Alicia's Birthday

Being sick sucks, the sore throat, the stuffy nose, endless coughing, but I wasn't about to miss my friend Alicia's birthday.  Dan and I had drove to Lincoln to meet up with her and about 10 other people or so at a place called Fireworks. Never been to Fireworks before but the first thing I remember walking in the door was the intense smell.  The wood burning stove(s) they have completely smacked my smelling sense into high gear, really I am surprised how strong it was being sick and all I cant smell much of anything right now. Normally when you are around any one smell for a particularly extended amount of time it goes away after a while but this stayed throughout the 3 or so hours we were there celebrating. 

They had a wide variety of beverages to chose from, I found it interesting that their entire menu had a "soul mate" beer matching or two that was listed below each item. I don't drink beer, I hate everything about beer, the taste, the smell, the color.. Ugh! But, for anyone who loves beer I could see this being a helpful tip what beers go with what items.  I ended up getting a strawberry daiquiri, I don't know if it was just my taste buds being screwed up or what but I couldn't taste an ounce of alcohol in it. The strawberry flavor itself was good and it being super cold felt great on the sore throat.  Dan being Dan just had water like he does a good portion of the time. 

We had decided to share the 16oz prime rib dinner, it came with 2 sides and we added a wedge salad on for an extra charge.  Prime rib medium rare with mac & cheese and smashed potatoes came out on two separate plates, 8oz. portions with an extra side of broccoli? I think the chef was just trying to fill up the plate but I love broccoli so I was not complaining.  They also have this amazing cornbread that is free of charge if you ask for it.  The cornbread tasted like it had just a hint of vanilla in it, and it came with whipped butter, TO DIE FOR! The prime rib was cooked perfectly, it was tender and juicy, the au jus on the side was very flavorful. 

Towards the end of the celebration someone had ordered this flaming fish bowl of sorts, It came out with 10 or so straws for sharing. I did not partake, no getting anyone else sick today! Then out came the on the house chocolate birthday cake and vanilla ice cream.  The cake was moist, the chocolate was intense but not overwhelming, it reminded me of my grandma Holt's chocolate sheet cake she used to make but this one didn't have the crushed walnuts.  It brought me back to being in California when I was younger at our yearly family pool parties we would have.  

Fireworks was an all around good dining experience, everyone seemed happy with their food and the service.  I will definitely be returning when we get the chance.

Red Robyou?

 Dan and I were out and about today running errands so we stopped at Red Robin on the way home to get something quick.  We saw they had a jump starter appetizer option which looked awesome due to the fact it had sweet potato french fries, YUM!.  Single Order - $2.99 Double combo - Pick any two - $5.79.  We wanted to do onion rings and sweet potato french fries so we did the double combo.  *sigh* Do not make the same mistake we did, get two single orders.  I think we had a total of about 10 fries plus some bits and pieces. The onion rings were really good though, I think we got about 6 large ones.  In the whole order you get nearly triple the amount of fries, and it comes out to 21 cents extra which is a great trade in my opinion.  

On to the meal!  I got the Prime Rib dip $13.29. This is the second time I've had this and it is amazing. I am not a big fan of coleslaw but it came with a side of it which I did not touch. Since I THOUGHT we were going to have fries already I substituted my fries out for a side salad, which oddly enough came to me on my plate in a ramekin bowl you might see french onion soup put in. At least it made me laugh a little :) . Dan got the Oktoberfest Burger $6.99. He said the pretzel bun was great! Our waitress asked if he wanted it pink or no pink, he said no pink and you can guess how it came out,  PINK!

We felt kind of cheated about the jump starter we ordered but didn't care to waste our energy dealing with the fallout and or waiting for more fries at that point.  Even though I really like the Prime Rib Dip sandwich I don't think we will be going back anytime soon.

And so it begins......

Hello everyone. My names Jessica Holt and I'm 28 years old. I originally grew up in the Bay area of California, Concord to be exact.  I moved out to Omaha, NE about 4 years ago and it has really been a big change for me!  I currently reside in Gretna, a small southwest suburb of Omaha, I live with my fiance Dan and our Siberian Husky pup Pandora, who is now almost 5 months old.

One day, I would love to open my own restaurant or catering business and I have just recently started to pursue my dream. In the beginning of this last September I started attending culinary school at Metro Community College. They have a wonderful culinary program there and this blog is going to help me keep my goal in mind and at the same time probably going to help me keep my sanity :)

There is most likely going to be a very wide variety of things I will blog about here. I am going to try and focus the posts more on the culinary ventures of my life whether it be in the classroom, at home, or at a restaurant.

I think everyone loves to talk about good service and food they receive at a restaurant but I think this will also be helpful for the times when I need to vent about the BAD stuff as well.  That's all for now!