Beijing Noodle No. 9

While in Vegas last week, we ate at this cool place called Beijing Noodle No. 9 in Caesar's Palace.

What a cool atmosphere! (Those are fish tanks in the background.)



The actual noodle bar, and all their spices/pastas/beans.


Chef in the back cooking. Most of us ordered dumplings - I got the pork dumplings, and they were really good. Still, nothing is as good as those pork soup dumplings at Joe's Shanghai in Chinatown NYC. Sometimes I wonder if I remember them better than they were....I guess I'll have to back and have them again! Somebody else ordered some sort of shrimp (I can't remember what the sauce was), but it was really good. The food was a little pricey, but what isn't in Vegas?

Food: 4 stars

Atmosphere: 5 stars

Would I go back? Maybe, but it's not at the top of my list.

Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade

So I've been inspired to try out lots of new recipes, thanks to Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade! I picked up her Oct-Nov magazine since I love holiday treats, and it has tons of great (and easy!) recipes. Most of them were winners (while eating, my way of finding out if Jack likes it is asking him if it's repeat-worthy, and almost all of them were)! And in less than two months, I've tried out pretty much all the recipes from the magazine that I wanted to. Time to buy the next one, just in time for Christmas! Here are the recipes we've done:

Oven-Fried Pork Chops

Chicken Fried Steak with Cream Gravy - yum!

Las Chalupas (this one was actually from her website)

Caramel apples - thumbs down! This wasn't a Semi-Homemade thing, but I wanted to try and make my own "gourmet" caramel apples. Didn't turn out so great, and we threw pretty much all of them away. Maybe one day I'll try again...

Ann Brooks' Shredded Pork (this recipe made soooo much pork!)

Loaded Potato Soup (this was one of our favorites)

Black and White Loaf Cake (talk about sweet! and it was so tall, it was hard to make it stand straight!)

Spicy Red Beans and Rice

Chicken & Dumplings (I know this one doesn't look that great, but it was really good.)

Tombstone Treats

Breaded Chicken and Spaghetti

Originally I thought I'd do one post for each meal, and include the recipes. But...you know how life gets, and this was much quicker! So let me know if you want any of these recipes. And check out Sandra Lee's website or magazine - you won't regret it!

Blue Plate Diner

Since we were going up to General Conference for the Saturday morning session, we decided to stop somewhere for lunch in Salt Lake. My sister Alisa recommended the Blue Plate Diner, and I love trying out new places, so we gave it a go.

Luckily Alisa had warned me that the place looks dumpy, so we were prepared (and we'd looked up pictures online). But the place was packed, and we even had to wait a few minutes for a seat. You know you're at a good place when it's that busy! The place has a lot of character, so although it looks like a dive it's still kinda cool. And the food was great. I ordered the chicken fried steak dinner (came with seasonal vegetables, garlic mashed potatoes, a roll, and a salad). Talk about a lot of food! Jack got the chicken fried steak with eggs (also came with toast and fried potato cubes). My little side salad was great with fresh cucumbers, sprouts, mushrooms, and tomatoes, so we knew we were in for some good food. We really liked everything else, except I wasn't a huge fan of my veggies. It was squash, carrots, zucchini, and broccoli. I just didn't think they had a whole lot of flavor, but not a big deal. The chicken fried steak and potatoes were really good, and the gravy even had bits of chicken fried steak in it. The roll was great, too. Plus, it's a great deal because you get tons of food! So I got two meals for the price of one (I ate my leftovers for lunch today). :) I'd definitely recommend this place.

Food: 4 stars

Atmosphere: 3 stars

Would I go back? Yes, if I have the chance

The Pizza Factory

My dentist gave me a gift certificate to the Pizza Factory (for making me wait 30 min to be seen, then telling me it would be another 30 min if I wanted to wait, but I guess I'm not reviewing dentists here which is a good thing...) Anyways, on Friday night we went and got dinner there, and surprisingly enough, this was our first time eating at the Pizza Factory even though we've lived in Provo for years.

