Farm 2 Bistro - Nutley, NJ

When we saw the deal on Groupon for Farm 2 Bistro, we just had to get it. The deal was $15 for a $30 voucher. I've been meaning to check out this place since forever, so with the Groupon deal, it was a good time to do so. Armed with our Groupon, we headed out to Nutley a few Sundays ago for dinner (Yes, I know. I've been meaning to blog about this for quite a while but never got around to it). It's located on Franklin Ave, the main strip in Nutley. Since it was a Sunday, there wasn't really many shops open around that area, so there were ample off street parking.

What made me want to check Farm 2 Bistro out in the first place was it's whole concept and the lifestyle that it promotes. Most of their ingredients are purchased from local farms and markets, when in season. Because of that, they have a diverse menu and feature different specials everyday. They also pride themselves in serving really fresh and healthy food. In fact, their tag phrase is "Farm to Plate, in a Day". I like the whole idea and concept of learning how to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

The moment we walked into the restaurant, we were like "wow". The decor was definitely errrr eclectic. There were a few picnic tables in the middle and a mismatch of tables and chairs all around. Random things were hanging on the walls but the tin ceiling was pretty cool though. There was also a weird musky kinda smell that I cannot place, maybe it's just an old building. The whole place had this laid back hippie kinda feel to it. We felt a bit out of place and a lil weird :P

The waitress took our drinks order and gave us the dinner menu to look through. Both Kevin and I ordered Unsweetened Iced Tea ($3 each). Farm 2 Bistro is also a BYOB, so you can bring along your favorite bottle of wine to go with dinner, if you choose to.

Kevin ordered the Shepard's Pie ($16, even though the online menu says $15). The portion was really small though. I asked Kevin if it was any good and he said it was just alright. I guess it wasn't all that great but it wasn't bad either. However, to pay $16 for this tiny mediocre serving of Shepard's Pie is little too much.

I ordered the Balsamic Chicken ($16, again..it says $15 on the online menu). Seared chicken breast, marinated in Balsamic Vinaigrette. It was served with fresh mozzarella, local tomatoes and pesto on top. Now, this was really really good. Again, the portion was really small but it tasted great. As much as I love the taste, I do not know if paying $16 for such a small portion, is justifiable. I would understand if it's a nice restaurant, but this is just a small and casual suburban cafe. I don't know.

There was a whole table filled with home made cakes, muffins and pastries, on display, just next to us. They all looked super yummy, so we decided to share a slice of carrot cake ($5). I must say that it's as yummy as it looks. Really moist and delicious! That really ended our meal on a sweet note :D
Now, here comes the part that ruined our whole dinner experience. When we first walked in, we showed the waitress our Groupon voucher. She said alright. Then, when the bill came, you can see from the pic above that she took out $30 from our total bill BUT added on a 18% tip for herself! It was just the two of us and not a huge party of six or more. Why should she add on a 18% gratuity? When we asked her, she just said that because we used a Groupon voucher, she HAD to add that in. Now, no where on the voucher or the Groupon website does it say that it's mandatory to add in a 18% gratuity. Of course we will tip her, but it is not right for her to add in the 18% herself, INSIST that it's done because we used the Groupon voucher and that's the policy. She was just outright lying thru her teeth. Boy, I really dislike people like that. The service in that place wasn't all that great, definitely not worth getting that 18%. We didn't want to argue with her anymore, so we just paid the bill and left. With the steep prices, small portions and horrible service...I don't think we will ever return again, no matter how good the Balsamic Chicken or Carrot Cake was.

Farm 2 Bistro - Nutley, NJ
177 Franklin Avenue,
Nutley, NJ 07110
Tel: (973) 667 3276
Web: http://www.farmbistro.com

Nominate a School to Win 50 Laptops from Charter!

* This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Charter. All opinions are 100% mine.

You know how we like to give our readers a heads up whenever there are new exciting sweepstakes or promotions going on? Yeah, I know it's been a while since we did that but guess what? Charter is back at it again! We all know that Charter is awesome when it comes to having great promotions to reward their customers and those who are looking to sign up with Charter. Remember some of their past promotions and sweepstakes? That's right. Who can forget then giving away a hybrid car, a Camaro, an HDTV-A-Day for an entire month, free laptops, XBox 360's and more!

