Improving our kitchen terrace with a Herb Garden

What a blessing to have a terrace or a garden in the city...

Francis Bacon' essay on Gardens (picture taken in Villa Augustus)

At the end of March we went to an organic garden shop and bought a raised garden kit to install on our kitchen terrace.

Plenty of fresh herbs : rosemary, laurel, dill, sage, marjoram, chives, flat parsley, thyme and tarragon.

And two mini salads.

One month later....

May 13, our two salads will be ready to eat soon I guess.

Mini tomatoes - Strawberries - Curry that looks like rosemay but smells very indian - Chives blossoming with purple flowers.

Today's look.

We still got a paint job to do here, put some white on the walls, add a colored wall and shelves to put those pots on so we can have breakfast on the little table.... More pictures will follow when works are done :-)
Have a nice Thursday afternoon all x

PS : At first we thought of turning a palette into a garden / herb garden, but we finally chose the easy, faster option... but I still love this idea of using a palette for a garden. Click on the pic above for more info on that.

Baby shopping

The cool thing about girlfriends having babies is that I have a very good excuse to go shopping, shopping for baby of course!  I recently discovered an interesting shop on my bike route on the way home, and finally took the time to stop by.

This is Diane von Furstenberg's little pop-up store (only one in the world) and yes it's in Brussels. You also find this exclusive collection in some of the GAP stores in other countries. DvF created baby and kid's clothes is association with GAPKids, which means all these cute girly items are affordable.

Cute dress with inside mini short.

Lovely little body with hearts.

For little baby Olivia I choose this pretty orange dress, based on the iconic wrap dress by DvF.  Dressed in style for summer.

Anyway if you got girls pregnant around you or with kids... go take a look at the rue du Grand Cerf 18 in Brussels, the store is open till the end of June. Then another concept will pop-up....

J'aime les sardines dans de jolies boites en conserve...

As it hasn't been very sunshiny these last days, I thought, let's write something about canned Sardines, because they always give me a sunny seaside holiday feeling.  Sardines, I discovered them last year, probably on my holidays in Marseille… or was it my man, who is eating them since a long time, who made me taste them…    Anyhow now I love them! Funny cuz I've always seen some sardine cans in the cupboards at home, but never knew what to do with them, nor how to eat them. Until one day I changed my mind :-)  They are so cute, packed in little colourful cans, besides they are cheap and super healthy because full of fatty acids and vitamins. And of course they taste nice, like a summer soirée.

Two kinds can be found in the cans : some with bones and some without. I don't eat the bones, but some people say you can… So if you are lazy, pick a can of boneless sardines, otherwise some patience will be required. You'll find plenty of preparations already made for you in a can, so you almost don't need to add anything (I always add a bit of fresh lemon).  A famous brand is the French La Belle-Iloise from Brittany.

Here's a little easy recipe : buy a can of sardines "au naturel" so it means not marinated in oil, less greasy, get rid of the bones, use a fork to mash them up just a little, add a dash of sauer cream, black pepper and some fresh herbs like chives for example. Put them on little toasts, made from baguette and add some fresh lemon zest for decoration. Have a good fresh white wine with that, perfection.

Sardines are also perfect for a pick nick, easy to take with you or even the little recipe above can easily be transported :-)

Good food can be very easy!