I can make up a million and one excuses for being a bad blogger but I'm just being honest if I tell you that I didn't feel like reading or posting. Sometimes it's just getting too much and nothing inspires or motivates me.

2005 was a blur ... it went by so fast. Tomorrow it's already the last day of 2005 and to me it was just a month ago that we were forced to have a drink at one of our neighbors. The Bo and I are going to stay indoors this year and turn off all the lights so that we don't have to make nice conversation with people we don't even like - oi!! we're so bad. Honestly that time is really gone that I liked to go clubbing after midnight on new year's eve. My dear, all the pushing and shoving ... I can't do it anymore ... I've become an old boring fart - Ha!!

Ah well, I believe 2006 is going to be great because I believe in even numbers ;o) I'm going to spend a lot of time focusing on myself and my surroundings. I've made a mood board for things I want to create in the new year interior and exterior wise. I want to work on my boot room, sewing loft and garden and these are just a few images I collected throughout the year to guide me.



Sources:

• GreenGate
• Boden
• Country Living USA
• Kate Forman

Thanks so much for all the lovely birthday wishes!! It was a good day. We celebrated my birthday by going to London last weekend. My mother gave me tickets to see The Lion King in the Lyceum Theatre. It was AMAZING!! We also did some shopping and we visited the Cath Kidston shops on Marylebone and Covent Garden - oh I always love the Christmas decorations in Covent Garden!!



Two of my favorite blog friends, Kathleen and Leslie, sent me lovely birthday goodness. Kathleen sent me the housewives tarot card set and the beautiful bird tags and Leslie sent all the other fun goodies. I love those gloves, they are just perfect!! Thanks so much girls :o)

I've been a bad blogger but it's been so busy. I'm almost on track. Christmas cards are sent ... tree decorated ... bathroom painted. I'll be back to blogging and blog reading again soon!!

1974

• Best Picture: "The GodFather part II"
• Top Song: "The Joker" Steve Miller Band
• Nobel Peace Prize: Sean MacBride
• Best-selling Book: "The Total Woman" M. Morgan

Stephanie from Creature Bug tagged me and when we're talking food ... I'm in!!!

"Name five foods, dishes or otherwise, that were a part of your childhood, and that you sometimes miss when nostalgia gets to you..."

1. Back in the eighties it wasn't common yet that both parents worked but my parents did. I grew up with the same nanny for 11 years who cooked, cleaned and was always there for me when I got out of school with biscuits and tea. My parents always arrived home at six and we always shared a meal with the whole family every night. There was one night that was special and that was Bakker Bart (Bakery Bart) night. It's a chain of bakeries in The Netherlands and they are to die for. My mother worked in the city as a teacher and, I think it was on Thursday, she'd pick up all sorts of delicious bread at Bakker Bart and a variety of fresh fish at the market. Our table was packed with sliced bread, buns, rolls, pigs in blankets, fish and fish salads and we could pick and mix. I LOVED IT!!
2. The Surinamese chicken pie I've made recently I loved as a child. My mother isn't such a cook so we only got a chance to eat it at parties. I remember my cousin making them in little cups. Me and my sister were always having a close watch so that the pies wouldn't go fast because food that was left over on one of my mother's party was OURS!!
3. Remember Sherbet Fountain? Love it, can't get it here anymore!!
4. Now that I'm talking sweets. We used to have these people selling sweet in their hallways. You used to buy them for 5 up to 25 cents a piece that way you could collect a good filled bag of a mixture of sweets for about a guilder (woo the good old days) Because of stupid new laws and tax laws people can't sell in their own homes anymore.
5. We used to have Sunday outings which started with breakfast on my parents bed and sips of coffee with lots of sugar and milk. After that we would get in the car and drive to a castle, museum ... something cultural. We would end the day at a restaurant and me and my sister could pick the restaurant. My sister always picked something fancy (she still does) and I always picked something rustic with lots of grilled meat, country potatoes, deer heads hanging over fireplaces and warm woolly rugs on the floor. Those places are vanished now as people in The Netherlands care more about how beautifully their plates are decorated and how hip the restaurant is. Less is trendy!! One can get the rustic atmosphere at a pancake restaurant but they're always packed with screaming kids and well, they only serve pancakes!!

