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The first weekend wasn’t great but I got a few good shots.  Here was one of my favorites of last weekend’s so-called mass assension.

Check out more Balloon fiesta photos here

Blogged with Flock

The wife and I live at Walmart.  We are there at least four to five days out of the week for odds and ends.  Being a seasoned Walmart shopper, I know that one should shop early on weekends because by mid-afternoon the shelves can become quite empty.  What I don’t understand is when specific things aren’t stocked.  In New Mexico there are a couple of things that need to be stocked at all times.  Pinto beans, jalapenos, salsa, tortilla chips, re-fried beans, and tortillas are mandatory in stock, on the shelves items for any grocery store in New Mexico.  Hell I think even most convenience stores keep all these items in stock as well including limes for all the Corona purchases.

Yesterday I stopped to get a few things, milk, salsa, chips, mac and cheese, and cereal.  We are very picky about salsa and only buy the "Not so hot" Sadies brand.  No big surprise, they were sold out.  Ok, well hell let’s just make our own.  Onions, check!  Diced tomatoes, check!  Tomato puree, check!  Garlic, check!  All we need now is some Jalapenos.  I get over in the produce section and there are no jalapeno peppers to be found.  Now I am just damn furious.  I love to cook and one gripe I have with Albuquerque is that it is almost impossible to find certain ingredients.  I am not talking about exotic ingredients, I’m talking about things like pancetta, cannelini beans, and imported Italian tomatoes.  I know these are Italian and I’m living in a Hispanic influenced state so I just let these things slide, but now no jalapenos?  When will the madness end?  I live in New Mexico and I can’t buy the ingredients needed to make salsa.  Does anyone else see a problem here??

I guess my only option is to shop at a real grocery store and to ditch Walmart.  Walmart may suck but I have done tests and shopping there saves me around $80 every visit compared to shopping at Smiths, so I guess I’m screwed either way.

Here is a great photo pool I found on Flickr of The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.  Most of the photos I believe are from 2005.

If you are having trouble seeing the slideshow or want to see more photos, click here.

Ok, so the wife and I are on quite the sushi kick since our great birthday dinner out at Azuma.  We have made it a point to go for sushi at least once a week.  The frequency has helped improve Tanya’s chopsticks skills tremendously.

We have been going to I Love Sushi for lunch.  Our first visit didn’t impress me much, mainly because of poor service and only average seafood. Our subsequent visits have been nothing but wonderful.  I don’t recommend going on a Monday, only because I believe they are still working off the weekend delivery of fish.  We have noticed that on Thursday and Friday the fish is the freshest.  With any sushi restaurant, it is best to know when their deliveries are so you get the freshest fish possible.  This will only make your experience much more enjoyable.

The restaurant is located in a strip mall and doesn’t really have enough parking, especially on a Friday.  The restaurant is very nice and clean with minimal decorations.  Nothing is over done and overall it’s very comfortable.  The sushi side of the place (they also have a teppan grill) is very small with only a few tables as well as the sushi bar itself.  Regardless of the size we have never had to wait more than five minutes to be seated. This is because the service is so incredibly fast.  From our experiences, even at it’s busiest time from the time you put your order in it will be prepared and delivered to your table in under 15 minutes.

We started out with the gyoza.  They were much closer to the gyoza I remember from Japan then the ones at Azuma.  They still didn’t steam them enough, but they were definitely tasty and I prefer them all around over the ones we had at Azuma.  We normally order nigiri sushi with salmon, tuna, and of course the eel.  We also have ordered several rolls, our favorites so far being the shrimp tempura roll (which is far from raw fish but holy shit is it ever good) and the rainbow roll.  Other than the first visit, where the fish was just so-so, the fish every other time has been wonderful and the rice is flavored just right.  They aren’t big on presentation but any sushi plate is by itself a work of art.

The only real gripe was the inconsistent service.  The main problem is getting your check.  During lunch this should be a no brainer.  The food comes out with a quickness but paying for your meal by far takes the most time out of the lunch hour.  My advice if pressed for time is to ask for your check before you are done eating.  If really pressed have your payment ready when the server brings your check because they take their sweet time picking it back up again.

Here’s my ratings for I Love Sushi on a scale from 0 to 10:

• Seating Time:  9
• Cleanliness:  8
• Friendliness:  7
• Atmosphere:  8
• Overall Service:  7
• Taste:  8 (if excluding our first visit would have been a 9)
• Timeliness:  9
• Presentation:  7
• Overall:  8

SANTA FE — Gov. Bill Richardson will travel to Mexico today to pitch the idea of combining efforts to attract the first binational team in the history of the National Football League.

Get off it already!  If you spent as much time worrying about the public school system as you do about bringing the NFL to New Mexico maybe my kids would have a chance at a good education.  I bet the $5.5 million you spent buying a new jet would have helped.  Idiot!

Spending four years in Japan I am no stranger to sushi and sashimi.  While in Japan I would have sushi at least once a week.  I have only eaten sushi a few times since returning to Albuquerque.  My experiences were not bad, but left something to be desired being so spoiled on the authentic stuff.