This time round, Charter is doing something a little different. They are giving back to the community. As part of Charter’s back-to-school campaign, they are giving 50 laptops away to two schools. Yup, Charter wants your favorite school to start smart this fall with 50 new laptops! Here's how it works. Parents and others can nominate your local schools by telling Charter why you think your school should win. Remember, schools need to be nominated by Aug. 12. Charter will then choose 50 finalists (based on the nomination stories submitted) and announce them on Aug. 16. Open voting occurs between Aug. 16 and Sept. 20 and Charter will announce the two winning schools on Sept. 27th! Get all your friends to vote for your school. The more votes you cast, the higher your chances are for winning!

Apart from that, Charter is also running their laptop-a-day giveaway sweepstakes. You can register for a chance to win a Lenovo G555's with a 15.6" screen, 160GB drive and 3GB ram laptop for yourself. Hey, they will even throw in a Targus bag for you! Ordering any Charter service automatically gives you a chance to win and get up to $300 cash back. You can also register online with no purchase necessary. So what are you waiting for? Head over to http://www.charter.com/laptop and register today! Charter also has a Facebook fanpage. If you are on Facebook, you should 'like' Charter on Facebook to get the latest Charter news as well as keep up with all their awesome sweepstakes and contests. I have already 'like' Charter, you should too!

Pollo Tropical (Chicken On The Grill) - Clifton, NJ

We were driving around the other day, looking for something quick and affordable to eat, when I remembered this grilled chicken place that I wanted to check out. It's located at the strip mall, just off Route 3 West in Clifton. When we arrived, we saw a poster on the window, promoting some new $4.99 combo. Sounds good to me! =)

The decor of Pollo Tropical is indeed very errmmm 'tropical'! Really nice though, with Jimmy Buffet music playing in the background and a tropical island theme all around. I didn't get a chance to take any photos becos there were just too many people there. Pollo Tropical is famous for their grilled fresh, never frozen, hormone-free chicken. Not only it is healthy (since most of the fat is 'grilled off'), but it's really affordable too. They are a semi self service restaurant, so tipping is optional. In fact, there are signs all over the restaurant telling you that you do not need to tip.

After placing our order at the counter, we headed over to the drinks fountain to get our drinks (refillable, of course) and also to pick up some sauces from the sauce counter. There were quite a lot of sauces to choose from, ranging from your regular ketchup to exotic sounding sauces like Guava BBQ and Pineapple Rum. Here is the complete list of sauces available.

• Cilantro Garlic - Fresh garlic and cilantro blended with tangy lime juice
  
• Fresh Salsa - Onions, tomatoes and cilantro
  
• Guava BBQ - BBQ sauce with a touch of exotic guava and a splash of hot sauce
  
• BBQ - Their classic BBQ sauce
  
• Curry Mustard - A blend of curry and mustard with mayo
  
• Mojo - A blend of garlic, onion, lime and olive oil
  
• Pineapple Rum - A blend of tropical pineapples with dark rum
  
• Salsa Fuego - Roasted jalapenos and tomatoes
  
• Spicy Amazon - Blend of special spices and chipotle peppers
  
• Spicy Hot Poyo-Poyo - Spicy island chilli peppers

After placing our order, we were given a number and we were told that the waiters will bring our order to us. We were quite pleased that we managed to find a table, since it was so packed that day. Before we could even take a few sips of our drink (regular soda - $1.60, large soda - $1.90), our food arrived. Very impressed with the speed and service.
We both ordered the 1/4 chicken combo with 2 sides ($4.95). We had a choice of either Traditional or Spicy Hot Poyo-Poyo chicken. We both went for the Traditional. I must say that it was a great choice. The chicken was oh so yummy! Reminded me of Nandos, only a hundred times better!! There were all kinds of sides to choose from too. Here is a list of their sides:

