This Dusty House

Pekoe Sleeps

2012-03-09T13:15:00.003-05:00

It's been a busy week.

I'm tired.

Thanks for being readers and friends.

You're my favourites.

(Pekoe's too.)

That's all.

-~*~-

There's way more going on in the Kitchen today than a sleeping kitty. Pop over there?

Three Things This Thursday

2012-03-08T09:37:00.003-05:00

Hello Thursday!

I love Thursdays. Simply because the next day is Friday.

Friday is the best day of the work week, making Thursday a close second.

One

Ever since I picked up my cute brass watering can from the local thrift shop, I've steadily been falling in love with all things brass. Which, when you think about it too hard, is kinda funny. I bought the watering can on a hem and a haw, not really sure if I even liked it at all. And now that I have a little brass in my life, I kinda just want more.

I mean. Isn't this bed absolutely gorgeous?

Two

Last night, Mocha decided she didn't want to sleep. Instead, she paced around the house, from our bedroom to the dining room, up onto her favourite Poang chair, back to the bedroom, up onto the bed, back down, out to the kitchen, in a circle around the dining room, on and on.

Mostly, this would have been ok. Except that Mocha hasn't been to the groomer in way too long and her nails are in need of a trim. So, puppy pacing on bamboo floor means clack-clack-clack-clack all night, slowly driving the puppy mummy crazy.

Three

While my parents were visiting on the weekend, we dropped into an open house down our street. We do this nearly ever weekend, keeping an eye on what's directly around us, how it looks and where our house falls into the spectrum. The house was nice and priced for a bidding war, but that's not what I wanted to remark on.

As we were putting on our shoes, my dad looked around and said, "This place feels like no one lives here." He and the realtor jumped into a conversation about home staging and my dad left fascinated.

"You sound like a country bumpkin," my mom muttered to him as we headed back down the street to our unfinished little white house.

image here

It got me thinking. Is dressing a house to the nines specifically for the purpose of selling it a big city thing? Does the same kind of thing go on in our small towns or are the expectations lower, the buyers less swayed by pretty dress? Since we drop in on open houses in this city quite regularly, I have gotten used to the staged nature of a home on the market, have come to expect it, really.

I can't imagine actually living in such an empty, pretty, but untouchable home though.

Backyard Food: A Garden Update

2012-03-07T09:29:00.001-05:00

Enough talk of renovation frustration.

I downloaded a cookbook from the library to my Kobo. I was curious how such a thing would translate from page to device. (Decently. Obviously, the food photography becomes lackluster, but if you can do without, it's decent.) On my commute in to work, I read through the introduction of Farm to Fork: Cooking Local, Cooking Fresh by Emeril Lagasse. Despite the rampant unrealistic idealism I agree with Lagasse's main thesis: food is always better - more sustainable, more responsible, tastier, fresher - when we are directly connected to it.

That's why I'm growing a garden!

Because our growing season in Ontario is not particularly long, and since I want my tomatoes to turn red before the first frost, I'm starting a number of plants from seeds indoors. I don't have grow lights or a lot of space. So, for now, it's one tray of veggies, sitting in a southern facing window.

I bought a tray of odd looking pellets that, when you add water, absorb and swell to become little netted packets of dirt. I pulled the netting back from the top, fluffed the first layer (I used a fork), and into each little packet, I pressed one to three seeds, covering them over with a thin layer of dirt.

Planting seeds is kind of long, annoying, repetitive work.

(In one sentence, I think I just described farming as a whole.)

Now, they sit in our window, little, warm packets of life. It is my hope that every one of them will grow into perfect, large veggies, flourish, and proclaim my awesome skills as a gardener. Look, look! Here is a green thumb!

(On Sunday, my dad peered at the tomatoes, which are sprouting and said, "Hmm. They're looking kinda spindly. I don't think they're getting enough light."

What happened to thinking that everything I do is perfect and magical?)

This is an old shot, mid-clean-up, mid-grass-growing-season, but it serves its purpose. Those veggies will fill this space this year. It will stretch from fence to fence and go right to the very back of our property. It will be huge. It will be hard.

It will be wonderful.

-~*~-

Today, in the kitchen, I'm sharing a tasty adaptation of a traditional steak Diane. Pop over and visit!

The Second Side of Frustration

2012-03-06T09:45:00.002-05:00

Thank you for all your encouragement yesterday, friends! I love the part about blogging in which we all rally around each other, commiserate, encourage and believe in each other. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

My big motivation in our back entryway project lies in developing a highly functional, beautiful, well organized pantry space. Seven or eight cabinets are magically going to join themselves together and appear on the wall to result in a spacious amount of shelves for can after can, box after box, bag of onions after bag of onions.

(I may or may not go through a lot of onions.)

If I were neater, I'd be content with open shelves so I can show off my mastering of organization.

image via Design*Sponge

I am not that organized.

Doors, therefore, are a requirement. And, since we're not so fond of the idea of constructing our own boxes, we're on the hunt for some cheap 24 by 30 by 12 cabinets. So far, Restore was a flop and Home Depot, Rona, and Lowes all failed us, one after the other. Where do we turn next? Ikea?

Even that, at $76 a cabinet (though, with doors!) seems like a pricy option.

