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Friday, September 28, 2018
US POTATOES ARE A KID'S BEST FRIEND: Healthy Snacks That They Too Can Make

Everyone knows that potatoes is a versatile ingredient. You could do whatever and everything under the sun with it. You can boil, fry, bake, and even use it as a ball to play catch. Kidding aside, potatoes are great for young ones.

Given that it’s the rainy season and school keeps on getting suspended, you might have to spend an entire day with your kids without a plan. Meaning to say, it could be one of those unexpected long weekends or last minute cancelled classes. You could keep your kids busy and well fed by making delicious and healthy foods with U.S. potatoes. One of the things I like about potatoes is that it’s a useful tool to keep your busy bodies happy and definitely healthy.


How? Well you could do what Chef Kristine Lotilla did for some of the middle school students of The Raya School. Just a few days ago, chef helped channel these kids’ energy into creating some easy to do dishes with the glorious potato. Not only was it fun but these babies provide the energy, carbohydrates, and potatoes school kids would need throughout the day.


The first dish was the Broccoli Cheddar Potato Puffs. With easy to find ingredients, this one is a no brainer. I bet that you could make this in no time. After boiling the potatoes, you could mash them up. Mix the seasonings with egg, cheese, and broccoli. After making such, bake it in a 400 degree preheated oven.  After 30-35 minutes, you get your own little snack.


If you’re up for something sweet, you might want to go for the Chocolate Mashed Potato Truffles . Something that kids would enjoy making, hands are a big part of the recipe.


After gathering all the ingredients and fluffing up your mashed potatoes with milk and butter, you could add up some honey, cocoa, and vanilla. Form them into potato doughs by rolling them up. You could then melt your dark chocolate (or have caramel) and use this as a dip. Afterwards, add some nuts, raisins, coconut or whatever toppings you may want to roll it in. Then, you could freeze them in an airtight container just to make everything solid.


I’m sure you and your kids will have a great time making and eating these potato dishes. You could check out these links for additional information:  
www.potatogoodness.com/school-food-service
www.potatoesusa.com 






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Monday, September 24, 2018
SINGLE SPEED COFFEE: Quick Brew When In Flagstaff, Arizona

 The day after I bought my new car, we were all too tired to cook breakfast. Good thing there were a lot of cafes and coffee places to visit and get a quick grab from. One of them is SINGLE SPEED COFFEE.
 Just a couple of miles away from my place, this early morning cafe offers coffee and delicious dishes that goes with them. A cyclist's heaven, it has that rustic and relaxing feel that welcomes everyone. Coffee is brewed and roasted in house. This guarantees freshness which is a big deal when it comes to coffee lovers.
 Some of the dishes that we tried that left a mark on our tummies would be the breakfast burritos and the breakfast bowls. The burritos made itself delicious because of its wrapper. It was toasted perfectly. Inside, we had a mix of meats that was just perfect. As for the bowl, the toss of tomatoes and other vegetables made it a joy to eat.
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Just wanted to give a special shout out. These cheese breads and potato balls from Porto's are just amazing. When in California, you got to visit Porto's and grab some for yourself.




Disclaimer: wrote this based on my experience and opinions. we paid for our meals.
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Monday, September 17, 2018
10 TIPS IN BUYING A CAR WHEN IN ARIZONA FOR NEW DRIVERS

 And I finally got a car! After months of using the public transportation, I was able to snag this beauty. It wasn't an easy choice and it gave me sleepless nights but I was able to finally get one. Hopefully, the tips I give here would help you out.
1) DO YOUR RESEARCH. Go online and pick a car that is perfect for your needs. I got a SUBARU FORESTER because it's an AWD and it has the cargo space I want. The AWD would be perfect since there's snow in my place during the winter. I went with the base model since I don't think I need all the upgrades anyway.
2) VISIT A DEALER. Go to a dealer and get your questions ready. I went to SUBARU and TOYOTA before finalizing my choice. When you visit, make sure to maximize it. They'll let you test drive the car that you want. Before I settled down with my pick, I drove 3 cars. A Forester, Rav4, and an Outback. They could even let you borrow a car for a day.
3) BUY DURING A SALE. I was lucky that I bought my car during the labor day weekend. During this time, dealers are trying to sell their recent model as the new ones for next year are coming in. Usually, these are 0 APRs when you go through financing or they would give cash discounts outright. APRs is the interest that you pay when you borrow money for your new car. Getting 0% would mean the best since it's basically borrowing money for free. In my case, since I just newly migrated here, I don't have a long credit history, my credit score won't allow me to get that 0%. A work around would be to have a co-signer. Usually, it would be a close relative that has been staying in the United States that could accompany and sign the papers with you. Here, the financing office could use their credit score and let you get that Apr. During the time that I bought, I heard that having a 720 and above would get you that 0%.
4) BE DECISIVE. When I bought the car, I stopped myself a couple of times just because I needed to think about the cost and I kept on procrastinating. When I decided on what to get, the model I wanted was already gone.
5) DECIDE ON A DOWNPAYMENT. Paying for a car is quite important. The downpayment would also equate to how much your monthly payments would be. Make sure that you work around your budget.
 6) GET INSURANCE. Before you buy a car, check out and shop for insurance. Insurances are usually good for just 6 months but it would also depend on which state you are living in. Since you are just starting out, the monthly payments might be a bit high. If you go online, they could give you a quote right there and then. To give you an idea, I'm paying almost a hundred dollars per month. If you've been driving for a long time, it could go down.
7) TIME EVERYTHING. Once you pay and get a car, the dealer would usually have it go through detailing. As such, it might take another day before you could get it all dolled up. BUT, there has been instances that some buyers would insist on getting them on that day right there and then. They have this right but I opted for mine to be fixed and cleaned first. 
8) ASK FOR DISCOUNT or add-ons. It would be best to know and see the at-cost amount of the car. By going through the different websites online, you could compare the real price each unit has. It doesn't also hurt asking what else you could get for free. When I bought my car, I was able to see the AT COST amount and get free tint as well. Plus, they delivered the car to my place of residence after everything was done.
9) DON'T FORGET ABOUT PAYING FOR THE TAX. Where I am, the tax added around $3, 000. This plus other payments would definitely add to what you're paying monthly. SO, remember about adding a little buffer in your monthly budget.
10) ENJOY THE RIDE! One tip I need to learn is to use the car. It can get scary at times since the rules of the road is different from Manila but you got to start somehow. Look at that beauty. Love the color!
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By the way, the dealer takes care of the registration for one year. You get a temporary one that is good for a few weeks. In case you haven't seen it, in Arizona, you only get one car plate for the back. Interesting right? Enjoy Driving!





