Thursday, April 28

Can President Obama PLEASE Get Back to Presidenting Now!??!

So President Obama showed his long form birth certificate. And you would think that would be enough to embarass the LOUD non-believers, but it's not. Instead they have decided to talk about his education & some even claim Social Security fraud.
And now I feel like Cam'ron on Bill O'Rielly's show:


You maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagd! You maaaaaaaaaaaaagd!

This man is president, ok? There wasn't this much foolishness when Big Dumb W STOLE the election & lied to us about WMDs. My question is... WHAT DID OBAMA DO TO YOU!?!?
Here are some answers:
1. The most obvious is he was born black. But that's not ALL. He was raised by his WHITE grandparents for the most part & grew up in diverse communities. Something no President has admitted to THUS far.

2. He doesn't come from money. His mother was 18 when he was born & they moved from place to place. When he went to college, it wasn't a letter from his daddy or recognition of his family name that got him in. Some may say it was the color of his skin that got him in, but that isn't what KEPT him there. BE FOR REAL! He is a TRUE American story, the ones we always HEAR are possible in America, but uintil now we have not seen a TRUE boot straps success story in the White House in recent history.

3.  He's cooler than the other side of the pillow. When you mention Obama to Trump his wig gets TIGHT, his facce clenches even more & the already puckered butthole he calls a mouth gets TAUTER. Trump gets to foaming at the mouth & looking CRAZY at the mention of the President. But when you mention Trump to Obama..........

4.  He wants to make the rich just like any other TAXPAYING American. He has stated time & again that he is not about these tax cuts for the rich & raising taxes on the people barely making any money. The rich are "scared" of an even playing field or something.

5.  He made you hate yourself. You looked in the mirror & realized that you just weren't good enough, huh? That despite your daddy's good name & your billions & gazillions of dollars you are still not a likeable guy. You get up everyday & realize that despite all your money & relative successes, your failures still haunt you. You must find some chink in the President's armor because good BLACK men like this CANNOT POSSIBLY exist.

6.  He's black. Just say it, seriously. I would respect folks SO much more if they just let the ignorance flow freely instead of covering it up with birth certificate demands & academic records.

And while we are making requests for things to determine their legitimacy, I want to see Donald Trump's tax returns, his diary, sworn statements form his childhood friends (if he HAD any), and a receipt for that long haired chinchilla he has sitting on his head, POST HASTE!

Then there are those who are so insanely insane they don't even KNOW they are insane... Yes you Oily Titz, I mean Orly Taitz. Heffa, you aren't even an AMERICAN BORN citizen what are you even talking about. She's a dentist, she's a lawyer, she's a pshycopath! I mean if every picture of you looks like it could be your own CARICATURE, somethin ain't right!

EEEEEK!



She was the "face" of the Birther movement (and what a face it is... more like the face of a bowel movement, but I digress). Now she has moved on to Social Security fraud & clogging up our court system with more shenanigans. When Lawrence O'Donnell asked her if she was satisfied with the long form birth certificate on MSNBC, a simple yes or no question, she moved on to social security fraud foolishness.
 
Now, here's my thing, IF there was some big conspiracy to get Obama into office. WHO is behind it? Certainly not those that were behind Dub's second term. Surely not those that *conspiracy theories removed for fear of govy intervention*. But you catch my drift. Perhaps the problem is, the PEOPLE are behind him getting into office. Not the "powers that be", the "good old boy network", "the white rich & powerful"; but the people. The everyday people that were tired of the aforementioned groups dragging us thru the mud & getting richer on our backs while we struggle trying to get ahead of the laws, rules, regulations & CRAP they made up to keep us back.

OBAMA WON! and as these folks get angrier &angrier & their heads start to explode, he's still gonna be winning. So, sit back & relax before you blow a gasket!
I really feel sorry for the state of our contry if THIS is really the important news of the week! Don't you idiots have a Royal Wedding to watch or something, while the intelligent people deal with REAL life!

Friday, April 22

I Like Food: Dinner in a Dome

Wednesday night, I had dinner in a dome...

