What a Thriftastic Day!

For the past 3 years, I've visited the Salvation Army in January and the results have been dismal. Really! You could hear crickets announcing the total lack of thrifty goodness.

But this morning I was so in need of thrift...I could feel it in my bones...the need to thrift...the need to see someone's crap and make it my treasure!

Tonight on Intervention...she started innocently enough...collecting a piece of Pyrex here and there....but she can't stop herself....She actually feels ill if she can't thrift! And stuff keeps pilling in her house and basement and garden shed and even in her father's house! A rare crossover Intervention/Hoarders...Miss V's addiction!

So here I am in the Salvation Army scoping the lay of the land....checking for treasures....

And I see some Pyrex Flameware casseroles; you know those with the removable handles, except that the handles are missing...rats!

But as much as I love Flameware I allready have some...so I left them there for a lucky thrifter.

A super cool Corelle Cornflower blue coffee pot (I left it there too)

Excuse the bad lighting...a really old Pyrex casserole with the etched lid....I nearly got it for my Dad but as he's always telling me he's in the big declutter fest of his life...I thought twice and left it there.

Ok a real bad pic. A close-up detail of the lid.

One of the tacliest kitchen gadget of all times...I give you the Rotato....Guess what? I left it there!

Here's my cart....I purged it before going to the cash....:(

I left the 2 yellow 503 fridgies. This is really freaky because those are the third and fourth ones I find in the same Salvation....And I left the clear casserole....

I wanted to take a pic of what I came home with but the lighting was too eeewww in my house...so probably tomorrow with the tartlet recipe...If I can translate it....It makes me soooo nervous....but I will give it a try...Pinky swear!

   My new fave show is the Big Bang Theory, it's hilarious! Ans surprisingly enough Canada's no 1 comedy...weird!

Retro Tuesday: Corticelli Pull Skein

Welcome to OMG it's so late it's almost Retro Wednesday but still tuesday and I was soooo lazy I still have a holiday hangover! Too much fat and sugar and not enough sleep and veggies!

I picked up this wonderful box of embroidery thread at the Salvation Army quite a while ago. I enjoy cross stitching and embroidery even if  I do it only a couple of times a year. It seems I never have the right color....we have no stores that carry yarn ot thread in my part of the boondocks and let's face it all the little mom and pop shops are being replaced by Starbuck's or Shopper's Drug Mart. So I was eager to grab it and run to the cash register. It's almost always the same cashier, probably from the Phillipinnes.
I would love to see her home because she aways makes a face when looking at my purchases...Is she paid a certain amount for each face she makes? Anyways, you know the face, wrinkly nose and upturned lips, you can almost hear: ewww! That is soooo tacky! GAG ME WITH A SPOON!

Here's the cover

She looks so happy! I want some too!

Close-up. Would you say it's from the 50's?

Look at that cornucopia of embroidery goodness!

The kicker is that my Great Granfather Rochon (Gran-mimi's daddy) worked for that company. He lived in Verdun, Qc on the shore of the St-Lawrence river where the fire station and the McDonald's now stand. He had a huge plot with several buidings and stables. He would get horses from Scotland for his stables. The horses arrived here with their grooms and if the grooms were married, their wives went along for the journey and would work in the house. and you know the Maple tarlets I showed in my last post? There's a very good chance the recipe came to Québec with one of the groom's wife.

Those tartlets were my Great Granfather's very favorite. He could down 2 or 3 in a sitting with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. We're talking  about 1920 or 1930. How's that for Retro Tuesday?

I'm in the process of translating that recipe so I could post it on Thursday (I hope).

It's not too late to visit my hilarious pal Tracy for more Retro Tuesday right here HERE!

You Sick of Turkey Yet?

Well I'm beginning to be sick of turkey. Since I made it on Dec 27th, we had some everyday classic style: turkey,stuffing,cranberry sauce yadayada....

And as soon as it was cool enough, I deboned it, vaccum packed some dark meat for Dad and some white meat for us (then I freezed it) and made stock with the carcass. But you know how it is....we still had a lot to eat!

So last night I decided to make Indian Butter Turkey! This is such a nice change from traditionnal leftover recipes.

Ok I put tape on the enveloppe so I could share it with you. I can find those in most supermarkets now. There is a ton of variety from chinese cuisine, indian cuisine to vietnamese delicacies. Those sauces are not only authentic but at about 1.50$  affordable as well.

You just need to follow the instruction on the packet for a fast and tasty meal; I served mine with basmati rice and steamed broccoli. Oh so tasty!

