Vintage goodness!

My mom bought this wonderful vintage Christmas tablecloth for me last year. Don't you just love the pink and red on it? And the wonderful snowflakes? And the graphics? I do!

Look at the letter i!

Here is one of the spires on the corners! Ahhhh, greatness!

Check out these GREAT vintage blocks that I found at the thrift store
A's mom loves in Pittsburgh. Only $3.95 for the entire bag.
17 alphabet blocks plus a ton of these building blocks! Great find!

Turkey Bowl 2007

Happy Thanksgiving! Just wanted to share some pics of my personal mvp of today's Turkey Bowl 2007 at A's old high school. Unfortunately, blogger is still messing with the pics. This top one is him and his brother and the bottom is my man. Hope you're enjoying football today if you want to be.

God is good!

It's officially Thanksgiving here in Pittsburgh and I should actually be asleep but before I go I'll list a few things I'm thankful for.

1. I am thankful for a good God who sees me through each and ever day, who guides me when I don't know the answers and who blesses me with more than I need!

2. I am thankful for my family and the generous way they let me be away from them this Thanksgiving.

3. I am thankful for the opportunity to celebrate with my family early and for the visit from my California grandparents into the bargain.

4. I am thankful for the opportunity to get my first facial today with A's mom and sister. What relaxation!

5. I am thankful for cool weather and the gorgeous leaves on the trees around here. Visions of God's handiwork are everywhere!

6. I am thankful to A for letting me use his laptop to enjoy some blogging time!

The computer's about to shut down on me from heavy blog posting tonight. I have used the battery up. Goodnight everyone and don't forget to truly count your blessings!

Dozen

Isn't that a cute name for a cupcake place? I like it. Dozen is Pittsburgh's answer to the cupcake craze that's sweeping America. They are YUMMY! Their flavors are very inventive and every single one I've tasted is good. They make an excellent buttercream. A and I first discovered this place on our first trip to Pittsburgh together in April while walking around Squirrel Hill. It is within easy walking distance of his parent's house and yet far enough that you feel somewhat justified in the calories you're about to partake in. I really like the vintage look and feel of the place. Deep storefront window with a cute display always on hand. Vintage hand mixers line one wall of the small space and an old wooden ironing board used to serve as the coffee bar. Today however I discovered they had replaced it with a little cabinet. They have crystal clear glass walls separating the customer from the confections and cute little white step stools for the kiddies to climb up for better peering vantage points.
A fun serendipity of today was to discover the new map that is hanging on the wall with push pins and the caption "Where have our cupcakes gone?" That is because of us! A and I! In August when we were here we were getting cupcakes to go for our drive back to Missouri. One of the owners mentioned that they should have a map showing where all their cupcakes have traveled and sure enough, now they do! We found our pin and told today's workers behind the counter our part in the map's inception. So fun!

We were planning to go today all along but this morning when I first saw Adrian he asked me if I wanted to go to Dozen for breakfast! Um, yes! So I got a milk chocolate and it was quite yummy!

Cranberry Breakfast Bread

This is one of my favorite holiday recipes. I made four this year, two to take to my family for Thanksgiving and two to take to my boyfriend's family. So far they are going over very well. Here is an e-mail from my grandma.

Kel, we just finished off the cranberry cake and have voted it dessert of the year. This time I melted a little ice cream"in error" and poured it on the cake. WOW is it good.

The recipe is below. I have found that it usually takes a bit longer to bake than the recipe says.

p.s. I don't know why I can't get the bottom picture to turn upright. It is upright until it loads onto blogger. Also, I can't figure out how to get the underlining off the top paragraph but my boyfriend, his mom and brother are waiting on me to play cards so I must go. Enjoy the recipe nonetheless! Happy Thanksgiving.



Here is the recipe:

1 1/2 C sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted and cooled
2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 C flour
2 overflowing cups of fresh cranberries*
1/2 C chopped pecans or almonds (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9 inch square baking pan. Using an electric
mixer, beat sugar and eggs in a large bowl until slightly thickened, about 2
minutes. Beat in melted butter and almond extract. Add flour and stir
until well blended. Stir in cranberries and nuts by hand. Pour into
prepared pan. Bake until tester inserted into center comes clean, about
50 -60 minutes. Cool and enjoy.

*If you need to use frozen cranberries, do not thaw.

Cashew pie

Happy Thanksgiving Eve! I have already had one Thanksgiving meal with my family and look forward to another with my boyfriend's family here in Pittsburgh, PA tomorrow. I love fall as I've already mentioned on this blog before. I love many, many holiday foods but I happen to not actually love pecan pie. (Although I am told on wonderful authority that my sister-in-law, Mandy's was absolutely incredible last weekend!!!) Nor pumpkin pie, nor gingerbread . . . so this time of year a lot of the traditional flavors for sweets don't really appeal to me. Now on one hand this shouldn't be a problem as I am not lacking in calories to consume. I admit to having had a milk chocolate cupcake this morning for breakfast! (more on that later :) but I had to bypass the other flavors of gingerbread, pumpkin spice and pecan pie to get there. So, here is what occurred to my curious mind on the flight out here as A was happily devouring his "take away" piece of Mandy's pecan pie, what about cashew pie???!!! Is there such a thing? Has anyone concocted this delicacy yet? Now here's the thing, I like pecans, so it's not that I just want a pecan pie with cashews in place of the pecans. It's that golden gobbledy goop that holds the pecans to the crust and which many other people love that doesn't get me excited. So, loyal readers, any ideas or suggestions on creating a yummy cashew pie? Just wondering. Thanks. Kelly

