Saturday, April 9, 2011

What We Found Today (and a Recipe)

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We've started on "the room".

"The room" is an addition to our garage, about 15 by 15, packed wall to wall, floor to ceiling with stuff. The room shouldn't be confused with the garage (which is now only about 1/3 full), or the attic (which is still full) or the house itself, which is still about 2/3 full.

Are you getting the picture? It's not pretty, but it is kind of interesting. Sort of like going to a huge flea market, where you see things you half remember.

Like this.


Regular readers have probably figured out that, over the years, we've tried a lot of different things. These include blanket weaving, jewelry making, cooking, book selling, Disney collecting, framing and matting, and many more I can't even remember. We also made a couple of lampshades, which I had completely forgotten about. Then today we found this in the room. A bit the worse for wear, now it's off to the auction.

Then there was this little book, which I thought was very cool. I couldn't find a date on it, but it talks about the original Kodak and announces the new Kodak 2. Great illustrations and photographs.


I also found a stack of Life magazines, which always derail me for a time while I look through them. What a time trip these things are. In honor of Liz, whose passing I seriously mourn, I thought I'd include this.

Great artwork,
they really don't do posters like this anymore.


We're beginning to feel like we're making a but of progress.

I've been hoping to find a movie projector, but so far, no luck. Then, I was looking on Freecycle (which we're using to get rid of some of the "stuff") and I saw that someone was offering an 8mm projector. I wrote them, told them I would be using it for a while then re-Freecycling it. That was fine with them, so in the next couple of days, we'll be able to look at some of the old family home movies. I'm kind of looking forward to that.

While I was making dinner, the hinge on our flip up counter broke. Lazy Daze puts a small flip up counter in all their rigs. A good idea, but we improved it by removing the original and replacing it with a regular cutting board. This gives us a much larger working area, but I never realized how much we use this space till I couldn't access it anymore! We use it all the time. This is a modification we recommend to all new Lazy Daze owners, and now I know why. We went and looked for a new hinge, but none of our local hardware stores had one large enough, so we'll have to order it direct from Lazy Daze.

Back to dinner . . .

Some friends gave us a huge bunch of fresh spinach, and usually Terry's not too fond of spinach (but I love it). Then I remembered a salad we used to make at Ghost Ranch, using spinach, strawberries and nuts. I found several recipes online, but of course I was missing a couple of ingredients, so I just winged it. It came out really well, and Terry even ate two helpings, so it must be good. Here's the recipe in case you might want to try it.

Ingredients

Salad
Spinach (a couple of bunches)
Strawberries (a couple of cups, sliced)
nuts (I used sliced almonds, walnuts also work)
Most recipes call for candied nuts, but I used plain
Dressing
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
pinch of salt
squeeze of lemon
sugar (I used Splenda, works fine)
poppy or sesame seeds (or both)
a bit of paprika
a bit of dry mustard

Basically, you toss the cleaned greens
and the strawberries,
then add the nuts.
Then, just mix all the dressing ingredients
and toss it with the salad.

This is really quick and easy, and sure to be a hit with just about anyone. The spinach is nice and sturdy and holds up well to the spicy dressing. If you have candied nuts, they do add an extra kick, but they're not really necessary.

That's it for today. We have a car full of auction items, and they aren't open tomorrow, so we may go on a little ride, weather permitting.

7 comments:

Merikay said...

We are also going thru our old home movies. Haven't looked at them for 30 years! Going to have some transferred to digital. But I don't know when.

Kate said...

Merikay,

If you find someplace, let me know!

Kate

Jerry and Suzy said...

That salad sounds delightful. We have made a spinach and strawberry salad in the past and really enjoyed it. With strawberries in season, now's the time to try it again!

Ed said...

A very good article on downsizing or getting rid of 'stuff'. You are going to be at it for a long time to come it seems to me. The 'keepers' are also going to be your personal albatross.
http://www.smartmoney.com/personal-finance/retirement/downsizing-boomers-looking-to-sell-their-stuff-1301517395843/

One of many places that will do 8mm to DVD transfers.

http://www.videoconversionexperts.com/Film_to_DVD/default.htm

Kate said...

Well geez Ed, I thought we were doing pretty good. So far we only have three small boxes of savers. We really are getting rid of things, not making a huge pile of keepers.

Kate

Donna K said...

A few years ago I got all our old home movies transferred to DVDs. I sent them away to a place I found online and they did a fabulous job for not a whole bunch of money. Well worth it. I'll see if I still have the info for you. Mine were the old silent movies and they added a music soundtrack for free (didn't really want it but that's how they do it!)

The salad sounds yummy. I make a similar one with mandarin oranges and raspberry vinagarette dressing.

P.S. Yes, I was EXTRA nice to Russ on his BD!!

Denise from Ark said...

Commenting on each part of your post: I have made this salad several times, using candied nuts and adding brie as well, and it is always an unqualified hit. If you're more into quick than highest quality, regular bottled poppyseed dressing works. As to your downsizing efforts; I just got a sick feeling as I read Russ' comment. DH is a travel nurse and except for a few months here and there when he had a contract at our local hospital, we've been on the road in our rig for the past three years. It's only just gotten to the place where I think I'm ready to let the house go. The kids are not settled enough to take the heirlooms yet, but I'm surprisingly more worried about my "pretties"... antiques and flea market finds that I loved from the moment I bought them. I also have collected things for entertaining- beautiful crystal and linens, that I really have no use for but am having a very hard time with the idea of letting them go. Those will be hardest to part with, and even though we haven't started yet, I am already suffering at just the thought. Hearing these things defined as a "personal albatross," while probably exceedingly accurate, was difficult. Still working that one out.