My family and I decided to go out to dinner and try someplace new, so we went to Cafeteria.  When I walked in the  first thing I saw were large jars of colorful, sweet looking candy placed on shelves high above the kitchen.  I also noticed large, lit, capital  letters that spelled out the word CAFETERIA.  The word looked like it would be used as a carnival sign.  There was a small two seated (old fashioned) airplane that  slanted downward.  When we sat down we ordered drinks. I ordered a Dr. Pepper and my mom ordered a glass of Chardonnay.  My brother and dad chose a strawberry lemonade mocktail.  My very kind brother let me have a sip, even though it was so sweet and delicious.  He said it tasted awesome.  The mocktail tasted sweet from the fresh chunks of strawberry and a little tangy from the lemonade.  We  chose the mixed green salad to share.  It had walnuts, sweet and chewy date pieces, and some goat cheese with a yummy champagne vinaigrette dressing.  I ordered the crab cakes appetizer which came with a small salad and a spicy avocado sauce.  The crab cakes were small and lightly breaded with mostly crab and a few small veggies inside.  The veggies looked like small bits of celery. They were really delicious and I will definitely order them again sometime.  My brother ordered the grilled cheese and tomato soup.  The soup was so smooth that it tasted a bit like tomato sauce.  The sandwich had lots of gooey white cheese on lightly toasted bread.  The grilled cheese tasted great with the soup.  The grilled cheese came with a salad or French fries and of course my brother chose the French fries. The French fries were small shoe string fries which everyone thought were very flavorful.  My mom ordered the butternut squash ravioli.  It had cubes of squash and some hazelnuts on top.  My mom said the squash was very light and she thought the ravioli was flavorful and perfectly cooked.  My dad chose the grilled salmon but he ordered a side from a different dish which was garlic mashed potatoes and green beans.  They asked my dad how he wanted his salmon cooked which he felt was very thoughtful.  He said the potatoes were great and the salmon was cooked well.  For dessert, my brother ordered the chocolate sundae.  He said it was awesome and delicious.  My parents and I shared the skillet s’mores.  My mom said they were crazy good!  It had gooey chocolatey marshmallow goodness with pieces of graham cracker sticking out and they used delicious chocolate brownie as the bottom layer.  All of this delicious goodness was placed in a miniature cast iron skillet.  It was very hot so DON’T TOUCH the skillet.

Cafeteria has fun decorations to look at and delicious food for you and your family.  They have many delicious dessert choices like vanilla bean crème brule’ and chocolate bomb cake along with delicious mocktails.  If you want to go to dinner in downtown Sacramento, this is the place to go.

When my family was in Southern California for a fund-raiser bike ride for The Painted Turtle, my mom surprised me after the ride with seeing our good friends.  To add to the surprise, we met them at a food truck in LA called Seabirds Food Truck.  Seabirds Food Truck was on a an awesome TV Show called The Great Food Truck Race on food Network.  We had been watching them on the show and our friends thought that it would be cool to try their food.  They happened to be right near where our friends lived that day.  The Seabirds Food Truck is all vegan so it was a great place for our friends because all seven of them are vegan.  Our family is not vegan but we are pescitarian, except for my brother who is a vegetarian.  We like to eat vegan food because it is delicious and healthy.  I decided to try the sweet potato fries.  I love sweet potato fries in general but these were the best that I have ever tasted.  They were sweet, soft in the middle, crunchy on the outside with sea salt sprinkled in them.  They were really delicious!  we all shared the baby bird spinach salad.  It was good, fresh and had lots of pine nuts on it.  I liked the dressing too.  My parents got the beer-battered avocado tacos and they loved them.  My mom thought that they were amazing.  The fig and shitake mac and cheese was good and creamy.  It wasn’t my favorite thing from the truck but I liked it.  Our friends tried the jackfruit tacos and liked them.  For dessert, we all shared some delicious vegan cupcakes!  the cupcakes were my absolute favorite (along with the sweet potato fries).  The frosting was delicious and smooth and sweet.  The cake itself was moist and flavorful.  We tried three types—seemed like a cookies and cream, a pumpkin and maybe a strawberry.  My favorite was the pumpkin one because it reminded me of fall and was delicious.  I only wish they had more cupcakes left because when we got to the truck, there were only three left.  It was fun to share with our friends though.  After we ate, we chatted with the people on the food truck and took this photo.  They were really nice and we had a great time.  It was a great day and thanks to our friends for inviting us to meet them there!