In combination with the frustration with the amount of work this project has turned into, the amount of money it's turning into is making me balk. This is our back entryway, after all! The mudroom! Nothing more than a space to kick off our shoes on our way into the house.

Renovations are expensive in more ways than one. Time, effort, money. And is it worth it in the end? I hope so, I really do. There's no turning back now.

Frustration

2012-03-05T09:58:00.001-05:00

I had big plans for this weekend. I was going to turn our back mudroom into something beautiful. On Friday, I outlined my basic plan. By the time I got home, the Husband was already out back, cleaning up our piles of paint cans and taking our tools back to the garage. As we talked, the project became bigger, more complicated. As we talked, I could see the mudroom taking shape, becoming polished, finding its place in our home.

Too bad just talking about what needs to be done doesn't result in a finished project.

From there, frustration piled on frustration. The Restore didn't have any of the cabinets we needed for our pantry, our trip to the hardware stores took forever, and I came home to what felt like hours and hours of sanding.

And not much else.

Our mudroom looks about the same as it did when we started. There's a little more spackle and there's the beginning of a beautiful floor. But right now, it's standing in as a beautiful example of how frustrating renovating can be. It doesn't always go smoothly. A couple hours doesn't always lead to beautiful results.

I wish.

As I took my before pictures, I realized how ugly this space actually is. Does this happen to everyone? The more time I have lived with this space, the less and less terrible it seemed. But looking at it through the lens of my camera revealed the undeniable truth: this space isn't just rough around the edges. It's rough around the middle too.

I know what this space can be. But right now? It's just a lean-to on the back of the house, the room through which we walk every day with our eyes closed. Despite a full day of trying to better it, it's still the room through which we walk with our eyes closed, but now it's also dusty, full of a fine layer of drywall dust. Quadrant by quadrant, section by section, we will make progress.

For now, it's hard to see.

-~*~-

I was spoiled with baked goods on Sunday. Pop on over to the kitchen to see what birthday goodies are filling my house right now.

The Mudroom: A To-Do List

2012-03-02T10:22:00.003-05:00

Our back entrance - which we call a mudroom even though it's hardly a room at all - is a bit of a sight. It's a shared back entrance that simply goes up to our half of the house and down into our downstairs friends' half of the house. During our renovations, it's been mostly untouched except for the spot where we rammed the corner base cabinet into the wall and the back closet, which we played around with a bit in an attempt to make more useful.

All in all, it's not a particularly pretty space.

(Ooh, it's an old picture!)

It doesn't help that our landing ends up full of tools, cans of paint, recycling on its way out the back door, shoes, bags, etc. etc. It also doesn't help that this space is, in fact, one of the most useful spaces in our house and could be even more useful if executed properly.

See, this space is also our pantry.

It's not in the picture but, right beside the back door, there's an almost floor-to-ceiling cabinet. Inside, there are four shelves, two filled with my own staples, two filled with the VL's staples. For both of us, that little cabinet relieves so many space issues in our own kitchens. But I want it to do more. There's plenty of space going up the steps to continue the cabinets and at least double our pantry space.

So, here's the plan:

Repaint. We have an awesome orange for the floors and, to keep it simple and crisp, I'm thinking a bright white on the walls. And, to add a bit of punch, perhaps a different colour for the door?
Trim around the window, our back closet, wherever else a little trim would help.
Rip out the existing cabinet and put in new ones (perhaps sourced at our local Restore) that aren't made of plywood. Continue these cabinets up the stairs. Perhaps paint them. Fill with cans and pasta and other goodies.
Store our paint cans under the stairs and out of the way.
Add in two new light fixtures (A wall one for our closet, a ceiling one for the main light).
Hang a pretty curtain on the window.
Incorporate some welcoming artwork somewhere.

And now, I turn to you. What would you do with this cramped little space, as little as you may be able to imagine it?

We start tomorrow, completely ignoring the fact that my birthday is on Sunday.

25, I do not want to be you.

Three Things This Thursday

2012-03-01T10:42:00.003-05:00

One

With all the seed planting and shelf hanging I've been doing, I've been thinking a lot about the type of pots I want to put my herb seeds in. I'd love to DIY this and I think it's completely do-able. I need something with good drainage and decent colour to brighten up our white kitchen.

These, for example:

image and tutorial here

Or, less colourful perhaps, but these:

image and another tutorial here

Or, perhaps a delightful cross between the two of my own making?

Two

We have a wooden bed frame that the Husband has had since he moved out of his parents' house. It's a bit beat up and has a few odd details, but I kind of love its shape. The colour on the other hand... it's stained a basic brown and, since it's got its fair share of nicks and scratches, provides little inspiration. Since the day we got married, I've had plans to paint it. Or strip and stain it darker. I oscillate.

This is what I imagine:

image here

It's one of those things I think about on a regular basis but know that it's going to be a long time - or never - coming. So much sanding. So much painting. So much time.

Maybe I'll start this weekend.

Three

This is kind of sad.

I still have no art on the walls.

Well, to say no art is a bit of a stretch. We bought a painting on clearance at Winners and hung it in our bathroom. It's nothing special, but it adds some colour. And, I hung some empty frames with their frame picture (yup, the one from the store) inside on the living room wall, just to get them out of the way. But art? Nope.

And then, I take a wander through Tanya's blog and get super inspired, followed by super envious, followed by super wistful. Who wants to paint me something like this?

