Wednesday Dinner 1/27/10

Good Morning my loves!!!!! And welcome to yet another day and another chance to do what we didn't do yesterday! I hope you are all doing well and are well rested in your mind, body and spirit. Yesterday was just a day of craziness for "Wednesday Dinner", my original plan was to go eat with my friend from high school Tiffany A. but yesterday afternoon Tiffany emailed me and said that she dropped her phone in the elevator shaft at work and we will have to reschedule. I felt so bad for Tiffany (and I will be checking on her this afternoon, I hope she got that phone thing squared away). So then I decided to take my BFF Tiffany D. out because her birthday just passed on Tuesday the 26th, but Tiffany was waiting for one of her ex co-workers to stop by and visit with her and the baby (but the co-worker never showed up-SHAME) so I was kind of lost. By the time I got home from work for some strange reason I wasn't very hungry, so I pitter pattered around for a little while and I decided I would go see my little brothers (Brandon & Ryan) play basketball. Both of them attend Hamilton High and they are both seniors, yesterday Hamilton played Fairfax (and I saw my cousin Taelor at the game too- Hey Tootie (if your reading this)). Since I've been out of high school which has been 10 years that was the first sporting event I've attended since graduating. The game was amazing my brothers played great and almost won, they lost by 3 points (final score 63-60). I am not sure of anyone who went to Hamilton has attended any of they're games but they have a Mascot now, and it is hilare!!! This kid dresses up like a real Yankee and goes balls to the walls. I was like what the hell we didn't have a Mascot when I went here, but anyway on a side note I'd like to give a "Shout Out" to all my little homies at Hamilton graduating this year (Shelby, Brandon, Ryan, Maya, Amber, Toi,) I see ya'll. So after the game it was time to eat, by the time the game was over it was 8pm and that was late but Momma Bear was hungry. So since I was in the Hamilton area I started thinking, thinking, thinking and I decided to go to "Daphne's" Greek Cafe (http://www.daphnesgreekcafe.com/) in good old downtown Culver City. I had never been to Daphne's but I had been wanting to try it, so here is what I ate:


Fire Feta Hummus & Grilled Pita Starter
Street Gyro& Chicken Kabob Plate (with Greek Salad & Rice)
Baklava
Green Tea Peach Iced Tea

Ok so Daphne's has this recession special because everything except for the drink was $7.00, its part of they're "3 Courses for $7.00". When I saw that I was like huh? all of the food there is reasonably priced but I felt like this was the best way to go since this was my first time eating there, this gave me more bang for my buck and I'm always down with that. Including my drink my entire meal was $9.64 (WHAT-in my Lil John voice); I am so rollin with that. I liked Daphne's a lot because it was super clean and the Manager/Cashier was overly nice, I also like when you eat out at a cafe or something and they serve you on real plates with real silverware (I don't like dinning at a place on plastic). So when my food came out, they brought it to me and it was time to grub!!!!! Everything from start to finish was DELISH!!!! The Hummus was bomb!!! I just started eating Hummus about 3 years ago and I usually go to the Farmer's Market to get it, but this was the right amount and it was YUMO! The Gyro, Kabob, Salad, and Rice where also on bomb.com status! To top everything off was the Baklava and that was YUMO too! I was soooo FULL and at the same time very impressed, also I loved, loved, LOVED my Iced Tea. I really don't drink a lot of soda, hardly ever so when I saw the Green Peach Iced Tea I was on it. I had never heard of that type of Ice Tea or seen it anywhere so I tried it and fell in love with it; it’s made by Lipton so I'm going to find out where I can buy it. All in all dinner was DELISH and I will be going back to Daphne's real soon. If you would like to get on the "Wednesday Dinner" flight or have any suggestions drop me a line wednesdaydinnerwithash@yahoo.com. In closing I would like to leave you with this "There is Triumph in every Tragedy" until next week Peace Out-Ashley

