tuesday tit for tat: antique & flea market shopping.

this past sunday i spent the better part of the day with one of my favourite girls, jules. she's the best. we made plans to grab breakfast, hit up a flea market and a few antique shops in the sweetest little town called 'jordan village', which is 20 minutes from home. we enjoyed eggs benny for two at 'butterballs', a little diner in the hollow of the village, and chat chitted about paint colours for the home she will be moving into in the next little bit. we have plans to refinish some furniture, which should be interesting and good fun for sure. once we were full, we headed next door to the flea market. besides the obvious reasons i love flea markets (treasures, bargains and oddities) it's the characters not only working, but attending the flea market, that never let me down. you're bound to see at least one mullet, two if you're lucky. although we didn't score on the mullet front, jules walked away with some vintage turquoise door pulls for one of the pieces we plan to work on. 
i was happy with just the people watching.

we moved onto some of the antique shops in the village, and with no list of things to look for, or specific purchases in mind, i kind of soaked everything up even more than i usually do. it was such a perfect, sunny day, that even the buildings themselves, and their details, added to the whole day. the entire process of shopping for antiques is my favourite kind of shopping. when you find something that no one else will have, or something that will look perfect in a certain spot, and you get it for a deal so good you're convinced you have stolen it, i can't tell you what that does to me. ps-i want tin ceiling tiles in the kitchen of my big girl home. and maybe my bedroom. and the bathroom too.

we made our way to an antique shop in 'vineland', appropriately named 'vineland antiques'. it is my new favourite antique store, and was our most successful stop of the day. in a big ol' house, everything was displayed perfectly for our viewing pleasure. tidy, clean, and organized in small collections, it was easy to fall in love with everything in the store; from furniture, to vintage jewelry, glassware and unique bits & bobs. i spotted a white vintage mirror, trimmed with wooden moulded roses. i'm not sure how old it is, but it's not in perfect shape by any means. the mirror has started to go spotty, and there are pieces of the moulding that have come away, but i love how all of that adds to the character. for now, it hangs on the wall at the stairs landing, but will one day work perfectly in a white on white powder room. 

again, in my big girl house.

because they only wanted $22 for all six, i stole a set of 10" dinner plates made by 'sovereign  potters canada' from 1945. they are so pretty, i had no other choice. they look great with the rest of my dinnerware and are the perfect set to have out this spring and summer. jules purchased some pyrex bowls and a sweet little soap dish, all in all, a very successful day if you ask me.

  

shopping tips & tricks: fill your home with things you love.

keep an open mind and be willing to scavenge like it's your job. sometimes the best stuff is buried beneath tons of shit, so sift through thoroughly, opening boxes, looking under shelves and in drawers.

don't be afraid to take something home that you aren't sure what you will do with right away. if you love it, and can afford it, bring it home and you will find a use for it. you may never come across something like it again.

when you have a plan, and know what you are looking for, you can usually find it. don't hesitate to ask the staff if there is anything in their storage you may want to look at. once while looking for a dining room set, we asked the owner if they had anything else we could see. he ended up taking us around the block to an old barn that was full of furniture that didn't fit in the store. unreal.

antique dealers shop for new merchandise regularly, so if you have exhausted all options, and still can't find what you're looking for, give the staff your contact info and tell them what you're looking for. i did this while hunting for vases for the centrepieces at our wedding, and ended up with the best vases of my collection all because i asked for someone to help me find it.

i ♥ breakfast for dinner: ma's ham & spinach strata.

i'm going to call it sunday brunch, as that's when most normal people would eat such an animal, but we love breakfast & brunch for dinner, so that's when we got down and dirty with not one, but two, of my 'ma's ham & spinach strata'. a 'strata' is basically a layered casserole/quiche-like dish, made with a mixture of eggs, veggies, meat and sometimes bread. my mom has been making this recipe since we were wee, and it was always such a big deal when she did. it's delicious, fresh and not completely terrible for you, but is an absolute pain in the ass to make, hence why it was always a treat when she pulled one (or two) out of the oven on sundays. over a couple of white wine spritzers, my ma and i whipped up two strata's for sunday dinner yesterday. buon appetito.

how we do: ma's ham & spinach strata

{serves 6 italians or 10 mangia cakes.}

prep time: 30 minutes

cook time: 1 hour

rest time: 15 minutes

eating time: fast enough that you're complaining about how 

full you are before you even finish

you will need:

1 x 397 g package of puff pastry

2 x 300 g packages of frozen spinach

6 large or 8 small eggs

250 g  of cheddar cheese

1 large red pepper

1 pound of shaved black forest ham

salt & pepper

10" spring form pan

rolling pin

pastry brush

strainer

*pop bob marley's 'gold' album on. 

when it's 22°and the sun is shining on march 18th, you have no choice.

i'm going to preface this post with an apology for the amount of pictures, but with the number of steps involved to make this beast, i felt it was necessary. preheat your oven to 350°. getting your ingredients prepped is the key to making this process as smooth and painless as possible. this includes grating your cheese, slicing your red pepper into thin rings, prepping the eggs and spinach.

