Mellow Mushroom (470)

Are you a pizza fanatic?  I mean who doesn't love pizza. The perfect sauce, the perfect toppings, cooked to perfection. Are you really human if you don't love pizza? Pizza is a perfect example of how you can express yourself in the kitchen. You can add and take away whatever you want. Just think of the endless combinations that people come up with. And with all the different types, it means that you can try so many different kinds. I feel like pizza is a universal item that everyone can relate to. And the taste and availability is out of this world.

A while ago I went to Coralville with my sister and brother-in-law. We were going to watch Pitch Perfect 2 and wanted food beforehand, so of course we had pizza. My sister told us about this restaurant that she had heard of, with crazy pizza types and fun décor around the entire restaurant. She also said something about pretzels and how "you never know what shape you're going to get." I mean I stopped listening after the word pizza, because it's PIZZA. So I mean when she said pretzels I was already sold. So Mellow Mushroom we went.

If you want to check out their menu, click here  <----- do it, you won't regret it

So of course we got pretzels. I believe we got garlic butter and parmesan, with a side of red sauce and butter and kosher salt. I just remember them being really thin, and therefore they were really well done. They were fresh just a little done. I feel like if we went back and tried them again they would be ten times better. It's also really cool because they have a visible kitchen so you can see the cooks rolling out all the dough and making the pizza and pretzels. Also all the ovens they have to cook it.
We also obviously ordered a pizza. We got the Thai Dye. What's the Thai Dye you ask? Olive oil and garlic base, all natural grilled curry chicken, mozzarella cheese, Roma tomatoes, onions. Topped with fresh basil, cucumbers and a sweet swirl of Thai chili sauce. Seriously, go check out their menu. The names are amazing and you will definitely find something (or a couple that you want to try). I normally just get deluxe pizzas so that night I branched out with the Thai Dye. I do not regret it one bit, it was so good. I don't remember a lot of details of it, all I know is that it was really good and it was a gigantic pizza.

I highly recommend the Mellow Mushroom. It was so cool and really good. It is definitely an experience. With the really cool décor and really neat atmosphere with "chillness" of the servers and everything.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever Tasted! (95)

The other day, I made cookies because I was craving something sweet and unhealthy. I used a recipe on the back of a chocolate chip bag and it was the best cookies I have ever tasted. They were so soft and loaded with lots of chocolate chips. Right after they came out of the oven, I tried one and they were perfect, warm and gooey. Perfect. I didn't do anything extra expect what was on the back of the bag and I was not expecting them to turn out like that, they were so good.

Hurts Donut (256)

This past Saturday I was in Iowa City with my sister and brother-in-law. They went to the Brrr-Fest and I had to drive them down there. Afterward we were all hungry, so my sister suggested going to Hurts Donut's, for a snack/breakfast the next day. This place is really cool, and it took me a minute to get why its is called what its called. As soon as you walk in the door, so are hit with the smell of donuts. And it looks really cool in there. We ordered the "dirty dozen" where you got to pick any 12 donuts for $15. Keep in mind that these donuts are specialty donuts that have lots of toppings that are necessarily "normal" flavors. They don't have a menu, depending what time you go, you have a chance to get flavors that they rotate between. We got a bunch of really fun ones, like Cocoa Puffs, and one names "Jesus," also a German Chocolate. There are definitely stuff for everyone here. I tried one the day we got them, which was one of the Jesus's we got. I really liked it, it was fresh and to me tasted like an apple cider donut, which is my favorite. The next, I went over to my sisters house and had breakfast eating the donuts. Well the next day they were really stale and was not very good at all. I would recommend eating when they are fresh, but maybe Hurts Donuts could invest in better boxes to keep them better.

