Monday, August 24, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
How to throw a fancy party
Okay, you invite 110 people or so, ask everybody to dress up, order yummy food and ask me to do the decorations. Or at least that was what my friends did. They helped organise a convention for singles in the age 30-45, and on the last night they had a formal dinner.
Fortunately for me my stepmom and one of my stepsisters came to my rescue, along with about 10 of the participants. With their help it only took us a few hours to prepare everything for the party.
Being bored in the back of the car on the way up there. Hmm, those sunflowers look cool. *Click*
Let me see how this close-up thing works on my new camera. Sit still, little one. *Click*
Because we had a fairly limited budget we decided to focus entirely on the tables, filling them with loads of vases with fresh flowers in vibrant colors. The rest of the table was in neutral colors with white tablecloths, a cream colored runner, white menucards placed in a white holder and white napkins with a piece of brown fabric tied with a piece of string.
For reasons unknown to me I forgot to get pictures of all the flowers, but rest assured that there was plenty, plenty of flowers.
Fortunately for me my stepmom and one of my stepsisters came to my rescue, along with about 10 of the participants. With their help it only took us a few hours to prepare everything for the party.
Being bored in the back of the car on the way up there. Hmm, those sunflowers look cool. *Click*
Let me see how this close-up thing works on my new camera. Sit still, little one. *Click*
Because we had a fairly limited budget we decided to focus entirely on the tables, filling them with loads of vases with fresh flowers in vibrant colors. The rest of the table was in neutral colors with white tablecloths, a cream colored runner, white menucards placed in a white holder and white napkins with a piece of brown fabric tied with a piece of string.
For reasons unknown to me I forgot to get pictures of all the flowers, but rest assured that there was plenty, plenty of flowers.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Oh, I almost forgot ...
We went to the last skan of the tiny one, and everything looks just perfect. And we are having a little boy.
Sea-life
A few days ago a couple of friends and their babies left our house, leaving me with nice memories, dishes to clean, an excited kid and half a loaf of bread.
When I closed the door after the last one of them left, I felt like fresh air, leaving the dirty dishes behind, getting the kid and me a little relaxed and using some of the bread before I ate it all.
A few minutes later we were down by the lakes looking at the ducks with their ducklings.
It was just one of those nice quiet afternoons where everything seems just right. I feel so blessed that I have many of those in my life!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
yummy food
I am a big fan of food. It just taste so darn good! My lovely, lovely better half is not as big a fan as I am. I am actually not even sure he is even a fan. Before he met me, he lived off muesli, spaghetti and honny sandwiches. That was his three daily meals. No, definitly not a fan.
So I seldomly can be bothered making anything fancy at our house - that fact that I am currently pregnant and tired doesn't help much either. But when we were at the beautiful summerhouse I was suddenly surroundded by fans of nice food. And so I felt like cooking again.
So one of the evenings I made twice-baked potatoes, courtesy of The PioneerWoman, tomato and feta salad and shrimp.
Tomato and feta salad is so easy and it tastes amazing. Just grab a big handful of tomatoes and slice them or chop them or cut them out in the shape of stars. I know some of you want to. Take some fetacheese and cut into small pieces. Combine in a bowl. Cut some onion rings, and add to it. Add a little bit of salt and basil leaves. If you feel like it you can also add a splash of oil, but I think that is just a waste of calories. Save that for the chocolate!
The better half was very excited to be near the water and all he wanted was seafood. And so I got a hold of some giant shrimp. They were so nice!
Had I started a little earlier and had I been home in my own fully stocked kitchen I would probably have made a marinade for the shrimp, but seeing as how we were far away and I didn't clean the shrimp until 5 minutes before we were eating, I opted for something fast.
I got out the pan, thinly slices half a chili and added to the pan along with some butter and salt. I didn't have any garlic there, but just pretend that it was there cause it is so good with it. Finely mince ½-1 garlic clove and add to the pan. Heat it up and add the grey, boring looking shrimp to the pan. Turn the shrimp over, then they are nicely pink on the one side. Within 2 minutes you have some funky looking, flavourfull shrimp all ready to eat. We ate outside and it couldn't have been more perfect.
