Staying Home and a Celebration!

Continuing with my break from our September Delmarva trip.  Much more to come on that road trip!  In this post and the next, the focus is on what’s been happening around our home and the surrounding area.  Plenty of dining out and food are included…

This view is from the back yard toward our driveway and the street.  The tree is at the left center of the photo.

The first photo shows the hickory tree that was almost on the property line between our home and our neighbor's.  It was dying from the top down and the idea of having it fall on our home, filing a claim with insurance, paying the deductible, etc. wasn’t something we wanted to deal with.

Our neighbors agreed to split the cost of removal.  They picked the tree removal service as it was one that they’d used before.  It also was the least expensive for the job.  If you haven’t dealt with tree removal, I hope that you don’t, as the costs are a bit over the top.  Sharing was a good thing!

Our only problem was that this particular service wasn’t very careful or neat.  They only roped one section to lower it to avoid landscaping damage.  Chunks of tree were everywhere.  One hunk of the tree’s trunk actually broke one of our landscaping boulders and others came close to damaging an HVAC unit.  Laurie wasn’t happy with their ‘clean up’ either as she’s still picking up sticks, pieces of wood and twigs they didn’t remove.  The good news is that sometime before spring, the owner did promise to replace that broken boulder… The real positive is that the tree is no longer a threat to our home!

Laurie’s birthday is in early December and, as usual we celebrated with dinner out at the restaurant of her choice.  I never know what she’ll chose, given the fact that she picked Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers on one occasion. 

This year she picked a more traditional place for her celebratory dinner… Bonefish Grill in the Turkey Creek shopping area.  She started out with a Dirty Martini with extra olives…

Then she decided that we’d try something different for our appetizer.  The Bang Bang Shrimp offering is our ‘traditional’ Bonefish appetizer of choice.  This time we ordered the Tempura Crunch Sashimi Tuna.  This is sushi-grade tuna seared rare and sliced, then topped with sashimi sauce and tempura crumbles.  It was served with wasabi, soy sauce and a sriracha drizzle.

We were both very happy that we’d strayed from our ‘usual’, as this tuna appetizer was truly excellent!

I do believe that if Laurie had to choose her ‘last meal’, it would include lobster!  As is her norm on birthdays, she went with a pair of 5 – 6 oz. seasoned and steamed lobster tails accompanied by warm drawn butter.  Her meal came with 2 sides, one of which was green beans.

For Laurie’s second side, she chose one from the ‘premium sides’ listing on Bonefish’s menu as a Chef’s special.  This was her Creamy Parmesan Risotto topped with house-made herb oil.  This may not be a pretty picture...but I ‘helped’ her finish the risotto and we both agreed that it was a great change of pace…very tasty indeed.

We’re all creatures of habit and my usual menu choices at Bonefish Grill include Lily’s Chicken, Grilled Atlantic Salmon or the Mahi-Mahi and Shrimp.  But Bonefish had a new item listed in the “From the Land” section of their menu.

So I ordered the Chimichurri Bistro Filet.  This 8 oz. seasoned, wood grilled filet is topped with house-made Chimichurri and I chose the coleslaw and French fries as the sides.  The sliced filet was perfectly grilled for my taste…medium rare…the meat was tender and the seasoning with the chimichurri was perfect.

We were very satisfied and our appetite was sated.  But who’s going to turn down a free birthday dessert?!  Not us, that’s for sure!  We shared this soft rich warm Macadamia Nut flourless brownie came with raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream.  It was very rich and we really enjoyed it!

There are 2 different Bonefish Grill restaurants in the area.  But for more information about the Bonefish Grill in the Turkey Creek Shopping Area, just go to https://locations.bonefishgrill.com/tennessee/knoxville/11395-parkside-drive.

As we left Bonefish Grill, the sun was setting and Laurie quickly took this photo of a rather spectacular sunset.  Later she posted it on “Nextdoor” and it resulted in a plethora of accolades…

It was a nice evening out and a very nice birthday dinner.  Usually Laurie’s birthday celebrations begin at the end of October and stretch until just after New Year’s Day.  With a late start this year, her ‘birthday’ won’t end until the beginning of February!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave