Library Event

The Friends of the Fresno County Library is doing a screening of The Human Comedy with an appearance by Mickey Rooney. To go to the movie screening is $20 but to see the movie and to go to a dessert reception with Mickey Rooney is $50. It will be Friday, April 25, 2008 at the Tower Theatre. You can order tickets online or mail in a check and form.

California Pizza Kitchen

Usually I avoid going to CPK because I had yet to be impressed by the meals. However a friend gave me a CPK gift card for my birthday so my husband and I decided to give it another try (can't complain about free food!).

FOOD
My husband (D) ordered the Thai Linguini and I chose the Grilled Sausage & Pepper Penne. You have to understand that D loves anything that is spicy and covered in peanut sauce, so naturally he loved his meal. I took a few bites and was pleasantly surprised by the taste of chicken, veggies, and spaghetti mixed together in peanut sauce. It was definitely spicy, but good!
The waiter gave me Spaghetti Bolognese. I poked at it thinking it didn't look like sausage OR penne. It was pretty much plain spaghetti. Very boring. Not something I would pay twelve bucks for. So when the waiter came back around I pointed it out and he quickly took care of the situation. He was apologetic and offered to box up the spaghetti for us to take home...free! Of course we said, "yes" (Hello! It's free! Not great tasting, but free!).
When the Grilled Sausage & Pepper Penne finally made its way to the table I decided it was worth the wait! The sausage was delicious and the sauce was flavorful! It tasted like they used basil. Plus there were large pieces of bell peppers mixed in (I love bell peppers!). I took back all the bad things I said about CPK as I continued to enjoy my meal.

ATMOSPHERE
Simple and clean. My husband commented on how clean and new the inside looked even though it has been around for a few years. Not much in the way of decoration. The lighting was low for the dinner hour. We were seated close to the kitchen but it didn't seem to impede our conversation in anyway. The waiter was friendly and he came by the table just enough times.

COST
Expect to pay $18 to $20 per person (including drink, tax, and tip)
Dessert will cost you another 6 bucks.

CONCLUSION
Would I eat there again? Sure, if I receive another gift card. But I would probably go to the Spaghetti Factory before I went to CPK again. (SF gives you spumoni with your meal!!!)

Would I send a friend there? I wouldn't inhibit them from going, but I wouldn't tell them they HAD to go either. (Okay, I have not quite made it past my previous view of CPK)

Blogging Slow...

Just warning that blogging may be slow for a little longer... I am sick!

Vance Walberg and the Dribble-Drive Motion offense

There's a Sports Illustrated article about "an obscure junior college coach from Fresno named Vance Walberg" and

his quirky creation, a high-scoring scheme featuring four perimeter players and a host of innovations. Unlike Knight's classic motion offense (which is based on screens) or Pete Carril's Princeton-style offense (which is based on cuts), Walberg's attack was founded on dribble penetration.

His innovative ideas are being compared with those of "Tark, Hubie Brown, Mike Fratello", and even legendary coach John Wooden.

PS This post is about basketball

**NerdMom Addition: NerdDad didn't realize that I had Walberg as a PE Teacher at Clovis West. He was a very popular coach and one of my few PE teachers I liked.

Local Blogs: What do you look for?

As I am blogging away is dawns on me...What are you guys looking for in a local blog?

Vini Vidi Vici

Two Blonde Boys has had a great dining experience at Vini Vidi Vici. He has even provided pictures! Go check it out.

Resturant Review: Tico's Place

Yesterday my friend, Sara, and I decided to go out to lunch (without kids!) and try a new place. We decided to go down to Tico's Place at the corner of Perrin and Sommerville. The idea of a Columbian/Mexican restaurant piqued both of our curiosities. I admit up front that I am hard on a restaurant's food/money value. I cook fairly well so I want something better than mine when I go out. So there is my disclaimer;).

On the whole the food was ok and the service sub-par. If I lived in the neighborhood and was going to eat out and didn't want fast food, Tico's would be an option. It has a casual atmosphere and I would feel fairly comfortable with kids there, if the service get better. But I wouldn't drive across town for it. In reality, I might return to try their appetizers or breakfast but probably not for dinner. If you want more details than that just keep reading;).

First let's look at the food, since that is the biggest part of the restaurant experience. You automatically get chips and salsa. I do have to say that the salsa was quite good. It wasn’t very spicy and that really allowed the other flavors to develop and be tasted. Sara got her fish tacos and on the whole she was satisfied but not overly impressed. The sauce she received with her fish tacos wowed. It was a creamy, lemony sauce with a definite bite. We were going to ask our server what it was called but we never saw her again (I will get to that more later). The fish tacos were based on grilled fish and well seasoned but they were pretty small. They were, what I consider, a great appetizer size. Overall there was plenty of food but I think some of the beans and rice could have been given up for a bit more taco. Sara said her beans were watery but both the beans and rice tasted like the norm.

I ordered the Mixed Chicken Fried Rice based on a great description.

Mixed Chicken Fried Rice—Chicken fried rice with fresh chopped green beans, carrots, and peas and your choice of sweet or green plantains

Over all it was well seasoned but there wasn’t really any bite or anything that really stood out. I was disappointed that the veggies weren’t fresh. It was very obvious that it was taken from a bag of frozen mixed vegetable and while that aspect wasn’t horrible, I was really looking forward to fresh green beans. The dish also came with an arepa or a corn pancake. This was my first arepa so I don't have much to compare it to but it seemed as if it was left over too. It was cold, very dense and heavy. It's obvious that this is one of those dishes that it is designed to be a leftover dish. It uses leftover rice, veg and chicken, there isn’t really a fresh element added to it. While that is fine, I don’t know if it was worth $9.95. If it were priced at about $5-$6, I might be coming down and getting it all the time.

So onto the service and other details. We were out for an early lunch so we weren't surprised when we were the only customers. Our waitress came to our table and was pleasant but when we exchanged pleasantries she made me a little nervous. She explained how she had a virus thing that was bothering her and she really rather be in bed but had to be at the restaurant. Let me just stop right here. While I really do mean it when I ask how you are, I don't want to hear that a sick person is handling my food. And we're back;). Something I found a bit shocking is that there is a full Columbian menu and a separate Mexican menu. I expected a bit more fusion. Most meals were priced well, between $8.95 to $15, with some above that but most in that range. So we order, get our drinks, chips, etc. I ordered an appetizer of Plantains con queso. After a few minutes she came out and told us she wasn't sure that she had enough plantains for our order but she would let us know later. She doesn't ask if we would like a different appetizer or anything. Then she brings out our meals and said she didn't have enough. She refills the drinks then and that is the last time we see her. No, really. The restaurant fills up, more servers come out and no one stops by our table. about 20 minutes after we are done eating we flag down someone and ask for a bill. Then they tried to charge us for the appetizer we didn't get. I understand that they are still new and people have bad days so I hope this isn't the norm.

My overall is that it is ok. If you are just going to go somewhere it is moderate to good. But, if you are looking for a special treat this may not be the place.