It was called Sensorium & it was a pop-up restaurant specializing in Gastronomy at Yards Park in DC. They have 2 seatings at 6 & 9 everyday until May 1st. Thanks to SUCKY DC METRO we missed the beginning because we were trapped on a train 2 stops away for 10 minutes & then forced off our car & had to wait for the next train. But, they were totally nice about us being 10 minutes late. (I HATE BEING LAAAATE!) 

Course One:
Kir Royale Grape with Magic Crystals from Outer Space (The magic crystals were Pop Rocks)

Course Two:
Cloud Salad... Fennel salad. I've never had fennel on purpose!

Course three:
Ricotta gnocchi with sage brown butter sauce. The gnocchi was so LIGHT & yummy. On the cooking competition shows with which I am so obsessed people are always cautious about making gnocchi for fear it may come out too heavy.

Course four:
Beet Gazpacho with goat cheese. I HATE BEETS! Seriously it's on the top of my list of foods I don't like along with capers, grapefruit & pine nuts (and 3 of the 4 were on the menu). I enjoyed it! especially with the goat cheese & I was also told by our table mate that eating a lot of beets will turn your #1 red... ILK! ANyway, the performance that came along with this course featured the words "cool & savory" prominently & that is JUST what this was!

Course five:
Chicken with chervil sauce & blood orange foam. I HAD FOAM, Y'ALL! After years of watching them make foams on the Food Network, I HAD FOAM! YAAAAAAAAAY! The foam overpowered the chervil, but I preferred the chervil sauce. I need to find some chervil soon!

Course six:
Deep fried tomato, zucchini, and potato gratin. That deep fried tomato was EVERYTHING! and the balsamic reduction was the perfect accompaniment.

Course seven:
Pork belly with ramps & "brave little potatoes". This was by far my fave course up to that point & I later found out it was also the chefs fave. The presentation was SO creative:
That tomato sauce in the potato was ALL THAT! I wanted MORE! By the way, I placed the porkbelly "cushion" on the table & used the table as the "plate"

Course eight:
Seafood and polenta with olive & capers. This seemed to be the least popular dish at our table.The fish appeared to be swordfish because it was so firm & there was a mussel. I don't dig capers, they remind me of sad, salty peas who have had all their life sucked out of them. :-(

Course nine:
Squash blossom with onion marmalade. The squash blossoms  were stuffed with a SPICY onion marmalade and then battered & deep fried.I was soooo excited to finally try one because this again was one of the things that I only see people eating on the food competition shows I watch.
Isn't it BEAUTIMOUS!?! You see that drizzle? It's a grapefruit gastrique! And if you've been following along, you'll know that grapefruit is ON MY LIST! But, I ate it anyway. It wasn't bad.

Course ten:
Oxtail ragout on a bed of risotto. Most of the courses I don't have pics for because I ate them up so fast! Trust me when I tell you that thang was GOOT! The risotto cake was definitely different. I wasn't expecting it to be cripsy, but the chef liked to fry & I appreciated that!

Course eleven:
Lemon pudding pop. They froze it at our table using a liquid nitrogen contraption.
I had reached foodie HEAVEN! Especially since there was an up close magic trick. I was ASTOUNDED! I'm not easily impressed by magic, but I WAS ASTOUNDED!!

Course 12:
Ricotta doughnuts with cayenne chocolate sauce, saffron cream, and mixed berry mousse. The cayenne chocolate sauce was PERFECTION, but my fave was the saffron cream. It went PERFECTLY with the deliciousness that was the ricotta doughnuts.

The song that went along with this number was sooooo cute. They even encouraged the diners to dance & dance we did. It was soooo romantical!


We thought the dinner was over & we were extremely satisfied. They introduced the cast & the chef. I was so busy applaudeing. Here's a picture I found of the chef, Byron Brown: 

The most amazing part of the night was the magic bean. We were told something about eating the bean & sweet & sour... I was confused, but amazed by the dish it was brought out in. It was shaped like a flying saucer & appeared to have a piece of glass on top of the magic bean, but when I went to tap the glass, my finger went right through the center. The inside of the dish both top & bottom were mirrored so that it had a hologram effect. The magic bean changed my life... that's all I'm going to say.

