Heather_Lou's Profile

I live in my best place now. 1000 square feet 2 bedroom apartment form a triplex built in 1920. Gorgeous hardwood floors, original wood moldings, original textured wall treatment unique to northern Montreal apartments (imagine a 3dimensional damask), stained glass windows, stained glass french doors (one of them set in pockets), built in stained glass china hutch, huge bathroom with penny tile and a huge tub, laundry room/walk in closet, skylight, amazing light all day, 2 balconies, and a wood shed off the back for storage. All for $705 a month. Good lord I love Montreal rent control policies.....

Make sure everything is larvae free (either wash or air out) every spring and pack in airtight plastic storage boxes (I will double seal the edges with packing tape). I even store my most precious cashmere and wool sweaters in ziploc bags year round. When I am done wearing it I keep it in the bags - only way to guarantee that they will stay moth free.

So I basically left work early to get to the butcher shop to buy pork shoulder. Last night when I took it out of the oven and tasted it I wanted to die. Today when I took it out of the fridge to warm up and ate it cold I actually died. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when my guests arrive to eat it tonight. Because I'll be dead. From mouth happiness death.

@Escondido - I love a genuine article Mexican tortilla most of the time but sometimes nothing beats the comfort foody crunch of hard tacos in a box. It's like picking up Kraft dinner instead of making macaroni and cheese... Maybe like me she buys real tortillas all the time but craved an old school "taco night".

I am the dinner party maven in my large circle of friends. I have a few friends who have people over from time to time, but those are generally pretty casual affairs.

Once a month or so I pull out all the stops - 3-4 courses, china, linens, centerpieces, the whole nine yards. I live alone and it can get pricey but I'm good at cooking for a crowd on a budget, and if I want to do something really special I ask people to chip like I did for osso bucco night and Thanksgiving.

Otherwise I have people over for dinner casually 3-4 times a month. I love cooking for people I love and its a great excuse to bond and socialize without going out. I could get mad that other people in my social circle don't step up, but frankly, people are lazy. And not everyone is as obsessed with the home/hospitality/cooking as I am and I am happy to share.

Joy has been with me since I started cooking. I also refer constantly to Rebar which has THE BEST salad dressings and vegetarian food. Also love/worship/need Nigel Slater in any form. Tender Volume 1 has been my bedtime story for a week now.

Other well thumbed tomes include the Silver Palette, Silver Spoon & Julia Child. For recipes online I rely on Google Reader for an rss feed of about 15 cooking blogs, and epicurious.com for random recipes. Their sources on epicurious are rock solid and can generally be relied upon. I think that Instapaper suggestion just made my home/work internet browsing a lot more efficient.

Taco Bell (in Canada only) has this thing called Fries Supreme which is so totally disgustingly delicious I can't even say. It's basically a taco on french fries. With melted "cheese". Maybe I like it because there are no Taco Bells in Montreal and I can only eat it when I am hungover at Christmas in Ontario. Either way, that fancy real Mexican version up there looks to die for.

Here is a place to get the larger bulb variety:

http://www.sivallighting.com/heavy-duty-commercial-grade-outdoor-light-string.aspx

Target has some lovely options as well...

I frakking LOVE this but I'm biased. It's the same colour scheme in my kitchen.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this home. I totally second the comments of cizinka31000. This is the vision of someone with a sense of individuality and courage, and I for one would love to stay in a guest room with a deer head.

As for all the taxidermy hatin' - better that these pieces be appreciated and enjoyed rather than moldering in someone's attic or thrown in the garbage. For the same reason I wear vintage fur - it's already dead, and no amount of hand wringing is going to unkill it and unstuff it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on this matter, but I feel like these home owners obviously respect the history of things, and are appreciative of the provenance of these animals.

Seriously, one of my favourite house tours of all time. Bravo!