Ready for the holidays

"Every house where love abides

and friendship is a guest is surely home, 

and home, sweet home; 

for there the heart can rest."

~ Henry Van Dyke

I can't wait for Christmas to come. As a matter of fact, this year's Christmas decors in our home have been put up a day after Halloween. 

I've decided to use red and green as the main colours for the kitchen and the family room. We've also put up four Christmas lanterns (only 3 are shown in the pic below). We got these from Ikea, believe it or not :). And dirt cheap too as we bought them during Boxing Day.

Christmas cooking/baking has also started. Last week, I managed to whip up a few batches of French macarons and brought some to the office. I will be making a few batches this week. Not just macarons but some of our usual Christmas goodies.

MDH and I will be off from work between Christmas and New Year. Big yay to that! Well, not quite "off work" for MDH as he will be working from home. But at least, he can work in his pajamas.

Over 10 days of no set time to sleep and wake-up, possibly pig-out, lotsa cuddles in front of the TV, movie marathon, video chats with family members from afar, and on and on. I can't wait!

Bring it on

I am soooo ready!

These sweet little things ...

For me, one of the happy places to be in is in the kitchen doing one of the exciting things to do - trying out a recipe.

I have, for the longest time, wished to learn to make French macarons. For one, they're one of my favourite photo subjects.  And, not only are they pretty, they're quite delicious too. They may not be for everyone's liking but for someone with sweet tooth, they're to die for. Okay, I'm exaggerating. You get the picture - I have one big crush for these little sweet things hahaha. The problem is, where we are, there is no bakeshop that sells them. Or if there is, I don't know.

So, what does a desperate woman like me do? Scour the internet for the recipe. And take the time to read the comments and reviews of the recipe if there are available.
 
There are quite a number of French macaron recipes (with accompanying tips and tricks) out there. The most common tips I found are:

• Measure the ingredients as accurately as possible. The recipe I picked uses weight (in grams) as measurement (instead of the usual volume in cups and tsps) so I had to buy a small digital weighing scale.
• Make sure that your utensils are clean and oil-free especially the bowl you'll use to prepare your meringue.
• Over beating or under beating of the egg whites will yield undesirable result. This can be a tad tricky for someone who hasn't worked with meringues. But just remember, YouTube university is just a click away ;) .

Okay, so without further ado, up close, here's the result of my first attempt -

My first attempt with French macarons. They're crunchy outside, chewy inside.

Not the perfect macarons as they are way too sweet but I guess they will do for now. I had the most encouraging sidekick a.k.a. MDH who has the greatest trust that I can do it.

For this batch, I used strawberry jam. Even if they're from the same batch, I ended up having two colours. That's because I experimented on the baking time. Some of them are now stored in the fridge as they need to "mature" for best flavour. Apparently, macarons are best when they're not so fresh. I didn't know that.

So in the next few days, during my free time, I will tweak the recipe I used to come up with something less sweet and maintain the same texture. Lots of experimentation (didn't they say 'baking is chemistry'? )  in my favourite lab, our kitchen, in the coming days . Hopefully, I will 'discover' the 'perfect concoction' before the official Christmas baking begins. Yup, I'm planning to include macarons in our Christmas goodies this year.

Another Tale, Another Tear

She said she usually cried at least once each day not because she was sad, but because the world was so beautiful & life was so short.

~ Story People

Give me the strength to hold back my tears.
~ Me

He gives the bestest gifts

Over umph-teen years of being married to this guy, a gazillion years of having known him and be with him, his gift giving hasn't changed. He knows the bestest gift to give.

The morning of our anniversary, this was how the bedroom of The Boy Who Means The World To Us looked like. This was MDH's anniversary gift to me - repaint of MDK's bedroom.

Less than an hour before we headed to our fave Italian resto for our anniversary dinner, here's what it looked like -

It took awhile for the bedroom occupant to pick a colour. I think it even stressed him out a bit. Ah, boys :). He did ask for some suggestions and so I showed him some of the shades I was leaning towards - something green with a grey undertone, a lighter shade of olive green maybe. He said he liked something with a tint of yellow and anything blueish was not an option.

It was quite interesting when he looked at the swatches. His first batch (yes, batch) of choices were based on names. If it was green and he liked the name, he picked them. It sounded like an easy criteria to pick a colour, but in reality, all the ones with 'cool-sounding' names didn't really look good in the room.

