Happy New Year!

2013 Fun? The Commercial for Charbroiled Atlantic Cod Fish Sandwich at Carl's Jr.

by Scott McLean

I wrote about (reviewed) the commercial for The Charbroiled Atlantic Cod Fish Sandwich at Carl's Jr., in March. I like this commercial but it could have been funnier. It's for Hardee's too, but have I ever been there? Oh wait a minute, maybe that's where 'she' hangs out! No, couldn't be, I'm just being way excited for Dec. 30 sitting in my bedroom with nothing to do but write what someone, maybe more than one, will be reading.

The commercial is (was? hmm I guess it still is in the video) sexy and cute, slightly funny, but some people didn't like it, though I'm sure some of those people who didn't like it, love to see some of their favorite pop stars wearing almost nothing in music videos. Okay, whatever!

Did Carl's Jr. and Hardee's win big or lose big with this commercial? I think it's somewhere in between and that's pretty good because I did go there and ate the Charbroiled Atlantic Cod Fish Sandwich, more than once.

Here is part of what I wrote on Fast Food Yummy in March 2013:

The sandwich was great!  It's delicious and I ate it this morning, perhaps spurred on to get it by the fact that some girl said she wasn't going to go there anymore.  At least I wouldn't have to see one man hater there.  Oh heck, I don't know if she hates men yet. She needs to love everyone, and love fish too.

The Charbroiled Atlantic Cod Fish Sandwich is a winner.  I'm not much for "charbroiled" but I wanted to cancel out someone else's vote, or rather cancel out their comment with what is much better, my writing.

'Sun Tan' The Charbroiled Atlantic Cod Fish Sandwich at Carl's Jr ® a...

I wrote about this fast-food commercial in March. I like this commercial but it could have been funnier.

Note: The title was with the video on YouTube and I just liked it and it showed that I could 'share' it which I did. I have no connection to advertisements and commercials which may appear with videos.

I'm Going to Listen to Christmas music/songs

I'm going to listen to some more Christmas and Holiday music and songs today and tomorrow. Not all songs are about the birth of Jesus, so everyone is welcome to listen to "Christmas" music. Have some fun!

Also, I want to listen to songs about snow, ice, winter, and many other topics about holidays and other stuff. That makes me happy!

Note: The above part was written and supposed to be posted on the 24th of December so now it's late. I did listen to Christmas music on Dec. 24 and a bit more on the 25th, also before that on various days.

No problem, (almost time for) Happy New Year!

McDonald's Filet-O-Fish

I don't think the bun has a map of where to go fishing. So don't go there and don't try to figure it out unless of course you like to waste your time. McDonald's Filet-O-Fish is one of my favorites for most of my life and I still eat it sometimes.

This Is Fuzzy Like the Thinking of the .tVog Watching US

I was researching famous maps on the internet just minutes ago and who's to say what's a good way to know where in the hell we are and where do we wanna go? ogle pretty pretty well, danggit everything. Joke, I love danggit fish. Not sure I spelled it right, but yeah I loved fish in the Philippines. I'm just trying to waste everyone's time. No, not really, just waste the time of the spies. C'mon people, don't we despise the spies. Yeah, we do. I did bring this bun top into focus in another picture, so I'll put that up soon. Or late. Is this a map of future fishing holes? I doubt it but it's cute.

Spies Should Be Fired But I'll Give You a Map to Go Fishing, or not

Originally, I started this article with I'm no longer funny, and after some deep thought I decided to start it with  originally, I started this article with I'm no longer funny.

This almost looping opening paragraph wasn't brought to you by anybody. If it had been brought to you by somebody, it probably would have been brought to you by really intelligent people who are bored, but not the ones spying on me and perhaps some of my biggest fans. 

Actually, I have no idea why the NSA is spying on Americans. There's nothing funny about it, and it's very, very damn serious because they apparently don't care about the Constitution and protecting it is what matters to me.

Damn, it's almost the end of 2013! I never had any idea the NEWS would be so horrible and frightening this year. It makes me wanna go fishing? There was a map on a bun this summer and I should have seen where it went to or posted the bun (picture) at that time. Am I just trying to waste the time of all the internet spies who want to spy on all us nice and (damn I'm) average people in America. This is America and I love America! God Bless America! 

