Overpriced Concession’s At Movie Theater’s

In our life, some of us enjoy movies, entertainment, seeing the new films that are out, venturing out to the movie theater either alone, with someone, some people and groups. Now, as we go to the movies, we tend to make a stop at the concession stands where the workers serve popcorn, drinks, candy, nachos, hot dogs, poutine, and among other foods. I understand that they need to generate money to cover costs of the grounds, facilities and the theatres, however it is outrageous and so overpriced.

I am an avid movie goer and most of the time, I satisfy my cravings with going into my pocket to purchase concession’s, and it gets so expensive. For a popcorn combo with drink, and candy comes to over $16.00, $20.00, $28.00 or more if you do not have the points card or some discount card. It is outrageous to pay 5-6 dollars for drinks, 5-7 dollars for Popcorn, and about 5 bucks for candy, 10 dollars for nachos and drink. It is absolutely ridiculous to be spending that much money for those things where it should not be more than 5-6 bucks at the most for drink and popcorn together. Never mind the candy.

Yesterday, I had gone to the movies and satisfied my cravings yet again. I had bought popcorn, drink and candy combo, and as I was eating it in the movie theatre while watching the trailers, the movie, I kept thinking to myself, why I need to pay so much money for Popcorn? It is not expensive when you buy it from the grocery store. So, I got home everything was ok, in the early morning hours around 5:30am, I had woken up and I got so sick. I ended up vomiting.

The problem was that I think the Popcorn they gave me was sitting around for a while maybe and nobody was buying it. I saw a whole bunch of already prepared popcorn bags and I thought they had made it fresh as they were putting them in the popcorn stand, and so I made sure that my popcorn was fresh and they said that it was, so I believed them. I went ahead and bought it and went on my way into the theater. Anyway, this morning I was so sick and I also got Diarrhea from it and I was so awful. I decided that I will no longer be purchasing anything from the concession stand.

I also filed a complaint to the movie theatre, and I feel like there will be nothing done about it and I will not be getting compensated as they didn’t seem to care at all. All day I have been feeling weird since my morning incident, but I am a lot better than I was. I felt like I was almost going to go to the hospital, so as the hour went by, I felt better, so I did not need any medical attention and I drank water and took breath mints and I was good.

So as a movie goer, I will just be purchasing my movie ticket and then I will not go near the concession stand. I will not risk my health and get sick again. A word of advice, please make sure your popcorn is freshly popped right before your eyes and you witness it coming out freshly and right into your bag and make sure all other foods are freshly made and prepared. It is in your right to ask that as you will be consuming it.

I don’t have a problem with paying for the movie, but I have a problem paying a lot just to eat popcorn and all that. Well, no more. They lost me as a customer at the concessions.

Have you had a terrible experience in the aftermath of eating movie theater food?
Do you agree that concession movie theater food is so expensive?

Would love to hear from you.

Comfort Food At its Best

There are days where we have had a bad day, something emotional might have happened, personal issues, or just that your day may have been rough at school, work, in a social setting, a disappointment and sometimes you just feel like over-eating more than the norm, but on comfort food. Sometimes there does not have to be a bad day, some people indulge on comfort food whenever they like. I know they say in moderation, but sometimes you cannot contain yourself and control the amount that goes into your body, but once in a while it is perfectly okay to over-eat or to cheat days where you feel like you need to have carbs and a little bit of sugar in your body.

Sometimes in the spare of the moment, you feel like heading to your local convenient, grocery store, restaurant and just grabbing a bite to eat, or loading your shopping cart with all these snacks, comfort food, and goodies. Its alright to do it once in a while I guess right? :).

What gets your taste buds rolling? My Comfort food at its best includes a variety of things which keep me going when I have a rough day, or when I have had a good day too. It does not matter.

My list of Some of the Comfort food I enjoy include:

— Nutella Hazelnut Chocolate Spread
— Frito Lay — Lays Ketchup Chips
— Kit Kat —
— Hummus
— Pita Bread Chips with Labneh (Pressed Yogurt)
— Doritos Cheese Nacho Chips
— Cashews, Peanuts, Sunflower Seeds
— Crackers
— Pretzels
— M&M’s Peanut/Milk Chocolate
— Nerds
— Fast Food
— Pizza
— Pasta

There is a lot more to this, but those are my main things.
What about you?
Do you indulge in Comfort food often?
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John Travolta’s Name Mishap at The Oscars 2014 – People Make Mistakes

Today, I am going to be ranting about something that has been disturbing me and its become a big bother for me, and at the Oscars 2014 when John Travolta appeared on stage to present a performer, something happened that made headlines in the news among many memes, and so many things that people came up with, even an app on the computer that says “Travoltify your name” or Travoltarize your name or something in less 12 hours after the Oscars. I just thought that its something that should not have been created. Even though it is fun, but it really isn’t. It really isn’t funny at all.

