Wednesday Dinner 9/23/09

Well, well, well its Thursday and for me the weekly went very rapidly! I hope all of you are having a FAB week, I know I am. I am coming of a week high! I have a good week thus far and can't complain. I do want to take a minute to thank the person who sent me flowers to my job on Monday, once again thanks. The flowers were lovely! Now moving right along, as usual I had plans for this week with my buddy Justin Bobby we were suppose to hang out and go somewhere I've been trying to go all summer practically. But in true "Wednesday Dinner" fashion a boomerang came my way. My cousin Brittany will be turning 25 this Saturday and she wanted all of "The Cousins" to get together and have dinner in honor of her birthday. So I was all in! "The Cousins" consist of myself, Melissa, Brittany, Mikey, Marc and Dominick. Dominick was unable to make it because of school but the rest of us were down for the cause. Brittany wanted to go somewhere good, inexpensive and have Mexican food. I don't know what it is with my family but we all really like Mexican food, she also wanted to pick a place that was in the middle for everyone to meet at since we would be meeting during the week. I was totally siked to see all of my cousins since I hadn't seen them in a while, we've all been so busy with work, school, and of course everyone is working on there own personal & business things. So anytime we all get to catch up its all good! Since this week is about Brittany let me give you a little background on her: She is my uncle Mickey's middle child, growing up her & my sister Melissa where very close, my cousin Mikey is her baby brother and she owns her own clothing line "The Lady and The Sailor". Her clothing line consist of tee's, tanks, cardi's and most recently hoodies, her clothes are available at Madison, Fred Segal and a wide range of other stores from LA to Chicago and Hawaii. Over the summer there was an article about her clothing line (www.dailycandy.com/chicago/article/.../Sea+It+to+Believe+It) check it out. We are all so proud of her as business is BOOMING! And the items are so cute!!!! Last night she gave me one of the new Hoodies and it is just FAB (thanks Britt). Anywho Brittany decided we would all have dinner at 7pm at El Coyote (http://www.elcoyotecafe.com/index_lo.html?detectflash=false). I arrived a little late due to LA traffic in that area, so by the time I arrived they were already seated and everyone had at least one shot of Patron! It was great to see everyone and Brittany's boyfriend Josh was there also. Josh and Brittany have been dating for a few years now & I swear he fits right in with our family! About 5 minutes after I got there Melissa arrived and it was time to get the party started. Brittany, Marc & Josh ordered Ultimate Margarita's, Mikey a Shirley Temple (he's not 21 yet :-( , I had a Strawberry Margarita & Melissa had a Tanqueray & Tonic. While we were drinking we were all catching up and of course talking about family, our cousins wedding in Colorado coming up and a whole bunch of other things. By now it was time to order and her is what everyone got:

Brittany- #1 (Cheese Enchilada, Fish Taco, rice & beans)
Josh- #1 (Cheese Enchilada, Fish Taco, rice & beans)
Mikey- #7 (2 Chicken Enchiladas, Carnitas Taco(ala carte), rice & beans)
Ashley- #1 (Cheese Enchilada, Chicken Taco, rice & beans)
Marc- #5 (2 Chile Rellono's, Tamale, rice & beans)
Melissa - Salad & Cheese Quesadilla

El Coyote is one of LA's best kept secrets, I think when it comes to Mexican food. The service is always great and the food is well priced, I've never had a bad experience there & I would like to keep it that way. Located in the heart of the Fair Fax district off of Beverly, serving all of your favorite traditional Mexican dishes along with great chips & salsa and crazy cheap Margarita's what could be better. During dinner we continued talking, we talked about childhood memories, and grandma. But mostly all of our childhood memories we shared together, we all cracked a few jokes here & there. All in all it was a GREAT TIME! I am certain Brittany enjoyed herself. After we ate Brittany got a little surprise at the table, they came over and sung her Happy Birthday & at the end I noticed that called her "Ponchita"? I am still trying to google that and get a definition Hahaha! Josh told them it was her birthday (how sweet). Also Josh was kind enough to pick up the bill for dinner, so I can't give a total because I am not sure how much dinner was (thanks Josh). So after dinner we all decided to go to Crumb Cupcakes ( http://www.crumbs.com/). From El Coyote Crumbs is about 5 mins away, located in the heart of Larchmont Village. Crumbs is a small bake shop with 2 tables outside, it wasn't crowded last night. However all the good cupcakes were gone! and everyone wasn't to excited about what they got. We all ordered separately so I was only able to track what Melissa & I got:

