Wednesday Dinner 7/29/09

It seemed like last week was so long ago, or maybe its just me. This weeks "Wednesday Dinner" was extremely special because it was my Birthday (WOOOOHOOOO). I decided I would go to dinner with just my family (my parents and my sisters, however my sister Melissa decided to bring her boyfriend LOL. He's part of the family just the same so it was fine. I had been craving Benihana's since the last time I was there, which I think was in April. So off to Benihana(http://www.benihana.com/) we went for "Wednesday Dinner". I was so glad that there was just enough of us where we didn't have to share the table with anyone :-). Since this week's dinner was all about me, I'll only get into the details of what I ate and here it is:

Las Vegas Roll
Benihana Delight

OMG my meal was DELISH! I appreciate the fact that all the food is still hot after all the cooking and entertaining was done. If you've never experienced Benihana please take a trip there! Benihana is a place that does the Teppanyaki Table right in front of you, you have a Chef come over and prepare your meal right in front of you. To add to your experience the Chef will do amazing things while preparing your food, kind of like a food magic show except nothing disappears. My family is so funny when we all get together, we talked and laughed the entire time. Of course the conversation was short because we were all being entertained by our Chef Cecilo. He was amazing and very nice, he also took a picture with me (how nice was that). Overall this was a wonderful "Wednesday Dinner" for the following reasons: it was my Birthday, I was with my family & the food was excellent. My apologies on this blog being a little short but this is one of the ones that is extremely close to my heart and there really aren't many words to describe how great I felt yesterday and the wonderful time I had. If you would like to get on the "Wednesday Dinner" ban wagon or have any restaurant suggestions hit me ashleymarie729@gmail.com. In closing I would like to talk about me for just a minute since this week's dinner was truly mine. The end of last year and the beginning of this year where extremely hard for me, I had been through and was going through a lot. I have learned a lot over the past year and have grown up a lot and I'm still growing. The lessons learned where hard but well needed and know I can move forward and not make the same mistakes twice. I have learned that certain people come and go for many reasons and it' not our place to question it, it's God's way of showing us something we refused to see on our own. I am taking a lot of chances of myself and putting all my faith and trust in God because I know if I follow his word what he has in store for me will be. I've noticed as I began to change and become better and happier my circle of friends became smaller, which I am totally ok with. The one thing I am not ok with is people talking bad about me or saying things that aren't true, but I can not control what anyone else does or says. So with that being said, I want to thank all of your for your support and positivity (ya'll know who ya'll are). I have plenty more of wonderful things I am working on and they will be good so stay tuned. I'd like to quote Coco Chanel "A girl should be two things; classy and fabulous" which I totally am! Until next week just let your soul glow. -Ashley

Wednesday Dinner 7/22/09

This weeks "Wednesday Dinner" was suppose to be with my mommy!!! My mom has been interested and seeing what this "Wednesday Dinner" is all about, since I changed it up on my end so I decided to take her out to eat. My mom isn't very picky with the food she likes, but when she finds a place she likes she'll wear it out!!! She's very simple with her food choices: Mexican, steak & potatoes and basically that's it. She had been wanting to go to Applebee's since she has been seeing all the adds on tv, so I figured that would work. But like last week, on Tuesday I came home and my whole plan was thrown off. I noticed we had coupons for Black Angus in the mail, so I figured I would give my mom the option to choose either Applebee's or Black Angus for some reason she couldn't decide so she left the choice up to me. So I put some factors into consideration, as far as traffic and the menu options. I decided to roll with Black Angus (http://www.blackangus.com/), I haven't been there in a year and I don't know the last time my mom had been. So when I got home I was ready to spend some good old quality time with my mommy and come to find out she invited Shelby (LOL). I told my mom she can't invite other people when she's been invited somewhere! Just kidding, I love Shelby and she's always welcome. So to Black Angus we went. As soon as we got there we were seated, the restaurant was kind of full but not crowded which I can always appreciate when eating out. Our waitress came right out took our drink orders brought us some bread and we began "Wednesday Dinner"! I am not really a steak person, but I was like hey when in Rome do as the Romans. I had a coupon for what was called a Summer Trio and my mom and Shelby noticed what they wanted right away, which is another thing I can appreciate when eating out (I don't like waiting for someone to figure out what they want to eat). So here is what we ate:

