McDonald's Fish McBites Review

In the McDonald's coupon booklet I received in the mail, they mentioned their new food item Fish McBites. Fish McBites are small breaded square pieces of Alaskan pollock that McDonald's offers in 3 different size orders - snack (3.4 ounces), regular (5.2 ounces) and shareable (10.3 ounces). I tried the shareable size. I bought my McBite order at the 8700 Washington Boulevard, Jessup, Maryland McDonalds. It cost me $5.59 not including tax and came with 2 small things of tartar sauce which you can dip the McBites in. According to nutrition information McDonald's posts on its website http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/product_nutrition.chicken.1043.Fish-McBites-Regular-Size.html, the shareable size Fish McBites has 730 calories, 33 grams of protein, 39 grams of fat, 63 grams of carbohydrates, 1,260 milligrams of sodium, 5 grams of saturated fat, zero trans fat and 70 milligrams of cholesterol.

Overall, I thought McDonald's Fish McBites were pretty good. They are a novel way to enjoy fish as well as a very easy way to eat fish. Due to their small size, I would think there is very little risk of finding a fish bone, something you have to watch out for in larger fish portions. Time wise, there would be a minimal wait to get your order unless it's a particularly busy time at your local McDonald's. McBites might be a good way to get kids to try fish. I would think young kids would particularly like the small bite size piece like they like Chicken McNuggets. Bon Appetit!

Olive Garden Italian Dressing

While shopping at my local Sam's Club, I saw they had Olive Garden's Signature Italian Dressing for sale. As I like the Olive Garden restaurant chain though I don't eat there very often, I decided to buy some of the dressing. I found the dressing very good on salad and, it does remind me of the dressing Olive Garden puts on their salads at their restaurants. I don't know if it's the same recipe or not. Price wise, the Laurel, Maryland Sam's Club is selling 2 20 fluid ounce bottles of the dressing for $6.98 excluding tax. I thought this was a reasonable price and apparently better than you can find else where. Amazon has various sellers offering the dressing starting at $8.86 for the 2 bottle pack and, that doesn't include shipping. The dressing must be refrigerated once it's opened and, it should be shaken before being poured on whatever you're going to use it on.

Overall, I definitely give this dressing a thumbs up and recommend it if you like Italian salad dressings. It has a great flavor and will remind you of the fine Olive Garden restaurant chain. Bon Appetit!!!

Mega Chicken Laurel Maryland

I drive and ride on Maryland-198 a lot. As a result, I've passed by a restaurant called Mega Chicken (address 3485 Ft. Meade Rd i.e. Maryland-198) a number of times. The restaurant claims to sell charcoal cooked chicken Peruvian style. As I have fond memories of my Globus tour of Peru, I've been wanting to try out their chicken for a while. Today, I decided to treat myself to some. I bought their half chicken meal for $7.25 which comes with a small standard salad (iceberg lettuce and shredded carrot pieces) and a choice of either rice, standard french fries or yucca (sweet potato) fries. Also, they include 1 small cup each of an unidentified yellow sauce and an unidentified green sauce.

The salad was nothing to get excited about and came with a small cup of a salad dressing I couldn't identify. As I wanted to try something different, I went with the yucca fries and was glad I did. I didn't find them very sweet but, they were pretty good. I enjoyed them more than having the standard french fries. I dipped the yucca fries in the 2 different sauces. I found the yellow sauce all right and very mild. The green sauce reminded me of a dining mishap I had in Peru. During my tour there, on our way back from Paracas, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch. They served a salad with the meal I ordered. There was a slice of what looked standard green pepper. I promptly stuck the whole thing in my mouth and munched it. I found out very quickly that was a big mistake. It wasn't your standard green pepper. It had plenty of zing and, I had tears coming down from the fire in my mouth. I'm pretty certain the unidentified green sauce is made with the same green pepper I had in Peru. In regards to the chicken, I found it tasty and tender. It readily came off the bone and, it was easy to eat.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with Mega Chicken. Parking was good, service was prompt and, the food was pretty good (better than good). I thought it was reasonably priced too. I particularly liked the yucca fries which is something you can't find routinely here in the U.S. I saw on the menu they offer fried plantains which I've tried once in St. Lucia and, I'd like to try again. Also, they sell the national soft drink of Peru i.e. Inca Kola. They offer it in 16 ounce plastic bottles for $1.25. This isn't the best deal as down the street at Shoppers Food Warehouse, you can get a 2 liter bottle for $1.59 I believe. I like Inca Kola but, I will warn soft drink drinkers, it tastes VERY different from your standard cola drinks (more like bubble gum). If you would like to try some Peruvian charcoal cooked chicken, this place is worth checking out.

