Posts made in April, 2012

Giving credit where credit’s due (Dear Ikea people: thank you for the Ektorp sofa)

Posted by Joy on Apr 12, 2012 in Living Room | 0 comments

Have I ever mentioned how much I love having slip covered furniture?  I love having slip covered furniture.  With two cats, a Sweetie who works in construction, and my bad habit of “working from couch”, our furniture gets a lot of abuse love.

So, about once a month, I wash our furniture.  And furniture washing day is an exciting day indeed!  I usually reserve furniture washing for bonus days off (holidays, snow days, birthdays…  that sort of thing.)  (Yes, I’m JUST that much fun!)  Often I’ll just wash the cushion covers (since that’s where most of the wear-and-tear takes place.)  And then, about twice a year, I’ll really roll up my sleeves and tackle it all (getting the base slipcover back on the sofa is quite the ordeal, let me tell you, so I save washing the whole kit-and-caboodle for days when I’m feeling particularly spunky.)

Here’s what furniture washing day looks like chez Sweetie and Joy…

Loki is a huge help, of course.

And our bar stools become cushion-cover drying stools.  (I’m a wee bit terrified to put the covers in the dryer.  Did that once.  Things have been a little snug ever since.  Never again!)

Yup.  That’s right.  Furniture washing day creates cushion chaos in our living room. But it’s so worth it when everything dries.  Ah, hello, clean sofa.  :)

And hello clean chairs.  Yes, don’t worry, I love you too.  :)

So yes.  Ikea people?  Thank you for giving me the option of a) having white furniture and b) washing said furniture.  I emphatically give Ektrop a hearty two thumbs up!  White furniture is the scariest kind, but, because of you, I’m no longer afraid.  (Although spaghetti sauce near the sofa still makes me a bit twitchy…  I may no longer be terrified of white furniture, but I’m not that crazy.)

There went Peter Cotton Tail (hopping down the potato trail…)

Posted by Joy on Apr 9, 2012 in Recipes we love! | 0 comments

I remember my mom once telling me that she’d never seen anyone peel potatoes like my grandmother.  Having lived through the Great Depression years, my grandmother had perfected the art of peeling potatoes, removing very little more than just the peel.  Apparently it was quite impressive to see.  Ever since then I’ve strived to peel a mean tater.  I can’t say I’m there yet (but it’s coming.)

(Does anyone else peel potatoes on a cut-open plastic bag?  Or is this just something quirky that my mom and I do?)

We had Easter supper this year at my brother and his fiance’s house.  We’re a potluck kindof family, so I was responsible for the potatoes.  Specifically requested?  My (er, Kraft’s) Mashed Potato Layer Bake.  Two types of potatoes (sweet potatoes and potato-potatoes.)  Sour cream.  Cream cheese.  More cheese.  All layered up.  Baked.  Soooo good.

Truth be told, I’m not really a fan of sweet potatoes.  I know – they’re GOOD for me.  I get that.  But there’s something about the consistency/flavour combo that doesn’t work for me (I kinda consider the sweet potato one of Mother Nature’s few fails.)  And, plus, they look a bit funny – they’re a bit like the baking potato’s ugly cousin.

BUT, in this recipe, they’re good.  So good, in fact, that Sweetie (also not a sweet potato fan) (which is one of the reasons why I married him – having similar food-likes/dislikes just makes things a whole lot easier.  There’s nothing worse than sitting next to someone who’s eating a big chunk of salmon when you really don’t like salmon) actually asked me to make a double batch (so that we could greedily keep one batch just for us.)  (And, yes, I know.  Salmon is good for me too.)

So, since I was whipping up a big batch yesterday anyway, I thought I’d show y’all what they look like and how it’s done.  Recipe courtesy of Kraft Canada (click HERE for the original recipe/pictures/raving reviews from other happy potato-makers.)

Ingredients…

Method:

HEAT oven to 375°F.

And, in case you’re a visual person (like me!) here’s what that all looks like…

Sweetie added the wooden spoons on top of each pot.  He says he’s heard this keep things from boiling over.  In fact, neither pot boiled over.  But the potatoes came close.

Once everything is all boiled up, mash.  And mash.  And mash.  (I was so busy mashing that I forgot to take pics.)  For the record, I’m not a particularly good potato masher (I tend to run out of patience/get tired before all the lumps have been de-lumped.)  My dad, however, is a potato mashing genious.  No lumps, perfect fluffiness…  If you need awesome taters, definitely have a chat with my dad.  :)

Things mashed (-ish), then add the other stuff (the “yumminess-makers”, if you will.)

And then the layering begins…

When you get to the third layer (more potato-potatoes over sweet potatoes), layering gets a little trickier (because the sweet potatoes are runnier than the mashed potatoes.)  I’ve found that if you cover the sweet potatoes with little mounds of the regular potatoes, you can then spread everything out with a knife.  It works pretty well.  :)

A second layer of sweet potatoes later, and a wee bit more cheese too, and – poof – you’re done!  :)

And – poof again! – there you have it.  My entire yesterday morning in pictures LOL.  :)  I’m not gonna lie: this is a super time consuming dish to make (by the time I got the potatoes all peeled, boiled, mashed, mixed, and layered I think about 2.5 hours had passed) (true story) (and don’t even get me started on the sink full of dishes this receipe creates too) BUT it’s sooo worth it.  And if you only make it for special occasions, it’s not so bad.  :)  And, well, if you have a dishwasher, that last complaint likely doesn’t apply to you (and, PS, I’m quite jealous!)

Hope everyone had a good (and delicious!) Easter!