While in Yosemite, my family visited The Mountain Room Restaurant in Yosemite Valley.  The restaurant is located inside the Yosemite Village Lodge.  It is a nice restaurant, a little like the Ahwahnee, but without a dress code.  There were bare wood walls and beautiful paintings of Yosemite lakes, mountains and plant life on them. There is a big window with a nice view of Yosemite Falls and trees and plant life outside.  On the table there was a candle and some pretty flowers.  My brother and I ordered a Roy Rogers which is a coke with grenadine and cherries in it.  I ordered the kids quesadilla.  It was made with an herbed tortilla and it was nice and crisp.  The cheese was gooey and delicious.  I also ordered a baked potato on the side.  It came with sour cream and chives on the side and it was good.  The bread they brought to the table was warm, soft sourdough with a thin crust.  Spencer requested that the kitchen make him a grilled cheese.  It was not on the menu but they were nice enough to make it for him.  There wasn’t much he wanted to try on the menu.  He said that it was warm and cheesy on soft bread and had a great flavor.  My mom ordered the vegetarian soup of the day which was tomato basil with white rice.  My parents liked that they offered a vegetarian soup every day.  In fact, there was a lot on the menu that was vegetarian.  It tasted like warm tomato sauce but creamier and  smoother with more flavor and a hint of Italian spice.  There were some veggies in it like tomatoes, carrots and corn.  I really liked it.  My dad ordered the Ratatouille pesto penne. The portion was large and had shavings on parmesan cheese on top…yum!  It was pesto penne with ratatouille vegetables on it.  For dessert I ordered one of my favorite things, crème brulee.  It had a nice texture and was served with strawberries and blueberries.  I thought it was delicious.  My brother ordered the chocolate ice cream, his usual favorite and he enjoyed it.  The Mountain Room Restaurant was a nice place to eat after a a long day of soaking up the beauty of Yosemite.

When my family visited Yosemite this summer, we stayed in Curry Village. There, they have a nice little ice cream shop.  They have milkshakes, sundaes and cones and all of the toppings you could want.  I got a mocha chip milk shake.  My mom got a sundae.  My brother got chocolate ice cream with M&Ms and fudge on top.  My dad got a cone.  They had all of the usually ice cream flavors you would expect like strawberry, chocolate, vanilla or mocha.  They also had about a dozen other flavors.  We decided to eat outside where could sit in some rocking chairs and have a great view of the mountains.  I loved the milk shake.  It was really creamy but melting fast because it was hot outside.  The portion sizes were really big.  None of us could even finish all of our desserts.  Everyone enjoyed their ice cream and it was nice to have ice cream on a hot day in such a beautiful setting.  If you are in Yosemite, I recommend  stopping by the Curry Village ice cream shop for a nice, cold, delicious treat.

Our family visited Yosemite this summer.  We stayed in Curry Village in the tent cabins.  For lunch we decided to go to The Pizza Patio there in Curry Village. The Pizza Patio is up on a deck, surrounded by trees and beautiful scenery.  We could look up and see half done from the patio.  We all decided to order a medium cheese pizza to share.  My dad walked up to the order window where there was a pretty long line that day.  The line went fast though and he also ordered a salad.  The cheese pizza was good—cheesy and had a crisp, thick crust with cornmeal-like dust on the bottom.  The cheese had a good flavor and the tomato sauce was smooth and thin.  It was really nice to eat in Yosemite.  We could watch the squirrels and birds (but never feed them—it is bad for them and you can be fined for doing it) and look up at the mountains and trees.

My family and I went to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Islands of Adventure in Orlando, FL this summer.  When you enter Harry Potter World, you can see the rooftops of Hogsmeade and in the distance you can see the Hogwartz castle.  All of the rooftops have snow on them and the Hogwartz train is right next to the entrance.  There are lots of stores there like Honeydukes, the candy store, and Zonkos, a prank store. They even have Ollivander’s where you can purchase your own wand.  In the bathrooms you can even hear Moaning Myrtle!  There are three really awesome rides there: The Dragon Challenge, The Flight of the Hippogryph and my favorite, The Forbidden Journey.  After lots of shopping and going on rides, we decided we were hungry, so we went to The Three Broomsticks.  There was a long line there, which probably meant it was really good, but the line went pretty fast.  We ordered several things to share.  One thing that was nice was after we ordered, we went into a line where they helped us find a table. That way we weren’t waiting for people to finish and looking all around the large rooms.  When we sat down at our table, I saw lots of deer horns on the wall and very rustic décor, just like it would look in the books or movies.  Even though it looks like it might be a pretty meaty place, there were a lot of vegetarian/pescitarian selections for us.  My parents got fish & chips and they liked it very much.  The fries were the big steak fries type and they were good.  The mac and cheese was really good and creamy.  The roasted potatoes were delicious.  My parents shared a green salad with ranch dressing which they liked.  I loved the grilled corn.  It was sweet and juicy!  I also got a baked potato with butter and sour cream.  It was delicious with a nice crispy skin on the outside.  The lemonade was sweet and refreshing.  Best of all was the butter beer!  It’s a sweet, non-alcoholic drink.  It tastes just how you would expect it to be—creamy, buttery and so good.  On top was a head of foam made from melted vanilla ice cream which they pour on top.  I loved the regular kind and my mom loved the frozen version.  The Three Broomsticks is a great place to dine when you are in Harry potter World.  It feels like you are actually in the wizarding world of Harry Potter and the food is delicious!

