Memorial Day

From the time Joe's dad was diagnosed with cancer, his wish was to have his ashes shot off with his proud canon at his beloved hunting spot. This Memorial Day weekend (Sunday) was chosen for the proper send-off. Yes, those were pink and purple plastic Easter eggs holding dad's ashes. Not so manly..., we were pretty sure Dad had something to say about that.  

 Still, he was quite happy for the Bang that the canon made. The second one was even louder! More black powder.

Then we visited him at cemetary with a wreath. It turned out to be a gourgeous day after a morning thunder shower.

Today, Monday, we finally got to go fishing in the morning. Only fitting to fish Dad's favorite trout stream on this Memorial Day. Joe caught a nice 10" brook trout for dinner. We had a good morning fishing!  

Lamprey Traps

Joe and his brothers have been contracted for US fish and wildlife to check and gather data on four lamprey traps in the area.  They had done it for years with dad. This year Joe's been in charge with the project. They have four more weeks left out of nine. Sea lamprey are the invasive specie that had come into the Great Lakes water ways years ago. They are like vampires to the trout.
On Saturday for the first time I got to go along with Joe and Mark to watch how it was done.

Fortunately lamprey's peak run has passed by now. They only caught a couple of lamprey at all four traps.

On the road we encounter a pretty big turtle crossing. It's always fun to be out in the nature. You never know what you might see! 

Eat Your Heart Out

It was a warm, even rather HOT, summer-like weekend up here, concluded with a thunder storm this afternoon. Unfortunately I had to work all weekend. The highlight for me was the sandwich Joe made for his fishing trip. Joe created his version "Three Little Pigs" sandwich after an awesome sandwich Bourdain had somewhere in Chicago.

The sandwich had bacon, ham, breaded pork, topped with a fried egg, on freshly baked bread!! Trust me, I took my lunch a bit earlier than usual at work. It was gooey good. I just wished I could have tasted it on the river bank.

I might have missed being on the river yesterday morning, but Joe brought home a couple of fish. Nothing like driving home from a day working to find Joe grilling something for dinner. And that something to be freshly caught fish. The first official catch of the season. A beautiful rainbow trout (top); the bottom one was an accident, badly hooked.

Grilled to perfection and complimented by luxurious morel mushrooms, the fish was very enjoyable. I couldn't quite put it in word, but I understood why people pay lots of money for morels. It was a grand taste of spring/ early summer in the deep woods.

THIS... I really would have loved to share with everyone. But then, there was not enough.....

Asian Flare

We're still alive and well! Yesterday I had a rare (once in a few blue moon) early shift, so I got off work at 3:30. It was great that I still had plenty of daylight left. I cooked "tonkatsu-don," thin breaded pork cutlets served over rice.
Also, I noticed our first (and only so far) tulip opened yesterday morning.... 

Spring is here... along with lots of flies buzzing around. I guess no bugs, no spring, no flowers.
Warm weather is a good excuse for fresh spring rolls, too. This was from the night before...

The main dish was Thai style noodle with shrimp. Yum.... 

I hadn't made the time to make any sweets for a long while... it was time to cure Joe's chocolate cravings. My regular moist brownies with white chocolate chips for dessert.

Joe's out fishing this morning with his cousin. Hopefully they are not eaten alive by ticks. Now I better get ready for work.

Happy Anniversary

This past weekend was our anniversary, and we treated ourselves to Cirque du Soleil, Quidam. We were certainly glad that they came to Duluth, MN, the west end of Lake Superior, and that we took a trip there. Due to the severe lack of photos taken, Joe just took pictures from our computer screen (above) and our tickets as evidence. But believe me, the show was definitely memorable.  

And we might just have found our favorite sushi place, though it's 5 hours away from us. We just need to find another excuse to drive to Duluth!!