With the rapids as my guide dog

Saturday night we returned from Finland, and although home is where one's bed is, Tony and I are already daydreaming of returning.

We spent the majority of our time in Tampere. It lies between between two immense lakes (Näsijärvi to the north and Pyhäjärvi to the south) strung together by a thick band of rapids, giving the city a pulsing heart and making it marvelously simple to navigate.

Sunday snippets: the week, in retrospect

Cutouts

I love the visual fascination of negative space, in art, architecture, and fashion, which is exactly why I was drawn to this dress and pair of tights.

A disc of dough, reinvented

Spawned from a near-crisis in the kitchen of Emily Kastner of Tar-Tryin', this recipe is such a great concept: pie without the stress of a perfectly crimped crust.

A dreamy muse: Marie Antoinette

Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette is more than eye candy. It's the equivalent of what I imagine eating a twelve-layer cake in an opium den while getting a pedicure would be like: decadent and deliriously beautiful. This film is concerned with one thing: pleasure. (Except for the last five minutes, when, you know, her impending appointment with the guillotine becomes apparent.)

Kit-tea cats + sailor pants

Hyvää huomenta! I flew in to Helsinki and was chauffeured to Tampere by a sleepy business man late last night, sort of got some sleep, and am now waiting for a tiny someone to awake from a nap so we can go explore the city. I've prepared posts for the next few days, so I focus on experiencing the world instead of talking about it. That I can do when I'm home.

Things found, things for free

One of the perks of living in close proximity to other people is stumbling across their lost or publicly discarded things on a really regular basis. Besides the €20 I picked up during a late night dog walk, these are my four favorite gratis finds.

Later today, we're off to Finland to accompany the mister on his businessman travels!

xxx,
j

one- a pink-hued burlap heart:

A grand return

Yesterday, Tony came home after a two-week business trip. I was a bit jittery about announcing it to the World Wide Webs before or while he was gone because I watch too much Criminal Minds and am sure I will be the victim of the first Dutch serial killer since the 1880s.

The last one was a bonnet-donning, dead-eyed, arsenic-slipping Leiden parricide; I'm not taking any chances. Dutch serial killers only come around once in couple lifetimes, but they don't mess around. (Confessions of a Cookbook Queen's Kristan has similar neuroses, if you wish for further comedy).

Sunday snippets: the week, in retrospect

Tulpen, in technicolor

Yesterday, I became vibrantly aware of something. I am officially in love with Holland, in every available hue.

I, with three friends and our littles, rode a bus from Den Haag to Lisse to cycle fifteen kilometers through tulip (and daffodil and hyacinth!) country. I'd seen the photos before, but color is only part of the story.

Stéphanie Di Giusto, mastermind

Oh, my. Moonlight (first video below) just might be the prettiest thing I've ever seen. I first ran into it over on Honey Kennedy and was immediately in love with the dreamy, surreal aesthetic. So, naturally, I skipped right on over to director Stéphanie Di Giusto's site. Intoxicating.

Starting line

In in the midst of a joyously busy week that includes a baby shower, two first birthday parties, and a cycle around the tulip fields. Yikes! I feel like I woke up Monday morning to a starting gun, and I'm still running, running, running.

Lemon layers + an april shower

Yesterday some friends and I celebrated my friend's growing belly that will become, in about two weeks, a little brother to her darling, toddling daughter. This kid's getting born into a seriously delightful family. I, of course, volunteered to express my love with copious amounts of butter, sugar, and flour.

Sunday shenanigans

Ok, I swear I won't ever bombard you with cutesy baby videos; however, I can't help but share with you this silly moment from our Sunday.

xxx,

j

A sheer and shimmery day's end

This outfit makes me feel like an instant ballerina, which is hysterical since my pot of dance skills is empty, as in completely empty like the heart of one of those awful things from The Descent.

Sunday snippets: the week, in retrospect

The road to The Hague is paved with... buttercream

As promised, I have recipes for you from The Royal Feast. Bon Appétit!

