Hjertebilder

Orchid Inspired Cupcakes

2012-02-12T12:15:00.000-08:00

Today we had a family birthday party for my niece, mynephew and my sister in law. I was asked to make cupcakes and I made a lot ofthose carrot cake cupcakes with the orange roses (like I blogged a few daysago). But those roses were quite difficult to make beautifull on a few of thecupcake forms I had which were like big yellow crowns. Really nice...

The crowns made me think of the top of buddhisttemples and chinese building style. One of the most used flowers in Asia is theorchid and there came the idea to make some orchids to cover the cupcakes.

So with white icing, I made a curled flower with someinstructions of the book of Manuela Kjeilen (Love, Manuela, which you can orderby clickinghere!
Afterwards I made with eatable lillac, gold and yellowglitter some details ( i used a brush which is normally ment to be used toapply eyeshadow. It is a soft brush) and sprayed them with a pearl spray.

A little orchid flower for all the mothers on thismother's day :-)

Jelrik

10 th Birthday Cupcakes "Vintage-Tivoli-Style"

2012-02-09T13:55:00.000-08:00

My niece is having her 10th birthday party together with some girls tomorrow so she asked me to bake and here are the results. The cupcake above is a vanilla cupcake with whipped vanilla bean frosting ( a blend of eggwhite, sugar and vanilla; whipped au bain marie. You find the recipe on www.passionforbaking.com
The blue color is kinda vintage-ish and is a real nice pastel-color

The cupcake under is topped with a fluffy white chocolate frosting with whipped cream and sprayed with a pearl spray by Cacas.

Looks like a tivoli :-)

Happy Birthday!

Jelrik

Fluffy and moist Carrrot Cupcakes

2012-02-07T05:37:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, one of my colleagues served us a carrotcake at work(feel free to visit her blog by clicking here ; she's a good amator photographer). I really liked the cake, gotthe recipe and thought about using this recipe in cupcakes. And here is theresult.

Recipe:

- 6 medium grated carrots
- 4 eggs
- 3 dl vegetable oil
- 2 ts natriumbicarbonate (Natron in Norway)
- 2 ts baking powder
- 2 ts vanilla sugar
- 1 ts salt
- 1 ts grounded cinnamon
- 280 g wheat flour
(made about 36 cupcakes)

Topping:

200g butter
400 g cream cheese (Philadelphia)
300 g flour sugar
2 ts vanilla sugar

Warm the oven to 200 degrees C (392 F)

Whip the eggs with the sugar untill white. Whip in the oil and carrots.Blend the dry ingredients very well and mix in.

Now those cupcakes are growing like crazy so if you don't want them toopen the oven and come out you need to fill the forms only for almost 1/4 part.

Put them 17 min in the oven. And here you are. Let them cool down wellbefore you top them

The topping is easy: just mix well every ingredient. To make theorange/white effect i made 1/2 part of the topping orange and had one side ofthe spraybag with white topping and the other side with orange.

You can make some fun children cupcakes too. Children love carrotcake.

What about this curious snake? Isn't he cool?

Or make a nice swirl and sprinkle with orange eatable glitter

Bonappetit!

Jelrik

Birthdaycupcakes for a Real Madrid-fan

2012-01-28T03:55:00.000-08:00

Today my goodSpanish friend Juan Carlos is having his birthday party and asked me to makesome cupcakes for tonight. As he is a big Real Madrid fan, the cupcake-thememust be in Real Madrid-spirit. So here they are. By the way I am footballneutral so no Barcelona fans where harmed while making these cupcakes… :-) By the way, if you are in Oslo, i can suggest you to visit his restaurant "La Sangria". A pearl of Spanish food in the heart of the city with authentic Spanish dishes; some of them made on a family recipe. You can read more on the restaurant at the restaurant's homepage

Cupcaketower

HALA MADRID !

Jelrik

A little winter rose

2012-01-21T03:42:00.000-08:00

Today it's snowing a lot outside and the whole world is white so it's a nice day to create a little flower inside the kitchen.

So I made a standard vanilla cupcake and made a decorating icing with 120g butter, 120g margarine, 500g flour sugar, some vanilla extract and pink colour. I used a flat tip on the spray bag and just made small leafs. You find the exact way of making it on passion4baking .

Isn't the cupcake just delicious??

Have a nice weekend all of you!!

Jelrik

Zabaglione: Italian eggnog

2011-12-27T10:30:00.000-08:00

Here is some inspiration for an easy dessert which is really tasty and not so heavy for the stomach after all the dishes of christmas. Maybe it's an idea after a newyear dinner?