1. Jes because I know she works hard in the kitchen too
2. Dawn because she's a kitchen princes
3. Bea because I love ... I LOVE!! German food
4. Samantha because I miss sponge cake with syrup
5. Leslie because I don't even know if she eats at all!!

1. Cuisine et Compagnie
2. French Word-A-Day
3. Cucina Testa Rossa
4. Creature Bug
5. Yvestown
   

After reading Marné's October 6th post she got me inspired to buy the Scarf Style book because the pink ruffles scarf she made looked (and still does) so nice. I ordered the book and started to knit. There was only one tricky bit (kwtog) that drove me mad so I asked Marné for her help and she did. She even made me a "KWTOG THE MOVIE". And it worked!!



My next ruffles scarf is going to be with pink cashmerino aran by Debbie Bliss. It's a little thicker so I'll probably knit it a bit faster.

Thanks Marné, I'm so enjoying knitting this scarf!!!

Things are really quiet here and I love that. Summer always means a lot of people on the go go. It even looks like if they shop less when it's cold outside.

I'm still enjoying the cold but clear blue sky. It's time to wear socks again and I don't find it silly to wear my Uggs now.

I have a lot of fun projects to do and people to guide and teach. And I'm excited that one of my dearest friends might win an award on Sunday!

I can't wait to see two new homes of three great people. And I can't wait to get all my pots out of the shed and onto my new garden path.

And I'm so enjoying season 4 of The Gilmore Girls on DVD because nobody will mock me for watching 8 hours of TV when it's freezing cold outside as they do in summer when it's stinking hot!!

Hurrah! All good things come in autumn!!

My mother is originally from a country in South America that used to be a Dutch colony before 1977, Suriname. My mother isn't such a kitchen princes but she's excellent in organizing parties. I learned a lot of the Surinamese kitchen by peeking over my cousin's shoulder who always catered my mother's parties. And when I received my first Surinamese cookbook (the only one) I was so excited that I couldn't wait to start experimenting.

This is my absolute favorite dish. It takes forever to make but trust me, you'll gain a lot of friends serving it!

For the stuffing:

• 500 grams Chicken filet
• salt
• pepper
• nutmeg
• butter
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 1 large union
• 2 tomatoes
• ½ a pot of peas
• ½ a pot of carrots
• parsley
• 3 boiled eggs

• 500 grams flour
• a pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 200 grams butter
• 2 battered eggs
• a dash of milk

There's this saying we use in The Netherlands I like;

"the R is back in the month" which points to the autumn and winter months - September, October, November, December, January, February, March and April to me the most cozy times of year.

I'm already throwing blankets everywhere, getting the past seasonal magazines out on display and I've been planting pink and white hyacinths in wicker baskets.

• Martha opened her Halloween shop again.
• Try to get your hands on the October issue of the British Country Living it's so chunky!!

We're back from New York city and I did have a great time. I'm still tired of all the walking, looking at things, chatting and of all the shopping we did. It was so much fun to finally meet my blog friends in person but the trip was too short to really get the chance to chat with all of them. I shared a room and a really tiny bathroom with the fabulous Giao and Leslie and we all met each morning in the hotel corridor to head off to the big city. We also met the wonderful Dawn who lives in the city and who's been a great guide. So was Hope who showed us Soho and some great places to eat!

Highlights:

• Me and Giao bumping into Ethan Hawke in Central park and Kathleen running after him armed with camera - there's a true paparazzi hiding in her.
• Having a candlelight dinner on the streets in Little Italy - so lovely!
• Riding along the Hudson river with Hope and Jes on a bright and sunny day.


• Drinking strawberry beer in a beautiful park.


• The Country Home be Creative fair in Central Park - thanks Jes for getting the tickets, it was so much fun!

The server yvestown is on crashed a week ago and so all my files got lost in space. I have to start from scratch because I'm one of those people that don't backup. Although I can upload things again, the server is still extremely slow.

But first I'm off to New York to meet with my fabulous friends!!