OMG (is that still a "trendy" phrase?), I was on my way to meet a couple of friends at Cabo Fish Taco (it's amazing must try their BBQ Mahi Mahi Tacos and their Lemon Grilled Shrimp Tacos, yummy!) when I heard a tune that had me dancing underneath the restraints of my seat belt (buckle up!).  It was a song titled "Freak" by Estelle featuring Kardinal Offishall.  Wow! I was pumped.  In about two weeks I'll be back to the grind at the gym, and I MUST have this song incorporated in my workout music.  I could do 8 hours on the elliptical listening to this.  In addition, I have some other music that has me pumped:

1. Estelle feat. Kardinal Offishall - Freak
2. Chrisette Michele- Fragile
3. V V Brown- Shark In the Water
4. Jess Penner- A Little Bit Crazy
5. Sneaky Sound System - UFO
6. B.o.B. feat. Hayley Williams - Airplanes
7. Timbaland feat. Justin Timberlake - Carry Out
8. David Rush feat. LMFAO, Pitbull, and Kevin Rudolf -    Shooting Star
9. Paper Tongues - Strongest Flame
10. Diddy feat. T.I. - Hello Good Morning

Get these great songs NOW at iTunes and Amazon!

What a day!  When I got home about an hour ago there was only one thing on my mind -- FOOD!  Lately I've been satisfying my hunger by fixing a very simple, but very fulfilling (and very delectable) meal.  Ladies and gents I'd like to introduce to you my version of the shrimp po'boy.  This meal is very easy to make and very economical.  In less than an hour your taste buds will thank you when you sink your teeth into this healthy vegetarian-friendly entree.  Here's how to make it:


You'll need (find these at your local grocery store):

• Cobblestone Mill Whole Wheat Rolls
• Smart Balance Light Extra Virgin Olive Oil Buttery Spread
• 31-40 ct peeled & deveined thawed shrimp (let someone else do the dirty work)
• Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning
• Muenster Cheese slices (I buy store brand cheese)
• Cole Slaw (store brand blue cheese slaw tastes great!)
• Birds Eye Pepper Stir-Fry (1/2 cup)
• Paprika
• Hellman's Light Mayonaise
• Canola Oil
• Worcestershire sauce

Hardware:

• Double sided-Griddle
• Medium Frying Pan
• Bread knife
• Small/Medium sized bowl

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and place griddle (grill grated side up) inside oven.
2. While oven is heating, place your frying pan on your stove top, and warm the eye by using med-low heat.
3. Use a small amount of canola oil (just enough to coat the pan.
4. Add two teaspoons of buttery spread to pan, and allow butter to melt.
5. Add thawed shrimp to frying pan, and sprinkle shrimp lightly with creole seasoning and Worcestershire sauce and cover (let shrimp cook for 5 mins max or until opaque in color).
6. While shrimp are cooking, slice open whole wheat roll, and spread buttery spread on either side.
7. Place whole wheat roll, open side down on griddle grates for 3-5 minutes (you'll get those lovely grill lines on your bread -- sweet!).
8. Remove shrimp (and the yummy broth) from heat, and place inside bowl. Set aside.
9. Flip roll in oven over, and add one slice of cheese to roll (fold cheese in half and tear; add cheese slices to one side of the roll long wise).
10. Re-coat bottom of frying pan, and add peppers to frying pan.  Cook until brown, and remove from heat (5-7 mins).  
11. Remove roll from oven.  Add slaw to non-cheese side, and place peppers on top of cheese.
12. Add about 8 shrimp on top of cheese and peppers.  On the slaw side, squeeze (or spread if you have the non-squeeze mayo) a small amount of mayo on top of slaw.
13. Add a dash of paprika to either side of sandwich.

EAT!!!

The end result is an explosion of savory flavors in your mouth that you will not soon forget.  Place your left over shrimp in a tupperware dish so you can warm them up in your microwave and prepare another sandwich when your stomach is rumbling.

Like this recipe? Leave comments as to whether you liked this recipe or not, and ways you could improve it.

Well, I’m about to piss a lot of people off.  It’s not something I ever set out to do, but it happens – usually when I’m telling the truth.  I have a problem, and the problem is with myself.  Well, not me exactly, but with other individuals in society that have the same complexion as me – black people.  Particularly those of African American decent, and I’m not talking about all black people.  I’m only talking about those that are victims of victimization.  It’s a pandemic that has spread like wild fire and it rears its 
ugly head too often.  

