Day: October 5, 2015

Souplantation- A Restaurant Review

By Kiran Jayasinghe

vistasouplantationimageThe Souplantation is my favorite restaurant. If you’re unfamiliar with the name, you’re probably thinking, “Okay, she loves a place that sells soup.” True, it has some great-tasting soups, but it also has other food, from many different salads and pastas, to fruit. They also sell ice cream, my favorite part!

There are quite a few salads that you can choose from. They have permanent salads and seasonal salads. The Chinese Chicken Salad, and the Caesar Salad are two of the permeant salads I have seen. The seasonal salads change, and you may have to check out the menu online to see what they have. If you aren’t satisfied with these choices, you can make your own salad. The salad bar provides you with lettuce, spinach, shredded carrots, tomatoes, croutons, dressings, cranberries, and other salad items to make any kind of salad you wish.

When you walk in, you will see trays and dishes on either side of the entryway. Once you have taken a plate (or two) and tray, you can slide your tray down the counter along the salad bar and help yourself to anything you want. Other than salad items, there is Tuna Terragon, (My favorite!) which is a pasta, beans, cucumber, and broccoli salad that is quite famous. But the best part is…Souplantation is a buffet! Which means you can always go back for more.

There is also a small dessert bar, which includes chocolate muffins, chocolate mouse, fruit, and three different kinds of ice cream. To go with the ice cream, there is chocolate sauce, caramel syrup, chocolate and white chocolate chips, and sprinkles. And again, you can always go back for more!

On Sundays, between 9 a.m. and 12 noon, the Souplantation serves breakfast. In addition to the regular eatables, it includes scrambled eggs, French toast, waffles, oatmeal, cereal, blueberry muffins, apples, oranges, and much more. To drink, there is water, orange juice, milk, and coffee.

My family usually goes to the Souplantation in Vista. The restaurant has undergone a recent remodeling and it looks great!  It’s clean, and the staff members are very helpful.

For more information visit the Souplantation website.

Vista Souplantation.

North County Square Shopping Center, 1860 University Dr., Vista, CA 92083-7700.

Boudin S.F. – A Restaurant Review

By Simran Jayasinghe

BoudineSFSanMarcosWe have passed Boudin S.F. in San Marcos so many times in the past few years, and never even thought to try it! Last week we just decided to go and check it out. The restaurant is located in the Grand Plaza shopping center in San Marcos, which is on the corner of Las Posas Road and Grand Avenue.
Boudin S.F. has been around for 156 years! The restaurant is originally from San Fransisco. They sell sourdough in all types of shapes. Boudin S.F. bakes their bread daily. They had bread shaped like lobsters,crabs, fishes and even turtles! At Boudin S.F. you walk in the door and you order your food. Then you go and sit down and they bring the food out to your table. Our family ordered a turkey avocado sandwich, a Chicken Basil Bisque soup, a cob salad, and three grilled cheese sandwiches. My dad had the turkey avocado sandwich, and the chicken basil Bisque which he claimed to be very delicious! My mother had a Cobb salad which she said was great. My two sisters, and I ate the three kids grilled cheese sandwiches. The sandwiches came with applesauce, and apple juice. Kiran (my twin sister) and I thought the kids grilled cheese sandwich was a little too small for a hungry 9 (almost 10) year old! But that may be because we are swimmers, and we tend to eat a lot of food!
The Boudin S.F restaurant in San Marcos was clean and had a good atmosphere. The servers, and staff were very nice and friendly. I enjoyed eating at this restaurant and recommend it.

For more information about the restaurant visit the Boudin S.F. website.

San Marcos
Boudin SF
113 S. Las Posas, Suite 112
San Marcos, CA 92078.

760-761-1150

The Egypt Game – A Book Review

By Kiran Jayasinghe

TheEGyptGameBookCoverThe book “The Egypt Game” is an amazing book. The author, Zilpha Keately Snyder, creates 6 main characters, three boys and three girls, who become friends,create, and play the Egypt Game. The characters are: April, Melanie, Marshall, Elizabeth, Toby, and Ken. There is also a mysterious supporting character, called the Professor.

April lives with her grandmother at the Casa Rosada, a old apartment building. Her mother is an actor, and travels all over the country. Melanie, April’s best friend, also lives at the Casa Rosada. She is dark skinned, and can understand April’s homesickness. Melanie’s brother, Marshall, is four and cannot let go of his stuffed octopus, Security. Marshall is smart and is the only child who notices the strange Professor watching the children play their game. Elizabeth Chung is in fourth grade, and just moved in to the apartment building. April and Melanie have no intention of inviting Elizabeth to their game, but one day they see Elizabeth sitting on the bench, and realize that she looks just like the Egyptian goddess Nefertiti, and readily tell her all about the game. April and Melanie clean out the old storage yard behind the professor’s junk shop. The yard becomes the land of Egypt. The friends hold ceremonies, make sacrifices, and write sacred records in hieroglyphs. Toby and Ken are best friends and are famous for their jokes at their school. They learn about the Egypt Game when they follow April and Melanie to “Egypt” on Halloween.

The game ends when a child is murdered. After about a week, the children are allowed to play outside again. But after a few days, when April and Marshall return to retrieve April’s books from “Egypt”, April is almost murdered herself. The professor rescues her. In the end, the murderer is found. I really enjoyed this book and, on a scale of 1 to 10, give this wonderful story a 10. “The Egypt Game” is and exciting, and terrifying tale that will capture your eyes for hours!

If you would like to buy the book, check it out on Amazon.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry – A Book Review

By Simran Jayasinghe

RollOfThunderBookCoverThe book “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry” is written by Mildred D. Taylor. This book is a wonderful story written in 1977. The book is mainly about the Logan family, an African American family of seven who live in a town called Strawberry, Mississippi, during the Great Depression. The narrator of the story is Cassie Logan, a nine year old fourth grader. Cassie’s siblings are an older brother named Stacey, and two younger brothers, Christopher-John and Clayton-Chester. Cassie is just beginning to realize the dangers of being a different color. For example, there is a school bus driver who would always swerve on purpose just to try and hit the kids with the bus while the kids were waiting at the bus stop. The book describes many other examples of how life is dangerous for african americans in those days. Cassie doesn’t like how she has to treat some white children. Cassie has to address some white children very formally. For example, she had to call Lillian and Jeremy, two white children in the book, Ms. Lilian Simms or Mr. Jeremy Simms as if they were grownups. Her mother says that there isn’t anything she can do about it.

In the story the Wallaces live in the same town as the Logan’s. The Wallaces are ruthless. The leader of the Wallace family is a terrible man called Kaleb Wallace. One day they hurt T.J. Avery, another African American character in the book, and broke a few of his ribs. The Wallaces hurt innocent people in brutal ways that are really terrifying. They bother the Logans and the other african american families. When the Wallaces hurt Stacey, Cassie’s father has to start a wildfire as a distraction. The book describes how people like the Wallaces hurt african american people like the Logan family. Cassie’s family goes through a lot of suffering but they stick together.

The author expresses the feeling the Logans must have had in a very exciting way through Cassie and her family. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate this book a 10. The story is sad because it describes how people get hurt, exciting because it talks about what the Logan family had to go through and how they survived, and terrifying because it talks about how people hurt the Logan family. You will be stuck to this book for days and will not want to put it down.

If you want to buy the book, check it out on Amazon.