Fat Burger – 348th Federal Way, WA

I met the wife at her work for lunch. We headed over to Fat Burger with one of her coworkers in tow. The restaurant was clean and not very busy. Fat Burger has a great choice of burgers and you can customize them to your liking. You also have a choice of fat fries (steak fries) or skinny fries (normal fries).

The wife ordered a Mushroom Swiss Cheese Burger with fat Fries. I had a Double Burger with Pepper jack Cheese with fat fries and my wife coworker had single burger with fat fries. The total came to around $32.00. The burgers were nice and juicy and a little greasy. Along with the cheese I had mustard, mayo, relish, tomato and lettuce. I skipped the onions. The steak fries were excellent.

There were no complaints and everyone seemed satisfied. I would give the total experience an 8 with cleanliness a 9, food a 8, service an 8 and price a 7. Nice place to go for a good burger. Fast and Friendly.

It's Got a Couple Good More Years

My son got me a great deal on a riding lawn mower back in 2002. I had just moved into a new house that has ¾ of an acre to mow. My son was working for a wholesale distributor at the time and they had a demo mower they wanted to get rid of. I was able to get it for $800 including the bagger attachment. I thought it was a pretty good deal.

So far it has made it through 11 mowing seasons and is on number 12. Sure I have had a few minor things go wrong with it over the years. Like the time I miss judged the turn and the mower ran half way up my cyclone fence bending the turning tie rod. It is easy to fix. Just take it apart and beat the hell out of it with a hammer on concrete until it is straight and reinstall.

I had to replace the battery after about 4 seasons and somewhere along the way climbing fences made the steering rather sloppy. But it still runs. Then there was the time I ran it into the rock flower garden and one of the blades came off. I changed the blades eventually somewhere in its fourth of fifth season. It took me awhile to figure out how to get the blades off. Running it into the rock garden seemed easier.

Somewhere along the way I lost one of the exhaust pipe bolts. Tried to fix it, but I did not have the right bolt. I had to make do with what I had. A little exhaust leak never hurt anyone and my hearing has been going bad for quite some time.

I have only had to replace the gas cap twice after forgetting to put it back on and running over it with the blades going. Not bad for 11 seasons. My brother got me a new oil filter one year. It was a little large for the mower, but he said it was an over sized and would protect the mower better. It worked well for about a half season until the rubbing on the frame cause a pin hole leak and I lost half the oil. I am sure that was not the greatest on the engine.

The tires have that green slime stuff in them and I don’t have to worry about flat tires. The mower also works good picking up leaves in the gravel driveway. It only picks up a few rocks. Around the 9^th season the mower deck belt snapped. I picked up a new one and changing it was easy. At the beginning of the 11 the season the mower started acting like something was slipping and the ride was jerky. I decide I had better tackle taking the drive belt off. Removing the drive belt is no easy task. When I finally got it off I realized it probably had another season of wear left. It was only cracked in a couple of places and only had a few chunks missing. But since I had it off already I decided to go ahead and replace it.

I also put on a couple of new blades. It is amazing how well new blades cut the grass and seem to have eliminated the clogging problem I have had for the last few years. There was not much left of the old blades.

Even with a new belt the mower still slips and jerks when you are in forward. My neighbor said I should check the oil in the transmission. He is probably right, I should do that. I went out this week to mow the lawn and the battery was dead. I check the water level. The cells were a little low, so I added water and put it on the charger. I got it running after a few minutes.

I went out today and the battery was dead again. I put it on the charger. No luck. But it did make a big back fire. I decided to use jumper cables and hooked it up to our boat battery and after another big back fire I got it started.

I think the back fire made it leak a little more exhaust and sounds a little louder. I got the lawn mowed even with the jerking motion and the loud exhaust. I parked it in the garage. Took out the old battery so I can get a new one this week.

I think it still has a couple of years mowing left in it.

A Great Start to Memorial Day Weekend

We were going to pull out the RV and go RV’ing for the 3 day weekend. We even had reservations at Diamond Point in Elma. But for some reason we both decided we wanted to stay home and not fight the crowds, the traffic and gas at $4.25 per gallon. We figured we would stay home and maybe do some fishing and a few small projects around the house. My wife asked her co-worker and his wife (Steve and Brandy) if they would like to go fishing with us on Saturday to Clear Lake. We had been to Clear Lake 2 weeks prior, but ran into difficulties when the battery for the trolling motor went dead. We had to invest in a new one.

