Howling at the Moon

 Yesterday I saw what seemed to be a delicious dish on a picture and I could almost taste it on my tongue. It looked like a Poke Bowl Sushi Style.Today I couldn't wait to rush to the supermarket to buy what I thought was in the recipe.I'm a vegetarian, so I had to change some of the ingredients, but that made it even better. We just finished eating it and it was great, so I have to share it with you. Sushi Poke Bowl Ingredients for two persons 2 cups or rice (I used Pandan) 1 avocado 1/4 cucumber mayonaise wasabi soy sauce 3 eggs 2 tbsp sugar salt sesame seeds  Cook the rice as instructed on the package. Make the tamagoyaki (sweet omelet) by mixing 3 eggs, 2 tbsp sugar with some salt and soy sauce to taste. Bake two thin omelets, roll up and cut to slices.  Cut thin slices of the avocado, cut the cucumber in slices and the slices in quarters. Roast the sesame seeds for a short time.  Mix the cooked rice with wasabi, mayonaise and ...

My sister-in-law sent me a link to a wreath making workshop a couple of weeks ago. I never go to workshops, because I like to do that sort of things in my own home, but a friend of mine wanted to go, too. Maybe it's nice to go together, I thought. So this weekend we went off to the little village where we grew up, because that was where the workshop was. It was nice to be back in the place where we both lived for so many years. Not that I never came back all those years, because my brother still lives there, but I'm not part of the community anymore. The town house, where the workshop took place, still smelled like all those years ago. Funny how a smell can bring back lively memories. Anyway, this is the wreath I made. It's hanging on my front door.

This weekend my family will come over for an Easter Brunch, so I made a flower centerpiece to fill the table.  What you need: Jar Small vase that fits through the opening of the jar Tulips Daffodils First I cut the tulips off about 10cm under their head. To stop them from growing, I pierced a little hole just under their head with a needle.  I filled a jar with water and arranged the tulip heads in a circle along the edges of the jar.  Then I put the daffodils in the vase and the vase in the jar before they were blooming, so the flowers wouldn't break off because they were too big. After two days the daffodils started to bloom and now the centerpiece is ready to show off.   ~*~ After some vain hope a couple of times I think spring is finally coming to Western Europe. Only a bit of cold weather in the forecast for this weekend and then temperatures will rise, I hope. In my garden some of the flowers came up weeks ago, but only start...

Another pattern from the Book of Pica Pau by Jan Schenkel , the Alpaca. I made this one because it made me think of a trip I made some years ago to Peru. While I was wandering through Macchu Pichu a couple of alpacas followed me with their eyes. I kept away from them because you only have to be spitten on by an alpaca once in your life to avoid coming near them for the rest of your days. The smell; horrible! Not easily washed away either. Fortunately I was in a zoo when it happened, so I could wash my face thoroughly, but I will never forget that smell. Anyway, I liked to see them living in between the ruins of Macchu Pichu, because they belong there. They are so beautiful with their big brown eyes with long lashes and their fluffy hair on top of their head.     Just one more to make from this book: the wolf. I'm not really into spirituality and such, but when I heard about so called totem animals, I've always known that the wolf is my totem. 

This month my oldest daughter will become ten.   10!!!   Ten years old!! How did this happen?! Last week she was still a baby!  Anyway, as is my custom I love to make some of her presents myself and because I just had a three week vacation, I had lots of time to make some things for her (although I also took a lot of time to read this weeks off, because reading is what I love the most; I just don't have enough time). The first thing I made for her is a crocheted birthday cake inspired by Katharine Sabbath. The 'theme' my daughter chose for her birthday is 'Cats', so this little cake hasn't anything to do with that, it's just for fun.   www.betweennapsontheporch.net I got this idea here and here .

~ I love Pinterest and would like to make one thing every week that I find on Pinterest. Since I have lots of pins (that, until now, I've just pinned and only that), I hope this will be a way to reduce the amount of pins on my boards . It can be anything, from cooking to crochet and from sewing to paper crafts. Just small projects that don't take weeks to make ~ And here's the bag I promised to make this week for Made It!. I was delayed a little bit, because I always try to post three crafts in a week, on Friday, Saturday and Tuesday, but I found it becomes harder and harder to keep up with my own crafting pace, due to other obligations. I think I have to choose projects that take a little less time for Made It!. Anyway, this week I'm just in time for midnight (CET) to post the result.  In the end I choose a pattern of waves instead of pineapples or palmtrees. This pattern makes me think of Hawaii and surfing and I love to make things that bring back great...

In the country I live in, The Netherlands that is, different regions have different traditions. If you keep in mind that The Netherlands are only about 42,000 square kilometers, I think that's marvellous. One of that regional traditions, or even town committed, is artisanal painting. Most of the time the paintings are flower themed, like this.  Source   . When I was a child, I think about twelve years old, I was fascinated by this kind of paintings and wanted it to learn myself. Not that I was from a region where artisanal painting was common, by the way. I  wasn't particular interested in flowers either, so what makes this sort of painting interesting to me: don't know. For my birthday I got a book about how to make artisanal art, paint, pencils and something to smear the paint on, namely a wooden chopping board. For weeks I was busy painting everything made of wood I found around the house. Then I had enough of it and never ever thought about it again....

Two little baby girls are born in my circle of friends and family, so a lot of work to be done in sense of presents and gifts. I started with this crochet fox, who I gave a sleeping and an awake side.  You can find the free pattern at La Maison Victor .  www.betweennapsontheporch.net

In my family we all have an interest in space science and astronomy, so I thought it would be nice to use this in a Valentine's drawing on the chalkboard we have in our kitchen. My daughters, 7 and 9 years old, both want to be an astronaut when they're grown up. My youngest has an alternative though. When becoming an astronaut turns out to be too ambitious, she wants to own a little exotic fruit shop, that she will name 'The Fruit Queen'. Astronaut vs Fruit Queen. Almost the same. I so love this! www.betweennapsontheporch.net