a hint

taken almost three years ago, french tulips: crisp heads on slender stems.

a hint of spring in the air and what do i do? wonder how to guard the first green tips showing in the planters outside from the next snow (berlin, after all).

outtakes

the last few weeks have been a real whirlwind; i've hardly taken any photos.
so for today it's only some outtakes from my first bronica roll,
full of imperfections, scratches, mystery white fluff and all.
i hope you'll bear with me.

have a good start to the new week!

p.s.: i think i may have a bit of a crush on that fuji reala 100,
the tones are almost like slide.

blooms

my mother always has fresh flowers in her house,
my grandmothers and great-grandparents had beautiful gardens,
and i just can't help myself - i always have to treat myself to some blooms.
home isn't complete without them.

(top: zenit e with colour negative film
bottom: nikkormat EL with slide)

the archives

morning! a breakfast from the archives. here's hoping you had a good start to your day.

september is bringing us glorious light, the warmest, gentlest sunshine. doesn't it feel like a turning point: while in august, summer is the general expectation, in september, each summery day is gratefully received and much enjoyed.

///

well hello, it's been a while.

it feels like i have lost my way somehow, all picture taking seemed utterly random. in a way, it still does. creative rut, persistent blues and all that. but i'd like to give it a try, and see what happens.

this place is my peaceful haven. i miss it, i have missed my conversations with you. how are you?

something blue

i used to be a kodak girl
then my local shop stopped stocking kodak
now a legend is saying good-bye
i'm starting to love the soft hues of fuji 400
scanning mistakes can be intriguing
it's freezing cold (minus ten last night)
i'm random, due to loads of work
i'm happy to say
pascale is the lucky winner of my give-away
happy tuesday.

happy new

may twenty-twelve hold many a smile for you, and keep you on your toes.

happy new year!

(what's the one thing you are going to make happen, weather permitting and all?
oh, and by the way, 'no penny for them' is turning three today. how did that happen?)

still

just read this morning --

if plan 'a' didn't work,
the alphabet has 25 more letters.
stay cool.

//

hope you are having a good start to your week.

paper

sometimes someone picks you flowers. sometimes a good friend makes them for you with tissue paper and you put them on branches you found on a walk.

i'm ploughing on with work, but were lucky enough to have lunch with this visitor from marseille today. how great to catch up a little!

also thank you so much for your feedback on the wanderer. so many have been visiting already: you are the best! -- oh, and the comment function is now live there, just click on the date of any given post, where you can see and leave comments.

five words

will you give me five words?

i'll wrap them into a little story and post an image along with it. if possible, every saturday.

so leave me your five words in the comments, and i'll tackle them by and by. let's see how it goes! first story up next saturday.

happy weekend, everyone!

**

i'm on bach rescue drops and arvo pärt. less than a week to go.

p.s.: i know i haven't been reading/commenting much of late - please don't feel i've lost interest, i simply don't manage at the moment.

counting down

only two weeks to go, and i'll be on holiday!
!!!
(not best pleased with the bikini test this morning. harumph. but what the heck.)

my reading list is almost complete (thanks again for all recommendations!). any suggestions for a playlist?

slow down, you are moving too fast

i wish. the next four weeks will be anything but slow. but then: a two-week break. this weekend, my niece is coming to stay. that's a little break, and i couldn't look forward to it anymore than i do.

(how are you doing? holidays, staycation? and would you have any reading recommendations for me? i'd like to find something that really draws me in.)

p.s.: when it's really quiet around here, i'm often still managing to pin something here.)

green hummus

coming home from the garden with greens i've never prepared or eaten before is something that happened quite often since early june.

nigel slater's green 'hummus' was one of the things i tried, it took its time but was the happiest green ever and tasted fantastic.

get those broad beans out of their pods
give them a quick rinse
boil them with a little salt (10 mins for big ones, smaller ones perhaps as little as 3-4 mins)
drain into a colander, briefly rinse with cold water
if they're very thick-skinned, slide the skin off
put into food processor with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and herbs
(i used basil and fresh mint)
process, add more olive oil, lemon juice or seasoning until you have the consistency/taste you like

eat with flat bread or similar

yum!

p.s.: i was given some lovely delphiniums by my 3-year-old friend s yesterday. aren't i lucky?!

**

at the moment, i don't sleep well and have constant tension pain in my neck and/or headaches. i just can't relax. herbal teas, taking baths or a glass of wine in the evening, you name it, i've tried it. do you have any good tips? i'm just a little worried that this will continue until the end of summer, as i'm chock-a-block with projects (which is great, but stressful).

hybrid

things are still mad here, so just a quick hello.

some time ago, pascale wrote about going 'hybrid' - using analog lenses with a digital camera body. i really liked the idea and have been trying my hand at it last week, but have yet to get used to using the DSLR with an 'all manual' setting. my heart still is with analog photography, but this gives me an immediate feed-back that's really useful when playing around with angles, light, focus etc.

p.s.: new pins.

don't read this if you're hungry (make yourself a sandwich and a cup of tea first)

i do realise that if you don't LOVE food, this blog must be turning into a slightly boring read recently. but i promised you 'random thoughts and inspirations', you see.

might well be that the wind is turning again sometime soon and i'll be going on about philosophy, potato beetles or charlotte gainsbourg. you just never know. i so believe in the versatiliy of the human mind.

anyway. since some of you were asking, here are two recipes for a fig balsamic chutney that i found.

number one here
i shall be giving this one a whirl - sounds and looks spot on.

number two here
ok. this is from bon appetit magazine and has fabulous ratings. but honestly, the combination of ingredients sounds like a bit of a car crash to me. why oh why black and green olives with figs? or am i too much of a conservative mind (ha, joke for those of you who know me in person)? what do you think?

while browsing for recipes, i came across really nice recipes, and it seems not only really nice, but also really useful. lots of basic recipes, simple typography, no advertising, lots of step-by-step images. here are some recipes and chapters that caught my eye:

a wholemeal loaf
how to make brioche
desserts
sauces
potato recipes

p.s.: while you're at it and if you don't know it already, you should also take a look at xavier encinas' food blog. an absolute favourite.

just quickly

i'm über-busy but fine. could do with a bit more sleep and a bit less pressure. but life is good.

the cat's always busy too, as you can see (and if she isn't busy playing or watching the street from the window sill, she's busy sleeping. as you do. - these pictures were taken with my praktica ages ago.)

oh, and i'm looking for recipes for preserving fruit and vegetables, for chutneys etc. i've already found some contenders for a fig and balsamic chutney and a rhubarb chutney, but i'm grateful for any tips, book recommendations and links.

happy weekend everyone!

bread stories

one of the reasons why i've gathered a veritable stack of nigel slater cookbooks over the years, is that his cooking is truly unfussy, unpretentious. i don't mind cooking being a bit of a challenge sometimes, but i believe it should be compatible with the demands of my day to day life, and i can't and won't get up at five in the morning to start some infusion or other with circa twenty-three herbs for a dinner two days ahead. and even though cooking is some kind of slow-down, grounding process i enjoy, the whole thing - ultimately - is about eating the food. at least for me.

so the country loaf i baked a little while ago just hit the spot. after it had cooled down enough, we had thick slices with home-made strawberry jam. so good. the next morning, i had it toasted with sliced tomatoes.

the recipe is from nigel slater's appetite. it's too long to just type it up, but it involves nothing more than 1kg bread flour, 2x 7g dry yeast, 20g salt, c. 700 ml water.

what are your favourite bread recipes? and have you tried baking with sourdough? (my attempt looked pretty, but tasted bland. the sourdough was store-bought.)