In My Town, Yesterday ...

There was an important bicycle race going on in my town yesterday. The 100th edition of the Scheldeprijs departed and arrived in my town Schoten. Everybody was there, national and international press, television ...
Of course, I was there too and I had my camera clicking! I took more than 500 photos!
What follows is just an impression, I think I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves ...
Enjoy!












Project 366 #96

Friday's Fave Five, Shop Till You Drop

Friday again, already the next to last day of this beautiful Spring month! Time to look back on what has passed and share some highlights of the week. Time to join Friday's Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.


1. We had our annual day trip with my cooking class. Lunch at the Villa Christina was divine, and the plates looked like paintings as you can see on the top left of my collage. I particularly enjoyed the scallops with pea puree and a bell pepper compote.

2. Lunch and a day out shopping for clothes with my friend Nana. The clothing style advice I got at my daughter's color style home party was very interesting and has opened my eyes. I did find out however that it isn't always easy to find what you are looking for once you know exactly what (not) to wear.

3. A photo walk with my photography class at the MAS museum site in Antwerp last night. After the walk we returned to the class and viewed each other's pictures. It was very interesting to see everybody else's photos from the same location.

4. One of my fellow class mates and his sister treated us with hot coffee and chocolate after the walk. That was very considerate of them, since we were all cold and shivery after the walk. It was the best cup of coffee I had all week!

5. A lot of quality time with my hubby this week. He worked from home this week, and it was so nice to spend some extra time together!


Project 366 # 90

This is the last picture I took last night. I was rather in a hurry, because we were on our way to the car. Turns out to be one of my favorites from this photo walk.

Friday's Fave Five, the Theatre

It's Friday again! This means it's time to look back on the week that has passed and share the highlights by joining Friday's Fave Five. This meme is hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.




1. Eating outside for the first time this season! We've been eating outside three times already this past week. It's still very early in the season so we enjoyed it even more!

2. Quick service at the photo shop. This time I had to take my Big Guy to the photo shop to get the sensor cleaned. I got it back only a few hours later instead of the three day wait like they had first promised!

3. Spring cleaning on my patio. We cleaned the tiles with the pressure cleaner. I can't believe how fresh and tidy it now looks. We bought some lovely Primula's at the weekly market to add a splash of color.

4. My husband had a sudden longing to go to the theatre. We haven't been to the theatre in years and we didn't even know if there was a play going on or not. Half an hour later we were the happy owners of the last two tickets. It was completely sold out but two people had cancelled their tickets and we got them! We had a wonderful evening at the theatre and laughed till our bellies ached!

5. New shoes! My husband and I both had traded a pair of old shoes for a coupon of 12.5 € last week. This week we used the coupons to buy us both a pair of new shoes. Now there's a good deal if you ever saw one! Aren't they lovely?


Project 366 # 76

Friday's Fave Five, Counting the Days ...

March. I'm counting the days till Spring, I am! That's why I'm using the Spring logo for this post. It's been a rather grayish week weather wise, lots of overcast skies, but the temperatures have been very high, which gives us a feeling like Spring is in the air now!
Ok, so now it's time to look back upon the past week and post about the things I'm grateful for, that's what Susanne's Fave Five is all about!

1. Great food. Last Saturday, my friend Annie and I cooked up a gourmet meal together. Later that day our husbands joined us and we all enjoyed the fruits of our labour together. I especially loved the young pigeon with apple and Calvados!

2. On Sunday my hubby and I made a photo walk in Doel. Doel is a ghost town by the river the Schelde in Antwerp. The people of Doel had to leave their houses and make way for the plans to expand the harbor of Antwerp. The entire village is up for demolition. Nature is taking over the gardens, and graffiti painters have decorated the empty houses, which gives this ghost town a very special touch.

3. My snowdrops are (almost finished) blooming. How I have loved these first signs of Spring on my patio looking at them from my kitchen window!

4. I made a menu plan for the next couple of days. I'm not much of a planner usually, but yesterday I took the time to look up some new recipes and plan what we're going to eat the next days with the ingredients I have in my fridge. I should do this more!

5. Putting my feet up and reading my favorite magazine with a cup of coffee within reach!



Project 366 #62

A Very Relaxed Weekend

This fun meme helps you to remember what you did during the weekend and it's hosted by Gattina. We had a nice and very relaxing weekend. Because I wanted to toy with my new baby camera, I took a lot of photos, and I thought it would be a great idea to share them through this meme. So here we go ...




Introducing ... my latest toy, the brandnew Ixus 115 HS! I had a lot of fun playing around with it and getting to know this little baby camera. I'm going to make this my new entry for photo 366, not because it's such a great photo, but because I will want to remember when this little baby came into my life. Project 366 #30


I was up early on Saturday morning, had my morning coffee, ate some cereal and played with both my cameras.