On the twice baked potatoes I used a recipe from here. I love this site and besides fun posts, cool giveaways and info about homeschooling (yes, homeschooling, I am not kidding) she also have amazing recipes for good food from before butter came out of style. Plus easy-to-understand step by step recipes. I love things that are easy to understand!
Enjoy!
So I seldomly can be bothered making anything fancy at our house - that fact that I am currently pregnant and tired doesn't help much either. But when we were at the beautiful summerhouse I was suddenly surroundded by fans of nice food. And so I felt like cooking again.
So one of the evenings I made twice-baked potatoes, courtesy of The PioneerWoman, tomato and feta salad and shrimp.
Tomato and feta salad is so easy and it tastes amazing. Just grab a big handful of tomatoes and slice them or chop them or cut them out in the shape of stars. I know some of you want to. Take some fetacheese and cut into small pieces. Combine in a bowl. Cut some onion rings, and add to it. Add a little bit of salt and basil leaves. If you feel like it you can also add a splash of oil, but I think that is just a waste of calories. Save that for the chocolate!
The better half was very excited to be near the water and all he wanted was seafood. And so I got a hold of some giant shrimp. They were so nice!
Had I started a little earlier and had I been home in my own fully stocked kitchen I would probably have made a marinade for the shrimp, but seeing as how we were far away and I didn't clean the shrimp until 5 minutes before we were eating, I opted for something fast.
I got out the pan, thinly slices half a chili and added to the pan along with some butter and salt. I didn't have any garlic there, but just pretend that it was there cause it is so good with it. Finely mince ½-1 garlic clove and add to the pan. Heat it up and add the grey, boring looking shrimp to the pan. Turn the shrimp over, then they are nicely pink on the one side. Within 2 minutes you have some funky looking, flavourfull shrimp all ready to eat. We ate outside and it couldn't have been more perfect.
On the twice baked potatoes I used a recipe from here. I love this site and besides fun posts, cool giveaways and info about homeschooling (yes, homeschooling, I am not kidding) she also have amazing recipes for good food from before butter came out of style. Plus easy-to-understand step by step recipes. I love things that are easy to understand!
Enjoy!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
My better half
The other day the cravings got too much for me. "Wouldn't it be nice to invite your lovely wife out for a steak?" I asked my better half. He was a little puzzled at first, but he is slowly learning that in our world pregnancy and steak-cravings are heavily intertwined.
And so my better half invited me, his pregnant and tired wife, out for a steak. And as I sat there and ate my steak, enjoying it more than should be humanly possible, the better half ate his banana split. Because unlike almost any other man I know, my better half is not much for steak. He planned to have pancakes and ice cream for dessert but when he was done with his banana split he was completely full.
Is it wrong to love your better half for eating banana split at a steak restaurant? Actually the fact that he very generously shared his banana split with me made him even more lovable!
I consider myself a very fortunate woman!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Getting to know my new baby
While I was on vacation I expanded my mind, my horizons, my world. In other words I learned about shutter speed. A very fascinating thing. I am so intrigued by how you can capture motion and it seems almost dreamlike.
One of the evenings the better half and I went to the beach for a night swim (for him, always for him) I brought the camera wih me determined to try out a few things.
I used the [S] setting on my camera where I can choose the shutterspeed and the camera then does the aperture. I like that. I know I can't mess it up too bad. I tried a few different times, ranging from 0.5 seconds to 3 using a big stone as a tripod. Standing completely still for 3 seconds is harder than it sounds!
The shutter speed on this one is between 2.5 and 3 seconds and I like how the waves get blurry and the water splashing up against the stones almost seem fog-like. It makes it a little more fairytale like for me.
Yes, I still love my camera!
One of the evenings the better half and I went to the beach for a night swim (for him, always for him) I brought the camera wih me determined to try out a few things.
I used the [S] setting on my camera where I can choose the shutterspeed and the camera then does the aperture. I like that. I know I can't mess it up too bad. I tried a few different times, ranging from 0.5 seconds to 3 using a big stone as a tripod. Standing completely still for 3 seconds is harder than it sounds!
The shutter speed on this one is between 2.5 and 3 seconds and I like how the waves get blurry and the water splashing up against the stones almost seem fog-like. It makes it a little more fairytale like for me.
Yes, I still love my camera!
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