Hip Hop: ATCQ

When I say one of my all time favorite songs by one of my all time favorite groups I mean it. Electric Relaxation by A Tribe Called Quest (ATCQ) takes me back to senior year of high school. This was probably ATCQ's most popular album (Midnight Marauders) sales wise. Take a look and reminisce.

Breakfast Recipe: Bruschetta Eggs

Bruschetta Eggs

Just like everyone else, I enjoying eating breakfast. They say it’s the most important meal of the day because you are breaking your fast from the night before, hence the name breakfast. The one thing with breakfast is that you have limited options for variety sometimes. The menu usually consists of eggs, toast, waffles, or pancakes, and some type of meat.

What I try to do is to spice up the basics with a little twist. I came across this recipe one day by just playing around with some seasoning I had in the refrigerator. I added a little bit of this and a little bit of that and suddenly I had Bruschetta eggs. The following is the recipe for my Bruschetta eggs. Try it out. 

Ingredients:

Basil (fresh is better but you can use dried basil)

Olive Oil (I prefer virgin)

½ of a medium tomato

½ of a small onion

Sea Salt

Garlic powder

1 small garlic clove

2 eggs

Butter

Preparation:

1.     Dice the tomato and  basil (if fresh, if dry just add to bowl)

2.     Combine the diced tomatoes, and basil into a small bowl

3.     Add sea salt (not too much; watch your sodium intake) and garlic powder to flavor

4.     Dice the ½ of a medium small onion

5.     Dice three (3) medium cloves of garlic

6.     Crack two (2) eggs and whip them together until small bubbles form in the egg mixture

7.     Add butter to a small frying pan over medium heat (add enough butter to ensure that the eggs don’t stick to the pan)

8.     Add the onions and garlic to the frying pan

9.     Saute the onions and garlic until they start to soften and brown

10. Add a little more butter to the frying pan to ensure the pan is coated

11. Add the eggs to the frying pan

12. As the eggs start to cook, add the tomato, basil, and olive mix to the frying pan

13. Scramble the eggs to your liking (personally I prefer my eggs scrambled hard)

You can serve with toast and some type of meat. I also enjoy serving with fruit such as melon, grapes, or apples. You can also add cheese to the eggs while they are cooking. I hope you enjoy. Please feel free to remix the recipe.

 

DC Restaurant Review: Cuba Libre Restaurant and Rum Bar

As you all know, I am very much addicted to food. I would not be going out on a limb if I said that food is one of my passions. I enjoy sitting down and enjoying a good meal, whether it be a home made meal or at a restaurant. That is one of the reasons why I enjoy living in the nations capital. The diverse cultures here afford me the opportunity to indulge and sample many different ethnic foods from across the world. I can have Thai, Greek, Indian, Caribbean, or Mediterranean. The list goes on and on. That is why I try my best to get out and try new restaurants in DC.

One such restaurant that I was looking forward to checking out was Cuba Libre Restaurant and Rum Bar. If you know my family, or me, then you know that we enjoy drinking rum. Since we are Jamaican, the rum of our choice is usually Wray & Nephew white rum. Normally we mix it with Pepsi (in Jamaica Coke is not served since Pepsi acquired D&G which was the major distributor of soft drinks in Jamaica). Anyway, back to the review at hand. So, I wanted catch up with some friends and I decided that Cuba Libre would be a good spot to check out since none of us had ever been there.  I was very excited to check it out. Can you imagine, good Cuban food with rum? It was like my little foodie heaven come to life.

I get there, and was thoroughly impressed with the decor. I've never been to Cuba but I felt like I was in Havana (Still disgusted that my family and friends in Toronto get to vacation in Cuba). The decorations, the paintings on the wall, the furniture all went along with Cuban decor that was emanating and oozing out of every nook and cranny of the restaurant.

We were all seated by the host and started perusing over the menu to determine what delicacies we all would be selecting. Before we could even delve into the menu in detail, the waiter went into his spill about how they are famous for their 14 different selections of Mojitos. I mean 14 different types of Mojitos. I was like WOOOOOOOOOOW, Its about to be on. 

Okay, so after the waiter gave his spill about their selection of mojitos, he went on to explain the menu. He explained that the menu is divided into your typical entrees, soup and salads, and appetizers. He also explained that the menu also contains a selection of small tasting plates aka tapas. I don't know about you guys, but it seems that every new restaurant is either a full tapas restaurant or has a selection of tapas as part of their menu.  Are tapas the new craze? 

Well back to the review once again. So, we all decide to do the small plates aka tapas, since we were all a little short on time due to the tardiness of some. We all placed our orders, which consisted of the following:

1. Batata con Camarones: Cuban-pesto marinated shrimp with roasted sweet potato and arugula salad.
2. Tortica de Cangrejo: Jumbo lump crab cake, crema de yuca, and blood orange mojo
3. Yuca Frita: Cassava Cuban fries

I also ordered the passion fruit Mojito to wash everything down. Well, I must admit that I was thoroughly disappointed in my meal at Cuba Libre. The food seemed to lack any type of authenticity. I couldn't really detect or taste the Cuban flare of seasoning that I have tasted in Cuban food in the past. To me Cuban food has certain distinct flare based on the spices used to prepare the food. This is what I felt was lacking from the food at Cuba Libre. I mean one of my best friends in College was Cuban and he cooked all the time. I think the owners put more into setting the atmosphere than investing in the authenticity of their menu selections. I wouldn't even classify it as good Cuban food for DC.  

As for the their mojitos, which I had three, they were very weak. The drinks were tasty and sweet, but I could barely taste any rum. I might of well have just ordered a regular passion fruit drink.

To wrap it up, I wouldn't recommend Cuba Libre to anyone looking for a good Cuban restaurant. Don't get me wrong, I think the restaurant looks very nice, and that the food is pretty okay, but my expectations are much higher than what they strive to achieve. The restaurant is probably always buzzing with a crowd, but its because of location and its a new spot that people can go out and hang out to be seen, sort of like Art and Soul. I did a review on Art and Soul back in Feb 2009, another big disappointment. Since this is DC, sometimes the look and feel of a place goes a long way, but I am at a restaurant to eat. If the food does not meet my expectation, then I feel as if it was a waste of my time and money. I did enjoy the company of my friends. Well, I might go back another time just to make sure I wasn't completely off, but check it out for yourself and let me know what you think. Until next time, Eat, Drink and make Memories.