Attic Finds

At last!!!  Here are the prizes for the  Facebook giveaway.  You get to choose ONE of the following prizes if you win:  a 1970’s Henkel glass jar with apple print OR a pair of Mobil Arcopal coffee mugs, also from the 70’s.  In addition to these lovelies, i will send some fabulously kitschy plastic cupboard trim in your choice of 70’s brown and orange flower print, or an equally beautiful but more understated flower print.  I’ll probably throw in some other goodies as well ;)

So how this works:  like my Facebook page (click the “F” at the top of this blog page to be redirected to my Facebook page) and you will be automatically entered.  All my current fans will also be included in the draw, no worries ; ).  Please feel free to share the love on your own Facebook, Twitter or blog page (this is optional, but i would appreciate it <3 ).  On May 21 st (random date i like btw)  i will draw a number using some internet program i can’t rember the name of and i will post the results here and on Facebook.  The winner can then send me their address and i will ship them the goodies!

That’s it basically.  So do feel free to share this giveaway with your friends and good luck!

Dandelion Jelly:

2 cups fresh flowers from a reputed source (ie no fertilizer or pesticides)  green part snipped off

2 cups boiling water

3 cups sugar with pectine (i used pre packaged mix and the white stuff so the colour remains yellow)

juice of 1 lemon and zest (zest is optional)

boil water and pour over flower petals.  infuse over night.  boil the strained juice and lemon juice.  add sugar and mix well.  boil 10 minutes.  skim foam.  pour into sterilized jars and close immediately.  store in fridge and eat within 2 weeks of opening.  voila!  foraged food goodness :)

french vintage mattress ticking: my current obsession.

the best commercial ever!

well, as some of you may be aware, we’ve recently moved house (yet again) and are now in the Nievre region of France.  we’re renting a house that was built in 1867,  in a small village of 80 souls tucked between two hills, with a small stream running through it.  it’s what expat dreams are made of folks.  and to my general amazement, this rural village (where the average age of the inhabitant is 70 years old), boasts a rather active communal life.  there is a small municipal library, a roving cinema, a summer festival AND every year they shoot and produce a short movie starring the villagers.  past features have included a sci fi flick, a western and a comedy called “le silence de la gnole”  which is a word play between silence of the lambs and bootleg hooch.  anyways, i thought it was funny.  the kids are settling nicely and hubby is ecstatic that he finally has a place to make his knives, and i am happy because there is a huge yard that i can turn into a garden, though from what i’ve been told, the soil is better suited to making pottery than to gardening.  we’ll see, afterall,  i’ve been known to prove 70 year old villagers wrong in the past…

as for vide-greniers, well, i’ll have to wait until the temperature rises above -10° C to tell, but my scavenger intuition tells me this will be a land of milk and honey.  milk and honey folks, just you wait and see.

Putain, le mot français magique pour les américains

isn’t it funny how once you open your eyes to something, it’s all you can see?  last week end i found two more enzo mari le creuset pieces.  i must have been walking right past them all this time…