Saturday arrived and our friends met us at our house around 9:30 am and we headed out to the lake. We arrived around 10:30am and the boat launch was not crowded at all. We got the boat backed in. Parked the boat and trailer and headed off to catch the big one. Oh wait back up we had to turn around and go back in as the wife left her purse in the car. We did not want to take the chance of someone breaking into the car and her fishing license was also in her purse.

We started down the north side of the lake figuring we would do some trolling. We all had a wedding ring with a worm on, except for Steve. He was using a flat fish lure. As we headed down towards the east end of the Lake, the lure paid off and Steve caught the first fish. Brandy kept getting a few hits on her line and then the wife caught her first of four fish. As we started to come around on the East side of the lake, Steve got his lure stuck on something on the bottom of the lake. We all pulled our lines in and put the boat in reverse and tried to get the lure to break free. But no luck, he ended up breaking his line and losing his lure.

We made 3 trips around the lake in about four hours and caught 7 fish and lost a few more before we could get them in the boat. Brandy finally got one hooked good and got it on board the boat. Most were Rainbow, but one was a Kokanee. Unfortunately, the closest I got to catching a fish was reeling one to within 3 feet of the boat.   

We had a couple of instances of lines getting tangled. That’s bound to happen when you have four lines trolling out of one boat. We even snagged another boats line and began pull the smaller boat along with us.

All in all we had a great time, caught some fish. got a little sunburned, watched 2 eagles flying overhead, watched people on other boats and those that live along the lake. When we decided to head in we almost got ran over. We were trying to put the boat on the trailer as another boat came flying into the boat launch, cutting us off and making us start over. They did not say a word and just ignored us. The guy on the boat behind us waiting to come in, started loudly saying how rude the guy was. No big deal. It did not ruin our fun. We got the boat loaded and headed home and only had to make one minor pit stop to put the back tie down on the boat and hook up the boat trailer lights.

Two more days left of the holiday weekend and I hope everyone has a safe Holiday Weekend!

ALWAYS LISTEN TO YOUR WIFE

I find it a good rule to always listen to what your wife has to say and go along with what she wants. It makes life much more enjoyable.

We decided to go watch the grandson play baseball. The wife told me the game was at Browns Point Elementary. We took off from Orting and headed to Federal Way. It does not matter which way you go getting to Browns Point is not fast and easy . I decided to go via Federal Way and went down 356^th. As we were heading down the road I realized that we were getting low on gas. Up ahead was a Shell station and I began to pull in. The wife said we should go to Fred Meyer to get gas as it will be cheaper and it was right down the road from the Shell station.

Well, I knew that Fred Meyer was “not” right down the road, she was thinking about 21^st SW and we were on about 29^th. But rather than argue I went along with what she wanted to do. We follow the Road and it turned west away from the Twin Lakes area. So at the first main cross street I took a right and sure enough we ended up at the North Shore QFC were I took another right and headed back to 21^st SW and Fred Meyer.

We pulled into the Fred Meyer parking lot and made our way over to the gas pumps. Not only were there several cars in line for each pump, the gas was 2 cents more expensive than the Shell. I got in line to wait and it was taking forever. I looked over and there was an old lady waving her arms and I think cussing at me to get out of her way. She was blocked in and could not get out. I obliged her and moved the car to another line. When it was finally our turn, I pulled up to the pump, got out and began to pump gas. Now I knew why it was taking so long. The pumps were going very slow. They were pumping at a rate of 25 percent of normal.

We finally got our gas and decided that we needed to go over to Subway to get some lunch. We pulled out of Fred Meyer, took a right and got into the left hand turn lane to head us back in the direction of Browns Point. The light turned green and the car in front of us started to move. I stepped on the gas and immediately had to slam on the brakes as some idiot was running a red light and the car in front of me had to stop suddenly to avoid hitting them. I looked in my rear view mirror and the car behind me slammed on their brakes and barley missed from rear ending me.

Well we got our Subway sandwiches and finally made it out of Federal Way alive and headed to the field to watch some baseball. We got to the field and had to search for a spot to park. Once we found a spot we got out and walked to the field and tried to find my daughter and grandson. They were nowhere to be found. My wife said she was sure the game was there and she saw my daughter’s car in the parking lot. We looked around some more with no luck. Finally the wife texted my daughter and my daughter replied saying the game was at North East Tacoma Elementary instead of Browns Point Elementary.I was not sure where the school was and my daughter replied "right off of 356th across from the Shell station."

We got back into the car and headed over to the right field and as we drove up we could see the Shell station where I tried to stop and get gas in the first place.

My Grandson played a great game, had a great hit and pitched the last two innings for a win. Like I said, always listen to your wife. It makes life go so much easier.