No one?

Fine. I'll do it myself. Maybe. Someday. When I'm feeling talented. Or bored. Or... yeah, never happening.

Wednesday Soup: Creamy Chicken Meatball Soup

2012-02-29T10:27:00.003-05:00

This is the last Wednesday Soup I'll be doing here.

But it's not what you think. I'm not abandoning the food posts. Oh no. No no no.

Did any of you know that I used to write a teeny, tiny, minuscule food blog? I loved it. I loved the whole process, of finding something new to try, or mixing flavours to come up with something completely unique, of the careful chopping and mixing and baking and cooking, of the photos, and the writing, and the thoughts about food and the way it makes one feel.

When we started our renovation, all cooking and baking ended for about four months. We ate a lot of Kraft dinner, a lot of frozen pizza, a lot of take-out. I missed cooking.

But now, our kitchen is in full working order and oh, does it work. It is a dream spending time in that space and, more and more, I find myself returning to the process, returning to food. These Wednesday Soup posts reminded me how much I love not only making and eating food, but photographing and writing about it. Food is a conversation, a conversation I love engaging in.

I know some of you love my soups. Some of you prefer the house stuff. I don't want to lose track of either.

So, today, I launch This Dusty Kitchen!

It's not a whole new blog (though, in a way, it is), but rather a 'subsidiary' of This Dusty House. Everything I have to say about our home, decorating, renovating, and living in this space will be found here, as it always has been. Food, food, glorious food will be found at This Dusty Kitchen. Occasionally, in each place, in order to keep the space between the two thin, I'll share what's going on in the other space.

Today, pop over and visit for a soup recipe and check out what I'm doing over there. Let me know what you think and, in the process, answer me this question:

What kind of foods would you love to see me make?

What decorating and renovating topics do you want to hear more about?

And in the meantime, make this soup.

Kitchen Window Shelves

2012-02-28T10:22:00.001-05:00

My early followers will know that the Husband and I come up with lots of great ideas for our little house on a daily basis that, two weeks later, will be completely out of our heads and never spoken of again. I like to think that this is how everyone works. Is that true?

One such idea that I posted about early on was a solution for both a storage dilemma that all small-home owners face and the struggle I was fighting of bringing character and personality into a slightly unconventional, all-white kitchen. Remember this idea?

image here

Believe it or not, this is not an idea that ended up dismissed and forgotten. In fact, it has, more or less, been accomplished!

I know. Shocking!

(I know, it's hard to see. Do you know how difficult it is to take shots of a window in the daytime?)

Originally, we had planned to use glass for the shelves. That would have ensured that no light was blocked by the shelves themselves. It also would have ensured that this project would never have gotten done. It would have been nearly impossible to find pre-cut pieces of glass to fit just perfectly in our window. We would likely have had to special order the pieces of glass or learned how to cut it ourselves and we're just not that complicated of DIYers.

So, we went with wood.

After I decided that I wanted to paint the shelves rather than stain them - stain would have be beautiful, but, I worried, too heavy for a window - we picked up some 4'' by 1'' pre-primed maple.

The Husband cut them down to 31'' to fit the door and added a little notch to fit around part of the window frame. With the leftovers, he cut six 1'' blocks. These are the supports on each end.

I painted each part (just white - and, I'll admit, I may not have finished... but, you could never tell from the pictures!), drilled the support into place on the window frame, made sure they were level, swore a few times, undrilled and redrilled, and dropped the plank on top. Three times. Easy peasy.

And then I decorated.

Kind of.

Eventually, instead of candles and canisters, I hope to fill this window with herbs and cacti (though I promise to move my Christmas cactus out of the window - they don't like direct light, I hear!) all in pretty, colourful pots. The teacups will stay, I think, because I like having them on display, but the rest will find homes in my cupboards and the pantry, hidden and out of sight.

More and more, my kitchen is feeling finished. Like home. Like the room I want to spend time in.

At least, it does when it's not piled high with dishes.

--~*~--

Psst! This Dusty House is up for Apartment Therapy's 2012 The Homies! Care to vote? Go here!

The Homies 2012

2012-02-27T09:33:00.000-05:00

Some mysterious reader absolutely made my day.

This Dusty House has been nominated for The Homies!

The Homies are Apartment Therapy's home blog awards. This includes 6 categories of awards. This Dusty House has been nominated for 'Best Home Design Blog' and is already at a whopping 3 votes!

(Ok. One of those votes might be mine... there's nothing wrong with voting for your own blog, right?)

I don't expect to win. I mean, go look at the list! I'm up against such power houses as Centsational Girl, House*Tweaking, A Brooklyn Limestone, The Lettered Cottage... Ok, I'll stop now. But just the fact that someone (no, two people!) thought my little blog was worthy among those names? I can't stop grinning!

Anyway, if you feel so inclined to vote, go here! You need an Apartment Therapy account in order to cast your ballot. If you happen to decide to vote for This Dusty House? Well, you'll make my day times one hundred!

(I love you guys.)

Who Needs Spring?

2012-02-24T12:37:00.000-05:00

As you may have noticed in my Thursday post, I'm itching for spring so I can start growing stuff. But wait a minute... why wait for spring?

Exactly.

There's absolutely no reason to wait.

