Happy (belated) Birthday to Me!

A bit over 3 weeks ago, I celebrated my birthday.  It has been the tradition for the last several years that Lindz and I would go out for sushi.  This birthday had an added bonus, it was my last official day doing construction.  And as an extra special bonus, we hit the happy hour pricing at Osaka!

Spiraling in from the top and going clockwise, I got tuna, red snapper, surf clam, flying fish roe, smoked eel, smoked salmon, and mackerel.  Most of these I’ve had before, but I did find a couple of new things to try.  I never the flying fish roe sashimi before.  It is served in a cucumber cup.  It wasn’t bad, but I prefer the sushi version that is served in a nori cup.  The cucumber muted the flavor of the roe IMHO.  The stand out was the smoked salmon.  It had a nice but not over powering smoked flavor.

As a thank you / going away present, my boss gave me a really beautiful smoker.

It was a good day!

Mid-Week Humor

I’m trying to clean up my folders and I ran across a bunch of humorous memes and one pic.

a) This is true, and b) it’s even funnier if you’re from the Upper Mid-West

Actually, it’s in the oven at 60 degrees. Yes, I’m that big of a nerd to notice that.

I love Venn diagrams, so this made me give a nice audible snort. More can be found at Vennoid.

I feel that no explanation is necessary.

I’m Back! (well, kind of)

As promised, it’s September and I’m back to posting.  There will be an explanation coming soon (and a ton of photos) explaining why I’ve had no time/ambition to do much extra curricular activities in the last several months.  But in the meantime, here’s a really kick-ass going away present that I got from my boss.

A brand new smoker!!!!

I’m typing this up in the middle of the inaugural run, so expect a post about this as well.  😀

Temporary Hiatus

If you haven’t noticed already, it’s been some time since I’ve posted. I’ve been unbelievably busy these last couple of months. Fortunately, this is coming to an end soon and I will be able to resume blogging on a regular basis in September. Have a great rest of the summer!

Ter

The Day Job

Haven’t been posting a lot here because the day job has me insanely busy during the summer months.  Also been working on a project that should (hopefully) be done by the end of summer.  Unfortunately, that is all the teaser you’re going to get until it’s done.  But in the mean time, here’s a pic from a day in the life of Terry.

 

My cut-man decided to go fishing for a week, so I get to play with the partner saw.

Memorial Day

Just want to give a quick shout out to all the Veterans who have served and sacrificed everything for the things that we all too often take for granted.

For everyone else, here’s a couple of cartoons from the legendary WWII cartoon Willie & Joe, written by Bill Mauldin.

Freaking Huge Wings

There has been a lot of crappy weather lately.  When you work outside, you just need to treat yourself to a warm meal once in a while.  We were working only a few blocks from a restaurant that my boss, Steve, likes to eat at.  I’ve only eaten at Ray J’s a couple of times, but I’ve never had anything but great wings there.  Yup, you read that right.  I’ve never gotten past one item on the menu.  The first time I ate there, Steve recommended the wings and I haven’t looked back.

Ray J’s is your typical sports bar with plenty of seating for diners.  What sets them apart is their food (this is largely based on other people’s reaction).  In fact, Steve and I had a whole conversation about that (before construction, he managed a couple of restaurants).  The conversation started when I was commenting on the fact that they had a decent selection of wine and the special of the day was a baked brie.  Steve pointed out that these bars aren’t stupid and that by accommodating the wives (I know, stereotypes, but it’s based on statistics), they could increase their revenue.

Anyway, back to the wings.  I honestly have never seen chicken wings this big.  The first time I saw them, I was convinced that they were turkey wings that tasted like chicken.  I usually get the full order of wings (3 pounds!!!) and plan on having whatever is left for a snack later.  Okay, really it’s another meal.  I’ve had the Buffalo wings before and they are good, but it tastes just like Buffalo wings like everywhere else.  The ones that I had this time was the Asian Sesame wings which has a soy chili sauce and garnished with chopped scallions.  I liked the idea of this sauce and generally liked the taste of it, but it had an overpowering sweetness to it.  The flavor reminded me of a really good teriyaki sauce, but way too heavy on the sugar.  What I really like are the wings themselves.  Other than their freakish huge size, they are deep fried which gives the skin an amazing crunchiness that the sauce clings to and the sauce can’t penetrate.  Normally that would be a flaw in a dish, but since there is practically no distance between the skin and bone on wings (even ones this huge) you get a nice mouthful of sauce, skin, and meat in each bite.

Yes, you’ll need a wet-nap.

 

Decorah Trip No. 2a57fd

Yup.  Just made up a hexadecimal number because I have no idea how many times I’ve written about trips to Decorah and I’m too lazy to figure it out.  Besides, who really reads hexdec anyway?

Anyway, Lindz and I made one of our regular trips to our old stomping grounds.  We stopped by the StoryPeople studio to pick something up and I ran across what I can only assume is one of the limited edition wood paintings.

A bit more subdued than Brian’s usual work, but I like it.

For those that are curious, the story printed on here is Living Memory.  Speaking of my old workplace, I just found a new sculpture that I got quite a kick out of:

You can find it here on the StoryPeople website.

What would a trip to Decorah be without eating at La Rana?

The smoked salmon salad. All local produce. All awesomeness.

Really not a lot to say.  It’s a fun little bar with a great atmosphere and great food all at a small town price.

Random Sushi

Here’s some random sushi pictures that have been hiding out on my computer for a couple of years.  I’m sharing these because I love sushi and I love the presentation of the plates.  These chefs really know what they are doing.  I believe all of these were taken at the Osaka in Roseville.

With Love, Minnesota

This was taken about an hour and a half ago. And it’s still going strong.