Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar in Chino Hills

After trying Wingstop, we got into the chicken wings mood yet again. I've heard about Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar and wanted to try it. When we got there on a Sunday afternoon, the place was packed, and there wasn't even a Lakers' game on.

Reading Yelp, we decide to give the Asian Zing wings a try. These were too mild for my taste, but they were alright. The Mango Habanero wings were medium hot and good, but I'm actually not a fan of the sweeter wings. Now, since I don't quite remember which of these two wings were which, I'll put these two side by side below.

The Parmesan Garlic wings were quite floury and not as crisp as those at Wingstop, but they are tastier than those at Wingstop. I liked these the most of the ones I tried today.

We also ordered BBQ chicken tenders for the kids. Again, these tasted better than those at Wingstop, but they were just alright.

How does this establishment compare to those at Wingstop? I definitely say that these are wings are meatier, but I think i will have to go back and try some of their hotter wings to be able to compare the flavors.

This branch of Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar is located at 3160 Chino Ave. in Chino Hills, CA(909) 591-9035

Wingstop in Baldwin Park

After a nice outing with the family, we stopped by Wingstop in Baldwin Park and grabbed some chicken wings.

We ended up getting the family pack which gave us up to four different flavorings. I originally wanted the atomic flavor, which is super spicy, but the person at the counter talked my cousin out of it. I should have been there to stand my ground.

My favorite of the ones we did get was the cajun flavored wings. Granted, the wings were small and measly, but the flavor was good. These were a tad salty, so stay away if you don't like salt. It had just the right amount of spice for me.

The original hot flavored one has that good tabasco flavor, but it was quite soggy.

The garlic parmesan ones were nice and crispy, but it was sorely lacking in taste.

My least favorite was the honey barbeque ones, mainly because I'm not a fan of that type of flavor. But if you are a fan of such, they tasted alright.

The family meals come with potato salad that was awful and bland and with fries that are equally as bad. It also comes with a lot of carrots and celery sticks. I wish there were more of these.

I didn't take a photo, but we also ordered some chicken strips for the kids, which were dry and bland. I don't recommend these.

All in all, Wingstop was okay, but hubby and I immediately looked into other wing places.

This branch of Wingstop is located in 3127 Baldwin Park Blvd in Baldwin Park, CA (626) 962-4400

Scarlet Tea Room in Pasadena

I know it's approaching Father's Day, but I have to go back and do a post on my whereabouts on Mother's Day. This year, I was kid free for Mother's Day lunch. It was heaven. My cousins and siblings wanted to take our mothers to an afternoon tea (and for my father's birthday), and after realizing how expensive the buffet at the Huntington Library was, we settled on the Scarlet Tea Room in Old Town Pasadena. At $38 dollars a person for the Mother's Day Tea, it's far from being a bargain (and also a reason why the kids were absent), but we thought it was a nice two hours of pampering.

The room is quite small but quaint and dainty, with various pretty ceiling decor, everything a little tea room should be. In terms of the menu, I've been here once before for a bridal shower, so I knew what to expect. The five course tea ceremony is their speciality and is essentially what the Mother's Day Tea menu is. There are also other options available too if you want to just come in for tea and a quick bite, or for a nice dinner or lunch.

As soon as we were seated, our party was able to order our choices of tea. You can get a pot per person, but as suggested to keep things simple, we ordered three pots at first for the entire party and then added a fourth. We chose the Fiji green tea, the organic passion green tea, a tropical tea with a long Hawaiian name, and if I remember correctly, one of the berry infusion teas. The last three were alright, but the Fiji green tea was very aromatic and delicious. The teas were brought out in dainty pots and served in little cute cups. The servers continue to fill your cups whenever you run out, so we drank a lot that day.

The strawberry sorbet was our first course. This was light and simple and good because we were starving.

We were also served almond mimosas (non-alcoholic if requested). I couldn't really taste the almond in there.

Scones were then brought out with an assortment of sandwiches. I thought we were suppose to order a choice of four types of sandwiches per person, but I guess to make it simple, they just brought out the whole lot. This then forced our party to pick and choose and divide so we could all have a taste of the good ones. We were disappointed in this aspect. The savory sandwiches were very good, but we had a hard time finishing up the sweeter ones, like the cranberries and citrus ones. In fact, the kids got to eat these as leftovers when I reunited with them.

The scones were excellent, very light and airy. The ginger scones were good although a bit bland, but the pumpkin ones were moist and so very delicious, especially with the cream that was served with them. I didn't care much for the lemon curd or the strawberry perserve that was also brought out for the scones.

Spring petits fours (mini-cakes) were then brought out along with miniature cupcakes and berries. By this time, we were all quite full, so a lot of these desserts looked way too sweet to even attempt and ended up in the kids' tummies, but I did try both of them. Yep, the mini-cakes were too sweet, but the cupcakes were quite moist and delicious.

Then to end everything, little plates of strawberries romanoff were brought out. These were so-so, but thank goodness the plates were small.

It was then time for potty breaks and the huge bill with the 20 percent tip added and the expected complaints from our Asian parents about why this was so overpriced and not worth it and how for less than this price you could go to nice buffet in Vegas. I still think they enjoyed the experience at least. I agree, this is overpriced and we could do this at home for a fraction of the cost, but the goal was to feel pampered, and I think the Scarlet Tea Room accomplishes that. I haven't been to afternoon tea anywhere else to be able to compare, but my cousin liked her experience at the Ritz-Carlton better because you don't have to divvy up the sandwiches, but I think we had to due this do to our large group. Overall, this was to me a very enjoyable tea experience, but only for special occasions.

Scarlet Tea Room is located at 18 W Green St in Pasadena, CA (626) 577-0051

Cafe Lago Buffet at the Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas

So you thought I was through with all the Vegas posts, didn't you? I just never got around to working on this post, mainly because this buffet itself was so disappointing. When we arrived at the Cafe Lago inside of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, we saw how empty the place was. Not a great sign. The only reason we ate here was because we moved our rooms over to this hotel after staying at the Bellagio for a few nights, and it was too easy to just go downstairs and find the buffet.

The room itself was beautifully decorated.

The buffet itself was tiny, and the selection was small. Of course the crab legs. the cocktail shrimps, and the prime rib were all there, but there was not much else to offer.

I initially thought that there were oyster shooters available when I saw those small glasses, but one had just cocktail sauce, and the other just olives. Disappointing.

There was a soup station that claimed that wonton soup was available. On a cold night, that sounded good, and I tried a bowl. Beneath those huge lids were the soups, and you could add in mushrooms and various other toppings. But alas, the wontons were no where to be found. So I asked the server where they were, and she said that that was it. What?? Then why do you label it as wonton soup? We got into a very good discussion with our waitress, a nice Vietnamese lady, who basically told us that no one ever likes the soup. She pointed us into the direction of the buffet at Wynn, very honest of her, and she kindly mixed up some free Mimosas for us without asking. The Mimosas are usually extra. We felt like we've know her all our lives.

The pastry bar was just ok. Nothing really stood out here.

There were some good things about the buffet. There was an everflowing chocolate fondue fountain. Dark chocolate and white chocolate, with lots and lots of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and other fruits for dipping. I didn't care too much for the chocolate itself; I just went for those blueberries and blackberries because if I ate 10 pounds or so of those, I could get my money's worth. And I think I just about did that.

One other thing I liked about Cafe Lago was this large selection of these mini-parfaits. In particular, there was a guava parfait that was truly special, and the others were good too. There were some jello shots that were quite good. And they had real ice cream, not soft serve.

So what Cafe Lago lacked in their meats, they try to make up for it in fruits, ice creams, and parfaits. I don't think that's enough to warrant a voluntary return visit, as there are much better buffets out there in Vegas, such as the one at the Bellagio and Le Village Buffet at the Paris Hotel.

Cafe Lago is located at the Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino at 3570 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, NV (702) 731-7928

Guava Butter

Several weeks ago, I had to use up the lot of my pineapple guavas from my tree before they went to the birds, and one of the ways I used up some of the smaller ones was in making this guava butter. Very easy to do, and it provided our family with a delicious spread for our breakfast breads and bagels for the next few weeks. This amount makes a small half pint jar of the butter.

Ingredients:
About 6 pineapple guavas (enough for 1 1/2 cups of guava pulp)
1 cups sugar
1 teaspoon citrus juice

Put the guavas in a processor or blender.

Push this pulp through a sieve to remove the seeds.

Boil the sugar, citrus, and the pulp in a pot for about 10-15 minutes until the mixture thickens up.

Pour the mixture into a sterilized mason jar if you'd like to preserve it. I placed some in sterilized baby food jars since I was using it immediately.

American Idol Fans, Here's Something For Ya

Sometimes I scratch my head at the things hubby decides to purchase for the kids. Do 3 and 5 year olds really need to have Pop-Tarts decorated with American Idol trivia? Granted, C knows who Simon, Paula, and Randy are, and he likes the music, but I don't think he'd be entertained by AI trivia. By the way if you can't make it out and are you're dying to know, Bucky Covington is a twin.