The Melting Pot

The Melting Pot

An absolute necessary place to go out to eat would be The Melting Pot located in Troy, Michigan. I went there over the weekend for my cousins birthday dinner and I was absolutely blown away by how amazing it was. What we did was we went there before our reservations and we shopped at the Somerset mall until it was time to go to dinner and that was very enjoyable. We had a big group with us so that made the entire experience really fun! Everything went perfectly and the restaurant was very nice.

When we first walked in I was so surprised to see how nice the inside of the restaurant was. It was so fancy and I felt so honored to be able to be there with my family. When we took our seats our waitress whose name was Rebecca was very friendly to us and she told us about the way that the restaurant worked. She also told us a little bit of history about the restaurant and how the first Melting Pot was located in Florida and I believe she said it was built around 1975, because it recently celebrated its thirty fifth anniversary.  She told us about the four-step process and how the food comes out in

increments. I was so hungry listening to her explain I couldn’t stand the thought of waiting for food to eat for that much longer. First was the cheese-fondue, then the salad, entrée and then dessert.  The cheese fondue was delicious it was served with bread and various vegetables that you would dip in it and it was so good. Then next was the salad, which is pretty standard, but they had signature dressing, which was delicious. Then there was the main entre which you select your individual entre and it is cooked right in front of you.  And then came the dessert. The chocolate fondue, which was amazing, and was definitely my favorite part of the meal, was very tasty. There were so many options of fruits and other tasty treats that would be good dipped in warm melted chocolate. Everything about the meal was delicious and I would go back there at any time! It was a bit pricey, but both the service and the food were phenomenal.

Overall I had a positive experience there and even though like I said earlier that it was expensive it was definitely worth the experience of at least going once. I recommended it to any one who is interested, but my only suggestion would be to make reservations ahead of time because it can tend to be busy especially on the weekend nights. Below there is a link to the restaurants website if you would like to check anything out for yourself!

http://www.meltingpot.com

Palladium 12 theater

A must visit place in Oakland county is going to the Palladium 12 theater in Birmingham, Michigan. I went to this theater because one of my friends was playing his guitar there for live entertainment. So I went there not knowing what to expect from the theater. But when I walked in I was amazed. There was a theater on the right and then there was a fancy coffee shop and also a restaurant. So in the small restaurant/ bar portion is where my friend was playing guitar songs from John Mayer, Matt Kearney, and Michael Bublé. This place was so nice, you can tell that it was very fancy and a place where people would come out on dates maybe if they were trying to impress someone. My friends that came with me were just as excited as I was. We ordered a pizza to all share and it was very delicious. I was so impressed with everything about this place. What was special about this movie theater was that it is a movie theater that shows first run productions and independent productions. So most of the movies were movies that I had never even heard of before. Which I think is really cool and it definitely helps add character to the entire place. Although I did not end up watching a movie my friend was able to show me the inside of the theater and I was amazed when I walked in there because the seats were so comfortable. They were like big recliner chairs and they looked so comfortable. It definitely made me want to watch a movie there sometime. After my friends and I were done eating our pizza we went over to the coffee shop (which was still inside the restaurant and theater) and we ordered some coffee so that we could just sit and relax and enjoy a nice cup of coffee. They put the designs on the top of your coffee and I love it when coffee shops do that.  It was very relaxing to sit there and drink coffee and listen to my friend sing and play live music on his guitar. Overall all I highly recommend coming here! Whether you are getting coffee on your way to work, wanting to go to a nice dinner with friends or family, or you want to see a movie with a great movie experience, it is a great place to come and sit and relax and enjoy some live music. The only suggestion I have is not going at a really busy time because we had to park really far away because there were a lot of people there. But overall it was a great experience and the next time I am in Birmingham I will definitely stop by for a little bit! 

