Food Retard

I recently went to a conference in Santa Barbara, CA.  It was a nice change of scenery from the San Gabriel Valley.  Although most of my meals were hosted at the hotel, we did make it out to a trendy Santa Barbara eatery.

Located on the busy and trendy State Street of Santa Barbara, Opal Restuarant and Bar is known for its eclectic California Cuisine influenced by Asian ingredients.  You can definitely count on fresh seafood on the menu considering that Santa Barbara is a beach town.  And just like a beach town, the food is pretty pricy.

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You spent your precious morning making your fantastic lunch only to discover that when it's lunch time, someone has stolen your lunch out of the office fridge.  You know it happens.  I mean, they just take stuff out of the fridge knowing that it doesn't belong to them.  All I have to say is that Karma knows no mercy.  But there's something you can do to fight back.  What if your zip lock baggies can camouflage a well prepared sandwich?  What's next?  Fuzzy mold stickers for the plastic containers?

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Today's amazing bento box features cute bunny rabbits made out of rice and nori.  Please note that no real bunny rabbits were harmed in the making of the above bento box.  Again, I don't have the time or the patience in making these edible artwork, especially something that could be consumed in one bite.

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Nothing ends a good Chinese take out dinner like a fortune cookie.  Since I'm an ABC (American Born Chinese), I've been accustomed to fortune cookies.  For those of you living under a rock, a fortune cookie is a crispy, sweet, wafer molded into it's distinct shape with a piece of paper tucked inside that predicts your near future and lotto numbers.  The Chinese figured out a way to combine dessert and a little entertainment.  That is until I discovered that the fortune cookie was an American innovation. Here's the Wiki on fortune cookies.

Check out the video clip of Chinese people eating a fortune cookie for the first time.  Youtube Clip Here

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Just wanted everyone to know that the Mc Rib is back!  On sale right now at a price of $2.49.

The McRib consists of a boneless pork patty, barbecue sauce, onions and pickles served on a 6 inch (15.2 cm) roll. The patty is precooked, frozen and later reheated. When served, the patty is covered with sauce.

When first introduced, packets of special McRib barbecue sauce called "Blazin' Hot Sauce" were available with the sandwich. This sauce was much hotter than the barbecue sauce on the prepared sandwich and was only available for a short time. When the McRib was brought back as a "specialty" sandwich the sesame seed roll was often replaced with a standard hamburger bun; this was sometimes called the McRib Jr.

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Packaged prepared foods are handy and speed up meal prep time considably.  Of course, you'll pay more for the convenience and put the safety of your food in other people's hand.  How much do you trust others to handle your food?  It's certainly a concern considering the recent food borne illnesses of our produce.  Considering the way our economy works, more more more cheaper cheaper cheaper, our food is handled by minimum wage workers who couldn't care less if they handled your lettuce with poopy hands.  Gross huh?  Some common bugs you might encounter in your food are salmonella, e coli, and hepititus. 

But a frog in a bag of salad?  That is just unacceptable.  Whether the picture is real or not, wash and inspect your food.  You don't want to put crap in your mouth.

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Customer Appreciation Day on September 13th from 11 AM to 6 PM. One large one topping pizza (carryout only) for $4.99. Original, thin, whole wheat or pan crust. Pan crust extra.

papajohnscustomerappreciation.pdf

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On September 25 from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm, Cold Stone Creamery will offer a free 3-oz. serving of Jack or Emily's Creation during their 7th Annual World's Largest Ice Cream Social. Donations will be accepted to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

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The item in the picture is quite possibly a cook's best friend.  If you're anything like, I love to cook, but hate to clean.  And you have to clean when you cook.  The item pictured above is a splatter screen.  They are available almost everywhere, but the one above is special.  It's only $2.99 at Ikea.  That's right, for 3 bucks, you don't have to scrub or wipe so much.  I highly recommend this product because you don't have grease on the floor.  This product, however, is not recommended for mop lovers.  For more information, head over to IKEA's product page, click here.  You'll be amazed at what you can find at Ikea.  They're normally useful and cheap.

