Poppedijne

Tree or more antiques with cats

2009-11-10T00:11:00.000-08:00

Ever since we have cats, we also collected art and antiques with cats. You already seen my oil paintings.
This is one of my very first Ebay buys. It's a teapot from the Wood factory. It is a bad example since the body of the teapot is very pitted but I love the shape.

A small French mustardpot with a white kitten as a handle. Usualy you see the milk can with this kind of design so I thought this mustard pot was kind of special

This little piece is made of metal.I think it may be cold painted bronze. I love the little cat with the tub on its side.It's ideal to put your pins and needles in.

This porcelain figure is so ugle that its becomes lovely.I love this one very much just because he is so ugly.

This are two Artd Deco craquelé pieces. The cat in the middle is very royal. In the front you see two little book stands. Both very lovely pieces and also my absolute favorites.

Foody Friday Witch and Pumpkin cupcakes

2009-10-30T01:42:00.000-07:00

Let me first of all present you to my own little White Witch. This is Caitlin, the mother of my cattery. http://www.everyoneweb.com/cupcakefairy/ She is born on Halloween night and will celebrate her 6th birthday on Halloween. She is pregnant at the moment and will have her kittens by the end of november. For those who don't know, she is a Maine Coon.

These are not spooky at all, even the witch looks kind of friendly

I could give you another recepie today since you must have found dozens of pumpkin recipies but I thought, why not, maybe this is just the one you are looking for. I promise you they are very moist en delischous.

You need

1 can of unsweetened pumpkin or 400 grams cooked and pureed pumpkin.
1/4 cup or 50 grams of melted butter

1 big egg

1 1/4 cup of sugar or 200 to 250 grams of sugar

1 1/2 cup of flour or 250 grams of flower

1 teaspoon of white vinigair

2 teaspoons of baking soda

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

a pinch of nutmeg and cloves

Mix and devide in to about 18 cupcake papers and bake for 15 to 16 minutes on 375°F or 180°C

I have spread a mixture of mascarpone and sugar on top of it and that was delishous but...I don't advice putting any sugar paste decorations on it since the mascarpone is to moist and the sugarpaste will melt. Just put it on on the last minute before serving.

The witches are made with a silicone mould and then dusted with some sparking powder and the little pumpkins I modeled out of some marsipan.

Enjoy and have a very spooky but fun Halloween.

Tree or more quilts

2009-10-27T08:03:00.001-07:00

Some of you already know that I am also a quilter and because I am late ( had a quiltgroup here today) I will just showcase some of the quilts I have made.

We start with a Halloween quilt because it is Halloween this weekend. My own design inspired by the fabric of the border. Handquilted with treads of silver.
And I must show you this one. Ok it is not a quilt but I could'nt pass this opportunity to showcase my little granddaughter in her first Halloween outfit made by me. See the little black cardigan with the black cat brooch( button) and het pumpkin bloomers??

A quilt fo a little girl called 'Diethe'. Very simple and in colour inspired by her birth announcement.

Another child's quilt called ' Animal House'. My own design with all kind of stables and housing for animals. The doors open and the doorknobs are buttons with the animal that lives in this house. The tree top also lifts up and under it live some birds!

My impression of our front garden with the blue fence. The entire quilt is handquilted with hundreds of leave and flower shapes.

"The French Garden" A very fast and easy quilt to make. Contrary to all my other quilts that are entirely handmade this one is made by machine but handquilted

Three or more Tuesday Art Deco glass

2009-10-19T23:14:00.000-07:00

Some 10 years agoo I saw this vase in an antiques fair and I was stuck by its beautiful Art Deco form.I had just enough money to buy it and brought it home. I like the shape with the two wings very much so I went off in surch of more vases with wings.
I found a couple more and on those trips I learned that this vase was called " Romeo" and it was from the famous Belgian Cristal factory of Val st Lambert.
I came from there Luxval range. A range of glass that was made during the depression time when people did not have the money for fancy cut crystal.
A few years later I ommitted my search for vases with "wings" and started collecting only Luxval glass. So I came across the little sister of the vase 'Romeo' and found this shape .It has the same wings and the same pattern.It was the sellers of this " Mais" or corn vase that told me the story of Luxval and gave me some information on shapes to look for.
This 'Footballers' vase is one of the most seached after models.You want believe it but instead of finding this in my own country I detected it on Ebay USA. After thinking a while if I should take the risk I bought it and it was shipped and arrived in a perfect state.
After two years I stopped collecting Luxval.Not because I had everything, no, not at all but because I lack the space to place it in my house.

And I do not want to have a collection and then have to store it in the cellar.

On a later date some more of my collection of about 110 pieces.

Foody Friday Easy Pasta dish

2009-10-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

A very easy and quick pasta dish.

I like these fresh tortellini filled with ricotta and spinach. One pack is just enough for us two.

