Abby's Dining Adventures

Yummy Cupcakes

Abby — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 20:38:24 +0000

review coming soon.

American Girl Cafe

Abby — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:42:48 +0000

review coming soon.

Ahwahnee Hotel

Abby — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:30:19 +0000

I went to The Ahwahnee hotel restaurant in Yosemite with my family. It is a very nice restaurant that has a dress code for dinner. Men and boys have to wear a collared shirt and pants, no shorts. Women and girls have to wear a dress or a nice blouse, no shorts. Nice denim jeans are okay. The dining room was very large and has lots of exposed wood and rock. It looked like a big, beautiful cabin. Out the huge window near our table, we saw a small meadow, beautiful trees behind it and behind them, a mountain that went straight up very close to us. The piano player played very beautiful music while we ate. He played songs a lot of people know and looked around sometimes to see if people recognize it. My favorite music he played was from Harry Potter movies.

The waitress brought a big basket of bread to the table and it was delicious and soft. There was herbed bread, sourdough, and a flatbread crisp. I thought it all was delicious. The waitress brought complimentary fresh fruit for my brother and I. My dad ordered a watermelon salad with goat cheese and mint. I really liked it. I liked the cheese and the watermelon separately, but not together. My mom ordered a half Caesar salad and I liked it very much. For a drink, I had a Shirley Temple and I loved the cherry flavor in it. They put lots of cherries in it. My brother ordered a grilled cheese and he said he wished he could have it every night for dinner. I loved the grilled cheese sandwich too. It was fantastic. I ordered a crab cake from the appetizers and the pasta from the kids menu. The crab cake wasn’t really my favorite because I don’t really like vegetables in my crab cakes and it had peppers and corn in it. The crab was good though and it was nice and crispy on the outside. I loved my pasta–it was spaghetti with oil and parmesan. Something very nice that I made note of, was that when I went to use the restroom, the waitress put a cover on my pasta to keep it warm. I thought that was very nice. My dad had the gnocchi from the appetizer menu and I loved it. It had a wonderful flavor. He also had garlic mashed potatoes. They were the best. My mom ordered the poached halibut with green beans and she said it was delicious. The waitress even brought her a different sauce on the side to try with it. For dessert, the kids meal came with a scoop of ice cream. Spencer had chocolate and I had vanilla. I thought it was very delicious and creamy. We also ordered the dessert sampler for all of us to try. My favorite thing was a the crème brulee. It tasted like a rich vanilla pudding with sugary crispies on top. The chocolate tart was rich and creamy chocolate. The lemon panna cotta was really tart, too tart for me, but my mom liked it. The raspberry sorbet was great and so was the hazelnut praline ice cream in a little cookie shell. It had a coffee-like flavor. Overall, the setting was beautiful, the service was excellent and the food was wonderful. We all think that this is the best dinner we’ve ever had in Yosemite.

Paesanos

Abby — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 04:00:05 +0000

For my dad’s birthday, we went to Paesanos. I thought it was very comfortable with nice decorations. My brother thought it smelled good inside. It has an open kitchen where you can see them cook. They brought bread to the table and it was soft and crunchy on top. I ordered root beer and it was creamy and perfect. I ordered the kids pasta with butter and parmesan cheese. I thought it was delicious. It had plenty of parmesan and it was nice and buttery. I put a little salt on it too. My brother ordered the kids cheese pizza and let me try some of it. It was cheesy but not too cheesy and my brother loved it. My parents shared the fried ravioli. It had spinach and cheese in it. It was not bad but it wasn’t my favorite. My mom ordered the Caesar salad. It had garlic croutons that were nice and crunchy and it had lots of tasty dressing. My dad ordered the tortellini with pesto cream sauce. Oh my gosh it was soooo delicious. It had lots of creamy pesto sauce and it was full of cheese. We all shared the garlic bread which had melted garlic in the middle, was very soft in the middle and crunchy on top. My brother and I had a blue bunny for dessert which came free with the kids meal. It is chocolate covered ice cream on a stick and it was really yummy. This is a great place to go with your family and friends.

CA State Indian Museum Community Day

Abby — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 12:30:58 +0000

I went to the State Indian Museum and we watched some Native American dancers dance, visited the museum , and saw lots of handmade bead work jewelry and Native American dolls. I bought some really pretty beaded eagle earrings and my mom bought a tepee ornament that had some turtles on it that reminded her of her grandfather’s (my great-grandfather’s) Native American collection. The food there smelled really good so we decided to try something. I decided to try the fry bread and my parents decided to have a vegetarian Indian taco. It was beans, cheese, fresh lettuce and tomato on top of fry bread. They said it was delicious. On the fry bread, you can add powdered sugar, cinnamon, honey or butter on it. I decided to try a little of every one of them except the butter and I left a little part of it plain. The fry bread was delicious. Its a little but like a funnel cake but better and softer. I didn’t really like it with cinnamon but I loved the powdered sugar and honey and even when it was plain. It was warm, light, not greasy, about the size of a paper plate and we ate it with our hands. We liked it so much we got another one to take to grandma’s house for her to try. She loved it too. I really enjoyed trying a new food, the handmade crafts and the dancing. It was a very fun day.

