Volume 1, Issue 66, May 30, 2010: My Favorite Resturants in th DC area Part 2

Dukem Misto Combo Platter mmmmmmm!

Dukem

Hours of Operation: Sun-Thur 11am-2am; Fri-Sat 11am-3am

Address: 1114-1118 U Street (12 Street NW) Washington, DC 20009

Cuisine: Ethiopian

Price Range: $16-25

Nearest Metro Station: U Street Cardozo on the Green line

Considered on of DC's best Ethiopian restaurants Dukem is a lively and bustling atmosphere on the U street corridor. I've been here a couple of times and the food never disappoints me, but the service is so-so at best. The servers are mostly Ethiopian and so are the majority of the customers.Not to stereotype but some Ethiopians aren't too keen about certain ethnicities(i.e. Caribbeans, Somalis, Other East Africans, Other tribes besides their own,West Africans, and Black Americans), this is from what I observed in the DC area.Putting all arrogant Ethiopians aside, Dukem's food always hits the spot I love the spiciness of the Lamb Wot and the Doro Wot, those are two of my favorite dishes. Dukem has a very authentic feel with live music and dance every weekend.

Wok & Roll
Hours of Operation:Sun-Thur 10:30am-10:30pm; Fri-Sat 10:30am-1:00am
Address: 604 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20001
Cuisine: Chinese/Japanese
Price Range: $16-25
Near Metro: Chinatown-Gallery Place on the Green, Red, Yellow line

Located a few steps from the metro station and Chinatown's Friendship Gate, Wok & Roll is a quaint Chinese/Japanese tea house and a DC landmark. The restaurant is actually apart of " The Mary Surratt House", where President Abe Lincoln's assassination was plotted. Anyways, Wok & Roll has very inexpensive and delicious Sushi choices, large portions, and bubble tea. The staff and service is always nice and quick.

Bugsy's Pizza
Hours of Operation:
Address: 111 King Street, Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia
Cuisine: American
Price Range: $10-20
Nearest Metro: King Street on the Blue and Yellow Line.

Ahhh, Bugsy's Pizza! It brings back memories when I was a teenager in Alexandria. Me and my friends would always go here and a nice large pizza and go to the waterfront and just hang out and run amok. They have some of the best pizza in the whole DC area. It's authentic, cheesy, and full of zest. Not to mention you get a large array of toppings to choose from. I myself cannot pass up a nice slice of  pizza with anchovies, feta cheese, olives and tomatoes. My favorites from Bugsy are: Bugby's Power Play Deluxe, Chicken Fiesta Pizza, and Taco Pizza. Forget Domino's(because they suck, even with the new recipe), Bugby's Pizza is the best.

Volume 1, Issue 65, May 28, 2010: My Favorite Restaurant's in the DC Area Part 1

My awesome lunch this afternoon courtesy of Wok and Roll

If eating was an Olympic sport, I would gladly take home several gold medals for the USA. I love Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, West African(mmmm fufu with peanut butter stew), Ethiopian, Mexican, Thai, Bolivian, Dominican, Jamaican(mmmmmm jerk chicken), you name it I've probably have tried it. I've dined in numerous restaurants, carry-outs and food joints in the DC and I've complied a list of my favorite places to eat, in no particular order because I like them all equally and for different reasons.

Located in Gallery Place/Verizon Center-Chinatown, DC

Legal Seafoods
Hours of Operation: Mon-Thu 11am-11pm; Fri-Sat 11am-12am;Sun 11am-10pm
Address: 704 7th st. N.W. Washington, DC. 20001
Cuisine: Seafood
Price Range-$16-25
Nearest Metro Stop: Chinatown/Gallery Place on the Red and Green Line.

I feel in love with Legal Seafoods when my mom brought some of their tasty calamari home. I've been here twice and I've never been disappointed. They have some of the best seafood in DC and it is fresh daily. My favorites from their menu are their crab cakes, New England Clam Chowder and their salmon. The ambiance is very upscale, chic and modern. The majority of the customers are tourists, yuppies, and government workers. Near this restaurant are many nice museums and touristy attractions like the Spy Museum, the Verizon Center, The Friendship Gate, Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum and there are also many shops as well.

