the best peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. ever.

My husband is nuts over chocolate & peanut butter (ha!). He could hoover peanut butter cups, and chocolate-covered peanut butter candies like they were going out of style, yet he refuses to eat a 'plain' peanut butter sandwich. that guy... (shaking head)

But, when I whipped these chewy, gooey cookies up, there were no complaints from my picky eater (just a lot of satisfyingly silent face-stuffage, which is music to my ears). 

I adapted this recipe (which did a fantastic job at explaining everything so thoroughly, and who had way better looking cookies in the end).

This recipe is also great for people who have certain dietary restrictions, as it doesn't call for flour, butter, or white sugar (which isn't why I chose it, but it's good to know!), and it's extremely easy to make! 

It only calls for 6 ingredients: peanut butter, vanilla extract, light brown sugar, egg, baking soda, and chocolate (dark or bittersweet, chunked. I just used what I had, which were semi-sweet chips).

To make these delicious cookies, mix 1 large egg, 1 cup of creamy peanut butter, 1 cup of light brown sugar, and 1 tbsp of vanilla extract in a large bowl using a hand blender until it was well-mixed.

Then add 1 tsp of baking soda, and beat to incorporate.

After, mix 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips in (if using chunks of chocolate, don't over-mix or it could break the chunks down too much).

Then transfer the dough into an airtight container & refrigerated for at least 2 hours.

After chilling the dough, reheat the oven to 350F, line baking sheets with parchment paper (you could use cooking spray or a baking mat). Then scoop the dough into 2 tbsp balls and set about 2 inches apart.

Bake them for 8 to 10 minutes, rotating them halfway. Leave them on the baking sheet for for 5-10 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.

In the end, you'll have these tantalizing puppies: 

Needless to say, these delectable treats didn't last very long...

I made some substitutions here and there (light for dark sugar, and went with chocolate chips rather than chunks like the original recipe) just so I could use what I already had on hand. For the full recipe & thorough know-how, visit here. Gotta give major credit where it's due!

Have a wonderful end of the week!

xo,

from hole to holy moly: a bathroom makeover.

I thought I'd share a radical renovation done by one of our closest friends.
After purchasing their new home, they gave their home a lot of TLC, making it liken a lot of pictures you'd see on a magazine cover in the grocery aisle. One section they changed just happened to be the storage area in their basement:

A lot of people have rooms like this in their basements and use it to store knick knacks, Christmas decorations, relatives... okay, well maybe not (there'd at least be a bed in there... ;)

But, not a lot of people would look at this and think to build a completely new room, but our friend? 

He thought this partially un-used space could be used more effectively.

The room got a bit of a cleaning...

And somehow while juggling work, three kiddies, and everything else that would give someone reason to just sit on the couch and stuff ones face with potato chips, here's a peek into the new bathroom he single-handedly completed:

(starting off with a very welcoming entrance...)

He added a lovely shower, and even made a storage area inside the wall! (well-thought out details that anyone would admire as they sat upon the john...). 

And speaking of sitting, here's a peek inside the shower:

It's like a tiled retreat where anyone could escape & just sit under the spout, reflect on the day while turning into a prune...

Now this is where it gets a bit blurry, but you can see on the other side of the bathroom, he put in an elegant vanity (nicely outfitted with sconces), as well as a wall separating from some much-coveted storage space. 

And going into the bathroom further, beyond the shelves, the stacked washer & dryer were built in, as well as a neat receptacle which holds the fabric softener and also hides garbage in a chic way (not an easy task). Even the window got a little love with a dark wood trim.

From his tile choice, to paint colours, to layout, our friend deserves an award (and deserves to be hired to design hotel bathrooms, cuz I'm pretty sure this looks nicer than the bathroom we had for our honeymoon).

I don't know if any room in the house can be the man/woman cave, but this bathroom is a serious contender. Tiled shower seat, here I come!

cheeky painted dinner napkins

I was tempted to call this post: 'how to insult your dinner guests' (as my husband suggested), but I guess I'll stick with what I picked. :)

While perusing Home Sense, I came across these crisp white dinner napkins on sale (not much of a sale), and thought I could whip up a little personalized house-warming gift for a friend who recently got a new place.

I first gathered my materials (which ended up changing... read on to see what unfortunate events took place).

I pre-washed & ironed each napkin, then went on a polka-dotting rampage (similar to my dresser) with Martha Stewart's 'wild salmon' paint.

Now, here's the unfortunate event: I wanted to use stamps to write a message on each napkin, but after mixing my gold paint with fabric medium (you would skip this step if you started with a fabric-friendly paint), i got my stamp, dipped it in, stamping out the excess on the plate, and carefully placed it on the napkin.

but... all I got was a blob that did not resemble an 'r' by any stretch of the imagination. It likened a dirty stain or skid mark (tmi?). I quickly tried to clean it up, and this is the best I could do...

Deciding to take the easy way out, I broke out a gold fabric pen (which was a JOY to deal with compared to the stamps!) and went to town, adding a snarky saying for each napkin.

