Islands

Ever needed a fun place to just sit down and have a great meal with a few close friends? Well, Islands is a definite place you would probably like to consider. The place is so fun and exotic, full of tropical and island decors that make you feel like you’re in paradise. Their food is absolutely great. So far, I have not reached a single dislike to the menu. Every time a group of friends and I dine at this place, we always go with the cheddar fries to start out our course. Basically, it is fries topped with cheese and green onions, with your choice of either ranch, two types of honey mustards or barbeque sauce -- the personal favorite being honey mustard, the light one to be exact. It comes in this huge round circular platter that would fit about 4-6 people possibly, depending on how much your friends eat. My friends and I are always grubbing on food, fitting every piece of food into our stomach, and never believe in diets, with the exception of one in the bunch; so the more food, the merrier. You definitely get a range of choices, starting out from tacos, soups, quesadillas, salads, burgers, sandwiches, burritos, and so forth. What is even greater is that if you tell them it is someone's birthday, they offer a complimentary piece of cake with a candle. It is really an exciting place. It makes the place even more exhilarating to eat in, according to a couple of my guy friends, is the fact that they have flat screens to watch the games. To top it all off, their chocolate lava will definitely make your mouth water, especially for those with a sweet tooth. The chocolate lava is made out of a brownie that is topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, hot fudge, and a cherry on top. =] The combination of the hot fudge brownie and cold ice cream makes it so scrumptious. So not only would this be a place of insanely mouth-watering food, a definite place full of entertainment as well. =]
http://www.islandsrestaurants.com/

Ensaymada

Ensaymada, a well known Filipino snack, is an absolutely delicious pastry. It was first derived from Spanish origins where they would stuff all sorts of meat, that later was degenerated by Filipinos to a butter base that continues to satisfy people’s sweet tooth. Its soft fluffiness will make you fall in love with it, especially when it comes to the top layer it consists of. Basic ingredients such as, yeast, flour, sugar, milk, and egg mixed together, will create this outstanding treat. After the dough has been made, it would then be coiled into a molding and later topped with melted butter, sugar, and cheese.
Although it may be fattening to eat it because of the carbohydrates, it is a mouthwatering must to try. My neighbor/old high school friend is very strict with his diet, especially with summer break coming along. You would find him exercising every so often, to get back in shape for “beach time.” And yet, my roommates and I always find him at our apartment on Mondays, going straight to the fridge and asking for two ensaymadas. He was very hesitant to try the ensaymada for the first time, and asked about 10 questions on what it was and what was in it, before he actually took his first bite. Right from the expression of his first bite, his face light up, and I knew for a fact that he fell in love with it. As a matter of fact, he dubbed Mondays his cheat day, just so that he can grub on an ensaymada without feeling guilty about it.
So why not try it out? Have a taste for yourself. You may find ensaymadas in various Filipino bakery shops or supermarkets. To be specific, some places you may find it in are Red Ribbon, Valerios, Betsy’s Bakery shop, Seafood market, Aristocrat bakeshop, Bahay Kubo, or maybe even Nanay Gloria. However, the number one place I would definitely refer you guys to try is Goldilocks. The way my roommates and I eat it is, we put the ensaymada in the microwave for about 20-25 seconds. By then, you will notice and smell the top part of the Ensaymada. It should be oozy and ready to grub on with a little carton of milk. Enjoy it.

KFC dollar menu

Ads have been known to trick people's desires, something i am greatly aware of. Yet, it still seems to draw me in, especially when it comes to food. KFC's 99 cents value meal was a major manipulator. It totally caught my attention and triggered my desire for popcorn chicken and potato wedges. The fact that it was 99cents made it seem even more appealing. A week later, from seeing that episode, my cousin and I saw the commercial play about 5 times again for one show. We were both on a tight budget and we're excruciatingly hungry, so we just could not pass the opportunity. We automatically drove to the nearest KFC and ordered everything on the 99 cents menu, or at least what we thought was all 99cents. Apparently commercials are more deceiving than i thought they would be. Our orders were turning out to cost more than a dollar, ranging from 99 cents-1.99. And I absolutely could not believe it. We were both tricked. The misleading commercial went beyond
We came in KFC fast food restaurant all happy-go-lucky and left with such disappointment. Once we saw the order being prepared we could not believe our eyes. We ordered a snack box and a snacker and were stunned by the outcome. It was extremely small, something that would pass as a kid’s meal. The snack box, which was not even 99cents, came in a little box that was about the size of a box you would put those six dollar burgers in Carl’s Jr. It consisted of a couple pieces of popcorn chicken and potato wedges, both of which were not very appetizing. The popcorn chicken was soggy not crispy, while the potato wedges were not very scrumptious at all either. It was salty and not very satisfying. On the bright side, their snacker was pretty delicious, aside from the fact that I can devour it in about 3 bites. But I guess you get what you pay for. However, if you look at other 99 cent menus in other fastfood restaurants I believe Carl’s Jr and McDonalds surpasses KFC’s menu, food quality wise. So would it really be worth buying the snacker when you can buy something else of the same value in a more delectable and bigger quality? On our ride home, we finished our food before we even reached our apartment.

Commented on these people. =]

Carissa
http://carissa61590.blogspot.com/2009/02/crunchy-but-not-too-soggy.html

Lawrence
http://haruchikafuji.blogspot.com/2009/03/perfect-food.html

Stephanie
http://swtsteph517.blogspot.com/2009/04/guppys-teahouse.html

Tiddy Bear -- the product alone says it all.

