Red Corner China Diner

 Who hasn't seen the movie A Christmas Story? If you haven't, you are a bit deprived and need to see it right away! Ok, you can wait until next year and watch it during the annual TBS marathon showing!

SPOILER ALERT:  
(so, if you have not seen it and choose to continue reading, it's your own choice, lol)

Anyway, there is a well known scene where they end up eating their Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant, you will have to watch the movie to see why this happens. Anyone who has seen it, though will always remember the FA RA RA RA RA RA RA RA RA! But I digress....a few days ago I started joking around about finding a Chinese restaurant open on Christmas day instead of our preferred buffet! 

Well, today as we went to go eat, the buffet place was closed! We were surprised! As we continued on to another errand while I tried to figure out what options there were for eating, we drove right by Red Corner China Diner and there were cars and their OPEN sign was lit up! We were VERY surprised and laughed, so guess where we ate?! Of course you know we went right back there after our other errand!

It was not overly crowded, which was nice, there was a steady flow of customers both dine in and carry out, I was happy to see this, I did not pay attention if they had any signs up for specials house, but I suspect there were just open their regular hours and were rewarded with steady business for the entire day! The staff was very busy the entire time and had great customer service all around!

We've eaten their food before and like it well enough. Only drawback is if you like sweet and sour chicken but don't like the peppers and such in it, this is not your place to eat! However, they do have plenty of other options! For example, to get your Sweet and Sour fix, try ordering the chicken egg rolls! YUM!

Steve ordered Orange Chicken with steamed rice. I ordered Lemon Chicken with steamed rice. I also ordered a cup of Egg Drop soup and Chicken Egg Rolls, which we shared. We also ordered 2 pieces of chocolate cake to go! We took those and a little leftovers home! It was a great meal with good atmosphere and not overly crowded! 

Some people get most excited about the fortune cookies! Well, guess my luck ran out with finding an open Chinese restaurant on Christmas Day because my fortune cookie didn't have a fortune! HA!

I even joked that we should make this a new family tradition for Christmas! This is what Christmas dinner was for us this year, what's it to you?

****************************

RED CORNER CHINA DINER

46 W 7200 S

Midvale, UT 84047

801-601-8331

****************************

Mountain Mike's

Mountain Mike's

3785 W South Jordan Parkway

South Jordan, UT 84095

801-878-1551

So, last Thursday night, I had the honor of participating in a 'Blogger's night"! This one was at Mountain Mike's in South Jordan, Utah! Here are a couple of things that you see when you walk in...

SIZES OFFERED

MENU BOARD

 Mountain Mike's was established in 1978 and you can read more about them on this page! They do have more than 150 locations in California, Nevada, Oregon and Utah. I am pretty sure the only location in Utah is this one in South Jordan! I remember when it first opened but can't believe that was 7 years ago! We were treated to a buffet that night for our honest opinion of the food and everything...

here is what to expect on the buffet line:

               

They have an arcade, but we didn't have any quarters, so that will have to wait until next time:  

Here is a sampling of what we tried that night, pasta, salad, and pizzas, including a dessert pizza:

                                       

The pasta was very tasty, even the meatballs, and I'm not a meatball kind of girl... The salad bar had a very good selection of items and dressings even toppings and sides like croutons and crackers! Although the cheesy garlic sticks are among the best I've ever had and the best thing to go with salad, anytime! The main event is the pizza...a great variety, every trip back to the buffet line had a new line up of pizzas to try! They were all delicious with yummy non greasy crust! The dessert pizza is a MUST eat to finish off the meal...yummy sweetness!

They have a nice dining area AND a private room for parties, which is where we chose to sit, you can see my mom in the corner,where we sat and also a shot of the view from that room, nice, right?

 Mom and I wanted to try it 7 years ago, but life happens! I love me some good pizza, so I was very excited to be trying something new to me! So, last week, we were excited to try it out....and we liked it A LOT!! We will definitely be back...and in the meantime, join their Coupon Club by clicking below!

JOIN MIKE'S COUPON CLUB!

SPECIAL NOTICE

This blogger event was to kick-off their 7 year celebration! They are having a "Birthday special": Customers that buy any medium or large pizza can get another one for just $7.

Only available until 31 Aug 2014. 

Another great thing, they have TVs, so another great spot to go watch the big game! So, hurry in and take advantage of this great special, or try the buffet, either way, I highly recommend getting there now, eat and enjoy! Oh, and, take a moment to go like them on Facebook, too!

HO Ho Hostess

Most of us love our sweet treats! What is your favorite? For me, there are too many to narrow it down, but along the lines of Hostess treats, I love my Ho-Ho's! However, I do find the Hostess brand to be quite over priced! What do you think?

Then, Hostess temporarily died and even when it was resurrected, which I said would happen from Day 1, I wasn't sure if the Ho-Ho would make the comeback! In the meantime, I tried Lil Debbie brand and Great Value (Walmart) brand Swiss Rolls. We were using these other brands before the death of Hostess, mostly because of cost value. More on that below...read on....have you tried these other brands of the swiss roll? If so, which do you like best and why? Here is my review of our taste comparison...

