Summer holiday preparations

Going on holiday Wednesday!! All the preparations, cleaning the house so it is nice and clean when we get back, putting Basil (our dog) at the breeders for his holiday...washing drying and ironing everything...it is like two weeks worth of house chores crammed into two days! 

But with the eye on the prize -  10 days in Greece. I am so excited! I have 4 books, (one huuuge) so I don't run out and steal R's books like last time...now I just need the latest cosmopolitan mag...no judging ok? Its holiday! Its the time to read crap while sunbathing.

What about you? What is your pre-holdiay ritual? What do you pack? Any guilt-free reads?

Basil the bear

Birthday Brownies

I was asked to bake some brownies for a birthday party, I was delighted! (getting gifts for men is so difficult!) Then I was faced with the 'what recipe to use' challenge. Brownies is one of those delicious recipes that in my opinion, the simpler, lower number of ingredients the better. I saw numerous recipes for brownies online, each with more ingredients than the next...and then I started going through my own cook books..surely there was a recipe somewhere...I found it! In a children's cook book from UNICEF I have had  for a very long time the simple brownies recipe - 7 ingredients, 30 min- delicious results.

Simple Brownies

240 g of cooking butter
350g dark chocolate bar
350g Sugar
4 eggs
240g flour
pinch of salt
walnuts (optional)

Pre-heat the oven at 200C.
In a pan on low heat melt the butter. Add the chocolate. When all melted remove from the fire and add the sugar, always mixing with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs to the mixture and blend them in nicely. Finally add the  salt and flour slowly, and the walnuts. Pour the mixture into a rectangular greased tin and bake for 25min. Remove from the tin and let cool on a wire rack (a cutting board will do fine too).

Keep to the time! Brownies are better when moist inside.

Happy Birthday V.!

Homemade Crisps

When was the last time you ate homemade crisps? My last time was in 1998, when we went to Lisbon to the EXPO98. We stayed with my grandmother and she was waiting for us with a nice plate of home made crisps. Other than the bother of slicing them in the kitchen robot or by hand its so simple!

I fried these in sunflower oil. Hmmm...

The end of Summer feeling

After a few weeks of sun it is always surprising how depressed one can get on the first day of rain and 'cold'.
Its the end of summer feeling, where you long for more of the sunny days and fun days with friends and family barbecuing but also somehow look forward to Autumn. The air is announcing Autumn is upon us...but it actually is more than a month away.
If I was still a school child I would be getting fidgety right now, looking forward to my new school books, buying new notebooks, pencil case and general school supplies. Yes I was that girl... Now I don't have that to look forward too, work is the same during any season, the difference is wether or not you get wet on your way to work - which in Holland happens all year round, and how many layers of clothes you have to wear.
So what better than a nice Beef and Ale stew with home made dumplings to remind us that Autumn and the arrival of colder days can have its advantages.

I followed Jamie Oliver's recipe from his Food Revolution book. Quite simple to cook, but takes 2,5 hours to simmer...delicious though!

After such a dinner I feel like going shopping for some snugly throws for my sofa and updating my to view list of movies.

The recipe can be found here

http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/chefs/jamie-oliver/beef-and-ale-stew-recipe

5 minute IKEA hack

Last week I bough this IKEA throw pillow (Emmie Kvist). The problem with bought pillows is that they always look shabby somehow, you can straighten them up but the stuffing never seems to fill the pillow nicely.  Today I had enough so I though of solving it by sewing a seam all around. Like that you also get a slightly different IKEA pillow.

Before

After sewing a seam all around

 Doesn't it look much better? And after you use it, it doesn't look so crumpled!

Sewing days

Owning a sewing machine can be a very good thing. Its always fun to make teh exact curtains you want, or to choose the fabric of your throw pillows instead of falling yet again for the IKEA trap. I have fallen for it many times but I get so tired of seeing pieces of my home in someone else's home..

My sewing machine was from my mother in law, it is quite old. In fact it was the sewing machine used to sew baby clothes for my boyfriend before he was born. It has its days...yesterday was a good one.
I picked up on some old projects and created some new ones, and was glad to find I still have the hang of it.

Strawberry bags

Versatile reusable shopping bags that fold into a cute strawberry.
I once bough one of these at a fair and was very disappointed when after two times using it the thin polyester fabric started tearing at the seams..so I decided to make them myself using sturdier fabrics. They are very easy to close, you just stuff the bag into the corner with the strawberry and pull the strings to close.
Some friends soon saw them, fell in love and asked me to make some for them too. So far I make them in several colours and strap lengths, depending on what people ask. Anyone can mail me and order!
Here is an example:

Yesterday was definitely a sewing day..also made these patchwork placemats for a friend. 

I bought these fabrics in Campo de Ourique, Lisbon two years ago. They reminded me of wallpapers in cute English cottages. I decided to mix match them for some placemats for a friend who loves these colours and wallpaper motifs with tiny flowers.

Happy Bday H!

Strawberry Summer Cake

Summer in the Netherlands is unpredictable and sometimes it doesn't bother to make an appearance at all. This year it has been different. Summer has been with us for some weeks now. And what better way to celebrate it
than to share a nice sunny afternoon in the garden with a friend and a nice piece of cake.

This is strawberry summer cake. Baked with potato starch instead of flour, and has absolutely no butter..making it lighter and perfect for warmer days. Although there is whipped cream - a lot of it. Inside it has a mixture of Chantilly and crushed fresh strawberries.

But we have to celebrate summer right?