Just cook the pasta in lots of salted water. These fresh pasta's are ready to eat after a few minutes of boiling.
In the mean time fry some bacon pieces in a pan and when they are almost cooked trow in a spoon full of flour and mix. Make a sauce by adding some milk or cream and a handful of grated emmenthal cheese or gruyére. Season with salt and pepper.
Put in some small pieces of un cooked zucchini and some froozen pea's. Sautee for a few minutes. I like my zucchine still to be with a bite. Trow in some fresh shredded basil .
Toss the tortellini's in the pan and mix and serve.
I had this on the table in about 20 minutes.

It was delish!

Want some dessert??

What about a slice of one of these cakes??
After the cupcakes came the cakes. Below is the cake I made for the birthday of my daughter in laws mother. There is 1 rose for every year of her live. I call it " The Rose Garden" cake.This one (did'nt I show you this before?), is just a try out to see if I could do this. I call it " The Briar Rose" cake.

I love making these sugerpaste flower decorations. Luckely in november we have a lot of birthdays coming up, so I will be able to bake cakes till I drop. Each cake takes at least 5 hours of work to make all the decorations and so. Every sugarpaste flower is handmade in a silicone mould and after hardening for a few hours, handpainted.

Three or more Tuesday favorite paintings

2009-10-13T00:02:00.000-07:00

Since I was a child I had an interest in the arts. My father followed painting lessons in the local academy and saw him do his paintings in the evenings and in the weekends. I have one memory of me being a model for him. He took me on his bike to class on a cold february evening. I remember the hot burning coal stove and the fact that I was wearing my hair in a ponytail. That I had it in a ponytail was special since my mom always braided my hair . I hated that and it was very special for me that I could have it in a ponytail. Helas the portrait of me is gone missing in the last 15 years.
The painting above is one of my fathers paintings. He was not a great artist but this painting is double special to me. He made it when I was 9 and it depicts his hometown seen from the little mount there was. It's called "Bilzen seen from the Borreberg". It hangs in my hall and I love the cool winter theme and the understated colors.

This second painting I found in a fleamarket. It costed almost nothing. It's painted on a wood panel and the frame is black with handpainted tiny golden stars. I believe it is at least 100 years old. It only costed about 60 dollars but I am in love with it. It has such charm. I love paintings with black and white cows on it. A reminder of my father being a farmers son??

The third and last painting I found in a second hand shop. It's big, almost 27¨ square.

It stood there in the second hand shop with a very havy gold frame on it. I immediatly say its potential. The painting is very well done and I love the braekfast scene on it. The eggs, the bread and the herings, the jug of milk and the cup and the Sanseveria plant. This plant was once's in every household. I remember my mother having one too. It is very strong and if your lucky it blooms once a year with one big stem of Ammaryllis type flowers. The painted costed about 150 dollars but I think it is worth every cent. It is the perfect picture for our kitchen wall.

Foody Friday Belgian National dish

2009-10-08T15:22:00.000-07:00

As you could read in my previous blog entry we where at the Belgian coast last weekend for the wedding of my niece. The whole of the Belgian coast is only about 40 miles long!!! It is very flat without rocks and with fine white sandy beaches.
We had beautiful fresh autumn weather with lots of sun.
And when you are there you need to buy some scrimp.
Not the scrimp you lot know but small brown scrimp.

In the olden day they where fished by fisherman on horseback like you see in the picture above. Now a day there are only a few fisherman left that honor this old traditional way of fishing .
As you can well see they use big farm horses for the job. These are " Brabantse Trekpaarden" a very strong enormously big horses but they are very gentle. They drag a net trough the water and go as deep as there belly into the sea. On each side of the horse, the fisherman has a basket to keep the scrimp in. Fresh uncooked scrimp are only 1 inch long and almost see through.
The scrimp are then cooked in seawater. Now a days small trawlers fish along the coastline to catch these valuable scrimp and every Belgian LOVES these small but delishous tasting beasts.

So when you are at the coast you buy them unpeeled. You sit down with a good glass of Stella Artois beer and start peeling. You wriggle the tail and pull it of en then you pull the head of.They are so yummie that hardly any are left to make a meal.I usely peel one to eat and one to keep! You need a lot before you can make a meal of them!

Here there are a few browny pink peelde scrimp.
When you have enough you mix them with a good mayonnaise, nothing else.
You scoop out the inside of a tomatoe , season that with white pepper and salt and fill with the scrimp mixture.
Give a salad with it and serve the tomatoes with some french fries or eat with some crusty bread.
It is truly the national dish. We simply call it ' Tomate crevettes'. This is the French expression for a tomatoe with scrimp. In Flemish we would say ' Tomaat garnaal'.

You can also serve it in a tiny tomatoe as an appetiser. Eat them quickly since the scrimp don't keep long, certainly not when you have bought them fresh.

Don't trow away the heads and tails! Sautée these with some fresh vegetables, add some water and cook for a few minutes. Put trough a siff and press out all the juices after a few minutes of cooking. It will give you a delishous base for soups and sauces.

Three or more pictures of an autumn wedding...

