Categories
drink friends stores

Quickly USA

(Source: Quickly USA website)

I quite like Quickly, even if their drinks are a bit on the sweet side. On a beautiful spring-like Sunday afternoon, I spent a couple hours at Quickly with my friend, chatting about various topics. I like the atmosphere inside–relaxing yet also lively. The particular location that we went to had a lot of seating, so it was set up more like a cafe. They had some armchairs there that looked like big gloves, which was fun to look at.

I was studying the menu and was trying hard to figure out what I wanted to drink and whether or not I wanted something to eat, too. I’ve tried several of their milk teas before, and even their avocado snow (smoothies) with tapioca; however, I was not sure if I should go for the “tried and true” or experiment a little with different flavors. I decided I should go out of my comfort zone and buy something different. After all, I rarely get tapioca drinks these days (high in calories, I’m sure)…might as well experiment a little and see what I like.

I ended up choosing the Almond Milk Tea with large tapioca. Sweet and delicious; my friend and I were studying the food menu as well, but I wasn’t sure if I should waste my appetite on fried snack foods or not. Maybe next time, I guess.

I think I could have stayed at Quickly the whole day if it were up to me; I just really liked sitting there enjoying my drink and chatting with my friend. I also liked how they had some magazines that people could flip through at the store; pretty much like a salon or a library. Ah, relaxation on a Sunday afternoon: nothing quite like it.

Categories
Marketing Interests My San Francisco Chronicles

Lindt Gold Bunny Promotion at Union Square.


I was working the hot dog stand on Saturday and had some time during the middle of the day to walk around Union Square on my lunch break. I noticed there was a guy walking around in a chef’s outfit, handing out samples of some sort. There was a huge promotion for Lindt Gold Bunny going on; they had a huge inflatable of the Gold Bunny on the Square, and they also had this cute Smart Cart (in the picture) parked in front of Macy’s.

I ended up taking two samples and tried them out. Pretty good chocolates, but I wasn’t sure if the Bunny was supposed to have a filling like the Truffles from Lindt. I think I was more fascinated with the Smart Car more than the chocolates/samples….I mean, look at how cute the car looks with the bunny ears! Quite a cute concept indeed.

Categories
Life Decisions

Paths in life, part II.

For the past month or so, I realize that a lot of what I thought I was “set” on for my life has crumbled. The plans I have made have warped so much that it’s hard for me to figure out what I want from my life now. Did I really think I would come to this point this time last year? It has almost been a year since my graduation from college (undergraduate). What do I want to do with my degree? The obvious answer would be to find work that is related to my degree, but I find that perhaps my passion does not truly lie in that field. Do I really enjoy advertising? I enjoy looking at it and studying it, yes. But I wonder, do I have all the skills required for it? Do I have that creative mind for it?

I talked with a family friend last month about advertising since he is a top executive at an NY advertising firm. He asked me what my interests/hobbies are, and I responded with “Reading, writing” and some other things. He said I should really play up my creative writing if I want to get into copywriting. I grow excited thinking about playing around with mock-ups and creating my own ads. But then I begin to think: Are my ads not creative enough? Not “outside of the box” enough?

I know that having failure scare me enough to stop me from taking action does no good at all. As Donny Deutsch had said in his book, I should not just sit around and “wish and wait,” but I should just “Do!”…because, as long as I know I took action, even if I do fail in the end, at least I will know that I still managed to make some form of progress instead of sitting and waiting around and feeling too scared of failure.

It’s hard to say what I will be doing in a few months, where I’ll be.

Categories
#foodie sweet treats

No Pudge Brownie Mix.

Ever heard of No Pudge! before?

I know I had heard of it before, but I ended up forgetting about it and was only reminded by an LJ friend a few weeks ago about the product. Basically, Ms. Lindsay H. Frucci developed a brownie mix that has zero fat in it. It’s quick and very simple to make–just add nonfat vanilla yogurt to the mix. The box also comes with directions on how to make single servings from the mix, which is great for someone like me who has a hard time practicing portion control.

I made myself a single serving today, and it was delectable. At first, I was skeptical on how it was going to taste since the brownie mix didn’t look so promising. I also did not have vanilla yogurt, only plain, but the box said I could use plain yogurt and add some vanilla extract. Easy substitution, no?

My friend had said that the calories are not so “forgiving” but I say, for crying out loud, the “prepared” calories are only 120! That is probably A LOT better than most other brownies/dessert treats out there (Come on, Trader Joe’s sells tiny cupcakes capping off at 400 calories per cupcake. I think that’s insane right there; that’s approximately 1/3 of the calories I need daily).

I bought the No Pudge! Brownie Mix at Trader Joe’s by the way. If it’s not available at your local store, I recommend just ordering online. Comes in four flavors: Original, Raspberry, Mint and Cappuccino. Try it out and let me know what you think.

Categories
#foodie fast food

Quizno’s: More than Sub Sandwiches.

I don’t think many people know that Quizno’s actually sells other food items other than subs. Well, at least that’s what I had always thought. I always thought, “Quizno’s only sells subs; therefore, they are competing with Subway.”

Yes, they compete against Subway, but I feel in many ways, Quizno’s is the better of the two. Granted, I did not try one of their subs when I went there today, but I have to say, I rather enjoyed the quality of my Raspberry Chipotle Chicken Salad tonight. Very high in quality, but at a great, affordable price. Plus, the atmosphere at the Quizno’s I was at (on 3rd Street @ Market) was similar to the atmosphere at any yuppie cafe/eatery: swank yet at a good value.

I regret that I didn’t go to Quizno’s earlier; one of my friend’s friends recommended Quizno’s to me last year, and my former manager actually recommended it to me, too. I rarely ate out before this month though, so that would probably explain the lack of visits to Quizno’s. With a hectic work schedule and lack of time to cook healthy meals at home, I do have to resort to eating out a lot more often. I don’t like it, but it can’t be helped right now. Sigh.