Sakura Japanese Steak and Seafood House

It's been at least 2 years since I last visited the Laurel Sakura Japanese Steak and Seafood House. It isn't that I don't like the restaurant. It's just that I'd been cutting back on eating out. With my travel friend Harvey coming up for our flights to Toronto, Canada, I recommended the restaurant as something good and different for dinner. The drive to the restaurant is easy enough. You take Maryland 295 to the Maryland 197 exit toward Laurel. You drive to Contee Road and turn left onto Contee Road. You got to the 3rd stoplight (where Route 1, Baltimore Washington Boulevard is) and turn left heading toward Washington D.C. The restaurant is on the left side of the road just before the Academy Ford car dealership.

The restaurant is one of those Japanese restaurants where the cook puts on a show while preparing the food. He juggles eggs with his spatula, makes a smoking volcano out of onion rings, cracks jokes and basically entertains the customers while preparing their respective orders. It makes for an amusing and more enjoyable dining experience.

The prices are very reasonable in my opinion. I had Teppanyaki steak and shrimp for $21.95. My unlimited sodas cost $2.15. A choice of 1 starter (chicken livers, sauteed mushrooms or 2 shrimps), a bowl of some kind of very good onion soup, a salad with an unidentifiable salad dressing, vegetables (broccoli, onions, carrots, squash, bean sprouts), and either white rice or fried rice come with the main entree. If you go to the Sakura website http://sakurasteakhouse.com/, you'll find coupons that could save you an additional 10%. Hours wise, the Laurel restaurant starts serving dinner at 4:30 p.m. I don't remember how late it stays open. Also, they have lunch hours. I don't know what those are.

Overall, I was very pleased with my dinner at this Sakura restaurant. The food was plentiful and tasty. The cook was very amusing and skilled. My waiter did a great job of keeping my glass filled with soda and was very prompt in serving my appetizer, soup and salad (depending on the rice you want, the cook may provide that i.e. fried rice). I would heartily recommend this restaurant to anyone who likes Japanese food. I definitely plan on going back myself. Bon Appetit all!

My 2011 Visit to Vancover, Canada

I made it to Vancouver, Canada. It was a long day getting here. I managed to get just 4 hours sleep after driving back from Michigan. The Big Blue Van airport shuttle folks picked me up at 3:15 in the morning and got me to Reagan National Airport in good time. From there, I had a nearly 3 hour flight to Houston, a 1 hour layover and a 5 hour flight to Vancouver. My travel agent arranged for a driver to pick me up at the airport and, he was waiting once I finished customs and immigration. The drive into Vancouver was just 30 minutes.

The Listel Hotel has lived up to its reputation for being artsy. It is filled with art. The hotel staff are nice and helpful. The location ISN'T the best if you're going to do a cruise out of Vancouver. My friend Harvey and I walked to to the cruise ship terminal and, we realized real quick we weren't going to do that lugging our suitcases. The taxi fare supposedly won't be more than $15 Canadian. We'll find out for sure when we take the taxi this morning.

The Vancouver cruise ship terminal is impressive. It can reportedly handle 4 cruise ships at 1 time. I think the most I've seen here was 3. I spoke with a person named Brett who told Harvey and I what we had to do upon arrival at the terminal. I'll post that procedure after I've gone through it myself so other travellers will know what to do and what to expect.

Yesterday, I used the Big Bus Hop On Hop Off service to sightsee Vancouver. It worked out well. I rode the bus through its entire route so I could hear all the narrative then, I decided what particular sights I wanted to see. I decided on Stanley Park and the Sun Yat Sen Chinese gardens. Stanley Park was really neat. It has a collection of 7 totem poles representing the various Indian nations. It also has dense forest and stunning trees. Lastly, it gives some great views of the Vancouver skyline at certain points. I was really glad I checked out this park. The Chinese garden was a nice quiet oasis in the city. There are 2 Chinese gardens you can visit. The larger classical garden has an admission charge but includes a guided tour of the garden while the smaller garden is free.

