I really enjoyed making sushi in the Fox 40 Live studio. Chef Art was very nice.  There were even different animals you can make with sushi like dolphins, ladybugs, snakes and even penguins.  Here’s how you do it:  you get a square sheet of seaweed, then you dip your hands into a dish of water to prevent the stickiness of the rice from sticking to your hands, then you put a thick layer on the edge of the rise. After that you flip it over and put whatever you want.  For example, I put shrimp. You put it on the edge but make sure it doesn’t slip off the seaweed.  Then you roll it up and make sure the shrimp is inside and the white rice is on the outside.  You use a bamboo mat to help roll.  Cut it up in bite size pieces.  Viola!  There’s your sushi!  Enjoy it!  Chef art made a happy face with the sushi on the plate.  There was some light yellow and light reddish sauce on it.  I had never tried sushi before and I thought it was delicious!

You can see video of Spencer and me making Sushi in the Fox 40 studio under the Videos tab

All I can say is yum!  The menu was so big I couldn’t decide what to order.  I finally decided on a Nutella Crepe.  It was sweet, warm, tasty, and it had creamy whipped cream and a drizzle of Nutella on top.  A crepe is like a thin pancake with anything you would like in the middle.  I had never had crepes before and I just found out they are very delicious.  It came with vanilla bean ice cream that had a good flavor.  My brother ordered silver dollar pancakes from the kids menu.  They had sweet syrup and a small bit of powdered sugar on top.  They were a little fluffy/flat.  My brother said they were excellent.  My mom ordered a crepe with egg, avocado and cheese. It came with breakfast potatoes that were warm, soft, flavorful and well seasoned.  I loved the breakfast potatoes and Mom loved the crepe and the potatoes as well.  For my overall assessment,  the food was very good, the restaurant smelled very nice and there was an enormous menu which I think is good because a big menu means more things to try.

You can see video of me at Crepe Escape and in the Fox 40 studio under the Videos tab.

After being dressed up in our PJs and riding on the Polar Express Train, we went to Rio City Cafe. The first thing I noticed was it smelled very good.  I ordered the crab cakes.  They were warm and they had lots of soft crab on the inside, a tiny crisp on the outside.  It came with fried leeks.  I loved the whole dish!  My brother ordered grilled cheese with fries.  It was very cheesy with really soft bread.  I really liked the grilled cheese.  The shoestring fries were tasty and not too salty.  I tried my mom’s Caesar salad.  It had very good dressing and the croutons were very crunchy.  I loved it.  My mom ordered the fish special:  Mahi Mahi with pesto fingerling potatoes. It had soft, well flavored, delicious potatoes.  The fish was a little moist and had a nice texture.  Even though I don’t usually like a piece of fish, I sort of liked the fish.  My dad ordered salmon with mustard sauce and grilled asparagus and mashed potatoes.  The asparagus was good.  The potatoes were soft and fluffy and I loved them.  I didn’t try the salmon but Dad said it was tasty and moist and cooked perfectly.  For dessert, we shared the chocolate hazelnut torte. I thought it was very chewy and it has some really good ice cream on the side along with some creamy whipped cream.  It was a very chocolately and rich!  I can tell you that!  Along with our drinks, the waitress brought big sweet, juicy maraschino cherries, just to be nice.  She was very attentive.  Rio City Cafe is in Old Sacramento next to the river. I think it is very kid-friendly.

The Spaghetti factory had a big trolley that you can sometimes dine in and some rail road crossing signs inside.  I ordered some mac & cheese from the kids’ menu and I rated it 5 stars!  It has very cheesey “O” pieces and great tasting cheese.  The meal comes with salad and I ordered it with thousand island dressing.  The thousand island was very good and it had tasty, crunchy croutons.  They also brought bread and butter for the table and the bread was very warm and soft.  My brother ordered some garlic cheese bread from the appetizer menu as his meal.  It had very good cheese and garlic and the bread was very soft.  My mom and dad ordered spinach and cheese ravioli with alfredo and marinara.  It was not bad.  It had good alfredo and really good marinara and it tasted a little like tortellini I’ve had before.  Mt dad ordered a side of broccoli with brown butter and mizithra cheese. It had really good cheese and nice broccoli.  For my dad’s drink he ordered strawberry lemonade.  It was sweetish-tart and had good strawberry flavor.  I would give it 4 1/2 stars.  Dessert is included with the meals.  For dessert my brother ordered a cool cherry juice bar.  It had a good sweet, cherry flavor.  I ordered spumoni.  It is 3 flavors of ice cream in one dish:  cherry, pistachio and chocolate.  It had really good flavor and it was very colorful.  The spaghetti factory is a really great place to eat for families and friends, anyone who wants some good pasta.

We entered The Rock Inn with our friends.  It’s sort of a bar/restaurant in Lake Hughes near The Painted Turtle.  A nice waitress took our order and I ordered a grilled peanut butter, no jelly and it was very delicious. I like the mixture of the crunchy from the grilled bread and the soft and sticky from the peanut butter.  One of my friends offered me an onion ring and it was pretty good.  The inside of the onion was pretty soft and the outside was crispy.  I sort of liked them but not like-like.  The root beer was really good.  It tasted a little creamy to me.  My brother ordered a grilled cheese. It was really good.  The bread was terrific–like a thick sourdough.  My mom ordered fish and chips and she thought it was good and fresh, not too greasy.  The fries were thin and very good.  My dad ordered a tuna melt with avocado and cheese and he said it was very delicious.  After dinner, since it was karaoke night, we sang a little karaoke.  I sang Tomorrow from Annie.  I had a lot of fun.  We stayed there pretty late.  My mom and our friends sang songs also.  I would definitely recommend this place.