I took this pic against the loft wall. I picked this corner of the loft since this is visible from MDK's bedroom and at certain angles, the 2 colours (red-orange and green) are visible at the same time.

So, after weeks of deliberating which colour to put and with my assurance that it was just a paint and that if he wouldn't like it, we can repaint it, he decided to pick Guilford Green by Benjamin Moore. And when I asked him to confirm that it was his final choice, he said, "I don't even like the name." So Guilford Green it was!

As soon as the first brush stroke was applied on the wall, I was smitten with the colour. Quite soothing to the eyes. Most importantly, it looked clean.

Bedroom layout

And here's a bonus pic - the ensuite. It's the smallest bathroom in the house so it was quite a challenge when we painted it. With the ladder and stuff in it, only one person at a time could work. But it was for The Boy Who Means The World To Us so we didn't mind.

One of them days

 

"The pink lady, is that you?"

"Are you crying in the pic?"

"Is that me?" (pointing to the giant stick man)

Happy Halloween!

Riding it out

... in New York City. And life in general.

Warning: I cannot spill out the details so I'll just do my mumbo-jumbo talk here.

We were in Manhattan when Irene decided to pay a visit to New York City . But it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. At least that’s how it was in NYC. It wasn’t the same for other areas. Save for the occasional rain and the inconvenience of not having enough choices for places to eat, our visit this time around was quite relaxed. For one, tons of parking spaces were available.


We were in the midst of our cruise to the Bahamas when we heard the bad news. Worse actually because we learned that it would hit Manhattan (among others) on the day we we were supposed to be there. Someone forgot to order a side of nice, sunny weather in NYC for this vacation. Dang!

Our fave hotel along Lexington in Manhattan.

What to do, what to do was the question. Well after all the storms, typhoons, and hurricanes and what-have-yous that I'd been through the past months, I was unfazed by the news. I bravely told MDH and MDK that we'd ride it out, just like how we faced our storms the past months. Because really, what more do we need to survive and endure this, right? We were together, and that’s all that matters for now. I remember one afternoon, we had this emotionally-charged discussion, and someone blurted "I'd rather we talk about our failures and know that we still have each other instead of celebrate our 'successes' individually because we no longer talk to each other." We learned our lesson and it was time to put that to practice (sorta) once again. So rode it out together was what we did and hopefully, we’ll do the same when another storm will come. And you know what? It wasn't really that bad. Just like the storms we had in the past, it had its silver linings and it highlighted our strength as a family. And if you're wondering if I'm still talking about the storm in NYC, I say ‘yes I am and some.’


Am keeping the silver linings to myself.

Am sharing some pics instead.

Sight and sign in Fifth Ave and Times Squar.e, respectively

Deserted Manhattan. There was hardly any pedestrian in the streets except for some persistent tourists. Public transpo system was suspended and all tunnels and bridges were closed. Shops and restaurants were closed too.

Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village. A visit to this place was MDK's special request for this trip.
And if you wanna know why, click this.

It's not our first to have visited NY. But it's my first to be here with my camera so I feasted on the many interesting eclectic architectural details. It was on my to-do list in this visit. The other one was to meet up with our friends from university which didn't pan out, no thanks to Irene :(. We did meet Al  (who lives in Manhattan) and was very kind to volunteer to be our tour guide :).

Stay tuned for some pics from our cruise to the Bahamas.

Lemonade

Life happens.

I have been busy making some lemonade the past months thus the very long absence. They're the best lemonade I've had in years. Making them was not that easy but I have the best Teacher.

I was a bit overwhelmed with the big batch of lemons given to me. At first, their heavy weight and their sourness were all I could feel and taste. But with His grace, I've slowly come to realize that with the overwhelming number of lemons comes the opportunity to make limitless number of good stuff out of them. I decided to make some lemonade. When I opened my pantry to see if I have everything I need to make my lemonade, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I have more than enough of the ingredients. I am truly blessed.

This is the spot where our good friends brought us to try fishing.

This summer, my boys started to take on fishing. They both enjoy doing it. And I love it because not only do we get to hang out with our friends while fishing, it's another opportunity for MDK and MDH to spend time together enjoying something they both love other than the many things they already share interest - playing music and gaming (they can be pretty competitive btw) among other things.