Fancying up the kitchen (the three Rs: Rugs, Radios, and hickoRy flooRs)

Posted by Joy on Apr 5, 2012 in Kitchen | 0 comments

(Ok…  That third R was a bit of a stretch…)  (and technically that’s four Rs…)

The other day, I posted about how excited we were to have made a decision on flooring for our kitchen.  When you live in a house with blue 1980s-era peel and stick tile in your kitchen, the prospect of new flooring is a happy one indeed.  Here’s what we’ve decided on (with a Stonington Gray paintchip to represent our walls, and the countertop we’re considering too…)

And, just as a reminder of the current state of our kitchen, here’s what she looks like (with all her 1940s lovelieness)…

(In case you’re wondering, let’s consider this a stock image.  The mirror above the stove, as you may remember from earlier this week, is now above the fancy faux-fireplace in our living room.  And the pantry has had a little redo since too…  But it’s rather dreary here at the moment, and my kitchen wasn’t feeling particularly photogenic today [ie: I got super lazy and didn't do the dishes last night.]  Rest assured, though, it still sortof looks like this.  :)

Flooring chosen (and little happy dance danced), the folk at Urban Outfitters have now let me know that there’s something else my kitchen needs.  Look what I found while randomly wandering around the Urban Outfitters site the other night…

I won’t lie: I got super excited.  But just as I was about to hit the big blissful “BUY” button, I noticed the following words (in mocking red print): Back Order.  Until June.  And then I got super sad.  Grumble.  (Perhaps I’m not the only one who feels that a cheery little rug could be the perfect companion for a happy little kitchen.)  Nonetheless (and because I’ve been thinking about it nonstop for the last few days) (some people think about politics in their spare time, others worry about global warming…  Me?  I obsess over rugs) (well, and global warming) I’m pretty certain I’ll just give in and buy the backordered little rug and wait (somewhat) patiently until June.  June is only two months away afterall.  And that’s only 60-ish days.  I can wait that long.  Really.  :)

My other (waaay more extravagant) kitchen-want of the moment?  I want a Tivoli.  SO BAD.  See the spot above my sink (where the silver radio resides currently)…

…that there spot would really like a Tivoli please.  :)  The little silver radio is perfectly functional, but just imagine how lovely this would look in its place…

…or this sexy silver-faced version (dear silver Tivoli, I love you)…

Oooh.  Or this one…

…and, well, I know I currently have nothing yellow in my kitchen, but c’mon – how ridiculously cheery is THIS…

…and don’t even get me started on the blue one.  (Oh how I adore the blue one!)

Admittedly, it’s not the most practical purchase ever.  Ok, it’s not a practical purchase AT ALL.  Really, who needs a $200-ish radio for their kitchen.  Probably (alright, definitely) not me.  And I will likely never push the big fat “BUY” button for this purchase (since, well, I could floor most of my kitchen for that same $200.  Or feed Sweetie and me for a month.  Or repaint my entire second floor. Etc.)  But a girl can dream, non?

So there you have it!  My mid-week roundup of the stuff I’d really like to put in my kitchen.  We could seriously make this a weekly event, I think.  The internet is evil.  But so good.  Kind of like poutine – I know quite well that a big bowl of french fries smothered in gravy and cheese is hardly a healthy food, but sometimes poutine just calls to me.  And I can’t resist.  The internet is the same.  Minus the clogged arteries and expanding waistline.

My faux-fireplace focalpoint (the big reveal!)

Posted by Joy on Apr 2, 2012 in Living Room | 0 comments

So, as you may remember from this post, my living room was pretty sad looking a couple weeks ago.  It was terribly tv-centric (the last thing we wanted in our cute little living room!) and blaaaaaaand…

Drab and dreary eh?  And the television practically hollers, “Look at me!  I’m the tv!  And not even a nice compact flatscreen telly either.  No siree bob.  I’m a big ol’ box of a beast.  And I’m all you’re going to notice when you walk into the living room.  Ha.  So there.”

(My television is obviously a wee bit of a snobby show-off.)

Here’s what our living room looks like now that we’ve given it a little faux-fireplace love… :)

Sooo much better eh?  I’m quite pleased.  :)  Obviously we still need to accessorize.  I just quickly added the white/teal accessories to the left corner of the mantel (cuz it looked really sad without) and Sweetie put the mirror up last weekend, and that’s as far as we’ve gotten so far (btw, that mirror is apparently rather busy traveling around our house!  You may remember it as my happy little above-stove mirror from this post.  I suppose that means that it’s versatile.  Or that I need to buy another large-ish-sized round mirror.  Although Sweetie says we have far too many mirrors in this house already.  Boys are rather silly like that.  But I digress…)

The fireplace hole (technical term) still needs filling up with something (I’m just not sure with what yet.)  And I need to find another horizontal surface on which to perch the television.  I just moved our existing tv-cabinet to the right and called it a day, but really it’s too large/deep (and, well, too pine.)  A pretty little old white-painted dresser would be a lovely replacement, though, no?  :)

Lastly?  (Well, doubtful that it’ll be a “lastly” sort of thing, but in the foreseeable future…)  We also need to either mount that mirror to the left of the mantel to the wall (hmmm… maybe Sweetie has a point on that too-many-mirrors thing…)  (nah…) or stack a few images vertically on the wall or something.  Same thing for the right side above the telly (I just plopped a few prints [courtesy of Etsy sellers honeytree and AldariArt] around the tv, trying to cleverly camouflage the big black box.  It’s semi-effective?)

BUT, all-in-all, the living room avec faux-fireplace is BETTER.  And, honestly, I can’t tell you how excited I am to be able to hang our stockings from something other than either a) the television cabinet or b) the window moulding (true story) next Christmas.  Only 8 months-ish to go!  (I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited for Christmas!)  (It’s amazing what a lovely faux-fireplace can do!  :)