Musings from the furniture warehouse

We're about a month out from closing on our new cottage and not only is excitement building, but the stash of stuff is too.

It's a little overwhelming, but in a good way. In the way that turning one's living room into a furniture warehouse might feel. 

Here's Coco, furniture warehouse supervisor extraordinaire.

And here's a lovely vignette of green table top items Coco is supervising:

Cute retro 80's tea set with salt & pepper shaker - $9.99 at The Village.  Table runner - $3.99 at Sally Ann. 

More vignettes to come - stay tuned!

Chillllaaaaayyyyyyyy

Crockpot Recipe - Spicy Turkey Chili

Here's an easy and awesome crockpot recipaaaay for making spice-ayyyyyyy turkaaaayy chilllaaaayyyy, and it won't cost a ton of monaaayyyy.  My family loves it.  Enjoy!

You'll need:

• Crockpot
• Big fry pan
• Beverage of choice to savour while cooking - mood depending and appropriateness factor as well. 
• Approximately 1 lb. lean ground turkey
• 1 onion, chopped 
• Beans and plenty of them. I use 1 can of black beans, 1 can of red kidney beans, and 1 can of white kidney beans. Typically the 540 ml.19 oz cans. Drain and rinse them all. 
• Drained (or mainly drained) can of diced tomatoes (herbed or not, whatever tickles your fancy)

Here's the basic supplies thus far and yes, feel free to go no-name and save a few bucks. Spend your savings on wine, Starbucks or whatever tickles your fancy. :

Other stuff to get out:

• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• Red pepper flakes (anywhere from 1 tsp to 1 tbsp, depending on how spicy you want it)
• ground coriander (1 tsp but more if you want)
• ground cumin (1 tsp but more if you want)
• chicken stock (approx. 2 cups)
• 2 cups frozen corn
• 1 can tomato paste (no clue how many ml/oz it is, but it's the small one)
• spicy chilies if you have them handy (green ones or my favourite, ONE smoked chipotle pepper)

What you need to do:

1. Heat oil over medium heat. Add turkey, onion, red pepper flakes, coriander and cumin. Cook until meat no longer pink.

Here it is cooking - can you smell those onions? Yeah baby!

Then, using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat (onion etc.) (but not the grease!!!) to the crockpot. Isn't that nice not having to do the old "let's drain the ground beef grease" game?
2. Add all the beans, tomatoes, corn, tomato paste and chicken stock (plus optional chilies) to the crockpot and stir gently to combine. Don't smush the beans!
3. Cover and either refrigerate to cook next day or later, or go ahead and fire up the crockpot. You can cook on low 6 to 10 hours or on high 3 to 4 hours.

Here's how it looks assembled:

And when it's done - looks almost the same but smells and tastes YUMMAAYYYYY!!
Enjoy!  

By the way it goes well with Corona. 

Cheers, darlings!

Cottage Kitchen Haul from The Village

We bought a cottage recently and while we've not yet taken possession of it, we are certainly taking possession of items to kit it out and are shopping and stockpiling like an episode of "Hoarders." But in a good way. By the way, plenty more to come about The Cottage. Trust me, I never shut up about it. Consider yourself fairly warned.

A couple Saturdays ago, under the guise of buying yet another pair of leggings (or jeggings or skeggings) for Lauren, I swung by The Village (Value Village for the uninitiated.) In addition to replenishing the legging supply and making my lucky cookbook find (see April 12th post), I took a real good look through the "kitchen stuff" for a few items on our cottage supplies list. 

As always, at The Village, there are treasures to be found, amid the kitcsch, the bizarre, and the "eww, where's the hand sanitizer?" items. I mean - water bottles - who is going to buy a used, plastic water bottle? I gag at the thought. And lingerie. Let's not even go there.

I saw a bunch of crock pots but have decided to hold off on buying one, since I don't know that I would actually use one at the cottage. I plan to cook differently there (as in fresh and leisurely and somewhat wine-lubricated versus "throw something in the crock pot on the way out the door to work!") so I took a pass. And while we're in the market for some decent random pots and pans to supplement our partial set, I didn't find anything to meet that need yet. If I was in the market for beat up pots, I'd have been set. Just sayin'. 