During my stay in Vancouver, I've eaten at 3 places - The Irish Heather, The Top of Vancouver and O'Doul's. The Irish Heather is a fantastic Irish pub with an astounding choice of single malt whiskies (over 100 I believe). I particularly enjoyed the steak and Guinness pot pie I had there. The Top of Vancouver restaurant is located at the top of a tower that rotates and looks over Vancouver. It offers great views of the city. The restaurant rotates completely around once every 60 minutes. Service was outstanding at this restaurant. The restaurant isn't cheap but, the food is very good. I had some excellent calimari and escargot for starters. My seafood melody main entree was very good. I was very pleased to dine at this restaurant as it made a nice finish to my day of sightseeing in Vancouver. O'Doul's is the restaurant attached to the Listel Hotel. This makes it very easy to get to for those staying there. I had breakfast at this restaurant as well as a couple nightcaps. The breakfast was very good though pricey. Service was excellent. The bartender at the bar where I had my nightcaps was really nice. They do have some affordable brews. Surprisingly, they don't offer Molson Canadian lager on draft there. Molson has a large brewery in the city which I passed by during my tour of the city.

Overall, I've enjoyed my stay at Vancouver though it isn't a place I would've visited for just itself. It isn't that interesting to me. If you are going to do an Alaskan cruise out of here, it is worth spending an extra day checking the place out. The city has a number of the big cruise lines stop here including Royal Caribbean, Holland America, Princess Lines and Silversea (I saw their Silver Shadow ship at the cruise ship terminal yesterday). A tour guide on the hop on hop off bus I rode told me the city receives over 1 million visitors a year during the cruise season. I can understand why. The cruise ship terminal itself is located in the center of the city making it an ideal base to see the city from and, it looks like it's easy to board the ships there (I'll know for certain on that later today).

That's all for this installment. Stay tuned for blogs on the renovated Radiance of the Seas and how my Alaska cruise goes. Happy travels all.

Keeping Airmile Accounts Active

One thing a less than frequent traveller must watch for is making sure they do some kind of activity on the airline frequent flier memberships. A number of them will delete all your miles if you don't have any activity in the past 18 months. There are a number of ways you can keep your accounts active. One of the easiest and most pleasant is through a dining program. Northwest Airlines has such a program. I haven't had any activity in my membership with them since April so I decided to check out a restaurant called Pasta Nostra so I could earn a few airmiles and have a nice lunch.

The restaurant itself is clean and pleasant enough looking. It's easy to get to. It's located just off of Van Dusen Road in Laurel, Maryland. It serves good Italian food like Penne al Salmon and Calimari Fritti (the 2 dishes I had). Price wise, it was reasonable. It is different from your normal fancy dining in that there is open seating and there aren't any waiters or waitresses. You go up to a counter where you order your and pay for your food. They give you a plastic number which you set on your table. When your order is ready, someone from the kitchen finds you and gives you your food. I wasn't thrilled with this aspect but, Pasta Nostra isn't trying to be a high class restaurant so it wasn't any big deal.

Overall, it was a nice restaurant that I wouldn't mind going back to. It was also an easy way to keep my Northwest Airlines frequent flier account active. That was more important to me as I want to keep my miles just in case I decide to try to use them for some kind of travel in the future. If you want an easy way to keep your airmile account active, you might check and see if your airline has a similar dining program. Bon appetit!

Tour Begins - September 15, 2008

I rode the escalator down to the lower reception area of the hotel. It was 5 till 6 p.m. and I was finally going to meet the guide for the La France tour I'd signed up for with Globus. I was wearing my Globus name pin so people would be able to see what my first name was. When I arrived at the reception area, I saw a number of strangers who were wearing similar pins. A blonde haired lady in her 40's or 50's was walking around with a clipboard meeting people and checking them off her list. Eventually, she made her way to Harvey and I. She introduced herself. Her name was Susan (she never gave a last name), she was going to be our tour guide for the entire tour (Globus also uses local guides who cover just a specific city or site) and she needed to confirm our information. I asked her how many people were going to be on the tour and she said 42. It was going to be another large group. Interestingly, there were people from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.S. This was going to be the most international group I'd ever been with on a Globus tour.

Once Susan had accounted for everyone, she led us to a restaurant that was somewhat close by called the Le Bistro Champetre. This was our first group dinner and a chance to get to know fellow members of the tour. For the next 2 weeks, we'd travel over 2,000 miles together. During the meal, Susan told us what optional excursions were going to be available. Globus includes a list of possible excursions with each person's travel documents but, you find out what ones will actually be available from the tour guide. I went through the list again and figured out what ones I wanted to take and what it would cost. All totalled, I settled on 7 excursions which included an illumination drive of Paris, a visit and dinner in Monaco and a visit to the medieval town of St. Paul de Vence. We also received our wake-up, breakfast and departure times. The wake-up time was the time Susan would arrange for the hotel to give us a wake-up call. The breakfast time was the time the breakfast buffet would be open so we could have breakfast. Our tour included breakfast every day we were on tour. The departure time was the time the bus would leave to begin the morning city tour. On days we were departing for another city, this would be the time we'd leave the city. On days we departed for another city, there was also a bags out time which was the time we had to place our suitcases outside our rooms so they could be picked up and taken to the bus. It became a routine that Susan would give us these times sometime during the afternoon each day so we would know when to be up, have breakfast, be packed and be ready to depart.

