My site this far has been all about food and my personal opinion over their menus, deals, and convenience. Although, I did enjoy taking pictures of myself and others with the food, what I would like my site to improve on is having better quality pictures, I feel as if it has to be pictures of the variety of options they do offer. Also, to improve my site there could be a Q&A portion, where people can give me a restaurant to do a review over and I can answer any questions they may have over it. Another improvement is how I promote my site and content. Instead of just doing a simple twitter post I could do a video where I am interviewing a person on their thoughts of the restaurants. 

The best part of this whole journey of writing my own blog is having an excuse to eat whatever I wanted. Also, food is such a big part of my life and I love it so much, so just giving my honest review over it has been a lot of fun to do. Writing these have given me the experience to practice my writing as well as figuring out my own style of writing and reviewing things, whether it be food or any other product. Hopefully, when I get a credited job in public relations it will guide me in figuring out how to advertise and promote the name of whatever I will be working with. 

My content was pretty average for the most part, my most popular week had to be the “Eat Fresh” post I did over Subway. It had 5 reviews from the past week and compared to my other post it also had more views throughout the weeks. It was also one of my favorites to write because out of all my post it appealed more to the healthier side from the rest of the fast food chains. Also, what was interesting is how my promotions on twitter actually had people view it, each one of them had at least 10 or more views on the tweet and the one over my Umami post was actually shared. 

Here is the link to my twitter account where I post my promotions!

Tweets by CalebHoFDOM

McDonald’s is my next post which is one of my top fast food restaurants. Everyone who knows me knows I eat McDonald’s quite frequently, it is the definition of affordable on the go food for me. McDonald’s was founded in 1940 in San Bernardino, California, and since then it has become the world’s largest fast food chain. They are best known for serving their burgers, French fries, chicken products, breakfast items, and other food products. 

Usually what I get from McDonald’s is one of their deals called the three-dollar bundle. What comes with that is either a double cheeseburger, McChicken, or six piece nuggets of your choice and a small fry. Usually, I will add another one dollar McChicken so my total will come out to be around four dollars. Also, their ice cream and milkshakes are a good dessert to add, especially when their ice cream machines actually decide to work. McDonald’s also has salads and other options for people who want more of a healthier diet, not all of it has to be unhealthy for you. 

A great thing McDonald’s has that not a lot of other stores can compare with are their deals. The best place to find these deals are on the McDonald’s app, they have a ton of daily deals with one of my favorites being the one dollar large fries they offer. They also have a ton of deals to bring down the pricing of a meal by two or three dollars, which is why I said it is the most affordable on the go place to eat. Overall, I have nothing I can say negatively about McDonald’s because you get what you pay for. It has a great menu with options for kids and adults, especially college students who do not have the most money in the world and just need a quick meal. 

Here is a link of a YouTuber reviewing McDonald’s food:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuI13UI0ip8

Panda Express is the largest Asian American fast food restaurant chain that serves American Chinese cuisines in America. The fast food chain was founded in 1983 in Glendale, California, with it now expanding all over the country with over 2,200 locations. Panda Express was originally located in shopping mall food courts, but it is now operating different environments such as stand-alone restaurants, as well as universities, airports, and many other venues. Now that we are all familiar with the food chain, we can discuss why I personally enjoy it and consider it one of the perfect places for people to get a nice and hot to go meal. 

            For me being an Asian American myself I do hear a ton of criticism about the restaurant. On how it is not actually Chinese food, and how it is inappropriate of them advertising their restaurant as an Asian restaurant. But what people fail to understand is that it is an Asian American restaurant, so it is not all going to be authentic Chinese food, rather it is its own variation of the cuisines they do have. In my personal opinion, I enjoy a majority of their options, what I usually will get is a plate with my side being fried rice, and my two entrees being their divine orange chicken, and their flavorful string bean chicken breast. I will also often add their cream cheese ragoons or egg/spring rolls on the side. 

My favorite thing about Panda Express is how their food is hot and fresh, to me it does remind me of a hot fresh meal you can prepare at home. Also for the pricing of it all it is a great deal, because it usually will at least cost me ten dollars or under. Another thing Panda Express has which makes it more appealing are the healthy options they offer. Their option of cuisines usually has some sort of vegetable in it, string beans, broccoli, and many other options. What is also neat is how they prepare the food in front of you similar to a hibachi grill, having it ready for you on the go. Which explains why their name is Panda Express, for their quick preparations. 

Link to another review site:

https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/panda-express-review

One of the blogs I frequently enjoy visiting is Bonjwing Lee’s blog “the ulterior epicure”. Bonjwing Lee started his blog in 2004 and for seven years he had written his blog anonymously until September of 2011, which is when he had finally decided to reveal his identity. Majority of his reviews go over places all around the world to places that I hope to be able to experience at least once in my lifetime. Under the title of his website is a phrase saying “I live and travel to eat”, which I can relate to completely, other than the travel part because I am a broke college student trying to get a degree.

One of the most noticeable things out of the many that I first took away from his blog post are the images he has. The pictures he uses in a review are outstanding, they capture every moment from the process of the food being prepped as well as the final product of the courses, giving a picture perfect meal. Which I wouldn’t expect any less from someone who uses a Nikon D810. What is also impressive is how he does not use any type of flash photography, light set-ups, or any other equipment, it is just him and his camera, and his camera always eats first.