In fact, many plants, such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and onions need to be started indoors or bought as already-germinated-and-half-grown plants in the spring. Can you guess my plans?

While at our local home improvement store on the weekend, we picked up a whole whack of seeds and some peat pots to get me started. The veggies I've set aside to plant in a week or so. The herbs I picked up on the other hand... They went right into their little pots, the lid of the seed starting kit went on, and they found a place to live, being moved from the kitchen table to the counter top, to the side table by the Ikea chairs, anywhere they would be out of the way but out of direct sunlight - for now.

I have 10 pots of each of these herbs. Most will, eventually, find their way into our garden or an herb pot outside. But a couple of each of these plants will go into pretty little pots to live in my kitchen window. I don't have much experience cooking with fresh herbs, I'll admit, but even if I never use them, at least they'll brighten up my kitchen with their fragrant green leaves. At least they'll inspire, in their own gentle way.

Three Things This Thursday

2012-02-23T10:04:00.000-05:00

One

Approximately a month ago, the husband and I bought a brick of tofu. Bought it and ignored it. Can you believe how long these things stay fresh in your fridge? This week, the expiry date started to loom a little too close for comfort. Last night, the day before it expired, that block of soy curd stuff finally ended up in a frying pan.

Why is this such a big deal?

Because I've never made tofu before. Yes, I've had it. In pad thai. In miso soup. But to actually cook with it? And make a main course with that weird block of white stuff?

Never.

Until last night, when this happened.

image via Big Flavors from a Small Kitchen

Admittedly, it looked nothing like that. I think the soy sauce I used (courtesy of J and D, after I discovered a lack of soy sauce in my fridge and subsequently went into a panic at the thought of my tofu expiring) may have been darker than this and I don't even know what tamari is, so obviously, it was lacking. And, while I mixed our salad, the sauce definitely got significantly over cooked. In fact, my tofu looked down right unappetizing. As I placed the plate in front of the husband and my brother-in-law, who dropped in for a short visit while in town, I promised that, if it was terrible, we'd call the pizza guy right away.

Surprise surprise. Not only edible, but also tasty!

Two

I know this winter has been mostly fake (Where are our snow storms? Where's the mounds of dirty snow?) but I think the spring-like weather lately has been making me long for spring all the more. And I don't mean this fake spring. I mean a real, time-to-get-dirty-in-the-garden-and-plant-stuff kind of spring. I'm itching to get our garden going.

Remember last year's?

It was pretty small, and we were pretty busy. It ended up over run with weeds way more times than I can count. I was a little surprised that we got what we did out of it.

This year though? This year we're going big. I'll have way more time to garden, hopefully. And, I'll have help! Our downstairs-friend and provider-of-soy-sauce, J is similarly itching to get outside. We've got mega-gardening plans, and I can't wait to start getting on them.

Three

Meanwhile, indoors. I'm plotting way to bring that garden inside. Kitchen herbs. Cacti. Anything green I can manage. Like this:

image via Summer Goals

Do you have indoor plants?

Wednesday Soup: Creamy Tortellini Soup

2012-02-22T09:28:00.000-05:00

This one is a Jeanette Original. 100% out of my head.

(Granted, I've learned a lot about making soup over the past couple years. And I relied on a little research to tell me what flavours might go well together.)

Soups tend to work when I make them out of my head. They tend to be somewhat similar, technique-wise, to other soups that I've been making for years, boring, even. But they're pretty much always tasty. Tried and true with a dash of adventure.

(Except for that time I tried mixing a creamy potato soup with a package of onion soup mix and a can of tomato paste. Oh my goodness, that was bad.)

This one was definitely tasty.

In fact, I might make another pot on the weekend. Maybe.

Since this is a Me-Original, I will absolutely share this recipe with you.

Creamy Tortellini Soup

5 tbsp extra virgin (approximate)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
3 tbsp flour
4 cups chicken broth (or 4 cups water and 4 tsp chicken bouillon powder - this is what I always use. Tried chicken stock and I still prefer my Knorr instant stock mix!)
A handful of roughly chopped spinach (the stuff wilting in your crisper is perfect, as long as it's not too wilty.)
A tsp or so dried parsley
A few handfuls of frozen, cheese-stuffed tortellini

Have you guessed yet that the process of making soup is, for me, very unscripted? Handfuls of this, dashes of that. My best soups are made with what's available in my cupboards, a nearly haphazard process of adding, and mixing, and pondering, and adding a little more. Recipes are nothing more than inspiration.

So. Treat this as that.

Take your onion and throw it into a soup pot with the oil. I never measure my oil. Just make sure the onions aren't burning. Cook until the onion is translucent. If the oil has mostly evaporated away, add a little more. You want there to be some liquid in the bottom of your pot. Add your carrots and stir to mix.

Add the flour. The oil and onions and carrots will all get beautifully coated with the flour. Stir consistently at this point. You don't want your flour to burn to the bottom of the pot, but you do want it to cook.

Slowly add your water or chicken broth, stirring as you pour. Your flour will mix beautifully into the broth, making it deliciously thick and creamy.

Throw in everything else and allow to boil to cook the tortellini and spinach through and bring out the flavour of the parsley.

If extra creaminess is desired, turn down the heat to a simmer and add in half a cup of heavy cream, half and half, or milk. Simmer to heat through and serve! (I skipped this step. We had just got back from the gym... I was feeling healthy.)

