Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is such a magical day for me....

It is the expectation, the waiting, the magic.....

December flew by...with us running every where, adulating a lot more than we like to....

Decisions, decisions.....and ...wait! More decisions!

We started packing today because we can start moving things on January 6th.....and that is just around the corner.....

YIKES! there will be a lot of storage place in the new house, such as a dedicated towels and sheets closet....and a laundry room....oh my with cabinets for the soap etc....

so 3 crates of summer sheets and comforters and 2 boxes of Pixies, 501s and butter dishes (Pyrex of course).

 The Clear 501 and 502 were a gift to my Dad and I decided to keep them

and get the butterfish.

So for now no more packing....just enjoying the family , the cats

and the food......

Happy Xmas Eve!

It happens

Everyday I want to post, everyday I get sucked in the Facebook Group Pyrex and All Things Vintage....

God oh God, this is sooooo addictive!

Here in Quebec, winter is still here.....Spring seems to be very shy!

 That's a picture of the yard on Friday night.

Here Meghan is make sure everything is secure outside....

such a sweet soul.

I have started exercising regularly. We have a great opportunity at work to take yoga classes 3 times a week for a really, really good price.
so I have been taking advantage of that. 3 days , 3 teachers 3 different styles...and I love it!

I also found out that I have 8 classes left from a package I paid for in November....Yay!

So last Thursday I took a stretching class and That was wonderful as well. I didn't sweat too much!

I have been big batch cooking too. Last weekend we, yes WE made 120 pork dumplings....

It was super fun and delicious!

Unfortunately the pictures I took yesterday for this post haven't downloaded yet....so I will finish this
tomorrow...I hope!

Finally! a picture of my tamale making session....

It was really hard work, but very delicious!

I froze a bunch!

Today I went driving.....for 2 hours. Still on my learner's permit at 51 !

I feel this is the right time, I am very confident and the driving is quite smooth.

I donated 2 boxes of cookbooks and didn't bring anything back...

That is always a plus....

Still working on my giveaway prizes, 

yes there will be more than one!

Stay safe and keep on thrifting!

Balls of meat

Yes ok that is a strange title and could generate improper thoughts....

As usual every year around this time I make Tourtiere; the traditionnal french canadian meat pie.

The dough was ready and so was the meat...

When I realized that I had no small aluminum foil plates left.....

I had a couple of large ones...but no small. I then remembered that last year I ran out and had to use Pyrex Pixies to make the pies.

So I used my large foil plates then the Pyrex Pixies....By then I still had meat and dough!

That is when I came up with balls of meat!

Actually tourtiere meat encased in pie crust.

       They were delicious! That is thrifty ingenuity incarnate, yep!

       Today I went to the dollar store and picked up 16 small aluminum foil pie plates, I like to be prepared....But Dan doubts I will remember where I stashed them next December!

We will see. I will surely do another meat pie post....and I will make some french canadian balles of meat for sure!

Be well, be safe and be thrifty!

Leftover KD

For years, leftover KD made me want to throw up....really.

But a couple of months ago with the mac 'n' cheese craze I decided to try some ideas and fiddle with it to see what I could come up with.

1) I brown some ground chuck that I add to the KD along with some chopped parsley
2) the next day I pre-heat the oven to 350 and take some individual baking dishes (AKA Pyrex Pixie casseroles) ....
3) I mix the leftover KD with milk and cubed cheese (the quantity is up to you)
4) I pour the mix in the casseroles and top with italian bread crumbs mixed with a bit of EVOO to moisten.
5) I bake it for 25-30 minutes until the breadcrumbs are browned.

TADA!

 

And this is the only way I'll eat leftover KD.

It made a mighty fine Monday supper, nom!

More signs that 'this the season!

Sorry about the lack of posts. We had a weird week full of surprises most of them not so good.

I was really glad that we had our first snow which wrecked havock on the roads....I lost my temporary crown and had to go back to the dentist. On the same day the train going home was 1 hour late....AAAAAGGGHHHH! And they never bother telling us anything.

We had to go to the vet, another urinary track infection (it's the food it seems) and had to emergengy gift shop.