So now that I've told you what I didn't buy, here's what I did get:

- Large white serving platter - perfect for a plate of mixed grill (steak, salmon, chicken, etc.) or the Thanksgiving turkey

- smaller apple-motif  "cottagey" serving platter for appetizers, vegetables, etc.

- hip looking 4-part appetizer dish

- glass measuring cup

- salad spinner

- muffin tin

- a whack of acrylic stemware, including wine and champagne glasses. Yeah, I know, I say I won't drink out of someone's plastic water bottle but I bought plastic glasses. I'm not always logical.

- 4 brand spanking new with labels still on them Isaac Mizrahi hot pink and white linen-look napkins that can double as placements if the kids don't cover them in spaghetti sauce, gert, and schmenk.

I washed all the items in hot temperatures and plenty of cleaning product so we're all set. 

Total cost for my haul? $34.00! Brilliant!

Here's a picture of my purchases:

And here's Coco photobombing/admiring my purchases:

She wishes she could shop at The Village.

More Value Village haulage to come, I'm sure, so stay tuned!

Patience and Karma

I'm a cookbook junkie. I have a collection  of close to 100 of them and love them all. I read cookbooks in bed like most people read a good novel.

I love the possibilities in the cookbooks and I love learning how to make amazing meal experience. My idea of a great night is cooking an awesome meal and enjoying it with my family, with wine and music. I enjoy going to restaurants but I also enjoy making a gorgeous restaurant-quality meal in the comfort of my own home and savouring the challenge of getting messy make something fantastic. I also like saving a few bucks to reinject into quality food and quality  wine.

So today I went to The Village (Value Village) to pick up some leggings for Lauren the Leggings Junkie and next thing I knew I was shopping like a maniac  to kit up our recently-purchased cottage. (Will post my cottage kitting haul later.) And then I was looking at cookbooks, since our cottage will need cookbooks as well. I plan to cook really simple meals there but I also plan to cook some hardcore awesomeness as well. And a house without cookbooks is a really bad state of affairs in my opinion.

As I browsed the cookbooks, I remembered "the one that got away" yet again. It's not just people who fish or romantics who reminisce about the one who escaped their grasp. Cookbook junkies have this sense as well.

A few years ago, as I browsed cookbooks at The Village, just as I was about to flip through "The French Laundry Cookbook", the woman next to me selected it and put it in her cart. Gone. I didn't know much about it at the time but had a feeling it was something good. I later found out was an awesome cookbook that had won "Cookbook of the Year" when it was published. (That's like the Oscars for cookbook junkies! Imagine walking the red carpet..."Who are you wearing?" Sigh...)

This particular book (fix) remained on my wish list although I was not willing to pay full pop at retail for it. (I never, ever pay full retail for anything.) And every time I browsed the cookbooks at The Village, I remembered the one that got away. Not in a psycho kind of way but just a brief flash of push anyone out of the way who reaches for anything while I'm browsing. Just kidding. No I'm not.

So today I was picking through the books when I noticed one lying flat on the shelf under a few books.  Pulled it out and...

Ahhhhhhh!!! Angels sang, harps were strummed, and unicorns doled out lollipops to everyone!  "The French Laundry Cookbook"! 

As I placed it in my cart I wondered: Maybe that woman never bought the book and it sat there for years? Maybe she donated it back again? Or maybe I was just patient and have good karma. Maybe I'm reading way too much into a random episode but I don't think so. 

Regardless,  I am feeling like the elusive book for my collection (addiction?) has found its way home. Can't wait to get my hands dirty, playing with the gorgeous recipes. Turn on the music and pour me some wine!

Red Cart Romance - Kate Young

Everyone who knows me knows I'm a huge fan of Target. This rabid retail condition was once identified as the Red Cart Romance and I've used that phrase ever since hearing it. About a month ago, my long-distance Red Cart Romance (which once upon a time used to be a monthly fix requiring a passport) became local as my love came to Canada.

