FANTASTIC FLEA MARKET FINDS

Good day to you all! How are you doing this fine Sunday morning? I am surprisingly well. I have some seriously sore legs but some very exciting things to share with you today. Are you ready for a Flea Market adventure?

First off, let me just say that I am proud of the family (Including my self LOL) for not complaining about the heat even one time! I got sick a couple of times but nobody rained on the parade, sorta speak. We walked the whole entire market, which took about almost 4 hours. We saw a lot of great bargains, but we practiced restraint, as we were there on a mission. The mission was to find a nice dress for Madison’s Sweet 16 pictures (and hopefully something she could use in the future for other events). We set out with only $50 to use for the whole day… kinda bold and crazy huh? Think we could do it? Let’s find out…



After 3 hours of walking, and finding many dress shops, DH spotted a little hole in the wall boutique store and DD saw a dress hanging on the wall that she fell in love with. See DD is not a “fru-fru” type of girl… she doesn’t like frills, bows, or poof… and she wanted “Gator Blue” LOL! Well this one was Gator Blue, no poof, and super sleek and sexy! She tried it on… the sales woman thought it would be too big but because of the fact that she is “built” like her momma, it was almost a perfect fit! We are gonna take some very awesome dreesed up pictures of her in it this morning so I can go print them out and send them with the invitations. I will post the picture when I get them done so everyone can see how beautiful she is growing up to be! Grand total for the dress? $20 even… wonderful huh? You gotta love flea markets! And yes, the dress is brand new!

So then we were walking some more and we grabbed a huge snow cone and shared it all… not bad for $2 LOL! Walking some more and we found a little food vendor who was offering the roasted corn with all the fixings (mayo, cheese, chili powder, etc) for $3… GOTTA HAVE IT! YUM on a stick right there ladies and germs! LOL We shared that too… isn’t being frugal GREAT! Ok, so we keep walking… and my heart sank!



We came across a little Hispanic lady who had some animals caged up in the heat. They were panting and suffering and I got so angry! I had to help! (Thank my mother for her comment yesterday about saving a life and how she raised me to be a severe animal lover!) Well DH wanted to bring home the Peacock but we have absolutely no place for it LOL. They had tons of chickens (both chicks and hens) and I thought of my mom but she is not yet ready to accept them in her yard LOL. And back in this lonely little cage was this baby white ball of fluff! All alone and panting from the heat! I started tearing up. This woman had no water and no fans or anything on these poor animals! I asked how much for the rabbit and she said $30. I got mad… I said “Look, the way you have these animals I could report you and press charges for animal cruelty. Now I am going to rescue this rabbit for $15 INCLUDING the cage and walk away and you will stay out of jail. What do you say?” As you can see… I WON! I named her Rescue and I know I know… another animal in the house LOL. DH was just shaking his head at me but after holding her and realizing that a Netherland Dwarf bunny will not get any bigger than about 2 pounds, don’t make very much noise, and just had to be treated better than she was… well he didn’t say much more LOL! I think he has fallen in love with her… right after she nibbled on his chin LOL!



On the way out back to the car at the Flea Market, we found a little stand where a lady had some gorgeous watermelons for sale. The kids and DH picked out a HUGE one so I gave the lady the $5 and we were gone… I figured I would half the watermelon with my mom since she likes it too… (Look how this huge thing dwarfs my LARGE crock pot!). I got $5 left in my pocket and had a car with kids, bunnies, formal gowns, and monster fruit LOL! Quite a productive day, wouldn’t you agree? LOL. We were there for about 4 hours and everyone said they had a blast! DD fell asleep about 6pm, woke up briefly to eat and such, and was out like a light by 8:30pm LMAO! DS was out about 9pm. I wore everyone out… it was great! But we had a lot of fun… another successful summer outing! Once we got the bunny home, I went back out to Petsmart and picked up a few things with coupons for the cats and a few things for the bunny too.

Now… lets talk some crafts. I got a bit of the craft bug after seeing some of that stuff yesterday, but not much. I got some great party ideas though, as some of the stores focus was on Latin Quinceañeras and decorations, supplies, etc. I plan on replicating some of what I saw there. I also saw tons of baby things… and in the little vendors who had clothes and things were lots of baby bibs. Well, as the bag lady (as my mother tends to call me LOL) I thought I would bring you another cute way to make a purse out of those tons of bibs I saw! Check this out!



Craft Idea of the Day: Vinyl Bib Purse

Materials:

2 vinyl Baby Bibs
Ruler
Pencil
Scissors
A few yards of ball chain (you can cut it to your desired length)
4 medium grommets and grommet attachment tool
Sewing machine
Thread
Optional: Small square of Velcro for the closure
Glue gun/glue stick to attach the Velcro

Directions:

The first thing you're going to do is to cut off the portion of the bib with the neck closure. Use your ruler and pencil to draw a straight horizontal line and repeat the process on the second bib.

Make sure that your line is in the same spot on both bibs. When you're confident that they line up perfectly, cut along the line and remove the neck closure portion and discard it.

You'll then have the front and back pieces of your purse. The top lip of the bag where you cut with the scissors will need to be folded over and sewn so that the top of your bag doesn't have a raw edge. So carefully fold the "good" side of the bag down about a half an inch and sew. Do not use pins as it will leave holes in the vinyl. Just do your best to hold it flat as you sew. Repeat the process with the other piece of the purse.

Then place the two pieces of the purse "good" sides together and sew along the outline of the purse. When you're done, carefully turn the bag inside out.

Almost done!