2009-10-05T23:57:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we where at the Belgian coast to celebrate the marriage of or goddaughter. It was a very joyful affaire with a very happy bride and groom.

It started with the priest being in the wrong church and the whole congregation waiting for more then 30 minutes. Time to make a jolly picture of the mother of the bride and her daughter.
At last, Dad could walk his daughter to the altar where her bridegroom was waiting....

Te vows

The happy young couple.

Coming out of the quaint old church (annoo 1641), there was a big gust of wind and rice and red paper hearts flew everywhere.

The wedding reception and meal took place in a very old barn. The young married couple listening to the speech of Dad. The oild barn was set up with very modern white tables, white calla lilies and red waterglasses. The theme of the wedding was inspired on New York where the groom asked his bride to marry him. Every table had a name inspired by the burroughs of New York.

Now it's up to La Reunion for the Honeymoon.
I wish them every happiness in the world.

Three or more Tuesday...Starlings

2009-09-29T01:29:00.000-07:00

You will think, there she is again. It's birds again!!! I promise you this will be the last bird topic for a while.
It started almost a year agoo that I noticed that a small flock of birds settled for the night in the little wood across the street from our house.
We live at the border of a small community, a little village and at 300 feet from our door we have a very bizzy road that leads from one town to another.But across my door there is a little field with some pony's in and behind and beside that there is a very small patch of land that is wooded. In that stands a very big tree that is dead at the top. I noticed that the birds perched there for the night.

It gave a bit of life to the street since they chatter a lot. This summer I noticed that more birds have settled in our little wood across the street and it seams that every day there are more.

It started in the summer around 8, 8.30 in the evening that from the north west behind our house small flocks of birds apeared. First you see a few, maybe 20 and then there is another flock and another and another....

After a few weeks it seamed they came from everywhere. After a while the tree with the dead top was not big enough anymore and the birds settled in the surrounding trees.For about one hour the chatter and talk about the day gone by, fight for a place to sleep and then when the evening falls settle down for the night.

Arround 5 in the morning the chattering start again and around 7 they fly away to forrage for the day. Now, autumm is in the land they come home more early, around 7.30 in the evening and only leave around 6.30/ 7 o'clock. They always come from the same way, the northwest, fly to settle down to the southeast.
I am still not certain what birds they are. We think they are black starlings but we do not know for sure, it could also be a small sort of crow.

Once the evening falls you get great pictures like the one below.

Thanks for coming by. See you next week.

Foody Friday Mom's chicken cassarole

2009-09-25T00:04:00.000-07:00

This picture is taken on the moment that my mother put her dish on the table and I happened to have my camera on hand and thought of you lot and said lets take a picture for Foody Friday.
It is a simple cassarole dish but you can prepare it in advance and freeze it if you want.
For 4 eaters you need 4 skinless chicken breasts cut in large pieces of a whole chicken devided in 10 pieces.
2 medium white onions
sweet paprika powder
pepper and salt
1 can of apricots
1 small bunch of white seedless grapes
1 big glass of dry white wine
some butter to fry the chicken in.
Take a large skillet and brown the chicken pieces. Breast meat will only take a few minutes a chicken on the bone will take lots more time.
When the meat is lightly browned and semi cooked add the onions.The onions are not sliced in rings but are cut from top to bottom in 8, so you have moon shapes.
Add them and lett them fry gently. Season with sweet paprika, salt and pepper and then add the wine.Let the chicken get olmost done and then add the apricots and grapes. You can ommit the grapes if you want.
Let cook for a few minutes more and taste. If the taste is not sweet enough you can add a little of the apricot juice or add a spoonful of dark sugar.
Bind the sauce slightly with some corn flower.
We eat it with some crusty french baguettes but this is also nice with some rice or some boiled patatoes.

Three or more Tuesday Vintage cake stands

2009-09-22T02:29:00.000-07:00

That I like cooking and baking is well known to those who follow my blog or know me personally. I also like vintage glass and if you combine the two than you end with the vintage glass cake stands. As you can see I have rather more then three. All together I have 7 stands with foods and a few more without a food. Then they are more cake plates.Once in a while I invite my quiltladies to an afternoon of show and tell and then the cake stands are in full use. Don't the cakes look pretty presented like that?

Here you see a cake stand and a vintage cake plate combined together with a zinc crown on top. I also use them to put on the Christmas table.
This is a bad picture since it is a scan of a traditional picture but it gives you an idea.

The one below is a special one to. I collect Luxval glass of the famous Val saint Lambert Cristal factory here in Belgium and this is an Art Deco cake stand.
Today I made a cake, just because I fancied making one... What better way to present my last glass cake stand.....

Foody Friday canned plums and pears

2009-09-17T23:39:00.001-07:00

We hardly ever can something here but this is a recipie from the time my grandmothers still lived that we make every year. It's canned sweet/sour plums or pears.
You need very hard fruit.It does not work when the pears or plums are soft.