I let them dry overnight, & ironed them under a cotton towel to set the paint.

Now, I have a cute set of napkins with a slightly split personality:

The other napkins had little sayings that ranged from things like:

wipe your face, dear.

there's something in your teeth.

your food won't run away.

to other saying that have a bit more sass, like:

raised by wolves.

and

of course it's socially acceptable to talk with a full mouth.

I had fun making these, and now I have a quirky set of napkins to give to my friend (who happens to love sarcasm as much as I do!).

I hope you have a wonderful day!

xo,

life as of late (pt. 7)

1. I will never fry bacon on a pan. ever. again. After getting splattered too many times and yelping like a wussy, I learned how a way to bake pig from this pin. Bakin' bacon? you'll never be happier.

2.  met with friends over sushi & delicious dessert... I gotta admit I'm excited for my impending due date so I can truly go to town on sushi (I've been steering clear of raw fish for too long! Veggie sushi just doesn't seem legit to me). For dessert we had peanut butter cheesecake & a rose peach sorbet. yum!

3. a picture I took of the CN tower while stuck in traffic during rush hour (just seemed like a nice patriotic way to pass the time). 

4. with the expected due date being in less than a week, my feet are feeling a tad neglected in the shadow of my belly. I just might book a pedicure in between the more important things that I need to get done.

5. my hubby has been waning between being in sickness & in health, so I've been pounding back these suckers (and threatening to lock him in a closet if he coughs without covering his mouth).

and...

6. I received a ridiculously generous care package from a dear friend in British Columbia. Mini me is already spoiled & will be donning that Leafs cap proudly (even though his parents are probably the only Canadians who don't watch hockey, unless during the Olympics. We're wishy-washy like that).

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend steering clear of viruses!

xo,

a staircase face-lift: before & sorta-after.

Okay, it's a bit anti-climactic to post this after the previous post about the nursery, but it'll have to do due to circumstances that I'll explain.
This was a project that we completed in our previous house (which is now being used an income property), and before we moved out into our current home, I completely forgot to take pictures of the final result.
I would go in and ask our renters if I could photograph the stairs, but I'm sure they would think they were renting from a bunch of crazies, and move out pronto.

So, let me begin this story (and unfortunately short-change you out of the afters!)

When we moved in to our first home, this is what the stairs looked like... a little crustier than your average staircase.

Aaaand with a really long strand of hair.. that would be mine (why I didn't clean that up before taking the picture? I don't have an answer for that).

Now, not only were the stairs a sight for sore eyes (especially when hair-covered), the lowest step was a death trap; it bowed and creaked under the slightest pressure, and guests would even step over the stair so they wouldn't plummet to their deaths.

We could've sanded, and stained each stair tread, or ripped them out entirely and begin with new treads (which would have cost a lot), but instead we decided to save our pennies & instead add a bit more character and strength to what the house originally came with).

To support the lower step, my husband reinforced the lip of the stair tread with a solid piece of wood, and added a thin piece along the edges for extra support.

For the cost-friendly face lift, we bought ready made stair treads with a rounded edge for $15 apiece from Rona (it was way cheaper & better than buying the ones with an attached cap which would have fit our stairs perfectly, but were $40 a pop, or had a thin veneer of hardwood on top for $20 apiece). 

We wanted to match the stain as close to the flooring in our living room as much as possible, and found Minwax's Dark Walnut to fit the bill.

Using a dollar store plastic tarp on our back porch, the stair treads were laid out with the edges slightly lifted to ensure the stain would wrap around the edges nicely.

After they were stained, they were left to dry, and later received many coats of Polyurethane. 

My husband wanted the glossiest gloss one could find, and he was so excited to see the difference in the treads pre-gloss (on the right), and post-gloss (left). He is easily amused.

After they dried, they were glued to the original stair treads with PL-premium,

and hubby gave them extra security by screwing them into place (the screws were placed closely to the back edge, so they wouldn't be seen when the stairs were complete).

The lower staircase started looking a bit better already, but the past was still rearing it's ugly tread ;)

Knowing that the creaks from the previous treads could still come back, my husband bought sturdy particle board, cut them to fit the risers perfectly, and screwed them in place. The edges of the new risers hid the screws in the new stair treads.

The ugly screw holes were then filled in with drywall compound, so it would be smooth and seamless.

To cover the edges of the original stair treads, these were primed, painted, and cut to size.

Then they were hammered into the original treads (you can see my husband's shadow in this terribly lit picture).

... here's what they looked like before the set nail holes were filled in with DAP (is this changing light tripping you up yet? ;)

annnnd that's all I got, folks.

This is where the journey ends in our terribly-documented before n' after (you've been forewarned ;). 

If you're losing sleep over this cliff-hanger, just imagine no nail holes, no terrible sepia-type lighting, and of course no stray hairs.

;)

Hope you're staying warm (for those of you experiencing minus double-digits like us here in Toronto!)