Remodel: Day Nineteen

The weekend was made a little more pleasant by the lack of plastic wrapping the interior of our house. We could breathe a little better for not being enclosed. On Saturday night, John and I celebrated by going out for dinner with some friends we hadn't seen since before Christmas. We had dinner at The Salt Cellar, one of St. Paul's newest restaurants. The CEO of John's company was also eating at Salt Cellar and treated our table to a round of cocktails and a bottle of wine, which was unexpected and generous, to say the least. The boys spent the night at Theo and Will's house (we had dinner with their parents). On Sunday morning, John and I picked up the boys and took them out for dim sum at Mandarin Kitchen, which, according to Dara Moskowitz, has "our state's most epic dim sum selection." I concur. We ate loads of dumplings--pork, shrimp, pork and shrimp in rice wrappers, wheat wrappers, and tofu wrappers; salt and pepper shrimp; sticky rice with all manner of protein; bbq pork steamed buns and bbq pork egg buns; squid; and more.

Mandarin Kitchen seats 300

Dumpling cart

clockwise from top: squid, sticky rice, jasmine tea

"This is the best thing I've ever put in my mouth!"

I can't wait to eat dim sum again.

And, now for remodeling news. Painting and tiling were on the schedule for today. 

Rico arrived this morning with the ceiling painter in tow. The painter was overwhelmed by the size of the vault and the amount of work that had to be done. He thought it would take him the better part of the day just to hang the plastic in preparation for painting, and he hoped he would be able to get someone in to help him. He wasn't quite in freak-out mode, but close. I thought it would be best to clear out of house so he could have the necessary conversations, and I wouldn't have to hear them. I also thought it might be fun to be surprised by the work that had been finished at the end of the day.
 

Monday morning, pre tile installation

I spent much of the day at Dunn Brothers, making phone calls, sending email, reading a juicy novel (The Girl on the Train). John and I had a healing, nourishing pho lunch at Pho 79. I picked up Simon from school and took him to Dunn's so he could do his homework. We headed home in time to intercept Winston from the bus at 3:30, and much to my surprise, there was no plastic. The painter was gone, and the ceiling looked painted, but since the paint is Ceiling White, it was really hard to tell if the ceiling had simply been primed or if it had been painted. We would have to ask Larry in the morning.

The tiler laid some tile, which was pretty exciting to see. Have a look:

End of day : tile progress