Signature Black or Red Beans

White or Brown Rice

Yellow Rice with Vegetables

Curly Fries

Caesar Salad

Boiled Yuca with Mojo

Balsamic Tomatoes

Kernel Corn

Mashed Potatoes

Coleslaw

Mac n Cheese

Our whole meal came to a total of only $14.43. Definitely worth the price, with the amount of good food that we got. At the bottom of the receipt, there was a note asking us to go to a website to answer a short survey about the service, food..etc at Pollo Tropical. The survey only took us less than 5 minutes and upon completion, we received a coupon for a FREE 1/4 chicken with two sides meal! Of course the coupon is valid only with the purchase of another item of equal value or more. That's not too bad. This means, the next time we eat at Pollo Tropical, we only have to pay $4.95 for two 1/4 chicken meal. Yay!!! =)

Pollo Tropical (Chicken On The Grill) - Clifton, NJ
374 State Rt 3
Clifton, NJ 07014-1900
Tel: (973) 745-0242
Web: http://www.pollotropical.com/

So, what's your take on Online Dating?

* This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of MeetLocals.com. All opinions are 100% mine.

I remember the time when online dating used to be a taboo subject. Whenever somebody brings up the idea about wanting to put up a profile or try out an online dating site, there is a high chance that he/she will receive some sort of snide remark or the "ewww, are you sure?" look from family and friends. These days, online dating has evolved into something pretty common. In fact, one of my friend who got married recently actually met his wife on an online dating website. If you think about it, online dating actually makes quite a lot of sense. It's almost the same as walking into a pub or party, looking to make friends. You look through the crowd of people and find someone that you are attracted to. You then approach him/her and you start a conversation. Same thing goes for online dating. The only difference is, it is not done face to face. This can work out really well for shy people or for people who are too busy to actually go out to meet new friends. You can just surf the websites in the comfort of your own home. Also, since contact is initially not face to face, it is also safer. You only meet the other person once you know them better. If you are thinking of checking out the online dating scene, you should check out Shop4Guys.com and Meetlocals.com. Both these two newly launched websites each offers two different levels of paid membership upgrades, consisting of silver and gold status. Who knows, you might meet the guy/girl of your dreams there.

Wow! We now own a diner??

Every since we started this blog back in 2008, our readership has grown quite a bit. When we first started, the only readers of this blog were my dad, Ashley and a few of my cousins :P Today, we pretty much get visitors from all over the world. It's really exciting and fun actually, to get comments and make new friend with people from all over. Of course, not every comment is pleasant and nice. There are a few nasty ones too. Hey, we understand. If we were to have a blog and choose to open it up for the world to see, there are bound to be a few people out there who do not share the same opinion as us. That's all good.

I don't know if you guys noticed the slight updates that we added to the blog recently. We now have a contact form, among other things. Since we added that form, we have been getting quite a lot of feedback/comments/emails from readers. I was pretty amazed that people actually used the form! :P Most of the comments have been pretty good but we do get a few weird ones occasionally. Yeah, weird ones...like people trying to sell us Viagra! We received a really weird comment a few weeks ago and by far, it's the weirdest. Check this out!

RE: Complaint

Myself and 2 friends stopped in your diner today for lunch. We were surprised to see that you didn't make wraps which is what we all wanted for lunch. Due to our disappointment we left and the nasty waitress cahged us for soda that we didn't even drink. Needless to say, we will never return or recommend your diner to anyone.

Lauren Camperlino (lc3891@yahoo.com)

Wow! What's going on? When did we become proud owners of a diner?? Not only that, our diner doesn't serve wraps for lunch?? That's horrible! All diners should serve wraps for lunch. And our waitress was rude and nasty to you? Man, we don't cut no slack in our diner. Lauren, I'll make sure that this never happens again. You know what? I think I'm just gonna fire her tomorrow. Imagine that, charging you for a soda that you ordered but chose not to drink. Tsk tsk tsk. Actually Lauren, come to think about it, this is what I'm going to do. I am deeply ashamed that we don't serve wraps for lunch, especially when that's the ONLY thing that you wanted (what about dinner, do you like wraps for dinner too? or is it just a lunch thing?). So, we are going to give you free food for life. As much wraps as your tummy can hold. Oh, and we will even throw in free sodas. How's that? Please please please recommend our diner to your friends and family. Please return. We cannot bear to see the diner (that we have no knowledge about or even own) go down the drain.

iNetVideo.com - Entertainment for Less!

