The lilies are looking good

My wife loves lilies, I like the Tiger and Asiatic best.  Nirak, I am marking my calendar for this fall so I can ask you for real this time if you'd like to come and get some.

I hope everyone had a good Monday, the Missus and I had the day off. Did more yard work, exterior house work and had lunch at The Oven. We hit Leon's afterwards got a bunch of goodies we never see at Russ's.  

Have you seen my ducky?

Lilly will be one year old soon.  She is something else, what that is I don't know.  Today she attacked the broom I was using to clean off the slab we put our pool on.  She absolutely hates the gas trimmer/edger and tries to bite the end while it's spinning.  Crazy dog!

She has the most expressive face.  Her ears are always moving and she wrinkles her forehead like no other boxer we've ever had.  I'm looking forward to many many years with little Lilly Pad.  

It should come as no surprise...

Here I am, I haven't forgotten what I started for no reason other than to be like so many others.  But I experienced a massive case of burnout.  I just didn't have the gumption to sit down, think about what I should say, take pictures of what I wanted to show you, edit the photos, and then plop it all down here.  

The main reason is that my Father in law was really sick the last two years and he lost his fight with acute lymphoblastic leukemia on September 21st.  Having no father figure in my life nor Grandfather for my son is something I'm having a hard time adjusting to.  Father's Day is coming up and it's another one of those "Firsts" that our family has to get past to get back to some attempt at normalcy.  

We knew how the leukemia would turn out but coupled with both of our dogs dying in late 2010, I was shell shocked to say the least in 2011.  Hell, we all were.  

The West A house trudged along and we're keeping our chins up.  It's all you can do when life kicks you where the sun doesn't shine! 

We did get a new boxer pup, Lilly six months ago.  She has brought laughter and joy back while still being a handful; as all Boxers are.  Today she escaped the backyard and I don't know how yet.  Thankfully I was in the front yard and she just wanted to be with me.    

I am sorry to those of you who may have enjoyed seeing what I was doing and then I left you hanging.  I am back and I will post.  Here and on that tumblr thingy. 

Have a great weekend! 

Hello Friends!

Hey how are you?  We're doing well here at the West A house.  Spring feels like it's here and we've been busy!  Yard cleanup is in full swing and we've taken advantage of some recent good weather to do some hiking/walking/bike riding.  

We recently visited Omaha and enjoyed a trip to the Durham Museum.  I'm a bit of a train fan so I was very glad to have finally visited.  The structure is amazing.  I tried to imagine it was 1942 and the place was busy with many people coming and going or waiting for their train.  Taxis and busses dropping off and picking up folks who may have come from New York or were going to Denver. 

Alex of course liked the model trains and the ability to go inside some of the rail cars down at track level.  Lincoln used to have a trolley system, as did Omaha.  Too bad Lincoln couldn't have kept it.

Staying on the train theme, last Sunday we hiked south on the abandoned Union Pacific line to the point where the Rock Island line crossed over.  If you go southwest on the Rock Island line there's a bridge that crosses Salt Creek, we plan on hiking to that the next time.

Have a good weekend everyone! 

Boozed up hot tub of love......

Well now that I have your attention, let me just say that I've read a lot of food related posts the last couple of years but that sentence about takes the cake!  Steve makes food I wish I could eat. Guess I'm going to have to try making that in the near future. 

Did you enjoy the weekend?  What a great couple of days!  My wonderful in-laws took "The Boy" Friday night so the Missus and I had some time to go out and let someone else serve us. And we both slept in Saturday and today, that is always a treat!

We ventured out to 56th & Hwy 2 Saturday night and had Indian food at Taj Mahal.  The place was very busy but the wait was worth it.  After the meal I was invited into the kitchen to see what Chef Raghani was preparing, he had a huge pot of base sauce going and he was pureeing it with the biggest stick blender I've ever seen!  We talked a bit about paneer cheese and after showing me his, told me to air dry my next batch in the fridge for two days to firm it up.  I was thrilled to be invited into a working Indian kitchen!

I prepared a pecan smoked honey-rosemary pork loin this evening and sauteed some zucchini and green peppers along with the pork.  This week looks to be fantastic weather wise so the grill will be hot at this house! 

I hope you're all doing well and I'll see you soon!

Happy New Year!!

Well it's 2011! I might know what you're thinking, "Where has this guy been?" Well the year ended and it's time to get the new year started on a new fresh foot. I don't have any legitimate excuses for ignoring WestADad since October. I was just lazy. Sorry! 

I'm roasting a chicken for Sunday dinner at the moment and with a recently aquired laptop at a countertop seperating my kitchen from the dining room, I felt the urge to post something.

I hope each and every one of you that comes here had a wonderful holiday season no matter what you celebrate. With Lincoln Public Schools closed since December 22nd we've been busy entertaining "The Boy". Movies, bowling, Children's Museum, Lost In Fun, and two "Christmases" with both sets of Grandparents on the 24th and 25th. I'm ready for him to go back to school and I'll go back to work.

Speaking of work, my co-workers decided to have a pot-luck back on December 23rd. So being me, I had to do something big and smoked a herb crusted ham out in front of the business that morning so it'd be right off the fire at lunch time. It weighed 8.9 pounds and was a big hit. I brought the leftovers/bones home and made a tasty ham and bean soup on New Years Day. Which was also pretty darned good according to the Missus.

I'm excited to start the new year saving up for the new deck/tiki hut I plan to build. I've laid down some plans on paper and continue to draw inspiration from TikiCentral. Some of the bars/huts/rooms posted at "TC" are simply mind blowing. One day not far from now you'll be invited over for some tasty treats and tiki drinks!

I've discovered a few new dishes the last couple of months (new to us anyways) and I'll be showing them to you soon. I hope you like them.  Chicken Yakisoba is a real favorite and easy to make too.

Since it's winter and I need a hobby to keep busy, I plan on showing you step by step my attempt to build some lamps for the tiki hut. Hopefully you don't laugh to hard at my handiness or lack thereof!

The chicken and taters are done.  I could eat dozens of these little roasted red bliss tasty treats.

Hope you have a good week and again I wish each of you a happy and prosperous 2011.

Happy Fall!!

I can't believe how the days fly by sometimes.  Summer is gone and now it's fall, my favorite time of the year.  We've been busy here at the West A House.  School and work, going here and there, meeting new people.

It's been a busy past month since I was here last, the Missus and I went to Dave Matthews at Qwest Center a few weeks ago.  It rocked as usual.  They played a new song, "Black Jack", it was awesome.  I hope the studio version turns out as good as the live version was. 

A week after Dave, we went back to Omaha and met some folks at Mt. Fuji for the first and hopefully annual "Mid-West Mai Tai Meet-Up".  We had dinner in a Tatami (tea) room with three other tiki-minded couples then migrated downstairs to the Mai Tai lounge for drinks and conversation.  Another couple joined us in the lounge and for a first time event, 10 people made for a nice party.  I look forward to doing it again!

Have a good week and if you get tomorrow off, have a nice Columbus Day.

And now for some pictures!!

Pupu ribs and ginger pineapple fried rice.
















Hand carved tiki "Nui Niho" by "Lake Tiki"-Dave Hansen of Milwaukee.
















Hot bowl of smoked pork three bean chili.

Gigantic fish float lamp by Trader Bill from Newport Beach California.

Ecstatic people getting Mt Fuji shirts. Thanks to Silverline for the picture.