Where's the bun? Next time!

If it is a map and does go to a good fishing hole, then maybe all the spies can go there when WE THE PEOPLE 'let you go'. That means you should be fired by your boss. That's us.

There was a very small snow pile or snowdrift but I don't know if it came off the roof, was shoveled there or what but I enjoyed looking at it for a few minutes while parked at Jack in the Box and sipping my shake. This was after I went to the drive-thru to buy the shake.

Cold didn't keep me from getting a Shake at Jack in the Box

This picture was a couple of hours ago, Monday, December 9, 2013.

Some people want to make me sad or stop writing about fast food. I'm not stopping. To those who don't like fast food, you stop acting like jerks. 

Fight Back by Don't Give Up

I notice some people want to make other people sad, depressed, and they hope some will give up. Don't give up on yourself, even when you see and hear all the trash-talking, anger, meanness on the internet and in real life.

You're a good person and I believe in you.

Ai Shinozaki  song "Play for Free"
     (near the)                                  
1. End of song -- great                    
2. Can hold a note -- great          
3. interesting.

    I didn't feel whoever
    uploaded the song did
    it right.

-- The song itself has
    too many
   "play for free"(s) in it
    but that's what the
    song is about: a commercial.
_______________
Ne-Yo                                      
1. Most consistently great
    for the whole song.
2. I think his final singing
    in song/notes also great.

My Notes on Singing by Ai Shinozaki and Ne-Yo

I'm going to show some of my notes (the exact words on the paper) that I wrote down one of the days before I made my decision that Ai Shinozaki was the Best Pop Singer of the First Half of 2012.

This was a very difficult decision and the last week or two was mainly between Ai Shinozaki and Ne-Yo. They were going to tie, but I promised there wouldn't be a tie and there wasn't by the time I finished comparing their singing/vocals.

Ai Shinozaki 'Best Pop Singer' in 2012's First Half

Ai Shinozaki is the Best Pop Singer of the First Half of 2012. This was very close as to who was best, and the other three singers, Ne-Yo, Kelly Clarkson, and Rihanna, were also great. The difference was something that may have gone unnoticed by some reviewers and music lovers. Shinozaki was best of the four singers at or near the end of the song. I thought she had the most difficult song to make interesting because the lyrics could have been better. She hit high notes and held those notes wonderfully while putting in a lot of feeling which is important to have a successful song.

Note: I had left out the word Pop so I added that in.

Best Pop Singer for the first half of 2012

There's more below on how I'm making my decision.

Four Singers

Four singers:

Rihanna
Ne-Yo
Kelly Clarkson
Ai Shinozaki

Second songs:
Ai Shinozaki in singing group AeLL 『ありがとうサヨナラ。』
"Goodbye Thank you."
note: I see another translation of this that is: Sayonara "Thank you. "
Kelly Clarkson "Dark Side"
Ne-Yo "Let's Go" - Calvin Harris "Let's Go" featuring Ne-Yo
Rihanna "Where Have You Been"

I listened to these songs to know more about their singing but not for the final decision about who was the best singer for the first half of 2012. My decision is about four singers and four songs (below).

For the decision
First songs:
Kelly Clarkson "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)"
Rihanna "Take Care" -  Drake "Take Care" featuring Rihanna
Ai Shinozaki  "Play for Free"
Ne-Yo "Leave You Alone" - Young Jeezy "Leave You Alone"
featuring Ne-Yo

Note: I changed the order of appearance of the four singers on purpose because the order doesn't matter and has nothing to do with my decision.

Also, I listened to a some Live performances but couldn't find Ai Shinozaki "Play for Free" Live version so I watched and listened to the video on YouTube for "JOY" by AeLL. I tried to find a good version of "Take Care" Live and while Drake sounded good, I couldn't find a good one with Rihanna singing so I listened and watched a video of her Live performance of "Where Have You Been". I did find good Live versions of "Stronger" and "Leave You Alone".

Tied Now but there won't be a Tie

After listening to those songs, the four singers are tied.

I thought this would be easy or at least not too difficult. But they are all tied in singing/vocals and basically how much their singing voices were important to the sound of those songs.