indecisiveness

Hello lovely readers, I have decided that I would like to make it known that I am somewhat at a blog identity crisis. I am not terribly upset about it just thought I should be forthcoming. Do I want to be a food blog, a thrifting blog, a crafty blog, a homelife blog, a blog that shares news of my sweetheart, a blog to keep up with family and friends, a travel blog, what? Well, I suppose I will just do them all and call it life and hope that it is not too disjointed for my readers. Hope everyone is well! Kelly

Little Swedes :)

The title of this post is what my mom asked if A and I were turning into as I told her about our lovely Sunday today. As has become tradition since his moving here, A cooks breakfast for us a lot on the weekends. He made Swedish pancakes yesterday morning which are truly terrific and more filling or perhaps just stick with you longer than regular pancakes. I asked him if he would share his recipe with you, dear readers, and here it is! I highly recommend it!

Swedish Pancakes
Serves 3-4

3 eggs
2 cups flour (approx.)
2 1/4 cups milk
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla sugar (or just plain vanilla)
1-2 tbsp liquid margarine, or melted butter
butter to fry

Beat eggs and flour in a stand mixer until smooth,
and gradually add the milk. Add salt and vanilla sugar.
Make sure you have no lumps!
Leave the batter for at least an hour, to rest.

Then fry thin pancakes in butter - buttering between every
third pancake should be enough - on medium high heat.
Don't put too much batter in the pan - they should be thin.
Fry until the bottom is golden,
then flip using a large spatula.
It's really not very difficult, so don't be afraid.

We had the leftovers this morning before church and enjoyed them
immensely. A has actually made the Swedish pancakes for us twice.
The other time we had them with lemon squeezed on and regular white sugar.
This time we had them with brown sugar, sour cream (vanilla yogurt when we
ran out of sour cream this morning) and strawberries. All were yummy!

A about to flip a pancake!

There he goes!

Swedish pancake breakfast, Saturday, October 13, 2007

Swedish pancakes with lemon and sugar! Yum! :)

Swedish pancake breakfast, Saturday, November 10, 2007

brown sugar! :)

So then this morning as I'm getting ready for church I get hit with an organizational craving
and I think of how A and I have been talking about going to IKEA together sometime.
He wants to get me one of their non-stick pans for better pancake making!
So we decide to further our Swedish culinary day and go straight after church and eat lunch there too.

We had a five course meal for only $17 something!
A wonderful sparkling peach drink, Greek salad
with lots of feta and good cucumbers, broccoli cheese soup,

caprese for only $2.99!

their Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes and a rich chocolate cake!

And finally, here is the finished product of my newly organized
vintage linens, festive tablecloths, family heirlooms, etc. :)

Double date!

We went on a super fun double date Friday night with Marla and Trey. The four of us had a great time. It was so nice to talk and laugh with good friends. We met at Cafe Brazil and had a really yummy dinner and then went to Adventure Landing to play miniature golf.

A & I

Marla and I

Trey and Marla

Thrifty goods!

This was our family's annual Canton girls weekend. We had a great time and enjoyed being all together! I got quite a few goodies! Here they are and then I'm headed to bed!

Oh yeah, items bought: about 80! ;) Price of most expensive single item: $12 Cheapest items: 20 for a dollar! :) oops, scratch that, I did get two items for nada!!! Free, free, free!

I don't know why but I always look for a price on fixtures like this and they're never for sale but this one was, for only $3! I'll put a picture in it or a scripture or a little sign or something! The possibilities are endless! :)

aw man! i'm really too tired to rotate this tonight, maybe tomorrow. tiny vintage trees and deer and mini violins! :)

cast iron and steel letter and numeral, oh my!

bundt pan to use as a bell in music class, merry as in Christmas, baby carriage wheels, $1 cool turquoise tinsel wreath, milk glass collection and bottles for projects!

shiny brites with a beautiful patina!

I finally started a milk glass collection to put votives inside for lovely glowing effects. I was so excited to find the footed one similar to Julie's
I have grand plans for it at Christmastime too!

lovely lake across from the picnic area where I spent some quiet time this morning.

overview of my treasures!

my $3 vintage deer! what a great price and how stately he'll look with a wreath around his neck! As always I love the bottle brush trees. A new cake stand to add to my collection and airmail envelopes! Yea! Only a dollar for the bunch! And there are my vintage minis.

A basket for my friend Erin and two spools of crochet thread that the lady just GAVE me! How terrific!

$8 candleabra! I'm so excited! I really like it!

taking a time out this morning

door header for $5

oops gotta rotate this one too! I got an Arkansas plate to add to my collection. Yea for my alma mater!

such great finds! what a neat weekend!
Hope your's was good as well!