get up stand up

was anybody watching pbs last night? the program with chuck d? about music and protest? politicized music? anyone? no?

if you didn't, i really don't blame you. does anybody out there watch pbs as regularly as i do? i usually watch pbs for the cooking shows (now that foodtv is a corporate prostitute, metaphorically speaking)

but last night, pbs had a special (and one-time for all i know) 2-hour documentary called "get up, stand up: the story of pop and protest" about pop music and protest. so if you did see it, then lucky you.

although much of it was watered down versions of several different political songs and the eras that defined them, it was still pretty interesting. most definitely gave me some things to think about. it's too late to explore them all now, but hopefully i'll get back to this:

- i bought the only bob marley shirt i have once i read the first couple chapters of "can't stop, won't stop" although i had never really heard most of the political songs that he had written during the 70s.

- chuck d made a point that black music of the late 60s and the 70s, james brown - i'm black and i'm proud, and the above mentioned bob marley had empowered black people, especially black youth, and immediately, i thought of soulja boy... haha. that was a low blow. i know i've already labored on the point of soulja boy but seriously, who's fault is it that this shit got so popular? is it soulja boy's fault? how about the urban youth that (super)soak up that shit like a sponge? or corporate-controlled radio stations?

- funniest thing ever: being at the bear's lair and hearing hella white girls scream when crank dat came on. and then same white girls not even knowing the damn dance. YOOOUUUUU

- speaking of public enemy. does anybody else see the irony of where flava flav is now? from fight the power, one of the most politically influential and rebellious songs ever, to flavor of love, which is seriously white america making fun of black people.

- speaking of vh1 and mtv and irony, i find it really ironic that pbs is the network that showed this documentary, rather than mtv or vh1. i mean, it's not surprising, it's just ironic. can people stop watching that shit?!?!?! please?? i'm seriously begging people to not watch mtv anymore unless you can seriously prove that that shit isn't making you literally go dumb.

- we cannot change everything in this world by throwing money at it. benefit concerts and charity donations can only go so far.

we are the ones we've been waiting for (june jordan)

20 dollar dinner for (at least) two (maybe even four):

[insert josh's food porn picture of roasted chicken and potatoes here]

ok, even though you can get a pretty good 20 dollar meal for two from like barney's or brick pig's house or gordo's or even from old reliable, the asian ghetto, it always tastes better to make your own food. and there's no better, simpler gourmet meal to fix up for yourself and a lucky friend than some roasted chicken and yukon potatoes and some roasted asparagus.

there are some good recipes out there. there's even a video.

surrrously, everybody needs to roast a chicken once.

and i seriously need a new camera to document my food expeditions, food excursions, food explorers, and food rangers. if only i could afFORD it. get it?

in good times, in bad times

my friend rustico, who i hadn't seen in more than 4 years, recently asked me if going to berkeley made me more liberal and more politically active, and i said yes, because it had. but now that i've thoroughly marinated on that thought, i've come to a more thoroughly marinated conclusion: that it wasn't just the fact that i had been accepted into berkeley and managed to stay there for the full 4 years that had made me more into these things, but in fact it was the people that i hung out with at berkeley that changed me... which makes perfect sense, and now i'm gonna personally screen all of my kids' friends so i can shape them into what i want them to be. muahahahahah!

but in all seriousness, i am forever grateful for being able to meet and get to know and get to learn from people that i can call my friends. i feel, dare i say it, privileged for being able to know these people... aren't you jealous of me? you should be.

example: mr. g is my friend teaching math, geometry to be specific, at a public high school in oakland. if you actually read his blog, it's amazing learning just how education policies affect the school systems and how it affects the teachers and how it affects the students. i mean, seriously, shit is nuts. and i just feel so dang lucky to know the guy. and it's not even that mr. g is like this uber-idealistic-berkeley superhero, i mean, he's not your ordinary joe, but mr. g is also mr. i-want-a-rock-band-set-just-like-everyone-else.

sorry if that shit was corn mushy.

Not a restaurant review: A16

On me and April's first visit here, A16 became an instant favorite of ours, leading me to brag about it's wonderfulness to anybody I came across for a week after our dinner. A16 stands for a highway that runs through Campania, the area surrounding Naples; and the food of the restaurant focuses specifically on the cuisine of that region.

We started our meal off with some crostini and fresh mozzarella and olive oil, and I've never looked at mozzarella the same way since. Like butter, son.

