I've been doing some baking this week but since we are going away for Christmas, I don't have to do as much and what I do make, has to travel well!
Last year I discovered "Cuban Lunch" on Instagram - we loved these and quickly became one of our favourites. People have said this was a chocolate bar, I had never heard of it - it really was, it was mostly a Western Canadian bar, made in Winnipeg by Paulin's or so I've read. This recipe was the first one I googled, so I chose that, there are other variations, I won't be changing, we like this one!
Cuban Lunch
2 c. peanut butter chips
2 c. butterscotch chips
2 c. chocolate chips
1 1/2 c. crushed ripple potato chips
1 1/2 c. peanuts (salted or unsalted)
Melt together the peanut butter, butterscotch & chocolate chips in top of double boiler (I used the microwave)
Add crushed potato chips and peanuts.
Mix together with melted chips.
Spoon into mini cupcake paper cups.
Keep in refrigerator.
This next recipe is one of my daugther's favourites - they're easy and they're good - they're Peppermint Meltaways!
Peppermint Meltaways
1 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. icing sugar
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
1 1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. cornstarch
In small bowl, cream butter & icing sugar until light and fluffly. Beat in extract. Combine flour & cornstarch, gradually add to creamed mixture, mix well.
Shape into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches part on ungreased pan ( I use parchment). Bake 350 - 10-12 minutes.
Frosting -
2 tbsp. butter, softened
1 1/2 c. icing sugar
2 tbsp. milk
1/4 tsp. peppermint extract
2-3 drops of food colouring. I use very little as I want them to be a very light pink.
In small bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add icing sugar, milk, extract and food colouring. Beat until smooth.
Delicious - both of them!!!
I love this movie!!! But, I never discovered it until a couple of years ago, hard to believe because it was first shown in 1983 - my children missed the experience of this great movie! But, now they know about it!!!!
I found a little Hallmark tree ornament in the shape of the "leg lamp" from the movie, I was content with that until I was away this past weekend and saw a 20 inch lamp, I loved it but I thought it was too expensive, that was on Friday night, I thought about it all weekend, I went back on Sunday afternoon, gone - every one!! I was so disappointed - really disappointed!!!
I started searching the internet and found where I could order here in Canada, I ordered Sunday night, I had my leg lamp yesterday. Lesson learned there though, I ended up paying more but it's worth it, it's everything I had hoped for!!
If you've watched the movie, you know all about the leg lamp - how Ralphie's father won the full size lamp - "It's a Major Award", Fra-gee-lay - It must be Italian, Isn't it Glorious - and, my lamp if glorious!
When we were in Cleveland last year visiting the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame, we stopped at The Christmas Story House but it was too late in the day, it was closed. But, I did see the lamp in the window - the film was shot in Cleveland and Toronto - here's an article about the Toronto locations that were used in the film. I want to go back to Cleveland again so I can tour the house and visit the gift shop across the street!!
This is my very favourite Christmas movie!! Do you like it?
I actually found a few vintage kitschy Christmas items in the past few days, all bought at different shops, costing me less than $2 for the three items - my kind of price!
A knee hugger on gold - pure kitsch!! 25 cents!!
Why didn't I head to the Christmas section as soon as I got to this shop - there was a man browsing and he picked up three boxes of old ornaments, I got my hands on these right quick. He says - "they don't make them like this anymore" REALLY?? I kept watching him in the hopes he would put them down but no such luck. I paid 25 cents for them so I shouldn't complain!!! Hoping to collect up enough to make another wreath for next year!
I bought the two mini cups, my first two tiny ones - love those Santa cups!! $1
Vintage Christmas has been scarce so far and I'm more selective than I was - I have a lot!!
I jumped on the colouring bandwagon in the summer and I'm still on it! The summer meant colouring flowers, now it means Christmas -and I found just the perfect book.
This book by Mary Tanana has the most beautiful images, it was the last one on the shelf the day I found it, I didn't hesitate paying full price because it has just the type of pictures that I like. I posted this book on Instagram when I bought it, Mary Tanana herself commented!!!
It's a busy time of the year, I'd like to be colouring more, here are a few that I've done..
It's very hard to photograph colouring pages and get them cropped without cutting off some of the picture, especially the double pages.
I so enjoy colouring! Have you joined in yet on the colouring craze?
We went to an auction yesterday, there were lots of goodies and lots of people! I had my eye on only one thing, I really never expected to get it, but I did and for only $15
It's a Napco "Miss Cutie Pie" cookie jar - how cute is that? The only other bidder was the lady in front of me - she stopped bidding, yay, for me!! I can't believe I was lucky enough to get it - I know these are worth a whole lot more.
I have this Lefton "Miss Dainty" piece that I found in the US a couple of years ago, I like it a lot even if it doesn't have a lid. Do you have any of these cute pieces?
It seems I make the same kinds of muffins and nothing else - bran, banana chocolate chip and blueberry, the other day I branched out and made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, oh, my, are they good!!
The recipe came from All Recipes but here it is anyway!
3/4 c. white sugar
1/4 c. vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 c. canned pumpkin
1/4 c. water
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. chocolate chips (I added more)
Preheat over to 400. Grease and flour muffin pan or use liners
Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl, mix together flour, b. soda, b. powder, spices and salt. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.
Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.
I could have made a double batch and froze them, but I wanted to try them first, so I'll definitely be using up more from the big can of pumpkin!!
If you read my post yesterday, you know that I was on the hunt for stars for my ceramic trees, well, look at what I was given and I only had to walk across the road - stars, bulbs, bird bulbs, butterfly bulbs - what an array! I have a very kind neighbour! And, that's not all - now I have four trees - she gave me another tree!! It's the one on the right! Love it!!!
I am so grateful, thanks, Debbie!
Yes, I have three ceramic Christmas trees!! But, I didn't know it and that is a bad sign, a sign that I buy more Christmas stuff that I don't know I already have!! The one on the right I've had for a couple of years, it's a pretty big one. I bought the one on the left last week at Value Village, it was a really nice tree, look at that base!! So, this morning, I thought I'd look at the the big tree and lo and behold, there's another one which I must have bought last year but I don't have a clue where!!
But, I have no stars for the two smaller ones - I've seen them when I've been in the US before but I have never seen them here in Canada. I've also checked on Ebay and Etsy, I think purchasing on there might be a thing of the past, the postage is ridiculous - for one little star - over $10 - I think not! I wrote to the seller, she wouldn't budge on the postage! Too bad!! Are there any Canadians out there who have seen them? Or anyone who has extra stars hanging around?
I don't think I better buy any more ceramic trees!!! I sure do like them though!
These three items cost me $2.00 total - that's my kind of thrift shopping!!
I have been wanting a Santa boot for a while, now I havea pair and they are marked officially, Santa's Boot - you could get a lot of candy in these!! I paid 25 cents for each boot - I think that's a crazy price - in a good way!
I wonder if this is an indication I will find some great old ornaments this season - purchased two boxes for $1.50 - the ornaments in one box are all from Poland, the other box from Japan. I hope I can find enough to make another wreath - last year the pickins' were slim!!
I felt like it was just like the old days - I found three Vera scarves, I've paid as much as $2 for a scarf at this shop before, today they were 25 cents for the three, yes, 25 cents total!! I love the nautical one and the Verasheer one is a ladybug one, this was a great find for me!
It makes it so much more fun when you go into these places and find something you want - did you find anything good this week?
Yes, I saw Ringo Starr in concert!! We've had tickets since March to see Ringo and his All Starr Band in Toronto on October 20 - this concert definitely ranked in the top five of concerts that we've seen. The concert was at Massey Hall, a smaller venue which was a perfect spot for a concert like this - no screens needed there and the sound was outstanding!
Can you believe Ringo is 75 years old? How can that be? He doesn't look it, he doesn't act it, his concert was 25 songs with no intermission - the songs were great, he interacted with the audience - hey, I guess he's had a lot of experience at it by now!
Ringo has been touring with an All Starr band since 1989, this particular group has been together since 2012 - it's unique because many of these guys had hits in their own right - Steve Lukather from Toto - remember Rosanna and Africa - Richard Page from Mr. Mister - Broken Wings, Kyrie - Gregg Rolie from Santana & Journey - Black Magic Woman - Todd Rundgren who performed as a solo artist and with the group Utopia - Love is the Answer, Bang the Drum All Day - these songs were all performed and of course, Ringo's great songs - It Don't Come Easy, You're Sixteen, Photograph and a few Beatles songs - Yellow Submarine, I don't think there was a person there that wasn't singing along with that one, With a Little Help From My Friends and Give Peace a Chance - the encore song! That's just a few of the songs - it was just the best night!!
Like I said, it was definitely one of the best concerts - I was thinking back to the past year, we've been so lucky to see some great ones - Fleetwood Mac, John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Lynyrd Skynrd - have you seen any memorable ones lately?
CBC's Peter Mansbridge interviewed Ringo, it's quite interesting, give it a listen!
I still have my 45 - better give it a spin! Now I've seen Ringo perform this song live - so fun!!!
Two posts in a week - I'm proud of myself!!
As Ringo says - Peace and Love!!! Have a great day, my friends!!
The last blog post I wrote was in July, oh, my - where has the time gone... I really am going to try to make an effort and write a little more often.
So, this post will be back to my original type of post - things I've bought at thrift stores over the last while. I don't buy that much anymore, so it has to be something cheap or something that really catches my eye.
A small Halloween treat bucket, 1980 is stamped on the bottom, bought at a thrift in New Brunswick.
I used to read Jack and Jill, I thought it was so great, a magazine with my name on it!! I bought this at a yard sale in Prince Edward Island.
I really can't leave a little Santa cup behind, especially when it's 99 cents.
I was in quite a few antique warehouses over the last week, I saw so many vintage Christmas ornaments just like this, the prices are crazy, I found this box at a thrift for $2. I am so lucky I have all these old decorations that I do, because I hardly ever see them like this anymore, for my kind of price!!!
These bowls reminded me so much of my Delphite Pyrex pieces, they were priced at 2 for $1.99 - a great price, I think. The only markings on them are 20 & 21 - that's it!! They're like a Fire King splash proof bowl - have you ever seen these?