More on my decision about Best Pop Singer/Vocalist of the First Half of 2012

This is about four singers, four songs, and just one song for each singer.

However, I'm going to listen and think about the singing/vocals on a second song by each artist if I feel it's necessary to make a good decision.

I'm listening to some of these songs again this morning and I've been listening to these songs for the past few days. It's a really tough decision because they are all great singers.

Best Pop Singer/Vocalist of the First Half of 2012

I hope to decide very soon who was the best pop singer/vocalist for the first half of 2012. That was the year I started writing about Pop songs including my lists of 10 Best Pop Songs of the first half and 25 Best Pop Songs for the year of 2012. I'm doing a first-half list and a full-year list again this year.

Last year, I mentioned the three leaders I chose in the category of Best Pop Vocalist for the First Half of 2012. They were Rihanna, Kelly Clarkson, and Ne-Yo. I'm also calling that category Best Pop Singer, but this isn't a Live Performance competition. While I care about hearing how they sound in Live videos, this is only about how their singing voices sound in the recordings. It doesn't have to be a studio recording because someone can record it any method and put it on YouTube.com or anywhere that it's available to listeners. I'm not much into rules and I really don't have rules. It's my decision though, regarding who gets in and why or why not.

Today, I'm adding Ai Shinozaki to the list. Of course, her name also appears as Shinozaki Ai. I don't think that I saw her video last year, so the song which I listened to many times in the recent months is called "Play for Free" may be in last year's second half list of best pop songs, which I haven't done yet, or I could make an exception and put it on a list for this year. Some of those videos uploaded to YouTube in the first half of 2012 were deleted or no longer available. That could have been why I didn't find it on time for last year. Those videos were listed by English language. However, thanks to my recent searches in Japanese, I was able to find the video.

I think she is a great singer and as far as I can tell this video first appeared in June 2012, therefore she qualifies for the first half of 2012 Best Pop Singer/Vocalist. I found a good upload of the video/song either today or yesterday on the Chinese video website Youku. That's at www.youku.com and I wanted to put that on here or my music reviews blog site, but I couldn't figure out how to do that since I didn't see a way to share on Blogger.com blogs like there is on YouTube. I will try to do that from YouTube even though the upload date is different.

Comparing Two Iced Coffees

I wanted to write about iced coffee... The last time I went out for iced coffee it was very good and I drank two iced coffees. I had the Jack in the Box iced coffee first and wasn't sure I would have another iced coffee later, but as it turned out I did wind up over at McDonald's, in the drive-thru, for that second iced coffee.

Jack in the Box's iced coffee was a little bit better than McDonald's iced coffee this time. However, it couldn't be much closer and there was almost no difference between the two because both had very good flavor. I also compared how much ice was in the cup and both appeared to be the right amount, not too much or too little. Both iced coffees were strong enough and it tasted fresh to me. That's important. Also, it was the right shade, not too dark or light, the flavors were very good, and it wasn't too sweet but slightly sweet which I feel is correct. I can't say there was much difference in quality between the two iced coffees, but this was a win for Jack in the Box.

I don't have much more to add but if I can think of anything else then I write about it some other time.

Relaxing with a Carl's Jr. Orange Cream Shake

ORANGE CREAM 

Ice Cream Shake

3.50

I can really taste how this is "orange cream" flavor and made me feel relaxed. It's a very smooth shake and doesn't have strong orange flavor and no aftertaste of orange. There's whipped cream on top like many shakes these days. I would say it's a normal size for a shake, not too large like some shakes. This shake was $3.50 and the words and price below the picture are what was on the drive-thru menu. It was just before noon on a July day.

Caramel

McDonald's McCafé Dulce de Leche Shake is a caramel shake. I really like this flavor but someone else probably likes it more. I started this shake while I was in McDonald's at a table for two, though I didn't have that special other person with me. When I was drinking this shake I didn't put much thought into 'what caramel means to me', but now I'm thinking about someone special who liked caramel. 

Mushroom topping on Pizza

This week we had a pizza from Pizza Hut. The pizza was delicious. One of us had a coupon, but it wasn't me or the dog. haha So, I was told we could choose one topping and when asked I said "mushroom", which while it may sound simple, is one of my favorites. Also, the cheese and sauce on the pizza tasted very good and made it quite flavorful. The crust was the way I like it, slightly chewy but not too much, and firm enough. 

