Our Apartment; The Dining Room

The dining room was the first room decorated. We decided on a dark slate color and a light grey for the walls, and switched the lighter color from the bottom half to the top. I wanted a room that mixed minimalism with thrift store finds. Again, thanks to Ikea, Salvation Army and a host of other second hand stores in Ann Arbor, we were able to do this all for a couple of hundred bucks. 

We brought the table top and the legs from Ikea. Buying them separate is a much cheaper option that buying a complete table. The chairs were purchased from a couple of different thrift stores in Ann Arbor, as was the mirror. 

The art work was our attempt at the crayon paintings you find on Pinterest. Rather than just lining them up and allowing them to trickle down the canvas, we used a hairdryer and just made pretty patterns with the crayons. 

The cabinet is the White PS Locker from Ikea. We got the lamp from another thrift store while the little bunch of flowers are dried from our wedding day. 

The room has become a really nice space to relax in, whether it be for dinner or when Mary Soo needs to spread her books out during a study session. 

Cooking Idea's: Spring Rolls

During term Emsu’s time is pretty much consumed with studying so it falls on me to do the cooking.

As a result I often find myself traipsing round the Supermarket trying to think of different meals to cook on a budget.

This week in an effort to use up remaining ingredient’s, rather than letting them go to waste, I decided to make some spring rolls with some beef I found reduced.

Recipes are great but every so often I want to experiment, see if I’ve learnt anything from countless hours of cooking shows and recipes.

I made three different types of Spring rolls. First was beef with ginger, garlic and oyster sauce.

Second was beef with chickpeas in Terakihi.

And third beef with beef with spinach, carrots and cilantro (coriander to us Brits).

Mixed in with complimentary spices the final results were good, though the third kind, the beef with spinach carrots and cilantro were the best.

I haven’t listed the recipes as that’s not really the idea behind the post, just an solution to making something a bit different, use up leftovers, and play chef.