{Day 21/365} Autumn, baby!

Today I was trying to study, but unfortunately I wasn't very successful. To clear my mind, I went outside for a walk and I saw these real signs of autumn. I love the colors!

{Day 20/365} Dinner date

I've had way too many delights today. First of all, the mr came to pick me up from the harbour with a different kind of boat than the normal ferry. Usually it takes about two hours to get to the island where he lives (Terschelling, The Netherlands), but this time it took only 30 minutes:

Next, I saw some gorgeous cloudy skies, which I enjoyed enormously:

Once on the island, he took me out to dinner and I loved the decoration at the place (the dinner was amazing too!):

The restaurant is called "De Zee", or "The Sea" in English, so they had all kinds of sea-related decoration items:

I would literally use this in my future home if I could. I loved it. Perfect day. See you tomorrow!

{Day 19/365} The mere thought..

Today I was sorting my iPhone pictures and I found this shot. It was taken during a bikeride with my boyfriend, on the island where he lives. It was the perfect way to close an amazing night out. The mere thought of this home away from home makes me smile.

PS the island is called Terschelling. It is situated north of The Netherlands. A must-visited when you're in Europe, if you ask me. 

{Day 18/365} Apple galette with caramel

Last week I collected the last bunch of apples from my mum's apple tree, and I just had to do something with them. So I searched for a recipe with apple (so many!) and I found a rather simple recipe for a galette with apple and caramel on a blog called Life's a Feast. Yum! The light (or: the lack of light) was the cause of the worse quality of the picture. Tomorrow I'll come with a better one. But for now:

For this apple galette you will need: 

For the Sweet Almond Pastry Crust:

150 gr cups flour

50 gr cup sugar

50 gr finely ground almonds

50 gr unsalted (vegetable) butter, cool

3-5 tbs cold water

For the Apple Galette Filling:

3-4 apples, peeled, cored and cubed

1-2 tbs flour

2-3 tbs sugar

Scant ½ tsp ground cinnamon

Dash ground nutmeg

Cream for brushing the pastry; sugar for dusting crust.

For the Salted Butter Caramel Sauce (Caramel au Beurre Salé):

1 cup (200 g) granulated white sugar

3 ½ Tbs (50 g) salted butter

1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream

Prepare the Pastry Crust:

1. Place the flour, sugar and ground almonds in a mixing bowl and stir to combine. 

2. Add the butter in cubes; toss to coat the cubes. Using only your thumbs and fingertips, rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the consistency of damp sand and all of the butter has been incorporated. 

3. Using a fork, vigorously stir in 3 tablespoons of the cold water; adding the remaining water a tablespoon at a time until all of the dry ingredients are damp and pull together into a ball. 

4. Scrape the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead briefly and gently, adding a bit of flour if necessary, until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky. 

5. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate to chill while preparing the filling.

6. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line a baking sheet with a sheet of parchment paper.

Prepare the Apple Filling:

7. Peel and core the apples and cut into cubes. Place the apple cubes in a bowl and toss with the flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.  

Prepare the Galette:

8. Remove the Sweet Pastry Crust from the refrigerator and discard the plastic wrap. 

9. Place the ball of dough on a floured work surface and gently roll out into a 12-inch diameter circle. Carefully roll the dough around the rolling pin and transfer to the parchment-lined baking sheet. Pile the prepared apple cubes in the center of the pastry circle and spread out to distribute evenly, leaving about 2 - 3 inches of dough free all around the outside edge of the circle, enough to lift up as a border to hold the apples in place.

10. Begin lifting the edge of the circle of dough up and place against the apples. Lifting the dough up about 3 inches at a time and moving around the galette, the dough “flaps” will overlap. 

11. Brush the folds of dough where they overlap with a little of the cream and “glue” down, pressing in place gently. Continue all around the galette. Brush the crust all over with cream and dust with sugar.  

12. Bake the galette in the preheated oven for about an hour or until the crust is a nice golden brown and the filling is bubbly. Remove from the oven to a cooling rack and allow to cool before slicing and serving.

Prepare the caramel:

13. Melt the sugar in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-low heat and cook until completely melted and caramel in color. 

14. Lower the heat to low and whisk in the butter in about 3 or 4 additions. 

15. Continuing to whisk, add the heavy cream in a slow stream; the caramel may foam up, but keep whisking, as it will calm down once all the cream is added and will turn to… a smooth caramel. Once it is smooth and creamy, remove from the heat and allow to cool at least to tepid before serving.

{Day 17/365} Cutest house on the block

This morning, on my way from the university to the city centre, I spotted this amazing red house. Definitely the cutest one on the block. A little bit of the countryside, in the city. I love it. 

{Day 16/365} Lasagne from scratch

I love making a natural, clean dinner, and tonight I've made lasagne from scratch. I have used a recipe from the food blog What Katie Ate, which you have to check out as soon as possible if you do not know it. It is amazing. This lasagne contains so many ingredients that I love; zucchini, red wine, old Italian cheese, basil, and so on. Try it, and enjoy!

