Merry Christmas

I would like to wish you all a very happy and cheerful christmas.

When autumn was showing her sunny side

After a rainy summer, we had a Beautiful Autumn. Al it does now is raining. I still remember last years december, this day. There was a lot of snow and it was almost impossible to travel home by whatever kind of transport. Here are some nice autumn pictures. I've took them in a forest in Kleve, Germany.


Nice house with remarkable decoration

me



Amazing view, with the sunstripes shining through the trees



A look at the city

Nails Beauty night

Good looking nails are like your own business card. When I was young I did bite my nails. For that reason i started to use nailpolish. Something that turned out in an addiction to nailpolish. I have about 90+ bottles. I bought a new nail file. This one is a six in one. I also bought nail drops. This stuff helps to let the nails dry very quickly.

I take a lot of care about my nails. So here it is my nailpolish routine in pictures.

This is the file. Easy to use because of all the steps are written on the file. And you only hace to use on product to manicure your nails. It is from Essence and costs about € 2,00.



This are the quick dry drops. Also form Essnce and €1,99. Apply with the pipette on your painted nails.



For my nail routine I use the products in the picture. From left to right you see: the base coat(MAX from action, i tought it was 49 or 65 cents and is a good product), Catrice nailpolish, with a fab name: Marilyn and me, Quick dry top coat form Essence(it turned pink from my red nailpolishes), naildrops from Essence and the File from Essence.



The nailpolish Marilyn and me. It is a red with red sparkles(€ 2,49 by Catrice).


The result on my nails:



Some tips for your nails

- when you use a nailbuffer file, you can use the shine side when you want to. the surface file only once in some what of 3 weeks.
- for the length of the nails, file them with a fine file and in one direction
- Use nailpolish on clean nails.
- always use a base coat. as you can see from this article, they don't have to cost much to be good ;).
- use two layers of polish
- use a top coat to seal the polish

Pie day

Winter is turning in very fast now. It was only 4°C, very cold. Time for pies I say!

For dinner I made chicken & leek pie which you can see in the picture. Really a dish to get your cold feet warm again. Here you can find the recipe chicken and leek pie I added some bacon and white wine for some extra flavours


After making this pie, I had some dough left. What to do with it



Well I decided to make some kind of apple pie without a recipe. I took some apples, cinnamon, sugar, vanilla and a bit of cream, chopped hazelnuts and lemonjuice. Mixed it together like this



Putted the dough and apple mixture in a tin and covered it with another layer of dough. And in to the oven he went for 45 minutes. I had no idea what it would like like or what was going to happen when finished.



After baking it looked like this.


Time to plate up now. This is the result: some sort of apfelstrudel looking applepie. With vanilla whipped cream. And tasty it was!

sunset on an autumn day

While in traffic jam on the road and waiting at the shiplocks I had time to take some nice photo's of the environment and the sunset.


sunset and trains


photo taken taken at an shiplock that was build in 1929

Party Pasta

When looking for pasta I found this funny one. Time for party on a plate :D



It ended up like this:


party pasta, tomato sauce, steak with herbes de Provence and garlic. Topped with some fresh parmesan cheese and basil leaves

Halloween 2011

Finally i have some to time to write on my blog. I was quite busy with school last couple of weeks. So here it is, my halloween costume. I went as a robot. I sometimes have to show my geeky side :)


This is me as a robot and my best friend Philizz , who went as emo.(he also makes great videomixes which you can check out by clicking on his name)

MangoFool

What to do with the mango? There was one on the table for a week now. It was finally eatable. I wanted to make something special with it. So i decided to make a mangofool(yes it is really named that.)


I made my own variation with from bottom to top:some tropical syrup, yogurt, mangofool, chocolate and tangerine

For the real mango fanatic:

Ice cream and a bra

Indeed, a bra and ice cream. Good combination I must say, because it was buy a magnum temptation ice cream and win limited edition Marlies Dekkers lingerie. Specially designed for magnum. And I won. Also my sister has won one. So we both were happy girls.