* This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of iNetVideo. All opinions are 100% mine.

I'm sure many of you know that both Kevin and I are big movie buffs. We enjoy watching all kinds of movies. As much as we enjoy going out to the cinema to watch a movie, we prefer to catch a movie at home, on DVD. Therefore, we tend to buy a lot of DVDs every month. Now, here's where the problem begins. Not only are DVDs expensive, but quite a lot of the smaller shops do not carry the DVDs that we are looking for. After a while, it feels as though they have ran out of all the movies that interest us.

I was surfing around the Internet the other day and I found the solution to our problem. I found out about iNetVideo.com! iNetVideo is one of the largest liquidators of entertainment products with offices based in the United States and in Canada. They are also one of the largest suppliers of online entertainment, offering rock bottom prices that is way lower than their competitors. Founded in 1999, they offer a wide range of movies on DVD, HD DVD as well as music CDs and video games. They even have blu-ray movies too!

So, what makes them so special and different from the other sites who sell entertainment products? Apart from their crazy low prices, they pride themselves in offering the the ultimate customer experience. You see, they all love music, watch a lot of movies and are gamers too. that's right, just like you and me. Therefore, they know this business and they know what you want. Their user friendly website has one of the largest selections (over hundred of thousands of titles) of hard to find, rare and out-of-print titles. If you can't find what you are looking for, just tell them and they will try their best to get it for you! Also, there are no hidden fees and their website is 100% secure. Need them to ship internationally? No problem! iNetVideo.com has proudly shipped over 1.6 million orders worldwide.

iNetVideo.com is currently running their "Monthly Blu-Ray Player Giveaway" contest. Every month, 5 lucky winners will win 1 of 5 free Blu-ray movies. One grand prize winner will be selected to win a free Blu-ray player! How cool is that? Just head over to iNetVideo's blog to find out more as well as to see what's on sale at iNetVideo. You can also check out the latest movie, music and game reviews there.

Hooters - Union, NJ

After getting our car from Planet Honda last weekend, we decided to look around for a place to eat dinner. We really didn't expect the whole process of getting a car to take THAT long, so by than, we were famished! It's the first time we were ever in that part of Route 22 and we didn't really know what restaurants are out there. We were pretty excited (for different reasons, I guess :P) when we saw a Hooters opposite our dealership. I loveeee the wings at Hooters and Kevin (so he claims, he always says that it's all about the wings and nothing else) does too. Since it's been a while since we went to a Hooters ( I believe the last Hooters we went to was the one in Clarke Quay, Singapore about 4 years ago), we decided to go check it out.
The exterior of this Hooters doesn't really look like a Hooters at all. Usually, the decor of Hooters would shout fun and would make you want to go in. This Hooters is a little bit different. It looked so plain on the outside, it reminded me of an auto parts shop! :P Also, there is a 7 eleven sharing the same shop lot with them. How weird. The interior decor however looked like all the other Hooters out there. The only weird thing was that it was almost empty! There were only a few creepy looking guys (who kept staring at the girls) and two couples in that whole large place. You would think that it would be packed during dinner on a Saturday night. Granted it was pretty early for dinner, but still...
Another thing I noticed about this Hooters is that the Hooter girls don't look like Hooter girls. We all know that Hooter girls are usually pretty hot looking and have certain errm...assets? The girls working here looked like any other girl, working in any of the local bars. Putting looks aside, they also looked unmotivated and downright bored. Now, that's pretty bad, since Hooters is known for their fun and energetic atmosphere. Thank goodness we were only there for the wings, so it didn't really bother me much. :P
Our waitress took our drinks order and left us to look at the menu. We ordered a soda each ($2.99). Look at the guy in the background. That's what it looked like throughout the restaurant. Single guys sitting alone or in pairs, just eating their food or ogling (nothing much to ogle at anyways) at the girls. There is just this depressing overall feel to the whole place. Definitely don't feel like a Hooters at all.
Ahhhhh the main attraction. This was the whole reason why we came to Hooters. The wings! We have always loved to wings at Hooters, they are just so mmmm mmmm good! There are 8 different sauces to choose from and you can get the wings either breaded or naked (unbreaded). Of course, if you are feeling rich, you can always get the Gourmet Chicken Wing Dinner. For $50 bucks, you get 20 wings and a bottle of Korbel champagne! :P
Kevin ordered the 10 piece wings with BBQ sauce ($8.49) and I got the 10 piece wings with Samurai (Teriyaki style) sauce ($8.49). We both got our wings 'naked'. Hmmm, somehow that sentence didn't come out right..LOL! Anywaysss, the million dollar question. Was the wings as good as we remembered them to be? Simple and short answer - NO. Not only were the wings pretty small, they were a little bit overcooked too. Kevin said his BBQ sauce was 'just alright' but my Samurai sauce wasn't really the greatest at all. It tasted weird and wayyy wayy wayyy too sweet. I do not know if the low quality of wings served is just confined to this particular branch or the standard of wings have generally gone down in all Hooters nationwide. Either ways, the wings were not as great as we remembered them to be. Definitely not worth the $8.49 for 10 pieces.
On the other hand, the Onion Rings ($4.99) that we ordered to share was really good. I would say that it was the saving grace of our meal! Really yummy and crispy. I am not so sure that type of sauce it comes with, but the sauce tasted great too! Overall, we were pretty bummed due to the 'wings letdowns'. Also, the atmosphere in this particular branch is just terrible. Maybe it's just a bad day for this restaurant, who knows. Oh well, I am guessing we won't be returning to this branch anytime in the near future. The good thing that came out from all this is, Kevin can now not use the line " Oh, I want to go to Hooters for the awesome wings. It's all about the wings and nothing else". We all know that the wings are not that great anymore...so what now? :P

