Tuesday, May 19, 2009
"Pho"
For the last couple of months or so it felt like I was deprived of one of my core food group in my diet. Yes for that long I was deprived of “pho”! It was ridiculous, I ended my fast today with a hearty bowl of Vietnamese (this time chicken) noodle soup, that was steamy hot and perfectly made. The reason for my pho fasting was not intentionally, it wasn’t until after eating pho had I realized I hadn’t eaten a bowl for a while. It started a month ago when I was craving it and massed text my friends to go get some shady pho at 3 in the morning. For reasons unknown to me, they rejected my offer. Time and time again I called and text and pouted and screamed and yelled but to no avail. Until finally my mom, of all people, asked me to go eat pho with her and that was how I ended my unintentional pho fast. But why do I, and also many other people like pho? The bowl of pho itself is akin to say a bowl of chicken noodle soup that mom makes for you when you were little on a cold night. Once again the closure of childhood strikes us in this cheap Vietnamese cuisine. Pho varies like steak in both price and quality. I for one love both a good deal and good quality. Some places I go to may seem shady and have a hole in the wall feel to it but it is the best you can get with that super stretched dollar. Yup, I’m talking about those 50% off pho places. At first there was a limited selection that was included in the deal, then it was everything but at a certain time in the day, but now it is all day and every day! It is heaven to the bargain hunters that want a fulfilling meal. Pho provides it all: cheap and filling food that you can sit down and enjoy with your friends and family.
Wing Stop
The other day I went to wing stop for the hundredth or so time with a couple of friends. By now you would think I would have gotten sick of eating chicken, but nope, I cannot seem to get enough of it. Last semester I was introduced to this finger licking good chicken restaurant and progressed from a casual wings eater to an avid one. One of many reasons that caused my slump in physical fitness would be this chicken craze. I just cannot stop eating chicken wings! Usually when I make a trip to the restaurant, my friends and I order around 50 to 75 wings total. Along with the wings with have ourselves some delicious fresh cut fries, the fries there are to die for. There may be many reasons to why I and the rest of the world may be addicted to this particular restaurant, but I can conclude one main factor why I cannot get enough of chicken. I love the hands on feel of eating with … your hands! No need for plastic/metal mediums that prevents you and your food from touching! The wings come out piping hot, are relatively affordable, and are somewhat close to school! I for one like the fact that I can just ravage the wings with my own hands. I heard that the reason people like eating with their hands are because you get close to you food and all. However I think it is because of primal instinct, our savage self being able to reveal itself for an hour or so. The unique flavor of the restaurant itself must also have something to do with why customers keep coming back for more. The flavors I like to chow down on myself are: the atomic, original hot, lemon pepper, and teriyaki. When we were little it was all about munchies, snacks, and finger food. Now its all the wings you can afford to eat to soothe the former wants of finger food, where we can actually put good use of our hands and fingers. A great plus about eating finger licking food with your fingers is that you get to lick them afterward.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Gyu-Kaku
The other day I went to a Japanese BBQ dining restaurant called Gyu-Kaku. I went around 9 p.m. on a Sunday with 3 other friends andthe place closes at 10 p.m., however it was happy hour so everything was half off! Usually when I go to these kinds of restaurants I have a couple of things on my mind. First thing on my mind is wondering if the place is all you can eat or not, second how good of quality is the meat. When I we were seated I found out that the restaurant had an all you can eat lunch special, but it was dinner, and my fanatic restaurant going friend advised me against it but reassured me that I will love everything here. When we were settled I realized that this was my first time going to a restaurant that had a happy hour that only last for one hour, the next thing I notice was that the grill was actually a grill. Charcoal powered and ready to cook not some metal spreadsheet of a pan waiting to be buttered, not that I don’t like those or anything it was just nice seeing something new for a change. When I go to eat, I eat a very large amount of food that would seem impossible to stuff down in one seating. So when the waiter asked us how much we wanted I said 8 plates each, the average being 4 plates of meat a person, unfortunately my friends convinced me to start out with 4. What is interesting about restaurants such as these is that it allows you to cook. The paradox is that you go to a restaurant to cook your own food that you over paid for and yet you keep coming back! I mean buying our own meat and processing it ourselves would be way cheaper than paying $7.99 for like 2 ounces of meat per dish. The fact is people are lazy, and yet they want the feel of hot of the grill food. So we continue to go to these restaurants to man up at the grill in front of our friends, plus the way they prepare the meat is very unique. We basically pay for dinner and showing off to our own friends. The total for that escapade was $130, I had 10 plates of meat and was temporarily full, mission accomplished.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Buffet
Yesterday I went to a buffet with a group of friends, we were hungry and we were cheap but we wanted to devour as much food as possible so we decided to head to a buffet. The place was called Great Wall buffet, Chinese owned and run the place had cheap food and we were hungry, perfect. It was only 2 P.M. the $7.99 lunch special was still effective but I was surprised to see the place not jammed back with bargain hunters feasting away at cheaply made food. As we were seated we are typically asked what would we like to drink, orange soda for me, and we rushed to the buffet to pig out. What is so great about a buffet is that it offers a wide variety of selection, which also depends on the time of the meal, for someone to choose from. Also different buffets offer different specialties, such as seafood, Korean, sushi or steak, etc.
