Late Summer Happenings

To date, this hasn’t been a very adventurous year for us.  We basically stayed put all summer.  Apparently the hot summer weather isn’t over yet either as we broke a ‘daily high temperature’ record this week...97 degrees on 9/10/19!  More records may fall later in the week.  As for rain, while we have a surplus for year to date, the possibility of moderate drought has raised its ugly head in the last month or two…

We do have an irrigation system which keeps our yard and plantings green when the rain doesn’t do the job.  Our back yard lawn area is allowed to be ‘au natural’ as we don’t want to use chemicals any more than necessary.  In addition, we want that big Oak tree at the right to thrive…and our arborist warned us that chemicals on the lawn could negatively impact that big tree.

I haven’t even been creating very many ‘novelty egg breakfasts’, i.e. eggs on top of something other than potatoes, bread or similar morning meal items.  In this case however, I ‘had to’ finish off some grouper filets that were left over from one of Laurie’s recent dinners in a local restaurant.  So, I warmed them up in a frying pan, melted shredded sharp cheddar cheese on them, added a couple of over easy eggs on top and then sprinkled the conglomeration with a bit of Tabasco.  Yum!

Fortunately, our neighbors living in the new home to the right of our home like to entertain and they decided to have a Labor Day Party!  They even had canopies erected to protect the crowd from the sun and a number of fans operating to keep us cool…

Our host Mike (on the right) had these steamers working as he prepared the main meal for the group…14 friends and neighbors in total.  Mark, at the left in this photo lives on the other side of Mike and his wife Sherry.  Mike and Sherry are from Rochester New York, while Mark and his wife Sally, moved here from Michigan.

It was quite the varied group career wise… In addition to Laurie and me, the group included a forestry consultant, teachers, a corporate pilot, veterinarians, homemakers and more.  

One of Mike and Sherry’s guests showed up “riding in” his personal hobby.  “Boy’s toys” do tend have a little more growth with age don’t they!?  Sherry was very happy when she was taken for a ride in this classic Corvette!

OK…it’s time for me to own up to a major omission (failure) on my part!  In this photo, everyone was drinking, talking and snacking.  My failure was that despite having my camera in hand, I failed to take pictures of either the appetizers/snacks or the main feast! 

The appetizers/snacks varied from dips and chips (including a great buffalo chicken dip) nuts, candy, cheese crisps, to nachos, guacamole, etc. There was a whole refrigerator full of beer... Mike and Sherry did a fine ‘boil’ for the group's entrée!  It included shrimp, potatoes, corn and andouille sausage.  Good food!

Following the meal, the ladies retired to the living room/family room to chat and then to the dining room table to play Five Crown cards. The guys first moved out to the screened porch to discuss retirement and then headed upstairs to watch some sports in Mike’s man cave.

Eventually we all moved back outdoors to the front of the garage in the original party place… Although you may have noticed this stack of blocks in earlier photos, it was pretty much ignored until after dinner and the ladies card game.

That was when we started playing “Jenga” in earnest!  If you’ve never played Jenga, the object is to remove blocks and re-stack them on top of the pile without the whole thing collapsing.  We got up to 30 levels before the stack fell over while Laurie was playing the game. (Both Laurie and I tensed up while playing the game…too much pressure for us!  Retirement is hard!)

To learn more about Jenga, go to http://www.jenga.com/about.php.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Slawger’s American Restaurant

As anyone who follows my blog knows, we like eating out.  I maintain a list of restaurants that we have; 1) never been to or; 2) we haven’t eaten at in a long time.  We also keep our eyes open for new dining opportunities as they appear in this area of East Tennessee.  Sometimes we learn about restaurants from word of mouth, sometimes via the internet and from time to time, we just drive by a place that we’ve never tried.

Slawger’s American Restaurant falls into the latter category.  We noticed it as we ran errands along Kingston Pike in Knoxville.  The owners picked a challenging location for this restaurant.  There is a lot of traffic which is good, but there are a great many restaurants within a 4 – 5 block radius of this location.

As per their website, Slawger’s is a locally owned business.  They state that their food is made from scratch, “no GMOs, MSGs, hormones, antibiotics, high fructose corn syrup, or steroids”.  Their menu was developed so they could bring something different to the area.  In addition to the traditional favorites, it features gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, homemade side dishes, the “best” cheeseburgers and a number of ‘unique’ hot dog combinations.

Don’t pay much attention to the fact that the dining room is almost empty.  It was a Thursday at about 4 PM when we arrived and I took this photo. 

