A Russian Evening

Last night three of my colleagues came over for dinner. And because we have Siberian temperatures here (-12 degrees Celcius at night, -5 by day) I decided to cook them a Russian meal. The main dish was beef russian way, with bacon, salami, carrot, celery, onion, red wine and mashed potatoes. Jummy!

For dessert I made 'blini smetana', or pancakes with whipped cream, quark and sugar. Put it in the oven for 15 minutes and this is what you get:

^ Mmmmm....

And when you're serving a Russian dinner, you just have to make a photo the old Russian way with this:

And when you do that, you get this:

^My great colleagues!

Now I need to find the courage to do the dishes that is piled up in the kitchen...

She & Him

I must confess, I just love pretty much everything about Zooey Deschanel... Boyfriend and I just saw the first ten episodes of her series 'New Girl' (in only two days). And I can't wait for more to come. This Tuesday the next one is on... And at the moment I am listening to music from She & Him. She is (you never would have guessed it) Zooey and Him is M. Ward. They make very nice quiet music, which makes me think about Hawaii (don't know why) and country music. Love it!

The train station of Arnhem has been renovated (read: rebuild) and besides a Starbucks kiosk it now has a Paperchase store. How cool is that! I didn't know about its existence before, but I'm not sure if I can live without it now. They have so much nice stuff, with great prints. It is like snailmail heaven! And they also sell the cutest photo albums :)

And about snailmail: I have found myself a typewriter. I don't have it yet, but it is orange and it looks like this one. Can't wait for it to arrive!

About green soup and pink pie

Time flies when you're busy (or keeping yourself busy for that matter). It has already been almost a month since the christmas holidays! During those lovely days boyfriend S. and I occupied ourselfs, besides the general things one does around X-mas, by finishing the house. And I really really think it is almost done now :) The dining table still needs to be stained, but that will be done when te weather is nice again.

Last Wednesday I celebrated my 28th birthday. And I must say that turning 28 isn't so bad, compared to turning 27. I really needed to get used to that number, but 28 is way easier :) I had the day off, which gave me time to go to the hairdresser and to make cake. Baking is one of my hobbies and for the occasion I experimented with colour...

the cake batter before the oven...

the cake, decorated with whipped cream and cinnamon sugar

Quite happy with the result and the surprise on the faces of my guests was great too!

And I was really into colour last week, so I also made this celery - green paprika soup. *nom-nom* If you are interested in the recipe please let me know!

In the christmas vacation (I had the luxury of two weeks of freedom) I finally bought a new camera, a real camera, a Canon 600D. The weather hasn't really been cooperating, so I've only been out to takes some photos once. Two of my favourites.

Happy mailbox

As promised hereby some of the cards that made my day lately. But before I come to that, I have something else to show you. These are 'Kinderpostzegels', or children stamps.

These stamps are sold every year since 1924 (except the years of war) with an extra fee. This extra money is used in projects for children, to give them a better and saver life. Soon in your mailbox as well?

From Gabriele, Spain

After 2 attempts, her third card finally found me
From Julia, Russia

From Renie, my sister in law

From Lisa, USA

From China

From Rhonda, USA

From Janet, Canada

From Ms Allen's class, USA

I *heart* Diana F+

Woohoo! My busy days at work are over (for now that is). Today we had an Open Day at the university where I work to recruit new students. I had the overall responsibility and I've spent the past few weeks organizing this day. Luckily almost everything went well :) The one thing I don't really like is that my weekend is practically going to over before it begins...

Despite the busy-ness at work I went to the photo shop to pick up another set of photos made with the Diana F+. Very happy with the results :)

The weather is said to be nice tomorrow, with a lot of sun, so I am really looking forward to try out my new Diana F+ close up lens :) Have a lovely Sunday!

Saartje, the cat-animal

Almost three weeks ago boyfriend S. and I went to the animal shelter for the third time. And we came home with this really adorable kitten. We've named her Saartje and she is five months old. She was very scared and easily spoked when we got her, but things are getting better day by day. She now sits on the couch and doesn't flee under it when one of us humans enters the room. We'll get there :)

After the move, when I started to unpack the thousands (ahum) of boxes and bags, I ran into some paintings I made a few years. Maybe I'll order postcards with these images. What do you think?

Sweet dreams !

Diana F+ instant back *great success*

Wow! It has been ages again... The thing is; when I come home from work, all I want to do is eat, sit on the couch and stay there. All my non work related activities are at low ebb, like writing letters and postcrossing cards, sewing (I have touched my sewing machine only once since I moved, for sewing the curtains), photography..

Luckily I do have some spare time and spare energy. Last weekend I took a walk along with my Diana F+ camera ánd instant back. And that is such a nice toy :) It is like taking a Polaroid picture, but with the option to put multiple images on one photo. The first eight:

Next week the wide angle and close up lenses will be deliverd as well a flash adaptor so I can use my Speedlite flash on the Diana. Very much looking forward to that.

Yesterday I went to the post office with a mission: retrieving Postcrossing stamps. Unfortunately the post office had other plans; it was closed. So I will try again tomorrow. They are really cool you know. Wish me luck :)

Like I said, I had some spare time and spare energy. I actually had a complete week of freedom. Autumn break, partically filled with fixing stuff in the new house, but one day was mail day :)

I have kinda forgotten to label the cards, so I don't remember which card I've send to which postcrosser... But I promise to pay attention next time :)

My mailbox has also been happy in the past few weeks. But I haven't got time yet to scan them...