Comment Blog

Arlinea's say CHEESE!

http://arlina1103.blogspot.com/2009/11/say-cheese.html?showComment=1258324143527#c2934647147638734653

I must say that I am a cheese lover as well, and I have to have cheese in just about anything I eat, but with the exception of Asian foods. And I agree with your idea about we eating the foods we love but disregarding that should we consume too much portion, it can cause bad health effects. But I think nowadays people start to get an idea that it is bad to eat too much of just one specific kinds of food-- which is why there's all these food systems commercial going on on T.V. Some people realized that they should cut the habit so they can live a better and healthier live in the future, but others don't, probably because the old habits are hard to get rid of.

And I've seen on commercials that the cheese slices such as Kraft are saying that their product is now 50% less fat or completely organic-- it's another way to make buyers purchase their product more with the label of less fat or made with whole organic milk and not processed. Maybe while they say that their cheese is made organic and have less fat, they add ingredients that makes us addict to the cheese and crave for more... Who knows? It's really difficult to tell whether the stuff we buy are truly organic or not.

The Chocolate for Any Occasion

When being compared to other chocolate brands such as Snickers and Hershey's, the spherical Ferrero Rocher chocolate seems strike to the audience as the kind of sweets enjoyed by the upper wealthy class-- hence the commercial of the ambassador party above, holding a silver tray piled with golden spherical delights in a shape of a pyramid. In Egypt, the peak of the pyramid represents their people's belief of reaching closer to god....



Even though this newest Ferrero Rocher commercial have no relation to Egypt whatsoever, it certainly holds relationship with the idea of a ''pyramid'', and of course, the gods and that the chocolate is enjoyed by the divine only-- then be discovered by man. Both commercials advertise the appeal to be surrounded by luxury and opulence, with soothing melody in the background, and people gathering together and socialize. And when we think of the words luxury and socialize together, it often leads us to think of being rich and having immense wealth.

But not only do the commercial appeals to the luxury surrounding this sweet treat, the package itself-- individually wrapped in gold and neatly placed next to each other in a clear box... And there the boxes comes in different shapes, too. Should one want to give it as a Christmas gift:

And you can even hang the bell-shaped ones on the Christmas tree.


There is even a heart-shaped container made just for Valentines Day to share with your boyfriend/ or girlfriend. But if that is not enough, and you just think flowers are too simple and they wilt less than two weeks, then how about an arrangement of Ferrero Rocher bouquet?
The ways of packaging these spherical chocolates is classic and upscale, yet the price is never over the top. It makes great gifts on just about any occasion. And unlike various of other chocolate such as the Snicker and the Three Musketeers bars-- those are mostly grab and on-the-go products, or even more so like an energy boost to get the day going. Ferrero Rocher brings people together, whether it is family or someone you love.

Ferrero Rocher for Easter:

Commented Blogs

Devin's More is better: http://dshort44.blogspot.com/2009/10/more-is-better-truth-about-serving.html?showComment=1256676447418#c5925475534487395938

I do believe that in America there's better chance at getting self-serve in the yogurts and buffets. After all, humans are all greedy in some way, so the more we can possibly get, we thrive to achieve that. It gives us a sense/feel of accomplishment. Other than yogurt stores and buffets, fast food restaurants like Dairy Queen offers the ''Sweet Deals'': different choice of three-four combination under five dollars-- from chocolate ice cream to blizzards to fries and hamburgers. Even in In-N-Out, where we normally would not notice when we order our burgers, you can tell them to get rid of the lettuce or the tomato, or add an extra packedge of mustard or ranch sauce on the buns.

Coming back to the self-serving yogurt, I love the idea how you can choose what kind of flavor and toppings you want to add. Though in some other yogurt stores I've been to, such as KiwiBerry, where you cannot self-serve, the containers are small, and the cashier is all running around taking money and checks, while running back to help another person in line with their yogurt and toppings. It can become a bit unsanitary in my opinion.

On the other hand, can we really have the stomach finish what we get? Such as the giant bowel of frozen yogurt with three different flavors, and eight different toppings literally as large as Mt. Everest. If we cannot, wouldn't they be just going waste?