Other Soups

Cancel Your Cable

2012-02-21T09:48:00.003-05:00

When a Tuesday pretends to be a Monday... oh, what a brutal morning. My lethargic self refused - outright refused - to get out of bed this morning. I took transit in a fog. Arrived at my desk without knowing how. And got some decent news about a deadline that too the pressure off this fake Monday.

So, I thought I'd share a little money saving tip with you! (I know - such a natural segue, from Monday-Tuesday mornings to money...)

Here it is.

Cancel your cable.

(How many of those channels do you watch, anyway?)

And build one of these:

This contraption leans against the wall beside our TV. It's made with some washers, some wire, some clothes hanger, and a couple specialized connector thingies all stuck to a 2 by 4. I know, it looks crazy and perhaps a little dangerous. But it works! See?

Two and a Half Men!

With this ghetto looking contraption, we pick up CBC (English and French), CityTV, CTV, TVO, Channel 4, Global, and Omni 1. In HD. Considering all the major shows are on those channels, and hockey is on CBC, what more could we need?

(To be fair, I truly love my Netflix subscription.)

The Husband is extremely proud of this antenna, partially because it saves us a good chunk of money every month and partially because it picks up HD channels and is, therefore, all the sweeter. He followed this tutorial. We went from 0 to 8 channels in about half an hour.

I know. He's pretty impressive.

Valentine's Day in Review

2012-02-15T12:10:00.000-05:00

I know it's Wednesday, which means it's supposed to be a soup day. And I did have a soup ready for you, pretty pictures and all, and then I decided it really wasn't that great and, therefore, there was no way I was going to share and recommend that you make it.

Also, yesterday was Valentine's Day. How can I ignore Valentines day?

I stepped into a cleaned, candlelit house after a stressful day at work and was greeted by the perfect tulip rose bouquet* and a glass of wine.

Then, I made this:

Image and recipe here! Seriously. Make this.

And the husband made some heart shaped cookies.

We sat at our kitchen table with a bottle of wine we bought almost 8 months ago in San Francisco** and we talked and talked and ate, and chatted and snuck Mocha scraps*** and whiled the evening away together.

Heaven.

* Our wedding flower was a tulip. My bouquet was a beautiful mix of tulips and roses and daisies. I love tulips. Our wallet thanks me.

** That is not to say that we haven't had wine in 8 months. Rather, we quite enjoy our wine on a semi-regular basis. This wine, however, we'd been saving for a special occasion. I guess it took us 8 months to find a special occasion. (I was starting to worry it would go sour on us... it did not!)

*** In her bowl, of course. We learned the hard way that "accidentally" letting food fall on the floor for her to eat is just as bad as slipping her little bits from your fingers without making her do a trick first.

Hello Monday.

2012-02-13T13:04:00.001-05:00

200th post!

Wow. :o

That's all I have to say about that.

I spent the weekend with about 60 fellow youth leaders, youth workers, and youth pastors being refilled and encouraged in our work with our churches' youth. I'm not entirely sure the weekend fulfilled its purpose in me, but it was worth it none-the-less.

Except for this cold I brought home with me.

On Thursday, I popped by the little thrift store down my street, just for a peek. A collection of almost-new-looking boots in the window drew me in. Too bad for me, they were half a size too small, so I left them all behind and slipped downstairs to check out the furniture and household section.

I came home with this:

Our cacti are grateful.

It's a little beat up, but it does its job well, as long as it doesn't get too filled. Should I polish it or leave the patina as it is? Seeing it on our little dresser, I wish I'd picked up some of the other brass pots in the thrift store collection. I may have to go back for them. The brass brings this delightful bit of warmth into our home, warmth and comfort in this weird, metallic sort of way. Especially in combination with the green of our plants.

Too bad a little bit of prettiness can't cure a sore throat or sooth a painful cough...

Before and After: A different sort of reveal

2012-02-10T09:25:00.002-05:00

I don't get my hair done that often. I might be the only girl in the world who doesn't actually find the process particularly relaxing. In fact, I'll admit it: it's kind of stressful, uncomfortable.

The stress of picking what you want to do with your hair.

The stress of reassuring the hair stylist that you'll be happy with that drastic change you say you want.

The stress of the reaction when they're all done.

Also, I hate those gowns designed to save you from the hair. I know; it's absolutely required if I don't want to itch for the next two days from hair going everywhere. But my hands are trapped. I can't drink the beverage they give because I'll get hair in it. My bangs tickle my nose and I can't move them because my hands are stuck under the gown and besides, they'll just fall back in my face two seconds later anyway.

An old friend of mine from high school does hair out of her apartment here in TO. (She's also has a ridiculously beautiful voice. Go listen! And, if you're in TO, drop by Crema Coffee tonight for a live show!) She dyed my hair for the first time back in June when the greys that were peaking out around my temples finally got to me. Two months later, my hair looked something like this, already requiring a trim and a root touch up:

But, did I call her up and request an appointment?

Nope.

My mom helped me colour my roots with dye out of a box on our family vacation, so with my silver strands hidden, I continued to let it grow.

For another five months.

By the Blogger Meetup a couple weeks ago, my hair length was pretty well close to my waist, the ends were split, pony tails were out of the question unless I really wanted to rock the white streak look and all that hair was getting in my way.

