from poland with love

games: new york vs baltimore
carolina vs miami
dallas vs new york
minnesota vs green bay
escape: christmas decorating
menu: polish food

The revolving door of Sunday faces continued. This Football Sunday brought a familiar face in from home. At half passed 10, 3 tall knocks struck our door and there stood Andrew [a friend from Winnipeg]; tall blond and smiley. As per usual, this was my cue to exit as Mike continued on with his life’s mission to consume ramen every Sunday. Andrew and Mike went for a ramen brunch + grocery shopping at Kensington Market and I joined Maddy, Kyla [Maddy’s friend in from Ottawa], and Nia for brunch at Aunties & Uncles.

ps. Andrew’s NFL team of choice is the Jets | reason: he’s obv a hugh Geno Smith fan jk it’s because Winnipeg’s hockey team is also the Jets

The line up outside Aunties & Uncles was one of the shorter ones there that I have stood in; thank you [slightly] chilly weather! Nia put her name on the wait list and then we gingerly shuffled over to Manic for a latte. The wait was worth it. We were seated at a cozy corner table next to a framed album cover of Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. I don’t know who they are but I do know that this Jonathan Richman has dreamy hair and gentle eyes. As we swooned over J.R., we chatted, caught up, and shared a plate of banana pancakes.

As mentioned in my previous post, I am in full holiday swing… so it should be no surprise that today, I holiday crafted my way through Football Sunday. After a quick trip to the dollar store to gather supplies, I was armed and ready for a major d-i-y sesh.

Drawing inspiration from the “it’s a good thing” guru herself, Martha Stewart, I decided to make my own Christmas wreath. If she could make one out of coffee filters, I could make one out of coffee filters. Besides, in a world of Tassimo’s, Verismo’s, Keurig’s, and Nespresso’s, there really is no other use for a coffee filter.

If you require a more detailed how-to, youtube Martha + Christmas wreath otherwise, here’s quick my tutorial.

supplies: foam ring |2 packs of coffee filters [there’s about 100 in a pack] | hot glue gun | several hot glue sticks

directions: fold in half | fold in half again | apply glue to the coffee filter point | paste on horizontally onto the middle of the wreath ring surface | continue to overlap and layer filters until the circle is complete | repeat the same on the inner circle of the wreath ring

While at the dollar store I stumbled across some “grass” topiaries. Though I’ve toned down my impulsive buying habits, it’s easier to buy the items than to talk yourself out of them when at the dollar store. I decided to hang these balls of green from ribbon along my window to add a little extra holiday umph to the living room; a great decor addition for under $10! Dollar store finds…it’s a good thing.

Meanwhile in Football Sunday land, a divisional match was going down between the Cowboys and the Giants. Dallas drove the field in the last minute to win the game and Mike, Andrew, and Vinoth were in the middle of a serious sausage party; actually [scroll down]. The culinary theme for this Football Sunday was “from Babcia’s kitchen”. Andrew took the lead with perogies a balzin’.

This meal is going down in the score books as one of my faves. Though the cabbage rolls didn’t turnout exactly as planned [due to a cabbage cooking malfunction] everything was made from scratch and EVERYTHING was delicious.