Adventurous With Dining In America

I like dining out, although we dont do it all the time because it is quite costly to do it on a daily basis. But most of us enjoy and very passionate about great foods and great restaurants. Most of us have our favorite foods and favorite restaurants, but it is always great to explore new restaurants and taste new menus as well, to know what else is out there and probably discover new favorites! But walking into a restaurant that you never been before nor heard of before can be a disastrous idea specially if you have no clue what type of foods they serve. But dont despair, if you feel like trying out new restaurants in different cities in the US, you can now checkout some of the recognized and great restaurants in different major US cities, and give you an idea in advance what they have and the type of foods they serve, check out WhereTheLocalsEat website.

NOTE: For tips on travels anywhere in the USA, checkout my other blog, FiftyStatesTravel.com too!

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It Is Possibly The Jalopeño Pepper

Few weeks had passed that there were a major national scare salmonella infected tomatoes which lead to the pulling out of a lot of stocks of tomatoes in most grocery stores and supermarkets nationwide as well and pulling out tomato ingredients in most menus in restaurants and inns. But after awhile of tracing the source of salmonella cases, there is been a recent spread in the news that the source of the samonella cases are possibly coming from jalopeño pepper! Whether this is true or not, it is always good to be aware and keep watch of what you eat.

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Heart Pumping Ride After A Great Meal

Yesterday was definitely a mixed emotion for us. We went to our favorite Chinese restautant and ordered a Sweet and Sour Pork and steamed rice for our meal. The food came out great and everything was perfect. We been to the same restaurant a lot, so a lot of the people who work there recognize us by our faces. During our visit yesterday, we were served by a new waiter, whom we never seen before in that restaurant. But he was just as friendly and accomodating as the rest of the crew. When he handed us the change for our bill, my hubby noticed that the waiter gave us $4.00 more! We dont want him to be in trouble with the cashier audit at the end of the day, so we left the $4.00 extra plus the tip for him in the table. We also told him about it before we left the restaurant, so he will be aware, and next time we go there, he wont expect that we are over-the-top tippers :-)

Just as was we pulled out off the driveway of the restaurant and drove to the main road, there was a bumper to bumper traffic. Then the signal changed, and the cars started moving slowly. While waiting for the cars to move, we noticed a guy driver in the turn lane, his car facing the driver side of our car. But obviously he was not aware that we were there in front of him, because as soon as the road in our back was cleared, the guy driver started hitting his gas and driving towards us. We were there right in front of him, thank God that were were able to swing to the other lane very very quickly and safely and move forward at once despite the amount of traffic there was, and managed to avoid from getting hit by the guy car and his absent-minded attitude! It was crazy why he was not aware that our car was right in his front, he only checked the clearance on his right side, not his front, before trying to turn! Grrr.

I guess it was good karma that we were spared from being hit brutally that could easily spin our car, get dinged, and get pushed to all other cars in the road, and could possibly roll us upside down :-( The $4.00 extra that we returned to the waiter, must have saved us from an accident? I guess it is good to put things in this perspective, so more and more people will be encouranged to do good or be honest.

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Grilled Onions For Hamburgers Make Sense

Yesterday, we passed by an In And Out Burger, and we just had to stop there. Its been awhile since we were there last because most of their outlets here in northern CA is not always convenient where we live, so when there is a chance that we saw one of their outlet, it is always hard to pass up, we always take advantage of stopping there. They have really great hamburgers! The one thing i like most about their hamburger is that they add grilled diced onions and thousand island dressing. And their milk shake is one of the best ever, very soft and creamy. So if there is an In And Out Burger where you are and you havent tried them yet, I think you should because I personally think that they have great foods. In addition, my hubby mentioned to me yesterday while we were there that their fresh fries are freshly prepared, peeled and sliced by them, meaning its not from a bag of frozen french fries. Bon Appetit everyone.

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Our Valentines Day

For Valentines Day, we went to an Italian restaurant here in our area and of course I ordered my usual favorite, Fettuccine Presto with Shrimps. The italian restaurant that we went to is new, not even a year old yet, and we been there around 4-5 times already since it opened last year 2007. And everytime we go there, I usually order the same menu, because I kinda like how they cook and prepare the whole recipe, and i always think that white sauce are so yummy. Their complimentary bread and soup are also something to look forward to, and they sure seem to have perfected the taste of the best bread ever.

After our nice italian meal, we went to Walmart and grabbed No Reservations dvd movie, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart. We then headed home, and watched the movie comfortably in our sofa and paused when we need or have to, which i like best about watching movie at home! No Reservations is a romantic movie about two head chefs in a restaurant, then they fell in love, and i wont tell you the rest of the story just incase you have plan buying the movie, and I dont want to ruin the thrill of what happened next! Personally, i think it is a great romantic heart-warming movie, so romantic and sweet as well.

After we watched the movie at home, we decided to make a pizza, and we just done eating it few minutes ago. Happy Valentines Day everyone, thanks for visiting my blog today :-)

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No More Free Honey Wings

One of the main reason why we like to dine in at Round Table pizza a lot is because of their unmatched yummy pizzas with quite flavorful crust plus the free honey wings appetizer that we get by using our survey coupons. Most of the time, when we eat there, we have survey coupon for six pieces free honey wings, since at the back of Round Table receipts, there always been a survey that you can call in and answers questions regarding your latest experience with the restaurant, and at the end of the survey, a validation code would be given that we could write at the back of the receipt, that we could present on our next restaurant visit to get free six honey wings, which is worth around $4.00 if you dont have a coupon. But to our dismay, during out visit at Round Table yesterday, we were told, as well as few other customers with coupons, that they will discountinuing the survey coupons and they will only be valid up to next week. We still have two unused coupons for free honey wings, and we are not gonna be able to use them anymore...With the prices of pizza, with no free honey wings, its more likely that we are not gonna be going there as often as we would like. We are just gonna try do some extra work making our own pizza at home. The receipt that we got yesterday no longer had a call-in survey opportunity at the back for free appetizers that we can use next visits, so that was a bumber.

What about you, do you use coupons that you get from newspaper clippings, magazine inserts, or call-in surveys for free appetizers, free drinks, or discount off when you go to some restaurants?

Do you prepare your own pizza at home? Or do you eat pizza dine-in in pizza restaurants? Or you just buy the frozen ready-to-reheat pre-made pizza in supermarket?

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Pumpkin Palace Experience

The new mexican restaurant that we came to visit the other day is actually not called the Pumpkin Palace but my hubby called it that way because the new owner of the building bought the place and converted it into a mexican restaurant. Then they painted the whole building bright orange in the exterior that totally stands out in the neighborhood specially that it is located in a place full of huge pine trees, which dont have a lot of other colors but greens and browns. The new orange color in the building, definitely stands out and my hubby now refer or calle the restaurant the Pumpkin Palace.

The Pumpkin Palace has been opened in our county for quite sometime now, and the other day was the first time that we finally decided to give their food a try, since we hear a lot of great feedbacks with their foods from friends and acquaintances. I am personally not the best fan of mexican foods because I had terrible past experieces with mexican foods in some of the mexican restaurants that we visited in the past. But I am glad that I tried to be open and gave the Pumpkin Palace foods a try. They actually serve some great tasty foods. My hubby ordered a Beef Steak Chille which totally reminded me of my mothers Beef Steak recipe that she used to cook for us with beef slices and lots of onions on it. The Pumpkin Palace dont have the cheapest prices per serving, so we will only be going to the Pumpkin Palace occassionaly, but we are definitely going back there again.

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