when i asked my mom why she uses frozen spinach over fresh, she basically told me 'because she does'. so just use the frozen shit and don't ask any questions. take your packages of spinach out of the freezer the night before to defrost. once it has thawed, you can remove it from the packaging and place in a strainer while you prep your other ingredients. once that's done, come back to your spinach. you want to remove as much water from the spinach as humanly possible, which requires a little elbow grease. take your spinach in handfuls, and squeeze the hell out of it, until it stops dripping. if your spinach is wet when you make your strata, the water will come out while cooking, and make for a shlip shloppy strata. barf.

now that all your ingredients are ready, you can start working on your puff pasty. keep your pastry in the fridge right up until the time you need to use it, you want it nice and chilled. flour your counter and rolling pin, and roll out your pastry until it is large enough to cover the bottom and up the sides of your spring form pan, without being tight. ensure you have about an inch of pastry over the edge of your pan, so you can pinch it to the lid you will make in a bit. there is no need to grease your pan, as the pastry is 99.9% butter and will not stick. the only place it actually will stick, is your thighs. and boy does it stick real good.

you will build two full layers of  all your ingredients, so do your best separating everything evenly in two. basically half your cheese, ham and pepper, 1 package of spinach and half the eggs per layer. take your eggs and whip them in a bowl with a little salt and pepper. your strata starts with a layer of black forest ham, then your grated cheese, the spinach, the egg mixture and the red peppers on top. season with salt and pepper and start your layers over again.
ham. cheese. spinach. eggs. red peppers. salt & pepper. delish.

with your layers complete, you can roll out a lid for your strata. basically the same steps as the base you made, making sure it's big enough to cover the entire top of your pan, with enough extra to pinch the two layers together. you almost want to roll them together so they form a seal that won't leak or let too much air out while it's cooking. at the same time, you don't want too much excess pasty, so trim off any longer pieces and make it as uniform as you can. with a sharp knife, make a few slits or "vents" as ma calls them on the top to allow any steam to escape while cooking. without the vents, your strata would be mushier than a full diaper. if you wanna get crafty, you can use your extra pastry and some cookie cutters to make cut outs to decorate the top of your strata. my mom has used the same clover cutters since the beginning of time, and it just wouldn't taste the same without them.

pop your strata in the oven for 1 full hour, so the egg cooks and sets, and until your pastry turns lovely and golden and crisp. after an hour, you can take it out and let it rest for 15 minutes. you want everything to stop cooking and have a chance to cool for a bit before you start cutting that sucker up and letting all the juices run out. this step is the difference between a fluffy, flaky strata, and one that is completely and utterly caca.

while it's hot, slice up some nice generous pieces (don't be shy) and serve with breakfast wieners, peameal bacon and fresh tomato slices. i like to slather some "frank's hot sauce" on mine (i put that shit on everything). it's buttery, crisp, fresh and light, and tastes like sundays growing up at my parents house. i love it, and i hope you love it too.

pretty pinterest things: st.patrick's day edition.

with so much inspiration at my fingertips, i have no idea how i let these last few days fly by without getting in the kitchen and baking something up for st.patty's day. i almost feel guilty going in to work empty handed, but those bastards get something every holiday, i can't possibly whip my martha out every damn time. paulie even said he needs some rainbow bit cupcakes with rainbow bit icing in his life, so i will probably spend tomorrow morning making those and drinking beer. yes, i said morning. it's st.patty's, you can drink whenever the hell you want. maybe put the beer in the cupcakes? now we're talkin'.

 if you're in need of some last minute inspiration, or just to remind yourself how much time other people have on their hands, here's some of my favourite st.patty's 'pins' i would have attempted, had i not laid on the couch and watched 3 hours of television last night (after a spin class and pooch walk mind you, i'm not that lazy).

{from left to right} shamrock shake shooters. /wet-on-dry shamrocks. / st.patty's marshmallows. / 

mint chocolate fudge pie. / chocolate iced cookies. / grasshopper mint chocolate bark.

me lucky charms: a wee st.patty's day mani.

i think i looked at 648 st.patty's day mani's before i decided to just try my own. i wanted something cute & colourful, 
with a st.patty's day nod and matte finish, and after some fiddle fartin' around, this is what i came up with. 

aye sha shy sha shy! 

