VTT: Pyrex Open Baking Dishes

Now you all know (or most of you anyways) how I love Pyrex....If you're amongst those who didn't know, please read some of the older posts and you'll see my Pyrexia in all it's splendor!

As time passes, my focus on collecting Pyrex changes. At first I HAD to have everything, EVERYTHING! After quite a long while I realised that some pieces just took too much space! Then I went crazy for some NIB (new in box pieces) I have 2 and never use them, they stay in their box in the basement....:(

In September 2009 I developped Open Baking Dish envy(A.K.A Open Bakers)...I felt they were so much more useful than the divided dishes; which I find lack space because of the division and they're a pain to put away because they don't stack up well....

I found my first one in early October at the Gananoque Flea market in Ontario. I got so excited I nearly screamed!!! I was holding it close to my heart all the way to the cash!

They were manufactured in the 50's. They're more uncommon than the divided dish and the charcoal one is the least common of the bunch, but if you look hard enough you're bound to find one!

Here's the Pink Daisy (real name White Daisy) in action. I started a bad of cat grass for the kitties. They miss grass a lot. You'd swear cats are related to cows. When you are in the garden you can see all the cats snacking away on the tender green shoots....

Don't forget to head on to www.colorado.blogspot.com for more VTT fun!

Strange sights at the drugstore...

Ok now if you good folks think I look crazy whiping out Henry and taking pictures everywhere... Clerks at the drugstore think I'm certifiably nuts!

I could not believe the Twilight make up! My jaw is still on the floor! I'm probably the only woman in North America who doesn't freak out on Twilight and it's perfectly allright....to each is own....My fave vampire was Angel....but makeup??? to which dept will they sink to make money????

Aaaahhhh! the Bowel Buddy! That really cracked me up! I bet a lot of us need this after the holidays....

Did the person who though up the name get a raise???

Retro Tuesday: Eaton's Viking Blender

Happy Retro Tuesday to everybody! I'd like to start of by responding to a comment that Maureen from www.thegreensuitcase.blogspot.com left on my last post: Henry's Chinese Lunch. She wrote that she missed the Montreal food.

Well I have a bit of bad news about Ben's...In 2008 the employees went on strike, the bosses locked them out and eventually they closed the restaurant for ever and sold the building and it was leved off last year.
That was a sad day for the Montreal food scene! I remember going there with my Dad when I was small, and I found it so exotic! Oh well, what's a girl to do?

ok let's do the Retro Tuesday thing! Funny how we see things nearly everyday and don't really notice them...I nearly threw this book out 6 or 7 times! And it just dawned on me last week that it's the companion book to the blender we have!

It was bought in 1977 when my step daughter was born, so the blender is 32 years old. It came from Eaton's (does this ring a bell my Canadian friends?). Eaton's was a big store chain in Canada and I thought it was going to be here forever. The first store was opened in Toronto in 1869, it only had a staff of 4. They had stores all over Canada. The company shut down in 1999. For me it was the store, THE ONLY store! So I was really sad to see it go.
I had never looked at the delicious pictures in that booklet. Wow retro joy!

One thing I don't like is that you don't know which recipe goes with which picture.....

You know how gelatin molds make me gag? Well you can bet your sweet bipi that there's gelatin in the pale salmon sqare on the left...it must be a salmon mousse or tuna....And you have a fondue of some sort....

The relish tray is to die for and so are the fondue forks!















Next pic: first, please notice the backdrop!

Second: Look at that chopped salad on the left...it is a spinach salad all done in the blender! The instructions call for putting the spinach in the blender with some water and whiz it until chopped and then you have to drain it....

Is it supposed to save me time? I remember a time that having a blender in the kitchen was....wow! You had it going girl! You can cook now, you have a blender! I don't really use it anymore...I have a food processor. But I never know when I'll need it!

I cannot leave without pointing the mound of jiggly peach colored stuff on the left....is it the same recipe as in the first pic?