Ashley- Chocolate Vanilla & Hazel Nut Latte
Melissa- Boston Cream & Green Tea

My experiences at Crumb were always good up until last night, but I will not go in on them. I will give them a pass because it was late, so next time we'll just have to go early to get the good ones or go to Yummy cupcakes (my favorite place). Crumbs has about 50 different cupcake flavors, along with serving cookies, brownies, & cheesecake. We were all able to sit outside and eat our cupcakes & continued having good times & laughs. I think by this time Brittany was a little buzzed with her 2 shots of Patron ( oh yea she had another before the food came out out) & her Margarita. We all said our goodbyes & everyone hopped in their cars & went their separate ways. All in all it was another GREAT "Wednesday Dinner" there's nothing like good food, laughs all while doing it with your family! If you would like to get on the "Wednesday Dinner" track or have a suggestion of where I should grub next drop me a line ashleymarie729@gmail.com. In closing I would like to talk about confidence, confidence is defined as a firm belief in anyone or anything. Confidence is not something we get over night, its something we grow into & grow up to appreciate. Some people have an effortless confidence about themselves & others not so much. Some people are just confident people in any & everything they do or say, others find doubt in being confident & are often haunted by insecurities. Whatever the case may be be confident in yourself and in your abilities, because you will be amazed at what you can do when have believe in yourself. Confidence is not found on face book, twitter, bad relationships, or anything fake or negative. Confidence should be positive & it should come off that way, there is never a need to obnoxious or ostentatious. Never look for someone or something to give you confidence! Until next week, HUGS -Ashley

Wednesday Dinner 9/16/09

Morning ya'll! Hope your doing well and feeling good this morning, I am just going to go balls in on this one. This week's dinner was very special! My grandmother (my mother's mother) had been wanting to take My sister & I out to dinner for out birthdays. For those of you who don't know Melissa & I are 3 years and 2 weeks apart, growing up we would share a lot of our birthday's together (that's just a little inside side bar note). So our grandmother wanted to take us to dinner, and we were all in. I was extremely excited to see both of them, I hadn't seen Melissa in about 2 weeks & maybe a little over a month since I had seen my grandma. Of course in my usual Ashley fashion I was late (sorry guys). Melissa had decided last week we were going to have Thai Food, but what would "Wednesday Dinner" be if a wrench wasn't thrown in it HAHA! Melissa said the grandma wanted to have Italian Food and so that is what we had. If any of you know our grandma you guys know she loves to go eat at different places and she enjoys the company of her grandchildren. Grandma decided she wanted to take us to Ugo (http://cafeugo.com/), Ugo is located in Downtown Culver City. When I got there for some strange reason I had a feeling my sister & grandma would be sitting outside & I was right. The atmosphere at Ugo is very romantic & intimate, its a cute place for a date night. Last night the weather was very nice for outside dinning. When I got there my sister & grandma hadn't ordered yet, I guess they were waiting on me so here is what we had:

Sparkling Moscato (Moscato D'Asti)
Ceaser Salad
Fried Calamari
Vegetarian Lasagna with Grilled Chicken- Ashley
Lobster Ravioli-Grandma
Bolognese Pasta- Melissa

