Marijn's Zonneschijn

Little gems

marijntjeb — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 21:11:49 +0000

Before:

Little gems Before

After:

Little gems, After

Makes you wonder… maybe the raw food movement is not such a strange one after all.

But then again, I haven’t quite got my new camera completely under control, and the candle-lit (romantic, yes) settings under which we savoured our grilled little gems might give a bit of a skewed view compared to the kitchen-lit greenness of the Before picture…
To which I’d like to add that they tasted delightful, those little crops of lettuce, shortly grilled and served with some homemade lemon-thyme dressing and some flakes of parmesan. Yum.

Back!

marijntjeb — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:11:52 +0000

Of course I could start again by telling you how ashamed I am. For not having posted anything new in I don’t even know how many months… But I won’t. I’m not ashamed. No, no, I’m not. I think I’ve got perfectly fine reasons for having disappeared for a while…

Today I received my business cards! I’m working, I’m an interaction designer and usability expert, I’m really enjoying my job and my colleagues (can I put it like that: enjoying my colleagues? Sounds a bit strange…), I’m learning a lot and traveling a lot, which is why I haven’t been up to writing something in a while. But today I am, I am up for it, so let’s see what I can offer you….

Today will bring you…. the HERFSTTOETJESTEST!

Mr. E and I sat together tonight, to test blindly and objectively (or subjectively, it’s all a matter of taste :) which apple-cinnamon vla currently at your supermarket is the tastiest. And lo and behold, I can be short about this one, the outcome is unanimous! Self-declared non-taster (Mr. E) and Mr.E-declared super-taster (me) both alike, we chose the cheapest to be the nicest. A modest hooray for Albert H.!*

Albert Hein’s huismerk Seizoensvla appel-kaneel won the test, being fruity and soft, containing juicy pieces of apple and being less ‘chemical’ than the rest. Campina came second and Friesche Vlag definitely tasted worst, with pieces of apple that had the structure of apple cores, an unattractive cardboard color and an accompanying fake taste.

I personally would recommend to ignore these vla’s altogether, just put an apple with some cinnamon and raisins in the oven for a while, or even better, caramelize ‘m and bake ‘m with dough on top to end up with a tarte tatin, but that’s a whole different story and a whole different blog. For now, all you vla lovers out there, you can take this to your advantage. Grietje approves.

The set-up

The outcome

Final approval of an objective super-taster

* In this test were only three kinds of apple-cinnamon vla, as we only visited one (unfortunately omni-present) supermarket. There might be more.

Just a little blogger’s block

marijntjeb — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:16:00 +0000

Hi peeps!

I know, I know, I have been neglecting you terribly… But don’t worry, I’ve learned that this is normal blogger behaviour. Just come back once in a while and before you know it, I’ll be back on track!

Soon I will post June’s cooking adventure, we’ll just let May pass this time. There will be a May next year again. I’ll put some pictures up to show you that I’m still experiencing stuff: I made a lovely basil-strawberry cheesecake for Mr.E’s birthday (yes, I was proud of it myself), we did a lime-yoghurtdrink test (of which i might post the result some day), I drank a variety of drinks (one of which was a toxic green mint granita), I had my feet in the sea again (oh, how I love the sea!) and I spent a whole lot of time watching Grietje enjoying alternately the sun and shadow. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a job interview to prepare… See you in a bit!

And because I have this job interview, I’m not paying attention to the lay-out of this selection of pictures. I’m letting it go. It’s okay that WordPress doesn’t help me display this nicely. I’m accepting it. I’m not putting more time in this small post. I’m not. Really. Surely, you will understand. Right? Right.

Redesign

marijntjeb — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:40:48 +0000

I’m afraid I’m losing it. I’m not going to go in detail, just to be sure… but the ones that know me and know what I’ve been up to the last six months, might know what I’m talking about. So tonight I decided to get into action, do a little redesign just for fun, using my beloved Paint.net (ha!) and some user requirements analysed from my own needs. I’m a user too, right?

Leaf-Ins

Anyway, if you like and want to support my latest user-system interaction activity, go to redesignme.com and click on the ‘yes’! Yes! Wheehaa!

The Seed

marijntjeb — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 21:38:59 +0000

Because I love, love, love this short movie that I stumbled upon, another little clip for you today.

Maru, the cat with a box addiction

marijntjeb — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 12:27:52 +0000

Without any exception, this cat, who has his own fanbase I think, always makes me laugh out loud, very loud. For that fact alone already, he deserves a post on my weblog.

If you want to see more of him, go clicketeeclick!
On CuteOverload
On Youtube: A box, I need to be in a box!, walking around with a bag over his head, and a plastic cup, why not?

Cooking adventure, April’s winner!

marijntjeb — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 10:42:22 +0000

Yeeeey! It took a while, but today I found the time to draw the straws! And the winner is…

The winning page!

Page 124!! Enniemaikie, that’s you!
I’m not going to tell you much, but it happens to be a breakfast dish, so let me know when you will be around on a saturday or sunday. I’m all for a sunny garden brunch (we will shift the breakfast-part a bit towards the early afternoon, if it’s all right with you :)

And for the rest, this is what you will miss:
Dees: page 127, a carpaccio with fennel, nice, but I think for you I’d go for the bouillon with watercress-toast on page 126,
Atikie: page 142, a very adventurous salad of kohlrabi (do you know that?) with strawberries and coriander,
Jannekie: page 132, carrot cappuccino with orange (hmm.. and no, you really didn’t get chosen this time ;),
Marcin: page 151, a kiwi marguerita and an alcoholfree mangococktail with mint.. I’d love to make those anyway!,
AlberTinus: page 122, no asparagus, but a gratinated pineapple with hangop, also nice, right?,
Willemainie: page 125, Grilled little gem-salad with a vinaigrette of egg.. An excellent starter for an extensive meal, I’d think..,
Dreke: page 128, pappardelle with crawfish (rivierkreeftjes! Yum!)

And now, of course, I feel bad, again, that I cannot surprise you all with these dishes you chose… Well, cheer up: nieuwe ronde, nieuwe kansen (new round, new chances) in May, which is actually not that far away! (and I’m a latent rhymingtalent)
And if you feel that takes too long, just invite yourself over, I’d love to see you all soon again!

Olfactory web

marijntjeb — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:45:58 +0000

I wish I could make this work for you… I don’t need it, since I’ve got my own ‘olfactory web’ in the garden. But I’d sure like to share it!

Mr.E & Me

marijntjeb — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:23:14 +0000

With snot. As seen by Mare, my niece :)

Oh, it’s such a lovely day!

marijntjeb — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:59:40 +0000

Just an impression of the lovely day Sanne, Dees, little Benjamin and I had yesterday:

Our last culi-date was waaaayyy to long ago, and as our lives have changed a bit, it involved a bit less overabundance, but…
of course not less niceness, not less talking, not less sun and not less overall enjoyment!

Every time, it’s a little party to get together and see what to prepare with the ingredients we have at our disposal. This time it involved Spanish manchego with fresh and fruity quince jelly, lovely Greek manouri cheese served with zucchini (skillfully grilled by Dees), pasta with roasted butternut squash, onions and garlic topped with all the fresh herbs I could find in the garden, all accompanied by a nice vino bianco biodinamico!

Lovely ladies, let’s not wait that long again till the next culi-date… those local herbs from Dees’ garden in Maastricht, I think they grow in Eindhoven and Utrecht, too…