**going offline**

Hey everybody. Since I am not able to keep my blog up to date anymore, I am taking most of it down. Sorry to all of you who have been kind to stop by :)

I'll see you later on.

Whising you all a wonderful day!

Whising you all a wonderful day!

{ All dressed up brownies }

My sister used to have a very elegant touch to finishing off dinners at her house. Lovely little filled, gourmet chocolates on small plates down the center of the table, and good coffee.

We had that in mind when my mom was hosting a nice dinnerparty, and often come to me for advice on desserts. But time was short, and finances sparce, so look what we came up with! ...and they taste good too!

Presenting the dressed up brownie:


Bake your favourite brownie recipe from scratch, or mix, and let cool. Here's a yummy brownie recipe if you don't have one on hand. It's the one I used here, but I had really dark cocoa on hand, so mine is almost pitch black.

Once cool, slice in small (remember; we are going for an exclusive look) bite-size diamond slices. You can also go for little hearts or whatever you choose, using a cookiecutter, but I'll leave that up to you to decide.

I divided my diamonds into three groups.
Group one: decorated with white chocolate that I, simply melted over a double boiler and piped across. Make sure to go outside the top of the pieces and make the pipings evenly spaced. Chill.


Group two: decorated with melted dark chocolate and walnut pieces. Simply melt the dark chocolate over a double boiler (or in the microwave). Let it cool and thicken a little bit. Then dabble a small spoonfull on the center of each diamons. Place a pretty walnut pressed into the chocolate. Chill.

Group three: place a pretty and dry raspberry on top of your remaining diamonds. They need to be firma and dry, so soggy ones will have to be eaten instead, I'm a fraid. Too bad... Now go back to your white chocolate and pipe spirals from the top of the raspberry, down to the brownie. Chill.

Arrange on a pretty platter. I went for a crystal elevated plate, and placed them in a circular pattern. Decorating with excess walnuts, raspberries and chocolate lace to liven things up, and give it some heigt. Ta-da.........


Not close enough to tempt your tastebuds?....



There....Now go put the coffee on... ;)

Wishing you all a wonderful day!

Whising you all a wonderful day!

{ Packed Lunch Day }

I took these a while back, when daycare started after summerbreak, in response to PS Erin's post on packed lunches. Now, as I have a packed lunch myself each day, these photos came to mind.

I like to place a variety of food in the little guy's lunchbox. Yoghurt, cereal, sandwiches, fruits, veggies, dinner left-overs. Babuska from Tupperware is by far my favourite box, by the way (it bugs me a bit that they show it with candy inside).


Here are three lunches for our little guy and some pointers on what I've packed. Before you judge too harshly on the sugar; I have a really picky eater. In fact so picky that he will not eat, if it doesn't tempt his tastebuds, and he is very thin and very active. I therefore do this, knowing his luch will be eaten that day. I also like to include a little drawing or small photo or a lunchpaper-airplane.
Day 1

Contents: Appleslices (in an airtight box), sandwiches, fruit yoghurt, potato tortilla with butter,cinnamon and demerrara brown sugar, slice of brownie from this weekend. A small paper airplane is always a hit.

Day 2

Contents: fruit yoghurt (the small spoon ads to the fun of eating it), cheerios, sandwiches, banana, pasta in tomatoesause and lean turkey hotdogs.

Day 3

Contents: pasta in tomatoesauce, pitabread with ham and cheese (that he can also heat in the microwave), fruit yoghurt, cheerios, baby carotts, boiled eggwhites (not a big fan of yolks) and small tube of kaviar to go on top of eggs.

Wishing you all a wonderful monday, and I'd love to see what your packed lunches look like!

{ Peppermint morning tea }

I know, I know: I am like the biggest coffée addict in my group of friends, but contrary to common belief, I really enjoy a great cup of tea. More like a great pot of tea, to be truthful. And peppermint is one of my favourites.