The Italian nobleman Giovan Paolo Baglioni, nicknamed "Zvan Bajoun", was the day before an important battle without food for their soldiers. He sent out soldiers to search for food, and they came back with a little egg, a splash of wine and wild honey. Bajoun gave orders that they were going to whip it together well and cook it. The soldiers of his eating and could go to bed satisfied. The next day they fought with great enthusiasm and energy, and they won the battle. When soldiers were asked how they obtained this strength from, they replied "Zvanbajoun"-a word that through time has evolved into Zabaglione

Giovan Paolo Baglioni

Ingredients:
----------------
4 egg yolks
100 g sugar
75 cl Marsala wine

some water

Start mixing the yolks and sugar together untill almost white. Use a bowl that can stand heat.

In the meanwhile, cook up a little water in a little pan.

When you have a nice white and fluffy blend of egg and sugar, take the bowl over the cooking water. Don't let the bottom of the bowl touch the water. You want to warm the mix, not cook it...

...and blend inn the Marsala wine. Keep
on mixing.

After a while the mix is getting thicker. You should be able to make a little trace in the Zabaglione. Then it is ready.

BUON APPETITO!

Fresh baked Bagels

2011-12-19T14:16:00.000-08:00

When you wake up early and want to surprise your wife or husband with some wonderfull bakework: why not make Bagels.
Bagels are in origin Jewish and the funny thing with them is that they are not only baked but they are also cooked.

Let's go:
You need 30g fresh yeast (or a packet of dry yeast)
2,5 dl handwarm water (37 degr. max)
2 ss oil
2 ts salt
50 g sugar
500g wheat flour
1 egg, beaten for glazing

Blend the yeast in the water (if using dry yeast, blend the yeast in the flour)
Bland salt, sugar and flour and pour the water in the middle. Make a dough of it and work about 10 min with it.
Put the dough at a warm place for 30-40 min.
Knead it again and make 12-24 pieces of it, depending on how big you want your bagels to be. Roll them to a ball and put your finger trough them so that you get a donutlike form.

Let the bagels raise on a warm place, covered with a humid towel for about 15 min. Warm the oven to 200 degr. C

While waiting for the bagels to raise, cook a big pot of water. Cook the bagels for about 1 min each.

When cooked, spread poppyseeds or sesamseeds over them, brush the bagels with egg and bake them for 20-25 min.

Look at those wonderfull small tasty breads!

BON APPETIT!

Sarah Bernard Cakes

2011-12-18T01:13:00.000-08:00

Sarah Bernard was a French actrice, born 22nd october 1844. She is the queen of all actrices and a Danish baker loved her acting so much that he called one of his specialities after her: The Sarah Bernard Cakes.

Sarah Bernard (source: Wikipedia)

The cakes are not so difficult to make and they taste marvellous.

Ingredients:

500 g kransekakemasse (this is Norwegian. It is a blend of 250g grounded almonds, 2 eggwhite and 250g flour sugar. )
200 g unsalted butter
3dl flour sugar
50 g 70% cocoa chocolate; melted
one teaspoon of strong coffee, evt some grounded espresso
200g 70% cocoa chocolate
2 teaspoons of cocos fat (Delfi)

Warm the oven to 200 degrees C. Start by rolling the almonddough in a sausage-way. Cut small slices, cut those in half, roll them to a little ball and press the ball down. You have now a little circle.

Fill a plate and bake the little circles for 10 min, or untill golden, on 200 degrees.

Don't bake too long. It will make them hard

Now let them cool totally down. Mix together the soft butter, the flour sugar, coffee and 50g melted chocolate

Put this mix in a spraybag with a 1M tip and spray nice little swirls on the cookies

Now you can put the cookies in the fridge for about 30-60 min

When the butter is stiff, melt the chocolate and the cocos fat "au bain marie"

Dip now the buttercream of the cookies in the chocolate and put them cold again to let the chocolate be stiff.

ENJOY !

Homemade butter, if short in the shops

2011-12-18T00:18:00.000-08:00

The last weeks, the world's richest country is in acute shortness of butter. A lot of people started with a low carbohydrate diet, high in fat and proteins. In combination with a bad season for milkproduction and high Norwegian import taxes, the shops went empty for butter. What to do if you like to bake: make it yourself.

I started with three boxes of full cream (9 dl) and ended up with 400 g unsalted butter to bake and some nice buttermilk to drink.
Well: pour the cream in a bowl and begin to whisk with a balloon whisk:

Wnen it turnes into whipped cream, change the balloon whisk into a K-whisk, if you have, this gathers the cream better. Now at this point don't go away from the machine. Take an old towel, make a hole in it and tray the whisk trough it, holding the towel with an elastic on it's place over the bowl because when the cream turns into butter, there is a lot of buttermilk splashing all around

Suddenly, you will hear that the machine's motor is working more heavy. Have a look and when you see this:

YOUR BUTTER IS ALMOST READY!! If you want salted butter, mix it carefully with a teaspoon of salt.

