For the last week here in Amsterdam, our canal has had a layer of glorious snow over the top of its frozen, icey surface. It has been reflecting a beautiful blue-white light into the boat that I have never seen before. Every morning I have been eagerly pulling up the blinds to let in as much of the light as possible, and I have been so inspired to use this new white light – imagining up all sorts of new still life tabletop scenes and interior settings. This morning I was a little sad to see that all the snow had melted on the canal.

But I didn’t come here to give you a weather report. Instead, I want to let you know that food stylist Yvette van Boven is here in da (blog)house again! After I saw the latest post on her blog called Dutch Fare, I asked if she could translate one of the recipes and being the wonderful friend that she is, she said yes. She shouldn’t be indulging us though, because she too is very busy working on a huge book and she needs no distractions. Meanwhile, she has runaway to Paris to try to get some work done on her book without being distracted by the likes of well… me. I understand.

So, go take a look in the (blog)house kitchen (click here) to see which recipe Yvette kindly translated and wrote about for us. It’s the perfect winter treat. Enjoy!

xx

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one ripe banana
soy milk (sometimes I’m a soy gal)
scoop of plain yoghurt
a pinch of cinnamon
a dollop of honey

blend it. drink it. enjoy it.

xx

PS I nearly forgot to tell you that Yvette has something utterly scrumptious cooking in the (blog)house kitchen! In fact, it would go perfectly with the above banana smoothie. miam.

xx

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As if this week wasn’t exciting enough!

Admittedly I was asked a month or so ago if I’d like to be ‘in the kitchen with’, it just took me this long to actually get the recipe and photos together! It’s been a busy month, and as its turned out, the post is lovely timing with the book release. The best thing is that while I was cooking this recipe two beautiful water creatures came to visit me so I grabbed my camera, grabbed the dish and snapped away…

Check out the full post and recipe for my pea, mint and feta risotto right here.

And if you do make this recipe please let me know what you think of it – I tend to add ingredients as I go, tasting along the way (I’m an artist and not a recipe writer! unlike my own (blog)house kitchen guest) so if you feel there is not enough of one thing or it needs more of something else, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Merci Grace and Kristina!

xx

PS I STILL can’t believe I actually got a photograph of the risotto with the swans in the background. wowsers.

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…click here to do so!

(I’ll have all photographs + news about the shoot up by the end of the week, including behind the scenes!)

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If French Boy hadn’t promised to sneak me out for a mid-week dinner date ce soir, I would stay home and bake this:

The one above is prepared by Aran of course, you can get the full recipe here. And don’t forget, some of my favourite recipes of Aran’s are in le (blog)house kitchen at this very moment, click here to check’em out.

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I want this crunchy, chewy, creamy bar with milk chocolate, peanut butter and rice krispies crust, layer of salted peanut nougat + milk chocolate bavarian, topped with caramel cream. NOW.

Aran, please, feeeeeeed me.

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT:AFRICA AND IT'S FAB...

There is something about me and pastry chefs.

For some reason in my career, I find myself drawn to recipe writers who are ex-pastry chefs, their food and culinary vision making me jump up and down, giddy and light headed, as I lick my lips and salivate at the thought of how fabulous their latest creation will look with various stylish accoutrements I have in my props cupboard.

Right now, in the (blog)house kitchen I have exactly someone who fits the above description – whose creations make my mouth-water just to read the title of her latest materpiece, let alone her photographs and stories about how she came up with the recipe. And who secretly, I hope to work with one day to publish a book of her sweet work.

Please welcome to the (blog)house, recipe writer extraordinaire and author of the scrumptious blog called Cannelle Et Vanille, Aran Goyoaga…

To get you familiar with Aran’s recipes, here is one of my favourites, her champagne and pink grapefruit sorbet…

with lemon emulsion, lemon streusel and red currant jelly…

Here in the (blog)house kitchen, Aran has shared four of her favourite recipes with us, so get on in there now to take a look, but be prepared as you will want to grab your spatulas and bowls the moment you lay eyes on her photographs.

