The Podanys | Welcome to our world

Cooking New Recipes

2011-12-30T15:46:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Roman May

Lately I’ve been getting really into cooking. I left my job to move to Irving with my boyfriend, and still haven’t found a job there. Coking helps keep me busy, and keep my boyfriend happy. I figure the least I can do if I’m home all day is have good dinners ready for him when he gets home after a long day of work. Sometimes I get my recipes from TV, but I almost always have to go to the internet to print them out so I can follow them in the kitchen. I also have an app on my phone that has some amazing recipes available. It really messes up my day when out internet connection goes out, because then I don’t have access to any of the recipes I use. I was so sick of our internet provider that I decided we had to make a change. I searched CLEAR internet Irving and found Clear. Since we changed our service we haven’t had any issues and I am so happy. Now my boyfriend has two things he owes me for: my cooking, and my will to change our internet service!

Only Child

2011-11-28T12:42:00.000-05:00

Contribution by Saul Martin

As an only child I grew up with adults and I was always really keen on pleasing them. There was always someone around who knew more than me so I was really inquisitive and learned a lot from my elders at a really young age. When I started my own business at age 21 I knew there was something special about me – I had a real capacity for juggling a lot of things at once and really not having to worry about whether or not I knew what I was doing. I looked into vendors and taxes and merchant services all by myself and to this day I feel really good about being the kind of woman who can handle herself in any situation. I knew there was something I was always meant to do but you know, I guess I didn’t think it would be owning a kitchen store. Who would have ever guessed this would be my life’s calling – not me or anyone in my family I think…who can ask for anything more?

Get 30% off Norton Small Business Products NOW!!

2011-11-26T03:00:00.002-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Norton Small Business by Symantec. All opinions are 100% mine.

I read somewhere not too long ago that small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, and that technology is the backbone of any small business. I couldn’t agree more. Looks like I am not alone on this thought. In a recent survey of small business owners, 28% identified technology as one of their top business priorities. That makes it approximately one in every three small business owner! Going along with that, did you know that almost six out of ten small business owners admitted to having experienced some sort of malware in the past three years and half of them had to pay an expert to resolve the problem?

I can totally identify with that. As a blogger, I also see myself as a small business owner. I have lost track of the times when my computer was attacked by viruses or I have unintentionally picked up some sort of malware from surfing. Now, almost everything I do is on the computer. Apart from blogging, I also do my banking, pay my bills, shopping...pretty much everything else online. As you can see, my computer is not only used for entertainment purposes, but my identity and confidential information is on my computer. Now, that is something I wouldn’t want to risk being compromised from unsafe Internet searches.

I am pretty sure many of you are like me too. We spend so much time and money trying to protect ourselves and family. We set up all types of home security systems and automobile security systems to protect ourselves and our families. Shouldn’t we want to protect our computers (basically our whole identity!) from harm too? Now you can! Norton Small Business by Symantec was launched this past September and I know that it’s the perfect solution to for all your internet security needs. With Norton 360 and Norton Internet Security 2012, you know that you are in safe hands. Don’t take my word for it. Check out Norton’s website to see what Norton has to offer you to help keep you safe on the Internet. While you are there, you could also get 30% off Norton Small Business Products now! Better hurry and take advantage of this great offer. Oh and once you have visited Norton’s website, don’t forget to share with me which Norton product would most benefit you the most and why!

Kevin's 'Not So Secret' Roast Turkey Recipe

2011-11-25T10:56:00.004-05:00

I really do not understand why people make it seem so difficult, when it comes to roasting a turkey. From the way people talk, I used to think that it must be really difficult to roast a turkey. It wasn't until Kevin showed me how it's done (about eight Thanksgivings ago, when we first started dating :P) did I realize that it's really not that difficult at all. Really, it's no rocket science. Anybody can do it. In our household, Kevin is the one in charge of making the turkey. So, here's Kevin's 'not so secret' (cos we are sharing it with all of you, right?) roast turkey recipe.
If you have a frozen turkey, the most important thing you need to do is to remember to thaw it! Leave it breast side up in the refrigerator, with the wrapper unopened. It takes approximately 1 day of thawing for every 4 lbs of turkey. Once it's fully thawed, you would want to remove the neck and giblets from inside the cavity of the turkey. Some people would use it to make gravy but we would just throw it away. Come on, we don't have time to make our own gravy. We would just get it from a bottle :P Alritey, so once you have removed the neck and giblets, rinse the turkey through cold water and pat it dry. Then, cut up some apples and stuff it into the cavity. Kevin would also sometimes use oranges and/or cranberries with the apples, it really depends on what we have available at that time.
Now, the secret weapon in making the perfect roast turkey - OVEN BAGS! I personally feel that oven bags are the best. They keep the turkey all moist, juicy and once it's done, the meat practically falls off the bone. So, just shake about one tablespoon of flour in the oven bag to coat it, set it in a roasting pan and place the turkey in the bag. Tie up the bag with the ties that comes with the oven bag and you are done! Make sure the bag doesn't touch the turkey, cos it might stick to it while roasting. Also, remember to poke some holes in the bag, to allow the steam to escape while roasting.
Then, pop it into a preheated 350F oven. It takes approximately 2 1/2 hours to roast a 12 - 16 lbs turkey. However, we are going to set the timer for 2 hours.
After two hours, its time to make the glaze. Combine brown sugar with any type of soda. We would usually use Sierra Mist, Sprite or Ginger Ale but any type of soda works. Slowly add in the brown sugar in the soda, while stirring, until it thickens (the consistency should somewhat be like BBQ sauce).
Once the glaze is done, it's time to remove the turkey from the oven. At this point, it's not fully cooked yet. Just cut open the oven bag and brush on the glaze. You gotta be really careful when you open the oven bag. It's really hot and you do not want to burn yourself from all the steam.
After glazing the turkey, cover the entire turkey with aluminum foil and pop it back into the oven for another hour or so.
You can remove the turkey from the oven after an hour to check it's internal temperature. If it hits 180F, you are good to go. If not, then just pop it back into the oven for another 15 - 20 mins. Once it's done, allow the turkey to rest for a bit and it's ready to be served! Now, that wasn't so difficult, was it?

Affordable & Stylish Eyeglasses from Zenni Optical

2011-11-25T05:00:00.003-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Zenni Optical. All opinions are 100% mine.

Unbeknownst to many people, both Kevin and I need eyeglasses. However, it’s been ages since we wore any. A couple of weeks back, we decided to get our eyes tested again, just to see how bad our eyesight was. Let me tell you something, it’s bad! So, we started looking around to see where we could make some nice but yet affordable eyeglasses. We found out that eyeglasses don’t come cheap!

You can imagine my excitement when I stumbled upon Zenni Optical online. I have finally found what I was looking for. Not only do they offer cheap eyeglasses, but the eyeglasses available are really stylish and fashionable! That got me thinking, how is it possible that the eyeglasses from Zenni is so cheap, compared to the other places that I have been to? Is there something wrong with it? Well, not that all! It’s pretty simple, actually. Using the latest modern materials, manufacturing and marketing systems, Zenni Optical bring their product direct from their factories to you. This means, there are no middlemen, no retail overhead and practically no advertising budget. Also, they do not pay for or sell expensive (or even inexpensive) brand names. They only sell their own manufactured brand, ZENNI.

I also love how it’s so easy to navigate through their website. You can even upload a photo of yourself and ‘try’ out each and every pair of eyeglasses! You can also search for that perfect pair of eyeglasses by size, type, gender, style, color and so on. I had an awesome time just surfing around their website and ‘trying’ on various eyeglasses. I finally found the one that I totally love! It’s in red and black (both my favorite colors!) and it looks totally cool. What do you think?

This is current economy, every little bit of savings count. With the savings I get from Zenni, maybe I can use that money to back another pair of backup eyeglasses or maybe even sunglasses! It’s like getting two or even three pairs of eyeglasses for the price of one! I really do not understand why prescription eyeglasses are so expensive elsewhere. I would consider it a health item necessity for most wearers and I’m glad that Zenni Optical feels the same way. That is why they take considerable pride in being able to bring to all a very high quality product of great durability, safety and comfort at truly reasonable and affordable prices. Head over to Zenni Optical for stylish and affordable eyeglasses today!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

2011-11-24T22:26:00.000-05:00

How is everybody enjoying their Thanksgiving so far? We just had a yummy dinner, so our tummies are all full and we are just about ready to go into a turkey induced coma! Boy, thank God for elastic waistbands :P Kevin's mom is visiting us from Pittsburgh, so we made the traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner. Contrary to popular believe, it's really not that difficult to make at all (compared to say, Chinese New Year dinner and stuff like that). Over the next few post, I will show you how to make a simple Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and green bean casserole. I know many young couples (like us!) who gets overly stressed out when they have to make a big dinner, be it Thanksgiving or Christmas. Let me tell you this. Chill, it's not that difficult! Once you break it down, it's becomes really really easy to make. Trust me! So, watch this space for the recipes. Til then....

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Café Well: The Social Network to get Well and Stay Well!

2011-11-19T23:00:00.002-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cafe Well. All opinions are 100% mine.

I know many of us are always talking about living a healthier lifestyle but how many of us actually do something about it? We might try it for a couple of weeks but after a while, we would lose interest or motivation to continue. For those of you who know exactly what I am talking about, I have some news for you. Let me ask you this. How many of you have heard of Cafe Well? For those of you who have not, let me tell you about it. Caféwell is a social network that was created to provide a safe, secure and anonymous health care destination that connects you with other people who share your health care interests and needs. They understand how difficult the healthcare system is and they try to make it easy for all to understand. Not only that, the Caféwell Community is also there to help address your needs, from chronic condition support, to healthy lifestyle tips and challenges.

Among some of the exciting things happening in the Caféwell community is the Race to the Moon corporate wellness program. Hosted by CaféWell and sponsored by HealthAmerica, Race to the Moon represents a new breed of wellness program that is more fun, more rewarding and more effective for consumers. How so, you might ask? Well, this program works because it leverages the power and support of social networking with incentives and fun! Race to the Moon aims to get members more fit and active by walking or running through offering free wireless pedometers which tracks their steps and rewards them for milestones and total steps. Yes, we know that many companies already have corporate wellness programs, but how many of them actually work? Guess what? This does! In just under a month, the program has participants who have walked over 50 MILLION steps, and average 2.5 million steps a day!

After reading about the Race to the Moon, it got me thinking. It would be really cool if I were to create my own health challenge too. Of course I am not bold enough to come up with some unattainable. I believe in small steps. So, I would create the Walk More in a Day Challenge. We live on the 6^th floor, so instead of taking the elevator, I would make it a point to use the stairs. I believe that’s a good start. Also, when we go grocery shopping or the mall, we would park further away from the entrance. By doing so, it ‘forces’ us to walk more. So, what would you do to stay healthy? Head over to the Caféwell website to get Well and stay Well today!

Spaghetti Hot Dogs

2011-11-17T09:55:00.000-05:00

I found this fun and easy recipe online not too long ago and since it was Halloween (Yes, I knowwww! This is a very backdated post :P), I decided to try this recipe out. I must say that it was a hit! Everybody loves spaghetti and everybody loves hot dogs. So why not combine it together? For those of you with kids, I bet they will totally love it too! It's just fun to see spaghetti oozing out from hot dogs. I'm pretty sure this will get the mark of approval, even from the most fussy eater. So, here's how you make it.

When I say that it's an easy recipe, I am not kidding. It's really really easy to make. All you need is a box of spaghetti (you'll probably only need about half a box, if that), a pack of hot dogs and some pasta sauce.
Start off by cutting the hot dogs into smaller sections. If you like bigger pieces, you could also just cut the hot dogs into half. If you have smaller kids, you might want to cut it into quarters. It makes it easier for those tiny fingers.
Next, thread the spaghetti into the hot dogs. It's fairly easy to do. You can either thread it all the way through or you can just thread it half way. I tried both!
Now it's time to cook the spaghetti hot dogs! Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Then, just dump in the spaghetti hot dogs and allow it to cook until the spaghetti is al dente.
Once it's done, drain and its ready to be served. You can serve it with your favorite pasta sauce or eat it without any sauce. Some kids also like to dip it in ketchup. It's entirely up to you. Since it was Halloween, I drew on some eyes and mouth with a little mustard and the spaghetti hot dogs looks like little aliens, rising up from a sea of blood :P You should try this recipe, it's really easy to make and I'm pretty sure it will be a hit with the kids and even the not so little kids!

Sign up for Schar Club and get FREE Ciabatta rolls!!

2011-11-12T20:01:00.002-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Schar. All opinions are 100% mine.

These days, both Kevin and I have been trying to keep a healthier lifestyle. Apart from trying to exercise more, we also have started to watch what we eat. While looking for healthier alternatives to our regular diet, I found out that Schar, who is a leader in gluten-free foods, has recently just re-launched their gluten-free heat & serve items! This includes their Sub Sandwich rolls, Ciabatta rolls and Baguettes. I don’t know about you, but I am pretty excited because I know that these products will make it easier for Celiac and gluten-intolerant consumers to enjoy the foods they love without sacrificing the flavor.

Among all of the products, I am really eager to try out the Sub Sandwich rolls. Not only are they delicious, but they are also low fat, non-GMO and is an excellent source of fiber. Schar Sub Sandwich Rolls also comes individually wrapped in convenient two-packs for optimum freshness. I can just imaging making all kinds of sandwiches with them, be it a cold cut sandwich or a yummy hot meatball or chicken parm sandwich. Mmmm mmmmm yummy!

For those of you who would like to try out some of Schar’s products, boy, I got some news for you. For a limited time, Schar is providing free samples of the Ciabatta rolls to the first 2,000 Schar Club members who request them! That’s right, all you need to do is sign up for the Schar club. Once you have done that, you will see a column titled "toolbox" on the left hand side of the website. Then, look for the word "Giveaways" and click on that. From there, you will be taken to the page to order your free Ciabatta sample! Better hurry though, cos free sample kits will only be sent to the first 2,000 members that request them!

Being part of the Schar Club is an awesome thing. Apart from getting free product samples like the Ciabatta rolls and coupons, you will also get advice on how to live a gluten-free lifestyle. Indeed, Schar is really the gluten-free brand that cares for their consumers. So, what are you waiting for? Head over to Schar’s website and sign up to the Schar Club for your free sample today! Remember to come back and share with the rest of us what you made with your free sample or with any of the other yummy Schar’s products!

Stand Up For Family Comedy Special

2011-11-06T18:01:00.002-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of American Family Insurance. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you were to ask me to name one thing that is most important to me, I would have to say – FAMILY. Growing up, some of my fondest memories are of big family dinners that we would have with the whole clan or the countless family vacations that we took. Our family pretty much did everything together, from playing sports, hanging out to watching television! I remember the whole family gathering around the television back in the 80s, watching sitcoms, almost every evening. Good clean comedy, suitable for the entire family. Unfortunately, good TV is hard to come by these days. All we see on TV these days are junk, filled with violence and sex.

Are you looking for some good clean comedy that is perfect for the entire family? Wholesome comedy for the family, about families! If you are, then you should totally check out American Family Insurance's Stand Up For Family Comedy Special! It’s the perfect stand-up comedy showcase that is designed for families of all ages to enjoy. Inspired by experiences from their own families, the performers offer their own perspectives on daily life with loved ones, finding the humor that we all can relate to.

When I went to check out some of the videos on the AmFam website, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud! They were all so funny and really, I could relate to almost every one! My favorite performer out of all of them would have to be Billy Bellamy. He is just so funny! I totally can relate to the video “Street Lights”. Back when I was growing up, it was safe to just go out to play! It doesn’t matter where we went, as long as we were back by the time street lights came on, then it would be fine. If not, oh boy, we would be in big trouble! So, if you want to check out those videos for yourself, head over to the AmFam website and I guarantee that you will be laughing til your sides hurt, in no time!

Puppies vs. Babies: Which is cuter?

2011-10-31T10:01:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Puppies vs. Babies. All opinions are 100% mine.

Alright folks, who is ready for a little dose of cuteness? Since the beginning of time, there are two things that never fail to bring a smile on your face and get awwwwwwwwwwws from everyone. I do not think anybody can disagree with me when I say that puppies and babies are the two cutest things on this planet! However, the age old question remains, which is cuter? Puppies or babies? Well America, you have a chance to play a part in putting this long lasting debate to rest. Puppies vs. Babies, who wins?

From now, up until November 23^rd, there is a fun Puppies vs. Babies online contest going on that will put a rest to this ongoing feud and guess what? You get to be the judge! Hundreds of photos were received as part of the casting call and now, you get to vote. All you need to do is rate each photo, on a scale of 1 to 10. Then, the 16 photos with the highest vote would go to the next round and a winner for each category will be chosen. Ultimately, the two top contenders will face off and put this age old question to rest!

So, who will you vote for? Puppies or babies? Don’t get me wrong, I totally love puppies. Kevin and I would sometimes spend all afternoon on Animal Planet, just watching shows about puppies. They are just so cute! However, I think that babies win hands down! Nothing is cuter than chubby babies, cooing and making all types of gurgling sounds! Also, babies do not have stinky puppy breathe and they don’t nip at your heels! So, what about you? Who would you vote for? Leave me a comment to tell me who you are rooting for and don’t forget to head over to the website to cast your vote today!!

Take the Sunkist® S’alternative Sodium Quiz today!

2011-10-24T14:01:00.004-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sunkist S’alternative. All opinions are 100% mine.

Let’s have a show of hands, how many of you actually bother about checking your sodium intake? I know many of us worry about the amount of calories, fats, carbs and even sugar that we consume, but many tend to forget about sodium. Did you know that most food include “hidden salts” that can be dangerous to your health? How much sodium are you consuming on a daily basis? Don’t know? Well, there is a way to find out. Take the Sodium Style Quiz from Sunkist on Facebook to find out where you fall on the sodium scale! That’s right; The Sunkist Sodium Quiz will tell you where you fall on the sodium scale based on your daily food choices. After you discover your sodium style, you can also invite your friends to take the fun and fast quiz to compare results!

I took The Sunkist Sodium Quiz and the sodium scale revealed that I am a Mover, Not A Salt Shaker! Wow, that’s really good to know. What about you? Are you Serial Salt Offender, Sodium Smarty or somewhere in between? No matter what your results is, taking the quiz will help you the quiz will help you be more salt savvy by teaching you all about Sunkist S’alternative! What’s that, you ask? Well, S’alternative is using fresh-squeezed Sunkist® lemons as a healthy sodium-free alternative to salt. By using Sunkist lemons as an alternative to salt, it can help reduce sodium, increase potassium and enhance the flavor of recipes. To get the ball rolling, let me share with you an awesome Sunkist® recipe that uses fresh Sunkist lemons.

Sunkist® Lemon Seafood Paella

Ingredients: (Makes 8 servings)

*1- 32 oz can low sodium vegetable broth

*1 cup dry white wine

*1 teaspoon saffron threads

*1lb. of firm, fresh pieces of whitefish such as tilapia, bass, halibut and swordfish, cut into 16-21 pieces

*1lb. or 16-21 mussels, cleaned and de-bearded

*1lb. or 16-21 medium sized clams, rinsed

*cup chopped fresh parsley

*3 Sunkist® lemons, zest and juice

*3 Tbsp. olive oil

*1 _ cups minced onion

*3 cloves garlic, minced

*teaspoon crushed red pepper

*3 cups uncooked short-grain rice such as Valencian, Arborio, or Calrose

*1 cup frozen green peas

*1- 8oz jar of sliced, roasted red peppers

Instructions:

• To prepare broth, combine all the ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer (do not boil). Keep warm over low heat.

• To prepare paella, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large paella pan or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish pieces to pan and sauté 1 minute. Remove fish from pan, reserve and keep warm. Add onion to pan and sauté 5 minutes. Add the lemon zest, garlic and crushed red pepper and cook 5 minutes. Add rice and cook 1 minute longer, stirring constantly. Stir in broth, bring to a low boil and cook 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

• Stir in the peas and red pepper slices. Add mussels and clams to pan, nestling them into rice mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until shells open; discard any unopened shells. Stir in the reserved fish and chopped parsley and cook 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in lemon juice and check for seasoning. Cover with a towel and let stand 10 minutes before stirring

Sweet & Sour Fish Fillets

2011-10-08T13:45:00.007-04:00

It's been a while since I had time to actually share a new recipe on this blog. Since I have a little time on my hands today, I will share with all of you a quick recipe that's really easy to make and super yummy to eat. Sweet & Sour Fish, who doesn't like Sweet & Sour Fish, right? Both Kevin and I love this dish to bits. We would usually eat that with a huge plate of steaming white rice. Mmmm mmm mmmmmmmm :D Try this recipe, I hope you will like it as much as we do!

The first thing we must do is prepare the fish fillets. You can pretty much use any type of fish fillet for this dish but I would usually use catfish. It's really affordable and it taste awesome! Start off by cleaning the fillets. Then, add some pepper, garlic powder and salt to some flour and set it aside. Now, heat some oil in a large pan. Once its nice and hot, coat your fillets in flour and drop it into the oil. Remember not to overcrowd the pan.
You know that your fillets are ready once they turn golden brown. Take them out of the oil and set them aside on some kitchen towels.
Now, its time to make the sauce. It's really easy. All you need to do is mix some ketchup, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, white vinegar, sesame oil, sugar and pepper with some chicken stock. You can also add in some chili paste too if you like. Apart from that, I would also add in some syrup from the canned fruits that I would be using later on. There is really no fix ratio in all those ingredients. Some people like it really sour and some people like sweet. The best thing would be just to taste the mixture and continue to adjust the amount until you get the taste that you like. For me, I like it on the sweeter side. Once you are done with the sauce mixture, set it aside.
Alrighty, now we can put it all together. Start off by sauteing one large onion and one green pepper that has been cut into bite size pieces.
Then, add in a can of mixed tropical fruits. Remember to drain away the syrup before adding the fruits in. If you do not like mixed tropical fruits, you could also just use canned or fresh pineapples.
After sauteing the vegetables and fruits for a bit, add in the sauce mixture. Allow it to simmer until it comes to a boil. Then, add in some cornstarch that has been mixed with a little bit of water. This will help thicken up the sauce. Once the sauce has thicken, it's ready to be served. I would usually just add in my fish fillets into the sauce and give it a good mix. You could also place your fillets on a serving platter and pour the sauce over it. Either ways, it will be yummy! You can serve it with some steamed rice or if you like, you could even eat it with noodles. Try it out and let me know if you like it! :D

The Steam Team - Immediate Water Damage Assistance Anytime!!

2011-10-08T11:28:00.002-04:00

Water damage. Don’t you just hate it? It’s such a pain when that happens to your property. The worst thing is, most of the time, you can’t even control it. Water damaged can be cause by all kinds of disasters, be it natural or disasters cause by negligence. Floods, fires, earthquakes, pipe breaks, hurricanes, tornadoes and rainstorms can all lead to the water damage of homes. Well, it’s not just home that are affected but also offices, factories, schools, stores and any other buildings.

When water damage happen, you would want help from people who understands that water damage restoration is an emergency business. You do not want to call someone who tells you he will be there in 2 or 3 days. I know exactly the people to call, if you water damage were to ever happen to you. The friendly folks at The Steam Team (http://www.thesteamteam.com/) are dedicated to emergency service, 24 hours a day. That’s right, they are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days week. Armed with the latest products, procedures, and equipment, they strive to provide you emergency service that is aimed to preserve, protect and secure your property from further damage. Not only that, but they will also assist you in your flood damage insurance claim. They have a whole team of experience staff who can help answer any of your questions as well as work directly with insurance companies to help expedite the claim process. So, if water damage were to ever happen to you, call the right people. Call The Steam Team!