Back!

Going out to eat fast food is BACK in fashion.

This is my place where I write about fast food and something that goes with fast food or topics we might want to discuss while eating fast food... for example, a photo of Rihanna's back (part of her hair too and the side of her face) at a McDonald's? Say huh? I just searched the News section of Google today (umm...yesterday) for what was going on at McDonald's. I was thinking more along the lines of what are the new menu items or if they chose Ronald McDonald for the mission to Mars (just kidding), and by the way, I am available but only if there are three or four beautiful female Japanese idols that are old enough to marry but just wanna be my special buddies, at least until we reach Mars. Then I could marry one of them on Mars, but of course it would all be fake because this would just be a movie, or maybe a sitcom. Long strange paragraph already way too long, Rihanna was at a McDonald's which means she's human after all, and that's good to know. There is a short article on GlobalGrind.com. You can see the photo on Instagram or at least it was on there today. Search: Instagram Rihanna on www.google.com.  It was the first one in the search results. Yes, I was man enough to look at her, or at least that was her back, I guess.  By the way, there aren't any backs like that where I live. So sad.

Shakes

Milkshakes, ice cream shakes, or whatever kind of shakes are out there... I keep drinking shakes, though not every day, just sometimes so I can eventually finish my list of best shakes made by fast food restaurants.

Recently, I had some shakes that were new for me and probably I haven't written about those shakes yet. My goal is to continue writing about shakes and finish my list of best shakes.

Not Many Photos Like This One

Photo by Scott McLean

Someone working on the tall sign at a new Panda Express restaurant

More thinking about Panda Express and photos

I can't say that thinking about fast food is more fun than eating it. Sometimes we think too much, or at least I think too much, and some people have let me know this, a little too much. HaHa only needs to be right after the last sentence because now I'm getting serious.

Going over the photos of the new Panda Express, it's easy to see some action, which I really like in photos. Cars in line at the drive-thru and people inside the restaurant show what was going on and gets me interested in going there, all over again.

Did any of my readers notice the produce truck parked in front of Panda Express? I'm glad I waited to mention this produce truck because it let readers find on their own something important in one of the photos, and if some of my readers went there, they were able to make up their minds for themselves whether or not the food tasted fresh. In my opinion, I feel the Chinese food I had from there was made with some of the freshest ingredients and was also freshly cooked. That's only my opinion, though, because I wasn't standing there watching what they were doing.

However, the following comparison also is important: The time before when I went to a different Panda Express restaurant, in Idaho, and I ate my meal inside the restaurant, one of the entrees didn't taste good to me. It was around Noon when I arrived there, just before the lunch-time crowd poured into the restaurant.

I expected the food would taste very good and fresh but it wasn't very good and not anywhere near the high  quality food at the new Panda Express restaurant. Maybe I'll write more about this and maybe not, but what I hope readers especially restaurant owners, managers and workers take from this is the how important it is to keep the quality and freshness of food to at a high level.

More about the photos... in one photo I couldn't get the plastic bag to show the full word Summer Hours. In another photo, the Panda Express sign is brought up closer by zooming in with the camera, and of course I'm not up there close to it. But someone was up there earlier that day... and Yes, I have that photo.

Next time...

Entrees from Panda Express

My first impression of the new Panda Express restaurant in Ontario, Oregon was a very good one. When I went inside Panda Express, I liked the decor. It's not very big on the inside but looks like a nice place to eat a meal. The restaurant was packed with people, so I decided to go through the Drive Thru. There were maybe 8 to 10 cars or other vehicles in the drive-thru line. It wasn't too long before I got to the drive-thru menu, but it was hot outside so I was glad I had purchased a Strawberry Frozen Lemonade at Burger King before going to Panda Express.

I really liked the Panda Express Drive-Thru menu. I think the colors on the menu are eye-catching and give a good feeling to customers when they try to decide which entrees to order. Maybe that makes it more difficult too, because when you're hungry you all those Chinese foods.

I'm not much of a beef or red meat eater and almost never order it, but maybe someday I will buy what they call "SAMURAI SURF & TURF" which is described there as "Marinated Shrimp tossed with Angus Steak". Based on the picture and description, I think it must be delicious! I don't know though, because I didn't order that one.

