Hickups

hey my dear,
well now it's my tur to write just befor i'll go to the doc. .
Cramps... in my stomach, something typical for this time of the year. but still it got so fare that i don't wanna eat anymore and this is a very alarming thing, as I love to eat.

and still this post is mainly about food. ;)

I'm of coffee to protect my stomach a bit, but when i was still drinking a lot of coffee i had this on... A glas coverd inside with white chocolate, and than coffe in it so it will melt slowly- mhmmm..good memories. good that i love tea also, because that's all i'm drinking and for a part eating right now.


and now i tell you why i call this post hickup. it's as if i have hickups of joy and happienes in all this stress. there is alot of schoolwork for me and my dear one but in between i manages to make my ultimately happy. and this includes alot of food.
it feels somehow decadent ;). last thursday after a long stressy day we went eating out. we just didn't feel like cooking something. so we went to a small cozy marrocan place and had honestly good tajine. which was also a stupid idea regarding my stomache but hey at his moment i just didn't care. afterwards we went for a fast drink. the whole day this giant zepelin wnet around in the air of antwerp. it was pretty unexpected to see this giant air boat.



well friday the two of us went to gent. he was already there at his sisters and i went later by train, because i first had to work. some really nice food, and now i now his family and am quite reliefed, everything went good. the weekend we spent at his childhood home. it's nice to see where someone is coming from. and super nice to have a quiet home with a garden for a day to write those to papers. while m. was of for work the two cats and two chickens were my company. i stole their eggs the next morning to make pancakes.
back in antwerp we cleand his whole appartement and changed a few things. than i headed back to work and he took good care of me... cooking a delicious meal. tunafish caspaciou ( how ever this is written), tomate crevette and fish soup. mhhmm.



I don't have a garde just al ittle terasse so these are my plants, doin quiet wel, and i like the hart shaped potato, which became decortion...


well that's it. i enjoyed to come over to your palce yesterday evening since i'm a part of two it's not happening all the time anymore ;).
let see what the doc is saying...
kisses
s

so this is grass.

Dear S.,

you know what I haven't posted in a long time? right, pictures of the garden project!

So, we do have luscious soft green grass, everywhere. we cut another dead tree. I really love the rough work with wood. We had tulips and narcissus around easter, but of course they are dead by now. There are new flower bulbs of Dahlias and gladiolus in the ground, we are expecting them any day now (though I doubt they will actually come out, since the neighbour cat is using our flower-bed as his litter box, lovely). The hortensia survived the cutting of its neighbouring tree and will start to flower in about a week's time, I guess.




Ok, so, this was again a very interesting entry on our garden. great, huh?
(excuse my sarcasm, I'm about to leave for the dentist who will hopefully relieve my from my horrible toothache).
No but seriously, this garden means a lot to me. I really enjoy seeing the Tikis go outside and stir a bit with things. I love the physical aspects of working in it, it makes me feel good, worthwhile, strong and helps my mind breathe.

After my exams, I will make lampions and garlands to decorate it. And have a picnic in the grass. Are you in?

Love, M

ivy

Dear S.,

your tea pictures are so beautiful! And maybe I do have to go to Genk once, it looks so interestingly spooky :)

I am trying to catch up with my posting, I've been very lazy, lately.

Tea is only one of the many things we have in common. One other thing is, that we can both be very obsessive with things.. with removing ivy roots, for example!
Last weekend you and me spent hours in the garden of the house I live in (which is the house of the Tikis, the aunts of N.'s). They have a huge garden, in the middle of the city, but nothing much happens in there, for the simple reason that it is one big mess. Last spring and summer I already started to clean it up a bit, but it seemed such an impossible mission. Two weeks ago I resumed my restauration works, with the main goal of growing a patch of grass and sitting outside on warm summer's evenings. (Image in my head: A fabulous summer's dinner, with lampions, a glass of spritz,laughter.... kitch-sigh!)

So, here are some pics! (I know that it still looks really messy, but it is SO much better already!)



Oktober 09, the original state of the garden. It looks quite beautiful when everything is lusciously green, but as soon as the leaves are gone it feels like a massive pile of dirt.)



