Important questions

These questions i asked on lfs.nl. I did get 716 important answers. On lfs.nl i do say these questions were inspired by Smash Hits, a UK popmusic magazine. These questions were not a part of presents or the things i made before that, they always were a separate section of my website. It started in 1998 and ended 3 August 2006.

Important questions
My name is
I’m doing
In my pocket i’ve got
and
I like
and i don’t like
Sometimes I think about
I am
Male Female Not sure
Old Young Not sure
Sad Happy Not sure

It has always surprised how different people respond to these questions. They are fairly innocent. Stuff you have in your pockets. Things you like. Things you don’t like. Things that you think about. And then of course: are you male? female? not sure? old? young? not sure? happy sad? sad? not sure?

These last questions to me were always important. Many people didn’t know how old they were. Didn’t know if they were happy or sad. Some didn’t know if they are male or female. It’s not a big message, it is a little one. Still important.

Read more…

Published on September 2, 2015 at 6:00 by
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Preserved peppers

For the Dutch, peppers doesn’t mean peper. A pepper is a paprika. So, today i’m gonna preserve peppers. Last Saturday i bought four red and four yellow peppers at the market. I also bought a 1 liter pot at the Xenos. It is delicious, no doubt it won’t be a week til they are finished… well maybe two weeks. They are good on their own, with a bit of toasted bread, with mozzarella, with sausages, with tomatoes and pasta. Simply lovely.

I have made these before. Well, not in a pot, but for dinners multiple times. I thought about making them for this website when i saw the Dutch cooking show Koken met van boven (Cooking with from above) last friday. The show is online, but i’m not sure for how long.

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Nine peppers on the baking tray. Eight i bought last Saturday, one i already had.

Ingredients

  • 9 peppers, red, yellow or green
  • garlic, 3 cloves
  • a hot pepper
  • olive oil
  • optional fresh herbs, like basil
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At the first turn

Preparation

  1. heat your oven to 200º Celsius on a grill setting
  2. put your peppers on a baking sheet high up in the oven
  3. turn them every 15 minutes til they are black all over, count on 4 turns all together
  4. in the meantime, put the pot you want to put the, in a large pot on the stove completely covered with water – cook for around 15 minutes – afterwards put the pot on a clean dishcloth and let it dry
  5. when the peppers are black all around, put them in a plastic bag and turn it tight, leaving them in there for around 20 minutes – this will make them a lot easier to peal
  6. cut the garlic in thin slices
  7. cut the hot pepper in this slices, leave in the seeds
  8. skin the peppers, take out the center piece and tear them in big pieces, make sure the inner fluids are drained
  9. start filling the pot by putting in a bit of olive oil first, then layer like three to four pieces of pepper, put garlic and pepper on them, a bit of freshly milled black pepper and a bit of salt, put on a bit more oil and repeat until you are out of pepper
  10. at the end, make sure all the peppers are covered with oil
  11. enjoy!
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All done and ready to get a bit cooler and loosen up those skins for around twenty minutes
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Busy filling the pot
Published on September 1, 2015 at 6:00 by
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Plain Sailing

I mentioned buying her album A Distant Shore in 1983 in the Memories post in June this year. I loved it when i bought it, and i still love it now.

I also do enjoy her writing. I haven’t read her books yet, but i’m sure i will some day. I do read her column in the New Statesman.

This song Plain Sailing is about how your life will never be that, plain sailing. It simply doesn’t exist. I don’t think you should want it anyway. It is an illusion. Even if you are happy, with friends, with someone to love, with work in your life, there are always rocks and dry periods and sandbanks to try to get you off course. You simply have to deal with that.

My wise words for today 🙂

Enjoy!

Plain Sailing – Tracey Thorn
Meetings arranged, they say, never work out
I say we’ve proved them wrong without a doubt
I can’t remember now just what we said
I never could have guessed what lay ahead
As I ran towards you up the stairs
Did a voice in my ear cry, ‘Beware’?