I saw everyone getting their twisty breadsticks, so we ordered a garlic parmesan one to share. I'm glad I learned from everyone else, because this was definitely the best part of our meal. It was really good. We also got some garlic cheese bread. I love this stuff, but their version wasn't a standout. My favorite is at the Brick Oven. Yum! Anyways, for our pizza we got a triple topping: pepperoni, Canadian bacon, and sausage. Jack put it best as we were eating it: "This tastes like Red Baron pizza." Yeah, the frozen stuff. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't really good either. We had three pieces left over when we were done, and we didn't even get a box. And that's saying a lot for us! I think we should have ordered one of their specialty pizzas - I have to assume that would have been better than what we got, but I'm still skeptical because our pizza was just not very good. I don't think we'll ever go back, unless I'm really wanting their breadsticks or want to try out their cinnamon breadstick. But a return visit would definitely not be for the pizza! Maybe I can just order a few breadsticks to go. :)

Food: 2 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Would I go back? Maybe, but only for the breadsticks

Wallaby's

We recently tried out the new Wallaby's in Provo. This is a chain, and I think they have a location in Lindon. It's a barbecue restaurant, but more of a "fast food" version of barbecue. We ordered the pulled pork and brisket platter, and our sides were mashed potatoes with cheese and black beans with rice. I really liked the potatoes, and the black beans and rice were pretty good. My problem was the meat. When I get barbecue, I want the restaurant to serve it with sauce on it already. I think that's part of what you're paying for - their expertise in putting the sauce/flavoring on the meat. This was the "dip your meat in the barbecue sauce" style, so I wasn't a huge fan. But that being said, their barbecue sauce was really good, and the pulled pork was good, too. The brisket was also good, but had lots of fat on it.

Food: 3 stars
Atmosphere: 1 star
Would I go back? Maybe

Terra Mia

Terra Mia is a new Italian restaurant in Orem in the new development behind the University Mall. I'd seen it and wanted to try it out, so we went last weekend. I really like certain Italian foods, so I had high hopes. We ordered the Margarita pizza and the lasagna. The lasagna was a little different than I'm used to - more sausagy. But it was still pretty good. The pizza was pretty disappointing, though. It was thin crust, and there just wasn't much to it in the way of toppings. Maybe that's the real Italian way of doing pizza, and although it was good, I just wasn't impressed. Not my cup of tea. They also have a little gelato shop inside this restaurant, but we didn't get any. Maybe the gelato's good, but I don't think I'll ever be going back to this restaurant.

I'm going to start a rating system to make my reviews more usable. I'll rate the food and the atmosphere, each on a scale of 1 star to 5 stars.

Food: 2 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Would I go back? No

Maestro's

Maestro's is a gelato cafe on Center St. - have I mentioned that I really like the atmosphere of downtown Provo? :) Anyways, I've been wanting to try out this place for awhile. We finally went and got a crepe there. We got the crepe with nutella and strawberries filling, with chocolate chip gelato on top. They actually gave us the wrong gelato at first, but we got that ironed out. Anyways, it was really good, but not anything special compared to the crepes we make at home. It was about $8 and was plenty of dessert for us, but not worth the money when we can make pretty much the same thing ourselves. And honestly, I can't tell a huge difference between gelato and ice cream. So make a crepe, slap some nutella on it, and put a scoop of your favorite ice cream on top. And you'll have one of the best desserts ever (for a fraction of the price of this place!)

Spicy Corea

Last weekend Jack and I tried out Spicy Korea (formerly Touch of Seoul) on University Ave. in Provo (near Center Street). This is me with KimPop (like California Roll sushi). I love this stuff. It was really good here, as was all our food.

Jack eating Bibing Pop. It's some sort of rice/egg/veggie dish, and it was good (but not my favorite Korean food). I love how Korean restaurants always bring you out these complimentary side dishes. They gave us kimchee, seasoned potatoes, Korean pizza, bean sprouts, some sort of lettuce and kimchee thing, and some cucumber thing. I love the seasoned potatoes! We also got Mandu. It's basically a type of dumpling, and I really liked it.

We usually go to SamHawk for Korean food, but I think this place has won us over. The food was great, atmosphere was great, and the service was awesome. Next time we go back we'll have to try their Bulgogi (soooo goood) and Pot Bing Su (some sort of bean ice cream thing that Jack says is really good). I love Korean food, and I would recommend this place to everyone!

El Salvadorian Restaurant

There's this great El Salvadorian Restaurant on Center St. in Provo (and really I think that's the name of it). My sister and her husband introduced us to it, and we ate there again just a few weeks ago. It's great because you can get such good food for a cheap price.

My favorite is the pork and cheese papusa. Yum! It's a great corn tortilla filled with...pork and cheese of course! It's only like $1.60, and you could eat two and be filled. They also have something similar to an empanada (I think they call it a pastelito). It's really good, but a little heavy.

