Ready for Tea

July 3, 2019 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

I got some early birthday presents in the mail today!

My dear friend didn’t listen when I told her not to buy be a birthday present. :-D The white one is from her. We’ve been using a stainless steel tea pot that has been here for many years, for every day use. We have other tea pots, but they’re sized for one person. Before the move, we threw out my huge teapot, as it was starting to show cracks and the edges of the lid were starting to crumble.

I’ve been looking for replacements for both since the move. I could find 4-6 cups ones, easily enough, but I wanted something slightly bigger. The rare times I found them, I couldn’t justify spending the money. The white one is a 6-8 cup size, which is perfect for regular use.

The big one is a 75 oz, with is just over 2L. I love the extra handle above the spout; my old pot didn’t have one, which made it difficult to pour when it was really full. Bracing it from below meant burnt fingers! It actually is smaller than the one we had to throw out; 75 oz is about 7 1/2 cups, but I thought our old one was a 14 cup size. I could be remembering wrong. Maybe it was a 10 cup size, because the old one was definitely not twice as big as this one.

Not that I’m complaining! It’ll be perfect for when we have company over for tea. :-)

I am very happy with my new teapots!!!

The Re-Farmer

Awesome friends!

December 20, 2018 / Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

I just have to share something I got in the mail today, from a dear friend. She is so hilarious!!!! Check these out!

First, there’s the festive packing tape covering the box itself. Then there was the “snowfall” when it was opened, then there was the array of tiny little gifts for everyone – including treats and a skunk toy for the cats!

What a hoot!

I’ve got the best friends. :-D

The Re-Farmer

I have the best friends!

July 17, 2018July 17, 2018 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

I had a surprise in the mail today!

A care package from my dear friend, from the city we lived in before our move. There is a particular grocery store that doesn’t exist here, and I’ve yet to find some of the things they carry, so she sent some of it to me! All sorts of treats in here!!!

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White truffle honey? Wow!

And the adorable, itty bitty Nutella.

Also, how did I miss that those bouillon cubes we were running out of were a completely different brand than what I thought they were? No wonder I couldn’t find them online when I looked. Funny how, if you use the right brand name, things become much easier to find online… *facepalm*

Oh, and those candies? Milky Cream Fudge. They are a Polish candy. They have this awesome texture and creamy flavour unlike any other kind of fudge. If you have a chance to try them, I highly recommend them!

So many wonderful things!

I have the best friends. <3

The Re-Farmer

Black Olive and Chickpea Salad

May 7, 2018May 7, 2018 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

This is one of my favourites; a hearty salad that I will sometimes have as a meal.

Today, it was made extra special, thanks to a care package a dear friend sent me – who knows me oh, so well! It has been AGES since I’ve had truffle salt or truffle oil! Not that I couldn’t find them; they’re just normally incredibly expensive.

Every now and then, though, they show up at Winners at affordable prices and, apparently, they had quite a variety of truffle products available!

And yes. It’s always time for tea.

I have the best friends!

A few dashes of truffle oil and a sprinkle of truffle salt to my salad brought it to a whole new level! It’s still delicious with just olive oil and regular salt, though. :-)

Black Olive and Chickpea Salad with Feta

Ingredients

1 can chickpeas, drained, rinsed
1 can black olives, whole or sliced
about 1/2 cup feta, cubed or crumbled
about 1/4 tsp dried dillweed or 1/2 tsp fresh
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

After draining and rinsing the chickpeas, shake off as much water as possible, or let them sit to drain more moisture out for a while.
Combine chickpeas, black olives and feta into bowl medium bowl.
Add dillweed, salt and pepper to taste, and enough olive oil to moisten.
Stir or toss to combine thoroughly and serve.

Optional: use different types of salt (smoked salt is great!) or flavoured oil.

This can be made ahead and chilled in the refrigerator before serving. I have no idea how long it’ll last in the fridge, because it disappears so quickly!