Pho Mac Vietnamese Restaurant - Staten Island, NY

2011-10-08T08:49:00.000-04:00

We were driving through Staten Island the other day and decide to stop for dinner. It's probably like my fourth or fifth time in Staten Island, so I had no clue what's good to eat there. Kevin on the other hand works in Staten Island, so he was given the very important task of deciding where to go for dinner. He suggested a few places and we finally went with Pho Mac. He says that he would sometimes have lunch there (since it's rather near his office) and that it's pretty good. Sounds good!!
Parking at Pho Mac can be quite a challenge, especially during busy hours. We had to park at a side street about a block away from the restaurant because there was very limited street parking in front of it. The restaurant itself has two levels and since the lower level was full, our server brought us upstairs. The decor of the two levels were totally different! It seriously felt like two different restaurants! The lower level was pretty much your regular hole in the wall Vietnamese restaurant, with basic tables and chairs and minimal decor. Upstairs was wayyyyy nicer. They had nice booths and really nice and rather upscale decor. The servers were all really friendly and they seem to know a lot of the customers (regulars I presume) on a personal level. One thing that kinda bothered me was that all of the servers were speaking in Cantonese. I knowwww, it's a little bit silly to assume that in order for the food to be authentic, the place should be run by Vietnamese instead of Chinese. However, it still made me go "Hmmmm? I wonder how authentic and good the food will be?" :P
We started off our dinner by sharing two appetizers. Of course, we had to order the Goi Cuon or better known as the Vietnamese Summer Roll ($4.75). It looked really yummy when they brought it out. However, when I took a bite, it was all rubbery. Something tells me that it was not freshly rolled upon order. I think it must have been sitting, pre rolled in the kitchen for quite a while. It wasn't flat out bad but I must also say that it wasn't really the best and freshest Goi Cuon I have had.
We also shared the Cha Gio (Vietnamese Spring Roll). It comes in three sizes, Small (2 rolls for $3.25), Medium (4 rolls for $5.50) and Large (8 rolls for $9.95). We ordered the small and boy, it was really SMALL. The rolls were tiny! However, what it lacked in size was made up for in the taste department. Those tiny spring rolls were delicioussssssssssss. Crispy on the outside and the filling was really very flavorful. At that point, I was kicking myself and regretting that we didn't order the medium instead :P
For my main, I tried the Pho Dac Biet with Bo Vien ($7.75). A huge yummy bowl of rice noodles with beef brisket, frank, omosa, tendon, eye of round and beef balls in a some piping hot beef soup. The soup was good but it wasn't great! Compared to the pho from other Vietnamese restaurants in the city as well as other parts of Northern NJ, I would have to say that this was just alright. I would eat it but there is really nothing to shout about.
Kevin had the Com Suon Bi Cha ($8.25). Grilled pork chop with shredded pork and crab patty, served on a plate of steaming white rice. I tried a little bit of everything and I must say that it was really really good. Totally love the grilled pork chop and crab patty, sooo yummmy! I must definitely remember to order this the next time I eat there. So, overall Pho Mac is a pretty decent place. The servers were really really friendly, prices were rather reasonable and the food wasn't too bad as well. No wonder Kevin and his colleagues likes heading out to Pho Mac for lunch! :D

Pho Mac - Staten Island, NY
1407 Richmond Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10314-1553
Tel:(718) 982-9292/8283

Fridge Robbers

2011-09-28T10:20:00.000-04:00

Thanks for the post, Vernon Lowe

I got a Home Security System installed when we moved. I never really thought about having an alarm system. We lived in our last home for twenty years and never had any problems. Our new neighbors suggested that we get one. When they told us about what had been going on in the neighborhood lately, I got scared and a little regretful that we had moved! A couple of months before we moved in there had been a brief crime wave. It wasn’t a normal crime wave, but thieves were stealing things that were not the usual pawn-worthy item. Thieves were breaking into houses and hauling off kitchen appliances and somehow going unnoticed. Most of the houses in the neighborhood have gourmet kitchens and expensive appliances. Those Sub Zero fridges can sell for over five thousand dollars. It is no wonder why they have been targets for thieves. It just makes me wonder where the market for these hot kitchen appliances is. Surely when you buy an appliance like that used you want to know where it came from?

Carbonite - Unlimited online backup that's completely automatic, secure, simple!

2011-09-20T19:00:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Carbonite. All opinions are 100% mine.

I’m very all of you can agree with me that these days, our lives pretty much revolve around the computer. I don’t know about you, but I know I cannot survive without mine! It’s quite scary when you think about it. Almost everything I have is on my computer. Photographs from way back when Kevin and I were still in university to our wedding photos. Not to mention, thousands of vacation photos as well as photos of important events from our lives. Not only do I have tons of photos, I also have a really big collection of music that I have collected over the years. What about documents? Oh, don’t even get me started on that. Kevin and I have so many important documents from work and other places on the computer! Some things in live are replaceable but really, most of these photos and documents are not. It’s so scary to think that there is a chance I might lose all those files due to crashes, viruses, theft and accidental deletion. That is why, everybody tells me to backup. Yes, I know it’s important but I am always so lazy to manually back them up or I would be so busy, I tend to forgot. Who has time to actually back up manually each one of their documents and photos, right?

For those of you who are just like me, I got some news for you. Have you heard of Carbonite? Well, Carbonite is a computer backup up that works automatically and continually in the background. Founded in 2005, Carbonite has safely recover over 7 billion files that otherwise might have been lost forever! It’s easy, fast, and hassle-free to get your backed up files back. It’s really pretty amazing. What it does is that it works continually in the background, automatically backing up your files whenever your computer is connected to the internet. That’s right, it takes the worry out of backup by securely and automatically backing up the files on your PC or Mac to one of Carbonite’s highly secure, state-of-the-art data centers. Once your files are backed up by Carbonite, you can access them anytime, anywhere, from virtually any Internet connected device. This means you can access your backed up files from any computer or your mobile devices! All you need to do is download free mobile apps so that you can access, enjoy and share your files from your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android or Blackberry Smartphone! How cool is that?

You might be thinking to yourself, this sounds really awesome. I bet it’s really expensive too! Well, I got news for you. Unlimited backup for your PC or Mac, with anytime-anywhere-access is only $59 a year. Yup, it works out to less than $5 a month!! You can even try it free for 15 days and no credit card is required. After that, if you decide to buy (I am pretty sure you will!), you can even get two months for free! All you need to do is mention the offer code BLOGAD and that gets you two free months you’re your purchase. Carbonite is simply the best. It’s online backup that is completely automatic, secure, simple and unlimited. So, what more could a person ask for? Head over to Carbonite’s website and sign up today!

Straight Talk - No contracts, no surprise bills and no credit checks!

2011-08-28T04:01:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Straight Talk. All opinions are 100% mine.

In today’s economy, every little bit of savings help. I mean, who doesn’t want to save money, right? For many families, it would mean just cutting back to the bare basics and letting go of some so called ‘luxuries’. Would you consider having a cell phone a luxury? I don’t know about you, but I really do not think so. It’s more of a necessity these days. However, what I really dislike about owning a cell phone is having to deal with the contracts and crazy monthly bills! I am sure you all know what I am talking about.

For those of you who are tired of all those (just like me!), boy, do I have some news for you! Have you heard of Straight Talk? With Straight Talk, there are no contracts, no surprise bills and no credit checks. I love the idea that I feel richer with Straight Talk because it cuts my cell phone bill in half! Contracts? Who cares about contracts? You have to be crazy to be on a contract these days when you can get everything you need without one. Not only that, but Straight Talk also has great nationwide coverage as well as excellent reception and connectivity. Just imagine how much money you could save with Straight Talk. Think of all the things you could go out and buy with that savings!

Straight talk has different types of monthly plans, designed especially to fit you and your needs. If you are a heavy phone user, then you should get the “All You Need Plan”. It provides heavy phone users with 1,000 minutes, 1,000 texts and 30 MB of web data. Unlimited Monthly service is only $45, and includes calls, text, picture messaging, and web. Imagine this. Unlimited calls, text, picture messaging and web for a whole year, for only $499.00! That’s right, for the whole year! Also, you are free from activation, reactivation, or termination fees and 411 calls are included at no extra charge. Have lots of friends overseas? With Straight Talk’s International Long Distance Service, you can call a friend anytime! What’s that, you might ask. Well, it is a flexible prepaid calling service that enables you to make international calls from your home, cell or office phone at low rates. For me, I totally love this! I can now spend hours talking to my mom and the rest of the family back home. Even my mom agrees that this is a good deal. After all, mom knows best!

What kind of phones is available with this? Good question. Well, let me assure you this. Straight Talk only uses trusted phone manufacturers like LG, Motorola, Kyocera, Nokia and Samsung. You could get amazing smart phones; touch screen phones, and app capable phones with features like voice navigation, camera, video recorder, music player, instant messaging, and Bluetooth® or you could just go with reconditioned phones with camera, mp3 player, mobile web access, and blue-tooth capability for as low as $10! The choice is entirely yours!

Sounds too good to be true? Well, don’t just take my word for it. Check out videos of testimonials from some real Straight Talk customers here, here, here, here and here! So, what are you waiting for? Head out to get your very own today. It’s everything you need and more!

The MyCAA program at Martinsburg Institute

2011-08-24T00:01:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Martinsburg Institute. All opinions are 100% mine.

I’m sure many of you have friends who have spouses serving in the military or maybe you are a military wife yourself. I am not a military wife but I do have quite a lot of friends who are. Kevin has a cousin who is in the Army and I have some friends whose husbands are in the Army, Marines as well as Navy. It’s tough being a military wife. Apart from having to deal with your spouse being deployed for long periods of time, you have to run your household, take care of your kids and some even have their own jobs! You hardly have any time left for yourself by the end of the day! I know of many military wives who have talked about going back to school in order to get that certificate that they have been wanting for so long or to get that boost in their career. But really, how can one even find time to do so? They just don’t have the time to drop everything, just to go for classes. Also, what about finances?

If you are a military wife and are looking to go back to school, listen up. I got some news for you! Are you interested in training in Medical Billing and Coding or Electronic Health Records? Maybe Human Resource or Financial Management & Accounting? If so, Martinsburg Institute and their MyCAA program maybe the place for you! MyCAA (Military Spouse Career Advancement Accounts) Spouse Tuition Assistance Program provides up to $4,000 of Financial Assistance for military spouses who are pursuing portable career. Everything comes on a laptop. This mean, it allows students to train at home or on the go. That’s right. You can train whenever you want to, when you are on the go! Waiting for your daughter to finish up her dance lessons or have some time in between hockey and football? Just turn on your laptop and start training for your future right on the spot! It's simple, flexible and portable! Training available through Martinsburg Institute is definitely a perfect fit for Military spouses.

Out of all of the programs offered by Martins Institute, I would be most interested in Financial Management and Accounting. What about you? What would you be interested in? For more information about the programs offered and help with getting started, please contact Kristina Berhenke at 760.808.2087. You can also visit http://www.martinsburgmilitaryspouse.org/ for more information.

TracFone - The least expensive way to own and use a cell phone in America!

2011-08-21T10:01:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of TracFone. All opinions are 100% mine.

These days, everybody has cell phones. Just talk a walk through your neighborhood and look around. I am very sure you can see a whole bunch of people talking on cell phones, texting, surfing and maybe even playing games on their cell phone. It’s just so convenient to have; it is fast become a necessity in our modern society. As much as we all love cell phones and how it has become a part of our daily lives, there is something we all hate. Cell phone bills! Don’t you hate the unpredictable cell phone bills and the fact that you are always bound by contracts? Most families I know can only afford cell phones for themselves. Now that summer is in full swing, wouldn’t it be awesome if you could get low cost cell phones for all your kids. It would be the perfect way to stay in touch. Maybe you don’t have kids but you are struggling to find a cell phone for yourself that is affordable this summer? Well, I have news for you. TracFone is here to help!

Did you know that TracFone offers the least expensive way to own and use a cell phone in America? That’s right; there are no contracts, credit checks, activation charges or cancellation fees to worry about. In short, no surprises! Not only that, but it also has great nationwide coverage and excellent reception as well connectivity. Sounds awesome but you must be wondering, what type of phones does it come with? Well, the choice is really up to you. They offer all types of brand name phones from leading manufacturers like Motorola, Kyocera, LG, Nokia and Samsung. You could go with simple "Candy Bar" phones with simple calling and texting capabilities for under $10.00 or you could get the Bluetooth®-enabled "Smart" phones. Those phones have so many features like camera/video recorder, web access, app capabilities, mp3 player, and full QWERTY keyboard. All that for only $29.99! See what real TracFone customers have to say about the phone choices that are available. You could also check out some YouTube videos by clicking here and here.

Sounds good right? What about the monthly plans, you might ask. Well, it’s really simple actually. Just pay as you go online or with cards available at thousands of retail stores across the country. You can choose monthly plans with 200 minutes for under $30.00 or and as low as $9.99 for 50 minutes. There is also 1 year service cards that gives you so much more. Receive double minutes for the life of your TracFone, and 800 minutes, for only $119.00! Also, “Double minutes for the life of your phone” is a feature that can be purchased separately for only $19.99, but some phones include it! What’s important is, you will not be getting any surprises in your monthly bill, at the end of each period! Just ask any of these real TracFone customers, they know!

TracFone is the only wireless service that allows you to call internationally, for the same price as any other call! That’s right. You can call over 60 international destinations directly from your TracFone at no extra cost! With the International Neighbors program, you can also provide your family and friends in Mexico or Canada a local phone number in those countries to reach you at your TracFone in the U.S. How cool is that?

It really cannot get any better than this. Just check out what real TracFone customers have to say about the convenience, reliability and coverage of TracFone and hurry up and get one for yourself today!!

Forgotten Taste Famous Pierogies - Wexford, PA

2011-08-21T04:32:00.003-04:00

When Kevin and I were back in Pittsburgh two weeks ago, we made our rounds to check out all of the "Pittsburgh" food that we miss so much. Primanti Bros, Eat' N Park, Tokyo Sushi and Buffet (I know, this isn't exactly Pittsburgh food but I love the sushi there!)...you get the idea. Another thing that I really really miss from Western PA is pierogies! Boy, I used to look forward to "Pierogies Night" every Wednesday at the dining hall, back when we were still in college. It was so so so gooooooood! If there is a type of food that you MUST try while you are in Pittsburgh (apart from Primantis, of course!), it has to be pierogies! You can be sure that people from da Burgh take their pierogies seriously. They even have pierogie races during inning breaks at the Pirates games!! Sooooo, naturally we must not leave Pittsburgh before getting our hands on some yummy pierogies.
Pierogies Plus is probably one of the more popular pierogie shops in Pittsburgh, known for their authentic, made from scratch pierogies. Kevin wasn't really in the mood to drive all the way to McKees Rocks just for pierogies so I tried to google for somewhere nearer. I then found Forgotten Taste. They claim to have the best pierogies in all of Southern PA, so we decided to give it a try. They have three outlets around the greater Pittsburgh area and we went to the one in Wexford. Since it was located at the strip mall at the Village at Pine, there were ample free parking right at it's doorstep. Please note that the signboard of their shop doesn't say "Forgotten Taste" but just plain "Pierogies" in bold red. I guess they know what they are famous for!
The store isn't really all that large. You just have to walk up to the counter and order whatever that you want. Then, you can either grab a table (there are not that many though) and wait for them to bring up your food to you or you can just wait (if you are getting it to go). Most of the food are pre cooked, so it doesn't take long at all. What I like about the place is how they have pictures of everything on their menu, hanging up on the wall. This way, you know exactly what you will be getting. Since Kevin's mom was back home and we needed to get lunch for her too, we ordered our food to go.
Both Kevin and his mom each got the Meal #6 ($6.69). One Stuffed Pepper with Tomato Sauce, Haluski and four pieces of Potato & Cheese Pierogies with butter and onions. The Smoked Polish Keilbasa ($3.49) that you see in the picture is actually half of what we ordered from the a la carte menu. As you can see from the menu, most of the food from Pittsburgh has Polish/Czech/Eastern European influence. You might be wondering why. Well, in the later half of the 1800s, large numbers of Polish immigrants settled in Pittsburgh due to the steel industry. I am guessing that it must have started from then. In case you didn't know, Kevin's ancestors (from his dad's side) probably came to America right about then too.
I ordered the Meal #3 ($6.99) which was one Stuffed Cabbage with Tomato Sauce, Haluski and four pieces of Potato & Cheese Pierogies with butter and onions. Also, you can see the other half of the Polish Keilbasa that I was sharing with Kevin in the picture. I must say that I really enjoyed my meal. The stuffed cabbage was really good and so was the Haluski. Oh, for those of you who don't know, Haluski is actually thick soft noodles made from flour, egg and water. It is then boiled, rolled in oil or butter and then served with vegetables or meat. The Haluski that we had was served with cabbage.
Since this was a pierogies place, we HAD to order more pierogies. Four pieces each just wasn't enough! So, we ordered an extra half dozen of Beef and Mushroom Pierogies ($5.90). You could either get it with the traditional butter and onions, with tomato sauce or you could get it deep fried. Also, if you are planning to keep it for another day, you could buy them frozen. Apart from Beef and Mushroom, they also have a whole lot of other different fillings. You can check it out here. I must say that the pierogies from Forgotten Taste is really really good. We must remember to head out there again the next time we are back in Pittsburgh. Oh, and if you are planning to do so, you might want to head out there on Mondays and Wednesdays. They are currently having a promotion where all meals are just $4.99 on Mon and Wed!!

Forgotten Taste Famous Pierogies
11978 Route 19 Village at Pine,
Wexford, PA, 15090
Tel: (724)940 2277
Web: http://forgottentaste.com/

Tell us your dreams and stand a chance to win $10,000!

2011-08-20T18:01:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of UPromise. All opinions are 100% mine.

You know how I have always say that we would always try to give our readers a heads up if we know of some interesting promotions, sweepstakes or contest? Boy, do we have something exciting to share with all of you today. I know most of the readers of this blog are parents, so here’s a little something for you guys that might change the future of your children.

As parents, you always want the best for your children. I am very sure that every parent’s dreams that their children would be able make it to college one day. Over the years, Upromise members have received more than $600 million in college savings through their rewards program. Guess what? Today, it wants to celebrate all of the ways it has helped to fuel those sparks that made children into the people they are today and the adults they will become tomorrow. That’s right. Upromise is celebrating its 10th Anniversary and they are giving away $20,000 to users who share a story that tells how a parent has supported a child's dream!

How can you participate in this sweepstake? It’s really simple actually. I am sure all of you have a dream for the future of your children. Well, Upromise want you to share that dream. Just by doing so, you will receive an opportunity to win one of the (10) $1,000 cash prizes or the grand prize worth $10,000! All you need to do is head over to www.upromisetodream.com to submit your entry. Your entry must be 500 words or less. With that, you will get your chance to win $1,000 in their weekly drawing. Then, vote for your favorite dreams by selecting "Like." The entry with the most votes by September 29th wins a grand prize of $10,000! You can get the full list of Upromises’s dream wall official rules at their website.

So, what is your dream for your children? For me, my dream is that every child should have the opportunity to go to their college of choice, study in a field that they are really interested in and have an equal opportunity to pursue their dreams. Finances (or the lack of it) should not get in the way of a child reaching their dreams. Most importantly, I dream that every child should graduate college debt free. Nothing is worse than starting your life as an adult with a huge loan to carry and worry about. So, what is your dream for your children? Share it on the dream wall as well as with the rest of us here. Who knows, you might even win $10,000!!

All you can eat crayfish @ IKEA on Aug 19th!!

2011-08-18T23:58:00.006-04:00

Before I say anything else, I just want to state that this is not a paid post and I am not being compensated in any way by IKEA. I was surfing through IKEA's website the other day and came to know about this promotion. It sounds like an awesome deal, so I figured I'll share it with all of you. In honor of their Swedish roots, IKEA would hold a "kraftskiva" (crayfish party) sometime in August every year. This year, it will be on the 19th of August, in all IKEAs nationwide. For those of you who don't know (myself included!), the "kraftskiva" is one of the most important social events in Sweden. Friends would gather to feast on crayfish while partying the night away. From what I understand, this is a very popular event and tickets run out pretty fast. So, Kevin and I decided to drive out to IKEA to get ourselves 2 tickets before they are all gone.

For only $9.99, you get an adult ticket and that gets you entrance as well as unlimited crayfish (as well as other food items) to the Crayfish Party. Kids only pay $2.49! Check out the menu for the all you can eat buffet below.

Tossed green salad
Cucumber salad
Hard boiled eggs with mayo and shrimp
Shelled on prawns with cocktail sauce
NAJAD salmon with horseradish or mustard sauce

Crispbread, Criprolls, Dinner rolls
Assorted Swedish cheese
Meatballs with Lingonberries
Crayfish
Mashed Potatoes
Boiled Dill New Potatoes

Assorted Swedish desserts and cookies
Coffee, tea and fountain beverages

Not bad for $9.99, right? We have gotten tickets for the Crayfish Party at the IKEA in Port Elizabeth, NJ. If any of you are planning to be there, drop us a line. We'll see you there!! Now, let's get this crayfish party started!! Woot woot!!!

Finding the right dentist just got easier!

2011-08-18T17:39:00.004-04:00

I don't know about you, but I have never been a big fan of dentists. Ever since I was a kid, I never liked my annual dental check ups. I don't know why, maybe it was the scary sounds from the equipment/dental tools but yeah, I would always dread going to the dentist. As I grew older, those visits to the dentist's office became less and less frequent. Up until about two years ago, I held my own personal record of not stepping into a dental office for close to 6 years! Everybody says that I am just being silly and really, there is nothing scary about visiting the dentist. No matter what everybody told me, I still didn't want to break down to make an appointment to see a dentist.

One day, about two years ago, I was drinking an ice cold soda and I suddenly felt a very sharp pain on my top left wisdom tooth. From that moment on, the pain increased to a point where it was unbearable. Not only did my tooth hurt but the entire side of my face! At that point, I knew I had to go to see the dentist, whether I liked it or not. Now, here's the tricky part. Both Kevin and I are not from New Jersey and we really didn't know of any dentist from around here. Sure, we could look up the yellow pages and just randomly call one to make an appointment but how would we know if he/she is reputable and good? Since I am really terrified of dentists to begin with, I really wanted to find somebody who knows what he/she is doing. Looking for a good dentist that fits you isn't easy at all. If only we knew about SmileGeneration.com back then.

Smile Generation connects you to reputable dentists who are dedicated to their work. Approved Smile Generation offices are private dental practices with integrated specialties that include orthodontists, endodontists, oral surgeons, general and family dentists. All you need to do is go online and enter in your zip code to find an approved dentist near you. You can even book an appointment online or you could call their 1-800 number to book an appointment over the phone. Not only can you search for dentists on the website but you can also look for special offers and print out coupons for all kinds of dental treatments. So, if you are looking for the perfect dentist that fits your needs, head over to Smile Generation today! Oh, and just in case you are wondering, I have fully gotten over my fear of dentists. You are right, dentists are not so scary after all!