Now pour everything trough a sieve and take care of the buttermilk. This is really good to drink.
When most of the liquid dripped out of the sieve, put the butter into a clean towel:

Press out all water

And keep your butter in a baking non-stick paper

Isn't it nice to keep some old knowledge fresh by trying to make your own butter? This will work untill there is cream shortness. That's when we need to buy milk from a farmer and seperate it in cream and milk with a good old separator but I hope I don't need to make that blogpost :-)

Angel Frappé Frosting Cupcake

2011-11-02T14:34:00.000-07:00

This sweety is a vanilla cupcake with a Kahlua twist and a frosting of Angel Feather Icing, espresso and cinnamon.

Autumn is all about sitting in a warm house while it's raining outside, surrounded by the smell of fresh baked cupcakes and experimenting with different tastes. So the reward for baking this wonderfull small cakes is to sit in the couch under a wool blanket and let the taste of sweetness and coffee overwhelm your mouth.

Verdens Beste - Kvæfjordkake

2011-10-03T12:50:00.000-07:00

This cake is the first cake I learned to make after arriving in Norway. It is called "Verdens Beste" (the best in the world) or "Kvæfjordkake". It is made of a layer of cake, a layer of french merengue and topped with almonds. Then there is a layer of whipped cream and vanillacream and on top there is a new cake with merengue and almonds. You can find the recipe of this wonderfull cake here on the site of passionforbaking.

Here some pictures of the process of making the cake. I use to make a big cake, cut in two halfs and put those halfs on top of eachother

The first cake layer spread out

A nice and stiff merengue. The important thing: whip the eggwhites very stiff and add the sugar in small amounts. Whip and whip untill really stiff.

Ready to put in the oven, 25 min on 175 degrees C.

Ready amazing cake :-)

When you wish upon a star

2011-10-01T00:22:00.000-07:00

Milkyway © Jelrik Nylund-van Berkel

This weekend, I will spend some time with my family in the mountains. We are in a cabin quite far away from civilisation at about 900m high. This night there was a cristalclear sky and beside of millions of stars, there was a real clear view on our own galaxy: the milkyway; which is the light band in the middle of the picture. Beside of the milkyway, I saw a few falling stars and sattelites. This is the first time I took a picture of the nightsky and without a stative, it is not so easy to hold the button on the camera and keep the camera without moving. The little stripes in the stars is because of the turning of the earth. Clear skies and dark nights are a part of the autumn. I'll send this picture therefor in for X52 which has autumn as a theme week 39.
I felt myself quite little when watching the sky this night. Just amazing...

X52 webpage: http://www.x52.org

Italian Pepperoni Pizza Cupcake: an alternative to a boring lunchbox

2011-09-21T13:22:00.000-07:00

Do you also hear sometimes from the children that they do not like sandwiches in the lunch box? Then, this creation is a perfect alternative. Quickly made and so popular! This is a lunchcupcake that tastes heavenly of pepperoni pizza. Of course, the sky is the limit for you. Why not create a tacocupcake, leeks and baconcupcakes or whatever you can find to put in it.

I stir together 250 g flour (please enter a little oatmeal or roughmeal to give it a little more fiber) with 1 tablespoon of baking powder. So I cut up a tomato into small pieces, a handful of pepperoni into small pieces, pushing a garlic and mix into the flour mixture. Sprinkle in lots of oregano, paprikapowder, salt and pepper. Beat 2 eggs and mix with 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix about 250 g of grated cheese in flour mixture, mix the egg mixture along with 2 cups milk.

Then you get approximately such a dough which you can take into the forms with an icecreamspoon:

One spoon in each form, top with a pepperonislice and some grated cheese:

Bake about 20 minutes in an oven of 190 degr. celsius.

Good luck and look forwards to the nice smell of pizza cupcakes in the house!

Italian Meringue Lemon Cupcake: An Arabian inspired architecture with a fresh twist...

2011-09-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

This little creation, I made for my wife's 35th birthday. There was, as you'll see in above post a lot of sweet frostings with white and dark chocolate so I thought that a fresh frosting would be nice to combine. So I made the base vanillacupcake-dough from lovely Manuela @ passionforbaking and gave it a lemon twist with lemon zine and lemon juice. Bake as usual 15 min in 200 degr. celsius

As frosting I made an Italian Meringue:

200 g sugar and 1 dl water.

Let it cook until it is a thicker clear syrup.

In the meantime, beat 125 g of eggwhite untill stiff. When stiff, add the syrup in a thin stream. Keep on beating untill the meringue is totally cold. When cold and stiff, I added juice of half a lemon and yellow food coloring. Put in a spraybag and make whatever you want. I used a round tip Wilton to decorate.

I will take some pictures in the future when making the meringue; just to illustrate. When ready decorated, put the cupcakes under a grill, 180 degr. untill light brown. This meringue is not as the french one. It will stay soft inside but keeps it form a loooong time.

Isn't it a beauty?

It reminds me a bit of an Arabian building

(or a Russian Orthodox Church)

ENJOY!