(i don't know why i say this whenever i think of anything irish, but i do.)

how we do: st.patty's day mani

you will need:

clear base coat

matte (or clear) top coat 

green nail polish

colours for your rainbow~whatever combo you like

white nail art pen

q-tips for clean up

start by choosing which colours you want to use for your rainbow. i was happy with only a few colours, and chose red, orange, yellow and teal blue. i made sure i liked how they looked with the green i was using on all my other nails, and choose the order i would paint them in.

step 1. start with fresh, clean nails that you have filed and shaped to your liking. paint a clear coat onto all of them.

step 2. paint 2 coats of green polish onto every nail except your ring finger-this will to be your rainbow nail.

step 3. create your rainbow by painting stripes of your chosen colours. i couldn't do this step & photograph it at the same time--i apologize, but i know you can do it! if taping off the lines and painting them is easier for you than freehand, go for it. i tried, but found it faster and easier to do them without the tape. i also like how it didn't turn out perfectly, which is hard for even me to believe. i made the last stripe of my rainbow, the teal blue colour, a little wider than the others so the clouds wouldn't cover the entire stripe. paint a coat of matte top coat (or clear top coat if you want them shiny) over all your nails. i have fallen in love with the "sephora by opi" matte coat. it dries quickly, and lasts 5 days without chips or scratches. beauty effin' product ($12 at sephora).

step 4. once your matte coat (or top coat) is dry, you can get all cloudy up in here. i used a white "sally hansen nail art pen" ($7 at shopper's drug mart) to create an outline of the clouds on the tip of my nail.

step 5. once the outline is dry, you can fill it in and repeat this step to ensure full coverage.

*note: the reason i applied my top coat before the clouds and not after was purely a trial and error discovery. the first time i attempted this, i made the clouds and then applied my matte top coat.  i don't know if it's the nail art pen, or the matte coat, but the combo of the two resulted in the clouds cracking and splitting apart. not nice. not happy. you mani, & you learn.

i hope you love them as much as i do.

and if you don't get lucky this st.patty's day, your nails sure as shit did!

tuesday tit for tat: keep your fleurs friggen' fresh.

i'm going to try and make tuesdays more fun with what i'm calling 'tuesday tit for tat'.  if i learn something worth sharing, i'm gonna give it to ya straight up--sharing is caring, so be excited. i figured i would start with something i know...and i know flowers. while working as a floral designer a few years back (i miss it a lot, and often) i learned a handful of tips & tricks when it comes to keeping your flowers fresh, and for as long as possible. the difference between having fresh flowers in my home and not, is actually quite amazing. walking past them in the morning or having them there during meals, especially during the colder months, is just that little extra somethin' somethin' that makes me happy, it's the little things right? so here ya go...my dutch roots are just giddy about this.

i couldn't resist picking up a couple bunches of lovely white tulips from the market this weekend, and at $3.99/bunch, you can't possibly go wrong. i spend more money on a bottle of wine, and that only lasts...well, let's be honest, it doesn't last long. i made sure to pick the bunches with the tightest buds, and checked that none of the stems were broken or badly bruised. once i got them home, i removed all the packaging, and laid them out. choose the vase you want to display your flowers in, and fill it 3/4 full, having your vase ready to go will help you get your flowers into the water as soon as they are freshly cut. this is key, as you don't want them hanging out in the air to dry up and start to seal. this makes it difficult for the stems to drink up all the water they need. start by removing all the leaves that would sit below the water line. leaves that sit in the water will form bacteria, which your stems drink up, and causes them to parish faster.  

once all your lower leaves have been removed, you can organize your stems into the shape you are going for. if you want your flowers even and compact, line them up by bloom. if you prefer them helter skelter and natural, line them up so the stems are even, and hold it up to your vase to make sure you like where they will sit. with my flowers being all the same, and to suit the vase i was using, i wanted them as tidy and as even as possible, so i lined up the blooms.

*tip for fresh cut tulips* before cutting your stems, add a shot of either vodka, gin or whatever clear alcohol you may have into your vase of water. tulips continue to grow even after they have been cut, and unfortunately, they don't grow nice and straight. adding a shot of clear booze keeps them from going all willy-nilly. i know, total opposite to what booze does to me too. rule of thumb: one for me, one for you, a step worth doing for the shot alone. give your stems a nice fresh cut with sharp scissors or a knife, and on as much of an angle as you can. an angled cut prevents the stems from sitting flush on the bottom of your vase, which makes it harder for them to drink, and it increases the surface area that your stem can drink from. i know. who knew?

now you can arrange your flowers in the vase the way you like. i prefer them as full and clean as possible, which is why i chose simple white tulips, perfect for spring. they look lovely in this turquoise vase i found at an antique shop in my neighbourhood, and couldn't be prettier.

a few more tips & tricks.

every 2-3 days, dump out the water and wash your vase with a splash of bleach and hot water. don't use soap, as it gets stuck in the cracks and crevasses of your vase, which becomes a breeding ground for bacteria. bleach will kill anything in the vase, keeping your water cleaner, longer. give your fleurs a fresh cut before putting them back in the vase.

unlike most potted houseplants or planters, you want to keep your fresh cut flowers out of direct sunlight, and in the coolest place you can. sunlight heats up the water, causing bacteria to form, again, depreciating their lifespan.

flowers that have the longest shelf life: carnations (i know how some people feel about them, but i have really come to like them done in a simple, monochromatic posey), alstromeria and chrysanthemum's will last you 1.5-2 weeks easily. peonies, lilies, roses and daisies seem to last around a week before they get all funky. 

don't wait for your man (or old lady) to buy you flowers to have them in your life. for some of us, it happens few and far between, so buy them for yourself and love every minute of them. hey! a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. hell, they may even get the hint and start buying them for you more often. but probably not.