In another attempt to use some of my big pile of fabrics, I tried out a free reversible bag pattern that I found at Very Purple Person. I used some bright colored and patterned fabric (again fabric recycled from curtains sold at the thrift store). It was very easy to make and it looks pretty nice. It’s perfect for shopping, but to use as a real handbag I would probably add a little side pocket to put my phone or keys, but that’s for next time

I also made this lovely little pouch in the same fabrics of the bag from the previous post. This time I used this tutorial, but changed the look of the pouch a bit by rounding off the corners.

Isn’t this the cutest bag ever? And I made it myself. I’m so happy with it. It took a bit longer to make than I thought it would, because my sewing skills are a bit rusty, but the result is great. I used an old table cloth with bold patterns (and stains that I cut around) that my mom found in a thrift store.
I made the pattern from a bag that I already have, but I changed the height of the bag considerably, so it looks quite different. I also made the bias tape myself, inspired by this post at Prudent Baby. I actually wanted to buy it ready-made but they didn’t have any colors that I liked, so I bought a little bias tape tool like this, and it was actually pretty easy. I’ll definitely do it again, I would love to do it with some patterned fabric.
I even made a little ‘zesti label for the bag with a handcarved stamp.

I made these cupcakes already several weeks ago. I was inspired by a piece of orange poppyseed cake I ate in a little coffee shop in the lovely town of Dalesford, Australia. I was doing a yoga retreat not very far from Dalesford, and on our day off, we headed into Dalesford to indulge in some coffee and cake. I had never heard of orange poppyseed cake before, but was pleasantly surprised by the fresh taste.

Ingredients
125ml milk (I used soy milk)
1/3 cup poppyseeds
180g softened unsalted butter
220g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
Finely grated zest of 3 oranges
125ml freshly squeezed orange juice
375g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder

For the syrup
125ml freshly squeezed orange juice
55g caster sugar
20g unsalted butter
Zest of 2 oranges

Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a muffin pan or line base with papercups.
Place milk in a bowl and stir in poppyseeds. Let stand for 20 minutes.

Beat butter, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and pale. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Gently fold in zest, juice and poppyseed mixture. Sift flour and baking powder over top and fold in. Spoon mixture into pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Meanwhile, place syrup ingredients in a pan over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves and butter melts. Turn heat to high and simmer for 2 minutes. While the cupcakes are still warm, pierce holes in the top with a skewer and pour over the hot syrup and zest. Serve warm or cold.

I’ve always loved pattern design, whether it’s for wallpaper, fabrics, paper goods or anything else. But in the job I’m doing right now I haven’t really had the chance to do this. So I’ve decided to use my vacation time right now to start up a little fabric collection, that I’m going to get printed at Spoonflower.
Above is already one of the designs I’ve made in the last few days.

I’m also trying to out some block printing on fabric using either self-made linoleum or rubber stamps. I have accumulated a big collection of rather boring plain fabrics over the years and the block prints could make them more interesting. It’s been ages since I’ve done any linoleum cutting, I completely forgot how hard it is to cut the linoleum. The day after my muscles were even hurting, but it’s a lot of fun making them and I’ve already learned a lot. I’ve realized that cutting the stamps out of rubber is much easier and they also seem to last longer. The lino cut I made seems quite fragile and some of the fine lines were already braking after cleaning of the paint

yep, it has happened again. I’ve been too lazy to update my blog lately, even though I have loads of recipes I still want to share with you guys. But I’ll try to make it up to you. My 3 week holiday has started so I should have plenty of time to put everything online

First of all I want to share this amazing Lemon Mint Sorbet recipe that I tried yesterday, it’s soo good and easy to make (no ice cream machine needed), I think I’m already addicted to it. I found the recipe on Jamie Oliver’s website. I had some leftover lemons that urgently needed to be used, and this was perfect, especially with the hot weather. I only made a small batch since I only had 3 lemons and no limes, but it was still so good, and I ate almost all of it already. I think I’ll have to buy some more lemons and limes today

***UPDATE***: I made a new batch yesterday for the pictures today. This time I made it with the limes and it was again soooooooooo good. Seriously, the glasses for the the pictures were empty in less than 30 seconds :-p

Ingredients (for 4 portions)
200g sugar
275ml water
zest and juice of 5 limes
zest and juice of 5 lemons
a small bunch of fresh mint

Place the sugar and water in a pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a while. Zest and squeeze your limes and lemons and chop your mint. Mix everything together in a plastic or earthenware container and place in the freezer.