As I wrap this up, I am watching Marcel's Quantum Kitchen & looking forward to my next Foodie adventure. Chef Byron called us "foodie pioneers" and I was SUPER excited to finally really be considered a foodie by someone other than my friends that "like" my food posts on FB!  If you're interested in going, I hear you MAY be able to get a discount by going to a certain website, but I don't know if the code still works. I first heard about this from Urbandaddy, I think. But I wasn't sure if I could live with myself paying $100+ for a meal on a whim like that. However, when I saw the Groupon, I JUMPED ON IT!

So there it is, folks, I'm officially a foodie pioneer. And in case you didn't know Yards Park is BEAUTIFUL! and it's open at night... It's ultra romantic & was the perfect place to end the night. 


Wednesday, April 20

Life's Hard!

This is not my sentiment, but it is one I exclaim when I see young people that are clearly STRUGGLING through life or have made poor choices that have left them looking haggard & haphazard. I was at J's house Monday night watching a WONDERFUL show aptly titled: Jail. On this show they go to county jails over the US, most notably Paterson, NJ & Vegas.

As we watched person after person come into the facility and be printed & have their info taken. We realized how YOUNG some of them were. But how most of them looked older than us & we are in our 30s. I realized how very different some people's lives are from mine & my friends. None of us grew up especially rich or poor. And we all have our stories of things we've done & lived through. But NONE of us wears those things on our FACES!

I see KIDS on the train all the time looking disheveled & used all the way up & all I can think is: LIFE HARD! (you have to say it without the 's) WHat is going on in people's lives that at 19, 20, 21 you look like you have come up on the rough side of the mountain and slid back down on your front side?? I know people my age that went to the same schools as me  that took different path's in life and I understand that. But I wonder when they see that some of us don't look as old as other of us, how do they feel? What led them to the choices they made? I can't even fathom making so  many poor choices & life coming down on me so hard that I look in the mirror & don't even recognize myself anymore.

I feel truly blessed that life did not beat me down & that I continue to rebound from my mistakes & make better & better choices and especially grateful not to have ended up with the young old-face!

Thursday, April 7

Donald Trump is an IDIOT!


Could THIS be the face hair of America's future? If the movie Idiocracy is correct, the United States is indeed getting dumber & this could very well be the next president of the "United States of Uhh-merica."

This morning he was on the Today Show spewing a level of foolishness I have never seen from him. Meredith asked if he was a Tea Partier, he says: "I guess so." Ummm, sir, what does the Tea Party really stand for & are you sure you want to be affiliated with them? Do you know what the REST of the country thinks of them? You are all about cutting wasteful spending, you say, yet you have gold toilets!?!? I mean REALLY!  I am not taking anything away from his BUSINESS savvy, but can he run a country? That's not the same thing.

Besides, how can you trust someone who thinks THIS is acceptable hair?


And let's not get on the whole birth certificate deal. They did LESS investigating into voter fraud when Bush got "re-elected". I mean really, dude... let it gooooooo!

Again, I don't take ANYTHING away from his business acumen. But being good with money has NOTHING to do with serving the people. If you have ever watched an episode of The Apprentice or Celebrity Apprentice you know that Donald Trump is A LOT of things, but diplomatic is NOT on the list. I find him highly entertaining, but politically astute? NAAAAAAH!

Again any man that uses Ken as his hair idol is NOT  a man I would trust in times of crisis. SORRY!

Monday, April 4

Back in Stride Again!

Last Thursday, I went to the Maze featuring Frankie Beverly concert here in DC with my girls J & T. We met at the FABULOUS Founding Farmers on Pennsylvania Ave. I went to their sister restaurant Farmers & Fishers on the Georgetown Waterfront for my birthday lunch earlier this year. They both have fabulous food, drinks, decor, concept & service. So after J got stuck in traffic & T got stuck in a meeting we finally got a chance to eat. I had ordered the popcorn of the day while I waited... That ranch popcorn was like a DRUG! Then I got the short ribs (bye bye diet), J ordered the pan-fried chicken & waffles and T ordered the black pepper wings in soy glaze from the appetizer section (she said she was eating all day). They also make their own sodas so the ginger ale I ordered was DELIGHTFUL and STRONG like ginger beer from the islands!