Add about 5 cups of white sugar to 3 cups of red whine vinegair and bring to the boil.

Remove from the heat. Add a cinnamon stick or two or cinnamon powder. But sticks are better.

Stone and half the plums or peel and quarter the pears.You need a hard type of cooking pear. We use Conference.
Then put the fruit in the hot liquid and put a lid on it.
Let it stand for a whole day. The fruit should be immersed in the liquid.

The next day you drain the fruit from the liquid and bring the liquid again to the boil.Remove from the heat and put the fruit back in.Let it stand for another day.

The third day you drain the fruit again and bring the liquid back to the boil. Once it boils you put in small parts of the fruit. Let the liquid come back to the boil and after a minut remove the plums but the pears should cook for about 3 minutes.

Do this to all the fruit.

Put the cooked fruit in a jar.Let the liquid cook out a bit. You will see you have a lot more juice then before. Top up the jar with the liquid and close the jar.
Trow away the rest of the liquid.

You will notice that you can get 8 pounds of pears in the big jar below. This was 3 pounds of plums and it hardly filled the jar's bottem.

So I filled this big jar with the pears and put the plums in a smaller jar.

You can eat these immediatly. Once opened you can keep eating from the same jar until they the fruit is finished.You don't need to put it in a fridge.Even a year later the fruit will still be ok.

The vinegair and the sugar prevents it from spoiling.
This is very nice to eat with some cold meat or with some chicken and french fries.

This is the only thing except from jam that my father used to cook. Evey year he made a batch for the whole family. Now he is no more with us I have taken it on myself to make it.
Enjoy!

Three or more Tuesday Pincushions

2009-09-14T22:32:00.001-07:00

Today a simple showcasing of the pincushions I have in the house. You have the kind you just have to own like these small tin pincushions in the shape of animals,shoe's and egg. They are not functional at all for a real seamstress. But they are fun to look at.

Then you have the beauty. It is handmade by an artist and I love the whit and the humor in it.You can use it very well but it is to beautiful to use and to fragile. But it makes me smile all day long.

Then you have the functional one. This one I love very much too and I use it all day long, every day.
I saw a simular one as this one in a quilt class I was teaching and I asked the lady where she has bought it. She said a friend who is a wood turner made it for her . Al her quilt friends had one too.
So I ordered one from her and took it to classes I teached. Every one thought this was a beautiful but also very handy thing and wished to buy one too. But the other lady was someone who I only met once or twice so that was not an option.
In the end, another student of mine, had also a friend who was a wood turner and he made all of us these beauty's. In total he made almost 60. All of my quilt lady's wanted one in the end.

He used very beautiful pear wood and every one he made whas slightly different in shape.

He made the yarn holders from sturdy long nails instead of fragile wooden spindlesI have in my first one. He also added a needle holder witch can also holds your timble on top. And I added the hook so I can hook a small pair of scissors on it.

The actual pincushion is half a ball of styrofoam witch can be exchanged when needed. I use this pincushion for more then ten years and it is still as nice as the first day I got it.

I hope you enjoyed my show and tell. See you next week

Foody Friday, a fishy day!

2009-09-10T03:35:00.000-07:00

All is quiet in the house. I am going to fix a salad of tuna and advocado to fill my sandwich with. Our Caitlin is having a wash and BlumaBlue is watching the outdoor view...

So, I peel and dice my advocado's and sprinkle the juice of half to one lemon over it.

All of the sudden, there is pandemonium in the kitchen. Cats come from everywhere. Mauwing and turning around my legs....What has happened???
I opened a can of tuna, you see, to add to my advocado's! The can jus has to say, psstt and there they come. From all over the house. Usually when I open a can of tuna it is for the cats but this time it was for me but of course they could'nt know that.
Even the cats that where outside where at the kitchen door in seconds.

In case of a fire, I know how to get the cats together....
I don't have to explain how, I pressume?

So, I add 3/4 of my 2 small cans of tuna with some mayo and the flesh of 2 advodaco's.

The rest of the tuna and the juice out of the can, I put in little bowls on the ground.

Now we all can enjoy our tuna lunch! Jack, the red Maine Coon on the right is to much a gentlemen to mingle among the crowds. He waits until he gets his own bowl!

I know, it does'nt look very appetizing but I can assure you that it tastes great on a sandwich, a crusty piece of baquette or a cracker. Very nice also as hors d'oeuvre or appetizer.

Enjoy!

Three or more Art Deco buttons

2009-09-08T00:14:00.001-07:00

About a year agoo, Annie came to my quilt class with a big tin in her hands.
It was the button tin of her late aunt who died a while agoo. She was about 90 then.
She offered us to pick out of the tin whatever we wanted to have. Non of the other studants had a lot of interest in the buttons but I began to delfe in it and discovered more and more beauty's from the thirties. Even the Annie herself was amased what I discovered. Since I wanted so many of the good buttons I offered to pay her for them but she declined. Thanks again Annie, for these small treasures.
Above, the more colorful dress buttons. Most of them are in an early plastic and some, like the ones with the flowers are glass.

