Archive for "Food and Drink"
What Happened Last Week
Posted on October 12, 2014 by Ching under Food and Drink, Life.
View from the Nest at the Oread…
I love training held at the Oread because we got to enjoy views like these. The only down side is that I have to be away from home. Of course, I get to look forward to coming home to my two babies.
Except, I don’t think they missed me. This is what I came home to on Wednesday. =P
Our Customer Experience meeting at the Holiday Inn ended at four o’clock on Thursday so I had time help grandma with her computer, which worked out great since Brian has to work until five now. He also had to stop by the car repair shop to pick up Bebot.
After grandma’s computer was fixed, she showed me her word search game.
I didn’t have Kira on Thursday night so we were able to partake of $12 sangria pitchers at Taste & See. Misty joined us for dinner. Here are some pictures of our food…
I didn’t get a picture of the queso fondue which is our favorite starter at the restaurant. Misty hadn’t tried it before. I think we converted another.
Dinner was delicious and it was nice to be able to catch up with Misty. It’s been a while.
I had my Leadership Wichita session on Friday, which is worthy of its very own blog post. After our session Brian had a meeting at Wichita State for the fitness device study that he’s part of. He’s testing his third fitness device: Basis.
It’s the one he thought he wanted, but he actually doesn’t like as much now that he’s tried a couple of other fitness devices. I’m glad he’s part of the test group, otherwise we would have bought him something that he would quickly tire of and then eventually not use. After this one, he has three more fitness devices to test.
It’s past my bed time so I’ll hold off posting about the weekend until tomorrow. And, I still need to post a Leadership Wichita update. So stay tuned!
Until next time,
Ching
No Comments
715 Restaurant
Posted on October 12, 2014 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Since I was in Lawrence last week, I had an opportunity to have lunch at my favorite restaurant on Mass Street. I’ve eaten there a few times over the years but it wasn’t until last week that I realized I’ve been saying the name wrong. LOL.
Here are some pictures of our food…
Granted, this recent dining experience was not as awesome as previous dining experiences here. This was my first time having lunch here. I think dinner is just better than lunch period. I still recommend the restaurant. The food is on the expensive side, but it’s good. If you go, go for dinner. That would be my suggestion.
P.S. I kept calling it Seven-Fifteen, but it’s actually called Seven-One-Five. I’d never heard anyone say the name of the restaurant because I rarely ever meet people who’ve dined there. Now I know how to say it correctly.
No Comments
Our Anniversary Dinner in Orlando
Posted on August 19, 2014 by Ching under Food and Drink.
We ate out a lot in the days leading up to our anniversary. We hit our favorite places in Wichita where we hadn’t been in a long time so we ate at the Anchor and also at Redrock but we didn’t really “celebrate” our anniversary until Orlando because I wanted Brian to try the Oceanaire Seafood Room.
I ate at Oceanaire for the first time when I was in San Diego on a work trip and loved it. I remembered that they had a location down the street from the convention center in Orlando so I asked Brian if we could wait to celebrate our anniversary when we arrived in Orlando that way we could have our anniversary dinner at Oceanaire. The place is so expensive, special to a frugal person like me. It’s not really a place that you could just go to eat just for kicks.
I really like the “Happy Anniversary” message on the menu. It’s a nice touch. Although, I liked the menu from San Diego better because it actually had my name printed on it.
I’m glad I warned Brian about the prices on the menu ahead of time. He would have had a fit. He is just as cheap as I am. LOL.
This is my super delicious sangria.
I also like the fresh veggies.
The chef also gives a small treat to first timers. Brian didn’t even want to try it. He saw the raw fish and that was enough for him. It actually wasn’t bad.
The “congratulations” card they gave us signed by the staff was also a nice touch.
It makes me want to celebrate every birthday and anniversary there. I’m cheap, but once or twice a year won’t be too bad. It’s a shame there’s not one in town.
