Sunrise Buckets
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 4, 2011
I’ve been hearing a lot about Sunrise Buckets but I didn’t have a chance to try it out. I heard they started out selling their products in bazaars. Since they were successful, they ended up expanding and opened up their first branch in Greenhills.
I keep seeing their big signage in Ortigas avenue as I always pass by that area whenever I drive home from work. I was curious but didn’t have that much urge to try out. However, when I saw their promo at one of the budget sites, I knew then that I wouldn’t pass up the opportunity.
As I entered the place, I was in total awe. They have a beach theme. There were surfboards all around and some other beach stuff in Sunrise Buckets. The place was lively! Servers were very friendly & accomodating too!
See? Even their menu were written in surfboards! Total coolness!
One more unique feature in Sunrise Buckets was their gloves! We get to grab those gloves so we can use while we eat Sunrise Buckets chicken! There’s no other way to enjoy chicken but with our hands right?
We ordered too much as I bought Php 1,000 worth of food vouchers! I should have used only Php500 hahaha! Oh well, at least I get to share a lot with you in this post 🙂
- 1/2 Pound Sunrise Original (Php 155)
I liked this flavor among all the ones that we ordered. Sunrise Original is the restaurant’s Buffalo, New York-style chicken wings with Sunrise Original sauce. I was also about to order their ‘Real American Buffalo Wings’ but the server told me that it has the same sauce as Sunrise Original, it was just a spicy version of Sunrise Original. This was the only 1/2 pound chicken wings dish we finished.
- 1/2 Pound Smokin’ BBQ Chicken (Php 145)
A bestseller in Sunrise Buckets but unfortunately, I didn’t like the taste of it. The chicken wings were tossed with their homemade barbeque sauce. I’m not sure if I just ate too much chicken that I didn’t appreciate this anymore but I think the flavors really didn’t fit my taste buds.
BTW, Sunrise Buckets also offer boneless chicken wings. You might wanna try it out if you dislike deboning your chicken.
- Cloud 9 Garlic Parmesan Poppers (Php 165)
I can now say that parmesan cheese & chicken doesn’t blend well. As much as I appreciate the way poppers are prepared with chicken meat lightly breaded cooked and tossed with the sauce. I would advise to order a different flavor over garlic parmesan.
Here’s the list of flavors available: smokin’ bbq, Juan’s buffalo, crispy, garlic peppered, sunrise original, hickory, pepper steak, teriyaki, real American buffalo, honey jalapeno, honey mustard, Jack Daniel’s, garlic parmesan (yeew), ultimate crazy hot.
- Jack Daniel’s Porkchop (Php 275)
I didn’t like this dish and we ended up just trying it out. We just ate the fries 🙁 The meat was too tough and it wasn’t tasty at all. We didn’t intend to order this but their fish & chips was out of stock. Tough luck.
- Wild Rice (Php 60)
Tasted like a Java rice. This was good. You’ll like it. Order with your favorite flavor of chicken wings if you’re used to eating with rice.
- Solo Poutine Fries (Php 115)
Very unique recipe as they put melted cheese & gravy into the fries. I didn’t find any special with it though.
- Rootbeer Float (Php 115)
I was amazed when the rootbeer float was served to us. The rootbeer was literally put in a bottle. The glass was filled with ice and topped with a huge serving of vanilla ice cream. This was the drink ordered by my friend but boy, it did look yummy!
- Sunrise Iced Tea (Php 55)
As with most restaurants, Sunrise Buckets also have their own homemade brewed iced tea. Yummy! I wish though that they make it bottomless in the future.
While I may not have given Sunrise Buckets’ food products a perfect approval score, I have to give them a perfect score with presentation.
Their chicken wings are served in buckets with a mini chalkboard in front wherein they put the name of their customers. Perfect visual presentation, I really loved it!
Sunrise Buckets’ poppers & fries, on the other hand, are served in mugs! You can buy those mugs too! Sunrise Buckets have their own merchandise to sell inside the restaurant.
