BOO!

Halloween 20k Ten.

Went into work today and Josh was dressed as a clown. Im talking full outfit, rainbow curly Afro, nose, and face paint. Imagine someone cooking food and looking like a Caucasian Homie the Clown crossed with Heath Ledger's Joker make up. It was too amusing. The Bistro was kind of dull, so we decide to make us some fog with dry ice. Here are some videos.

He thought it was funny to put some in the sinks in the dish room as well lol. Scared the begeebus outta some of my coworkers.

I bought some candy just in case we were to get any trick or treaters. If not...more BlowPops for me!

Peace & Love,

Nique

Dun dun dunnnnn

Just wanted to say that the Cowboys are 1-5 and GO REDSKINS!

That's all.

LOL.

Peace & Love,

Nique

Music and its turn for the worse

I just finished tearing up some salmon & cream cheese rolls with extra wasabi.

While I was chewing, I started contemplating on what tonight's post should be about. I posed the question to the Twitter audience and didnt get any responses because everyone is watching either the game or Football Wives<----will be writing another blog on this soon----->, but I digress. I start thinking and listening to music. Pandora to be specific. I clicked through to my Babyface station which plays a lot of the older hits that I use to jam to as a kid/teen. Man I miss those days. Back then music use to have meaning.

Then it hits me...

I will write about music. Today's music mostly and how it SUCKS. Yes, I said SUCKS.

Sucking to the point where I will sit in a car and listen to nothing but the wind blowing through the windows.

Mostly all of the music of the past 5 or 6 years has gone in the very same direction as the shit that is flushed down your toilet. It is utterly disgusting. Record companies are letting any and everyone make music. It is even more annoying that most of it sounds the same. Now I am an avid listener of old school R&B and classic rock. Those are my favs and anyone that knows me well knows that I will put in The Stylistics or Steely Dan over anything else. My friends and some of my family members to not understand it, but that is how it has been since I was maybe 10. My ears have been trained to weed stuff that doesnt make sense or that just sounds uber ignorant. The radio stations play the same stuff over...and over...and over again and so does all of the music video channel. It really pisses me off sometimes, but instead of complaining, I just choose not to listen to it. Anytime Waka Flaka (whom can barely speak a well rounded, educated, complete sentence) gets serious air play on tv and radio, you know that music has gone to shit.

Stay with me a little longer because I am about to take you back...

Now as I said before, Im an old school music junkie. 40s on up to the 90s and present day, I know artist, record company, song title, producer, etc. If you think I am lying, try and challenge me. That's just what I have always been around growing up. Im only 25, but I have been around older adults in there 50s and have been singing the same songs as they were, word for word, and had them surprised. So now that is what I listen to the most. Music from back in the day meant something. It was either a love, heartbreak, world struggle, or something going on in that artist's life that drove them to writing those lyrics. You can almost close your eyes and paint a vivid picture while you are listening.

For example, The Brother's Johnson's Strawberry Letter 23. If you have ever heard that song, you probably do not know what in the hell these men are talking about and probably think they were high as gas when they wrote it. Be that as it may, the song was smooth, colorful, and had some sick sick guitar and bass licks. Beautiful peace of musicianship. You can sit back with a glass of brandy and just listen to what they are saying.

Instead today we have all of the artists writing about nonsense. I still do not know what the hell "Toot It and Boot It" means.

What I do not understand is why stuff like that is selling so well. Scratch that I do understand. The generation that is growing up today wasnt around when Michael Jackson, Boys II Men, SWV, Babyface...to name a few...were making GOOD music. All they have now is all of these dance move instructional songs...Stanky Leg...Duggie...Whip Your Hair...WTF? Why? How can you honestly explain that song to someone. You cant make a baby off of the Duggie. Well maybe some of yall can, but you get what I am saying. Our parents are able to tell us what they were doing at the very second that they were listening to some song back in the day. You can't do that these days. I just think that it is sad that the young generation will not share any of the same musical memories as we did when we were growing up.

With that said, no matter how many times I complain about record companies making bullshit and calling it music, the cycle will continue. Our kids will be thinking the same things when they grow up except that what is now will be their old school and their kids will be listening to something far more worse.

For now I will just continue to listen to REAL music.

I leave you with a song by Chuckii Booker entitled Games. Soulful.

Dj...break me off something proper.

Peace & Love,

Nique

New Movie Hot Spot: CineBistro

Sooo on our mall adventure today, we decided to go to Stony Point Fashion Park. In my opinion the mall has gone downhill since its EST. date in 2003. You can honestly count the number of people in the mall at all times (you will count only 10 no lie). Anywho, if you have been to the mall you might have eaten at a restaurant called Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro which kinda was a semi clone of the Cheesecake Factory that is in Short Pump Towne Center . Well if you remember it...forget it because it is now gone. The restaurant went out of business a little while ago and is now replaced with this.

CineBistro is a restaurant/movie theater concept that brings an upscale dining experience and a cinema together.Tickets are the same price as regular theaters ($7.50 for matinee and $10.00 for regular showing). The menu items are top knotch, but the prices are reasonable. We were able to get a tour of the theater. There are assigned seating, so when you reserve your tickets you have guaranteed seating unlike in the other theaters. Each theater has large leather seats, a table space, and holders for drinks. When you walk in the theater, a server takes your order from start to finish: drinks, apps, entrees, and dessert and then immediately closes out your tab and prints your check. They only have 6 movies showing at a time, but the movies are all new. The best part about the theater is that there is an age restriction. That's right...21 and up which means no kids or teens. You know you disike going to the movies with a date and there is either a crying baby in the theater or obnoxious teenagers throwing popcorn. Age restriction leaves more room for an intimate time with your date.

Be sure to take a ride and over to try this place out. I know I will be checking it out soon.

Peace & Love,

Nique

Hair

Natural.

After 10 years of using the "creamy crack", I decided last year that I would go natural. Now I dont have a bad grade of hair to begin with. There is some Portuguese-Irish and Native American in my blood, so even though I am African American, my hair came out soft and naturally curly. When I was about 13, I got tired of my thick and tight curls and decided that I wanted to be like all of the other African American girls and be able to wear my hair flat and in wraps. I started getting relaxers like every 6 months and it did well. I was able to go from Curly Sue to a Wrap Do whenever I wanted. As the years passed, I

learned more about how to manage my hair without chemicals and realized that I can have the same look without getting a relaxer.

Its been a year and 6 months since my last relaxer. M

y hair has been growing faster and is more healthier. I do not use any chemicals in my hair. Just rosemary & green tea shampoo and conditioner and coco

nut oil. It has been a smooth transition from chemi to natural. I didnt have to cut my hair as much when the relaxer was growing out which was great. T

he only downfall to my hair now is that it takes me 2 hours to flat iron it. This is more due to the length that it is because my curls are soft and very easy to comb through.

I appreciate my naturally curly hair now. If I could go back to when I was 13, I would have just been more patient and learned how to manage my hair without chemicals. Now that I know, I can still have cute hair styles :).

Peace & Love,

Nique

A blog for every occasion

Greetings people!

I made this blog in conjunction with my culinary blog (http://delectabledelights804.blogspot.com/). With this blog I will do more than talk about food. Thinking back to the days of Xanga in college at VCU, I use to blog about music, politics, fashion, and anything else that my young adult brain would think of. Now, I have grown a lot mentally and physically and I see the world from a different perspective. After getting a degree in journalism, I have much to write about. Even though I am not being paid to use my skills, I always think that I should feed my audience with words...and food.

You all will get a taste of how I view the world by reading what I write.

It shall be fun and informative.

I promise.

Peace and Love,

Nique