Rice stuck to banana leaves and smaller than average sushi rolls! (Wonderful Buffet Review)

To many Vancouverites and Canadians, besides getting cheaper gas and groceries from Bellingham, another thing Bellingham is notorious for is their buffets. Among the Asians (well, from my grandma's social circles), I heard that there are two popular buffets in Bellingham. One is the Super Buffet (please read my review here:) and the other is Wonderful Buffet.
 Driving into the parking lot, you can see that Wonderful Buffet is located just across the parking lot from Costco. Before walking in I noticed something interesting, the blinds at Wonderful Buffet is on the outside rather than the inside. I am not sure why they do this, I'd imagine it would be a hassle to close the blinds if you are inside let alone if you wanted some privacy inside the restaurant (let's say at night), you wouldn't be able to get any because people can just easily lift the blinds up.

Very interesting choice of ceiling decor

That said, after glaring at the interesting setup of blinds, my friend and I decided to walk in. Immediately, at the door, you will see the prices for Lunch, Dinner, Take out. It was about 6 at night, so we were just in time for the dinner. Walking in on a Wednesday Evening, the place was not too busy. We were greeted by the host lady. I wouldn't say that she is rude, but she wasn't the most polite either.
  The interior decor is rather interesting. The lighting was abit on the dim side and the ceiling tiles were very interesting. I think the "Chinese Buffet" theme was the thing that the restaurant was trying to emphasize.
  After, we were seated, I noticed that there were six counters of food. Each one had their own features. There was one counter for sushi, one counter for seafood/meat (like two dishes, such as trout and mussels when we were there), one counter for western salads, two counters for Chinese dishes and one counter for desserts/ fruits.
   I didn't want to get too much food, so I had bits and pieces of everything to try things out. I started out with going to the sushi bar. I must say the sushi here are smaller in portion compared to many other sushi I've had. The selections weren't special though, they only have a few varieties and all of which are classic kinds like California Roll, Alaska roll, tamago roll to name a few. The taste of these are pretty regular, nothing bad to write home about.
   The next category I went to was the two Chinese counters. They had alot of the traditional Chinese dishes you would get at restaurants such as fried beans, chow mein, fried rice, lemon chicken. I got a bit of everything and tried them all out. Besides being abit on the greasy side, it was not too bad. The Chicken teriyaki on skewers were pretty good too. The only thing that I didn't like from here was the sticky rice. It tastes as if the sticky rice has been in the cooker for a really long time and the rice and the banana leaf that it's wrapped in is literally STUCK together.
  They also have a dish of lobster legs too, but I didn't try any. WAfter trying out a few more dishes, everything tasted regular, like it wasn't anything that was out of the ordinary that you can get at the Food Court. That said, I really liked the chick peas cold dish they had. The chick peas were cooked to the point where the flavour were brought out just right. Besides that, everything else was nothing much to write about.
  Finally, I decided to get some fruits. My friend decided to get desserts (even though my marathon is finished, I am going after maintenance and speed for the next marathon). The fruits tasted as if it's been out for a really long time. Especially the oranges, they were abit dry and kind of crispy. The creme puffs, according to my friend, was abit sour tasting too. Other than that, there is really nothing to complain about.
  Overall, the food here is pretty average, however, the price is pretty good. At about $13 for dinner, I would say that the value you get is pretty good for the amount of food and choices that you have. The quality isn't the best, but hey, you get what you pay for right?

"Everything's bigger in Texas" (Cousin's Pit Barbeque Review) Crowley, Texas)

When you are in Texas, steak and meat is definitely something that that is not to be missed (Sorry Vegans and Vegetarians! I usually am mostly vegetarian except on the occasion). My friends who were with me, who's been to Fort Worth/ Burleson before have been muttering about going to a place called "Cousin's" since we landed in DFW.
From the outside, Cousin's was located in a outdoor mall. Nestled across the parking lot from a Wells Fargo, the outside appearance of Cousin's was not too special. However, once you walk into the place the unspecialness of the exteriors immediately changed.
The inside was extremely well decorated that it gave off a Texas / Rodeo feel to it. The walls were all wooden and there were pictures and memorabilia from all sorts of country culture. Not to mention, there was country music playing when we walked in. I recall the song that was playing was Florida Georgia Line's "Round Here" (which I added to my playlist which you can find on the top of the page).
 Because it was close to closing time when we were there, everyone quickly lined up to get their food. I noticed that they had pretty big combos. All of these combos include a meat (so you can choose from dark chicken and white chicken (honestly, I don't get the difference between the chickens but the white chicken was slightly more expensive), beef (there are sizes too from a 1/4 lb to 1/2 lb and etc..., to name a few. Then there are combos that include a selection of a few meats as well.

The combo I got was the 1/4lb white chicken with two sides and Texas Toast. The way Cousin's is setup is sort of like the cafeteria at school, where you tell the lunch lady what you would like and then she prepares the food for you and you move down the line until you reach the cashier. Except in this case, it wasn't a lunch lady on the other end, but a really tall and muscular guy. After I ordered my chicken, my combo includes two sides.
The sides area was pretty cool because you can choose what you would like and the sides range from healthy options like steamed vegetables/corn to things like casseroles to desserts. The casserole sounded very promising so I decided to get it.
 After I got all my orders, I proceeded to the cashier. She was very nice as well. When my friend before me was about to pay for his order, he was missing a penny, and the cashier kept this collection of pennies that she helped my friend with. After I finished paying, I quickly joined my friends at the table.
I started with the BBQ white chicken I got. I must say, it was very delicious. It was very nice and tender and juicy. After that I had the Texas Toast followed by the two sides. In general the sides were really good and so was the toast. It was the first time I had Texas Toast, and I must say it tasted like just a very thick slide of white bread with some spices on it.
The funniest part about my meal was that they have me in a bowl something that looked like soup. After taking the first sip in it, I felt it was very salty. Some of my friends who were with me gave me a funny look. Apparently what I drank was the sauce for the chicken... I guess when they say "everything's bigger in Texas", it is justified. At this moment, the bowl of sauce was so big that it looked like soup.
 Overall, my experience at Cousin's was fantastic and if I was in town again, it probably would be the first place I rush to.