A white rose for democracy

2011-09-10T03:40:00.000-07:00

On monday, the people of Norway will go to vote for a new local government. After the horrible things which happened in our country in the month of July, the rose became a symbol for democracy, a symbol for standing strong together and a symbol for serenity.
Today's creation is an honour to our wonderfull country and our democracy.
This little sweetheart is named: White chocolate frosting cupcake. You can see a very good explanation of the recipe, clicking on the link which will redirect you to Manuela's passionforbaking.com


Look-a-like

Have a nice weekend everyone and to all the Norwegians: Godt valg, bruk stemmeretten!

En rosa engel kom forbi...

2011-09-03T09:36:00.000-07:00

En par uker siden var jeg på cupcakekurs hos Manuela fra "Passion4baking" . Hun var en rosa engel som kom forbi og lærte meg å lage de mest fantastiske cupcakes jeg noensinne har smakt.
Glad jeg er i mat var dette midt i blinken :-) og når mitt onkelbarn ba meg om å lage cupcakes til hennes jentekveld falt valget raskt på vaniljecupcakes med Angel Feather Icing. Hvor mer klissete jeg ble, hvor herligere Icingen ble. Jeg ba cupcakes veldig snill om å stå modell for meg sammen med min Angel Feather espresskopp. De to kunne ha vært gift :-)

Når det er en ting som er sikker, så er det at cupcakes gjør folk glad. Det er fantastisk å se smilet på barneansikter når de graver nesen dypt ned i icingen og lager "mmmh"-lyder. Tenk deg en morning hvor du søvntrøtt åpner øyene fordi du har hørt noen lyder på kjøkkenet. Når du snur hodet blir du servert en slik en:

Da kan vel ikke dagen gå feil, ikke sant?

"If the people have no bread, let them eat cake"

Marie Antoinette

U33/52 Onkel reisende Mac (Uncle Travelling Matt): Travelling with Wall-E

2011-08-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

Fetal imitation 2011 ©Jelrik Nylund-van Berkel

This week the theme was Uncle Travelling Matt, delivered by Line. He was the uncle of Gobo in the Freggles. He went around and examined the human world. Line challenged us to find a character and let him do a little traveling while documenting.

It is with pleasure that I introduce you to Wall-E, a Disney character that my son has in his room and normally is an MP3 player. Wall-E is by nature very curious and like to explore the environment, imitating people and collecting weird things. He looks a little strange with its big eyes at what people do and try as best he can. Today was Wall-E for a walk in the park in Oslo, and looked at all the beautiful statues. He saw that people were around and imitated the postitions of statues and then took a picture. So he climbed up to this baby in the fetus stage and tried to imitate it. I had to rush me, he did a lot of weird movements since his motor oil poured down in the head while he was upside down.

After a while we went further and Wall-E had good contact with another statue who crawled to him to play:

Play with me ©Jelrik Nylund-van Berkel

Wall-E was quite tired of it all and had to lie down for a rest

Flowerbed © Jelrik Nylund-van Berkel

Actually, Wall-E got more and more confused by everything so he had to scratch his head:

Confused ©Jelrik Nylund-van Berkel

Together with Wall-E, I drove to Holmenkollen and he was really hoping for a jump on the ski tower:

Jump Wall-E jump! © Jelrik Nylund-van Berkel

Please have a look at the site of the X52-project: http://www.52uker.org

U28/52 Eventyr (Fairytales)

2011-07-18T12:30:00.000-07:00


Tatt på fersken - c Jelrik Nylund-van Berkel

This week, the theme of X52 was eventyr or in English "Fairytales". I really liked this theme and the ideas were popping up in my head. I like to facepaint and the children wanted to be model. Maybe some wolf and little red hood. One evening, I was taking a walk from the cabin trough the dark Norwegian woods, known for it's trolls, fairy's and huldra. Suddenly, I heard some sound in the bushes. I stopped but it was all quiet. I started to walk again while I heard some grinch grinch and sniffing sounds. I stopped and throwed my body through a big bush and there right in front of my, in front of a little cave I catched this creature. It looked affraid to me when it saw me and opened his eyes wide when he saw the flash of the camera. After this pic it ran into the cave. Totally astonished by this view I ran home to the cabin to look at this strange picture which I wanted to share with you all...
The project: http://www.52uker.org
See the other contestants here:

Vibeke Prestmo Valestrand: Dukken i Gresset
Yngve Thoresen: The Sword

U 27/52 Matglede (Food happiness)

2011-07-10T14:27:00.000-07:00


Summertemptations - c Jelrik Nylund-van Berkel

This week the theme of x52 is "matglede" or "food happiness" in English. I really loved this theme because I am a real food addict. Food makes me happy, good food makes me more happy and gourmet food is heaven. More and more I am becoming aware of all the additions we find in industrial food. So this summer's motivation in my vacation is "if you can't prepare it yourself from the base, don't prepare it". This evening, we would have some barbecue. It is my first day of vacation and of course I want to put my soul in my food. Home made hamburgers with onion and parsley from the garden, spanish chorizo sausages, norwegian strawberries marinated in balsamicovinegar, home made chilli-garlic mayonaise, and a salad of watermelon and feta cheese. Oh delight, oh happiness, oh temptation!!

