The Impossible Burger

Intriguing. When you think about it, that isn’t a word that you would normally associate with food. You might think, ‘wow, this is intriguing’ at first, but after some thought, you’d find a better-suited word. Sometimes for better and often for worse, we have a tendency to give more credit than is due when it comes to food. Just think about the hysteria that erupts when well-known foods (such as poke and ramen) are brought to areas where the population aren’t familiar with them. Hysteria.

Then, there are the few times that you really are truly intrigued by what you’re eating. The thought of it is so complex, so mesmerizing that you can’t help but learn more about it. And no, we’re not talking about a sushirito here (aka a sushi burrito) or any other nonsensical scheme to be different, cool, or earn money fast–we’re talking about the true gems out there.

Jul192014

Boulder’s Best Burger is at 4580

I love burgers. And when I can’t make it to White Manna in Hackensack (NJ) I’m never happy with the burger that I eat. In terms of international burger quality, I somewhat recently had what was most likely my best burger outside of the United States in New Zealand at Burger Fuel but I’ve struggled to find a burger I really enjoy while living in Boulder the last few years.

I’ve eaten in their entirety the best burgers that The Buff, The Med, The Cork, Mountain Sun, Smashburger, Snarfburger, Mustard’s Last Stand, FATE Brewing Company, Five Guys, Turley’s, and many other popular locations in town. I won’t go into detail about those experiences here but I will say that Restaurant 4580 has been awarded “Hungry’s Best Burger & Fries” in Boulder, Colorado. Here’s why.

Dig this deliciousness

Value: About $10 for the standard burger with lettuce, tomato, and onions. And fries, of course. I add blue cheese and bacon for an extra $2.50, which is well worth it. So you have $12.50 for a plate that will fill up the vast majority of just about anyone’s stomach. (Trust me, I can eat more than you!)

Taste: They always have a chef’s choice burger that changes every week but you can make it how you want. The flavor profile created by the high quality basic ingredients with the bite of the blue cheese and the fat of the bacon create a confusing yet delightful feeling on your taste buds.

Cooking it Right: When I ask for Medium-Rare a touch on the rare side, they make it that way. Other locations listed above have made the burgers much further done than I ordered. The onions are also grilled, which is far better than getting a slab of raw red onion on your burger. That is just lazy.

The Fries: These might easily be the best fries in Boulder. They are crispy but never overcooked. They are not dry but also are not soaked in grease. The portion size is great and the kicker is the course salt they use to dress the fries. They’re amazing and never make it home.

There you have it. Those are my reasons that after tasting many of Boulder’s burgers I am telling you stop by 4580 for one. It is reasonably priced for the portion (steak is mixed into the burger patty), you can customize the burger so the taste is spot on, they cook it how you want it done, and the fries are simply the best. Also, 4580 just had a very nice remodel done so it’s worth checking it you. (I also highly recommend the spinach-artichoke dip. Fit claims it is the best she has ever had!)

Wanted to take a full picture, but ate too much before that could happen…

Other good eats

Obviously, I have not had EVERY burger in Boulder and I have been told Reuben’s is the best, but people also told me that I would like Smashburger so trust no one and find out for yourself. But trust me if you want to stay hungry and fit!

Jan162014

Burgerfuel vs Burger Wisconsin (Kiwi Series)

No contest. Burgerfuel wins. In all honesty, I never got to have a Burger Wisconsin burger but they should not open at 5:00 p.m. at so many locations (they didn’t open until late!). Burgerfuel served me the largest item on their secret menu at 9:00 a.m. That won my heart. With that being said, I will say nothing more about Burger Wisconsin, to be fair. (Editor’s Note: after we left New Zealand, my brother was able to get Burger Wisconsin as it finally opened, and he said it was pretty tasty. Looking forward to trying it next time around)

The first Burgerfuel burger I had was in Taupo, New Zealand. It is a chain based out of NZ that has locations in Australia, Iran, UAE, Dubai, and Sudan. (I could be totally wrong about the last three… I think two are correct.) So was the second, no more than 14 hours later. That was the impression it made on me. And these are not inexpensive burgers… they cost a ton. And I still went back.

