Domburg Beach

Just because the prettiest beaches are to be found in Zeeland, even on the windiest days.

Grandmother

Both my grandmothers are still there and in good health. Today we visited my mother’s mother, who will be 100 years of age in 2017.

It’s always pretty special to visit her with my own children, showing them the places I used to play when I was little. They hardly changed since then. My grandma’s beautiful garden, with the little house in the back we always pretended to be our home. The old apple and pear trees, of course without fruits right now, but there were daisies to pick and we did. She still partly maintains her big kitchen garden herself, eating from her own harvest almost every day: Fresh from the tree or plant in summer and autumn, from her freezer in the winter and spring.  Of course my grandma has gotten older, but her spirit hasn’t and we still drink tea from the same mugs we did 30 years ago.

One of the things my grandmother learned me was to value the nature around you, to look at it and be grateful for all it has to offer. If you take care of the world around you, it will take care of you. Oh and: start your day with a lukewarm glass of water with lemon, it will help you keep your skin young.

 

Cevicheria

Today is my 35^th birthday. Five years after the birthday I unsuccessfully tried to skip. I didn’t see it coming, me hating turning 30 as much as I did, but it hit me in the face a week before the big day and progressively got worse from there. On the day itself I started telling people I was turning 29. Most of them reacting with “oooo, one year left till the big 3-0” made me feel even more depressed, so I just went on joking around that it’s inappropriate to ask a lady her age. 

It luckily only took me a week to get over it and accepting my new age. I decided to join the trend and make myself a bucket list, so I won’t be as grumpy when I turn forty. My bucket list only contains 2 items:

1. Finding myself the perfect hairdo that will make me look more nature in a sophisticated ladylike kind of way
2. Writing my own cookbook

I still have five years to accomplice both, so today is just about celebrating my birthday by spending a day with my husband doing one of the things I love the most: strolling around and eating. We went to have lunch at one of the places on my wish list: the Cevicheria in Kreuzberg.

Ever since I ate the Peruvian fish dish for the first time at Gordon Ramsey’s Bread Street Kitchen in London it is one of my favorite things to eat. Curing the fish in citrus fruits optimizes taste and structure, making the fish briny and tender with a sour twist. I’ve made ceviche several times back in Amsterdam, mostly with salmon or scallops. Since Berlin is not really that close to the sea I’ve never prepared it here, for I don’t know if the available fish is fresh enough to eat it raw. Today I will finally have a plate of ceviche again, and the Cevicheria far from disappointed me!

If only for the entourage it would be worth visiting this place. The light blue interior, the friendly people and last but not least the South American music make you feel you’re in another country, leaving the busy city behind for a moment.

As for the food we ordered a pulpo salad and the white fish ceviche with prawns. The salad was a very well balanced combination of oil and herbs, freshened up with chopped tomatoes and cucumber. I could’ve easily eaten a whole plate of it. The ceviche was perfect as well, classically accompanied by sweet potato, corn, red onion and coriander. We enjoyed every bite of it.

Please go here if you have the opportunity! Even if you don’t like raw fish (they have grilled and baked dishes) or you don’t like fish at all (as befits a Berlin restaurant: the have vegetarian dishes)

For the both of us eating here felt like a mini vacation.

Pancake Cake

It’s a very special and important day today. My oldest daughter is turning four. A mile stone for us, since it in the Netherlands is the age a child goes to primary school. We can hardly imagine our little girl is growing up this fast.

After the success at the birthday of the twins, half a year ago, I decided to repeat the pancake cake we had for breakfast that day. I baked the pancakes the night before the big day, so the whipped cream wouldn’t melt this time. The only thing we had to do on the Birthday morning is whip up some unsweetened cream and layer the cake. We alternated layers of whipped cream and strawberries with banana – nut butter – maple syrup layers. On top a whole lot of whipped cream with raspberries, blueberries and pistachio nuts. And four candles of course.

When we visited my grandma for her 80^th birthday last year my daughter doubted her for really having her birthday. After all, no flags were hanging around. And a birthday cannot possibly be a birthday without the flags. So no flag shortage in our home today!

Pancake Recipe (for about 12 pancakes)

200 gr spelt flour

2 eggs

400 ml milk

Pinch of salt

Sunflower oil for baking

Sieve the flour into a bowl and make a little pit in the middle for breaking the eggs in. Stir in the eggs from the middle and slowly start adding the milk so you can stir the lumps away in the process. Add a pinch of salt in the end.

Heat a drip of oil in a frying pan and add a small ladle of batter while moving the pan so the batter will equally spread. Let it rest until the top is dry, then turn and bake the other side for another minute. Repeat this recipe until all the batter is gone and you have a nice pile of pancakes. Don’t forget to add a little drip of oil for each pancake; it’s needed in order to thicken the batter.