Last night we had a small New Year's eve get togheter so I brought 2 super sweet holiday desserts.

Those are Gran-mimi's recipe. Maple tartlets. 

And my mother-in-law's  fruit squares, shown here in a Charcoal Snowflake Pyrex casserole all ready to be gobbled up.

Today I played coach potato all day. I watched tv,I read, I napped you get the picture!

Have a great evening :)  

Bye Bye 2010

Well well well, another year gone by. Time does fly the older you get. That is a totally freaky concept!

2010 had it's bad moments: think PCOU (postal counter of unjoy), having to reconnect with family members I hadn't seen in 30 years when my mother passed-That is for another post. No wonder I hadn't seen them in 30 years, I saw a lot of judgement in their eyes, people you never knew the whole story.

But it had it's great moments too: I spent 2 weeks in Maine (one of my all-time favorite places), I got a job (PCOU), we have less debt than before, we finally re-did the hall, I lost 30 pounds, I made great friends, I feel so much better about myself both physically and mentally (it's true what they say about the 40's). The Dan meister and I are more in love today than 20 years ago.
I got interviewed about Pyrex for a Toronto newspaper, One of my pics made it to Explore on Flickr. I conquered roast beef,turkey and creme brulée. All nuggets of JOY!
 I measure my life in joy. If I mostly remember joy than the year was a success! I try to find joy everywhere I can, it's what keeps me going!

Xmas Eve appetizer: Cheese fondue with green salad. Vintage Xmas tablecloth, vintage salad plates, Pyrex bowls and zero alcool bubbly.

The 2010 vintage scene was amazing! But not a lot of Pyrex...

Oh well better luck next year!

For 2011 I want a great job where they will appreciate me and my work and where I will make a decent salary (no minimum wage). I might get a call in January....

I want to hop back on the weight loss bandwagon, my journey is not done!

I want to overhaul the flower borders; there's a lot of mayhem there, tons of weeds!

I want to read more, watch less TV (like that could happen!)

And redo the living room/dining room. We have a paint color chosen and a new vintage couch so we need to get a move on!

That's yours truly with the pie bear of Puzzle Mountain Bakery in Maine (near Poland Springs).

Wishing you a great New Year! May all your dreams,resolutions, projects and whatnot come true. May you have the strenght to follow trough.

But most of all Merry Thrifting and use your Pyrex!  

  

Xmas Rocked!

I was sooo spoiled this year; I must've been extra good ;)

I got a Sony Ereader touch edition. This is really cool. By the way Sony people....we are not just born knowing all the stuff you don't put in the user guide! It took me 2 hours to figure out where the instructions were and dowload a free book. The free books could use an update too, how about a free Stephen king or James Patterson? I also got the protective jacket with nightlight. 

An LLBean Paid sage comforter cover. This adds an extra layer of delicious warmth to the winter bed! garanteed to attract warm felines.

LLBean Evergreen flannel sheets. I can't wait to change the bed! lol

These will look soooo good with the comforter cover!

I also got gift cards; I'm going shopping! Oh yes! A paint by number painting, really cute with the sea and sandpipers, a turquoise dickies watch (couldn't find a pic on the web), makeup,skin care,multiple lip balms, art books, a scarf and gloves set (perfect for interviews), tons of chocolate. Delicious chocolate...thank god I'm spending much of my days in sweats! LOL

On the free ebooks I downloaded a christian novel (yes you read that right) out of curiosity. The only religious book I've read before was the bible. The novel is called the Potluck club it's an ok book, but I've never seen so much medling and judging, all in the name of the lord! I wouldn't be surprised if a woman got stoned, it is that judgemental. On the plus side it made me realize that I have an opened heart and I judge so much less than I thought.

While searching the net for those christian chocolates I'd seen in Massena I found these....Testamints.

 http://www.christiancandy.com/ 

They have a distribution office in Canada and even some commercials. Who knew?

I don't think christian candy would enhance my faith.

What about you? Would candy affect your faith? How about a novel?

Retro Tuesday: The bread stuffing story

It's funny how simple stories have a way of sticking with me. I'm writing it today so I won't forget it. It really started about 15 years ago but it is really a lot older than that; make it in the 40's.

So when we moved in the burbs, my mother in law would come over on Xmas eve and stay until New Year. She was the queen of the Xmas meal, waking up at 5 am on Xmas morning and starting the turkey.

