Crispy rice salad. This dish is awesome. It’s very light but with full flavor and a great crunchy texture from the onions and rice.

Eggplant and tofu.

Pineapple Fried Rice. This is always a classic from my college days.

Duck Curry. I really enjoy Thai curries, much more so than Japanese or Indian style curries. Add duck to the mix, and I am a happy camper. When the fat makes its way into the already creamy sauce, it’s fantastic.

Whole fried fish.

Drunken Noodle Seafood. I never know why they call noodles drunken. Perhaps it is because you have to be inebriated to consume them. To be safe I had a couple beers while enjoying this dish.

Barbecued pork. I went to town on this dish. There is very little done to the pork and rightly so. A meat’s own fat is flavor enough, and this pork had plenty of flavor.

The table that would serve as our battlefield for ten courses of awesome.

Before I get into the delicious dishes that were served, let me point out one thing. The entire meal is prepared in a home kitchen.

The use of the limited space is quite impressive.

The planning, preparation, and precise execution of the timing is incredible. Each course is lined up and brought out with military-like precision.

Why, yes that is a half pig’s head.

Don’t forget the trotters.

Course 1: Potato, Scallop, Chive, & Flower Creme Fraiche. I could probably drink a pitcher of this. It’s creamy but light. The scallop in this dish is incredible too, perfectly seared.

Course 2: Ocean Trout, Braised Leek, and Red Currant. Nice little hint of sour to accompany the fresh sweetness of the fish and leek.

Course 3: King Crab, Pimento Cheese, Sourdough. I found out I was allergic to crab when I was in my early teenage years. I figured it wasn’t life or death, so I ate it. That was a decision I do not regret. The dish was fantastic, and I still haven’t broken out in a rash! Double win!

Course 4: Haricot Verts, Apricot Peach Yogurt, Horseradish Meringue, Smoked Almond Granola.

Course 5: Rabbit, Glazed Carrot, Radish, Celery,  Pie Dough, Raw Peas, Sage. This got everyone talking about single portion, microwavable pot pies for nights alone. For someone like me, who is married I don’t have those nights anymore. It’s pot pie for two!

Course 6: Verjus, Lemon Verbena. This was a refreshing break before we went into the heaviest dish of the night.

Craig, working away at the head.

Lord of the Flies!

Course 7: Pork, Green Onion, Bok Choy, Pork Sauce. Steamed Bun on the side. The sauce was very rich, and there was so much texture from the skin of the trotter to the meat from the face.

Course 8: Squab, Pickled Cherry. Mushrooms. This makes me want to cook squab. It’d be fun to feel like a giant with the tiny little birds.

Course 9: Blueberry Sherbet, Black Sesame, Kabosu Curd, Green Tea Cake. I’ll be honest. When I saw this dish I saw broccoli and Velveeta.

Course 10: Strawberry, Pound Cake Ice Cream, Wild Strawberry, Strawberry Pop Rocks. It’s still incredible how amusing Pop Rocks are at my age. Excellent choice.

While I believe the dishes speak for themselves, what makes the dinner so unique is that while you sit down to dinner with a bunch of strangers, part of the experience is getting to talk to them instead of minding your own business and keeping your head down.

Not only do you get to mingle with the other guests, getting up and stretching is encouraged. I highly recommend doing this as the meal is a long process. I hit a wall after the pork. You can even walk over to the kitchen and talk to Craig as he works his magic. Just don’t distract him so much that he burns your meal.

While Wolvesmouth is about food, it’s more about the experience. Getting to share a meal with other people who enjoy food is incredible. It’s relaxing and fun. When was the last time you had a meal set to the soundtrack of Eazy-E’s “Boyz-n-the-Hood” followed by Geto Boys’ “Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta?”

Good food, while serious, can be a lot of fun too.

Chips are freshly made every day and the salsa is fresh, maybe a little too fresh. Is that possible? You can taste the raw peppers in this, and that makes it VERY hot. Maybe cooking down some of the heat would help.

Camarones a la Diabla. During the meal I heard phrases from Michelle such as, “I like dishes that are this dark red. It means it’s extra spicy.”

“Tell everyone on the Internet that I love this. It’s like Flaming Hot Cheetos Shrimp.”

My dish was the Pescado Zarandeado. You split a snook in half, grill it, and serve it with some caramelized onions and lime.

You can see just how juicy the fish was even though it was grilled. I don’t know if it was just that day, but this took a while to prepare. Because it took so long to finally make it to the table and I had eaten so many chips and some of Michelle’s shrimp, I only ate one of the two fish. It was delicious though with the cheeks and belly region being soft. In contrast the outer edges were firmer, nicely grilled.