Mandy's Pizza - Pittsburgh, PA

2011-08-16T17:47:00.002-04:00

Kev and I were back in Pittsburgh for the whole of last week. In fact, it was a little more than a week. It's been a while since we had the opportunity to be back in Pittsburgh for such an extended period of time (it would usually be just for the weekend or 4 days, at the most), so it was good meeting up with friends and family. We also had the opportunity to head out some of our favorite restaurants in Pittsburgh as well as check out a few new ones. Over the next few posts, I will share with you some of the new places that we checked out during our week in Pittsburgh.
There is a pizza shop just down the road from Kevin's parents house in Westview. We have driven by it countless times and every time we drove by, I would say that we should check it out someday. I know, there are many other things that we can check out while we are in Pittsburgh and really, Pittsburgh is not exactly known for their pizza. After all, we are currently living in a city that is known for their awesome pizza. Why should we want to eat pizza while we were in Pittsburgh? Well, what caught my attention was a huge sign saying that Mandy's has the largest and best pizza in Pittsburgh. In fact, they have won a whole lot of awards as proof of their awesomeness. Now, when somebody claims that they have the best of something, I would really want to go check them out, just to see if they really do measure up. Soooooo, we stopped by one day to carryout a pizza and some wings.
All the pizzas in Mandy's are Gluten-Free/Allergen-Free. From their website and menu, I found out that they came out with a proprietary recipe that is Wheat-Free, Milk-Free, Nut-Free and Corn Free. Now, we don't really care much about all this but I am sure they are a lot of people out there who do. What is most important to us is, the taste! Their menu is rather large and there were quite a lot of traditional as well as signature pizzas to choose from. We finally went with a large Philly Steak Pizza ($16.49). Just look at it! Cheddar sauce, shaved sirloin, fried mushroom, onions, green peppers and premium blend pizza cheese. If that is not fattening enough, they topped all of that off with french fries!! One word - WOW! How does one even come up with that? They must be sitting around one day and decided that pizza in general is not fattening enough, they MUST do something else to bring it over the top. So, hey, why not? Lets top it off with some greasy fries! :P As fattening as it sounds, I must say that, it really tasted AWESOME! The toppings all just came together and the dough was nice and baked to perfection. Really really good!
We also ordered half a dozen of Monster Wings ($7.99). Monster Wings...really? How big are they? Well, Mandy's claim that they serve the largest wings in town. Guess what? They ARE huge! Look at that...none of those tiny dry stuff. The wings from Mandy's are huge and juicy! They are also not 'cut' into drummets and wings, you actually get the WHOLE wing! They come in 10 different flavors and we went with the Honey Mustard. Mmmm mmmmmm goood! Both the pizza and wings hit a home run, in my books. Apart from pizzas and wings, they also serve salads, hoagies, gyros, calzones, Italian dinners as well as desserts. We will definitely stop by again to check out the other items on the menu the next time we are back in Pittsburgh.

Mandy's Pizza - Pittsburgh,PA
512 Perry Hwy
Pittsburgh, PA 15229
Tel: (412)931 1120
Web: http://www.mandyspizza.com/

NMEDA - Makes life with disabilities a lil easier!

2011-08-16T10:02:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of NMEDA. All opinions are 100% mine.

How many of you woke up this morning, jumped out of bed, rushed to the bathroom for a quick shower, got dressed, ran downstairs to the kitchen for some quick breakfast and then hopped into your car to drive to work? Sounds like a familiar routine? Of course it is. I am pretty sure this scene is repeated in many households across America. Many of us don’t even think twice about it. After all, it’s not that hard at all to get ready for work. It’s just routine. Well, it might be really easy for you but for a person with disabilities, this whole exercise can be a very daunting task. Something as simple as this can be really hard for a person with disabilities. Not only is it hard for them, but it’s pretty tough for their caregivers as well. The good news however, is that in today’s modern society; there are many ways to make life a little easier for them. There are a lot of wheelchairs, wheelchair vehicles and other aides to help people with disability regain more freedom and mobility in life. Now the bad news. I am sure many of you are aware that there are just so many out there, how do we know which is good and which one is the right fit for you? You see ads for them everywhere, on TV, in the newspapers and on the Internet. How do you know which is good for you? Sometimes buying something that doesn't fit always does more harm than good.

Thankfully, there is NMEDA. NMEDA, you might ask? What’s that? Well, NMEDA (National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association) is a non-profit trade association that advocates providing safe, reliable vehicles and modifications to enhance accessibility for all people. Not only that, they are also the only association that promotes safe driving and equipment for disabled people. Yes, they are non-profit and their members are required to adhere to the safety standards of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This means that NMEDA do not sell anything. The NMEDA dealers (members) are the ones who sell handicap vans and vehicle modifications for disabled people.

You might be wondering, so, why should I buy from a NMEDA qualified dealer? Well, one of the biggest advantages you get when you buy from a NMEDA qualified dealer is that they conduct on-site evaluations to custom fit vehicles to your specific needs. Let’s take a moment to think about this. Just like everyone else, there are no two people with a disability that is exactly the same, right? So why should their wheelchair vehicles be exactly the same? Exactly! This is why you should be careful of adapted wheelchair vehicles sold over the Internet or through catalogs. Why waste your money on something that might not be right for you? When you buy from a NMEDA dealer, you give a personalized “in-person” evaluation, so you can be sure that you are getting the right driving solution customized to your specific lifestyle and needs. If you need additional training or product refinements, your NMEDA dealer will always be there to help you.

Apart from having just dealers, NMEDA also has Quality Assurance Program (QAP) dealers. The Quality Assurance Program (QAP) is the only nationally recognized accreditation program for the Adaptive Mobility Equipment Industry. It is based on the principle that in order to satisfy customers consistently, companies must have a systematic and documented approach to quality. It’s really simple. What this means is, that in order to be a QAP dealer, your company must not only have high quality and safe equipment but you must also meet the satisfaction of your customers.

After hearing about NMEDA, I went headed over to nmeda.org to read up more about them. On their homepage, you can hit the dealers locator, type in your zip code and see if there is a qualified dealer near you. I did just that and found that there are quite a few in my area. You should try it to. Let me know once you have found your closest qualified dealer! Thank God that none of my family members or myself do not need a wheelchair right now, but it’s always good to know NMEDA is always there to help if we ever need one. After going through all the information, I am now convinced that with the help NMEDA dealers, the elderly or disabled can get back onto the road of independence. Really, life doesn't have to be this tough.

Back to School Clothes Shopping at Bealls!

2011-08-13T10:02:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Bealls. All opinions are 100% mine.

I can’t believe it that it’s that time of the year again. Yup, summer is almost coming to an end. It felt like only yesterday when it started to get warmer and the kids were getting done with their finals and last days of school. Our summer just flew by, with trips to the beach, frequent visits to the ice cream stall, outdoor grilling and a host of other outdoor activities. Boy, I just love the summer! Now, the days are beginning to get shorter and the nights are getting cooler. That’s a sure sign that summer is ending and it’s back to school again for the kids.

Back to school….ahhhh, you know what that means. Yup! Back to school shopping! Shopping for school supplies, books, book bags…now, that’s easy. In fact, all that can be done in a couple of hours, with just one trip to the store. Shopping for school clothes, now that can be a little tricky. Everybody knows how much kids fashion change with each school year. It’s just so hard to keep up. Not only that, buying clothes for school can be expensive. Now, to make matters worse, the kids expect to get new clothes for school. No way will they be caught wearing old clothes (especially for the first week of school!) when all their friends have new clothes for the new school year.

So, what should one do? For me, I think that the best way to go about it is to go to places like Marshalls, TJ MAXX, Burlington Coat Factory and Century 21 to try and get branded, up to date fashionable kids clothes for a fraction of boutique prices. Also, there are always departmental stores like Target, Kohls, JC Penny and Macys. You can usually get awesome discounts when there are sales going on. All you need to do is spend a little more time to shop around a little and most of the time, you will end up with pretty good deals.

For those of you who do not have time to visit countless departmental stores to shop around, there is another place that you can go to. Just check out Bealls! It’s basically a one stop shop for all your back to school clothes shopping needs. They have a huge selection of clothes for both boys and girls, from babies to teenagers! Not only do they have clothes but they also carry all kinds of bags/handbags, shoes, accessories as well as swimwear too! Need uniforms for your children? No problem. You can get them at Bealls too! So, if you are looking for some hassle free shopping for your kids back to school clothes, look no further. Just head over to Bealls for some of the latest fashion in kids clothing, without having to break your bank!

Buffalo Wild Wings - Watchung, NJ

2011-08-05T01:06:00.005-04:00

How many of you have watched the movie Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle? Awww come on, admit it. I know you have :P For those of you who haven't (you really must go rent it!), it's basically about two guys who drove a long way, just to get some White Castle, because they were hungry for White Castle and nothing else could hit the spot. They were ready to do just about anything, in order to sink their teeth into those small juicy sliders. Kevin and I had one of those moments not too long ago. No, it wasn't for White Castle :P We were suddenly in the mood for some buffalo wings and we wanted some now! I am not talking about those crappy small wings that we can from around our neighborhood but big juicy wings. Real Buffalo wings!
Now, we are crazy but not THAT crazy. No, we didn't drive 8 hrs to Buffalo just to get them but we settled for something just as good. Wings from Buffalo Wild Wings!! The nearest Buffalo Wild Wings to us was in Watchung, a good half an hour away. With traffic, it took us almost 45-50 mins to get there. When we finally saw the big neon sign of that sports bar...ahhhhhhhhhhhh, we were in heaven! :D The place was packed to the brim when we arrived but luckily, we managed to score a table! At that point, if there was a 2 hr waiting list, I am pretty sure we would have waited too :P
So, what did we order? Like doh! Wings of course!!! Check out all the different sauces and seasonings. 14 sauces and 4 seasonings to choose from! The best thing about this is, IF we chose not to order wings and wanted something else from the menu, we could add or swap any of the seasonings with anything on the menu. How cool is that??
Mmmmmmmmmmmmm look at those yummy wings. We drove 50 mins for this! Buffalo Wild Wing's award winning Buffalo style hand spun wings! Kevin ordered the 12 pcs ($8.99) traditional wings. We had a choice between traditional or breaded boneless. The darker ones on top are Honey BBQ and the brighter ones are Spicy Garlic. As many of you know, I have a super low tolerance for spiciness, so I found the Spicy Garlic to be a tad bit spicy. OK fine, it was more than a tad bit. I found it to be very very spicy. Kevin on the other hand loved it. I prefer the Honey BBQ. In my opinion, it was the best out of the 4 different flavors we ordered that night. Sweet with a hint of smokiness....mmm mmm good!
I too ordered the 12 piece traditional wings. The one on the right is Mild and Parmesan Garlic is on the left. I just love the blend of roasted garlic with Parmesan sauce and Italian herbs. It was so flavorful and good. What can I say about the Mild? It was awesome! It had just a hint of spiciness, exactly how I love my buffalo wings! The wings were also really huge and juicy. In my opinion, that's how Buffalo wings should be. I just hate those places that sell small, dry and shriveled up wings.
Apart from wings, we also shared a portion of Buffalo Chips with Cheese ($5.79). Crispy natural cut potato slices with Queso cheese. We originally wanted to order potato wedges with cheese but our server highly recommended this. So, we figured we will give it a try. I wouldn't say that it was out of this world awesome but I wouldn't say that it was bad either. It was just alright. After all, how can one go wrong with chips and cheese? All in all, it was a great dinner. The wings were just so so so gooood. Was it worth the 50 min drive? You bet it was! Now, the two fatties can die happpy :P

Buffalo Wild Wings
1599 US Highway West 22
Watchung, NJ 07069
Tel: (908) 222 9464
Web: http://www.buffalowildwings.com/

Blue Sky Scrubs - Your One Stop Scrub Shop

2011-08-04T23:32:00.004-04:00

I'm not sure why, but there are quite a number of medical offices in our neighborhood. I guess it's because the location. We are really close to some major highways and throughways. Just on our street alone, there are a few huge medical buildings that houses various specialists and GPs, a few dental offices as well as a nursing home. There are also a few huge hospitals just a few minutes away from us. You can imagine the amount of medical personnel that lives in our apartment building. At almost any given time of day, you can see people walking around in scrubs as well as other medical uniforms. I really enjoy looking at all the different patterns, styles and colors of those scrubs. Boy, scrubs are surely fashionable these days. They have come a long way, from those ugly shapeless green and blue ones that medical personnel used to wear. Not only do they look good, but they looked really comfortable too. Fashionable and comfortable enough for non medical personnel to wear, on a daily basis.

Have you ever wondered where you can get modern and fashionable looking scrubs? Well, I do and now, I know just the place to do so. Blue Sky Scrubs! Yup, you can find all kinds of scrubs for women, men and even kids! Not only can you get medical scrubs and uniform there, but they offer a whole range of lab coats, jackets, scrub hats as well as accessories. I totally love the lanyards that they have there. They are so pretty and definitely one of a kind. I have never seen such a huge collection of nice looking lanyards! So, if you are looking for some fashionable and yet comfortable scrubs, just head over to http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/categories/Scrubs/Scrubs-for-Women/Original-Scrubs/ and check out Blue Sky Scrubs today!

Now, relocating can't be all that hard, can it?

2011-08-02T23:59:00.001-04:00

I'm sure many of you know that both Kevin and I are not originally from New Jersey. We relocated out here about 4 years ago, when Kevin was offered a new job. Back then, we really didn't know much about New Jersey at all. We didn't have any friends out here and we had no idea what so ever where the good neighborhoods were. So, we just got an apartment near Kevin's workplace and hoped for the best. We later moved from that apartment to our current one, but still, I would say that it wasn't really an educated choice. Many a time, Kevin and I have discussed about moving else where. Another city or county in New Jersey or maybe even across the river to New York. However, finding the right place is never easy.

I was online the other day, browsing through real estate websites, hoping to find somewhere worth moving to when I stumbled upon some Hawaii real estate listings. Hawaii. Yes, I know that's a little bit far from New Jersey but there was something about that site that caught my attention. The site belonged to Jeff Manson, who is a Hawaiian realtor and really, he makes relocating seem so much easier. I would say that he is an expert when it comes to helping a potential buyer in the relocating process. He is basically a one stop shop, where not only does he sell and rent houses but he also helps refer buyers to lenders for mortgage quotes as well as help get moving quotes from various movers. We definitely need to meet more realtors like him in our quest in finding a new apartment. Life would be so much easier. Hmmm, I wonder if Jeff Manson has an office out here in Jersey?

Master BBQ & Grill - Belleville, NJ

2011-08-01T18:51:00.004-04:00

It was another lazy Sunday night for us and we couldn't decide on what to have for dinner. We didn't feel like going out, so the only other option was to order in (yesssss, I'm too lazy to cook on weekends :P). After going through our stash of countless take out/delivery menus, I found the menu for Master BBQ & Grill. We actually picked that menu up from our apartment lobby quite some time back and have been meaning to check that place out but we never got around to doing so. It's been a while since we last had Portuguese BBQ (I know, it's hard to believe...considering the fact that we live in the Portuguese /Colombian BBQ mecca of NJ!), so Portuguese BBQ for dinner it is!
From our past experiences of ordering delivery with other Portuguese BBQ places, we were all ready for a long 'conversation' on the phone. Usually, when they find out that we don't speak Spanish, our call would be passed from one person to another. THEN, after finally getting to somebody who speaks English, he would most probably mess up our order or misunderstand we were are trying to say. Same goes for Chinese delivery places. However, none of that happened here. They spoke English and we managed to place our order without any problems. Yay! Another thing that surprised us was how fast the food arrived. I swear, it took them less than half an hour to get the food to our doorstep! Two huge party trays of piping hot food! Don't ask me why there was only ONE bun, we actually didn't even know that we are going to get a free bun :P
Before I say anything else, I must tell you guys that the amount of food that we got for the price we paid was crazy! There was just soooooooo much food! We ordered the Master BBQ Combo ($26) and that came with half a chicken, six huge pork ribs, four pieces of steak and slices Portuguese sausages. Look at the amount of food! It was enough for feed at least 6-8 people! All that for only $26! Not only was it affordable, it tasted awesome too! I dare say that this is the best Portuguese BBQ that I have had, to date! Since we live in Newark, there are a lot of Portuguese BBQ places here and trust me, we have gone through quite a lot of them. The BBQ from Masters definitely stood out. All the meat was marinated to perfection, really really delicious. They were also cooked just right, cos we all know, nothing is more sucky than overcooked or under cooked BBQ!
We also got a huge party tray of yellow rice and fries. We also had the option to swap either the rice or fries for black beans. Look at the amount of rice and fries! It's like enough to feed a small village in Asia! :P The fries wasn't soggy but really, there was nothing much to shout about. The rice on the other hand was simply awesome. There is this smoky taste to it, very very yummy! Overall, we had an awesome dinner! Good service, fast delivery, affordable prices, big portions and most importantly, uber yummy food. What more could a person ask for? We will definitely be ordering more food from Master BBQ & Grill in the very near future!

Master BBQ & Grill - Belleville, NJ
198 Union Ave
Belleville NJ 07109
Tel: (973)759 9200
Web: http://www.masterbbqgrill.com/

Straight Talk - Everything You Need in a Cell Phone!

2011-07-31T18:00:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Straight Talk. All opinions are 100% mine.

Let’s face it. In today’s tough economy, every little bit of saving helps. I don’t know about you, but in our household, a huge chunk of our monthly paycheck goes to our cell phone bills. It just doesn’t make sense. On top of the regular rate, we would get all kinds of fees and additional charges added onto the final bill. It’s like a guessing game every month. We really do not know how much we will be charged until we get the bill. And contracts. Don’t even get me started on cell phone contracts! I am sure many of you feel the same way as I do. We are just sick and tired of all the games that most cell phone companies play.

Guess what? I have some news for you. Have you heard of Straight Talk? With Straight Talk, there are no contracts, no surprise bills and no credit checks. I love the idea that I feel richer with Straight Talk because it cuts my cell phone bill in half! Now, who doesn’t want extra money in their pockets, right? Contracts? Who cares about contracts? You have to be crazy to be on a contract these days when you can get everything you need without one! Not only that, but Straight Talk also has great nationwide coverage as well as excellent reception and connectivity. Yes, this definitely makes Straight Talk total awesome – hook, line and sinker!

Straight talk has various types of monthly plans, designed especially for you. If you are a heavy phone user, then you should get the “All You Need Plan”. It provides heavy phone users with 1,000 minutes, 1,000 texts and 30 MB of web data. Unlimited Monthly service is only $45, and includes calls, text, picture messaging, and web. Imagine this. Unlimited calls, text, picture messaging and web for a whole year, for only $499.00! That’s right, for the whole year! Also, you are free from activation, reactivation, or termination fees and 411 calls are included at no extra charge. Want to call a friend overseas? You have to check out Straight Talk’s International Long Distance Service. It is a flexible prepaid calling service that enables you to make international calls from your home, cell or office phone at low rates.

You must be thinking to yourself, it sounds too good to be true. What kind of phones is available with this? Well, let me assure you this. Straight Talk only uses trusted phone manufacturers like LG, Motorola, Kyocera, Nokia and Samsung. You could get amazing smart phones; touch screen phones, and app capable phones with features like voice navigation, camera, video recorder, music player, instant messaging, and Bluetooth® or you could just go with reconditioned phones with camera, mp3 player, mobile web access, and blue-tooth capability for as low as $10! The choice is entirely yours!

Isn’t Straight Talk totally awesome? Don’t just take my word for it! You can also check out some real Straight Talk customer testimonials here, here and here. So, what are you waiting for? Head over to the nearest Walmart and get yours today!

The Wood Pit BBQ - Montclair, NJ

2011-07-31T16:07:00.005-04:00

This is a wayyyy overdue post. We actually checked out this restaurant like way back in March but I just never got around to blogging about it. I was contemplating to myself earlier if I should even blog about this now (since it was so long ago) but decided to do so because this place is just simply awesome! For those of you who don't know, Kevin is a huge BBQ fan. Of course, with us living in NJ, there aren't many Southern style BBQ joints, let alone good Southern style BBQ joints! I went online to try and find a decent BBQ place near us and found The Wood Pit in Montclair. There were so many positive reviews about this place, we just had to go check it out for ourselves!
When we first arrived, the exterior of the restaurant didn't really impress us at all. It was just a small hole in the wall kinda place, nothing really fancy. Since it's located along the super busy Bloomfield Ave and only street parking was available, you can imagine the headache we had, when we were trying to get a parking spot. We actually had to drive around for quite a while before finding a spot, a few blocks away.
The moment we walked into The Wood Pit, all the parking headaches that we had earlier immediately disappeared! The lovely smell of smoked wood chips just hits you the moment you open the main door. It was intoxicating! It felt like walking into a real BBQ joint, somewhere in the south. The place wasn't really all that big but boy, were the people there friendly! The owner was making his rounds, talking to everybody, with a big smile plastered on his face. That was definitely southern hospitality, at its best. Another awesome thing about The Wood Pit is that it's a BYOB! Just bring along your favorite beer to wash down all that yummy food. We didn't bring along any booze, so we ordered some iced tea (there was a huge selection of Joe's iced tea in their refrigerator!).
Now, the yummy part. What did we eat? Everything on the menu looked so good (smelled good too!), so we each ordered a BBQ sampler ($13.95 each). This way, we can sample a little bit of everything. Each sampler comes with two huge ribs, two smoked wings, sliced brisket and a choice of two sides. The meat might look a tad bit burnt in the picture, but trust me, they tasted sooooooooo good! Not only were they perfectly marinated, tender and juicy but it was smoked/BBQed just right. The meat was literally dropping off from the bone! Boy, it cannot get any better than this :D
For our sides, we tried the macaroni & cheese, collard greens and a piece of corn bread each. Kevin loved his mac & cheese and said that it was very good. I have never tried collard greens before, so I figured, why not, let's give this a try. I do not know if it's really good or if it was just alrite (since it's my first time trying it) but I can say that I truly enjoyed it! It was really flavorful and it had small pieces of smoked meats in it. Very very yummy.
The cornbread that our server initially brought out for us looked kinda dry and bad. It had a weird color to it too. You can see it in the picture behind the collard greens. When it owner saw our cornbread, he was shocked and immediately took it away! He said it looked bad and he returned with two pieces of freshly made cornbread, just out of the oven! Boy, those two pieces looked so yummy! Guess what? They tasted yummy too! Really moist, with a whole lot of corn inside. So, would we return to The Wood Pit? Of course, without a doubt! We have been living in NJ for about 4 years now and I must say, this is definitely the best Southern style BBQ we had, to date. Two thumbs up!

The Wood Pit BBQ - Montclair, NJ
108 Bloomfield Ave
Montclair, NJ 07042
Tel: (973) 954 4679
Web: http://www.thewoodpit.com

Redecorating our dining room in our new home

2011-07-31T11:38:00.002-04:00

Guest post written by Kandis Newman

We're so excited to have just moved into our first home. But, there are lots of things that we need to do before it really feels like home. One of those things is some renovations.

But I'm also looking ahead to how I'm going to redecorate once all of the renovations are done. While I was looking up some information about how I could decorate my dining room, I ran across the site WWW.homePROImprovement.com. After I looked through it some I decided to use it to help remodel our kitchen. We've been looking for more quotes on that anyway.

I also found some ideas for how to arrange our dining room furniture once we have all of our renovations completed. I can't wait until we're done with all of this and can just enjoy living in our brand new home! I know that's going to be quite a while from now. I'm also wondering if we should just go ahead and design our spare bedroom as a room that can easily be converted into a nursery!

TracFone - The Cell Phone That Puts You in Control!

2011-07-28T10:03:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of TracFone. All opinions are 100% mine.