It went like this: In June you could win a Marlies Dekkers lingerieset by eating Magnum temptaion ice cream. It was easy, buy the magnum temptaion ice cream, go to the website marliesdekkersformagnum submit and maybe you are lucky. And I was! actually we both were. You had to fill in some personal data and on which day and where you wanted to pick up your set.

Sice the 500 sets of this limited edition line were not made yet, every winner had to wait until last week.
On October 12, we went to the Marlies Dekkers store at the Berenstraat Amsterdam to pick up our amazing looking and also very well fitting Marlies Dekkers set.


the set with the bag

I really like the pink with brown colors ans the swirls. Those are based on the magnum temptation ice cream colors and substance. The design of the set is also great.
What I also like is the new style of the Marlies dekkers storagebag. They used to be black or white most of the times. This is the new one. A really nice see trough gold color with satin ribbons and blotting paper with also the design of the bag.

Arrrr! Weigh anchor!

Today it's international talk like a pirate day. It's been celebrated every year on September 19th. So put on your hook and wooden leg and talk like a pirate al day long.
Want to know more about it? visit Talk Like A Pirate Day!

learn to speak pirate

Visiting the Benefit Browbar

September 9, I went to the Benefit browbar. I visit the browbar for two years now. It´s a kind of addiction in think but a good one. I like it when my eyebrows look perfect. It also feels nice and clean.

Najat, my favourite brow specialst, works at the browbar for almost two years now. She is the one who always waxes my brows. And yes she is really fantastic at her job.

For this time i deceided to go on a friday afternoon instead of a thursday evening. I must say, i prefer the friday afternoon. Much more relaxing than a thursday evening. There's more time on a afternoon and that feels more relaxing.

What I really want and have to say: Browwaxing does not hurt! Ok, it's not completely painless but hey, it's really worth it. It probably looks like it hurts a lot because of the skin turns red. It gives less pain then using tweezers and the big benefit, it takes away all the little annoying hairs instead of just a couple. Very nice.

To give you an impression about how the browbar in Utrecht looks, here is a picture. As you can see, it looks really nice. And had quite much space.

The treatment takes place inside the bar.



Browwaxing works like this:

First, Najat will measure on which places of your face the brows have to start and stop so they will match your face.
After that the eyebrow areas are cleaned. Then the special wax with tea tree and aloe vera goes on your skin with a spatula. It feels nice and warm, not sticky. A waxing cloth is put on the place and in one go, Najat removes the hair, wax and cloth from your face.
There are always some hairs that will not go away, so they are removed with a tweezer.
To cool down the skin, you will get cooling gel with lavender on the waxed areas. Now it's time to cover the redness on your face and put on some make up. To hide the redness Najat uses the anti- bacterial boi-ing concealer. Your brow will get some powder and under brow a bit of eye bright is placed to lift the eyes and some make up for a nice finishing touch.

I also got my upperlip done, and yes that hurts a lot more then eyebrows, but it's worth it.

This is how i looked after:

On my face i have: boi-ing concealer, browpencil, highlighter and bella bamba cheekpowder all from benefit. On my lips a amazingly pink glittery lipgloss from make up forever. Unfortunately i do not know the name or number.

I am really happy with the result. That's also the reason why i always go back to the browbar. Najat gives you prefect eyebrows. But remember: eyebrows are sisters not twins.

So time for you now to make an appointment if you want nice eyebrows. Waxing your eyebrows + make-up will cost you € 21,-. Waxing your eyebrows and upperlip + a bit of make up €29,-

If it is your birthday, you will get a brow treatment for free!

For information about a browbar near to you visit benefit browbar website

All of the Benefit browbars in Holland are situated in Sephora stores inside V&D.

So let me know if you are the next one with a browbar addiction. Would be nice!

I just love it !

I'm so in love with my dress, can not help it. Yesterday it was the perfect day to finally wear it. I just feel like completely me in my amazing dress.

click on the picture for the bigger version

I say yes to this dress

Remember my post from last Wednesday about the dress and the camera? Well finally, here is a picture of my amazing dress that arrived last Wednesday. Pictures with me in it will follow very very soon. I did not had much time to already take pictures.
It is a original fifties dress by Wildman original.


