McDonald's Twister Fries - Extended

Wow! McDonald's Twister fries will be available until September 16. They extended it due to popular demand. Good move!

ZARK's -- eating like a SHARK

I had a grand time at ZARK's last night. It was my first time there and bot was I surprised with the BIG burgers they have. I ordered Maverick's. It's not even the biggest. Actually, it's far from being the biggest but it was really filling. I even stopped eating the bread half way through. The burger I ordered is worth P 190.00 and it comes with fries and a tall glass of iced tea.

Some of my companions ordered the Jawbreaker burger. It has three patties. You can actually take their challenge if you order Jawbreaker. The challenge is to finish the burger in 5 min and if you succeed it will be free. And then they'll take your picture and post it in their gallery of winners.

Now if you think that's a big challenge already, wait 'til I tell you that they still have what they call Tombstone challenge. For 10 minutes you  should finish the Tombstone burger which has 6 (or is it just 5) patties. I can't take that challenge. For sure I'll be brought straight to my tomb if I try to do so.

Anyway, their burger patty tastes great. Real meat without extenders. It's juicy the way burger patty should be. My friends also liked the fries.

I'll be posting pictures next week. I have not put watermark in my pics so no uploads yet for now.

ZARK's is in front of De La Salle, Taft Ave., Manila. It's above another favorite -- Army Navy.

VOUCHERS and DEALS - do you really get a good deal?

What can you say about deals and vouchers that are very popular these days? Do you think we really save a lot by buying these vouchers?

If you look at the deals you will at once say you are saying a lot. I mean a 40 - 60 % discount is BIG, right? I've availed several food deals already and I must say they are all worth it. PANALO.

But you know what my problem is about these vouchers? Fake vouchers? Scam? No! I have not experienced those. My problem is that these deals are good it makes you become addicted. There are very good deals that sometimes, even if you do not need something, you end up buying because of the money you'll supposedly save. Hay! In the long run, instead of really being able to save, you end up spending more.

But boy I'm not complaining. I'm not also in denial. lol. For now I'm enjoying these great deals (mostly food vouchers for me) so....

Famous Food from Different Places in the Philippines

The month of August is called "Buwan ng Wika" (National Language Month). It is celebrated in Philippine schools in different ways. One is through exhibits of the 'best' from the different provinces/regions in the country. Exhibit of this kind naturally has to have the best food from the place being showcased. To help you with that concern should your child ask you for stuff to bring in school here are some simple suggestions.

Lucban, Quezon. A Lucban exhibit will never be complete without 3 famous food from the place. It can never go without Lucban longganisa. Lucban longganisa is a favorite of many Filipinos. It is very different from the longganisa you usually see in public markets. Then you should also have Pancit Lucban or habhab. If you usually put calamansi in other types of noodles, with Pancit Lucban you use vinegar. It is called habhab in different towns in Quezon because of the way people used to eat it. In the past ambulant vendors put your Pancit Lucban in a small piece of banana leaf where you eat it directly with your mouth hence habhab. The last important part of your exhibit is the kiping. It is the colored leaf like designs people in Lucban hang in walls or windows during the San Isidro festival. Decorating your exhibit with kiping will really make it attractive. In Manila you  can buy Lucban longganisa and Pancit Lucban at Buddy's Pizza (Market Market and Kalayaan Ave. in Makati and Timog Ave. in Quezon City).

Vigan, Ilocos Sur. A must have for a Vigan exhibit is the Vigan Empanada. It is a turnover with filling composed of vegetables, egg and Vigan Longganisa wrapped in shell made of rice flour. It is deep fried instead of baked which is how your typical empanada is cooked. When you go around the main plaza in Vigan you will see several stalls selling Vigan empanada. Like in Lucban, Vigan also has their own special longganisa. The Vigan Longganisa also has its own fans all over the country. Then don't ever forget the Bagnet deep fried pork. It is like your usual Lechon Kawali cooked in a special way only true Ilocanos know how. There are several stores along Tomas Morato, Quezon City that sell Vigan Empanada. Bagnet on the other hand is available in restaurants like Stoops (Mayapis, Makati City) and a restaurant near La Salle and St. Scholastica's College (Leon Guinto, Manila). The latter is reportedly owned by Kitchie Nadal.

Pampanga. A Kapampangan exhibit is definitely not gonna be ok if there is no Sisig - sizzling or not but better sizzling for the complete experience. Sisig is made of grilled pig's head, liver and choice parts cooked with vinegar. It is touted as 'pambansang pulutan'. Then of course you have to have the Pampanga's best products like tocino and longganisa (yes longganisa again). They may not really have come from Pampanga from they are very much associated with the place because of the brand. Oh, for dessert, do not forget the Halo-halo. A famous resto that serves Halo-Halo is Razons. Their Halo-Halo has only three 'halo' - macapuno, saba and leche flan but it tastes great.

Bicol. First food that comes to mind is Bicol Express. It's made of garlic, onion, pork, coconut milk and siling labuyo. It's something that spicy food lovers will really like. Bicolanos say that Bicol Express we normally get to taste here in Manila is nothing compared to the real thing. Aside from Bicol Express you can also have laing and pinangat. Laing and pinangat are dishes made of taro (gabi) leaves, meat or seafoods as fillings, coconut milk, siling labuyo and onions. For dessert you must not forget candied pili nut. There are various kinds of this dessert so you have a lot of choices to add in your exhibit.

Iloilo. Who has not heard of La Paz Batchoy? Make sure to have this in your exhibit. La Paz Batchoy is noodle soup topped with pork meat, chicken strips, slices of beef, chicharon and pork innards. You can drop an egg to make it special. It looks like mami but it has distinct taste. In Manila you can buy this at Ted's (SM MOA) and Deco's. For dessert you can have biscocho. This  is toasted bread with butter and sugar.

Zamboanga. Seafoods. Seafoods. Seafoods. One must-have is curacha. They say it looks like a cross between a crab and lobster. Those who have tasted it says its more flavorful than any of the two. The problem is I cannot give you suggestion where you can get this is Manila. =(

Eat All You Can Chips - Bottomless Tostada Chips at Chilis

I had a blast last night at Chilis (Power Plant mall, Rockwell, Makati City). I already had dinner so I told my friends I won't be eating much. They ordered Boneless Buffalo Salad and Bottomless Tostada Chips. I said I'll only eat the Tostada Chips.

I super like the Tostada Chips - warm, thin crispy chips with salsa. Unlike other chips - nachos - in other restos, Chillis' Tostada chips are really thin. They're not 'hard' to chew. Even without salsa the chips taste great. But the salsa is also great especially if you like spicy stuff.

The best part is that it's "eat all you can". They'll give a big basket of chips which they refill empty the basket. What's surprising is that you can actually "take-out" the left over. They even fill the basket again before they put it in a bag.

I asked the guy who served us if they put a limit on the number of people who share the chips. He said they do not. You can actually be a big group and they wouldn't mind if you share just one basket. Isn't that great? You can get a basket of their Bottomless Tostada Chips for only P 330.00.

*Note: The Ranch dip for the Boneless Buffalo Salad also goes well with the chips.