For all of you!

 

For French food lovers...

Last minute Christmas present tip? For lovers of France and French food?

Then is is the cookbook to buy:

Little Paris Kitchen by Rachel Khoo

 

I received it from a friend and loved every page of it!

Simple recipes, yummy pictures, French feeling!

 

Or buy it for yourself, wrap it & put it under the tree ;)

 

Enjoy the pre-Christmas days!

 

Group hug

 

Lynda organiseerde weer en natuurlijk deed ik weer mee. Altijd leuk zo'n 'group hug'!!

 

Natuurlijk was het bij mij wéér last-minute werk, maar als het goed is, heeft ook Sjoukje haar pakje binnen (dat toch nét weer niet door de brievenbus paste...).

 

Van Sjoukje kreeg ik afgelopen woensdag al een grote envelop in de bus. Poeh, moeilijk hoor om die dicht te laten tot de 17e!

 

Heb ik ook lekker niet gedaan, haha! Donderdag was het licht en zonnig buiten en dus perfect foto-weer! Dat was dus een hele goede reden om het pakje al open te maken, vind ikzelf!!

 

En in die prachtige pakjes (vergezeld van een mooie zelfgemaakte kaart) zaten een heleboel mooie spulletjes, kijk maar:

 

 

Een geborduurde kerstloper, een stoffen hartje voor in de boom, kaarsjes, waxinelichtjes en een mooi bewerkt luciferdoosje! Kijk het eens lief bij elkaar staan!

Dankjewel Sjoukje! Ik ben er erg blij mee!

En dankjewel Lynda voor het organiseren!!

 

Ik wens jullie allemaal een fijne week & geniet van de kerstsferen overal!

Salted butter caramel macarons

 

Finally, I have found the time to update my blog!

I've been procrastinating...

Too busy with other things...

Like St. Nicolas (Dutch tradition)

Like diner parties (at home and elsewhere)

Like enjoying the snow
Like baking macarons!

 

Anyway, the (unforeseen) blog pause has come to an end!!

 

And what better way to celebrate than with these salted butter caramel macarons?

 

To be honoust, I've always been hesitating to make macarons,

it seemed too difficult & too much work to me!
Bu finally, I took the courage to really do it!
It wasn't that difficult, nor was it too much work.

I think they still need some 'finetuning',
but overall, they were not bad at all!

I tried several ones:
pistachio, red fruits, white chocolate-orange-cardamom
and last weekend I decided for the salted butter caramel ones!
Did not regret it!!

 

 

This salted butter caramel filling combines beautifully with the new Nespresso Variations:

noix de coco, macadamia or noisette. Did you try one of them already?

 

 

 

So, on a cold day like today, I pampered myself with a Macadamia latte & a macaron!

Life could be worse ;)

 

 

Blondie

Another cold & rainy Sunday afternoon...

Reason enough to bake :)

This time I wanted to try something new:

 

How to:

* Preheat the oven to 175°C.

* Grease a square baking pan with butter & line with baking paper.

* Melt the butter slowly, take the butter of the heat and add 75 grams of the white chocolate

and let it melt. Stir.

* Mix sugar and eggs until thick & yellow. Add flour, butter with chocolate, salt and vanilla essence & mix until well-combined.

* Finish by adding the dried cranberries and mix them carefully with the batter.

* Add the batter in the baking pan and put the rest of the chocolate on top.

* Bake the blondies for about 35-40 minutes. Let cool down and cut in squares.

 

 

The taste was great, but next time I will add the chopped chocolate to the batter instead of putting it on top. And I will also use less heat on the upper side and let it bake a bit longer.

 

The rest of the family enjoyed it to the last crumb so there will definitely be a next time!

 

Bon appetit!

 

Rome

Mother's Day 2012, already some time ago... but...

The present I got from the boys: A city trip of my choice - in Europe, specifically added (they know me too well I'm afraid!)

And so, last Friday, after work, we left for...

ROME

The city of my choice - this time :)

We spent 4 full days in this beautiful city and had a great time.

Very busy, soo many tourists!

Luckily we bought our entrance tickets for the Colesseum and the Vatican Museum online

(make sure you do that too should you travel to Rome!), the lines were amazingly long.

 Quiet outside (rain!)...

 Busy inside!

Of course, I had to try my luck at the Trevi fountain
 

 

The next day the sun accompanied us at the Colosseum:

 

 Old & new (can you spot the heli?):

 

 Piazza Navona is also a must-see!

 

 

 Reminding me of Place du Tertre in Paris:

 

Many more pictures made of course, but this is the selection I chose!

 

And for now, I'm just wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Take care & enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Quicker than the squirrels!



With a walnut tree in the garden, October is always a busy month. Busy because we have to be quick. Very quick. Quicker than the squirrels! They love the walnuts as much as we do. But they have an advantage: they just climb up the trunk of the tree and get the walnuts from the branches. We, humans, have to wait, wait until the walnuts fall off the tree. Just hoping that the squirrels have left some for us!

 

This year, the harvest is good: boxes full of walnuts. A whole lot more than last year. Or were we just quicker and more observant?

 

Well, all these walnuts need to be used.

 

To start with cake, a walnut-cinnamon cake.

Here's what you need:

 

And this is what comes out of the oven after about 45 minuten on 175°C

 

 

As a little bit of batter was left, I used it for mini-bundt-cakes

 

Tastes delicious with some whipped cream too!

 

 Oh and I added a 'personal touch': some cider spices :)

Will definitely bake and/or cook more using the walnuts.

To be continued...

 

Wishing you all a nice weekend!

Ours is filled with a family reunion & a nice dinner to celebrate the birthday of a friend!

Happy Birthday Eline!

You know that 50 is the new 40, don't you??

 

 More bakes with walnuts? Click here for banana-nut-cake!

 

Flower Power

 

Although I did say good bye to Summer...

I could not resist picking this bunch of

late Summer Flower Power from the garden.

Zinnias, a variety of Dahlias, Sedum, Aster Dumosus & Gladiolus.

 

 

Wishing you all a lovely week full of colour!!

 

 

 

Saying good bye to Summer...

With October around the corner, I would like to bring a last ode to this years' Summer.

It has had its ups & downs this year, but, overall, it was a nice Summer!

 

Partying has been one of our favourite activities
 

 

We enjoyed the garden with all its beauties a lot

 

 

 

And of course, we 'vacationed'!!

 

Slovenia

Croatia

Venice

Verona

And rainy Luzern!

 

Ready for fall now!! Are you too??

 

Have a great weekend!!