O, Christmas Tree

This Christmas brings a few firsts.  First Christmas living back on PEI (after all those years away), first Christmas in our own home, and more to the point of this post, first real Christmas tree!

We started the season with only nine Christmas ornaments.  The nine ornaments worked well last year, when we had nothing to decorate but our philodendron.  But, thanks to some gifts, some sales, and some last minute DIYing, I think we've been able to fill it out nicely.

[Santa from a French craft fair, from the world-traveling brother-in-law]

[Snowman, Atlantic style]

[From a couple of donkeys]

[Labrador souvenir]

[A gift from Mike's mom]

[DIY with feathers and empty Christmas balls]

[A mummer, souvenir of Newfoundland]

[More DIY - pine cone, a hook and some hot glue]

[A gift from my mom]

[Souvenir of Europe - handmade in the Czech Republic]

The trunk may be crooked and the ornaments few, but to me it's the most beautiful tree.  The scent fills the house.  It really brings on the Christmas spirit!

Garden fresh

Hello again!  It's about time I got back to the blog.  It's been a busy summer with a new house and a new job, so despite having lots of things to blog about I haven't found enough time to actually post!

Back in June, when we moved in to the house, I quickly took advantage of my very first yard (yeah!), and planted veggies straight away.  At the time I said I would be content if I even had a 10% yield, seeing as it was my first year planting anything.

Sure enough, I didn't get a super yield.  Below is a picture (taken last week) of the 'garden' where I planted yellow beans, carrots, and cucumbers.

[underwhelming]

Yep.  Underwhelming.  Because NOTHING grew!  I noticed when I tilled the garden that there were numerous creepy-crawlies making a home in the dirt.  Cut-worms must have been included in the melange because, aside from a few short-lived bean sprouts, my crop yield was nil.  Mildly disappointing.

But now onto the success story of my garden:  the cherry tomatoes!  I decided to plant potted tomatoes because I've heard good things about container gardening - you know exactly what type of soil you're giving the plants, you can move the containers to get the optimal light, and really, you can put them wherever in/on your yard or deck you please.  I found my plants at VanKampen's Greenhouses here in Charlottetown.

[just after planting]

I planted three cherry tomato plants per container (in retrospect I would have planted two - you'll see why).  One container was a mix of potting soil + PEI compost and the other had potting soil + a Miracle-Gro potting soil.  I was going to experiment to see which plants did better, but of course mixed up the containers before labeling them (all my years experimenting in labs obviously have gone to waste!).

[crazy plants]

In the end, the soil-experiment mix-up was moot.  All plants took off like crazy.  At last count, about three weeks ago, there were over 100 tomatoes on the vines - I'm guessing that number has doubled by now!  If you look closely in the pic above, you can see the green wire frames I'm using to support the vines - compare to the first picture to see how massive the plants actually are!

[pretty tomatoes]

[enough for dinner!]

The best part is that the tomatoes are actually starting to ripen in useful quantities.  For about two weeks we simply ate them as they ripened one-by-one, but this weekend we had enough to use in our marinated-summer-veggie-and-tofu-kabobs.  We typically go through a container of cherry tomatoes every week or two, so this garden success story will actually help our grocery bill.

Another success in the garden was the pea patch:

[before and after]

We're starting to see a bit of a yield - looking forward to the first harvest.

[so fresh]

Lastly, let me show you our inherited grape vines.  I can claim no part in helping them grow, they just came along with our house.  They seem to be doing wonderfully this season, though.  I might try some grape jelly in the fall if they become plump enough.  They are definitely still sour at this point.

[grape vines on the pergola]

[lotsa grapes!]

Thanks for checking back into the blog despite the summer dormancy.  Hope to have more posts for you soon!

PEI Bound

Home, I'm comin' home!  Found out today I'll be starting work on Prince Edward Island in July... and I could not be happier!!

This song was originally written by my sister.  I hope she won't mind that I channelled my enthusiasm about moving to PEI into writing a few new lines.  

P-r-i-n-c-e
E-d-w-a-r-d
I-s-l-a-n-d
P.E.I get ready for me!

The water's blue and the soil is red
There's lots of places to lay your head
We are famous for a girl named Anne
And we (used to) have a pop-can ban

We've got Lennie Gallant and Stompin' Tom

Two Hours Traffic and Tim Chaisson

You'll tap your toes at the ceilidh hall

At Baba's Lounge you'll be having a ball

There are oysters laying in their oyster bed
And big crowds swimming at Basin Head
There's lots of lobster and lots of tuna
Lots of Keith's and lots of Schooner

P-r-i-n-c-e

E-d-w-a-r-d

I-s-l-a-n-d

P.E.I get ready for me!