what I notice is that there are numerous amounts of obese people at the buffet, they had a big build but they easily succumb to the never ending food. These obese people take their time eating, slowly but not even close to the amount that skinny people eat. The really scary people that eat huge amounts of food are the skinny people. The skinny people who seem to have a bottomless void for a stomach are usually the champion eaters. Perhaps competitive eating was spawn from the love of all you can eat buffets. Regardless of how they were made, they serve a common purpose of providing a cheap, fast and filling meal. The buffet itself is now an expanded fast food restaurant, providing a little bit of every other restaurant for about the same price as what you would have paid for at the original restaurant. Everyone seems to love food, but the bottom line seems to be money over food. The buffet environment brings out the better of the two. Buffets offer food for cheap and as much as you can eat it, paradise for any food lover.
what I notice is that there are numerous amounts of obese people at the buffet, they had a big build but they easily succumb to the never ending food. These obese people take their time eating, slowly but not even close to the amount that skinny people eat. The really scary people that eat huge amounts of food are the skinny people. The skinny people who seem to have a bottomless void for a stomach are usually the champion eaters. Perhaps competitive eating was spawn from the love of all you can eat buffets. Regardless of how they were made, they serve a common purpose of providing a cheap, fast and filling meal. The buffet itself is now an expanded fast food restaurant, providing a little bit of every other restaurant for about the same price as what you would have paid for at the original restaurant. Everyone seems to love food, but the bottom line seems to be money over food. The buffet environment brings out the better of the two. Buffets offer food for cheap and as much as you can eat it, paradise for any food lover.
Buffet
One Monday evening after a long day at school I decided to go get some yogurt at Yogurt Land. I raced there as fast as I could and circled around to find parking, I managed to get a spot near Yogurt Land. I parked in front of a store called Z-Pizza, and I recalled hearing from somewhere, most likely my English 100 class, that it has very good pizza so I decided to drag my friend into the store and try some. I have recently begun to try to eat healthier, because lately I have been a little round on the edges.
I noticed a large amount of people pouring into Yogurt Land and yet Z-Pizza was pretty much empty. So at first I was a little skeptical whether I should even go to Z-pizza or not. But naturally my curiosity got the best of me so I stepped into the small store called Z-pizza. At first sight it wasn’t that impressive, I was with just one friend so I didn’t feel like eating so much so we got a ten inch pizza that was cut up into four slices for a fair amount of money. Along the walls of the store the word organic kept reappearing along with the word fresh. The pizza I got was something bar-b-que, I forgot the actual name but damn, it was pretty good. I suppose the ingredients were fresh, though I could never have known if they were or not. The price was decent, but I was expecting a bigger pizza than that four slice pie I got. But then it hit me, I realize with the use of the word organic, everything seems to be more healthy. And because it is healthier it also means the price will be much greater than say some Walmart brand pizza. The price we pay to buy organic food is getting ridiculous to the point where I just might start growing my own food, though I won’t due to a lack of a green thumb and extreme laziness. I like z-pizza but the organic rip off prices doesn’t really my engines running.
