What to do on a rainy day.

No I didn't bake. I ate. I sat back in my big chair and had a cup of coffee with a piece of my zucchini walnut chocolate chip bread. I actually baked Saturday to take some goodies to a friends graduation, but not wanting to waste a beautiful zucchini I decided I needed something sweet. I mixed what the recipe said was equal to two large loafs. When I filled my canning jars I ended up with eight pints and an extra small loaf. Just enough for a single woman to enjoy. It was so good. I think it was the chocolate. Baking in the jars is working out well. I get about six slices per jar and when I need to take something to work for my break one jar works out well for the week. It keeps better in the refrigerator this way also because it is kept away from other aromas in the fridge. It isn't any extra work to bake this way. I'm glad I do this. I will enjoy summers' bounty all winter. Can't wait for pumpkins to make spicy pumpkin cake. Yum!

Thrift store finds this week.

Group Photo

Had a good time thrifting this week. Really needed to get out and do something. I found some interesting aminal items, a vintage popcorn bowl with individual bowls for serving, a black and gold mid century fruit bowl, some curtains and linens to reclaim the fabric from. My favorite is the Hippo bank. I'm becoming quite fond of the neon colors.



Cute bunnies.

Salt and pepper puppies.

Mid Century black and gold bowl.

Just a small sampling of items found to use as inventory on my etsy store. butterflyplace.etsy.com. I'm slowly getting things listed so that I can work on fabric. That's where my love is and I have a large stack to work on. Maybe someday I can do this full time, but for right now I'll settle for the time I have and consider myself blessed. Have a wonderful day.

Banana Walnut Bread

Having had my share of unemployment and underemployment for the past three years I have not thrown too much food away. Call it frugal or panic it never makes sense to me to waste what I can use. Ever since I started baking in canning jars I can tell you that I've had good luck and bad luck with it. I decided not to throw away aging bananas this week and bake them into banana walnut bread. Reason one being that if I just baked it in pans it would take up room in our apartment size freezer that I couldn't spare and the other reason was the length of time I could store it in the jars. I also wanted to add walnuts and they are so expensive now that they would not be as fresh if frozen. I got good seals on the lids and I added bright labels. I can now put these in our storage closet that we put shelves in for our canning and have the goodness of home baked on the shelf.

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One estate sale this week.

I was not going to go to this estate sale, but it was on my way home from work and the very end of the sale. As I thought, most of the items I had seen in the preview were gone, but to my surprise most of the closets and bedrooms still had plenty to rummage through. Reclaimed linens and fabric are my favorite items and are always fun to me. This picture shows some vintage curtains. Some of a wood panel and kitchen pattern and others with a vintage Dutch ribbon that I will up cycle into something new. There was a linen towel with a country store theme and square linen napkins that I will also up cycle. I moved on to another room and to my amazement had a closet that seemed untouched but once past the old terry towels I found more linens to reclaim.

I found three sheets in excellent condition and to my surprise two vintage pink and white Swiss dot bed spreads with those lovely large ruffles. One is more loved than the other but if not usable as is will be great to reclaim the fabric. The best part of the short visit was that they were so happy not to have to pack all the leftover stuff up that I got great prices. It encouraged me to keep up the hunt and go on your instinct. You just never know. I hope soon to be able to go through these items more thoroughly and list them on my etsy store. butterflyplace.etsy.com. Have a wonderful weekend everyone and keep on going.

Canning season is well underway.

In the beginning there were two large bowls of chopped vegetables soaking in salt brine. Then...

The chopped vegetables were well rinsed and drained then put in a large pot with spices, cider vinegar and sugar and brought to a boil. While that was coming to a boil the jars were sterilized and  prepared for filling.

The relish begins to boil and the jars are ready to fill.

In the end I have 44 jars of sweet relish to trade with others for their home made products and it's a win win situation for all. The kitchen may be small but it works and the foot steps were kept at a minimum. Mmmmm...smells good in here. Hot dogs any one?

Next is home made salsa, chili relish and roasted red peppers. This winter when it's so cold I can enjoy my vegetables and forget about all the hard work with every bite.

Last weeks thrift and yard sale finds.

It was an awesome week for thrift and yard sale finds. To start there were the three Pyrex Cinderella nesting bowls, a Pyrex tea pot, a Pyrex double boiler and a two quart cast iron sauce pot.

I found vintage linens at such wonderful prices, doilies, curtain valences to reclaim the fabric, Vera napkins and new in the package vintage sheets.