I am sure we make mistakes with pronouncing peoples names or mispronouncing a word or something, and I just think people went too far with John Travolta’s mishap on the Oscars 2014 while Presenting and introducing a singer to sing Let it go from the Movie Frozen. When you are being watched by millions of people throughout the world and on a major night in Hollywood like that, and I know that John Travolta has done many speeches, presenting and being in the public eye. Sometimes people do get so caught up in the moment that they have all that pressure.

It doesn’t matter how many years you have been in the entertainment industry, sometimes mistakes happen, were human, sometimes were going to make mistakes pronouncing names or words or something. I know he said Adele Dazeem, when it is Idina Menzel, but I think its enough making fun of him and making jokes. There is a limit to everything, and that limit has been crossed. His mind may have been elsewhere or something going on that day with him or something. This has been in the spotlight, in newspapers, on the internet, social media, and so many other places, even on billboards now or signs people have made.

A lot of people have too much time on their hands to do these things, and I think some people need to utilize their time to do something worth while, positive, good, and influential. Okay the Oscars Selfie is okay to make memes and stuff, but it depends on what you are doing a meme on, but not something about a persons Mistake like “Adele Dazeem”…

People take things way out of context. I like John Travolta a lot and he should not be criticized for that, but unfortunately there will always be people who will criticize and make fun. Not very cool. This is a form of Bullying somebody and its not right at all. Some people may have speech impediments, some may have problems with pronouncing things. Its not good to make fun of others. People sometimes do not think about what they do or say before they do it, and people may face consequences in the long run.  John Travolta is a person too and he should not be treated any differently than anybody else.  That is it for my ranting.

 

Edgar Martirosyan – The Famous Oscars Pizza Guy – An Armenian

On March 2nd, 2014, A Whole new twist and something that has not been done before in Oscars Academy Awards History was done this year. Ellen DeGeneres had Ordered Pizza a couple of days before the Biggest event in Hollywood, telling The Pizza Guy from the Big Mamas & The Papa’s Pizza Place to be there between 4 & 5 or something, and Edgar Martirosyan followed Ellen DeGeneres the Host of The Oscars 2014, to the stage, and Shocked Edgar, did not realize or know that he was on the stage of the biggest event of the night which was viewed by over 43 Million people on television. He said, he was not expecting that.

Edgar then got instantly famous with giving out pizzas to Brad Pitt, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Julia Roberts, Harrison Ford, Angelina Jolie, and many others. Then Ellen passed around Pharrell Williams Hat, and the stars compiled up to 600 dollars in Tips, then when Edgar the Armenian Pizza Delivery Guy was invited to go to Ellen DeGeneres Show the next day where she evened out his Tip totaling to 1000 dollars. Then later Edgar appeared on Piers Morgan’s show, and made headlines everywhere.

Edgar then said in an interview that he always loved Julia Roberts since hes watched her movies, and giving her a Pizza was a great feeling and he was in complete surprise.

I automatically thought that he was Armenian, because he has this Armenian Look about him. As I was sitting down and watching the Awards show with my family, I knew and told them, that He is Armenian and then mere hours later on the news outlets, and the internet, It was indeed true and did find out he was Armenian. Like me. So I should say I am so excited and happy for my Fellow Armenian for having this amazing opportunity to deliver Pizza to the Oscars. Lucky him. I wish Edgar and his business that he owns with His Brother a great success and I wish him all the best. When I visit California again, I will definitely go to Big Mama’s and Papa’s pizza 🙂

Article from IanYan Mag

http://www.ianyanmag.com/2014/03/02/armenian-owned-big-mamas-pizzeria-delivers-pies-laughs-at-oscars/

Big Mamas Papa’s Pizza

http://www.bigmamaspizza.com/

LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-oscars-2014-ellen-big-mamas-and-papas-celebrity-pizza–20140303,0,7527662.story#axzz2v30WCkCp

 

Ellen DeGeneres – The Best Oscar Host Ever – I Vote Ellen for 2015

On March 2nd, 2014, in Los Angeles, Hollywood, California, the 86th Annual Academy Awards, The Oscars took place at the Dolby Theatre. A night that is celebrated by Film and Entertainment Excellence in the past year. Ellen DeGeneres hosted the grand event which is the most biggest night in Hollywood, which turned out to be a great success. Ellen DeGeneres is a natural and a fabulous host and she did such an incredible job. Throughout the night I was left in suspense as to wondering what she would do next, on what would happen. Ordering Pizza was one of the coolest things ever and it was an Armenian Pizza Delivery Man named Edgar and the Pizza place Big Mommas and Poppas is owned by an Armenian, which is amazing.