Hooters - Union, NJ
2319 US Highway 22 Ctr
Union, NJ 07083-8535
Tel: (908) 964-5317
Web: http://www.hooters.com/

What are YOU passionate about?

* This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Haagen Dazs. All opinions are 100% mine.

Everybody has something that they are passionate about. It might be a passion for a certain type of activity, passion for style, a passion for flavor....even a passion for life. The passion that comes from deep within, the passion that feeds your creativity. What is your passion? For me, I have a passion for cooking. I didn't start out that way though. I never was really into coking until I moved to America for college. I started cooking because I had to cook in order to eat. After a while, it turned into something I enjoy. Over the years, it grew to something I am really passionate about. Not only is it therapeutic to cook, but it's also an outlet for me to be creative and allows me to experiment in the kitchen.

Talking about experimenting in the kitchen, let me share with you a recipe for a Steak BBQ marinade/glaze that I came out with not too long ago. It's so good, it has become my favorite and I use it for almost anything. Here's how you make it. It's really simple, all you need is just four ingredients. Start off by adding some BBQ sauce to a bowl. Then, add in some whiskey. The ratio would be 3 part BBQ sauce to 1 part whiskey. Next, add in some Worcestershire sauce followed by some freshly ground black pepper. Mix everything together and it's all ready to go. Just use it to marinade your steaks in a zip loc bag overnight and once it's nicely marinated, your steaks will be ready for the grill.

As you can see from most of the posts on this blog, I am really passionate about cooking. Everybody has a passion. That's why Haagen-Dazs is pleased to bring you new episodes of the Passion Profiles. The Passion Profiles is an original online series featuring some of Canada's most intriguing personalities. Hosted by Cheryl Hickey, it is talk-show that takes will take you into the lives Canada's most entertaining personalities. You will get a unique and rare glimpse at the authentic and demanding passions that define some of Canada's finest Chefs, Designers and Musicians. You should head over to http://www.passionprofiles.ca/ to check out the Passion Profiles series today! Oh and before I forget, the first episode of Passion Profiles will air on July 28, 2010. It will feature Food Network TV stars Anna and Michael Olsen. Now, that is something you definitely wouldn't want to miss!

Check out our new Honda Civic LX!