Some very thin buttons on the right. They are real flimsy.
On the left, even on the card, some sturdy buttons for a coat.

A whole set of buttons with birds. I think these must be bakelite. The birds seems to be handpainted.

These coat buttons are truly wonderful and very Art Deco.
Very big buttons. I think of Bakelite in very strong geometric shapes. Most of them are more then 1 inch in diameter.

And then , glass buttons, a favarite of mine. I especially love the little ball shaped button in the center with the black stars in it. It's a shame I only found 1 of those.

In the box where also some old spools and some buckles and brooches and a few metal buttons.
These are two sets of buckles that where intact. How pretty they are. I have never done anything up to now with all these small treasures but I enjoy having them, just to look at.
Hope you enjoyed my story.See you next week.

Foody Friday Grand Marnier cupcakes

2009-09-03T23:25:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been making lots and lots of cupcakes. I especially like mini cupcakes like you see in the picture.
For my sister in law I made the cupcakes on the above picture.
She had a gathering with friends.
These cupcakes traveled the length of Belgium and where 10 hours in transit before they reached their destination.
Muy husband took them to the Belgian coast, a 2 hour drive. There they stayed in a coolbox for 6 hours and then my sister in law took them home, also a 2 hour drive. But they survived!!

.

Since I started making them I got another order from a one of my kitten buyers who's friend was to be a bride and they gave her a party.

I made her the romantic cupcakes you see above. All feminine and sweet, with sugar roses, butterfly's and fresh raspberry's.

The above cupcakes are my latest invention. They are the Grand Marnier ones.
I make some very nice, normal sized, chocolate cupcakes.
When they had cooled I sponed 1 teaspoon of Grand Marnier over them.
Then frosted them with Grand Marnier buttercream. Sprinkled some real cacao powder on them and toped the cupcakes with fresh orange slices and a sprinkling of chocolade curls.
Enjoy and see you next week!

3 or more Thusday George Jones cups and saucers...

2009-09-01T02:07:00.000-07:00

I noticed recently that there is a theme developing in my latest buys...Birds...
I seem to buy a lot of things with birds...Birdcages, bird statues and now cups and saucers with birds. It's an odd combination if you like and have a lot of cats like me!

Years agoo, I was given these small cups and saucers by a sweet friend after I had been raving about them. She gave them to me as a thank you and goodbye gift after teaching a patchwork course.
They are so very, very sweet with the handpainted birds and butterfly's. I did not want to accept them since they one's belonged to her grandmother but she insisted and I have cared and loved them ever since. The porcelain is so thin that you can look trough them.

There is no mark, but a small handpainted number, so I know nothing of the factory.

Lately I came across some dinerware of George Jones. George Jones ( 19th century) is well know for his very beautiful and now expensive majolica wares.But I did not know that he also made diner wares.
I saw these bits of a tea set on Ebay and made a far to high bid on it and got them . The pattern is called " Almonds".

Then a week later I came across this very pretty George Jones cup and saucer and I could not let I go. It costed me about 20 $ but I think it is well worth this money.

In the same week I saw these darling George Jones cups and plates, also on Ebay UK...I love swallows and nobody wanted them so I bougth them very cheap. Postage was more expensive then the whole lot of 2 trio's and 1 big plate.

Sadly, as you can see, the cake plates where both broken in transit. I was so sad about it. The vendor say she has some more plates of this design so I am now waiting until she offers them to me for the price of the postage.

This darling, gay, yellow tea set is also George Jones and although it has no birds and yellow is not my colour at all, it is so gay and it was so cheap( about 40$ for the whole set) that it had to come home to me. I still have not found a place to put it ...but what a little sunshine it is!!

It makes you cheerful all day long!

See you next week and thanks for visiting.

Foody Friday and a gourgous dessert!

2009-08-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

Is this not a picture??
Last week I promised a blogger on the Foody Friday party to look out the coming week, for a gourgous dessert without to much calories.
This dessert is my variation on a traditional bavarois. A French dessert made with fruit, and whipped cream and set with gelatine.
When I was on a diet 3 years agoo I wanted something lush and gourgous en sweet en fruity for dessert and....something to was not to heavy on the hips.
Since I like bavarois very much I made a light version on it. Since that day we actually only eat this light version because it is so light and so fresh and so fruity.

You need:
500 grams or 18 ounces of fat free curd cheese. The Dutch call this 'kwark', Belgians call this 'plattekaas' with means as much as runny cheese. This is the first thing you get when you start making cheese. It tastes a bit like ricotta but its runnier and less grainy.
500 grams or 18 ounces of raspberry's or strawberry 's, witch you cutter uncooked and sive to get the pips out.
1/2 cup of fine white sugar
3 egg large of 4 small egg whites
7 leaves of gelatine. Mine are 2 grams a piece. So you need 14 grams that is half an ounce.
Juice of half an orange.