Ellen DeGeneres showed up in a princess dress after one of the commercial breaks. She then went in the audience and gave us more surprises. Ellen then took selfies with many celebrities, such at Julia Roberts, Jared Leto, Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and many more. She then tweeted the photo and crashed twitter down for more than a million retweets in such a little time. It was one of the most retweets in Twitter history. She then updated her twitter account throughout the evening while she was hosting. Social Media soared, and buzzfeed quickly began producing articles and funny things which I enjoy that website a lot.

The Fashion, Make Up, Glitz, Glamor, Dresses, and the whole night was just spectacular and of course there were things that were seen like Jennifer Lawrence falling down, how people photobombed each other, so on and so forth.

I have loved Ellen since she started with her own talk show. I am telling you, she is somebody whom I really respect, admire and appreciate so much. I vote Ellen to host the next Oscars in 2015. I had so much fun watching the Oscars 2014. It felt like I was there, and it felt like I was part of the fun, the red carpet and so much more. Hopefully one day I will physically be there, dress up and be part of the most exciting night in Hollywood. Best wishes to Ellen and I hope that you get voted in to be the host for Oscars 2015.

Armenian Heritage Night – Air Canada Centre – An Unforgettable Evening

On Sunday February 23rd, 2014, Almost 1000 Armenians embarked to The Air Canada Centre in Downtown Toronto for an unforgettable and memorable evening to celebrate Armenian Heritage. This was the 2nd Annual event. The doors opened to Air Canada Centre at 5pm, and everyone started going in. At 5:30Pm The Holy Trinity Armenian Church’s, Sassoun Dance Ensemble performed at Centre court of a traditional Armenian Dance for thousands of people who were non-Armenian and for Armenians. A few minutes before the Game started between Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic, A lady came and sang the National Anthems for both USA and Canada. The tip off and game started at 6pm and went well into almost 9pm.

The Armenian Students Association, Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), Holy Trinity Armenian Church of Toronto, Sassoun Dance Ensemble, ARS, and other Armenian Organizations came together to plan this incredible night.  Thank you to everyone who assisted in the planning, and organizing with The Air Canada Centre so that we too Can have a Heritage Night. I was counting the days and hours until I went to the game and to the Armenian Night. It was something I had wanted to go to Last year, but was unable to. I was lucky enough to attend this year.

It was an incredible, memorable night that brought Armenians closer together to a huge Venue to enjoy the Basketball Game, to enjoy seeing Armenian Heritage on the bulletins and the Jumbo Tron at the ACC. The energy of the arena and people were felt, the crowd cheered on, everyone was having a great time, and really enjoyed the whole game from beginning to the end. The Raptors were not doing too well in the beginning, but then stepped up to the game after half time. The 4th Quarter got really exciting. It felt great to see Armenian everywhere, Armenian Flags waving in the audience, Hearing Armenians talking in our Language everywhere. It was pretty cool.

The Toronto Raptors won that night 105-90. If the Raptors Score more than 100 points in a game and win, the crowd at the ACC Gets a Free Pizza slice at Pizza Pizza across Toronto and the GTA locations. For those who printed tickets, had to get their tickets stamped by the officials at ACC, but original tickets did not need to. At the end of the night not only did we celebrate the Raptors win, we got a free pizza, and we Armenians had a blast. I cannot wait until I go to next years Armenian Heritage Night. Thank you Air Canada Centre.

 

Armenian Pizza — Laghmajoun – MesaShod – Armenian Style

Hello All, this is my last Delicious week recipe.

 

Armenian Pizza 🙂

 

Enjoy the recipe

 

Printed from THEGUTSYGOURMET.NET

INGREDIENTS: Makes 10-12

 

Dough:**See Note

• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast

• ½ tsp sugar

• ½ cup lukewarm water

• 3 cups all purpose white flour

• ½ tsp salt

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

** NOTE: You can use medium sized fluffy flour tortillas and skip the dough making. Be sure when

you bake the lahmajoon/lahmacun, that you oil the baking sheet when you bake them.