For 4-6 servings you will need: 


Tomato meat filling:

• Light olive oil for cooking
• 2 zucchini, cut lengthways into very thin strips
• 1-2 plump garlic cloves, minced
• 1 small brown onion, peeled and finely diced
• 2 sticks celery, finely diced (I did not use this)
• 4-6 slices round thinly cut pancetta, cut into small pieces
• 500 gr ground beef
• 80 ml cup milk
• 600 gr chopped tomatoes (form tin)
• 50 gr cup tomato paste
• 1.5 tablespoons good quality balsamic vinegar
• Good pinch chilli flakes
• 5 large basil leaves, roughly torn
• Small handful fresh oregano leaves (I used dried oregano)
• 250 mL red wine
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Béchamel sauce:
75 gr butter

• 50 gr plain (or pasta 00) flour
• 500-600 mL milk
• Pinch ground nutmeg
• 80-90 gr Parmesan cheese, grated (I used Pecorino, delicious)

Fresh pasta (I used dried pasta):

• 6 free-range medium-sized eggs
• 600g pasta 00 flour
• Splash olive oil

• 1. Spray a non-stick griddle pan or frying pan and a little olive oil, chargrill the zucchini until browned on both sides, remove strips and rest on paper towel then gather up all strips and chop finely. Set aside.
• 2. Add 1 teaspoon or two of olive oil into a large non-stick pot and warm over medium heat, add the pancetta then fry for a further 4-5 minutes until browned, remove from the pot and allow to drain of excess oil on paper towel.
• 3. Pour a further tablespoon of olive into the same pot, add the chopped onion and minced garlic, cook, stirring often for 4-5 minutes until onion is softened –  taking care not to let the garlic burn – toss in the celery and continue to cook for another 4-5 minutes or until slightly softened.
• 4. Add the ground beef to the pot along with the milk and fry over medium-heat for 10-12 minutes or until browned through. Add in the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, balsamic, chilli flakes, cooked pancetta, herbs and red wine, stir then season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Simmer sauce over low-medium heat for 1 hour, stirring often.
• 5. To make the béchamel sauce, add the butter to a pan and melt over low-medium heat, add the flour and beat together with a wooden spoon to form a thick paste (it will clump together ~ this is fine), cook stirring often for 2-3 minutes. Pour in the milk 100ml at a time whisking constantly and firmly as you go until you achieve a smooth, lump-free sauce. Add the nutmeg and cheese and stir to combine. You can beat in a little extra milk if you like to keep the sauce smooth and velvety. Cover pot and remove from heat. Set aside until required.
• 5. Preheat oven to 180˚C.
• 6. To make the fresh pasta, sift flour into a large mixing bowl, make a well in the centre into which you add 5 full eggs, 1 egg yolk and the splash of olive oil. Using clean hands, combine the flour and eggs, incorporating the flour into the eggs and oil. Do this until you have a dough. Turn out onto a clean and floured surface and knead for 10-12 minutes until you achieve a silky dough. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Note: you can make the pasta in a food processor if you prefer.
• 7. Using a pasta maker, roll out the pasta dough in batches starting from the thickest setting and finishing on the second thinnest. Be careful not to make the pasta too thin. If you are using a Kitchen Aid roller attachment, setting 5 will produce the best reults for flat sheets, if you’re using a handroller, the 2nd last setting will normally be fine. Lie sheets in a floured surface and cut into lengths suitable to fit your baking dish. Note: the dish I used to make this lasagne measured: 26cm x 38cm x 6cm*. Allow sheets to dry for 20 minutes.
• 8. Half-fill 2 large pots with water, set one beside your cook top and the other on top of your cooker, the latter into which you add a good pinch of salt and a small glug of olive oil. Bring to the boil over high heat. Add the pasta sheets in batches, cook for 3-4 minutes then plunge each sheet into the cold water in the second pot. Allow sheets to rest in-between clean tea-towels as you cook the remainder of the pasta.
• 9. To assemble the lasagne, spoon some of the tomato meat sauce into the bottom of the baking dish and spread out, scatter a little of the zucchini on top then add some of the béchamel and carefully spread out evenly, top with sheets of the par-cooked pasta, then repeat with process layering meat sauce/zucchini/béchamel/pasta until you fill the dish. Top the last layer of pasta with the remaining béchamel sauce and cover the liberally with grated parmesan cheese.
• 10. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until top is golden brown. Serve hot with a green salad.

{Day 15/365} Washi tape journal

This month I am participating in a journal swap on Swap-bot, and tonight (after studying today) I prepared my outgoing journal. As you can see, I used a lot of washi tape, which I usually get from a lovely Danish store called Søstrene Grene. Follow them on Pinterest for a lot of DIY inspiration.