Ashley- Summer Trio (half slab of baby back ribs, 8oz steak-well done, grilled shrimp, loaded baked potato, creamed spinach and a slice of watermelon
Mommy- Wednesday Prim Mud ( prim rib, green beans, mashed potatoes and a slice of mud pie)
Shelby- Wagon Wheel Sampler Platter (fried zucchini, buffalo chicken strips, loaded potato skins and shrimp cocktail)
Along with out drinks I spent a grand total of $ 56.10

I noticed that even with out the coupon Black Angus also has very recession friendly prices. What my mom ordered was a Wednesday Special and was only $14.99, which was amazing for the amount of food she got and it also included desert. My food was also $14.99 and I got a lot of food also, and so did Shelby. I will guess that my dinner came with a slice of watermelon because it was called the Summer trio and not because I'm black and I like watermelon (LOL). I know watermelon is a summer fruit and it was fitting to the name of what I got. Every ones meal averaged out to about $15.00 per person which is a deal to me! During dinner we talked about so many things ( I wish Melissa could've been there with us). We talked about our grandparents, Shelbygetting a job, work, family, funny memories and the topic of the night was Shelby wanting to get another tattoo. This girl is going to run my mother low with wanting to get another tattoo!! My mom let Shelby get her 1st tattoo in February of this year and since then Shelby just wants more! Personally I'm on the fence with this one and I will not give my input because it is totally up to my mother and father to make the decision on this one. I was extremely surprised at how much I enjoyed my dinner last night, I had no complaints and neither did my mom or Shelby. My meal was absolutely delicious, which was surprising to me because the last time I was there I wasn't to impressed. The only thing I didn't really care for was the desert, along with my mom's meal she got a slice of mud pie. We all decided to share the slice of pie since it was clearly a huge slice and I know she wasn't going to be able to finish it on her own. So Shelby and I helped her out, the concept of mud pie is cool I guess but it had way to many nuts in it for my taste. But hey no major complaints since my moms entire meal was $15.00, dinner was good and I enjoy spending time with my mom and my sister. As I have mentioned previously I cherish the time with my family, more so with Shelby now that she is getting older and will be going to college soon. My mom also because its rare she'll come out to eat, she's more of a order her food and bring it back home type person. All in all the night was great, and I hope my mom and Shelby enjoyed themselves too. If you would like to get on the "Wednesday Dinner" list or have any suggestions, drop me a line ashleymarie729@gmail.com. In closing I would like to talk about Family. You can't pick your family, but you can pick what type of relationship you have with them. Family should always be your priority and nothing should come between that NOTHING! At the end of the day family will always be there for you no matter what. If you have a broken relationship with someone of someone(s) in your family, patch it up because life is to short to miss out on making memories. With that being said until next week Ciao! -Always, Ashley........

Wednesday Dinner 7/15/09

This weeks "Wednesdays Dinner" was with my buddy Justin. Justin and I have known each other since I was in the 12th grade and he was in the 10th, we both went to Hamilton and we were both in the Music Academy. We lost contact over the years, but reunited thanks to Facebook. Justin thru a major loop in my original "Wednesday Dinner" when the night before he asked me "You don't have a theme for me" so I had to put my thinking cap on and go to work. So I immediately asked him what his favorite type/types of food are. His favorites are Mexican and Italian. Since I had Mexican last week ,that was a no go. So I searched my mental Rolodex for all the good Italian places I knew and one place stood out. I decided to introduce Justin to one of my favorite Italian places and a place that holds a lot of memories for me. So we were on our way to Alejo's (http://www.alejosrestaurant.com/), this is a Mom & Pop type restaurant located in the Marina off of Lincoln & Venice. The outside appearance of the restaurant might throw some people off, but don't let that fool you. Let me tell you why this restaurant holds memories for me; I used to work for this company called EZ Check Advance aka Payday Express back in the early 2000's. Alejo's is located right next door to one of this companies many locations. At the time I first discovered Alejo's, I was working at the Inglewood location and one of my co worker put me up on this place. She would drive all the was from Inglewood (Century & LaBrea) to Alejo's (Lincoln & Venice). Before walking in I explained to Justin not to be fooled by the outside appearance. And now let the "Wednesday Dinner" begin. Alejo's can no more than 25 people at once, maybe 30 and that's the max. Once we arrived there were maybe about 10 other people having dinner, by the time we left the place was packed. Here is the run down of what we ate:

