National Champagne Day

Recipe Of The Day: Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

Sometimes simplifying things is all it takes to make life that much more enjoyable. A huge dinner consisting of 5 or more courses is a great thing to come home too, but after a long day at work, who has the time or desire to knock all that out on the regular? Think about it like this, after 12 months of eating whatever came your way, now is the perfect time to implement some salads and lighter based meals into your diet to help start off 2012 just right.

To be light on your feet is crucial these days. We are starting to see the effects hard living has had on many of our peers. With friends and loved ones passing away in their 30’s and 40’s from illnesses that are usually only seen in people well above 65, it is now more apparent than ever that we need to change the way we live. Stepping back to Look at how we eat, drink and exercise, this next year is going to be a busy one for The Supreme Plate. Starting with changing the scope of how we view ourselves as well as how we help maintain a positive lifestyle for our viewers is one of the most important goals of this site.

With all of that said, let us hit you with a delicious recipe for a Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad that takes little to no time to put together and is healthier than probably everything you consumed in 2011.

Enjoy!!!

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Christmas in Hollis - Run DMC

Merry Christmas

Santa Claus on Beat Street

The Power of Synchronization

iGet.it from Commun on Vimeo.

Happy Hanukkah (Hanukkah begins today at Sundown)

Happy Hanukkah

Understated Elegance

The LG Doubleplay, Making Life Easier One Text At A Time.

This post brought to you by LG DoublePlay™.  All opinions are 100% mine.

The game of phones is a constant battle for supremacy it seems and oftentimes we get caught in all of the hype and purchase a phone full of features we don’t need, just to keep up with the Jones’. Especially when it comes to buying phones for our kids, sometimes enough is enough and things need to be brought back to being simple and effective, with that being said in steps the LG Doubleplay exclusively offered by T-Mobile. A phone that has dual customizable touch screens that work in tandem with its QWERTY keyboard and Swype® for easy text input. Operating around the latest Android™2.3 systems and allows users access to the Android Market™ which enables the phone to have 7 home screens and up to 9 touchscreen shortcuts for one-touch navigation.

A broad QWERTY keyboard makes it easy for even those with the most nimblest of fingers to produce quick and correct text messages each and every time. Think about how many hours a day you spend on your phone looking at your Facebook or Twitter pages, with this phone going between all forms of Social Media are simple and lightning fast.

Our staff sends on the average over 30,000 texts a month and if some of them had a better phone (such as the Doubleplay) it might be a little bit easier to decipher what they were trying to get across. Even worse is when someone still has to wait until they get home to upload photos and change their statuses because their phone just doesn’t cut the mustard.
That no longer is a problem with The LG Double. Whatever your reason is for owning a cellphone, please take a look at The LG Doubleplay, exclusively offered by T-Mobile and tell us honestly you don’t think this thing will make your life much more enjoyable. LG DoublePlay™

The Supreme Plate Road Trippin' "Carnival Splendor"

The Supreme Plate recently took a little time to experience a 7 day cruise to Mexico, via the Carnival Splendor. The Splendor, a massive ship spanning over 3 football fields that’s able to carry over 3300 passengers was loaded and ready to set sail in just under 3 hours once in port from its previous week at sea. Known primarily as the beautiful new ship that caught fire and had to be towed to safety a few years ago, we were not concerned as we had heard nothing but great remarks from reliable sources who have sailed since that rare freak accident.

We left the Port of Long Beach on a Sunday afternoon, after about an hour or so of getting registered, going through customs and obtaining all the needed id cards for making onboard purchases and getting on/off the ship once in port.

Passengers are kept from their rooms for an hour or two once finally onboard the ship, as Carnival wants to ensure that everything is ready before allowing any of the 3300+ passengers to settle into their “homes” for a week.

Having all of the passengers on deck at one time creates a slight amount of mayhem, that Carnivals attentive staff keeps a diligently trained and watchful eye over. It seems everyone and we mean everyone is hungry 24 hrs a day on a cruise. The good thing about constantly being hungry is that there are various buffet stations that open early and stay open late enough to fill everyone’s appetite. Offering a wide selection of dishes such as traditional staple /standbys like burgers, hotdogs, salads, sandwich’s and the like on over to Tandoori chicken, a burrito bar, chocolate buffet, a traditional Sushi counter and much, much more, The Splendor is ready to fill any appetite at any moment of the day. And if that wasn't enough room service was available 24 hrs a day at the quick dial of the phone. 

The lines for the various buffet stations although long at times, moved rather quickly and you could take as much as you wanted, so getting your fill was never a problem.

Once you get to your room you will find more than enough space to unpack all that you have brought for a weeks stay. We actually over-packed on purpose and still had plenty of room, even after purchasing a lot of things at the various ports in Mexico.

Our state room staff stayed on top of everything we asked for and even things we didn’t ask for. They kept us loaded with cold fresh ice, clean linens and the flyest towel animals we had hoped to see. Being greeted everyday by someone who deals with thousands of people in a month, and having them remember your entire groups names and likes / dislikes is what we were treated too. It was like dealing with family in that aspect instead of having someone act like they were put off by doing their job. A huge thank you to Agung for being around each and every time we looked for him.

View from the room while at sea

You will find a flat screen in every room playing pretty up to date movies as well as having access to a few different news channels, cartoon channels for the kids and the usual junk on TV.

You could also purchase access to the wi-fi network for pretty unfair prices. It kind of struck me as odd how they broke down the fees when everyone already paid to get on the ship in the first place. People who need access to the internet for work while taking 7 days away from their jobs would greatly appreciate something of that nature, especially when its free everywhere else on the planet.