Overall, it was a pleasant experience though I wouldn’t rate their chicken wings as top-notch. Looking at how successful they are, there were able to capture the taste buds of their target market. Kudos to them for being a successful chicken franchise. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get to see more branches of Sunrise Buckets in the Metro.
——————–
Sunrise Buckets
Unit 1, Madison Square, Ortigas corner Madison St., Greenhills, San Juan City, Philippines
(02) 477-7636
Sandy Bridge Launch: The Amazing Intel Chase
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 2, 2011
It was an honor to be a part of Intel’s big launch of Sandy Bridge! On the 1st day, Intel started with a big bang as they organized the Amazing Intel Chase. How else can they introduce their 2nd generation Intel Core processors but to let us EXPERIENCE it ourselves!!
I remember sharing with you the Intel Core Processor family a few months back. Right now, they improved it further.
Let me narrate here everything we’ve gone through while racing through time and experiencing the all new 2nd Generation Intel Core Processors.
5 teams composed of channel partners and selected media partners joined the Amazing Intel Chase. The concept was the same as the popular Amazing Race franchise. Whew! Honestly, after the race, I have great respect for Amazing Race contestants. It wasn’t easy, seriously but it was super, duper fun!
I was part of the blue team with Michael & JM as my teammates. We were strategizing so hard since the night before even if we don’t have any idea what to expect. We shared each other strengths & weaknesses. I made it clear that I don’t wanna swim but I’m up for anything. What I like in our team is that we already had some sort of bonding even before the actual race started. I knew then we’d have a great chance of winning because we’d work together.
5 teams, 3 cities in one Amazing Intel Chase, get ready to race & experience the 2nd generation Intel Core Processors. The race has begun!! All 5 teams were running towards the clue box!
- Intel Clear Video HD Technology
Our 1st task was to go to Digital Alley in Greenbelt 3 and watch an Intel Chase Demo video in clear video HD technology. With Intel’s Clear Video HD technology, we’ll be able to experience outstanding HD video playback and sharper image quality. It’ll definitely change the way we view & create content!
We had to answer correctly 5 questions wherein answers can be found in the Intel Chase demo video. We had to watch it twice as we missed the complete birthday of the character. We came out 2nd place in this pitstop.
- Intel HD Graphics
Our 2nd task was to go to Phoenix Internet Cafe in Pasong Tamo. There, we need to choose 1 member from the team who would play 1 difficult level of Starcraft.
Powered by Intel HD Graphics, our teammate was able to experience gaming with enhanced performance & richer detail than previous generation of Intel Core Processors. We came 3rd at this pitstop.
- Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0
For our 3rd task, we were asked to go to a Car Trak near the CCP complex. We must race against time by completing 5 laps EACH in less than 15 minutes.
We get a feel of Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 during this fast & the furious type of task. Intel’s Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 boosts power levels to achieve performance gains for high intensity “dynamic” workloads.
Finally, we were 1st and got a special prize for it! We were so pumped up! We had a chance to win the race!
- Intel Wireless Display 2.0 or Intel WiDi 2.0
Our 4th task was to drive to Museo Pambata. There, we had to play a disc and project it on the screen. But you know what really amazed me? It was actually projected WIRELESSLY! I was totally in awe and apparently, it was the Intel Wireless Display 2.0 or Intel WiDi 2.0. It was ubercool!
The image that was projected in the screen was the room that we needed to find inside Museo Pambata. In that room, we needed to find an Intel item. All 3 of us thought that we were looking for an Intel Processor chip. We had a hard time looking for it. We even searched through the trash cans inside the room. It was too funny! We found it after such a long time and ended up at 3rd place. We were almost eliminated, almost!
- Intel Quick Sync Video
We were really in a hurry as we know we were in last place. We read the clue. We had to find a Fort inside the walled city. At 1st we thought it was inside Intramuros then we decided to go straight to Fort Santiago.
This leg of the race was the most tiring of all. I was really out of breath and was begging for water already hahaha! We were tasked to complete all the items in the list. Ride the calesa and find the man in Intel costume then we were asked to go find the statue of Jose Rizal behind bars. Next was to count & walk all 353 steps at the place! One of us need to take video of all of those too! At the end of the steps, we had to tell the marshall the # of steps that we counted. If wrong, we had to repeat all over again. We were lucky that we got it right the 1st time!