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Alright, it’s time for me to confess. Up til really recently, I’ve never really seen the need to have a cell phone. My friends and family can contact me on my house phone and I’m also online, almost 24/7. Of course, there are a few times when I am out of the house, needed to call somebody and wished I had a cell phone. However, the hassle of being tied up in contracts, high phones bills and a host of other things outweigh the convenience of getting a cell phone. That’s for me. I’m sure for others, maybe those with kids, many a time you wished you could get cell phones for your kids. What if there was an emergency and they needed to call home? If not for anything, it would be a great way to keep a tab on them or merely just to stay in touch. Again, due to the high cost, getting a cell phone for each kid is not an option for many.

For those of you out there who are in the same shoes as me, guess what? I’ve got some news for you! TracFone is here to help! That’s right, TracFone offers the least expensive way to own and use a cell phone in America. There are no contracts, no credit checks, no activation charges or cancellation fees. Yup, that’s right. You know what that means? No surprises! Not only that, but it also has great nationwide coverage as well as excellent reception and connectivity. How awesome is that?

Hmmm, sounds too good to be true, you might say. What kind of phones comes with it? It must be something really crappy or old fashioned. Well, you are wrong! With TracFone, there is always an option. You can get a really simple phone for those with simple needs, like calling and texting capabilities for under $10.00 or for $29.99, you can get great phones packed with features like camera/video recorder, web access, app capabilities, mp3 player and a full QWERTY keyboard! You can choose from a selection of brand name phones from leading manufacturers like Motorola, Kyocera, LG, Nokia and Samsung. Whether it’s a simple "Candy Bar" phones or a Bluetooth®-enabled "Smart" phones, the choice is all yours. Either ways, you know that you will be getting a reliable phone. It’s not just me who is saying this. There are also a whole lot of real TracFone customers who can testify to this. For more information on information on the features these phones offer, you can check out these YouTube videos by clicking here and here.

Want to know more about the monthly plans? It’s really simple actually. Just pay as you go online or with cards available at thousands of retail stores across the country. You can choose monthly plans with 200 minutes for under $30.00 or and as low as $9.99 for 50 minutes. There is also 1 year service cards that gives you so much more. Receive double minutes for the life of your TracFone, and 800 minutes, for only $119.00! Also, “Double minutes for the life of your phone” is a feature that can be purchased separately for only $19.99, but some phones include it! Just like all these real TracFone customers, you can be sure that you will not be getting any surprise bills at the end of each period!

TracFone is the only wireless service that allows you to call internationally, for the same price as any other call! Yup, you heard me right. You can call over 60 international destinations directly from your TracFone at no extra cost! Wait, it gets better. With the International Neighbors program, you can provide family and friends in Mexico or Canada a local phone number in those countries to reach you at your TracFone in the U.S!! Now, THAT’S really cool.

So, what are you waiting for? Check out what real TracFone customers have to say about the convenience, reliability and coverage of TracFone and head out and get your very own TracFone today!

Italian Sausage with Peppers & Onions

2011-07-27T11:04:00.002-04:00

Yessss, I know I haven't been blogging for a while. Yesss, I know. In my past few posts, I said that I will be blogging more but I have yet to do that. Sooo, here's what I am going to do. I am going to pretend that there wasn't any break in my blogging and just carry on blogging like usual :P How's that? LOL! Anyways, it's been a while since I shared any recipes with all of you. So, here's a quick one that's really simple to make but super yummy to eat. I would make this on days when I am really lazy but still want something home made and hearty. Try it, this recipe is definitely a keeper.

Start off by browning 6 links (about 4 oz) of sweet Italian sausages in a large pan. If you like it spicy, you could use hot Italian sausages too. Make sure you brown all sides of the sausages. Once it's done, remove it from the pan and then set them aside.
Using the same pan, add in some green peppers and onions. You could also add in some yellow and red peppers too if you like.
After sauteing for a bit, season with some basil, oregano, black pepper and garlic powder. Then, add in a can of diced tomatoes. I used diced tomatoes that has been seasoned with Italian herbs but you can pretty much use just any regular diced tomatoes.
Mix the tomatoes with the rest of the ingredients then add in about half a cup of red wine. If you like, you could also use Marsala wine. Remember to try and get as much of the burnt bits off the bottom of the pan. You'll be surprised how much flavor that adds to the dish.
Give everything a good mix and return the sausages into the pan. Allow it to simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes, until all the sauce is reduced and it's good to go! How easy was that? I served that up with some penne pasta but you can pretty much serve it with anything. Pasta, rice, potatoes, Italian bread....anything that you like! Try it and let me know how it turns out! :D

Check Out Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products!

2011-06-10T22:01:00.003-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens. All opinions are 100% mine.

Boy, I’m so glad that summer is finally almost here. As much as I love spring and the escape from the long hard winter, springtime is generally not a good season for both me and Kevin (especially Kevin). On regular days, his allergies are bad enough, so just imagine how terrible it gets with all the pollen in the air! We are constantly walking around with itchy eyes, runny noses and all the effects of seasonal allergies. Not only that, we also have to take allergy pills non stop, in order to keep those in check as well as help us get through the day.

Now, all of us know that healthcare doesn’t come cheap, so the costs of all those pills do add up. When it comes to medicine and healthcare, I have always firmly believed that there is no such thing as compromising on quality, just to save a buck or two. We needed to find someplace that offers affordable medications, without compromising the quality. Thankfully, we found out about Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products. It’s really awesome! Not only is it of great value, but it allows families and individuals to save money without sacrificing quality or trust. With the rising cost of health care, saving money on over-the-counter medications can really benefit a family’s budget. Apart from that, Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products are Walgreens pharmacist recommended and most contain the same active ingredients as other national brands. Also, they have a 100% satisfaction guarantee!

We have pretty much tried all of the allergy relief medications offered through Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products and I must say, they work wonderfully! Right now, I am using Wal-Fex (which is comparable to Allegra) and really, I can’t tell the difference between those two. The only huge difference I can see the price difference. Wal-Fex is so much more affordable than Allegra! Not only is it more affordable, but I know that I am getting the same quality of medicine as national name brands. What more could a person ask for? If you think this is great, wait, there is more. Have you heard of the Walgreens Way to Well Fund™? Well, with every purchase of Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Product, you are actually doing your part in support to bring preventive wellness services to local communities through the Walgreens Way to Well Fund™. So, not only are you saving money, but you are doing something good in your local community too!

Now, with that said, let me ask you guys a question. How many of you love giveaways? I’m sure everybody does! Let me give you a heads up. Some of my fellow bloggers are giving away some Walgreens Gift Cards! All you need to do is visit their blogs and leave a comment on their blog post. Then, tweet out a message containing the URL of the blog post that they are entering through as well as the hashtag #walgreensbrand. Yup, it’s that easy. Check out http://socialspark.com/WalgreensBrandSweeps for more information. You can also visit http://www.walgreens.com/topic/brand-store/walgreens-private-label-home.jsp for more information about Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products.

A Deep Impacting Movie for the Ages

2011-05-31T17:42:00.000-04:00

Thanks for the article from Maxine Taylor

The other days I was watching TV when I came across a well made movie about some compassionate people. The movie was called, "Machete". I watched this new favorite movie on demand on Direct.tv. What really blew me away about Machete were the explosions. Robert Rodriguez really knows how to make plastic explosives and I think that if he wanted to be a terrorist trainer he would succeed. Danny Trejo brought a lot of emotion to the character by giving Jessica Alba longing glances. Jessica didn't have a leg that was a gun. I was bummed out about t! his because I think that when women are portrayed as shotgun-legged, men tend to tune into the movie closer. I liked how Machete rode around on a motorcycle that had guns on it. This is every boy's dream. I am a little disappointed that Robert Rodriguez chose Danny Trejo to be the leading man when it is obvious that Michelle Rodriguez is more of a man than he will ever be. Perhaps they will make a movie starring her that is titled "Butter Knife" or "Hair Clippers". She could be a hairdresser who kills people by shaving their heads too close and then wiping butter on their necks as a way of inviting the coyotes she keeps to feast on the flesh. Robert Rodriguez is brilliant.

Creating a TripBook with Microsoft OneNote 2010!

2011-05-17T00:01:00.006-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Microsoft. All opinions are 100% mine.

I am generally a person who doesn’t like change. As long as something works, I’d rather just stick to it instead of trying something new. That explains why I rarely try out new or updated versions of various softwares that I currently use. I guess it is also because I’m not exactly the most computer savvy person around and I am just too lazy to put in extra time and effort to learn the ins and outs of a new software. When Microsoft approached me to create a TripBook using their Microsoft OneNote 2010 software, I was initially quite hesitant. I had no idea what that software is all about, how to use it, let alone create a TripBook with it! After reading up about Microsoft OneNote, I found out that it was pretty neat software. So, I decided to give it a go.

First things first. You must be thinking to yourself, what exactly is Microsoft OneNote 2010? What does it do? Well, Microsoft OneNote 2010 is a digital notebook that provides a single place where you can gather all of your notes and information, with the added benefits of powerful search capabilities to find what you are looking for quickly. Also, it has easy-to-use shared notebooks, so you can manage information overload and work together with others more effectively. Unlike paper-based systems, word processing programs, e-mail systems, or other productivity programs, OneNote delivers the flexibility to gather and organize text, pictures, web links/pages, and more — all in one digital notebook on your computer! OneNote can also help you become more productive by keeping the information you need at your fingertips and reducing time spent searching for information across e-mail messages, paper notebooks, file folders, and printouts. Isn't Microsoft OneNote awesome? The best thing about this software is…it’s so user friendly. It took me only less than an hour to figure out how to use it. Mind you, let me remind you that I am not exactly the most computer savvy person around, so I when I say it’s easy to use, it’s really easy to use!

Now that we know what Microsoft OneNote is all about, and established that it’s really easy to use, you must be thinking to yourself. So, what did you use it for? Well, I’m sure many of you know by now that both Kevin and I enjoy traveling. Before we take off on a trip, be it a short weekend getaway or a 3 week long overseas trip, we would do a lot of research on our destination. We don’t really like surprises, therefore, we really like to plan ahead whenever we travel. Planning would mean a whole lot of emailing back and forth between the both of us, reading up reviews and recommendations of other travelers online, bookmarking travel websites as well as jotting down notes on tiny pieces of paper manually (which we would usually end up losing even before we leave on that trip!). That’s all good, but usually, we would end up with a whole bunch of information from various sources and that can be rather overwhelming. By using Microsoft OneNote, it helps us consolidate all those information into one place. All we need to do is open up our TripBook and everything is there.

Just to show you how easy it is to work with Microsoft OneNote, I have created a TripBook for Phuket, Thailand. What I really love about this TripBook is how everything is so organized and how all of the information is right at your fingertips. If you were to look at the top of the TripBook, you would notice that there are tabs. I am able to separate all my information into ‘folders’. For example, there are tabs for things like places to stay, things to do, what to eat and so on. This way, I can just click on the tab when I want certain locate information, instead of having to go through the entire document.

Another that I like about this software is the ability to gather and consolidate information with ease. If you noticed, my entire TripBook is filled with all kinds of data and photos. You might be thinking, wow, that sure sounds like a lot of work. Well, I’ll let you in on a secret. It’s really not that hard. With Microsoft OneNote, all you need to do is highlight the information that you want from your browser and click on “Send to OneNote”. Everything that you have highlighted will automatically be sent to your TripBook. This makes information gathering so much easier. If you want to add photos to your TripBook, you can either click on Insert and then add in Picture or you can use the Screen Clipping feature. I totally love that that feature! Here's how it works. If you are on a website and you like a particular picture, just click on "Screen Clipping" on your OneNote software and select the area you want to clip on your browser. Once you have done that, everything will then just appear on your OneNote document. Yup, it’s that easy!

When I was coming up with my 24 Hours in Phuket itinerary, I found that the ability to link pages (be it internally within my TripBook, or externally) really helpful. As you can see from the screenshot, once you have created a link, all you need to do is click on that particular link. It will then bring you to another page that has more information about that particular activity.

Finally, my favorite feature in Microsoft OneNote is the ability to highlight, draw and write on your TripBook, just like how you would do in a regular notebook. This is really important, especially if you want to add in more notes later on or if you would like to highlight certain things in your TripBook. A very neat feature indeed!

Overall, I am really glad that I was given a chance to review this software. Not only was it really easy and fun to use, but I found it to be really handy and practical too. I’ll definitely be using Microsoft OneNote when we start planning for our next vacation soon! If you found this interesting, you should totally go visit onenotetravel.com to check out our awesome OneNote TripBook of Phuket, Thailand! Not only will you find our TripBook there, but you will also have the opportunity to check out the TripBooks of 39 other travel bloggers, featuring cities from all over the world. Go on, what are you waiting for? Go check out our TripBook and learn more about Microsoft OneNote 2010 today!

Store Brand Baby Formula Wins a Final Round in Court

2011-05-16T07:01:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of storebrandformula.com. All opinions are 100% mine.

Today, I’ve got some very interesting news that I’d like to share with all of our mommy and daddy readers out there. Actually, come to think about it, this is really good information for everyone, not just for parents out there. Remember me blogging me in the past about how store brand infant formula manufacturer (PBM Products Inc) took industry giant Mead Johnson to court over false advertisement claims? Well, they won but Mead Johnson went ahead to appeal the verdict.

Now, here is the good news. A few weeks ago, store brand infant formulas won a major victory when a U.S. Circuit Court upheld the $13.5 million false advertising claim against Enfamil maker Mead Johnson. Isn’t that great news? This goes to show that the truth always prevails! Here’s what went down. The case was centered on the successful argument by PBM Products, Perrigo’s store brand infant formula business, that Enfamil’s advertisements of superiority to store brand formulas were false and misleading because store brand formulas offer the same nutrients at the same levels as Enfamil. “As the litigation history of the parties demonstrates, despite having twice been restrained from disseminating misleading advertising, Mead Johnson continued to do so,” Circuit Judge Andre Davis wrote. “PBM cannot fairly compete with Mead Johnson unless and until Mead Johnson stops infecting the marketplace with misleading advertising.”

In response to that, Perrigo Chairman and CEO Joseph C. Papa said in a statement that "The Court has made it clear that national brand and store brand suppliers are entitled to fairly compete and advertising abuses will not be tolerated," as well as "We also appreciate the Court's recognition that PBM could lawfully compare its products to national brand products." Christopher Perille, a Mead Johnson spokesman, said in an e-mail that the company will comply with the court’s ruling.

For more information, you can read up more about this in Business Week’s website at http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-04-20/mead-johnson-loses-bid-to-cancel-13-5-million-jury-verdict.html. You could also get more information about store brand formulas as well as coupons from storebrandformula.com

Futbol v. Football Fun Facts

2011-05-05T22:21:00.008-04:00

Woohoo! Man Utd has beaten Schalke and they are on going to Wembley for the Champions League finals! No doubt, it's gonna be tough to beat Barcelona, but I have faith that the boys in red will win the Champions League this year. Not only that, but we will also be playing Chelsea this weekend in the English Premier League and a win here would put us a step closer to the title! What a busy and exciting week for us Manchester United fans. I love soccer, if you haven't figured it out by now. However, there is one thing I love more than soccer. FOOTBALL!! That's right, if you are long time readers of this blog, you would know that the both of us bleed black and gold. We are die hard Pittsburgh Steelers fans. I came across some fun facts about futbol (soccer to the Americans) v. football that I found to be pretty interesting. Thought that I would share it with all of you too. Check it out.

Source:Sports

Management Colleges

Interesting Travel & Vacation Facts

2011-05-04T22:26:00.011-04:00

Before I say anything else, I would like to apologize for the long silence. I have been really busy working on some new projects and I guess, I have unintentionally neglected this blog for a bit. However, the good news is that we're back! Now that I'm done with the projects, I have a little time on my hands. I was reading up on some stuff the other day and found some of these interesting facts. I'm sure many of you know that both Kevin and I enjoy traveling and we have shared quite a lot of our travel adventures with you on this blog over the years. Check out some of this travel and vacation facts, they are pretty interesting and might even come in handy as conversational starters in the next party or social event you might be attending ;)

This graphic was designed by Lorena O'Neal, you can check out more of
her work here.

Source:Onlineclasses.net

NMEDA helps you get back onto the road of independence!

2011-04-18T10:00:00.001-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of NMEDA. All opinions are 100% mine.

You wake up, jump out of bed, rush to shower and get ready for work. You then scoot downstairs for a quick cup of coffee, maybe take out the trash from last night's dinner and pick up the morning paper. Without missing a beat, you hopped into you car and you're off to work. All that in less than half an hour or so. Sounds familiar? It's just routine for many of us and many don't even think twice about it. However, for a person with disabilities, this can be a very a very daunting task. That's right, living with disabilities is hard. Not only is it hard for the person, but it can be sometimes tough for their caregiver as well. Something as simple as getting ready in the morning and heading off to work can be a big task. Thankfully, these days, there are a lot of wheelchairs, wheelchair vehicles and other aides to help people with disability regain more freedom and mobility in life. However, there are just so many out there, how do we know which is good and which one is the right fit for you? You see ads for them everywhere, on TV, in the newspapers and on the Internet. How do you know which is good for you? Sometimes buying something that doesn't fit does more harm than good.

Well, I got something to share with you today. Have you heard of NMEDA? Well, NMEDA (National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association) is a non-profit trade association that advocates providing safe, reliable vehicles and modifications to enhance accessibility for all people. Not only that, they are also the only association that promotes safe driving and equipment for disabled people. Yes, they are non-profit and their members are required to adhere to the safety standards of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In short, they do not sell anything. NMEDA dealers (members) are the ones who sell handicap vans and vehicle modifications for disabled people.

Why buy from a NMEDA qualified dealer? Well, one of the biggest advantage you get when you buy from a NMEDA qualified dealer is that they conduct on-site evaluations to custom fit vehicles to your specific needs. You see, no two people with a disability is exactly the same, right? So why should their wheelchair vehicles be exactly the same? That is one of the main reasons why you should be careful of adapted wheelchair vehicles sold over the Internet or through catalogs. Why waste your money on something that might not be right for you? When you buy from a NMEDA dealer, you give a personalized “in-person” evaluation, so you can be sure that you are getting the right driving solution customized to your specific lifestyle and needs. If you need additional training or product refinements, your NMEDA dealer will always be there to help you.

Apart from having just dealers, NMEDA also has Quality Assurance Program (QAP) dealers. The Quality Assurance Program (QAP) is the only nationally recognized accreditation program for the Adaptive Mobility Equipment Industry. It is based on the principle that in order to satisfy customers consistently, companies must have a systematic and documented approach to quality. What this means is, that in order to be a QAP dealer, your company must not only have high quality and safe equipment but you must also meet the satisfaction of your customers.

So, with the help NMEDA dealers, the elderly or disabled can get back onto the road of independence. Life doesn't really have to be this tough. After hearing about NMEDA, I went to nmeda.org to read up more about them. On their homepage, you can hit the dealers locator, type in your zip code and see if there is a qualified dealer near you. I did just that and found that there are quite a few in my area. I know I do not need a wheelchair now, but it's always assuring to know that if me or any of my loves ones ever needs one, NMEDA is always there to help. You should do the same. Just enter your zip code to find your closest qualified dealer. There are at least 8 dealers in less than 40 miles from me, now many are there near you? Tell me, I'm curious to know!

Southern Fried Chicken & Biscuits

2011-04-13T17:18:00.005-04:00

If you are regular readers of this blog, you would know that both Kevin and I love fried chicken. We love all kinds of fried chicken, especially Southern Fried Chicken. I've never attempted to make any at home, cos it was so easy to just go to our favorite fried chicken place and pick up a bucket! However, it's been a while since we ate any (since we started our little "try to eat healthier' quest :P). Chicken thighs and drumsticks were on sale at our local grocery store not too long ago and I figured, why not? Let me try to make some Southern Fried Chicken at home. A few pieces of yummy fried chicken won't kill us. So, I googled Southern Fried Chicken recipes and found quite a few. I really like Paula Deen and The Neely Family's (I regard them both as gurus of Southern cooking!) recipe, so I took bits and pieces from each of that and came up with my own. Check it out!

Start off my cleaning the chicken pieces (I used thighs and drumsticks but you can pretty much use anything you like) and patting them dry with a paper towel. Season them with some freshly ground black pepper, garlic powder and seasoned salt. Make sure that you season both sides of the chicken. Then, set it aside.
Next, pour in a quart of buttermilk into a large bowl.
Then, add in some hot sauce. It doesn't matter what kind of hot sauce you use but if you are Paula Deen fans, you would know that she swears by Texas Pete. I personally like Texas Pete too, but it's entirely up to you. You can put in as much or as little as you like. The Neelys used about 2 tablespoons where else Paula Deen used half a small bottle!
After mixing the hot sauce into the buttermilk, add in 1 tablespoon of crushed cayenne pepper. You gotta be careful with this, cos it really packs a punch. If you don't like it to be so spicy, you should just use half a tablespoon.
Now, place the chicken pieces into a deep casserole dish. Then, pour the buttermilk mixture over it. You should allow your chicken pieces to sit for at least 15 mins after you season them before soaking them in the buttermilk mixture. If you do it any sooner, the seasoning will just wash off. Soaking the chicken pieces in buttermilk is really important, cos not only does it give it flavor, but it also really tenderizes the chicken. Cover the dish with an air tight lid and allowed it to soak for at least 2 hours. I allowed mine to soak overnight, it's better that way.
Once you are ready to fry the chicken, you can start preparing the flour mixture to dredge the chicken pieces. Combine some all purpose flour with some black pepper, garlic powder and cayenne pepper. You can also add in some corn starch if you like. The corn starch actually helps make your fried chicken really crispy! Mix it all together and you are all set to go.
Gently remove a piece of chicken from the buttermilk mixture and allow all access buttermilk to drip off. Then, slow dredge it in the flour mixture. Make sure you coat the entire piece of chicken well.
Then, place the chicken pieces in hot peanut oil. Make sure that it is hot enough before you place the chicken in. It should be around 350F. Also, do not over crowd the pan. If you put in too many pieces, it would lower the temperature of the pan and the chicken would not turn out right. Unless you have a really big pan or a deep fryer, stick to a few pieces for each batch.
Once the chicken turns golden and crisp, it's done! It should take around 8 to 10 minutes for white meat and 13 to 15 minutes for dark meat to fully cook through. Allow the oil to drain and then place the chicken pieces on some paper towels before serving.
While I was frying up the chicken, I also popped in some instant biscuits (yes, I know...it's cheating!) in the oven. It should be nice and ready by the time we are done with the chicken. How did this recipe turn out? Well, I think it turned out awesome! Nothing beats some spicy southern fried chicken and freshly baked biscuits. I would have to say that this recipe is a keeper. Try it....I think you will like I too!

File your taxes, the easy way!

2011-04-10T09:41:00.003-04:00

For those of you who have yet to file your taxes, April 18th is just around the corner. Eight more days to be exact! Boy, time sure creeps up on you. It's pretty much the same every year. It's January and you think you still have a whole lot of time to do your taxes, and then BAM! It's already April. I don't know about you but I used to really dislike preparing our tax returns. There are just so many numbers, different columns and boxes to fill. I am usually not even sure what refunds we qualify for and I am pretty sure that we have never gotten the maximum refund, ever. Sure, it's easy to just bring it all to tax experts and let them do the work but their services sure don't come cheap. Also, it's a hassle to have to bring all our documents to their office and so on.