Kevin and I have never been really big on cars. We never really felt the need to get a big, flashy or pimped up ride...just because it's a cool thing to do. To me, a car serves the purpose of transporting us from point A to B and that's about it. I'm not saying that we don't like nice cars (who doesn't, right?), it's just that we don't see the point of throwing a whole bunch of money into one. Maybe one day, when we are super rich and have a lot of excess cash, then will we look into getting a high end or sports car :P That's why, for now, we were happy with our old beaten up 1999 Chevy Lumina. As long as it still moves, everything is cool with us.

For the past few months, our Chevy have been making a lot of noises when we apply the brakes. Lately, we can hear loud clanking noises even when we just drive normally. We knew that it wasn't such a good sign, it looked like our old faithful Lumina was slowly dying on us. The final straw came last Thursday, when Kevin was driving over some railroad tracks. He wasn't sure what he ran over but there was a loud crash and after that, we could hear like a ringing sound, like something has been broken off. Now, the car is only worth $400 (at the most) and getting it fixed would set us back about $2k. Looks like we didn't really have a choice but to go out and get ourselves a new car. So, we headed out to Planet Honda on Route 22 on Saturday to get one!

Prior to all this, we have been looking around at cars (since our Lumina first started giving us problems). After all the research, we narrowed it down to either the Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla. Both cars have their own pros and cons but we finally came to the conclusion that the Honda has a slight edge over the Toyota, in terms of resale value and the 'cool factor' :P After spending like what seemed ages negotiating, we finally reached the magic number and we were ready to sign. It took almost 4 hours, from the time we walked into the dealership to the time we were ready to sign. Phewwww, what a long and stressful day.
Here is Kevin saying goodbye to our old friend, the 1999 Chevy Lumina. It was actually quite a bittersweet feeling, to trade her in. While clearing her out earlier that morning, we found many things from the past few years of our lives. Things like the sitting chart from our wedding dinner in Pittsburgh, an invitation to one of Kevin's good friends wedding (they just celebrated their 2nd anniversary not too long ago), brochures that we picked up in Hersheys when my parents came to visit us, the envelopes that held our plane tickets from Marlboro...even a price tag from some newborn baby's rompers. It took me a while to figure out how THAT got into our car. Then I remembered. We were on the way to visit a friend who just had a baby and I was wrapping the present up in the car. I guess I must have forgotten to throw the tag away. Oh, by the way, the baby is now a 3 year old toddler :P Ahhhh the memories, we will surely miss our old faithful Lumina.
After saying goodbye, we headed over to the new car delivery section of the dealership and with a firm handshake, Mike Hanna (our salesman) congratulated us and we now have the keys to our brand new Honda Civic LX!
Here it is! This is the first photo I took of Kevin with our new car. Doesn't it look all shiny and nice? I just love the new car smell :P I wonder how long before all that goes away? Wanna see more photos of the car? Well, I'm gonna show them off anyways, even if you say no. So, enjoy!
There were quite a number of colors to choose from. It was a toss up between Polished Metal or Urban Titanium. At last we went with Urban Titanium. Polished Metal is gray, with a bluish undertone where else the Urban Titanium has a brown undertone. I felt that the Urban Titanium has a warmer look, so we went with that. Also, the Urban Titanium is a new color (just introduced last year) and it's only available for Civics and CR-Vs. Looks cool, eh? Here are more photos from different angles.
The interior looks pretty cool at night. Just love the blue back light, kinda sharp looking :P We still haven't gotten our license plate yet, so we are still driving around with our temporary plates. Hopefully we will get it by this weekend or early next week. We are both still very excited about our new car and we can't wait to collect more happy memories with our Civic, just like how we did with our Lumina! :D

Charter On Demand is more than JUST movies!

* This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Charter. All opinions are 100% mine.

Everybody has their own favorite TV show. Come on, you have to admit it. There must be that one particular show that you really enjoy watching. Both Kevin and I pretty much enjoy watching the same shows on TV but occasionally, we do watch different things. The problem really starts when both our shows come on at the same time! Who gets to watch their favorite show then? Also, don't you hate it when you are out doing something and you know that your favorite show is due to come on at that very moment? You would have to choose between rushing home to watch part of it or you would have to skip that particular episode. How frustrating.

