Ketchup On Your Chores

Tonight I went out with some girlfriends

to see a late showing of Les Mis.

Rolling Into the house around midnight,

I was hungry so I threw together some

artichoke bolognese pasta

to cure the rumbling tum-tum.

Delicious

Of course, that gave me a little

time to kill, so I pulled out the ketchup

and started polishing the silver...

This is why you don't leave your silver unattended.

No this is not a weird dream sequence,

it's just Thursday night.

I turned the every few minutes to get a full soak.

I know what you're thinking,

"Why are you using ketchup?"

Ok, let's be honest,

you're also thinking,

"Why are you making bolognese at midnight?"

"Why are you carry silver around the world?"

etc.

Since these questions are trickier to explain,

I'm going to stick to the ketchup 

as the weirdest part so... 

Tomatoes plus oxygen eat metal.

Which why you should never leave them in a can

or metal pot in the fridge, and why they say cook 

tomato sauce with non-metallic spoons.

Ketchup is a smooth tomato paste.

It rubs on easy and I use it to also

create a polishing bath

which takes some of the work out of the process.   

My poor babies need a lot of love.

I still need to do the last bit for work 

to really make them shine,

but they are well on their way to recovery.

So remember,

next time the silver in our backpack 

is looking a little drab

just ask the natives for some ketchup.

  (keep in mind, ketchup cleans all metals.

So if you have antique things 

or old crusty metal fixtures, 

this is a safe cleaning agent to try.) 

As for me,    

this summer I'll be enjoying

my morning espresso on the roof

with jam and crumpets.

    

Just because I live abroad,

is no reason to live like a savage. 

Comfort Cabinet

$2 at Daiso. Use makeup sponges instead of brushes for easy painting.

A Drama's set is very important.  

It's as much a character as a place.

It reflects the priorities of the players,

and the direction of the story.

Which is why my Drama's set is always changing,

because so am I. 

Since joining Pinterest,

this evolution has taken on an a life of its own.

Starting with my Comfort Center

which holds all the things for making 

my winter days at home a little more fun:

TV

Chocolate

Music

Booze

Cookbooks.

One problem though,

its UGLY!!

and it makes my living room look like a college dorm.

 

However, no matter how ugly it is,

I don't want to spend money on it.

So, a quick look at the DIY porn on Pinterest, 

a quick run to Daiso, 

and three hours later we have this!

Painted the insides black and added a pretty paper to give contrast. Added extra storage below.

The room feels much more grown up and settled.  Less like I make beer runs at midnight.

Empty pasta sauce jars wrapped in juk calendars make the feet :)

I added a tea box to save room in my kitchen.  Also keeps my tea nice and dry.

It's true, me on Pinterest
is like handing a crack pipe to an addict.
I'm already looking at my rumpous room doors wondering,

"How can I make those prettier without losing light?"

Looks like I need to go check out some more DIY porn.

This Entertainment center cost:

$18 for shelf turned on its side.

$1 paint

$1 sponges

$2 for pretty contact paper

$8 for orange runner

$10 for baskets & boxes

$50 speakers

$5 Christmas decorations

Shot glasses gifts

TV comes with apartment

Cable comes with apartment

Internet comes with apartment

DVD Player gift

Misc decore student gifts

Booze gifts

Wine glasses gifts

Chocolate gifts

Tea gifts

Books brought with me

Feet recycled.

$100 TOTAL

Now THAT'S what I call comforting.

How To Justify An Addiction

A few ways your 

Gringos Korea Burritos 

can make your life better beyond the plate.

Here are three ways 

I recycle 

my shipping supplies

and add storage to my apartment.

End Table With Storage

Always looking for new ways to hoard delicious food stuffs.

Toss a scarf over it and it's a beautiful, hand little table.

Coffee Nook

The perfect home for my coconut sugar and Alaskan roasted beans.

The cubes allow me to add and take away from my kitchen storage as needed.

 Never Enough Tubs

There are never enough tubs in the house.

There is always something I need to store.

Since Kit just hand delivered 

new dry ingredients from the states 

I'm going to need more kitchen storage.  

Looks like I'll just have to order some burritos.  

Darn, my luck.