We then headed to the gazebo wherein we transferred the video we took to the iPod Touch. Imagine, we were able to do it in less than 1 minute! Wow! Now we know that the 2nd Generation Intel Core Processors are powerful. With Intel Quick Sync Video, we were assured of high level of transfer performance.
We had the shock of our lives at the pitstop when it was announced that we got in first! Wow!! One more leg and we can win it!! We were soooo excited and was rushing like there was no tomorrow to the last pitstop.
The last pitstop! We felt it, this was it! Just one more and we’d let out all our energies so we can win the Intel Amazing Chase! We went back to where it started. There were only 2 teams left, our blue team and the green team. We had to do one last task! In this crucial and deciding task, 1 team member has to answer questions about the race. Since I can’t swim, I volunteered to do this.
The other 2 members have to balance a raft to cross the pool and get all the puzzle pieces. I really admire my teammates for doing this with perfect technique! They were awesome in the pool!
Once we got all the puzzle pieces in, we arranged the puzzle! It showed the 2nd Generation Core Badges! Whee!!
We immediately ran to the final pitstop and we were announced the winners!! Wohoo!!!
Kudos to the organizers for the great launch! We had so much fun and we were able to experience Intel 2nd Generation Core Processors. How cool is that?
Here’s a teaser, do watch it 😉
Official videos are finally out!
Acer Iconia Touch Technology Now Here
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On March 29, 2011
March 24, 2011 was the date when Acer & Microsoft launched Acer Iconia. I initially thought it would just be another update of Acer laptops. Most probably with Microsoft newest software since the event was a collaboration between the two companies, Acer & Microsoft.
I was, however, pleasantly surprised when I saw the two new products from the Acer Iconia line. These were the 1st touch-screen personal computer I have seen. With Microsoft’s operating system powering both models and Windows 7 at that- you can be sure to have an enjoyable computing experience allowing you to get more things done.
Acer Iconia-484G64ns
Acer’s newest touch-screen PC. It comes with not one but two(!) touch-screen displays. Acer Iconia-484G64ns has a nickname too, you can call the PC a ‘touchbook’.
You’ll surely make heads turn when you use the Acer Iconia Touchbook in a coffee shop or any other public place. It is very intuitive, innovative and cool! Acer basically combined all the technologies of existing gadgets and created a totally new product! Awesome!
The specifications will definitely impress you:
- dual 14-inch multi-touch screens
- high-definition and high-brightness 1366×768 resolution Acer CineCrystal LED-backlit TFT LCD screens that support to 10-finger touch
- LCD screens are made of tempered glass, are ultra-thin yet extremely durable, with a scratch-and fingerprint-resistant face made by Corning.
- touch-screen LCDs are also mercury free, making it environment-friendly
- video support is handled by Intel HD graphics with 128MB of dedicated system memory that supports Microsoft DirectX 10
- its Acer CrystalEye webcam has 1280×1024 resolution totally ramps up face-to-face communication over the internet
- has a smart virtual keyboard that features adaptive typing intelligence & predictive text input that gives a real keyboard experience. Complete with a touchpad, numeric keypad & a multi-gesture handwriting mode
- assured of great computing power courtesy of Intel Core i5-480M (3MB L3 cache, 2.66 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.93GHz, DDR3 1066 MHz 35W) processor that supports Intel 64 architecture & Intel Smart Cache.
- Mobile Intel HM55 Express Chipset & 2x2GB DDRIII memory
- has more than enough storage space for a Touchbook with 640GB capacity
While the Iconia Touchbook has impressive specifications, my attention was on the Acer Ring Control Interface.
Acer Ring Control Interface is a fast & intuitive entry point to launch Acer’s touch applications and handy built-in features and controls. You basically launch Acer Ring Control Interface by a simple grab gesture as illustrated above.
The Acer Ring Control Interface, described simply, is the Acer Touchbook manager. You can access utilities & settings, QuickMenu & Appcards (which lets you scroll to view the applications; tap to open it).