As for the décor, the owners went with the current overly popular ‘industrial look’ featuring polished concrete floors, open duct work, metal chairs offset by tables with wood tops, a pop of color in the booths, TV’s along the walls and the bar with corrugated metal along the front.

The first true positive sign for me was the fact that they have Tabasco on every table!

We both started out by ordering an adult beverage.  It was “Thirsty Thursday” so my 16 oz. Bells Two Hearted Ale was $1.00 off the normal price of $6.00.  Laurie didn’t feel like a beer so she ordered a vodka and tonic with 2 (not 1!) lime slices.  The other problem was the tonic was flat… 

The waitress took it off our bill and Laurie drank my beer as it was a bit ‘hoppy’ and she prefers a hoppy beer.  Then I ordered a 16 oz. Blue Moon Belgian White. ($4.00 as it was Thirsty Thursday)

What to order for an appetizer?  Would it be the “Fried Fun Guys”, the “Fortress”, “Jala Papas” or the “Chi-Falo Dip”? 

In the end, we chose the “Booze Dip”…4 pretzel logs with Dijon Aioli and Beer Cheese Spread. ($4.00) Those big soft pretzel sticks were very good and the beer cheese spread was seriously above average.  Laurie loved it! We also like the Dijon Aioli dipping option…

Laurie’s entrée came with 2 sides.  She chose a side Caesar salad and the “Impasta Salad”.  The side Caesar was tossed with a good Caesar dressing and Laurie’s only negative was that “It had too many olives”.  I never thought that I would hear her complaining about too many olives!

As for the Impasta Salad, this nice pasta salad was topped with Feta cheese and a creamy Italian dressing.  She took the pasta salad home for lunch the following day…

Her entrée was simply called “Fish and Chips” on the menu.  With the 2 sides, it was $14.00.  The fish was fried grouper and it was very nice.  Fortunately for me, she couldn’t eat it all so I ‘had’ to take some home for a future lunch!

I think that Slawger’s missed a ‘naming opportunity’ here… Instead of fish and chips, how about ‘sea my taters’?  After all, other items on the chicken and fish portion of the restaurant’s extensive menu include such monikers as “Chick Norris”, “Mrs. Jack” and “6-Lindsay Lohen”!

I ordered a sandwich for my entrée so I only got one side with my meal.  But what a side it was!  This was my White Chicken Chili topped with Jalapenos.  Yum!  It tasted great and the ‘heat level’ was perfect for me… The next time we dine at Slawger’s, I’m ordering a bowl of it!

For my sandwich, I ordered another item with a boring name… This was my Rueben. ($11.00) The marbled rye bread was toasted and the sandwich consisted of corned beef, baby Swiss cheese and sauerkraut.  Instead of the usual 1000 Island dressing, I opted for Dijon mustard.  They didn’t skimp on the corned beef that’s for sure!  My only mistake was not asking for the Dijon mustard on the side.  There was a bit too much of it on the sandwich but it was still an above average Rueben. 

Slawger’s has a big menu with several sections for diners to pick their meals from.  In addition to Appetizers, there are “What’sa Dillas/Wraps”, Tacos, Grilled “Chizzas”, Specialty “Chizzas”, Chicken/Fish, Burgers/Two Patties, Gourmet Grilled Cheese, CI Sliders/Three Sliders, Hot Dogs (100% Beef) with Two Hotdogs and Specials/Steaks.

We will return to explore the menu further!  Slawger’s American Restaurant is open for lunch and dinner 7 days a week.  They are located at 9507 Kingston Pike in Knoxville Tennessee.  Phone: 865-288-4088.  Website: http://www.slawgers.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Time Passes Quickly

As I work my way through my 8^th decade on this planet, it always amazes me just how fast time flies by.  The changes around the world and in the USA are mind boggling.  Equally mind blowing are the changes in those we love…especially changes affecting our close family members.

Our grandsons, David III and Emmett Lee are both entering challenging and live changing periods in their lives…

This photo of David III and his Dad, David II (our son) was taken only about 5 and a half or 6 years ago.  David III would have been about 12 years old.  He had recently broken his arm falling from a tree… He was young and still just a kid.  

This photo also shows David III and his dad.  Note who is slightly taller than his dad now!  At 18 years of age (19 in 3 months), David III is now about 6’5”.  Oh yes, this is his freshman year dorm room at New York University in the Greenwich Village area of lower Manhattan in New York City.  What a big life experience!

This is a great area to live in New York City!  The view from David III’s window is special too.  His dorm is located right across from Grace Church, an historic Episcopal church that was built between 1846 and 1847.  The French Gothic Revival structure is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.   