Wednesday Dinner 1/20/10

Good Morning and Happy Thursday!!!!!! I hope that you all are driving safely and staying dry out here in this "It never rains in Southern California rain" Hahahaha! This weather is so crazy and it so makes me want to stay home and lay in my bed, but there is money to be made and the world needs to be changed so I have to do my part! So let the "Wednesday Dinner" story begin; This week I met up with Stephanie for a early dinner late lunch, since both Stephanie and I get off work before 5pm and it was raining cats and dogs yesterday there was no way I was trying to be out late if I didn't have to. So we decided to meet, Stephanie and I both love a good burger and for the past week I have been watching "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" on the Food Network and ran across this place called Umami Burger (http://www.umamiburger.com/) which was highly recommended so I decided what the hell lets give it a try. For me this place was right on time because it was extremely close to my job so I was able to make it there in no time, but for Stephanie not so much she was coming all the way from the El Segundo area (So big ups to Steph for meeting me in the rain yesterday, you rock!!!). Its funny because Stephanie actually beat me to Umami burger, everyone knows I have a horrible sense of direction (no more to say about that). Umami is located right on the corner of 8th and LaBrea; it’s a cute not so typical burger place. It’s very clean and I'd say with a modern budda type feel to it. Umami wasn't crowded but it wasn't empty, the one thing I didn't like was the parking lot was extremely small!! I had to park on the street and it was raining (that was no bueno). When I arrived Stephanie was already waiting for me at our table which was right in front of the door, now pardon me but why would someone want to sit in front of a door when it’s raining. SO when I arrived we moved, to a table further in the restaurant. I also noticed that Umami has a little private area that can probably hold about 10 people for maybe a dinner party or meeting (very cute). So now it was time to order and here is what we got but before I tell you that let me just say that at Umami you can't alter any of their food items, what you read is what you get.


Ashley-Arnold Palmer, Socal Burger (butter lettuce, oven dried tomato, spread, house made american cheese, caramelized onions)


Stephanie- Lemonade, Socal Burger (butter lettuce, oven dried tomato, spread, house made american cheese, caramelized onions)


Onion Rings, Fires and Pickle Platter to share


Ok so here is my disclaimer on the food, the burger was very good however Stephanie likes pickles on her burger I could care less about pickles but Umami doesn't offer pickles on their burgers they offer a pickle platter which has about 4 different types of pickles on it. We ordered that and clearly the kind of pickles we were looking for weren't on there, but the show must go on. I also didn't like the fact that they brought out our fries and onion rings before they brought out our burgers. I prefer to eat the two together while both are hot! Our waitress wasn't the best she kept giving us the run around on the questions we asked, I guess maybe she wasn't use to people asking question I guess. So over our fries, onion rings and pickle platter Stephanie just had our usual "Ashley & Stephanie" talk we discussed relationships, birthdays, outings and other randomness of yesterdays happenings. After that it was time to eat and the burgers were brought out (Wooohooo), I was so hungry and had been waiting all day to eat. This burger to me was the perfect size for a woman and what I mean by that is it was just enough I had nothing left over and I was full. This was a fancy shamanzy burger that was reasonably priced at $9.00. Along with the fries and onion rings the meal was pretty good. Umami also offers a variety of throwback sodas like Coca Cola, Orange and Grape Crush in the Bottle (got to love those). So after we ate it was time to see what they had to offer for dessert, Umami offers desserts made by this company called Cake Monkey (http://www.cakemonkey.com/) I wasn't to sold on those so I decided to go with an in house dessert better know as:


Ice Cream Sandwich


This ice cream sandwich was delish!!! It was what Stephanie and I call "Cookie) filled with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream dipped in chocolate. I know most of you are thinking why would I eat ice cream on a rainy day but everyone’s know I love ice cream no matter the weather!!! I managed to eat the whole sandwich by myself Stephanie only had a taste. After that it was time to get the bill and roll out, with everything we ordered the bill was $41.72 which wasn't bad for 2 people. After eating that I was so FULL all I wanted to do was take a nap (I had a real case of the itis). I will definitely go back to Umami Burger, and I would suggest you all try it to, I like the twist they put on a regular burger and make it something to remember. If you would like to get on the "Wednesday Dinner" stage or have any suggestions drop me a line wednesdaydinnerwithash@yahoo.com . In closing I would like to leave you with this "Its all about solutions not excuses" until next week Shalom- Ashley

