Bread - experiment

Bread is very basic food. I always wanted to make bread, I collected some books during years but never made it. Many, many reasons.......

Some weeks ago, I just started with a very simple and basic recipe. Foccacia:

Make a dough of 500 gr flour, 11 g instant-dried yeast , 2 dl (lukewarm) water, 3 tbsp olive oil and some salt. Knead and let it rise for 45 min. After a short kneading and shaping, let it rise again till its volume has doubled. Some seasalt on top with some olive oil and bake it for 15 à 20 min at 225 °C.

Last sunday, I wanted to make bread again: same dough but I shaped it like this:

I was proud of it, and everyone in my family said it tasted good (and looked nice too)!

Poem-time #3

French is in fact my 'Basic Language' and I like to hear it and to speak it. Living in the Dutch -speaking part of Belgium makes that this is not everyday-stuff for me. So, now and then I'll try to present also something in  French.


'Demain, dès l'aube....' from Victor Hugo:

Demain, dès l'aube, à l'heure ou blanchit la campagne,
Je partirai. Vois-tu, je sais que tu m'attends.
J'irai par la forêt, j'irai par la montagne.
Je ne puis demeurer loin de toi plus longtemps.

Je marcherai les yeux fixés sur mes pensées,
Sans rien voir au dehors, sans entendre aucun bruit,
Seul, inconnu, le dos courbé, les mains croisées,
Triste, et le jour pour moi sera comme la nuit.

Je ne regarderai ni l'or du soir qui tombe,
Ni les voiles au loin descendant vers Harfleur,
Et, quand j'arriverai, je mettrai sur ta tombe
Un bouquet de houx vert et de bruyère en fleur.

Somewhere in Norway

...  There is Gjendesheim, a DNT cabin at a beautiful lake. A perfect starting point for great hikings in Jotunheimen. Here is a winter-view at the lake.

And what about you?

Can you feel the MountainWind sometimes?

Poem-time #2

Wind from The Mountains......

The 'Kungsleden' (Kingstrail) is a hiking trail that starts in Abisko, Nothern Sweden. Near Abisko Mountainlodge is an info-center where I photographed a beautiful and inspiring poem by Paulus Utsi, a Sami poet.

I try everyday to let the Wind from the Mountains caress my cheeks. Somedays it takes a lot of effort and imagination. Other days, I'm just hiking through these Mountains, at least in thoughts! I try to feel the Mountainwind......

The beginning of the Kungsleden

On the way......

Knitting in Newfoundland

Passing by Cow Head, Newfoundland, we visited this 'Eat In and Take Out'. Good food and a lovely collection of homemade knits. Charming place!

Somewhere in Canada ...

I'm grateful that I was able to visit Canada several times. And to keep wonderful memories of these travels. This is a lovely little cabin, somewhere in Newfoundland.

First steps into the World of Sewing

Some time ago, I read this article in the magazine that comes with my newspaper. It is about a famous blogging lady in Flanders, Madame Zsa-Zsa. She says that using her book, everyone can learn to sew a skirt. It seemed a very interesting idea to me, I had to try this!

"She learned her people to sew skirts"

As soon as possible, I went to the bookshop to buy her book:

Not an easy statement to translate, but something like "All that skirts"

When telling this to my neighbor, her husband came some time later with an old (but well-working) sewing machine. So I started to practise with 20 years old curtain-fabric. First, I made some shopping- bags and then 2 skirts (not shown, old curtain fabric, remember!). Afterwards, I used some fabric from Ikea (shown below) that I bought years ago, without knowing what to do with it.
And yes, some days later, I made these!  They are my first (real) -self-sewed- skirts ever :

Somewhere in Breheimen...

Somewhere in Breheimen, hidden between the Norwegian mountains and glaciers,  lies Sota-Saeter.  It is a cabin of DNT (Den Norske Turistforeningen). Sota Saeter is one of my favourite places on earth!

Cabin Meditation

Oh, how I love cabins! Just cabins:  in the woods, in the mountains, on islands...... I'll share some that I've photographed. Now and then...... Today can be Cabin-Meditation-time!

The first one is located somewhere in Dalarna, Sweden.

Swedish Fall Impression..... and taste!!

Poem-time #1

Sometimes, it is just 'poem-time' for me. I like to listen to this one.....

"When you are old and grey....."  by W.B. Yeats.

Beautifully read/said  by Colin Farrell.  Imagine Ireland.....

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Viking knitting

' Viking Patterns for Knitting' is another of my favorite books. Elsebeth Lavold is a Swedish knitwear designer. She uses patterns of ornaments from Viking artefacts such as swords, rune stones etc and translates them to knitting patterns.

From her book, I knitted this 'Ragna' cap. Or a hat....












I was so fascinated by these beautiful patterns and I also knitted this handbag.