Las Vegas

I'm less than 10 posts away from reaching 500. Whoa! I actually never though I'd make it that far. I'm surprised at myself.

This past weekend, I made a quick and short trip to Las Vegas. No I didn't do any gambling except for a couple turns on the penny slots.  But my main purpose for this trip was to attend a family friend's grandfather's 80th birthday. Drove up straight Saturday morning and arrived around 1pm. And considering that this was a Filipino party. Filipino food was plentiful. Though, one thing I have to mention. I gave up red meat for a few months. ACK!! You have no idea how disappointed I was I couldn't have some of the roasted lechon, kare kare, and a couple meat based dishes.

Luckily, to my saving grace there were a couple seafood dishes like some sweet and sour fish and garlic shrimp, which still had it's shell on. The fun part was digging in with my hands to get the delicious meat out of the shell. There I was surrounded my scrumptious foods and I couldn't have most of it. In my head I screamed to myself --- "I'm a dork! Perfect timing for give up meant, Jenn!!!"

 Kare kare, lechon, fried chicken, lechon kawali were just some of the selection You know how tempted I was to see this spread of food? Especially when i was very limited in what I could eat. But eat I did.  Remember we eat with our eyes, too.

On the dessert area: Maja Blanca (a corn dessert), Bibingka, Baklava. There was one other dessert but i forget the name of it. A you can see with the amount of food present there were a lot of guests. The birthday cake was a tiramisu cake, which was night tasty. I forgot to take a pic of that. I had share a nice slice with my mom.

My plate: palabok, dilis (fried anchovy), garlic shrimp, a vegetable spring roll, a little fried rice and there's some sweet and sour fish in there too.  I went back for seconds on these since it was really the only thing I could eat. But I it was good.

Also even though it was HOT (as in temp-wise) I couldn't complain with this view. I stayed at the Suncoast Hotel and Casino located in North Las Vegas.

I did take a little walk down Las Vegas Blvd  around 10pm. From the Venetian to Casaers Palace. It was a warm night full of people. Way too many people. Then of course it was the weekend so revellers were out to play.

Anyway here's another view as I tried to take a short nap in my hotel.

 Had myself some pancakes that my mom had brought back from the cafe on the main floor of the hotel. Doused mine with the butter and syrup given. lol. It wasn't a long trip.  It was literally an over night thing. I left mid-day Sunday and for back to LA around 4:30 in the afternoon. A straight 4 hour drive. Now it's back to the old grind.

Pomegranate & Cranberry

drinking while working

Just a little itty-bitty posty today. Unbeknownst to me, I received a nice package from the folks at POM Wonderful. It was a case of their new product - POM Cranberry.


I've drank two bottles straight up already. I like the tangy-tart combination of the flavors. Plus the healthy aspects of the natural juices of the pomegranate and cranberry. I'm trying to think of what kind of cocktail or smoothie I can come up with for the rest of the bottles. It actually couldn't have come at a better time as I'm readjusting to some changes in my diet. (ie. getting rid of the summer weight. ugh! So far so good and it's been three weeks.)

The bottle looks the same as the regular POM, but I think the cap would be a different color to differentiate the two. This new flavor should hit store at the end of the month. I've been a fan of POM Wonderful for quite sometime already and from the various products I've had the opportunity to sample, they haven't disappointed me yet.



Disclaimer: I received these products to review for free.

Production Eats - No. 28

I'm on the track to busy street. As you may have noticed my posts haven't been as regular as they was during the first half of the year. Suffice to say, I've kept myself really busy with various projects these last few months. After my quiet complaining that I haven't been doing much, things have picked up quite well.

Last week, I worked on the show How I Met Your Mother. Though it is a sitcom, sometimes they film portions that aren't taped in front of a live audience. This was one was a pretty long day on the Universal Studios backlot.

Chicken Kabob, Steamed broccoli, butter and sour cream for the baked potato, Some white suce and penne pasta.

It's been a while since I had a baked potato and I took advantage of it while it was presented to me. Fo some odd reason. My appetite wasn't in sync with me on that day, so my urge to eat wasn't 100%. But I did enjoy the meal.

Salad with mushrooms, cheddar cheese, and balsamic vinegar, slice of pineapple, garlic crusted bread. For dessertc Chocolate cookie cake!!!

The dessert was freakin' gooooood!!! It was like a mix of a soft cookie and and cake. I seriously going to try and make this at home.  I have mentioned I looooove chocolate, so this one is right up my alley.

Production Eats - No. 27

Last week I worked on two shows, I worked on No Ordinary Family once again. The first time I played a high school student. This time around I played a store shopper. I'm interested in seeing this show. It's a bout a family who has super powers. Hmmm...I am intrigued.

 Top clockwise: Dinner roll cantelope, salad, Steamed veggies and roasted potatoes, parmesan crusted chicken, roast beef

 Strawberry parfait?

 To wash it all down a nice delicious fruit smoothie.

The second show I worked on was Dexter. :-) This one was a long day, but it made up for the fact that I got to sit pretty close to Dexter himself...Michael C. Hall. How close? Well...it more at arms length. Yeah. And it was for a good portion of the day, too.

 The all too traditional casaer salad and some slices of fruit

Garlic halibut, dinner roll, roast pork, rice, a piece of German chocolate cake.

There was a lot of us in this shoot, so I knew that dessert would go pretty quick as soon as I got near enough I snagged myself a piece before it had all run out. 