Wednesday Dinner 1/13/10

Good morning dolls!!!!! And Happy Thursday, I hope all of you are feeling good and looking forward to the end of another work week. I am so tired do to last nights "Wednesday Dinner" excursion. So I will let the "Wednesday Dinner" story begin. I had been following and trying to catch up with this food truck I have been following on Twitter. I am not sure if any of you are familiar with the Kogi BBQ Truck (http://kogibbq.com/), they are a Korean BBQ truck with a twist on comfort food favorites like taco's, burritos, quesadilla's, etc. Basically you have to follow this truck on Twitter to know where they are going to be and clearly the stars must have been in my favor because they were finally close to where I live. Last night they were parked in Carson which is about 20 mins away from where I live, the only problem was that they weren't going to be in Carson until 10:30pm. Many of you know I never eat that late especially during the week, so this was a stretch for me. But I made it there at 10:30pm only to find that I played myself with arriving right at 10:30pm. Since Shelby was up, I decided to bring her with me because she is just like me when it comes to food. So when we got there at 10:30pm I noticed there was a line that was out of this freakin world!!!! There where so many college kids out there that it was ridiculous, at one point I was just ready to throw in the towel and come back home but I thought to myself "Your already here". While Shelby and I were standing in line we befriended a gentleman who at first Shelby was making fun of. Shelby was clowin this guy because he was playing music from his phone which was loud enough for everyone to hear and Shelby noticed that this dude was like almost 30 years old. But this guy was pretty helpful but once he started talking he actually kind of struck me as a little weird because he was holding conversations with my 17 year old sister. Anyway he gave us suggestions on what to try since this was our first time visiting the Kogi Truck. We were standing in line for about 45 mins and we saw and caught some pretty random stuff, I was so mad at Shelby because she didn't bring her video camera. But the most random thing we saw last night was a dude playing a Ukulele, that was hilarious to me and what was also funny was that Shelby knows the sound of a Ukulele. So it was finally our turn and here is what we ordered:


7 Taco's (6 Short Rib, 1 Chicken)
Sliders
Sweet Chili Chicken Quesadilla w/ Salsa Naranja


The food is reasonably priced, Taco's are $2, Sliders are $5 and you get 2 and the Quesadilla is anywhere from $5-$7. The food came up to $32.95 which wasn't bad, I was a little disappointed last night because by the time I got to the window to order they were out of Tres Leches. Tres Leches is their dessert special for the week, but now that I think about it I am kind of glad I didn't get any dessert because I probably would have been up all night. I have visited a few food trucks and it’s clear that the Kogi truck is in high demand and has a huge following. The food was good, I liked everything we ordered the only thing I could have done with out was the salsa on the quesadilla we should have just ordered a plain chicken quesadilla. I learned a good lesson last night, which is the next time I am going to try and catch a food truck especially the Kogi truck I need to be there at least a hour ahead of the arrival time. I would strongly suggest that you get familiar with the Kogi Truck because as of right now they are killing the food truck game. If you would like to get a "Wednesday Dinner" golden ticket drop me a line at wednesdaydinnerwithash@yahoo.com and also follow me on Twitter, www.twitter.com/wednesdaydinner. In closing I want to talk about the tragedy in Haiti, lets all do something to help out, weather is a donation of money, clothes or time. Please visit http://www.yele.org/ and/or  www.redcross.org/ to get more information on what you can do to help. Also I would like to say RIP Teddy Pendergrass and "It's all good loving somebody when somebody loves you back". Until next week Love, Peace and Soul-Ashley