When we went last time, we got a few papusas (always a good idea), a chicken tamale which was good, and a carne asada steak dinner. We'd never had the carne asada before, and I thought the flavoring was really good. The meat was a little tough and dry, but still good. The papusas are still my favorite!

In summary: great value, good food (great papusas)

Red, White, and Blue Trifle

Red, White, and Blue Trifle (courtesy Sandra Lee - Food Network)

Ingredients

1 box red velvet cake mix, about 18 ounces (if you can't find red velvet cake use 1 box chocolate cake plus a bottle of red food coloring)
1 (16-ounce) tub whipped topping
2 pints blueberries
1 pint strawberries, tops removed

Directions

Bake the red velvet cake mix according to package directions and allow to cool.

Using a serrated knife cut the red velvet cake into 1 inch square pieces and line the bottom of the trifle bowl with half of the cake squares.

Using a spatula, spread about a 2-inch layer of whipped topping on top of the cake squares.

Layer about 1 1/2 pints of the blueberries on top of whipped topping.

Layer the remaining cake pieces on top of the blueberries forming a second layer of cake.

Using a spatula, spread remaining whipped topping over the cakes pieces.

Decorate the perimeter with the strawberries; placing the strawberries cut side down. Sprinkle the remaining blueberries on top of the trifle inside the strawberry perimeter.

I like making fun holiday desserts, and although I like the Flag Dessert Pizza that I usually make (I'll have to post that recipe sometime...), I wanted to try something new this year. So I did some internet surfing and found this recipe. And I bought a trifle dish so I could make it, which is exciting because now I can make that many-layer jello for Thanksgiving, and I have the right dish for it! Plus imagine all the trifle dessert possibilities.... :) Here are a few pics of the process:

The red velvet cake cut into cubes.

All the ingredients, and basically you just throw it together.

With the final product. I love trifle desserts because the presentation is so awesome. This was easy to make, but the down side is that I wasn't too big on the taste. I don't like blueberries a whole lot, and this thing is loaded with blueberries. Plus the cake wasn't really sweet enough. I think if I make it again I'd do white cake and color it blue, then use strawberries for the red and whipped cream for the white. Plus somehow I might want to add more sugar... But speaking of next year, here are some links to a few ideas I've already found:

http://melissaau.blogspot.com/2009/07/this-has-got-to-be-coolest-4th-of-july.html

http://heyheygoodlookin.blogspot.com/2009/07/star-spangled-fruit-tart.html

This second one is a lot like the Flag Dessert Pizza that I usually make. Love those holiday desserts!

Chocolate Rice Pudding

(finished product with ground up chocolate chips on top)

Chocolate Rice Pudding (recipe from That's My Home website)

2 1/2 C. milk

2 C. cooked rice

1/2 C. sugar

1/4 C. chocolate chips

1 t. vanilla extract

In a large saucepan, mix milk, cooked rice, sugar and chocolate chips. Bring this to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Simmer gently for 20 minutes or until thick and creamy.

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Spoon into dishes and serve warm or cold.

Makes 6 servings.

Jack and his comp made rice pudding in Korea on their mission, and since Jack and I like rice pudding so much we finally decided to make some at home. We did this chocolate recipe first, so we'll have to try regular/cinnamon rice pudding soon. This recipe turned out to be pretty good - the rice stood out more than when I've eaten rice pudding at Rice to Riches (NYC) or Pudding on the Rice (Provo), but it was still good.

Stirring and stirring.

Letting it cool in the fridge. Can you tell we like rice pudding? Speaking of, I wish Kozy Shack's rice pudding was better. The Original flavor isn't sweet enough for me (but it's still good), and I wish the cinnamon flavor didn't have raisins in it. Raisins ruin everything! Oh well - I guess I'll just have to become an expert at making homemade rice pudding!

Strawberry Whipped Sensation

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 6 hours, 20 minutes
Serves: 12


4 cups fresh strawberries, divided
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tub (8 oz) cool whip whipped topping, thawed, divied
8 OREO chocolate sandwich cookies, finely chopped*
1 Tbsp. butter, melted

LINE 9x5 inch loaf pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Mash 2 cups of the strawberries in large bowl. Add condensed milk, juice, and 2 cups of the whipped topping; mix well. Pour into prepared pan.

