June 22, 2012 Applebee's - Bonney Lake, WA

We usually have pretty good luck when we decide to go to Applebee's for dinner. They have a good selection of items on their menu and the pricing is reasonable. We decided to sit at the bar rather than wait for a table to open up. The bartender was friendly and provided great service. They changed up their 2 for $20 menu and added a 2 for $24, which includes 2 entree's and an appetizer.

We both decided on the 9 oz. steak with baked potato and Queso Blanco, spicy white cheese and tortilla chips, as an appetizer. The appetizer arrived in a timely manner and was very good. I would give it a 9 for price, taste, quality and presentation.

The steaks were next to arrive. They brought my plate with garlic mash potato's instead of a bake potato, but the server remedied that very quickly by bring me a baked potato. I asked for my steak to be medium and the wife asked for well done as usual. My steak appeared OK, but the wife's was a little pink in the middle, but she accepted it anyway.

The steaks at Applebee's have a very nice taste to them. A little salty, but not sure what other spices they use to marinate them. For the first time I thought my steak was a little tough in spots. Normally they are very tender. The wife said her baked potato was not quite cooked enough for her tastes.

Overall I would give service a 9, food an 7, cleanliness a 9 and price a 9 for an overall rating of 8.

June 18, 2012 Kent All Stars 12 - Sound View All Stars 0

Well I hate to report it, but the rain stopped long enough tonight for the Kent All Stars to beat our beloved Sound View All Stars, 12-0.
I wish I had more to report, but it was not their best game. All the highlights came from the Kent team. Mathew played 3rd base and only had one ball hit towards him. He batted twice, but didn't make it to first base. Oh well, better luck next time. Speaking of next time, they go at it again Tuesday night at 6 pm at the South King County Ball Fields off of Military Road. I hope they come ready to play, because they are all great players.

June 17, 2012 - The Buttered Biscuit - Sumner, WA

Here it is Fathers Day and my beautiful wife's birthday. We had decided Friday night we were going to go out for breakfast on Sunday at the Buttered Biscuit in Sumner, WA. On Saturday we invited the neighbors to join us.

We arrived around 10 am expecting it to be busy on Fathers Day and boy were we right. There were people everywhere. We parked the car and got our name on the waiting list and were told it would be about 45 minutes and it was about 45 minutes exactly when they called our name. We were seated in the downstairs portion of the restaurant and it was rather warm inside even though they had all the doors open.

A young man came by right away, gave us water and asked us if would like anything else to drink, we all opted for coffee. Keeping in mind it was Fathers Day, it took about 20 minutes before a waitress came by and asked if we were ready to order. Joe and I ordered the "Don't be a Chicken", Mellissa ordered the Cinnamon Roll French Toast and Becky ordered the "222-2" which consisted of French Toast, eggs, fried potato's and bacon.

They brought out corn bread that came with the breakfast that Joe and I ordered, it was wonderful, sweet like honey and vanilla topped with butter. Most corn bread is dry, but not this little piece of perfection, it was nice and moist. As we nibbled on the corn bread and drank more coffee, we waited for another 30 minutes for our food to arrive and in the mean time they came by the table quite often to fill up our coffee and water. We finally had to say no more coffee or we would not be able to eat our breakfast.

Finally the meal came, the "Don't be a Chicken" consists of fried spuds with green peppers, onions, seasoning and Grandmas Eggs (scrambled eggs, bacon, ham, sausage and cheese), with a split biscuit on top and 12 oz Chicken Fried Steak, double loaded with SOS gravy.

Mellissa's Cinnamon Roll French Toast was made from a homemade cinnamon roll sliced in half, dipped in egg, cooked on the grilled, dipped in cinnamon and covered with sweet cream butter, powdered sugar and whipped cream.

All was good in the world except Joe wanted his "Don't be a Chicken" with no onions and we did not discover until we both started eating that they mixed them up giving me the onion free version, even though the person who delivered the food made a point to tell Joe his was onion free. Mellissa's Cinnamon Roll French Toast was good, too bad they over cooked it and it was a little dark on the top and hard.