This year, things are a little bit different for us. By early February, we were all done with our taxes! No more last minute rush for us. If you have yet to get around to filling your taxes, I'll let you in on something. It really isn't all that difficult to file your taxes! In fact, I dare say that it's really easy. You can do it yourself, in the comforts of your own home. All you need is TurboTax! Seriously, that's like a god sent to us. What's TurboTax? Well, it's a tax software that helps and guides you through the whole process, from the start right til the very end. It offers step by step instructions and even calculates everything for you! Not only that, but they even guarantee that all calculations are 100% correct. If not, they will pay all IRS penalties plus interest. They also guarantee that you will receive the maximum refund that is due to you. So, goodbye guessing game. You can be sure that you will be getting all refunds that you qualify for. No wonder TurboTax is rated #1 and is the best selling tax software.

You might be thinking, wow, this is great but I only have 8 more days to get all my documents and act together. I really don't think I have enough time to do it all. I know I can file for an extension but how do I go about it? Well, TurboTax has the answer for you too. If you file your extension by April 18th, you will have til October 17th to finish your taxes! With TurboTax, all you need is about 5 minutes and that gets you an extra 6 months to get it done. They would guide you throughout the whole process of filling up the IRS extension form 2009. Not only that, you would even get an email from the IRS once your tax extension is granted. Really, it cannot get easier than that. So, to all of you who have yet to do your taxes, don't procrastinate any longer. It's not as difficult as you think it is. With TurboTax, filing your taxes just got a whole lot easier!

Uno Chicago Grill - Clifton, NJ

2011-04-06T19:27:00.001-04:00

tIt was another lazy Sunday afternoon for us and we spent the entire afternoon lazing on the couch, watching TV. We were watching some program on the Food Network about various types of pizzas around America and I realized that I've never tried the Chicago style deep dish pizza before. Yeah, I've been to Chicago before don't ask me why, I just never got around to trying the deep dish pizza. Now, I totally love our NY style pizza and I really think that it's the best pizza ever. Hands down. However, how can I make such a statement without even trying the Chicago style pizza, right? So, I told Kevin that we should go have some Chicago style deep dish pizza for dinner that evening. Now, the big question. Where can we find Chicago style deep dish pizza in the middle of Northern Jersey?
Uno Chicago Grill, of course! After all, they were the ones who invented the Chicago deep dish pizza! We have always driven past this place whenever we go grocery shopping in Clifton, but we never got around to checking it out. I guess today is the day! Since it's located in a shopping/commercial area of Clifton, parking was no problem at all. There were ample free parking spaces available all around the restaurant. I guess we were a little bit early for dinner, so we lucked out and didn't have to wait for a table. I can tell that Uno Chicago Grill is a pretty popular spot, cos all the tables were filled and there was a line when we left.
Before we left for dinner, I went online to see if there were any in store coupons and/or promotions for Uno Chicago Grill. I found out that if we sign up for their Insider's Club, we will get a coupon for a free appetizer. So, I did just that! We ordered the 1lbs of the Honey BBQ Wings ($9.79) to share as our appetizer. Of course, we got that free...so...YAY! The wings were really huge and juicy, just the way I like them! The honey BBQ sauce was also really yummy. Who would have known, that you can find such awesome wings in a pizza place.
For our mains, we of course ordered the deep dish pizza. Since we couldn't agree on a what pie to try, we decided to go with two personal pans. When they brought out the pies, the waiter told us that the pans are super hot. They then helped us remove the pies from the pans and placed them on regular plates. It smelled so good and yummy, we couldn't wait to dig in. Kevin ordered the Chicago Classic ($10.79) and I had the Numero Uno ($10.99) . Kevin's Chicago Classic is crumbled sausage, chunky tomato sauce, Mozzarella and grated Romano cheese. It looked yummy and Kevin said it tasted great too.
My Numero Uno pizza is their all time favorite and one of the most popular pizzas on the menu. It's basically a 'the works' pizza. It had sausage, pepperoni, onions, peppers, mushrooms and their signature chunky tomato sauce, all topped with Mozzarella and grated Romano cheese. Look at how deep it is. It's so thick, you can't just pick it up to eat, like the NY style pizza. You have to use a fork! It was just packed with all kinds of toppings and it was soo flavorful too. Another thing that stood out was the crust. It was so buttery and flaky, mmmm mmmm mmmm.
Our total bill came to $28.85 for 2 drinks, 1 appetizers (which was free) and two pizzas. We had plenty of pizza left over, so I would say that it was enough to feed 3-4 people. Not too bad at all. So, the answer to the question we have all been waiting for. Which is better? NY style of Chicago style pizza? I really love the Chicago deep dish pizza from Uno Chicago Grill. In fact, I am already making plans to return real soon. However, I must say that nothing can beat our greasy and huge sliced NY style pizza! Pick up a huge slice of pepperoni pizza with cheese and grease dripping from the sides, fold it in half and stuff it in your mouth. Ahhhh heaven! Now, that's what I call good pizza! :D

Uno Chicago Grill - Clifton, NJ
426 Rt. 3 West
Clifton, NJ 07014
Tel: (973)574 1303
Web: http://unos.com/

It’s fun to stay at the Hil-ton Ho-tel!

2011-04-02T10:01:00.001-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Hiltons of Branson for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Remember the time when words like “funky” and “groovy” were to in things to say? When dressing up for a night out in town means putting on your favorite polyester leisure suit, complete with an open chested shirt? How about the time when it was fashionable for guys to sport an afro and wear a neck scarf? Ahhh yes, don't we all miss the 70s? A time when wars are out and disco was in! Well, guess what? It's time to wipe of the dust from your platforms shoes cos it's time to boogie once again. That's right, the 70s is back, baby! On May 13^th, for one night only, the 70s will come alive, before your very eyes. The Village People are coming to Branson, Missouri!!!

Nope, you didn't hear me wrong. I said, young man, are you listening to me? The Village People will be coming to the Branson Tri-Lakes Center on May 13^th! They will be performing 2 hours of their pop culture hits, songs like “YMCA,” “In the Navy,” “Macho Man,” and “Boogie Oogie Oogie”. Not only that, Maxine Nightingale & Janice-Marie will also be there! What's better than boogieing the night away at a 70s concert? Meeting your favorite performers after that! Yup, after the curtain falls, you will get a chance to meet your favorite performers cos they will be staying back to sign autographs and take pictures with the fans! How awesome is that?

After you’ve grooved the night away with your favorite 70’s icons, you would what to head back to your comfortable room, to just kick back and relax. There is no better place to do that than at the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing. Located on Lake Taneycomo, the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing Hotel is situated within the vibrant Branson Landing, a waterfront shopping, dining and entertainment district featuring over 100 specialty stores. This full service hotel with indoor pool is also directly across from the Branson Convention Center and Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel. Not only that, it is located in the heart of Historic Downtown, just minutes from the 49 live theatres, Branson golf courses, Table Rock Lake, Silver Dollar City, Titanic Museums and many more attractions.

Imagine this. At the Hilton Promenade, you can recover from a long night of working the dance floor, in your plush Hilton Serenity collection bed. It includes a pillowed topped mattress, down comforter and luxurious 250 thread count triple sheets. You can also kick up your feet and upload the pictures of your wild time-traveling night with the Hilton’s high speed Internet access. This makes the Hilton Promenade the only place to stay! To sweeten it even more, they are also offering exclusive ticket and rooming packages, from as low as $219.00 for two people.

To get into the 70s mood, tell me, what's your favorite Village People song? Don't be shy, I know you have one. Apart from the YMCA, I also love Macho Men (Oh yeah, I love macho men ;P). What about you? Are you excited about this coming concert? Head over to the Hilton website and book your package today! Oh yeah, everybody now. It's fun to stay at the Hil-ton Ho-tel!

Home Made Indian Food for less than $3 in 20 mins!!

2011-04-01T22:52:00.004-04:00

Both Kevin and I really enjoy Indian food. Not the real spicy Southern Indian style but more the creamy and mild Northern Indian. Therefore, we have always been big fans of Indian buffets as well as take out/delivery Indian food. You might be asking, why don't you try making some at home? Well, truthfully, I never really tried due to the fact that I've always thought that Indian food requires a lot of prep time and also uses tons of ingredients (it does!). That is of course, if you make it from scratch. I was walking through the "Ethnic Food" aisle at our local grocery store a while ago and saw some stuff on sale that changed my preconceived ideas about making Indian food at home. I realized that by just getting this three items, I am able to 'cheat' my way into making a really quick and affordable Indian meal at home.
Alritey, here are the three items that I picked up from the grocery store. The first is Patak's Original Tikka Masala Curry Cooking Sauce. There is a whole range of different sauces, from Butter Chicken to Rogan Josh to Korma. We like the Tikka Masala cos it's creamy and has a little hint of spiciness (just a little :P). That bottle set us back $2.99. Next is a packet of microwaveable Palak Paneer. It's already pre cooked and all you need to do is heat it up. That pack cost us only $1.99. Lastly, we picked up a pack of Tandoori Naan from the bakery section for $2.99 (two pieces in the pack). All that came up to just below $8. Oh, we also picked up a lb of chicken breast meat to make the Tikka Masala ($1.99 per lbs)...so the grand total comes up to a little less than $10. This is enough to feed about 3-4 people, so actually, the whole meals comes up to be less than $3 per person!
Now, let me show you how simple and fast it will be to whip up the entire meal. Just start off by heating some oil and browning 1 lbs of cubed chicken breast in a large pan. It doesn't really have to be chicken, you can pretty much use any type of meat that you like. Since Patak's Cooking Sauce is free from artificial colors, flavors, preservatives and is gluten free, you could also replace the chicken with vegetables and make this a vegetarian dish too.
After your chicken has been cooked through (it takes about 10 mins or so), pour in the cooking sauce and stir it in with the chicken.
Allow it to heat up and simmer for another 10 mins and you are done!
While the chicken is simmering on the stove, take out your naan bread and place them on a baking sheet. Brush on some melted butter and pop it into a preheated 400F oven for about 10 mins. It should be nicely warmed up and ready to eat by the time your chicken tikka is done.
After you have popped the naan bread into the oven, pour out the Palak Paneer into a microwaveable bowl. Microwave it on high for about 2-3 mins and that's all ready to go too! How easy is that?
There you go! A piping hot Indian meal, straight from your kitchen! Chicken Tikka Masala, Palak Paneer and some Naan bread. I made all that in about 20 mins and it cost me just a little less than $3 per serving! It's it awesome? Where else can you get a yummy Indian meal for about $3 per person? And all that in 20 mins? It would even take longer for your local Indian take out place to deliver that too you. Granted, its not made from scratch, but for $3 per person and getting to eat all that in just about 20 mins, I'll take it anyday! :P

Check Out The Express Spring 2011 Swim Collection Today!

2011-04-01T17:00:00.001-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Express for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Woohoo! Today is already the last day in March. I'm so glad that the weather is getting nicer and warmer each day. Isn't it great that spring is already here? I'm so done with all the heavy coats, thick chunky boots and scarfs! Can't wait to go around in my shorts and t shirts once again! Another thing that I can't wait to do is to spend more time out in the sun. I don't know about you guy, but here in Jersey, when the weather gets warm, we all head down to the shore! It's just the thing to do. Young people, older people, families...everybody goes to the shore. Apart from the awesome beaches, great food and non stop entertainment, another thing that I love about the shore is the people. I love looking at all the different types of swim wear that people would wear. From bright and bold colors to all kinds of cuts and styles. It's like walking into a real life fashion show!

Talking about swimwear and fashion, have you heard of the new spring swinwear collection at Express? If you haven't, you really gotta check it out! I just love it. I love how it's not just any basic women's swimwear but a collection of bright solids, on-trend graphic prints, nautical-inspired stripes, sleek metallic and essential reversible styles. The swim suits can be found in all types from styles, from their always popular monokini, to two piece swimwear like the sexiest string bikini, strapless and halter bikinis. Not only that, they also come with designer details that include flirty ruffles, sexy self-tie sides, glam beaded embellishments and polished metal hardware. Other features include removable padding in tops as well as the bottoms fit smaller to size, for moderate back coverage. My personal favorite is actually the monokini. It's just perfect for the shore. I feel that it's not overly revealing but due to the cut and body loving style, it has just the right balance of style and sexiness! Just perfect!

I'm sure by now, you would all know that I always love giving you guys a heads up when it comes to awesome contest and sweepstakes. Guess what? Express is currently running their Express Yourself This Spring with Express Spring Fashion! Contest. It's really easy to join. All you need to do is sign up for Express e-mail and you will stand a chance to win one of ten $200 Express gift cards! How cool is that? You better hurry though, cos the sweepstakes ends on the April 30th, 2011 at 11:59pm, EST. More information regarding the contest as well as sweepstakes rules can be found on their website. So, what are you waiting for? Head over to their website to check out their new spring swimwear collection as well as to sign up for Express emails today!

Pandan Asian Cuisine - Bloomfield, NJ

2011-03-23T13:55:00.002-04:00

Boy, this is another long overdue post. I really gotta stop slacking so much and update this blog more regularly. I'll try my best, okay? :P Anyways, since Valentine's Day fell on a Monday this year, we decided to go out for an early Valentine's Day dinner the day before. Truthfully, both Kevin and I are not really big on celebrating Valentine's Day but it's kinda nice to go out for a nice dinner once in a while. We decided to go check out this little South East Asian restaurant located at the corner of Broad and Baldwin Street in Bloomfield. Even though it's name says "Pandan Asian Cuisine", most of their specialties are mainly Filipino dishes. However, they do have some Thai and Vietnamese dishes in their menu too.
From the moment we walked in, we could tell that it would be a very pleasant night. With warm orange walls and fairy lights all over, it was a very cozy and nice restaurant. The servers were really helpful and friendly too. To start off, Kevin ordered a glass of Thai Iced Tea ($2.50) and I just went with iced water. I had a sip of his tea and I must say, it tasted really good. Very fragrant and creamy.
Since it was a rather cold night, we wanted some soup to warm up. Now, Kevin is a big fan of Tom Yum, so we tried their Spicy Shrimp Tom Yum Soup ($5). The soup wasn't really all that spicy but it was so flavorful. Really good! They were also quite generous with their large shrimp and mushrooms. It was a big portion and it was definitely enough to share. The bowl in the picture is my share and that's like only 1/4 of the amount served.
Apart from the soup, we also wanted to try another dish from the appetizer menu. There were really quite a lot of yummy sounding appetizers to choose from and we finally decided on the Lumpiang Shanghai ($5.50). Very good choice, I must say. It's basically Filipino style deep fried spring rolls, stuffed with pork. It tasted somewhat like a merge between the Vietnamese Cha Gio and our Malaysian Popiah. The best about it is that it was really crispy and not oily at all. Yummy yummy stuff.
For our mains, we decided to share a noodle dish and a meat dish. Since it was predominantly a Filipino restaurant, we thought that we should try one of the Filipino noodle dishes. So, we went with the Pancit Bihon ($9). Stir fried rice vermicelli with slices of chicken and mixed vegetables, topped with scallions and roasted garlic. Even though Pancit Bihon is pretty much a staple in Filipino cooking, I've never tried it before. Guess what? I liked what I tried. It reminded me of the fried rice vermicelli that my grandmother would fry up during birthday parties and other special occasions while I was growing up, back home in Malaysia. Really authentic and good (not to mention that the portion was huge too!).
Ahhhh now for the main event. I knew we just had to order this when we saw it on the menu. Crispy Pata ($16)!!! It's deep fried pork leg, served with sawsawan (some type of soy vinegar sauce) and a side of som tom salad (shredded green papaya, carrots and mango with lime juice, and ground peanuts). I cannot even begin to describe how good this is! The skin was just oh so crispy and yummy. Granted, its not the healthiest dish in the world but it sure tasted great!! Oh, if only I could eat this everyday....droooooools :P
By the time we were done with our meal, we were just too stuffed to even look at the dessert menu. Our server told us to just take a look at it anyways and boy, were we glad that we did. They were all kinds of delicious sounding Filipino desserts, we just couldn't help it but order one to share :P We ordered a portion of Turon with Ube Ice Cream ($6). For those of you who don't know, Turon is a Filipino deep fried snack that is made of thinly sliced bananas and jackfruit, wrapped in spring roll paper. It came with some yam/taro ice cream by the side. I've never really tried Filipino food before but I am fast becoming a fan! I love this too! Also, look at what the kitchen did with the food presentation. Since it was the eve of Valentine's Day, they even took the trouble to draw out those hearts on the plate. Nice ya? :D
Overall, it was a great dinner. Not only was the food really good, but the prices were rather affordable. Not only that, the portions are huge too (we had enough food left over for lunch the next day!). That, coupled with some really friendly staff, made our dining experience in Pandan Asian Cuisine a really wonderful one. Two thumbs up, we will definitely return soon!

Pandan Asian Cuisine - Bloomfield, NJ
406 Broad Street
Bloomfield, NJ 07003
Tel: (973)748 9997
Web: http://www.pandanasiancuisine.com

Spring Outdoor Furniture from Pier 1

2011-03-19T10:01:00.001-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Pier 1 for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Boy, two more days til winter is officially over! Yup, March 20^th is the day that we have all been waiting for. Hello spring! With all the horrible snow storms and blizzards that we had this winter, I'm more than ready for spring to come. When I woke up this morning, I was greeted with lovely 50 degree weather and the forecast predicts that we will hit a high of 74 degrees today! I even heard the ice cream truck pass by a while ago. For me, the first sighting of the ice cream truck in our neighborhood is equivalent to the first robin of spring. Yes folks, spring is here indeed!

With the weather warming up, it's time to clear out the deck and lay out all of the outdoor furniture once again. Out of all the spaces in a house, I would have to say that I love the deck and patio best of all. I just feel that it's an extension of your living room but a million times better. You get all the comforts of your living room while enjoying the crisp fresh air outdoors. Whenever spring comes around, one of the first places that I would go checkout for outdoor furniture would be Pier 1. Seriously, Pier 1 is like my one stop shop for all my outdoor entertaining need. Not only do they offer great bargains for outdoor furniture but they also have really beautiful accents too.

The one thing that I really like about Pier 1's outdoor furniture is that you can use it outdoors as well as indoors! This way, it's not a seasonal thing. All you need to do is move your outdoor furniture and decorations indoors when it starts to get cold again and you are all set for winter! How nice is that! I was browsing through Pier 1's website earlier today and I totally feel in love with the Taza Square Outdoor Table. It is crafted in wrought iron and each individual tile is hand crafted using a special screen printing technique. To me, it's more than a piece of furniture...it's a work of art! It would look so great outdoors in the patio during the warmer months and it would also look beautiful indoors in the winter. That would definitely look great with Pier 1's Whimsical Garden Cushion Collection too. And yes, those cushions would work beautifully indoors AND outdoors! Another thing that Pier 1 is really famous more is their Papasans. Boy, have they evolved! You should check out the outdoor Papasan and even the double outdoor Papasan. You know what is my favorite one? The Mocha Swingasan Chair! Not only does it look great, it's incredibly fun to sit in.

So, what are you waiting for? Head over to www.pier1.com/outdoor to sign up for the Pier 1 Outdoor newsletter and check out all the special in-store offers for this March 18^th -20^th weekend. Also, to all our readers in the Dallas, Atlanta and NYC areas, boy, I got news for you. A Pier 1 Tweetups is coming to your town! Make plans to come mingle and meet with some of your areas bloggers as well as Tweeters. The upcoming Pier 1 Tweetups in Dallas will be on March 22^nd, April 5^th in Atlanta and April 20^th in NYC. We are planning to be there for the NYC Tweetup, so hey, maybe we can see you there! For more information about dates, times and locations, visit http://izea.com/a-pier-1-tweetup-coming-to-your-area/ today!

Simple & Hearty Guinness Beef Stew

2011-03-17T22:36:00.003-04:00

Since it's St Patrick's Day today, I wanted to make something Irish (or at least with something with some Irish influence) for dinner last night. Initially, I thought of making some traditional Irish corned beef and cabbage. So, I went online to look for a good recipe. While browsing through some recipes of Irish dishes, I came across an awesome recipe for Guinness Beef Stew. I thought to myself, "Hey, why not try this instead?" Well, I did and it turned out to be great! Not only was it rather easy to make but it was super yummy too. Let me share this recipe with you guys.

Start off by marinating about two and a half lbs of cubed stew beef (I used chuck) with some freshly crushed black pepper and garlic powder. When you pick your meat, make sure that it has some nice marbling. We do not want to get something that is too lean.
Next, coat the beef cubes in flour that has been seasoned with some salt.
Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan and throw in a bay leaf or two. Then, saute the beef in batches, just til it turns brown. Remember not to over crowd the pan. It took me about three batches to get it all done. Remove the beef from the pan and set it aside.
Alritey, time to cut up the vegetables. Quarter about 6-7 small red potatoes (leave the skin on) and drop them into the crockpot. Six to seven potatoes is just an estimate. It really depends on how big your potatoes are. Since the red potatoes that I have are really huge, I only used four and cubed them into smaller chunks. Then, add in a couple handfuls of baby carrots. You could also use regular carrots. Just cut them into cubes. If you like, you could also add in some celery. Now, I am not really a big fan of celery, so I decided to leave that out. Top all of that with a couple of bay leaves.
Next, slice up a medium onion and mince a few cloves of garlic. Then, throw them into the pan that you used to brown the meat earlier. Saute over medium heat for a few minutes and then add in about 1/4 can of beef broth (14 oz can) to deglaze the pan. Make sure that you scrap up all the yummy leftover bits from the beef at the bottom of the pan. Those tiny bits are just packed with flavor!
Once you are done with the onions and garlic, add in the beef that you have browned earlier into the crockpot and top that up with the onions and garlic.
After that, place some sliced fresh mushrooms on top of the onions and garlic. I used white mushrooms but you could also use portobellos if you like.
Now, we can start working on the stock. Pour the remaining beef broth into the pan that you used earlier to saute the onions and garlic. Then, add in two 8 oz cans of tomato sauce followed by an envelope of onion soup mix (approx 13g). Mix it all together.
Pour the mixture carefully into the crockpot. Finally, top everything up with a large can (14.9 oz) of Guinness. It really depends on how much space you have in your crockpot. Just crack open a bottle/can of Guinness and fill it to the top. For me, I used the entire large can. Cover your crockpot, set it on HIGH and allow it to cook for about 7 hours. Done! Now, wasn't that easy? I made this early in the day and we had a huge pot of piping hot stew waiting for us by dinner time. The best part of it all was the delicious smell that filled our whole apartment throughout the entire day. Mmmm mmmm mmmmm! I served this Guinness Beef Stew up with mashed potatoes and a some Irish Soda Bread that we had bought earlier from our local grocery store. Go ahead, try this recipe and let me know how it turned out. I bet you will enjoy it as much as we did!

Happy St Patrick's Day Everyone!!