I just love this dress <3

What's it gonna be?

When i left the house with my bike to go to the trainstation, I saw the parcel service ringing my doorbell. Luckily my dad answered the door. So it's a surprise what it will be when I come home tonight.



It can be the one or the other. In other words, my camera or my dress. It almost feels like Sinterklaas. For you non dutchies out there, here you will find an explanation about Sinterklaas About Sinterklaas

New school year, new agenda

And we're off, well almost then. Tomorrow a new year of school will start.Time for year number three. It goes fast. Still remember the first day of my first year.
There is always one thing that comes back every school year, indeed a agenda. I'm always in search for a nice and not very common one. I found one and I must say, this one is totally me. \o/


new drawings every month


stickersheets in front and back


It also has a nice bookmark

Essence 50's girls reloaded

Essence has made a really cool limited edition line named 50's girls reloaded. the line includes: a face powder, eyeshadow, nailpolish, lipstick, eyeshadowbrush and eyepencils.

When I went to the drugstore, there was not much left so i took what i could take :)
This is what i bought:



Two gorgeous nailpolishes


you're a heartbreaker


love me tender

a really lovely lipstick named: back to the 50’s


eyeshadow with a really good pigment and nice colors. It's a duo eyeshadow with a mirror in the box





you’re a heartbreaker

I also bought the translucent powder as you can see in the first picture.

Ragu a la Bolognese how to

Cooking is my biggest hobby. It started when I was six years old with cooking classes at the local community center. My love for cooking never went away. I cook a lot. From easy meals to difficult chef dishes, I like them all. One of my favourites is the Ragu Bolognese.




This is a traditional pastadish from Italy. Ragu bolognese is just not a sauce. Not like when youre pasta is done youre sauce is also, or add al kinds of veggies and more stuff to the sauce and name it bolognese. So forget about that Bolgonese dishes that are ready in 30 minutes. Thats not possible at all. And sad for al those good flavours.

So well, here's my recipe with pictures.


You will need (for about 6 servings):

500 gr lean minced beef meat
250 gr spek/bacon finely chopped( i used the on for sauerkraut)( actually you need to use pancetta)
500 ml Beef stock
150 ml white wine (middle dry) or red if you prefer a more robust flavor
2 cans of tomato cubes
2 carrots finely chopped
2 celery stalks finely chopped
2 unions finely chopped
2 garlic gloves crushed withe the garlic press
2 little cans of tomato paste
olive oil
bit of milk (100 ml)
salt
peper
nutmeg
Tagliatelle (100 grams for each person)
fresh graded Parmesan cheese



How to make it.

First Boil water for your stock. Put in the stock cubes and let it melt. Chop the oinons, carrots and celery. You can use a food processor for that. Also cut the bacon into little pieces.



Heat up a big pot and pour in olive oil. Saute the onion and garlic.
Add the bacon, stir well and let it cook for about 5 minutes.



Put in the celery and carrots let it cook for about 5 minutes again and take the mixture out of the pot, put it in a bowl.





Now put the minced meat in the pan stir and cook until done. Add the mixture and the wine. Reduce the wine until almost nothing is left.



Stir in the tomato paste mix well. Now add the tomato cubes and bouillon, stir well. Add the milk bit by bit until all of it been taken up by the rest of the ingredients.
That's it for now.



Put the lid on the pot. Do not close the pan at all. but just half. Turn the heat to middle low. And let it simmer for at least 2 and half hours. More is always better. I prefer four until six hours. Do not forget to check up once in a while. Also stir it.




When the dish is almost finished, like in there is a quarter of the last hour left, start cooking your pasta.

It is time now to add the seasoning to your bolognese. Just add salt, pepper and nutmeg to it.

The reason to season when it is almost finished is because of the sauce is that much reduced after long cooking it already has strong flavors by itself.

Put the Tagliatelle on the plate, put the ragu on top, add parmesan cheese.

I hope you enjoyed making your own Bolognese.

all I have to say left,

Bon Appetit