In progress...

Just a quick hello to let everyone know that this blog has *not* been abandoned...but it is in transition.  I'm actually in the process of setting it up separately as a more online magazine format...it's a bit slow going but hope to have it up in the next couple months.

The site will be http://www.restore-restyle.com.  Only a placeholder there for now...

So please bookmark the new page...and/or this one....and stay tuned for further Restore Restyle adventures!!

Kirstie

Favorite Junk: Victorian Copies of Sir Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake and Marmion

When I was 14 I became a bibliophile.

Favorite Junk:  The Lady of the Lake and Marmion

One afternoon my parents took us to a book sale at the local public library and in among the paperbacks and other ex-libris stamped hardbacks were some vintage books that had been donated to help raise funds for the library.  And among this pile were two of the most beautiful books I'd ever seen - copies of Sir Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake and Marmion.  I had already loved reading, but these books started a passion that has never waned.

Oh, and they were only $5.  At 14, I was already an accomplished garage saler and junk store junkie and bargain hunter. Even then, I knew a deal when I saw one. And couldn't resist.

My parents have always been great readers and encouraged us from a young age as well, allowing us to stay up and read instead of turning our light out.  Bedtime was at 8, but we could read until 8:30.  What a great privilege.

Ah, moody poetry (from Lady of the Lake)

But this was different.  The glossy brown covers and shiny gold leaf on the edging were elegant and fancy and as I was at that age obsessed with Victoriana of all sorts, they were the perfect starting point for what at times is really just a compulsion to collect....possibly even hoard...books.  I later received a copy of A Gentle Madness a history of book collecting and it talked about how being a bibliophile is a lifelong "problem."  While I now have to temper my "madness" by avoiding picking up antique books at boot sales, every once in a while I get weak.  It's not about reading them.  Sometimes.  But in many ways books our our companions, our friends and having a room filled with them....well, I long for a library like Henry Higgins' in My Fair Lady.  Just to sit all day in the company of books is a lovely thing.

These two elegant ladies started my gentle madness and were one of the first things put into the box of "must takes" when I moved to the U.K.  I look at them and they still make me smile and I love them just as much as I did that day in the library 25 years ago...

Food Features: Experimental Cooking: Feta and Pepper Stuffed Chicken

Creative Cooking:  Feta & Pepper Stuffed
Chicken Thighs

I've lately been in a New York state of mind, remembering the lovely times living in New York (forgetting, of course, the not so fun things like humidity and long subway rides).  One thing I loved was the Greek chicken kebabs from the street vendors in Astoria.  I've never been able to get the seasoning right, but it inspired me to do a little Greek-inspired stuffed chicken adventure.

The ingredients were 6 chicken thigh filets, about 1/2 cup of feta cheese (1/2 a pack), one red pepper, chopped finely, half an onion, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, juice from half a lemon and about 2 tablespoons of pre-chopped garlic (yes, I'm that lazy).   Everything got mixed together in a bowl and I added salt, pepper and about 1 teaspoon each of dried parsley and basil.

"Filling" the Chicken With the Mixture

I "filled" each filet with the stuffing, wrapped them closed as much as possible and stuck them together on the pan.  After all were done, I drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled them with salt and more garlic and cooked them for about 25 mins at 160 C (about 320 F).  When they looked cooked through, I gave them another 5 minutes under the broiler/grill to give them a little more color.


THE RESULT
This was FANTASTIC.  The tanginess of the feta and lemon juice really came through, setting off the savory meat and the sweetness of the pepper.  The chicken was juicy and moist still. In serving I topped the chicken with the bits of pepper and feta that had fallen out in cooking as well as a little of the juice.  I was mopping up the sauce with my bits of broccoli.  Definitely a winner!

Repurposed & Renewed: 1920s/30s Deco Style Oak Dining Chair

This '20s/'30s dining chair has good bones,
but needs a little love...

So many times I've passed by a chair at a flea market, ratty but with good bones, and thought, "If only that was reupholstered, it would be fantastic." I toy with the idea of an upholstery class with grand visions of myself picking up old Edwardian reading chairs at a steal, recovering them and returning them to their former state of furniture gloriousness.