Have a hard time driving with those irritating seat belts? TIDDY BEAR to the rescue! It is supposedly something of great use, to prevent the ache of shoulder belts. With the help of the soft cushy beads the tiddy bear seems to consist of, it relieves stress from any area the seatbelt seems to apply pressure to. It makes it “more comfortable to drive” and “snuggles comfortably to your needs” as it is mentioned in the infomercial ad. What is even more entirely insane is the fact that they are selling those tiddy bears for 15 dollars, "but wait if you buy one, we'll throw another one for free!" Yes, did I mention it is real? Call it, a great laugh, really. It is amazing how this was actually approved to air. I mean, it must have gone through a bunch of people before it was shown. Who approved this? How they sell things in such a negatively sexual way, is completely and absolutely unbearable. And to use various interesting choices of words completely embodies the whole sexual connotation they are evoking in this particular product like “stays where you want it, till you move it.”

As you can tell, they even had to spell it in the beginning around 0:10 - 0:12 in the second video, so that it wont be misinterpreted for something else that would be disgustingly inappropriate language. T-I-D-D-Y. Honestly, if you were going to name your product like that, you might as well have spelled it out as T-I-T-T-Y. It sounds pretty much the same to me. Even using the little baby as an example was extremely hilarious. It seemed like he wanted to rip off the tiddy bear. It did not seem pleasant to him whatsoever. They go on and on explaining its beneficial causes such as its task to “move up and down;” seriously, what would you think if you heard that or the fact that they always seem to land on top of those women’s chests as an example. Imagine just listening to it without actually looking at the video. Combining the actors movements as well as the audio gives it that super sexual approach, as if the sexual choices of words were not bad enough. It is a definite knock out.

“Pampabata” (makes you young) -- Filipino’s hilariously ironic nickname for lechon

Why do such unhealthy food give you the jolt of excitement at the pit of your stomach?
Lechon, one of the most oily fattening, completely unhealthy food to consume from the Philippines, is a whole fried pig. As of now, they have developed many ways to cook lechon, from ovens, however, the more traditional technique they would use would be the outdoor preparation. They would use bamboo sticks to tie hold of the pigs, after of course, it has been scrubbed clean. They then would take the time to constantly turn it so that it cooks evenly around the pig, taking about 3 hours or so to cook, depending on size. In various big events that would be celebrated by Filipinos such as birthdays (first birthays & debuts especially), christenings , weddings etc… the presence of lechon, fried whole pig would be laid in the middle of the table. Once it has been shown to everyone in the party and everyone is just about ready to eat and dig in, the body would be chopped into small pieces, while the head of the pig with an apple in the head would be a major focal point, accustomed next to the rest of the chopped lechon. With this rather delicious meal, it is known to have very crispy skin, a favorite to many Filipinos I know. In many places they would serve lechon with a brown sauce referred to as, Mang Thomas, an all purpose liver sauce. I’ve grown so use to the sauce, that eating lechon without Mang Thomas is simply nothing, compared to it with Mang Thomas. And since lechon would be so big, there would be plenty left over to make another famously known delicious Filipino dish we call paksiw na lechon (left over lechon, vinegar, Mang Thomas and other seasonings), which is an absolute plus, if you ask me.

It was first originated from China yet, other people as well, from around the world too have cooked an entire pig. Hawaiians on the other hand, are known for cooking their pig underground. Like Filipinos, they would do this certain cooking on special occasions. You would find their pigs wrapped in potatoes and banana leaves as it cooks underground surrounded by logs and stones. They would usually cook it for about 4-6 hours. So as you can see, whole fried pigs can be found in other places around the world. If you really want to try it, here in California, try Chinatown, Lil Ongpin, or Eva's lechon (3rd st.). Why not taste and see for yourself?

Siopao

Ever tried eating fluffy white bread stuffed with various meat?
You should try siopao. It is a great snack you could easily munch on, on the go. It is kind of like an Asian hamburger. You may also find types of siopaos in China and Thailand where they are given a different name known as baozi and salapao. Like puto, that I have mentioned in my previous blog, there are multiple siopaos that there are made in different ways -- some stuffed with tons of overloading meat, while others, my favorite, are the siopaos that hardly consist of any meat at all. Although there may be a numerous amount of fillings for this certain snack, the two most common are pork asado (chopped pork sprinkled with soy sauce, sprinkled with sugar and salt) and bola-bola (ground pork with a quail egg). Sometimes, to decipher between the different types of filings they would even color code them and put colored dots on the top to know which flavor was which. They are usually found in Asian restaurants described to contain hot fillings wrapped in dough, that are steamed in huge steamer that range from bamboo and steal. The bread itself is extremely exquisite. The soft tasty bread just keeps you wanting more as the taste simply dwells in your mouth. What's even greater than I could possibly imagine, that I recently discovered, is the fact that you could actually find it sold in Mayflower, this Chinese restaurant I’ve been dining in for quite some time now, during birthday dinners of relatives. They make it where the breads are in thee sides of the platter while the meat lingers in the center of the platter. Basically it's one of those build your own type of siopaos. Mayflower is definitely a restaurant you would want to try out. It’s basically a casual Chinese restaurant that serves great food located at spring st. in Chinatown. Another great place you might want to grab some siopao is a little Filipino-Chinese restaurant at the corner or beverly and union, Lil Ongpin, who also serve delicious siopao with this insane brown sweet sauce that gives the siopao a little umph.

Another insane idea I came across a couple years ago, is that for those who are not an expert at cooking siopao or are too lazy to keep going to restaurants to buy siopao, they have made it easier for us to just heat up siopao in our own house. It's so quick and easy to just buy at stores in packs and have a whole weeks supply of them to just throw in the microwave and just eat it on the go, whether your off to work/school or stuck at home and craving for a snack, it would be easy to just heat it up at home. Siopao is definitely a must to taste. So try it!