Part of the huge family at Lake Taupo, New Zealand

First course, The Bastard. This is the largest item on their public menu. Off their website, it contains, “1/3 pound 100% pure NZ grass fed beef, melted cheddar, bacon, beetroot, juicy mango, avocado, salad, relish and fresh natural BF aioli.” It cost about $13. I didn’t get fries or a drink but someone else in our group did. Their spud fries and kumara fries were both delicious. It is supposedly 1200 calories and went down easy. The meat was cooked well and the condiments made it one of the MOST DELICIOUS BURGERS I HAVE EVER HAD. The beetroot, mango and avocado were fresh and top-notch pieces. The trademark aioli and relish caused salivation.

The Bastard

Second course, The Ultimate Greedy Bastard. Add a second 1/3 pound patty, a piece of their chicken, and an egg. There might have been one more item. This one is not on the menu, it is above The Greedy Bastard on the secret menu revealed by an employee after I complained The Bastard was too small. It was about $24 and was so good for a breakfast sandwich. I had a hard time finishing the last tenth of it. I have no ideas how many calories or grams of protein/carbs/fats it had. The employees had awesome customer service skills. The facility was clean and had an inviting but cool vibe.

EPIC! Ultimate Greedy Bastard

Trying to get my mouth around it (Aunt Raewyn in the background)

Finally, Burgerfuel invented the DOOFER. A picture is below but it is essentially a burger holder so you don’t make a mess! What an amazing idea, plus they are made of 100% recycled material. Everyone else who got a chicken sandwich and fries enjoyed their meal. I would have liked the opportunity to sample more of their menu but so far I am very impressed.

So if you are in any of the countries listed above try to stop by a Burgerfuel and let me know what you think of it! Five Guys, Smashburger, Bobby’s Burger Palace, and even In-n-Out doesn’t compare.(Alana will kill me for that last one!) This is just based off the quality of a single sandwich at each, not the meal as a whole. In-n-Out wins in that category. More New Zealand/Kiwi posts coming up! And as always…stay hungry and fit!

P.S. – Burger Wisconsin, if you want to compete, open earlier! Burgers should be available for lunch, says I!

If you want to see more of our New Zealand pictures, follow us on instagram! @nanatiger and @hungryandfit!

Question of the Day: Where is your favorite burger, whether its made of beef, chicken, tofu, or any vegan option!

BONUS KITTY PIC

Sajah literally fell asleep between my feet last night in about 5 seconds

Aug262013

Best Veggie Burger in Town: Mustard’s Last Stand (Boulder, CO)

Mustard’s Last Stand ALSO has great meat burgers and hot dogs–they are from Chicago, after all. ESPECIALLY, the hot dogs. I, however, will be focusing on their vegetarian options as…that’s what I eat! However, from Chris’ input, he’s usually always satisfied with their burgers, full of flavor and gets him satisfied. Alright, let’s look at the place!

According to our friend, a Boulder-native basically, Mustard’s has been in this same spot since before he can remember. It’s pretty tiny inside, but you can eat outside too and enjoy the day. They even offer blankets you can use to go sit by the creek that’s extremely close by. We do that sometimes, or we’ll just go to town right in the shop. The servers can be brusque, but we don’t mind, as long as we get our food. It’s best to go to non-peak hours, unless you want to be crammed in that tiny place, but you gotta do what you gotta do. The wait time is medium to long, but for me, it’s worth it.

I’ll start off with the fries. The fries here are delicious. I don’t know what they do to ’em, but the seasoning and the way they cook them make them delectable. They have that perfect crispy exterior that makes you dig for more and more. Let’s move on to the burger. And remember…we’re talking veggie burger. More specifically…the tempeh burger.

