Restaurant Review - Grand China Buffet

I LOVE buffets!  There are 2 Chinese buffets near me, and I decided to try Grand China Buffet in Boise a few days ago since I had tried the other one a few years ago.

I always like to start off with a plate of appetizers.  I went for cream cheese won tons, sweet and sour chicken, veggie roll, fried zucchini, and a chicken meat ball.  They were all so good!

I love egg drop soup.  This was delicious!

My next plate of food had chow mein, veggie egg foo young, honey chicken, and chicken with broccoli.  The egg foo young was a little too thick for me, but otherwise it was another great plate of food.

Most of their sushi had fake crab in it.  The best one of the three was the one that had cream cheese in it.

Sooooo much dessert.  Two fried donuts, jello, chocolate pudding, and mint chocolate chip self serve ice cream.

This food was honestly so good.  Sometimes buffets only have okay food since they are making so much, but everything I tried here was amazing.  They also had tons of cold food that didn't appeal to me, a Mongolian noodle bar, and dim sum which I just didn't even have room for.  I can't wait to go back here!

A Huge Mysterious Garage

I try to walk different routes with Hunter all the time to keep both of us from getting bored.  I've walked by a huge garage a few times, and I keep wondering what's inside of it.  Maybe you all can help me figure it out.

You can see that it's almost double the height of that large truck.  My guess is an RV or a boat, but I've never seen it open.  Do you have any guesses?  Have you ever seen a huge garage like that?

Restaurant Review - JB's Restaurant

I drive by JB's Restaurant every day on my way to and from work.  They advertise that they have a salad bar.  I went there with my dad just for that!

The salad bar has 3 types of soup!  I went with the chicken noodle and it was so good!  My salad was good also :)

For dinner I ordered 1/2 chicken salad sandwich (with pecans and cranberries) and fries.  It was really good, and the bread was nice and thick!  They give you a very generous helping of chicken salad!

My dad ordered the senior sirloin steak with mashed potatoes and gravy and corn.  The steak was a bit undercooked and the corn was plain, but other than that he really liked it!  Unfortunately, he started eating before I could take a picture!

This was a great diner, and the salad bar was really nice.  I have always loved diner food, so I know I will be going here again!

Do you like diners or do you prefer nicer restaurants?

Book Review: Love Letters by Debbie Macomber

I think Debbie Macomber will always be one of my favorite authors.  "Love Letters" is the newest paperback in her Rose Harbor series.  I've read all of the paperbacks in this series so far, and I love them!

The series revolves around Jo Marie Rose and all of the guests at her bed and breakfast.  Jo Marie's handyman Mark also plays a big role in every book.  I think they have crushes on each other!

Love Letters is about two different guests.  Ellie Reynolds is coming to Cedar Cove to meet someone she has been chatting with on Facebook.  She is coming to see if there is a love spark, and her mom thinks she is making a huge mistake!  Maggie and Roy Porter are coming to the inn to see if they can save their marriage.  Their marriage is a roller coaster throughout the whole book, and you really never know what's going to happen until the end!

The Rose Harbor novels are really cute love stories, and this was one was as good as the rest!  I hope Debbie Macomber keeps writing this series for a while!

Have you read the Cedar Cove or Rose Harbor books by Debbie Macomber?

Restaurant Review - Panda Garden

I'm going to keep trying restaurants until I find the ones that I want to go to all the time.  I was craving Chinese food a few weeks ago, so my dad and I headed out to Panda Garden in Meridian.

We both ordered egg drop soup.  It came with chunks of tofu in it, and was pretty gelatinous.  It had a good flavor though.

My dad wanted to get sweet and sour chicken.  It was okay, but kind of had a peanut butter after taste.

I ordered chicken egg foo young.  It was a huge portion!  The only downside was that you had to put the sauce on yourself and I like my egg foo young soggy LOL

You also get a choice of white or brown rice, which is nice for those of us that like brown rice.

Over all, the food was okay.  I would probably go back, but I am going to keep looking for excellent Chinese food!

What's your favorite Chinese dish?

Chanukah Was Awesome this Year!

Chanukah started Sunday night, December 6th.  It ended today.  It's a fun holiday filled with lighting candles, exchanging presents, eating fried foods, and maybe playing dreidel.

I started a few days early by going to a women's gift exchange through Chabad.  I received this awesome laptop desk, which is totally my style!  I don't know about the cup holder though, because I definitely try to keep open liquids away from my laptop!