Mario's Pizza - Newark, NJ

2011-03-15T20:45:00.005-04:00

There is a fairly new pizza place (well, not THAT new but new enough) that opened up a couple of doors away from Jersey BBQ Pit that we have been meaning to check out. Every time we drive down McCarter Highway, we would say that we wanna swing by one day to try it but we just never got around to doing so. It was another lazy weekend for us and as usual, we were just too lazy to cook dinner or even head out to grab a bite. We just didn't feel like going anywhere, let alone leave our couch! I did manage to make it down to the lobby to collect our mail though and I saw a stack of delivery menus nearby. I picked one up and realized that it was for Mario's Pizza....how perfect! We could try the food from this new place and we didn't even have to leave our apartment for that. Life is good! :P
The menu itself was rather extensive. Not only do they have pizzas but they also offer all kinds of soups, salads, appetizers, pasta, wraps, sandwiches, hamburgers, wings as well as Italian chicken, veal and seafood dishes. Oh, they also have selection of dessert and drinks too. Unlike some other places that deliver, Mario's accepts credit/debit cards transactions. Delivery is also free, with a minimum purchase of $10. The only thing thing that we didn't really like was the delivery time. We had to wait for an hour or so, just to get our food. The acceptable delivery time around these parts is usually half an hour.
To start off our meal, Kevin and I shared a small cold antipasto salad ($7.50). The large goes for $12. Boy, we were glad that we ordered a small cos the portion was really huge! A whole bunch of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, toasted red peppers, black olives topped with rolls of ham, genoa, salami and provolone cheese. Look at the amount of meat that came along with it! Definitely worth the $7.50. Not only were the portions huge, it tasted yummy too.
After such a yummy salad, this was a little bit of a letdown. Sausage Calzone with Marinara Sauce ($6.25). By the time the calzone got here, it was cold. Really cold. Also, it was super greasy. Look at all the grease on the paper plate. Terrible. The crust wasn't all that great and I felt as though they are skimping on the stuffing. There was only stuffing in the middle, which leaves us with very hard (almost stone like) crust at the end. The marinara sauce was also really watery. I wouldn't order this from them again.
The calzone was really bad but I must say that they redeemed themselves with their wings. We ordered 10 pcs of BBQ chicken wings ($7.25) and it came with complimentary celery and blue cheese. As you can see from the picture, they were huge wings. If there is one thing that I can't stand, it would be tiny, hard, over fried wings. This wasn't the case. They were really huge and juicy. The BBQ sauce was awesome too. Yes, they arrived cold but after reheating it for a bit, it tasted great. Sooooo, the big question now. Would we order from Mario's again? Well, this is a tough one. The delivery was super slow (thus resulting in us getting cold food) and the calzone was horrible. However, we really liked the antipasto and the wings were yummy too. I guess we would give them another chance to see if the long delivery time was just a one off thing and maybe we will try something else from the menu. Will keep all of you posted!

Mario's Pizza - Newark, NJ
1413 McCarter Highway,
Newark, NJ 07104
Tel: (973)497 2031
Fax: (973)497 2130
Web: http://themariospizza.com/

More gifts from Marlboro!!!

2011-03-13T22:56:00.000-04:00

I must say that Marlboro is simply the best when it comes to giving out awesome prizes for their contest/sweeps. Over the years, we have won countless stuff from Marlboro - from small things like keychains, cookbooks, t shirts to bigger stuff like a HD video cam as well as invites to various event. I guess the biggest prize so far was the fully paid 4 days 3 nights trip for 2 to the Marlboro Ranch in Montana! A few months ago, Marlboro ran their Outwit The West contest over a period of 10 weeks. This would be the third Outwit The West contest organized by Marlboro but the first time ever to be fully online (the previous two was solely via snail mail). How it worked was that Marlboro would release 5 questions regarding the West each week and there would be 10 sets of questions in total. After each week, we would get points for each correct answer. Mind you, the questions were not simple questions whereby you could just google the answers. They were rather tricky and came in various forms, ie: poems, videos, pictures, sound clips. After the end of 10 weeks, we could exchange the points that we collected for various gifts.
The 'biggest' prize that we could win was a Samsung Netbook but unfortunately, both Kevin and I fell short by a few points :( Oh well, the prizes that we got ain't shabby either. A few weeks after the contest ended, we found this two really nice ashtrays in the mail. That's the bonus gift that we got, for some of the leftover points from the game. They were kinda small but really nice and heavy. We have won many ashtrays over the years from Marlboro but I think that this is one of the nicer ones. We actually have a whole bunch of Marlboro ashtrays, kept in mint condition. From what I hear, Marlboro memorabilia is rather hot and those ashtrays might be worth quite a lot one day (since each design is only produced in limited quantities).
This is the main prize that I won. Isn't it sweet? A Canon PowerShot SX130 IS digital camera! I believe the estimated retail price of this camera is around $230. Not too bad at all. 12.1MP, 12x wide angle optical zoom, image stabilizer as well as some new scene modes like Miniature Effect for movies and Fisheye Effect. From reviews that I read, it's one of the best cameras in it's class. I have yet to really play around with it but I believe that it's a fun second camera to have. Nice!
Kevin chose a Fuji Nevada 4.0 Mountain Bike (estimate retail value $430) as his main prize. From the reviews that we read online, it's supposed to be a pretty decent bike. I guess many people like this bike as well, cos up til now, we still haven't gotten it yet. Marlboro was really apologetic about it though. They said that they didn't expect that many people to choose this bike and now, the orders are backlogged til June. They promised that they will get it to him by June, at the latest. We are not really bothered about it though, cos he is not really planning to go out cycling in the snow anyways :P So, June is fine. I guess Marlboro must have felt really bad for not sending out the bikes earlier, cos Kevin received this Leatherman MICRA Multi Tool (estimated retail prize - $30) in the mail with a letter saying that they are sorry about this in the mail not too long ago. Wow, Marlboro is really tops when it comes to customer service!
As soon as one contest is over, Marlboro started another a month later. This time, it's the Marlboro Snus Challenge. This is way way wayyyyy easier then Outwit The West. It goes on for a period of 6 weeks and they give out different prizes each week. We are now into "Week 4" and the prize this week is a $100 gift card. Both Kevin and I won the "Week 1" prize, which are a pair of premium earbuds from Sentry. Maybe we might win more prizes from this contest, who knows :P Oh, I nearly forgot. We were playing the "Rope Slinger" game on the Marlboro website and we made it all the way to the final level. For 'mastering' the game, Marlboro will be sending us a black cowboy bandanna and a western belt buckle! This is just crazy, one gift after another. Feels like Marlboro is just giving away gifts like its your birthday, everyday! Thanks to all the smokers out there, Kevin and I can now strut around in our new bandannas and matching his and hers belt buckle! LOL! :P

Atomic Wings - TriBeCa, NYC

2011-03-10T17:02:00.006-05:00

For those of you who knows us personally, I'm sure that you would know that we are big fans of Groupon. Ok ok, I'll admit it. It's not 'us', it's more like 'me'. I'm a huge fan of Groupon! Well, to be fair, it's not just Groupon but other similar companies like Living Social, Yelp Deals and so on. Kevin would always just roll his eyes whenever I tell him that I have found another good deal on Groupon. Hey, you can't blame me. Some deals are just too good to miss out on, right? Now, it is also no secret that the both of us likes wings (this time it's the BOTH of us, not just me :P). You can imagine my excitement when I saw a deal on Groupon for Atomic Wings in the city! I believe it was like $12 for $25 worth of food. I've heard from various people that Atomic Wings makes the best wings in the city, so it was a good chance for us to try it.
When we bought the Groupon, we had to select which location (there are 9 different Atomic Wings outlets located all over the city) we wanted to redeem the Groupon at. After checking out Google Map, we went with the TriBeCa outlet, since it's located within walking distance from our regular PATH station. Little did we know then that the particular outlet wasn't exactly located in the best of areas. We headed out to TriBeCa last Saturday evening and boy, the neighborhood looked kinda shady. Not only did it look deserted, but it was dark and there were lotsa graffiti around. Ahhh well, we must not judge a restaurant by the area it's in. Maybe they have some really good wings in there, right? Well, we'll soon find out!
The entrance leading to Atomic Wings looked somewhat shady too. The restaurant is located below street level and we had to go down this really long and narrow stairway. From the signs outside, it looks like Atomic Wings is not only a wings place but also a so called 'sports bar'. From the moment we walked in, there was this really weird smell (I must say it's not pleasant :P) and the whole vibe of the place felt weird. The whole place looked dark and dingy, even with the bright orange walls. Whole whole back portion of the 'sports bar' was in total darkness, and there was this huge empty space. I assume that there used to be a pool table there, maybe? Apart from us, there was only another table of customers there. We saw a sign up by the counter saying that we could sit anywhere and the waiters will attend to us shortly. Only customers who wanted to take out their wings should order at the counter. So, we went to take a seat and looked at the menu while waiting.
After waiting for what seemed like forever, we finally figured out that the waiters are not coming over to take our order. They were just standing there, behind the counter, staring blankly at us. It was just so weird. If you want us to come up and order at the counter, just say so. You have this big sign saying sit down and we'll come by but you just stand there, without saying anything. We finally gave up and Kevin went up to the counter to order. There is a huge soda fountain by the counter but when we tried to order a fountain drink, they said it wasn't working. Why am I not surprise (rolls eyes). So, we had to order bottled soda instead.
Apart from wings, they also have salads, burgers, sandwiches and wraps on their menu. Since they are famous for their wings, we decided to stick to what they are famous for. We have a choice of either regular or boneless wings (you could also get half and half) and 13 different flavors to choose from. Kevin went with the single serving (10 pieces) of regular medium buffalo wings ($8.99). The wings came with some celery, carrots and blue cheese. When the wings first arrived, we were pretty impressed. They were huge! I guess the reviews were right...the wings from Atomic Wings are huge! I didn't try Kevin's wings but he said that they were nice. Not too spicy, just right.
I ordered a single serving of regular honey mustard wings ($8.99). It also came with celery, carrots and blue cheese. I must admit that yes, they looked really yummy. Did they taste yummy though? Wellllll, in all fairness, I think that the wings from Atomic Wings in general is great. However, this particular branch sucks! The wings were rather cold when it arrived. I really liked the taste of the wings and knew that the wings would be totally awesome if they were served hot (or warm, to say the least). I really don't understand how it could get cold in that short journey between the kitchen to our table when all the wings are supposed to be freshly cooked upon order?
We also shared a combo basket of waffle fries and onion fries ($6.99). When we first saw the price, we were thinking that it was a bit steep, just for a side. When the combo basket arrived, we knew why. It was big enough to feed a family of 6 (maybe even more!)!!! Look at how huge that serving was! I purposely took the picture with Kevin in it, so that you can have a a size reference. Also, check out the wings. Big wings, aren't they?
Our total bill came up to $31. We had the $25 Groupon, so we ended up paying an additional $6. $31 is really not too shabby for so much food. I think there was enough food to feed at least 4-5 people. Would we return to this particular Atomic Wings? Definitely not. However, we will have to visit another Atomic Wings outlet elsewhere to see if the service is any better. I guess it's worth checking out, since their wings are not too bad at all.

Atomic Wings - TriBeCa, NYC
311 Broadway
New York, NY 10007-1153
Tel: (212)571 7667
Web: http://www.atomicwings.com

Grand Sichuan Restaurant - Chinatown, NYC

2011-03-06T17:31:00.006-05:00

Boy, this is a long overdue post. I've been meaning to blog about this restaurant for the longest time, but never got around to it. I was going through some photos that we took during Chinese New Year earlier today and that reminded me about this restaurant. After the Firecracker Ceremony at Roosevelt Park, we were freezing and super hungry. So, we decided to walk south, towards Manhattan Bridge, in search of some food.
As we turned onto Canal St (from Chrystie St), I immediately saw huge two words jump out at me. HOT POT! Mind you, we have been standing out in the sub zero temperature for hours, so this was indeed a welcoming sight. Nothing beats some yummy hot pot on a cold winters day. I remember reading some reviews about this restaurant online and it received quite a number of good reviews. Looks like this is one of the few places in Manhattan where one can get some hot pot (most of the hot pot joints are located in Queens). So, we decided to head in and give this place a try.
We were quite surprised that the restaurant was rather empty (only 3 other tables were occupied) when we walked in. I am guessing cos it was a weekday and it was way past lunch time. Since there were so few people in the restaurant, the service was superb! After sitting us down, they brought out some complimentary Chinese tea and asked if we are having the hot pot or if we will be ordering from the regular menu. After telling them that we would be trying their hot pot today, they promptly began setting up the table for it.
Unlike many of the hot pot restaurants in Queens, Grand Sichuan is not a eat-all- you-can restaurant. They offer a variety of ala carte ingredients, ranging from seafood, various types of meat to vegetables and noodles. Most of the items cost between $3.95 to $7.95 per plate. I believe the most expensive item on the menu are crabs, which is $13.95 per plate. The only thing that I do not really like is having to pay $1.95 for a dish of dipping sauce. There are nine different types of dipping sauces available but having to pay $1.95 for sauce is just too much. Oh well, I guess nothing is perfect in this world :P
There are two different types of soups/broths that you choose from for your hot pot. There is the traditional spicy Sichuan flower pepper broth (mala) and the mild non spicy chicken broth. For those of you who cannot make up your mind, you can actually have both. You can opt to have a separator in the middle of your hot pot, thus allowing you to try both soups. Both Kevin and I are not really big on spicy stuff, so we stuck to the chicken broth. I must say that the chicken broth was really flavorful and delicious. There were some slices of tomatoes, spring onions as well as some Chinese herbs in the broth. Very very good.
Here are all the items that we ordered for the hot pot. I knowwww, that's quite a lot for the both of us but we were really really hungry. For the record, we didn't manage to finish everything so, we must really remember to order less the next time we head out to Grand Sichuan. We ordered some pork and beef slices, fish slices, mushrooms, wontons, beancurd skin, spinach, wheat noodles and pig intestines. Yup, you got that right. Pig intestines. In my opinion, it was really good. The intestines were already pre cooked in some soy sauce and then fried, so you just had to cook it for a bit in the hot pot. Really really yummy. Overall, we had a good experience in Grand Sichuan. The hot pot broth was very flavorful, all of the ingredients were fresh and the staff were really friendly. We will most definitely return in the very near future. If only we didn't have to pay $1.95 for a dish of dipping sauce. Ah well, maybe we should just smuggle tiny bottles of soy sauce in our pockets the next time we head over there :P

Grand Sichuan Restaurant
125 Canal St (between Forsyth St & Chrystie St)
New York, NY 10002
Tel: (212) 625-9212

Note: No credit cards, cash only

Medical Scrubs & Nursing Uniforms by Blue Sky Scrubs

2011-03-01T13:50:00.000-05:00

Ahhh what a hectic few months it has been. The holiday season seemed to go on forever! It started off with Thanksgiving, follow by Christmas, New Year and finally Chinese New Year. Somewhere in between all that was Valentine's Day and also our 3rd Anniversary. Wow, it was practically one celebration after another. With all the excessive eating involved, we were pretty anxious when we went for our annual physical last week. We were half expecting our cholesterol levels to skyrocket or something close to that. We just got our results a couple of days ago and thank God, we were both given a clean bill of health. All our numbers looked great...so..yeah..PHEWW!

While we were at the doctors office, I couldn't help but notice all the colorful scrubs worn by the nurses as well as the medical assistants. I know, I have talked about those scrubs before but still, they never fail to amaze me. It's just that I am so used to the usual boring blue or green baggy scrubs worn by the medical staff back home in Malaysia. Here, not only do they come in all sorts of colors and patterns, they come in different cuts too. This way, everybody can look good in scrubs.

Also, our apartment is rather close to quite a few medical centers here in Newark. So, we see people dressed in scrubs all the time. Seriously, it's like a scrub fashion show. All types of colors and styles. One day, I saw this lady wearing some really cool hot pink scrubs and I wondered where she got them from. I hopped online to look for a medical uniform shop that makes scrubs like those and I found Blue Sky Scrubs. Not only do they have the same exact color and pattern (I am pretty sure she got hers from there too!) but they have a whole lot of other lovely looking scrubs to choose from too! Not only that, but they also carry all kinds of mens medical uniforms too. Now I know where to get fashionable and awesome looking scrubs. If you are in the medical industry or just like wearing scrubs as a fashion statement, you should totally check out Blue Sky Scrubs too!

Yes! You can find Yee Sang here in NYC!!!

2011-02-19T14:44:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, we didn't go home to Malaysia for Chinese New Year this year. It always suxs to spend Chinese New Year in a foreign land, away from the family. Not only does one miss out on all the family reunions and festivities, but we also miss out on all the FOOD! I was talking to some of my family and friends who also missed out on celebrating Chinese New Year back home this year and everybody says that of all the things that they miss most, it would have to be the Chinese New Year goodies. Sure, you can bake your own Chinese New Year cookies or buy some at the Asian grocery store, but certain things are a tiny bit harder to find. One of them is the Yee Sang.

As far as I can remember, we've always associated eating Yee Sang as part of celebrating Chinese New Year. I've always thought that Yee Sang is a Chinese dish and that Chinese from all over the world eat it during Chinese New Year. I guess it was due to the fact that you can pretty much find it at any Chinese restaurant in Malaysia during the Chinese New Year period. Not only that, boxes of prepacked Yee Sang are readily available at all major supermarkets and grocery stores. It wasn't til I moved to US did I find out that the Yee Sang is actually a Malaysian/Singaporean dish. Therefore, it's almost impossible to find a Chinese restaurant here in the States that would serve Yee Sang during Chinese New Year. Well, guess what? I found out that you CAN find Yee Sang here in the greater NYC area! As far as I know, there are three Malaysian restaurants in Chinatown and one in Edison, NJ that serves that for the entire month of February.

On the first day of Chinese New Year, Kevin and I dropped by New Malaysia Restaurant (located in the tunnel between Bowery & Elizabeth St in Chinatown) to take out a small serving of Yee Sang. In New Malaysia, the servings come in two sizes, small ($26.88) and large ($36.88). As you can see from the picture, the small serving is large enough to feed about 6-7 people. Even though the Yee Sang from New Malaysia might seem a little pricey compared to the other restaurants, I must say that New Malaysia's Yee Sang totally rocks! Really yummy and authentic tasting. Apart from the usual dried ingredients and thinly sliced vegetables, it also comes with salmon, jellyfish, plum sauce as well as pepper and five spice powder in the angpow (red packet).

So far, we have only tried the Yee Sang from New Malaysia Restaurant and Penang Restaurant (the branch in Edison, NJ). I know that there are many Penang branches all over the greater NYC region but I believe that Yee Sang is only served in the Chinatown as well as the Edison branch. For those of you who are thinking of getting some Yee Sang during this Chinese New Year period, here is a list of restaurants that serves them (there might be more but so far, these are the only places that I know of that sells them).

New Malaysia Restaurant
48 Bowery St,
New York, NY 10013
(212) 964-0284
Price: $26.88 (small), $36.88 (large)

Nyonya Restaurant
199 Grand Street
New York, NY 10013
(212) 334-3669
Price: $23.88 (small), $28.88 (medium)

Jaya Restaurant
90 Baxter Street,
New York, NY 10013
(212) 219-3331 ‎
Price: $18.88 (small), $28.88 (large)

Penang Restaurant
505 Old Post Road
Edison, NJ 08817-4625
(732) 287-3038
Price: $14.85 (small), $20.20 (med), $25.55 (large)

Heart Shaped "Valentine's Special" Pizza from Papa Johns!

2011-02-15T21:45:00.002-05:00

Kevin and I never really believed in going all out to celebrate Valentine's Day. Sure, it's nice to receive some flowers or celebrate by having a 'nicer than normal' meal but no way would we join the crowds by going out on the day itself and paying double (sometimes even triple!) just for a meal. This year, we went out for some Filipino food the day before, so we were not really planning to do anything on Vday itself. Just as I was cracking my head, thinking of what I should make for dinner that day, I saw an ad from Papa Johns. They were having some Valentine's Special going on and I thought that the heart pizzas looked kinda cute. So, I figured, why not? Let's just have this for dinner tonight! :P

I believe Papa Johns had this promotion last year and since it was such a hit, they decided to bring it back again this year. For $14.99, you get a one topping thin crust heart shaped pizza and a Cinnapie. We have never tried Papa John's thin crust (we've always gone with the hand tossed original) pizza before and we were pleasantly surprised. It was actually not too bad. However, you have to keep in mind that the thin crust pizza doesn't really fill you up. Usually, the most we could eat would be about 2 slices (each!) of the original crust pizza but we managed to gobble up almost the entire heart shape pie (we had one slice left over) without any problems! Also, the pizza was rather greasy. I guess it must be due to the pepperoni topping. Ahh well, it was still yummy though.

Like I said earlier, the Valentine's Special also included a free Cinnapie. When we ordered our pizza online, we were actually given a choice. We could either opt for the Cinnapie or the Applepie. We went with the Applepie. I think that was an awesome choice. Really really yummy! Freshly baked original hand tossed dough topped with sweet apple filling, brown sugar streusel and drizzled with white icing. Mmmm mmm mmmm, good stuff!

Check out our yummy Valentine's Day dinner. The red roses is in the middle was my Valentine's day present from Kevin (thanks baby!! :D). Apart from the Valentine's Day special, we also ordered a 10 pcs side of Honey Chipotle Wings ($7.50). We would usually order either the BBQ wings or the Buffulo wings but we decided to try something new this time around. Another good choice. It tasted rather sweet in the beginning but then the spiciness from the chipotle hits you after a few bites. A good combination of sweet and spiciness. iLike! Overall, it was a good Valentine's Day dinner. The best part of it all was that we didn't even have to leave our apartment! A yummy Vday dinner, minus all the traffic, crowds and over priced food!

Modern, Stylish & Contemporary Furniture from AllModern.Com!

2011-02-09T15:31:00.002-05:00

Kevin and I have been talking about buying new furniture, since like, forever. In fact, I've even blogged about it a couple times. However, we've never really gotten around to actually getting them. I guess we always saw it as something we would like to do, but it wasn't top of our priority list. I'm sure many of you know that we live in a one bedroom apartment. So, when my parents were visiting us over the holidays, we gave them our room and we slept out in the living room, on the futon. At that point, we KNEW we HAD to buy new furniture. Not only was the futon really old (we had since we were in college!) and dated, it was really uncomfortable too! So, I went online to check out what are all the latest trends and if there any any good furniture deals out there. What we are looking for is stylish, contemporary and modern furniture that not only looks good but also doesn't burn a huge hole in our pockets. Guess what? I found a website that offers all that and more!
When we were in Vermont for our winter vacation, the apartment that we stayed in had a really nice fireplace. Since then, we have been thinking of maybe getting an electric indoor fireplace for our living room. Apart from that, we are also looking to get a brand new TV stand/entertainment center. The one that we currently have now is really crappy and yes, we had it since our college days too! While browsing through AllModern.com, I found the most awesome thing ever! An electric fireplace cum media console! I didn't even know that such a thing exist! What a great idea. Not only is it a great idea, it looks really modern and stylish too. I then checked out the other living room furniture and found some really cool looking futons, sofas and sectionals as well. Those futons looked so plush and comfortable, not to mention slick and stylish too. Definitely something I will consider for our living room.
Apart from having furniture for every room in your home, AllModern.com also carries a huge selection of accents. There, you can find all types of lighting, rugs, wallpaper, vases, wall art, magazine racks and even throw pillows! I am totally in love with the Blow-Up Bamboo Magazine Rack by Fratelli Campana. Doesn't it look cool? In my opinion, it's not just a magazine rack, it's also a piece of art. As I continue to browse through AllModern.com, my list of 'wants' is growing longer and longer by the minute. Everything looks so good! Looks like we've finally found the place to get our furniture. Now, our only problem is, how do we fit all these stuff into our 800sqft one bedroom apartment?