David’s mother Amy took this photo of David III looking back over his shoulder as they parted ways in Manhattan.  Somehow, he doesn’t look all that sad does he?!  What lies ahead?  Hard work and a lot of life lessons...

David III’s ‘baby brother’, Emmett Lee shares this photo with Laurie (aka Nana).  It was taken on South Bass Island Ohio which is located in Lake Erie.  He was about 9 years old at the time.

Time has moved on for Emmett too.  He is now almost 16 years old and he’s slim but he is over 6’ tall.  He loves sports and football is one of his favorites.  He has a great arm, he’s fast and he can catch just about anything you throw in his direction.

Emmett is focused on just about anything he’s interested in.  He knows who plays what positions for what NFL teams and he loves the Chicago Bears. (Cleveland Browns too) Not only does he love sports, he’s also an excellent student with great grades!

One final photo… This is Emmett’s Junior Varsity team for his high school in Omaha Nebraska.  He’s right behind #23 just to the left of center in the photo.  In addition to football, Emmett loves track and basketball.  He has sporting events or training for sports ongoing all year long… It won’t be long and we’ll also be seeing him off to whatever university he chooses to attend…

Amazing… At Emmett’s age I was at DeVeaux School, a college preparatory boarding school in Niagara Falls New York. (I was on the football team too…but I wasn’t very talented) It also seems like only yesterday when, in my freshman year I checked into Armstrong Hall at Michigan State University in East Lansing Michigan.  Time sure does fly by!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave (aka Papa)

A New Italian Restaurant in Maryville Tennessee

Once again, our friends Norm and Linda told us about a new restaurant in the area.  The difference this time was that they’d just heard about it but hadn’t eaten there yet.

So…the following day our goal for dinner was this new ‘undiscovered’ and ‘untried’ dining opportunity.  Off we went!

This is Amici, a new Italian Restaurant on East Broadway Avenue in the Five Point Community in the eastern portion of Maryville Tennessee.  We were told that they’d only been open about 3 months now.  We would have expected a restaurant like this to be located closer to the downtown area.

As their website states, “AMICI     PIZZA + PASTA + BEER!”  “Food has consistently been a contributing factor to creating friendships.  Our food reflect this theme: simple with a focus on quality ingredients that can create lasting impressions.  We also like beer…”

For us the interior of Amici is elegantly sparse…minimalist with class.  Seating runs the gamut from side by side tables along the walls, tables for 4 freestanding, seating at the bar and that large communal table with stools in the second photo.  

I personally don’t like side by side tables as any conversations are ‘shared’ with adjoining tables…it’s all about a lack of privacy.  The communal table was quite busy by the time we left…and patrons were still coming in. 

Happy hour is from 5 PM to 6 PM with a dollar off any beer served in this window.  Love the names for some of these craft beers!  “Country Boy Shotgun Wedding”, “Foothills Sexual Chocolate” and “Wicked Weed Napolean Complex” were among my favorite names.

We like beer and the beer menu had plenty of variety so we started our culinary adventure with a couple of brews.  Laurie had the “Dogfish Head Flesh and Blood”, an IPA from Milton Delaware, and I had the “Founders Solid Gold”, a lager from Grand Rapids Michigan.  Both enjoyable brews were $6.00 less the dollar off for happy hour.

I ordered a Caesar Salad to go with my entrée. ($7.00) Laurie didn’t want to order a salad because she wanted to be able to finish and enjoy her entrée but she did want to try my salad.  Our well informed, helpful and pleasant waiter John, readily provided a plate so we could share.  We both really liked Amici’s version of this classic salad. 

We love thin crust pizza!  We decided that I’d order one as my entrée and Laurie would venture elsewhere on the menu.  If I’d ordered one of the 5 ‘house specialty’ pizzas, (ranging in cost from $14.00 - $17.00), we could have gotten $2.00 off during happy hour. 

However I decided to ‘build’ a custom pizza.  The base price is $12.00 with $1.00, $2.00 or $3.00 for different added toppings.  For my pizza, I chose the Pomodoro base with cheese and added Calabrian Chili’s ($1.00), Pepperoni and Italian Sausage ($2.00 each)

Given our geographical history we loved the extra thin Midwest style crust and the excellent Italian sausage!  Laurie really liked the fact that it was cut in squares or rectangles...which is what she was used to in St. Louis Missouri.