There is one in Tyson's Corner and the other is in Friendship Heights

Maggiano's Little Italy
Hours of Operation: Mon-Thur11:30am-10pm; Fri-Sat 11:30pm-11pm, Sun Noon-10pm
Address: 5333 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, D.C., 20015
Cuisine: Italian
Price Range: $16-25
Nearest Metro Stop: Friendship Heights on the Red Line

If you love a bustling atmosphere that caters to all ages and family Maggiano's is the place for you. Maggiano's is a chain restaurant operated in 21 states in the US. There are two locations in the DC area, one in Tyson's Corner and the other is in Friendship Heights/Chevy Chase. The one that I frequent is the location in Friendship Heights. Maggiano's serves very heartily, authentic, Italian food. The pasta is very delectable, its is made from the finest grain. Maggiano's offers very, very, and I mean, very, very nice portions! When you place you order they ask you, do you want half or whole? Always whole because you will get a large serving that is guaranteed to make you full and there will be some left over to take home. Some of my favorite entrees from Maggiano's are: Linguine & Clams with White Sauce, Shrimp and Angel Hair al'Arrabiata, and their select Veal choices.

There are four locations in the DC area: U street, Brentwood, Benning/Deanwood, and Marlow Heights

Tropicana Eatery
Hours of Operation: Mon-Sat 11am-10pm, Sun 11am-7pm*
Cuisine: Jamaican
Price Range: $9-15
Nearest Metro: U St Cardozo on the Green line.

I've been practically raised on Tropicana. There used to be a location in Sliver Spring on the DC/MO border. Whenever my mom and her friends would go on shopping trips to City Place Mall they would all take us kids to the Tropicana. It's reminds me of many of the Chinese carryouts, but its more like a hole in the wall place. The food is cheap and it is very delicious. My favorites are the Coco bread, Beef Patties, Dumplings, Escoveitched Red Snapper, Goat Roti, Oxtail. Oh yeah for all you who have dietary restrictions, (i.e. Vegetarians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus), they serve no pork and have some very tasty Vegetarian and Pork/Beef free options. I wish the U St. location could stay open late for all the drunks and clubbers in the neighborhood. They could make a killing, Jamaican food is the cure to a ragging, hyper-sexual, obnoxious drunk.

*Only for U Street and Brentwood locations.

Me and my friends(All 25-30 of us) had an end of a year dinner here and we almost got kicked out!

Kabob Bazaar
Hours of Operation: Mon-Thur 11am-10pm, Fri-Sat 11am-11pm, Sun Noon-10pm
Address: 3133 Wilson Blvd Arlington, VA 22201
Cusine:Persian
Price Range:$10-20
Nearest Metro: Clarendon on the Orange line.

 So, the MSA club at my school choose this location as our end of the year dinner and from then on things got interesting as the night unfolded. The restaurants interior is synonymous with many Middle Eastern/Near architecture, with mosaic tiles, arches, ottomans, iron furniture and rustics color schemes. The restaurant is very small, and it wasn't ready for our rowdy group; the management gave us the evil eye because were being too loud. They gave us a fixed menu we had a choice of beef, chicken, and lamb kabob, along with hummus/pita bread, some salads, and for dessert we had this mysterious "Persian Ice Cream." The ingredients in the ice cream were rose water, saffron, pistachio nuts and some weird chunks of frozen thingys that caused a debate among us(a very smexy Iranian British man told me it was frozen cream ♥). This is a great place for a romantic first date, it has live music playing, fresh Chrysanthemum at every table and a very fragrant smell of spices.

Volume 1, Issue 64, May 25, 2010: The Demise of The American Music Industry

I just finshed watching Rihanna's new video for her single "Rockstar 101"(I put the link for the trainwreck right below) and it was what I expected it to be. Shitty as usual: Rihanna is wearing black lipstick, spikes on her head and is laying around covered in brown paint screaming how she is a rockstar. The part that hurts is that this video features some of my favorite artist, such as Travis Barker, the drummer of Blink 182 and Gun's and Roses's guitarist Slash, selling out to ride the wave of this non-talented, non-singing Caribbean disgrace know as Robin Rihanna Fenty. Dammit! Is nothing scared any more in this world?!

Want to see some cool devil worshiping rituals-----------> Check Out The Illumanti's Latest Video Here!!!

The American music industry in the year 2010 is a disgusting, superficial, and half-assed has-been of itself. Here are some prime examples to show how much the music industry has fell off:

- Stealing songs, styles, and dance moves, paying MTV, BET, VH1 and various radio stations to play only your music to walk over all other artists *cough* Beyonce *cough*.

-Using autotune on every single song you have(T-pain, Kanye West,Lil Wanye)

-Singing songs about erectile dysfunction at the Kid's Choice Awards(Rihanna)

-Heaing wannabe Lil'Kim rappers with annoying voices rapping about their pussy being between a guys sideburns.(Nicky Minaj)

-Lil'Wayne being named the greatest rapper.

-Drake aka Jimmy from Degrassi trying to rap.

-Ke$ha(Why god,why?)

-Jay-Z selling out and dumbing down his lyrics.

-Sampling and remaking songs over and over again.