The tempeh burger

What is tempeh? It’s a soy product that comes from Indonesia and has plenty of protein for us vegetarians. You can read more about it here. Alright, back to the good stuff. This burger is definitely the best veggie burger I’ve ever had. The texture is right, the flavors are out of this world, and the condiments are perfect. They serve it with ketchup, mustard, pickle, onions, hot peppers, and sauerkraut. I think next time, I’m not gonna get the sauerkraut (I usually don’t, anyhow), because it overtook the flavor of the burger and the cheese. And the hot peppers could be a bit hotter. But those are my only complaints. The slab of cheese they throw on there is real and you can definitely tell. It’s a melt-in-your-mouth kind of experience, and one I always enjoy going back to.

Mmmmmm-mmmm!

Mustard’s Last Stand will always be a place I enjoy going to. It’s a local joint where both Chris and I can get equally satiated without feeling left out. He gets his meat, I get my tempeh, and we split the fries (but we always wish we had gotten two orders). Mustard’s has something for everyone and they never skimp on the flavor. The price is decent too. Hit this Chicago-joint up to stay hungry and fit!

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BONUS KITTY PIC

I don’t know why Sajah is getting all the spotlight…maybe because the camera can actually pick him up

Aug122013

Snarfburger (Boulder, CO) Hungry’s Food Reviews

Boulder is full of spots to grab a quick meal and there is a ton of competition when it comes to burger joints. It’s convenient for the college population and the relatively large high school. Businesses can capitalize and those that cater to that population seem to do well. Obviously Five Guys was happy with their business on the hill because they just opened a new location in the 29th Street Mall. Burger King and McDonalds are right next door to that new spot and Wendy’s has a location farther south. Mustard’s Last Stand (review to come) is probably our favorite fast food burger spot but recently Snarfburger opened on Arapahoe.

My man Ryan outside Snarfburger

Snarf’s is probably our favorite fast grab sandwich shop in town so we had to give their newest creation a try. I went with my boss twice already and I’ve had the same feelings each time. It’s okay but the comparisons to In-n-Out cannot be justified. Those who say it is better than In-n-Out are a little bit off, in my opinion. You go with the comfort of knowing that it’s not a chain, but at the same time it doesn’t have that same taste as a place like White Mana (Hackensack, New Jersey) who serve the best burger that I have ever had.

Here is some more information with some positives and negatives. The parking is horrible and the lot shouldn’t even exist. A dumpster takes up one of the few spots and the recent construction on Arapahoe has surely destroyed business in the summer. The small shop is well-air conditioned and there’s a decent amount of seating between indoor and outdoor options. They also have your typical soda fountain and offer milkshakes and concretes, which is nice. I have a hard time going to a burger joint when you can’t get a milkshake. Service has been fast and slow but that usually just depends on how busy it is. They usually have 3-4 employees during lunch rush hours and I’m sure you can’t fit many more in that small kitchen.

As for the meat, they have your standard burgers (with hot sauce), hot dogs, veggie burgers, and fried bologna sandwiches. I haven’t had one yet because they seem overpriced but that’s a favorite back east. And of course they have fries. The fries and shake are solid, although the fries aren’t as good as Mustard’s. And the prices are somewhat comparable to Mustard’s, but still seem a little on the high end. Nearly 4 dollars for a small single burger is a bit much. Especially when the majority of the patties I have had have been overcooked, pretty hard, and chewy. I think they try to caramelize the outside but they overcook the inside in the process. They probably don’t have a ton of experience making burgers so they’ll get better with time.

The absolute top reason for returning is the custom options for your burger. I’m not talking about what you can do at Five Guys with all the toppings. You can get the typical condiments and veggies thrown on, plus bacon if you desire. I’m talking about their willingness to throw 6 patties onto a single burger. You can add a patty for $1.50 and that’s what I do, six times. They get all excited when you do it and apparently I have the record for biggest burger ordered thus far. I’m sure someone (if not a CU athlete, I will return) will get a bigger burger. That one took me about 7 minutes to finish but I did it with no water or drink whatsoever. That was fun.