A Labor Day Snack

I hope all you folks in the US are having a good labor day. Today will be simply short post. I want to share with you a simple snack that I love to eat. It's really an anytime snack, but perfect for those warm summer days. Good for picnics, parties, bbq.  It's basically nearly ripe mango sprinkled with some salt and sugar. That's all. It's a healthy sweet and salty snack that's really delicious.  Mmmm...just thinking about it makes me want some right now.

Sweet and Salty Mango
 
1 large nearly ripe mango
1/3 tsp salt
1/3 tsp salt

Peel the mango and cut into chunks or sticks.  Place the pieces on the bowl and toss together with the salt and sugar. Serve chilled or room temp.

Tuna Salad Casserole

My apologies for the photos in this recipe. It was one of those "I'm uber hungry and don't feel like lugging out my camera to take a picture.  Can we eat now?" moment. On a whim I wanted to make tuna burgers, but no buns. Then in comes pasta to the rescue and it becomes a tuna salad. I later glance in the fridge and see some shredded mozzarella. The imaginary light bulb lights up and casserole comes to mind. and what you see is the result of that oddly "I can't think when I'm hungry" moment.

I served it wish a side of fresh slices of avocado.

Serves 2

Tuna Salad Casserole
1 can  tuna in oil or water - drained
1-2 c uncooked small penne or elbow
1 1/2 Tbsp mayo
1 Tbsp relish
1/3 cup pineapple tidbits - drained
Extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c Shredded mozzarella (plus extra for topping)
1/3 c panko crumbs

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. Note" to avoid the pasta from sticking drizzle a little olive oil before cooking and stir once. Also season the water with salt. Drain when cooked and let cool.

Preheat your oven to 350˚F

In a large bowl, mix together the tuna, mayo, relish, and pineapple. Then toss in the cooled pasta, panko crumbs and mozzarella. Toss together until fully mixed. Next place the mixture into a baking dish . Baked for 15-20 minutes. 5 minutes before removing from the oven, sprinkle more cheese on top.

Serve slightly warm.

Weekend Eats

It's always fun to spend time with good friends especially when it's been a while since you've seen them. We first ventured down for lunch at Alhambra, Ca. There were four of us. Chatting it up. For those who know me, know I'm not picky about foods. So my friend chose a Vietnamese place. She was craving some pho and so was I.

Pho Super Bowl 

Located in a tiny stripmall, the place isn't large. A moderate size and not too crowded.  We situate ourselves at the table and look over the menu.

To start I order myself a nice refreshing Thai tea with boba. 

There were a few undercooked boba, but that didn't matter to me. It was still refreshing.

The server brings out the bean sprouts and greens for our soups. 

I tend to much on it while waiting. I like to eat them fresh sometimes.

One of my friends orders a couple shrimp spring rolls. Served with a side of sauce.

Our other friend orders the traditional spring rolls.

For the main dish, I order the seafood pho. Fish balls, squid, shrimp, with some onions and rice noodles in a large bowl of broth. I add a handful of those bean sprouts and several squishes of sriracha and we've got ourselves deliciousness in a BIG bowl. 

I didn't mind choosing soup as it was a really lovely day in LA, which took me by surprise from the heatwave we recently had. 

To cap off the meal, a lovely little bowl of this. 

It tastes very much like a rice pudding with baby tapioca balls. I can't for the life of me remember what it's called. But I do know that we have something similar in the Philippines.

Later that day, after venturing into Pasadena for a few hours, we head back into Alhambra. Remember last week when I mentioned I had a slushy craving? This is where i fulfilled that craving.

 Tea Station

This place is like of like a small trendy little place for the youngsters. It's a place where you have to order something. You just can't sit there, chat it up or do you reading, you have to order something. 

They serve traditional hot teas, but also an array or selections to choose from as well as various tea snacks and meals. Here's what we chose.

One of my friends orders the fried spicy chicken. Though this one didn't taste really spicy. I guess you have to request it as my friend suggests.

Another friend orders the fried buns. Served with a side of condensed milk to dip. The cool this about this is that it's the way they made it. They put strips of bread together for the center and wrap it up like a pillow with large thin pieces then fry it up. So when you tear into it, you tear it up like french fries. and dip it into the condensed milk.

My friend also orders a Mango shaved ice. That thing was large. Yum!

I order the takoyaki balls, which is a battered balls with octopus. Topped with a mix of things like some mayo, okonomiyaki sauce, seaweed.

I accidentally burnt the roof of my mouth. I have the habit of doing that. I get too excited sometimes to eat something that's freshly cooked and still steaming hot. 

To wash it all down I also order a green mango snow ice with boba. My slushy craving has been accomplished!!!! I love the way they serve it. In a little decantor...you know in case you want to share with some people. Mmmm... I love the flavor of this one. Then again...I love mangos of all kinds.

Finally later into the evening, we decide to head out for a little "snack" and decide to go Islands. I was tempted to get some of their awesome cheese fries, but I stuck with the tortilla soup. I was pretty stuffed from earlier in the day and I felt it fitting to order some delicious hearty soup.

This has some shredded chicken and fresh vegetables,
topped with jack cheese, avocado & tortilla strips.

 I ate that one right up!

Overall, it was a good day with good food which made an afternoon with friends all the better.

Pho Super Bowl
1300 E. Main Street
Alhambra, CA 91801
626.293.7018


Tea Station -- Alhambra
560 W. Main St.
Alhambra, CA 91801
626.289.7389

Islands -- Glendale
117 West Broadway
Glendale, CA 91204
(818) 545-3555