I noticed a large amount of people pouring into Yogurt Land and yet Z-Pizza was pretty much empty. So at first I was a little skeptical whether I should even go to Z-pizza or not. But naturally my curiosity got the best of me so I stepped into the small store called Z-pizza. At first sight it wasn’t that impressive, I was with just one friend so I didn’t feel like eating so much so we got a ten inch pizza that was cut up into four slices for a fair amount of money. Along the walls of the store the word organic kept reappearing along with the word fresh. The pizza I got was something bar-b-que, I forgot the actual name but damn, it was pretty good. I suppose the ingredients were fresh, though I could never have known if they were or not. The price was decent, but I was expecting a bigger pizza than that four slice pie I got. But then it hit me, I realize with the use of the word organic, everything seems to be more healthy. And because it is healthier it also means the price will be much greater than say some Walmart brand pizza. The price we pay to buy organic food is getting ridiculous to the point where I just might start growing my own food, though I won’t due to a lack of a green thumb and extreme laziness. I like z-pizza but the organic rip off prices doesn’t really my engines running.
Z-pizza
One Monday evening after a long day at school I decided to go get some yogurt at Yogurt Land. I raced there as fast as I could and circled around to find parking, I managed to get a spot near Yogurt Land. I parked in front of a store called Z-Pizza, and I recalled hearing from somewhere, most likely my English 100 class, that it has very good pizza so I decided to drag my friend into the store and try some. I have recently begun to try to eat healthier, because lately I have been a little round on the edges.
I noticed a large amount of people pouring into Yogurt Land and yet Z-Pizza was pretty much empty. So at first I was a little skeptical whether I should even go to Z-pizza or not. But naturally my curiosity got the best of me so I stepped into the small store called Z-pizza. At first sight it wasn’t that impressive, I was with just one friend so I didn’t feel like eating so much so we got a ten inch pizza that was cut up into four slices for a fair amount of money. Along the walls of the store the word organic kept reappearing along with the word fresh. The pizza I got was something bar-b-que, I forgot the actual name but damn, it was pretty good. I suppose the ingredients were fresh, though I could never have known if they were or not. The price was decent, but I was expecting a bigger pizza than that four slice pie I got. But then it hit me, I realize with the use of the word organic, everything seems to be more healthy. And because it is healthier it also means the price will be much greater than say some Walmart brand pizza. The price we pay to buy organic food is getting ridiculous to the point where I just might start growing my own food, though I won’t due to a lack of a green thumb and extreme laziness. I like z-pizza but the organic rip off prices doesn’t really my engines running.
I noticed a large amount of people pouring into Yogurt Land and yet Z-Pizza was pretty much empty. So at first I was a little skeptical whether I should even go to Z-pizza or not. But naturally my curiosity got the best of me so I stepped into the small store called Z-pizza. At first sight it wasn’t that impressive, I was with just one friend so I didn’t feel like eating so much so we got a ten inch pizza that was cut up into four slices for a fair amount of money. Along the walls of the store the word organic kept reappearing along with the word fresh. The pizza I got was something bar-b-que, I forgot the actual name but damn, it was pretty good. I suppose the ingredients were fresh, though I could never have known if they were or not. The price was decent, but I was expecting a bigger pizza than that four slice pie I got. But then it hit me, I realize with the use of the word organic, everything seems to be more healthy. And because it is healthier it also means the price will be much greater than say some Walmart brand pizza. The price we pay to buy organic food is getting ridiculous to the point where I just might start growing my own food, though I won’t due to a lack of a green thumb and extreme laziness. I like z-pizza but the organic rip off prices doesn’t really my engines running.
Trieu Chau
Ever have a restaurant that you love to go to? It is the best place in the world to you and your peeps that go there whenever you can. But when a new member joins the party, that’s when the needle scratches to a halting stop. All the sudden that person starts point out flaws about your favorite restaurant. What you think was fine dining, was in reality a hole in the wall shack ways off from city life. That was what happened to me when I took a friend to eat at a restaurant called Trieu Chau on the corner of Bolsa and Newhope. That’s when she pointed out all the discomforts of the restaurant, when we get there it was rush hour for lunch so we had to wait a while for a table. The thing is everything is hustle bustle; the restaurant opens at 7:00 A.M. and closes really early, the cooks flash cook food to perfection and bus boys dash it out to customers. The more customers served means more money, obviously. The restaurant is so bent up in trying to make as much money as possible sanitation isn’t the first thing in mind for the restaurant management. Such is the case with many of our favorite restaurants, it seems that we love the food because it is our own place, not well known our territory where we can hang out and eat. Possession is a big thing in human nature, even if the restaurant is a bit dirty we would still love to eat there. Another example would be taco carts, those things are just screaming out for a sanitation check people still go to enjoy the tacos. It is a little joke that goes around between my friends and I that the dirtier and cheaper the place is the better the food is. In some cases I would have to stare in disbelief because it is quiet true. For some reason the food seem to taste much better when it is food for average Joes, don’t get me wrong a $40 dollar steak better as hell be good as it is expensive otherwise no one would buy it. Our knowledge of a good and cheap hole in the wall restaurant makes the food taste way better then mainstream rip off prices.