When I went out to get a newspaper, the shopping street in my village still looked quite empty.

I usually buy a paper on weekends because I love the weekend edition of this paper. Lots of interesting subjects like recipes, restaurant reviews, travel ... etc.

By then my hubby was awake too, and we went to the weekly market together. I bought cheese and shrimp croquettes and we had them for lunch. Not exactly Weight Watchers style, but hey, after all, we're celebrating the weekend here, aren't we?

In the afternoon I baked a cake. It's a 365 recipe from Weight Watchers. I try to make it a little different each time I bake it. The original recipe is apples and raspberries, but I made apple and cinnamon this time.
In the evening we watched a little bit of television. We saw " the Bucket List" with Jack Nicholson. I had never seen it before and I enjoyed it!


I usually try to make Sunday breakfast a little feast.


After breakfast I made red onion soup. We were going to have leftovers for supper and I thought a nice bowl of onion soup would make the meal complete.

In the afternoon we visited the arboretum in Kalmthout. I wanted to make some winter pictures while practicing the manual settings of my other camera. We made a long walk, my hands were frozen, but it was good to be outside. When we came back inside to have coffee, my camera dropped to the floor. It scared the living daylights out of me, but fortunately, no harm was done. Phewww!
When we got home, we spent some time behind the computer editing the photos and blogging.


The onion soup was very tasty and comforting, and we ended up not eating all of the leftovers. I still have some stew left for today.
So, how was your weekend? I hope it was as good as mine!

Friday's Fave Five, First signs of Spring and a Family Party

It's a new Friday, the first Friday of 2012, and it's time to share some of my favorite things of the week by joining Susanne's Friday's Fave Five. Go see what others have posted at Susanne's Living to Tell the Story.



1. New Year's eve with the family. My two sisters, my nieces my daughter and my parents all got together at two o'clock in the afternoon for our annual family party. We had loads of gifts, and spent hours opening them. The food was also delicious! We all had prepared something the previous day, my sister had prepared the appetizers, my brother in law had made a delicious soup and I had brought a main course which only required heating up in the oven. Before we had dessert we threw a little dance party with the Wii. Dessert was chocolate mousse (made by my two nieces) and my daughter's creme brulée and tiramisu. Three desserts ! Yes, you got that right! At twelve o 'clock we had another glass of bubbly and enjoyed the fireworks outside. It was a fun day, but we were all exhausted!

2. The neckless my daughter made especially for me . She designed AND made it all by herself, even most of the beads were made by her!

3. No television. Our old television set died on us the night before New Year's eve. We bought a new one, but they cannot deliver it until Saturday. I can imagine you're thinking "how can that be a blessing?" Well, I think, because it will not last longer than a week, it is. There is more time to blog, more time to read ... I had to look for other ways to keep me busy in the evenings, and among other things, I rediscovered the joys of blogging.

4. My new Project 366. One of my new year's resolutions is to pick up that camera a little more often, and to blog more than I have been this past year. There's no better way than to share my photos on this blog, is there?

5. First Primula in bloom. I saw it yesterday when I stepped outside on my patio. The weather has been crazy around here this week, we have very high temperatures, ten degrees (Celcius) more than what's normal in this season. If this keeps up, we're going to have a very early Spring, some trees are already blooming as it is! I do hope it does not start to snow and freeze though!




So here's my new entry for my Project 366, the new buds and the first flower in my Primula plant,the first signs of Spring are very early this year!

Friday's Fave Five, Quality Time with my Daughter

It's Friday, time to join Susanne's Friday's Fave Five again. The idea of this meme is to look back upon the week that has passed and post about five things that have made your week special.




1. I'm so glad my Mom is recovering well after her operation. She needed surgery to take care of an incisional hernia that appeared a couple of weeks ago. She is doing great, and she is going to be home very soon.

2. My daughter's birthday. That was a week ago last Thursday, but we celebrated it with a little family dinner and some quality time together on Saturday. It's SO nice to have her home.

3. Weight loss. Trying to loose weight is an eternal battle for me. Some may remember I lost some weight last year, but I gained it all back during Winter. Finally I joined Weight Watchers at the end of May, and so far I have lost 4.4 kilos. After gaining a kilo during our long weekend in the Gaume region, I lost 1.3kg this week at the Weight Watcher's weigh in on Tuesday evening, and another half a kilo this morning.

4. Playing with my camera. I had my photography class yesterday evening, and I practiced my skills earlier this morning. I'm hoping better knowledge and practice will make me a better photographer.

5. Chili con carne, Weight Watcher's style. Chili con carne has always been a favorite of mine, but now I found this low calorie Weight Watcher's recipe. Now I can eat it more often!