Please check the other member's solutions at http://www.52uker.org

Vibeke Presmo Valestrand: Den ble aldri særlig vakker
Geir Ertzgaard: First among equals – one happy pork chop
Yngve Thoresen: Reconnaissance
Line Aakre: Grillkos

Week 26/52 Ro (Calmness)

2011-07-03T08:08:00.000-07:00


Enjoying calmness- c Jelrik Nylund-van Berkel

This week was the theme for X52 "Ro"; Calmness in English. This weekend we were at the cabin of my sister in law up in the mountains at Synnfjell. It rained quite a lot but when it stopped, I took out the children for some playing while my wife was inside enjoying a cup of coffee in a quite house; looking outside to her two children and a childish husband :-)

There were a lot of calm motives this weekend. For instans those sheeps lying in the middle of the road; saying beeeeh and not intending to move

And on sunday while driving the car; we met the King of the Norwegian woods, Mr Moose, standing totally calm majestetic as a King must be and watched at the strange people on the edge of the road, taking pictures of him

The last calm picture was while looking at the downhill ski lift. Hanging totally calm, waiting for a new season to come

Other members of x52 made these impressions of the theme:
Leif Harboe: Ro
Anne: Ro
Vibeke Prestmo Valestrand: Keip
Geir Ertzgaard: Calm

Not gone

2011-06-30T15:11:00.000-07:00

Hello all followers and drop-ins,

I just want to say that I am not gone :-) I just had some technical problems with my camera but now I have a new objective and ready for better pictures. So back soon with this weeks pic.

Hugs, Jelrik

Week 21/52 Fysisk Fostring (Sports)

2011-05-27T05:51:00.000-07:00

This week is the theme of x52 chosen by Vibeke: "Fysisk fostring" or in English "Sports".
As she said, now it is springtime and everywhere you see sports. Running, Zumba, Aerobics, uphill-running etc... So we were challenged to be a sportsphotographer.

This week I was working at Mørk gård in Sætre by my good friend Helge. It is a wonderfull place in the middle of the woods with about 70 Kashmirgoats running around. Goats are amazing animals with a lot of character. They love being outside but when it begins to rain they run to the barn, scared to be wet. This week a few trees were taken down and those goats just love the fresh leaves of the trees. They have an amazing area to graze on but when they hear the sound of the chain saw the maraton starts, because, hey, the grass is always greener on the other side. From all over the area goats starts running a goat maraton and all together they rush to the fallen tree. When arrived they start a stretching session to the nicest leaves, crawling over eachother. It is like a bunch of Piranhas jumping on their bait. And just an hour afterwards the whole tree is ripped for leaves and bark.

It is funny to see the physical strength that those goats are delivering for a bit of food and shows that springtime is not only physical training for us people but for the whole nature around us.

Check www.52uker.org for the whole projectsite

The other members had these solutions:

Ståle Ertzgaard: Fartsglede
Vibeke Prestmo Valestrand: Kyklos

Uke20/52: Styggfint (Uglypretty)

2011-05-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

This week the theme was "Uglypretty":
"This weeks task is taken from an expression from Trøndelag," ugly nice ", or" schtyggfint. "And that means something is really, really, really nice. With many exclamation points!!
But my head is thinking here a little bit different than it should, strictly speaking, because I do not want you go out and shoot something very beautiful. Quite the contrary. I want you (we) should take a picture of something you think is terribly ugly. But we will get this awful ugly to look beautiful:" Uglypretty"

I must admit that the inspiration was at a historical depth point in this week while there was much work and excuses but the first thing that came up to me when we're talking about "pretty ugly" is this picture that I took in November. So for once I use an old file for reasons you'll understand when you read further. I have a basic philosophy that we humans have begun to live a little far away from nature and the original. Sauce stir out of bags, medicines we buy at the pharmacy, bought meat vacuum packed and frozen and a lot of old knowledge of what nature has to offer us disappears. What about making sauce from scratch, what about making cabbage-bandages against inflammation, what about following the process from animal to steak on the platter? I have some friends that have the same basic idea and runs ecological farms and animal husbandry. And in November I was fortunate to be involved in the slaughter of a ram. I saw how the whole process was done and helped where I could. The steak of this animal was one of the most amazing beefs I've tasted and the love of animals and nature were deeply rooted in this meat. The weekly image is a closeup of the "sidemeat" right after slaughter. A picture of natural meat, fresh and very nicely marbled with a little fat. And it struck me that this was almost abstract art, and it looked like a lunar landscape, a distant planet. Incredibly nice but still a bit chilling-ugly for us consumers who are familiar with vacuum meat in plastic from the supermarked around the corner ... Uglypretty.