Reply to Lawrence
http://haruchikafuji.blogspot.com/2009/03/perfect-food.html?showComment=1238616480000#c9174465591490058261
Reply to Elizabeth
http://lizdeharo.blogspot.com/2009/03/last-night.html?showComment=1238613720000#c5693926543017206571
Reply to Carissa
http://carissa61590.blogspot.com/2009/02/amusement-parks.html?showComment=1238608080000#c3331261728360844975
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Which Sandwich?
We ate them when we were little for lunch; they were homemade and handmade by our moms and neatly wrapped and packed with a brown paper bag. There were many varieties of them and it was so exciting opening that brown paper bag up to see what was for lunch. Could it be PB & J, ham and cheese, a BLT, turkey, ham, chicken, tuna, gummy bears or even green eggs and ham? (My third grade teacher once made green eggs and ham for our class, bless her soul, I licked the plate clean.) We all have eaten sandwiches at one point in our lives, but as we grow older we develop a different taste for different kinds of sandwiches, a more exquisite and refined taste. It also seems that fast food restaurants are also expanding into this cheap but effectively selling product. One restaurant that would follow into that category is a franchise called “Lee’s Sandwich”. It is a Vietnamese franchise that has opened up many stores, some that stay open 24/7. They offer gourmet baguette sandwiches that are relatively cheaper then Subways. Lee’s tries to appeal to your exquisite side by including a somewhat large selection of sandwiches. Those sandwiches are stuffed with mayo, meat patty, with pickled veggies and plenty of greens and a choice of one main type of meat (pork, beef, chicken, tuna etc). Lee’s logo has a picture of the Eiffel tower which I believe is their attempt to relate their food to the fine dining of the French, hence the baguette. Such restaurants try to appeal to our childhood preferences but in a more grown up fashion while some restaurants such as Subways and Quiznos throw at us a $5 dollar/ foot long sandwich deal. But when you think about it $5 a fast mounting price if left unnoticed. I like Subways, Lee’s fails to appease my taste, if there aren’t any Subways around and I wanted a sandwich I’d just make one myself. Either that or go to some ma and pa shop to get a cheap and quick meal. What about you?
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Cajun Nation
It seems to me that whenever I hear the word “Cajun” my mouth immediately starts to water. Cajun brings into mind its herbs and spices, unique flavoring, and intoxicating smell. The secretion of salvia is even beginning to fill my mouth as I type. I think about all the types of Cajun related food that I have acquired a taste for: gumbo, Popeye’s, crawfish, clams, and especially the fries all of which may not be completely authentic Cajun food, but is good regardless. I have the scent and taste of the food, it drives me crazy not to satisfy the hunger. This is what is going on inside my head when I hear the word “Cajun” but from the looks of things around certain restaurants , I’m may not be the only one thinking of such thoughts.
I live in Westminster and just down the street there is a Popeye’s restaurant. Every time I pass by the store the fumes of the herbs just seem to pull me in. The other day after eating lunch I drove to a store next to Popeye’s to run some errands and the next thing you know it I was in line to purchase some pricy and oily chicken along with an overpriced portion of Cajun battered fries. It was an epic failure on my part seeing as how I was too full to even eat the chicken, so now it sits in the fridge getting cold. It is amazing how people like the Cajun twist to things but on that day there were barely three customers or so. But when Tuesday comes around the corner, the line to get chicken is worthy enough to match the lines at the beach hut sometimes it gets as bad as the lines to get books during the first week of school. Why Tuesday? Tuesday is the Popeye Tuesday sale, similar to taco Tuesday, where customers can get a 2 piece (leg and thigh) deal for just a buck.
Good food and bargains seem to go hand in hand and always on a Tuesday! If these restaurants were eager to make profits, instead of competition with each other for customers on one day, why not have different deals for different food joints every night then everybody would be happy. But is that legal? Premeditated actions to pull customers in? Similar to two gas stations on a street corner that takes turn having the lower price to get customers. But that’s just some food for thought.