 

Topping:

• olive oil for the brushing the dough before the topping

• 1 tablespoon butter

• 2 cloves crushed garlic

• 1 large onion, grated

• 1 tomato skinned and chopped – put tomato in a deep bowl and cover with boiling water for 2

minutes, remove and peel. Leave seeds and juice with the tomato, do not discard.

• salt to taste

• 1 – 2 teaspoons sugar

• 12-16 oz ground lamb – can use 85% fat ground beef.

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

• 1 tsp red pepper flakes

• 1 large lemon, juice of

• 1 green bell pepper, finely diced

• 1 pickled Jalapeno pepper finely chopped

• 1 cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

• 1 cup fresh spearmint, finely chopped

• 1 tsp. cumin

• 1 tsp. paprika

 

MAKING THE DOUGH:

** NOTE: You can use medium sized fluffy flour tortillas and skip the doughmaking. Be sure when you bake the lahmajoon/lahmacun,

that you oil the baking sheet when you bake them.

 

In a small bowl mix yeast and the sugar. Add 1/2 cup of warm water, stir well, cover the bowl. Keep the mixture in a warm place

for about 15 minutes to full activate the yeast.

 

Add the yeast mixture to the remaining flour and water. Knead well until the dough is soft and smooth.

 

Place the dough in a large oiled bowl, cover and let sit in a warm area of your kitchen for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled

in size.

 

Take the dough out and punch down. Divide the dough into 10-12 balls just slightly smaller than a tennis ball. Roll and set aside

on a floured surface and cover with a damp towel. Set the oven at 450º F.

 

MAKING THE TOPPING:

Add the onion, garlic and butter to a skillet and sautè until translucent. Take off the stove and let cool.

 

Take all your prepared vegetables and place them all in a large bowl. If you have a food processor, this would be the time to

give all the vegetables a few pulses to get them all into a fine spreadable size. DO NOT PROCESS TO AN UNIDENTIFIABLE MUSH!

 

Add pepper flakes, salt, sugar, paprika, cumin and lemon juice into a large bowl with the other ingredients and mix well by hand

until you have well mixed, spreadable topping.

 

Take balls of dough and roll into a round, circle or an oval measuring up to 1/16 to 1/8 inches in thickness. Place on a baking

sheet that has been oiled with olive oil, canola oil or cooking spray. Brush each round with olive oil (Extra Virgin is best). Top

with 2-3 tablespoons of the topping and spread the topping very thinly. Make sure you have an even layer.

 

Each baking sheet will hold two lahmajoon/lahmacun. You should have 3 or 4 baking sheets to keep things moving. Keep your

eye on the sheets in the oven to make sure they bake evenly. You may have to move things around the oven.The oven should

remain at 450°F – not too high and not too low. Since you are going to be constantly opening the oven, the temperature ideally

will stay between 400º F and 350ºF. Cooked Lahmajoon/Lahmacuns are crispy at the edges and pliable in the center. You can

stack your finished lahmajoon/lahmacun topping side to topping side and bottom to bottom. Cover them with a damp towel to

keep them from getting too brittle.

 

You are now ready to fill them with fresh parsley, cucumber slices, sweet onion slices or other fresh veggies and a drizzle of

lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil, roll them up and enjoy these Anatolian delights.

Armenian Pizza – Recipe — In Armenian It’s Called Laghmajoun (Mesa-Shod)

Due to Popular Demand and People wanting to know how to make this delicious Armenian dish, I’d like to welcome you to today’s recipe. They call it Armenian Pizza,

We have other words for it such as, Laghmajoun, Lahmajoun, Mesashod — For the correct pronounciation (MES-A-SHOWED) (LAG-MA-JUNE)

Ingredients.

• Ground Beef (you can substitute Ground beef for Lamb Grounds, but GROUND BEEF is a lot tastier)
• Fresh Garlic
• Parsley
• Tomato
• Pepper

 

How to Make…. (Credit — http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lahmahjoon-armenian-pizza/ )

Place ground lamb or ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and break into small pieces until mostly browned. Drain any excess grease. Add the onion, green pepper, and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent. Stir in diced tomatoes and tomato paste, then season with parsley, basil, mint, cumin, and if using, cayenne. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and refrigerate overnight to blend the flavors.

•                     Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Distribute the lamb mixture evenly over the tortillas, and spread out to the edges. Place the tortillas onto a baking sheet.
•                     Bake for about 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from the oven and place the lahmahjoons onto a large piece of aluminum foil so that two of them are meat side to meat side, then stack the pairs together, and bring the foil up over the top to keep warm. These can be served hot or cold. Cut into small wedges.