Be sure to visit the hostess with the mostest (she probably has a blender....) , Crazy Suburban Mom at www.crazysuburbanmom.com for more Retro Tuesday fun!

Henry's Chinese Lunch

Before taking a well deserved vacation with Santa Claus and gang; Henry asked for a lunch in Montreal's Chinatown.

What a great idea! I love chinese food! My favorite restaurant was closed until Jan 6th-Big bummer! I could almost taste the shrimp wonton, the shrimp in lobster sauce....sigh

So I asked Henry if he minded going to another one of my fave chinese dives, Mon Shing A.K.A Samourai delicatessen.

While employed I went there every week, the food was good and cheap but had the worst service EVER! Henry's always up for new and different!

Here Henry is enjoying some shrimp with lobster sauce and some beef chow main...YUM!

Henry's thinking: Wow those Singapour noodles sure look good!

Henry had a whirl on the lazy susan, but by then the waiters were scowling....so no pictures!

We laughed a lot, we ate too much so we were faithful to ourselves-It it's not broken don't fix it!

Henry had a nice nap in the car on the way home...

We watched Deck the Halls later at night and had a lot of fun, then off to bed!

Hoppin' John

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Did you eat some black eyed peas? You must! They insure you'll get good luck and moneyssss!

We all need money! LOL

So this morning I made a batch of Hoppin' John. Hoppin' John is a southern recipe. A delicious mix of rice,black eyed peas,bacon, tomatoes...DELICIOUS!

I started doing this after hearing about it from Paula Deen y'all.

It is very cheap and filling and very comforting! Dan eats it for breakfast...It's great for lunch.

I got the recipe from the internet but couldn't find it if my life depended on it! I did find a lot of great recipes , some more complicated than other. I used canned black eyed peas and no ham hock, i had delicious bacon instead!

I also heard last week that you had to eat cabbage on New Year for good luck...I won't, afterall bean is the musical fruit!

VTT: The Dinah Bank

I always remember this bank sitting on the top of our kitchen cabinets in my parents home.

I was (and still is) fascinated by the ugliness of Dinah. Do you know the expression: Scare little children? It probably came from that period. Kids were scared in saving their moneyby big Dinah.

My dad already told me a couple of times where he got it but I keep forgetting....So I called him and he got it in the mid sixties at his favorite thrift shop.

I had to search the web for more info. It was manufactured in England at the beginning of the 20th century (1911-1920). The company's name was John Harper & Company. It is made of cast iron and weighs a ton. It would definitely make a dent in a burgler!

When my mom had to liquidate the house and stuff, I kidnapped Dinah because I didn't want her to end up in a dusty thrift shop...

Around 10 years ago, I was an avid watcher of the Antiques Roadshow and there was Dinah in all her ugly splendor.It was worth...2000 $


The chinese got real busy and floaded the market with endless copies of Dinah. So now it's not worth much. You can find quite a few on eBay for 30$....


Anyways, it's a bank. So you put a coin in her hand and activate the little lever on her shoulder and she puts the coin in her mouth and rolls her eyes! Scary! LOL


So to all my readers far and near a very Happy New Year! May all your wishes and dream come true!

And for more VTT deliciousness please with Suzanne at www.coloradolady.blogspot.com



Love thy neighbor...they might have Pyrex!

Resolutions???

As the year closes, one cannot help but think about resolutions. I don't like resolutions because they almost always include torture and sacrifice!

I don't like pain.

I want things to go smoothly in 2010. I want to have painless renovations ( we need to re-do the patio, waterproof the basement, new floors on the first floors)

I want to ride my bike more (I'm still trying to figure out how to bike this winter). I want to ride my bike to work (which would mean that I landed a job near my house). I want to thrift more and find really good things. I want to find a Pyrex drippings jar. Oh and the job I want it to be a cinch to get, no mean interviewer and impossible to pass tests; it will be the perfect job for me! And most of all I want to be happy!

The picture is of Yoda in the snow wearing her Xmas collar; isn't she adorable?