Fakeout Nicoise Salad

I am frugal. Super duper annoyingly frugal. So what I try to do is make meals out of the random food I have on hand instead of hauling it out to the grocery store. Sometimes it works out really nicely, like with this fake Nicoise salad. It's fake because it doesn't have Nicoise olives in it...so I'm not sure what's really Nicoise about it? Say Nicoise one more time. Nicoise. The word has now lost all meaning.

Anyway, if you have some of these pantry staples and want to make a delightful, protein-rich salad, I'd recommend it.

Ingredients:
Lettuce
Green beans (blanched)
Hard boiled egg
Half a can of tuna
Approximately 2 small new potatoes (quartered and cooked)

Optional (in other words, those things I didn't have/don't even like so who cares):
Nicoise olives if you like olives (I don't)
Tomatoes (don't like those either)
Capers (they give me the creeps, but if you're into them, add some)

Dressing:
3 parts olive oil, 1 part lemon juice, 1 part Dijon mustard, one small shallot diced, salt to taste. Combine in a mason jar and shake it up.

Method:
Fill your bowl with lettuce, top with remaining ingredients, then dress. Voila! As if you needed me to tell you have to assemble a salad. But take note, for this one, presentation counts.

pinterest | instagram | facebook | twitter | subscribe

Conversations: Coffee Mug Edition

The scene: Walking into the kitchen on Sunday morning, Nick is pouring me a cup of coffee (in the mug pictured above).

Me: AH STOP! I don't want that mug!

Nick: looking puzzled, stops, and starts to pour coffee out of mug into the sink.

Me: Don't pour it out! (sacrilege!) Just...just... leave it. I will put it in a different mug.

Nick: puts mug down, gives me a look, and retreats with his breakfast.

At this point I realized I was having a slight overreaction to a coffee mug and had alienated my husband who was doing something nice for me. Good start to the day really. So, I apologized. Then, for my own benefit more than anyone else's, I proceeded to highlight which mugs I enjoy for coffee. There were 6. As it turns out, I am pretty picky about my coffee mugs.

To make a quiet but very real point, Nick had his coffee from the bunny mug. #husbandwin

pinterest | instagram | facebook | twitter | subscribe

So We Moved

Normally this would be where I list excuse after excuse for not being a better (read: more consistent) blogger. Instead I will list only one: we moved.

This was our first time selling our place (verdict is in; it's not very much fun) and the one-millionth time we've moved (still not so fun). The fun part? Our new place! Plus unpacking. I loooove to unpack. So much so that that's how I spent most of my birthday. Moving-nerd-alert.

We are totally unpacked and have only been living here for 3 weeks. As much as I would like to share some photos, we still have some work to do (painting and such) and I'd be happier to show the final results. So instead, I will show you a photo of lovely drawing given to us from our Real Estate agents of our new home.

{our place is the left, my parents' place is the right}

You didn't forget that we bought this place with my parents and we each live in half, right? Well so far, it's working out wonderfully (according to me). I have a sneaking suspicion that I am becoming the annoying neighbour that stops by unannounced (every.single.day). To offer them comfort, since I'm sure they're reading this, in two months I will be back to work and will have much less free time to be wandering over for random visits. 

pinterest | instagram | facebook | twitter | subscribe