We have seen the first signs of spring here in Amsterdam, but still, they say it's going to be the coldest week so far this winter. So a good time to celebrate a bit of outdoor coldness!

We got together with three families and had a wonderful morning making bread dough and wrapping it around sticks, while the dads were preparing a fire in the garden. Making the dough was easy and so much fun! We used a basic bread recipe:

Bread on a stick

• 4 cups plain flour

• 4 teaspoons baking powder

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 1/2 cup olive oil

• 1/2 cup lukewarm water

We were with 10 children, so you can definitely use half the amounts if you are with a smaller group. You can add some sugar and cinnamon to make the bread slightly sweet, but we were planning to fill the bread with sausages later so preferred them to be more savoury.

Obviously, children are the very best tools at working the dough into a smooth consistency. You need some good sticks to wrap the bread around. So time for a little search outside for some cool sticks! (Or, in our case, just collect them from the stick collection in the basket outside our front door.)

We covered the end of the sticks with aluminium foil before we twined the dough around in long strips -- making sure not to make the layers of dough too thick.

Time to bake our bread!

Standing around a fire with a group of friends preparing food is such a warm and wonderful way to spend time together... It takes a little while for the bread to bake, turning them around and around.

We used a Dutch oven on the fire to warm the sausages, and then stuck them with right in the bread with a bit of ketchup. Yum!

What a perfect winter weekend morning! Spring, we are ready for you when you are, but in the meantime, we'll entertain ourselves with our good friend Winter!

xxx Esther

PS Thank you Maud Fontein for taking these beautiful photos