Another Egg Plate

Made in Portugal 

Savers has a 30% off senior discount day every Tuesday. Of course that is the day I try and shop. :)

This vintage chicken egg plate just cracked me up. I did have to walk around for a few minutes deciding if I should buy it. Chicken art never goes out of style so I went for it. 

From all the dirt and grease, you can tell it hung on someone's kitchen wall. 

Egg plates aren't big sellers but this one would make great kitchen wall art!

 

Ice Cream Brownies Test Run

I had a craving for brownies. I think the box of brownie mix in Buzz's pantry started it all. :)

I justified making them because I thought, well I know the boys will love them. I've always liked ice cream cookies so why not make ice cream brownies? I had to do a test run and it didn't work out. Tasted fine but very, very messy to eat. It's not something I would give two toddlers in the house with white walls. Next time I'll use a higher fat ice cream and make sure it's frozen solid. 

Update:  Left them in freezer over night and it turned out!  Still have to find a better vanilla ice cream but I'm happy to do the research on that!

Jazz

While I'm babysitting Buzz I have access to his super sized TVs (yes they have more than one) and several cable stations. They fill the entire wall. I came across this jazz music station with several really cool backgrounds. If you know me I'm not a music person at all. I don't even know when a different song comes on that's how tone deaf I am. :)  

It does make a nice change to have music playing in the background with these calming images and I think Buzz likes it too!

Swung Vase Score

This is the only the second time I've found a "swung" vase in the wild. It's a very trendy item right now so they get snap up quickly. The taller ones sell for $$$ when you can find them. 

A donation came into the Happy Dragon and it was just a gold mine of very cool vintage stuff. I'm not sure if this swung vase was part of that donation as it was separate from the boxes I was unwrapping. It was like Christmas as everything in that box was what I call the good stuff. I didn't get a chance to take pictures as getting everything out on to the floor was the priority. 

Estate Sale

For many years I didn't go to estate sales. It just makes me sad to see someone's things being picked over. Now I only go to high end estate sales (nicer things) but I rarely buy anything. The prices are way too high to resell but still pretty to look at.   

There was one down the street from Buzz's house so I was more curious about what type of estate home it would be. This home had one of the biggest pool I've ever seen at a private home. Only thing I picked up was this dutch shoe as it sells well for me at Cottage Crafts. I like to do a blue and white theme in my booth and I've been planning on switching it up. 

I may go back on Sunday when things are usually 50% off but just to see what didn't sell. 

Lessons in Chemistry

People complain that the volunteers at Happy Dragon get first dibs on the good stuff. That is sort of true but it's only because we're there all the time.

Today this book came in and the volunteer who handles that department asked if anyone remembers who was asking about it. None of us knew but I questioned why someone wanted a book on chemistry.  She said this book was made into a movie starring Brie Larson. While I'm at Buzz's house I have access to many cable channels, Apple TV  being one of them. I thought I would check it out. I was very surprised how good the show is. I'll be binge watching the show since I'm only here for another week. :)

Toadstool House

Ben & Holly House

The "gnomes at home" project last year was a big hit. The downside was the wooden houses couldn't handle the damp Carmel weather and all remodeling the boys tried to do. This was an impulse buy at Savers ($2.49) but I liked that the door rotates around. 

It has two compartments but the only down side is how small they are. Since Henkie doesn't like chocolate (I know, it makes me sad) I have to come up things the boys would like that would fit. 

Abalone

 bowl with a abalone design

Years ago my family did a lot of camping that involved diving for abalone. You can no longer dive for abalone for many reason. :( Hopefully one day the abalone population with get healthy enough that my grandchildren will get to experience it. 

Saw this little bowl and made me think of all those camping trips. I haven't been camping in years and I do miss it. If I was brave enough, I would really like to do some van camping. Solo camping for a woman comes with its own safety challenges. I know it can be done but I would still like to have a really big dog as my co-pilot!

Aptos means Gayle's

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

Went to Aptos early this morning to pick up my MaxSold auction winnings. More on that later. 

I left early because Hwy 17 can get back up very quickly. Good thing I did as there was a pretty bad accident. I planned to stopped at Gayle's for breakfast knowing I was going to get into town early.  I decided to splurge and get a breakfast sandwich. I also picked up some things for dinner (shrimp and artichokes) and yes I got a few cookies. :) 

I won a lot of small kitchen items which may seem a silly as I have down sized so many times.  Since I'm cooking in so many different kitchens while I'm dog sitting, it would be nice to have my own tools. What I liked about this lot was the mini Cuisinart food processor (I use to have the big one, which was always too big), the immersion blender and hand held mixer. Everything is very portable and easy to pack.  The coffee maker was the only thing I didn't need but it's scheduled to go down to the Carmel house as a back up. 

Dutch Baby Recipe

Well I just had to try this dutch baby recipe. It's a very basic recipe but it turned out pretty good. I didn't quite understand why you had to use a blender but I'm guessing it's to fill it with air. It's a flour based recipe so it's not something I can eat a lot of but I'm sure the boys will like it. 

I only topped it with cheese because why not.  I kept it simple for the first go around. I want to get an idea what other toppings I could use in the future. It has the texture of mochi cake so now I'm wondering could I make it with rice flour? 

Fresh Ginger Root

You know you live in an area with a lot of Asian grocery stores when you can find ginger this size. :)  

I like to make lemon, honey and ginger for my morning tea. I prefer my tea because even after it cools, you can still drink it unlike like coffee.  After I'm done with my tea I throw all the lemon and ginger into my smoothie, makes it nice and tangy. :) 

I've been trying for years to grow ginger but still haven't any luck there. I almost had one started last year but it didn't make it past its seedling stage. Fingers crossed I can get one to grow this year!

Nuka and tsukemono hunt is on.

Yes, I read cookbooks, it's a thing.  

I almost picked up this canning cookbook when I was down in Carmel. A church close to house has a sale every week so I made a quick stop. I had really good luck last time I shopped there so gave it a shot. Didn't have a lot of time since I was on my way home. I'm glad I didn't get it. A copy came into the Happy Dragon and I got to really check it out. The only thing I found interesting was the one recipe to make Nuka - Japanese fermented bran pickles. It was something my family made when I was young. I remember only being able to see over the edge of  a really big crock - yes it was a  very big crock. After reading the recipe it sent me down a rabbit hole of looking up tsukemono recipes.  There is one cookbook that I'm now on the hunt for. It was printed in 2005 and I'm sure out of print. I'm not willing to pay Amazon prices so I'll be searching for it when I go out thrifting. Wish me luck!