Here's more pictures of the splatter screen in action:

 

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While surfing the web at work, thank god I have a job that lets me do that, I stumble upon many things throughout the day. So here's an amazing bento box.  I just don't understand why someone would spend so much time making a lunch that so complex and so intricate.  Just making my normal non-amazing lunch takes a lot of time as it is.  Feast your eyes on today's Bento Box.

 

 

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There are a few foods out there that absolutely scare me.  Most of the time, it has something to do with being deep fried.  It started with the deep fried Mars Bar.  It's basically a batter covered Mars bar that has been deep fried until crispy.  I thought to myself, "as if it can get any worse."

Then there are ghetto dogs.  They can be found on the streets right after a major sporting event in Los Angeles. It's a pan fried bacon wrapped hot dog.

There's there's the all important deep fried twinkie.  I never thought that the twinkie can be any worse for you, but I was wrong. Twinkies already last forever with all the chemicals and everything.

But this...this thing I found, absolutely without a doubt scares me.  I clutched my chest at sight of the picture.  Even thinking about now envokes numbness in my left arm.  I give you the evil, and probably very tasty, Chicken Fried Bacon with Gravy dipping sauce.

I, for one, am glad that I found this on the net and not in real life.  I'm going on a diet and taking an aspirin in fear of the almighty chicken fried bacon's awesome artery clogging properties.

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I have to admit that I'm not much of a lunch maker in the morning.  There's not enough time to spend on packing food.  Yes, I could do it the night before.  For me, I rather buy my lunch.  But there are those special Japanese mothers that spend countless hours making crazy bento boxes for their children.  A Bento Box is basic Japanese Lunch Box.  Some are ordinary, with rice, meat, and veggies.  While others, pictured above, could be consider an artistic masterpiece.  Seriously, I don't know how they do it. 

For more Bento Box Masterpieces, click here

Wikipedia:  Bento

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I'm a fan of Duff on Ace of Cakes, but you won't find me blogging about sweets that much.  That's when I saw this post on Baking Bites about a Sushi Cake.  Isn't that a beauty or what?  There's a meatloaf cake floating out there somewhere, but the awesomeness of the sushi cakes is just something to be admired and enjoyed.  Imagine serving that during a dinner party.

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Once in a while, I'll get a craving for cheap Chinese take out.  Unfortunately, Dragon Chinese & Oriental Food was neither cheap nor good.  Their name is already a dissappointment.  Is Oriental really necessary?  Nowadays, people with call it Asian or Chinese.  Oriental is for rugs. 

This place is expensive.  Below, cost $8.  Back in LA, this would cost $5.

The fried rice needs soy sauce, go figure.  The chow mein was mushy.  If they can't get these two right, there's no hope for the rest.  The beef and broccoli, orange chicken, and garlic chicken weren't very impressive.  The orange chicken was over sauced.  It just over powered everything it touches.  The beef and broccoli was okay.  I'm not going back.  I would have to say that this place is try at your own risk.  I don't recommend it.  It's a yawn, not a yum.

Dragon Chinese & Oriental Food

12075 Carmel Mountain Rd Ste 211
San Diego, CA 92128
(858) 592-9898

View Larger Map

 

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Banh Mi is basically a Vietnamese Sandwich.  In the San Gabriel Valley, there are many Vietnamese delis that sell this sandwich.  I mean, for around $2, you have a meal.  One of my favorite sandwich shops in the SGV is Banh Mi My Tho.  It’s cheap, filling, and good.  This is perfect for students on a really tight budget, but it’s really for anyone who’s sick of Subway.  This place is full of snacks and treats just begging to be consumed.

But first, the famous Banh Mi Thit Nuong - Grilled Pork Sandwich $2.25

Marinated grilled pork inside a 12 inch french baguette bread with fresh made mayonnaise, cilantro, cucumber, and pickled daikon & carrots. 

The inside of the sandwich looks like…

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