So Sweet!

April 5, 2018 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

I have the best friends!

My dear friend sent me a care package that arrived today. What a sweetheart!

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Among the momentos and cards, there were a couple of editions of one of my favourite foodie magazines that I would pick up whenever I had the chance. A free magazine, spotlighting everything from restaurants to craft beers to kitchen tools – and, of course, recipes – it’s one of those magazines where I would make a point of reading the ads as much as the articles.

That is one thing I miss about living in the city for the past 14 years. It had a very exciting food culture. A lot of companies would even test out their new dining concepts there, so there were many unique new restaurants. The craft beer niche was HUGE, too.

We couldn’t actually afford to go to many of them, especially by the time we left, but we could still access ingredients to try things out at home. Things we will probably be able to find again in the city, when we have the opportunity to look. Until then…

Gosh, I miss it!

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Yeah, that’s about the only spring we’ve got right now! :-D

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We also got some beautiful cards – including one for me to give to my husband! – for our 30th anniversary tomorrow.

With all the crazy stuff going on with our van, I’d forgotten about it! So the extra card was extra appreciated.

After all the van repairs we had to do, it’s going to be a very quiet anniversary!

I just love that 3D laser cut card. So beautiful!

Did I mention I have the best friends?

Awesome. Thoughtful. Funny. Kind. Generous friends.

Thank you so much, M! :-)

The Re-Farmer

The Day our Cats got Broken

January 20, 2018January 20, 2018 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

One of the things that did not come along for the move were cat scratchers. Our cats loved the cheap cardboard ones and totally destroy them, so we just tossed the last one we had with plans to get a new one.

Except we never managed to get another one.

Meanwhile, the cats discovered the padded cloth seats on the chairs here, and we’re constantly having to stop them from scratching them. I mean, they COULD scratch at the rolled up piece of carpet leaning against the wall – a scrap piece of what we have in the living room that was being used as a rug upstairs. But no. They ignore that and go for the chairs. Or the couch.

So far, we’ve managed to keep them from damaging things.

Then we got a very odd shaped parcel in the mail.

It was addressed to our cats, from the cat of a dear friend. A dear friend I had regaled about our adventures out here, including how the cats have been handling things.

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When I brought the package home and laid it on the floor, the cats were immediately interested. I let them push it around for a while.

Then I had to use a knife to cut it open, because it was completely wrapped in packing tape. LOL!

It was a cat scratcher, with catnip infused cardboard. There was an extra baggie of catnip, too.

No wonder they were so interested!

The scratcher has an opening with something dangling inside, but while the cats have looked in, they haven’t tried to get at it.

The cardboard scratch pad, however, was magic. The practically fought each other for it. They pushed it around, knocked it over, and scratched, scratched, scratched.

Then they stopped.

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Da Boy is broken.

Funny thing is, he’s not the one that’s big on catnip. His mama is.

Later on, I found her asleep beside it (after I straightened it back up again), using the cardboard pad as a pillow.

I have the best friends!

We have a tree… sort of

December 19, 2017December 22, 2017 / Re-Farmer / 3 Comments

Since it doesn’t look like we will be able to put up even one of our little trees for Christmas, I made do.

Featuring our newest decorations from my wonderful friend.

Merry Christmas!

The Re-farmer

An Early Christmas

December 18, 2017December 22, 2017 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

With all that’s going on, we have still done zero Christmas decorating. Being in the middle of nowhere, we aren’t seeing anyone else’s, unless we go into town.

So getting a parcel from a friend today helped bring that Christmas spirit a little closer.

Being the amazing, generous person she is, there was a little something for everyone. Even the “critters” were included – right on the mailing address!

We had a wonderful time looking through the surprises, from the thoughtful (healing hand cream) to the funny (a Shopkins toy – inside joke on that one!).

I must say, this little game is my favourite.

It has three “take a nap” options. Which is a needed reminder for our topsy turvy lives right now!