Cheap Gift Idea: McDonald's Sanrio Watches

"Q, want to go to McDonald's?" The Sister asked as I arrived home from work.

"Why?" I asked, somewhat suspicious.

"I want to get a Sanrio watch."

"Huh?"

Around the World: Quick - Fast Food Foie Gras Burger for $6.50!

The French are fancy! Apparently, even their fast food is fancy. French fast food burger chain Quick is, later this month, offering a very limited-time premium burger called the Supreme Foie Gras, the first fast food burger to be served with foie gras anywhere.

The Supreme Foie Gras burger features diced foie gras sourced from France, a 150g (a bit more than a quarter pound) grilled beef patty, caramelized onions, and arugula and will be served in a fancy-looking black paper clamshell.

News: Panera Bread - Holiday Seasonal Items 2010

Panera Bread has a pretty extensive line up of seasonal holiday items this year ranging from baked goods to chili:

New All Natural Steak Chili with Cornbread: "A hearty blend of slow-cooked tender brisket slices and ground beef with onions, green bell peppers, and kidney beans flavored with garlic, ancho chili powder, and red jalapenos in a rich tomato-based broth, topped with freshly baked sweet cornbread."

Review: Sonic - Ched 'R' Peppers

Sonic's Ched 'R' Peppers are Sonic's version of the jalapeno popper breaded and filled with melted Cheddar cheese. An order of four Ched 'R' Peppers sells for $2.99 and is served with a side of ranch dressing.

News: Pizza Hut - Big Mondays - Two Medium Pizzas for $6 Each

Looks like Pizza Hut is well on their way to having a different day for every day of the week. Starting today, Pizza hut introduces Big Monday, a Monday only deal where you can buy two Medium Pizzas with up to 3 Toppings for $6 each (i.e. $12 total).

If the deal looks familiar to you, Pizza Hut ran the same promotion for a period of 10 days earlier this month. Big Monday joins Tuscani Tuesday and Wing Wednesday as Pizza Hut's promo specific days.

The promo pricing represents a savings of $4 off normal Pizza Hut prices.

Review: Wendy's - Natural-Cut Fries with Sea Salt

Wendy's recently replaced their French Fries with a newer, fancier version dubbed the "Natural-Cut Fries with Sea Salt." New features of the fries include a skin-on cut which is more aesthetics than anything, a new blend of frying oil, and most significantly, the addition of sea salt.

Pricing remains the same and I bought an order of value-sized Natural-Cut Fries with Sea Salt (a rather unwieldy name but I guess it plays up the sea salt aspect) for 99 cents.

Review: Hostess - Ding Dongs

"Ding dong ding go the bells..." Okay, not really. Ding Dongs are the classic hockey puck shaped cake from Hostess that has adorned many a kids lunchbox. A box of 12 foil-wrapped chocolate cakes are regularly priced at about $4.49 but it's not unusual to see them on sale around $3.

Review: Pepperidge Farm - Holiday Homestyle Cookie Collection

Since it's officially the holiday shopping season now, I thought it'd be appropriate to review the Holiday Homestyle Cookie Collection from Pepperidge Farm which is only available this time of the year for about $8 or $9 regular price but about $5 or $6 on sale.

Feature: 2010 Holiday Gift Card Bonuses

Since the holiday shopping season has now officially begun, here's a list of popular restaurants (in alphabetical) dangling incentives (along with their limitations) for customers to buy their gift cards to giveaway (or stock up) this Christmas:

Applebee's - At any participating Applebee's, buy $50 in gift cards and get a $10 bonus gift card. Valid through 2/28/11.

Arby's (participation varies) - get a free combo with purchase of $20 gift card.

Benihana - Free $10 Promotional Card with the purchase of $50 in gift cards. Offer valid 11/15/10 through 12/31/10. Promotional Card valid 1/2/11 through 3/31/11.

Ben & Jerry's - Visit any participating Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop and get a free scoop when you spend $10 or more on Ben & Jerry's gift cards.

Review: Burger King - Rodeo Cheeseburger

Burger King's Rodeo Cheeseburger used to be available nationally, but is now only available in some regions as part of the BK Value menu. Similar but smaller than Carl's Jr's Western Cheeseburger, the Rodeo Cheeseburger takes your basic junior-sized cheeseburger and uses barbecue sauce (used to be Bull's-Eye but is now Sweet Baby Ray's) and onion rings instead of the normal pickles, ketchup, and mustard.

In my area, it costs $1.49.

Review: McDonald's - Holiday Pie

McDonald's Holiday Pie is a limited-time holiday item that is carried by some McDonald's restaurants around this time of year at the franchisee's election. McDonald's Holiday Pie comes in the same form at their other baked pies but is filled with custard surrounded by what appears to be a confetti-cake-like sugar cookie crust.

Like their normal pies, a Holiday Pie will only cost you 50 cents (2 for $1; individual pies prices vary from restaurant to restaurant).

Review: Pizza Hut - Cheesy Bites Pizza

Pizza Hut's Cheesy Bites Pizza recently made its limited-time return to the Pizza Hut menu and having never tried it before, I decided to remedy that oversight and purchased one large with pepperonis for $11.99 this time around.

The Cheesy Bite Pizza is an odd-looking pizza that takes the standard Pizza Hut Hand-Tossed Pizza and through some nifty folding and cutting, transforms the crust into 28 bite-sized, mozzarella-cheese-filled bread rolls and is served with two plastic cups of marinara sauce i.e. (pizza sauce) for dipping.