While that is still at this point a junker's future dream, I have gotten quite adept at basic dining chair seat reupholstery. I've done a couple more complicated ones that wrapped around the wood, but really love best the simple dining chair seats that you pop out, recover and presto, the chair starts to sing again!

Case in point: this lovely '20s/'30's dining chair that I got for a bargain £10 at the charity shop. Tucked away, lonely in the corner of the tiny men's section, it didn't have a price tag on it, but when I asked they said, yes, it was for sale. It was £15 but if I wanted it I could have it for £10.

Yes please!

The chair is of sturdy, traditional oak, but has some really lovely deco details like the curved carving of the back panel and the rolled edges of the legs in the front. Also the side rails of the seat frame have a slight, purposeful bow to them, bending a little as if to blend with the contour of its human sitter.  Not necessary for functionality but a lovely touch.

The only problem? The nasty pleather seat covering. Ugh.

Handy canine "helper" optional.

But, luckily, as "restorations" go, this is one of the easiest fixes. A bit of sturdy fabric, a hammer or screwdriver to pull out old nails and staples, and a staple gun to hold everything new on and you're set!  Let the renovation commence!

First, the seat came out easily. Sometimes they're screwed in, but in this case the seat was snugly fitted sans screws into the frame.

Next up is deciding whether to keep on the existing fabric or not. If the original fabric is just threadbare and of nicer quality, I do sometimes leave it on the chair to give it an extra layer and to help hold the padding together. In this case, as its current fake leather covering was slippery and could cause the new fabric to wear strangely, it had to come off.

Yanking the fabric off with the nails still in
the wood...remove as many as possible before continuing

If I know that I don't want to keep the old fabric, as in this case, I usually just rip the old seat covering off and then pick out the upholstery tacks later. You do want to remove as many of the tacks or nails that you can as those could snag or weaken your fabric.  If you want to keep the original fabric, carefully pick out the tacks as best you can with a hammer end or screwdriver.

Once that's done, lay the seat down face up and drape your new fabric over the padding. Take the time to place the fabric on the seat exactly as you want the pattern to fall on the chair when finished. Then carefully turn everything over so the fabric is face down.

Pull the fabric taut before stapling to make sure you
keep out any bunches or wrinkles

The rest now is more or less like wrapping a package. On one of the longer sides, place a staple or two in the center of the bar. Then, on the opposite side of the frame, pull the fabric taut and add staples there. Do the same thing for the two other sides of the frame.

At this point, pick up the frame and do a quick check on the "front" to make sure the fabric looks like it's laying well and there are no buckles or loose bits. This is your chance to pick out a couple staples and start over if you're not happy, but if all looks good, turn the frame back over.

Knowing that everything looks good on the front, I now usually trim excess fabric from around the edges. I leave a couple inches still for safety, but I cut off anything more than that in order to keep the bulk out of the way.  Continue stapling the sides. Each you staple, first pull the fabric taut to make sure you're keeping everything smooth. Not too hard, but keep it nice and firm.  Staple all the edges until about 3" from each corner.

The corners can be tricky and each chair seat varies based on its shape. I've done varying folds depending on the chair, but each time I do a corner they end up slightly different.  I can't offer a great professional technique here as I tend to just wing it, but do decide ahead of time where you want the corner seam to be and then start folding, again like a package or origami, until you get it nice, clean corner.

Step 1: Pull taut and staple

That said, generally I do what I would call a two fold corner. 

First, pull one side out and flat and staple the inside securely (step 1).

Second, fold back the other side halfway and staple (step 2). 

Step 2: Fold halfway and staple

Finally fold the second side all the way over and staple (step 3).  It should give you a nice, relatively clean corner.

Some chairs you might want to use decorative upholstery tacks if the corners will be visible, but for an inset chair seat like this, a basic neat corner stapling will do nicely.

Step 3: The final fold and staple

When the corners are done, trim any more excess material from around the edges, if there is any left, to make sure that there won't be trails of fabric hanging down underneath the chair when the seat is replaced. Turn it back over and hurrah!  Your new, lovely, upholstered seat is done!

A use for your orphan socks!

As this chair had been sitting in the corner gathering dust and seemingly quite lonely, I decided to give it a nice coat of beeswax. Using a leftover sock, I generously applied it over the chair, especially rubbing it in in places where the finish seemed worn.

