Peachy Dessert

Dear friends,

I wrote this recipe on my first post, which very few people read it!
It comes with the story of WHY my blog is name 
Condensed Love:

Once I had a few friends home for dinner, and my friend Justine kept asking me what was in my Peachy Dessert... I kept telling her it was "looove" and finally I said: "looove and CONDENSED MILK"!! And she said: it is 

"Condensed Love"...

I am from Brazil, and I say we put condensed milk in everything, lol!

So here it is my recipe for what I call "Peachy Dessert"!

Peachy Dessert

2 cans of condensed milk

2 cans of milk (use the cond. milk can to measure it)

3 heaping tbsp of corn starch dissolved in 1/2 can of milk

2 cans of carnation thick cream

2 cans of peaches in light syrup (or 1 big glass jar as you see here)

Maria biscuits or any tea biscuit will do (I used Arrowroot this time)

It is super easy!!!
Heat the condensed milk dissolved with milk in a sauce pan.

When it is starting to boil, stir in the corn starch dissolved with milk.

It should start thickening right the way. It should have the consistency of pudding.

Set aside.

Separate the peaches syrup from the peaches, and dip the biscuits in the syrup.

In a dish ( I use a rectangular dish, like the one I use for lasagna - but tis time I used a "nicer" one), start placing the

biscuits side by side. Pour half of the condensed milk cream on it. 

Put a layer of chopped peaches (I use about 2/3 of the peaches because inside the layers they keep fresher than on top).

Put another layer of biscuits.

Add the 2 cans of thick cream (make sure you discard that water that forms in the can - I don't know the English word for it) to the remaining condensed milk custard. Sometimes it get lumpy, because the thick cream is cold, the custard is warm... but it tastes smooth. Pour over the biscuits; add the rest of the peaches. 

Refrigerate for about 2 hours!

And yes, you can change the fruit, but I would not use fresh fruit except for berries in the summer. I have never tried with other fruits, by the way.

I hope you enjoy!!!

I am sharing this recipe at:

And at Keeping it Simple Party!

Duck Egg Blue Rocking Chair

Dear friends!

I am so excited to share with you this sweet chair 
I painted for my friend Sue!
Sue saw the potential on this baby when she saw it at the Olde Farmhouse Vintage Fair end of June!

Sue loves color, so she wanted it painted blue. First I gave it two coats of shellac, to avoid the problem I had with my mom's bed... Then I painted it with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Old White.

I gave it a nice coat of ASCP Duck Egg Blue. I distressed a bit, to show the white underneath.

This time instead of Annie Sloan clear wax, I tried 
Cece Caldwell Satin Finish. It is a hard finish that you apply with a foam brush. The look and feel is pretty much the same as the wax, but I did not have to buff afterwards! I gave it two coats. Now it needs to cure for a week. 

Here is a close up:

And here without the throw:

I wish I was back into sewing, to sew a beautiful pillow for it!

My next post will be my peachy dessert, step-by-step with instructions!!!
Hugs,
Claudine

I am so excited to share this project at:

Me, Myself and I

Dear friends,

Suzan, from Simply Vintageous, nominated me for "Tell me about yourself Award". Suzan is adorable. She has an upbeat personality and it is always supportive in her comments. She has a wonderful blog, visit her if you have a minute!

In order to accept this award I need to say 7 things about myself and nominate 7 bloggers out there to do the same!
I hope I will find 7 interesting things to say about myself, LOL!
Here we go:
1. I LOVE a good LAUGH. I laugh at myself, I laugh about silly things, and I laugh when I am not supposed to. Like if you fall or trip in front of me, I will laugh. It is good most of the time, but sometimes is bad... LOL!

2. My husband David is my third husband, and is actually my fiancee. We were supposed to get married in May 2012 but decided not to because we had too many things going on this year - my son's Graduation in June and his daughter's Wedding in September. He is my THIRD husband and I am his THIRD wife. I don't really understand exactly WHY we want to get married... Third time lucky???

3. I HATE raw onions and bananas!

4. I am picky with food. Everything needs to be really CLEAN in the preparation or I won't eat it... it grosses me out if people try out of the pan, or leave food out on the counter too long, etc. 

5. I HATE trying clothes!! I love buying stuff for the house, but cannot stand shopping for myself...

6. I am a scaredy cat. I am afraid of bugs such as spiders... and I am afraid of strangers, for example I won't open the door to someone I don't know.

7. I have never been this happy. I found this new business and wonderful blogging friends which brought a new light into my life. I am so grateful.

I have many bloggers I love, let me pick 7 that I have not nominated yet:

Janine, from A Bit of Whimsy
Donna, from Funky Junk Interiors
4 Sisters, from Bringing Beauty
Lady Pamela, from Lady Pamela's Cottage
Kristel, from The Velvet Door
Crafty Canadian from Crafty in Canada
Tammy, from A Walk in the Country Side

If you have a chance, go check them out!
Enjoy your weekend!
Claudine

Rocking chair!!!