They have the most delicious crab cakes ever. This one was just as good, if not better, than the ones I had in San Diego. I like that there’s hardly any filler and the crab meat has just the right hint of sweetness.
This ugly entree was the most expensive thing we ordered. $42 for this dish. It was just okay. I’d had better salmon before, for half the price. Actually I was thinking the dish would be around $32 but since I substituted the crab Oscar instead of the shrimp Oscar there was an up charge.
All I’m saying is that the crab cakes are worth every penny. I expected more out of this dish. Maybe I don’t know what good salmon tastes like? LOL. Maybe it’s because of the messy presentation? I don’t know. All I know is that I didn’t enjoy this dish as much as I thought I would have.
I didn’t complain or ask to exchange it though. I just ate until I was full, which is what I should do anyway rather than cleaning my plate every time.
This is the hash browns Oceanaire-style. We ordered it because our server said it was their most popular side dish. This was just okay also. Other than how huge the serving is, there wasn’t really anything spectacular about it.
Brian’s pork chop was just okay too. It was cooked well, but I thought it needed more flavor. That’s probably just me, though.
The baked Alaska was good but it was rock hard. It had just come out of the deep freeze so it was solid. She could barely cut it in half even after heating the knife. It was that hard. Here’s a photo of it from the side.
Here’s a video of the baked Alaska. The flames don’t always show up in photos so our server recommended taking a video instead.
Even though the Orlando location didn’t live up to the high expectations set by the San Diego location, our anniversary dinner was wonderful overall. Our server was delightful. Although, I think they are purposely nice to you though so you don’t feel so bad about the bill when it comes. LOL. I joked to Brian that we blew our entire food budget on one night. We were celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary though, so we had to pick a special place — one that’s worthy of the milestone.
Looking back though, I think we should have celebrated our anniversary at Twelve. I hear the food there is great and it would have been perfect because then it would have been our 12th at Twelve. Maybe I can talk Brian into a do over on Friday night. It’s just so far. I wish it wasn’t so far out on the West side of town. =P
No Comments
Grandma’s 92nd Birthday
Posted on June 20, 2014 by Ching under Family, Food and Drink.
We celebrated grandma’s 92nd birthday at Firebirds last night. It was also a late birthday dinner for Brian and late Father’s Day celebration. We didn’t have time to figure out what to do for gifts for everyone so we just decided to buy everyone dinner. It was a little lazy on our part, I know; but what can you do when you’ve just gotten back from traveling and you have to get on with everyday life real quick? I was back to my day job and teaching my Zumba classes right off the bat.
Without further ado, here are some of the pictures from last night.
Mom and dad were able to join us so that was great.
Brian got a card that makes noise and some cash for his birthday from his mom and dad. He is so easily amused.
Mom really thought this was a half portion.
Brian got ribs. He said they were very good.
Grandma got pasta.
Dad got a wood grilled salmon.
Kevin got a cheeseburger.
I had a Fireside BLT with grilled salmon.
Donna got meatloaf.
David got a steak filet and fries.
We all shared a couple of slices of the banana cream pie.
Close up!
Grandma got a nice card from the Firebirds staff.
We had to take a selfie!
Here’s a photo of the Brubakers outside the restaurant after dinner.
Food at the restaurant was actually better than I remembered. I have always liked their bread because it reminds me of pan de sal. The servers brought us several loaves well before we could even finish one.
I’m not sure about the others but my food was pretty good. The last time I had salmon at Firebirds it was a little overdone. It seemed that way anyhow. I thought I would give them another chance and get salmon again. This time to just add to my salad. The salmon was done absolutely perfectly. It didn’t dry up so that was great.
Our server recommended their seasonal dessert, a banana cream pie on steroids. We shared two slices of the pie. It was delicious. I hope Brian learns how to make it because I would love to have some again. LOL.
No Comments
Dinner Photos
Posted on June 14, 2014 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
Here are some photos from our dinners at the resort.