Sooyeon's Coca Cola Happiness: http://sooyeonluvu.blogspot.com/2009/10/coca-cola-happiness-factory.html?showComment=1256677192994#c5646726336255764686

I've never seen the commercial like this on coca cola. And even though I'm not a big fan of coke, or any soda for that matter, I actually like this ad. Probably because I love art and design in general, it's what attracts me to it. The overall computer generated designs of the characters and colors draws the viewer's attention, because that's what draws in our focus-- the color. The many variety of colorful combination makes us want to continue viewing the advertisement, and see where it will lead us. Eventually it leads to the coca cola, and the sudden urge of wanting to go downstairs to the vending machine strikes in. I guess this advertisement works on children more than adults, because cute little cartoon characters attracts a child more. And when they go up to their mom or dad asking for a bottle of coke from Seven Eleven-- can the parent say no?

As much as I love this ad, I tend to think more on a negative side of things. This ad about coca cola is so perfect-- hooking the viewer's attention and visually telling them through the images that if you drink coke, you'll be in this sort of fantasy land, away from all the stress and fatigue. To be, it is quite unrealistic, because I know that coke is made from a factory, not in some fantasy world full of cute little characters.

Do you like the taste of "Blood"?

Think vampires only exists in the fantasy world, and in movies such as Twilight and Van Helsing?

Yes, I know that the title might already make some readers sick to the stomach. But I thought it will be interesting to write about, since I just came back with my family from ''yin cha'' at Diamond Bar. We ordered, or rather, my parents ordered pork blood cakes-- or puddings, or whatever it was but in that kind of shape and form. For some reason I could not even reach out and take just one piece with my chopstick. It sickened me and I could not finish my meal for the rest of the lunch period. It is rather odd because when I was little back in Taiwan, I ate pork blood cakes all the time, lingered with sweet and sour sauce. But nowadays I find it displeasing to my appetite-- not to say, disgusting, even.

Before, I only thought that people living in the Asian countries eat exotic foods such as animal blood. However, I soon discovered that Europeans stuff animal blood-- such as cow's blood, pork's blood-- into sausages. The most common blood sausage is the German Blutwurst, made from pork rind, pork blood, and stuffed with different ingredients and seasonings. Eating animal blood exists also in South America as well. In Spanish they call it the morcilla, which contains pork blood and its fat, rice, onions, and of course, salt and seasonings. Not only do blood sausages exist, but different countries create different sorts of meals ranging from soups, puddings, cakes, tofu, or cooked together with meats and vegetables. It can also be fried or eaten fresh. In China's mainland, there are blood tofu, or ''red tofu'', which are cut in bite-size rectangular pieces and cooked.

For some culture, though, consider eating animal blood as taboo food because of religious reasons, such as for the Jewish and Muslim religions. They perceive is as uncooked and explicit, so they refuse to eat. For some households, the pre-butchered and pre-packedged meats one buys in supermarket, they would open the packedge, wash the blood off the meat before preparing to cook it. But in other cultures, because food is scarce for them, they will try not to leave any parts of the animal to waste. Therefore, for most of us, where we only eat the outside-- the meaty parts of the animal; ribs, breast, thighs, they eat both the outside and the ''insides'' as well. And that ranges from the heart, intestine, and of course-- blood as well.

Now I understand where the legendary creature ''vampire'', came from; someone witnessing another human being consuming blood. Think that it turns your stomach upside down when we watch a horror movie, and the vampire sink its fangs into a human's flesh, sucking blood out from the person's neck? Well, since we humans consider ourselves as the smartest living being on earth, we find ways to make what we do more appealing to the eye: like our eating habits, for example. We don't just chop off someone's head and drain their blood onto a plate to make it a blood soup. We actually add other ingredients into it, stuff them into sausages, or make them into tofu's and cakes, so they don't appear like blood on the outside, if at all. Even so, we are still vampires. We simply just made our ways of eating manners more pleasing to ourselves, and the people around us. Imagine the world where everyone is dragging a random somebody and gnawing on their blood and all; it would be chaos.

Personally, I cannot stand just seeing this kind of food in any form. And the reason for that is because after I came to America, my living style adjusts, and so becomes the way I eat. In America, you do not find small stands or carts selling foods out on the street like in Taiwan. Here it is mostly consist of fast food hamburgers and fries, many American-style restaurants. And as time goes by I started to grow accustomed to the foods here. Next time my parents order something like that again when we go to ''yin cha'', I'll just leave go to downstairs for a breath of fresh air, or buy boba and wait until they are finished.

Citation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_as_food

The ''Activia" Challenge

Remember Dannon's Activia Yogurt commercial, featuring Jamie Lee Curtis? I recently saw the commercial coming back on television. I am pretty sure that almost every single living human being on this planet has at least tried a dairy product call ''yogurt''. And I am sure that when ask what kind of health benefits do yogurt have, most people can answer right off the bat that it contains calcium and protein and helps to reduce lactose-intolerant, and helps regulate digestive system to prevent diarrhea. Other brands like Yoplait and Stonyfield Farm do not point out on their commercials that ''it helps regulate your digestive system in two weeks if you consume it every day." and "clinically proven to build up your immune system."

