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!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coffee & cake!!

Saturday afternoon... groceries done, bunch of flowers on the table, time to bake!

This time I wanted to make an apple pie, as it definitely fits the fall season that has just started.

But then my eye caught a recipe for apple crumble cupcakes... So apple crumble cupcakes it is!

 

The ingredients

 

The outcome

 

And a triple portion for a teenager who had just played a soccer match :)

 

Enjoy your weekend!

 

P.S. Wanna see another baking post? Have a look here

And should you like to know the recipe, just let me know in the comments,

then I will post it here!

 

Another garden party!

 

And last weekend it was time for another party in the garden!

The weather was gorgeous and so, late in the afternoon, we received about 20 friends at home

 for what will probably be the last BBQ of this season... unfortunately ;)

 

Apart from cleaning, preparing & cooking I love to do some tablescaping!

Not that easy if you have to fit in 20 people on your  terrace.

But we managed!

 

This time I chose red tablecloths... with little white polka dots,

napkins in white with little red polka dots (I used them here too),

white flower bouquets, mix match of red & white china.

Lovely food, nice company, latino music, samba, salsa and aché :)

 

See you soon again!

 

 

 

End of summer garden

 

Wow... hasn't September weather been good for us so far?

Sunshine, blue skies, crisp air during the day and cool night to sleep well.

If you ask me, it can go on like this till next Spring!

 

 

The garden is still full of flowers thanks to the Dahlias and huge Zinnias. The  Aster (novi-belgii) produces a rainfall of soft pink flowers.

 

 

I must admit that I'm pretty surprised by all the flowers that are still in bloom. And, that the rest of the garden doesn't look too worn out after the summer. Still quite some fresh green around!

 

 

 

Lots of pinkish flowers,

so I need to remember to add some flashy colour to the borders next year,

some bright red or orange will add a bit more 'fire' to it, don't you think?

Could you give me some advice?

That's it for now, gonna enjoy the gorgeous weather outside and
later to the tennis court to watch the boys play their competition matches!

 

Thanks for stopping by here,

this one's for you (fresh from the garden!)

 

 

Wishing you a good start of the new week!

P.S. Remember what our garden looked like last year?

Click here