Fun at the Filipino Fiesta

On Sunday South Sac Blog spent some quality time at the Filipino Fiesta of Sacramento, at the Jose Rizal Community Center, deep in the loving heart of South Sacramento. The festival is held every first Sunday in June, in part, to celebrate Philippine Independence Day.

Other important goals of the annual festival are: 1) To foster teamwork, cooperation and friendship among the various associations organizing this cultural event; 2) To provide opportunity for Filipino youth to develop and showcase their talents; 3) To bring all generations to learn and enjoy Filipino culture and traditions; and 4) To promote good relations and understanding among the diverse cultural groups in Sacramento.

A lot of people attended and when we arrived at around 2:00 p.m., parking was only available a few blocks away. No problem. It was a very hot day, however, around 102 degrees or so. I'm glad I carried a water bottle.

At the festival there were many information booths, booths offering things for sale, and food vendors. In the middle of the fair there was a stage where various entertainers performed.

While we were there, Sacramento mayoral candidate Darrell Steinberg took the stage and offered a few words of praise for the local Filipino community. I don't know if any other candidates or local politicians attended.

Shade was at a premium due to the heat. Our only complaint was that there was insufficient covered seating to allow people to sit and chow down on the many food items available and enjoy the wonderful entertainment. There was some shade available from trees on a grassy knoll, but no chairs. Not everyone wants to sit on the ground. Not everyone can due to injuries and old age. The majority of people sitting in shade were those manning the booths.

That deterred us somewhat, so we didn't get anything to eat. When the South Sac crew eats, we like to sit, eat with gusto, and chill. But we did have some cool refreshing drinks and checked out the car show.

 

Here's my favorite, a nice Volkswagen Baja Bug! I wish I had one of those!

More vendors and booths . . .

So we'll be back next year - and hopefully there will be more shaded seating.  

Breakfast Burrito Showdown: McDonald's vs. Jack in the Box

South Sac Blog continues its practice of presenting our serious hard-hitting commentary on important issues - a tradition that you've come to expect.  Today we reveal the results of our taste test of breakfast burritos from McDonald's and Jack in the Box.  Which one is better?

First, let's lay the foundation.  McDonald's created and began selling a sausage breakfast burrito many years ago.  It was favorably received by fast food breakfast lovers, and has remained on the menu. Another larger burrito briefly appeared on its menu but was discontinued.  The sausage burrito survived and is even sold all day long here in South Sacramento, not just in the morning.  McDonald's sausage burrito has always been inexpensive.  We picked up three for $5.67 according to our receipt.  If you do the math that comes down to $1.89 a piece.  

Jack in the Box began selling its current line of breakfast burritos just a few years ago.  It offers Jack customers three choices:  meat lovers, triple cheese and hash brown, and grande sausage.  They are $3.79 each. Immediately we know readers will question the fairness of comparing a burrito costing $3.79 with another that costs only $1.89.  So what?  Why assume something is better just because it costs a little more?  It might be disgusting and a complete rip-off.  The only way to find out is to subject these burritos to rigorous scientific scrutiny in the South Sac Blog Taste-Test Kitchen.  And that's what we did.

We make this disclosure:  The South Sac Blog crew has been eating McDonald's breakfast burritos for years, and we like them.  We haven't found another fast food joint that makes a better one, in our opinion, even Taco Bell (much to our surprise).  But we approached our task without bias and with complete objectivity.  We haven't tried the current line of Jack in the Box burritos until today, so we were actually a bit excited to begin.

Staying in our beloved South Sac neighborhood, we went through the drive-thru at the Jack in the Box on the corner of Mack Road and Stockton Blvd., and chose the meat lovers burrito because it contains bacon.  We then proceeded directly to the McDonald's on Gerber to pick up the sausage burritos, and took everything to our taste-test laboratory nearby.

Following the scientific method, our hypothesis was that McDonald's burritos are better, because they have withstood the test of time, while other Jack burritos have come and gone.  Then we collected facts to prove or disprove that hypothesis. 

