Big Fish on a Hot Grill

Erin and I faced our cullinary fears today and conquered what was long in the making....grilling a whole fish!!! It wasn't cheap, and it wasn't easy, thankfully our friends at Whole Foods gutted, gilled, de-finned, and scaled the Sea Bass for us, so the dirty work was over, but that doesn't mean it was a walk-in-the-park. With Roger (we named him Roger) staring at us, we preped him for our friend Mr. Weber:

We are still ameteurs as Roger lost most of his skin during cooking, but it made the filet that much easier to gobble up (Before):After:

It was most delicious, but we have some perfecting to do to be worthy of any top-chef awards!

Romantic Myrtle Beach

Erin and I spent a fabulous weekend away in the beautiful city of Myrtle Bea....oh wait, I mean....I thought that's where I was going, but my favorite people in the world tricked me!!!! It was the best trick imaginable, as Borgie planned a Fish Lake retreat for myself and 23 (at least) close friends to spend a weekend celebrating my last days as a single man. We parttook in many traditional games and activities such as sunbathing:

croquet:

Horseshoes on the beach:

Multiple rounds of golf:

Mulitple hot dogs:

Jeff Cirillo (yeah, the hot corner ladies), sporting a beautiful 1970's Fiddle Faddle deluxe:

Dancing:

Drinking (not too much of course)

and Dano:

It was a very successful weekend given there were no objectives but to kick back and relax. I really appreciate all you guys coming up to enjoy the weekend. It was a great segway into what is to come this Bastille day; lots of friends, fun, and fiddle faddle. Borgs, thanks again for rounding up all the homies, and boys, thanks for making the trek to Wisconsin to make it happen. I hope everyone was sterilized upon re-enterance into Minnesota. Thanks again fellas!!

Fiesta Fiesta

Alas the summer has hit and we have had several recent BBQ's!!!!! We decided to tee off our June with a South-of-the-Border grill out consisting of some grilled steak and chicken fajitas, along with some of our award-winning guac and some knock-your-socks-off Margheritas!! We pulled game 5 of the cup finals to our apartment window and had a spectacular evening with Bobby, Petz, Jenny, Meat, Leslie, Hall, and the Gurtner family! Great friends, terrific food (as always)!!

Last night, the Grimasuckaravencrofts had some friends over to enjoy the finer things in life...burgers, brats, and brewskies, and feeding human food to dogs. The usual suspects were once again in action and it was a relaxing early Saturday evening.

Bridal Tea

While Lou flew back to the Midwest for bachelor party madness at the infamous Borgestad cabin in Wisconsin last weekend, Linsey came down from Boston to attend a bridal tea being hosted by my girlfriend Sheila and lounge around our pool. We had amazing weather all weekend for sunbathing, feasted at a local neighborhood restaurant and the tea couldn't have been more quintessential with cucumbur sandwiches, tea, scones, smoked salmon tartines and cookies. I am so lucky to have such great girlfriends in DC (and a sister nearby) and can't wait for them to visit Minnesota for the wedding.

Guns and Graduation

Normally guns and a graduation party do not mix. However, in northern Minnesota we like to throw caution (and sometimes common sense) to the wind. On a recent trip home for Jenna's graduation, my dad seized on our friend's Chris and Melissa's curiousity by giving us a lesson about what life would be like as a sharp-shooting, NRA-membership-holding, gun-slinger like himself. A thorough safety lesson was followed by an all out competition as we raced to shoot clay pigeons (Future boyfriends of my little sisters please note our families excellent marksmanship.)

The competition continued as we played a round of one hole golf in the yard.