I bought this enamel pot at an antique warehouse, I've always loved the enamel pots with the designs, I don't imagine I'll ever have one of those, so this will be good enough. It was probably the most reasonable priced thing in the shop!
When summer began, I told myself I would have 300 Vera scarves in my collection, it never happened, I used to see them nearly every time I went out, that never happens now!! So, after finding these two last week, I now have 300 Vera scarves. Yay!!
It's not very often you find anything so ridiculously priced at the thrift store, not on the cheap end of things anyway, I bought this unused Bath & Body Works 3 wick candle plus holder for $3 - we all know how much those candles cost - what a deal!!!!
This didn't take as long to write up as I imagined - I'm really going to try to post more often. Thanks for reading this post!!!
Are you colouring? I am! No, I haven't regressed to my childhood, adult colouring is the newest fad, actually, I might be slow to the party, but it really seems to be going crazy now - adult colouring - relaxing, soothing, fun, it's wonderful!!!
I'm not making this up - check out Amazon's best seller list, six of the top 20 books are colouring books. Here's an article if you'd like to read a bit more about the colouring craze!
I was on the hunt for something different for a birthday gift - it was my penpal's birthday, after 35 years of exchanging gifts, it can get a bit challenging! I was browsing at Chapters, I spotted the colouring display - I was curious, I looked through every book, what an array, I made my selection and hoped for the best. I had no idea if she would like it or not, it caught my attention enough to browse the discount books for a less expensive book for myself. I found one and started to colour that night. All of a sudden, adult colouring was everywhere - I needed one of those intricate books so then I bought another book a few days later.
This is the discount book I bought, I loved the cover and it has the greatest pictures!
Then I moved on to the more intricate book, the books by this illustrator are very popular, I know of one IG friend who couldn't get it, sold out, so guess I'm lucky to have it!
It took me days to finish this page - I wasn't content with my original purchase of 20 coloured pencils, I NEEDED more colours, I went for the box of 40, the last time I was at the store, I bought a small box of metallic pencils - pencils and colouring books, oh, my...
That was my second page, now I'm working on one with bugs.
August 2 is National Colouring Book Day - I'll be colouring, in my favourite colouring place - outside, under the umbrella. Will you be colouring?
I posted this pictures on Instagram last night - the recipe was requested, so, here it is. I've been making these no bake squares for years, but only at Christmas and maybe once during the summer - no bake is the way to go in the summer!!!
Peanut Butter Squares
1 1/3 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. margarine
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. Rice Krispies
2 c. icing sugar
Melt peanut butter and margarine together. Add vanilla, Rice Krispies and icing sugar. Press into greased 9 x13 pan.
Topping:
1 c. chocolate chips (add a little more if you like)
4 tsp. margarine
Spread chocolate topping on top! Refrigerate.
If you like Peanut Butter Cups, you'll love these!!
Yesterday my husband and I went on a little road trip, no golf for him yesterday, I saw there were two estate sales in the city so we set out bright and early. I've said many times that we just don't see estate sales around here very often, but these were as close to it as we're going to get around here. He bought two items and so did I. When we were driving there, I said I wished I'd find some half decent lawn chairs - it was the first thing I saw.. I only wanted the chairs but it was a set of three, I think the lounger is not set up correctly, oh, well, I'm not going out to fix that in this heat! They're perfect, clean and comfortable, just what I wanted.
At the same sale, I bought this chalkware fish, well, actually, there were two, but they were all wrapped and taped, now I know why, the other one was glued together and chipped, I'm happy to get one out of it!!!
My husband can't resist these gameboards, for $2 - I guess not - it looks like it was never used! That's 199 games!!!! There's even pool cues!
He purchased at the other sale - $2 for this great old blowmold, I took this picture last night just as it was getting dark - it's so pretty and so different from the standard candles!
It was fun, we went to a few other places but this was all we bought!
I took all these pictures with my phone, no editing, no cropping - I'm being slack today but hey, I am writing a post!!
On Saturday I ventured down the highway to a little community yard sale that I had gone to last year and came away with a few things so, hoping for something that I'd like, I went again.
I was rewarded - Fire King Jadeite - my first pieces!!
Four side plates and one dessert dish - $3 - a steal, for sure!!! There were a few mugs there as well, and also a couple of Pyrex delphite plates which I didn't need so left them for someone else to enjoy. I love these dishes, I've used them twice, they're just so pretty!!!
I walked around the tables a few times, second time round I spotted a bag of scarves, lucky me, one Vera in there. I bought this other one when I was in the US last week. I sure don't see Vera at the thrifts anymore like I used to, at one time I used to find them every time I hit the thrift, not now!!
I picked up this box full of poker chips for the game room, they're not plastic, so they have to be older, I'm going to put them in an old jar. It's too bad this box has tape right across the front, I know that's just going to rip the box to pieces if I try taking it off.
A couple of weeks ago I bought this little bag, now I'm wondering why, I think it was because it reminded me of a little change purse I used to have. We all buy things like that, don't we? It's cute though!
I was so pleased with the Jadeite - I knew it deserved a blog post!!!
