greek name day

Idle Husband just celebrated his name day last week! How exciting, right? A day just for you to celebrate -- along with everyone else who also shares the same name as you. They're more important than birthdays in Greece, so this year, I thought I'd try to do something special.

I really wanted to make a big beautiful cake and carve it into the shape of the first letter in IH's name.

And then he requested a small cake.

So I started rethinking how I could do something similar but on a smaller scale without it looking like an alphabet block.

So I thought I would try to find alphabet cookie cutters. Then I was excited! I could do a bunch of letters and decorate them all up nicely and he could even take them to work and it would be awesome! Everything would be awesome! But the alphabet cutters I did find, I wasn't happy with and in a related discussion to find out more about what he wanted, I discovered he wanted a banana cake. With bananas. And lots of bananas. And maybe coconut.

Back to the drawing board.

I found a recipe for banana and chocolate chip upside-down cake from David Lebovitz. It had a lot of rave reviews and it was designed to be low fat and marginally healthy (as any cake could possibly be). So I decided to go with that. I chose a cake that could neither be stacked or decorated, but at least it was what Idle Husband wanted. Besides, by this point, I was getting rather tired of coming up with ideas and planning and figuring and plotting. And, quite frankly, last week, I really didn't have the time to do any of the grand things I was coming up with. I don't know where my brain was.

This cake was very easy to put together and I really love recipes that are easy. Instead of mashing the bananas, I used my immersion blender and pureed them which is something I think I'll do from now on any time I need bananas for a recipe. If this makes any sense, I found that the banana was more integrated into the cake. Maybe since it was pureed, it could be better incorporated whereas mashed bananas still retain some chunkiness and can't really flavour a cake entirely. Er, foodie mumbo jumbo, etc. The only thing I did differently (other than using yogurt instead of sour cream) was that I forgot to put in the melted butter. I had the oven on and I was melting the butter on a burner and I completely forgot about it until I mixed everything together and poured it on top of the sliced bananas (as one does). So my version is even lower in fat than the original, but I don't think the butter is missed at all. Why even bother with it?

I made an epic meat and potatoes dinner on Saturday, so we actually never got to taste the cake until Sunday. For some reason, I thought I could stack it and I came up with an idea to decorate it, but neither really went the way they did in my head.

My icing sugar shaker shook out the sugar (that's a lot of Ss) in clumps so I didn't get the effect I really wanted. And because of the caramelization of the bananas on top, it eventually melted away. I've decided I don't fit into the perfect party and desserts category. So what I lack in presentation, I make up with in taste, because this is a really good cake. It's very dense and more like a banana bread cake than fluffy cake, and that's all right.

I remembered about these chocolate letters at least

If you want to learn more about name days or find your name day, you can go here. It may not be listed in your specific form, it might be listed as a different version or spelling, so look carefully because who wouldn't want another day to celebrate?

friday fixations

popsicles and snow 

{brightly coloured walls} I don't know if it's cuz it's winter, but I really love the mixture of colours in this home. I especially love the painted lamp and plate shelf (it kinda looks like maybe the pink rug, too) in the third picture down. What a clever idea!

{flowers and garlands} All I want for Christmas are pink paper flowers, multicoloured pom-poms on garlands, flowers strung onto string, primary coloured garlands and buntings strung on the walls, and huge yellow pom-poms hanging from the ceiling. Here are some favourite bookmarks: wax paper flowers, napkin flowers (I want to make these so badly), pom-pom tutorial, flower garland, ruffled fabric garland, wool beads (page 35), and tissue paper pom-poms.

{advent calendars} I've always wanted one of these, and to this day, I still haven't gotten one. Why? Cuz I always forget about it, that's why! Look here! It's December 3rd already and where's my advent calendar? Nowhere, that's where. Sigh. Maybe I'll have the time and foresight next year. Here are some great ideas for DIY calendars. I especially love the literary advent calendar and the calendar from German magazine Living & More.

{dots} Have you ever been to this store? Honestly, it was always that shop with clothes I didn't care so much for. But then, I don't know, I grew up or my tastes became more refined or something, because now it's one of my favourite stores. I don't think there's ever a time I go where I don't end up with a huge armful of clothes to try on. They've got brands and styles that I can guarantee you won't find anywhere else. And the most exciting thing? They've got sales going on all the time! Sign up for their emailing list and you'll hear about them first.

{boxes} Isn't this one kind of obvious? Any time I see one, I'm like, 'Ooooh that's one good lookin' box! It would be so perfect for books or china or other small yet heavy items!' Cuz that's what I need right now. Boxes that are good for small and heavy items.

there's mayo on this grilled cheese!

I know it's just grilled cheese, but it's the best grilled cheese ever and it's not like I'm doing anything differently with it. It's this new 4-in-1 grill we just purchased. I know it is. Long gone are the days of grilling cheeses on a bulky pancake griddle that would burn the bread before the cheese even melted. Gone are the days of having to squish down the sandwich with my largest pot lid so as to melt that cheese before the bread burned.