May 10, when some of the ivy on the ground has already been removed. Also, we had to cut the romantic willow, because it was all rotten.



now. I worked for three hours in the garden today. My (insert any body part at all) hurts. But I enjoy the work so much! Especially because today was such a sunny day. And I just couldn't stop. (this is the compulsive dimension to it: oh, here's another root. gotta pull that out. oh, and this one here needs some digging. done. oh, wait, these ugly dead plants here, and this root...)







green garbage of the day.

dear S., dear readers, maybe this is a really boring post. But I just had the urge to write it, with my garden-sore fingers.

kiss

LOOK... SPRING

hey,
i just let thos pics speak for themselves...





kisses m.
how many nights to sleep till your birthday?

lazy duckling sunday..

dear m.,
i got my dose of nature i was craving for.

today it was so nice to drive with you, n. and the two men into the nature to get an exclusive duck tour.
it was a real winterday and it was really good that you made coffe to keep us a bit warm. even if we were properly wraped in layers of clothing the cold got to us... .

here are some pics we tried to make through the monoculars ( a singel glas binoculare, no idea how to all it) . it was harder than i thought it would be.










usually i recognize ducks just as a duck on the water not knowing that there are so amny types and colours in ther featherdresses.

and also some kind of fungus ( well it`s not really a fungus i just don't know how it' s called in english. some colour spots in this gerey weather.
nature is still in winter sleep although we saw first signs that spring is not far anymore.


kisses
s

Avondsneeuw

Dear S.

december 19th, 0:28, view out of my window. It's almost as bright as daytime, isn't it?



love, M.

Völlig aus dem Häuschen

Dear S.

today's title is an expression for someone who is very excited about something (or very upset- but that's not the case now).
Excited about two things that have to do with Häuschen - houses.

1:COOKIES





I found this set for making cookie- houses at Dille & Kamille, and I really loved crafting those little houses with you and N.

http://www.dille-kamille.nl/nl/content/560/zandkoekjes-huis

--> check it out. (sorry, the link-feature is not doing its job)

Oh yes, and the houses also participated in the dance of the sweet treats for yesterday's early Sint festivity at the Tiki's. completely over the top but so lovely :)





2: SNOW

Antwerp was covered in soft white snow for 4 days. This is really amazing and rather unusual for early december. Last night the snow started to melt though. Hmm, don't you find that the light in the city gets so much softer when there's snow? Everything gets a little rosey shade. And also, the city is much quieter for some reason or the other. As if the snow is absorbing the sounds and cushioning the city.
Also, it was Charlie's first encounter with snow. Which made N. go completely aus dem Häuschen. She brought Charlie a snowball from outside, and of course all of us enjoyed being out of the house, no? :p

I hope you'll soon be able to fix the internet thing at your new place and then flood the blog with your entries again!

yours,

M.

the woods have eyes

My dear S.,

this week I went into the woods. it was only for three days really, but it was so nice.. I loved the fresh air, the colours, the evening cosiness and the silence of the Ardennes. Back in Antwerp, I was rather diappointed by the uglyness of the streets and my lungs manifested their dislike as well. hmmm.. just look at the pictures and let the colours of the woods inspire you!















The last picture is a beautiful cake N. and I made.. bisquit filled with cherries and whipped cream with vanilla, covered in marzipan. It's inspired by little cakes like this you can buy at the baker's for loads of money. It was - even if I say so myself - SO nice!

here's a perfect bisquit recipe, it always works with me:
3 eggs
150g powder sugar
3 tablespoons of water
150g flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder

seperate the eggs, whisk the eggwhites until really firm. then whisk the eggyolks, the powder sugar and the water for about 6 minutes, until the mixture is really white. Now fold in the flour+ baking powder, then the egg whites. bake it for 10-15 mins at about 190°C. THis is enough dough for a round cake form to cut in half. If you want a really big cake just make more dough ;)

Next planned projects:
do something with my working spot
finish knitting my scarf
making a black shopping bag for myself

and now I should still read a hundred pages at least. "Die Klavierspielerin" by Elfriede Jelinek is on the menu right now. What a strong book! I am really enjoying reading it. Especially with the stingy little hits against typical austrian-ness..

love,

M.