Dear all,
thank you for visiting.
From now on UpCloseInMyWorld.wordpress.com has moved to:
I hope you will visit me there to check our my photography, food adventures and other stories.
See you there,
angela
Garden visitors
Last summer I bought this egg with nesting material for in my garden cause, even though we live in a city, we still get quite a few birds in the garden especially small birds like sparrows and blue tits. I was so pleased to see that my garden visitors appreciated their present and used it frequently. So when I had the chance I sat at a distance with my camera and waited…. and this was the result! So cool to get to experience it so close up!!
Also Cederic found a place to observe, on top of my airing blankets and in the sun. This is probably why he was not too bothered to try to get closer.
spinach pancakes with lime butter
One of my favourite cafe/restaurants in Haarlem is Spaarne66, it’s name comes from the canal “het Spaarne” next to which it is situated. It’s a great place to sit outside, to have a lunch, dinner or just cup of coffee or a glass of wine and on a sunny day you will see dozens of boats go past.
I also love that they have a shelf with cooking books inside, which you can browse through. That is where I saw the Plenty cookbook from Yotam Ottolenghi, a wonderful cookbook for vegetarians. I found these spinach pancakes with lime butter, which didn’t seem to difficult to make. And so, when I found the recipe online here, on the site of BON APPÉTIT, I decided to try them out myself.
The only thing I altered from this recipe was that I added cayenne pepper in the butter instead of chili flakes. Because of added whisked egg whites, the pancakes are nice and light and therefore perfect for a lunch. For sure I’m gonna purchase this book soon!
Hopefully these photos inspire you to make them too 🙂 Enjoy!
First Cherry Blossom of the year
*** update : visit this post at my moved blog : HERE ***
The last winter in our side of the world has been extremely mild, even now we have some unusually warm days, causing plants to bloom early. Weather reporter even say that nature is one month ahead of itself.
When we had one of these warm, spring days earlier this week, me & the boyfriend headed to a parc we have heard of in Amstelveen ( a city near Amsterdam ), a Cherry Blossom Parc. The Parc has 400 cherry blossom trees, the trees were donated by the Japanese Women’s Club, also we found out that all trees have been named; 200 have Japanese women’s and 200 have Dutch woman’s.
When we arrived only a few were blossoming, yet still I got to take some nice shots. With some adjustments in photoshop, I got to create a nice whimsical effect.
Global March For Lions
Something different then the topics that I usually post, but this I had to share.
The sad fact is that in several countries, lions are bred so that rich people can “hunt” them for pleasure. These canned huntings or trophy huntings are a growing business in mainly Africa and so thousands of lions are bred and shot, with guns or arrows. The lions who are raised by humans are so used to human contact that they are not afraid when hunters arrive and so will not flee, which guarantee a kill for the people who pay to take their live.
On March 15th there were marches organised in over 60 cities worldwide, the Global March For Lions and so me & my sister participated in the march in Amsterdam. Along with about a hundred other people we gathered to let our voices be heard. It’s heartwarming to see that here and all over the world are so many people that care about these beautiful animals. Hopefully with this kind of attention governments will take action to ban these horrible activities.
Would you like to learn more about canned hunting OR take action?
On this site you can sign a petition to President Zuma
This petition is to stop the breeding of lions for hunting
Global March for Lions is the organisations who raises awareness and is behind the organisation of the marches worldwide
practicing food photography & IFPD
According to the website, internationalfoodphotographyday.com, is today international food photography day…
Although this website does not specifies why, nor what this is based on and because it is sponsored by an brand of fruit, I doubt how much value this IFPD really has. Nevertheless, I should not complain too much, because when I read it I wanted to post some food photos on my blog and thus taking part in it.
I have taken these photos with the idea that with trying out new idea you will get better. I have taken these photos of blackberries and raspberries in a dark room, with a black background. It was not easy, and these photos have some imperfections, but I did want to share them here and wish you all a very happy International Food Photography DAY !!!! LOL
Happy Halloween!!
Yes, this is me, zombie style!
A little bit of a fun halloween photoshop project!
For inspiration I have looked at these tutorials:
tutorial for the crack and peel
and although this tutorial is very fast, it’s good for inspiration
for any brushes, patterns and textures I go to: Brusheezy
Little side note, the flowers are not photoshopped, they have been dying in my living room for a couple of days…. but with the excuse that I needed them like that I did not have to feel bad for letting them die.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!!
Loose tea and a beautiful smokers table
Now that the days are getting darker, noticeable shorter and, especially the last 2 days, windy and wet, the time of sitting outside with a cool drink is definitely behind us. And so its time to light the candles and pour a nice cup of tea, and therefore I invested in some lovely loose teas, when I was in a marrocan market last week.
I bought several flavours and made my own blend with, Jasmin, dried rose, and hawthorn. If you dont have a nice tea sieve, like my teapot has, these girls made a great tutorial on how to make your own teabags
As for this extraordinary table; I was looking on a 2nd hand webiste, for a small, cheap wooden side table so that I could paint it in some funky color. I found this one, made a bid and the woman mailed me the same day that I could pick it up the next afternoon.
A very friendly man answered the door and had to get the table from the addict where it has spend at least the last couple of years. The man explained that it was a hand made copper or brass table, which is called a smokers table and if I would polish it the table would shine right up. Unfortunately through circumstances they had to sell it, but he was happy that they could make someone else happy with it.
So a few ferocious polish hours and a slight brasso high later see here the result of a beautiful gem in my living room.
For real tea lovers, Lorna is a real tea expert, and a great blog to follow.
Happy Weekend
*** update : visit this post at my moved blog HERE ***
Just want to wish everybody a great weekend!
Relax, enjoy the beautiful moments …!
Figs with blueberries, walnuts, honey and cinnamon
With the Figs I bought last week, I made this delicious and very simply dessert.
The recipe is so simple that I could even display it in one image:
The shoot I did on my stairs and for it I used an external flashlight (similar to this one), the very elegant plates I bought on an antique market a couple of weeks ago.
All in all, it gives these photos an extra light and simplicity look which made then pretty chic looking if you ask me 🙂
This last photo was a bit over exposed, but I think it suits this image 🙂
up close in my world 