Disclaimer:  This was written based on my experience and opinions. Information here might not be up to date or might be inaccurate. Please visit the state's DMV website for your inquiries. I'm not a subject matter expert on buying cars and the state law.
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Monday, September 10, 2018
KARMA SUSHI BAR GRILL: The Japanese Resto to visit when in Flagstaff, Arizona

 By now you might have been wondering, where is Jeng? ... I'm thinking about the same thing too. The past few months have been a blur. I've been to different places and have been bouncing from hotel rooms to apartments and even dorm-like residences. Don't worry though as I think I'm settling down. Recently, I just moved to Flagstaff, Arizona. In case you're wondering where that is, it's near the Grand Canyon. About a hour and a half drive away, you could say that this town is the perfect stopover.
 The town is actually almost 7,000 ft up. So, it's pretty cool here unlike Phoenix (don't get me started). To be honest, it feels like Baguio. Although, it could get pretty cold during the night. As low as 8 degrees C and even more during the winter. Yes, it does snow here and there's also a nearby ski resort to prove it. Anyway, I'm getting all mixed up talking about my left from my right when I'm supposed to write about my first decent meal in ages.
You see, I have been craving for some Japanese food. For the longest time, I have not had a good restaurant meal. If you've been following me (thank you very much), you would know that I would eat everything and anything but when I'm craving for something, I would move mountains and even fly out of the country just to get my fill. Thankfully, there was a highly recommended Japanese restaurant nearby. So, we visited KARMA SUSHI BAR GRILL.
 Located along the iconic ROUTE 66 and just across the Amtrak station, KARMA SUSHI BAR GRILL is a great place to spend your lunch, snack, dinner, and late nights. Other than serving delicious Japanese fare, they also have a number of drinks that would make any thirsty person jump for joy. So believe it or not, they have happy hour treats. To start things off, we had the pork gyoza ($6). It was a little bit oily according to my lunch mate but to be fare, it was just right for me. Gyozas, I believe needed to be "burnt" on one side to give it that color. Flavor wise, it was pretty good.

 You can't really go to a Japanese restaurant without ordering a roll. We went for the Paradise ($12). It had a number of ingredients that would make you question your decision but believe me when I say that it works. There's ebi tempura, snow crab, a little bit of jalapeno, with cream cheese, and topped with salmon. Although you might end up just tasting the cheese, you could definitely appreciate the flavors each part gives to the whole dish.
 Thinking about a different dish, I went for the SPICY TUNA SALAD. I was really happy when I saw the generous fresh cuts of tuna on top of greens, wakame, and a mayo based dressing. Even if it wasn't what I was expecting, this was pretty good.
 My lunch mate went for TONKOTSU. A typical ramen would be your tonkotsu. In terms of flavor, it's similar to some of the ramens I have tried in Japan and in Manila. If you're up for something warm, you can't go wrong with it. On the other hand, I wanted something simple and familiar. I ordered the EBI UDON. The difference between the ramen and the udon would be the type of noodles and the broth in which they are served. Ramen are generally heavy. Udons, not so much. I'm happy to report that, the noodles were al-dente. BUT, the broth itself is definitely UDON but I would have wanted KARMA SUSHI to have given it a little bit of twist to make ti more memorable.
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Before I forget, the ebi tempura that came with it was pretty good. Not extremely good like the ones I had in Fukuoka and Osaka but they're decent. PROTIP: go on an off-peak hour. They could get busy.

KARMA SUSHI BAR GRILL is located on 6 E Route 66, Flagstaff, AZ 86001. They're open from 11am and would close either 10 or 11pm. Pay parking is available infront (parallel) and also across.




Disclaimer:Paid for the meal. Wrote this based on my own experience and opinion.
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