Friday's Fave Five, Visiting a Chateau

It's Friday again, time to reflect on the week that has passed and post about five favorite things from your week. Friday's Fave Five is hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, if you're looking for the rules, they're here.

It's been a beautiful week, with some very nice sunny days, and of course a little bit of rain as well. We wouldn't know we were in Belgium if it were different!



1. Sunday morning breakfast. I always try to make it a little bit special. This week was very special because the weather was nice enough to be able to eat outside in the sun. The new cups and bowls made the table extra cheerful. Because I'm still watching my weight, I made a low calorie version of eggy bread. I used sweetener instead of sugar and used the oil spray to grease the pan to bake them in. I served it with fresh strawberries and low fat fresh cheese.

2. We visited Chateau Marnix de Sainte Aldegonde in Bornem. A beautiful castle, exceptionally open to the public. The owners still live in it, and it is completely furnished and decorated. We were not allowed to take photos inside though, but the views outside were also stunning, so I still was glad I brought my camera.

3. Cows. Whenever I see cows, I want to photograph them!

4. My Weight Watcher's cookbook. I love to read in it and get ideas for low calorie meals, snacks, breakfasts and lunches. There are lots and lots of delicious recipes in it, I already tried a couple of them and they were a great success.

5. Fresh soup. Nothing like a good bowl of fresh soup with a slice of homemade bread!
Absolutely no calories ( well hey, OK correction ... very low calorie ) and very satisfying!

Friday's Favorite Five, Sunshine and Rain

Friday again, time to reflect on the week that has passed and post about five favorite things from your week. Friday's Fave Five is hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, if you're looking for the rules, they're here.





1. The visit from my parents. Due to the operation my mother had last year and other circumstances, it' s been more than two years since my parents have been over for a visit to our place. At last we set a date and they came over by train last Saturday.We picked them up at the station early in the morning, and I served them breakfast. We've had sunshine and the occasional showers all day, but the sky cleared long enough for us to be able to visit the weekly market. After that we could eat outside on our patio and really enjoy some sunshine. No need to say the day went by way too fast!

2. The Mojito cocktail we had as an aperitif. Crushed ice, 50 ml of white Cuban rum, the juice of half a lime, some sprigs of fresh mint and two teaspoons of sugar. Very refreshing!

3. Black cherries I bought at the market. Juicy, sweet and so shiny I could see my own reflection!

4. Empty plates. I made a Moroccan lamb stew and it was delicious. Nothing but empty plates when we finished dinner!

5. Pancakes and fruit salad for breakfast. A real treat!

Friday's Favorite Five, It's Good to be Back!

Friday again, time to reflect on the week that has passed and post about five favorite things from your week. Friday's Fave Five is hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, if you're looking for the rules, they're here.
Now, all I need to do is look at the pictures I've taken throughout the week to discover my favorite five things, so here we go!




1. We got back from France almost two weeks ago now, and I needed some time to get the laundry and some household chores done. We had a wonderful time in France and I came back well rested and full of energy.
I get up two hours earlier than I used to, just to be able to get some extra blogging time. I love the early hours when the house is quiet and my head is clear! The weather was lousy last Sunday so I took the time to post some pictures of my holiday in France. I was stunned and overwhelmed by all the lovely comments from all of you welcoming me back, telling me you missed me. I really had no idea how much this blog means to all of you and I want to THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for your friendship and kind words. I promise I will continue to make time and try to be a better blogger in the future!

2. While we were away, we had the plumber over to do some work on my patio. Now that that's over and done with, I could finally rearrange the flower pots and decorate my patio again.

3. We bought some new hanging baskets and flowering plants

4. and two lovely coral red bistro chairs to go with the small table on my patio.

5. I had a lovely day out with my friend Nana last week. It was her birthday three weeks earlier and she bought me lunch. We had a lovely time catching up on the latest things in our lives. After lunch we made a little photo walk and photographed wild flowers. A day out with her is always such a treat, I'm already looking forward to the next time we meet!



6. Speaking of treats, I made Devil's Fire Shrimp ( Scampi Diavolo Fuoco in Italian, doesn't it sound better in Italian?) and my husband licked his plate with his fingers. Need I say more?

Weekly Winners, I'm baaaaaaaaack!!!!!

It's been a while, I know ...
I haven't spent as much time as I should have behind my computer, because life sort of took over. I was just too busy to get anything posted!
We just got back from our annual holiday in Provence, France about a week ago and I took loads of pictures there. Now, it would be a real shame not to share them. That's why I joined




today, with a random selection of photos from our holiday...
We had a real wonderful time ( as always), I really love everything about Provence ...




The lavender fields

tiny mountain villages ...


and even smaller village chapels

The people and the marchés de Provence

and their amazingly fresh produce ...

which you can cook such colorful and tasty meals with!

No wonder Van Gogh loved it so much, so do I!!