Not only does Activia claims that its yogurt will ease your digestive system unlike any other brand, but its main source of target is on women. Notice the illustration of a woman's stomach, with the arrow pointing down? It suggests not only will the product helps ease digestive problems, but also slim you down. And that curve line at the waist area is what all women want to shoot for-- "Yes, I want a slim waist and a flat tummy so I can actually fit into the size of my number four jeans and go to the beach without having to hide the fats in my stomach."

By indicating "clinically proven to regulate your digestive system in two weeks", consumers will no longer have to buy stomach reliving products like Tums and Pepto-Bismol-- because Activia yogurt not only cures the irregularity like two other brands above, the yogurt itself is healthy for you. Therefore, would you rather buy a product that offers only one benefit, or two-in-one benefit? Most people will definitely choose the second option. But, just in case they do not, they will at least have some degree of curiosity and buy the yogurt to try it out for two weeks.

I find Dannon's Activia commercial ridiculously funny, because we all know that yogurt have special probotics that helps build our immune system. But it is their job, for food companies, to invent something creative on their brand new product, launch it on commercial in order to have the viewer's attention into purchasing it. Their goal is to outdo other companies selling the same product by making their own more not only extravagant in appearance, but promising good health benefits in return because these days, many strive to eat healthy. And what is not considering as healthy food besides fruits, vegetables, and grain? Yogurt. It comes in many shapes and sizes and form; you can either drink it from a bottle, or eat it with a spoon. Nowadays there are even yogurt chips-- small bite size chips that are shape like white chocolate chips. Oh, and they can be sprinkled on ''frozen'' yogurt. Yogurt is everywhere.

I believe that Dannon's Activia commercial is just like any other ''weight loss'' commercials, promoting that their yogurt will slim down your tummy fat-- and the "help ease irregularity" is just an understatement. Similar to the Jenny Craig and the NutriSystem, it will help you lose weight. But unlike those two, you don't have to pay much for it. Simply go to the dairy section in a grocery store, pay less than twenty-dollars for a pack of Acvitia yogurt, and you are good to go~ No vigorous exercising needed~!

I think it is quite a disappointment that eating yogurt is no longer for an afternoon dessert enjoyment.

<-- This image probably even have some sexual preferences to it.

Commented Blogs

VivianxCai's Moon Cake: http://vivianxcai.blogspot.com/2009/09/moon-cake.html?showComment=1253717787057#c8606698678417560576

I just realized how literally every Chinese food came from a legend or actual story. I remember learning about this story when I was in kindergarten in Taiwan. I believe it gives insights on the Chinese culture as a whole, and we get to learn about the culture and the significance of the food as well. Children will find it a lot more interesting when things are incorporated into a story. They are more willing to listen and will implant it into memory.

My dad loves moon cakes, and he always purchase a huge box and sadly because no one can finish it it ends up in the trash can after being infested with molds. Personally I just like to have a little piece of the moon cake once a year, because the cake is really, really sweet and I often freak out about getting diabetes. And I remember my mom saying that the moon cakes are made with lots and lots of grease and oil-- use to be pork grease, just so the cake can have more of a mushy, melt in your mouth quality. But I do believe they changed to use vegetable oils now.

-- Maggie Tsou

Sooyeon Kim's Ramen: http://sooyeonluvu.blogspot.com/2009/09/ramen.html?showComment=1254277690843#c7889947520145831990

My mom got sick of cooking so during most of the days in a week we just eat ramen for dinner. I love the fact that it is cheap, and you get purchase it just about anywhere, in any market. And if you specifically go to Asian supermarkets, they sell a dozen of different flavors ranging from chopped pork, sauteed beef-- just about any traditional Korean, Japanese, and Chinese style ramen. So if you've ever been in those countries and explore its culture, you see the cart stands with the owner cooking large doses of noodles, and people sitting on small plastic stools eating ramen.

Now ramen not is not only around the Asian culture, but ventured off to America and other countries worldwide as well. Though I do have to add that too much ramen is not good for one's health. The amount of salt in one single package is astounding. College may be tough, yes, but I don't recommend people consuming too much of it. Perhaps for us college students, switching from ramen to a simple sandwich from time to time helps.