[sung to the tune of This Old Man]

The turntable

Our home has lately been filled with the warm snap crackle pop of records on the turntable.  What a great Christmas gift.  I've always wanted a record player.  Well, one that was new enough that it wasn't a fire hazard (I owned a little portable player briefly in the late 1990s but its 1960s wiring just scared me).

I raided my parents' album stash years ago.  When the new turntable arrived, we also raided my in-laws' collection.  Add some more vinyl from Fred's, and here is the best-of-the-best of our collection:

[mosaic maker via Big Huge Labs, for those interested]

Kitchen favorites

After watching some teaser clips of this new web series out of PEI, I was really inspired to share some of my favorite kitchen tools and accessories.  This list is by no means exhaustive, as I highly value most items in my kitchen.

Our kitchen cart.  In a tiny kitchen with next to no counter space, we really needed a functional work space.  We cook.  A lot.  You may have noticed.  We found this little cart at Walmart of all places.  It's great.  Towel rack, spice rack, dishcloth-hanging-bar, four drawers, three shelves, granite and wood surface.

My apron!  I've posted on this before, but it is one of my favorite (and beautiful) things in the kitchen.  Very useful, especially if you want to get supper going and you're still in work clothes.  Aprons are making a big comeback, you know.

The trivet.  This was made by my scientist boss back in my lab days.  He's quite handy, as you can see.  It's been through the wars though - a few scorch marks on the corks, some deeply embedded crumbs, and a few splatters of my husband's most recent blueberry adventure.

Upside-down glass rack.  This rack is one of two that came along with the house we are renting.  I need one of these in my next place.  Not only does it free up cupboard space, it lets you display your glasses and you don't have to wash the dust out before use.  Here is the story behind a few of these glasses.

Next - my microplane grater.  Have you ever tried to zest a lemon or lime with that really abrasive side of a box grater?  You know, the side that's impossible to clean?  After doing that about a dozen times, I realized I needed a microplane grater.  It has many uses - citrus zest, ginger, chocolate...

Oooh, this is exciting - a twofer!  First, let me begin with the knives.  These Grohmann knives are the first "real" set of knives we've owned (and maybe the last!).  They are handmade in Pictou County, Nova Scotia.  We received one as a generous wedding gift and used some cash gifts to finish the set.  I love them.  The bread knife is so sharp, Mike and I fight over who gets to slice the latest loaf.  Unfortunately, several dishcloths have been butchered as we've gotten used to having real knives around.

Secondly, take a look at that knife block.  Another genius item from Lee Valley.  This is one of those word-of-mouth items that we heard about from friends... now several other family members and friends own one!  There are no pre-sized slots in this knife block - each knife just fits in amongst the polypropylene rods.  You can have a unique knife collection and grow it and not have to swap out your knife block each time.



Now this little item initially seemed frivolous, but I have come to treasure it!  When you are prepping garlic, do you ever get frustrated trying to peel that last layer of skin off the clove?  I did.  I also ended up getting garlic bits under my fingernails.  Not anymore!  Pop a clove in this silicone roller and off comes the skin, NBD.

Well my friends, that's going to be all for today.  I still have lots of favorite kitchen things, though, so there may be a follow up post.

Now, please do me a favor and share with me YOUR favorite kitchen items in the comment section!  Links welcome!

Christmas dinner

Mmm... one of the best parts of Christmas.  Mike and I had two amazing turkey dinners on Christmas day.  The following photos are from the second turkey dinner, the one that actually induced the food coma.

[classic turkey]

[clockwise from top:  coleslaw, chow, turkey and cranberry sauce, carrots and broccoli, gravy on potatoes.  centre: maple bacon stuffing]

[plum pudding]

Plum pudding is a staple of Christmas dinner in our house.  It may be the best dessert I've ever had.  Of course the fact that you only eat it once a year makes it all that much more delicious.  I love it so much, in fact, that two years ago I rolled away from the table to write the following poem:

Ode to Plum Pudding


You are sweet.
You are delicious.
You appear but once a year.

Juicy are your raisins.
Your sauce gives me hallucinations.
Butter, cream and sugar
Are so much more
Than the sum of their parts.