La Brisa
Out of all the restaurants, La Brisa was our favorite. I think it was the only restaurant that we went to with a full bar. The other restaurants offered only regular drinks and wine. The location was perfect. The restaurant had spectacular views and the breeze felt great against your skin.
La Comedie
La Comedie is one of two French restaurants. This one isn’t included in the regular all inclusive package but it’s free to club premium guests. Naturally, we had to give it a try.
Brian was not too fond of this place because he said it smelled very fishy. I couldn’t smell anything because I caught a cold while we were there and I was at the peak of my illness at this point. The creepy puppets didn’t help matters any either.
This is how they served water out of water bottles.
My shrimp cocktail starter was served out of a pineapple cup.
I got the lobster thermidor entree. I’m sure it was very good but I didn’t have much of an appetite that night.
Brian had chicken cordon bleu.
I did eat all of my crepe suzette despite my lack of appetite.
Brian had chocolate ice cream.
Kyoto Teppanyaki
The following night we had dinner at a Japanese hibachi place. Like La Comedie this restaurant is also located on the family side, Barceló Bávaro Palace Deluxe.
This is their version of miso soup. I thought it was good but Brian didn’t like it because it had a lot of crap in it. He’s used to the clear miso soup that they serve at the teppanyaki restaurants here in Wichita.
I didn’t get a picture of my plate but it looks exactly the same as this with shrimp instead of chicken. I ate a lot of shrimp while we were down there.
I had coconut encrusted flan. Brian had some kind of chocolate cake roll/log.
La Dolce Vita
La Dolce Vita is an Italian restaurant at Barceló Bávaro Palace Deluxe. It was Brian’s pick and his least favorite of all the restaurants that we tried.
They gave us bread that reminds me of lavosh.
The minestrone was not very good. It was very watery.
The chicken cacciatore was just okay.
Brian fared worse. His spinach and four cheese ravioli was overcooked.
The only thing good, besides the cheesy flatbread, was the tiramisu.
Chez Gourmet
We ate at Chez Gourmet on our final night at Barceló. This French restaurant is included in the regular all inclusive package and the best part is that it’s located in the adults only side so we didn’t have to take the train over to Palace Deluxe. Even though my lobster wasn’t cooked all the way, I actually liked this place better than La Comedie.
Brian said the place didn’t smell fishy and there were no creepy puppets. I still couldn’t smell so I can neither confirm nor deny the existence or lack of fishy odor, but I was definitely glad there were no creepy puppets watching us eat our meal. Jokes aside, the restaurant was furnished nicely and well-decorated. The ambiance of this restaurant is also more romantic than stuffy.
This is the stuffed squid starter offered to everyone at the restaurant. Brian didn’t touch his. I ate mine. It wasn’t bad.
The seafood soup was watery just like the minestrone from the previous night.
This is the martini shrimp. The fried shrimp outside was yummy. The shrimp ceviche under the martini glass was just okay. Cool presentation, though.
I had the seafood trio of shrimp, crab, and lobster. The shrimp was good but the crab was overcooked and the lobster was not done all the way.
Brian had the chateaubriand. He said it was just okay.
I had the crepe suzette again for dessert.
I don’t get to eat crepes very often so I took advantage of it while we were at Barceló. I ate crepes everyday. If not at dinner, at breakfast. I didn’t know there was a crepe station at Caribe Buffet until our second or third day at the resort but after I found out, I got it every time.
As far as resort dining goes, La Brisa and Caribe are your best bets. They’re on the adults only side so you don’t have to ride the train to Palace Deluxe. Lots of options at Caribe (and guys can wear shorts because there’s no dress code) and they have a full bar at La Brisa so you can enjoy cocktails with your meal.
Seafood was abundant at the resort and you have lot of choices. I took full advantage and ate a lot of seafood, specially shrimp. Brian is not a seafood lover so he ate a lot of pasta. LOL. I hope you enjoyed all the food photos and you found the comments helpful. Until next time.
XOXO,
Ching
No Comments