I was really bewildered by this as my mother had never made turkey (or roasts) so the whole process totally panicked me. To up the anty my head was full of stories of ill cooked turkeys; think National Lapoom Xmas vacation or even my paternal grandmother uttering : it's dry! Like a death penalty.

My mother in law would get up every 30 minutes and baste the bird with strong tea and then go back to her nap. Near the end of the cooking time she would prepare the bread stuffing which consisted of regurlar stretchy bread (wonderbread), onions and poultry seasonning and maybe some chicken stock. She never mesured, which freaked me out some more and if i would ask questions on the quantities the answers were: like so or a lot. No help at all!
Anyways the turkey was always perfect (never dry, you would've like it Gran-mimi) and the stuffing delicious! I remember hating the stuffing with a passion growing up because Gran-Mimi added inside stuff, you know gizzards and neck and eeewww crap like that. My father thrives on this stuff by the way :)

So since she can't cook anymore, I've taken over turkey duty; but to tell the truth I never cook it for Xmas. I cook it in late January or whenever I feel like it. I don't want to be tied down to certain Holiday foods. My turkey never tastes like hers and it can be dry at times.... And this year I'd bought a freezer to oven bird so I could cook it whenever I feel like it.
 
So we are over at my Dad's and after a delicious meal of spaghetti Carbonara (I swear he makes the BEST in the world), he started telling us stories of when he was a boy. Of course you didn't waste anything back then; so all the leftover bread would go in a cotton bag that Gran-Mimi had embroided with the word BREAD when she was a girl. When she had enough bread; she would make either bread soup, bread crumbs or bread pudding.
My dad was quick to add that as a boy he didn't like bread soup. It was a lot like french onion soup minus the cheese.

 So right then and there I decided that I was going to cook the turkey the next day and make stuffing with rock hard bread that I've had for a while waiting to be blitzed in bread crumbs. I softened some celery and onions in olive oil, dumped them in my bowl of dried bread pieces, added some Bell seasonning (my poultry seasonning of choice), salt,pepper, garlic powder and moistened with chicken stock and some of the turkey drippings. I poured it in a trusty Pyrex casserole and in the oven it went, for 1 hour. 30 minutes covered with foil and 30 minutes without to crunch up the top.  

   

It was delicious!

So for this success I have to thank 2 great ladies: Gran-Mimi and my mother in law Réjeanne.

So for more Retro Tuesday fun head on over to Jersey @ http://www.crazysuburbanmom.com/ 

Almost Xmas!

This is the first year I feel so good @ Xmas. I feel calm, serene, in control, totally in the zone and full of Xmas joy. I think I finally realized that Xmas will never be perfect and I'm not stressed anymore.

Yesterday I baked some creme brulée, I've never made some, but I'm crossing my fingers it was super easy! It's for Veronica my step daughter, it's her favorite dessert and she orders it every chance she gets.

Here's all the ingredients and what do you know? I decided the best dishes to cook it in was the beautiful Pyrex Pixies.

Here they are ready for hot water for the bain marie. Thank god for food network! Watching all the shows helps with my technique.... 

Here's Veronica in all her Xmas glory. When I found this pic earlier this week, I cracked up I couldn't help myself! The hat and scarf are really meant for pets, My cats don't want to wear them, and I've tried numerous times....This was taken 5 years ago. I asked her permission before posting this,lol.

This morning, bright and early I baked this delicious french quatre quart (pound cake) with almonds for tomorrow. We are spending Xmas evening with friends (Like a mega sleep over) and I was asked to bring dessert...Of course this being Xmas, I couldn't just bring one thing!  

 So I'm bringing: The almond cake, Xmas shortbread, caramel corn, raspberry drop cookies and pfeffernusse (the round cookies in the box). These are my totaly fave Xmas treat!

I finally finished the tree last night. I realized that we bought a mutant totally uneven tree!

It is what it is.

We don't smoke but I love vintage ashtrays....What can a girl do? Here are my 2 faves: the brown one that doubles  as a magazine rack (1$ at a garage sale 10 years ago) and the bowling Hull heart ashtray, bought last year for 2$ at Finnegan's flea in Hudson.

Here's Henry hanging out with Santa and one of our dearly departed cats; Polpetonne (meatball), he was the nicest cat EVER and would fall asleep in my arms.

Dan is on vaccum duty, after it's shower time and the presents need to go under the tree :)

Merry Xmas to everyone!

P.s: Xmas will never, ever, ever be perfect, so take a chill pill ;)