Paris, baby!

A while ago, we visited Paris and it was so lovely! Little alleyways and bistros everywhere. Small parks and petit boutiques. It was very sunny and a nice, warm temperature.  On every street corner there are small stands with crepes. Unfortunately the food in our hotel was not so good, which meant going to sleep hungry.

    

Shoes!

I found the most lovely shoes ever! I just love the beige/tan color.  It would look so great under a tulip skirt or some beige/ocher yellow trousers!
When I saw them they were just screaming my name and drew me their way!  Though they're not that high, I absolutely love, love, love them!

Mini pastries

Today, while I was home all day, I made some really lovely pastries from Australia's Masterchef. I made pastry with homemade chocolate ganache & soft whipped cream. Here's how I made them:

For the pastry:
-preheat the oven to 180˚C
-relax the pastry in the mini baking tins
-blind bake the pastry for 7-10 minutes. Take the beans of whatever you used to blind bake out of the tins and let the pastry bake until golden brown

For the chocolate ganache:
- Bring about 4 tbsp cream to a light simmer
-put 200g of chocolate buttons on a bowl and heat it au-bain-marie with the cream
-add a nub of butter
-stir until everything is melted
-let cool to room temperature

For the whipped cream:
- pour 200g of whipping cream in a large bowl
-add a large spoonful of caster sugar
-whip until it has formed light, soft peeks

To assemble:
-fill the pastry with the chocolate ganache
-add the whipped cream on top of the ganache
-add the strawberries

 

Design

I am absolutely loving the Sycamore street press postcards!
They have the most beautiful prints I've ever seen! All the colors blend so lovely with the crisp and clean background, and not to mention their heartwarming greetings.

  

Vacation, at last

A few weeks ago, I went back to Washington D.C to visit some old friends and see what changes had been done around there. To my surprise, when I got out of the airport, it was unbelievably hot, in comparison to Belgium. The trip had taken about 8,5 hours, with a 6 hour time difference. By the time we got home, I was as hungry as a bear. Pizza the first night, great start to a pound-adding trip.  

The last trip that we made was to Baltimore. It was so cosy just to see those cute terraces and little boats again. And not to mention the beautiful blue sky with fabulous weather! We ate at the cheesecake factory and I had the best grilled salmon, with mashed potatoes and succotash ever! And my, oh my! That cheesecake.. was unbelievable!