I live in Westminster and just down the street there is a Popeye’s restaurant. Every time I pass by the store the fumes of the herbs just seem to pull me in. The other day after eating lunch I drove to a store next to Popeye’s to run some errands and the next thing you know it I was in line to purchase some pricy and oily chicken along with an overpriced portion of Cajun battered fries. It was an epic failure on my part seeing as how I was too full to even eat the chicken, so now it sits in the fridge getting cold. It is amazing how people like the Cajun twist to things but on that day there were barely three customers or so. But when Tuesday comes around the corner, the line to get chicken is worthy enough to match the lines at the beach hut sometimes it gets as bad as the lines to get books during the first week of school. Why Tuesday? Tuesday is the Popeye Tuesday sale, similar to taco Tuesday, where customers can get a 2 piece (leg and thigh) deal for just a buck.
Good food and bargains seem to go hand in hand and always on a Tuesday! If these restaurants were eager to make profits, instead of competition with each other for customers on one day, why not have different deals for different food joints every night then everybody would be happy. But is that legal? Premeditated actions to pull customers in? Similar to two gas stations on a street corner that takes turn having the lower price to get customers. But that’s just some food for thought.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Candy Craze
I'm sure that everyone at some point in their lives have heard the "pop-goes-the-weasel" tune. Where ever the tune is heard is where the source of ice cream, candy, toys and all sorts of other goodies can be found. I however am talking about a more specific type of candy, a more exotic type compared to the ones you can find at Alberstons or Ralphs. The type of candy I'm talking about calls to kids of all ages, like a siren. They scramble to it with crumpled, dirty, old, even wet dollar bills in order to get into a nonexistent line to buy cheap yet incredibly delicious Mexican candy!
I've seen pushing and shoving, scratching and pulling, kicking and screaming kids of all ages, all with the same savage looks in their beady little eyes, all wanting to ravage the wares of the vendor in the white van. Vero Rebanaditas (Watermelon Lollypop), Vero Mango, (obvious), Tamarindo (Lucas Paste), Lucas (Are you serious?) And many more are displayed just barely out of reach of the clawing gremlin like little arms of the candy crazed kids. The candy is like a magnet and kids fly from every turn and bend, neglect street signs, speeding cars, pedestrians and bikers just to buy some candy!
Remember that mexican candy scare a little while back? Well if you don't you not completely left out. The media just blew up a story about mexican candy wrappers being contaminated with lead. They urged parents to stop their kids from eating such candy and switch to some other alternative. Well guess what? Sales where the same, I walk on by from school and I still see the swarm of locusts around the white van blaring pop-goes-the-weasel. It's like the kids are defying authority, including their parents just to satisfy their monstrous sugar cravings. Its a routine that can be seen daily if one knows where to look, like the sun rising and the moon setting, there will always be a demand for the sweet and sour, juicy and spicy, hard and soft candy that we are all secretly infatuated with (though some of us are just more obvious than others). I for one am waiting for the next Latino Frat Mexican candy sale so i can stock up on these heavenly delights. It beats waiting in nonexistent line to compete against candy crazed gremlins. VIVA LA MEXICAN CANDIES!
I've seen pushing and shoving, scratching and pulling, kicking and screaming kids of all ages, all with the same savage looks in their beady little eyes, all wanting to ravage the wares of the vendor in the white van. Vero Rebanaditas (Watermelon Lollypop), Vero Mango, (obvious), Tamarindo (Lucas Paste), Lucas (Are you serious?) And many more are displayed just barely out of reach of the clawing gremlin like little arms of the candy crazed kids. The candy is like a magnet and kids fly from every turn and bend, neglect street signs, speeding cars, pedestrians and bikers just to buy some candy!
Remember that mexican candy scare a little while back? Well if you don't you not completely left out. The media just blew up a story about mexican candy wrappers being contaminated with lead. They urged parents to stop their kids from eating such candy and switch to some other alternative. Well guess what? Sales where the same, I walk on by from school and I still see the swarm of locusts around the white van blaring pop-goes-the-weasel. It's like the kids are defying authority, including their parents just to satisfy their monstrous sugar cravings. Its a routine that can be seen daily if one knows where to look, like the sun rising and the moon setting, there will always be a demand for the sweet and sour, juicy and spicy, hard and soft candy that we are all secretly infatuated with (though some of us are just more obvious than others). I for one am waiting for the next Latino Frat Mexican candy sale so i can stock up on these heavenly delights. It beats waiting in nonexistent line to compete against candy crazed gremlins. VIVA LA MEXICAN CANDIES!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)