Outfit tomorrow; unless I'm lying, like last time.

xxx,

j

One

The party was wild; it entailed 11 mommas, 12 teetering, scooting, crawling critters, and enough sugar to blow a Peep's airy little head right off. Julian woke up in an exceptionally good mood, there were no meltdowns to speak of, the rainy forecast decided to go bother someplace else, and the only casualty was a silly little jelly jar, which chose to hop off the table right after cake.

Back from the dark side, in primary colors

In Monday's post, by outfit tomorrow, I clearly meant no post for two days while I dig deep into my bucket of neuroses. I was so low-key about the first birthday thing, up until two days before, when I started obsessing over decorations and having nightmares. 

Facts

one. One can quickly tell my mood by taking a quick glance in my kitchen cupboards. If my plates are tidily stacked in alternating colors, all is good.

two. I am way too infatuated with Pinterest. I'd be lying if I said that my two most repinned pins didn't feel like an Olympic gold and silver, respectively.

Bunny Day

Yesterday we celebrated Julian's first birthday, since Tony is a busy worker bee and can't make it to his party on Wednesday. Our plan was to take him to one of the twelve (twelve!) "city farms" (read= pretty, landscaped petting zoos) in town, then let him jet around in the grass and sunshine and get all mucky before digging into something sweet.

Well.

A Fruitful Friday

On this particularly productive day, my oven produced a beautiful batch of banana-berry buckwheat muffins (recipe below), off my stove came many stacks of wee little spinach, cumin and green pea pancakes (adapted from this recipe- used aforementioned veggies and buckwheat flour instead of spelt), and our conservatory went from being a scummy ant hill to a squeaky-clean, sunshiny reading nook. The ants bring in loads of sand and stash it in the corners. I ignored it until I couldn't anymore; today was that day.

Firsts

The past year has been one of firsts. Culinarily, I've successfully risen a soufflé, poached a pear, mastered the vinaigrette, latticed a pie, and made a Thanksgiving feast for a table full of people from all over the world who had never experienced the holiday. I made my first move to a new country, said please in Dutch for the first time, had my first baby, started my first blog, was given my first legitimate camera, and am living, for the first time, car-free. 

When a handful of pals asked me if I'd be interested in taking photos of their families, I initially heckled them out of the room before asking myself, "Why not?" I had no good answer, so I did a test-shoot at a friend's home with her husband and year-old son. They were easy to photography; their household is brimming with spirited humor and love.

Here's a peek.

Scarves Abound!

Happy Wednesday! This is piece number two from the Home Made Market- a gorgeous, thrifted green silk scarf. I love the color.

Speaking of scarves, today's post was inspired by the ingenious draped skirt DIY I pinned a while back. The actual skirt (brown) is a scarf, and the belt (pink) is another one. I suppose I could have done a wrapped top with a third, but that would be over the top. Or would it? Hmmm...

Monochrome and Rouge

Vijf things on this Dinsdag

one: Tonight, Tony came home and said he wanted us to take sewing lessons together. I have the best guy on the planet. Upon hearing him that statement, I'm sure my doe-eyed adoration looked something like this: 

The Hague Goes Handcrafted

On Sunday, the three (two and a sixth, weight-wise) of us cycled over to the Home Made Market on Prins Hendrikstraat. It was a celebration of small-scale production and thrifted goods, and a celebration it was, indeed! Each booth was bursting with such color and creativity.

Oh, my. I could have spent my and my neighbors' savings, but we took €50 and stretched it as far as possible. By European standards, we did very well. It paid for two items for each of us and lunch from local vendors serving freshly made dishes.

These are Tony's two finds (mine will be in an outfit post in the next couple days!):

1. A really fantastic belt with hinges and nice tooling

2. A super-cool, vintage knit tie...

...made in Western Germany (between 1974 and 1989)

Here are some scenes from the market... prepare to be delighted!

xxx,

j

Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies + Scenes from a Garden

Happy April Fools' Day! No pranks here, just some good eats. 

I took these cookies to a lunch with friends on Friday; they were an instant hit. The texture turned out just right- chewy and a little grainy from the coarse cane sugar. The espresso evens out the sweetness perfectly, and the freshly grated cinnamon adds an unexpected bite. I always use Tony's Chocolonely bars (dark, of course) for baking- they're just the right level of cacao.