Think of beeswax as shoe polish for furniture...you don't want to cover it with big glops of goo, but you do want to give it all a nice, even layer. Let it dry for a little bit - I usually leave it about 30 minutes - then with another clean sock buff the beeswax off.  Beeswax is great because it's not tinted and leaves just the smallest of shines.  It's not intended to make the wood seem highly polished or sparkly, but simply to protect it and make the wood look healthier.

Finally, pop the seat back in and see your "new" old chair sparkle!

Now that's a beauty!

Treasure Hunt: Vintage Arabia of Finland Dinner Plates

Treasure Hunt: A pair of vintage
Arabia of Finland dinner plates

A huge part of the fun and excitement, for me, of strolling through antique stores and charity shops is the idea, the hope, and once in a juicy while, the reality of stumbling across an item priced at a steal that you know is worth a lot more...especially when other people obviously don't.  Case in point:  these two Arabia of Finland vintage dinner plates.

As the daughter of a native Finn, I grew up around various Finnish brands, all well known in Finland but some more obscure elsewhere than others.  Iittala, Hackman, Marimekko, Aarikka, Fiskars and Arabia were both the wares of the everyman and also the fine glass, kitchenware, cloth and clothing, jewelry, scissors and cutlery, and dishware (respectively) that you collected and coveted.  Not to mention Nokia.  I had Nokia rubber boots as a child - yes, that Nokia...it started off as a rubber factory.  But I digress...

To me those brands are second nature and I know their collectable value, but to many people in old Blighty, Arabia plates are no more special than the ones you get at Sainsbury's or Target.

And because of that, I nabbed a bargain!

These two vintage Arabia plates were at the local charity shop for £0.99 each!  That's right, folks.  £1.98 for the two, the equivalent of about $3.50!!

So what?

Well, most Arabia plates, even modern ones in the junk shops in Finland, rarely get sold for less than few euros each.  If you look on eBay, most vintage ones sell at least in the £10-£20 range for a single plate.  Obviously they go for more depending on the pattern and the style.  Arabia made both basic, work horse plates for daily use and fine china, so the prices will significantly vary. 

Arabia of Finland maker's mark - used from 1964-1971

While I have not been able to identify the pattern specifically, there have been various factory maker's marks Arabia has used over its 139 years and the one stamped on the back of these plates dates from 1964 to 1971.  The style and shape of the plates appears to coincide with that date as well.  There is a rice grain-sized firing mark in one of the plates - a small flaw on the plate that occurred in the kiln during the firing process.  You know it's a firing mark because it's under the original glaze, not a flaw that happened afterwards.  But otherwise both plates are in very good condition.

In recent years, some of the main Finnish brands, including Fiskars, Hackman, Iittala and Arabia, have joined forces and become part of the Fiskars Group conglomerate.  The lines that used to define the brands have somewhat blurred - you'll now find Iittala cutlery as well as glass and Arabia glassware as well as dishes, but the group's quality is maintained.  For someone who's into modern, Scandinavian design, all of these brands are worth a second look.

And definitely worth my £2!

Favorite Junk: Traditional British Pudding Bowls

Favorite Junk: Pudding Bowls

Of the many things I've come to love since moving to England, one that has become almost an obsession, is my collection of pudding bowls.  Pudding in the U.K. is used to mean any dessert, not just the typical American Jello-O pudding, but specifically pudding bowls, sometimes called pudding basins, were traditionally used for steaming various cake-type desserts, like a traditional English Christmas pudding.  The batter was poured into the bowl, wrapped and steamed instead of baking.

A ginger syrup steamed pudding

I picked up a couple originally at a boot sale for a few pounds each and since then it's become almost a problem.  I have eight of them so far...I love the elegant, clean lines as well as their usefulness, stackability and practicality.  There are slight variations in shape and ornamentation depending on the makers, but they all serve the same purpose.

There are a number of traditional makers of pudding bowls, two best known being T.G. Green and Mason Cash.  While you can get modern ones....and in my collection are a number of each, the largest one in particular being a Mason Cash....I do prefer the ones that show a little aging and quirkiness.

A medium T.G. Green stacked inside a larger Mason Cash
paired with some old wooden sieves...