Initial Comparisons

Jack in the Box burritos are bigger.  As you would expect from its higher price, the Jack in the Box breakfast burrito is larger than a McDonald's burrito. See for yourself:

Each comes with its own sauce (if you ask).  Though I never add salsa to a breakfast burrito, believing the burrito should stand on its own.

The Tasting

Up first was the Jack in the Box meat lover's burrito.  My first bite contained a wonderful crunch from the bacon strip inside.  I don't know if  you will get that same texture from the grande sausage or triple cheese with hash brown burritos.  I also noticed the nice flavor of the flour tortilla which is out of a package of course, but it didn't seem stale.  The bulk of the burrito is made up of scrambled eggs, as you can see.  Bu the eggs seemed to have no special seasoning, or vegetables and were bland.

But that doesn't mean the Jack burrito lacked taste.  The bacon, ham, and sausage, provided a good level of salty flavor, but not too salty.  You get the taste of bacon of course, then the taste of ham - thinly sliced, like deli meat.  Then the sausage.  Adding to the flavor was shredded and melted cheddar cheese, which didn't materialize until after the second or third bite.  But it was welcome.

My main observation, is that other than the tortilla, there was nothing particularly ethnic or cultural about Jack's meat lovers burrito.  It was simply scrambled eggs, ham, bacon, sausage, and cheese wrapped in a tortilla.  I would have preferred something with Mexican seasoning, and perhaps chorizo.  On the other hand, it was filling and it didn't taste bad in our opinion.  I would order it again given the right circumstances.

Compare the Jack meat lovers burrito with the smaller McDonald's sausage burrito below.

The McDonald's sausage burrito is supposed to offers peppers, onions, fluffy scrambled eggs, sausage, and melted cheese all wrapped in a soft tortilla.  The cheese is a pasteurized processed cheese - more like a sauce in my opinion - giving the burrito a creamy texture.  Today, mine didn't look anything like the picture at the McDonald's website.  I could taste the peppers - which provides a very mild spiciness, I just couldn't really see the peppers until near the bottom.

Notice the thinness of the McDonalds' tortilla.  I thought the tortilla from the Jack burrito was a little thicker and with more taste.  Also, on this particular day, my McDonalds burrito was kind of dried out and the tortilla was a little hard.  I've had better breakfast burritos from McDonalds - the one I ate today must have been sitting around.

Conclusion

On this particular day, with these particular burritos, from the particular franchises where they were purchased, the Jack in the Box meat lovers burrito was our favorite. The thicker tortilla, the larger quantity of meat, the addition of bacon, and the cheddar cheese, all combined to provide a tastier bite. We won't give up on the McDonald's sausage burrito, however. It's cheaper for one. If you have to watch pennies because our elected officials have screwed up the economy so bad, and your own situation is tough, then that could matter. Also, the smaller size of the McDonald's burrito is both a positive and a negative. If you don't want to eat a lot, then the smaller McDonald's burrito is the way to go. Also, you could buy a burrito and, say, an oatmeal, and pretend your eating healthy. And you wouldn't be painfully full afterwards.

If you have an appetite, or you need something more substantial to carry you through the morning, then a Jack burrito would be the way to go.  If you went to McDonald's, you would by buying at least two of theirs anyway, and spending the same or more money.

Some people may poo-poo the whole idea of buying burritos from giant fast food chain establishments. Well of course if you have more time you can always go out of your way to a local taqueria and pick up a better breakfast burrito for a little more money.  For instance the great Taco Fresco Burgers & Fries on Florin makes a rather good one.  It has chorizo with superior seasoning. Simply delicious.

But why does anyone go to McDonald's and Jack in the Box in the first place?  For convenience and speed.  You don't even have to get out of your car if you are in a hurry.  And there are so many of these places that when you need something and only have 15 minutes to spare, there is probably a fast food place two blocks away at the most.  It might be the only option on any given day.

So there you go.

Gator Captured in South Sacramento!

Update:  The following post was written on June 2, 2016, weeks before the terrible tragedy involving the death of a child in Florida on June 14th.  We offer the child's family our deepest and sincere condolences and prayers.  The post below is intended as satire to highlight the sad state of urban conditions in South Sacramento.