My wife Tanya and I have birthdays that are one day apart.  Mine is on the 8th of March while Tanya’s falls on the 7th.  We decided to celebrate both our birthdays by going out for dinner at Azuma Teppan and Sushi.  I called early Friday afternoon to make reservations for 7 p.m. that night.  We showed up at 6:50 and had to wait about 10 minutes to be seated.  Not too bad considering it was a Friday night.  The atmosphere was nice, not over done with lots of oriental decor.  Just enough to let you know you were in a Japanese restaurant.  The noise level was nominal, and we were able to have a conversation without having to raise our voices.

The dinner started out with problems.  We sat there for over 10 minutes without being asked for our drink order.  I ordered a Kirin Ichiban (Japanese beer) and Tanya ordered a glass of chardonnay.  When our waiter returned he had forgotten my beer but had kindly added a glass of water to Tanya’s order.  I finally got my drink and we proceeded to order an appetizer of gyoza and the "Love Boat" for our main course.  The Love Boat is a sushi and sashimi sampler prepared for two.  It is a good choice for people not familiar with sushi and you will not walk away hungry.  Tanya has only had sushi once before so I thought it was a safe bet for our first trip to Azuma.

Our gyoza arrived in a timely fashion but turned out a little different then what I was accustomed to in Japan.  Gyoza’s are similar to dumplings / pot stickers.  At Azuma they serve them deep fried.  Normally in Japan they are prepared by frying them in a pan then at the last minute steaming them.  This creates a very unique taste and texture.  I prefer them prepared this way over deep frying.  All that aside both Tanya and I thought they tasted great.

By the time we had finished our gyoza, I was ready for another beer.  When the waiter returned with my drink he proceeded to tell me that from then on I was only allowed to order water.  I thought at first it was a joke but turns out he wasn’t kidding.  While I wouldn’t have ordered another beer, it did leave a bad taste in my mouth.  I’m 33 years old and I don’t think that I need to be told, for no good reason, that two beers is my limit.

Our main order took its sweet time, but that was expected because of how much food had to be prepared.  It arrived in a huge wooden boat with about five different cuts of fish and eight traditional California roll pieces.  The fish was served both sushi and sashimi style.  The sashimi was sliced a little thicker then I would have liked but all in all it tasted great.  The fish itself was very fresh and there were no real surprises.  Tanya’s first bite, which was sashimi she didn’t like at all but that ended up being the only fish she didn’t enjoy.  The only real problem with ordering the "Love Boat" is that they play it very safe.  All the fish varieties were the most popular, ie, salmon, tuna, white fish, etc…  This was fine for our first trip but I think next time we will take a couple more risks and try some not so mainstream options.

In conclusion, the food was above average and the atmosphere was pleasant, but the service was pretty mediocre.  They didn’t seem to take the time to find out if we needed any help or suggestions.  This is a big deal if you have never been to a sushi restaurant before and could be very overwhelming for a first timer.  Here is how I ranked them on a scale from 0 to 10:

• Seating Time:  8
• Cleanliness:  9
• Friendliness:  7
• Atmosphere:  8
• Overall Service: 4
• Taste:  8
• Timeliness:  6
• Presentation:  7
• Overall:  7

From the Albuquerque Journal:

… a survey of 11,000 adults found the state’s men are the worst lovers in the entire country. New Mexico men came in way behind South Dakota men, who were ranked as the nation’s most caring lovers, and Alaskan men, who were ranked the randiest.

Ok, so we aren’t the best lovers, but what do we have going for us? Well apparently we have a lot to be proud of both in Albuquerque and New Mexico as a whole. New Mexico:

3rd best state for cost; 5th in the nation for economic development; 3rd on top 10 small tech hot spots; 5th for manufacturing growth; and 6th in generation of wind power. "Who’d a thunk?"

So how about Albuquerque:

best community for young people; best city to start a career; 10th fittest city; 2nd favorite art destination; 11th best city for relocating families (we aren’t talking about the witness protection program either); 5th best real estate market, and the list goes on.

All these come from research groups and major news sources. I think the biggest kudos to Albuquerque came this week when The Wall Street Journal voted El Pinto nachos as the best in the nation. It’s nice to see that a family owned business like El Pinto get such a big compliment. Congrats! Albuquerque/New Mexico we may be on the top of some pretty bad lists out there, but at least we are creeping up some good ones as well. Read the El Pinto article here.

Duke City Fix as they claim,

Duke City Fix is an unedited website about Albuquerque, New Mexico. And not just any website, but a site about exploring life in Albuquerque. You know what we mean — trying new restaurants, exploring old neighborhoods, finding live music, and stirring things up a bit in New Mexico’s largest city.

Since sometime late last week my blog was listed on their website under “ABQ Blogs” on the left rail. Their website is a collaboration of local writers and photographers all blogging about local Albuquerque topics. So far I have really enjoyed most of the topics that I have read. So if you need a upbeat take on Albuquerque head on over to dukecityfix.com

P.S. Thanks for the link guys!!