, besides our family, the neighbors too.

For dessert 'the girl next door' served Pavlova with summer fruits.

(My very very favorite)

For a change,

I made this very lovely

'Crostada di fichi'

Fig tart.

For the first time,

from 'Jamie's Italy'.

Thanks universe for sending Jamie,

his food is just perfect to feed families and friends.

A big hit.

Lovely texture,

a very intense taste without being too much.

You can feed lost and lots

because of the 'small' portions.

Perfect to share in our little community.

The recipe calls for fresh figs,

I used dried ones which I soaked.

I added a dollop of home made fig jam on top of the figs,

just before it went in the oven.

I reduced the amount of sugar in the frangipane,

I like it a little less sweet.

The recipe can be found HERE.

✱

In the rest of my spare time,

I tried to sew a bit more.

I screen printed some fabric on friday,

and it was calling my name at the kitchen table all day.

I made a shopper XL

I quickly have to make another one,

for me!

I ♥ her

Have a lovely monday!

X Guusje

♥

Family life

Poppy is making the natural progress from being spoon-fed,

to finger foods to holding her own spoon.

She made it very clear,

she's also ready for more wholesome hearty meals.

At nighttime this is no problem,

she'll eat what we are having.

(Poppy being nr.3 we're surely getting used to saltless food)

During the day,

this means I'll have to start cooking special foods again.

I secretly enjoy making baby / toddler meals,

popsicles , smoothies and all things 'food unspoiled' children love to eat!

This is her favorite spoon,

perfect for tiny hands to hold.

Easy Peasy Recipe:

Cook Millet for 20 minutes

Add very finely chopped tomato

Add very finely chopped Basil

A spoonful of greek Yoghurt on top

She loves it!

All baby / toddler mums out there,

Please share your favorites!

I would love to hear all about them.

Have a good weekend,

x Guusje

Corner View: 'Me'

This is Me, sucking in her tummy to look slimmer!

About Me:

Me discovered recently,

she likes to sew.

Me doesn't like to do dishes.

Me does like watching telly especially when the kids are asleep.

Me walks with bare feet

and at night time

her feet are so dirty,

she have to clean them with a hard bathroom sponge

to get rid of the dirt.

Me likes to garden,

but leaves the rubbish laying around for her love to pick up.

The love of Me, does not like that.

but hey,

Me is Me.

Enough about MeMe..

Up to all the other Me's in the world!

New Produce

What is happening in Appeltaart's tree?

We are growing hand sewed & hand printed bags.

I am busy designing new prints for my own little textile label.

They will be ready in autumn.

I'm so excited.

All designs will be printed on organic fabric,

and home sewed by me, Mrs. Appeltaart.

In the meantime,

I'm practicing my sewing skills,

exploring bag sizes,

contacting organic textile suppliers

and

playing around with water based ink colors.

I'm modeling too!

All these bags,

printed on front and back,

big, little and small,

are now for sale in my shop.

They are waiting to be carried around,

holding wallets, little notebooks

and

maybe even nappies too.

And maybe,

one day,

walking around town,

Mrs. Appeltaart spots one of her bags,

or even two.

Wouldn't that be super cool?

So pop in store,

and make your Applepie score!

Have a great week, every one!

x Guusje