Take a large bowl and mix the curd cheese with the raspberry sauce.
Put the gelatine and let it soak in cold water.

Mix with the sugar.
Then put a little saucepan on with the orange juice. Let it get hot and take it of the heat.
Remove gelatine from cold water en remove excess water. Let is melt in the hot orange juice. Never boil gelatine or it will not set.
Beat the gelatine under the fruit mixture. Beat fast so the gelatine has no time to make strands.

Whip up the egg whites untill they are very stiff. Hold the bowl upside down!

Mix 1/4 of the eggwhites under the fruit mixture. When the mixture is losened than fold the other eggwhites under.
Take a mould and rinse it in cold water. Don't dry it!! This tiny bit of water will make sure that the mousse will glide out of the mould easily.

Fill the mould to the top.

Put it in the fridge overnight or at least 5 hours.
To put it on a serving plate.
Losen the side of the mousse. Place the bowl for a few seconds in hot water. See that the water does not go over the side of the bowl.
Create an air pocket by gently sliding a knife between the mould and the mousse.
Put a serving dish on top of the mould and turn it upside down.
Gentle let the mouse slide out of the mould. If it does not come immediatly you can help it with tilting the mould slightly and creating another air pocket.

Decorate with fruit and some leaves of the raspberry bush. I had a gourgous deep red rose in the garden that had the exactly right colour for the mousse. It was'nt sprayed with anything so you could eat it if you wanted.

This is a least fit for 6 people. I even had some left over. I managed to fill a glass with it.

You can do all the mousse in single serving moulds if you wished. I often do this for a party.
And if you are not on a diet, a bit of whipped cream is always nice to go with it.....

Enjoy and see you next week!

Three or more Tuesday cups with or without saucers

2009-08-25T00:54:00.000-07:00

Of course we all have cups and saucers in the house. I do too but I also have a few very special ones and these I want to show you today.
The first one is from the famous Irish factory of Belleek. For those who do not know it, this factory is famous for its paper thin porcelain. A lot of their earlier collections are in the form of shell's. So is this delicate cup. You wonder if ever anybody drank tea out of these cups. You can see right trough the porcelain. They also call it eggshell porcelain. That is a very good name for this kind of porcelain.
Sadly I do not have the saucer but I will surch to find one so the set is compleet.

This is I think a very old cup. It is what is called Lustre ware. You see the shiny rosy golden stripe on the rim and on the foot. On the one side there is a landscape with a castle and on the other side is a lady in 1820's dress walking a lurcher.

This is a very,very old cup and saucer. It must date from about 1780! You can tell this by the fact that it has a very deep saucer and there is no rim to hold the cup in place in the saucer. This is something you only see in very old saucers.
The saucers is handpainted with a Chinese scene and is very fresh in colour with all that pink and green and red.

This is a totally different kettle of fish. These cups and plate (it is not a saucer) is made by the for us well know porcelain factory of Maastricht. This is a Dutch company that does not exist anymore. It was situated in the town of Maastricht. This town sits on the border of Belgium and Holland. I had an uncle who worked in that factory in the sixty's.

This is from their childrens range of Little Red Riding Hood. It is such fun. I hope that in a few years my little granddaughter will enjoy it.

For next week I promise some other beautiful cup and saucers.

Foody Friday, tasty chicken salad

2009-08-20T23:51:00.001-07:00

More then 10 years agoo there was an exposition of Antique American Quilts in Brussels.
Of course there where also shop and in one of those stalls I bought a cookbook called "The quilters cookbook". It contained recipies from quilters all over America. This has become one of my most used cookbooks and it learned me how to bake and cook with cups.
My cake baking has increased immensely since.

This recipie comes also out of that cookbook.

Chicken salad

Start with a grilled chicken or gently boil 2 to 3 fat single chicken filets in some chicken stock.

I always do the latter.
Clean a whole green celery and chop in 1/2 inch pieces

Add half a pound of green seedless grapes.

You could add a can of waterchestnuts. This was in the original recipie but is hard to find here.

Then make the dressing.
Add to some good mayonnaise, 1 heaped teaspoon of curry powder, juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon, and 1 spoon of sojasauce.Taste.
Mix well en pour over the salad. Mix and let it stand overnight or at least a few hours.

Just before serving you chop up an iceberg lettuce and mix with the other ingredients.
Serve in a bowl of the outher leaves of the lettuce.
This is truly a great and easy to make salad what you can make in advance and is good to take to a potluck lunch.
It has become a staple in our family .

Three or more candle holders

2009-08-17T23:45:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact I hardly ever burn candles, this is because I can't trust the cats around them, it seems I have a lot of candle holders. The ones I show you are not all the ones I have. There is in the house at least another pair of slender wooden ones and a very tall modern single candle holder that I can think of.
The candle holder above is Art Deco in style and was made by a Belgian company called Thulin. I collected some of its ware a while agoo. This range called "Airain " always has the green and black color combination. A very typical Art Deco combination. I like the shape of this piece very much.