Sunday night I went to a Chabad Chanukah party at the bowling alley in Boise.  I helped to decorate, bowled a few frames, and volunteered in the kid's craft room.  There's a huge menorah in the background there, but it's kind of hard to see because I'm so short LOL

This is me with one of the Rabbi's daughters.  She goes to online school with one of the Rabbi's daughters in Santa Barbara (where I'm from).  I think it's fun that I get to hang out with both of these girls who are best friends!

I met a great group of friends that night.  The three women on the right are a bit younger than me, but they are all awesome!  We traded phone numbers and plan to hang out.  Yay for making new friends finally!

Night one.

Night two.  The flames look crazy!

Night three.  it looks like the menorah is holding up the candy bowl...and I got the flames under control!

Night four.  In case anyone wanted to learn, you load the menorah from right to left, but light the candles from left to right.

Night five.  The flames are still looking normal.

Night six.  It was still light out so the menorah looked awesome!

Night seven.  The flames kinda blurred together into one.

Night 8.  The last night,

I'm really happy that I was home to light all 8 nights this year.  I learned something new this year.  The candle boxes come with 45 candles, enough for each night.  I have 1 candle leftover.  They give you an extra candle incase one breaks!  I never knew that before!

Skoshbox - My Monthly Subscription Box

Maybe 2 years ago, I decided I wanted to get in on the trend of monthly subscription boxes.  I did some research, and found Skoshbox, a company that sends out a box of Japanese snacks every month.  They have two box sizes, I get the smaller one.  Below is the contents of my November box.

Each box comes with a card explaining what's inside of it.

This is a picture of everyone in my box.  The knife is to cut things to share with my mom.

Strawberry milk candies.  I don't love strawberry, so these were only okay to me.

Senbei - extra crunchy baked rice crackers.  Again, these are not my favorite, but Japanese people seem to have a ton of senbei snacks!

Milk flavored biscuit cookies.  These were very yummy and I love the cute dinosaur pictures on them!

Sesame mochi cake chocolates.  These were so weird that my mom and I spit them out.  Sorry to anyone who likes them.

Chocolate filled marshmallows.  These were one of my two favorite things in the box.  I don't know why Americans don't have filled marshmallows, but we should!

Almond cream filled chocolate biscuits.  These were amazing and I want to eat them all the time!  Thankfully, my mom let me have most of them :)

Skoshbox doesn't even know I'm writing this post, I just wanted to share this amazing box I get.  If you all like it, I'll share every month.

Do you have any monthly subscription boxes??

Fat Guy's Fresh Deli

My dad invited me out to dinner a few nights ago, but gave me nothing to go off of to help find a restaurant.  I literally searched for "restaurant" on yelp and found a deli that looked promising.  My dad and I both love sandwiches and were excited to try out Fat Guy's Fresh Deli in Meridian.

My dad ordered a sandwich called "The Rancher".  It's bbq beef with homemade barbecue sauce, horseradish, and pepperjack cheese.  He also ordered a side of potato salad which I think I liked more than he did hehe

I ordered my somewhat usual, a "California Turkey Club".  It came with turkey, avocado, sundried tomato mayo, sprouts, tomatoes, and bacon.  Oh, and it was on a challah roll.  That might have been the best part, even though I loved the whole thing.  I ordered my sandwich with a bag of potato chips which were fine, but I will definitely get the potato salad next time.

I can't wait to take my mom here when she comes to visit in a few weeks, I think she will love it as much as my dad and I did.

Book Review: Private L.A. by James Patterson

Everyone who reads my blog knows I love James Patterson,  I loved this book as much as all of his other books.  Private investigation firm is fantastic and I hope he keeps writing novels involving them!

This novel is about a famous couple named the Harlows, that just go missing with all 3 of their kids!  There was also a whole side plot about a group called No Prisoners that are basically committing terrorist attacks!  I love trying to figure out how multiple plots are going to come together, or if they're going to have nothing to do with each other!

If you're a James Patterson lover, or have never read one of his books, give this one a try! :)

Sick in Bed

This is how I've felt since waking up Sunday morning after about 10 hours of sleep.  I woke up feeling fine, but quickly felt nauseous.  I went back to sleep on and off for 6 hours, waking up for a few hours and eating a few crackers before sleeping for 11 more hours!  This morning I woke up for work, ate 1/4 of a bagel with butter, but only stayed there an hour before I gave up and came home.  I slept for a few more hours (yes, I am sick of sleeping at this point!!!), and then woke up and had some chicken and rice with soy sauce.  For some reason, that's always what I want when I'm sick and no food sounds good.