Guess what? With Charter On Demand, you wouldn't have to face those problems anymore. On Demand is one of the most popular features of Charter TV in Digital, and rightly so. You see, it's not just a movie service but it is home to thousands of shows and programs, just waiting for you to discover! Sure, it's great that they have the latest movies (movies like Blind Side, The Hurt Locker, Alice in Wonderland..etc) available but what makes On Demand special is that there are literally thousands of free shows and programs for every interest for you to uncover. Kids shows, workout videos, concerts, cooking shows and every other specialty show is available on your schedule, when you have time to watch it. How cool is that? For example, one of my all time favorite show is Ghost Hunters from SyFy. It comes on every Wednesday at 9pm. With On Demand, Kevin doesn't have to miss any prime time programs, just so that I can watch Ghost Hunters. I can just watch it during the day, when Kevin is away at work. How great is that? Don't just listen to me, go check out On Demand for yourself. Just head over to the On Demand home page to find out more. If you like what you see on their home page, guess what? You will ‘Like’ their Facebook page as well!

Binh Duong Traditional Vietnamese Restaurant

I have been meaning to blog about this restaurant for the longest time but never really got around to doing it. We were out grocery shopping in the Bloomfield area a few weeks back and we were looking for a place to grab something quick for dinner. We remembered seeing this small Vietnamese restaurant next to East West Asian Market the last time we were there, so we thought we would give it a try.

Since we had groceries in the car, we decided not to eat in but to take out our dinner. The exterior of the restaurant is nothing to shout about and I can say the same for the interior. Just your regular hole in the wall joint, with a few tables and chairs. It was still early for dinner but there were already quite a lot of diners there. We were the only non Vietnamese there, so I would take that as a good sign :P The owner took our orders and within 15 minutes or so, they brought out our piping hot food in two huge bags. Here's what we ordered.

Whenever we have Vietnamese food, we HAVE to order the Goi Cuon ($3.95 for 2 rolls). That's like my all time favorite Vietnamese food. The Goi Cuon aka Summer Roll had really large and fresh shrimp, very very yummy. Also, the peanut sauce was aweeessoomme! Seriously, it's been a while since I had a summer roll this good. Two thumbs up!

Apart from the Goi Cuon, we also ordered the Cha Gio ($4.95 for 5 rolls). That's the Vietnamese spring roll. Mini fried spring rolls filled with shrimp and pork. It also came with mint, lettuce and fish sauce. Again, it was super yummy! Crunchy on the outside and the filling was really tasty =) Yummy yummy yummy!

I ordered the Pho Dac Biet ($6.50), which is the House Combo Pho. Rice noodles with rare beef, well done beef, brisket, tendon and tripe served in an authentic Vietnamese beef broth. I added some Bo Vien (beef balls) for an additional $1. The noodles also came with bean sprouts, basil,lime and a sauce mixture of hoisin and hot sauce. I have had quite a lot of pho in my lifetime but I dare say that the beef broth here is superb! Really really good. I will definitely have to order this again.
Kevin ordered the Suon Nuong ($9.95), which is Grilled Lemongrass Pork Chops served with a salad and steamed Jasmine white rice. Just like all the other stuff that we ordered, this too was super yummy. The pork chops were nicely marinated and grilled to perfection. The best part of the pork chops is the slightly charred edges, mmm mmm gooood. Overall, this is an awesome restaurant. Quick service, friendly staff, affordable prices and most importantly, really good food! Boy, we are really happy that we found this place. It's only about 10 minutes away from our apartment. This means, we do not need to go to the city or Jersey City to get affordable and authentic tasting Vietnamese food anymore. Yay!

Binh Duong Traditional Vietnamese Restaurant
61 1/2 Belleville Avenue
Bloomfield, NJ 07003
Tel: (973) 680 8440
Fax: (973) 680 8441

Hours: Mon - Sat (11am - 10pm), Sun (11am - 9pm), Closed on Tuesdays

mailUV.com - Your FREE Instant Video Email Service

* This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of mailVU. All opinions are 100% mine.

