. . .even Ella, my 3-month old niece, is wowed by the low, low prices she’s seeing in the new catalog! It only seemed like we broke the bank there a couple months ago when we furnished large chunks of our library, media center and balcony, but the final price on that receipt showed some amazing savings.
Looking forward to heading there this Sunday!
Here’s a sneak peek at what posts will come out of this IKEA trip:
o Distressing picture frames (Ribba Frames for $5!)
o Making a soap stand for Jacuzzi tubside (hard to explain, but I was inspired by a picture in The Nest)
o Room by Room – the Guest Bedroom (final pieces of the puzzle to be bought this weekend)
o Room by Room – the Master Bedroom (waiting on a full length mirror to lean against the wall)
Check out the IKEA Hacker blog for mucho inspiration for your next IKEA trip!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
How Puzzling!
We had a busy busy weekend, including kayaking the Chicago River. Looking to take it easy on Sunday night, we browsed our game shelf in the closet and decided to do a puzzle - we are indeed an 80-year old couple.
BUT!
We got skunked when we got down to the last piece and found ourselves with two spaces left! A quick search around the table and even the plastic bag it came in. - yes, Bob went through the garbage to try to complete this puzzle - turned up empty. Much like the Sphinx with its missing nose, our puzzle too was "less than."
As we worked on that 1000 piecer, I thought about how you could decorate with a completed puzzle. . .
The easiest way to decorate with one is to frame it and slap it on the wall. Bob actually has a glued together puzzle of Rome that we are going to be putting on the wall in our guest bedroom (a small hint on the theme, stay tuned in the next couple weeks for that completed room!).
Puzzles are made more difficult when there is a large background area that is all the same or similar colors. Take advantage of this open space and create a multi-hole picture frame. Complete the puzzle - that's the hard part - and then break out picture size squares or other shapes. Glue or tape in a series of pictures that can go along with the puzzle's theme. Unfortunately, my travels have yet to take me to Egypt, so I am not able to fully realize the potential of this puzzle. Some random shots from Hawaii make sense, right?
So there are a couple ideas for keeping your puzzle alive. Possibly more appealing than immediately breaking it apart and putting it all back in the box to be pulled out on another lazy Sunday.

Monday, August 17, 2009
Let's Get in a Cab, I'll Buy You a Kebab*
Honey Pork Tenderloin Kebabs
Serves 8 (2 kebabs each)
1/2 cup bourbon (bourbon is optional; you can substitute 2 tablespoons cider vinegar)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup mustard
1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, cut into one-inch cubes
4 medium ripe unpeeled peaches, pitted and sliced
4 green peppers, cut into pieces
2 zucchini, unpeeled and cut into one-inch slices
4 yellow onions, cut into pieces
Olive oil for grilling
16 skewers
3 cups white rice
Mix first four ingredients in a bowl; stir well and set most of the glaze aside. Toss the pork cubes in the rest of the glaze while dicing the vegetables. Thread pork cubes, peach slices, green pepper pieces, zucchini slices and onion pieces alternately as desired onto each 10-inch skewer. Brush kebabs with honey glaze mixture. Lightly oil grill. Grill over medium-hot heat 5 minutes on each side, basting occasionally with glaze. Serve over white rice.
Feel free to mix and match alternative vegetables: sweet potatoes boiled and diced, mushrooms, red and yellow pepper, etc. Comments on allrecipes.com also mentioned marinating the pork overnight in the glaze mixture to really capture the flavor.
*This post's title is taken from my second favorite Flight of the Conchords song (Jenny still takes the cake).
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Room by Room - The Balcony

The bottom shelf holds our beverage tub, leftover potting soil and watering can. You might recognize the $1.99 watering can from IKEA catalogues, but I actually found this one at Home Depot. If we had any more plants, I would spring for a bigger size, but this little guy does the trick for now! For my birthday this past June, my mother brought down 3 potted herbs to get me started. We've got thyme, basil and oregano on the top of the table. I've gotten the most use out of the basil, but we recently used the oregano in a salmon dish and I've been on the look-out for recipes that call for thyme! I think next season we'll start on cilantro and keep the salsas coming!
Monday, August 3, 2009
"I Could Make That" - A Recipe Book
So, I decided to compile a Recipe Book!
First, I went through all of the recipes and tossed the ones I knew I would never consider making or perhaps had tried and given it a thumbs down. This gave me about 45 recipes to record. I bought a photo album at Michaels along with a re-fill pack right away since the original only had 10 pages front and back. After adding the other 10 to the book - and needing to punch new holes in order for the pages to match up with the book, oy vey - I had 40 pages to fill up!
Once the pages were all created, I took recipe cards bought for $1 at Michaels and wrote out the shortest recipes I had that would fit on one side of each. The rest I typed up in font size 10 to maximize space on the pages.
The recipes were categorized as: Sides and Starters, Main Dishes, Desserts and Beverages. I'm still hemming and hawing over adding tabbed pages, but at this point the sections are pretty easy to figure out.
I thought I'd share one of my favorites here, which also happens to be one of the easiest. I grabbed this from allrecipes.com last year when I was searching for an easy mac and cheese.
Baked Macaroni & Cheese
6 servings
8oz pasta (I use rotini instead of macaroni)
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 cup milk
8 oz shredded colby (your own judgement call on how much cheesy goodness you will want)
1 Tb sour cream
cheese flavored bread crumbs
Preheat oven to 350. Cook pasta according to directions. Drain and add to casserole dish. Stir in soup, milk and sour cream. Sprinkle with cheese and add bread crumbs over the top for a crunch. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.
Bon Appetit!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Grilled to Perfection
Brush uncooked side with olive oil and flip over.
Add your toppings to the cooked side - making sure to use toppings that don't need to be pre-cooked - and grill for another minute or two. Remove from the direct heat, close the grill and cook a bit longer.
We had a bit of a crisis when the gas in the grill ran out halfway through the process, but thanks to some generous neighbors, dinner was saved! They will definitely be getting some "thank you" brownies!
1 can tomato sauce
2 small cans black olives, chopped
1/2 container mushrooms, sauteed in oil
1/2 sleeve pepperoni - or however much you want!
lots of mozzarella!
Spread sauce over pizza crust. Add remaining ingredients and top with cheese!
BBQ Chicken
1 package prepared grilled chicken strips, diced
1 cup hickory BBQ
1 Tb honey
1 tsp molasses
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 cup Gouda, shredded
1 cup red onion
Bring chicken, BBQ, honey, molasses, brown sugar and cilantro to a boil and remove from heat. Spread over crust, topping with onion and gouda.
Mexican Pizza
1 can refried beans
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
Shredded American cheese (or pre-shredded Mexican style)
1/4 head lettuce, shredded
1 tomato, diced
Spread beans on crust, add cheese and pepper. Bake/Grill. Add lettuce and tomato just before serving.
The crust for the BBQ chicken pizza was a little wider than our sauce would stretch, so we cut off a chunk. We thought it might end up being a mini pepperoni, but we decided to try breadsticks! We brushed it with olive oil, added some garlic and a hefty amount of parmesan cheese. They grilled about the same amount of time as the pizzas and were delicious!
All in all, a great summer night eating dinner with friends on the balcony. . .and a great rest of the weekend eating the leftovers and not having to think about what to make!
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