Heavenly’s Yogurt

Abby — Thu, 27 May 2010 18:31:51 +0000

I went to Heavenly Yogurt and tried ALL the flavors. They change the flavors they offer all the time which makes it fun to try new flavors. First I tried the non-fat, non-dairy Lemon and I thought it tasted like lemonade, yummy. The Mango sherbet, non-fat, non-dairy tasted very tropical to me. The Yellow Cake Batter, low-fat, was my favorite. It was very sweet and I think kids would like it. The Kona Coffee, non-fat, was very good and had a strong coffee flavor. The Red Raspberry, non-fat, no-sugar, tasted like tasty raspberry sauce. The European Tart, non-fat, I didn’t really like because it tasted like cream cheese, which I like on a bagel but not for yogurt. The Green Tea, non-fat, I didn’t like at all. I heard people in the shop say it tasted like grass and I agree. The Cookies and Cream, non-fat, tasted like chocolate. The White Vanilla, low-fat, was yummy. The Cable Car Chocolate, non-fat, tasted like rich, dark chocolate. I made Yellow Cake Batter with butterscotch, marshmallow creme, marshmallows, whipped cream, a cherry, chocolate rocks and cotton candy nerds. Mmmmmm. I thought it was very sweet and the cherry was very juicy. My brother had Chocolate with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups with whipped cream and brownie bits. He thought that it was great and really chocolaty. I agreed. My mom made Kona Coffee with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and whipped cream, caramel and fudge. My mom said Yumm and liked the flavor of the coffee yogurt. I think Heavenly yogurt is a great place for kids or anyone because they can choose and make their own dessert with flavors and toppings. On Fridays from 4-8pm, kids ages 12 and under get 4 oz of yogurt for free. They play really good music in the store and you can even make your own root beer floats. You can have birthday parties or other celebrations there. Also, they accept all competitor’s coupons. They have 36 candy toppings, 6 hot toppings and 18 soft toppings. If you like frozen yogurt and if you like to choose your own toppings, then this is a great place to try!

Habit Burger

Abby — Wed, 12 May 2010 05:21:50 +0000

I was asked if I could go and say thank you to blood donors at a blood drive. I was very happy for the chance to do that. One donor who I was talking with and telling about the time I received 9 units of blood a couple of summers ago (after the surgery and not being able to eat much was when I decided to become a food critic), was very nice and gave me two coupons for free burgers at Habit Burger. Even though I don’t eat meat, I hear they have very good veggie burgers and onion rings.

I am excited to try it!

****UPDATED****

My family and I finally visited Habit Burger. We went to the counter and my brother ordered the kids’ grilled cheese sandwich which comes with fries and a drink. Dad ordered the grilled albacore tuna sandwich, well done. My mom ordered a veggie burger. I ordered onion rings and we decided to share some fries and my brother and I had milk shakes. We also got a side Caesar to share. I liked that you can choose the bread you want. They had sourdough, wheat, white or a French roll. The grilled cheese was amazing! It was very cheesy and crunchy and one of the best grilled cheeses I have ever had. The grilled albacore tuna was my dad’s favorite but I didn’t decide to try it because I was too busy with the grilled cheese! The onion rings tasted very good with ranch dressing. My mom loved the veggie burger. It had sprouts, tomatoes, lettuce, avocado and onions. The Caesar had lots of tasty parmesan and dressing and the croutons were nice and crunchy. The fries were really good and the shakes were really good too. I think the service there is great and the person who took our order was very nice. This is a place that I would like to visit very often because they have one of the best grilled cheese and other yummy foods and its a fun place.

Cookies Drive In

Abby — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 22:34:00 +0000

I took a bike ride with my parents and a friend. We decided to stop at Cookies Drive In. At first we were just going to have a soft serve cone. Then we decided that it was dinner time so we might as well eat there for dinner. We all tried the grilled cheese and I thought it was amazing. It was really nice and cheesy they grilled it really well. We also had a small French fries and they were really good. My parents were happy that there were three veggie burger choices–a veggie burger, a soy burger and a black bean burger. They tried the veggie burger and thought it was really good. Then for dessert we had soft serve ice cream cones. I got vanilla and my brother and friend got swirl. I thought it was really delicious. Next time we are going back and having grilled cheese again with a dipped cone next time! Maybe we will also try the fish and chips or the mozzarella sticks. Cookies has been in the neighborhood for along time and its the perfect place to stop off on a bike ride for some lunch!

Passionfish

Abby — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 19:54:32 +0000

We took a trip to Pacific Grove and went to Passionfish restaurant on one of the evenings that we were there. When we walked inside, I saw black and white photos of sealife. I thought they were very cool. When we sat down, they brought bread and it was very warm and soft and the butter was very sweet, like honey butter. Of course, I ordered the crab cake appetizer for my meal and it was gooood! It had a light crisp on the outside and it was full of crab! My dad ordered the tilapia with thyme mashed potatoes, balsamic butter sauce and edamame. My mom and dad loved it and I loved the mashed potatoes. Tilapia fish are fed vegetables which means that they are a vegetarian fish and they are an ocean friendly fish to eat. My mom ordered the butternut squash soup. It was warm, sweet and creamy and also had a little bit of seasoning. My mom really loved the soup! We all shared the romaine salad. It had lots of asiago cheese and very yummy dressing. My mom also ordered the scallop with artichoke risotto cake. It wasn’t my favorite but my mom liked it. The server was very attentive and the restaurant was busy but not super noisy. Everything they serve there is ocean friendly, meaning that they don’t destroy the ocean when farming or catching the seafood and don’t kill by-catch while fishing for the seafood that they want. I learned all about this at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I think that Passionfish is a great place. I am really impressed by the ocean friendliness there and the delicious food.

Girl Scout Cookies

Abby — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:17:08 +0000

It is Girl Scout Cookie time again. I will be on Fox 40 Tuesday Feb. 23rd demonstrating desserts you can make with the Girl Scout cookies you bought this year.