{photo via www.stepback.ca}

My favouritest store in Vancouver, maybe even on this planet, is a vintage home decor store in Kitsilano. It's called Stepback and what I love about the store is how well curated it is. They display their merchandise in such a way that you want to live in the store among all the beautiful vintage things they sell. I bought a few items there for our wedding reception that I still dearly love to this day. Whenever I pass by the store I look into their window and salivate, longing for all that's inside. I dare not go in because it's so hard to resist from buying something. I seriously wish I could live in that store. It's like a brick and mortar version of a fabulous Etsy vintage shop.

And it's the store that inspired me to collect vintage and start an online shop selling what I find on Etsy. I asked one of the owners where they find all their fabulous things and he said that he goes out to the Fraser Valley. I don't have a car so I can't go that far to treasure hunt. But I'm glad that someone's rescuing all this fabulous vintage stuff that would otherwise be discarded. The people at Stepback are very good at cleaning it up and displaying it in such a way that restores it's worth and value, as a result making it desirable to someone who would take it to a good home. Doing this sort of work is both an art and an eco-friendly practice.

Ever since my lactose intolerance got really bad, I've been painfully off ice cream. When I lived in L.A. I used to treat myself to the best vegan ice cream ever at Scoops. It wasn't sorbet. It was a soy-based gelato that was pretty darn close to the real deal. In Vancouver, I've been virtually deprived...until recently. I've modified a recipe for a creamy frozen treat that I got from Alive magazine. It tastes as good as ice cream but it has no dairy! And it's super, super easy to make. And I always have the ingredients on hand.


Chocolate banana peanut butter frozen delight
Makes 6-7 servings

3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup of smooth natural peanut butter (I'm sure crunchy is OK too)
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 - 4 Tbsp honey (I like it with just 2)

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until it becomes a thick liquid. (You can also mash the bananas by hand using a potato masher or a fork first, then mix in the rest of the ingredients).

Prepare a muffin tin by lightly greasing it with vegetable oil. Scoop mixture into each muffin cup. Place in freezer for at least 2 hours. Then enjoy!

This past weekend I made my rounds at estate sales and yard sales as per usual. During each outing I always encounter that one very special find, and this time around it was something very special indeed. I scored at 1947 printing of Dorothy Draper's Decorating is Fun! for 50 measly cents (it was first published in 1939). I mentioned her in a previous blog. Draper's  book is a classic, and as someone who's very into interior design, I'm so stoked to have this book in my possession. The part that tickles me the most is that it still has the Eaton's price sticker on it for $3.49. I'm not planning to sell the book in my vintage shop. This one's for moi.

This camera from my vintage home decor shop, Sugarpush Vintage, was featured in an Etsy blog post today! Check it out. It's chock full of home decor goodies. There are so many amazing vintage pieces being sold on Etsy. Makes me wish I had lots of disposable income so I can hoard all the treasures I find.

Ever since being diagnosed with BPS/IC, I've had to stop drinking coffee and tea. Not drinking the latter has been the hardest. So I'm beginning to look for alternative drinks that don't irritate my bladder. Lately, I've been experimenting with basil tea. Although herbal teas do irritate people with IC, I'm testing if some particular herbs are better than others. I haven't tested the pH level of basil tea, but I'm guessing it's a lot better than drinking something caffeinated.

My recipe for Basil Tea.

Boil 3 cups of water. Steep two teaspoons of dried basil in the hot water for 10 minutes. Discard the herbs. Add honey to taste.

Add additional water until it's at the strength you like. I usually add between 1-2 cups of water. Then I refrigerate to turn it into an iced tea.

Very refreshing. And kind of minty.

I love these retro alarm clock/radios made by General Electric mainly because I'm very impressed by the sound they put out. It's a lot better than you would expect, especially out of something that's at least 20 years old. I grew up with a really crappy alarm clock/radio, and so I assumed they all came with bad quality speakers because of their small size. The one on the left I own, and the one on the right I'm selling in my vintage shop. Another thing to love about these radios is the beautiful wood grain finish that just makes them look so cool and so very old-school.

And today I started using Picnik, an awesome online photo editing tool. I used it to make the simple collage above.

There have been lots of church thrift sales this month. In the photo are some items I'll be listing soon in my vintage shop. They're treasures I scored at a church rummage sale I went to yesterday. The little dog figurine is made by Blue Mountain Pottery. He's very cute.

This week I prepared a meal with non-fish meat for the first time since 2002, which was when I cut out beef, poultry, and pork from my diet. So what did I use? Turkey sausage. I used to love sausage. Turns out I still do.

This past January I decided to start eating meat again because the doctor put me on a diet that restricted certain foods due to a bladder condition I've developed. So in order to make things easier when I eat out at a restaurant or someone's home and be able to keep my new diet, I've chosen to eat meat again to widen my options.

So far, I mainly eat turkey. That's the only meat I really crave. I've forgotten how filling meat is, and I find that I need to eat smaller portions when eating animal flesh.

This is a project that I worked on last fall when we moved into our new apartment. Our kitchen being tiny, we needed extra storage space for our appliances, cookbooks, and what not. And we were on a tight budget, so to Ikea we went to pick up a couple of Gorm shelves. After a few coats of paint (which took almost a month to put on!) this was the result.



I was too quick to choose the colour for these shelves. One valuable lesson learned was live in a space for a while before making major decisions on decor. So these shelves will be repainted this summer.

I've harboured a secret ambition to be a farmer since my university days, maybe even earlier than that. Alas, I only get to "play" farmer when I volunteer at the UBC Farm. The season is about to start and volunteers will get to work on the fields come May.

I don't know where my romantic notions of farming come from. Maybe it's from the books I read growing up. Who knows?

Living in an apartment limits my farming aspirations to the balcony. But it faces northeast so it only gets a wee bit of sun in the mornings. For the time being I've filled the planter box I made last summer with colourful little flowers that are thriving - to my utter surprise. In a couple months I may plant some herbs. And maybe even some lettuce! We shall see how they do.