The Worst Experience at a Restaurant Ever! (720)

For softball, we love going to Red Robin. It's one of our go-to for whenever we go out together. What is better than shakes and fries. We practice Sunday's 4:00-5:30, and it was suggested last week that we go out for dinner afterward for team bonding. We had it all planned, well for the most part, and went after practice was finished tonight. (This story is hot off the press!) We arrived there around 6:00, we received waters right away then proceeded to order. Which consisted of 6 shakes and 9 burgers. We got our shakes pretty quickly. For only having one shake maker and having to make a lot of them, it was fine (enough). The only complainant was that they were very melted. Its whatever, I currently have a sore throat so it felt good on my throat, I was happy, everyone was happy. Although one of the girls that did not order a shake, wanted one. Our server came with our shakes and said "good thing you ordered now, we just ran out of ice cream." So my teammate that wanted one, couldn't get one. If you aren't familiar with Red Robin shakes, you can order just a regular or a monster. A monster is when you get the "extra" that is made and doesn't fit in your cup. We all ordered monsters so I was nice and gave her my extra. Totally cool, all's good. Then our food came right away, super good service up until after the food was done. All our food was there, all correct as ordered. We enjoy, and get loads more of fries. We are all happy, its now around 6:50. We are all high schoolers we all procrastinate on homework, so we all have lots to do. Like we really need to get out of there right away. We have sisters on the team, so they were paying together. Our serving left to get our checks, all split up correctly. We don't get our checks for an HOUR LATER. ONE HOUR! We are all sitting there on our phones, trying to figure out what is taking so long, like how hard is it to separate checks. They have the tablets on the table that contain ways to order food, drink, and play games. You can also pay your check on there. Some of us are paying with cards, so we could potentially pay on there. So we try it and we can separate it out, so we press the call server button. Its around 20-30 minutes later that another server comes by and asks if there is anything he can do. We tell him that we just need our checks. He then tells us that "we got the good server tonight" being totally sarcastic. He starts clearing our table, also keep in mind that we haven't had anything taken off the table, so it is super messing and full. He also gets us more water. He was super helpful so thank you to him. Still waiting for our checks, we are texting our parents, doing spit balls, and totally contemplating walking out. Like it was getting ridiculous. We all have homework to do, it is a school night and we need to get home. We finally get our checks around 7:35. We pay right away and then it is another 10-20 minutes before we even got our money back. I get home and my parents are mad, so my dad decides to call the place. We go to Red Robin from time to time and have great service. So he calls and talks to the manager. Well, he was one of the people that was helping to take care of the problem of splitting the checks. Only the waitress told her manger that they we were only waiting 10 minutes. No! that is not okay, we were waiting at the table forever. You do not need to lie about it, tell the truth something more can be done. We received no discount or anything for the time that we were sat there waiting. We were patient, we didn't say anything any worker, like lets get it on. I wish that next time they can be more helpful, not a good experience and we have a lot of homework to do!

French Toast!(405)

Updated favorite breakfast: French Toast. This all started a few weeks ago when my mom made me some before a softball camp. Before that I had not had them in years, like a lot time. Everyone makes them a little differently, and you can look up recipes but I just dumped the things in.

Here's what you'll need:
Eggs
Bread
Milk
Vanilla
Sugar
Syrup
Cooking Spray
Pan

For starters, turn on the heat to the stove and spray the pan with cooking spray. Get that heating up and while that gets your bread all ready. In a separate bowl, crack open the amount of eggs you want. The past few days I have found that 1 egg makes about 2 slices of bread. Honestly, it really depends on your bread, because the bread I have right now it really dry so it really soaked up the fluids. Next, I dump in some milk and some vanilla. Be careful with the vanilla because its very potent. Mix it up and dip your bread it in to make sure to cover the entire slice with the egg mixture. Then place on the pan, I would use a medium-high heat. Then, while everything is browning and cooking on the face down side, sprinkle a little bit of sugar on the face up side. Once the other side is browned, flip over with a spatula and wait until that side is browned. It is a really quick process of cooking. Which is something I really enjoy because its the morning and school and all that fun stuff. Place on a plate and put the syrup on. If you want to be fancy you could heat up the syrup and then pour it on.