The Gesture Editor, for its part, allows customization of touch gestures in launching tasks. For example, you usually use Yahoo Messenger on your PC. You can set the touch gesture to swiping from right to left to launch Yahoo Messenger. Being able to customize is the key and I love that with the Acer Iconia.
There is also the Window Manager which allows you to organize your applications on the dual touch-screens or to an external display..
I may have described Acer Iconia Touchbook as a perfect PC but I have a bit of a problem with it. As you can see, the gadget is very powerful, thus it may drain your battery quickly. Well, I was right. Acer Iconia Touchbook only has a battery life of three hours. If you can live with that, then quickly get your own unit of Acer Iconia-484G64ns!
Acer Iconia-484G64ns sells for Php 70,900.00 at your favorite PC stores nationwide.
Acer Iconia Tab W500
Oh, another Acer Iconia product, but this time around, it’s a tablet PC. But wait! Acer Iconia Tab W500 is different! Why? Because it is dual-purpose. It has the perfect high-definition multi-touch tablet portability and the full productivity features of a standard notebook via its dockable keyboard.
Acer Iconia Tab W500 is similar to the Touchbook as it also has the Acer Ring control interface and gesture editor. However, it uses a different processor. The Acer Iconia Tab W500 is powered by AMD C-Series C-50 (1MB L2 cache, 1 GHz, DDR3 1066MHz, 9W) processor. It also has AMD A50M Fusion controller hub chipset and up to 2GB DDR3 memory chip with a 32GB SDD capacity, a 10.1-inch high definition 1280×800 resolution Acer CrystalBrite LED-backlit TFT LCD with integrated multi-touch screen supports finger touch & image auto rotation and lastly, an AMD Radeon HD 6250 graphics card with 256MB dedicated system memory.
Product Features of Acer Iconia Tab W500 are as follows:
- Handy multi-touch tablet
- full-size chiclet keyboard docking
- dual 1.3MP webcam with AV recording
- Integrated battery: 4 hours HD video playback, 6 hours of internet browsing
- multi-touch Acer ring control interface
- touch optimized user interface
- device control console
- TouchBrowser
- Acer clear.fi cross-platform multimedia sharing
- My Journal web clipboard
- Windows 7 platform
- Games
Acer Iconia Tab doesn’t have a suggested retail price yet but will be available very soon.
The Acer-Microsoft event was definitely a success with two innovative products launched. Representatives from both companies demonstrated both products with its capabilities and features.
It is important to note that Acer Brand Ambassador was there too! Who else than Mr. Derek Ramsey!! 😀
We were able to try out the gadgets ourselves for a few minutes. It was cool! I believe any of you will enjoy this whether you’re a techie, a student, a parent or a youngster.
So take your pick between Acer Iconia Touchbook and the Acer Iconia Tab. Head on to your trusted PC stores and try it out or buy one!
——————–
This is the initial draft of my article. Final version can be found in Manila Bulletin’s March 28 issue. Also posted in MB’s website.
Sucker Punch Movie Review
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On March 29, 2011
I’ve been hearing a lot about Sucker Punch and I became curious. Luckily, my GameOPS friends invited me to watch with them last weekend.
When I saw the poster, I became excited! Especially upon seeing Jamie Chung’s face there. I liked Jamie in Dragonball Evolution, it was actually a coincidence that I watched it the night before through Star Movies.
Sucker Punch is an action-fantasy film featuring 5 beautiful ladies in a mental facility. It revolves around the story of Baby Doll (Emily Browning), her history, her fantasies and her life at the mental facility. The movie tells Baby Doll’s adventures with 4 of her friends: Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Amber (Jamie Chung), Rocket (Jena Malone) & Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens).
The movie is not easy to understand. You really need to do a lot of thinking. For me, I had to research to confirm my understanding of Sucker Punch. When my friends asked me what I think of the movie, my 1st reaction was Sucker Punch was an eyecandy all throughout.
