This is a great little book I picked up this week for $4. (When I say 'little', I mean physically little. It's very cute.) It is full of beautiful pictures and inspiration. I've been gazing longingly at the light, bright, summery images. Although I do enjoy winter, too.
It's snowing today; beautiful, fat, wet flakes. I'm hoping to take a few more pictures later on.
Look what's open! Phillip loves them ("paper-WHITES! Ooooooh") as do we. Except for the stink - but it's worth suffering through for the lovely pictures, don't you think?
This week's recipe is for Creamy Broccoli Soup, from Great Food Fast and it takes 30 minutes, start to finish. It's quite yummy, although I would make a few minor modifications to it next time.
Here is is:
What's that? Oats in soup? Yup. It thickens the soup without adding cream, and you don't see or taste the oats in the finished soup.
We served it with pitas brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with fresh parmesan, and broiled for a couple of minutes. Yum!
I came across this image on marthastewart.com after seeing Ingrid's comfort food post (the above soup) on Monday. The colours, the texture, the warmth of the food and the light all make me feel warm and cozy. I looked for other images, but this is the one I kept coming back to as best representing comfort to me.
First, do you remember this red enamel pot I got through Freecycle? Well, I decided to order some vinyl letter stickers from this Etsy shop, and they arrived yesterday! They're anything but perfectly positioned, but they do remind me that there could possibly be a snack hiding inside.
And this arrived ages ago, and I keep forgetting to post it! It's my very own blog book, which I ordered through Blog2Print. I am very happy with it, and if you're looking for a physical record of your blog, I highly recommend it. The only things which are kind of funny are that the comments are compiled at the end of the book, rather than with the posts (you may be able to change that somewhere during the process of creating your book), and any text that contains a link is in the same colour as the rest of your text, which can make for some funny sounding sentences. The process was quick, easy, and the book looks great. I have enough material for about 10 more books (this one only covers the 6 months before P was born) so I should order my next one soon. One more thing - they offer free shipping in the US (I had mine sent to my sister, who sent it to me).
Despite all of the reflections in the glass, I think you can see this gorgeous print that Adam ordered for our living room. I bought a hideous piece of 'art' at a yard sale, in this square frame, for $2 last summer. Since square frames are hard to come by, and this one is perfect for over the couch (although I hung it a bit too high) I think that's a pretty great deal.
Speaking of great deals, I found this adorable wooden bus with cute little riders at Frenchy's. Phillip's latest favourite song is 'The Wheels on the Bus', so I knew that he would love this. And he does.
And here are the blinds! The pictures aren't the greatest, but I'm quite happy with them. I think I have enough leftover fabric to make a couple of cushion covers, so maybe I'll get to that on the weekend. The pattern is from Simple Soft Furnishings.
Once again, today's picture was taken by Adam. He's one talented guy. Oh, and this photo was published in Photosho magazine. Nice, eh?
My favourite place and thing to do at home. Thanks to Adam for taking the picture! Oh, and guess where the chair cover is from? And my scarf, and shirt, and pants...
I decided today that ill-fitting socks which slide around in one's shoes are not in accordance with the ideals of Comfort Week.
We went bowling yesterday with Ingrid and her hubs. Phillip loved it.
Ingrid kept score.
It's a pretty retro place.
Since it's Comfort Week next week, and to me, comfort = home, here are some great new home-y books I've acquired recently, mostly from redeeming Air Miles for Chapters gift certificates. Nice.
If biscuits aren't comfort food, I don't know what is. I am so excited about how many of you will be participating! I'll compile the list of participants tomorrow evening, and if anyone wants to join part-way through the week, that's totally fine. (I'm pretty flexible!)
Comfort: a state of ease and satisfaction of bodily wants, with freedom from pain and anxiety.
Look what opened up yesterday! "Am-ryl-isss! Boo-ful!" (In Phillip speak, of course.)
And this is my current project. I'm making a set of the Swedish Roll-up Blinds from Simple Soft Furnishings. The fabric is a heavy, almost canvas-y cotton, in the form of tab-top curtain panels from Wicker Emporium. They were on sale, I loved the fabric, and we could definitely use some new blinds in the living room. Bonus: I have enough left over to make some cushions. I haven't decided if I'll be able to handle the matchy-matchy, but I'll give it a shot. I've got the main part all done; I just need to pick up a few supplies to finish them up.
We used these tomatoes on kebabs this week. They roasted up beautifully. I'm still curious what exactly "heirloom-type" means. I know it means they're not heirloom, but what exactly are they? Regular commercial tomatoes in pretty colours, I guess. Ah well, they made for a nice picture.
Phillip couldn't have those snazzy pots and pans without a stove! So I made one last night from a duct-tape-covered box and some adhesive hooks.
He loves it. (He's checking to see if the fish is done in the photo.)
This is Peter, Phillip's new buddy. I bought him from this Etsy shop. He's so sweet, well-made, and Phillip loves him. He's smaller and less expensive than many other Waldorf-type dolls, and I think he's just right. He's stuffed with real wool, and is cute as a button. Unlike this:
Which is the "baby" Phillip loved, and doted upon until Peter's arrival. It was a gift, and its glassy eyes with eyelashes only on the bottom lids kind of freak me out. I think it might disappear, now that Peter can fill the 'baby' void.
When we were visiting one set of grandparents at Christmas, out came an old-school Fisher Price cooking set that my husband and his brother played with as kids. Phillip LOVED it, especially putting "salt pepper" (no "and") on everything, including Nanoo's slippers.
These were taken at Christmas with the 30 year old set at the grandparent's house. The salt and pepper, which sit on the upper right part of the stove, almost disappeared forever over the holiday. Phillip was in charge of putting all of the garbage in a box, and he decided to put the salt and pepper in there, too. A few days later when he was asking for them, and after searching the rest of the house, I realized where they likely were. And there they were, snuggled in amongst the wrapping paper and packaging, ready to go to the curb.
And speaking of "cookings", we had a lot of fun last night, with oodles of yummy food. One thing I made was a squash soup, from The Food You Crave. I decided to make another new recipe from one of my cookbooks, as explained in this post, although it is very similar to my usual one. Equally delicious. Easy and filling, and a perfect winter soup. And I love that it's creamy and filling without having cream in it. I made it while P was sleeping, and kept it warm in the crockpot until everyone arrived. Naturally, I didn't follow the recipe terribly closely, so I'll give you how I made it:
Guess where I picked up this tablecloth yesterday? Of course - Frenchy's. $1.50.
And I found this Pier 1 table runner, too. Also $1.50.
I bought them especially for tonight - we're having our annual Christmas fondue. Everyone wasn't able to make it in December, so we decided to have it tonight instead, and I'm excited. Phillip's napping, so I was able to get everything ready. Now I'm just waiting for him to wake up and for the guests to eventually arrive. Have a great weekend!