With full bellies Michelle and I made our way to the car, which was parked just outside the restaurant. I knew I had a slow leak in my tire, so the plan was to stop by the gas station and get some air for the tire. When I turned the key to the ignition, we heard a pop and saw a small plume of smoke pour from the crack in the hood. Upon lifting the hood I realized one of the vent caps popped off the battery. I tried to turn the engine over and got nothing. My thought was just to leave it, call a friend to get me (Thanks, Angie), and replace the battery in the morning.

Since the restaurant was winding down, the staff were out back and they were so helpful. They brought out limes and baking soda to clean the battery terminals. They were also going to try to jump my car the “Mexican Way” by taking out their battery and connecting it directly to mine, but when they found their batteries weren’t the same size they called a friend to bring some jumper cables. Alas, the battery was very dead (as opposed to kind of dead).

The next morning I went to install a new battery only to find out the only wrench I’m missing in my set is the 10mm, the one I needed to loosen the bolts to remove the battery. Fortunately for me the staff of the restaurant were there cleaning the grills outside. I was able to borrow a wrench and get my repair done.

Mariscos Chente. Come for the food. Stay for the mechanic work.

People watching while we sip on our beers.

Steak Frites. Cooked perfectly and not drowned out by the sauce. I want to taste the meat.

Monkfish “Francaise”, poor man’s lobster. Say what you want about the socioeconomic status of those who eat this dish, but I love it.

The dishes were well balanced without one flavor overpowering any other. I don’t think that I will be eating here regularly without some money saving coupon in the mix, because I don’t think I could take a hit in the wallet from this place regularly.

I got my new MacBook. I remember having my friend watch me on iSight on my old PowerBook as I unwrapped it. Yup, nerd.

Michelle and I took a trip to Hawaii, our first trip together.

We had too much beer and sake, so we went to Home Depot. I have a lot more pictures of us running around the place.

Oh the joys of Las Vegas. Scotch and cigars.

I took a trip to Europe. I took Michelle. This is our second trip together.

I won goldfish at the state fair. This started an obsession with keeping fish.

This was my first fish tank I started with, a small 10 gallon unit.

For Halloween I went as my friend Spencer. That’s me in the back center. I made extra masks so everyone could participate.

Only a couple years left until we’re current. Stay tuned!

I was powering through, and I thought I was doing pretty well with the pastas until I was informed the main dishes had not even arrived yet. It’s a hard life having to eat six course meals. Sorry about the quality of the photos. The lighting was low, and food doesn’t look as good when you use a flash.

So happy. We have no idea how much food is going to come out.

I’ve never seen one that big before. It’s tremendous.

Everyone has different sized hands. Use your head. Those are all almost the same size.

This reminds me of a movie I saw. It started with a pizza delivery.

It’s lame when everyone is taking pictures of food at the same time. One at a time!

Up yours, iPhone lovers! We’re the Blackberry crew!

I actually bought another domain dedicated to my fish keeping hobby. I don’t know yet if that means I will spare you my fish stories here. I may just duplicate my entries. Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to present to you, Box of Water! Although most of you aren’t into fish like I am, let me know what you guys think.

Here is my tank with lots of the same plant. It’s a bit too green, kind of boring.

I received some new plants with a few more colors, shapes, and sizes. I am not sure how I want to finalize the look, so I just planted the plants in various locations for now to watch them grow out.

Cheers! Where’s Fred?

We went back to the restaurant and stuffed our fat faces with meat, meat, and more meat. Those Koreans sure know how to prepare a meal. Fred was going to try the “water soju switch-a-roo” he is so famous for, but I kept Andrew filling up his glass with the real stuff. He complained at each shot he took, even though it was a total of four with the meal.

“This is my bottle I brought from home. I filled it with water and resealed it.”

We got him a forty, because damn it feels good to be a gangster.

That is all Fred could muster up to drink. Michelle also says, “Yech!”

Fred made a comment of preferring straight vodka or rum to malt liquor. So we obliged him with a cup of Ketel on the rocks. Soon after, the guys decided to play Halo 3, and we added the rule that every time Fred got killed, he would have to take a shot of his cup of vodka. Fred put the cup up to his lips and tipped the cup, but he never opened his lips. What a wuss!

Spectators engrossed in Halo 3.

Two people that drank more than Fred.

Another person that drank more than Fred.

All in all it was good friends, plentiful food, and good fun.

Before I forget and people wonder why I spelled the title of this post the way I did, this is why. For some odd reason, bees are attracted to my water lettuce in my goldfish barrel. At first it was one or two, but their numbers kept growing. It makes no sense to me, because there is no flower on the plant. Feeding time for the fish is getting dangerous.

Here is a swarm of bees, hanging on to the water lettuce.

Here is a short clip of the little buggers at work.

I added some Oto Catfish to my large tank. They swim together and suck on the glass, rocks, and leaves of plants. They’re a bit plain in color, but they swim around very slowly and seemingly very purposefully. They are fun to watch.

Full tank shot. Plants are coming in nicely.