The bottom line is that the food isn’t good enough for me to suggest going to Snarfburger but if someone else does, I would oblige. I’d get a double bacon cheeseburger, shake, and fries and be pretty content with paying a bit more than I should. Just know that parking will be bad and the wait could be long if you go at a busy time. Oh, and I don’t know what they plan on doing in the winter with such limited seating indoors.

Snarf’s might not have hit the gold mine like they did with their sandwich shop but they still have room for growth here and I’m sure Hungry and Fit will return in the future. Because an occasional “cheat meal” at a burger joint can be a tricky way of staying hungry and fit!

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BONUS KITTY PIC

Sajah found a favorite spot under the desk

Jul082013

King Kong Fast Food (Lincoln, NE) (Hungry’s Food Reviews)

I have to talk a little about this place and even though we have pages of other and much better blog ideas, I can’t help myself. While we were doing our second thirteen hour drive of the weekend, from Iowa back to Colorado, we naturally got hungry and needed to refill our car’s gas tank. When we checked out what was nearby on Yelp (hungryandfit.yelp.com) we saw that there was a Mediterranean Restaurant named King Kong in Lincoln, NE. This sounds like a Guy Fieri intro to his places on DDD. We decided to go with this over Wendy’s and Subway despite mixed reviews and we are quite happy that we stopped by this interesting location.

The outside

The decor was all King Kong themed from a huge King Kong holding the main sign to a bunch of gorillas on the front yard to movie posters and stuffed gorillas hanging from the ceiling. It reminded me of a place down the shore on the boardwalk with all the cheap prizes and arcade games but the food was something else. I believe this is a one-of-a-kind location even though it looked like a chain. This place must be the offspring of a marriage between a Greek and a good old-fashioned American. It was all burgers, fries, gyros, “hammus” and everything related to those two. They also had Philly Cheesesteaks so maybe the Greek was from Philly.

Alana is still in her challenge so she decided to have a little cheat meal and get a vegetarian wrap while I got a double Kong with bacon. They have all the way up to Super Kongs, which are four 1/2 pound patties with bacon and cheese. The meat was not greasy and was very well, maybe too well, seasoned. Alana ate her whole wrap and they accidentally gave us two HUGE orders of fries. I wasn’t very hungry but I couldn’t even finish everything. It came out to about 20 dollars because my burger was massive but it was well worth it and had a ton of flavor. We were worried that it would hurt our stomach in the car but seven hours later and no signs of any stomach issues.

My burger

So if you are traveling across the country on 80 in a hurry and need a quick bite, or if you are Furious Pete and can eat a lot of food at once, then you should stop at King Kong for one interesting dining experience. You know that King Kong had to have been hungry and fit!

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May292013

The Best Fast-Food Burgers: In-N-Out

Do I really need to do a review on this? I don’t think so. Most people–even East Coasters–know that this is some of the best fast food you can get. But who doesn’t like a good drool? It’s mostly just on the West Coast right now, though it is slowly expanding. There’s even one in Texas. The In-N-Out company is picky about meat standards which is why (according to a news source), they haven’t landed in Colorado just quite yet. No, this review comes from my sunny home state, California.

Family gathering at In-N-Out (from left to right, relations of Fit): Brother, Fit, Uncle, Hungry, Father

Family gathering (from left to right, relations of Fit): Brother, Fit, Uncle, Hungry, Father

In-N-Out beats most fast food places because they do one thing right: they make it fresh. They cut the fries right in front of you and there’s no freezing of the food either. The beef is free of any fillers or preservatives and the veggies are fresh. They know quality. It may take longer, or cost more (even though it’s not expensive), but they have loyal customers all-over who can’t wait to sink their teeth into another burger. They also have incredible milkshakes. We like the black and white (aka chocolate and vanilla). It’s the perfect thickness and creamy with real ice cream.