Summer memories in our ensuite

I know the title sounds weird. But that’s how it is in our bathroom at the moment – it’s filled with summer memories. Summer 2010 to be specific.

But first lemme show you the beautiful fabric I found for our two big windows in the bathroom.

I originally planned to use shower curtains as drapes for the windows. I found the perfect curtains at Ikea, they're made of cotton and washable of course. They have the perfect Ikat prints and colours - blue, grey, and yellow, and dirt cheap too. I purchased 4 tabs. Unfortunately, because we have a nine-foot ceiling in our bathroom, the 72-inch shower curtains were too short. So off to the fabric store I went.

In less than 30 minutes, I found the perfect fabric. I didn't have to scour the entire store or worse, go to  another fabric store that sells more expensive fabric. I found the one at Fabricland. The colours and the Ikat pattern are just perfect! The colours go with the tiles and the Ikat pattern goes with the mirror frames.

Of course the bathroom decorating didn't stop there. We put up some pics on the walls. We decided to use all white frames and picked some of our fave pics that we took during our short but sweet summer vacation in the maritime last year.

Here's a closer look at the pics we've displayed in our bathroom:

Pardon the annoying watermark.

This sailboat is one of the first pics we took in PEI. At past 6 pm, the light was perfect.


One of the things MDK decided to do as part of his adventures in the maritime was to eat as much seafoods as he could and continue his search for the best clam chowder. Don't ask why MDK picked clam chowder. When we went to Boston, he had the best clam chowder (and so he thought). From then on, he started his incessant search for the next best clam chowder.


For our first dinner in PEI, our hostess served us with a five-pound blue mussels with freshly baked bread and butter sauce. It was heavenly.

MDK ate almost all the mussels. It was love at first try for MDK. As for MDH and I, well, we had our second dinner at a local resto nearby. I think MDH and I had fish and chips.

I saw these yellow chairs outside the beach house where we stayed. We all love the beach house btw. After our stay there, we've been dreaming of one day owning a small cottage by the beach. Maybe someday. Dreaming is free, right?

This beauty, in case you're wondering, was found close to the cottage, by the water. Someone decided to dump the checkered sofa as it had some cigarette burns. I thought the colour combo is lovely. We've spent a few hours close to this site. Too bad it was too cold to go for a swim that day. But the cold morning breeze didn't stop my boys from having fun.


Oh, and when you go to the maritime, you don't miss Peggy's Cove.

I took tons of pics of the picturesque light house but most of them have people in them. I was pleasantly surprised that there was one pic where no one's in it.

We visited a lot of other places but there was one place that stood out for me. It was Pier 21.

It was quite an emotional experience going through the different exhibits in the museum. It left quite a lasting impression. Our Pier 21 experience, that will be one special post on its own.

Spring is here

There's certainly no denying that. See the willows on the corner of our tub? I got those 4 springs ago so time to get a new, fresh bunch this time of the year.

But that's not the only ones I wanna show you. I'm showing off the result of MDH's hard work this weekend - our newly painted ensuite. MDH said "it's nothing to blog about." ;)

This was how my side of the counter looked before the repaint this weekend. The yellow paint and mirrors were finally replaced.

The yellowish paint (ICI Antique Linen) in the bathroom is gone. The builder used just one paint in the entire house and I was okay with that as I knew we'd repaint our ensuite with what else but Benjamin Moore paint (I'm a loyal customer). I wanted to have very minimum sheen so the Aura paint was recommended. It's low VOC too which is good for the indoor air. The weekend weather was quite mild so we opened all windows in the bathroom which helped for good ventilation.


We used a greyish-beige ("greige" is what some call it I think), "Barren Plain" if you want to know the name. It has the perfect tone, matches with the tiles.

It's almost monochromatic in there. The colours will be on the drapes and some framed photos. We'll probably put them up this coming weekend.

Here's a closer look at our vanity. I kid you not, I think one of the secrets of a happy marriage is to have separate sinks in the bathroom. Of course you can also opt to have separate bathrooms. That's fine too as long as it's in the same house hahaha.

Here it is one more time. It took us one full day for the prep work (MDH did most of the work) and over half a day of painting. I helped in the painting of course. I looove to paint btw. Am not as OC as my wonderful handyman but I can paint. And I'm a good helper.