Chinatown Walkabout - 1st Day of CNY

2011-02-08T16:19:00.001-05:00

Is everybody having a good Chinese New Year so far? I know that we are! Of course, it's never the same when you have to spend Chinese New Year in a foreign country, away from all your family, friends and not to mention, yummy home cooked food! However, I'm really grateful that we live in a city that has a relatively large Asian population. That's right, celebrating Chinese New Year in Chinatown is kinda fun, actually. With loud Chinese New Year music playing in the background, red and gold decorations in almost every shop and the smell of Chinese New Year goodies whiffing thru the air....ahhh, for a moment, one would even forget that you are right in the heart of NYC.
Kevin took the day off (since he is now Chinese, he always takes the 1st day of CNY off :P) from work and we headed down to Chinatown for the Annual Firecracker Ceremony at Sara D Roosevelt Park. It was really cold that day, around 22F (-5C) degrees and the ground was all slippery and icy. That didn't stop us (and a whole bunch of other ppl) from heading out to enjoy the festivities. The firecracker ceremony was scheduled to start at 11am but I knew from experience that they NEVER start on time. So, I thought that I was being smart by showing up at around 11:45am. The timing should be just right (and we do not have to stand out the the cold for too long). Well, looks like I was wrong. At noon, they we STILL setting up! :P
After standing out in the cold for what seemed like forever, the firecracker ceremony finally began. There were a few lion dances followed by the singing of the Chinese as well as American national anthem. With that, the countdown began and the firecrackers were lit! We were standing really close to the firecrackers..so yeah, it was LOUD!! :P We even felt a few stray firecrackers being flung our way. A very good show, like always. By the time the ceremony ended, it was way past lunchtime. So, we join the rest of the crowd and headed out to the main part of Chinatown, in search of food and to do a little CNY shopping.
It was so cold out, we were literally frozen, from head to toe. Not only we were super cold, we were super hungry too. We needed something to warm ourselves up and we needed it quick! I remember reading some great reviews about a hot pot (steamboat) restaurant on Canal St, so I suggested that we head there for lunch. Best decision of the day! The hot pot at Grand Sichuan was really really yummy! The ingredients were fresh and the chicken soup was superb. It's so good, I'll have to write a whole separate post, just on that!
After lunch, we were feeling all recharged and warmed up, once again. So, it's time to bundle up and head out to do some CNY shopping. Our first stop was Malaysia Beef Jerky Inc on Elizabeth St. We wanted to buy some bak kwa (pork jerky) and the only place that sells Malaysian/Singaporean style bak kwa is Malaysia Beef Jerky. Kevin loves their bak kwa and I kinda like it too. Of course, it doesn't taste as good as the bak kwa that we can get back home in Malaysia, but in my honest opinion, I think it's as good as it can get. If it wasn't so expensive, I swear Kevin could even finish a 1lb packet in one sitting! :P We initially wanted to buy some CNY cookies from another shop but we saw that Malaysia Beef Jerky sells them too. So, we picked up a few boxes of bee pang siew (bee's nest), pineapple tarts as well as peanut cookies.
Since we have already bought our CNY cookies, we only have one more thing on our shopping list. Yee Sang! We wanted to eat some Yee Sang for dinner that night, so we figured we would buy some home. Since Yee Sang is a Malaysian/Singaporean dish, it's not widely available, even in Chinatown. As far as I know, you can only get it in Nyonya, Penang Restaurant, Jaya, Singapore Cafe and New Malaysia. We tried the Yee Sang from Penang Restaurant two years ago (since we were in Malaysia last CNY, we didnt get a chance to buy any) and it was rather good. We decided to try the Yee Sang from New Malaysia this year. The Yee Sang from New Malaysia is a little bit more expensive but it taste awesome! Will blog more about that later on.
After getting our Yee Sang, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the narrow streets of Chinatown. As usual, there were a whole lot of lion dance troupes making their rounds to various shops and businesses. Also, the kids were having a whale of time shooting out confetti cannons as well as throwing those tiny snap rocks. The whole atmosphere around Chinatown was certainly festive. After a long day out in Chinatown, we headed back home to Jersey, with lots of CNY goodies in tow and a big smile plastered on our faces. We returned to Chinatown a couple of days later, for the Annual Lunar New Year Parade...but I will save it for the next post. Stay tuned.

TABASCO® Original Red - So Much More Than Hot!

2011-02-03T10:00:00.001-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of TABASCO® Original Red. All opinions are 100% mine.

Boy, we are so pumped up. 4 more days to the Superbowl! We are literally counting down the minutes til kick off time. What makes it even better is that our beloved Super Steelers will be playing the Packers. I dare say that there cannot be a better match up. Now, what makes the Superbowl even more super? Yummy game day food, of course! Apart from the game, game day food plays a really big role in our year Superbowl parties. Pizza, hot wings, sandwiches, deviled eggs, chips&dips...mmm mmmm mmmm, makes my mouth water, just thinking of all that food.

If you were to ask me, what is the one thing that we cannot do without, come game day, the answer would be really simple. Both Kevin and I cannot live without our favorite TABASCO® Original Red ! That's really a no brainer. We use it on almost anything! Just a few drops of TABASCO® Original Red does miracles on your food. Sure, it's hot but it's so much more than that. It just unlocks and enhances the flavor of food, so you can get the best of every bite. TABASCO® Original Red was the first sauce introduced by the McIlhenny family back in 1868. The simple combination of salt, red pepper and vinegar are perfected in a 3-year aging process that produces a hot sauce with the uncanny ability to bring the most out of your food. Other hot sauces add their own specific flavor to food but TABASCO® Original Red simply enhances the flavor of food. Not surprisingly, it continues to be their most popular sauce of 6 total sauces, after all these years.

So, how and when do we use TABASCO® Original Red? Well, on almost anything and anytime! In the morning, we would just sprinkle on a few drops into our scramble eggs (it's awesome, trust me!) and hash browns. For lunch, try adding some of that into your Mac & Cheese. It just brings the entire dish to a whole new level. TABASCO® Original Red also works well with all kinds of snacks. Use it in your dips, make hot wings with it or even add some onto your potato skins....it's awesome! Come dinner time, you can just add a few drops to your salads, all kinds of soups, chicken dinners or even your steaks! Thinking of some Asian food for dinner? Add some to your fried noodles or fried rice! There are just so many things you can do with TABASCO® Original Red, it's crazy. Don't believe me? Go check out the Game-Day Party Menu page for some simple ideas & recipes for food everyone loves! Not only that, you should also visit the Pizza Perfected page for all kinds of fast and easy pizza recipes. Go ahead and check it out. Remember, TABASCO® Original Red is "So Much More Than Hot”!

Satish Palace - Montclair, NJ

2011-01-31T17:33:00.001-05:00

It was really cold out a couple of weekends back and we didn't really feel like going out for dinner. So, we just decided to order in. Now, the million dollar question. What to eat? What to eat? What to eat? :P We were kinda sick of the usual Chinese, BBQ, pizza or wings that we would usually order and felt like trying something new. I went online to see if there are any other type of restaurants (apart from the ones that I have just mentioned) nearby and was pleasantly surprised when I found an Indian restaurant that would deliver to us. Not only would they deliver, but they also offered free delivery for orders above $25! Yay!
Everything on the menu looked good, so we figured we should just order one of the combination dinners. That way, we can try a little of everything. There are three types of different combination dinners (House Special, Mixed Grill & Vegetarian) available on their menu and we went with the House Special ($16.95). All combinations come with a huge serving of rice, papadums and raita. The mint and onion chutney in the foreground is part of the appetizer that we also ordered. When I say that the rice serving is huge, I am not kidding. You might not be able to see the amount, since it's all compacted into the container. Once you fluff it out, there is enough rice in there to feed at least 4 people!
Apart from rice, raita and papadums, the House Special also comes with two pieces of tandoori chicken, lamb rogan josh and vegetable korma. I must say that the tandoori chicken was really really good. Moist and tender, it's definitely one of the better tandoori chickens that I have tried around here. The lamb rogan josh was awesome too! Mild and creamy, with a tiny hint of spiciness...exactly how I like it. Again, the portions are rather generous. I cannot believe that this combination dinner is meant for ONE!
Oh, I forgot to mention that the House Special also comes with one free naan. We added on another piece of naan for $2.95. When our food was delivered to us, the naan was still nice and warm. Mmmm mmm yuummmmy.
We didn't really know how large the portions were when we first ordered (now we know!), so we added on a portion of Assorted Tandoori Appetizers ($7.95). Two piece of sheek kebab, 4 pieces of tandoori shrimp and a whole lot of chicken tikka. Like I mentioned earlier, this appetizer comes with a small tub of onion and mint chutney. The chicken tikka was really tender and oh so flavorful. In fact, all of the tandoori items that we ordered tasted awesome!
Kevin wanted to try their Indian Chai Tea ($1.75), so we ordered one serving of that. I must say that it definitely didn't taste like the nonsense Chai Latte that we would usually order from Starbucks. This tasted really authentic. It came with milk (but without sugar, you have to add that in yourself) and you can really taste the cinnamon, cloves and cardamon in the tea. Really wonderful, especially on a cold winters night.
Look at the amount of leftover food! This was after the both of us ate as much as we could and we still had enough leftover for lunch the following day. I must say that I'm really glad we found this place, the food is just so goooood! Not only that, the service is amazing too. It only took them about half an hour to deliver the food to our door, from the time we placed the order online. We know that Montclair is at least 15 minutes or so away, so yeah, very impressive. Delicious food, huge portions and fast delivery - what more could a person ask for? :D

Satish Palace - Montclair, NJ
397 Bloomfield Ave
Montclair, NJ 07042
Tel: (973) 746 4477
Fax: (973) 746 4488
Web: www.jyotirestaurant.com

Pizza Village Cafe II - Belleville, NJ

2011-01-25T23:59:00.001-05:00

This is a really backdated post. I have been meaning to blog about this place for the longest time (I believe we first tried the food here back in Dec) but never really got around to it. Since the first visit, we have returned many times. Therefore, the food featured in this review is not merely from one visit, but over a space of time (I think we have been back like 4 times since the first?).
Pizza Village Cafe II is located in a strip mall, just next to the huge State Fair Superstore. We found out about this place when we were visiting the Christmas decorations outlet at the State Fair. From the moment we walked in, we knew that this pizza place is different from the rest. Not only was it super clean, but the staff working there were really polite and helpful. Definitely not your typical hole in the wall pizza place. We noticed lots of families dining in and it's really kid friendly too. We have always ordered out whenever we go there but I wouldn't mind dining in, in the future. Another good thing about this place is the availability parking spots. There are ample free parking lots located right in front of the restaurant. No need to drive around just for a parking spot.
So, what's good there? Well, the menu is quite extensive. Apart from pizza, they also have pasta, sandwiches, calzones, stromboli, wraps, wings, salads, Italian style dinners as well as a host of appetizers. During our first visit, we tried their Garlic Knots (6 pieces for $1.50). It was really good! Warm dough knots with lots of garlic butter, herbs and huge chunks of garlic. Mmmm mmm good! It is so good that we would make it a point to order that every time we get food from Pizza Village. It's like our 'must order' item on the menu.
Their wings ($7.75 for 10 pieces) are rather good too. You have a choice of two flavors, BBQ or Buffalo. We tried the Buffalo wings and it was not too bad. I am not a big fan of coated wings (I'd rather have them naked) but this is really not too bad at all. The wings also comes with free celery and bleu cheese.
I hate to admit this but although this is a pizza place, we have never really tried their pizzas. The nearest we got was when I ordered their Sausage Calzone ($6.25). From the taste of the calzone, I can tell that their pizzas should be really good too. The calzone dough was really good and it was stuffed with a whole lot of sausage, ricotta and mozzarella cheese. Really really good. The marinara sauce wasn't the greatest but it wasn't bad either. I'm not really bothered about that though, since I would usually eat my calzones without sauce anyways.
Now, what we really really like from Pizza Village are their sandwiches. Seriously, they make awesome sandwiches. I don't know if they bake their Italian breads in house or they buy it from somewhere else but either ways, it's yummy! Kevin tried their Ham & Cheese Sub ($6.50) and he said that it was really good. All cold subs are served with lettuce, onions tomatoes, oil, vinegar, mayo and spices, in a huge Italian roll. Yummy stuff!
Their Hot Italian Sandwiches are really good too. Kevin (and myself) is in love with their Italian Meatball Sandwich ($5.50). The meatballs are really really good and it's served with just the right amount of home made sauce and topped with loads of cheese. Delicious meatballs, home made sauce and melted cheese, all stuffed into a huge Italian roll = SUPER AWESOME MEATBALL SANDWICH!
Since we loved the Meatball Sandwich so much, I decided to try another of their Hot Italian Sandwiches. The Home Made Eggplant Parmigiana Sandwich ($5.50). Don't get me wrong, it was good but not quite as great as the Meatball Sandwich. If we were to compare the eggplant parm sandwich with other eggplant parm sandwiches that we have tried, I must say that it ranks pretty much up there. However, if we were to compare the meatball sandwich to the eggplant parm, then the meatball sandwich reigns supreme! :P
Another one of their sandwiches that I totally love is their Philly Cheese Steak. They have regular Cheesesteak ($6.00), Cheesesteak with Mushrooms or Peppers ($6.50), Pizza Cheesesteak ($6.50), Cheesesteak with Pepperoni ($6.50) or Cheesesteak Hoagie ($6.50). I tried the Special Steak ($6.75), which is pretty much Cheesesteak with everything :P The Special Steak comes with Mushrooms, Sweet Peppers, Fried Onions and their delicious Cheese Sauce (remember to ask for it, it's by request only). This is really an awesome sandwich, you should totally try it. Overall, I must say that Pizza Village Cafe II is a great place to go to if you are looking for some quick, affordable and uber delicious food. Two thumbs up. Oh btw, they deliver too!

Pizza Village Cafe II - Belleville, NJ
229 Main St
Belleville, NJ 07109
Tel: (973) 450 1818
Fax: (973) 450 3000
Web: http://pizzavillagecafe2nj.webs.com/

Celebrate Being Together at Branson,MO this Valentine's Day!

2011-01-22T20:00:00.001-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Hiltons of Branson. All opinions are 100% mine.

I'm sure all of you know by now that my parents and kid sister were visiting us from Malaysia over the Christmas and New Year holidays. They were here for almost a month and our days were just filled with non stop action, be it showing them around NYC or traveling around the Northeast. Now that they have left, things have quieten down a little. Kevin and I are now talking about maybe going away for a quiet and relaxing vacation somewhere, just the two of us. With Valentine's Day (as well as our 3^rd anniversary) just around the corner, it would be perfect reason to go for a special romantic getaway. The question is, where to go? After doing some research online, we found THE place. Tucked away in the in Ozark Mountains, Branson, MO looks like the perfect place to spend Valentine's Day with that special someone, far away from the rest of the world.

If you are looking for a place to celebrate Valentine's Day this year, there is no better place than Branson, Missouri and there is no better place to stay than the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing and Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel. You should totally check out their Romance Package (which is available for the whole month of February). Early check-in,late check out and pre-registration upon request, sparkling wine or cider in your room upon arrival as well as access to the to hotel health club, pool and whirlpool spa. Not only that, you can also enjoy a full American breakfast for two in your room or in the hotel's designated restaurant. Also, on stays beyond one night, you can buy one entrée and get a second one of equal or lesser value at no additional cost (chose from either lunch or dinner) at the hotel's restaurant.

Talking about food, you should also check out the Valentine's Day Dinner Menu at Hiltons Level 2 Steakhouse. The Hawaiian Ahi Tuna Tartar starter looks so delicious and am I pretty sure that the Wagyu Beef Tenderloin with Seared Foie Gras is too. For only $146 for two, it's definitely a deal not to be missed. So, if you are looking to toast an anniversary, spoil that special someone or celebrate being together on Valentine's Day, Branson is the perfect place to be. Head over to the Hilton website for more information and book your package today.

Check Out the Guac Rocks Sweepstakes by Avocados from Mexico!

2011-01-21T02:00:00.001-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Avocados from Mexico. All opinions are 100% mine.

I don't know about you guys, but I can't wait for Sunday to come around. Our jerseys are all laid out, the Terrible Towel is flying high and we are oh so pumped up. That's right, the Steelers have made it to the AFC Championship Game! What's even better is that they will be playing the Jets! For those of you who don't know, both Kevin and I are super huge Steeler fans and since we live in Jersey, almost everyone else is rooting for the Jets. Boy, I can't wait to see their faces when the Steelers win and head down south to Texas for the SUPERBOWL!

Whenever we think of big games like this, we would also think of party food. After all, what fun is it to watch the game without snacks and yummy party food. One of our all time favorite party food during football games (or any party actually!) is guacamole. Mmmm mmm mmmm, nothing taste better than dipping your snacks into fresh guacamole. Now, here at the Podany household, we take our guacamole seriously. We only use good quality avocados whenever we make guacamole. That is why we totally love .Avocados from Mexico In my opinion, I feel that they have the best avocados in the market.

Talking about Avocados from Mexico, I'd like to give all you sweepstake lovers out there a little heads up. Avocados from Mexico is running their Guac Rock Sweepstakes from December 28, 2010 til January 28, 2011.All you need to do is head over to the Avocados from Mexico Facebook page to enter and you will stand a chance to win 2 “Fly Away” tickets or one of over 80 prizes! How do you enter? Well, it's really easy. Just fill out the entry form and tell them the secret ingredient that makes ur Guac Rock! Remember, all entries must be submitted by February 6, 2011. Among some of the awesome prizes are two “Fly Away” tickets for a special rocking getaway (valued at $1500), $100 in free groceries and $20 coupons for Avocados from Mexico!

While you are at the Avocados from Mexico's Facebook page, you should also check out the fun Guac Star Quiz! Did you know that the way you make your guac can reveal your true personality? Oh yea, it does. Are you a Guac Rebel, Guac Geek, Guac Gamer or a Guac Snob? Try the Guac Star Quiz to find out what your Guac Star personality is. I did the quiz and it think the results is a homerun. I'm a Guac Gamer! If you think that the the Avocados from Mexico Facebook page is fun, you should totally follow them on Twitter too(@guacgrl)! So, what are you waiting for? Head over to the Avocados from Mexico Facebook page to join the sweepstakes as well as to take the quiz today!

German Style Sauerkraut Pork Chops

2011-01-20T22:22:00.001-05:00

I tried this recipe out quite a while ago but I never got around to posting it up. Really nice and thick pork chops were on sale at our local grocery store, so we bought a huge pack. I tried making some Hainanese Pork Chops (blogged about it a while back) with about half of the pack and I had three large pieces left over from it. I googled for some pork chop recipes and found this delicious recipe. Since Kevin totally loves sauerkraut (I'm guessing cos he is half German? :P), I decided to try this recipe out. It turned out to be really good, so I'm gonna share it with all of you.

Start off by arranging some apple slices on a large baking dish. Just core some apples and slice them into thin slices. It doesn't really have to be perfect, just make sure that it covers the whole bottom of the pan.
Then, brown your pork chops in a large pan. You can sprinkle on some seasoned salt to give it some taste. You do not have to fully cook the pork chops, just make sure that they are nice and brown. The purpose of this is to give those pork chops some color.
Once they are nicely browned, place them on top of the sliced apples and set them aside.
Now it's time to work on the sauerkraut. Start of by sauteing some onions in a pan.
Next, add in some sauerkraut. You can pretty much buy sauerkraut from any grocery store (usually at the deli section). Then, crack in some black pepper and add in some caraway seeds.
After mixing all of the ingredients together, pour in some apple juice. At this point, some people would add in some applesauce and/or apple slices too. It's totally up to you. Stir everything together and allow it to cook for a bit. Turn off the heat and your sauerkraut topping is done.
Pour the sauerkraut topping over the pork chops. Make sure that you fully cover the chops.
Cover the top of the baking dish with some aluminum foil and pop it into a 350F oven for about an hour. After an hour or so, your pork chops are ready to be served! It's so easy to make, yet so yummy to eat. The pork chops turned out to be really tender and the flavor was just out of this world! This recipe is definitely a keeper. I served the pork chops up with some of the sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. You should try it. Wash that down with a pint of beer and it will feel like Oktoberfest, right in your own dining room!

Bright Beginnings is now available at Diapers.com!

2011-01-19T03:00:00.001-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of PBM Products. All opinions are 100% mine.

Today, I would like to talk to all our readers who have babies or little children. We do not have any kids yet but from our conversations with friends who do, we realize that they spend a lot of time going out just to shop for basic stuff like infant formulas and diapers. I myself am surprised at the amount of diapers and infant formula a tiny baby can go through in a week! I'm sure many of you can identify with that. Head out to the mall or grocery store, battle traffic, drive around for ages to look for a parking spot and after all that, the size of diapers that you want or the type of formula is not in stock. Then, you have to drive to another store and go through all that again. Once you have found the products that you want, you have to lug it to the cashier to pay and then out to our car. We all know that diapers and infant formulas are huge and heavy. All of that, couple with your baby (and maybe a few other kids) in tow, boy, it can be quite a task.

Guess what? You do not have to do that anymore. Shopping for diapers and infant formulas have just become easier! Remember me talking about Bright Beginnings a while back? That's right, the brand that offers affordable infant formulas comes along with all the nutrition of premium branded formula. Well, Bright Beginnings are now being sold on diapers.com! Yup, you heard me right. No more driving out in traffic to the shops, no more driving around just to look for a parking spot, no more out of stock signs to deal with and no more lugging of heavy formulas with crying baby in tow! All you need to do is go online from the comforts of your own home, select the type of product that you like and just buy on diapers.com !How easy is that? Also, since it's an online merchant, you do not have to worry about closing hours or running out of stock. You can purchase your items in the middle of the day or even in the middle of the night, after you have tucked baby in bed. How convenient is that?

You can find all type of Bright Beginnings formula on diapers.com, from their Premium Formula, Gentle Fourmula, Soy Based Formula to their Milk Based Organic infant Formula. Also, you could get it in various sizes as well as a six pack. Oh, before I forget, Bright Beginnings is also on Facebook. You can check out Bright Beginnings on Facebook to get their latest updates as well as get more information about their products.

Right now, diapers.com is having some awesome promotions for new customers. All you need to do is enter the code GET30BACK to receive 30% back on all your diapers and GET10PCT for 10% off everything else! Also, 1-2 day shipping is always free with orders over $49. Afraid that you might not like a particular item that you purchased? Fear not, diapers.com has free 365 day returns and you can call them anytime at 1-800-Diapers if you have any questions or concerns. Go ahead and check out Bright Beginnings at Diapers.com today!

We're back!!!

2011-01-18T23:10:00.003-05:00

Hey! It's great to be back! How is everyone doing? Enjoying 2011 so far? Once again, we would like to apologize for the long silence. With my parents visiting and all the traveling we have been doing, we really didn't have time to be on the computer much (let alone blog :P). My parents left for Malaysia a couple of days ago, so we are still in the process of getting back into the swing of things. Our apartment suddenly feels so quiet and empty. Ahhh well, I guess it will take us a while to get use to this once again. The good news is....we are now back! We hope to resume to our regular "programming" real soon. Til then, take care and stay tuned for further updates!

Switch to Parent's Choice Infant Formula Today!

2011-01-05T19:00:00.002-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of PBM Products. All opinions are 100% mine.

I know that quite a number of our readers are new mommies and daddies or families that have young children. Today, I would like to talk to you guys about infant formulas. I don’t know if you have noticed, but it’s getting increasingly difficult to find Similac® Advance® Infant Formula at our local retailer. From what I hear, it’s not just at our local retailer but at a whole of other retailers nationwide. I believe it might be due to the recent recall of certain lots of Similac formula. The reason of the recall was that it may contain beetles or their larvae.

