High Spirits - Yum

It's long been known how food can have an impact on a person's mood and how a person's mood affects one's food choices. The saying, "you are what you eat", fits this statement. Meaning to say, there are scientific reasons as to why we choose specific food but at the same time, there's also a reason behind the reason we chose to choose such. Get it?

The food we eat contain certain nutrients that when absorbed by the body results in the release of certain neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are molecules that transmit signals between neurons or simply, brain cells. The amount of these neurotransmitters in the brain at any given time has an impact on our mood. Endorphins and endogenous opiates are certain neurotransmitters of our body whose amount determines whether or not the brain is signalled to take food. These neurotransmitters also have an effect on our mood when they are released in the limbic system of the brain (i.e. seat of emotion) and produce a euphoria that lessens anxiety and melancholy. Thus, they are known as the body's feel good chemicals. Since its discovery, endorphins were used to counter stress. So when you eat certain food that trigger the release of such neurotransmitters resulting to an improvement in mood, this experience would be stored in your parietal lobes so that whenever you get down in the dumps again, your experience of being relieved from stress because you ate such food will be retrieved, and you will then use this information to counter whatever problem or conflict is causing you stress at the moment.

One of the things that never fail to lift up my mood would have to be my own choice of "comfort food". Everyone has their own choices of comfort food. Among many others, here are my top 10 comfort food of all time.

10 - Pizza (NEW!)

I used to really hate pizza. But after I went through progressive desensitization by my friends, I have been made immune and kind of 'used to' it, and thus, I kind of learned to like eating pizza. But, well, aside from the past me, who doesn't?

Universal Studios Sentosa - SG

9 - Puto Cheese

This particular food choice actually has an emotional significance, which also has an effect to our food preferences. It actually has the same name as the nickname of my used-to-be biggest crush during my 2nd year in college. I learned that when there's emotional attachment to something, you'll learn to love it yourself even if it has given you no sufficient reason to.

8 - Spaghetti with meatballs

This is one classic comfort food. Well, the main reason why I really love this food is because my mom, who is a great cook, makes one hell of a spaghetti when we were still kids, and I used to remember how divine it tastes. Up to now, I still believe that my parents are the best cooks in the world who will never fail to satisfy my taste buds.

7 - Fried Chicken/Buffalo Wings

I used to believe when I was just a kid that everyone loves eating fried chicken. And up til now, I still hold such belief. I'm sure at one point in each of our lives we all had that thought that we'll be able to survive even if what we eat everyday consisted of just fried chicken or buffalo wings for that matter... I know I did (and still do). (wink-wink)

Sunrise Buckets - Madison Square

6 - French Fries with Coke Float

Who doesn't like to eat carbs, I mean, McDonald's finest combo ever made: french fries dipped in chocolate fudge atop the floating ice cream of the coke float? I believe again that the answer is EVERYONE loves this combo. I mean, it's so available everywhere, not to mention it's relatively affordable.

5 - Burger

Hamburger is like one of the greatest food inventions ever. I just love sinking my teeth into those scrumptious crabby patty, I mean, burger patty.

Johnny Rockets - Tomas Morato

4 - Cheetos

Flamin' Hot Cheetos to be exact is my most favorite junk food. It's hot, it's crunchy, just 21 o'these and you'll be asking for liters of water. Still --- awesome! Not everyone can handle this heat.

3 - Chocolate chip Cookies

This one's also a classic comfort food. Well, chocolate chip cookies contain chocolate chips which induce the release of oxytocin and serotonin resulting to an elevation of our mood. It's just oh-so-heavenly good to munch these cookies and taste those little explosions of sweet surprises.

2 - Caesar's Salad

I have just recently learned to fall in love with this meal. It's easy to do, it's relatively cheap depending on your chosen ingredients, and it's quite healthy. I just love it that I never fail to order one from any kainan offering such!

1 - Any kind of Chocolate

It's the number one comfort food of all time. One of the unique neurotransmitters released by chocolate is phenylethylamine. This so called "chocolate amphetamine" causes changes in blood pressure and blood-sugar levels leading to feelings of excitement and alertness. It works like amphetamines to increase mood and decrease depression, but it does not result in the same tolerance or addiction. Phenylethylamine is also called the "love drug" because it causes a rise in the pulse rate, resulting in a similar feeling to when someone is in love.

The aforementioned comfort food were just among the endless number of my food choices that can help to counter stress and alleviate pain, sorrow and depression. For me, the effects of such food further increase when I indulge them at a place where I feel totally at ease, such as within the confines of our home or perhaps in a comfy coffee shop.

