Renay's Blog: Adieu Monsieur Layton...Godspeed

A Brilliant friend of mine wrote this post. Ask yourself the question, what will become of Canada without Jack Layton? We have the answer inside us, but we have to rise up together and unite against the ever increasing corrupt government we now have. Renay's Blog: Adieu Monsieur Layton...Godspeed: It is a blow to Canada and to democracy, losing Jack...I am NOT a member of the NDP, I am a Green Party member, but still this kind of thing...

Black Furniture Painting Tutorial

I love this video, it gives you step by step instructions on re-finishing with that well worn look. Just thought I'd share it.

Fabulous thrifty find!

Quite the cute little table!

This gorgeous little table was for sale at the local thrift store, imagine my surprise when I looked at the tag and it said $3!!!! Yes, three dollars!!!
I scooped it up and brought it home to get some loving. It's been in the hallway for months and I finally got the right paint (that $8 one I used for the nesting tables) to use on this cutie. It did have a broken joint, but since it's not like anyone will be sitting on it I just used run of the mill wood glue and tied it up so that the leg would set.

I've used it with a broken leg for months and since it never even wobbled, a little glue was all I used to fix it.

I then sanded it down just enough to remove any dirt and grease, though it was really quite clean since it was in a store and not the back alley.....then I got my little can of $8 paint and got to work. Three coats and a little sanding to get it looking slightly vintage and voila!

A little sanding in the right spots, and it looks nicely worn and stylish!

I put it back in the hall and does it ever look better than before. I loves it!!

There she is, looking perfect in the hall!

 Thanks everyone for stopping by and leaving a comment!

Cheers,
Viviana

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Another Unebelievable Back Alley Find!

Sometimes many roads lead to your destination, you have to always be on the lookout for interesting finds along the way.

Last week, Dayday had camp all week, not far from our house but still a 7-10 minute drive. There was roadwork being done, so they set up a detour through a couple back alleys to get to the center, and although I could have gone around on another road, I chose the detour because who doesn't like a few bumps along the road? Anyhow, I happen to glance at my side view mirror and saw 3 little tables just thrown down on a little patch behind one of the houses. I didn't go back that way until the next morning, and the tables were still there, but someone had stacked then since they seemed to be nesting tables. After I dropped the kids off, I returned through the back alley and decided they needed a home....My Home to be specific!Yes, they were covered in dirt and mud, scratched up and in dire need of lots of love, who knows how long they had been waiting for me??

I went to Canadian Tire, straight to the mistint department of course, and decided on a very dark navy (midnight) sort of colour, it said it was great for doors and trim which to me translates to good wear and tear and possible long lasting, so at $8 for the quart, perfection!

I took the tables apart with my handy dandy ratchet screwdriver, and took the frames outside where I had to soap them up and hose them down to get the muck and mud off.

The tops I washed and then sanded well with a 100 grit sand paper. I then got down to the painting which I did out on the deck (it was about 27c out!!) things dry fast in that heat!

By the next morning I was ready to give them the final sand down and de-stress, which makes them look vintage and slightly worn and perfect for the look of the living room/dining room in my little home.

I wasn't too sure as to where I would put them, but I wanted them to be handy enough for when we have guest, they can be pulled out for drinks or food or to play a game on etc.

I found the perfect spot, but I had to try to tie everything in nicely. I added another piece from my awesome collection of thrifty finds. Then I had to move the leaves around a bit, I like them but they didn't look right.

The end result is perfect in that small space. I sometimes look at my house and all I want is to run away from the clutter, but you know what...it is not because I don't want it, it is because I just have to organize it better. So slowly, it is coming together and I'm loving it!

Cheers and thanks for stopping by!!
Viviana

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Pepian Negro (Beef in a dark sauce?)

Yo nunca he probado este plato, pero mi hermana se quedo intrigada con saber la receta, entonces aqui esta.

INGREDIENTES:

1 Cebolla pequena entera y pelada
4 Onzas de miltomate
2 Tortillas (maiz)
4 tazas de agua
1/4 de taza de arroz
1 Chile 7 caldos (optional)
3 Zanahorias
1/2 Libra de ejotes
2 Dientes de ajo enteros
1 Tomate de cocina
1 Libra de bolovique en trocitos
1 Cucharada de sal
1 Chile guaque sin semilla
1/3 Manojo de culantro picado
1 Libra de papas en cuadritos

PROCEDIMIENTO

1. En un sarten sin grasa tueste la cebolla, el ajo, el tomate y el miltomate hasta que esten obscuros. Tueste las tortilla hasta que esten casi quemadas.
2. Mientras tanto cocine la carne en agua con sal hasta que este suave, agregue las tortilla el tiempo suficiente para suavisarlas, luego saquelas,
3. Tueste el arroz, hasta que este obscuro, muelalo, tueste los chiles y muelalos tambien.
4. Licue tosdos los ingredientes tostados con el culantro, los chiles, y una taza de caldo. Cuando la carne este suave anada los vegetales y la salsa asi como el arroz molido, continue cociendo por 10 minutos hasta o hasta que espese.

