Posts tonen met het label Blogs. Alle posts tonen
Posts tonen met het label Blogs. Alle posts tonen

zaterdag 31 augustus 2013

Vintage tea in the garden

































We first met three years ago. I thought it would be a good idea to invite a few blog friends from Rotterdam, and one friend from a bit further away, to a tea party in my garden. Since then we have met every summer. Some of us have even become good friends.  It's amazing what a blog can do. It brings so much joy and widens your horizons!

While our allotment complex had an end of season fair, we had our traditional tea in the garden :-). One of my best friends helped me out baking.

We made macrons, savoury muffins, cupcakes, two sort of scones, a raspberry pie, wraps, lemon bars, chocolate fudge cake and granny square cookies. Riet made a delicious banana bread. The sweet peas, which are still blooming abundantly, and my vintage china, looked really pretty in combination with the cakes and sweet delights on the table

Dear Riet, Ingrid, Saskia, Fleur, Ilse, Anita, Lia and Jolanda. Thank you for making the tea party into such a success!

It was my intention to organise a tea party for 'new friends' this year, but I simply could not find the time. So, you never know.......perhaps we will meet in the garden the next gardening season :-) I am already looking forward to meet some of you!

I thought you might like the recipe for the Raspberry pie on the photographs. It's really tasty! Not too sweet and full of flavour.


 













































Raspberry pie

For the base (round 22cm cake tin, with a loose bottom):
- 3 tablespoons of ground almonds
- 100 gr plain flower
- 1 tablespoon of plain white sugar
- 50 gr butter
- 2 tablespoons of water

For the bavarois filling:
- 400 gr raspberries
- 3 1/2 gelatine leaves
- 3 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 175 ml whipped cream/double cream (slagroom)
- 3-4 tablespoons of plain white sugar
- a pinch of salt

Grease the cake tin. Mix the flower with the almonds and the sugar. You can do this in a Kitchen aid or by hand. Add the butter and mix until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Gently add the water. The mixture has to form a dough. If necessary, add some extra water. Knead the dough into a ball, wrap it in clingfoil and put it in the fridge for about half an hour.

Roll out the dough, until you get a thin layer. Cut out a circle, larger than your cake tin and gently press into the tin. It should be just enough for the above mentioned tin. You have to bake it blind for about 20 minutes at 190 degrees Celcius.

For the bavarois filling, purée the raspberries. Dissolve the gelatine leaves one by one in cold water . When the gelatine leaves are flexible, get them out of the water and put them in a small pan together with the lemon juice. Warm on the stove, until the gelatine is fully dissolved. Add the raspberry purée. When the purée has cooled down a bit, put it in the fridge for about 15-30 minutes.

In the mean time mix the whipped/double cream with a pinch of salt and sugar. Gently fold the whipped/double cream through the raspberry puree. The bavarois filling is finished. What is left, is to add the bavarois filling to the pie base. The pie is ready to put into the fridge now. I leave it there for about two more hours, so that it becomes stiff. After that it's ready to serve!

Bon appetit!

Happy weekend!

Love,

Madelief x










































woensdag 5 juni 2013

Blog meeting in Amsterdam






 






















In full view of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam, which was built for the 1928 summer Olympics, forty crafty ladies met for create 'n date.  The weather was glorious, with blue skies and a gentle breeze. It was fun meeting fellow bloggers and 'see the face behind'. Some even came all the way from Sweden and Germany, especially for this event. 

We had crochet workshops in flower and bracelet making, followed by a delicious lunch. We were even given a home made goodie bag by Maaike from Creation, with yarn, a crochet hook and some other lovely things inside. It was a truly inspirational morning.

At home I couldn't resist picking up my crochet hook once more, to make some extra flowers to put on the little goodie bag I was given.

Dear Maaike, Annemarie, Claire and Saskia thank you for a lovely morning!

Love,

Madelief x


 













zaterdag 16 maart 2013

A dream come true?











































Imagine winning 18 million Euro in the lottery. What would you do with the money?! Give part of it to your children, other relatives or charity, buy a house in some beautiful far away place or perhaps purchase that Hermes bag you have been wanting to call yours for ages?

That's what Jocelyn, a 46 year old housewife and blogger from Arras, with two grown up children, a difficult husband and a small haberdashery store, had to think about.  It has always been a fantasy of hers to be fashionably slim and become a stylist in Paris, where she would meet her knight in shining armour. Will she change her life in pursuit of her dreams, make a list of her desires?

If you would like to know how the story goes from here, I can recommend the latest book by the French author Grégoire Delacourt, called 'De lijst van al mijn wensen' in Dutch or 'The list of my desires' in English. I was pleasantly surprised!

I had to get used to Delacourt's style of writing. It's quite 'floral', as we used to say in Holland. Almost like poetry. It made me realise how difficult it must have been to translate it from French into Dutch. The translator did a good job.

The book is charming and absorbing. Jocelyn an amiable character, who you wish all the happiness she deserves.

A great compliment to Grégoire Delacourt, for describing Jocelyn's thoughts and feelings perfectly. Quite remarkable for a man ;-)!

If you like, you can read more about the book on the following blogs. They are worth having a look at.

ma 11-3: http://www.leescluborlando.nl/site/category/blog
wo 13-3: http://blog.alltheluckintheworld.nl
do 14-3: http://scrapenstitch.blogspot.nl
vr 15-3: http://guusjes-appeltaart.blogspot.nl
za 16-3: http://madeliefje-madelief.blogspot.nl
zo 17-3: http://elisanna.blogspot.nl
ma 18-3: http://jookieshandwerken.blogspot.nl
di 19-3: http://ing-things.blogspot.nl 
wo 20-3:http://leesdame.blogspot.nl


The photo's that accompany this post were made in my craft room. I found the teacups and plates on a flea market recently. The vintage Easter cloth was given to me by a dear friend. A big kiss to you Ilse!

Happy weekend!

Love,

Madelief x