Happy Thanksgiving All!

Sorry I've been M.I.A. around here, couple of home and work projects keeping me busy, but I promise I'll catch you up soon. Like real soon.

Just wanted to say happy thanksgiving to all and leave you with a ditty from my daughters preschool.

"Oh I'm glad I'm not a turkey, a turkey, a turkey, I'm glad I'm not a turkey on thanksgiving day"

And since I don't want to leave you without some sort of photo, here she is singing it to you all!

Sandwich Flea Market

Several weekends ago, I made plans with my girlfriend to go to an outdoor flea market downstate. It was the last one of the year and we had never been to Sandwich, so we said why not. We also goaded my mom and her sister to come along with us. The weekend was supposed to be all rain but we figured hell if anything we'll wear ponchos.  The drive was beautiful and picturesque so that alone was worth the trip. I wish I was able to take photos, but as I was the driver.

Unfortunately, the fair itself was a bust. Maybe it was the threat of rain that kept a lot of the venders away, there were supposed to be 500 but there was maybe 150? Also it was the last one of the year so I'm thinking that was why the pickings were pretty slim. We did find a handful of venders that had some cool stuff, but I swear their prices were so overblown that it was ridiculous.

The antlers were $20 a piece, downtown Chicago, my friend was able to get them for $5 a piece, kind of a ripoff huh? I thought that going downstate, the prices would be more reasonable?

So the vender that was selling the wooden bowls and troughs wanted $400 for the first bowl. Are you friggin kidding, for an old wooden bowl? I understand the value of antiques that took skill, but a wooden bowl that was probably used to bake bread in?!?!

Needless to say I did not buy anything, my friends sister did get a couple of things, but most of the stuff was either not my taste or more than I wanted to spend on said particular item. Maybe next summer when there is more of an opportunity for more buyers we'll try it again, maybe. 

Although the flea was a bust the time spent with my mom and girlfriend was worth the trip. Oh and on the way home we hit up a Marshalls and ended up getting a few things there instead. Go figure.

Minerals and crystals

I need some bling for my home, something sparkly but not fake, and no rhinestones. I'm not a rhinestone kind of girl. I have seen these minerals and agates in several different uses, and I think I might need a new sparkly night table lamp. I currently own the crystals in jewelry form and I get so many compliments on them already. Maybe the agate platters, I really love the black crystal lamp with the spider but way too much out of my price range ($3,500.00). I think I'll have to start with the agate coasters.

And aren't crystals supposed to put people in a happy place? At least that's what Spencer from the Hills claims, although I'm not sure they did him any good.

Craigs Easy is just that... EASY

Like my profile says I scour Craigslist almost religiously. Although I try and narrow it down to what I'm currently cruisin' for, but I hate narrowing it down, sometimes a gem can be unearthed and you didn't even know you were looking for it. But in order to do that you must click on a bunch of links. Not anymore. Not with CraigsEasy, this has made my  craig habit sooo much easier to get. I have used this several times a day, and I swear it's an addiction. I would say go get Craig Easy, and I am, but that means my secret weapon is out there for all of you to use.

Fine, I'll play nice and hope the fastest one gets the prize. Def. go check it out, I swear it will become one of your favorite tools to find new bargains on craig.

What I also want to point out that I love is the favorite button on CraigEasy, I can store all the things that I'm currently looking at and go back and forth without losing any. 

Sorrel Soup

Have you ever had sorrel before? It looks like spinach but tastes like a lemon, tart, not bitter. Sorrel is very common in Europe, we eat it raw, picked straight out of the garden and it's sold in stores in jars to go into soup.

I started growing it several years ago and only last year did it actually "take". Sorrel is an easy leaf to grow, it reseeds itself every year and grows throughout the growing months. In zone 5 that means I have sorrel from May and I think I picked the last batch today, Nov 4th. Sometimes you can find sorrel at farmers markets all throughout the city, and if you can't than you can buy seeds and seed some for yourself. Since I had fresh sorrel I decided to make sorrel soup, while I write this there is only a small batch left.

I started with the rosol base and after I washed the sorrel and removed the hard stems, chopped it. Adding one tablespoon of butter, saute the sorrel until it changes from bright green to a dark khaki green, You might want to add some salt and pepper at this time. Once that's done, add it to the pot of stock that you pre-made, or to chicken stock. Next add a full tablespoon of flour and two large tablespoons of sour cream and mix together. I'd say pour but this mixture is too thick so put all of the mixture into the pot. You can then use a whisk to distribute the mixture into the soup or use and immersion blender as I do and puree the soup. I like the soup a bit tarter than what it is, so I add a couple of tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice to the soup, based on your taste. Simmer the soup for a bit till the flavors meld together, its essentially done.

You can serve this soup as is, or you can add what we typically do, a hard boiled egg and some boiled potatoes.

You can google sorrel seeds or buy them through the link from Amazon. If there are other recipes for sorrel that you like and is not a soup I'd love it if you shared.

Sneak peak of things to reveal

As you may remember once upon a time I mentioned that I was doing a redo on the landscaping. Everything was going as planned when bad weather interrupted we scrapped that because we needed to get a new roof instead. That was actually the good news. In the landscaping plan there were a couple of other things that were going to get done, and FINALLY after the whole summer, we are in the home stretch. Well sort of. I'm only going to give a sneak peak, but come back soon for the whole shebang.

You might know what it is already, it's kinda clear, but you can't see the whole effect yet.