I was right in a sense but it wasn’t just an eyecandy. There were more to it than beautiful sexy ladies & awesome action scenes. It had a lesson or two. For me, my takeaway from Sucker Punch is that we have to believe in ourselves. As long as we believe in ourselves and we work on our goals, we’ll be able to achieve them.
I also plan to watch Sucker Punch once it comes out on DVD. Why? Because I heard there were several scenes that were cut and with the director’s cut version, we’ll be able to understand the whole story better.
My Rating for Sucker Punch: 3.5 out of 5 stars.
2nd Visit to Ba Noi’s
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On March 28, 2011
Oh, the wonders of blogging! Some of you may think that I’m earning from this blog but I don’t. I don’t have any idea about SEO which professional bloggers are very familiar with.
I may not earn financially from HeaRty’s Haven but I do feel rewarded from the comments you readers leave here, as well as the emails I’ve been receiving from you 🙂
Last week, I received an email from Ba Noi’s general manager as they stumbled upon my post. They invited me to go back and try their other dishes. Actually, without even receiving that email, I know that I’d definitely go back to Ba Noi’s because of their delicious food. It really felt good that the establishment found my post through internet and was appreciative of my feedback. This is just one of the reasons why I love blogging!
For a change, I went on a lunch time. I thought that since it was a saturday, I wouldn’t have a hard time looking for parking. I was right! Whew!
So here are the dishes I ordered (you may wanna check out their other specialty dishes from my earlier post):
- Fresh Spring Rolls (Php 165)
Last time we visited, we had fried spring rolls. This time around, we ordered fresh spring rolls. It was different definitely. The fresh spring rolls was a bit healthier considering that it wasn’t fried. It was served with peanut sauce compared to fish sauce. The fresh spring rolls is best eaten with the hands, you just have to get one and dip into the sauce. I liked this and I believe a lot of people order this more than the fried version. I, however, prefer Ba Noi’s fried spring rolls! It was super delish!
- Fresh Sugarcane Juice (Php 90)
I cannot get enough of Sugarcane! This was still my order. Since we didn’t get their promo, I finally got a bigger serving of sugarcane juice! Whee! It was really, really good!
- Sauteed Meat & Vegetables in Crispy Egg Noodles (Php 210)
I tried out their beef noodle soup the last time so I wanted to try out their fried noodles for a change. When the dish was served to us, it was eyecandy. I was taking pictures of it for a short while trying to get the best angle of it. I immediately asked my friend to take out all the liver in the dish as I dislike eating those. Other than the liver, this dish was good. Sauce was just right, there were enough meat & vegetables in it too. I don’t feel much difference of this crispy noodles with the Chinese version though.
- Grilled Lemongrass Beef Fillets (Php 295)
All I can say with Ba Noi’s grilled lemongrass beef is WOW! Just seeing the dish was already mouth-watering then having a bite of it just made it a whole lot better! The beef was tender, full of flavor and the way it was presented was cool too! The way to divulge a taste of this wonderful dish is to wrap the beef with lettuce and dip it into the sauce. A must-order!
- Vietnamese Iced Coffee (Php 95)
My friend Christina ordered cold Vietnamese coffee for her drink. It was served with condensed milk on the side. I then remembered that Ba Noi’s do have a mini-tutorial on how to enjoy their dishes. I find it odd that they don’t display it on their tables. I had to ask for it. I urge you to do the same. It was definitely a joy looking at the instructions. You get to learn a thing or two as well.
It was so nice seeing both visual and written instructions on the tutorial. You can be sure that you are making the most out of your visit in Ba Noi’s. If you still encounter difficulty, fret not! Because Ba Noi’s servers are always ready to serve you. Like for the case of my friend, it was actually one of the servers who helped her pour the coffee mixture into her glass.
In spite of the location of Ba Noi’s Vietnamese restaurant, there were still a lot of customers during the time when we were there. Imagine, at 1:45PM, the restaurant was filled with customers still! That proves how successful their place is. I still hope they’ll expand and open some branches inside the malls. I wouldn’t mind going back there again.
——————–
Ba Noi’s – The Fresh Flavors of Vietnam
G/F Greenbelt Mansions, Perea St., Legaspi Village, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines
(02) 893-7359