The other participants had these solutions:

Yngve Thoresen: Eastern Pasque Flower
Anne Ueland: Mr Ugly Pretty
Sonja Middelhuis: Styggfint
Naturglede/Randi Lind Styggfin padde
Ståle Ertzgaard: Himmelvendt
Vibeke Prestmo Valestrand: Sweet

Uke 19/52: Skrekk og gru (Horror and dread)

2011-05-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

This week the theme for X52 was chosen by Stein Evert and the choice fell on "Skrekk og gru" or "horror and dread". What in the world, sweet child's hands has to do with this? That is exactly what is the problem. They are way too sweet.

These cute little hands which I love simply are each Saturday night suddenly transformed into little sticky klumps whichs take on everything in the house and leaves a sticky track. They are so sticky that you almost can lift the child by just touching the hands. No Saturday today but today it was warm, summer and time for strawberries and what is better than dipping strawberries in a bowl with sugar, And that's exactly what my daughter realized. So it deteriorated by pouring sugar over the berries and finally digging into the sugar and scrape it in her mouth. Score: 10 sticky fingers with a layer of sweet spitsyrup and sugarcorn, a bathtub full of water and a child who is washed under loud protest. Horror and dread!

Uke 18/52: Portrett i svart hvit: på en benk (Portrait in black and white: on a bench)

2011-05-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

This week the theme was chosen by the Line and the choice fell on "portrait in black and white: on a bench. " Since this week I was for my job some days in Copenhagen, I took my camera with me and thought to enjoy myself a bit here by finding a good model, asking if I could take pictures and shoot away. Unfortunately, the problem was that there really aren't so many benches in Copenhagen, it was cold and people would not sit on a bench and that the only thing I found on a bench was a homeless man that I left in peace. Slightly depressed and sanked in thoughts, I went over Raadhuspladsen and stumbled across this gentleman who looks with his nose in the air over the busy HC Andersen Boulevard in to Tivoli. Andersen does not think that it's cold. He just sits there, day in and day out, on his bench in the same attitude while he waits for someone of the x52-project to take a picture of him. Maybe it's imagination or maybe it was true but I wonder if he got a little smile around his mouth when I thanked him for the photo and went back to the hotel ...

See the site of x52: www.52uker.org

The other members made this solution:

Anne Ueland: Don’t Tickle me
Vibeke Prestmo Valestrand: Mer enn en benk
Line Aakre: Undrende
Sonja Middelhhuis:Dame på benk
Yngve Thoresen: Still In Love
Line Storlid:The garden Girls

Uke 17/52: Kontraster (Contrasts)

2011-05-01T12:52:00.000-07:00

This week was the theme of 52uker project, chosen by Ståle Ertzgaard, "Contrasts". There are contrasts all around us and it was just to pick and choose. The idea I came across was a photo with many horrible contrasts. Two weeks ago there was a large fire in the village where I live. In this fire were three families who lived in this house suddenly homeless. In the middle of the night started a fire in the basement and spread through the house. From quiet sleep, families thrown into complete chaos. 2 Persons were found unconscious, sent to the hospital by helicopter, but survived luckily. The contrasts are many in this picture. Color contrast, contrast between a good life and a life where you have lost everything, the contrast between fire and water that has won over the fire, the contrast between a relatively undamaged outside on the left side and a completely burned right-hand side. When I took the picture, it smelled like fire all around me in strong contrast with the spring air that is these days in the village. This house makes me quiet and let us remember how quickly life can take a completely unexpected twist that throws you into ...contrasts

Please have a look at www.52uker.org
Other members had this solution:
Sonja Middelhuis Kontraster i en midtsommernattsdrøm
Naturglede/Randi Lind Vårens kontraster
Anne Ueland Chess
Ståle Ertzgaard: Storveis

Uke 16/52: "Egg"

2011-04-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

This week's theme is "egg". The theme was chosen because of the natural egg's versatility but also because of this weeks event, namely Easter. An egg is a special creature. The design is absolutely wonderful and is incredibly strong because outside forces are distributed over the shell. It does not like fast hard trauma but try once to crush an egg from top to base between hands by exerting pressure. It is almost impossible ...

The shape is so amazing sleek, so perfectly and it is not necessary to have a lot of things in an eggimage. A pure egg, the simplest is often the best. Finished soft boiled egg in the jar at the breakfast table in the cabin with Freberg bay (Frebergvika) and the Oslofjord in the background. Life is wonderful.

Site of the x52 project: http://www.52uker.org/

Other member's solutions:

Line Storlid blanda ” egg”
Yngve Thoresen: Glowing Egg
Anne Ueland: Finally In Freedom
Naturglede: Flere egg!
Sonja Middelhuis: Tema uke 16/52: Egg
Anne: Del 3 egg
Vibeke Prestmo Valestrand: Morgenfrisk
Ståle Ertzgaard: “Den vassa”

x52: Week 15/52: To farger (Two colours)

2011-04-13T02:43:00.000-07:00

The theme for this week's photo project was selected by Yngve Thoresen, and was "Two colours ".