Dinner was good though the portions were smaller than what I was used to in the U.S. This would turn out to be standard throughout France. After the dinner, we walked back to the hotel. It was then that we had the chance to do our first optional excursion. It was an illumination drive of Paris. What that means is you get to drive around Paris at night and see all the lit up places in the city. Paris is really stunning at night. One special treat we received was a special illumination of the Eiffel Tower. For 6 months, France would hold the presidency of the European Union. To mark this special occasion, France attached 12 gold stars to the tower representing the 12 original members of the union, back lit the tower in dark blue light and created a shimmering waterfall of white light that ran down the tower. It was incredibly beautiful and everyone ooo'd and awed at the sight. After driving around seeing all the beautifully lit buildings and monuments, we drove back to the hotel. The next day, we would get to see various sights in Paris.

Sakura Japanese Steak and Seafood House

Restaurant Review

Another restaurant who I deliver mail to is the Sakura Japanese Steak and Seafood House on Baltimore Avenue just down from the Academy Ford Dealership. From the outside, it looks like a nice enough restaurant and it has decent parking. I decided to try it out today.

When I walked in, I was promptly greeted and taken to a seat that sat to the side of the grill the chef was going to use to cook the food. In this type of Japanese restaurant, the chef slices and cooks the food right in front of you. He'll also show some of the juggling skills by throwing the spatala and cooking fork in the air and catching them. It's an impressive display.

Food wise, I decided to splurge and I ordered the lobster and a ginger ale to drink. I racked up almost 19 hours of overtime this week at the Post Office so I felt I deserved a treat. In addition to the lobster, all entrees come with a complimentary appetizer, soup and salad. I found the soup to be outstanding. My only complaint of sorts was I would've liked to have had more. It was that good. The salad was decent enough. It had some kind of salad dressing that I couldn't identify. Also with an entree, you get a choice of steamed or fried rice. I was glad I chose the fried rice as the chef did a great job with it. The vegetables were firm and nicely cooked. The rice tasted superb. Appetizer wise, I had two shrimp flambe which I found good. The lobster was wonderfully prepared and I enjoyed every bite. The restaurant did offer some desserts but I decided to pass on those.

Price wise, I thought the restaurant was good value. My ginger ale cost me $1.95 and came with unlimited refills. I know that for a fact as I put a hurting on them there. My lobster entree was $29.95 and was a very good deal. I received 2 lobster tails and the food I've already mentioned. Service was outstanding. My glass was rarely empty for long before our great waitress promptly filled it up again.

Overall, I was completely satisfied with this restaurant. I definitely plan to go back. Also, I plan to take my friend Harvey there when he comes up this way some time. I think he'd really enjoy it. This is one restaurant I'd definitely recommend. If you like Japanese food, you should try the Sakura Japanese Steak and Seafood House. They have locations throughout Maryland. Their website is http://sakurasteakhouse.com. Bon Appetit!

Dave and Buster's

A friend and I got to eat at Dave and Buster's last night. I'd never eaten there before and was curious how their food was. When we sat down, our waitress promptly showed up and took our order. My friend ordered a pint of Bass beer/ale (I'm not sure which it is) and I ordered a bottle of IBC root beer. Our drinks were promptly served. We waited and we waited and we waited for our food. When it finally showed up, someone had messed the order up. My friend ordered the mix grill and they tried to give him a Philly cheese steak. I ordered the roast beef panini sandwich with french fries which they got right. I found my sandwich fair. I thought the order of fries small. I found myself getting a little irked by the waitress repeatedly asking if I wanted another $2.15 bottle of root beer. I mention the price because I don't think it's a good deal. Also, if I tell you once I don't want another root beer, it's a safe bet I don't want another root beer. My friend finally got his food but our misadventure wasn't over yet. It seems our waitress tried to charge my friend for the Philly cheese steak which he didn't order AND the mixed grill. My friend spoke with the waitress and eventually got it straightened out.