I still remember the time when emails first started to become popular. Boy, it was awesome. We could send messages (emails) to people from across the globe and they would be able to get it in seconds. No more having to mail letters and waiting for weeks before even getting a reply. These days, technology has gone a step further. Do you know that you can now send video emails? Huh? What's that, you might ask?

Well, the answers are all at http://mailVU.com. That's right, mailUV.com has just launched a free video email service that is super easy to use. Here's how it works. All you need to have is access to a computer and a webcam. Then, head over to their website and you can record a video email using your webcam. That video email can then be played on any computer, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android and any other smartphone. Now, here is the kicker. You are not required to have an account or download any software! How cool is that? I tried it a few times and it turned out just awesome! Not only is it really easy to use, it's is also absolutely FREE!

Now, you might be thinking, how is this any different from say, YouTube or Skype? Ahhh, well, it's VERY different! With YouTube, you would have to post the video onto their website and will have to 'push' people to their public website to view the video. With mailUV, you don't 'push' people to any websites but you 'push' the video to the other person's email inbox! Skype on the other hand requires both parties to be online at the same time. With mailUV, you can create the video and the other person and 'read' the video email later on. Also, just like all the other video chat services like MSN, Yahoo IM, etc, Skype requires you to download a software. mailUV doesn't require you to download any software, ever.

The best thing about mailUV is it's privacy settings. A self-destruct feature is available to delete the video after a certain number of views or days. Also, the user can also retract a video message after it is sent, which will immediately delete the file. That's really awesome! With mailUV.com, there is no reason for not keeping in touch with friends and love ones across the globe anymore. Grandparents can 'see' their grandchildren, families that are seperated by distance can see each other more often and old friends can keep in touch with each other, no matter where they are in the world. Also, business executives can send video messages to the employees in their organization, providing updates, plans, and motivational talks. The possibilities are just endless with mailUV. Head over to http://mailVU.com and start sending out free instant video emails today!

Zatarain's New Orleans Style Jambalaya Mix

We were in Walmart the other day and we saw that Zatarain's New Orleans Style Jambalaya Mix was on sale. I believe it was only $2 for a box. Now, I just lovveeee New Orleans style Jambalayas, so I figured we should buy a box to try out. Also, I've heard a lot of good things about Zatarains but I've never tried that brand before. So, it was a good time to give Zatarains a try. We then picked up a lb of smoked sausage that was also on sale at $2.50 and we were set to go.

Just like all the other stuff that I make, this was also really easy to make. Here's how you make it. Start off by boiling 3 3/4 cups on water in a large pan. Then, add in about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to the water. Once the water comes to a full boil, add in the Jambalaya mix into the pan.

Stir the mixture and make sure that everything is nicely mixed in. Then, add in about 1lbs of smoked sausage (that has been cut up into smaller pieces). I used beef smoked sausage but you can pretty much use anything that you like.

I had some left over chicken breast (cooked) sitting in my fridge, so I decided to add them into the mix as well. That's entirely optional but the chicken sure tasted yummy in the Jambalaya. If you were to add in some chicken breast, make sure you add in cooked chicken breast and not raw. Just fry them up in a pan before adding it into the mix. Once the mixture comes to a boil, give it one good stir and turn down the flame. Cover the pan and allow it to simmer for about 15 minutes.

Now it's time to add in some shrimp. I had some white shrimp in my fridge too, so I thought that it would be nice to put some of those in. Again, this is entirely optional. Make sure that your shrimp is clean and peeled before adding it into the mix.

I also had about a quarter of yellow bell pepper in my fridge, so again, I decided to add that in. It was a good move though, I felt that the bell pepper really worked with this dish. After adding in the yellow bell peppers, return the mix to a boil and allow it to cook for another 15 minutes. Remember to stir occasionally to prevent the Jambalaya from sticking to the bottom of the pan. After it is cooked, remove the pan from the heat and allow it to stand for about 5 minutes or so. Then, fluff it up and it's ready to be served!
Here is it! A nice hot plate of Jambalaya! I was really pleasantly surprised that it tasted sooooo good. Not only was it easy to make, it was really affordable too. There was enough Jambalaya in that pan to feed the two of us for three meals. That means, it only cost us a little less than $1 per person per meal! How awesome it that??? :D