Next on the to-do-list to tackle will be MDK's ensuite. Now that will be very tricky as his is the tiniest bathroom we have in the house.

Wanna earn some brownie points?

These chewy, moist brownies are some of the goodies I bake at home. They're some of MDK's fave goodies. And apparently, they are his friends' as well.

After school, the boys (MDK and his friends) usually hang out at our place. And y'all know what it's like with growing boys. They love to munch.

I love to bake. And I love seeing a clean container after the boys devour what's in there.

It took awhile for me to find a 'perfect' brownie recipe. I used to just buy the premixed ones although it's also a hit-and-miss finding the right mix, aside being a tad expensive.

I'm sharing another recipe I found in the AllRecipe site. I tell you, that website is a treasure trove. And like any recipe I learned, I tweaked it.

So here's the original recipe:

Ingredients

* 2 cups sugar
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/3 cup baking cocoa
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 4 eggs
* 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 cup chopped nuts
* confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder.
2. Combine oil, eggs, corn syrup and vanilla.
3. Add to dry ingredients. Fold in nuts if desired.
4. Spread in a greased 13-in.x 9-in.x 2-in. baking pan. 
5.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
6. Dust with confectioners' sugar while warm if desired.

Source: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/chewy-brownies/Detail.aspx

Here are my tweaks:

• I use 1 1/2 cups sugar. I find 2 cups is too much especially if I add some white choco pieces.
• I replace the corn syrup with honey. It's what we have in our pantry.
• I put walnuts. I find it's the perfect nut to go with chocolates.
• If you want to be a bit indulgent (which I usually am), add a cup of chocolate bits. If it eases the guilt, you can use the dark or semi-sweet ones. I used white for this batch as they're more photogenic hahaha.

Our living room in pictures

Here's a collage of our living room.

Tidbits...

• It's adjacent to our dining room.

• It's probably one of the least used spots in the house. We usually entertain friends and hang-out as a family in the family room and in the kitchen.

• Most of the stuff in the room are from our previous home.

• I used to love burgundy thus the sofa and loveseat colour. They're over 10 years old and I actually like the look of aged leather. I can't say the same for the colour. We're thinking of replacing them with grey but we'll probably do that later. We'll see.

• Not sure if the decor style in the living room (and dining) is ethnic-eclectic. I wouldn't know. I didn't take interior design.

Here are the artworks that we used to put above the console in the main hallway.

We didn't bother taking out the Christmas wreath on the door when I took this pic. Sorry I couldn't be bothered.

And here's my most favourite art display. The art piece above was done by MDK during one of his art classes in grade school.

Best Blue Breakfast

Does Monday give you the blues?

Here's something I hope will help chase that dreaded Monday blues away - blue breakfast.

Waffles with fresh blueberries and drizzles of light maple syrup and confectioner's sugar. I skipped the whipped cream.

I always tease MDH that he is such a worry-wart. Example, Friday evening before we go to bed, he starts planning (worrying) what to prepare for our weekend breakfasts. We make extra effort to make weekend breakfasts extra special as our weekday mornings are usually hectic. Meaning, weekday breakfasts usually consist of anything quick to prepare. If we want something but requires longer time to prep, we either have to wake up a tad early or stop wanting it and have it on the weekend instead.

Back when MDK was in grade school, because it was a 30 minute ride from home, we'd eat our breakfast in the car. It was fun, eating breakfast in the car, but not so much the loong drive to school. Coming home, we'd make up all sorts of games to keep all 3 of us entertained.  I missed it when MDK moved to a different school.

So back to my worry-wart. He's getting better lately. He doesn't worry the night before. But the first thing he asks when he wakes up is "what would you want for breakfast." Big improvement, don't you think? :) I love MDH. I always tell him he's a keeper ;)
 
Here's the waffle recipe MDH uses which we got from this site.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add milk, eggs and oil; mix well.
2. Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray. Pour mix onto hot waffle iron. Cook until golden brown.

Winter Charm

In the summer I have this friend who I am closest to,

and sometimes, in the winter,

I long to call her up and say,

come here and live with me, in this cold place.

But we are summer friends.

There is a rule it seems,

that summer friends don't get together in the wintertime.

Now, sitting here, waiting for her,

I realize that I have never seen her in a winter coat,

and for some reason that makes me sadder than anything else in the world.