With reports from Florida and Georgia concerning sightings of large alligators, the South Sac Blog brings you an update.  This unidentified man reportedly captured a large alligator found roaming the streets and open drainage ditches of unincorporated South Sacramento. 

The gator was allegedly removed from a typical South Sac drainage ditch like the one below by Elsie/Cottonwood and Wilbur.

The alligator may also have been attracted to the large bush-like weeds growing out of cracks in the crumbling South Sacramento sidewalks as shown on below.  These litter-infested areas, ignored by local politicians, may offer concealment for wild animals.

The gator was reportedly released back into the wild, and its current location is unknown. 

Chando's Doesn't Sell Crispy Fried Tacos - the Search Continues!

South Sac Blog has been searching for the best crispy fried tacos in South Sacramento.  We've been to Super Taco, Taco Fresco Burgers & Fries, and we even strayed into Elk Grove to check out Flakos and Chevys.  Today we resumed our search here in South Sac to see what Chando's Tacos on Power Inn offers.  Concerning crispy fried tacos, the answer is: nothing.  But don't let that discourage you from going to Chando's for their delicious street-style tacos and other items.

When I was growing up, my dear Mother, who was Mexican-American, made tacos by stuffing the corn tortilla with the filling and then frying the entire thing in a skillet.  The tortilla was crispy on the outside, but a little soft on the inside having soaked up the juices from the meat.  Yes, it may have been just a little oily, but that only added to the incredible flavor.  The sad thing is that I have not been able to find any crispy tacos like that sold in restaurants or taquerias.  Well, except for one place.  Cactus Taqueria down in Berkeley offers incredible crispy fried tacos that sets the standard.  My mission is to find similar tacos here in South Sac.

Taco Fresco Burgers & Fries took the early lead in my search with its crispy shrimp and fish tacos.  They actually make their own corn tortillas fresh and fry them just for you.  Their tortillas puff up a little when fried and are simply amazing.  I'm not even sure if Cactus Taqueria makes its own tortillas!

Enough small talk.  Chando's certainly makes the best filling for its tacos than any place I have sampled so far in South Sac.  You can read about the different meat fillings here, and Chando's history here.  When we were there they were grilling the meat outside.

Here's my three tacos below with chicken, carnitas, and carne asada; all with cilantro, onions, and salsa:

But those are in their soft corn tortillas - not fried.  And since I m searching for crispy fried tacos, there's no point in going further.  I did order a tostada just to fill my crunch craving.  I had the carne asada and you can see they don't skimp on the meat:

Yes, we got the delicious super nachos, too:

The nice thing about the super nachos is that the meat and cheese is layered between different rows of chips, not just all dumped on top. 

Anyway, Chando's isn't in the running for the best cripsy fried taco in South Sac.  So the search continues.  Where to go next?

Chevys "Fresh Mex" Doesn't Apply to their Crispy Tacos

Time for another crispy taco review!

I was talked into going to Chevys Fresh Mex down in Elk Grove on Laguna.  Well, as long as I was there, I decided to sample their crispy tacos as part of South Sac Blog's Search for the Best Crispy Tacos.  I wish I hadn't. 

To be the best, a crispy fried taco must be, well, freshly fried.  The crunchy taco at Chevys isn't freshly fried for you.  It tastes like a step up from Taco Bell's hard shell taco.  So much so that I asked the waiter if the taco shells were made fresh there, or taken out of the box.  He admitted they were prepackaged.  How this can be sold at a restaurant that claims it is "Fresh Mex" is beyond me.  If you went to a grocery store and saw two kinds of boxed taco shells, one cheap, and the other costing a little more, I think what I ate would be from the box costing a little more.  A little better quality, but hey, still out of a box. 

I ordered the two combo dinner with a crunchy beef taco and tamale - that comes with rice and beans as shown below.  The price for that plate is about $13 as I recall.  You can get better deals at smaller taquerias in South Sac. 

Notice the crack in my taco as it came out:

You would think who ever spooned in the filling would have noticed that and prepared another shell.  So much for quality control.