It's time to use your grommet installation tool to install two grommets on each side of the bag as shown in the photograph above.

Afterwards loop ball chain through the holes and close the ball chain with a ball chain connector.

If you would like to make a closure for the bag use a glue gun to attach a Velcro circle or square to each side of the inside of the bag.

Tips & hints: Ball chain is available really inexpensively at the hardware store. It's usually sold by the yard and the connectors are usually sold in prepackaged pouches nearby.

As far as finding bibs, I found these at a discount shop. If you can't find vinyl baby bibs you can also use vinyl children's art smocks in a small size for this project.

This project was contributed by Faith Sugarman from dollheads.com

To end your week of Russian delight, I’m serving you a complete totally Russian dinner… drinks included! What a way to celebrate the end of another fine food theme week. Did you enjoy it? Tell me what you would like to have as a theme next week… I am thinking some recipes around a specific ingredient or maybe some Latin recipes? I have tons of ideas to share, but I want to know what interests you. So to wrap up this week, let’s partake of a truly Russian buffet! Eat & Enjoy!



DRINK: Black Russian Classique

Ingredients:

1 1/2 oz Vodka
3/4 oz Coffee flavored brandy

Method:

Pour over ice cubes in old-fashioned cocktail glass.



APPETIZERS: Gutap - Kazakh Deep-Fried Herb Fritters

Ingredients:

---FILLING---
3 tb Dill freshly chopped fine
3 tb Parsley freshly chopped fine
1 tb Garlic minced
9 tb Scallions chopped fine
1 tb Black pepper frshly ground
8 tb Butter
1 1/2 ts Salt

---DOUGH---
1 1/2 c All purpose flour
1/2 ts Salt
4 tb Butter, softened
2/3 c Luke warm water

---SAUCE---
1 ts Cider vinegar
1/4 c Sour cream
2 tb Butter
1/2 ts Flour
6 tb Finely minced onion
1/2 ts Salt
1 ts Black pepper frsshly ground
1 tb Lemon or lime juice frshly
- squeezed & strained

Method:

DOUGH: Place the flour into a deep mixing bowl. Make a hollow in the center. Add the water into the hollow, salt, & 2 T of the butter. Stir slowly untilk all of the ingredients are well mixed and the water is totally absorbed. Beat vigorously with a large spoon until a firm, stiff dough is formed. Gather the dough into a ball. on floured surface roll the dough ball out into a rectangle approx. 16" x 18". Brush the dough with the remaining butter, fold into quarters, then roll it out as thinly as possible. Cut into a 16" x 18" rectangle the cut that into 48 each 2" squares.

FILLING: Combine the salt, pepper, scallions, garlic, parsley, & dill. Cut the butter into tiny bits and chill until the dough is ready. Place a teaspoon of the filling mix into the center of each square, add a piece of the butter to each. Draw up the corners and pinch them together firmly thus closing the filling into the dough. Heat enough oil in a deep pot. Heat to 375 degrees F. and drop in 4-6 of the filled squares. Cook for 4 minutes, remove from the oil, drain, and serve warm.

SAUCE: Melt the butter, add the chopped onions, the salt, the pepper, & the vinegar. Cook for 4 minutes then add the remaining ingredients. Stir constantly until it thickens. Remove from the heat. Ad the lemon juice and serve over the fritters.



ENTRÉE: Beef stroganoff

Beef Stroganoff is a dish consisting of strips of lean beef sauteed and served in a sour-cream sauce with onions and mushrooms. The recipe, which is of Russian origin, has been known since the eighteenth century, but its name appears to come from County Paul Stroganoff, a nineteeth-century Russian diplomat. Legend has it that when he was stationed in deepest Siberia, his chef discovered that the beef was frozen so solid that it could only be coped with by cutting it into very thin strips.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 lb beef (boneless)
4 tbsp flour
4 tbsp ketchup
5 oz sour cream
2 c broth
1 tbsp flour pounded with butter
1 ea onion
salt to taste
pepper

Method:

Chop the meat long wise fibers (fibres) and beat the pieces a little. After that cut the pieces into stripes 2 cm long and 1/2 cm wide. Season and roll them in flour. Fry chopped onion in the pan and when it is gold brown, put the stripes there. Fry on hot heat until the meat is light brown. Make a sauce: fry 1 tb flour pounded with butter for few minutes, add sour cream, ketchup, salt. Pour the sauce over meat and stew on a low heat during 15-20 minutes. Don't let sauce to boil, overwise the meat will be hard. Beef Stroganoff is served with fried potatoes.



DESSERT: Plum Sambouk

Sambouk is a kind of mousse but it is thicker and made from berries with egg whites.

Ingredients:

1 lb plums boneless
5 tbsp sugar
2 ea egg white
2 tbsp gelatin

Method:

Bake plums a little and grate them. Make plum-water from the rest of plums and bones, strain it and dissolve in gelatin. Add sugar and egg whites in plum puree. Put the bowl with plum puree in the pan with cold water or ice and whip with mixer until there is foam. Volume must increase 2-3 times. Pour in gelatin carefully while whipping. Pour mass into moulds quickly.

Well that’s it kids. I hope your trip to the Russian Republic this week has been a fun and exciting one! This meal was divine! I’m stuffed! LOL… so now its time to go relax with a nice heaping helping of American Couch-potato-ism! LOL… Actually I am about to start shooting the DD’s pictures so I can go make copies for the invites LOL. Then its off to visit with Mom while DH has daddy-housework duties LOL! Have a great day and I’ll see you back here tomorrow! HUGS!