Alana, you’re a vegetarian, how can you be talking about In-N-Out burgers! Well, now I will lead you to their not-so-secret Secret Menu. So instead of a burger with meat, I will get the “Grilled Cheese,” “animal-style” and, of course, a batch of their delicious fries. I can never finish all the fries, but Hungry and my brother are always there to help. Hungry likes to get the biggest you can get 4×4–4 patties, 4 slices of cheese. Ridiculous, right? Somehow, my brother always fails to tell us the WHOLE secret menu and we end up missing something. But it’s okay, Kai, we still love you.

My Grilled Cheese

If you’re in ANY state that In-N-Out resides in (CA, UT, TX, AZ, NV), you better go get some of their delicious food. And you should probably do a workout before-hand so you can rev your appetite and stay hungry and fit!

Apr232013

The Best of Best of Boulder County 2012

This is a review of a review. Every year the readers of Boulder Weekly vote on the Best of Boulder County and while it is all opinion, local businesses love to hang their awards throughout their shops and eateries. Although we haven’t even lived here for a year, we have tried to eat and venture to as many places that our busy lives allow. We are also very opinionated, especially when it comes to food. People can claim they love food as much as me but I would challenge you to put your money where your mouth is if you doubt our hunger. So I’m essentially going to flip from page to page and rant when I feel necessary so hang in there.

The cover features a picture of Naoto Kanda, the owner of Sushi Zanmai. His restaurant won Best Japanese Restaurant. Despite recommendations from my boss, Ryan, and our family/friend, Fred, we have yet to try this location because every time we walk by it is closed. Despite mediocre Yelp reviews, we’re going ASAP so look for an upcoming review.

Before I move on, since I have already gone through the whole magazine, I would like to say that this isn’t really a fair judge of the Best of Boulder County. I would venture to estimate that 90% of the votes received are from people living in Boulder like ourselves. Other towns in Boulder County, with lower populations and population density, most likely are not fairly represented but it is a poll for readers and everyone acknowledges that truth.

Best American Bistro… who cares. I don’t eat bistro sized or priced portions typically so I can’t say much about the top five here. Best Appetizers went to The Med and the one time we went we did enjoy the multitude of appetizers that our large group got so fair enough. Who cares about best brunch? Not me. I want more meals so I break them down… not combine them.

Megan's Graduation...and Chris has Bell's Palsy here so no judging!

Megan’s Graduation at The Med…and Chris has Bell’s Palsy here so no judging!

Here is the first crime. Best Asian Fusion Restaurant. Chez Thuy won with Japango coming in fourth place. Chez Thuy was one of our worst dining experiences yet. We ordered a lot of variety and nearly everything we had was bad. Not decent, but bad. The pad thai was awful. Second worst I’ve ever had to Pong Sri in New York City. Japango was also a bad meal and the menu did not represent many Asian cultures. You want good Asian Fusion… go to Kho’s Asian Bistro in Longmont. It’s New York or L.A. quality.

Kho’s

I’d have to give Best Bakery to Spruce Confections. Their pies and croissants made our family from across the country and world very happy on Thanksgiving. Breadworks serves “fresh” bread at the Farmer’s Market and by fresh I mean stale. Dot’s Diner rightfully wins best breakfast for the bucks. Don’t sleep on The Buff or Turley’s for best breakfast even though they place third and not on the top five. And please try the Panaderia on 28th Street. It has a museum’s worth of delicious Mexican and Latin American baked choices. That should definitely be on the top five for best bakery now that we think about it.

