SMOONSTYLE

Balayage, Ombre and highlights. I got a little bit of everything. My cousin had gorgeous highlights in her hair and she told me that she always goes to 'Het Haerhuys' in Heerlen.

Normally I only get my hair trimmed at the hair dresser, so this was quite exciting for me. I took my sister with me so both of us could relax and get our hair done.

Het Haerhuys is a lovely salon, modern and chic. The ceiling is really high and gives a spacious feeling. I love high ceilings. One of their eye catchers for me, has the be the lamp. One of the pictures that I took I used as a desktop picture.

The eye for detail and color scheme is perfect. What I loved about the salon is that is also a barber shop! Too bad I don't have a beard to try out a new look.

They placed 3% bleach and dark brown layers in my hair. I call it: Autumn Hair. The different colors come alive best when my hair is slightly curly. I used my Remington hot rollers to achieve this look. I have a hate love relationship with hot rollers. I don't mind looking like a granny for 30 minutes, but my fingers don't like the heat. Practice makes perfect.

www.haerhuys.nl

💋 Simone

One of my worst fears is receiving that one phone call with bad news while being far away. It doesn't matter where you are, it won't change the bad news, but it makes things more complicated.

While waiting for my food at a restaurant in Boston, I received that phone call I feared the most. At that moment it feels as if someone pulls the ground away beneath your feet. I felt completely powerless.

My dad fell ill while riding his bike and fell on the road. Other people saw it happening and performed CPR on him until the ambulance arrived. They managed to bring him back. He went through the eye of the needle.

Seeing him lying at the intensive care unit attached to, what seemed like a thousand tubes, bruised and drugged, felt like a nightmare that came true. Truth is that reality is filled with nightmares. They come and go. Waking up the next morning doesn't always mean that the big bad wolf has run off. He was still among us. My dad was still fighting for his life and all we could do was wait.

Life has it ups and downs and the only thing we can do is take it from the moment we are currently living in and keep on looking forward. Not knowing what will happen the next days was hard. Hard for all of us. My family, the band, the fans. All was uncertain.

A fan wrote to me, "The last thing you lose, is hope." And that sentence kept on going through my head. Thank you to whoever wrote that. It really helped me a lot.

My dad is a very strong man and that was what we held on to. His recovery is a miracle that has left us speechless. I believe that we all helped him by connecting through music, something he also lives for. He loves him some Chopin. So many people were thinking about him and all the positive energy that was sent his way was very powerful.

At this moment he is doing better. We are awaiting what and if surgery lies ahead. He will need a long time to recover, but thank the Energy out there that he is still alive. He proved to us that he is one tough cookie.

Thank you for helping Epica and I, by being so incredibly understanding and caring through this unknown journey. Canceling a tour was the second nightmare that came true in a short period of time, but we will make it up to you! We were all so looking forward to go to North America finally again and then this happened. On top of that Coen also couldn't join us on this tour, but we were bound to make this tour happen.

We will be back, all six of us, full force!

I want to thank my band mates, our management and crew for being the best buddies to work with. It is unbelievable how kind and understanding you all have been. I am grateful to have you. We are a good team that supports each other through the good and the bad. It kind of feels like we're married. ;)

💋 Simone

I do not advise you to look any further if you are hungry at this moment. You have a chance to look away! These babies are so deadly tasty that you might suffer from severe drool edge.

Meet my Raspberry Pâte Choux, made again with the help of Dulce Delight. I basically did everything the way she made them except for the rose flavoring. I couldn’t find rose jelly nor did I have the time to make rose extract.

The first time that I tried to make Pâte Choux for eclairs went completely wrong. I made the dough too liquid and instead of making a second batch of cooked dough, I just threw in flour to make it thicker... So, I learned from that. They simply sucked. It was like biting in to bread rocks, the custard filling was amazing, though.

After calming down over the last few month, I decided to give it another try. I binge watched Dulce and studied her video about how to make mini rose Pâte Choux. It gave me confidence, so I put on that apron and started baking.

This time I was sweating in the kitchen during high summer. Drying out the dough and then adding the eggs one at a time. I almost failed again because after throwing in 3 medium sized eggs (instead of 4 to 5 large ones), I noticed that the dough was again too liquid. It went beyond ribbon stage. To the stove I went again to make a second batch of cooked dough. I mixed a small portion into the liquid dough and it turned out fine! Yay!

I filled them with a delicious classic custard and topped them off with a dark chocolate ganache. Delicious! My whole neighborhood enjoyed them with me. Good times, no, tasty times.

The third time I made them was just over a week ago when my parents where at my place. My dad loves backing as well, so I wanted to show him the new tricks that I have up my sleeves. I’d learned from my mistakes and was rewarded with perfect little (more like medium) choux. This time with the raspberry filling that came with the original recipe from Dulce.

Check out the recipe and enjoy baking them!

💋 Simone