Karin Elizabeth

Blue skies, birds singing.

Too bad that right now we’re headed into colder weather once more (sigh, this never-ending winter), but the first signs of spring have touched my life again and it sure felt good.

I’m not a foodie. I mean, I love food. But I don’t consider myself to be a very ambitious cook. But lately I’ve started to be a little less nonchalant in the kitchen: in weekends I tend to try out new, time-consuming recipes. And I’m liking it. One of my favorites has got to be risotto. And there are a few variations that I’ve been trying recently.

Risotto – I made my first risotto last year-ish, and was absolutely intimidated by it. You know when you watch cooking contest shows? Contestants tend to be butchered by the judges for f-ing up the risotto. And so many of them apparently f up the risotto. So that kind of always made me believe I – major klutz – would never in a million years pull it off. But it’s not really as complicated as you’d think. The key to a good risotto is using the right amount of moisture very, very patiently.

I usually use 300 grams of risotto (10.58 oz) which requires 1 liter of liquid (33.81 fl oz – please please please consult with your own conversion app). And by liquid, that’s usually vegetable bouillon / stock (and sometimes there’s wine involved, too). Sometimes you don’t need all the bouillon, sometimes you need to add more liquids to the risotto, but that’s the guideline.
Basically, you put all of the rice in one pan, and add bouillon bit by bit. Not too much. The risotto rice will act as little sponges, sucking up the bouillon. You have to stir regularly and check if all the bouillon is sucked up – careful not to burn the risotto, so simmer! – before you add the next portion. And so on and so on, until the rice is done.
Here’s a helpful Jamie Oliver recipe for 400grams of a basic risotto. I will be trying his basic method out at some point, myself, haha.

Eggplant / Feta:

Fresh garlic, grated
2 onions (I use red ones because I love ‘em), chopped finely
2 eggplants (aubergine), diced
Olive oil
Fresh basil leaves, tear them
Black pepper
1 l. vegetable bouillon
lemon juice, add to flavor – and if you like a few lemon peel gratings
Pine nuts, 150grams is what I usually get
150 grams of Feta cheese, also diced
300 grams of arborio / risotto rice. (Round, short shape.)

I use a bigger pan because the eggplant takes up a lot of space at first. First the olive oil & garlic with the onions. Sauté them. Don’t burn the garlic.
Then I up the heat, add the eggplant and sauté until it’s shrunken a bit and until it’s darker in color. I pepper it a little bit here. After that I usually plunk in a bit more olive oil, and then I toss in all of the risotto, heat still up. Scoop it up and down a bit until it’s all covered in olive oil. And I forgot to add that you’re supposed to heat the risotto like this for a few minutes (to ensure the risotto’s nice and sticky!) before you lower the heat, and gently begin to pour in the first portion of bouillon.

I am not a food writer, obviously, haha.

Meanwhile get a small sauté pan, do not put anything in it except the pine nuts. So no butter, no oil – nada. Roast them on medium fire, be sure to shake ‘em up a little in between so they get nice and light brown. When done, remove from fire and let cool. They don’t need to be hot, they do need to have that roasted flavor. The smell is delightful too.

I wait until the risotto is almost done – like pasta, needs to have a little bit of a bite – before I add the rest to the risotto: the basil, pepper, lemon juice (taste the risotto a few times in between to make sure it’s enough) and about half of the feta cheese. It doesn’t need to melt in the risotto per se, but it does need to crumble and warm up somewhat!

The other half I put on the table along with the pine nuts, as finishing touches. I recommend a decent serving of feta cheese (it MAKES this dish imo) and a modest amount of pine nuts. The pine nuts, I use because they taste sweet whereas the rest of the dish is a bit salty. I like the combination!

The tomatoes pictured: I used Jamie Oliver’s Mothership Tomato Salad recipe (google it) from one of my mom’s cookbooks. But basically these are balsalmic vinegar tomatoes. Grab a good amount of different tomatoes (might I recommend cherry tomatoes?), I needed about 750 grams, chop them in big chunks (small tomatoes, you chop in half). Put them in a colander. Salt them with seasalt (several pinches in between scooping tomatoes around to divide the salt) to drain excessive fluid out (adding salt will NOT make tomatoes salty; it will make them more flavorful, most of the salt will drip right off). This takes about 15 minutes. Put them in a bowl when “drained”. I added a tablespoon of dried oregano and some leftover basil, scooped it all around. Then I made a dressing, as Jamie suggests I used 3 parts extra virgin olive oil against 1 part of balsalmic vinegar… and add a clove of garlic, 1 chopped spanish red (seedless) pepper. Stir stir stir together and pour over tomatoes, scoop them about so they’re all covered by the dressing. I added a yellow bellpepper for color; I wanted yellow tomatoes but couldn’t find them short notice. Bah. Haha. Aaaaaand done! I served this Sunday with mozzarella slices. It’s also supposed to be fabulous with ciabatta. YUM. It tasted even better a day later, but that’s just my opinion. Haha.

I put the tomatoes and risotto on one plate for the photo as they were leftovers (yay me!) but served them separately from one and other when I cooked this stuff on Sunday. I don’t recommend you eat these dishes together. The tomatoes have a much stronger flavor and will overshadow the risotto. Just sayin’. It works great as a starter, or separately for lunch (I had it for lunch today).

Oh gah. I wanted to post a second recipe but eh.. this post is already so long. Next time then!

Tuesday evening I went to bed with a splitting, splitting migraine. So yesterday I gave myself a mandatory no-computer day. That meant peace and quiet, and I mostly relaxed in the form of going through recipes, reading the second A Song of Ice and Fire book, watching some TV when I could stand it (hadn’t checked out Revolution yet) and taking a couple of tentative first photos (in my attempt to start taking more photos) around the house. It’s just bits and bobs really, details.