-Devil Spawn such as Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus

The sad thing about this is that people actually listen to this crap. People today wouldn't know the difference between music and "manufactured corporate creations." It's all over radio, TV and the Internet. You can't go 6ft  in this country without hearing "ALL DAH SINNGLE LADIES!!! ALL DAH SINGLE LADIES!!" or "COME ONE RUDE BOI BOI CAN U GET IT UP?" Seriously?

I used to laugh when people on blogs and gossip sites keep talking about this "Illumanti Conspiracy". The more and more I observe the music industry and the media, I think there is some sort of blood oath taken by artists, record labels, etc. Why do artist such as Rihanna, Jay-Z, and Beyonce release videos with all the same black/white effects? Why does Jay-Z call himself HOVA? Hova is basically another way to say Jehovah which means God. But check this out:

Jay-Z+Hova=Jay-Hova=Jehovah

Fishy right?

Why does Beyonce try to copy and compete with every artist ever know to man? Kelis, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, J.lo, Leona Lewis, Kelly Rowland, even her own goddamn sister Solange. Beyonce is so narcissistic, jealous and too simple-minded to create anything clever, ground breaking, unique. She is not that great of a singer, her dancing is average, her songs are sub-par; why is she famous? Two words: Public Relations!!! She has an awesome PR team that puts her name in everything from under the sun. She is not a real person, she is a product, she has no soul. Look at her interviews, she has a dull personality, poor speech habits; this is a sign that she agent of the Illumnati.

Stolen From Kelis' Bossy Video! More proof that Beyonce isn't original.

Look familiar?

I feel like sometimes I'm the only one who hates 90% of the music produced. I find myself listening to some of my favorite songs from the 1990s. It was a great time for music, everything even the most degrading rap music had a true form of artistry, depth, substance, and expression. People always say stupid things like "Man, why are you listening to those old songs?" and I say "Hey, you're mom is old and you still listen to her."

Volume 1, Issue 63, May 24, 2010: It's Been Too Long Baby!

Shit!!!! It's been forever since I last wrote an entry. I made a promise to myself to keep this blog going strong. So much has happened, it's been a month. I don't know where to start. Well here are some updates:

1) I'm A Junior Now!!!!!(Not officially, but I might as well be one. I'm only one credit short.)

I'm finally done with this train wreck of a Sophomore year. It was a really rocky and emotionally draining for my mental and emotional health, my finances, and just my social life. I had a lot of disappointments and WTF moments. I'm glad that all that bullshit is over and I can finally have some peace. Also I made this year my bitch! Academically, that is. Yeah, my grades and GPA improved and I passed all my classes with As and Bs. The challenge is going to be next Fall semester, I'm taking 18 credits and they are all 200-300 level courses. I'm very confident that I will kick ass and take names yet again.

2) I took a trip to the Virgin Islands!!!

I actually was asked by my mother to go with her for her b-day weekend after her sister and bestie couldn't make it. It was cool. It was my first actual time being on an airplane and traveling outside mainland U.S. The beaches were clear blue and the sand was pure white and the waves were soft and serene. I'll write a post on it later.

3) Hong Kong 2011

I plan to go travel to Hong Kong for my internship and independent study. My friends Nastacia is going to Shanghai this Summer for her classes and she told me about the program shes with and they have a Fashion and Public Relations option as well. I can't wait. I'm saving up money now, but I'm having a lot of trouble because I'm kinda unemployed. But I'll find something and I'm determined to make the money so I can go to China. Si se puede!!!!!

4) The Romantic Department

I had to swim through a sea of jerks, cheaters, douches and lames asses to get where I am today. I meet a very nice guy, he is very fine, he's foreign and we going to just live it up this summer. We just friends right now and I hope I can take it to the next level with him. I just had an awesome night with him last night at Dukem.

5) Summer Plans

I actually have a whole sort of bucket list for this summer. But I know that this summer I'm just gonna let my hair down and start enjoying my life again.

6) You Know Who You Are, I Won't Say You Name Because You Already Know What You Did.

 I'm also going to just tell more people to go fuck off. I'm just tired of people and their nonsense. If you don't want to be my friend or if you don't like me just tell me you don't like instead of smiling in my face and pretending give a shit about me. Honestly, I would rather have a few real friends than numerous fake friends. Why delete my posts on facebook, why not answer my calls or texts? If we were such good friends why are you ignoring me like I'm nobody? Good, I guess we're not cool anymore. You are full of shit and I thought you told me you would never hurt me. We have been friends for six years and it's so sad to see someone who I thought was real turn out to be a fake ass bitch. You changed and it's for the worst. I always cared about you and I would never do this to you. But this was obviously a one-way friendship.Congrats your a douchebag!