QUICK PICK: ALLIES DRY ROASTED WONDER PEANUTS IN MANILA

             A month or so ago, I attended an event together with one of my favorite food bloggers, Franny Wanny. She was kind enough to bring me an early Christmas gift, which was a small plastic jar that said "Allies Wonder Peanuts" on it. I've had peanuts before, so I really didn't think it was actually anything really special. I thanked Franny for her gift, and went my merry way. I got home a bit late that evening from my event, and I was so exhausted, I left the peanuts on the table. 

        The next morning, I had an early meeting, so I left the house before Rina woke up. A little before lunch, I got a text from her saying "Can I open the peanuts on the table?" So I replied, "Sure, but please take pictures of it first". Ten minutes later, Rina sends me another text message "Where did you get this from??". I answer, "Why, is it good?" She answers back, "YES! Ang Sarap!" 

       Seizing the opportunity, I replied, "I got it for you, baby!"

       So thank you, Frannywanny for the extra pogi points.

QUICK PICK: INDULGENCE BY IRENE

       Although i'm sure it's clear as day, judging from the history of my blog entries, I'll be the first to admit that I'm more of a "Main Course" kind of guy. It has come to the point that the dessert section of the menu is often neglected. I take a glance at it, and pick out something I want. But in the end, I often use that stomach space (and budget) for another entree. 

      But one dessert item that I do have a soft spot for, is Cheesecake. 

      Awhile back, I got the opportunity of tasting one of the best cheesecakes I've ever had in my entire life. I have tasted a lot of cheesecakes in my life, but this intrigued me because I had never tried a Quezo De Bola Cheesecake before.

       And so begins my love affair with "Indulgence by Irene", The best Cheese cake you've never heard of.. By I have a feeling that's all going to change, very soon. 

QUICK PICK: SUNBURST CHICKEN.. CHICK N' CRACKER'S!

    I've mentioned time and time again that I lived in Cebu during the late 80's to the early 90's.. Way before it became the blooming metropolis that it is now. Back then, TV shows were recorded from Manila, and aired one week later on local stations. 

    During that time, Cebu didn't have Jollibee.. It had "Orange Brutus". It didn't have McDonald's, it had "MacJoy". Instead of Max's Chicken, we had "Mothers Chicken"..

    And in lieu of Kentucky Fried Chicken, we had Sunburst. And I won't lie to you, Sunburst Chicken is quite good. It's juicy, crispy, and very tasty, but definitely notches below the finger licking good creations of the good Colonel. 

    However, there's one thing on their menu that KFC does not.. 

        The Chick N' Crackers.

QUICK PICK: HAPPY LEMON'S COCOA WITH ROCK SALT AND CHEESE

     What can you say about the whole Milk Tea craze? No disrespect to those who have been totally captivated by it, but I personally find the stuff disgusting. If you say the words "Gong Cha" or "Serenitea" in my office, everyone loses their frickin' minds, and BAM, it's a given.. They have to order delivery. 


     It's not like I didn't give it a chance either. During a monthly meeting, everyone was asked where we wanted to order merienda, everyone inexplicably answered "Gong Cha". I was baffled because I was thinking to myself.. "But.. That's not.. Merienda...". The fact that we wouldn't be eating any form of solid food (except for the pearls in the bottom of the drink, of course) wasn't an issue. I was suggesting San Lo's Famous Emapanadas but they wouldn't hear it. They wanted their Milk Tea, and nothing else in the world mattered.

My officemates reading the menu of Gong Cha

      My grumbling tummy, however begged to differ. Nonetheless, I decided to not let my pickyness spoil their Milk Tea Party so I played along and asked for a chocolate one, hoping the overpowering taste of the chocolate would blend beautifully with the tea. 


    It did not. 

      It became highly evident that, unless it's "C2 Apple" or "Nestea", I'm not a tea person. 


     So when I heard about "Happy Lemon", I brushed it off as just one of those Milk Tea places. A few months ago, I was reading up about it, and I heard about their famous drink, "Cocoa with Rock Salt & Cheese", and was immediately intrigued, and a little bit weirded out. 


     In my mind, I imagined a glass of the chocolate milk tea I had tried during our meeting, topped off with grated quick melt cheese and a sprinkling of salt. Weird, right? 


      I asked my friend, the lovely Donna, if she tried had tried it already, and she said she had, and she loved it. I then asked my officemate, and Serenitea addict, Chi, if she had tried it. She said "Yes, but I like Serenitea more". So I asked her why, and she replied, "Because Happy Lemon's Cocoa with Rock Salt and Cheese isn't tea. It's chocolate!"


     It seemed my disgust with milk tea clouded my thinking so much, I hadn't realized that Happy Lemon's Cocoa with Rock Salt and Cheese does not have the word "tea" in it at all. 


 Problem Solved.  


     So one fine day, when Rina and I were at Rockwell, we came across a Happy Lemon, sat ourselves down and decided to give the popular drink a try. 


    And so began our addiction to Happy Lemon's Cocoa with Rock Salt and Cheese. 

QUICK PICK: MCDONALD'S BIG N' TASTY

A "Quick Pick" is a post about specific item(s) from an establishment. 

Thats what she said.

        I'm a McDonald's addict. I'm not going to deny it. There was a time that I would eat Mcdonald's at least once a day for around two weeks. I honestly wouldn't recommend anyone else to do that, but when you live on your own and have no culinary skills whatsoever, desperate times call for desperate measures. 


      Those were the days that I came up with the RichieZ Quarter Pounder and my Sausage McMuffin Breakfast Quirk.     
           
     The surprising thing is that after all these years, I would still easily choose McDonald's as my go-to meal. My work friends have already stopped asking me where I wanna go for lunch because they know what I'm going to answer. 


     A ritual I have when eating Mcdonald's is that I cannot eat ANY of their burgers WITHOUT pouring in some of the BBQ Sauce of the Chicken Nuggets. It was to the point where in I would stash some extra BBQ Sauce in my ref, in the even that I end up forgetting to order it during delivery. 


     The other night, during a McDonald's dinner run with some of my officemates, I saw a sign that caught my attention. 


    It was for a Burger called "Big N' Tasty".