Moodboard colors 2....

I'd like to share one of my new colour combinations with you.

The colors are combined in a moodboard. This combination is an inspiring mix of natural woody tones mixed with bright happy and soft basic colors.

The natural tones are a good base combined with white, the bright colors are perfect for smaller items like accessories, drapes or small furniture....

I'd love to have my wall painted in de greyish taupe, and the soft pastels...

Enjoy....

.... grab a paintbrush and start painting

Sweet like chocolate...

Recently I found this great webshop that sells fairtrade chocolate.

But it is not just a piece of divine chocolate.... it's an experience!

Surf to: http://www.chocstar.nl/ and you can design your own chocolate bar. Pick the type of chocolate you like; dark, milk or white. And you can pick five ingredients that will be blended into your 240 grams chocolate bar. You can choose between lots of ingredients like: candy, herbs, nuts, butterscotch and many more...

After paying you will receive your chocolate in a few days.

Today I received mine.... And it is so pretty and tastes soooooo gooooodddd!

My ingredients are: dark chocolate, cinnamon, lavender, walnuts and orange peel.

MMMMMMmmmmmmm, that's what makes me happy.... 

Best risotto ever....

I love cooking and I love eating....

Thats why I needed to share my favorite recipe for risotto with you:

On this photo you'll find al the ingredients for this risotto recipe:

Risotto rice

Pepper and salt

Vegetable stock

Fresh cut herbs like chives, parsley and coriander 

White wine

Mushrooms

Green vegetables like green peas, spring onions, asperges

Olive oil

( extra ingredient red onions)

( extra ingredient balsamic vinegar)

Put a little bit olive oil in a frying pan and fry an fine chopped red onion.

Add the rice and stir slowly until it is a bit transparent. 

Add half a cup of white wine and slowly stir until the wine is dissolved by the rice. Then a half a cup of stock and slowly stir until the wine is dissolved by the rice. Repeat this a few times with stock until the rice is cooked. Steam the tips of the asperges until done and defrost the green peas in steam as well.

Bake the mushrooms in a bit of olive oil and add some salt and pepper. Mix the mushrooms with the rice and slowly cook for a few minutes. Chop the fresh herbs.

Plate up the rice mixture and add the green peas and asperges.

And put some of the fresh herbs on top.

For some extra flavor sprinkle some sweet balsamic vinegar over the dish.

And.... Enjoy!!!!

Growing seeds....

It's spring time and I'm in the mood for growing my own veggies...

I bought different kind of seeds for growing my own vegetable garden on my balcony. Most of the seeds can only sprout in greenhouses because it is not warm enough yet. To grow my veggies I folded some seedling pots of old newspapers, the folding instructions can be found at:     http://www.forgreenies.com/origami-newspaper-seedling-pots and you don't need to have origami skills to succeed. I used washi tape to attach the "wings" of the seedling pots to the pot and it also looks very pretty.

I placed the pots on and old wooden board near the window on the sunny side of my house. And here are the first results...

The newspaper breaks down over time and the plants roots will grow though the newspaper so you can put the newspaper pots in a bigger pot when the plant is grown big enough.

I made some labels of wooden forks and wrote the name of the vegetables on it (it is in Dutch).

Limited edition true blue collection...

I love the color blue. Like a lot of the Dutch people it is one of my favourite colors, thats why I love this new Ikea collection, inspired by India, verry pretty.... It's available from the 1st of july at IKEA in the Netherlands: Eindhoven, Amsterdam, Delft, Groningen en Amersfoort


Photography by: Ikea

http://www.persclubmail.nl/sendlink.asp?HitID=1333522963166&StID=14744&SID=4&NID=219125&EmID=23891342&Link=IGh0dHA6Ly9nb28uZ2wvUlRSeGc%3D&token=88fe75958fc06deae9740b9d27a1e5428f165f65

Real or fake?

Can you see the difference?

This bouqet has a mixture of fake and real flowers. Once the natural flowers are gone you replace them. The fake onces can be reused every time. Mix them with other colors and flower types and you have a special bouqet every time without buying a lot of new flowers...

Look at the results....