There are many variations as well - a couple weeks ago at a flea market I stumbled on a vintage one marked for the British shop Fortnum and Mason, and I've seen many in the style of Cornish ware, the traditional blue and white striped dishes.  So far I've held out for the shades of cream, ivory and beige in the basic simple style, but if the problem progresses....you never know....

Repurposed & Renewed: ABBA "Super Trouper" Single Record Clock

One of my favorite repurposed clocks -
the back is a pizza tin, some middle piece
and then the center egg boiler. 

I love repurposing bits and pieces, giving them a new life, and one of my favorite ways to use them is to make clocks.  They're simple to make, extremely fun and require really just a little glue and some imagination.  I've made clocks out of old saw blades and gear pieces, though one of my favorites is made out of an old pizza tin and an egg boiler.  It sounds like a strange combination, but it's visually interesting and gets many comments from visitors.

To prove just how easy clocks are to make, I picked up a 45 single of ABBA's Super Trouper the other day at the charity shop.  Vinyl records are almost literally a dime a dozen these days, particularly if you're not fussy about what band or song it is.  This one cost me a mere 50 pence (about 75 cents).  I didn't set out looking for an ABBA album, but it was the first one that seemed interesting. 

The only other things you need then are some glue and the clock mechanisms.  You can buy battery operated clock mechanisms on eBay fairly cheaply, for around £2 each plus shipping.  I bought a bunch from a place in Bulgaria mainly because they had a better selection of clock hands.  The other thing I used to do in the states was go to Goodwill or Salvation Army and find battery operated clocks there that I liked the hands and then take them apart.  Though bring a battery in that case to test whether or not the clock actually works.

You can make a clock out of almost anything that has a hole big enough for the mechanism to go through (or that you can make the hole big enough) and that will allow the mechanism to clear so the hands can go around.  Which mostly leaves fairly flat items unless you specifically purchase clock mechanisms with a longer center thread.  I haven't looked for them myself, but I'm sure they exist as I've seen them on second hand clocks I've purchased.  Clock hand sizes vary as well in length so pick the right one for your project.  Some mechanisms tick, others are noted as "silent movement", so also think about that when purchasing.

Repurposed & Renewed:  That's a Super Trouper!

For this ABBA clock the center hole was slightly too small for the mechanism, so I wore away at the center a tiny bit with a file but in the end just ended up forcing it through.  I put a little bit of standard white PVC glue between the clock mechanism and the back of the record to keep it in place.  You could use an epoxy type glue as well.  Once the mechanism is through, you simply pop the clock hands on the front and, voila, there you have a clock.  A picture hanger also needs to be affixed to the back using glue (a super glue type or epoxy is better here) so that the clock can hang on the wall.  Depending on the size and shape of your clock you can attach the hanger to the clock or to the back of the mechanism - in this case it was glued to the mechanism.

Put a battery in and you're done!  A fantastic, one of a kind clock.

Simple, easy, crafty.  Gotta love it.

Treasure Hunt: 1930's Still Life Watercolor

I live in a dangerous part of Bath.  Oh, not the way you'd think.  The crime rate is low.  It's quiet and peaceful and the worst felonies in this part of the city are some of the outfits you see the students wearing on a Friday night out on the town. No, I live in the dangerous part because I live around the corner from two of the best charity shops in the city.  I walk out to the grocery store or a restaurant and can't restrain myself from popping in to see what new treasures they have for sale.  It's good for the soul but bad for the wallet.

Today was no exception.

Treasure Hunt: Want some fruit?

This afternoon on the way to meet some friends I picked up this lovely watercolor for £9.99 (about $15).  While I'm not normally attracted to still lifes, I really love watercolors.  In this case in particular I love the workmanship and clear skill of the artist.  I particularly like the way the light glistens off the corner of the jug and the detailed coloring of the apples.  And, as I'm a sucker for anything from the '20s and '30s, I was a gonner when I realized it was signed signed "G.O. Palmer 1930".

Sold!

Oddly enough, I just read a small column in Homes & Antiques Magazine this afternoon about how still lifes are out of fashion and commanding much lower prices than in the past, but that they're likely to increase.  It's difficult to value this one, though I can imagine it's at least worth the price I paid.  I found some still lifes by a "G. Palmer" that have sold Christie's in the hundreds of pounds, but without pictures of the art and the signature on those it's difficult to detetrmine if it's the same artist.  If anyone reading has a suggestion where to find out, please send me a note!  He could be a nobody or he could be from the family of the Palmer Baronets.  Who was this obviously talented artist?