Teatro ZinZanni – ICALIENTI! – Seattle, WA

After hearing about this place from a friend and checking it out on the web we decided to make reservations to see the show and have dinner. Again this is not somewhere you go every weekend. A bit pricey. You can figure you will spend around $300.00 for two.

Teatro’s is right across from McCaw Hall on Mercer. Parking is easy as there is a parking garage right next door. Teatro is part circus, part dinner show. It takes place in an antique Belgian spiegeltent or mirror tent. The show and action is all around you. The meal is a five course dinner. Ticket pricing includes the meal. Drinks, extra appetizers and tip are additional.

When you walk into the lobby you get the feel of a circus or Mardi Gras. There is a large bar to satisfy your needs while you wait to be seated. There is also a boutique or gift shop. Seating is around the perimeter and in the center of the tent. The perimeter seating is in a booth and they cram 8 people into each booth. Center seating is table seating with just as many people. The waiters and waitresses are a big part of the show.

ICALIENTI ! was very entertaining and the entertainers were excellent actors, circus performers and singers. The five course meal was Good.

The appetizer was Oaxaca Polenta, Oaxaca & handmade chorizo polenta cakes with roasted red peppers & sun dried tomato tapenade, jalapeno stuffed Calamata olives, garlic almonds and Manchego cheese, my wife and most of the others at the table did not care for it. We also order some cheese bread as an appetizer. I thought it was OK.

The soup was Creamy Cremini Mushroom & Bronzed Nopales eith cilantro crème fraiche, which I thought was very good.

The salad was a Watercress, Jicama & Tomato Salad with avocado, arugula and toasted pumpkin seeds, dressed with sweet honey-lime vinaigrette, also very good.

The main entrée followed and you had your choice of Guajillo Tenderloin, Northwest Prime hand-cut beef from Double R Ranch topped with a rich & spicy Guajillo chile demi-glace served with gorgonzola & green chile potatoes au gratin and seasonal vegetables ~or~ Wild King Salmon, Wild-caught King Salmon with a chipotle chile & lime butter served with mild cilantro - Pascilla pepper green rice and seasonal vegtetabless ~or~ Handmade Stuffed Masa Cakes, Goat cheese, fresh herbs, hazelnuts and chick peas baked inside our handmade corn cakes, served with our savory Spanish mushrooms, mild pascilla-cilantro rice and sauteed red chard.

We chose the tenderloin, it was very good. For dessert we had Brazo di Gitano, Raspberry-white chocolate mousse filled almond cake roulade with balsamic macerated raspberries and white chocolate.

 

Throughout the meal the wife and I share what they called the Wine Flight, which consisted of a new wine sampling (2.5oz. split two ways) for every course of the meal. The show was intertwined with the five course meal and the entertainers incorporated members of the audience into the show.

All in all I thought the adventure rated 8 out of 10. With the food being 7 out of 10 and the entertainment being10 out of 10. I would love to go back and see a new show.. I just need to wait until the wallet fills back up from the money tree.

El Gaucho - Tacoma, WA

I finally found a restaurant that I am looking forward to visit again in the future. Let me start off by saying this is not a restaurant that I can afford to go to very often. You will typically spend around $100.00 to $200.00 per person, depending on your tastes and your wallet. But it is well worth it.

The only negative I have to say was I was surprised that they did not have the Seven, when I ordered a Seven and Seven. I had to settle for a Crown and Seven.

The parking is easy using the valet parking with an entrance right off of Pacific. If you arrive early, you can settle in at the bar until they call you for your reservation. The atmosphere is dark and cozy. It takes a while for your eyes to adjust.

We settled into our elegant table for four and were immediately pampered by the wait staff. The menu is a la carte.  We decided to order the Table-side Caesar salad, $12.00, the Steak El Gaucho, $56.00 and the Full Gaucho Baked Potato, $7.00. The Caesar Salad dressing was prepared fresh right at our table and was one of the best tasting salads I have ever had. The service continued to be spectacular. We would take one drink out of the water glass and they refilled it. The steaks arrived exactly as we ordered them. It must be the 28 day aging process that made it the best steak I have ever had.

The bake potato was huge and the wife and I shared. They prepared the potato with all the fixings right at the table. The waitress used two forks to mix the potato and toppings. 

By the time we were done, we were both too full for desert.

Overall I would have to give the experience 10 out of 10. I never thought I would say that. I can’t wait for the next big occasion to go back. Hmm…. Maybe our anniversary.