I went with my family to Plumbing Unique on Sunrise Blvd in Sacramento to look for things for our remodel.  They were having their yearly sale and so there were on sale put outside the front of the store.  One thing they had on display was a really cool outdoor pizza oven.  They were cooking pizzas and giving out samples.  After we went shopping, they offered to let my brother and me make our own pizzas.  We rolled out dough, added sauce and toppings and they baked it for us in the pizza oven.  My brother and I both decided to make cheese pizzas with white sauce.  it was delicious.  My pizza was a little thin and had a good amount of cheese and sauce.  My brother’s was a little more fluffy and he had added a bit more cheese than I had.  Mine had a bit more sauce.  They both tasted great!  They tasted like a delicious cheesy, gooey, pizza-version of garlic bread.  My dad really wanted to get the oven and put it in our back yard!

I have been to Yummy Cupcakes in Santa Monica three times now.  Once I went with my family and friends last summer.  We all tried different cupcakes and loved them all!  My brother got Peanut Butter Cup an my mom got Red Velvet 1/2 & 1/2 which has half regular cream cheese frosting and half cocoa cream cheese frosting.  The cake was moist and the frosting was creamy and delicious.  Another time we met a friend there and they had special Make-A-Wish fundraiser cupcakes.  Money from the sale of those cupcakes went to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  So we bought a whole bunch of those cupcakes and had our friend take them back to the Painted Turtle office for everyone.  The Painted Turtle Camp’s office is just a few blocks from there.  This last time, we went and picked up cupcakes for our friends who we were going to visit.  Their whole family is vegan so we bought them some vegan cupcakes.  They offer two vegan cupcakes every day.  One is daily and one is a special.  We got our friends a Coconut and five Brown Sugar Cinnamon.  I got a regular Junior Mint. My dad got Lemon and my mom got her favorite, Red Velvet 1/2 & 1/2. Everyone loved their cupcakes.  I really like that they offer special diet options.  In fact, every Tuesday, they offer a sugar-free cupcake.  The shop is really cute looking.  They have a big huge case with all of the cupcakes in it.  They also have  cupcakes in a jar, party kits, and mini cupcakes.  I really recommend this cupcake shop.  We will definitely go there every time we are near Santa Monica.

My family and I visited SmashBurger.  It’s a walk up and order burger place that has a huge menu.  On the menu there are burgers that you can get with a bean patty if you like.  They have chicken sandwiches and salads and hot dogs.  You can also do a create-your-own burger or sandwich where you can choose different buns and toppings.  There are lots of different kinds of fries including sweet potato fries, veggie fries and fried pickles.  I tried the sweet potato fries with rosemary, olive oil and garlic.  They were good and crispy and sweet.  I also tried the smash fries that also have rosemary, olive oil and garlic but they are made with regular potatoes.  I could really taste the garlic.  They were a little crispy and also kind of soft.  I thought they were both really delicious!  Spencer got plain fries and liked them a lot.  He also got the kids grilled cheese.  He said the crust was very crispy and the cheese was thick but also really soft and delicious. They have three different kinds of grilled cheeses. They have spinach and Swiss, mushroom and spinach and  I ordered the three cheese grilled cheese.  It was really good.  Three different cheeses at the same time-wow, it was good!  The bread was crispy and soft at the same time and it was well grilled.  I also ordered the dulce de leche milk shake.  It was delicious!  They brought the glass with whipped cream on top and also brought the milk shake can with the extra in it.  It had a nice caramel-y kind of taste.  My dad ordered the Spicy Baja Burger with the black bean patty and my mom ordered BBQ bacon and cheese minus the bacon with the black bean patty and she added avocado.  She liked the haystack onions on it!  They really liked that the patty was a hand-made delicious black bean patty.   I think SmashBurger is a really delicious burger place and is very vegetarian friendly.  I would definitely recommend it and I will most definitely go back again!

When I got back from a rehearsal, my mom told me that Laverne, a nice friend of ours, had dropped off some pants she sewed for us.  She also left some homemade spaghetti sauce for me to try.  I usually only review restaurants but I had to mention this.  It was DELICIOUS!  It was really smooth and rich with good Italian flavors and seasoning.  I really like when sauce is smooth without chunks.  I finished off two bowls of pasta just to have more of that sauce!  My mom and dad loved it too.  It was really nice of Laverne to share her sauce with us.  And Laverne, if you are reading this right now, I wanted to tell you that your sauce is FANTASTIC!  It’s the best spaghetti sauce I think I’ve ever had.  It’s also really good to dip bread in.  I think I could eat this delicious sauce every day.  I told my mom and dad not to eat it all so I can have it for breakfast in the morning. Thanks Laverne!