Overall I would rate the portion size at a 10, the food at an 8, service at a 4 and cleanliness at a 7. Hopefully the whole experience was lessened a little by the crowd for Fathers Day. But the lady behind me did not like her meal and the guy in front of us wanted to complain to the manager, but ended up just leaving.

We need to give it another shot when it is not a holiday, and I would also like to try it out for lunch or dinner.

June 16th, 2012 - Emerald Queen Casino - Fife, WA

At the last minute we decided to join the neighbors at the Emerald Queen Casino-Fife for dinner. We chose the Pacific Rim Buffet.

Pacific Rim Buffet features a good selection of cuisine, with choices like prime rib, sushi, cook-to-order pasta, a large salad bar and an Asian bar and a good selection of desserts. We were lucky on this particular Saturday night, there was no line and we only had to wait a few minutes for a table big enough for 9. Our neighbors said that the last time they were there they had to wait in line for about 40 minutes.

The choices were good, I started with the salad bar from which there was a large selection of items to put together your own green salad along with a nice selection of different types of salads and a few choices of Sushi.

The second trip to the buffet, I decided on a piece of fried fish, beef in Bloody Mary salsa sauce, prime rib, mashed red potatoes with gravy and a little Mongolian beef, all were very good.

For dessert I had water melon and strawberries, which were both very good. I would rate the food choices a 7, the food itself an 8, cleanliness a 9 and over all an 8.

Maybe it was a slow night but I preferred the Fife Casino over the I-5 Casino as it was less crowded

When we first arrived, we checked in with our players cards and after at least 2 hours at the casino you can receive $20.00 in a comp coupon for food at their restaurants. The comp must be used with in 24 hours. We decided to check out the deli and brought home a pizza, a turkey sub, a salad, red Velvet Cake and a cookie. We have lunch for Sunday and are going to give the pizza to our neighbors, whose dog ate their pizza Friday night when they came over to help us unload something out of the truck.

The only mistake we made was going to play the slots for a while after dinner. We came home a little poorer and smelling of cigarette smoke.

June 16, 2012 - Sound View All Stars Win 10-7

Thanks to the great pitching effort from Matthew Evans (my grandson) in the 5th and 6th inning the Sound View All Stars were able to hold off a late rally from the South Hill All Stars.

The wife and I drove down to Auburn this morning to watch our grandson, Matthew, play in his first All Star Game. Game time was 9 am sharp and we did not want to miss any of the action so we showed up at 8:30 am. The ball park has 2 fields and there was a festive atmosphere. There was a concession stand and they had All Star Shirts for sale. Music was playing on the public address system and the score boards in the outfields were all lit up and ready to go.

A little before 9 am they announced the players from both teams, they played the National Anthem and recited the Little League Pledge and then it was time to play ball.

Matthew did not start the first 2 innings and the sound View All Stars began to score runs and increase their lead. Matthew came into the game in the 3rd inning, played third base and had one good at bat, but went down swinging.  He then moved to first base for the 4 the inning and after four innings the score was Sound View 10 and South Hill 0. Luckily for South Hill ,if the score would have been 10 to 0 the game would have been over because of the 10 run rule.

The fifth inning began with Matthew at first base. South Hill began chipping away and before you knew it the score was 10 to 5, that is when the magic began. The coach switched pitchers in the 5th with the bases loaded and no outs. I was not sure who it was going to be, but when the meeting at the mound was over, Matthew was left standing at the mound. He struggled a little bit at first, but all of a sudden he seemed to gain focus and determination and his pitching began to hit the mark. He ended up pitching complete 5th and 6th innings, pitching 39 pitches, winning the game and becoming the hero. Final score was Sound View 10 and South Hill 7. Nice job Matthew! Your Papa is very proud of you.

Now on to the second game of the playoffs Monday night at 6 pm, no worries I will report the outcome.

June 14, 2012 Emperor City - Orting, WA

You cannot go wrong when you have that hankering for some Asian food when you choose Emperor City in Orting, WA. They have a great selection of different Asian Cuisine on their menu. Items include Vietnamese, Thai and Chinese. We have never had a bad meal, although at times they have seemed short staffed and service can be a little slow, this was not the case during this visit.