Costco

You have to love going to Costco and fighting the crowds. Especially in the late morning or early afternoon, Sunday right after church. You know church is out, as this is the time Costco has better dressed shoppers than Nordstrom’s.

Trying to find a parking spot can be very taxing. Waiting for someone to load their car to get their space is a practice in patience. If they see you are waiting, they seem to slow the whole loading process down. They take their time taking the cart to the cart return and walking back to the car. They act like they have never put on a seat belt and it is there first time back up the car.

Once you get parked, you have to make it across the parking lot without being killed by the guy in the Lexus texting and eating a Costco hotdog. You have to make your way past the exit and entrance to the store without getting hit by an overloaded cart coming out of the store or an impatient shopper trying to navigate their way into the store. You have to do all this just so you can get one of those over sized carts. At least at Costco, most of the carts are in good shape. Not like Walmart where every cart I pick either has a square wheel so it goes thump, thump, thump down the aisle or one wheel that is locked up causing you to veer off either to the right or left making it impossible to go in a straight line.

I finally get my cart and have to remember to show my Costco card just to get into the store. I am not sure if they are worried that a non-Costco member might come into the store, look around and start stealing secrets or what. You have to have a card to purchase anything anyway.

Trying to get by the front door impulse aisle is always a challenging task. They like to line up all the treasure bargains under $100.00 right by the door so by the time you make it past, your cart is already full. And it took you a half hour to get through as everyone who came in stops and gawks at the new treasures.

Once you get by the impulse items, things thin out a little bit. The office supplies aisle is always vacant. And going up and down the merchandise aisle looking for the new gadget is usually fairly simple and sometimes interesting. I always like listening to the husband and wife arguing as they go down the aisle. It doesn’t matter what they are arguing about, but they guy always seems pissed off and the woman is pleading to her husband.

I can’t figure out why they just don’t put a cart parking lot in front of the produce cooler. They might as well. Because there is always one or two shoppers who leave their cart in the door way to the cooler and go inside to get what they want blocking anyone else from entering. Once you get inside there is always someone examining every package trying to decide which one they want and won’t even let you close to the baby cucumbers.

Going thru the bakery and meat department are usually pretty uneventful, But you get into the same parking the cart issue when you come to the dairy cooler and this is also where the sampling begins. I have never seen so many people who act like they have not eaten in months, but who look like they have had more than their fair share of food at the same time. They jockey there carts to get into position to wait in line to get their free sample. No more than a quarter of a gold fish cracker at that. They will stand around the sample table trying to get more than one and they don’t care if they are blocking the whole aisle or not. I even heard one guy argue with the sample lady. She was trying to tell him the sample was not completely cook yet and he kept insisting he want a sample anyway and would wait even if it took 15 minutes or longer.

Then there is the family who just got out of church and insists that they are able to get enough samples to feed the entire congregation. I just feel like I should stand by the sample table and start giving out $1.50 so they can get a hotdog and a soda and at least have a decent meal.

The check-out process is painless, except for paying the bill. Thank goodness that Costco has well trained polite employees and that I haven’t reached the limit yet on my American Express.

On the way out the door you pass the concession stand and it is amazing how many of the people you saw stuffing their faces at the sampling table are now stuffing their faces, with hot dogs, pizza, stuffed chicken bake and ice cream sundaes.

Getting out to the parking lot I start loading my car, trying to figure out how to make it all fit. I look up and notice a car waiting for me to finish up so they can have my spot. So I take my time finishing loading, taking the cart back to the return, getting into the car, putting on my seat belt and slowly backing out the car like it was my first time doing so.

Rude customer getting gas

Here we go again. I stopped by the Safeway store in downtown Renton to fill up the car with gas. At this particular Safeway the pumps are labeled entrance and exit only. Customers need to get in line to pull up to the next available pump. I pull in behind a young lady who was first in line for the next two available pumps. There was a gentleman pumping gas at the farthest pump and an older lady pumping at the pump nearest the young lady in front of me. Both finished pumping gas at the same time. The older lady was a little slower getting into her car than the gentleman in front. I guess the girl in front of me was on her way to the emergency room as she could not wait until the older lady moved her car. She pulled around the older lady and backed her car up to the front pump and blocked the older lady from even pulling out of the island. We all ended up waiting until the girl finished pumping her gas so the older lady could pull out and the next two, including me, to pull up and get our gas. I hope the young girl made it to the hospital in time before she bleeds out.

Family Shopping

When I was a kid, family shopping meant every other Saturday, Dad and Mom loaded up my brother and sister and I into the rambler station wagon and made the trip to the A&P or Thriftway where we bought our biweekly groceries. There were no seat belts, so us kids were allowed to roam the back seat and the rear cargo area.