Then there were some of the cutest vintage pillow fabrics and a fabric Bambi story book fabric. It was such a good week and I can't wait to get the pictures taken and edited to list some of these items on my etsy store. Please check in at butterflyplace.etsy.com to see how this mature entrepreneur is doing with the next chapter in her life.

Using the bounty. Pepper and green tomato relish.

Pepper and green tomato relish.

Small kitchen but it worked.

Great food for the upcoming year.

Found this recipe for pepper and green tomatoes in a book written by Mary Jane Butters. It was different from my sweet relish recipe. It has green peppers, jalapeno peppers, onions and green tomatoes along with apple cider vinegar and sugar. Prepare, cook and can and it's done. I can't wait until the flavors marry and I can use this and cook with it. You can follow Mary Jane Butters at maryjanesfarm.com. She has her farm in Moscow Idaho and publishes a magazine every two months that I wait for intensely for news from the farm. I have more that I will be canning this summer. I have also arranged a barter system and will be trading for things like maple syrup and venison. I have learned that I can have the good stuff even though I'm not able to get it all myself.

The final vacation blog but still full of goodies.

The Chocolate Barn

This restored 1842 sheep barn has been converted into a barn of chocolate and ice cream. We came across it while driving north from Bennington Vt. on route 7A. Who could resist stopping? Not us. See some of the goodies we got. The dark chocolate is awesome and not showing are the mint malted milk balls that tasted like Girl Scout cookies. You can check them out at thechocolatebarn.com.

Next there was the Apple Barn. theapplebarn.com Located south of Bennington on route 7. Here we found garlic chive cheddar cheese and more venison summer sausage.

Last but not least was Henry's Meat Market (where we found smoked cheeses and sausages of all varieties. Yes we chose a few to bring home for treats with wine and apples over the next few weeks. http://blog.timesunion.com/tablehopping/14719/waterford-version-of-bennington-marketsmokehouse-opening/.

This is how we ate our way around southwest Vermont. We are still able to enjoy this and probably will for a couple more weeks if not longer. However the trip was not over and there was still more historic sites, that I won't bore you with, and thrifting. Maybe some day you'll get a chance to visit this beautiful state and see them for yourself.
This is what I came home with. I usually don't blog about the items I find for myself, but there was a polo shirt that I found and terra cota pots for my herb plants. the rest were drapes to reclaim the fabric and two shade of green fabric. Not too much, but enough for now. Since coming home I've done some thrifting and will blog them in the next few days. Until then please stop by my etsy store butterflyplace.etsy.com and see what's new.



The Vermont Cheese House

Rick and Jody the owners of The Cheese House will make you feel so welcome when you visit them. We were just spontaneously driving through southern Vermont not looking for anything when we came across this quaint cheese house and gift shop. We just had to stop. The original owners built the cheese house to resemble a wheel of cheese which you can see when you visit thevermontcheesehouse.com to see how it looked and learn it's history. Jody explained that they lost their cheese making room during hurricane Irene last year and are starting to rebuild the business after the damage. I can tell you that they are well underway and I wish them a good season. Needless to say yes I did shop. I bought goodies to eat of course. No shirts or souvenirs just items for my tummy. You can order these items at the above website. You will need to read the ordering information carefully because the items are perishable and may not be easily shipped until the weather cools off. Rick and Jody explain clearly on their site.  Here are some of the goodies we came home with.

First and most important the maple syrup. Sold at the Cheese House but from Bob's Maple Syrup. bobsmapleshop.com. I'm always looking for fig spread or jam and sure enough they had fig spread and I didn't leave without some. We also purchased Boysenberry syrup from Maple Grove Farms of Vermont. maplegrove.com. We had home made waffles for dinner the evening we got home and used the boysenberry syrup on them. Yummy!

I can only tell you how wonderful the raspberry peach jam and apple butter were. They are from the Side Hill Farm in Brattleboro VT. No website was available, but I bet you can order them from the Cheese House. Then there were Halladay's herb blends. Sure I know I can get some of these locally, but I had never seen the Lobster bisque dip or the Dilly herb dip. I've used the Dilly herbs on Tilapia fish since we've been home and it was awesome. If you can find them you should try them. The website is halladays.com.