Our latest trip to Spruce

Dot’s Diner breakfast

Us at the Buff! (that's my brother on the left)

Us at the Buff! (that’s Alana’s brother on the left)

Racks of delicious baked goods at Panaderia

Larkburger winning best burger is a sham. It was the worst burger I’ve had in town yet. Expensive, slow, small, and worthless. Mountain Sun takes the cake for me, and Mustard’s Last Stand is the best burger for the buck. Moe’s bagels and service has been awful every time that I have gone and we have Einstein’s in Pennsylvania so it wins by default for having locations near New Jersey and New York.

Tempeh burger at Mustard’s (basically what Alana gets)

Las Palmeras in Longmont has the best burritos along with some Taqueria on Lashley Street. Seriously, if Boulder locations win best burrito with the population of Mexican Americans that exist in Longmont, it’s obvious where people have eaten. Not in the right place. China Gourmet and Tsing Tao are the best Chinese restaurants. China Gourmet is one of the best Chinese food places I have ever eaten in my life. If you want a good restaurant dessert, you need to go back to Kho’s Asian Bistro or Pasta Vino in Boulder. They have a tower of puff pastry and fresh fruit greatness that tops anything I had at The Med.

Pasta Vino awesome dessert

I have no quarrels with Best Fine Dining because we’ve only been to John’s Restaurant and The Cork. Ripple and Glacier win as they should for frozen yogurt and ice cream. Tibet Kitchen should win best Indian/Nepali Restaurant or whatever category it fits best into. We haven’t been happy with any Italian yet so that’s that.

Tibet Kitchen…heaven

Snarf’s sandwiches are the best. Sun Deli has some good sandwiches as well, definitely better than Deli Zone. Best overall restaurants are Kho’s Asian Bistro and Korea House. Tibet Kitchen and Mediterranean Market are best non restaurant style eateries. Abo’s is the best slice and pizzeria… the makers of this poll don’t know what a pizzeria is. The best gyro is Med Market and not Falafel King. Kho’s and Korea house have the highest quality fish for sushi we’ve had so far. Much higher than Tora and Japango. Tibet Kitchen is the most vegetarian friendly so says Alana the veggie. It also gets the best chai drink. You can tell where we like to eat right? Well that’s enough of my ranting. I’ll stop there before we get into gyms and grocery stores and useless things. We’ll try more restaurants and have a better input for next year. Stay hungry and fit!

Alana's choice...Tuna Melt with everything from tomatoes to lettuce to hot peppers

Snarf’s

Mediterranean Market platter

Jan172013

Wild Boar Burgers

If you know me, you know I have a weird diet philosophy. I call myself a vegetarian, but I will eat any wild-caught fish or hunted meat. Just my desire to go back to a more natural age before the meat industry. ANYHOW, now that you know how and what I eat, let me introduce tonight’s dinner: Wild Boar Burgers and Chips. Everything homemade, of course. It actually turned out great despite my NEVER cooking boar before and rarely (pun intended) ever cook meat. Check it out

Ingredients

2 potatoes
kaiser rolls
wild boar meat
grilled onions
tomato
spinach
pickles
garlic
dried rosemary & basil
salt & pepper

Directions

First thing I did was cut up my taters. Slice into very thin pieces, so they cook into crispy chips (fries, for you Americans)

Now, I cooked and cut up my condiments. It’s your choice if you want to do this now or later, but this is how I did it. I grilled up some onions, cut tomatoes, and pickles. I also got out some spinach to go atop the burger as well.

Now it’s time to tackle the boar meat. We got ours ground, so it was pretty easy. Put the meat in a sizable bowl so you can season it. You can season it however you want, but I used garlic, garlic pepper, salt, dried basil and rosemary. I use plenty of garlic, 2 cloves and slice it up. Oh, and a little dash of soy sauce. Then dig around and make sure it’s somewhat evened out.

Now have two pans with oil getting hot on the stove. Flatten out the patties semi-thin, just not thick. Put your potatoes in one pan and salt them up. Now put your patties in the other pan, put them on a medium-low heat, so they don’t get burnt on the outside while they’re cooking on the inside.