MIX chopped cookies and butter. Spoon over whipped topping mixture. Cover with ends of foil and gently press cookie mixture into whipped topping mixture. Freeze 6 hours or until firm.

INVERT dessert onto serving plate when ready to serve; remove pan and foil. Spread remaining whipped topping onto top and sides of dessert. Slice remaining 2 cups strawberries; arrange over dessert. Store leftovers in freezer.

I made this treat a few weeks ago, and it turned out to be pretty tasty. Not as chocolatey as Jack and I usually like, but still good and impressive looking. I doubled the amount of oreos, and I think that makes the strawberry-chocolate proportion better. Here are some pics of the process:

What a yummy combination of foods!

Pushing the crushed oreos into the dessert.



Inverting the frozen treat.




Not quite finished yet...

And voila! I think I'd make this again if I were having people over or bringing a dessert to a get-together. It wasn't very hard, but not my favorite dessert ever.

Chef's Table

Last night Jack and I went to eat at Chef's Table with one of his helicopter students and his family (to celebrate the student getting his Private License). I'd heard of this restaurant but had never been. The atmosphere was great - I liked the decor, and they had huge windows looking out over the valley. The service was also awesome. This is the type of place where they put your napkins in your lap for you, and sometimes the chef comes out and talks to people. The waitors were great - they were very polite and didn't linger.

This student's family is quite wealthy, so they ordered every single appetizer on the menu! Kind of crazy. I've never eaten out with people like this! So I can give my critique of each appetizer they have. :) Here's the rundown:

Coconut Crusted Shrimp - great. And I don't usually like sweet mixed with non-sweet.
New England Crab Cakes - Pretty good, but not the best I've ever had.
Marinated Tomatoes and Balsamic Roasted Artichoke Hearts - I didn't get any of the tomatoes, but the artichoke hearts and toast were good.
Bacon Wrapped Sea Scallops - These were small, but really good.
Wild Mushrooms in an Asiago Tuile - I didn't have any of this, but Jack's student really liked it.
Carpaccio of Beef Tenderloin - I don't think I had any of this, either, but I'm sure it was good since Jack got the beef tenderloin for his entree and loved it.
Thyme Roasted Duck in Phyllo - This was really good. Very tender, and tasted a lot like chicken. :)
Gulf Shrimp Cocktail - I don't think we got this. I'm looking of the internet menu, so this may not have been on the menu in the restaurant last night.

You can choose soup or salad with your entree, and I've heard their soup is really good. Jack and I both got the Cream of Broccoli soup, and it was really good. I ordered the Atlantic Salmon and Potato Gratin. Honestly, I was so extremely full at this point that I couldn't really enjoy the entree to the fullest. :) The salmon was good - the sauce on it was okay but not my favorite. I was disappointed with the potatoes - the preparation seemed dry. Jack got the Bacon Wrapped Beef Tenderloin, and he loved it.

THEN, for dessert we got the Creme Brulee. It wasn't great. I've only had this once before, so I'm not the best critic, but the people who took us were disappointed in it. The consistency was more like pudding than custard (according to them), and I thought it was a little grainy. It was still good, but I'm realizing I'm not a huge brulee fan. The layer on top tastes burnt to me.

This was quite the meal, and the people who took us were so kind and generous. I don't know if I'd go here if I was the one footing the bill (our meal - just Jack and I - would have been about $85). I think I like more down-home good food, and sometimes fancy food isn't my favorite. But the atmosphere was great, and it would be a good place to go if you had something to celebrate. I think I'll initiate a star rating system for restauarants now. :) So on a scale of five stars, I'd give this place 4 stars.

German Pancakes

I'v heard people talk about German pancakes (aka volcano pancakes) before, so I looked up some recipes on the web and we made a few last Sunday.

This is right after I pulled it out of the oven - it falls pretty quickly. We put powdered sugar on this one. So good!

This is the remains of our cheesy one. This was also very good.