Today you do kind of the same thing. Mom and Dad load the 5 kids, grandpa and grandma, uncle and his wife and 3 kids into the minivan and head to either Walmart or Winco. In my opinion Winco has to be the least taxing of the two. At least you know you will find some bargains and it will not take you an hour to check out, because Winco has more then 2 check stands open at a time.

It all starts when you get a cart and walk thru the door. Standing there right in the middle of the door is that family of 10 blocking everyone from coming in as they get the babies into the shopping carts, herd the kids down the aisles, pull out there shopping lists and act like they don't know where they are.

The challenge my friends is in negotiating the aisles. You have to be very alert. There are many dangers lurking around every corner. you never know when you will find a shopping cart left standing right in the middle of the aisle by some over weight homemaker who is twenty feet down the aisle. As you try to inch your way around her cart she comes back and is glaring at you like you just stole her purse or something. Or when all you want to get is a can of chicken noodle soup, you can't get close to the shelf as someone is blocking it with there cart and body as they read the label on every can and can't make up there mind which generic brand to buy.

The real difficulty comes when you head down the aisle and come across that family of 10 and everyone is all over the aisle pulling items of the shelf and being yelled at in a language I don't know. When you finally get around them you breath a sigh of relief until you turn the next corner and there they are again. you can't figure out how they got there so fast. When you get up to them, you can't seem to make them even move.

Then there is the lady who spent 10 minutes picking out cucumber and will not allow anyone to get close while she is doing it. Or the guy that is sampling all the bulk food while all you want to get is some sunflower seeds.

There is always one lady that likes to figure out what direction everyone is going and do the opposite. She hugs the end caps when she turns the corners into the next aisle and you have to swerve out of the way or risk being sued for a head on collision.

I like the couple who came to Winco for there date night and they are slowly walking the aisles and giggling to each other. Every time you try to get around them they speed up.

All in all I still enjoy the ritual of shopping. My problem is I know what I want to get when I am there and seems like everyone else does not have a clue.

Finally I make it to the check stand, unload my groceries and head to the end of the conveyor belt to bag my groceries. Only I can't get there. The person in front of me has left there cart in the check out lane while they bag there groceries and ignore you as you say excuse me trying to get around them. I figured it out the very first time I went to Winco that you take your cart and park it at the end of the conveyor belt. Seems to make everyone happy. But most don't seem to want to be respectful.

I head out the door to the parking lot and here comes the mini van full of the family I kept running into in the store.

I guess one thing has not changed. The kids are not wearing seat belts and are all over the back seats and in the cargo area.

Next, we need to talk about sampling at Costco.

Loose Wheel - Tacoma, WA

We went with our neighbors to Olympia to pick up some bare root plants for our yard and pond area. Our neighbors recommended that we go to to the Loose Wheel off 6th street by the Narrows bridge in Tacoma for lunch. We walked in and the place was virtually empty at lunch time on a Sunday. The interior was impressive, bright, clean, with lots of shiny tables, both table height and bar height. At one end is a pool table and at the opposite end is a whole wall of pull tabs with a long bar on the back wall in between. The menu had a large variety of items from which to choose. The server was cheerful and friendly.  She took our orders and said our appetizers would be out in a few minutes. .

Fifteen to twenty minutes passed before our appetizers arrived. Our neighbors commented that the wait was unusual. We ordered deep fired pickles to start. They were crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside and had a bit of a bite and spice. We dipped them in their special ranch sauce. I would rate them a 9 out of 10. I ordered chicken and Jo Jo's and the other three in the party ordered hamburgers.

We finished our appetizers and were waiting for our main lunch. I had a good view of the kitchen where I could see the cook working. He was busy eating something and then scratched his nose and face with his gloved hands. The waitress somehow forgot that we were in the bar and ignored us for quite a while. Finally she came over and asked if we would like refills of our ice tea. She should have been automatically coming by and offering to fill up our ice tea instead of taking so long, asking and then going to get the ice tea pitcher. Again our companions comment that this was very unusual.

Finally lunch arrived. The food was hot and had a good presentation. We had requested no tomatoes on one of the burgers and the waitress took it back to the kitchen to have the tomato removed. One of the burgers also had a fried egg that was suppose to be over easy but looked like sunny side up HARD.

My chicken and Jo Jo's were good, crispy and well done. A 7 out of 10. Everyone else had no complaints.

Overall the food was a 7, Service a 3 with an overall rating of a 6. Definitely would like to give it another try, if only for the fried pickles and hope the service would be better.