Max is celebrating his 17th birthday with a cake made of halibut burger frosted with churu and topped with bonito flakes and a sprig of fresh catmint

@regehr there was also a human version with pickled carrots and chili crisp aioli, and Not House Made tater tots

(photo from a previous halibut burger meal because I forgot to get a photo of this one)

@elight he had to go to the nuclear vet for hyperthyroidism radiotherapy and they were like "no, we meant for you to bring in the 17 year old cat with hyperthyroidism, not this healthy looking cat"

@dan ok fine I'd accept the cat version as an amuse bouche

@dan tater tots from the grocery store freezer aisle are kind of underrated

@regehr I have to serve some authentic midwestern foods for @irene and @sharon

@dan @regehr @irene @sharon tots were invented in oregon!! born and bred pacific northwestian, midwest could never

@dan Only the best.

@atsuzaki @dan @regehr @irene @sharon you may have invented them, but we perfected them (as topping for hot dish)

@atsuzaki @dan @regehr @irene @sharon ore-ida!

@secretasianman @atsuzaki @regehr @irene @sharon important update: we have just found Pixel running around with an Ore-Ida Extra Crispy Tater Tots bag on her head

@dan squashed and Max!

@kevinr @atsuzaki @dan @regehr @sharon it’s so true. Dan is also half Minnesotan so he knows the hot dish.

@regehr @dan our fave local pizza place has tots as a pizza topping, and we've gotten that, uh, definitely more than once (I like it with bell peppers and onions as the other toppings)

@lindsey @dan funny I never thought of potatoes as a pizza topping but our standard local place just started doing this and it’s totally delicious

@kevinr @dan @regehr @irene @sharon nuh uh the highest calling for tots is to become totchos. second highest calling is to be in breakfast burrito

@regehr @lindsey @dan dude get the potato and bacon from the Pie Hole

@ricci @lindsey @dan somehow we've never been there. that sounds really good.

but I need to make sure that this place has nothing to do with The Pie, is that correct? because, while I love cheese, The Pie uses about an LD50 of cheese

@ricci @lindsey @dan the crust becomes merely a structural support system for cheese. the toppings are these cute little decorations for cheese. if I want that level of cheese I'll get the cheese truck to back up to my house with a pallet.

@regehr @lindsey @dan it's extremely different. potato bacon is one of their standard ones that's always available by the slice. afaict, the other places around here that have started doing potato as a topping are all just copying the pie hole

@regehr @lindsey @dan and this is why I love the pie

and also they somehow do amazing vegan pizzas