Wee Update

As for the cement , no we are not make stepping stones (which would be fab) but we need to deal with a pesky crack in the basement....

But we did not whip up a batch of cement.... we watched TV! Viva Vacation!

 So I successfully canned a jar of pickled garlic for the winter.

 

 The new veggie garden is 2/3 done

 

                                              I am waiting for a pool tech to change the filter....

fingers crossed I want to swim before the vacation is over...

 

 This is the MVP (Most Valuable Pyrex) this week!

My Red Kettle serving plater ; I used it everyday this week

 

And since we ae working out side a lot, we need a lot of refreshments....

And I made giant ice cubes in sillicone cupcake liners with cranberries, lemons and limes.

 

So refreshing!

 

I hope to be back soon with more updates!

 

Be well



Funny Food

To tell the truth I had no idea how to title this post.

The jist of it is that on the looooonnnnnggggg Easter weekend we don't have a lot of people over, we renovate!!!

This year's project was to replace the walk-in closet's old carpet and to clean it out!

Mission accomplished! We brought 4 large garbage bags to the church basement, removed the carpet, installed vinyl flooring, painted the molding, reinstalled said molding and cleaned the house.

Being Easter Dan had to open his big ol' mouth and invite his daughter for Easter supper....

So I kept it simple

                                                Olives and lupimis in sidedish Pyrex restaurant ware (of course)

                               I took this appetizer idea from the Rachael Ray show where they would stuff
                               mini bell peppers with refried beans. So I made a batch of hummus, stuffed it
                               in a zipper bag and used it to pipe the hummus in the veggies.

                              Some of it looks like diarrea! Really! we laughed so much! But it was served in a Red Kettle serving Pyrex plate so that makes it alllllll better!!!
                             

                                I made a beautiful bone-in ham but did nor think of taking pictures.

                               As for the dessert.....I decided to make a lemon meringue pie from a mix, because
                                that is the tradition. For some reason, I didn't get enough meringue and my oven turned it greyish instead of browned, but it tasted beautiful!

                                 Thank God for Easter miracles!

                                 Be well my thrifty friends!

Thifty JOY

Now thrifting has been dismall and my energy has been LOW.

We're having a NEVER ending winter...and even has another 6 inches of snow today! SIGH

I try my very hardest to stay upbeat and positive, this weather is getting real old.

But on the up side, we had 2 roadtrips in 2 weeks! SWEET!!!

Now first one with my step daughter Vero was in Québec city and I will share those pictures later.

Quebec city is truly a world treasure, a slice of old France! FANTASTIC!

But yesterday we went to NY state on a cat food shopping expedition! Rachael Ray just came out with Nutrish dry cat food (Not available in Canada) and my cats are just crazy about it. We had a Massena/Cornwall expedition about a month ago.

We started by going to Salaberry De Valleyfield which is not too far from Fort Covington NY.

I have to give MEGA PROPS to the Fort Covington population for the huge number of blowmolds in your yards! Santas, Snowmen, Mother Claus, Santa and reindeers with sleigh, Choir boys and girls and Nativity scenes.

I regret not taking my camera. I only had my Iphone and even if the roaming was turned off I am terrified of being charged with crazy charges from AT&T; so the  phone was off.

We got all our shopping in Malone (Price Chopper and Rite Aid) so we were free to roam as we wanted....

We decided to go to Saranac Lake and Lake Placid; 2 of my favorite places. For some reason I feel good vibes there.

Saranac Lake is hippish ,shabby and creative....Lake Placid feels comfy with a snobbish edge and has outlets!

We shopped but besides groceries, didn't buy anything because of the duty restrictions.

Well the border patrol doesn't have a restriction about thrift shops....Good for me

Here's what a got

                                            A cool turquoise green vase $1 and 2 little Pyrex dishes

                                              The stamp under says  Pyrex Double Tough.
                                              Those are obviously restaurant ware and at that thrift
                                              shop there was a lot of it, but I only bought 2.

                                              I used them for slaw tonight

                                              Nighty night !

Delicious Manicoti

Last Thrusday we decided to skip the dance course and give our gift cards (that we got as Xmas gifts) a run for their lifes.
Yes I know we took our own sweet time, but we have problems finding stuff we love! Anyways, I got a super cute handbag for summer and Dan got books.
After we were getting hungry...and on my must try restaurant list was this one.....