That’s just horrible! I’m sure that all of you know that Similac and other brand name formulas cost twice as much as their generic equivalent. It cost about $27 for a 24 oz. can of Similac Advance at a local pharmacy here in New York City and the store brand version was only less than $16. After paying so much for so called premium formulas, you would expect to get better quality products with a higher nutrition value, right? Well, I’ve got news for you. The answer is no! Did you know that all according to the Infant Formula Act of 1980, all baby formulas sold in this country must meet the minimum nutrient requirements and FDA regulations? That’s right. This means all baby formulas are pretty much the same!

Hold on a sec, if all baby formulas are pretty much the same, why are branded formulas more expensive compared to store brand formula? Well, the answer is simple. Parents are paying for all the advertising and marketing campaigns of the branded formulas. They advertise more, hence charging the end consumer more. If that’s the case, why don’t parents just switch to generic formula instead? Well, guess what? You should!

Consider trying a store brand infant formula alternative sold at retailers including Walmart, Sam’s Club, Target, Kroger, Walgreens, CVS and Babies “R” Us. Store brand formulas are nutritionally equivalent to Enfamil® and Similac® brand-name formulas but cost up to 50% less. This means, a savings of $600 a year per baby! Let me give you an example. Just compare the nutrition of Parent’s Choice Advantage™ Infant Formula (available in 23.2 oz and 12.4 oz sizes) to Similac Advance and you can see that these formulas are nutritionally equivalent and offer the same benefits as the branded ones. It contains milk-based nutrition containing all nutrients, vitamins and minerals for growth and development as well as DHA & ARA, which may support brain and eye development. Not only that, it also has prebiotics to help support baby’s immune system.

Why pay more for branded formulas if you are basically getting the same thing? Make that switch to generic formula and save yourself a whole lot of money today!

Have An Awesome 2011!!

2011-01-05T07:48:00.004-05:00

Hey! How is everybody doing? Hope that all of you had an awesome holiday season. Sorry for the lack of updates for the longest time. My parents and sister are visiting from Malaysia and will be here until the 16th of Jan. Kevin's mom and aunt were also in town over the New Year holidays, so yeah, we have lots going on at this moment. It's just been a whirlwind of activities since they arrived but hey, I'm not complaining. We are really enjoying their company and do not look forward to their departure in about two weeks time. Here's a quick update of what we have been up to since their arrival. I will blog more about the stuff that we did, places that we visited and various food that we tried during our trips (of course!) in a couple of weeks time.
We spent Christmas here in Jersey and both Kevin and I cooked up the usual Christmas dinner at our apartment. Our Christmas dinner menu was Roast Turkey, Sage Sausage & Cranberry Stuffing, Bacon Wrapped Asparagus, Baked Mashed Potatoes with Maple Syrup & Pecans, Green Bean Casserole and Waldorf Salad. Phewwww, that's a LOT of food for five people! :P We had a whole lot of leftovers for the days to come. We also had a great time exchanging gift and just spending quality time together.
After Christmas, we took a short road trip to Washington D.C. Had a great time visiting all the tourist sites (will blog more about this later on) and we even managed to find some time to squeeze in a short visit to the American History Museum. I think that the highlight of the trip was our visit to the Pentagon! We actually applied in advance (about 3 months ago) for us to go on a tour inside the Pentagon. After some security clearance and background checks, we managed to get the invitation letter for a guided tour of the Pentagon. It was really quite trilling, since I'm pretty sure that not many civilians can actually say that they have stepped foot into the Pentagon. :D
After we got back from D.C, Kevin's mom and aunt came to visit over the New Years weekend. It was great to have the whole big family together. We took them all over NYC to look at the Christmas decorations (Macys, Times Square, Rockerfeller Center, Central Park, The Plaza, FAO Schwartz, along 5th Ave...). We had a whole lot of fun but I think that maybe it was a little bit too much for the older folks. There was lots of walking involved and maybe it was a little taxing on the legs. Oh well, still, everybody had a great time! We also managed to go on a New Year's Eve Lunch Cruise of the New York Harbor. The food was good and views of the NYC skyline from the Hudson and East River was just totally awesome!
A couple of days ago, we took a day trip up north to Hudson Valley to visit Brotherhood Winery (the oldest winery in America!). We managed to go on a tour of the winery (even got to go down to the cellars!) as well as join one of the wine tasting sessions. While waiting for the tour to begin, we had time to check out Vinum Cafe, the award winning restaurant that occupies the ground floor of the original winery building. The food was just amazing! I will definitely blog more about that restaurant later on. We later found out that the chef is actually Christian Pierre, a well known Zagat rated gourmet chef in the Hudson Valley. After the winery, we headed out to Woodbury Commons Prime Outlets for some shopping!!! All kinds of branded products for a fraction of it's retail price! Woohoooo! :D
We will be heading out on another road trip to Vermont and Boston soon. Can't wait! I probably won't have time to update this blog til we get home. So, til then, have an awesome 2011 and we'll catch you later!!

Free Diet Plans & Weight Loss Programs from FitClick!

2010-12-17T23:43:00.003-05:00

We would usually watch GLEE on TV every Tuesday but since they were showing reruns, we decided to flip through the channels to see what else was on. We stumbled upon the finale of The Biggest Loser, so we watched it for a bit. I have to admit that out of the 10 seasons of the Biggest Loser, we have never watched a single episode. I think that's because the air time always clashes with another program that we really like. The finale was rather interesting actually. Not only did the participants manage to lose a whole lot of weight, but each and every one of them went through a total lifestyle transformation. They had such determination and drive to lose weight as well as to live healthier, I must say that it was rather inspiring.

Talking about living a healthier lifestyle, Kevin and I have been trying to do that since the middle of this year. We are beginning to eat healthier and exercise more. Way more. It might be baby steps, but we are getting there. Sometimes I feel that yes, diets and exercise is good but if you do not know the proper way of doing it, it might not be as effective as you would want it to be. I was surfing the net, looking at some weight loss programs there other day and came upon FitClick. It's an awesome weight loss and healthy living site, for people like me. We want to live a healthier lifestyle but we do not know where to start. At FitClick, you can look through various free diet plans as well as weight loss programs. Since there are so many weight loss programs out there, FitClick gives depth reviews as well as helps explain the pros and cons of various programs. You can also check out the calorie counter as well as workout routines on there. Go check out FitClick and see for yourself. It is indeed a one stop shop for everything you ever want to know about getting fit.

Je'bon Sushi & Noodle House - East Village, NYC

2010-12-15T23:35:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure if you noticed, but there is no official Japantown in NYC. Tourist can find Chinatown as well as Koreatown on the map of NYC but Japantown is nowhere to be found. However, if you were to ask somebody relatively familiar with the city, they would tell you that there IS an unofficial Japantown in NYC. It is located in the East Village, between 2nd and 3rd Ave on St Marks Pl (another name for East 8th St). All you need to do is take the 6 Train to Astor Pl and walk along 8th St towards St Marks Pl. You will find all kinds of yakitori houses, sushi restaurants, Japanese grocery stores and quite a few karaoke bars located along that short stretch.
We heard quite a lot about Je'bon and also read quite a number of positive reviews about this place. When we found out that Groupon was running a '$20 for $40 worth of food and drinks' deal a few months ago, we took advantage of that and bought that Groupon. We finally found some time to head out to the East Village a couple of weeks back to use that Groupon as well as to check out Je'bon. The best way to get to Je'bon is by subway. Just take the 6 Train and get off at Astor Pl. There is also street side parking if you choose to drive but just like any other place in the city, parking is really limited.
We arrived at around 3pm, so the place was pretty empty. I was told that it gets really packed during peak hours. The waiters were really friendly and I was pretty impressed with the fast service. I also liked the decor. Exposed brick walls with simple wooden furniture and rather cool lighting. Very very nice. They also have a special room for private parties downstairs. The menu was mainly Japanese but they also have a small selection of Pan Asian food.
After taking our drinks (green tea is on the house) and food order, our server brought out some complimentary miso soup. Nothing really to shout about but I cannot find anything bad to say about it either. Just your regular miso soup. It was nice though, especially on a chilly day.
For our appetizer, we shared a serving of their famous Smiley Buns ($4). It was so so so yummy! A thick slice of stewed pork belly in soy sauce, a slice of cucumber and leek on a Chinese style steamed bun. It came with a small dish of sweet sauce, somewhat similar to the sauce that is usually served with Peking Duck. I kinda regretted that we only ordered one serving, cos it was so good, one piece each just wasn't enough!! :P
Since it's a sushi place, we had to try one of their rolls. There were so many different types of rolls to choose from and everything looked so good. We finally decided to share a Black Dragon Roll ($10). Crab, avocado, cucumber and masago with yummy eel and sesame seeds on top. Mmmm mmmm mmmmmm, it was really good. A nice balance of different textures and the hint of sweetness in the sauce just adds to the entire dish. Out of everything that we ordered, I believe that this was Kevin's favorite.
For my main, I ordered the Salmon Lover Combo ($18). It consist of 3 pieces of salmon sushi, 5 pieces of salmon sashimi and one salmon avocado roll. I am a huge salmon fan, so this was perfect for me! The fish was really fresh and the meat was really firm. Also, the cut of the salmon was really thick (unlike some other places that serves paper thin salmon on their sushi). I must say that it's been a while since I had such yummy and fresh salmon. Two thumbs up.
Kevin ordered the Je'bon Noodle Broth ($14). Fresh homemade fish noodles, fish noodles fish paste, sea scallops, crab, shrimp, mussel, chicken, mushrooms,vegetables and bamboo shoots in a delicious broth. The seafood was really fresh and they were really generous with the portion too! The fresh homemade fish noodles can be a little bit 'fishy' smelling and might need some getting used to (especially if you have never tried it before) but both Kevin and I loved it. Just sprinkle on some chili powder and slurp away. Very yummy dish too. Overall, we both loved the food at Je'bon. It might be a little on the pricey side but trust me, it's worth every penny spent. We will most definitely return in the near future.

Je'bon Sushi & Noodle House - East Village, NYC
15 St Marks Pl,
New York, NY 10003
Tel: (212) 388 1313
Web: http://www.jebonusa.com/

Store Brand vs. Name Brand Formulas

2010-12-10T16:00:00.001-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of PBM Products. All opinions are 100% mine.

Store brand formula or name brand baby formula? That question has been asked repeatedly by new parents (and even some not so new parents!) nationwide. You have to admit it. I am sure all of you with kids have asked this question at least once before. Really, are they all that different? It has to be right? Name brand formulas are way more expensive compared to store brand formulas. They must be better. If not, why would they cost so much more?

Well, I got some news for you. Did you know that according to the Infant Formula Act of 1980, all baby formulas sold in this country must meet minimum nutrient requirements and FDA regulations? Author Sandra Gordon as well as the editors of Consumer Reports also agrees with that fact and adds that all formula marketed in the U.S. must meet the same nutrient specifications, which are set (by the FDA in 1980) at levels to fulfill the needs of infants. Wow! You know what this means? That's right, all baby formulas are pretty much the same!

If that is so, then why are name brand baby formulas so much more expensive compared to store brand formulas? The answer is simple. One word, advertising! Store brand formulas typically cost less because they are not heavily marketed or advertised. Also, they are not given away to hospitals for free. Because of that, the cost saved is passed along to the consumer. It is estimated that as much as $600 can be saved by new parents each year. I think it makes sense. I totally agree with the new 10th Edition of the Consumer Reports Best Baby Products when they say that “they see no need for parents to choose expensive national brand infant formulas over their much more reasonable store brand counterparts sold at retailers like Walmart, Sam’s Club, Target, CVS, Kroger, Walgreens, and Babies R Us”. If the formulas are the same, why should you pay more just because the name brand formulas spend more money on advertising, right?

Talking about name brand formulas, have you heard about the recall of certain Similac powder infant formulas because of the possibility of the presence of a small common beetle in the product recently? I really couldn't believe it. Granted, the FDA determined the formula poses no immediate health risk but some babies experienced symptoms of gastrointestinal discomfort as well as refusal to eat as a result of irritated GI tracts! Parents are paying premium price for brand name formulas, hoping that they will be getting better formulas for their children. However, they are getting tainted formulas instead. That's just horrible! So, with all that said, if you were to ask me to choose between store brand formula or name brand formula, you can count of me getting store brand formulas over name brand ones any day. What about you?

Fly me away to Puerto Pollensa, Spain!!

2010-12-10T08:41:00.004-05:00

I'm sure it's no secret that both Kevin and I love to travel. If we have a choice, we would spend the rest of our days just traveling around the world. There are just so many places out there to see and visit. Of course we are not made of money, so for now, we are contented with the occasional vacations that we take and watching documentaries on the travel channel. We were watching a travel program on TV the other day and they were talking about Spain's Balearic Islands. Boy, it's so beautiful there!

Now, we have always wanted to visit Spain and after watching that program, I want to visit even more! So, I went online to read up more about the Balearic Islands. For those of you who don't know, Mallorca is the largest of the Balearic Islands. The others are Menorca, Formentera and of course the ever popular Ibiza. When you think of the Balearic Islands, you think of it's beautiful beaches. Most of Mallorca's beast beaches are located in the north and east. Puerto Pollensa is a beach resort area located in the north and it's really popular with families. One look at the pictures from there and I was in love. I so want to go to Puerto Pollensa!

I went to HomeAway Holiday-Rentals at Holiday-Rentals.co.uk to look up accommodation options in that area. HomeAway Holiday Rentals is the #1 place to go to when you are looking for self catering villas, apartments as well as cottage rentals in Spain. True enough, we found some amazing villas in Puerto Pollensa on their website. Lovely beach front villas with breathtaking views of the water. It really looks like heaven on earth! After reading through some other travel websites as well as a Spain travel guide, I found out that there are more to Mallorca than just beaches. They also have beautiful mountain ranges, with olive groves, pine forests and ochre villages. Also, we must not forget about the food. Everybody loves Spanish food. Some paella, various types of tapas and maybe a pitcher or two of some refreshing sangria. Thinking of all this makes me want to visit Spain so bad. Ah well, we better start saving money now. We will definitely want to visit Spain in the near future!

Pizza Hut's Cheesy Bites Pizza!

2010-12-07T16:40:00.001-05:00

We were watching our usual Thursday night NBC marathon (30 Rock, The Office, Outsourced, The Apprentice) on TV last week when we saw the ad for Pizza Hut's new promotion. Looks like they have brought back the Cheesy Bites pizza! Oh what joy! I have tried it once, a very very long time ago and I remembered it to be totally awesome. I am not saying that it's the healthiest thing around but it sure tasted great! Since we already had dinner that night, we said that we MUST head out to Pizza Hut to pick up one for dinner the following day. Yes, I know. The powers of advertisement! :P
The Cheesy Bites Pizza comes in only one size and it's going for $11.99. That gets you one large (total of 28 cheese filled bites!) one topping pizza. For an additional $2, you can upgrade it to a specialty or three topping pizza. So, on Friday night, we ordered the Cheesy Bites Pizza online and headed out to the Pizza Hut in Belleville, NJ to pick it up. It kinda sucks that Pizza Hut doesn't deliver to our area :( Anyways, they said that our pizza will be ready in about 25 minutes (at 6:50pm). We arrived at around 6:55pm and that particular Pizza Hut was filled with people. It was seriously in total chaos! We had to stand there for a good 15 minutes before anybody asked us if we wanted a table, to order take out or if we wanted to collect our pizza. The phones were ringing off the hooks, customers were just getting all impatient (many of them ended up leaving), it was just horrible. When we told them that we had already ordered our pizza and it should be ready at 6:50pm, they said that it wasn't ready and we had to wait another 20mins to half an hour!! Seriously, how long does it take to make a pizza? To make things worse, we didn't see many pizzas coming out from the kitchen. I really don't know what they were doing in there. We finally got our pizza at around 7:35! Very horrible service.
Ahhhhhh, here is our yummy Cheesy Bites Pizza. Since we were utterly disappointed with our Bacon Chocolate Bar the other day, we needed our Bacon fix. So, we ordered a Bacon Cheesy Bites Pizza. Mmmmm mmmmm mmmmmmm, I can feel my arteries clogging just by thinking about it but it really tasted oh so good! Each bite was filled with tons of melted ooey gooey cheese and the garlic butter seasoning was awesome too. One bite and you are in heaven. Definitely worth the long wait and bad service. If it wasn't so fattening and unhealthy, I would eat it every single day! Hmmm, maybe we should order it again this weekend :P

Medical Uniforms by Blue Sky Scrubs

2010-12-05T08:28:00.003-05:00

Guess what we did yesterday? Well, we finally made it to the dentist to get an oral exam as well as to get our teeth cleaned. We are not proud to say this but it's been 10 years since we last went to the dentist for an exam! It's really bad, I know. I am just not a fan of going to the dentist and we have been putting it off. I'm glad we finally went. The good news is, all our teeth are great, no cavities and such. Just a whole lot of tartar and plaque. I bet our dentist had a great workout in trying to get all those off! Anyways, to make sure that we don't wait another 10 years before returning, we have already made an appointment for the next visit in 6 months time. Hopefully we will not slack off and continue to visit her once every 6 months.

While waiting for our turn at the dentist's office, I noticed that many of the nurses as well as the dental hygienists were wearing really nice looking scrubs. Gone are the days of ill fitting green or blue colored scrubs. The scrubs that they wore were a perfect fit and came in many colors and designs. I must say that it looks really professional yet fashionable. When we got home, I did a quick look up online to see where one can purchase such nice scrubs (I don't think you can just walk in to your local departmental store and get such nice ones).

After browsing through the Internet for a bit, I found Blue Sky Scrubs. You can get some of the finest and most fashionable looking looking medical uniforms from there. They offer a whole of range medical uniforms, from scrubs (for men, women as well as kids!), scrubs hats, jackets to even lab coats for doctors. Not only are they available in a variety of designs and colors, but they all also made using the highest quality fabric. Therefore, you can be sure that not only will you look great but you will feel really comfortable too! So, the next time you are looking for some healthcare uniform, just head over to Blue Sky Scrubs. I am sure you that you will find all that you are looking for and more!

Mo's Bacon Bar by Vosges Haut-Chocolat

2010-12-03T17:58:00.001-05:00

We were invited to attend Norton Lilly's Holiday Celebration at the New York Yacht Club a couple of days ago. It was quite an experience, since the New York Yacht Club is a very exclusive club and no way would we have had the opportunity to even step foot in it without an invitation from one of it's members. The cocktail/dinner was held in the Model Room and I must say, the room itself was rather breathtaking. Hundreds of model ships lined the walls of that room. It is said that the Model Room holds the record for the largest collection of model ships in the world! We had a great time meeting various people from the maritime industry but the highlight of the night (well, at least mine :P) was the door gift that we got. Check it out!
Mo's Bacon Bars! We have heard so much about it but never got around to trying it. Come on, how can you go wrong with two of the best things in the world? Bacon and chocolate...mmmm mmmm mmmmm! :D However, bacon and chocolate together? Hmmm, I don't know but we were pretty stoked to try it! We first heard of Mo's Bacon Bars from Marc Summer's Unwrapped, the TV show from The Food Network. It seems the creator of this chocolate bar graduated from Vanderbilt and went on to attend the famous Le Cordon Blue in Paris. Upon completion, she traveled the world, learning about various indigenous cuisines and cultures. After her return, she founded Vosges Haut-Chocolat with the concept of 'Travel the World through Chocolate'. She is known to combine high quality luxury chocolate with all kinds of spices, herbs, roots, flowers, fruits, nuts and the obscure.
So, what is Mo's Bacon Bar actually? Is there really bacon mixed into the chocolate bar? Yes, there is! It's basically a huge solid bar (divided into 8 pieces) of deep milk chocolate with bits and pieces of Applewood smoked bacon and just a sprinkling of Alderwood salt. When we first opened the packaging, the first thing to hit us was the smell! It really smelled like bacon! However, I am not sure if it's a good thing or not. The smell somewhat reminded me of Abby's (Kevin's dog) bacon flavored beggin strips or some really old and stale bacon bits. Seriously, the smell was rather overpowering.
So, what does it taste like? Truthfully? Well, bacon bits mixed with chocolate :P As you can see from the cross section of the chocolate bar, there are really huge chunks of bacon bits in the chocolate bar. It also has a crunch to it. The chocolate tasted heavenly. You can tell right away that it's high quality chocolate. However, I find the mix of the salty bacon and sweet chocolate a tad bit weird. Don't get me wrong, I love the concept of combining chocolate and bacon together. I know that the combination of those two items work. It's just that I feel that maybe she needs a little adjustment to the taste of the bacon. There is just something not right about it. Maybe the flavor is too strong or it is a little too salty. I can't place my finger on what the problem is exactly but the bacon's aftertaste wasn't really pleasant. Because of that, I think that Mo's Bacon Bar failed to hit a home run in my books. It's unfortunate though, cos I firmly believe that with the right combination of taste, flavor and texture, this product could potentially be a huge hit.

Pier 1 Imports - Your One Stop Holiday Shop!

2010-12-03T17:01:00.001-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Pier 1 Imports. All opinions are 100% mine.

We were in the city a couple of days ago for dinner and I noticed that all of the holidays lights were up. Boy, NYC is so beautiful during Christmas. Just walking down the streets while looking at all those decorations definitely puts you in the Christmas spirit. After getting back from the city, we were really motivated to start putting up our Christmas decorations too. We really want to do a good job cos this Christmas will be a little bit more special. My parents and kid sister will be visiting us from Malaysia and it has been years since I last spent the Christmas holidays with them.

We needed some new Christmas decorations, so I headed out to Pier 1 Imports to look for some. I just love Pier 1 Imports. It's basically a one stop shop for all of our holiday shopping. Apart from having a wide range of Christmas decorations to choose from, it is also my 'go to' place for all my holiday entertaining supplies. If you will be hosting a dinner party this holiday season, you should definitely check out Pier 1 Imports. Since we will be hosting Christmas dinner this year, I went online to their website to see if there are anything good. Big mistake on my part. I simply loved everything! Everything looked so nice. Check out the lovely snowflake place mats and beautiful table runner. Isn't it nice? I also love the wine glasses, wine charms as well as the napkin rings! I think that they are just perfect for our Christmas dinner. Nothing too loud or tacky, just enough to give that little hint of Christmas to the dinner party. I kinda like the Mrs Claus Apron too...it think that it's really cute!

Apart from decorations and holiday entertainment supplies, Pier 1 Imports is also my stop for holiday gifts. There are a wide variety of gifts for him and her, both young and old. You can be sure to find something for even the most difficult person to shop for. You could also get all kinds gift wrapping supplies from Pier 1 Imports. Yup, I told ya. It's a one stop shop for everything! You can even visit their website for more gift ideas as well as check out their special value tab for clearance items, specials savings as well as their Daily Dealy. For example, today's Daily Dealy is for $5 off flat brocade wallets. What a deal! They would make perfect Christmas gifts or stocking stuffers.

Another thing that I like about Pier 1 Imports is that they are all about giving back. Christmas is a time for celebration but it is also a time to remember those who are less fortunate then ourselves. For the month of November and December, you can support Toys for Tots by dropping off an unwrapped toy and/or making a cash donation at the register. Also, do your part by liking Pier 1 Imports on Facebook. You can get updates on all their specials but more importantly, Pier 1 Imports will donate $1 to Toys for Tots for every new fan that they get! So, what are you waiting for? Head out to Pier 1 Imports for all your holiday shopping today!