The mystery is almost as enjoyable the painting itself....

Treasure Hunt: Vintage Embroidered Pillowcases

This lovely lady is a mixture of quilted pieces
and hand sewn applique...fantastic!

While I love the crisp, clean lines of an all white bedroom, I have a hard time resisting big, bold colors.  One of my favorite blankets is a vibrantly colored vintage quilt given to me by a friend that he no longer wanted but that I completely coveted.  So trying to find an appealing mix of bright colors and sparkling white been a bit of a challenge, but I've come up with one great solution:  vintage embroidered pillowcases and linens.  The cheerful, lovingly executed handiwork combined with soft, good quality cotton appeal to both the crafter and the collector in me.  Vintage cotton, before the days of blends and polyesters, has a wonderful, comfy feeling that I personally feel would be hard to beat in even the highest Egyptian thread counts. 

Vintage Embroidered Pillowcases:  Who Needs Ikea?

Today out at the Sunday flea market in Green Park in Bath I nabbed this matching pair for a measly £5 (about $7.50).  When a basic pair of colored pillowcases at Ikea cost £3, I was pretty pleased.  And also pleased I negotiated £1 off the asking price.....I not only love a bargain...but also love to bargain!

With this particular set I loved that there was plenty of detail and color, but not in a fussy, grandmotherly kind of way.  I also loved the clean but detailed design. 

Something to look for when buying vintage embroidered linens is whether the work is handmade or machine made.  I believe this set is machine made, because of the consistency of the stitching and the way the threads were finished on on the backside. I have other hand-embroidered pillowcases - if you look closely you can see slight inconsistencies in the needlework that show they're handmade.  Knowing something is handmade definitely can add to the charm, but it also can add to the price.  It's good to know the difference so you get what you pay for.

When buying vintage pillowcases do keep an eye out for the size.  Just as people were smaller "back then" so were the pillows.  Some older pillowcases are of a slightly smaller size than our jumbo-sized modern pillows, so watch for that.  Also watch for stains and other unsightly blemishes.  Some can be bleached out, but marks and stains from regular use are likely to be permanent.

 

Ideally, they'll look like these...the pillowcases someone kept in the cupboard, with the good china, for the day when the Queen came to visit.  Which, in most cases, means they're in pristine condition.

Food Features: Experimental Cooking: Southwestern Chili

My mother made all our spaghetti sauce when I was a kid. From scratch. Actually, almost everything in the house was made from scratch, but that's another story. But her spaghetti sauce was more or less ragu style - lots of hearty meat and chopped vegetables, cooked slowly for a long time to make the flavors all blend together.

Thinking in terms of that chunky ragu style, I decided to try my hand at making a homemade Southwestern chili. No recipe, just using what (little) I know of cooking and a whole lot of bravery.

It should be noted that I'm a wuss when it comes to heat. I like spice and like flavors, but I don't like foods that are so hot my lips go numb or I start to sweat. So if you want more hot spiciness, up the pepper quotient.

The basic ingredients were about 1/2 pound of ground (mince) beef 20% fat, 1 yellow onion, 1 yellow pepper and 1 green pepper (or red could be used), 8-10 cherry tomatoes sliced in half, 2 cans of kidney beans, 1 cup corn, 1 can of tomatoes, a bunch of cilantro (coriander), pepper, salt, about 1 tsp each of mild chili pepper and ground chipotle pepper and sour cream for taste. All the vegetables were coarsely chopped - the ideas is for this to be a rustic looking dish, so pretty perfectly chopped tiny bits don't work as well.

Southwestern Chili:  All the ingredients
starting to simmer in the pot

After heating up a big stock pot nice and hot, start browning the meat. Add a couple tablespoons of water as well to keep it from sticking to the pot. You could add oil, but I got the fattier beef so that the only oil in the dish would be the oil from the meat. No need to add any more. When the meat is halfway browned, add the onions. Add salt and pepper to taste, about 1 tsp each.

