Tag: #easy

TACOS & BOBA! BOBA & TACOS! TACOS & BOBA!

These are the best tacos in the SGV, San Gabriel Valley, well in my opinion. I come from an area of predominately Asians and Mexicans, so the food in my hometown is very diverse. You can see a Vietnamese sandwich place next to a taco shop, or a Taiwanese boba place across the street from a Japanese sushi place.

Due to this diversity and the intermingling of cultures I stumbled across this delicious street food. This taco truck is located in the parking lot of a 99 Ranch market at the intersection of San Gabriel and Valley. You can not miss it as it is known for it bright flashing lights at the top of the truck displaying the different kind of meats available at the truck in many different languages such as Spanish, English, and even Chinese!

This is a family owned business ran by the father, his sons, and nephews. The father would usually take the orders and is a very good talk. He remembers his regulars and sometimes even hooks it up. This quick and delicious taco stop is called, Arandinos Tacos El Patron!

This stop is perfect for late night craving as it is open till 12:30 am. The taco truck is usually very busy as it gets later in the night and it is very cool to see all kinds of people enjoy this amazing place. People from old to young, Asians to Mexican, students to mothers, comes to this place to enjoy this delicious street food.

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This is the exterior of the taco truck. The bright electric sign on top of the truck is very hard to miss and attracts a lot of attention as it is parked at busy intersection.

Here is the link to there yelp page!
https://www.yelp.com/biz/arandinos-tacos-el-patron-san-gabriel-2?osq=Taco+Truck

*WARNING!!! THEY DO NOT ACCEPT CARD!! CASH ONLY! So if you pay this truck a visit be sure to have cash! *

They have a variety of different options, from multis to quesadillas to tacos to tortas. With many different types of meats and parts as well. Some options they carry are beef, chicken, pork, beef tongue, beef head, intestines, and even sausage.

This very fast and delicious street food is also very inexpensive! Here are the prices and a small description of how it is served down below.

Tacos: $1.25 for each taco, double stacked in tortillas. And you can choose any type of meat you would like. You can also get everything on them (diced white onions, cilantro and a red spicy sauce) or just plain.

Quesadilla: $6.00 for one large one, it is then cut in three slices. You can also get whatever type of meat you would like an have it plain of with everything on it (diced white onions, cilantro and a red spicy sauce).

Mulitas: $2.00 for each mulita. This is similar to a mini quesadilla as it is two tortillas with cheese and meat on the inside, which is then fried on the grill.

Tortas: $6.00 for one sandwich. For those who don’t know a sorta is a Mexican sandwich. You can pick whatever type of meat you would like!

*You can also ask for grilled onions and green peppers on the side!*

Each order comes with a bag of lime and red radishes, perfectly delicious with any of the meals above. These are just the few items they have at this taco truck, there are many more I have not mentioned and can be found on their yelp website.

Another helpful tip if you come to this taco truck is, they have SO MUCH SAUCE! I don’t know about you, but I am a saucy person, I love saucy foods! I personally love the green sauce, also known as salsa verde, this is delicious no matter what you pair it with.

I usually get a CARNE ASADS QUESADILLA WITH EVERYTHING IN IT, GREEN SAUCE ON THE SIDE, AND EXTRA LIME. img_5377.jpg

In the same parking lot you can find another one of my very favorites, AU79, this is a boba shop, which is usually open very late to the morning hours of 1:00- 3:00 am depending on the day!

This is a perfect combination with the tacos at Arandinos Tacos El Patron, just across the parking lot. For me boba and tacos are always eaten together, if I get tacos I have to get boba too and vice versa.

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Here is the exterior of the tea house, they have patio seating for those who would like to have a smoke and a dine in lobby area for students who want to study.

This teahouse is known for there fresh brew tea, served both cold or hot depending on your liking. They have green teas, black teas, milk teas, fruit teas, any type of tea you can think of. The price ranges from $4-$5 per cup, very much affordable.

*WARNING!! With orders less than $10, there will be an extra 30 cents charge for the transaction fee, so if you want to avoid this fee, bring cash or simply order another drink, THEY ARE ALL VERY TASTEY!*

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Here is a menu of all the drink they have! 🙂

When I come here, I usually get a basic Jasmine green milk tea with MINI boba and less ice! Mini boba is the BEST thing ever! It is so much better than regular boba and doesn’t really require a lot of chewing!

Fun fact: I HATE CHEWING, IT IS SUCH A CHORE, but with mini boba it minimizes that chore for me! Best of both worlds, I can eat but not have to put in as much effort!