Here's the recipe:


GERMAN PANCAKES

1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
dash salt
dash cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. While oven is preheating, melt 1 tablespoon butter in 9-inch square pan by putting it in the preheating oven.
2. In large bowl, using a wire whisk, beat together: 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup flour 2 eggs dash salt dash cinnamon

3. Pour batter into 9-inch square pan that has the melted butter. Put it back in the oven.

4. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

5. Serve with powdered sugar or syrup. (Some people like to put lemon juice on it as well as the powdered sugar.)

I left the salt out of the sweet one we made (the one we topped with powdered sugar), and I added more than just a dash of cinnamon to the batter. It was really good. Then for the cheesy one, I didn't add any cinnamon and did more than a dash of salt. These are super easy and so good - it's a week later and I've got one in the oven now! :)

Surprise Chocolate Chip Cookies

For a date night last weekend, Jack and I picked out a dessert recipe from a cooking blog I like to get recipes from (Watcha Got Cookin'?), and then bought the ingredients and made the dessert together. We picked these Surprise Chocolate Chip Cookies. Here's the recipe:

Surprise Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 tubes of chocolate chip cookie dough
30 Snickers miniatures

Cut dough into 15 pieces. Place a Snickers bar in the middle of each piece and wrap dough around it, covering completely. Place on cookie sheets (I always put foil on my cookie sheet to prevent sticking, and I only bake one pan of cookies at a time). Bake at the temperature specified on the dough wrapper (I believe the temperature for Nestle dough is 375 degrees) for about 15 minutes.

These were super easy, and they turned out to be pretty good. I might make them again if I want an easy treat, or if I had a little kid that wanted to help make something. But these aren't to die for or anything.

There were lots of other dessert recipes on this blog that I want to try out: Chocolate Truffles, Ribbon Ice Cream Pie, Crater Cake, and Strawberry Whipped Sensation. And The Deathly Dessert sounds awesome, but you'd need lots of people to help you eat it. Looks like I've got some ideas for future date nights!

Moab Restaurants

I was excited to try out some good food places in Moab when we went there a few weeks ago. I'll be honest: I was pretty disappointed. We did have some good food, but I guess after Hawaii and New York I had some pretty high expectations! Here's where we ate:



1) Buck's Grill - This place has a well-known chef and is supposed to be pretty nice. I tried out a locate favorite: Buffalo Meatloaf. I wanted to get something different and really get a taste of what this restaurant is like. The meatloaf was okay - a little too sweet for my liking, and not as good as I thought it might be since it's a local fav. Jack got ribs, which were really good. His fries were also great! Then we got dessert: cheesecake brulee. Jack absolutely LOVED this stuff. One of his all-time favorite desserts. I thought it was good but wasn't freaking out over it. Overall, I'd say this restaurant was pretty good. The service was great and you can tell the food is good quality. I'd recommend this place to anyone going to Moab.



2) Zax - I actually really liked this place, though from looking at reviews online I can tell lots of people don't. Anyways, I got some sort of garlic parmesan pizza, and it was really, really good. Jack got a sandwich (I can't remember what kind), and he liked it. We got dessert of course - a chocolate cookie with ice cream on top. It was really good! Not as good as Oregano's pizza cookie, but close! I'd also recommend this place, although I don't know how the buffet is. We just ordered from the menu.



3) Eddie McStiff's

Ironically, this is the only place I got a picture of, and it's also the worst place we ate. It was our last night in Moab, and we were a little sick of eating out. We'd been thinking about going to Center Cafe, but it was pretty pricey and I sometimes am hesitant about fancy, expensive food - it's just not that great. Plus, honestly we didn't want to spend tons of money. So we decided on Eddie McStiff's, and I just did not like it. I got a steak/shrimp combo, and Jack got a sandwich I think (again, I can't remember what kind). My steak was pretty good, but the shrimp was probably the worst shrimp I've ever had. There was hardly any seasoning, and the seasoning it did have tasted like burned food rather than a char-grilled flavoring. The water tasted gross, and our waitress did a horrible job. We pretty much ran out of water, and some other waitress was kind enough to come fill our glasses. Needless to say, I would NOT recommend this place.

4) Moab Creamery - This was a small little place right by Eddie McStiff's. I was a little disappointed because their menu listed sweet crepes (cinnamon sugar, fruit, nutella, etc.), but when we tried to order this we were told they only serve these until 3pm every day. Boo! So we just got ice cream cones, which were good. I got chocolate chip cookie dough, and Jack got cherry chocolate chip. He doesn't even like cherries! But he said none of the other flavors looked good, so he went with this since the people there recommended it. Jack said this flavor was okay - the best an ice cream with cherries could be. :) This place was pretty good overall, but next time I'd like to get crepes. Ever since those awesome crepes and gelato at Expressamente Illy in Vegas at the Palazzo, I'm sold on crepes!

