Recipe for a Colourful Potato Salad to Lift Up Grey Days.

Good afternoon to you all!
I promised you the recipe for my Colourful Potato Salad - and here it is! It will give a lift to the endless grey days we Dutch folk usually experience around the turn of the year.
But it is very handy for a party as well.

Serves 6 (as a side-dish to a meal) or 10 (for party portions).

What do you need?

10 pre-boiled potatoes (I use our native Zeeland Bildstar, which is a semi-hard yellow colored kind)

1 lettuce (I use iceberg, I like the crunch)

4 to 6 eggs (free range, obviously; happy chickens, right?!)

20 cherry tomatoes

fresh chives

lemon juice

4 large gherkins or 8 small ones

1/2 a jar of sweet corn (pre-cooked)

8  (thin) rashers of bacon (free range; happy pigs, obviously)

fresh ground pepper

a pinch or two of salt (I use the pink Himalayan)

a good dollop of mayonaise

optional: fresh parsley

optional: garlic (2 'toes')

optional: tumeric (to taste)

How do you make it?

I've told you before in this blog: I am an enthusiastic but lazy cook. So I tend to make this salad when I have potatoes left over, meaning they are already boiled. But you can boil them to your heart's content on the day that you make the salad. But: let them cool first!

- start by frying the bacon crispy, so that it can cool off

- boil your eggs to perfection (meaning: not soggy, nor so hard that they've turned green)

- Cut up your cold potatoes in small cubes

- mix the potatoes with the mayonaise, some salt and pepper (to taste)

- add a good squirt of lemon juice and mix - put to the side

- now chop up the gherkins, the chives and mix this in with the sweet corn

- shred your lettuce

You've done the basics, now it is time for the fun part which makes you all happy.

- take out your prettiest salad bowl (a low wide one looks good) and fill the bottom with the lettuce.

- put the potato mixture on top of the lettuce, but leave a green circle around the rim of the bowl free (looks good)

- now sprinkle on the gherkin/chive/sweet corn mix

- put your bacon on top

- decorate with the cherry tomatoes and eggs

- finally cut up some chives and sprinkle them on top, for decoration purposes

Ah! Where are the garlic, parsley and turmeric, you may wonder?

Well, they are optional, as not everyone likes these tastes and some people are allergic to parsley (oh, horror!).

The garlic can be crushed and used to rub your bowl with right at the start.

The tumeric and parsley should go on top right at the end, but before you put your eggs on.

A variation:

Instead of the tumeric, curry powder tastes good as well. And if you are really into garlic, you can also fry this together with the bacon and put it on (I love this - my husband hates it...)

Enjoy!

Recipe for a Very Quick Healthy Dutch Beetroot Salad

Good afternoon to you!
A new year, so lots of you (like me and my family) will have made the resolution to eat (more) healthily. And good for you!
This very simple recipe for Dutch beetroot salad is everything you desire: easy to make, simple, quick, and very very very healthy.

Serves 4

What do you need?

- 4  normal size pre-cooked and cold beetroot (or 6 small ones)

- lettuce (I prefer iceberg, for a crunchy bite), as much as you like to use

- fresh chives (a small bunch)

- gherkins

- feta cheese (I use the original Greek sheep stuff, and not the cow's milk fake - I dislike fake)

- dressing (I use simple aceto balsamico - or balsamico vinegar in plain English)

- fresh ground pepper if you prefer, but it doesn't really need it

How do you make it?

- Tear up the lettuce

- cut up the beetroot in small cubes, put it on top of the lettuce

- sprinkle the cut up chives on top

- cut up your gherkins and sprinkle them on top as well

- cut up the feta and sprinkle this right on top

- finally, just before serving, sprinkle some balsamico over it and enjoy

PS Don't worry if your pee turns red...that's completely normal :-)

New Year's Resolution Fulfilled - oh yeah!

Good afternoon to you!
I hope this day finds you feeling optimistic and full of anticipation of a good 2015.

I cleaned my oven today. Yay!
No,no,no,no, don't run away now...You have NO idea what an achievement this is!
You see, I am definitely NOT a natural born cleaner.
In fact, I hate it. I do it though, as I hate dirt as well. Not a good combination...very unpractical. But, truth be told, I would gladly pay someone (man or woman, I'm very into equality) to do it for me, except I cannot afford that.

So, with the sun shining and all the festive parafernalia cleared away, I took a deep breath and bought new gloves, oven cleaning poison, new sponges and stuck my head into that oven.