Generally a sorbet takes 2 hours to set. Try to stir it around every 30 minutes if you remember



Ingredienten (voor 4 porties)
200g (riet)suiker
275ml water
zest en sap van 5 limoenen
zest en sap van 5 citroenen
een bosje verse munt

Doe het water en de suiker in een pan, breng aan de kook en laat ongeveer 5 minuten koken tot de suiker helemaal opgelost is. Haal van ‘t vuur en laat eventjes afkoelen
Zest en pers het sap uit de limoenen en citroenen en snij de muntblaadjes fijn. Meng alles te samen in een plastieken doos en plaats in de diepvriezer.

Normaal gezien duurt ‘t ongeveer 2 uur eer ‘t sorbet genoeg bevroren is. Probeer er om ‘t half uur eens door te roeren.

Broccoli, I don’t eat it nearly enough as I should. But it’s such a great vegetable and extremely healthy, so this weeks A-Z recipe is one with Broccoli.
This is what Wikipedia has to say about the nutritional value of broccoli:

“Broccoli is high in vitamins C, K, and A, as well as dietary fiber; it also contains multiple nutrients with potent anti-cancer properties, such as diindolylmethane and small amounts of selenium. A single serving provides more than 30 mg of Vitamin C and a half-cup provides 52 mg of Vitamin C. The 3,3′-Diindolylmethane found in broccoli is a potent modulator of the innate immune response system with anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-cancer activity. Broccoli also contains the compound glucoraphanin, which can be processed into an anti-cancer compound sulforaphane, though the benefits of broccoli are greatly reduced if the vegetable is boiled more than ten minutes. A high intake of broccoli has been found to reduce the risk of aggressive prostate cancer. Broccoli consumption has also been shown to be beneficial in the prevention of heart disease.”

Wow, isn’t that amazing, it’s like a super vegetable!

The recipe I’m making this week is Pasta with Broccoli Pesto. It’s a delicious recipe I found on one of my favorite food blogs 101 Cookbooks. I like this recipe because it uses broccoli in a way I wouldn’t have thought of myself. I added a good handful of fresh basil leaves, cause I love basil

Ingredients (for about 4 servings)
1 medium head of broccoli (about 3 cups), cut into very small florets, you can also use the stems, since they will be processed anyway.
50 g walnuts, toasted
50 g Parmesan, freshly grated
1 clove of garlic
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 teaspoon + fine grain sea salt
100 ml extra-virgin olive oil
250 g dried pasta (bite-sized – fusilli, penne, etc)
a handful of fresh basil leaves
a handful of oily black olives, pitted
more Parmesan for serving

Bring two pots of water to a boil, one large, one medium. In the medium pot you’ll cook the broccoli, the large can be used for the pasta.

To cook the broccoli, salt the boiling water and add the broccoli. Cook for just twelve seconds. Drain immediately and run cold water over the broccoli to stop the cooking. Reserve a few of the small broccoli trees and puree the rest in a food processor along with the walnuts, Parmesan, garlic, basil leaves, lemon juice and salt. Drizzle in the olive oil while still blending. Taste, adjust with more salt or lemon juice if needed and set aside.

To cook the pasta, salt the boiling water generously and add the pasta. Boil until just barely tender. Drain, transfer the hot pasta to a large bowl. Gently stir in about half of the pesto. Taste, add more pesto to your liking. Served topped with olives, the reserved broccoli florets, and a dusting of Parmesan cheese.



Ingredienten (voor ongeveer 4 porties)
1 medium krop broccoli, gesneden in hele kleine roosjes, je kan ook de stronk gebruiken aangezien de broccoli toch gepureerd wordt.
50 g geroosterde walnoten
50 g Parmesaanse kaas, vers geraspt
1 teentje look
sap can een halve citroen
1/4 theelepel zeezout
100 ml extra-virgine olijfolie
250 g gedroogde pasta (fusilli, penne, etc)
een handvol verse basilicum blaadjes
een handvol ontpitte zwarte olijven
nog meer Parmesaanse kaas om te serveren.

Breng 2 potten water aan de kook, een grote en een iets kleiner. In de kleinder pot ga je de broccoli koken, in de grotere de pasta.

Zout ‘t water in de kleinere pot en voeg de broccoli toe. Kook voor slechts 12 seconden. Giet onmiddellijk af en hou onder koud water om ervoor te zorgen dat de broccoli niet verder kookt. Hou een aantal broccoli roosjes opzij en pureer de rest in de keukenmachine samen met de walnoten, parmesaanse kaas, look, basilicum blaadjes, citroensap en het zout. Giet d olie erbij terwijl je de pesto pureert. Proef, en voeg meer citroensap of zout toe indien nodig.

Kook de pasta al dente. Giet af en doe de pasta in een grote kom. Voeg ongeveer de helft van de pesto toe. Proef, en voeg eventueel nog meer pesto toe. Dien op met de olijven, de opzij gezette broccoli roosjes en nog wat extra parmesaanse kaas.