It was definitely time for a change.

This totally fit the bill.

Short. Dark. Lots of red. The perfect swoopy bangs.

Mocha may or may not have been a willing prop in this photo shoot which I have to thank the Husband for.

She also needs a hair cut.

Three Things This Thursday

2012-02-09T11:39:00.001-05:00

It feels like it's been a while since I've done one of these. Has it? For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, Three Things This Thursday is my chance to blab about what I'm thinking about these days in terms of our home, my life, our plans, anything.

One

Reading. Since I bought my Kobo at the beginning of January, I've been doing a steady amount of reading. This isn't unusual. After all, I've got an hour and a half commute twice a day, every day. Books save my sanity. I took a trip through an old favourite, The Princess and the Goblins (which I read in grade 6 and had no idea that it was actually written ages ago and is now public domain), plowed through Uncle Tom's Cabin, skimmed through the first few chapters of Little Women, and then got my library card sorted out and jumped on to American Rust by Phillip Meyer (so good!).

Since I've been doing a lot of reading, lately, I've been drawn to these kind of spaces a lot:

image from Decor8

A chair to curl up in with my toes against one arm rest and my elbow on the other, a cup of tea close at hand and plenty of well directed light to read by. Oh, I love it.

Two

I found an amazing pair of boots at Winners for cheapcheap last week and I now I can't stop thinking about shoes. I'm a shoe person. I loooove shoes. Unfortunately, my shoe collection has taken a serious beating over the past couple years since a certain Chew-Monster came into our lives. The only surviving high heels are the ones in my small collection of shoes that I keep at work, basic black, white and brown shoes. Even my red wedding shoes took a beating under the vicious teeth of our puppy.

(I almost cried.)

Now that Mocha is a little older and little less prone to destroying my shoes (I hope) and now that I am a better trained owner, hyper-aware of her little teeth and the location of my prettiest shoes, I feel it safe to start rebuilding my collection. Of course, that means some proper shoe storage. Right now, all I've got is a cheap shoe rack in my closet on which my high heels don't even fit. I think something like this would be far more suitable:

image here

Though, perhaps with glass doors... Those teeth still love to chew...

Three

Last week, in the same way that these canisters came into my life, a small decorative plate found its way into our kitchen. It's so pretty and I'd love to keep it, but we've got a beautiful matching set of plates and I'm not a huge fan of the mismatched look. I lived with mismatched plates for 5 years of university - I don't need to do it anymore. But this plate is just to0 pretty to give the boot.

So, it sits on my counter.

But, perhaps it should sit on my wall instead!

image here at House and Home

I know, it's trendy. But I like the look. It reminds me of my grandmother's house and my mom's house. Both had old plates, perhaps from Holland, on the walls, not in a cluster like this, maybe, but on the walls none-the-less. I just have to learn to hang plates, find a few more (thrift stores, here I come) and decide where to hang them. Beside our dishes shelf perhaps? Or on both sides of the kitchen window?

What are you thinking about these days?

Guest Post: Chicken, Lentil and Tomato Soup

2012-02-08T09:18:00.000-05:00

This morning, This Dusty House has a guest! Am and I have known each other since the first day of class in university. She sat in front of me in Mr. D's English class. We bonded over our love of pets and food, so I was really excited when she started a blog of her own. Pop over to visit her at The Cook's Sister!

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Hi there, this is Am from The Cook’s Sister. This is my first time writing a guest blog post, so feel free to send me tips and suggestions! I hope to have the opportunity to be invited back to this blog, or others!

As I’ve mentioned, I’m fairly new to the blogging community. I’ve maintained a few academic blogs, and am now trying to maintain a personal blog where I share food-related experiences. While my former blogs have been targeted to a very specific and small audience (my classmates and professors), this recent endeavour is proving to be a very different experience. There’re so many unanswered questions. What are food blog audiences typically looking for? How do I capture my audience’s interest? How can I reach out to others and get more followers? How do I take beautiful and appealing photos? And more...

I’m lucky to have wonderful blogging friend who has spent many hours proving advice that is helping me build and maintain my blog. I’ve been working to incorporate all of her advice and I think it’s really helping me improve my blogging skills! She’s even given me this opportunity to write my very first guest blog post on her own blog.

Thank you for everything Nette! And hope you all enjoy the soup this Wednesday!

Chicken Lentil and Tomato Soup

Ingredients

3 chicken legs, bone in, skin removed – approximate cost $5.00
6 cups water
2 cups dried lentils – approximate cost $2.00
2 onions, sliced – approximate cost $0.50
2 dried bay leaves – approximate cost $0.05
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning – approximate cost $0.05
1 can of tomato paste – approximate cost $1.00
1 can of tomatoes – approximate cost $1.00
4 cloves garlic, chopped – approximate cost $0.20
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin – approximate cost $0.25
2 tablespoons sea salt – approximate cost $0.10
6 teaspoons of lime juice – approximate cost $0.50

Method
Prepare the chicken broth (or use about 5 cups of a store-bought broth)

Place the chicken pieces, onion slices, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, water and sea salt into a slow cooker on low heat.
Cook for 6-8 hours.
Remove the chicken pieces.
Strain the broth into a large pot (removing the onion pieces and bay leaves).
Peel the chicken off the bones and shred the chicken.
Discard the bones and other unwanted bits.