April also had a drink called a "Blushing Angel", which was a wine cocktail, a strange concept to me, but she said it was delish. I wish I took down the parts of it, so I could be the only person I know whipping up wine cocktails, but whatevs.

Our main courses were a pizza bianca and a pasta dish, maccheronara, along with a side of roasted corn, all standard italian, all standardly DELISH. One thing to note, the side of corn was presented in a genius fashion, being cut into little disc segments of corn on the cob, so as to be able to serve corn in a restaurant in a more upscale fashion.

For dessert, we shared a chocolate budino tart. A chocolate cookie crust, with a chocolate filling, sprinkled with sea salt and slathered in olive oil. Don't knock it, shit is magnificent.

Our second visit there was still delish, but just wasn't as successful, I think cuz our expectations were so high from our first visit. Always go with the meatballs if they still have them.

This is a restaurant I highly recommend. A pizza and the budino(and the meatballs) are the only musts. Other than that, I can't really say anything, as the menu changes (like any good restaurant) according to what is in season.

$40/person should be enough for most nights there (i know, shit is kinna expensive. but such is the price you have to pay to eat with white people that'll prolly never go to cheesecake factory, even though i still think cheesecake factory is pretty good)

steroid committee racists

let's just be frank people, all the good players in baseball took steroids. it's not too hard to believe anymore.

i don't even know why people never mention the fact that baseball players, especially the good ones, are some of the highest paid professional athletes ever. so please stop talking about how these players are supposed to have morals and set good examples. shit, if you dangled a hundred million dollars a year in front of me, i'd do whatever i could get away with to get ahead too.

second, why the hell are all the republican committee members siding with roger fuckin clemens? how are you gonna spend a couple years and a trillion dollars gathering evidence to indict barry bonds, who just happens to be black, and then when fuckin roger clemens finally starts talking the gov't decides they wanna be on his side??

fuckin double standard. you can argue that roger clemens is just as much as asshole as barry bonds. but we don't, because espn will never let those stories get to tv.

so frustrating.

i had a dream that i was an iron chef

i'm not completely sure i was an iron chef, but i was a chef for sure.

can you keep your lenten promise?

here was a list of things i was thinking of giving up for lent:

- vitamin C
- amino acids
- waking up
- napping
- walking
- gossiping
- salting my foods
- folding my clothes

i had more, and they were funnier.
i ended up just telling myself that i'd try to go to the gym everyday. except on ash wednesday i had to fast and so if i went to the gym, i'd really starve. that's just prolly a lazy ass excuse though.

i did apply to a job, though. good thing i didn't give up on job searching for lent.

selfish or selfless

here's a test that i just created right now that has no scientific backing or data analysis or anything telling you that it works or it even matters, but whatever, i think it's interesting to think about.

when somebody tells you to make a wish do you begin your wish by saying "i wish for..." or do you say "i hope that..."

selfish = i wish for
selfless = i hope that

soak on that

random thoughts while watching food

pretty much all i do is think about food nowadays. it's too fun. thinking about menus to experiment with myself. places to eat with april. places to show my parents. i also think a lot about how i can improve my appreciation of food, which is kinna weird.

it kinna sucks though, when i'm trying to find a job as an engineer, and i'd rather look through a bunch of food blogs.

- sandra lee is a ho

- what else was going on in the world when jesus was alive?

- i don't know much about chef thomas keller other than the french laundry, but food blogs like to call him "foodie jesus". iono about that. but for me, iron chef masaharu morimoto is the closest thing to the food-zeus that i can think of. i wonder how thomas keller would do in an iron chef battle.

- i don't blame tyler florence for "selling out" by doing those applebee's commercials. can you blame him? he's one of the only real chefs left on food network's "in the kitchen" line-up, and he doesn't get the same shine as the rest of those HOS!

- ming tsai used to have a late late night show on the food network. now he has a daytime show on the kqed family of channels. some people might say that's a step down. eff no.

- rick bayless is the king of mexican cuisine. funny but true that just because you're the best cook in the southwest, you're the king of mexican cuisine, even if you're white.

- jacques pepin should win a lifetime achievement award, if he hasn't already. maybe even a nobel prize for culinary sciences.

- if rachel ray is such a sicilian girl, then why the hell can't she pronounce parmigiano reggiano right?

- i think i'm gonna vote no on all the propositions

- and fuck you pedro gomez!