Fried Calamari- Appetizer
Ashley- Ravioli alla Cheeca with Meat Sauce
Justin- Three Color Cannelloni with Red & White Sauce
For a total of $44.67 (Which averages out to about $22 per person)

Our conversations at dinner where funny, we touched on many different topics. We talked about Pac Man Jones, Michael Vick, Lamar Odom, Michael Jackson, Oprah, and other daily life happenings. I noticed that as people where coming into the restaurant to have dinner, you can bring your own wine. I think that's a great concept for restaurants to offer, I thought dinner was DELISH and I was undeniably full when I was done. Of course I didn't finish my food & had left overs, but hey ya'll know how I do. Here are Justin's thoughts on dinner "Thrown off by outside exterior, service was great, not the best Cannelloni I've had, but I'll put in my top 5. Ambiance was nice, place is a little small overall I give this place an A-". "Wednesday Dinner" includes dinner, some sort of alcoholic beverage and dessert. Last night I didn't get the memo about alcohol(LOL). So after dinner it was time for dessert, I noticed on our way down to Alejo's we passed on of my favorite places. I decided we would go there for dessert, since Alejo's doesn't really offer that many choices for dessert. I decided to introduce Justin to Penguins frozen yogurt (http://www.penguinsyogurt.com/). Before there was Pinkberry or Yogurt Land, there was Penguins. Penguins is the OG of the frozen yogurt game, and now they are conforming with the times by having the current craze of flavors available. Last night they offered; Vanilla, Chocolate, Swirl, Yellow Cake Batter, Peanut Butter, Tart, & Chocolate Mint. Here is what we had:

Ashley- Yellow Cake Batter
Justin- Tart topped with Captain Crunch & Strawberries
For a total of around $7

Penguins offers inside & outside seating, Justin decided he wanted to sit outside. We sat outside & I was freezing my (@)(@)'s off! LOL. Penguins frozen yogurt is a lot thicker than Pinkberry & Yogurt Land, which is one of the things I love about this place. It's very ice cream like, just healthier. Here is Justin's take on Penguins "Pinkberry" is what he prefers. The night was still young for Justin and he suggested that we go and have drinks at Jerry's. Being that I was so full & I was going to unbutton my pants to breath a little bit, I had to decline (no hard feelings). It was getting late & I was way to full, it was time to call it a night. On the way home I had to share some funny stories with just, most recently my run in with the shady cd couple that sold me super bootleg cd's & got $10 of my hard earned money. I had a great time with Justin & I'm sure we'll be having more "Wednesday Dinners" together. So like always if your interested in joining me for a "Wednesday Dinner" or if you want to suggest somewhere for me to check out, drop me a line ashleymarie729@gmail.com. In closing I would like to say; There has been a lot of talk regarding my blog, for some stupid reason someone is extremely mad about it. So here is my take on that, an idea is something people have & they share. There's a huge difference between an idea & a dream. A dream is something that belongs to you & only you. An idea is something that is always up for grabs by someone else who is faster, smarter & more proactive than you. With that being said, live your own version of "The Good Life" or start a blog about it. Always Love, Peace & Hair Grease- Ashley

Wednesday Dinner 7/8/09

This week for "Wednesday Dinner" in honor of "The King of Pop" Michael Jackson (RIP), I decided to eat at place that has King in the name. I'll give you a second to think of where....... ok times up. Shelby and I ate at King Taco! For the last few months I have been hearing about this King Taco. Who knew that I was born and raised in LA and never heard of this place. Anyway so I decided to go. Of course these chain of King Taco's aren't local, so Shelby and I hopped on the 110 and went (the one of Broadway). I wasn't really expecting much from the look of the outside of the restaurant, it kind of reminded me of Campos Tacos. I could appreciate the fact that it wasn't crowded and we didn't have to wait long for our food. I like the fact that there menu is very limited and they don't sale a bunch of other food like hamburgers, corn dogs or any of the other bs Mexican food places sale along with Mexican food. So here is what we ordered:

3 Chicken Tacos
1 Carne Asada Burrito
1 Cheese Quesadilla
Chips
Rice
Guacamole
Drinks

All that came to a grand total of $21.19, the food is reasonably price and I was pleased. Overall the food was good, a little spicy but next time I'll go easy on the salsa. Although it didn't seem like Shelby and I were there long, do to our drive we were so hungry we ate the food in a matter of minutes. Shelby also enjoyed the food and suggested we tell other people about it (LOL). I mentioned to her that I'm sure people know about this place, because its been around for years I heard. I'd like to share a funny story about my trip to the restroom as we were leaving. I proceed to go to the restroom and upon entering the restroom I notice the door didn't lock. I wasn't worried because it wasn't crowded in there and there was another restroom. As I am washing my hands a man walks in and says" Uh oh" and I look and say "Yea Uh Oh"! This is was too funny, thank God I already used the restroom. Then as I'm walking out the man is just standing around? He didn't even use the other restroom. WTH that was strange, weird and akward. At that moment I knew our trip to King Taco was done. So in true "Wednesday Dinner" fashion, I know dinner is not complete with out dessert. So I figured, where could we go?? Since I was on the whole King thing, I decided we would go to King Donuts. If any of you know about King Donuts, you know they are know for there Cool Aid that has Sugar Diabetes written all over it! LOL. Thank God it wasn't to crowded down there and here is what we got:

2 Twist
1 Large Red Cool Aid
1 Small Blue Bubble Gum Ice Cream

Everything was DELISH! This is one of the few places where after 12pm they're donuts are still fresh. The cool aid was nice, cool and sweet. It's rare that Blue Bubble Gum Ice Cream is still served, and it just melted in my mouth. I spent $2.90 on all of that and you can't beat that. As Shelby and I would say "That's crack head prices". Overall yesterday was a great day/evening. Since Shelby has just returned home from her trip to DC a few days prior and I was totally missing her while she was gone, this gave us a good chance to catch up and talk. We talked about college, her plans for the summer and her job search along with other topics. Since Shelby will be a Senior in September, the time we spend now is treasured and very valuable. I know we both enjoyed each others company! I was excited that I spent under $25 and we both were full and had a great time. This concludes my "Wednesday Dinner" story for this week, next weeks place and guest are still up in the air. If you want to join me or have any suggestions, hit me ashleymarie729@gmail.com. Let me leave you with a little food for thought " Team Work makes the Dream Work". Until next week Peace, always Ashley!

Wednesday Dinner 7/1/09

As most of you know, my friends and I started this thing called "Wednesday Dinner" a few months back. It was started because I am off on Wednesday's from my night job. It was a way for us to all get together during the week, have a great home cooked dinner, drink, laugh and all around have a good time. When it first started it was very small, there where only 4 of us in the rotation. But as time progressed we became a movement and added more people. And there was the birth of "Wednesday Dinner". If you are my friend on Facebook, you know last week was the end of "Wednesday Dinner" at least with that group of people should I say. I will not disclose the reason why "Wednesday Dinner" with that group has been cancelled, however I will discuss the revamping of "Wednesday Dinner". I have decided since me being off on Wednesday was the whole reason why "Wednesday Dinner" was started, I will take this negative and turn it in to a positive and productive thing for me. I have decided that I will become a some what of a food critic and venture out with my other friends and family and visit different high end and budget friendly restaurants on Wednesdays. Blogging as been something I have been interested in for a while and food is something I've always been interested in so I meshed the two. I will try to post something every week, along with my thoughts, photos and of course the thought of my guest during my "Wednesday Dinner". I would like to thank you for following my blog, I hope you enjoy! If you have any suggestions and or idea's on how I can improve my blog, please drop me a line ashleymare729@gmail.com. Peace