My first “beef” is with the over used and overrated race card.  I truly think black people “make” themselves victims of racism, sometimes conveniently.  The truth is though BLACK PEOPLE ARE RACIST! “We” describe other races and cultures by slangs that are often offensive to them (ex. Arab pronounced ay-rab), but think it completely okay.  Yet, when someone uses the “n” word (that mind you we use on ourselves) it’s a problem.  Are you kidding me? I’ve heard several complaints from blacks, especially men, both gay and straight, that they have a difficult time getting into certain upscale night clubs.  Could it be that when we assemble we have a difficult time avoiding conflict between ourselves? Oh he looked at me wrong; he stepped on my shoe; he brushed up against me to get into the bathroom because I was acting too shady and ridiculous to allow him room to get past; then its let the battle begin.  Yes, you’re right, other races get into altercations, and I haven’t done the primary and secondary research to see who gets into fights more and which race is more confrontational.  I don’t have to! Here is the point, instead of responding to this situation by pointing a finger at someone else who does it, why not take the high road and let’s learn to get along amongst ourselves.  Listen, the graveyard is overflowing with people who have lost their lives over ridiculous confrontation.  Enough already!  When television shows poke fun at African American stereotypes, we as black people have no right to be offended.  How many times have we poked at “uptight white” male stereotypes?  The truth is, most of the stereotypes are true, or they wouldn’t be stereotypes.  Learn to laugh it off (pick your battles wisely).  Now, I agree, the Don Imus situation was most unfortunate, as are some others, but the cry to the NAACP every five minutes is beginning to resemble the “boy who cried wolf” (or is it porch monkey?).  I hang my head in shame thinking of the black people that made a difference just to have a voice and how we squander their hard work.  Instead of celebrating the fact that we have a black president (who by the way is multi-racial), let’s celebrate the fact that we have a guy in office that is a visionary and wants to establish a more modern way of looking at the world.  The worst thing of all is the fact that we racially discriminate amongst ourselves.  For my entire life, I’ve faced the “white boy” jokes.  I don’t eat fried chicken nor do I admire fried anything (I hate watermelon due to overexposure as a child).  I don’t like a lot of salt and I hate hot sauce, collard greens, and black-eyed peas.  Don’t even get me started on hog chitterlings or pig feet or pig ears (ugh).  I admire sushi, and other cultural entrees, so I am disconnected from my race (so I hear).  Exactly! I’ve experienced racism from my own race! My musical preferences extend beyond hip-hop and rhythm and blues.  Marty Allen dresses white, simply because I admire clothes that fit, and I and I talk white because I am an articulate black man.  Try surviving in corporate America with those gold fronts, and those pants to your ankles (which by the way those baggy clothes don’t compliment what may be a nice physique underneath all of that unnecessary fabric), and talking in your street slang during the interview (I’m sure you’ll just blame the “man” anyway).  To say that acting white involves using proper grammar and having a true sense of style, among other things, then sign me up.  But it hurts to hear this, because we as black people are marking our own selves as sub par to others.  No one says its wrong to have a certain vernacular, but it isn’t always appropriate (nor is being loud and obnoxious during certain times and occasions).  Sometimes you have to play the game.  Don’t be too proud or too foolish to realize that there is a time and a place for everything, or to realize moderation is key (i.e. quiet down in areas where others are studying or concentrating; don’t get angry at others when you are violating traffic laws or other rules of conduct).  You don’t rule the world or own it.  Remember to get respect it has to be earned (lose the attitude).  We don’t have to “cuss that bitch out” to get our point across.  Instead, find a more educated way to enact your retribution.  Trust me, the cut will be deeper and last longer.  My final point to this is racism will not stop unless we discontinue perpetuating it by giving it a life force conceived from our own ignorance.  Am I saying it doesn’t exist –absolutely not.  What I am saying is that we can help by sending into oblivion by not blaming everything on “it”. 

Now pardon me, but can we stop “abusing” the system.  Slavery is over, and no one owes us anything. If anything we owe the people that gave their lives to the civil rights movement by working even harder, and being proactive.  Instead, we lie in a debilitating bed of complacency.  Currently while I’m in college full time and working the other hours of my life I have experienced a cash flow problem.  Hey, we all do at some point or another.  For this reason I humbled myself to receive government assistance.  That’s why we have it.  But I accepted it with the mindset that I will work twice as hard when I graduate to discontinue using it.  You see, I want to work hard and climb the mountain of success (with bloody and bruised hands) to get to a point that I will hopefully never have to return to that point.  Some individuals, however, take advantage and let the government take care of them, because they somehow feel the government (actually taxpayers) should be obligated to take care of them.  Then some draw from unemployment for an indefinite amount of time all the while drawing another source of income elsewhere.  Hey, save that money for those that truly need it!  The bottom line is setting a standard for yourself where you want to get past needing a handout.  Don’t let this be mistaken as being too good, but just wanting to be so independent and so accomplished that you are self sufficient.  There is nothing wrong with that.

Sadly, if you drive through predominantly black neighborhoods (most of them) they are run down and look horrible.  It’s not because of the “man”.  It’s because we are too lazy to clean and beautify our own neighborhoods.  Instead, we wait for someone else to do what we can do our damn selves. I suppose I could keep going, and I’m sure I’ll think of other things after I’ve posted it.  But I want to know how you feel about this.  Do you hate me now for saying this?  I don’t “hate” black people nor am I afraid of them.  In fact I love people from all walks of life, and I admire individuals for reasons far beyond the surface.  I ask that you approach this subject with an open mind, and really consider my opinions and views.  Trust me, I’ll consider yours whether you are for or against what I’ve said.  If you don’t like the stereotypes or you don’t like being “profiled”, then you have to begin by taking a look in the mirror.  Change begins with “you”, and we can begin to rebuild our reputations and be taken seriously when we stop blaming everybody else.  Move to plan B, because plan A has gotten us absolutely nowhere.