Wednesday, May 20, 2009

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.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

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!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

commented on their blogs. =]

Sergio
http://blizzerone.blogspot.com/2009/02/do-fries-come-with-that-shake.html

Viridiana
http://virrygarr.blogspot.com/2009/02/gum.html

John
http://jrshocker.blogspot.com/2009/02/tommys-burger-craze_22.html?showComment=1235373960000#c891016325794097650

boba fanatic.

BOBA - addictive small balls that are like gummy make drinks so delicious.
It is like edible bubblegum; chewy, sweet and one of a kind. It is commonly referred to as tapioca balls or pearls. It seemed to go well with any drink I tasted. It varies from slushs to smoothies. What’s even great is their assortment of fruit flavors to caffeinated drinks and even a fun flavor such as cookies and cream. It’s absolutely delicious.

It first originated from Taiwan. Tea was the common classic choice that begun this bobatea frenzy. Now, they have made multiple flavorings to enhance the appeal of many. Boba has no artificial coloring, but because of the slushes and smoothies it’s colors make up for the lack of color.

Nowadays, you see boba stores everywhere. It’s like fast-food restaurants. It has different types of chains in every corner. I have been to several types of boba store corners, however, only one place has distinctively made the boba drinks so exceptionally well. A great place I would probably recommend people to grab some boba drinks would be, BOBATIME located at 7th street and wilshire. I’ve tried a few selections there, and plan to at least try each one on that menu. However, for now I believe coconut-strawberry boba and taro boba are my top two choices. I think the taro slush really goes amazing with the boba. Taro is basically purple yams. Coconut-strawberry boba in the other hand is made up of a coconut smoothies that has strawberries lurking in thee bottom of your cup along with the boba and strawberry syrup drizzled on thee sides. It makes a good presentation if you ask me. Finally, to top it off, you are given one of those fat colorful straws to suck the boba from the bottom. It’s an absolutely fun drink.

BULGOGi CRAZE. =]

BULGOGi! Tried it? Well you should!
I first found out about it when my friend invited me over his house after I asked him why he was ranting on and on about this bulgogi food he kept whining in school about. He said it is was this great Korean beef that was marinated with some soy sauce and urged me to try it. I was quite hesitant, but I’m always one to try new types of food. And I just simply couldn’t believe it. It was out of this world. The taste was like no other. It was… GREAT!

A few days later my dad comes home from work bringing home some kind of food he said his friend from work gave him. I open up the plastic and didn’t recognize what it was. I thought it was some other Filipino dish. He told me that it’s some type of Korean food his coworker gave him. I automatically tried it and knew it was bulgogi. It had that sweet sensational flavoring.
The same weekend of that week, my dad, sister and I felt hungry and were absolutely tired of fast food and home cooked meals. We ended up driving around la stumbling upon this small Korean restaurant. I automatically thought of Korean BBQ! However when looking at the menu both my dad n I were hovering over the menu point at one specific dish that instantly made our tongue tingle.

So my dad automatically says okay we;r ready to order and asks for bulgogi. The waiter then asked us if we wanted it cooked already or if we wanted to cook it ourselves on the table. Yes, it was one of those you make cook your own food restaurants. I wanted to try it out but my father disagreed. He chose to have it ready and cooked. We were extremely starving and said that it would effect our judgment on whether it was ready eaten or not. He feared we would end up with food poisoning saying that we would just rush the cooking. I must say, he was right. Once we got our drinks, we couldn’t stop drinking. My dad had to pry my drink as well as my sister’s out of our hands. Imagine having to cook and watch? Our patience would have never helped, so brought to the table ready was a wise decision. It took quite a while, but once it was delivered, it took our breathe away. We were stunned and overwhelmed with all the little bowls that consisted of various condiments to eat along with the bulgogi. They had kim chi, tofu , pickled radish, hiyashi wakame (seafood) and many other greens. The plate that held the chicken bulgogi and the beef bulgogi were amazing. It was one of those dark sizzling platters where you could tell that it was freshly cooked. Even thought I knew he wasn’t as expressive as I was, he craved for some too. It was definitely worth the wait. Maybe next time we’ll be able to cook it ourselves. =]

Thursday, February 19, 2009

a Filipino favorite

The Philippines is known to create various symbolic desserts. Puto, a Filipino favorite, is one of the most popular treats. It is a delicious fluffy treat that is loved by many. This topic was inspired by my old Hispanic high school friends. I remembered when my friends and I were talking about different Filipino dishes & desserts and when I mentioned puto, they all looked at me like I was crazy. Apparently in their language it’s a bad word. So ever since then, everyone has been asking if it really is true -- that puto means rice cake in Tagalog…
Aside from tasting any typical dessert, puto is one treat that will totally make your mouth water. However, what many don’t know, is it’s history, the ingredients it consists of, and the different types of puto’s there are.

Puto is a cultural Filipino dessert that consists of symbolic meaning. Puto is usually sold during a cold night around street corners in the Philippines. Whenever you saw people selling them around street corners it meant the Christmas was coming just around the corner. In the old days, it was especially sold at night so that people can bring it home after “simbang gabi,” (advent dawn mass). Nowadays, they start to sell them around September and even year round in specific places.

However, what you probably want to know is, how do you cook it? Everyone uses different ingredients to make their puto as perfect as it could be. Many years ago, “White rice, water, sugar, baking powder, and salt,” were the main ingredients used to make this scrumptious dessert. They would first soak white rice for several hours, then crush it until it resembled batter and finally mixing the rice batter with sugar, baking powder and salt. Afterwards, it would be poured into muffin molds and steamed for about 30-45 minutes. On the other hand, my neighbor Amparo Hernandez uses, “milk, egg, flour, baking powder, sugar, bisquick and flower, butter & cheese,” for her special puto. Her own way makes it more easier and efficient; up to date.

In addition, people tend to have their own unique way of making their puto stand out from others. There are various types of this special dessert. Puto usually comes in different shapes, sizes, and even colors. Some examples of puto Maricar provides us with are, “ (Puto Mamon, Puto Caramba (Deep fried puto made from flour, shrimp, pinipig.), Puto Pao, Puto Binian, or Puto Bumbong (A purple-colored Filipino dessert made of sweet rice cooked in hollow bamboo tubes that are placed on a special steamer-cooker).”

So as you can see, puto goes way back and has transformed and made into numerous types of names and styles people refer to them as. After hearing that puto was actually a famous Filipino dessert, they’ve always told a lot of their Filipino friends to bring some puto whenever we had little class parties or just for fun as something to share during lunch. And as a matter of fact they enjoyed it. So, I hope you guys enjoy this delicious treat and try it out for yourselves. =]