Even now I’m surprised you recall
Such a short time it took me to fall
Pretending that my heart still lay elsewhere
When in truth I had long ceased to care
For what I thought I’d never replace
Til in my heart you left him no space

You say, you wonder what was it I saw?
I say ‘Oh, I don’t recall anymore’
My first impressions have been left behind
Replaced now by feelings and more lost in kind

Sure that you know but you never can tell
When I think I understand you so well
Shakes me that you were a constant surprise
Or so you appear in my eyes

Tempting to think now it will all be plain sailing
Old enough now to know there’s no such thing

The original

Published on August 31, 2015 at 6:00 by
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The truest artist is the most feigning

It feels to me like i’ve come to a conclusion. I know i’ve been there before. It’s not a big surprise to me, it’s something i’ve known all along. But i do feel i might just be able to really go through with it. Being an artist.

With everything in me that was always keeping me back, my shyness, my aloneness, my searching, my findings. I do still feel the wind blowing for me, not against me.

I don’t know what is gonna happen in the future. But i do feel like i’ve sown many seeds and some of them will bloom, absolutely. It’s not a vague feeling.

But right now, i’m tired. I do have a slight headache. The whole day. So i’m gonna go try to get a bit more sleep. Last night i slept ok, up until like four in the morning. It was a bit better than the night before. But still, awake for quite some time. I’m still tired.

Have a good day!

Published on August 27, 2015 at 6:00 by
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Sleepy

Last night i only slept a bit towards the end. Today i spend some time in bed, reading. Now i’m just really sleepy and tired.

So that’s it for today. I’m going to bed, go through my blogs, through my youtube subscriptions, play a little solitaire, read in the Peter Hamilton book. And hopefully fall asleep and don’t let the dreams get to me like they did yesterday. I mean, it’s sort of nice, but it’s also taking a lot of energy from me.

Goodnight sweeties 🙂

Seeya tomorrow!

12:48
Awake. Made breakfast, two rye spelt slices of bread with butter, bacon and parmesan omelet. Listening to music. Singing along with the songs i know, Motor from Jewelz, Sparks. I like this song, i really do.

15:34
Another song! I only added this one a couple of months ago. I discovered i truly love this song. Here goes!

D’Angelo – Untitled (How does it feel)

18:09
Making a salad for dinner. A red bellpepper, spring onions, a bit of rocket, some cottage cheese, a boiled egg, green asparagus. A slice of bread on the side. I’m hungry!

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18:48
No slide of bread on the side, but i will have one with a cup of tea in half an hour or so. With apple butter on it. I had look up the translation for the Dutch word appelstroop. Apple butter doesn’t feel right, but i’m also not sure it’s actually known in the UK. I did do a search for ‘apple butter’, and the photos with the recipes don’t look like our apple butter at all. Ours is simple. Cook the apples, get the juice and cook that together with sugar. You can buy it in all supermarkets! Ooh, and you also have pear butter. Nice too. 🙂

Published on August 26, 2015 at 6:00 by
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Dark purple glittery nails

Today i painted my nails.

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A dark purple, Vendetta, from Chanel. This a purple black polish with a slight silver sheen. This polish covers with one layer. Excellent!
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Mad as a Hatter from OPI is from the Alice in Wonderland collection. It is a limited edition. From a distance it looks grey, but up close you see silver, orange, red, purple, green and blue glitters. It is possible to coat your nails completely, but i did choose to put on the Vendetta first and then one layer of the glitter polish. Loving it!
Published on August 25, 2015 at 6:00 by
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It’s a fine day

The main a cappella song i know, Jane’s It’s a fine day. It was on a disc sampler i used to have, The eyes of Barbara Steele. I might have lended this album out. I don’t remember to be honest. I did go though my whole vinyl collection but i couldn’t find it.

I do enjoy this song. I did find more people have covered it, but this version i do really love. Because it is a cappella. It was heard to find good lyrics for this song, there wasn’t one with the right verses and la la la’s and hm hm hmm’s in it. I did sing it from my memory, after having sung it with her a couple of times. I don’t think it is exactly the same, but i do really enjoy singing it.

