Showing posts with label Photo Story Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Photo Story Friday. Show all posts

Friday, November 21, 2008

Photo Story Friday Bread for Africa

PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek




Alida tagged me to post a bread recipe for
Breadline Africa World Wide Blogger Bake Off Campaign.
All you need to do is join, donate and upload a recipe.
Oh and um, while you're there, maybe vote for my recipe ?

I'm making this a Photo Story Friday, because I want
as much people possible to learn about this worldwide campaign
and maybe do the same thing?

What you need:
320 g of white flour
320 g of whole wheat flour
12 g of salt
14 g of dried yeast
approx. 300 ml of lukewarm water
2 tablespoons of walnut oil
1/2 tablespoon of maple syrup.
50 g of walnuts.
150 g of dried fruits, I used dried prunes, apricots and figs.
(don't worry, the dried fruits do not make the bread too sweet)


Roast the walnuts in a non stick pan and leave them to cool down.
Dice the dried fruits.
Measure up the rest of the ingredients.
Put the white and the plain flour in the bowl of the food processor.
Add the salt, but make sure you put it next to the side of the bowl.
With a wooden spoon, make a little well in the centre
and poor in some of the water, the maple syrup and the dried yeast.



Mix everything together in the processor, add the walnut oil,
and enough water to make everything stick together well.
Then add the dried fruits and the nuts and knead
for twenty minutes until you get an elastic dough.
Put the dough in a bowl, cover it with a dry cloth and let it rise for at least one hour.


Knock the risen dough down, and shape it anyway you prefer best.
Put it in the oven at 40°C to let it rise for the second time.
This will probably take 45 minutes to an hour.
When you're okay with the size of it
bake it in a hot oven at 220°C for about 45 minutes.


And this is the result: a very delicious bread with a very nice texture.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Photo Story Friday, the Halloween Edition

PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek








Well hey hello there, dear visitors.
Now don't leave ... don't be afraid, just let me introduce myself.
I am Mrs Doubtfire, and I live at Jientjes house.
People commented on my portrait yesterday,
saying I could use a new hairdresser, and you'll probably
say that my clothes are in rags as well, but to be honest,
witches do not bother with stuff like that.
I'm way too busy to worry about my looks.
I know I look a little bit crazy, but to tell you the truth, I AM crazy.
Being crazy comes with the job, so ...



I died in the flames in the dark ages.
That was because people did not understand me.
I had a black cat, and my black hat and long nose may have scared people.
I still don't know why they did it, throwing me in the flames like that.
It was awful. Oohhh I had my doubts about those flames, I was so scared.
That's how I got my name in the first place.




I found out it's nothing really, you just stare in the distance
and try to keep your mind on more pleasant matters.
Because once you've you died in the flames, you get to become
a real witch, and I already knew witches can not die again.
So nothing can hurt me no more.

I've always been very eager to learn new stuff,
and do some experimenting of my own.
There's only one way to become a good witch, and that's to try things,
that's what my aunt always used to say to me.
If it does not kill you, it makes you stronger, so...
Mind you, I can be forgetful at times.
But that can lead to some very interesting new discoveries,
and I just love inventing stuff by accident.
Like that grape juice I forgot about a couple of months ago?
Well, I tasted it, and it made me a little giggly but I kind of like that.

What I really looooove to do is to go out in the woods and pick things.
And when I come home, I poor myself a nice glass of that giggly stuff
and start throwing a couple of things together.
I believe people call that cooking nowadays,
but don't forget that I was the one who invented that.
Oh and um, okay, I'll admit, not all of the stuff I try really works, but hey?
Like I said, if it does not kill you, it makes you stronger!
Mushrooms are really my favourites! You know, you would not believe
that purple colour you get from some of them when you throw them in the flames!
Mind you, some of those mushrooms I bring home
really can make you talk funny, but even that wears off in a day or two.
Oh but don't try this at home though, I've got to warn you!

Flames do not scare me anymore now, I've learned to love them.
It's my cat, she's not to keen on them though.

I think I'll have to teach her the hard way ...
Oh and um .... do not try this at home either!!

PhotoStory Friday

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Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Friday, October 24, 2008

Photo Story Friday On the Border

PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek




Last Tuesday I visited the village of Baarle Nassau.
The village of Baarle Nassau is a Dutch/Belgian border village
with a very unique feature.There is no straight border.
In fact, the actual border is a jigsaw puzzle of pieces
of Belgian territory on Dutch soil and vice versa.

Take a look at this map. ( Source: Wikkipedia)

Baarle consists of two municipallities, it has two nationalities, yet it is only one village.
Half of a street can be Dutch while the opposite side is Belgian,
and sometimes that border can run right THROUGH a house.
This house has two different house numbers, one in Belgium and one in Holland.


The people living here could sleep in Holland, and have breakfast in their kitchen in Belgium.
It can even get worse. If that border runs across your bed,
technically speaking your husband sleeps abroad every night!


There is a very amusing story about a pub with two doors.
Sadly enough, the pub is gone now, but still ...
This pub was called " 't Hoekske", which means " the Corner",
and it had the Belgian border running through it right across the pool table.
(You could play pool across the border there)
Closing time in Holland was slightly earlier, but the Belgian side of the pub
remained open, while Dutch pub door was closed, according to the regulations of the law.
The remaining customers enjoyed another beer at the right side of the border.

When real estate was sold there would be a Belgian and a Dutch notary present
and they would each (very conveniently) sit in their own national section
of the pub to handle all the necessary paperwork.



In the mid seventies, there was this Dutch movie which had been X rated in Belgium.
There is only one movie theatre in Baarle, and they were planning on showing it there.
So they built a fence that followed the borderline inside the theatre.
The audience and the projectors were at the Dutch side of the theatre,
while the Belgian police remained on Belgian soil to keep an eye on things ...

And this is how the Belgians and the Dutch live there in perfect harmony ...




Friday, August 1, 2008

Photo Story Friday, Broken Wings

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Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek


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Discover Chris de Burgh!











These broken wings can take me no further,
I’m lost, and out at sea,
I thought these wings would hold me forever,
And on to eternity,
And far away I can hear your voice,
I can hear it in the silence of the morning,
But these broken wings have let me down,
They can’t even carry me home.


In broken dreams that keep me from sleeping,
I remember all the things I said,
Well I’ve broken all the promises,
I said I would be keeping,
They’re gone, like leaves they fell,
For it’s so hard when you’re far away,
All I needed was a shoulder I could cry on,
Now these broken dreams have woken me,
My love, will you carry me home.



Or will you treat me like some traveller,
On a dark and lonely road,
Who sees a light and a woman who will give him love,
Oh and just when she reaches the part,
When she’s supposed to comfort his broken heart,
She turns away, and sends him travelling on, on,


Oh when I left I believed that nothing would go wrong,
I thought the whole world would be waiting for my story,
Take me back, my love, I need you now,
Come back and carry me home,
Take me back and heal these broken wings,
Come back and carry me home.




Music and Lyrics by Chris de Burgh.
Pictures taken at the Planckendael Zoo, last Sunday.
The storks you see here all got injured and have broken their wings.
In the wild, they would not have a chance,
they would almost certainly die.
These are the lucky ones,
they have been saved, and can now spend the rest of their lives at the zoo.