They not only have drinks at this teahouse, but also FOOD! I don’t usually get the food here, but I will provide a food menu for all those who are curious!

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The food menu! 🙂

The combination for Arandinos Tacos El Patron tacos and Au79 boba will always satisfy my cravings!

I really hope you guys give these two of my favorites a try and who knows soon later they might even be your own two favorites! 🙂

Hope you enjoyed this entry, Sandy signing off. ❤

Cheesecake and Oreo Caramel Apples

Looking for an easy sweet treat for this upcoming halloween season? Well I got you covered. Candy apples are a delicious sweet spin off of a healthy treat to satisfying a sweet tooth, perfect for kids or anyone else looking for caramel goodness.

These are not just any candy apples with a regular red hard sugar coating, that usually leaves you a few teeth short. These are a perfectly crafted three layered treat.

Don’t be frightened when I say three layers they are still as easy to make as 1, 2, 3! The first layer consists of ooey gooey caramel, the second a magnificent shell of white chocolate, and the third your choosing of coating, Oreo or cheesecake. Doesn’t sound too hard right, IT ISN’T, SO LETS BEGIN!

Ingredients/ supplies:

  • One 3LBS bag of Granny Smith apples
  • One bag of 50 Popsicle sticks (there will be extra)
  • One 14.4 oz box of Honey Maid Graham crackers, will only be using half the box. 
  • One 14.3 oz box of Oreos, will only be using half the box.
  • One 12 oz bag of Nestle white chocolate
  • One 11 oz bag of caramel bits (can find this in the baking aisle)
  • 2TBS of milk
  • 1TBS of oil

Makes 12 apples, or the whole bag of Granny Smith apples.

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LETS MAKE CARAMEL APPLES!

1. Wash the apples thoroughly, scrub and take off any stems on the top of the apple. img_2455.jpg2. Dry apples with paper towels! No water should be present on the skin, as this will cause the caramel from sticking to the apples. IMG_6960.JPG3. Stick the popsicle sticks half way into the apples to ensure security as we will be dipping them in caramel, chocolate, and the coating. IMG_7288.JPG

4. Grab a small sauce pan and add the bag of caramel bits into the pot along with 2 TBS of milk. Melt and stir on low heat until melted and has a consistency as the picture down below. Be sure not to have the fire on too high as the caramel will BURN!

 

5. TIME TO DIP THE APPLES!! Take one apple and dip it into this gooey goodness covering about 3/4th of the apple with caramel.

 

6. Have on hand large plates or cookie trays lined with wax paper or Saran Wrap to prevent the covered apples from sticking to the plate. Allow the first coating of caramel to cool in the fridge for 30 minutes.

 

7. In the meantime, we will be preparing our coatings! For the cheesecake apples we will crush graham crackers to the consistency of fine grain sand. For the Oreo caramel apples we will crush Oreos to the consistency of fine grain sand. (I used a bag and a rolling pin but feel free to use a food processor as this will be much easier!) Set aside.

 

 

8. Melt the Nestle white chocolate in the microwave. Put chocolate in a large microwave safe bowl with 1TBS of oil. Pop into the microwave for 1 minute. Take bowl out mix, put in for another minute, take out and mix. The chocolate should be all melted, if not keep stirring or put back into the microwave for 30 seconds. (Careful chocolate burns very easily in the microwave making it hard to dip as it will clump up.)

 

9. TIME TO DIP THE APPLES! Dip apples into the white chocolate, leave 1/2 and inch of the caramel showing. *Use picture down below as reference.

 

10. While the chocolate is still wet you will dip the apples into the Oreo crumbs making Oreo caramel apples, or you can dip them in the graham crumbs to make cheesecake caramel apples. Which ever one you choose they will be guaranteed delicious!

 

EXTRA STEP!

I made these apples for a kids Jurassic Park themed birthday party, so I decided to put eyes on the Oreo apples to make them little more festive. I called them DinoApples and the kids loved it!!

11. To recreate these apples all you need to do it attach some candy eyes with little bit of frosting. These can be found in the baking section of your local Walmart or target, or can be found online.

 

YUMYUMYUM
RAWR!

These also resemble the dust bunnies in the Hayao Miyazaki production of spirited away.

These are a cute and easy little treat which can be flexible for any occasion. From a Halloween party to a birthday party or even when you are craving a sweet treat, these caramel apples are the perfect solution.