- Maggie

The Wonders of Rice

Rice. We see it everywhere. Not only in Asian restaurants but also many European restaurants as well, though it may be a different kind of rice. You can find them brought out to you in a bowl in any Chinese restaurant, completed with different dishes such as fish and orange chicken, or you can find them in French restaurants tossed in butter and other ingredients such as beef and pepper. You can also find rice in Mexican restaurants, like Chipotle for example, wrapped in a burrito or you can just order the burrito bowl. The Japanese make "onigiri", or rice ball, that is formed into a triangular or oval shape and often wrapped in seaweed. They also make sushi out of them.

There are so many ways we can cook rice, and I realized that because mom cooked porridge the other night for breakfast. We also add other ingredients and spices into the rice to make it more flavorful and not just bland. And not only do rice show up in course meals, it can be made into desserts as well. The Japanese have rice cakes, stuffed with red beans and sprinkled with coconut flakes, and they come in different colors. They also have rice crackers, wrapped in seaweed. There is also rice pudding. The list goes on and on. However, I saw on a few television ads and books saying that rice may not be good for one's health. They say that a bowl of rice is equivalent to one cup of pure white sugar. Nevertheless, people still love to eat them, in any cooked style and form of it. Yet there are also others who are unwilling to give up their love for eating rice, so instead of consuming the tiny and thin white grains they eat Akai Rice that comes in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes.

Personally I love to eat rice because I can never just eat an entire steak for dinner, or constantly eating noodles or soup noodles day after day, or hamburgers and western food. Perhaps eating rice for every meal is a tradition, passed down from parents and grandparents and you start off eating them when you were little. At home we eat rice all the time, and three plates of course meal would feel incomplete without it. And if we only eat rice without anything else, it would feel bland. For burritos rice is tossed together with beans, ground meat, and cheese. And for sushi it is wrapped with vegetables, pickled radish, and small cut slices of fish. I think many of us don't realize how much rice we eat. But perhaps when we eat sushi and order takeout and notice suddenly that there is no rice to be seen, that will be when we notice.

Ice Creams~

Whenever we think of the season ''summer'', and what kind of food we eat during summer, most of us immediately think of ice cream. Last week I went to Mitsuwa with my family after a stuffy, no ventilation, three hour studio painting class, I did not go inside the supermarket to purchase a bottle of water or any other kind of soft drink. But rather, I went straight for the Hokkaido Festival the market is hosting near the entrance door. I guess the main reason I didn't go straight off to buy a drink was because the Hokkaido Festival only comes once a year, and their vanilla ice cream is imported straight from Japan. So the supply is very limited.

After paying, I received my cup of the ice cream labeled as :Hokkaido Ice Cream, to me it looked just like any regular vanilla ice cream, but perhaps a little whiter on its color. Unlike how in America, where we would always add toppings, it was simply plain ice cream. Looking back at the festival set up area, even though there were other imported foods from Hokkaido for everyone to purchase, there was a huge, long line and everyone were just standing there and waiting to get their hands on the ice cream. I was glad I came early.

Still, I wondered why with the huge line. The ice cream either sits on a cone, or a small cup. Perhaps it is the exotic, milk-like creamy taste of it? Or because it simply looked cute in a small cup; the Japanese always make anything and everything delicate-- food wrappers designed in gold and metallic purple flowers, a simple soft drink bottle design that looked way too adorable to recycle. In America, we have Cold Stone, where the ice cream is tossed together with toppings that you want to add; from chocolate chips to M&M's. Sprinkles to crumbled Oreo cookies, and so on. We even have frozen yogurt; the other, more healthier sweet treat to ice cream, also topped with diced fruits, mochi, chocolate chips, etc. We also have Italian gelato stores in America. And all three of them, when combined together, have perhaps over a million different flavors ranging from chocolate, strawberry, coffee, chocolate mint, hazelnut, etc.

Before I leave Mitsuwa there was still this long line of people waiting to get their hands on the Hokkaido ice cream. And I overheard the manager coming up and apologizing to everyone that the ice cream sold out completely for the day. Taking a closer inspection, I noticed that there were not only the Japanese lining up, but also people from other different countries. As I came to realize, maybe some never tried Japanese ice cream before. And for the people that are Japanese-- they want to get a taste on something they could not easily get in America-- that taste of ''home''-- in Hokkaido. Maybe it reminded them of their childhood days during the summer, while other customers were simply going for that exotic, creamy taste that one cannot really describe is as a ''vanilla ice cream''.

MITSUWA MARKET PLACE

http://www.mitsuwa.com/english/index.html