~ Jacqueline Woodson

Purse love never dies

I love to gawk at purses. A certain bag has to have certain characteristics for me to do a second look at it. Or maybe third, fourth, fifth. Then I start to obsess about it. And then I begin to feel like I’ve got to have it. Is that even normal? I don’t know.

If someone were to give me some shopping money and I were to choose between buying a gorgeous pair of shoes or a purse, I’d pick purse in a heartbeat. Not that I don’t love shoes. I do. In fact, if I were to have unlimited moolah and will have the freedom to spend it anyway I like I’d buy all the gorgeous shoes my eyes can feast on hahaha. But the resources are very limited. And I only have one benefactor: MDH ;) .

I usually have a “me purchase” once a year. Yeah, yeah some people have “me time”. Mine is shopping.

I’ve been eying at this messenger bag.

And this tote too.

But I have the strictest rule to just have one purse purchase a year. Both are gorgeous so I have been contemplating for weeks now as to which one is it going to be. Until I saw the movie Letters to Juliet early this week. And I couldn’t help but got distracted by Amanda Seyfried’s messenger/satchel bag every time she’d appear on screen. The movie is so-so but the sight of her toting the bag with the beautiful rustic Italy as the background is more than so-so.

So what's a girl to do when it's love at purse sight? I of course googled it. And lo and behold, it wasn't just me wanting it. The bag's made in Canada, by Roots and is made of Italian leather. I was pleasantly surprised that it is just a fraction of the price of the other messenger bag I was obsessing earlier.

The long and short, I now own the small satchel in Tribe leather by Roots. We picked it up on our way home from work. This will be my picker-upper for tomorrow. I will be doing something I have been postponing for months. Our family doctor has urged me to do it this time. So yeah, it will be a painful day tomorrow but at least I will be carrying my new satchel.

Update after the painful ordeal:

It was excruciatingly painful. I am now fully convinced that I deserve the other purse - the black tote above to be specific :).

Wishful thinking over a cup of coffee

... on a Sunday afternoon.

This is what I had on my desk today:

MDH, MDK and I are planning to have some work started for our basement this year. It's unfinished at the moment and we are using it as storage area for the stuff we intend to keep but do not have their respective spots in the main floors of the house.

When the house was under construction and we had to decide on the locations of certain things for the smart wiring of the house, one of the things we did was consult an architect friend who was more than generous with his time. Not only did he come up with a basement layout that I really, really like, he was readily available when we called him whenever we were unsure of certain things about the house.

I think I've mentioned it in one of my posts that I'm not really fond of basements. I think that other than for storing stuff and the occasional skateboarding area for MDK (he used to skateboard in our unfinished basement in the previous home during winter, back when skateboarding was his thing :)), there's really not much use for basements. Until I saw what our friend, Rads, came up with.

We specified what we wanted to see in our basement, if time and mostly money will allow ;). We want:

• A full bath
• A bedroom
• The boys' music studio (can double as MDH's work area for his electronics)
• Furnace/Storage Room
• Billiard area
• Wet bar
• Band area 
• Lounge
• TV area mini theatre :=)
  

I know it sounds a lot. Well, a girl can dream, right?

Guess what, Rads came up with a brilliant layout which can accommodate all of the things we want.

Which got me into thinking that hiring a pro, most especially if you have a very limited budget (can be money, time, whatever it is) is the way to go as it will surely save you from committing (very) costly mistakes.

So if you are looking for a pro to help you, I'll be more than happy to give you the details on how to contact him. Happy and proud actually. This article in the Ottawa Citizen will tell you why - Man of Intuition. He's called a "Design Psychic" although MDH and I call him more than that. A very generous friend is what he is.

Because there are no expiry dates to a thank you note

There may have been an expiry date for these candy canes but not the message I am trying to convey.

My heart is overflowing with gratitude.

I want you to know that I am always grateful for your visits on my blog and the sweet notes and footprints you sometimes leave behind to let me know that you've taken the time to browse through this blog and accept the welcome invitation to our home.

So yes, thank you for the visits. Come back anytime and before you leave, take some of these little treats. They're here to be shared.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year celebrations. Here's to another year of creativity, friendship, charity, and love.

Every house where love abides
And friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home sweet home
For there the heart can rest.

~Henry Van Dyke