Christie recap

Oh, the random stuff you can find at an antique fair! I had a great time at Christie, and only managed to get a minor sun burn on my shoulders for a full day in the sun. Both my mom and I got some stuff, she was mostly looking for some supplies for a few crafts she's had in mind for a while now. Fortunately, both of us got small stuff, so the drive back to Toronto was nice and easy. Here are some of my spoils!

 It's a paper photograph,

 mounted in a brass matte,

 mounted onto a carte de visite. AKA, the chief reason I bought it. I have never seen this before. I could understand and almost expect a tintype in there, but the paper is different.

 And speaking of tintypes, check out this super bent number! My mom thought it looked like someone had run over it with a tool or something since the bends look really uniform and part of a pattern. I was just impressed that the emulsion held up so well to being attacked like that.

Cheese box! Bit hard to resist, and so utilitarian. Practical antiques!

Thesis induced insomnia...

I cannot wait for this thesis to be over with.  Ugh.
I'm pretty much done the draft of the chunk I need to hand in to my reader tomorrow... I need to pack for something far more important now.

The Christie Antique Show!!!
This is one of the biggest outdoor antique and flea market shows in Ontario, held twice a year and I have never been able to make it for the past several years. I've been either out of the city/country or been working and not been able to get out of it. I'm so excited to finally go. I'm heading out to the parentals house tonight so we can drive in in the morning from there.

Pictures all lovingly stolen from an Apartment Therapy post about Christie, which can be found here.

I'll try to actually take pictures of my own for once at these types of things...

Cooking and Planting

So it's been a while since I've posted. I'd like to blame school but I can't really do that anymore since classes are over. I'm still writing my first draft for the the thesis, so that sort of counts. The nice things about classes and Bedford being over is the amount of real cooking I've been doing! It's been glorious.

This past week I made a dish involving several ingredients I either don't use a lot or have never tried to use. The results was pretty fantastic, and even the leftovers were good for days! I found the recipe in the Longos Experience Magazine, which can usually be found in the LCBO Food & Drink Magazine. I love honey crisp apples, but I've never really put them in much other than pies and crisps, and this was a great way to experiment with them in a main course for dinner!


Chicken and Apple Salad in Phyllo Cups
Makes 8 servings.
Ingredients
2 cups of diced cooked chicken
1 apple (Pink Lady, Honey Crisp or Cortland), cored and finely chopped
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/3 finely chopped radish
1/3 finely chopped celery
1/4 diced red onion
1/4 cup of mayonnaise
2 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon (I used a 1/4 tbsp of dried tarragon, and that was more than enough. It's pretty strong stuff)
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1, 1/2 tsp lemon juice
Pinch or salt and pepper
1/4 -1/2 cup of melted butter
5 sheets of phyllo dough

Phyllo cups:
-Brush muffin pan with some of the melted butter and set aside.
-Place one sheet of phyllo on work surface and brush with melted butter. Top with another sheet of phyllo and brush with butter. Repeat with remaining sheets. Using a sharp knife, cut phyllo stack into 8 squares.
-Take each square and press into muffin pan. Bake at 350 F/ 180 C for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Note the lack of squares in this instance...

-Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine chicken, apple, yogurt, radish, celery, onion, mayonnaise, tarragon, mustard and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and divide amongst the baked phyllo cups.

I completely forgot to add the yogurt to this recipe and it tasted great anyway. The phyllo loses its crispiness in the fridge over night, but they still perfectly edible.


To celebrate the opening of gardening season here in Canada, and even though I can't get on my balcony yet due to the construction, I decided to break out the upside down tomato kit that my roommate gave me for my birthday this year.

It does seem to have a few problems, chiefly being that the "lid" that snaps on the top doesn't actually snap to anything. I taped the hell out of it for now, and once I turn it over that hopefully won't be a problem. We'll see. They're on the windowsill for now, and we'll check back in 2 weeks to see if they've sprouted.

Covet, etc.

Things I'm looking at that I want to buy or make to save the money.

Zipper top from Forever 21 (which is no longer on the site, so no linkages). At first I thought "that's cheap enough" and then remembered I have a similar top in my dresser that I haven't worn in a while and could use an update. I just need to work out how to use a zipper foot... or commission my sister to do it for me.