But today we just stayed home and fiddled with stuff...Xmas lights...This year it's only old fashionned lights and blowmolds.  No pics yet.

Later this afternoon I made meat pies; one of my big Christmas traditions. I never remembered to buy little aluminum pie plats so of course I ran out!

Pyrex to the rescue!

In Pixie casseroles! How fab is that? I'm letting them cool as I write so I can wrap them in foil and freeze them for later!

Soooooo cute!

We have some for supper and it was delish as usual.

Xmas lights? Check!

Meat pies? Check!

Things are going smoothly!

The Ogilvy xmas window is up and running!

My parents would bring me and I would stare and point for what seems like forever.

This year it's called The Mill in the Forest. All the animals are Steiffel. My dad remembers it from when he was young.

The fogs are my favories. The image is fuzzy because they move.

I also have a soft spot for these baby deers.

I cannot help smile when I see people passing by and stopping to look at this beautiful window which has been part of Montreal's Xmas charm for more than 70 years.

Have a great night.

Gotta go wrap those meat pies.....

Finally!

I was lucky enough to get to use a computer yesterday (In between soakings...)

I was able to upload pics and save them.

Then I spent some quality time with flickr! That felt soooo good!

So this is the first cupboard. It's still missing the glass door.

I think it's too bad the pic doesn't show the real color of the beadboard (What can you do?)

I plan to rotate the pieces, but this will have to wait... Next week maybe!

I'm still missing the fourth party pan (the smallests casserolles), I think it's grey ?!? I have never seen it in person...Only in the Pyrex bible!

I tried with the Pixies and the small refrigeretor dish but I didn't like it as much. I love going in the kitchen and seeing the Pyrex!!!

Pool update: There is NO pool update this morning...LOL! I'm so sore all over and my breath smells of chlorine!!!

Later

Homemade deliciousness....

Yesterday I woke with the NEED to bake, to make something delicious....

I had been toying with the idea of sorbet lately, partly because of the upcoming garage sale there was talk of selling the ice cream machine...
Dan gave it to me like 10 years ago and I only used it 2 or 3 times. I wasn't too crazy about their recipes (They had raw eggs....eurk!). I don't dig eating a bowl of salmonella!
So I was watching Chef at Home last week and Chef Michael Smith was strawberry sorbet and it looked delicious....And I happened to have in my freezer an unopened bag of 4 field berry mix! And a bag of aging granny smith apples....So I made apple sauce, cooled it. Defrosted the berry mix, zapped it with my immersion blender with 1/2 teaspoon salt, the juice of one lemon and 1 1/2 cups od sugar and the cooled apple sauce. I then proceeded to dump the whole kit'n'kaboodle in the ice cream machine for 45 min.....after I stored the sorbet in a barely used Tupperware ice cream container. 2 things people! Use the things you have and no way the ice cream maker in going to the garage sale! LOL
I also made a simple Quatre-Quarts (french version of pound cake) and added 1/2 cup buttermilk in the batter (another thing I have in my fridge that I have to use....)

So a slice of cake, a scoop of sorbet,a dollop of whipped topping and I am in heaven! Especially served in Pyrex!Lol!

That was a delicious dessert and thrifty too 'coz I had all the ingredients on hand(and some I had to use ASAP)

I read in a Flickr group post (A slow year) that some people are going refrigerator LESS. Yes that's right, getting rid of the fridge and using only a freezer and a cooler. I am SO not there!

I don't know if I'll ever be!

On another topic...Today is church basement day! I'm looking forward to see what treasures I can find!

And I found a new church basement which I will be visiting tomorrow! Goodtimes!

Lentil curry in Pyrex

This is a picture of last night supper, delicious lentil curry served in an avocado Pixie casserole with Nan bread fresh from the oven. And you know what? My love insisted that I take a picture to put in my blog! I say!

Besides that, we're painting the bathroom... This morning we struggled with stinky oil primer...It is nearly dried, so the first coat is minutes away....

In 5 days the Brimfield bound minivan will be departing...I can't wait...Oh the possibilities....Pictures of Pyrex dancing in my head!!! In case you are wondering about Brimfield....http://www.brimfield.com/index.htm