I've wanted to thry the Café Presto for a couple of years now. It's on Stanley street and it's literally a hole in the wall. It has 10 tables max. It has old world tackyish charm, you know checkered tablecloths, opera music,posters of hollywood movie stars. There's no menu; the owner comes over and tells you what they have. On Thrusday night they had homemade manicotti with spinach,penne arrabiata and liguini with rosé sauce. we bought ordered the manicotti, it was sooo good and only 6.95$.

We then shared a piece of heavenly tiramisu. We left with our hearts light and our bellies full.

We will be back for sure. I'm already plotting my next thrusday night shopping trip!

After since it was early and we had the car...I suggested a stop @ the Salvation Army (it's opened until 9pm). And I was rewarded with somthing i've been looking for for a really long time!

A beautiful Pyrex RW shallow bowl in turquoise.

I love those for eating pasta fazul, pasta e cecci and minstrone soup.

It pairs up beautifully with the green one I already have and @ 1$ i jumped on it like white on rice!

 I recently became a Clamato embassador and I received a good bag friday filled with cool Clamato stuff; a cooler, coasters,glasses , a rimming tray and some rimmer.
Yesterday I wanted a Caesar sooo bad, that I didn't even bother with the rimmer!
I'll blog more about my Clamato adventures another day!

Have fun and keep thrifting :)

    

Retro Tuesday: Vintage Xmas finds and Baking

Yesterday was one of the BEST short roadtrip ever! It was Xmas,the 4th of July and my birthday all rolled up into one! We went to Massena, NY wich is just 2 bridges accross Cornwall, Ont.

Our first visit to Massena was depressing vintage wise, but this time I was hot on the trail of New England Coffee seasonnal blends and Seasonnal Coffee Mate. We went to Hannaford and it was like an amusement park! More on that tomorrow or Thursday. Right now let's stay in retro mode because it is Tuesday afterall!

I found those Santa light cover at my favorite church basement . 25cents for 6

A vintage cookie tin and a honeycomb centerpiece decoration, a quarter each. I also found a clear Pyrex 043 lid for a quarter. I got those at St-Vinnies.

I saw this cute guy @ Corwall's Value Village....I left him there!

I picked up this instead....A lovely Pyrex RW platter in Laurel. The price was too good to be true, 1.99$  

In case you good folks wouldn't believe me,lol

The pricing people had no idea what they had, and that is perfectly fine with me :)

I don't know if these snowmen are vintage but they are really cute and at 1.00$ for a strand I could not leave it there. The Salvation Army opened a new store in Cornwall with a bargain loft....good deals are to be had!

 Ok last but not least....I was going through old photos this morning and found one of myself 30 years ago, YIKES! I remember that afternoon well, it was December and I decided to bake cookies with my Snoopy apron, bought in 1977 in Kennebunk, Maine. I stil have the apron by the way.
Too bad Polaroid pics don't really age well, my mom took that picture.

This is my mom's kitchen, she was soooo proud of it. This takes me back.

This afternoon I'll be making caramel corn and trying not to eat it all myself!

  

Here one minute gone the next

Okay...here I was sitting in my living room in pijamas....Enjoying a nice pb toast with a cuppa joe...Watching a rerun of The Cleaner...And I hear noise, big truck noise and I see this guy on my neighbor's lawn and then it hit me!

THE TREE GUY IS HERE!!!! I'm so excited and I cannot hide it,I'm about to loose control and I think I like it....

Right this minute, there's a guy in my tree with a chainsaw and ropes and he's slicing and dicing...

I should start planting my vegetable garden this afternoon, don't look for me that's where I'll be!

Yes I know some of you might think I'm very late for my veggie garden....Well the peas and the beans have been in the ground for quite a while and doing nicely so is the arugula.

If I look back way back in time, the specialists used to tell us that in Quebec it was safe to plant tomatoes ONLY after St-Jean Baptiste day which is June 24th, so I'm one week early!

I had my first Pyrex breakage yesterday and it was just like a sci-fi movie....I was washing one of those restaurant ware bowls, you know the white ones with a turquoise band with leaves (turquoise fern, I think)(It's the small one in the pic!) and I banged it on the side of the sink and it exploded in midair and in slomo !!! Glass all over the place, and the noise! Like a gun went off! Of course I cut myself :(

I wasn't really sad...I'm so much less materialistic now, you break well that's life! What can you do!