Fullhouse

This past summer, Greg and I roadtripped across British Columbia feasting on delicious meals, drinking in the sea air and scouring vintage shops for mid-century modern delights. Our major find was Fullhouse Consignment in West Granville in Vancouver. This shop afforded us the opportunity (note the choice of words suggests I see it as somewhat of an honour to have a vintage piece find you) to purchase an orange vintage Eames fibreglass shell chair. The seat will be placed in our foyer as a perch to tie up shoes and knot scarves when it arrives on the moving truck on Monday.

In thinking about the arrival of our furniture, my mind drifted back to Fullhouse and I wanted to profile some of their current wares. As Vancouver is basically our other hometown (meaning Greg's hometown and my adopted hometown), I like to profile movers and shakers in the design world there too.

I was particularly taken by their collection of teak mirrors (one of which also came home with us and will be hanging in our foyer as well). Here are some of my favourite items that are currently for sale:

Chrome and Lucite Dining Chairs

Rosewood and Chrome Telephone Table

Reclaimed Teak Bar Stools

A Green Atomic Lamp

Best of all, Fullhouse will ship anywhere in Canada!

Light

We've found our living room light fixture! As a bonus, it was designed by Canada's Steven and Chris. For St. John's best range of modern light fixtures, check out Lighting World on Blackmarsh Road. 

Heels

I'm delving into a love affair with coloured high heels - pump and peep toe. I've recently purchased navy and pink, while red, green and yellow remain on my hit list. Both shoes via Net-A-Porter.

Tropical

Now this is what I call a room with a view! 

The tail end of tropical storm Danny yesterday, combined with this blog on Desire to Inspire, make me think a tropical getaway this winter may need to be arranged. True story: Neither Greg or I have ever been on a real tropical (read: Caribbean) vacation (though Greg did travel to Hawaii as a child and I sunned on the beaches of the South of France as an undergraduate).  A week in St. Marteen or the Turks and Cacos sounds like the perfect prescription for winters like this. 

Oil

This evening, while watching Julie and Julia at the theatre with my mom, my mind turned to food quite expectedly. Over the past year, my curiosity in food has been piqued by trying new restaurants, reading food magazines, watching food tv, improving my cooking skills, and enjoying food photography. One aspect of cooking that I've been curious about, and up until now had yet to research, is the appropriate use of the various types of cooking oils on the market. Strolling down the grocery aisle to select cooking oil can be overwhelming. 

Greg and I run an all-purpose, all-function extra virgin olive oil (evoo) household. The majority of meals we prepare begin with onion and garlic sauteing in our dutch oven. I've been curious to expand our selection of oils to increase flavour and function. I'm curious about when to use evoo versus regular olive oil, and when to choose peanut, safflower, grape seed, bran, sesame or tea oils. I'd also like to learn to use nut oils such as walnut, hazelnut, pumpkin seed and almond. My curiosity in oils is similar to my desire to take a whole course in kitchen knives and chopping techniques (I was quite impressed with Julia Child's desire to learn to chop onions quickly in the movie). 

After some brief reading, as far as I can gather, our multipurpose evoo is just that. Regular olive oil may be used in the place of evoo when larger amounts are required for a cost saving measure (think making a large stir fry to serve 20).  

More broadly, I've picked up a few tips. For example, grape seed oil may be added to evoo when sauteing to create a smokier flavour. Peanut oil is great for preparing chicken dishes and is a common ingredient in Asian recipes.  Sesame oil is a common ingredient in many Indian dishes. As for the nut oils, they're good for seasonings for salads or to dip bread in as an appetizer. Safflower seems to be a healthy choice for daily use when flavour is not required. 

Very importantly, the level of heat the oil will be exposed to has a great impact on its healthiness. For a helpful chart see here. 

Based on my early reading, I can see that there is a great (if subtle) mastery to selecting the most appropriate oil from amongst the large range available. I'm looking forward to learning and experimenting! Image via Jekemp. 

P.S. Despite not taking full advantage of it, one of the things I'll miss about Edmonton is the huge variety of inexpensive oils at the Italian Centre. 

Chalkboard

I am loving this DIY chalkboard table. What a fun dining table for a family! It reminds me of doodling on brown paper tablecloths with crayons at casual mom and pop restaurants and pizza joints when I was a kid. 

I'm filing this idea away with the outfits (here and here), rocker, and food mentality I'd love one day for my future children. Check out the full how-to at Design Sponge. 

Nelson

If I had a time machine, I'd transport myself back to 1964 when a George Nelson Asterisk clock cost $14.95. Images via George Nelson.