Paint splatter shorts from Forever 21, again. This should be an easy DIY; I know I've got a pair of jeans that are probably going to become cutoffs very shortly, and finding some fabric paint within my family shouldn't be hard. These are a bit light for me, I do like my dark washes.

Fabulous chandelier from Urban Outfitters! I'm wondering if I could collect old chandelier bits and paint them up to decorate my hideous dining room chandelier...

The poor grad student in me thinks I can probably find some cheap foam letters somewhere and mod podge the maps unto them to recreate these map letters from Urban Outfitters.

Roosters and spices! *sigh*This I'd buy... if it weren't for the price and shipping.
From the Captain Cat Collective on Etsy.

I'm on a massive nautical kick lately... anchors, seagulls, boats, you name it: love it!

From Eclectica Vintage on Etsy.

I should probably get back to writing my intro draft... back to the thesis.

Chickpea thesis presentation snacks

The thesis presentations for my class are Monday and Tuesday of this week (technically today and tomorrow since I make these posts so late). I'm not going until Tuesday, and my presentation's ready to go, so I thought I clear my head with a three (non-related) course cook-off! First course was Hoisin Salmon, which I've actually made before, but I discovered the next day that it made a fantastic Salmon sandwich. Second course was the Cheddar Chive Beer Bread that I made back at St. Patrick's Day, and the third course is another new recipe from the Kitchn blog, Roasted Curried Chickpeas with Rosemary and Thyme. If I'm lucky, there will be some left for tomorrow, they're pretty damn tasty!

Roasted Curried Chickpeas with Rosemary and Thyme
Makes about 3 1/2 cups

Ingredients

2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, rinsed, drained and dried well
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon freshly-grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Pour well-dried chickpeas onto a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and use a spatula to loosen up any chickpeas that are sticking to the bottom of the pan. Roast for another 10 minutes, or until chickpeas begin to crisp up. To test for readiness: don't rely on a change of color. When the chickpeas turn brown they've become burned. Instead, check with the press of a finger: you want them to be slightly crisp on the outside but still soft on the inside.

While the chickpeas are roasting, combine the olive oil, paprika, cumin, curry powder, salt, lemon zest, rosemary and thyme in a medium mixing bowl. Transfer the roasted chickpeas to the bowl and carefully toss them in the mixture until well coated. Return to the baking sheet and roast another 4-5 minutes. Once out of the oven, allow them to cool for 2-3 minutes; serve warm. 

The author (whom I'd love to credit properly but doesn't give there name), gives some extra tips for this recipe, especially drying the chickpeas before roasting them.

"There are many, many ways to do roasted chickpeas at home. You can start with dried beans and soak them overnight or use canned beans, which I did here. For canned beans, you just want to make sure you rinse them really well and, even more importantly, dry them really well. If they're not completely dry, they won't crisp up as nicely in the oven. I used a salad spinner to spin out all the moisture in my chickpeas before beginning."
They also recommend not screwing around with the salt and oil measurements for this recipe. You can fiddle with the spices as much as you like to get the flavours you want, but the salt and the oil do give the chickpeas a great flavour.

That late St. Patrick's Day recipe.. Cheddar Chive Beer Bread

I had a hankering for beer bread when St. Patrick's Day rolled around last month, and I happened to find this recipe on the Kitchn blog. Now, clearly because I was doing the beer shopping the day before St. Patrick's there was no Guinness to be found. The nice man at the LCBO recommended a Jamaican stout, Dragon Ale. Since I don't really drink beer, ever, I figured it was as good as anything and went with it. It turned out great, I was eating this bread for days! It doesn't keep more than about four though, when it hit that mark the beer taste started to do some funny things.

Cheddar & Chive Guinness Bread
makes one 8 1/2-inch loaf

Ingredients
2 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 (12-ounce) bottle Irish stout beer (Dragon Stout works too, however the bottles are not the right size, you need one and a bit.)
1 cup grated Irish cheddar cheese (about 4 ounces)
1/4 cup chopped chives
1/4 cup Irish butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375° F. Line 8 1/2- x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan with parchment paper, or coat with butter.

In a mixing bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Pour in the beer and mix until the dry ingredients are evenly moistened. Fold in 3/4 cup of the cheese and the chives.

Transfer the batter to prepared pan. Pour the melted butter evenly over top of the dough. Bake about 30 minutes then scatter the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese over the top. Return the loaf to the oven and bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes.

Turn out and serve warm, sliced.