Daily Archives: July 1, 2016

Legos and Catfish . . .

Around 2pm this afternoon I went down to the office to sign us up for our month stay here that starts this Sunday. So we’ll be here until the 31st of July when we head out for Gulf Shores, AL

While I was there, I ran into our friend Randy Lazarine, and we got to talking about Hinze’s BBQ,. When I mentioned eating at the one in Sealy the other day, I also mentioned the one in Katy that closed years ago.

Turns out that Randy had some info about that. That location was in a really high-end area,  and the owner had trouble finding people in the area to hire. And the ones he did hire, didn’t really want to work.

He’d tell them to do something, like mop the floor, or clean the bathrooms, and they’d just stare at him. I guess at home, they had people for that.

So I guess this is the industry’s answer to that problem and the $15 an hour minimum wage fight for fast food workers.

This is a machine made to order burger.

momentum-machines-real-burger

The Momentum Machines Autonomous Grill Master

First shown in 2012, and then making 350 burgers an hour, all to order, it excited the industry. And now it’s going retail in San Francisco with the opening of new restaurant there.

The latest model, costing $35,000 and fitting into a 4ft x 6ft area, it now makes 400 burgers an hour (basically one every 9 seconds). And the ‘to order’ part is taken to a whole new level.

It grinds your meat when you place your order, and you can chose your favorite ratio of beef to pork to bison, or any other offered meats.

It toasts your buns, fresh slices your tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and pickles, and other things too. And then adds exactly the condiments you ordered..

Momentum Machines Condiments

It even wraps and bags your order.

And even better, it won’t spit on your burger. Although leaking 10W-40 might be a problem, I guess.

Wendy’s recently announced that they expect to have self-service ordering kiosks in all their stores by the end of next year. I guess this is just the next step.

Brandi, Lowell and Landon left for OK this morning, to spend the weekend with Lowell’s parents in Paul’s Valley. But they made a stopover in the area to let Landon check out the Lego Discovery Center in the Dallas area.

Landon at Legoland

The way Landon loves Legos, he surely had a blast.

image

This afternoon, on our way out, Jan finally got a chance to see the beautiful new shawl that Terry Russell send her recently. And it really has to be seen in the sunlight to bring out all the amazing colors and textures.

Jan with New Shawl

It’s really  wonderful what Terry can do on her loom, and Jan is thrilled with it.

Thanks, Terry!

Where we were on our way out to was Peters BBQ, so qabout 4:30 we drove up to Ellinger, about 9 miles north of here on US71. We were heading to Peters not to have the BBQ, but Fried Catfish and Shrimp Buffet they have every Friday night.

The buffet was really good as always, but for other reasons, for me at least, the bloom is off the rose. Or at least it’s fading fast. It’s seems like every time we’ve gone recently it costs more and more, and/or you get less and less.

When we first started going here a couple of years ago, the Friday Night Buffet included AYCE BBQ, as well as the catfish/shrimp part, and all the sides.

Peters BBQ Sides 1

Peters BBQ Sides 2

Originally the full BBQ buffet was $11.95 with a senior discount for $10.95. And they also had a  Colorado River TT $1 discount. But late last year, all at once, everything went away .

BBQ disappeared from the buffet, as well as any discounts. But the price of the non-BBQ buffet did drop to $8.95, so it wasn’t too bad. But then a month or so later, the price jumped to $9.95. And then tonight, since we last were here about a month ago, the price has jumped to $10.95.

Now having been in the restaurant business a long time ago, I know about having to raise prices, but at the same time Schobels Restaurant in Columbus still has their great Sunday morning breakfast buffet for $8.95, and it hasn’t gone up since we’ve been eating there.

And I don’t know if it’s directly related, every other time gone there recently, by the time we left about 5:30 or so, the place was pretty much full, with a line at the order area. But not today. Now I guess it might be due to the holiday weekend, but I don’t know.

I guess we’ll see next time. Or not.

Since we’ve been talking about catfish, someone here at Colorado River TT hooked a big one today, and posted it on Facebook.

Catfish at Colorado TT

That’s a big cat.
adfadfa


Thought for the Day:

 

Oh Crap

adfadfadsf