What is your go to food when you're not feeling well?

One of My Favorite Desserts - Cheesecake Brownies

If you didn't already know, I am a food lover.  And we all know the best type of food is obviously dessert!  For 4 years, I worked next door to a restaurant called Fresco, and they make THE BEST cheesecake brownies.  I definitely became "addicted" to a lot of their food from working next door for so long.  I had to have a delicious brownie while I was in Santa Barbara.

A nice big picture of the best cheesecake brownie I have ever had!

They also have delicious chocolate truffle balls, flourless chocolate cake, lemon bars, cookies, tarts, cupcakes, and so much more!

What's your favorite dessert?  Do you make it yourself or do you get it somewhere?

My Cousins Got Married

My whole reason for going back to California last weekend was because my cousin's, Garry and Chelise, got married.  Chelise is a wonderful addition to our family!  Below are a few pics from the wedding!

My cousin, Garry, with the man who married them, waiting for Chelise to come out.

Chelise about to walk down the aisle.  All of the more close up pictures came out blurry :(

My cousin Bob, my grandma, my mom, and my cousin Gloria.  Looking happy to be together!  Yes, that's Bob's happy face!

Garry and Chelise, married!!!!

My cousin is obsessed with Star Wars, so they came into the party under lightsabers.

Yummy cheese and crackers appetizer.  I love gouda!

The beautiful wedding cake.  I love how wedding cakes have multiple flavors!

My mom with my little cousin, Valor!  I think I interrupted his roll eating.

Dinner was amazing!  I think it was mushroom stuffed chicken, veggies, and the most delicious mashed potatoes ever!

The wedding was beautiful, the party was fun, and dinner was delicious.  I think my only regret is not being in any of my pictures!  Do you love weddings????  I know I do!

Dinner at Aldo's in Santa Barbara

I am the worst with gift cards - I hold on to them for way too long.  I won a gift certificate for dinner for 2 to Aldo's in Santa Barbara about 2-3 years ago, and finally used it when I went home last weekend.  I took my mom out for dinner and we were both so excited since we love Italian food!

I normally don't order appetizers but I ordered garlic cheese bread.  OMG it was so delicious and so garlic-y!

For dinner, I ordered chicken piccata.  All of a sudden, I love lemony chicken with fettuccine alfredo.  It was pretty delicious, but I did bring half the chicken home for my sister.

My mom ordered lasagna bolognese.  She also loved her food, but brought some home for my sister.

Our dinner at Aldo's was so delicious, and it was nice to go to a fancier restaurant for a change.  Do you have a favorite Italian food?

We Went to Knott's Berry Farm!

Almost a year ago, I won 2 free admission tickets to Knott's Berry Farm from SoCal Locale!  My mom and I finally got to use them this weekend because I was down in California for a family wedding.  We hadn't been to Knott's in years and were so excited to get to go!

It's a horrible pic to start with, but I want to go in chronological order.  This was after the Timber Mountain Log Ride.  I was in the very front and at the end of the ride, I got splashed in the face with water.  At the same time, my mom tried to hide behind me and head butted the back of my head!

This was inside of the Calico Mine Ride.  I really love the old west theme of Knott's!

Our $30 lunch.  Amusement park food prices never fail to shock me!

Our one and only selfie aboard the Calico Railroad.

The robbers on the train, they don't seem to scare people anymore.  That's good because they always used to get me!

The beautiful horses at the Butterfield Stagecoach.

A nice dark picture of my mom inside of the stagecoach.

Me inside of the stagecoach.  I can't believe people used to travel like that!

We made it to the Wild West Stunt Show just as they were closing the doors.  They did awesome stunts but it was also a comedy!

I DRAGGED my mom to the Peanuts Character Show.  I have always loved all of the characters at all of the amusement parks.  They did a really cute Christmas show.

Who can resist Snoopy Santa?

Ghostrider was closed which is a bummer, I love huge coasters like that!  We did get to go on Jaguar though which is also a good roller coaster!  We also rode Bigfoot Rapids where my mom got drenched and I laughed hysterically at her!  We rode Pony Express for the first time which is a cute little coaster on fake ponies.  We also got to try out the new ride Voyage to the Iron Reef.  It is a 4-D ride where you get to shoot at creatures in order to save Knott's from them LOL

Have you ever been to Knott's before?  If so, what is your favorite thing there?  If not, would you ever want to go?