Prepare the lentils

Rinse the lentils thoroughly.
Soak the lentils in warm water for at least 2 hours (you can soak the lentils while you prepare the broth).

Prepare the soup

In a large pot, combine the chicken broth, chicken pieces, lentils, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, and cumin.

Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to a simmer.

Cook for 30 minutes.

Makes about 6 servings (approximate cost: $1.77 per serving). Serve and drizzle one teaspoon of lime juice over each serving.

Welcome to Monday

2012-02-06T10:29:00.001-05:00

I had big plans for this weekend. It was going to be productive and, by the time we went to bed on Sunday evening, the house was going to be spotless. I was going to:

Finish the back part of my reupholstery project, which would only leave the cushion to finish.
Rearrange the living room.
Sweep and swiffer our bamboo.
Fold laundry.
Make bread.

None of that happened.

However, this happened:

(Can you spot the Mocha?)

I'll be better, I promise.

As soon as I get this puzzle finished.

I hope your weekend involved more than a puzzle of houses and yellow sky.

Wednesday Soup

2012-02-01T10:29:00.002-05:00

For a while last week, our house looked like this:

The dishwasher has developed a high pitched whine that drives the husband crazy more than it does me. He declared it broken, announced it unusable, and, two days later, called the store we bought it from to call in our warranty. Can you guess who was doing dishes for the days leading up to our service call?

Precisely.

Anyway, it's on its way to being fixed - a new motor has been ordered - so, for some reason, the whine has become more tolerable. But, since making food meant making a more-difficult-to-deal-with mess, not a lot of food has been made in a while.

This soup, however, has been.

And it's delicious.

That's not hyperbole. It is truly truly delicious.

But that's not really a surprise. This recipe comes from Jessica of How Sweet It Is. She is, hands down, my favourite food blogger. Funny, real, and oh so delicious. She has yet to make something I wouldn't eat.

Case in point, buffalo chicken soup.

Usually, when I make a soup, the last serving or so ends up finding its way down the drain. I know, wasteful... The pot will languish for just a little too long in the fridge after I've gotten bored of it. I'll have good intentions of freezing it, but then, for some reason or another, it never happens and, two or three weeks later, I'm sniffing at it suspiciously before scooping it into the compost.

Not this one.

All gone.

Every last bite.

So good.

Here's the recipe if you want to make it. (Do!)

(* Why do cats seem to be naturally drawn to the insulating batting on top of a dishwasher? Pekoe languished here for the full day and a half that the dishwasher sat there.)

Swaaag!

2012-01-31T08:54:00.000-05:00

(Yesterday, my bathroom was featured on Curbly next to 9 other gorgeous small bathrooms. So honoured! Check the post out here!)

Why, yes, I did mention a swag bag! Amazing sponsors meant an amazing swag bag. This thing was full of so many goodies.

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There were the green goodies from Aya Kitchens and Bath: the swag bag itself, a beautiful green travel mug, and a design book, full of custom-kitchen eye candy.

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The little pile from IKEA included a super deep muffin tin, cupcake liners, and a blanket, which I unrolled and snuggled under all Sunday afternoon.

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From Cottonelle, there was the adorable toilet paper container with a roll of Cottonelle toilet paper. The Jonathan Adler book is also from them, considering their designs for the containers came from him.

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There's a copy of House and Home magazine. Can you believe that I don't have a single subscription to any magazine or newspaper? I was kind of excited to get this, and definitely wish I'd won the subscription itself.

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There was an assortment of coupons and postcards from the meetup's various other sponsors such as Kravat, Gluckstein Home, and CB2.

(Hilarious moment: Andrea from Ikea won the throw pillow from CB2 in the giveaway! And such a cute pillow it was, too!)

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The husband's favourite item from the swag bag? The paint chips from CIL and Gluckstein Home/Benjamin Moore. I've already started planning what colour to paint our living room, now that I can do it all from the comfort of my own home.

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Sometimes, I'm still a little blown away by how seriously brands take bloggers. A huge thank you to all the sponsors and, of course, the organizers of the even, Vie and Daniella!

Canadian Design Bloggers Meetup

2012-01-30T13:15:00.000-05:00

Saturday afternoon, I sat on the 510 King street car feeling a little bit like I was going to puke. I was headed here:

For this:

And I was terrified.

I had never been to a blogging event. And, while you might not know it if you met me, I'm not the most naturally outgoing person in the world. I have a history of forcing myself into the middle of a group of strangers (just ask my husband about that one), but while I think meeting new people is important, I don't find it easy.

The meetup wasn't easy.

But it was wonderful.

After I collected my name tag and dropped a scrap of paper with my name on it into the draw basket (yup, I was one of those without a business card. Definitely something to remedy for the next one!) I bee-lined it to the bar and grabbed a glass of wine. Just something to keep my hands busy. To calm my nerves. To give me purpose. I stepped away from the bar and made my way through the crowd of women, the crowd that was chattering so happily away, so easily, so naturally. For a moment, I stood by myself on the edge of the crowd and breathed.

This is crazy. I can't do this.

But I can't just stand here either. That's even worse.