Another reason why I enjoy reading his reviews is because not only does he talk about the taste of the food, but he also covers how the meal is prepared with a step by step process. The amount of detail he puts within one review is just so informative, for example he will discuss where a chef will obtain their ingredients, then he will describe how they prepare the meal with measurements, temperature and other information someone may want to know. I personally enjoy the information I receive within a post, and that alongside his personal experience and his opinions over the meal is what really keeps me engaged in one of his reviews!

If you want to check out his website here is the link: https://ulteriorepicure.com/2020/03/19/12-days-of-christmas-park-2019/

Bonjwing Lee Social Media:

• Twitter: ulteriorepicure
• Instagram: ulteriorepicure
• Facebook: ulteriorepicure

Sandwiches are a quick and easy meal many people will usually eat for lunch. Whether you pack it yourself or go to a sandwich shop, it is still a nutritious meal and can be enough food to last you for a couple hours. For this post I will be going over the most known sandwich shop around which is Subway (hence the title “Eat Fresh”). Subway was founded in 1965, originating from Bridgeport, Connecticut. It specializes in submarine sandwiches and salads, you can either get a meat lover sandwich or a veggie sandwich if you are wanting more of the vegetarian option.

Usually my order is the Spicy Italian, which consist of pepperoni, Genoa salami, your choice of cheese as well as veggies and sauces, as for bread I always get the Italian Herbs and Cheese. If I’m not craving my go to sandwich I will switch it up and get a meatball sub with extra cheese, because who doesn’t love cheese! My favorite thing about Subway aside from the endless toppings is the choice of getting your sandwich toasted, which is all based off of personal preference.

Subway is a convenient on the go restaurant, all you do is go to the counter tell them what type of sandwich you would like and they prepare it right in front of you! They also have an app like most do which I recently used for the first time. The reason I used it was for the deal they had which was buy two footlong sandwiches and you get one free. So instead of paying twenty dollars I only paid around thirteen dollars! Also, if you are in some type of rush you can place a to go order on the app and they will have it ready within a 5-10 minute time frame, making the process even quicker. For example after my classes if I do not have enough time to sit down and eat before work or a meeting, I would place my order through the app and pick it up right after my class. Overall, I would rate Subway as a 4/5 only because there are definitely better quality places but nothing beats a place with the slogan such a “Eat Fresh”.

Below is a link to other reviews of the Subways we have in the San Marcos area: https://www.yelp.com/biz/subway-san-marcos-33

Hey everyone! With what is going on around the world with COVID-19 a lot of local businesses have been affected due to the loss of said business. So, this post will mainly be about those small local restraunts we have here around the San Marcos area to help promote them in their time of need. The one I will mainly be discussing is a small sushi restaurant called Umami. In my personal opinion I believe they have the best quality sushi in town compared to the others like Kobe or Sakura, although the other two do have better deals it really just comes down to your preference of quality or quantity.

Now back to Umami, I will never actually forget my first time there only because so many of my friends have been speaking so highly of their sushi and always questioning how I have never been there before. Anyways, it is a cute little restaurant owned by David Le, it sits around 72 people and also has a bar for people who are eating by themselves. Their menu consists of appetizers such as edamame, gyoza, or soup/salad, and my favorites rolls like the Philadelphia roll or the Texan roll, and of course their delicious nigiri like the salmon or maguro nigiri. When I first tried their sushi I was actually very impressed on how delicious and authentic it was. Also I was impressed on the fact that I got semi-full from it, only because I was so use to eating the all you can eat from Kobe and Sakura, so I was hesitant on if it was even going to be worth the price.

Link to their website below (Now doing online orders due to quarantine): https://umamiumami.com

To finish off this post I would like to encourage people who live in San Marcos, or even who do not to start eating at the local businesses around your city. This is a tough time we are going through right now, and I know I would personally be devastated if a place like Umami shut down from something that is out of their control. Down below I will add a list of a couple local restaurants in San Marcos I have been to and encourage y’all to go to as well.

• Umami Sushi
• Casa Choi
• Italian Garden
• AquaBrew
• Mamacitas
• Cafe on the Square
• Industry
• Crafthouse
• Gils Broiler

Greetings! My name is Caleb Ho (and no there is not an “e” at the end) and I will be your fast food connoisseur from here on out. I’m currently a Junior here at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, pursuing my Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications with a minor in Psychology. I am originally from Mesquite, Texas, or just the Dallas area for those who do not know where Mesquite is. A fun fact about me is, I did competitive gymnastics for nearly nine years. Also, I won a cheeseburger eating competition in high school, eating around eight cheeseburgers. 

I, like a lot of other broke college students, know the struggle of wondering what your next meal will be, or how to better save money especially if you don’t know how to cook all too well. For most students, it resorts in eating at fast food restaurants such as, McDonald’s, Whataburger, Wendy’s, and etc. places. Which are usually my go to spots in order to grab a quick meal, they’re cheap and ready to take on the go especially with a busy schedule. When I first heard of starting a blog the first thing that popped in my head was “food”. Which has been such a joy in my life, and I can say that proudly. Also, I didn’t want to just do any ordinary recipe blog or healthier lifestyle blog, I wanted to do something that most people, specifically college students can relate to. Which is when I got on the idea of fast food, because even if it is fast food, going to eat with some friends or family will always bring people together.

In my blog, I hope to show other college students or anyone with a jam-packed schedule on how eating out can actually be cheap and delicious. Although, some people do not typically enjoy eating at fast food places and that’s okay, to each their own. But with my blog I want to share my personal opinions on these multiple fast food industries and give insight from someone who actually eats at these places more than two or three times a month.