Booth Park

This weekend I have been babysitting some kids who live in Birmingham and I took them to a park in downtown Birmingham called Booth Park. I take these kids to parks all the time to play but this park definitely stuck out in particular. This park was perfect to take kids to, whether you had children, siblings, cousins, or kids that you were babysitting. This park was located in the heart of the town and it was a very nice area. The park has a large gate that you enter through and once you walk through you are greeted with play structures,

picnic tables, tunnels, a bridge, and even a large open field for the kids to run around and play games on. What we did was we packed sac lunches and we spent the entire day at the park. The kids played tag and hide and seek almost the entire day. And then we had lunch and then went for a hike along the river. This was a great nature walk for kids and they really enjoyed it. Also one of the main events at Booth Park was the big hill that they have. It is made of turf and the kids slide down it on cardboard. They really enjoy this and scream and laugh the entire time. The kids begged and begged me when we left if I would take them back there next time that I babysat so that they can go down that hill again. The park was overall not that busy. There were a few other families there, but for a lot of the time we were able to have the park to ourselves. When the kids started to get tired we walked next door to the ice cream parlor to enjoy a cool tasty treat. It was warm outside so the ice cream melted fast as we walked back to the park. It was very convenient to be able to walk to get ice cream and then just walk back. Overall I really enjoyed this park and I will definitely take the kids back there so that they can enjoy a day of fun there again.  I recommend it to anyone who is interested in visiting any parks in Birmingham. It was a great way to keep kids distracted for a long period of time while they enjoyed having some outdoor fun!

Detroit Zoo

A few weeks ago I visited the Detroit Zoo for the first time in a long time. The Detroit Zoo is located in Royal Oak, Michigan. When entering the zoo I realized that I was going to love it just as much as I did when I was a little kid. I walked along the general zoo map, which I have posted here so you can see the entire outlook of the zoo. It was like we walked in a huge circle. For the first time in my life I got to see a sloth. I have always thought that sloths are really creepy animals so I was very interested to see one. And I can promise you that it was just as weird to see in person as it loos in photos. I was most excited to see the Giraffes. And actually on the day that I was there they had a deal where you could feed the giraffe for five dollars! So I took advantage of this opportunity and got to feed the giraffe and it was definitely worth the wait in line because it was one of the coolest experiences. The giraffe was huge up close in person. I would really recommend feeding a giraffe if the opportunity ever presents itself to you. As we progressed through the day stopped and ate lunch right outside of the polar bear exhibit. It was cool because a duck came right up to my friend and I and ate anything that we dropped on the ground. I was able to hand feed the duck as well because it was apparently not afraid of humans at all. This was a neat experience it is one of the memories that you look back on and don’t forget. Visiting all the animals was really cool I especially liked seeing the gorillas, tigers, and foxes. But after we had visited all the animals, we went inside to look at a photo art gallery that a friend had recommended that we go see. I was nor expecting this art gallery to be nearly as exciting as seeing all the animals was, but looking at these photos was actually my favorite part of the entire experience.  These photos that were taken of animals were absolutely amazing. They were definitely once in a lifetime photo opportunities. For almost every single photo I was speechless because they were unlike anything that I had ever seen before. I so badly wanted to take pictures of them, but pictures were strictly prohibited. Overall I absolutely loved the zoo! I had so much fun and I will definitely go back and visit again. I think that of all the blogs I have written so far that this place is a must visit place! Here is a link to the Detroit Zoos website so that you can explore everything that is has to offer.

http://www.detroitzoo.org

Long Family Orchard Farm and Cider Mill

      Yesterday I went to the apple orchard called Long Family Orchard Farm and Cider Mill in Commerce, Michigan. This apple orchard was so nice. There were so many different apples to choose from.  I walked down rows and rows of apple trees and I grabbed as many as I could. My favorite types of apples are honey crisp apples. I find them to be absolutely delicious. For sixteen dollars you can get a half-bushel of apples and for twenty-eight dollars you can buy a full barrel. 

      They also had fresh cider, donuts, honey, fresh breads, McIntosh, Jonathon, & Honey Crisp apples. They have a corn maize that is open on the weekends and they also have a fun yard filled which includes a plays structure, jumping houses, petting zoos, and some photo opportunities for kids and their families. 
       It is a tradition in my family to make homemade applesauce from handpicked apples every year. So we like to visit new apple orchards to experience new places. And I had a great experience at the apple orchard and I will definitely come back next year to have some fall fun and also get some freshly picked apples!