When those start to soften add the peppers and turn the heat to medium. Add chili powder and chipotle powder. Let those simmer for a couple minutes or so. Then add the corn and kidney beans. I leave the syrup in because it adds more flavor and a little bit of sweetness, but if you don’t like that then you can rinse the beans and add a small amount of water. Then add the tomatoes and coriander and turn the heat to low. Put on a lid and simmer for at least 30 minutes. I let it cook for about 45. The longer you simmer, more flavors will meld. But the longer you simmer, the more the vegetables will turn to mush, so it's a matter of personal taste how long you cook

Serve in a heaping bowl and garnish with sour cream and cilantro.

Isn't that beautiful?

VERDICT: This was FANTASTIC. There was tons of flavor, the textures were great. The coolness of the sour cream and cilantro really contrasted well with the meat, vegetables and spices and gave it a really nice depth. Not really any heat but, like I said, I'm a wuss. There was quite a bit of liquid, I think because the tomatoes I used added extra water, so not quite as thick as a traditional chili con carne. But not really a soup either.

Had I thought about it I would have made some cornbread to go with it, but absolutely not necessarily either.

Definitely a winner. We'll be making this one again.

Favorite Junk: Vintage Putnam "Lightning" Canning Jars

Favorite Junk: Vintage Putnam
"Lightning" Canning Jar

There is something so appealing about well crafted utilitarian items made for the home.  Aesthetically pleasing yet eminently functional, vintage canning jars are so practical in their use, and yet so versatile beyond just jams and pickles, they're an easy thing to fall in love with.  While I've used various Ball jars in the past for sorting bits and pieces in my craft room, my favorites are still the Putnam "Lightning" jars.

I first stumbled upon these jars on eBay and fell in love with them, charmed by their quirkiness and the clean aqua blue color.  I love the bold words "Lightning" that are embossed largely across the front,  The color, a light aqua or blueish bottle green, reminds me of aquamarines, my favorite stone.  Only through sheer willpower did I manage to hold back the obsession at three, but I loved them so much that they joined the small pile of precious possessions that made the trip from the US to the UK.

Made between 1882 and 1960, and called "Lightning" because the latched lid mechanism made them quick to seal, there are a number of variations in size and color.  While I personally love the blue green color best, if you're inclined to buy one of the other vintage colors, be on the lookout for fakes.

They say you can't put lightning in a bottle....but perhaps you can put it in a canning jar.

My "Lightning" jars arranged on a shelf with other
blue green glass and quirky bits

Treasure Hunt: Vintage Kodak Camera Lens

Samples of my junk:  Vintage wooden clock casing and
antique weights that adorn my mantlepiece

I'm a known collector of junk.  And when I say junk, I mean *junk*.  I love the quirky, charming, and often aesthetically pleasing nature of weird and wonderful industrial wares, cast off architectural bits and other pieces of miscellany that would probably go into the garbage bin if it wasn't for me collecting them on shelves. I have many times over been inspired by Sue Whitney and Kai Nassauer's book Junk Market Style and love getting the chance to repurpose, reuse or simply reconnect with something odd and quirky.

Today's boot sale treasure initially was bought to fit that bill.  For a whopping 50 pence (approximately 75 cents U.S.) I purchased a vintage Kodak camera lens.  About an inch in diameter with thick glass lenses, it felt heavy for its diminutive size.  I liked the way it felt and looked and thought it might be a fun addition to my pile of curiosities. 

Today's Treasure:  The Kodak Anastigmat f-6.3/127 mm lens

But as my father used to collect, and has a large collection of, vintage Kodak Brownies and box cameras, I thought I'd take a look on Google to find out more about it and then check on eBay to see if it had any possible value.  Lo and behold, it turned out to be a find!  Made at best guess in the '30s, the lens was for specialized photography, either for professionals or strong amateurs.  This particular one, a f stop 6.3, 127 millimeter lens, seems to be not very common.  A similar one is listed, set into the shutter, on eBay for a whopping $124.99 (£80.50!).  While my little lens is by no means worth that much, it was definitely a bargain of a treasure purchased for only pocket change!

Now the decision will be can my impulse buy make enough on eBay to make parting with it worthwhile or would I rather just keep it on my shelf of junky treasures, another conversation piece?  Tough decisions....