Two colours? What are we going to do now, I thought. OK the world around us is full of colors and there are generally many more than two colors together. I would not take a picture of a very trivial thing. After some thoughts about colors, I came to the conclusion that makeup is the girls' best friend and that make-up is one of the most colourful and bodynear things you can use to express a style, a feeling, a quiet revolution against the standard in a society. Without make-up a bimbogirl and a rock girl are pretty similar but getting the color on you can see who they are, what they feel and how they relate to society.

So I jumped in the make-upcollection of my wife, chose two strong contrasting colours and started on myself and made Dr. Jeckyl on the left side with a cute pink color and Mr Hide on the other side with a dark threatening smokey eye.

Two colors that give two completely different feelings ...

Website of x52: http://www.52uker.org/ ¨

The other members had this solution:

Sonja Middelhuis: Alpakka i sort og hvitt
Ståle Ertzgaard: Vårtur
Line Storlid: Warmer than my dream of summer heat
Vibeke Prestmo Valestrand: Furet værbitt
Anne: Rødt/Sort
Yngve Thoresen: Elusive
Anne Ueland: Friends Forever
Line Aakre: Frosken
Naturglede: Brunt og hvitt

Uke 14/52: Huset med det rare i (The house with the strange things)

2011-04-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

This week the challenge was from Geir: "The house with the strange things inside". In each house there must be something you are particularly proud of, maybe not so proud of or just think is fun to have ... and maybe you don't find it in every other house.
I immediately thought of the old violin that I own. This is both an object with a soul, a history and is very honourfull. Simply something to be proud of.

I inherited this violin from my mother the day I got married. She knew that I wished to own it such a long time. Throughout my childhood, this violin hang on the wall in the living room and it made me hurt since it is a sure death to an instrument to hang on a wall. The violin is from the grandmother who in turn inherited it from her mother, my great-grandmother. For my great-grandmother, it was a gift from her husband who bought it on the flea market.
Inside the violin is a note from the person who built it. The violin was built by Bartholomeus Kärner in Mittenwald an der Iser, Germany in the year 1777. So this year it celebrates its 234 birthday. I showed it to specialists and it is authentic.
In the year that the violin was built was W.A. Mozart 27 years old, France acknowledged as the first country in the world the United States as a sovereign state. The American Civil War ravaged America then. Napoleon Bonaparte's wife was born and James Cook discovered the Comoros ...
I am incredibly proud to own this violin and when I'm home alone, it makes music. My goal is to play better and better on it each time I try to play. I am originally an oboist but I do love the sound of this instrument so much...

See the site of x52 at http://www.52uker.org

The other members' solutions are as following:

Ståle Ertzgaard: Krus i hus
Line Aakre: Tursti
Anne Ueland: Happy Moon
Line Storlid: Weird thing in my house

Project x52: Week 13: "Tilbake" (Back)

2011-04-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

This week the theme of the photo project X52 was "Back". Back is a large area. Back in the spring, back to a former job or back to childhood. Many of my childhood vacations I spent in Machilly, a tiny little village in France, on the border to Switzerland, where my family owns an ancient house that has been my family's ownership in over 100 years. Holidays which were marked by great weather, beautiful walks in the mountains (it is located about 80 km from Mont Blanc) and of course great food. Vegetables that were grown in the garden, a neighboring farmer who supplied fresh eggs, milk was still warm from the cow and raspberries from the garden. But what we ate most were the great French cheeses, some of the best salami in the world and when I was a few years older a glass of delicious wine. I tried to create the atmosphere of the holiday house kitchen through this picture (unfortunately with an Australian wine because of the lack of a French one).

For the project's website: Click here
Other x52 members had these solutions for the theme:

Ståle Ertzgaard: Ingen vei
Randi Lind/Naturglede: Tilbake i tiden
Anne: Tilbake
Yngve Thoresen: The Spectacled Caiman
Line Aakre: Tilbake til hverdagen
Anne Ueland: Flashback

Project x52, week 12: Theme "Glede" (Joy)

2011-03-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

The theme this week was joy. This has been a very busy week for me and I became more and more desperate to find a picture. But when we had a visit of my father and mother-in-law, the picture came. Last summer, they dogsittet Leah, a little cocker spaniel who lives with our neighbors. She became very fond to them. She smells immediately when they are visiting (and yes they shower each day) us and spin off to our front door to greet the in-laws. So also happened yesterday. Leah found her way to our house and jumped on the couch while she made noises and enjoyed rolling around while she was scratched on the belly and got a massage of her paws. A very good sign of delightand joy from the little dog and the reunion with my father in law.

