For the last week here in Amsterdam, our canal has had a layer of glorious snow over the top of its frozen, icey surface. It has been reflecting a beautiful blue-white light into the boat that I have never seen before. Every morning I have been eagerly pulling up the blinds to let in as much of the light as possible, and I have been so inspired to use this new white light – imagining up all sorts of new still life tabletop scenes and interior settings. This morning I was a little sad to see that all the snow had melted on the canal.

But I didn’t come here to give you a weather report. Instead, I want to let you know that food stylist Yvette van Boven is here in da (blog)house again! After I saw the latest post on her blog called Dutch Fare, I asked if she could translate one of the recipes and being the wonderful friend that she is, she said yes. She shouldn’t be indulging us though, because she too is very busy working on a huge book and she needs no distractions. Meanwhile, she has runaway to Paris to try to get some work done on her book without being distracted by the likes of well… me. I understand.

So, go take a look in the (blog)house kitchen (click here) to see which recipe Yvette kindly translated and wrote about for us. It’s the perfect winter treat. Enjoy!

xx

Hello People!

I just posted some photo’s of very dutch recipes with a modern twist on my blog, as I just cooked them for a dutch magazine called Margriet.

Pia really liked them and asked me to translate a recipe for you to read here in her kitchen. So of course I’m more than happy to do that.

These are little semolina puddings, that we treated as ‘Creme Brulée’. Semolina pudding is a quite old fashioned Dutch dessert. Usually it’s served with a red berry sauce. Now I liked this one, it had a kick to it, that came from the star anise: a spice I particularly like. Well here it is, do try it, it was delicious!

Spicy Semolina Crème Brûlée
For 4-6 people (depending on the size of the dishes)

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

500 ml liters milk (about 2 cups)
200 ml cream (about 1 cup)
1 / 2 vanilla pods, cut open and with the seeds scraped out
1-2 star anise (and more to garnish)
1 lemon (preferably organic), grated
75 g semolina
50 g sugar + extra for the crispy top

Tools needed: small heat resistant dishes or cups, crème brule burner… torch – burner ? Or a good grill.

Pour the milk and cream in a saucepan. Add the vanilla (pod and seeds), star anise and grated lemon. Heat just up to the boilingpoint and then allow to simmer on low heat for about 15 mins. Remove vanilla pod and star anise. Sprinkle the semolina in and the sugar, stir well. Bring to the boil.
Let the mixture stand over low heat, stirring regularly, until the pudding is as thick as custard. Pour the semolina pudding in the dishes and allow to set, put it in the refrigerator to cool completely.
Just before serving, sprinkle with sugar and heat it up with a crème brûlée burner for a crispy caramel top. Garnish with star anise and serve immediately.

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credits: Saskia van Osnabrugge took the photographs and Judith Baehner was the prop stylist.
Gees van Asperen wrote the recipe and I cooked it.

all gorgeous photographs for this story  by chris chen.

Before I hopped on the plane back to Amsterdam, I grabbed the latest issue of country style at sydney airport for two reasons. 1. because I’ve always loved this mag (the photography is perfection, and they often feature the homes of country artists whose style is natural,  real and inspiring) and 2. because a little birdy told me that the feature article would make my heart sing. Indeed it DID make my heart sing because it is all about Harriet Goodall, her home & property in Robertson NSW, and her incredible woven creations…

Harriet’s story about how she came to be weaving baskets is as beautiful as her creations themselves. She says she has always been drawn “to the ephemeral and imperfect beauty of natural materials and have forever collected buckets of shells, driftwood, beautiful leaves, bones, moss and feathers  with no particular purpose in mind.” Sounds delightfully familiar.  She saw a flyer for a basketry course in Mittagong and decided to join up because it fitted perfectly with her love of art made from nature. After another course she was well and truly hooked on the craft. Inspired by the work of Andy Goldsworthy, Herman de Vries, and Chris Drury, Harriet says that the wonderful thing about baskets is that “it’s possible to harvest your garden then sit on a patch of ground and, just with your hands alone, make something that’s strong, useful and beautiful – while knowing that women have done this for millenia”…

Harriet and her husband Mat collected all their furniture from the local tip shop and family hand-me-downs. The area where they live is surrounded by national parks, waterfalls, beaches, rainforests, and incredible escarpment and rolling green hills  – all within a 30km radius…

Meet Banjo: Harriet and Mat’s little guy who loves being in nature as much as they do.

It’s a beautiful, inspiring story, and I encourage you to find yourselves a copy of the february issue of country style to learn more about harriet’s home and work…

cover shot by mikkel vang, styled by sibella court.

Thank you for the inspiration Harriet! I hope to come and visit you one day, and see your creations in person.

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Harriet’s baskets are available to purchase. They start at around $140.00 AUD. For further enquiries, click here to email Harriet, or you can call her on +61 402 346 106.

A big thank you to Country Style and photographer Chris Chen for the use of the images.

photograph by nikole from 46th at grace.

It’s Monday morning here and I’m very busy distracting myself from the work I have to do. Perhaps you need some distractions too.  Here is what I’ve found…

1. Nikole’s post on icing cakes and meeting boys is sweet, to say the least – a must read.

2. Victoria from sfgirlbybay has launched a great concept called ‘blog it forward’. I’d briefly read about it on other blogs over the past couple of weeks but to be honest, still had no idea what it was about until I made the time this weekend to read some more. It’s great! And most certainly a wonderful distraction. Read about it here but even easier, view the list of blogs participating here. And  here is victoria’s initial post. Enjoy!

3. If you’ve been following Louise’s 52 suburbs blog like I have (and even if you haven’t), then you will love this little video documentary about her. I love to see how other photographers and bloggers go about their business, so this was a real treat that I think you will love to.

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Surely that will distract you for some time now. And really, if distractions are inspiring, then it’s all for the greater good of the work to come, right? Right? hmmm.

xx

PS  zoe just sent me this video link – now this is what I call enhancing the everyday! and perfectly distracting.

PPS and another fab video that will surely make your day. thank you for the link Josephine!

…because on the rooftop of the world, and in the valleys below, a new year begins. May this year be the year.

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click here to see tibetan new year festivities happening in sydney.
photo courtesy of l’internaute, photographer Miguel-Angel Horcajada.