So, I stepped forward, wiggled my way into the nearest group, introduced myself, asked questions, met a new blogger or two, gathered a business card or two, drank a glass of wine or two (or three), ate a mini burger and an oyster or two, had a fudge stick thing, listened to some speakers or four, waited for my name to be drawn for a prize (it wasn't), shifted from foot to foot in my brand new super-high heels, forced myself to step into a circle or two, introduced myself to some of my favourite fellow Canadian bloggers, met some superbly talented women (and a few men), grabbed a swag bag and left feeling much more relaxed, much more confident.

Photo by the event photographer, Alessia Lamonaca

With Amanda and Justyna from Aya Kitchens and Kim from Restoration House

Did I enjoy it?

That's a hard question to answer. It's like asking me if I enjoy going to the gym that first time after not being to the gym in 6 months. It's hard. But I know that, while I'm there, I'll remember or learn why I enjoy it and I know that every time I go to another event, it will get easier as I get to know more and more of my blogging friends. I love that I got to meet each of the bloggers I came across there. I love the new conversations that the face-to-face nature of the meetup allowed us to start.

I'll certainly be at the next one with a little more confidence and the perfect business card.

Taking Care of Me

2012-01-27T11:01:00.001-05:00

This morning, I thought I must be nuts.

The alarm went off at 5:45. I fumbled for my glasses, hit the clock a couple times until it fell silent and flopped back onto the bed. Mocha snuggled up against my legs.

This is the fifth morning of this early wake-up call. Believe it or not, it doesn't get any easier. But, by the time I leave the gym an hour later, I've decided it's worth it.

Moving my workout time from the evening to the morning was supposed to mean more time to work on projects. It was supposed to mean that maybe I would get another piece of fabric on my reupholstery project. It was supposed to mean actually folding the clean laundry instead of just hiding it in the closet. It was supposed to mean making the bed and taking the dog for proper walks.

None of that has happened.

So, what has happened? Fresh soup every night has happened. Lingering over our bowls at the kitchen table and chattering incessantly about our days has happened. Making cookies has happened. Snuggling into a movie with a crochet hook has happened. Cuddling the puppy and the kitty, occassionally both at the same time has happened. Making more dreams and more plans has happened. Being together has happened.

Thank goodness for the Husband beside me, to nudge me out of bed on the mornings I don't think I can make it.

Hopefully, Monday will come with renewed energy and enthusiasm. And, perhaps, a little house progress?

Have a grand weekend, friends. I'll be headed to the Canadian Design Blogger Meetup Saturday evening. I'm so excited to meet some of you and, perhaps, more than a little nervous!

Chicken Noodle Soup

2012-01-25T10:03:00.002-05:00

True to my word from a couple weeks ago, I've been making a lot of soup.

False to my word, I have yet to make another soup from the Joy of Cooking. Part of the problem with following a recipe is that a recipe assumes a specific set of ingredients. When I haven't been grocery shopping for nearly 3 weeks, assuming that those ingredients will be found in my cupboard is a recipe for take-out. I flipped through the soup section more than once, trying to find one that fit my pantry.

I psyched myself out.

So, on Sunday, I made my go-to soup instead!

Soup is a huge part of my heritage. All four of my grandparents moved here from the Netherlands after World War II. My parents, 1st generation Dutch immigrants, found each other in a profession of faith class when they went off to university. My husband and I, both 2nd generation Dutch immigrants found each other at a still-predominantly-Dutch church in the city in which we went to university.

Guess what the Dutch like?

Soup and sandwiches!

Especially op Sondag - on Sunday.

And this soup? Sure, it's close to the chicken noodle soup found in the Joy of Cooking. But it's also close to the soup you'll find at any church potluck or simmering on the wood stove in the old farmhouse.

Chicken Noodle Soup
From my head.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 or 2 cloves garlic
2 ribs celery, chopped into bite sized pieces
2 or 3 carrots, chopped into bite sized pieces
Whatever chicken you have, cooked and chopped into bite sized pieces. I used 3 thighs. You could use 2 breasts. *
Approximately 4 cups water
1 package Knorr vegetable soup mix, or other instant stock mix/bouillon
Whatever spices you wish. I generally use some combination of basil, oregano, parsley, bay, rosemary, and/or thyme.
A handful of dry spaghetti, spaghettini, vermicelli, or other noodle of your choice, broken in pieces if long.

* When my mom made these soups, she would use whatever meat she had on hand, more often ground beef or stewing meat than chicken. She would cook her meat in the Dutch oven or soup pot with half an inch or so of water in the bottom of the pot, and then build the soup over top. It's easy, and cuts down on dishes.

In a Dutch oven, combine your olive oil and veggies. Allow to cook until the onion is soft. Add the chicken (though, of course, if you've used my method in the parathesis above, you've already done this.) and pour the water over the whole thing. Mix in the soup mix or bouillon and all the spices. Allow to simmer for at least 20 minutes to half an hour, or longer for even better flavour. Add more water as necessary - it will steam away - and taste on a regular basis to ensure there's enough flavour. If not, add a little more stock mix or salt and pepper.

About 10 minutes before serving, add the broken up spaghetti. When it's cooked, the soup is done!

Eat with plenty of bread or, if you're trying to be really Dutch, a bun with egg salad or tuna or a bit of butter and roast beef (and call it a sandwich).

Mmm... bread.

I'm sure soup is part of most traditions. What's your go-to soup? Have you had any foods handed down to you through generations?