Now it’s really up to you to monitor the burgers and the chips. Maybe go set the table, get some drinks out. You want the chips nice and crispy and the boar burgers cooked well, but still juicy. We cooked ours for about 6 minutes. Aaaaand done!

It turned out very well, the chips were crispy, the burgers were loaded with flavor, and our bellies were very happy. I hadn’t eaten any kind of meat (last time was wild bison) in about a year. Oh, and our drink of choice, none other but gourmet root beer.

Go ahead and try out the recipe, let us know if you have any questions about anything. PS- you can see Nymeria on the step-stool in the picture above.

Cheers!

Sep042012

Who celebrated Labor Day? We Did!

So what’s it actually mean to celebrate Labor Day? It means to keep a tradition from 1882 alive, by recognizing the hard work and dedication of everyone in this fine country that works for nearly every other day of the year. Or that’s what it more-or-less meant when it was founded.

Now, it’s just another reason for people to “party” in whatever sense of that word they want to follow. Back home, I thought a lot more stores closed on Labor Day but I never count so it’s hard to tell. So much for not working on Labor Day… everyone in Target was working, and they have a lot of employees. Everyone in the grocery was working too. Maybe it’s that people, businesses, and the economy in general can’t really take a day off like it could have when our genera financial situations were doing better. We managed to take off because neither of us have actual jobs right now. But we did put our work in on Labor Day doing our general chores around the house. Cleaning the house, cleaning the litter boxes, changing a light bulb, you know, the little things. We did, also, decided to celebrate a little with some family.

Around 5:30 p.m., Alana made some guacamole with avocados that were 3 for $1. Good deal. She also made homemade chips, but flour tortillas do not make chips as well as corn tortillas. So remember that. On the way to Marga’s (her aunt) in North Boulder (Nobo), we stopped at the grocery store (Safeway) and bought some big-brand chips, a pineapple (for grilling), and some fish. When we got to the fishmonger’s counter, I looked for a fresh (non-frozen or thawed) and wild-caught (not farmed raised) piece of fish. The choices were salmon, sole, halibut, and swordfish. Swordfish was on sale, it’s one of the meatiest and fishiest fish, so that was an easy choice. Good for grilling. So is salmon, but I’ve had enough grilled salmon for a lifetime. We headed over to Marga’s house, and we were the first ones there.

Her new house, which as you can imagine has already seen tons of work, is looking great so far. There’s still a lot to be done, but the progress is really amazing for one person, with a handful of helpers that show up from time to time to contribute, i.e., Michael, us, Megan, Ben, Fred, who knows. When we got there it looked like there was already enough food prepared for eight people but we were just expecting everyone mentioned above, minus Michael, plus Fred’s brother who is visiting from Utah. Well, Fred and his brother had a fantasy football draft, so they couldn’t quite make it, leaving ALL that food for us! What a pity.

Our Lovely Feast

The feast, which was shared by the five (Megan, Ben (Alana’s cousins), Marga, Alana, and I) of us (a friend stopped over but was too full to eat), included: a beautifully presented salad with walnuts, avocado, mixed tomatoes, and blackberries… the chips and guacamole… corn on the cob, boiled in a pot… burgers with feta cheese stuffed into them… homemade potato salad…from Whole Foods (Marga’s would’ve been better)… grilled swordfish steaks… grilled pineapple… grilled peaches… and some pink wine, Rosé?

Marga’s Beautiful Salad

We were all stuffed, I had been eating since Alana started making the guacamole so I was pretty full. We brushed the cats (not the kittens and wow do they make ours seem like toys) and chatted about school starting, Ben’s soccer coaching, our job situation, etc. It was an awesome time and we were so glad that, despite moving to a new place, we had great family to spend our holiday with, even if we aren’t the biggest fans of Labor Day.

I hope you all enjoyed a nice holiday as well, and for all of our international viewers, I’d love to hear if you have your own version of Labor Day where you’re from. Please share!