Since I'd had a jam-packed weekend, I spent a rainy Day 12 mostly inside, cleaning and evaluating each room in my apartment, taking note of what didn't work and how I could fix it. I created a purchasing list and took a trip to Ikea on Day 14. Each room had a different problem but each problem resulted in my not wanting to spend much time in that room, and by extension, my apartment. Before I took the time to think about how I could transform my apartment into a place where I wanted to spend time, I had made my mind up that this was going to be my last year. Now that I've implemented Phase 1 of my home improvements, it's become way more put-together and I'm not so sure I'd want to move out next year.
Since I stayed in on Day 12, I continued eating through the contents of my freezer. I had braised the short rib and eye of round in garlic, dried guajillo chiles, coffee and red wine so I thought I'd make a rich lunch out of it. I took the short ribs off the bone, shredded all the meat, returned it to the pot with the braising liquid, and simmered it while I cooked up some rigatoni. Once the pasta was cooked, I sauteed the meat sauce and pasta in a separate pan and finished it with a pat of butter. After I removed it from the heat, I added some sambal oelek, white vinegar, chopped cilantro and chopped green onion.
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| The rigatoni. Incredible. |
The idea for the final touches came from my dad's preparation of ox tail soup. The soup is so rich that you have to cut it with some vinegar and then add chopped cilantro, green onion and celery tops. If I'd had any celery, I would've used the leafy tops.
Do you have gripes about your apartment? Have you ever moved because you thought it would be easier just to start all over?
We definitely grew to love our apartment more once we'd organized some of the clutter, put up posters (esp. with frames), and replaced some key pieces of furniture.
ReplyDeleteWe'd been putting it off for a while, but just last week we got two new chairs for our dining room table -- because we realized we were avoiding sitting there because it was uncomfortable. And we also replaced the lame looking LazyBoy recliner I had in the living room with a stylish modern-looking leather recliner that was surprisingly affordable. (We're now waiting for it to be shipped and arrive later in September.)
PF
I'm so glad you got rid of that recliner. I just made some key purchases myself. My next post is going to be on Phase 1 of my home improvement project.
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