The Demise of Mr Bunny Rabbit

Basil though that the new Mr Bunny-Rabbit was a playmate...and while I was in the other room promptly grabbed him and took him to his bed to 'play'...



Bad dog, bad...

The Bunny-Rabbits

Mr and Mrs Bunny Rabbit are a simple and fashionable couple. They enjoy fine organic vegetables and fancy accessories. This month they are obsessed with the French look.

Mr Bunny-Rabbit

Mr Bunny Rabbit grew up in the country. He now lives in the city with his new wife, works in an office and enjoys quiet evenings, organic carrot juice and cigars.

Mrs Bunny-Rabbit

Mrs Bunny Rabbit has always been wild. She grew up in a big city and loves its fast life and fashion. She is a fashion designer for Oscar de la Rabbit.








They just came back from Paris and live together in a lovely rabbit hole in the fashionable part of town.

The Bunny-Rabbit

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!