Palm Trees For Winter

I’ve never come to fully appreciate the beauty of a palm tree. Being surrounded by them my whole life, to me they were always “just a tree.” You take certain things for granted when you’re around them all the time, and for me, one of those things are palm trees.

Man, lemme tell ya…I cannot WAIT to see palm trees in two days.

Kara and I are flying to Florida on the busiest travel day of the year (Wednesday) and will be spending 6 glorious, sunny days in my home state. We’ll be spending Thanksgiving with family and friends, rollercoasting in Orlando, and seeing the Mighty Florida Gators send the florida state seminoles to the hells of six and six. Everything about this coming week has me absolutely giddy.

I can’t wait to see my parents for the first time since August, and devour hoards of turkey and cranberry and mashed taters and everything else amazing that comes with Thanksgiving.

I can’t wait to gorge on All You Can Eat with a bunch of close friends.

I can’t wait to go back to Orlando, check out the area, ride MANTA and get a new credit at Universal.

I can’t wait to finally be back in THE SWAMP for the first time this season and watch Florida demolish the Noles.

And most of all, I can’t wait do all of this with Kara at my side. This truly is going to be a week worth being thankful for; just like this entire year has been.

Palm trees, I’m coming home.

Stir-Fried Heaven

My eating adventures in the North have been both expansive and satisfying. I’ve been introduced to the wonders of cheese curds, Chipotle, Cheesecake Factory and everything-on-a-stick at the Minnesota State Fair.

And before today, I was almost 100% certain nothing could be better than those fine establishments I mentioned above…

Enter: BD’s Mongolian Grill.

This is a place that, apparently, originated in Michigan, and ever since I met Kara, she’s done nothing but rave about it. Finally, last week, the first one in Minnesota opened up and taking advantage of a birthday coupon I received in my e-mail, we ventured out to the restaurant today for lunch. I was hyped up but kinda nervous, because it seems like whenever I get overly excited about something, it’s always a letdown.

Not this time, my friends.

The place is set up so that you have full control over everything you eat. There’s an amazing salad bar off in the corner that rivals any I’ve had before, but the main attraction is the self-serve “everything bar,” as I’ll call it. You are supplied with a bowl that you load up all over your stir fried dreams onto before handing it over to the hilarious “Natural Born Grillerz.”

Your first order of business is hitting up the meat/sea food area. It is here where you have every possible meat under the sun ranging from chicken, to shrimp, to prime rib meat. All of the food is raw, btw.

Once you stack up your meat, you head to the veggies bar, and then the spices/dressing bar. Once your concoction is to your satisfaction, you get in line for the Grillerz to put it all together for you. Once back at your table, you have the option to eat your stirfry right from your plate, in a salad wrap or, as we prefer, in a tortilla with rice.

I cannot stress how amazing this place was, and reasonably priced, as well. I seriously may be addicted already, and it’s kind of scary to think about the fact that it’s located with two minutes of my job. Scary in a I’m-going-to-blow-all-of-my-money-eating-here-everyday kinda way.

Below are some pictures of my first BD’s experience. I just want to eat the screen looking at these.

And on top of my free birthday stir fry, the nice people here topped us off with an enormous desert treat.

I won’t be eating again for a week.