Much of my travel souvenirs and other items that are special to me are pottery. My Jane Austen teapot is one of my recent acquisitions (found it at Winchester cathedral, where she is buried) and one of my favorite things, ever.
I’m also loving my “plastic cups” ceramics. I have several, two are in my book case, the rest are behind glass doors along with other mugs and teapots that are not on display around the house.

A few weeks ago we went to IKEA and got 4 of these RIBBA display “shelves” and put them up against the purple wall in the kitchen. Right now it holds stuff like postcards, magazines, paper bags, framed photos, a painting, my signed Cary Brothers CD, bird pictures, etc. I’ll take a wide view photo next time to show it as a whole.

Gah, those windows look horrible. But that’s just how it is. Cleaning windows in autumnal Holland is pointless. But I wanted to show you the plants and the light in this corner. I usually read here nowadays.
In the background you can see our duotone garden terrace/shed structure. We still mean for that to be entirely green instead of that hideous navy blue. Yuck.

A peek into our bookcases; my old books (opened is an old copy of Alice in Wonderland) with my very first pair of glasses (I was 10). The plant, I got from my mother-in-law.

The bathroom window is where we move our orchids when they’ve bloomed out. They do very well here; usually they shoot out again after a while, upon which they move back to the kitchen window, to be replaced by other recovering orchids. I love having plants in the bathroom; it really is very soothing. I think I have 7 orchids now. Every time I see a beautiful orchid, I have to take it home with me. I still want to have one of those peachy/yellow ones, and I hope to one day find a blue orchid.
I have plans with a corner in the attic, by one of the big windows. I want to tend to and grow a few more herbs and other flowers. Obviously not yet. But when the time is ripe.

And finally, time for tea…

I’m insecure about my house looking too cluttery and messy (even when it’s actually tidy and clean, and thus really not that bad). As much as I love my dear mother, that insecurity is thanks to her, haha. Yes mom. You. xo

Allow me to get over that before I post more home photos I’d love to show you around here more.

I’ve had some adjusting to do over the past couple of weeks, settling into a new routine, or rather: being independent, my own boss… learning to have some self-discipline.

My general focus has been on editing client work. I finished up today, and am ready to ship these lovely girls’ photos out to them tomorrow. During the whole editing process I had fun and it brought me back to being grateful to be able to do what I want to do with my life. It kinda made me get my ass into gear.

I’m excited about my future as a photographer. And it feels good to be able to say that without breaking a sweat, without doubting myself.

More since my absence:
- I’ve been more health oriented and conscious as of late. I’m still trying to adjust my diet to suit my health needs though. It’ll take me a lot more tweaking until I feel better physically. Lessening my gluten and wheat intake does seem to help a lot already though!
- I’ll have my uncles & cousins over for a dinner evening on December 1st. I’m already planning what to do then, haha. Because I do like this kind of thing, ya know, “entertaining people” or attempting to anyway! (I never thought I would!)
- I’m excited about having had some sales in both my Etsy and Society6 shops! That only helps me feel more hopeful and optimistic about my choices.
- Wedding planning is still on our minds, we’ve got The Big Stuff taken care of (date, locations, general scheduling, drafted guest list, arranged to go into “ondertrouw” – which is a Dutch requirement; basically you state officially that you intend to marry and they’ll check if you’re not a bigamist or something haha – and we’ve decided pretty much who our witnesses will be). Ondertrouw is already a big deal to us. That’ll happen in two months The only thing that has had to wait is The Dress. My mom has had her first cataract surgery last month so we haven’t been able to look at dresses yet. Hopefully soon. I do have a good idea of what I want… Now I just need to find it. Anyway, I will probably do a proper “here’s where we are so far, wedding wise!” post.
- We’ve been doing some home improving! I’ll try, try, try to get some photos of our living space up soon. The house is finally not so much of a mess anymore. Now that I don’t have a “leave the house and come home tired” day job (not helpful for a natural born slob like moi), I do have more time and motivation to keep the house tidy. It’s quite relaxing even! After some hours behind the computer I go crazy and have to move, do something. So it’s either ballet exercises or folding the laundry

The only thing that had me sad lately is the fact that summer is gone. I’m (very) prone to having the winter blues, you see. But it’s moments like these, that beautiful golden autumn light, that makes me think, maaaybe it’s not so bad. (I looked out my office window one day and saw the light hit the trees behind our backyard and wanted to capture that moment and appreciate its beauty.)
And then I think of my usual list of winter favorites (blankets, candles, hot chocolates) and it starts to feel better. I just hoped I could get a bit more cheerful generally.

Yesterday I was working on photos, had Mumford and Sons on, loudly. At some point I turned it off because even I can get tired of music sometimes. And then I heard this scratchy sound coming from the gas hearth. As I looked over, I couldn’t believe what I saw: a great tit bird, tiny but fierce, frantically flying up against the gas hearth’s glass frame. From inside the gas hearth, where it was trapped. It had somehow flown in from outside and tumbled in there!
After some animal loving girlishness on my part (yes), I went and got a big screwdriver, unscrewed the glass frame and opened the hearth “door” wide. And the backdoor, too of course. It took the little guy a few minutes to get his bearings, but he made his way out. I will never forget that moment. That bird flying to its freedom, me turning my head around, seeing him go. I’m thankful I got to see that. That was beautiful. I will admit I laughed and cried at the same time. I guess because it symbolized something very important to me then. It’s funny how these moments can change you in ways.

And meanwhile, I’ll enjoy little bits of sun and my backyard (where these flowers used to be)… from inside my warm home.

I’ll try from here on out to blog weekly. I won’t be able to do daily posts, haha. I know myself by now (and I think you do too). But weekly, that should be manageable. Apparently I have enough to write / show at this point anyway