To try on my next trip to Moab: Center Cafe, crepes at Moab Creamery

Hawaiian Dinner

We made the banana pancakes with coconut syrup tonight, and it was so good! Very sweet, but good. It's a nice tropical treat - everyone should try it!

Banana Pancakes

We had some awesome, delicious, amazing banana pancakes when we were staying in Kauai for our anniversary. I found this recipe online and am excited to try it sometime:

Epicurious.com (My Kids' Favorite Banana Pancakes)

2 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup diced bananas (2 large)
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
Nonstick cooking spray or 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and buttermilk. Stir in the melted butter.

In a small bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt together.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring until just combined — don't worry if there are a few lumps. Stir in the bananas and pecans.

Lightly grease a large sauté pan or griddle with the nonstick spray or butter. Heat the pan until hot and then spoon out 3 tablespoons of batter per pancake. Cook the pancakes until the tops look dull and a few of the bubbles pop, about 3 minutes. Turn the pancakes over and cook for another minute.

Transfer the cooked pancakes to an ovenproof dish and place in a warm oven until the entire batch is ready to be served.



What added to the awesomeness of our pancakes in Kauai is that they had coconut syrup, too. So I'll have to try this recipe as well:

Coconut Syrup

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon coconut extract

Combine sugar, water and butter and bring to a boil; boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in flavoring. Serve over warm pancakes.


I'm excited to try these out sometime - maybe I'll surprise Jack with this for breakfast one morning!

Lake Charles Favorites

In an attempt to post in somewhat of chronological order, I wanted to first blog about some of my favorite restaurants/dessert places from my hometown of Lake Charles, Louisiana. So here goes (in no particular order):

1) Darrell's - My favorite, and actually the only thing I've ever gotten here, is the Darrell's Special. It's a roast beef sandwich which tons of other stuff on it. I can't even begin to tell you what, but I can promise two things: first, it's one of the best sandwiches you'll ever have, and second, it's hands-down the messiest sandwich you'll ever have. If you're ever in the area you have to try this sandwich! I wish I could have one right now...

2) Italian Villa - May it rest in peace. This restaurant is no longer open, but I had to include it because it was my favorite growing up. I ate here for a few Proms and other occasions, and it's one of the best Italian restaurants I've ever eaten at. They even unfold your napkin and put it on your lap for you (kind of shocked me, but hey, talk about good service)! I of course always ordered the shrimp fettucine alfredo, and their garlic bread and salad were great, too. The restaurant was in an old house, and it had a candlelit romantic sort of feel. I sure wish this place was still open!

3) Country Club Donuts - My favorite donuts ever. Not even Krispy Kreme donuts beat these. And don't even go with anything special - just eat a warm, regular glazed donut and you're in heaven!

4) Landry's (Lafayette, LA) - I LOVE the stuffed shrimp here. So good! I've only gotten to eat here a few times since I'm not in Lafayette very often, but when we used to drive through (when we lived in Louisiana), this was my favorite place to stop for food.

5) Steamboat Bill's - I don't love this place as much as some people, but their shrimp pistolettes have helped them make it on my list.

6) Smoothie King - This one's for Jack, since I'm not as much a smoothie person as he is. He loves this place and always has to get a smoothie when we're visiting. I don't really taste the difference between different smoothie places, but Jack does and and this is his fav.

Well, that's all the noteworthy, Lake Charles-specific places that I can think of right now. If I come up with more later I'll update!

Yes, Please!

Really, can I please eat here? Maybe next time I'm in Maldives, and have hundreds and hundreds of dollars to spare...

I love food!

I've decided to start this blog because I love trying out new foods - restaurants, dessert places, new recipes, etc. I feel like there's so much to explore and experience! I used to be that person who would pack food when I went on a trip so I could save a few bucks. Jack's not so much that type. He prefers to eat well when he's on a vacation, and eating good food is one of his favorite parts of a trip. Well, I've been convinced with the last few trips I've taken (Hawaii and New York). Food is such a huge part of experiencing a new place, and I just love good food!

So I think I'll just do some posts about past places I've eaten, then as Jack and I try out new places I'll post about those. We don't eat at restaurants a whole lot (we do still have a budget, after all), but lately we've been trying out lots of frozen yogurt places (our latest addiction). And I'll probably throw in some recipes along the way - tried and true ones, as well as new additions. So if you love food like I do, enjoy reading. If not, I'm not offended if you don't follow this blog. :) And lastly, I don't pretend to be an expert, but I do have opinions and can at least share those!