 WHAT:

Great Value (Walmart), 12 pack, twin wrapped, $1.38 a box

Lil Debbie, 12 pack, twin wrapped, $1.70 a box

Hostess, 10 pack, individually wrapped, $3.48 a box

PACKAGING COMPARISON

 

TOP VIEW - SIZE COMPARISON

SIDE VIEW - SIZE COMPARISON

INSIDE VIEW - COMPARISON

MY THOUGHTS:

Great Value (Walmart) brand tastes sweet and are obviously the best value for your money. Lil Debbie is the next best value for your money, and tastes ok, but not as sweet as those from Walmart! Hostess, has the most chocolaty taste of all even though it wasn't as sweet as the Great Value brand! So, in the end, I think I really do like the taste of the Hostess brand the best, however, I will NOT pay that price for it! Therefore, the Great Value brand from Walmart wins out and will continue to be our go to treat for a swiss roll/Ho-Ho style treat!

Tangy Ranch Chicken - French's Mustard

I am the first to admit that I am not much of a cook. I can follow a recipe, well, all recipes I've worked with so far! This year I've been cooking a lot more while maintaining that I'm not much of a cook. I've also taken it upon myself to try many new recipes...and, no, I can't blame pinterest! I have used a couple I've found there, but most of them have come from other sources, including the one I'm going to talk about today! I first saw it on the back of a French's Mustard bottle:

I kept this picture on my phone for use until I had to clear my photos, so then I had to google for it and there were actually some very slight differences, as you can see by clicking here! Since that time, I've skipped the marinating step and it makes no difference in the taste but makes a huge difference in prep time!

I obviously have a lot to learn in way of taking foodie pictures, but here are three of the steps, but I believe they show the beginning to end result! I have lost track of how many times I've made this for dinner, but tonight was one of them...

 I usually cook the 4 chicken breasts as the recipe calls for, but I only make half the recipe for the sauce, we still usually have some leftover to use as extra. So far, every time I've made this meal, I've served it with rice and salad. Most times we have tortillas on hand to use for wraps. These are just my ideas for this meal. It is really good and even my husband, who is not a huge fan of mustard, likes the recipe a lot, too! Go try it for your family and let me know what everyone thinks! Enjoy!

KFC - something's different

                         

KFC, or Kentucky Fried Chicken, just to be clear! The above is a typical two piece meal, two pieces of original recipe chicken, one side and a biscuit. Hmm...something is different...but what?

Here's a closer look at the chicken....still look like normal pieces of KFC chicken? Or does it?

There's something missing? Yep, no bones...you can now get boneless original recipe chicken in your meals and buckets. If it isn't one of the meals already set up for boneless, you just pay 25 cents per piece to substitute boneless. 

I had to wonder how this would be different from their Original Recipe bites, except for size! I have had the opportunity to eat this on two occasions. The first time didn't really taste the original recipe flavor much. The second was a lot closer in taste! Some of you may have seen the commercial for this product, which made me laugh and roll my eyes the first time I saw it:

Now, in reality it isn't quite as shocking and as you can see above, the box didn't have the same crumb stuff left, but I gotta say it was nice to not have the bones and it didn't seem as messy or greasy to eat. I do wish there was more of the original recipe flavor, but, yes, I would pay the extra money for less hassle and mess.

The KFC twitter account is asking for pics of your "I ate the bones" moment and giving away free "chicken checks"to some of the entrants, so I did one better and wrote this review! Here is my entry, what do you think?

So, try it out, tell me what you think! What is your favorite, original recipe or extra crispy? What is your must have side dish? I'm definitely original recipe with mashed potatoes and gravy! Although, gotta say, I like the old gravy much better than this newer one...and, yes, I know it's been years since the change! Ok, go, eat, and share your thoughts below! Enjoy!

Blue Plate Diner

I am a graduate of West Jordan High School and am proud to be counted among some wonderful Jaguar alumni, but I blogged about that a few days ago, you can read all about that here. This month's breakfast gathering was at a little hole in the wall called Blue Plate Diner!

It has been my experience that oftentimes these little hole in the wall places are the absolute best finds! I would say that applies to Blue Plate Diner!

This place is hopping busy! The ambiance is friendly old style awesomeness! Even more perfect with a little bit of old America thrown in with the old ads around the room and the old license plates! Really liked the Presidential place mats!

I ordered the "Classic with Meat" with bacon, of course! Darwin so perfectly described their bacon by saying it is "to die for"!

Have you been there? What do you think?

National Donut Day

Today is National Donut Day! Did you know that? How are you celebrating? For those that are close to a Krispy Kreme, they are giving away free donuts! Locally, here in the Salt Lake Valley, Dunford Bakery is giving $1 off a dozen donuts!

A little history lesson, why National Donut Day? Apparently, it was created by The Salvation Army to honor the women who served donuts to the soldiers in World War I. That was in 1938! It was started as a fundraiser for the Chicago Salvation Army. Anyway, the history goes on from there and you are welcome to google it for more information! Needless to say, the first Friday of June, every year is National Donut Day!

My little group chose Dunford Bakey in West Jordan and even though they didn't have all our favorites out, we got a variety instead of our usual...most everyone I know loves their chocolate chocolate donuts! YUM!

What did you do to celebrate? What is your favorite donut?