Jasmine, strawberries and African Marigold

Today I decided to do a day of non-supermarket shopping. Normally we do groceries once a week at Albert Heijn, as they have almost everything we need for a regular week of eating and living. But every once in a while it is nice to not go to the big supermarket. So today I went NOT-Albert-Heijn! I went to the market to buy cheese, bread fruit and veggies. I went to the Asian deli to buy an adorable can of Jasmine Tea (I just love those foreign cans and bottles!) which I placed on the shelf with our other dried goods and herbs.

And I visited a bunch of shops I had never been before and bought organic pear-juice and a bag of Black Eye beans. I saw a shop on Etsy once of a girls who made beads out of beans and I was intrigued by the idea, so I decided I wanted to try that sometime. And Black Eye beans are gorgeous!



I then sat on my balcony and ate the delicious strawberries and drank a pot of Jasmine-tea while reading a book and enjoying the view.

 
The African Marigolds I had last year seem to be sprouting up again. I guess the seeds must have gotten mixed up with the earth I used for planting the flower bulbs (that do not seem to be wanting to grow somehow).

Cookies

I was planning them for Valentines day, but got around to making them a day later. I love baking! It's so fun and satisfying. These are not the cookies from the kit I got as a gift from Maaike, those will come by later on, when I've got all the tools for decorating. I made 2 different cookies: A simple sand-dough, meant to be decorated, but that will be postponed (and by the time I get around to that they will probably be eaten already!) and an Italian lemoncookie, with lemonzest, lemonjuice and pine nuts. Those are truly delicious! And look at them being pretty in their vintage yellow gingerbread box. Love them!

Finally: Pillows!

I have had these lying around for quite a while, done with the knitting, but not in the mood for putting them together. Now, finally, after continuous nagging by my boyfriend, who was fed up with the ugly pillow-fillings lying on the sofa, I have finished them! Although they still need some final-touching, I think they are quite well enough for a photo! I'm quite proud, as I'm not very good at finishing things I've started. Yay me!

Chrysanthemum

Enkele bloem, a photo by Sanne van den Heuvel on Flickr.

One of the flowers broke off of its stem when I put them in a vase. I put it in a whineglass with a bit of water to see if it would still bloom, and it did!

I really like this picture, with the heavy grain and the color of the flower against the sober background.

Peony roses

Pioenrozen 2, a photo by Sanne van den Heuvel on Flickr.

Pioenrozen 1, a photo by Sanne van den Heuvel on Flickr. 

Beautiful beautiful roses I got from Joost's parents. Starting out as big balls of red satin on a green stem, they blossomed into huge burgundy red flowers about 15 centimeters in diameter. Amazing!