This was a top notch pizza although I must admit that the Pomodoro tomato sauce was a little sweet for me.  Amici’s owner/chef, Chris Thompson, stopped by our table to get some feedback and he told me that I would probably prefer the olive oil and garlic base…a helpful hint for our next visit.

Laurie ordered the Smoked Chicken Alfredo. ($16.00) This entrée came with penne pasta, caramelized Cipollini onions, Pecorino and Taleggio cream and Brocolini.  The sauce was not at all heavy and Laurie really enjoyed Amici’s version of chicken Alfredo!

One big plus is that Amici’s makes their own pasta. (Laurie witnessed one of the chefs assistant making it!) The pasta menu is small with only 5 choices.  This definitely helps to ensure consistency and quality for every freshly made serving. 

We were going to skip dessert but our waiter told us about their homemade gelato.  Laurie decided to go with the cherry gelato, server John's favorite, and I went for the coffee gelato. ($6.00 each) My choice was very good indeed and Laurie’s fell into the excellent category! 

We chatted with the owner/chef (Chris Thompson) for a bit and learned that this was his first restaurant venture on his own but that he’d been in the restaurant business for 20 years…since he was 15.  His last stop in the area was at the upscale and excellent Foothills Milling Company in Maryville.  As a matter of fact, Amici occupies the building that formerly served as the Foothills Milling Company Bakery!  He’d spent a number of years working at various restaurants in the Chicago area… I have several food dislikes but he assured me that since everything is made from scratch, he could modify his pasta entrees to match my wishes. 

We will return to Amici soon!  This restaurant is located at 1420 East Broadway in Maryville Tennessee.  They are open for lunch Wednesday – Sunday from 11 AM – 3 PM and for dinner from 5 PM until 10 PM.  Phone: 865-724-1710.  Website: http://amicimaryville.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by to see what was for dinner!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Kokita – Asian Dining in Sweetwater Tennessee

Once again we were scooped on a restaurant we hadn’t heard about.  As usual our friends Linda and Norm beat us to it… We love Asian food, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Thai specialties, sashimi, sushi and more!  No sooner had we heard about Kokita, and we were on our way for dinner…

This restaurant doesn’t exactly grab your eye from the outside.  Kokita is occupying part of a space that was formerly an antique/craft mall style operation.

The restaurant is big and colorful with a lot of seating!  There are booths for 2 or 4, tables for 2 or 4 and on the raised platform along the wall in the first photo you can see 2 different styles of seating where patrons are actually sitting on ‘seats’ that are right at ground level. (Aka. Japanese ‘Zashiki’ seating) If I tried sitting at one of those tables, I’d need a crane to get me up.  I’m sure that younger, more flexible and adventurous diners will use this special and traditional seating but no one did while we were there.

Of course, even more seating is provided at the Sushi Bar at the back of the restaurant.  I’m not sure how well a sushi bar will be patronized in a small town like Sweetwater but we like the idea!

We ‘had to try’ a variety of items.  This was the Roti Canai…Indian flat bread served with curry chicken for dipping. ($4.98) The curry chicken was like soup and it was very tasty.  The only issue we had with this appetizer was that one piece of the nice flat bread just didn’t get the job done.  We solved that issue by dipping other appetizers in the curry and eating the rest of it with a spoon!

As I stated above, we tried a lot of different items.  This was the Kokita Platter. ($9.59) From the left, there are the Pork Spring Rolls, Chicken Satay skewers, fried Pork Gyoza (pot stickers) and Crab Rangoon.  At the top of the photo there was plum sauce, peanut sauce and soy sauce?

Laurie liked the Pork Spring Rolls, but with my admittedly limited palate, I wasn’t crazy about them.  We both agreed that the Chicken Satay were OK but the chicken was too dry. (I solved that by dipping mine in the Chicken Curry that came with the Roti Canai) The Fried Pork Gyoza were very good and Laurie did like her Crab Rangoon.

Laurie loves sushi so we also ordered a Philadelphia Roll. ($6.50) Philadelphia Rolls are called a ‘makizushi’ type of sushi.  It was made with sticky rice, smoked salmon, cream cheese and avocado with sesame seeds.  As you can see, it was served with wasabi and ginger and soy sauce. We both thought that this was a tasty and satisfying finale for our appetizer regime!   

For her entrée, Laurie ordered one of her standard favorites…the Szechuan Beef. ($11.99) It was plentiful and she liked it a lot.  After all of our appetizers, she brought half of her dinner home for a future luncheon.

I ordered my ‘go to’ Chinese entrée…General Tso’s Chicken. ($11.99) FYI, we learned something new…this dish is pronounced “so’s”, with the ‘t’ being silent. 

