Currently listening to over and over and over again…

Angus and Julia Stone’s new album down the way.  And a selection of songs from Sophie Hunger’s Monday’s Ghost album.

Also loving…

…Amsterdam band Point Quiet’s latest album, especially this song.

And of course…

…the beautiful guitar compositions of Romain (known here in the (blog)house as my dear French Boy). He has just launched his very own guitar-enthusiast blog, check it out.

I am playing on the piano over and over and over again:

Yann Tiersen’s Rue des Cascades volume 1 & 2. It all started from listening to the Amelie soundtrack of course.

And as always, relentlessly, for the last 15 years, anything from Michael Nyman’s score from The Piano. My favourite to play is Big My Secret.

I am currently composing this song, among others…

And am currently working in the sound studio with:

French guitarist Romain Bigeard:

www.myspace.com/romainbigeard

Check out his myspace page for a listen and to see how the songs were made.

One morning over breakfast late last year, I suggested to French Boy that I’d like to renovate the (blog)house. With his usual enthusiasm for my inevitably painstaking & arduous projects, he raised an eyebrow, smiled and shouted in his beautiful accent, “let’s do it!!!”

Many weekends, late nights and long days later (is it normal for a couple to spend ridiculous amounts of hours on a computer rather than do like, other stuff?!), here we are, standing at the freshly painted front door, ready to cut the ribbon and cross the threshold. I’m so excited!

Today’s post is a little impromptu housewarming invitation for each of you.

Please take a glass of bubbly or your favourite celebratory beverage, and enjoy a stroll through the newly improved (blog)house at your leisure. Click on things and see where they take you. Stay as long as you like and visit as often as you like, I adore your company and wanted to give you even more reasons to stop by.

And I really wanted to keep. it. simple. as I know many of you have expressed to me that you like the (blog)house for it’s simplicity and calmness. So you’ll notice it’s really not that different to before, just easier to navigate to your favourite categories, with a few personal touches added because well, you know I can’t help but doodle all over a nice clean white page!

Shall I give you a little tour?

Okay, well first up you’ll notice the tabs at the top of the page. Each room in the (blog)house is easy to access from there. You can also access these rooms by clicking on the little home in the right side bar.

The sound studio, library, kitchen and the guest quarters will now be active blogs! I will be quietly reviewing the books I read in the library, while the sound studio will be filled with my new musical compositions, music inspirations and soundscapes. And each month or so I will feature new guests in both the kitchen and guest quarters – each week they will post something special just for you. My kitchen guest is already cooking up a storm – I am so happy to welcome my dear friend & food stylist Yvette van Boven! Go and see what she is up to in there if you can’t already smell the delicious aromas. My new guest in the guest quarters will be arriving first thing in the morning. I can’t wait!

my mystery guest is on her way! this is your only clue.

I have created a separate page for my very special blogroll so that I can add more and more of my favourite blogs to the list. And here on the main page you’ll notice an ‘in the spotlight’ section in the right side bar where I will feature blogs each week that I just can’t get enough of. Take a look at who is in the spotlight this week!

Now what else can I tell you. Oh yes, I’ve been gathering some stella post subjects over the past months, saving them for this new improved backdrop, and I’m so pleased to be able to share them all with you now. So watch this space in coming weeks, you will not want to miss a thing! Or better still, subscribe. And please tell ALL your friends to come by too, everyone and anyone is welcome here at the (blog)house, the more the merrier.

Thank you everyone, for your enthusiasm and support in my creative endeavours. I do hope you are happy here and please let me know if you notice any flaws or if there are things you find don’t work – there will no doubt be a few creases to iron out and I would absolutely love your feedback.

And I’d just like to take this opportunity to shout out a very special thank you to French Boy. He has been an integral part in helping to create what I envisioned for the (blog)house, having the incredible talent to be able to talk to computers in their own language. So merci beaucoup mon amour, for all your hard work and dedication.

Okay that’s it, I’ll let you wander around, and i’ll be back here in the morning to introduce you to our new guest.

xx

Hi there! How about starting off with one of my favorite soups? This one is particularly good because you can fix it in about 20 mins, so no hard work. I wrote it for elle eten last year for a story about all time favorites and the quick version of the traditional recipe.

It was shot by Saskia van Osnabrugge . And the styling was done by Annemieke Paarlberg.

I love this picture, I actually get hungry looking at it.

Enjoy!

Quick Bouillabaisse
Preparation time : ±20 minutes
Serves 4

For the soup:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 small can of tomato purée
1 pinch of saffron
100 ml Pernod or brandy
1 litre fish broth
1 kg fish: whitebait, red snapper, red mullet or goatfish, salmon, dorade, for example, all filleted
a big hand of fresh mussels, vongole and shrimps: ask your fishmonger for a mix!
> Some chopped flatleaf parsley to garnish

For the Rouille / croutons:
1 big piece of stale bread
2 cloves of garlic
4 tbsp mayonnaise (preferably homemade)
2 teaspoons harissa or else 1 tbsp ketchup and a sniff chilli powder

150 grams of Gruyere cheese
and some extra oil for greasing

Fry the onion briefly with the garlic and the fennel in the olive oil until the onion turns transparent. Stir in the tomato purée and saffron. Keep stir-ring until the tomato starts to smell sweet. Pour in the Pernod or brandy and stir well, pour the fish broth in after that and let it cook softly for about 20 minutes. 5 minutes before the end add the fish, roughly cut into pieces of about the same size. Let them cook gently for another few minutes.

Make meanwhile make the rouille and the croutons. Preheat the oven at 180 de-grees.

Cut the stale bread into slices and spread them onto a greased baking sheet. Bake the croutons in 5-6 minutes golden brown. Turn them halfway through.

After that, grind in your food processor: about 6 croutons, the garlic, the mayonnaise and the harissa into a creamy sauce.

First scoop the fish from the soup and divide them over in 4 deep plates and then pour the soup over it. Serve with the rouille, croutons and the grated Gruyere cheese. Bon appétit!

Welcome to the (blog)house kitchen, Aran!

All recipes, photography and styling by pastry chef + recipe writer Aran Goyoaga…

“I am very much inspired by seasonal fruits and herbs. I like the idea of having to wait for nature to do its work. It reminds me that sometimes, we should let life run its course and there is nothing we can do about it but wait anxiously for next year’s fruits. I wanted to showcase four different recipes using summer herbs and fruits. So colorful and rich, almost like poetry…”

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Poetry indeed! What an incredible selection of sweetness. Thank you Aran, I am going to enjoy making these delicious treats and I hope you will all try these at home too.

Click here to find out more about Aran, and here to view her wonderful blog. To see the original recipe posts, click here, here, here, and here. Enjoy and…bon appétit!

a sunset captured on film

…because the sun is STILL shining! and i’m so excited by the presence of the beautiful sunlight that i’m all giddy, and flustered, and full of bubbly energy.

dear luscious sunshine, i love you!!

I’m also very excited because… well, you did say you like surprises, right??