It may not be fair but cute always wins. A case in point: these berry tarts. I made them for our tea party on Sunday, but there was lots of other delicious stuff too. There were 32 of these tarts…
Many years ago I read a historical novel where the Russian Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna having moved to the Netherlands after marrying the future King William II was reported to complain that the wet Dutch climate was not suitable for…
We were not planning to travel anywhere this month even though the kids have a two week vacation. But then one evening about ten days ago we were sitting on the couch and “we’re not going away but if we…
If you’ve been around since last year, you might have read my post about the abdication of queen Beatrix and her son Willem Alexander succeeding to the throne. The post also includes a picture of our whole family (my parents…
Today is the first day of spring and spring means some of my favorite seasonal produce is almost in sight. I started blanching rhubarb a couple of weeks ago but despite the warm weather we’ve had, it is not quite…
I am a doughnut snob and that is a good thing. I do not settle for less than perfection, which means that if I want doughnuts, I have to make them myself, and that means I only have doughnuts about…
I once read a cookbook by a French pastry chef where he narrated how he made up new desserts in his dreams. I don’t make up new recipes in my dreams, at least as far as I know. But during…
My daughter loves tarte tatin. My sister, conditioned by having worked in Paris as an au pair for a year when she was eighteen and studying French afterwards, loves it even more. Upon their request I made tarte tatin several…
What I am about to share is potentially highly dangerous knowledge. I have always assumed that if a moment came when I wanted Danish pastry really really badly, it would probably be easier and faster to drive over to Denmark…
It’s always fun to see what search terms lead readers to strand on this little island in the vast sea of the internet. The most interesting recent search term was “how to grow a cook”. Though I might not really…
You know what our most valuable crop is at the moment? Blackberries. Last week I saw organic blackberries for sale, the tiniest box (150 g) going for 2,35 Euro. That same evening I picked more than a kilo, which would…
Do you remember how everything was better when we were young? The summers endless and the sun brighter? I also clearly remember that wild blueberries were plentiful every summer. I remember how I went to the woods to pick them…
Our summer holiday this year coincided with a massive heat wave. It was so hot during the day that we took to taking a siesta and any gardening (any outdoor activities really) was done either before 8 a.m. or after…
Most of the recipes that I share are centred around seasonal produce. We grow a lot of what we eat and eating with the seasons is a pleasure, not a restriction. But I like how my birthday cake this year…
Right at our back door grow three kinds of raspberries: gold, red and black. The plants are as pretty as any ornamentals with their serrated leaves and coloured fruits. The black raspberries (Rubus occidentalis) are especially ornamental, the canes turning…