Wednesday Dinner 1/6/10

Good Morning my loves and Happy New Year!!!!!!! I am finally back from my little blogging vacay, I hope you all are doing well and this New Year has started off great for you. It has been for me until this morning, the Pacer is giving me some problems but I will get through today and deal with that damn car later. As I mentioned before I plan on making this blog way better than it was last year so let the "Wednesday Dinner" story begin. This week for dinner I finally caught up with my girl Tati, Tati and I met through a mutual friend named Maurice (he has a blog also check it out: http://mbhall.blogspot.com/). Tati and I had been trying to meet up for dinner since I started this blog but time just wasn't in our favor so I decided that she would be one of the first people in 2010 that I went to dinner with. A while ago Tati had mentioned The Boiling Crab to me as one of the places I should try, so after much thought and viewing the menu that's where we decided to go. The Boiling Crab (http://www.theboilingcrab.com/) is not local by any means, most of its locations are further out in California. The one we decided to go to was the one in Garden Grove which is one of they're biggest and most popular locations. Upon arriving there I noticed that there was a plethora of people standing outside which for me was not a good sign after being on the freeway for 40 minutes I was ready to eat. I met Tati outside and her and her friend Tammy where walking up, Tati told me that she called and they told her that the wait was at least 1 hour (WHAT THE?????). So I went inside and placed my name on the list (Ashley party of 3) Hahaha. At this time it wasn't looking to good for us, I was told the wait was anywhere from an hour and a half to an hour and forty-five minutes (ARE YOU SHITING ME???) is what I was thinking. But I drove way too far to turn around and go home. While waiting I noticed that there were a lot of young people waiting and a lot of young people working for The Boiling Crab, which explains why they're customer service SUCKED! While waiting for a table Tati, Tammy and I had a little girl talk, about the usual men and dating. I found that Tati and I are very similar with our views when it comes to dating men, so after girl talk we all couldn't get over the fact that we were still hungry and we had been waiting way to long. So we decided to walk over to The Boiling Crab To Go which is in the same area as the restaurant this is just for people who want to take their food home or eat outside. So we placed our orders and here is what I had:

1lb shrimp

1lb King Crab Legs

2 corns & 6 Sausages

Seasoned with The Whole Sha-bang Mild Style

The way The Boiling Crab serves they're food is like Crab Boil style, everything season and in a bag and you eat on paper with your fingers. This is all fine with me and would have been much better had I not had nails! My food came up to $36.13 which wasn't bad for the amount of food I got and I still have some left over!!! I was so hungry and all over the place that I didn't get a chance to take a picture of what Tati and her friend got to eat. So since we were ordering to go the only solution to eating our food was to eat outside. I am not sure if any of you where outside yesterday night but it was BRICK ASS COLD. But I was determined to eat my food, so I got paper to lay on the table a bib and went to work, Tati left Tammy and I and went back down to The Boiling Crab restaurant and was determined to get us a table. I wasn't wasting or waiting anymore so I opened my bag and started eating while I was eating Tammy noticed that Tati was trying to call her, Tati had gotten us a table at the restaurant so we bagged up our food and walked down there. At this point it was late and we had been waiting two hours to sit down and eat so I wasn't playing any games. The whole time I was eating I don't think I said anything, I was in heaven the food was hot and well seasoned!! Tati and Tammy seemed to be satisfied as well, they had been there many times before but it was my first time. I don't think I will be going back to The Boiling Crab to eat but I will definitely do the To Go thing. I was so full that dessert wasn't an option and by the time we left it was 9:30pm and I still had to make it to the Gym (oh yea, I'm working on my fitness). All in all the food was good and a great way to start my 2010 "Wednesday Dinner". If you have any suggestions on where I should go next or what to get on the "Wednesday Dinner" spaceship drop me a line wedenesdaydinnerwithash@yahoo.com and don't forget to follow me on Twitter (www.twitter.com/wednesdaydinner). In closing I will leave you with this quote "Pettiness has no value" until next week Bon Voyage-Ashley

Wednesday Dinner Revamped and Ready

Good Morning Dolls, as I prepare to come back tomorrow I just wanted to drop a little note that "Wednesday Dinner with Ash" has made it to Twitter (www.twitter.com/wednesdaydinner). And I also have a new email address (wednesdaydinnerwithash@yahoo.com), so follow me around the city on my food journey and I will also be updating the Twitter page with new restaurants, new deals and any and everything else dealing with food. Email me with any suggestions you may have, and I will see you all tomorrow. Peace -Ashley