mixed march bag.

with march coming to an end, i thought i would share a clusterfuck of instagram pics from over the last wee bit. it's fun to see how these little collages change as the seasons pass. january and february seem dull and bland compared to this month...by july, i'll be burning retinas.

hope you're having a happy weekend!

crocuses in bloom. red. tree lined. good egg. guess who? two lips. before/after. tuna melt. hot shit.

spring fever.

my animals are not the only ones going stir crazy with spring fever (india literally bolts out the door if you're not out it within 1.4 milliseconds, and lennon has made our open bedroom window his permanent home). i think everyone is feeling the effects of the sunshine and beautiful weather we have had over the last two weeks.

maxi's in march? sure. why the hell not.

i have even reached into the back of my closet for some summer dresses and skirts a few times this week, only to become even more excited for the permanent warm weather to come. here are just a few of the items i have a hairy eyeball on, that need to make their way into my closet. i am loving all the prints, bold colours and the tropical feel to everything coming out for spring.

{from left to right} h&m satin floral print dress. /modcloth hibiscus messenger bag. /essie spring 2012 collection. /

h&m yellow sleveless dress. /modcloth bow wedges. /forever 21 lacquered wing cuff. /forever 21 mixed coloured bangles.

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.