Then there's the cheese and sausages. Many, many to choose from but we purchased smoked apple cheddar and these two fine items. Venison summer sausage and Truck Drivers' sharp cheddar. When they say sharp this is it. As you can see there's not a picture of the apple cheddar and the Venison sausage has been opened. We couldn't wait so we sampled some with special crackers in our hotel room.
I really hope you can find time to stop by their site and check it out. Business's trying to recover from natural disaster can use all of our help no matter how little it can be. Just make sure you read the shipping information.  Have a wonderful day. I look forward to sharing more of our finds in this coming weeks blogs.

Covered Bridges

After finishing downloading my vacation pictures I realized that we had crammed so much into our short four days. We didn't plan anything and never thought we would hunt for covered bridges. Hurricane Irene that hit the east coast last year destroyed some but left many still to be enjoyed. We visited three of the five bridges found in south west Vermont and didn't realize we were close to the other two in our journey and missed them, but there's always next time.

The Green mountains of Vermont

There are miles and miles of green mountains. The rich farmlands and everyone just making use of the land and their hands and minds to be self sustaining in such a beautiful part of this country. It was hard to leave, but it's only five hours away and I know I'll be returning. While I was there I felt so at home and got that farm girl itch that's been supressed for years. The pictures posted are from the Bennington VT area. Just a small sampling. More to come. Stay tuned.

What I'm doing with my weeks vacation.

It started at the end of work Friday July 6, 2012 at 10:00 o'clock a.m. My eldest daughter and I have plans to travel to Bennington VT for a three day road trip starting Saturday morning. But first we have to finish packing, get some dinner and yes visit a thrift store. I didn't find much, but what I found was enough.

My first find was these four vintage Vera napkins that with a little TLC may added to my store inventory. butterflyplace.etsy.com.

The next find was this vintage 1974 Disney spinning top. With a little soap and water this will also become inventory on my Etsy store. That was it for Friday thrifting because I am watching my budget and still had three days left to shop in Vermont and just enjoy some time off.
Then came early Saturday morning and the five hour trip to Bennington VT. This was not a random place we chose. It was a town we had seen before and visited on short terms. (basically a couple hours while driving through) So with the promise that we would someday go back, here we were on our way. We arrive early and had scoped out the thrift and second hand stores and headed first for the VOA. It was small but had plenty to rummage through and there's nothing like a good hunt. I saw plenty that I could get but I was being selective. I found a Vera Bradley wallet that has since been snatched up and I'm happy it has a new home.

The only other item at this site was this vintage John Wright cast iron door stop. I liked it because it's cats and it was just so cute and in good condition. I figured if it didn't sell it would be used somewhere in our new townhouse apartment. Well I've tried to research this and have found four others. Two on eBay. One of which is also in this great condition selling for $299. Yes $299. The other in such bad condition that it was just about a pile of rust for $19. Well being unsure of what to do I continued my search. I found another on another sale site listed for $200 and on another site one that someone had repainted for $175. Obviously I am going to do a little more research before I list this item either on EBay or Etsy.
It was a wonderful weekend and although we wanted to stay longer the budget said no. Other items I found were great and for my personal self. Wow something for me. I found a new pair of Clark's sandals for $12, a Gap shirt for $8, some nice skeins of yarn and crochet hooks for future projects, some terra cotta pots for my new herb garden, and few other odds and ends that friends will receive along with some special food items we brought back. I will blog those later because we discovered we could eat our way across the state of Vermont. lol
For this morning, the fourth morning of my vacation, that is what's new at our place. I hope everyone has a day and I look forward to sharing the adventures of our trip as the week goes on.
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Rosemary lemon chicken

I am rediscovering herbs. I thought I'd never have them in my garden so I stuck to flowers. Growing vegetables at my age and being single seemed like a little much, but my daughter has a friend that has a garden. This past weekend we traded canning jars, that I won't be using because they are quart size and I don't need that much any more, for fresh herbs and future green tomatoes. I have this favorite green tomatoe relish recipe that I am trading this summer for real maple syrup next spring. I have enough maple syrup from my last trade to make it through until next spring. That is of course if those delicious waffles don't tempt me. I sure hope this rosemary, garlic and lemon chicken comes through for me tonight at dinner. Changing eating habits is hard but worth it and I'd forgotten how easy good cooking was.

Hot from the oven and I have been enjoying the aroma for more than three hours. First all the aroma from the preparation which only took a few minutes to the baking time of 45 minutes.

Okay dinner is served and it was out of this world. I guess I'm going to have to find more time to cook great meals. I made enough to have two more meals and I bet these leftovers are going to be the best ever. Have a wonderful evening everyone.