This candle holder holds special memory's for me since it was a gift from my late father. He had a friend who was cleaning out his garage and he wanted to trow this candle holder away. My father asked if he could have it because, I think this would be something that my daughter liked, he said. He gave me the candle holder on my next visit and I indeed liked it. I does not do it's job very well. I never have found a candle that would fit the thing so candles always topple over. So this is one never to be used but also never to trow away....

A very cheap wall sconce but I love it. It is modeled on an antique one. You can take the candle away and close the sconce so it will take less place.

Anonther antique Art deco piece. This is from one of my other collections. It is made by the world famous Val saint Lambert crystal factory's in there Luxval depression glass range. It is still a very handsome piece and I love the strong Art deco lines.

This last stately candle holder is one of my price finds in a second hand shop. I was abble to buy it for the equivivalent of 20$. If I wanted I could replate it and it would be very pretty on my table. But I like its shabby chic feel and I will keep it like this.

Thanks for looking. See you next week!

Foody Friday Gratin Dauphinois

2009-08-13T23:49:00.001-07:00

Last week I did not participate because of the fact that I let the chicken burn that I wanted to talk about! I put it in a pan to boil and forgot about it! Of course I was busy on my laptop and then time flies by.....
On sunday my son and his family came by for a chat and a meal and for us to see our little granddaughter and I decided to make a simple but festive meal of lamfilet with French beans and cherry tomatoes and a Gratin Dauphinois.

First you feel, wash, dry and slice your patatoes. Don't use a flowery one.

Than make the combination of milk and egg. I used 2 eggs, half a liter of semi skimmed milk, 1 clove of chopped garlic, peper and salt.Take a shallow glass or otherwise ovenproof dish and start layering.A layer of the raw potatoe slices, a layer of the milk mixture and a bit of cheese. The cheese is not traditional in France but we like it so we used about 2 ounces of grated emmental cheese.Bake in the microwave, yes, we like the microwave for this. It saves you lots of time. This one was ready in 35 minutes instead of at least 1 hour in the oven.

In the mean time that the gratin is in the microwave you steam of cook your French green beans until tender but still with a crunch.Drain.
Put the pot back on the fire and sautee a small diced onion.
Put the tomatoes in and when they start to soften put the beans in. The tomatoes need just to be popped a little and the beans just need to be warmded trough.

Add pepper and salt and a dash of vinigair. It is like a warm vinaigrette.

Then it is just a question of grilling the meat.I just like it pink, sprinkled with some oregano and peper and salt. Serve with the gratin and the tomatoes and beans.

Enjoy my sunday dinner!

See you next week.

Three or more cat paintings

2009-08-11T01:10:00.001-07:00

Today, my big boy, Jack, the first Maine Coon I ever bought is celebrating his 10th birthday. He is the kind of cat you don't want. He sprays, even after being castrated for 9 years of his life and he is not the cuddle type that sits on your lap.But never the less (and only other catlovers can understand) I love him dearly.
So, to celebrate this birthday I show you my collection of cat pictures that I collected over the years. This is the cat picture wall, situated in the cat room. As a catbreeder I needed a room for the cats for when they are sick or pregnant or for when I have kittens. So when the children left the house a small bedroom was rearrangd to accomodate the cats.

This and the picture below are the work of Elie Harper. Her husband is very famous in the US and I love these funny catpictures that hang in our living room.

On the above a cat is looking at the snow outside, peeping from under the blinds

This second one from Elie Harper is a cat looking trough a fish bowl.

The work of this lady is totally different. On the cat picture wall I have two other small painting of her. She works a lot in green and depicts a lot of cats. Her name is Sarah Kiser. The other two pictures are on the top left in the cat room. You see immediatly the likeness to these two pictures.

This could be a painting of Jack but it is not. When I saw this one on Ebay I absolutely wanted it. All these pictures come from the USA and are all bought trough Ebay.

A very small painting only as big as a postcard.

This one, also from Ebay, also reminded me of Jack somehow and it was given to me for my birthday by my daughter.

Jack, darling, I love you and I wish you a very happy birthday. Tonight before bedtime we will celebrate with a few cans of tuna. Together with your 10 other friend we will make a party!

Tree or more Tuesday Bird bronzes

2009-08-04T01:02:00.000-07:00

Last week I told you about a beautiful bronze statue of a bird on a wheat ear that was hidden in the last birdcage of that blog.

My husband and I where trilled about this silver wedding anniversary gift from our family.

The bronze is from the well know French artist André Vincent Becquerel.
We came across his bird bronzes by accident. A few years before this gift was made to us, my mother and I where at an antiques fair and all of the sudden we saw a bronze statue of a branch with 4 birds on. Its black base lay beside it. We where both immediatly atracted by it.

The base was signed by the letters AV Becquerel. We never heard of this artist before but since the bronze was not too expensive I advised my mother to buy it. Since that day it stands proudly on her coffee table and everybody loves it.
My younger brother, the man he is, wanted to know more about that Becquerel.
He surched and surched the internet but there is not much to be found. We see his work regulary at auctions and on Ebay and so, but he seems not to be a major artist.