Dear friends!!!
I am happy to say I AM HOME!!!
I had fun with my brother and I was sad to to leave him but
I am so happy to be home and start my "normal" life.

I still feel that "tightness" in my heart from leaving him but 
I know it will pass as I get busier.

I have LOTS of projects to do and the FIRST on my list is a rocking chair for my friend Sue.
Do you remember this chair? Sue fell in love with it and asked me to paint it for her.

I am not sure if she wants the cushions, but they are looking pretty "drabby"(is that a word???)
to me...

Sue wants the chair painted Duck Egg Blue, like this table I painted.
I think it will look great!!!!

I should have it ready in a week!!!

I miss you ALL!!! 
Talk to you SOON!
Claudine

Harrods in London

Dear Friends,
I miss you so much.
I am in London with my brother and we have so much to do, I have not really had the time to take nice pictures but I think of you often. I always wonder what I could share with you.
So I was at Harrods today and took some pictures. 
This store is very famous in London. It is full of designer's clothes, handbags, etc.There are 4 or 5 floors of stuff to see. Also several restaurants. We were there a few times and had pizza once and Chinese food twice.
Today we had Ice Cream. I just wanted to share a few items they have in their food market.
It is a must see if you come to London!

Me coming out of Harrods... Faaancyyyy, LOL!
This is the guard at the door!

My brother found so interesting to have a basket ONLY with fruit to give as a gift to someone health-conscious! Not me, please!

I would rather have candyyyy!!!

Chocolates...

Fudge...

Or a chocolate BAR...

The Gold Bars are to celebrate the God Medals at the Olympics.

But this is where we ended up!

Really Glamorous Ice Cream Parlour...

Mine!

My brother's.

I will leave you with that!
Hugs galore,

Claudine

My First Upholstery Job!

Dear friends!!!


I bought this adorable little foot stool a while ago. I loved it. It even has some storage, I guess to keep your sewing supplies?

It was painted inside but I painted again in ASCP Duck Egg Blue. I guess the previous owner had stripped the color because it had some smudges of paint but I liked it like that, so I left it. (I just noticed Enzo in the background, LOL)

It was quite a pain to upholster it, I had to unscrew the lid and then after it was upholstered I had to screw it back. I had to find new screws and some of the old ones were too old.

Here I am all happy with stupidity... Seriously, this is not a happy story!!!!
The compressor hose BROKE and scared the hell out of me!!! My husband said: SIT DOWN. You are DONE. And handed me a bag of candy... It was that bad!!!!

Anyway, another day I finished what I had started this day, which were the corners. The stool does not have sharp corners. I am not sure if that made it harder or not, but in my first upholstery workshop I only  worked with a chair seat, which had sharp corners.

See what I mean? The bating kind of "bundled" there and now the stool WON'T CLOSE!!!

It actually matches this chair... I put it there so you have an idea of the size. It can be used as a foot stool. Or you can have it in a corner, like I did when Maria come over. I put in a corner of her room with her towels on top. It is great to pack a luggage, since you can sit on it and you are lower to the ground.
But now I have to undo the corners, cut some of the bating and do it again.
I also thought about putting something from the Graphics Fairy on top, but one of my friends fell in love with it and she said she wanted it plain. I hope she still likes it, LOL!
Thank you so much for reading!!!
Cheers,
Claudine

My brother's living room

Dear friends,
I was in Brazil last week, and took a few pictures of my brother's apartment to show you.
I did not want to show his whole place so I picked the living room and my favourite pieces.
He has a big living room, and it is divided in different areas, including TV room, a sitting room, a dining room and also a long area by the windows. In this area we have another table (his favourite, because we can see the ocean from there) and sofas as well.

The door is all leather, I don't know where he got this idea from. I never saw anything like that!

I love the big mirror and the rug...

His beautiful dining table. You can see a little sofa at the end, that is part of a long area which before was a balcony that he opened.

The chandelier is STUNNING.

It is not crystal, I don't know what it is... I touched and it felt like some kind of stone. 

This is the area that was once a balcony. To the right of these first chairs is the dining room, and to the right of the table is the sitting room.

This row of chairs is part of the sitting room. Right in front of  it there are other two big leather chairs. Opposite to the beige sofa there is a sideboard, which backs to another sofa that is part of the TV room, which I am not showing.
You can see the smaller table at the end, the one he likes the most, because it is smaller and we have the view.

This chair is one of my favourite pieces in his house.

Adorable!

WOOOWWW... That's all I can say. 


I hope you liked the tour!
If you want to marry him, you need to move to Brazil, LOL!
Claudine