My blood sugar soars.
My food memory roars.
Oh plum pudding,
My heart belongs to you.

Scotch cookies

So, apparently, Scotch cookies are a Prince Edward Island thing.  When you Google "scotch cookies", the first three links that come up are from PEI.  Some Islanders also know them as scotch cakes.

I will let you in on a secret.  They aren't really just a PEI thing... the rest of the world knows and loves these cookies as shortbread.

Regardless, they are a tradition in my family's home over the holidays.  We recently whipped up a batch.

The recipe has been handed down and has morphed over the years, depending on how tight money was at the time.  The current recipe is similar to the hand-written one above, with a few changes:

Scotch Cookies


1 cup butter
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup icing sugar
2 cups flour
pinch of salt
icing to decorate, if desired


Cream butter, yolks, and vanilla together in a bowl.  Add icing sugar and combine.  Add flour and salt and mix.  Form dough into ball.  Roll out thin - about 7 mm or desired thickness.  Cut with cookie cutter.   Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit until bottom edges of cookies are golden brown (about 15 minutes).  Once cooled, decorate with icing.  Cookies freeze well if layered between sheets of wax paper.  Depending on your cookie cutter, you might get about three dozen cookies out of this recipe.

My mom's mom's baking spoon has been handed down to us and that's the one our scotch cookies are made with every Christmas.



Continuing on with tradition, this cookie cutter has also been around for an eon.  It is made from an old pizza sauce can, back when the cans were super tiny!  I don't know what would come in a can that size now.

Again, here is the finished product.  Melt-in-your-mouth Christmas cookies!

  

Goblets

After a lazy Sunday afternoon of watching old episodes of Mad Men and playing long-overdue catch-up with some design blogs on my Reader, I developed a hankering for some retro decor items.  Considering my current financial state, I skipped the mall and headed to Value Village instead.

And I scored!  In the "home decor" section my eye was immediately drawn to this set* of smoked glass drinking goblets.  Can't you just picture Betty Draper drinking just a little too much wine out of one of these?

[*not actually a set, but three out of four ain't bad for $3]

They looked strangely familiar until I realized I had seen almost identical glasses that day on Apartment Therapy, in a post about using goblets during the festive season to up your dinner-table fanciness.

[for sale here]

Other suggestions at AptTx included these amber thumb-print goblets:

[for sale here]

Much like the pair below that Mike and I received as a wedding gift from my uncle.  These belonged to my late grandparents.  We only use them on special occasions, befitting their unique history.

I agree with the original goblet post - they do dress up a table.  They are distinguished, and a bit regal.  Not for every day... to be saved for special occasions.  I hope to have many a happy toast with these vintage glasses.

Advent calendars

As it is almost December 1st, and I've been seeing so many advent calendars around the blogosphere lately, I decided I would provide you all with a little collection of my faves.  Some are very suitable for DIY.

The first is from Miss Gioia via oh, hello friend (who happens to have an excellent round-up of advent calendars).  I am in love with this one - it uses an increasing amount of buttons to indicate the number of each pocket.  Love, love, love.

The next is actually a DIY project and comes from Paige Russell via Poppytalk.  I think the stark white mixed with rainbow bright colours would be perfect in a modern home or apartment, don't you?

Here is a fun little pyramid calendar from Country Living.  I found it courtesy of craft lovely.  If you are like me and love candlelight, and prefer a matchstick to a lighter, you may just have a few matchboxes lying around.  Alternatively, you could purchase a multipack of matchboxes and store the matches in a large jar while the boxes are re-purposed.

This final calendar is a beautiful print-it-yourself project by Jen Hill (found via the ever-addictive Design*Sponge and their round-up of calendars in general).  It comes free with purchase from her shop or you can get the .pdf for $5 on her site.

If this post inspires you to make up your own advent calendar, I need to see pictures, so let me know!

Island Bound

Only seven sleeps til I'm back on my Island.  I missed it this summer - I made it home for a mere four days in early July.

One thing that strikes me when I arrive home in summer is the fragrant air. Heavy, sweet clover.  The hot dirt.  Salt air.  Strawberry blossoms and sand.

  

The fall sights and smells will be different, of course.  Turning leaves, and the sharp piney smell of decomposition in "the woods".  Baking.  Stewing preserves in warm kitchens.  I'll take few beach walks and watch those big fall hurricane waves roll in.

One more week til my feet are back where they should be, on Island soil.