There are two versions of his day of birth. Sometimes you see the date 1880 to 1940. On other websites you see 1893 t0 1981. Much of his work has influences of the Art Deco period so I would personaly rather go for the latter date. He has exhibited in Paris in the period between 1914 and 1922. That then again suggests rather the earlyer birthday since he only would have been 21 years old when he exhibited in 1914... I stays a mystery.

We have discoverd some other beautiful other sculptures of him, like leaping fish, deer, lioness and his famous panthers. He also made some bird booksupports and some radiator caps depictings dogs and hares. All these sculptures are much more Art Deco in style then the birds. But we mainly love his bird sculptures.

My brother was so fasinated by the bird bronze of my mother that he looked out for them and managed to find and buy some more. He knew I loved the one my mom bought and one day he found the one with the bird on the wheat ear in a small antique shop. First he offered me to buy it from him and I accepted that offer. Then when I wanted to give him the money he refused to sell it to me. I was very disappointed in him but afterwords of cause we found out that in the mean time the family had decided to gift it to us for our silver wedding anniversary.

So this one became the first I owned.

Of course I wanted some more... Trough Ebay I found the other once. The second one in the house where the seagulls on the waves...It is a common subject for Becquerel since I know of at least two other sculptures with gulls.

After a few years I saw this small one on the French Ebay site and bought it after asking my brother if he was also going to bid on it. We tell each other if there is another Becquerel on Ebay and we decide amoung us who is going to bid for it. We never bid against each other. Last september I found this big one with the whole flock of birds on a branch and managed to buy it. I weights a ton. But I love it so much.
A month agoo I found the last one. This is a sweety too. Look how graceful the grass bows and see the little snail that is crawling up the stem?

The birdies are just fledgelings.They look so young with hardly any feathers, huddled together looking at the snail that is crawling up to them. This bronze is more Art Deco in style than the other ones.
After I maneged to buy this one I said, now I have enough sculptures.I have no more place to put them...but I know I at least have my eye on two more. My mothers sculpture and the one with the birds picking cherry's that I managed to lose on Ebay. So I am saving up again for the next upportunity....

Foody Friday family barbeque

2009-07-30T16:12:00.000-07:00

Two years agoo, my father died of Alzheimer disease just like my father in law did last week...
Since the dead of my father we try to come together with the family around the date that dad was born and have a get together in his memory. We had started having these Birthday BBQ a few years before Dad died and mom tought it would be a good idea to keep doing them and so remembering Dad's birthday by.
This gathering took place last sunday.We where lucky with the weather and
like always we had a good day with lots of food and drinks and with lots of laughs.
Of course I had to make something too and I invented a summer vegetable salad that I named:

Victorine kitchen garden salad.

Victorine is my fathers mother and she was a farmers wife. They had a fabulous kitchen garden of witch I have fond memory's of. See the september topic of red apples from last year.

So in honour of her and her kitchen garden I made this salad.
It contains masses of fresh veg and a rather special dressing.

Combine steamed of parboiled pieces of carrot, green beans, snowpeas, cauliflower, white Belgian Asparagues together with raw pieces of celary, zucchini and tiny tomatoes.
I cook all my vegetables separate because they all need different cooking times. I leave them crunchy as well. You af course can take other vegeatbles also.

Then I created this dressing

Creamy sour cream and lemon dressing

Combine one small tub of sour cream with two heaped TS of good mayo.
Put 4 tablespoons of white wine vinigair in ( mine was flavered with minth), salt, pepper, some dryed salad herbs and the grated rind of a washed and untreaded lemon. It gives you a thick creamy dressing. Make it fairly acid at this time since. The salad needs this.

Toss together an hour before serving. The vegatables wil dilute the saladdressing a bit.

As always my younger brother was the barbeque master.

Here we are still on the appetizersGuacamole and a spicy cold mango soup and spicy meatballs with tzaziki.

After the appetizers there chicken drumsticks, pork tenderloin, small steaks, lam cutlets, sausages and all different kind of salads to go with it. For desert I made my mini cupcakes. Mom said, not to much and to big since I just want a little nibble to go with the coffee. I said of course,Mom and brought 60 tiny cupcakes.....Lemon cupcakes with lemoncurd buttercream and blueberry topping.And the all time favorite chocolade cupcakes with pink buttercream and raspberry topping. Of course there where way to many as there was way to much food anyway but I did not hear complains when they where asked to take the leftovers home. I heard the last cc 's where eaten yesterday and they where as nice as they where on sunday! I am still looking for insets for the cakeboxes for mini cupcakes. Can find them anywhere in Europe and the American shops won't send them because I do not want 1000 or so and posting is so expensive! If anyone can help it would be most apreciated.

It was a very nice family day and the star of the day was of course.....the latest addition to our family, our little granddaughter, Anne-Fleur!