Chinese Gardens (Couer d'Alene, ID)

Sometimes you need a tasty trek adventure when you are in another state. and when we recently found ourselves in ID we googled for a a Chinese eatery and found ourselves at this little spot... Chinese Gardens.

Things here were definitely Chinese.  There was the tropical fishtank, (a common feature of many Chinese restaurants,) Chinese writing on the wall... even a painting of  the great wall of China.   The only thing not Chinese was our waitress.  She did not look Chinese.

  In 2005 readers of the local business journal voted this restaurant the best Chinese place in town, so we figured we would give it a try.

The menu had a lot of interesting Chinese dishes to try too.  There were several people in our hungry group and, as we were all a bit famished, having been out all day near the water's edge, we passed our tastes of China around a bit.

We had Rangoon


and Kim Chee for appetizers.






One person in our group had never had Rangoon.  I love Rangoon, but have to say that these were not the best I have ever eaten.  The person who had never eaten Rangoon before loved them though.  The Kim Chee, like most all the  Kim Chee I know, had to grow on you a bit.


The other dishes we ordered  to our table were the Mar Po Tofu
  No Pork in this dish, and it was spicy!

Kung Pao Chicken...
I didn't care for the bell peppers.

Geo ordered the Crispy Noodle Chow MEin and was disappointed because it was not what he thought it would be.  IT was mainly stir fired vegetables  and chicken on top of those chubby crispy chow mein noodles.   He said that it was good though.












and we also tasted their Curry Chicken.

All of our dishes were served with rice. I have to say I thought the Curry Chicken dish was the most aromatic and tasty.  I think it was the touch of ginger in the dish that made it so flavorful, but then it was a curry and I like that too. 

Steam Plant Grill

Have you seen this place?  Have you driven or walked past these smoke stacks as much as I have without ever thinking much about what they are for; thinking they are just some old remnant of the past that has been left behind?

Ahhhh Grasshopper, do not be deceived, beneath them is a restaurant!

This is one place you don't want to miss, simply because the atmosphere is so unique!  Once inside, you are in an old refurbished steam plant relic of a place, one that actually used to heat the downtown area of Spokane, built in 1915!

We even had dinner there...

We both had soup... Creamy chicken lentil potato, a tasty and interesting blend.

  Geo ordered a Buffalo Burger

and I, the Fish Tacos....

Our meals came with a choice of house seasoned fried or sweet potato fries.... Geo had the regular and I had the sweet potato.  Never having eaten sweet potato french fries before, this was interesting.  I ate them with ketchup, but I must admit it was a little bit weird.  The fish taco was really good   Different than most because it was not deep fried.

As for the Steam Plant... it was cool.

Here is the downstairs bar..



and some special private dining rooms.

This is the boiler room and the hole in which the coal was put into the boiler.  You can read more about this place at their website.... Steam Plant Grill.com.

Panda Express

IT was a lovely summer evening for a picnic, so we had Panda In the Park.

Panda Express is a drive through or eat in restaurant with several locations in Spokane.  It's a Chinese fast food restaurant chain throughout the US actually, one we reap the benefit of.  YUM!  What can I say, we like it every now and then.  It was inspirational to think of taking Panda Express food with us on a picnic!


At Panda, you get a choice of rice or chow mein and then add your favorites from their selection to your dish.  They even let you sample stuff.  The restaurant is cafeteria style... you see what they have and pick what you like as you go down the line and pay for it at the end.   You can drive through too if you like. 

We sampled the Walnut Shrimp, which was delicious, but we went with eating Bejing Beef and Kung Pow Chicken and Bejing Beef with Orange Chicken.  Then we went to Manito Park.

"

"Man, It' toe purty here!"
we like to say,
using our Tweety Bird
voice
in  the way he says,
"I thought I saw a puty cat."

Here are some pictures from around the park:

Man-it-o Pretty!"
Small people, big trees...look at the grandma with her grandchild standing at the bottom looking to the top, marveling at how tall the tree is!

We walked around the duck pond listening to the sound of cello being played upon the breeze.