it's been a while...

... but instead of deleting 'to do's' from the list,
i've been creating a huge poster of all the images on this blog.
this blog started as a final task for my graphic course - which i'll present next week. the huge poster is part of the presentation...
i'll post the poster here soon. In the meantime, a little something...

maybe you've been worrying about the list... no need to worry:

 i will complete all the challenges on the list!  

i'm going to exceed the time limit, but that's no problem for me :)

I'll keep you up to date!

All night long (more or less..)

n°42 - done

n°22: check!

some weekends ago, we crossed the country by motorcycle.
it resulted in: excitement, chilly (the sun didn't reach us yet),
pain in some muscles and the realization that belgium has some beautiful sceneries.

n°17 (walk in a special forest): check

last friday, we went for a walk in de Kabouterkesberg (mountain of gnomes).

i remembered we went hiking in this forest when we were little,
and we saw a lot of gnomes popping up behind the trees. (or were it just red spots?)
now, it seemed so much smaller
but the roots were still impressive.

and apparently, the mountain was still full of life.
we noticed a red spot

and zoomed in:

4 courses: the dessert

and after dinner..

n°3 - the main course

next course: SOUP

Four courses in 4 posts: ENTREE

last weekend, i cooked a 4-course-dinner for some friends.
i enjoyed the time in the kitchen and the dinner party itself.

But what did I prepare?
I leave it to your imagination..

Read 2 novels in a day (n°25): check!

on monday - a sunny day off - i read 2 novels in a day. hurray!
Monoloog van iemand die het gewoon werd tegen zichzelf te praten / Dimitri Verhulst 
Held / Saskia De Coster

(the production process of a book)

5 morning portraits

hurray for n°27!

memorable moment on the 50 hooray-list : i milked a cow!

yesterday, i unexpectedly ended up milking a cow on a farm!
at the farm, the cows are milked partly mechanically.
Only at the beginning they tap a bit of milk, to drop the pressure (or i think that's the explanation).
i liked it!
and i realized being a farmer is a hard job: they milk twice a day, a lot of cows. hurray for the farmer.
and hurray for n°32!

(microscopic) photographic proof that i did milk the cow:

Positive side of this weather:

last week, there was enough rain to practice 'kissing in the rain'.
n°40: done!

Finished: n°1

Preparing...

Who we bumped into on friday...

... in the Antwerp zoo (n° 50 on the list).

Unfortunate news about the elephants:
almost the whole family moved to an other zoo.
and they just leave one lonely elephant behind
(or that's what we saw. maybe they were all asleep)

saturday morning: n° 31

in fact, there really were some people who wanted me to cut their hair 

(just for the project, not because they believe me when i say i'm an excellent hairdresser). 

but unfortunately, their hair was too short. i wanted to use real scissors, no shaving machines.

i tried to convince my favorite head to let me cut his hair, but he stubbornly refused :).

But hooray, today i realized my own hair had grown a lot - it could use some scissors.

And that's what i did. One more challenge down.

Bacalhau com natas

It was a theme evening yesterday: portuguese food and music.
I bought dried and salted bacalhau on monday,
let it weak in water for 2 days and cooked it yesterday,
together with potatoes/cream/oignons/... -
For the full recipe i used: take a look in the cookbook of Tessa KIros 'Piri Piri and starfish'.
(Easy, clear and especially a beautifully designed cookbook)

The bacalhau was quite perfect (really modest), as was the evening.

Where is the real kite?

this weekend, i went on a cosy weekend on a tiny, windy island. 

perfect for kiting. 

i forgot how much i like kiting (and how tiring it is).

unfortunately, the kite crashed one time too many. i think i'll buy a better one, very soon.

Guess which one is real? The other ones i draw in illustrator.

+

(there is a birthday coming up, so)

I made a little KITE GIFT WRAP: 

 

colouring eggs

Last word of the day!

n°44 - check

(part 6)

n°10 - Breakfast with scones, clotted cream & jam

Today, we celebrated my sisters birthday (hoera!) with a scones-and-cream-breakfast.
I made the dough for the scones yesterday (recipe: see below), baked the little bread/cookies this morning and we ate the hot scones for breakfast. mm.

Scones
500 gr self-raising flour (but i used lot more - just add if the dough is sticky)
110 gr butter
2,5 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
more or less 80 gr sugar + 1 little pack of vanilla sugar
200 ml milk
1 egg


Mix the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt) with the butter. Then add the milk and egg. Knead the dough and make little rounds (2,5 cm high) out of it. 
In the oven - ready.


Clotted cream
100 gr mascarpone
125 gr cream

Long island ice tea: check!

a lot of alcohol mixed together makes a very good cocktail + a even better evening
leve long island ice tea!

New word of the day - part 5

Today i discovered the word kornak (a kind of elephant keeper)
(out of Jose Saramago's 'A viagem do elefante' - again my fathers suggestion :))

New word of the day (part 4)

my fathers suggestion. not so usable in everyday life, though..

Fridays new word

yesterday

on a almost-summer-evening-out, i learned this new word: 

New word of the day (part 2)

today i discovered 'ACRIBIE',
which sounds like a kind of insect,
but just means extreme accuracy.

we tried for a while,
but unfortunately, we didn't find a way to use it in a sentence yet.

Tajine with smoky chicken (n°4: check!!)

Randomly cooking: walnut pie

i invited some friends over for tonights random dinner (topic 12 from the list)
So: i closed my eyes - took a random cookbook on the shelf - opened it (the ikea-cookbook) on a random page, and read: walnotentaart (walnut pie). 

Ow. Pie for dinner? 

Rules are rules: i was obliged to prepare the pie this afternoon. It looks delicious.

Do we really need a proper dinner? 

Discovering new words

For the next 7 days, i will learn 7 new (Dutch) words.
Today, i found this interesting word on the internet.

The meaning is open for guesses.
(i'd explain, but i found out - the image is more beautiful without explanation)
And for the next 6 days: word suggestions are welcome!

Little sunday walk with dog/bear

note: the dog we took for a walk was more like a bear
(that's why there is fluffy hair)
and he took me on a walk.
nice sunday morning

and:
-1 !

Yesterday's mini drama

Bad blog day, yesterday.
I had to abort the 'portrait'-challenge because my camera refused to collaborate.
He only revealed 'error's, no pictures.
Mmm pfff, i had a lot of ideas for the portraits - they'll have to wait a few weeks.
According to the help center, it will take 5 weeks (!!) for reparation.
So, I'll replace the camera. And for today, I will draw.

Morning portraits - friday

The challenge for the next five days:
I will photograph myself five mornings in a row.
(Uhm... why did I want to do this challenge again?)
In the bathroom today.
(although we have a hot-water-problem with the shower, it was quite steamy. perfect.)

Roadtripping to Berlin

Actually, this accompanies the Berlin-post below. Last week, we drove to Berlin for 4 days.
I loved it.
And it didn't took us thát long to drive to Berlin and back. Peanuts :).
(Fortunately: the travel sickness medicine really works..)

guess where I spent my weekend...

Bloody friday

I wasn't really sure about it:
would i be swept off my feet afterwards?
It appeared that i worry too much: it took only 4 minutes. i didn't even have time to read my book.

i lost some blood and gained a bruise on my arm
but in 3 months i'll definitely do it again.

n° 47: check  (8 down, 42 challenges to go)

How I spent my sunday morning. (n°36 - done!)