I just noticed that the menu on Ugo's website is totally different from what I was reading last night, they need to work on getting the fixed (side bar). Our waitress was very sweet and attentive however we were waiting a while for the food to come out, but maybe that's a good thing because we were all done with our appetizers by the time dinner came out. Our grandma had been to Ugo before, I believe 2 weeks ago she was there for lunch or dinner. Melissa & I had never been, but we both agreed we had a good first experience and would be coming back. Over dinner we talked about plenty of things, starting with grandma giving us her update & outlook on her children all 5 of them. Haha. And then we talked about her upcoming birthday, on December 3rd grandma will be 84 years old!!!! What a blessing to still have her, & her to be able to be in her right state of mind, healthy & happy. Grandma is planning a nice little surprise for her birthday & its kind of her gift to all of us. I won't go into details but just stay tuned because I am sure its going to be good! Of course the boyfriend who are you dating conversation came up & of course I came up empty with nothing to say (Hahaha). We also talked about the trip we are planning next summer to Jamaica and in true grandma fashion she let us know she'd think about it, gotta love her! Grandma also mentioned that she heard I had her on the internet in a picture, she didn't care where the picture was she just wanted to know how she looked now that's just too funny! So after dinner we were so full but you know me, I always save a little room for dessert. Ugo has about 20 flavors of Gelato along with other desserts inside of the restaurant. Melissa & I decided to have some Gelato while grandma was way to full to have anything else to eat.

Hazel Nut- Ashley
Romeo & Juliet- Melissa

Melissa & I both ordered a child's portion of the Gelato & it was way bigger that what we expected. Melissa's was way better than mine, even though mine was good Melissa's was GREAT. The Romeo & Juliet had a cheesecake taste to it but after some thought we figured out it's made with Mascarpone Cheese & it also had a hint of Raspberry swirl in it (DELISH). All in all dinner was good, personally I enjoyed my appetizer more than my dinner but hey the dinner was still good. I also had two glasses of Moscato De' Asti which is becoming one of my favorite wines! So good, if you haven't tried it try it. Grandma also liked it, calling it "The Bomb" hahaha! All the food came up to $88.87 which isn't bad for 3 people to have including appetizer, dinner, dessert & alcoholic beverage. Spending time with Melissa & grandma last night was so nice & refreshing, grandma wanted me to call her when I got home which I did & here is what she said " You got home fast, I had a nice time, we have to do it again & it doesn't have to be a birthday the next time". So I think now my grandma will be in rotation for some more "Wednesday Dinners". If you would like to get on the "Wednesday Dinner" time sheet or have any suggestion on where I should go next, drop me a line ashleymarie729@gmail.com . In closing I would like to talk about Help, help is defined as assist; remedy; prevent;. We all need help & we all have been asked to help someone or with something. However help is one of those things that we can also do for ourselves, people tend to help those who help themselves. We have family, friends, co workers, associates, children that require our help & will also offer their help in return. Help is something we all do on a daily basis & something we should continue to do, you never know you might help someone & save their life. Never be afraid to help or offer your help to someone else because you never know when you'll need to be helped. Until next week Tata-Ashley

Wednesday Dinner 9/9/09

How you doin? (in my Wendy Williams voice). Happy Thursday to all! Once again I am extremely tired, but I know the show must go on, so let me get into this week's "Wednesday Dinner". Earlier this month I had made plans with my friend Justin to go out with him since yesterday was his Birthday, I had put together the ultimate birthday dinner but as usual these "Wednesday Dinner" plans change. Justin told me that his family was planning to take him out on his birthday, which I was totally cool with so I had to rearrange somethings around. And just when I picked the place I was going to eat at, my night job throws a wrench my way. Since Monday was a Holiday (Labor Day) I was informed that I would be working on my scheduled off day, which was no biggie to me since "I gotta make that money" hahaha! So I quickly began to think of other options and came up with one. Since I knew that my time to eat would be short because I had to be at work last night at 7:30pm instead of 8:30pm I had to think fast on this one and I did. Since my night job is in Manhattan Beach I started to think about what was close by, what I had a taste for and what was cheap. And cheap only because I don't usually eat heavy food before going to work. After much thought I decided to roll with the Costco food court. As many of you know Costco is known for the ridiculously large inventory of bulk food and supplies for members only. But what a lot of people don't know is they have any amazing food court with economy friendly prices and you don't have to be a member to enjoy dinning at they're food court. My night job is located about 5 minutes from Costco so for me last night's choice was easy and convenient. With so many options to choose from on the Costco menu it was so hard. But since I had been craving something and the sun was shinning yesterday here is what I got:

1 Slice of Cheese Pizza
1 Dipped Ice Cream Bar (Dipped in Chocolate & Topped with Almonds)

Costco offers a variety of food choices at they're food court (Hot Dogs, Churros, Pizza, Chicken Ceaser Salad, Turkey Wrap, Chicken Bake, Ice Cream, Smoothies, and Soda's). I mean with all these choices and knowing that the food is fresh how could I decided. I had been craving pizza for a while but would have totally preferred to have it with an Ice Cold Beer (yea sometimes pizza and beer go so well together). But because I was going to work after dinner the beer was a definite NO NO. The pizza was so good, it reminds me of Chicago Style pizza with its big slices that are big enough for two people. The pizza was so cheesy and DELISH, oh how I love the pizza from Costco. I did decide to get something for dessert since it was so nice outside and my sweet tooth was kicking in, I ordered the ice cream bar and boy oh boy!!!! That ice cream was big enough for two people also, once I took a bite I was in heaven. People who know me, know that I am a huge fan of sweets but especially ice cream. This ice cream bar has a lot of comparison to the Haagen-Dazs Vanilla & Almond bar, however in my opinion there is no comparison the one from Costco is waaaaay better. Its bigger and half the price and the almonds are on the outside and not the inside. For the pizza and the ice cream I spent a total of $3.85 which is a price that will make you want to slap your mother (just kidding). After dinner I had just enough time to eat, shower, take a 30 minute power nap and then it was off to work. But I did enjoy my very quick "Wednesday Dinner". If you would like to get on the "Wednesday Dinner" stroll or make a suggestion of a place for me to dine send me an email ashleymarie729@gmail.com. In closing I would like to talk about Closure, closure is defined as shut, end or stop. Closure is something we all need to move on or away from something, but its something that sometimes we don't always get. In order to move on from something and have closure you have to be ready to take criticism, heartache, pain and unhappiness of course no one wants to hurt any ones feelings but in order to move on and close things out its something that has to be done. I recently took a huge step with getting closure to somethings and people in my life, and I feel great! Knowing that my happiness is totally mine and I will not be compromising myself for someone else is the best feeling. All though we are all still works in progress, I am taking steps to be a complete piece of work and I started with closure. Until next week MUAH-Ashley

Wednesday Dinner on Thursday 9/3/09

HOW U DOIN (in my Wendy Williams voice) and Happy Friday to you all! This week zoomed by for me!!!! My apologies for the blog being a day late, I had plans this week and did a little switcharue. My original plan was to work my night job Wednesday because my sister and I were going to see Melanie Fiona last night at the Roxy, but the show was cancelled :-( . It felt so weird to be working on my night off but yesterday was the perfect night for me to be off. As many of you know one of my best friends, Tiffany was pregnant and was expecting her baby any day as of last week. I had told Tiffany the 1st Wednesday after the baby was born I would come and have dinner with them. Well last week her baby was born and boy was Tiffany's labor one to remember! So since my plans where all changed around, Tiffany and I had a dinner date for last night. Since she just had the baby less than a week ago I told her to think of what she wanted to eat and I would bring it over and we would have "Wednesday Dinner on Thursday". Many of you know that Tiffany and I go waaaaaay back to our days at Warren Lane, we've been friends since the 3rd grade so anytime we get together its a riot! We just have to much fun and a lot of laughs. I feel like we are the only one's who really get each other our humor is one in the same. Seeing Tiffany with a baby is something that is so dear to my heart because it means we're really adults now LOL. We've been thru a lot together and seeing the happiness in her face when she holds and looks at her baby is PRICELESS! I am so happy for her and I love her and baby Bri so much! So Tiffany decided that she wanted to eat Chipotle for dinner(http://www.chipotle.com/#/land). I wasn't really feeling that at first since I just had it last week but hey I did tell her to pick what we were going to eat, so here is what we had:



2 Chicken Salads

1 Cheese Quesadilla

Chips and Guacamole



My experience yesterday at Chipotle was HORRIBLE! Every employee working on the assembly line was rude! Except for the 1st guy who just put my lettuce in the bowl. I don't understand why people who handle food and or work with customers are so rude, it boggles me. So today I will be calling to complain on the entire row of people that prepared my food. Chipotle is a very trendy Mexican American food place specializing in Burritos, but they also serve Taco's, Salads, Quesadilla's, Burrito Bowls, Beer and Margarita's. The food is good but a little pricing for it to be informal dinning, those 5 items of food cost $18.16 and you would think for that price I would have got better service. Once I arrived at Tiffany's house I was so excited and hungry. Excited to see the baby since I hadn't seen her since the day she was born. Tiffany's baby looks just like her when she was a baby, this little baby is so peaceful and can sleep thru anything. I think the whole time I was there she was awake for maybe 10 minutes but I hear that newborn babies sleep a lot. Dinner was ok not the best Chipotle I had but ok, we both didn't finish our salads and Tiffany wasn't really feeling the Quesdadilla but that's one of my favorites from Chipotle. Tiffany and I talked about all types of things but mainly her new little bundle of joy, and what life is going to be like now. We were also joined by Tiffany's sister and her friends, who always keep Tiffany and I laughing! Along with our dinner we were drinking Kool Aid, I have to plug this because Tiffany's mom makes THEEEE BEST Kool Aide ever! OMG so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So after dinner we all just sat around talking and laughing. I had also brought over some dessert, in my opinion no Mexican meal is complete with out a Churro, Flan, Fried Ice Cream or Cheesecake. So I decided to buy 2 Churro's from Costco since its right next door to Chipotle. I love Costco's food and 2 Churro's were only $2.20, you can't beat that. After we ate dessert it was time to watch our favorite show RHOA (Real Housewives of Atlanta)!!! All my ladies know about this show and I know everyone loves it to. Last nights show was to funny with NeNe being the director of the photo shoot, Kim and Lisa meeting to talk, and Sharee fake crying when having lunch with Kandi. I won't give the entire show away because I don't know who didn't get a chance to see it yet. So after the RHOA it was time for me to leave it was hot and I was to sleepy, I didn't want to leave baby Bri she is to cute and either I'm getting attached or my maternal jones is itching. All in all I had a great time with my friend and she is one of those people who makes me appreciate the realness of a friendship. Love ya Tiff! As I get home I think I'm a getting ready to go to sleep since its damn near 12am but to my surprise my Uncle was sleep on the couch and needed a ride to work. Of course I took him, the things you do for family. If you have any suggestions on places to eat or would like to get on the "Wednesday Dinner" mother ship hit me at ashleymarie729@gmail.com . In closing I would like to talk about Love, webster's dictionary describes Love as: A strong positive emotion of regard and affection, Any object of warm affection or devotion, A beloved person; used as terms of endearment, A deep feeling of sexual desire and attraction. These are just a few meanings, love is one of the emotions we've all experienced and we know that love is an unconditional emotion. Love is something that should be taken seriously but at times isn't. I feel like there is no greater love then the love of a mother to a child, a child to a parent, the love of a sibling/family member, the love between a man and a woman and the love between true and real best friends. Love is an emotion that shouldn't and doesn't have to be sad, hurtful, mean, bitter or ugly. Love is happy, smiling, warm, kind and careful but loving someone at times might mean letting them go because loving them isn't loving you. Love shouldn't be complicated it should be easy and peaceful, if you find yourself loving someone and you loose the love for yourself its time to let go. There is so much love to spread around I don't know how or why people want to hate. But that's the way of the world, " Love is the one thing that constant and keeps giving back to those who give it" until next week (pounds) -Ashley