Food Features: Experimental Cooking: Waldorf Mealoaf

I love cheese.  It's a very rare person who doesn't.  So after a recent conversation about cheese with burgers, particularly varying it up with Camembert or blue cheese, I started to wonder how it would fare in a meatloaf.  Meatloaf, the mother of all pot luck meals, was a staple in our household growing up, to some of our joy and others' dismay.  But as an adult I've have fun experimenting with the variations of ingredients that a standard meatloaf can adapt to.  Two favorites included the Mexican meatloaf - salsa mixed in with the meat and a topping of cheddar and sour cream - and one mixed with chopped canned peaches.  That one sounded awful but came out fantastic. 

So in this latest incarnation, I started thinking about Waldorf salads.  Lettuce, apples, walnuts and cheese.  Or at least that's the version I've always made.  So, with that inspiration in mind, I decided to see how a Waldorf meatloaf would fare.

The basic ingredients:  1 pound of ground/mince beef, 3 apples, 1 standard wedge of blue cheese, about 1/2 cup walnuts for inside, another 3/4 for the topping and one egg.  I decided to forgo the usual breadcrumbs as I thought the apples would help to hold the meat together, not to mention the crumbled walnuts, rendering breadcrumbs unnecessary.  Apples were chopped in relatively fine chunks, though not tiny.  The cheese was crumbled with a fork to small bits. The walnuts similarly were broken down, using a mortal and pestle, to small nibs.  You could use a blender, but I wanted them to retain their shape, not turn into a pulverized powder.

Using your hands, everything gets mixed together until the meat takes on an almost smooth consistency.  You no longer can see the "grains" of the ground meat.  Then it's shaped into a loaf on the tray.  I line it with tin foil because I'm lazy and don't want to spend hours after scrubbing the chunks off the pan, but that's optional.

I then ground up some more walnuts, more finely this time, and sprinkled them liberally over the loaf and baked at 220 C/400 F for about 45-50 minutes.
 

THE VERDICT:
I actually couldn't decide whether I liked it or not.  The flavors varied slightly from bite to bite, which was a pleasant surprise, some pieces getting more cheese and others more apple.  The nuts added a nice crunch and toasty flavor, but the blue cheese at times was a little overwhelming for me.  I might like it a tad bit better with a slightly milder cheese that still had a tangy bite, like feta or goat cheese.  My fellow diner quite enjoyed it, though he found the sweetness of the apple slightly odd, which was actually one of my favorite parts.  The loaf had a nice consistency, though, and overall held together well.

We both, however, went back for seconds.  And the leftovers he took home were all devoured.  He said it made a great meatloaf sandwich the next day.  So the verdict I would say is a tempered successful experiment - definitely edible and quite enjoyable, but appeal will vary by personal palate.

We've since talked about making a ground pork meatloaf with apple and sage.  So stay tuned for further experimental meatloaf editions....

Crazy Crafting: Vintage WWII Decoupage Canvas

It seems everyone these days are obsessed with the Keep Calm and Carry On WWII British wartime signs, but I personally love the color and creativity of the victory garden and food economy marketing posters, both from the U.K. and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In times of economy, as now, the message behind them is perpetually relevant: don't waste, grow your own food, and be sustainable. Their charm, brightness and quirky, charming artwork were irresistible for this basic decoupage project. 

Technique: Images were resized and printed on a color laser printer. Using Modge Podge decoupage adhesive, soaked in water and affixed to a medium sized artist's canvas.  Polyurethane protective coating finish.

Welcome to Restore - Restyle!

A thought many years in the gestation, welcome to the new Restore - Restyle blog!  This is a place for idea and images, thoughts and creative clutter.  You'll find all sorts of fun bits here, but particularly in the categories of:

Favorite Junk:  What I want, what I have, what I dream of
Food Features:  Tips and tricks and tweaks and creative cooking
Crafty Specials:  Handmade, handcrafted, homespun
Treasure Hunt:  Recent finds and great deals
Repurposed and Renewed:  A new way of looking at old things

As Oscar the Grouch sings, "Anything dirty or dingy or dusty, anything rotten or ragged or rusty, oh, I love trash!".  They say one man's trash is another man's treasure....and at Restore - Restyle, we're on a treasure hunt!

Enjoy!