On this particular night there were three of us and we decided to order the Po Po Platter, along with a side of fried rice and a large bowl of Won Ton Soup to split between us. The soup was first to arrive and it was very good and there was more than enough for all three of us to have a couple of bowl fulls. I rate the soup at a 9 out of 10.

Next came the Po Po Platter which came on a revolving serving tray with a little fire pot in the middle to keep the items warm. The Po Po platter includes BBQ pork (their style of BBQ pork is a little different than a traditional Chinese restaurant, but very good), deep fried chicken wings, egg rolls, deep fried prawns, chicken fingers and crab rangoon. Come to think of it everything was deep fried. The platter for three was $24.95. Although I can't eat deep fried food everyday, it is a nice treat once in a while. I would give the platter an 8.

The fried rice was also excellent and I gave it a rating of 8 out of 10. Service was good at a 9 and cleanliness is always a 10 in the dining area, I have never seen the back room. Overall rating is an 8.

When ever you are in Orting, you can't go wrong by choosing Emperor City as your dining selection.

June 9th - Wet Dog Smell

The wife and I went fishing at Clear Lake again. It was a little windy and chilly, but we each caught two fish. We each had a trout and a perch. The dogs came along with us and Lucy loves to watch you land a fish. Today she took it a bit far and when I was reeling one in she decided to dive in the water and help me out. Once she hit the water it was like, what am I doing! She swam directly back to the boat and I had a hard time getting a 75 pound dog back in the boat. But I finally got her back in and I think she was a little traumatized. I don't think she will be jumping out of the boat again for a while. She did not even want to get out of the boat to get back to solid ground. I really enjoyed the wet dog smell in the car all the way home.

June 9, 2012 - Opinion's

I don’t care what religion you believe in, whether you are democrat or republican. I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion. I recently read a post on Facebook by someone stating their opinion on President Obama’s job plan he recently talked about on TV. She simply stated her feelings regarding this plan and her opinion how he has performed as President. She was immediately attack by numerous people, who I must assume are her friends.

Why is it when someone does not agree with your opinion, they have to lash out and tell you how wrong you are. They go overboard defending their position and always seem to try and place the blame elsewhere.

One should be able to express an opinion without fear of being attacked. We need to be having productive conversations and provide ideas and solutions that can make a difference.

Rather than attack someone and make excuses or place the blame elsewhere, maybe we could offer solutions or suggestions that can make a difference. Call, write or e-mail your congressman or senator. Do research on what you believe and see if there is an organization that supports your position that you can join and work towards providing solutions.

It seems to me that most people would rather try to shout down people and their ideas in which they don’t believe in hopes of silencing them. They don't offer any solutions that can make a difference. Unfortunately it works sometimes and people stop letting their opinions be known.

 I hope our country and citizens are better than that. Too many people have died defending our right to have an opinion.

June 8, 2012 - Joe’s Deli – Fine Food & Restaurant

I met the wife for lunch again today and we decided to try out the new deli down the street from her office, Joe’s Deli. The restaurant is located off south 336^th street and 12^th. They are open Monday thru Saturday for breakfast or lunch and they serve smoothies and espresso.

We walked into a virtually empty restaurant. Very clean, nicely laid out and nicely decorated. We were greeted by a young lady ready to take our order. The special of the day was their gourmet cheese burger with fries and a small soft drink for $7.95. They also had chicken tortilla soup and clam chowder at $2.50 per cup or $3.50 per bowl. We decided to both order the cheese burger and my wife had the clam chowder, while I had the tortilla soup. Total for our order was a little over $25.00.

Our soups were first to arrive. The tortilla soup was good and a little spicy. I could have used more tortilla chips. I would give it a 7. The wife said the chowder was good and gave it the same rating. Next they brought  the cheese burgers and fries, served with a small container of ketchup. I thought my burger was good, but the wife’s was a little to pink for her liking, so we switched burgers. I would rate the burgers a 7 only because one was not cooked all the way through.

