Sunday, May 27, 2012

27 little Birthday cakes ...




These lovely Petit Fours or "Fat Lady Cakes" (as I used to call them) rapidly vanished from their Jansens+co cake stands - pleasing to the eye they were ... and tasted even better!

Happy Birthday Mum!


Saturday, May 26, 2012

Lovely Mini-Holiday




A holiday within a holiday.
It's quite something!
Less than 2 hours by car, yet it felt like we were somewhere far far away, with no worries other than where to have lunch and which beach bar would serve the best iced coffee.

It's one of the luxuries of having a mum with connections in the hotel business ...

How a trip to St-Tropez relates to sustainability?
Not sure I'm afraid.
... although we did stay at a hotel with its own farm and a commitment to local produce.

but in case that's not enough, here's a poster I found on my mum's office wall which totally fits the bill!



Tuesday, May 22, 2012

In the land of the frogs





The weather forecast was depressing, but luckily completely misleading.
Hello Sunshine!! (please stick around!)
Oh Saint-Paul de Vence, how happy I am to be here!

On the agenda before bed-time: a sauna session ... and if I'm feeling brave enough, a dive in the 18°C ecological swimmingpool! (accompanied by our very own frog choir)




Sunday, May 20, 2012

Babselorette Party!



17 girls, 2 days of extremely (unexpected!) fantastic weather, banana boats, boat tubes, bubbles, polar bear suits, pink wigs, drum & bass and a good deal of dancing to the bride's favorite DJ  ...
plus a male stripper with a lot of piercings in a lot of different places ...

Pretty much sums up my weekend.
One hell of a bachelorette party!!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

My dear North Sea





Whenever I'm in Belgium I inevitably end up at the seaside.
I grew up on the Belgian coast and lived here for 13 years, (still more than half of my life!) ... and even though I don't think I'll ever move here again, being here always brings back fond memories.


Sunday, May 13, 2012

My Dream House!



Bringing Toscany to Sweden ...  as featured in Kloka Hem nr 2 of 2012.
A cozy Swedish-style wooden house INSIDE a greenhouse, creating its own little microclimate, with exotic fruits, reduced electricity bills, and a very long summers as result!

The owners have their own website where they explain their philosophy and where you can book a tour of the house.

I might have to do a road trip some time soon and go see that place!




Friday, May 11, 2012

Yet another movie night


I was really looking forward to the 80s party that I said I'd go to, but after a full week of work, and a permaculture course starting at 9AM tomorrow, I curled up on the couch in stead.
Not bad either! 
Julie & Julia is the sweetest cooking movie since Waitress ... and made me wonder what happened to the plan I once made to test at least one new recipe per week ... 

Does making 2 different vegetarian pita-fillings two days in a row count? ;)

Have a nice weekend you all!



Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Old School Festival







Here's a few shots from our "Old School Festival" we organized last weekend.
As one of the organizers I probably shouldn't say this but man, did we throw a good party!
Loads of good food, organic drinks, a live band, 50 happy people and a disco ball,
it didn't take more to turn the old school in Alva into the place to be!

To be repeated!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Invitation to Love




Snail mail is always exciting, but today's content of the letterbox put an unusual big smile on my face!

2 months to go to the wedding of the year!
I don't think I've even been so excited to see anyone in a white dress :)

There's no better reason for a trip to Belgium :)

Monday, May 7, 2012

Cheer me up, buttercup





I'm not planning on making my blog a public venting place (I'm sorry if it seems that way :p), but I do want to thank everyone who's been cheering me up and making me feel loved.

Even Mother Nature helped!

(photos taken at the Botanical garden here in Visby, and at Muramaris)

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

The magic of baking






I think it's probably universally known. Baking cookies makes you feel good, or at least better.
I have a feeling I'll be baking loads the next couple of days, 
and it so happens that my empty tea tins are perfect for keeping (and giving away) cookies. 
- it would be humanly impossible (and not very smart) to eat them all myself -

Something else that keeps your mind off things you don't want to dwell upon is keeping busy,
and with our Old School Spring Party coming up on Saturday, that's not too hard :)
If you read this and want an invite, give me a shout!