So, I took a shot at making my own. Turned out wonderful... :)


Of course first, you need to pick peppermint leaves. We have some handy, and my mom has tons, so maybe you know someone who is willing to share.

If you decide to buy some for yourself, remember that it does spread widely, and may overtake your gardenpatch. Plant it in a big bucket and bury the bucket in the flowerbed, to keep it constrained.

Rinse the leaves, and lay them to dry. Try not to layer them too much, or the process will be prolonged. I used an old pizza basket, but some papertissue over an ovenrack should work just as well.


Let sit for about 48 hours, or until dry. I wrapped mine up in a plastic bag, to enjoy later.

At time of enjoyment, I crumbled up my leaves into a teapot. My old Bodum is still my favourite, and I place it on top of a tealight-holder, ment to keep the sauce warm on the table. I also add my sweetner to the pot at this point. For Peppermint, I think fructose is lovely, but you be your own judge.


Let the tea sit for 5-10 minutes, strain, pour and enjoy. Sooooo good :)
I love making a big pot all for myself, and drinking it in the evening, -and be able to sleep afterwards. ;)

Option1: My mom does a freezerdry-technique, that works well if you have lots of peppermint, and don't care to have it drying all over the house. Simply rinse, pat dry in a kitchentowel, bag them firmly and freeze. At time of enjoyment, crumble the leaves with your hands into the teapot.

Option2: If you are not big on peppermint-tea, and still have them growing in your garden, remember that hey also work excellent in mojitos and sorbet-icecream ;)

Wishing you a wonderful day, and make sure to read the weekend treat below. I think you will love it!

A weekend treat

Photo-overlays by Lynne Favreau here.

This recipe we learned while dining with friends. It's as easy as it is scrumptious, and it has stuck with us since. We use this as a sidedish, or as comfort food on it's own. Try it out, and I am sure you will love it too.

What you need:

• 1 large piece of brie (We always use Brie de Paris, but go ahead and use your own favourite)
• Sundried tomates
• Good olive oil (if your tomates come in good oil, then you can use that)
• a crisp and fresh baguette

Place your brie in an ovenproof dish. Chop up the sundried tomates. If they are really dry, give them a little soak in the oil.) Cover the brie liberally in tomatoes, and sprinkle oil on top.

Pop in the oven at about 150 Celcius/302 Farenheit.

Now here's the part you need to pay attention. When the cheese starts to bulge out in the center, that is when it's done. You don't want it too runny (allthough it's okey by my tastebuds), and you definately don't want the tomatoes to turn hard or even worse: burned. Just a nice really soft cheese, with moist, warm tomatoes on top. Yummmmmmmmmmm.....

Tear your baguette in pieces, and dig into the cheese! Either as a dip, or bring some on your plate, and work it from there.

I have also made this as individual portions in my creme brulee bowls, and served on the side of a good steak, and ovenroasted potatoes.

We've had this a few nights with our friends, as the only dish (pluss good vino :) ) and had fun experimenting with things to go with: crackers, potatoechips, aioli, dark walnutbread...oooh oooh and do try substituting the tomatoes and oil, with nuts and honey.... ;)

Wishing you a fun and wonderful weekend!

Inspirational website

This is a wonderful website that I have kept coming back to for years and years. It’s called Agent 002 and is a gallery, or showcase, of wonderful artists’ designwork.

I first googled one of the artists, after buying all of his postcards at a bookstore. I just loved the graphic, cool style, and hoped to paint a replica and hang on my wall one day. (Back in my artschool days I still had confidence I could do things like that *haha*)

Many years later, the canvas is still sitting there, and confidence to get started is lacking, but my computer is loaded with many artists’ art that I just love to look at.

Some of my favourites are Monsiur Z (who first had me going postcard-crazy), Stéphane Gamain and Berto Martinez. The artists and their portfolios are updated, so I keep finding new faves and am also sad to see some go.

Anyway… tip of the day and worth looking into :)
Have a great day