I rated the cleanliness at a 9. Service was also good at a 9. Food was a 7.  Overall I would rate at a 7.5. I think it has potential and we need to go back and try some of their hot or cold deli sandwiches or their large selection of salads.

Olive Garden - Federal Way, WA

June 4th - Happy Birthday Kim!

My daughter turned 33 years old today, so we decided to take her and Bob out for lunch. It was the only time we could get together as their kids have something going on every day this week. We chose Olive Garden in Federal Way. I like Olive Garden and I don’t think you can go wrong going there for lunch.

We arrived shortly after noon and only had to wait a couple of minutes to be seated. We all ordered the soup, salad and bread sticks. Bob and I had the Zuppa Toscanna, Mellissa had the Chicken and Gnocchi and Kim had the Minestrone. The meal arrived in a matter of minutes. The soups were excellent as were the salad and bread sticks. We each had refills of soup. I got a kick out of the waitress. I called the soup Zuppa and she would respond Toscanna. I guess I was not saying it right, but I still call it Zuppa. We had a second bowl of salad and another basket of bread sticks.

We all ended up very full and satisfied. I would rate the overall experience a 9. Service was an 8, food a nine and cleanliness a 9. I would highly recommend the Oliver Garden for a quick lunch. We were in and out of there in under an hour and did not feel rush.

Route 66 - Orting, WA

The wife and I decided we had a hankering for Pizza for dinner. We had just left Costco and were thinking about the Rock on Puyallup’s South Hill. Then the wife said how about Route 66, on the way home, in Orting.

As we drove up we noticed that they were starting to replace some of the siding on the exterior. We walked in and there was only one customer who left shortly after we arrived. The waitress asked us to take a table and brought us menus. The first thing I noticed is that they have narrowed their menu down quite a bit, no more burgers. They are now strictly a Pizza Joint. Salads, bread sticks, garlic fries, hot wings, pizzas, calzones, ice cream and beer and wine.

There is a patio for outside dining on a warm summer night. We ordered cheese bread and a medium size pizza, a half Route 66 combo and half meat lovers, a diet coke and strawberry lemonade. When the waitress brought our drinks, my coke was in a bottle. I asked her if the business had changed owners and she said no, but they are going to do some remolding. They are going to replace their soda machine, thus the coke in a bottle, even though the menu said bottomless refills. They are also going to put in a new floor and I am not sure what else. She said the owner decided to slim down the menu. She did not think it was a very good decision.

Our cheese bread arrived first, nice thick crust, cheese, butter baked to a light golden brown, very tasty. A few minutes later our pizza arrived. The cheese bread was better. The pizza crust was too crisp for my taste. I was not impressed with the meat lover’s side or the Route 66 combo side.

We were the only customers the whole time we were there. I am not sure how you can make a living bringing in only $28.00 in an hour, with at least 4 employees working.

We always try to support the local businesses when we can. But for a small business to survive now a days they need to reinvent themselves and have something unique to offer. There are two other choices in Orting for Pizza, Pizza Hut and Papa Murphy’s and I hate to say both have better Pizza. I need to have a reason to go to your business. I am not sure how Route 66 can afford to lose any more customers and by eliminating items from their menu I am sure they lost more customers. Not everyone likes Pizza.

Overall I would give them a rating of 5. Cleanliness is a 7. Service an 8. Food was a 4.

We also made our first purchase of Spirit’s at Costco. It was a little bit of sticker shock with the taxes. But again, as much as I would like to support the local Orting Liquor Store, they need to give me a reason to shop at their store.  It does not make any sense to say I am going to run to Safeway and pick up some groceries and then run by the Orting Liquor Store for some booze when I can get it all at Safeway. The Orting Liquor Store has to reinvent their store or they will be part of History, like the Orting Food Center. I also can’t understand how Copes Pharmacy survives either. Most of their customers must be passing away and they offer nothing new to attract new customers.

Next I want to check out the new Taco Truck next to the Jack Pot gas station.