After dinner, we walked to J's car & T remarked she didn't remember where she parked. We drove around for a while trying to find her car. She said it was on 18th or something, by a guy on a horse near the Department of the Interior. We found a guy on a horse, but didn't see her car. We drove passed more than one building that said Dept of the Interior, but didn't see her car. We parked in another garage closer to the venue& decided to look for her car AFTER the show. As we were walking up, T said, "I think I parked down there." Again we decided to check after the show.

When we got to our GREAT seats, Raheem Devaughn was performing his little behind off as usual. He sang & gyrated & crooned & bodyrolled & came out of his nice suit jacket & shirt. T said he should have left his untied bow tie on with his undershirt. He brought out Chuck Brown & Stomp to do a little something & the crowd went wild. For some reason in DC whenvere you see Chuck it's like the first time. It's like you have never been to a Chuck Brown show a day in your life... it's quite unexplainable. But TOTALLY awesome!

There was a long period between Raheem & Maze featuring Frankie Beverly. So we decided to entertain ourselves by playing 2 games: Look at That Outfit & Name That Fur. When playing LaTO all we did was yell out: "LOOK AT THAT OUTFIT!" and point in the general direction of someone in the crowd & the others would have to call out the features of the outfit- perfect game to play when we had a full view of the orchestra seats. This game was especially fun because the crowd on average was over 40 & overdressed. There were shiny pants suits on women & plaid pants on men, wigs cocked to the side & too small hats on large bald heads.... TONS to keep us entertained. Name That Fur consisted of naming the type of animal someone's fur coat came from. J won when she correctly identified a lady's coat as griffendor fur.

When Frankie Beverly hit the stage, it was nothing but a party. In spite of his illness, he put on an AMAZING show & you HAVE to respect that! DC does! We connected with him in a major way! He even apologized for not coming to town last Thanksgiving which has been a tradition since I was born! When he hit Happy Feelings, the crowd was on their feet... arms swaying... If you have never been to a Maze show, go! Don't expect him to hit every note because he has had some throat problems, but the band is AMAZING & the music still holds up after 30+ years. GOTTA RESPECT THAT! There were several people's grandparents cutting the FOOL! One guy in all white & a cream Kangol kept dancing ALL up & down the aisles, sloppily. There was one guy in all black & sunglasses that I thought was security until I notice that as he stood with his back to the stage, he was PARTYING HARD! He also broke out a pair of white maracas. You could see the sweat pouring off of his head & at one point he had a cup of something in his hand. There were drunk couples dancing in the aisles. And our personal favorite, a dude in a Santana Moss jersey was giving it his ALL in the aisle at NO point did he EVER stop dancing OR pointing at the stage & "praising" the band. He shoulder-hinched & bank head bounced around the world like he was the only person in the room. Then there was the younger drunk girl, about our age, that was drunk-dancing down the walkway and FELL to the floor. She sat with her head in some lady's lap for the rst of the song. It seemed that most of the people seated in the front section of the orchestra knew one another or something.

So I bet you're wondering what happened with T's car, right? WELL... after the show we walked out the first front door we came to, then crossed the steps to the right in the direction that T said her car was parked. We walked for over 2 blocks but didn't see her car. She thought the name on the statue was: "Salvador or Salvatore." J googled it, but found no such statue. We hop in J's car & I ask T: "Where did you go when you got out of the car?" Form there we concluded she parke don 18th Street. So, we drive down a series of one way streets to get back to 18th Street. We get back to 18th street & lo & behold, there is a statue of a man on a horse... His name? SIMON BOLIVAR. Nothing like Salavdor or Salvatore. We find her car finally across the street from another Department of the Interior building. As we pull up to her car, we look up & notice she is parked on the corner DIAGONALLY across from the concert venue. When I tell you we laughed for a full 2 minutes... I am NOT lying to you!

Overall a GREAT night...classic Bri, J & T!