Overall, I'd rate Dave and Buster's food as fair. I don't think it is very good value for the money. I'm also displeased with how long it took for our food to arrive. I think someone made a mistake some where on that. Lastly, I was displeased with our waitress for the mistake on my friend's bill, her constant pushing for me to buy another drink and another possible gaffe she may have made. I won't fully explain the possible gaffe at this time as I want to determine if it was a mistake or not. I plan to dine at Dave and Buster's again so I can see if this is the norm at Dave and Buster's or if it was a one off. I'll you know what I find out then. Cheers all!

Richmond - Part II

I slept well at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The bed was very comfortable and they have a CD that helps you get a good night sleep. The last time I stayed at the hotel, I asked them if I could have a copy. They said sure and I've used it number of times since. The CD is made by some sleep specialists who help you relax so you can conk out quickly. I've found it really works and would highly recommend it.

Harvey and I had breakfast at the hotel. To my surprise, they gave me coupons for two free breakfasts. I found the breakfast buffet good. You'll be able to fill yourself up and may be able to even skip lunch.

After breakfast, we drove out to see Harvey's travel agent. His name was Joel and he works at the Richmond Carlson Wagonlit (Update 12/31/12: Joel no longer works for the Richmond Carlson Wagonlit as this company no longer exists in Richmond. He is a freelance travel agent now that works through 2 different travel companies - 1 in Richmond and 1 in Fredricksburg I think). The reason I was meeting him was he had gotten price information for us on a trip to New York City (NYC) to see the Rockettes. The last time we went to NYC, we discovered the Rockettes have certain seasons they perform. Late July wasn't one of them. We also discovered last year that you want to go to NYC during the prime season, you'd better book early. So, Joel was helping us put together a travel package for early December so we could see the Rockettes and another show on Broadway. Joel did a great job and found us a reasonable hotel though the price still made me gasp. It's going to cost over $300! a night at this hotel and that is one of the cheaper ones. The five-star hotels would go over $600 a night! I've never paid so much for a hotel. When they say NYC is expensive, they're not joking.

Another thing I checked into with Joel was doing a Scandanavia tour with Globus. I was really bummed when I had to cancel the planned tour this year. I found out Joel will be able to tell me if the tour has enough bookings to where it will go. He would also be able to help me if I had to cancel. I booked with another agency and found out I didn't know what credit card I used to charge me booking on so I couldn't get my money back when I cancelled since I couldn't prove I'd paid for the booking. It cost me over $200. Serious ouch! Hopefully, Harvey and I will be able to do the tour late-August of 2007. It would be a lot of fun to do another tour with Globus. We'll see if it happens.

After meeting with Joel, we travelled to the Virginia Museum of Art (VMA). It's a good art museum with an interesting exhibit on the famed Russian jeweler Faberge. Faberge didn't create the pieces he was renowned for but he did come up with the ideas for the renowned eggs. The famous Easter eggs were very beautiful. They also gave a poignant picture of the doomed Russian royal family. I found it really interesting viewing the various pieces of the collection. One painting the museum that I disliked greatly was a piece of modern art done I believe by a Dutch artist. It was a painting of a modern Black man dressed in modern clothes holding a sword. To me, it looked incredibly STUPID. I never would've wasted money on such a pathetic painting. I hope the museum got the painting cheap because in my opinion, it isn't worth much if anything. The museum also had the Mellon collection. The collection was donated by George Mellon and was nice. Mellon must've been into fox hunting as he had a lot of paintings on that. He also had three Renoirs, a Monet, and a bust of the apostle John by Rodin. I particularly enjoyed those. The Rodin piece was very impressive. I think Rodin was a great student of Michelangelo in that both emphasized the strength and majesty of the human body. Lastly, we saw an exhibit on Tiffany glass which was nice. The workmanship clearly shined through. The pieces were very beautiful.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend that if you like art and you're in Richmond, you check out the museum. We spent an easy four hours there.

After that, it was time to find a place to eat. Harvey remembered a place where he'd go for some noteworthy sausage sandwiches. I said lets go. We drove out to this mall only to find out the place had closed. Harvey then remembered a bar-b-que restaurant which was open. The bar-b-que however wasn't terribly impressive and it wasn't air conditioned. I would've rated it so-so.

I had a fun day and was pleased that we were able to make arrangements for future travels. The NYC trip should be a lot of fun. Sadly, I'd be returning home the next day. I was worried about Amtrak's timeliness as I was scheduled to work at Medieval Times from 3 to 11 p.m. Stay tune for the final installment of my Richmond trip and find out if Ditto makes it back in time or not.