The Jozen One

Almost 3 years ago I found this living room furniture set at a thrift store for $50. I waited until they marked it down to $25 and I grabbed it! I've wanted to refinish them for a long time! The pieces are particle board mostly, so stripping and refinishing have never been an option for me. I year or so ago I painted the two end tables with a flat oatmeal color..I didn't like it, but I didn't change it, I just used them in my bedroom for nightstands. The coffee table had long been abandoned to my kids' game room in the garage. But a bit of inspiration from my ever evolving French accent living room got me thinking about decoupage!  Here's what I ended up doing...  I draped my table for the gluey mess of yuck. I know that many people swear by Modge Podge, I have not tried it yet, but since I was looking for a tarnished old world look, I decided to do old fashioned glue decoupage and finish it with Polyurethane, which I love. (standard school glue, diluted wi...

One of my favorite meals is a cheese flambe that my mother found on the Frugal Gourmet back in the 80's. It's a fried Kasseri cheese with brandy poured on top and lit on fire, extinguished with lemon juice and eaten with bread. Deeeelicious. I'm always looking for melty cheese recipes to enjoy. Recently, I found a restaurant with my husband called El Sacromonte, their menu is wonderful! We loved their version of Caprese. They lay cucumbers down on a platter, thickly sliced, marinated, semi hard cheese on top and bake it til it's just soft. It's served with basil, mozzarella and fresh bread, ridiculously good! Tonight, we tried our own cheese mess...and we were very pleased with the results. I encourage you to try it as well. Trader Joe's carries a cheese called Basque Shepherd's Cheese, it's 100% sheep milk, so it's not cheap, but it's lovely!  I preset my oven to 350. I wanted to make this dish similar to the one at our restaurant,...

Pinterest junkie that I am, I found this super cute idea a month or so ago.  I got to enjoy the find this past weekend! http://tinkerlab.com/2012/01/chalkboard-painted-canvas/ Again...I failed to take a before picture for a tutorial, which I am terribly sorry for,  because I LOVE the way it turned out for my intentions. I had been looking for a piece of art to put over my bed, I was totally loving all of the "love phrase" art that I was finding online. Wall quotes are some of my favorites, but I didn't want to limit what I had to say! The chalk board idea was a cute one, so I improvised a bit and went hunting for a framed canvas. This past weekend I found a perfectly sized pastel work, with a mat and frame. It was a maroon/woodgrain and the picture was a drawing of a house. I took apart the entire piece, removed the plexi-glass, mat and artwork. If I had to do it again, I would have gone out and purchased a foam board, but I decided to just chalkboard ...