Another thing that bothered me about the taco was the lack of meat in the filling.  Take a look:

What you see stuffed inside the taco is mostly the lettuce, tomato and onions.  Very little meat as you can really see from the picture below:

I won't be ordering crunchy tacos at Chevys again.  I would rate what I ordered slightly below the hard shell taco at Super Tacos.  That's because there wasn't much filling inside. 

But I would order some other things.  For instance I've always enjoyed Chevys' chili rellenos.  I also enjoy the salsa that comes with the chips and salsa. 

The bottom line is this:  In the search for the best crispy taco in South Sac, Taco Fresco Burgers & Fries is still Numero Uno! 

Where to next?

Vineyard Community Planning Advisory Council Meets June 7, 2016

The South Sacramento "Vineyard Community Planning Advisory Council" will meet on Tuesday, June 7, 2016 at 7:00 p.m., at:

Heritage Peak Charter School
8065 Elk Grove-Florin Road, Suite 160
Sacramento, CA 95829

The agenda is here. 

 

The Game of Life and How to Play It – Chapter 2

By Amber (supreme happiness) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

So I began reading an old classic, entitled, The Game ofLife and How to Play It, by Florence Scovel Shinn.  It’s a kind of self-help book written in 1925.  In Chapter 1, Shinn mentions that most of us take life to be a struggle, or “battle.”  But she says that is untrue.  Life is a game, with rules.  But those rules are not taught at home or in school.  Yet learning these rules is essential if you want to experience true happiness and success.

As I did before, I provide notice here that Shinn was a Christian spiritualist, who quoted from the Bible to make her points.  I provide those Biblical references in these reviews. 

The first rule, taken from Chapter 1, is that life is a game of giving and receiving.  But the game originates in your mind.  You must learn to see clearly in your mind your goals and the good you would like to accomplish.  This includes removing all mental images of negativity, or evil.   In other words, learn how to visualize yourself achieving your goals.  You can read my review of Chapter 1 here.  Since The Game of Life was  first published in 1925, a lot has been written about the power of visualization.  You can find numerous sources on the internet, and many other books on the subject. 

In Chapter 2, Shinn introduces us to the “Law of Prosperity.”  All of the things we receive do not originate from our employers or the government, but from God.  God is the ultimate supplier of everything that is good.  God is our supply, and this is true for every situation or need.  If you look around South Sacramento, however, you will undoubtedly notice that many people do not have all that they want, or even all that they need.  There is lack, limitation, poverty, and unhappiness.  So is Shinn wrong?

Shinn’s answer would be that lack occurs when people don’t apply the correct Biblical principles to prayer.  It is true that Jesus is quoted in the Bible as saying: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”  Matthew 7:7.   But Shinn reminds us that Jesus gave specific direction for how to ask.  She quotes Matthew 21:22:

“And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

Here then is another rule for the Game of Life.  When you ask for something in prayer, you must believe that you already received it.  If you can’t truly believe it, you can act like you already received it.  You can do this by taking actions of preparing for the outcome.  If you pray for success, but prepare for the worst as if that is what you actually expect, you will likely experience failure.  You should visualize yourself actually receiving your good.  Utilize your feeling nature, too.  How would you feel if you received a promotion?  How would you feel if you made that great sale?  How would you feel if you won a competition?  Can you feel that way although the good has not yet materialized?

Prepare for whatever it is that you ask for, regardless of the outward appearances!  Ignore thoughts that you have no idea how your goal will be accomplished, or how you will receive the good that is your divine right.  Leave that up to the universe.   Shinn provides another Biblical reference.   

“Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”  John 4:35.

Shinn closes with another Bible verse:

“Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.”  Matthew 18:19. 

Shinn explains that you may get too involved with your affairs and not think clearly, or become discouraged.  Therefore you may want to confide in someone about your prayers and goals.  That person should be one who you trust, and believes in your potential.  A kind of prayer partner, or spiritual advisor.  That person will help you when your faith begins to waiver.

I’m keeping this review short, because the chapters and the entire book are short.  The two primary rules for playing the game of life we have learned so far are these:  1) Visualize your goals and remove all mental images of doubt and failure from your mind; and 2) when you pray, believe that your prayers have been answered, and prepare for that outcome.

Shall we give it a try?