According to an article by L. Acurantes,  it turns out, it’s not about the food but about the people one thinks of when eating their comfort food. “We have found that comfort food are food which are consistently associated with those close to us,” says Troisi, a graduate student at the University of Buffalo. "Thinking about or consuming these food later then serves as a reminder of those close others". "Throughout everyone’s daily lives they experience stress, often associated with our connections with others," Troisi says. “Comfort food can serve as a ready-made, easy resource for remedying a sense of loneliness.”

For those persons who might have caused your sorrows, here's your comfort food.

Enjoy! But whatever the reason for your dysthymic mood may be, always remember this one wonderful quote: "When you laugh, the whole world laughs with you. When you cry, you cry alone." So why not just indulge in happiness and forget thy worries? Life, after all, is both too short and too long to waste or spend time in worrying.

- Keso

The Sun Rises in Sunrise Buckets

I am not a really good writer in terms of describing the how or the what of something. But I really love to eat good food, travel to really nice places, meet new exciting people and experience all the fun there is. So let me share with you an experience born out of impulse. We were about to go home from a good day's worth of duty from the Medical City - Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (Occupational Therapy Section), when we decided that we're all too hungry to just go home. So we decided to try out Sunrise Buckets at Madison Square just past Greenhills coming from EDSA. With just one bus ride away, we arrived in time before the place became jam-packed with people at around dinner time, i.e. 7 pm. Of course no food blogger (in this case, me) would have started the kainan review without having a few snapshots of the good ol' place, so voila...

Our group first found ourselves a table and settled down. Since one of us already knew what to order, we didn't have to decide long before we ordered and let out money from our own small banks we call wallet. I was the one to place the order, which consisted of 2 pounds of original recipe buffalo chicken wings/tenders. We kind of split the total amount into 4. So we all had to pay our respective amounts before I got to order since in SB, you have to pay first before you get stuffed. They have a good number of different house specialty and recommended picks available on the menu. They even have recipes mixed with whiskey, etc. But since it was our first blood on the place, we decided to order the original recipe. A major plus point for SB is that everyday of the week they get to have a different gimmick, like for example, on Thursdays you can get a free pitcher of iced tea or a bucket of beer of your own choice with each pound of chicken wings/tenders, or on Wednesdays they have a 30% off promo. So since that day was a Thursday, we decided to choose a pitcher of iced tea and decided against the bucket of beer since we still have to wake up really early for tomorrow's last duty day of the week. While waiting for the order, we took some shots of the place. To summarize, the venue is a good petite place with an ambiance emitting that of a Western beach-side bar and grill resto. The walls are decorated with different beach items such as vests, surf boards, vintage beach-style photos and graffiti, and a wall of chalkboard where you can get to write your sentiments/comments regards SB.

They also have a small smoking area with tables outside. The background music included hit songs of the 90's with matching LCD TV on one side of the place on which I can only imagine NBA games or other sports being played because during our stay there, it was only showing random ridiculously beautiful beach-related scenes.

Anyways, when the food arrived, I was kind of actually expecting bigger chicken wings/tenders. But nonetheless, when I tasted my first blood chicken wing, my taste buds became like hyposensitive taste receptors shouting for more stimuli so that they are satiated. It was the best-tasting buffalo wings I've ever tasted... so far. It has an earthy taste in it, not too spicy and not too flavory.

The dip was really good too. But I'm not really a 'dip' kind of person, so I was okay with or without the dip. Two more cute things about this resto include having this gimmick of letting the customers dig into the bucket literally either using utensils or like really digging into it using your hands with or without a pair of disposable gloves. They also have this bone collector, which is a bin where you can get to put all of the chicken bones after you're done with them. It's just so nice seeing them perfectly skinned-to-the-bone bones after finishing the whole bucket.

One downside was that they offer really expensive order of rice for like 40 pesos. But on the plus side, you can still get to enjoy the wings even without rice, but since I'm really a food lover, I had to have a taste of those scrumptious wings with a spoonful of rice, and boy was it worth all those pesos. All in all, it was a really nice place for 2 kinds of people: one who's hungry for really good food while the other just wanna have fun and some booze with friends in a vibrant beach-style atmosphere. Whether or not you're one or both, I promise you'll never regret a dining experience at SB where the sun rises, metaphorically speaking, with each bite of those wings. Til the next kainan review! :)

- Keso