I use if often, being an oven cook (read: lazy cook), and this last couple of weeks it has been doing overtime with glazed potatoes, roasts, fish, more potatoes, cakes, even more potatoes and home-made crisps.
And thus it was filthy. It took me 1 1/2 hours...But now it is sparkling clean.

The thing is though, I had to use that Hagesan poison. Oh...it works alright. But I prefer natural cleaning materials. For instance, I clean my bathroom with clear vinegar and sometimes soft soap, and that works fine.
Question: does anyone have a natural solution for cleaning a filthy greasy oven???

Obviously, with music playing the enormous role in my life that it does, I looked up a good cleaning song. The link is right next to this line. Dixie Chicks

And it feels great. It is absolutely true that a clean oven makes you feel all righteous and good :P

Right. And that ends this prosaic blogpost.
See you soon!

Happy 2015 to You! May it be a Peaceful Year.

Hi there, all you dreamers, lovers, thinkers and other assorted well-wishers.
It is Dec. 30th over here, but as I am aware that 2015 will be starting sooner with lots of you  'over there' than me 'over here', I will post this one day 'too early'.

So...anyway :-)

Frankly I dislike fireworks, unless it's the show from the Erasmusbrug in Rotterdam, which is the best fireworks display in the entire Wetlands. But I, like my pets, abhor these loud bangs, usually when I least expect them.

New year's resolutions? Do you have them?

Let's make a list.
# world peace
# peace in Europe
# peace between Ukraine and Russia
# peace....

Okay. That was a tad unrealistic, I know. So let's make the list more personal.

# appreciate the people around me
# eat more (Hah! Got you!)
# eat more vegetables and fruit/nuts than protein
# re-start my long-distance walking routine
# play the guitar
# play the guitar
# play the guitar

Also, since I know that he has quite a few fans, I asked Viggo for a selfie. Here it is. He was a bit drowsy, due to his usual over-eating. So I asked him for another one.

Tssssssss. Not very interesting, is it?

So. Anyway.

I would like to wish you a marvelous 2015! May it bring you everything you desire; love, good health, wealth, fame, success, and...well, yes, let's...peace.

Want to stay in touch? You'll have to take action!

Good morning!
The immediate result of my decision to leave Facebook is that you will not see my notifications in your FB feed...obviously...
So...If you would like to continue reading my posts, you will have to take action yourself. Sorry. Or YAY! depending on your reaction.
You can click on the button showing up prominently on my blog and become a Follower. Or you can subscribe, again simply by clicking on the button.

See you!

Facebook is going too far! Thanks, but no thanks.

Hi there! Good of you to drop in!

After much deliberation and soul-searching, and a few tears, I have posted the following post on my Facebook timeline just a few moments ago.

So. This is goodbye...

From January 1st 2015 FB is going places with my photos, tastes, thoughts and emotions that I, personally, even though I do post things publicly myself, do not want it to go!
No, I do not want my name connected, unasked, to products or reviews. I'll do my own reviewing, thank you very much, whenever I want to in my blog Rays of Light.
And I do not want to be confronted with 'personalized' advertisements for weight loss or booze, or trips to foreign lands that I cannot afford anyway.

It breaks my heart to have to say goodbye to my FB friends... Many of you, from all over the world, I have never met in the flesh. But I feel I have got to 'know' you, all the same. And I know I will miss you in my life. In fact, I am in tears right now.
But it is a matter of principle.

There still is a way to connect with me, might you want to. You can look me up at my Blogger address for Rays of Light. The address is: http://RaysofLight2.blogspot.com And I also have a public gmail address which I use for connecting to my blog: rkoopman58@gmail.com
I will leave this message up on my timeline until December 31st. And then will delete my FB account.

It has been marvelous to connect with you! Thank you for all the messages, the funny photos, the stories, the thoughts, the mottoes, the cats, the owls, the puppy films, and most of all the music you have sent me.
Have a good life!
  Renée

Frith! I will miss those people!

I will continue this blog though...For as long as I feel the need.

Speak to you soon!

Merry Christmas to You All, Where-Ever You Are!

Good morning!
I am wishing you a very joyful, merry and peaceful Christmas.
Even if you do not believe in Christianity as such (like myself), the thought 'do not do unto others what you would not want to be done to yourself' is a good and sound one. Hold on to it!

Lots of love,
Renée