Enjoy!

Cak-Ik (Kak-Ik), Caldo De Chunto (Guatemalan Turkey Soup)

My Aunt gave me this recipe when she came to visit us in Canada a few years ago. I will write it out in Spanish and later will translate it for all those English speaking readers too.

INGREDIENTES
1 Pavo mediano cortado en piezas
50 Tomates maduros pero firmes (pequenos)
1 chile pasa
2 manojos de cilantro
1 manojo de tallos de cebolla
1 cabeza de ajo
1/4 taza de chile cobanero molido
2 sobres de consome de pollo
3 cebollas grandes picadas
2 chiles guaque
2 manojos de hierbabuena
Achiote o bijol, el necesario para dar color.

PROCEDIMIENTO
1. Se pone a cocer el pavo en una olla grande con 6 litros de agua y un sobre de consome, cuando este a medio cocer se le agrega el manojo de talloes de cebolla y los ajos aparte dos dientes.
2. Por aparte se asan los tomates, las cebollas, los chiles y dos dientes de ajo, luego se licuan y se cuelan.
NOTA-Si queda mucho sedimento en el colador, vuelva a licuarlo con otro poco de agua para evitar desperdicios.
3. Una vez que el pavo este bien cocido retire los tallos de cebolla y la cabeza de ajo, agregese el recado asi como suficiente bijol o achiote para darle color. Cuando el cocido este a punto de hervir agregue un manojo de cilantro y uno de hierbabuena, dejelo cocinar 20-30 mintos. Si cheque sazon y es necesario agregue el otro sobre de consome.
4. Se pica el otro manojo de cilantro y de hierbabuena y se agregan al caldo junto con el chile cobanero antes de servir, acompanelo con arroz blanco y pochitos (tamalitos blancos).
NOTA- Si tiene la fortuna de encontrar samat o cilantro de tripa (como se conoce en el Nor-Oriente) debera usarlo, sustituyendo el cilantro y la hierbabuena.
Rinde 10 a 12 porciones.

Es ta receta me la dio mi tia cuado vino a visitarnos en Canada, la saco de un librito que se llama Cocina Guatemaltec. Dejen mensaje si quieren otras recetas de este librito.

Gracias,
Viviana

Lemonade Stand

David and I were blog hopping a few months back and he saw a lemonade stand made out of a microwave cart at Pleased As Punch's blog. He's been asking to have one since winter so we finally decided the old microwave cart (didn't even have to go to Sally Anne to get one!) we had in the dining room was perfect and if we made it into a lemonade stand, at least it would not end up in the dump, like most particle board furniture does!
We picked up some yellow paint at Canadian Tire, Krylon of course, since it's dry in 10 minutes!!! (I have this bad luck of easily forgetting paint is wet....) so Krylon is a dream to use.

The cart was white so all I did was wash it down with a little soap and water to get the dust off, then I set it outside on the lawn on top of a cheap plastic drop sheet. I had for some silly reason, already pasted up the dollar store chalkboard on the back side. So I had to tape it up a bit to mask it and keep it from turning yellow! I do happen to LIKE doing things the hard way sometimes, how else would I learn what was easy then??
So I got it mostly covered in yellow paint, I may have not done the best job, but considering I did it in 20 minutes...it turned out great.

Once it was dry enough, I took a pencil and sort of mapped out what we had decided it should be called (David's Awesome Lemonade) and I brought out my box of paints for the rest of the project. I wish I had a cricut, then I would have used the vinyl I have to cut out the sign, but this should be ok, since I am a graphic designer, lettering comes easy.

That part was somewhat PAINTstaking, hehehe. It takes a steady hand not to mess up the words, and I did well right up until I did the little lemon graphic and grazed my hand on it....anyhow, I managed to fix it with q-tips and a little water.

This is what it turned out like, not bad for a hand painted sign. We had a sleep over 2 days later, and the kids decided to try their hand at sales. They picked mint from the garden and made mint lemonade in one pitcher and  sliced strawberries for the other. They all quickly realized it is not as easy as it looks and it helps for it to be a super hot day (which are few and far between here in Calgary!) and to have people that actually walk, also helps to not drink the product....They made $6 and split it 3 ways.

I think we will give this another try next week, hopefully we can entice more people to buy by lowering the price (I let them chose this time, and they thought $1 a cup was fair because they were big cups)  to 50c a up and maybe using the smaller cups too, and maybe doing it on a hot day this August. 
Anyway Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Viviana

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