These always look so delicious, and I always shove them down my throat. The fact these are so quick are perfect for school mornings. They give me a pick me up and make me ready for the day. They also seem really luxurious even though they are so easy. You could also "dress them up" by adding some fruit, like black berries or bananas. Also a cup of orange juice or milk or for me personally iced coffee, I love it. Just have some fun with eat and you'll be set for the day. Also look up some recipes and see what else you can add to it to change the flavor of it. Have fun with it and have a great day.

Olive Garden-trying new things (414)

Olive Garden is nothing new for my family and I. Nothing compares to there warm breadsticks and loaded salad. I had just finished finals and celebrated with Olive Garden. I love Olive Garden, I could try to make some delicious Italian but its not going to turn out like in the restaurant. Since I was finally done with finals and trying to relax. I ordered a dessert which is something I never do. And of course I'll share the other things I got as well.

So some things never change. I always get salad and breadsticks because you can't. That is real reason to go to Olive Garden. We go through basket after basket of bread, bowl after bowl of salad. And end up taking a lot of it home. Why wouldn't you? For my entrée, like normal, I got Chicken Alfredo. It is so good, so creamy and the chicken is so tender. The broccoli is on point, with the perfect crunch. I found a "Olive Garden Copy Cat" recipe if you would like to try it out.  http://www.copykat.com/2013/09/29/olive-garden-grilled-chicken-and-alfredo-sauce/ I will have to try it and see if it is the "real deal." I can never finish all of the pasta that comes. Its the never ending bowl, you definitely get your bang for your buck. But they make great leftovers and had them the next day for lunch.

But I ordered the Zeppoli, which is described on the Olive Garden website: "soft, traditional Italian doughnuts dusted with powdered sugar, served with chocolate sauce for dipping." These are so good! so good! I was so impressed. The taste like donuts and I could not put these down. I would say they are more like bathing in powdered sugar, rather than dusting. The amount of the sugar left on the plate was enough for a cake. And they chocolate sauce, amazing! When I finished them, I may have eaten the sauce. Shhh! I just finished finals. So I took about 5 of them home because I was already so stuffed. I ate a couple in the car and the rest in the morning for breakfast. They are still delicious cold. I could not get over how good they taste and how good the smell was. It left the car smelling so good. #newairfreshener.

So the next time you are at Olive Garden, save room for desserts and try the Zeppoli. They will not disappoint, however they may make you want to eat them all.

The Lost Cuban~Cedar Rapids (404)

Last Friday, after the last bubble had been filled in on a test, I went downtown Cedar Rapids and tried The Lost Cuban. My sister and I went out for lunch. She always drags me to the coolest restaurants and I cannot complain because they always turn out to have the best food.

The Lost Cuban is owned by a Cuban owner and opened in 2012. It has the best Cuban sandwiches, the best salsa, the best everything. They do have weird hours, so if you decide to try it double check that it is open. Some days they have ribs, which I have heard to be really good. I tried the Cuban sandwich. I already eat them on the daily, but I can't stop talking about this place and how they are. They are served with rice and black beans. But this restaurant does not compare to anything. The rice and beans are so good, they taste nothing like I have had anywhere. Whether that's another restaurant or when I was in Mexico (I do realize that Mexico and Cuba are not the same thing, but isn't rice, rice and black beans,black beans). The sandwich itself was so amazing too. Cuban's included pork loin, Dijon mustard, pickles, and Swiss cheese. Something unique to The Lost Cuban is the fact they use Cuban bread. I didn't even realize that Cuban bread was a thing. But it is so good. The Lost Cuban was founded because of the owner couldn't find something that was similar to his Cuban heritage. In the entire town of Cedar Rapids he couldn't find Cuban bread anywhere and had his mom send him bread to him. It is then toasted and served. Don't forget to grab there homemade salsa and dip your sandwich in it, which is so good and tastes really sweet.

If your in Cedar Rapids and want to step out of your comfort zone I highly recommend trying it. In my house, we buy a lot of pork lion and I take those for lunch. I love it even when its not toasted and on regular wheat bread. I can not say it enough of how much I love this place. You walk it and order and then they bring it to your table. The colors inside the restaurant put you in a good mood. They do have alcoholic beverages, so they are partly a bar too.