While the Canadian Target experience is almost (but not quite) as fabulous as the U.S., it seems to be working to give me my Red Cart fix on a regular (weekly!) basis. I think everyone's read enough about the difference between the 2 different versions so I'm going to spare you the comparison.

Instead, let's talk about one of my favourite things about Target (aside from Archer Farms foods, Circo kids' clothes, and Sonia Kashuk makeup): The Designer Capsule.

On a limited time basis, Target brings in designer clothes at Target prices. Watered down versions but lovely nonetheless. This past Christmas, in the U.S., I nearly lost my mind over the Neiman Marcus designer section which featured Marc Jacobs bags, Rag & Bone blazers, and the most exquisite Oscar de la Renta dog bowls you ever threw kibble in. Unable to find a way to pass off the dog dish as a chip bowl, I settled for a wicked awesome Proenza Schouler sweatshirt that has kind of a Flashdance look to it. 

The opening of Target Canada resulted in a Roots "designer capsule", which just didn't do it for me. It's watered down Roots products (really, watered down sweats? Really?) which was a nice nod to the Canadians but didn't satisfy my Red Cart Designer Lust.

Tonight, however, I noticed Kate Young has made a very quiet entrance into Target with her own capsule. No signage to point it out, but ever on the lookout for The Designer Capsule, my radar went off just past the Starbucks.

Lovely edgy evening gowns, flirty dresses, some 90's style see-through lace bodysuits, and some very sweet dresses. I snapped up a pretty, flirty springy dress that will be nice for work, a brunch out, or tea at Buckingham palace perhaps. 

Here's a shot of the dress - I'm too lazy to try it on for y'all so I've Google-grabbed a pic instead.

We'll let People magazine determine "Who Wore It Best" (me or this lovely model) but for $49.99, I don't mind if you run out and buy it to get in on the action as well. It also comes in black and white, but that's tricky to pull off for a spring/summer dress.

See you in People or at Buckingham Palace. xx

A Lesson in Value from Michael Penney

I love Michael Penney's decorating style and am thrilled that his store, Penney and Company is just a hop, skip, and jump away in up-and-coming downtown Whitby.
In his "A Lesson in Value" post, Michael gives some great examples of the value of refurb furniture, which totally resonates with my Champagne Taste philosophy.
Enjoy!
Michael Penney's Lesson in Value

Half Price Clothing Sale @ Sally Ann

Today is "summer clothes blow-out day" at the Salvation Army Thrift Store.  I know you're thinking "ewww, used clothes from the Sally Ann". I know it because I used to think that way too. Until I started getting hand-me-downs for Auz and realized that once you wash used clothing, it's no different than your own washed clothing. And of course, let's not forget the whole eco reduce-reuse-recycle and reducing our Wal-Mart waste.

I got over that ick-factor and that the shopping in a Thrift Store is a bit of a treasure hunt where some days you're digging alongside other label-oriented folks with the Champagne Taste philosophy, and some days the shopper next to you has been into the sauce and just digging. But that's part of the fun - you never know what you'll find. And the employees are always really sweet, happy, nice people.  But I digress.

50% off of already cheap is just plain fun. For Auz, I scored a pair of Buffalo jeans and a pair of Old Navy shorts. Lauren got the lion's share with a Children's Place top, an Old Navy blouse, some random "Nice Kitty" top, 2 pairs of Gymboree pants, a pair of Children's Place pants, and a cute pair of pink leopard cords. I got a pair of Old Navy shorts for myself because I don't know where all my shorts have disappeared to at home, maybe in the hamper, who knows.

I can't imagine what this stuff would retail for new, and that's a pointless exercise because let's face it, this stuff isn't new. That gets me out of doing math! Ha! Regular price at the Sally Ann was $24.90 and my final half-price off bill was....$12.45.  Aside from being dirt cheap, this means I've saved enough for a basic $12 bottle of wine. For tonight. Not too shabby!
Here's my purchase receipt:

And here's pic of the haul:

Thankfully my kids are too young to be mortified by this, Cameron thinks it's funny, and me, I just wonder what kind of wine to crack open tonight. Cheers.