This dish is described as “lightly breaded” chicken cooked in a sweet and spicy sauce served with broccoli.  First of all, describing my chicken as being ‘lightly breaded’ doesn’t really match reality.  The chicken was heavily breaded…but even that would have been OK except for the fact that it was over cooked and the chef apparently didn’t believe I could possibly want it extra spicy.

I’ve eaten a lot of General Tso’s chicken and in this case the chicken ‘nuggets’ were so hard it was hard to separate the larger chunks before eating them.  I took home about half of the order, doused it with soy sauce and a bit of spice/heat…and nuked it in the microwave for lunch a couple of days later.

Despite an issue or two, we liked the atmosphere of this restaurant as well as  the variety of Asian food options featured on its huge menu.  Our waitress was helpful and pleasant.  We will return.  FYI, the on-line menu isn’t close to complete, perhaps just listing lunch items.  Kokita is located at 501 North Main Street in Sweetwater Tennessee.  Phone: 865-924-5843.  Website: https://www.kokitarestaurant.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Highway 55 Burgers – Knoxville Tennessee

We’re always looking for a new place to eat.  When I perused a recent listing of rapidly expanding fast food and fast casual restaurants, (the latter with servers), I discovered that we had a Highway 55 Burgers, Shakes and Fries location in Knoxville.

We love a good burger so on a recent weekday when we were in town running errands we gave Highway 55 Burgers a try.

This is the Highway 55 Burger location on Kingston Pike in Knoxville.  It’s one of four franchised locations now operating in the greater Knoxville area.

Here are 2 views of the dining area inside Highway 55 Burgers.  The pink and teal colors, old time music playing in the background, 50’s décor and murals on the wall are all intended to evoke the old 1950s diner atmosphere.  I was never fond of pink and teal, even back when I was a teenager in the 50s but it was a fact of life in those days.

The first negative Laurie picked up was that the dining area was, to use slang terminology from back in the day…‘grody’!  The very first thing we noticed was floors were really sticky, table top was sticky, the condiment bottles on the table were sticky, the whole interior could have used some serious attention.  

Highway 55 Burgers uses the open grill concept much like Waffle House and a few other fast casual restaurants.  The idea is that customers can watch their food being freshly prepared and the staff can greet customers as they enter the restaurant. (We were greeted by the grill cook)

It was interesting to note that while we were in the restaurant, all the customers sat in the back in booths rather than at the high tables or at the bench/chair seating in the front.

We liked the murals on the wall in the back of the restaurant.  There were 5 of them.  This was the only one I could take a photo of without the overhead glare from the lights…but it gives you the idea.  We thought that the rest of the wall décor was a bit sparse and didn’t really project the 1950s very well.

For a beverage, we both opted for a small lemonade.  We had a $2.00 coupon for a combination meal.  The lemonade was a decent choice.

Highway 55 Burgers, Shakes and Fries was founded in North Carolina in 1991.  While the majority of the locations are still in North and South Carolina, they have expanded to about 140 locations in 14 states plus Denmark and the United Arab Emirates.  Beyond the Carolinas and Tennessee, Highway 55 Burgers can be found in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Montana, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

On to the food… This was Laurie’s burger and fries.  She ordered a double “All-American Cheeseburger”.  They come topped with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, pickles and your choice of American, provolone or pepper jack cheese.  She chose the provolone and left off the lettuce and tomato.  FYI, the waitress told us that each burger patty weighs 2.5 oz. so Laurie’s double was a 5 oz. burger.

The burger was OK…but nothing all that special.  When it comes to fast/fast casual burgers, we would much prefer Freddie’s Steakburgers or Steak ‘n Shake. 

I ordered the same thing…a double All American Cheeseburger.  I also left off the lettuce and tomato but added pepper jack cheese and grilled jalapenos.  I liked the addition of the jalapenos.  It provided some heat and a bit of crunch!   

The French fries… We thought that they were under-cooked.  The outside was as soft as the inside.  They were a little mushy to the taste…definitely not our favorite fries!

Highway 55 Burgers ‘lost’ Laurie with the sticky everything… She said she’s not going back.  Beyond that, in our opinion, the food wasn’t anything special.  I will admit that with 140+ locations, it’s obvious that somebody really likes these restaurants.

This particular Highway 55 Burgers, Shakes and Fries location is found at 9314 Kingston Pike in Knoxville Tennessee.  They are open daily from 11 AM.  Phone: 865-851-7304.  Their website can be found at https://www.hwy55.com/locations/knoxville-kingston-pike.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave