Preserving

Whoa time flies!

I have been on a progressive return to work and it is okay. Not the big love affair with my job, but I could be doing a lot worse!

People are actually nicer to me....Maybe they're scared I will implode or something....

Here's what I've been up to:

I realized I had 2 big celery bunches that were near the point of no return.....

I chopped it, and bagged it to be frozen to add to soups.

I dehydrated the celery leaves. They will add a lot of flavor to

soups ans stews.

 I regularly buy bunches of dill but I find they go icky really fast.

This time I just threw the leftovers in the dehydrator!

 Here's the celery bits all ready for the freezer.

 Do you know Tasty? It's on Facebook and on YouTube.

They have really fast and tasty recipes, this one is eggplant rollatini with

ricotta cheese and lemon zest! DELICIOUS!

 I still had a lot of raw almonds from my Dad's fridge...

I made some homemade Tamari Almonds

 Easy and tasty!

Here's a link for the recipe  

Nothing new on the thrifting front....

Oh well! 

Havea great evening !

Happy Easter!!!

I wish you all a very Happy Easter! May you day be filled with joy, peace and of course food!

I also wished I had seasonal pictures to share with you ...It snowed here yesterday....and we are knee deep in painting the kitchen!

In between coats....we clean, purge and pack!

I made quite the discovery on Friday while cleaning a shelf in front....

                                         All these homemade liqueurs! Blackberry, orange, strawberry,
                                         coffee, red currant and xmas cordial!
                                         Of course it was my duty to taste them all to see if some had
                                         gone bad! I threw out 2 : the orange liqueur was soapy (EW)
                                          and the xmas cordial was lumpy! and the taste was off as well!
                                         

                                           I was looking for wrapping packing paper in Staples on Wednesday
                                           and saw my favorite Tassimo flavor! Pumpkin Spice Latte!
                                           And the price was just right too $4.99 a package instead of $12.99,
                                           So I grabbed 3 packs. DELICIOUS! Unfortunately, they are discontinued...
                                           I don't know what will happen in the Tassimo/Keuring battle....
                                           Tassimo makes a mean cappucino and a meaner latte but there are less
                                            varieties....
 

                                                    As mentionned before we are painting the kitchen.
                                                     here you can see the before color (green) and

                                                    Here is the new color; grey.
                                                    We felt that the green had turned and would turn prospective buyers
                                                     away....
                                                     I will share more pictures as this evolves.

                                                     Don't eat too much chocolate!

Crafty TCB

Well, Xmas is over and just a warm fuzzy memory and the New Year is just a stone throw away.

I cooked and baked so much that the skin on my entire body felt covered in flour...

Everybody appreciated and got their seasonnal goodies...

                                     Henry found a new friend Stella of Elf on a Shelf  fame.
                                       I sure hope he behaves!

I made a fresh and lovely lunch of grilled shrimp and quinoa salad

 

                                                   And Dan made this lovely super cute birch tree for Dad.
                                                The Etsy shop might take a new direction!
                                                 I'm thinking all kinds of birch accessories!

                                                  So for now , good night and sleep tight!

Getting ready

Ever since Halloween is behind us, I have Xmas on my mind....

I don't know how I would plan it if I was living in the U.S. because Thanksgiving is still to come...

So I have made a food/goodies schedule to keep everything under control!

It is flexible (of course) and in the end if something doesn't get done, well...It happens!

So tonight in a rare burst of energy, I made my cranberry sauce. Check!

I tweek the recipe on the bag.

Here it is:

2 cups (450 ml) cranberries (fresh or frozen), 1/2 cup (125ml) water, 1/2 cup (125ml) maple syrup, zest of one orange and the juice of 1/2 an orange.

I put everything in the medium sized sauce pan and brought to a gentle boil . Continue to cook until the berries start to pop, reduce until thickened a bit. It was then that I added some Jack Daniel's , about an ounce or 2.....I hope it will give an interesting taste!

 Cool, then put in a jar or a Tupperware, label and freeze. Or keep in fridge for about a week .

One down! I hope to keep posting my Holidays recipes to inspire you in your celebrations.

Have a great evening!

Yum!

I had no lunch and had some errands to do...

so I ended up in Faubourg Ste-Catherine (AKA Cockroach Town) with a huge appetite...

I wanted fried anything, you know hormones....

But I saw this...

 

The guy was actually making homemade ramen noodles!

 

That is very rare, especially in a has been dinky food court....

 

 

 

This is number 4 pork and vegetables

 

Not only the make their noodles for each orders but they also make their own hot sauce which happens to be delicious!

 

 

It was hot, homemade and filling! A great deal for $6.95.

 

The name of the joint is Yuki Ramen.

Chinese Ramen, not the same as japenese ramen. Equally delicious but quite different.

 

I will be back and real soon!

 

Retro Wednesday 'coz everyday should be retro!!!

I want to welcome all my new followers : Mick, Thas Nifty, Keetha, SuKnitWitty, Cinnamon and Sass, JanJan, Jewelry Girl, Concrete'n' Primroses, Deborah, Patrice (Dahlin'). Welcome every one!!! I apologize for being a bad hostess...:(

I spotted some gems in LHJ 1941 (Ladie's Home Journal) that I wanted to share with you.

We all know that a lady had to be stylish even during the war...so it was natural to make one's hats....how nice of LHJ to give a lady some hat ideas and the pattern numbers...

I enlarged this one to give you a better view...My faves (funniest) are the second from left with the big flap in the back and the green crocheted number at right.

The red one with blue detail I call Inverted Robin Hood.

In this last pic they all look pretty standard to me except the pink one which looks like it's made with an old bath towel. I may not like the hats and I would look stupid in all of them, but I have to praise these very resourceful and couregeous women who could do anything with a needle and kept their family and their countries going during these very hard times.

Hats off to you Ladies!