What I ordered were two of the meals with two entrees in each meal, and white fried rice. Of course I didn't  eat all that food by myself, and since I am telling about sharing the Chinese food, I also went to Little Caesars Pizza and bought a Pepperoni Pizza. 

The four Panda Express entrees are: Sweet Fire Chicken Breast, Mushroom Chicken (which I was told has mushrooms and Zucchini squash), Orange Chicken, and Honey Walnut Shrimp (for a dollar extra).

Honey Walnut Shrimp - great

Sweet Fire Chicken Breast - fantastic 

Orange Chicken -  among their best!
Mushroom Chicken - wow!

white fried rice - perfect

The Orange Chicken this time was among the best Orange Chicken (entree) I've eaten at any Panda Express. However, I only remember dining in those other Panda Express restaurants and this time I went to the Panda Express drive thru. 

Chinese Food and Pepperoni Pizza

Panda Express and Little Caesars are both new in town, so I thought it would be fun to eat these foods together.

NEW Panda Express makes it a Fun Friday!

The new Panda Express in Ontario, Oregon is a beautiful restaurant. I went there on Friday -- as did many people -- and I was impressed with how nice it looks. There was a long line inside the restaurant, so I decided to use the DRIVE THRU.  

Panda Express is now OPEN in Ontario, Oregon

Chris Brown's song "Fine China" Number 1 on half-year Pop 10

Great singing and music in a song make it worth listening to again and again. "Fine China" by Chris Brown is one of those songs. It's a beautiful and elegant song, and so interesting I can't wait until they play it again.

I've been disappointed that I haven't heard it on the radio lately. (Thanks to YouTube we can hear this wonderful song and others anytime.) If my readers have had the same experience with local radio, then maybe we can  feel proud knowing we are enlightened music lovers who recognize a great song when we hear it.

It's clear to me that "Fine China" by Chris Brown is Number 1 for the first half of the year.

Pop 10

Top 10 Pop Songs list for the first half of 2013

1. Chris Brown, Fine China

2. Mudhoney, Chardonnay

3. Zedd feat. Foxes, Clarity

4. Alyssa Turkowski, Waiting In Two

5. Sylwia Grzeszczak, Pożyczony 

6. Rihanna feat. David Guetta, Right Now

7. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz, Thrift Shop

8. Justin Timberlake, Suit & Tie

9. Icona Pop feat. Charli XCX, I Love It

10. Demi Lovato, Heart Attack

　
*Note: This is my list (and my opinion) based on listening to many songs, comparing songs, reading, and research.  There were several other songs that were great, too. 

'Pop 10' for the First Half of 2013

I will be posting a 10 Best Pop Songs List for the first half of 2013. It's my opinion based on my listening and comparing songs, reading, and researching songs. It's not based on sales, radio airplay, popularity, or any of that stuff. In other words, the list has songs that I think were the 10 best songs for the pop list. Some songs are from other music genres or sub-genres. I'm not using the word 'songs' to mean only singles. There will be both radio singles and songs on my lists that were not released as radio singles.

Jack in the Box has Iced Coffee Now

This was a time when I was thinking about getting iced tea at Jack in the Box. However, once I got there I could see that they now have iced coffee. The photo is from above the lid of the iced coffee, which is larger than it looks in the photo. This is Original. They also have Mocha. I think it was a great iced coffee. It wasn't sweet though that's fine with me. 

Note: I'm still not sure about everything but I had to upload photos again but kept the same days of those posts.

Can I wait?

There's a Panda Express location I haven't been to yet and I could go there before this Panda Express opens. 

Problem

There was a problem with a few recent photos that I was unaware of until I found out about it, and I'm going to do those posts the same and same calendar days as before, if possible, but have to upload those photos again. This note will be on here until I get that done. Thanks.

O

This was fun though I don't exactly make doughnut eating look easy.

National Doughnut Day is for real

Sometimes I go to Krispy Kreme in the evenings and it's a good place to relax while eating a doughnut. Yesterday, when I ordered in the drive-thru, they told me it was National Doughnut Day and they were giving each customer a free doughnut. I paid for two more doughnuts and had those put in another bag. I decided to park there and eat my free doughnut at their outside seating. It was a bit windy, and I had a hard time keeping my napkins from blowing away and stuck them in my pocket. I got my camera out and snapped pictures of me holding the doughnut. If one looks alright I will put it on here this weekend.

