Fast Food Favorites

I just love the new commercial of McDonald's right now. You know the one where "Ang Huling El Bimbo" is playing on the background. The moment I saw those red and white tiles on the wall and the styrofoam containers for the burger made me really reminisce of the old McDonald's. It brings me back to the time when most or almost every McDonald's serve milkshake. I just can't get enough of them. My parents would always drive-thru at the McD's before going home and they would buy me a chocolate milkshake and large fries to go with it. Yummy! That would be my usual afternoon snack until I was 10 years old. Next to the milkshake and fries, I also love their hot fudge sundae. And just like in the commercial, I too would dip the fries into the sundae. Sweet and salty. Perfect! Now if only I stopped eating these kind of food when I reached college then I wouldn't have to go looking for weight loss pills like Fenphedra. Oh well...

What about you? What do you like ordering in your favorite fast food when you were young?

Icee

Christmas shopping is really tiring especially when Christmas is just around the corner. The malls and flea markets are packed with busy shoppers getting ready for the biggest gift-giving event of the year. There's really no need to walk on the aisles of flea markets because the crowd is so thick that you just get "carried away" by the walking mob. It's like riding a really slow train without breaks and all you have to do is "jump off" once you reach your station.

So anyway, I was having a break from all the shopping and decided to check my shopping list and what's left of my shopping money (glad that I took one of those payday loans offered by my bank). It was so hot inside despite the roaring a/c so I went and bought myself a frozen drink. It then reminded me of this drink that was popular when I was still a kid. I remember lining up and ordering the strawberry flavored one. My tongue and lips would have a redder shade because of that. LOL. This was before Slurpee came to town. Do you still remember this?

Haw Haw de Carabao

I remember pretending to be receiving holy communion (don't tell father..) whenever my friend would give me some Haw Flakes. Sometimes we even fall in line just to have some of these yummy candy. But is it a candy or is it something else?

As I was writing this entry, it dawned on me that I have no idea what these Haw Flakes are made of. As per my research on the internet, specifically Wikipedia, Haw Flakes are made from the fruit named Chinese Hawthorn which is a bright red fruit about 1.5 inches in diameter. According to research, the fruit was said to show anti-tumor activities on the skin which is great for skin cancer patients. However, I also found out that Haw Flakes coming from China were seized and banned by the US Food and Drug Administration because it contains a red dye called Ponceau 4R. This dye is said to induce allergic reactions and may intensify asthma symptoms.

Ok... Now we know. Problem is, do you still want to eat Haw Flakes after knowing that? I think I would if it doesn't contain Ponceau 4R. :)

Scramble!!!

During a hot and humid day, it really feels great to be sipping something sweet and very cold. Usually if it's not a fruit shake then it would probably be something from Quickly like their best-seller Taro Ice or my favorite, Choco Loco.

But before there was Quickly,a somewhat similar drink was available, though it only has one flavor, the kids back then didn't mind. It's color pink and it also has sago (tapioca).



It was unfortunate however that I wasn't allowed by my parents to buy this on the streets for fear of getting food poisoning. Sus! Wala pa ngang Hepa non eh. LOL! I was a bit sheltered back then. Hehe! I'll post a different entry about this one. Mahaba-habang usapan to! LOL! So anyway, it was just recently, well not really recently but a couple of years back that I got to taste Scramble. I was in Puerto Galera back then and I was shocked to see a man selling Scramble. I got so excited that even if I was lactose intolerant and it was 9:00 a.m., I didn't care and got my first taste of the sweet pink drink. It tasted alright but the fact that it took me more than 20 years to taste it made it a bit special. Hehe!

What about you, care to share your Scramble moment? Teehee!

**Photo courtesy of Sapot-Litrato

Bazooka Bubblegum

I don't think I will ever forget Bazooka bubblegum. There was a time that I chewed 4 pieces all at the same time. Maduwal-duwal ako sa pagkapuno ng bibig ko! LOL!

You might ask why I'd do such a thing. The answer is to make a very big bubble. You see that time, they were holding a contest in Eat Bulaga for all the kids who could make the biggest bubble using the Bazooka bubblegum. I wanted to join that contest so I started practicing. Forever may natuyong bubblegum sa ilong ko ata non at ang lagkit ng mukha ko lagi. Hahaha!

I forgot why but hindi din ako nakasali sa Eat Bulaga. Haha! But that didn't stop me from buying the gum. After all, I'd still be amused by the short comic strip.

Red Santan

If you have no idea what these flowers are, then you probably weren't playing on the streets yet in the 80's. The picture above is a picture of the Santan flower. You might wonder what the kids of the 80's would do with this. No, we did not shred and chop the flowers while playing Bahay-bahayan/Luto-lutuan. What we did was we suck the nectar from the tip of the flower's stem. We were all fascinated with the tiny drop of nectar that comes out of the stem when we pull this thread-like "thingy" inside the stem.

Halos maubos ang yellow and red santan namin sa garden kaka-pitas at sipsip namin ng nectar. Hahaha! In the end, we had to stop eating the nectar because some of our parents would spray fertilizers on the flowers. Toink!