Thank you Aran, I am so pleased you are here, I do hope you enjoy your stay in the kitchen, and please don’t worry about cleaning up – Alfred will be happy to tidy any mess (because I know he likes to lick the bowls!).

Enjoy.

xx

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It’s been a quick shuffle in the kitchen as the two cooks exchange the (blog)house apron and hand over the inaugural wooden spoon. As we say our goodbyes and thank yous to sweet Laura (merci Laura! au revoir! à bientot!), we welcome our wonderful new friend and fabulous food stylist, Rachel Khoo. She and friend Andréa have been busy in their new venture, la cocotte – a wonderful bookstore/mini café in the 11th arrondisment of Paris. Check out some of the books on the la cocotte shelves here.

Rachel aptly calls herself “the London girl munching her way through all things delicious in Paris”. She works with such publications as Elle à Table, and Galeries Lafayette Gourmet, and has kindly created a sweet tooth menu for the (blog)house. It includes that delicious chilled pandan soufflé above, plus her almond milk panna cotta , and scrumptious biscuit poppets! What’s a biscuit poppet you might ask? Well, go in the kitchen and find out! And click here to read her very funny post about biscuit poppets.

I will tell you more about Rachel in the coming days but for now, please make her feel very welcome.

Take it away dear Rach, have fun in the (blog)house kitchen , and make as much mess as you like (Alfred really loves cleaning up!)!

……………………………..

Rachel’s little blurb about her chosen menu…

“I would happily eat 3 desserts and just skip the starter and main. I’m definately a “pâtisserie-a-holic”. What I love about sweet things is the reaction they get. Mention to someone you’re making some sweet treat and you’ll see their eyes light up immediately. Desserts are meant to be shared. Bake a cake, wrap up some pieces and pop around to your neighbours and you’ll have no problems borrowing that extra cup of sugar whenever you want. So here are several sweet treats which are perfect for sharing but also just as good for curling up on the sofa and eating all by yourself…”

click here to view the menu.

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With thanks to the fabulous Laura from A World In A Pan. Who also happens to be mother to the beautiful Mary-Laure! Laura runs a wonderful cooking class in Paris. If you have a love for food and a love for Paris then this is one of the best ways to fully experience real Paris lifestyle… what is real Paris lifestyle? It all revolves around food! You eat, you talk about what you are eating, you talk about what you want to eat next, what you cook, what the person at the next table is eating and so on… Laura takes you to one of her local markets to choose seasonal ingredients for your menu, then she brings you back to her place to cook up a storm. Afterwards you sit down to enjoy your home cooked Paris menu on her terrace with accompanying wine.

All the recipes for Laura’s Spring Menu are posted in the (blog)house kitchen now. I’d love you to cook this menu at your next dinner party, it will surely be a hit.

Some Spring Menu styling tips from the stylist in me:

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ensemble à thé designed by Anne Xiradakis

Café éphémère is a rather special exhibition. Curated by designer Anne Xiradakis, it is an experimental space that moves around the world, and this time it is to be hosted in the apartment of French artist Guillaume Hillairet. You are invited to sit and dine at the guest table where Anne has created a tantalizing petit menu, all served within beautiful ceramic ware that she has designed specifically for the occassion. All her pieces are available for purchase during the event.

It is open today (Friday April 4), Saturday April 5, and Sunday April 6 from 2pm to 8pm. It costs only 5€ and you can call Anne on 06 63 06 83 11 to find out more and to make a reservation. Check out more about Café éphémère here at Anne’s blog (its all in French but you get the gist).

I am already salivating at the thought of how cool this is. Aren’t you curious as to what is on this petit menu? Well I have featured the Café éphémère Paris menu in the (blog)house kitchen as menu quatre. Click here to check it out!

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