Please find the blog of x52 project here

The other participants made those solutions for this week:

Line Aakre: Smiiiiiiletabelett
Geir Ertzgaard: Nummer 14
Anne: Glede
Line Storlid: LOL: Glede
Ståle Ertzgaard: En fargesymfoni
Stein-Evert Pettersen: "Hoppende glad"
Naturglede: Gledesutbrudd

3 Bloggfavoritter

2011-03-20T15:44:00.000-07:00

Jeg var så utrolig heldig og følte meg veldig beæret da min arbeids -og bloggkollega Cecilie fra littshabbylittslittogbaremitt.blogspot.com omtalte meg som en av sine 3 favoritte blogger. Ideen var følgende. Jeg siterer Cecilie: "Ideen er at en skal beskrive 3 blogger en liker ekstra godt . og dette gir andre lesere muligheten til å oppdage nye blogger de ikke hadde vært innom før. En fin måte å få nye blogginspirasjoner!!"
Så jeg følger hennes eksempel og slenger meg på favorittbølgen.

1. Kanskje cliché å sende en favorittblogg tilbake men jeg må bare starte med Cecilies egen blogg. Cecilie driver en blogg om interiør og familieliv. Morsom kombinasjon siden det siste, eller noen deler av det siste, er i stand å ødelegge det meste som finnes av interiør; eller i hvert fall rote det skikkelig til. Cecilie er trebarnsmor og kombinerer jobb, oppdrag i utlandet med å være mor og i tillegg vise masse omsorg for huset sitt. Via hennes blogg lærte jeg ordet "hvitbloggere" siden interiøret er preget av hvite farger, lyse farger og litt shabbychicke ting. Hun har maaaange følgere, klarer å ta fine interiørbilder og ble til og med lagt merke til av interiørblader. Bare å titte innom hennes blogg og få en latter eller inspirasjon.
http://littshabbylittslittogbaremitt.blogspot.com/

2. Moments in life by Line: Line er en sprudlende småbarnsmor fra Norges wild west i Sandnes. Jeg ble kjent med henne via bildeprosjekt x52 og falt med en gang for stilen hun har i bildene. Hun har tatt noen av de mest vakre bilder som jeg har sett de siste årene og har en flink datter som elsker å være modell for henne. Hun inspirerte meg til å ta opp kameraet igjen og begynne å knipse i vei for bildeprosjektet. I tillegg er hun en flink mentor med tilbakemeldinger på bilder som andre har tatt og jeg har lært mye om fotografi gjennom hennes konstruktive kritikk. Ta en tur innom hennes blogg og drøm bort i hennes bilder.
http://linestorlid.blogspot.com/

3. I just wanna dance. Bloggen fra Anne Line. Anne Line var tidligere kollega fra meg da hun jobbet hos oss for å lage mat til oss i kantina. Jeg har alltid vært storimponert over alt Anne Line har fått til. Hun har tatt fotografiutdanning og har laget en haug med vakre bilder også er hun en kjempeflink danser. Hun har vært noen år på Bårdar instituttet hvor hun trener for harde livet til å bli danser. Og det er en fantastisk evne hun har siden Anne Line ble hørselshemmet da hun var 3 år gammel. Jeg vet at hun ikke lar seg stoppe av dette og lever livet som hver av oss. I tillegg har jeg aldri møtt et menneske som klarer å lese så mange bøker på så kort tid som hun gjør. Respekt. Hun har blogget siden hun var i fjortisstadiet i en blogg som ser hverdagslivet fra et skeivt standpunkt i konstant bevegelse, som hun sier det så pent selv. Hun skriver veldig morsomt og det er alltid hyggelig å stikke innom hennes blogg for å få litt hverdagsoppdatering.
http://ithildancer.com/

Week 11/52: Flukt (Escape)

2011-03-18T15:26:00.000-07:00


Flowerpower - © Jelrik Nylund-van Berkel

The theme that Sonia chose this week for the project x/52 was "FLUKT" or in English "escape". It matched very well my program this week since I was planning a two day trip to Belgium. Immediately came the word "plane" through my head but then I started thinking a little deeper on the subject "escape " I thought of a small statue in the city "Leuven" in Belgium which shows a student who has opened his skull and pours beer in the head. Thought it was funny to take a picture of a symbol for students fleeing in beer and fun when it gets too heavy to study. Great was my amazement that on the spot where the statue was, there now was a big gap since the municipality is building a new sewagesystem (kloakk). The statue was temporarely in a warehouse.

When me and my wife got married, my parents took a little "blåveis"-flower from the cabin and planted it in the garden in Belgium. Each year, this blåveis is open long before the snow is gone here in Norway. This blåveis in a way escaped from cold Norway to enjoy the Belgian spring with lovely weather early in the year (it was now 18 degrees down there). At the same time I took a little escape from the Norwegian snow by watching this little beautiful flower and dreaming forward to the fantastic springtime coming to Norway

Watch the solutions of the other participants here

Other members had these solutions:

Vibeke Prestmo Valestrand: Trying to escapeStåle Ertzgaard: Hverdagsflukt
Anne: Flukt
Randi Lind: Ekornflukt
Line Storlid:Virkelighetsflukt
Sonja Middelhuis: Flukt fra fatet
Yngve Thoresen: A Safe Place For Books