Golden Pearl Restaurant & Dining Area

A few tips for those of you looking to eat gourmet food all day long, you will want to reserve as many spots as you can at the Pinnacle Steakhouse (which costs $30 per person but is worth triple that price,) eat more often at the restaurant where you are served your nightly dinners sit and avoid the buffets during the rush hours. Make friends with the buffet staff as they remain in their position the entire week.

A few passengers were just downright rude to the staff and if you had a connection with those employees, you would find yourself getting fresher food, faster. Now I am not saying that the Carnival staff gave anyone preferential treatment, but when your consistently a jerk to someone, you will get overlooked every so often. A fact of life some people have yet to accept I guess.

When dealing with as many people as this ship routinely does things happen and it is to be expected. What caught us off guard was more than a few times we found hair in our dishes or even worse a large chunk of plastic in the middle of a bowl of Sorbet. These mistakes were quickly corrected and we were given more than one or two apologies, especially when the managers of each location would come to our table and address the concern of the moment.

One of the many highlights of the trip were the times spent dining at the Pinnacle Steakhouse where everything was executed with the utmost of class and precision that you would hope to find on such an elegant ship.

The Pinnacle Steakhouse

Lobster Chowder Amuse Bouche

Filet Mignon & Lobster Tail

Filet Mignon Butterflied

Apple Crisp

Chocolate Sampler (Bittersweet Chocolate Cake, Banana Pannacotta,  Tiramisu & Chocolate Marquis)

Arriving in Cabo San Lucas early was a great thing to wake up too, which allowed everyone two days of much needed onshore activities such as shopping, drinking, parasailing, guided tours and just about anything else you could think up. The heavy police presence at the docks lets you know that no games will be played, especially when it comes to hassling any passengers coming from the cruise lines. The beautiful coastal lines and great authentic food was better than anyone could have expected and after the strong drinks found on just about every corner you were ready to hit the club, but after that we arrived in Puerto Vallarta another welcoming port with beautiful scenery.

Lovers Cove Cabo San Lucas

Cabo San Lucas as you approach the shore in a reliable tender

With more bars, restaurants and shops to buy local handmade goods at, Puerto Vallarta is truly a great stop and somewhere everyone should visit at least 3 times during the course of their life. With top notch restaurants such as La Leche, Punto, Casa Corazon and La Palapa all readily available you can’t go wrong taking some time to enjoy the recently rebuilt Malecon boardwalk, which was all but wiped away a decade ago, by stage 5 Hurricane Kenna. 

Malecon, Puerto Vallarta

After a long day of eating, drinking and hauling all of the stuff we bought from The Malecon, we headed back to the boat to enjoy more great food and a showcase of authentic Mariachis and dancers who got down and performed the Jarabe Tapatio, better known as the Mexican Hat Dance. By far the best show of the ship the live band blew away everyone else who performed during the week.

Overall the trip was a complete success by far. Sitting off to the side and watching as the staff were helpful to both the young kids who got on everyone’s nerves after a week onboard as well as the elderly groups of people who rightfully deserve that extra bit of attention was a beautiful thing. It takes a tremendous amount of patience to work on a ship of that nature, where unfortunately sometimes the worst thing about the trip itself is the guests who act pig headed or like they have no home training at all. A huge round of applause to everyone we came in contact with especially those who took the time to ask us how we were doing and if they could do anything for us, other than sell us a drink.

Check back next week for more detailed photos of our shore excursions and all the other good things we got into over the week.

Soulful Sunday "Deep Shadows" Little Ann

This is that soulful shit that makes you want to go put in some work. If you don’t know who Little Ann is, go out and get a copy of that the album “Deep Shadows” you wont be mad you did.

Enjoy.

Soulful Sunday - Warlock" - Reg Tilsley Orchestra

Amuse Bouche...

More to come…

Chocolate Chip w/ Mascarpone Cupcakes

With the current wave of Cupcakes still taking the World by storm like some sort of  Glucose Tsunami, and today being National Cupcake Day we wanted to hit you off with a recipe for something special. 
These Chocolate Chip & Mascarpone Cupcakes are so delectably astonishing that almost everything else you make will fail in comparison after trying these.

The Chocolate Ganache over the Light & Fluffy Cupcake really will hit the spot and not feel like a lead bomb in your stomach like some of those heavy brownie like recipes you find floating around these days.

Enjoy these with a cold glass of California Milk.

National Cupcake Day - Sugar Fix Desserts

Today is National Cupcake Day, and that is something that must be celebrated.

Listen its pretty simple and plain, not every day deserves a huge cake (and most of us don’t deserve or need one anyways.) 

But everybody could use a little love and when it comes in the form of some of THE BEST Cupcakes, with delcious flavors like Red Velvet, Eggnog, Carrot Cake, Guava, Cookies n cream, Vegan Pumpkin and so many more that if I keep going imma have diabetes before I finish tasting and typing all of this.

The people who own and operate Sugar Fix Desserts are good people. Raised in Southern California and are down for the cause, they aren’t one of these shops looking for fame on a TV show nor do they hide behind the counter. They tell it like it is and they make a damn good product that is worth every single penny their loyal customers spend on it. Besides those facts if you don't believe us just ask for the boss herself. One word of caution, she packs a mean punch & the things I have seen her do to unruly patrons with a icing spatula are just downright sick. 

Like we said, today is National Cupcake Day, order yourself a box and enjoy all the hard work you put into being you, cause you deserve it regardless of what others may say about you, The Supreme Plate still loves ya.

And if you need more proof check out these photos of their current lineup of cupcakes.

Sugar Fix