Andalous Mediterranean Grill - Recommend/General/Family

If you're in the north DFW area in Texas and you're wanting quality, healthy, delicious, and a solid buffet price! This is the place for you-whether it's on a date night or with your friends and family!

Their selections are fewer than that of Dimassi's Mediterranean Buffet off of 121 in Plano (on the south side) but as for quality, yeah, this one beats it by far! Their labels at Andalous are more accurate and as a fellow Celiac Disease individual they have my stamp of approval! Just like that of other locations drinks are included, although I'll admit that personally the delicious coffee blend is my highlight - whether I'm drinking it with my meal or as a dessert after the meal drink. Their selections of warm items are as I mentioned earlier, less but better quality. Fewer fish selections and a better variety of the chicken and meat protein selections. Their salads are cleaner and fresher, both in crunch and cleanliness of the vegetation. As for their dessert selection, Andalous hands down beats the other Mediterranean Buffet locations in the metroplex.

They are family friendly, and though my kiddos enjoy their fruit and dessert station my children truly enjoy the food there. Their location allows for ample space and a clear view for customers moving around your kids - which when mothers are just trying to enjoy their meal, this goes a long way! They have a large dining hall as well off the side of the main dining room which allows for the bigger and more noisy patrons as well. Overall, it's a must location and a return spot for delicious food!

I would say that Andalous gives Ali Baba's a run for their money and location, however where Ali Baba is more known and has some special items for their buffet, Andalous beats even them (in my opinion) because of the continued freshness and shoot even the space (especially when Ali Baba has customers that never fail all the time, to have annoying kids running around and screaming and hitting your chairs)! 

Don't take my word for it and try it yourself! Venture out and reward your palettes! 

Sincerely,

A Distinct Woman

At Home Coke Icee! - General/Family

So I saw this video at a Thai restaurant and in that video there's a side cart on the street in their native land with glass bottles of Coke and Dr. Pepper and even Root Bear, where they turn them into an instant icee to go in a cup! It's chemistry at work for sure while also being a cool trick to do at home. 

Without knowing for sure what they did or didn't do and after looking at some Thailand YouTube clips of the same side cart stand I did (2) different trials and only (1) of the (2) was successful. So I tried recreating the shaking/stirring machines with a large pot and filled it with ice all around the glass bottles. 

That was a cool chemical reaction to witness and feel as I was "stirring" up the coke bottles inside. Where the pot easily had a few from my spinning and turning once the cold started to seep into the enclosed space than the pot became even harder to spin back and forth in either direction. The top of the pot also seemed to create this sealed like reaction with minimal condensation and a lot of COLD to the touch. 

Well sadly I didn't have the additional assistance to keeping piling in ice and putting in some salt like I was supposed to- so all in all maybe this would be a success if you're willing to be there a while! While also having a second pair of hands to keeping piling in crushed ice to create the colder temperatures and also pour over some salt. Although with the frosted glass and pouring in what I did frost, some of the coke turned into nice cold icicles once poured into the frosted glass.

The second trial and error turned out to be a success even though I didn't have their freezing stirring/shaking tool. I ended up cheating and placed the glass bottles in the freezer. Removing them about 3.5 or 4 hours later. Now that was truly delicious! Once removing the glass bottles you lightly tap the edges of the glass bottle, then uncap the bottle cap slightly to allow air flow in and you'll instantly see a chemical reaction where the coke inside the bottle gets nicely frosted! 

Be careful of a little leaking or overflow but easily wipe it away and stick in your straw to enjoy! Try it for yourself, believe me as a kid it's a fun science experiment and as an adult! It's just freaking delicious!

Sincerely,

A Distinct Woman