I went to Arby's this evening

My dinner was Arby's Chicken Tenders with Tangy BBQ Sauce and the Arby's Triple Berry Shake.

That's the 5 Piece Chicken Tenders in the photo. I ate three and took two back and put in refrigerator for later. And I really need a midnight snack! 

The Chicken Tenders are very good but some parts of the breading on outside are hard, so please be careful. 

I like the Triple Berry Shake flavor very much. It's sure a nice sight for the eyes of a hungry guy (me) who also likes beauty in food. Okay, I couldn't find exactly the right words but don't worry. I think the Triple Berry Shake is a great shake and I want to get it again.

What more can I say? The music was really good too while I was eating. I think it was a local station they had playing in there, but I was paying attention to my food. I do know the names of some of the bands and songs. It was fun to hear those songs. 

The signs of Burger King and McDonald's are not very close together. It just seems that way in the photo. These two fast food restaurants are fairly close but not on top of one another.

Burger King and McDonald's, though not necessarily in that order

This photo doesn't come with an opinion.                                       It's just an interesting photo.                                                                  

Not a sermon about soda

On a recent Sunday morning, I went to Carl's Jr. at about 11 am and bought a large fountain drink. I put in the cup Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper, a little Fanta Orange and Strawberry, and I can't remember for sure what else. I had just come from church. The sermon was on a good subject and I did feel the unconditional love of God. I'm not that good at describing sermons and I forgot some of what it was about but that's okay because it made me not think about anything sad for a couple of hours. I was looking up and around at stained glass windows. The beautiful colors really inspired me to have a nice day.

Shamrock Shake too beautiful for me to drink?

No. I drank it and several other Shamrock Shakes, other times. I don't think there's a limit during shamrock shake season, but sometimes I wish they had those shakes all year. One time I got to McDonald's and the drive-thru menu said it was sold out and of course my luck had run out. 

This was one of the top two or three most artistic Shamrock shakes I had, but a few weeks later the shakes tasted even more delicious and minty. 

As I said last time, I've been drinking lots of iced tea at fast food restaurants, mainly going to the drive-thrus but I've had problems with one drive-thru this year, which is why I'm going to go inside more often to eat and drink or take it out with me. The iced tea at McDonald's is the Sweet Tea and that has been the most consistent and great most of the time this year. Other iced teas have been inconsistent and it's hard for me to predict what they will taste like. 

Way too average and normal

Today is a day. That's not much of a reason for getting excited. Okay, it's the day after Mother's Day and Filet-O-Fish and iced coffee from McDonald's was a good choice for lunch. I didn't take a picture because I wasn't prepared. Like many times before, the fish sandwich and iced coffee were really good together, but I've had them separately other times, too.

What else is going on? I can't think right now but I keep eating, though not much fast food. It's getting kind of warm, and even before it was, I was getting iced tea at McDonald's, the Sweet Tea, and the Peach Iced Tea at Burger King, oh yeah and also the iced tea at Jack in the Box and the flavors I've had are Peach, Mango, and Raspberry. I haven't made up my mind which one I like best, so I'm still forming an opinion.

Small Town Still Boring, Food Getting Better

I can't speak for small towns, little cities, or neighborhoods of big cities that have a famous restaurants open in their areas. I'm a person, not a town. Sorry for stating the obvious... Anyway, I do know there's not much to do for fun in small towns, so one of my interests is thinking and talking about restaurants, especially pondering the question: When will a well-known restaurant open here?

Panda Express is one of those chains. It has good-tasting Chinese food that's fast to order, be served, and for not much money.

Now it's almost here. I'm sure people in other areas are excited when a restaurant they like is coming to town. 

Sign of the Month

Wonder if anyone has tried all 50 Flavors

While I was in the Fanci Freez drive-thru, after deciding on a large Blueberry Shake, I noticed a whole bunch of flavors on the menu that I didn't see at first. The drive-thru line was moving and there wasn't enough time for me to count the flavors, but I did have time to start thinking about other flavors I want to try.