It’s not too bad. In my humble opinion. 🙂 Enjoy!

It’s a fine day
Jane
It’s a fine day
People open windows
They leave their houses
Just want a short walk

They look at the grass
They look at the sky

It’s going to be a fine night tonite
It’s going to be a fine day tomorrow

La la la la la dee da la la
La la la la la da la la la
La la la la la dee da la la
La la la la la da la la la
La la la la la dee da la la
La la la la la da la la la
La la la la la dee da la la
La la la la la da la la la

Sitting in this field
I remember how we are going to sit in this field
But never quite did
Rain or appointment or something
Rain or appointment

Hm hm hm hm hm hmmm

It’s a fine day
People open windows
They leave their houses
Just for a short walk

They look at the grass
They look at the sky

It’s going to be a fine night tonite
It’s going to be a fine day tomorrow

We will have salad

The original

Published on August 24, 2015 at 6:00 by
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Old drawings

These drawings i made in art school in the first and second year. Most in the first i guess, but it is a long time ago, so the memory is a bit faded. I got these drawings from the attic today and went through them. There are loads more, but these are the ones which i liked best.

It starts with a series of drawings i made with pastel crayons. I do remember working on these, sitting at home in the front room and being completely focused on making these drawings. It wasn’t like i knew what i was making, it was just the excitement i felt at the time and the pressure i felt of making these drawings. I can still see it in the drawings themselves.

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The one photo with three drawings on them next, most likely made with gouache paint. A dark with a little blue in the top one. These were made with gestures and making a solid mass with paper on top of the paper so you would get those cut-out shapes.

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The next series is one made with gouache paint as well. I made these at school. I folded the paper and painted different colours on the different sides of the folded paper. I don’t remember how i made the ones with a rounded interior shape. These were made with colours all painted all over each other. I remember the class i got this assignment in. I went in a completely different way than the other students. I remember the paint dripping of the table, as i was working with all these layers.

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A drawings of a mountain and a lake with a swan in it. There is also a moon or a sun in the sky. I always thought of this swan as being me. I know, fairy tales!

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A drawing of a large quadrilateral shape filled with pencil. Still love making these shapes. I made several of these on lfs in flash. I played around with different random generated fillings and fillings made by the people watching. Still enjoying this. I should check how to make this in html and/or canvas.

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The last drawings i used much earlier in homebase. They are the the Girl with a Pearl Earring from Johannes Vermeer. I should make a separate post on Vermeer, i still love his work. The middle drawing is a selfportrait. The last one is a drawing of Whitney Houston.

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Published on August 21, 2015 at 6:00 by
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Tumblr

Over the past months i was thinking on how to make a bit more publicity for ellenpronk.com. It is harder now than it was fifteen years ago. There are many more people online yes, but they are also more set in their ways, not venturing out as much as they used to.

I had made an account at tumblr. When i check the activity page, it seems i made it this year, 29 January. I do remember looking around, while i was working on the design of ellenpronk.com. I was thinking then of maybe starting a blog there. But it just seemed to me too limited. So i went ahead and started this blog on ellenpronk.com. A domain i had for several years already.

But, yesterday, i searched around a bit. I didn’t like the bloglovin’ community. The way you had to register there just seemed to me too much hassle. I also wasn’t sure it would be the right community for my website. Then i did some searches for tumblr in combination with wordpress. The thought came up after i saw Rookie had a tumblr place, in which they simply posted a shorter version of their original post with a link.

So yesterday i started out. I already had made a blog in January, my first post went up yesterday. I’m not going to be using any plugin for it, i will pick from ellenpronk.com and lfs.nl quotes, photo’s, video’s and audio and post these to tumblr. In these two days i did make 6 posts. That will slow down of course over the next few days. So far, i’m enjoying myself. I do have so many items to choose from, it feels like i’m in a candy store and can pick anything without any charge.

If you are reading this, you are already on the place i want you to be. But still, do check it out if you please, you can see it at ellenpronk.tumblr.com. Enjoy!

Published on August 20, 2015 at 6:00 by
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