So, no. I didn't think it was possible to make grilled cheese any better. I honestly just thought that this machine would be better because it's more space saving, easier to clean, and more multipurpose than just a simple griddle. I had no idea that it would make the best grilled cheese ever.

Is it the lines that make it better? I've never had a panini so I really can't say whether they're a superior sandwich to a normal toasted sandwich. If they are, why are regular sandwiches even being offered anymore? Why aren't there more panini grilled cheeses? Someone needs to rectify this and fast.

Normally, I would add a slice of tomato to my grilled cheese, but I'm really digging simple cheese right now. And I used to use the plastic wrapped processed grilled cheese cheese (what don't they make nowadays?), but I realized that's just dumb. Plain ol' cheddar works just fine.  There is mayo on this grilled cheese, too -- eh hem, I mean Miracle Whip. I just refer to it as mayo because it always has and always will be my mayo. And I always like to add some vegetable seasoning or salt and pepper. Just to give it a little something extra.

We have them for dinner almost every week, since they're kind of my go-to when I haven't got a clue what else to make. But now they're coming out so melty and so good, I kinda just want to eat variations of grilled cheese for every meal now. It wouldn't be hard to convince Idle Husband, either. As long as the grilled cheeses included bacon.

house update

We got into the house this weekend and were surprised to find kitchen cabinets!

I really wanted white cabinets, but I hated the style of the doors and that was the only option for white. You wouldn't believe how old fashioned builders still are! So I'm extra interested to see how the darker cabinets look when the flooring goes in. Dark floors, dark cabinets? I hope it looks all right. Also notice there is no backsplash. That's because what was chosen for the floor tile (see below) was also what would go up as a backsplash. No. Just. No. I'll choose that myself, thankyouverymuch.

Here's the gorgeous quartz countertop. For some strange reason, I thought it was a lighter grey, but no worries! It's still so pretty and smooth and grey and sparkly. I'm looking forward to kneading bread on it, that's for sure.

The tiles for the front and back entrances have been installed. It's hard to see, but they're a grey-black. Here's another option we lucked out on for looking at least slightly more modern than the others. The tile options, man. They were so 1985.

The linoleum in the bathrooms had all been installed, as well as the cabinets in the bathrooms and fixtures throughout. I do not like any of the fixtures, actually, but in a way, that's a good thing. They're not terrible, so I can spend some time and find ones I do like (read: more modern) and install them myself. See? Even though it's a new house, there's still going to be plenty of projects to work on.

I do really love how the doors and trim are all in a darker, contrasting colour to the walls. It's a lot more interesting than typical white.

I thought I'd also share the ceiling texture since that was such a worry for me. It reminds me a lot of a wall texture I've seen, but it's a lot smoother (it doesn't look that smooth in the picture, but it's not as rough as it seems).  Now that I've got something to compare popcorn to, knockdown makes the ceiling feel a lot lighter and higher. I find that popcorn makes the ceiling feel lower and almost cave-like (total stalactites).

Finally, the outside door has been painted teal! I really think it makes the siding look more green than grey. But do you notice a problem? There are STILL no eavestroughs! Houses that were started after ours have them and we still don't. It's driving me bonkers. The front steps are covered in dangerous ice because of it. Argh!!

Overall, I'm really happy with it, but it feels like a builders, out-of-the-box house to me. It has absolutely no character and looks like all the other showhomes. I'm sure most people don't even think about painting or changing the light fixtures when they move into a newly constructed house, but it's our house and I want it to reflect our personalities and not the limited options (and design esthetics) that someone else made me choose from. So never fear! It may be a new house, but I'll definitely be showing you before and afters as I change things and decorate!

christmas cactus and football?

Did you have a great Thanksgiving? Seeing all the recipes and hoopla this last month really made me jealous for a proper Thanksgiving feast (since I've only been making small two person meals for the last few Thanksgivings). The thought of having another pumpkin pie and some stuffing totally entered my mind. I think that's one of the nice things about having Thanksgiving earlier. We can opt in for a second go if we want to!

But since Thanksgiving for Canadians is in October, our November celebration usually revolves around the Grey Cup. We'd have a party on Sunday where we'd watch movies and snack all day and not even bother with dinner. And, yes. You heard right. We never watched the game. No one really cared for football even though we still called it a Grey Cup party. So to this day, when I suggest having a Grey Cup party, I'm really suggesting we snack all day and watch movies with zero football interruptions (and one of those movies has to be boring as hell, so we can possibly have a little nap during it). I guess that explains why I'm so not in the mood to make a 'meal' this week, and I just want some little bits to snack on instead. Weird, hey?

Anyway, Edmonton is going crazy with football fever since we're hosting it this year. Are you watching the game?