Friday, May 28th, 2009. I, accompanied by my friends and co-workers: Carlos and Lynne, left work to eat lunch at the Spanish restaurant La Nacional. We wanted to give Lynne a special treat as thanks for all the times she’s had us over to her house and cooked for us, or brought us home-made treats at the job. We insisted on taking her out and she requested Paella, a dish La Nacional is known for.

We got to the restaurant and were seated in a dimly lit dining room with rustic, tavern-like chairs and tables. The dining room gave off an old world feel and a calming effect. My only complaint was there were only two windows in the room that, unfortunately, faced 14th street and a car who’s alarm went on and off at various points in time.

Now that all that is out of the way we can talk about the food . We started off with tapas (appetizers): Gambas
(grilled garlic shrimp), Calamares (grilled or fried squid) and Chorizos. Unfortunately when dug right into the appetizers without taking pictures of them but believe me when I say the Gambas and and Calamares were great, however the Chorizos tasted like a Hillshire Farm links. Next up was the main course: Paellas!

I ordered the Fideuá Paella: Thin noodles with white fish, shrimp, squid, green peas, piquillo peppers & alioli. And it went well with two glasses of Sangría. The Fideuá was was flavorful, the noodles were crispy around the edge of the skillet and the vegetables added to the taste of the dish instead of overpowering it. The aioli sauce tasted like butter, however, I’ve never had aioli sauce before, so I have nothing to compare it to. The amount of seafood thrown in was very welcome as well. As the pictures show La Nacional does not skimp on the seafood.

Fideuá Paella. Picture taken by Lynne Yoshii.

Carlos ordered the Arroz Negro Paella: Black rice with white fish, shrimp, clams and mussels in sofrito, green peas, piquillo peppers & aioli. I think the rice in this paella was given its color by squid ink. This dish had an extra briny taste to it that accented the seafood really well. The rice was soft, but not mushy. I kind of wished I had ordered this paella instead.

Arroz Negro Paella. Picture taken by Carlos Lao.

And Lynne ordered the Paella de La Casa: Shrimp, squid, clams, mussels, chicken, green peas & piquillo peppers. The rice in her order seemed a bit more seasoned than ours, and although better flavored than mine her her plate couldn’t compare to Carlos’s.

Paella de La Casa. Picture taken by Carlos Lao.

Onward to dessert. Lynne ordered the Crema Catalana (caramelized custard with orange zest), Carlos ordered the Flan (traditional vanilla custard) and I ordered the Torta de Santiago (almond cake). We each took a piece from each other’s plate and I Must say that each were very sweet and delicious, not to mention it was my first time having flan and it was fantastic. It’ll sound childish but the only thing I felt each of us were missing, during dessert, was a tall glass of milk.

Crema Catalana, Flan and Torta de Santiago. Picture taken by Carlos Lao.

All in all it was a great lunch. The service was great, the food was great and the Sangría was great . I definitely recommend the La Nacional.

Here’s a link to some pics taken by Lynne Yoshii: Lunch at La Nacional

2010 New York Toy Fair

I currently own an Intuos 3 tablet and although it’s great for coloring and rough sketching I’ve never been able to gather the hand control necessary to get tight, clean lines that I would use in an illustration.

However, thanks to my friend Lynne Yoshii, I’ve recently had the opportunity to use the Cintiq 21UX on an extended basis for the purpose of digitally inking my Demon Hunter Kain comic. So, what are my feelings on the Cintiq, you ask?

IT IS SOOOO GOOD !

I’m starting to save up to get me one of these miracles of modern technology.  I’ll have an update ready once I’ve claimed one as my very own.

]]> http://bg2prod.com/2010/01/dreaming-of-a-cintiq-21ux/feed/ 0 http://bg2prod.com/2009/12/birthday-weekend-2009-and-birthday-swag/ http://bg2prod.com/2009/12/birthday-weekend-2009-and-birthday-swag/#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:45:44 +0000 Bowie http://bg2prod.com/?p=1198

Wednesday, November 25:

It’s my birthday weekend ! I started it off by having to go in to work (not by choice mind you). Since Carlos and Lynne wouldn’t be seeing me for the holiday weekend I got my gifts early . From Lynne I received the Biohazard 5 Official Art Works book (known as Resident Evil 5 here in the states). The book is entirely in Japanese, but who gives a rat’s ass?! The art work, character designs, concept art for monsters, area designs, every page in that book is a visual feast for the eyes and a twisted imagination such as mine . Suffice to say I had to do one of my victory jigs , and no there will be no video footage of that jig posted here . Here are a few pics of the book:

Next up is Carlos. He bestowed upon me a small pile of books of various genres ranging from funny to instructional: Applegeeks Vol. 1: Freshman Year, Vanishing Point: Perspective for Comics, Empowered Volume 1 and Apple: Volume 2.

All right here’s a synopsis of each book and some pics:

Applegeeks Vol. 1: Freshman Year is a collection of the first two years of the Applegeeks web comic. The art is great and the stories are hilarious . I fell in love with this site when I first got my graphic design job and I continue to read it to this day.

Empowered Vol. 1: Okay here’s the deal, I find this book hilarious and a bit touching. It’s about a ne’er do well heroine called Empowered. She wages the good fight for truth, justice and all that shit, but there’s a problem:

SHE SUCKS AT IT!

Emp’s powers reside and rely on her costume, if her costume is intact so are her powers, if the costume gets ripped her powers begin to wane and ebb. Her costume gets ripped at the damn near slightest provocation. She constantly goes into battle and usually immediately gets taken hostage by the corny villain(s) and trussed up in some bondage pose due to her costume getting ripped up during the initial struggle. Now if you just skim through the book you’ll be treated to images of a woman constantly tied up in skimpy apparel , but if you actually read the book you’ll get insights on the character, her insecurities, her dreams, her personality. Slowly but surely, Emp becomes and interesting character who begins come into her own, throw in a couple of friends that that she meets throughout the first volume and you’ve got yourself an exceptional read.

Vanishing Point: Perspective for Comics: I’ve been told, many a time, that I’m good at faking perspective in my drawings. while that’s all fine and dandy I am not adverse to learning the proper way to render objects in proper, visual perspective. I can’t wait to sit down with this one .

Apple Vol. 1: Best described as an art/comic book. This book is INSANE !!! The book features illustrations and short comic stories from various Korean artists. The book stokes the flames of my imagination, makes me curse my own lack of artistic skill , yet inspires me to keep drawing! The book was such a treat that I wanted to get volume 1 but that dream was shot down when Carlos informed me that it was out of print and stores that did have it were selling it for about $500.00 ! Someday soon, I hope they’ll reprint it and charge the regular price.

All in all it was a good day, friends, gifts and getting out of work at 2:30PM. No complaints .

Thursday, November 26:

HAPPY TURKEY DAY !!! Time to eat and grow large with food .

Friday, November 27:

Ran some errands and chilled out .

Saturday, November 28th:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

Went to see Ninja Assassin with Monique, her daughter Janiah and my goddaughter Taquasha. After that I was taken to lunch at Sapporos (at least I hope that’s how you spell it) there I had two orders of gyoza and the Sapporo Special Ramen bowl, ahhh, pure bliss. I walked back to the subway my belly feeling sloshy and full, or as we say in St. Croix: “Belly full, banah glad.” I dropped Taquasha at her house and received Birthday Cards from my other goddaughters: Latonya, Sylvia and Destiny. Monique and Janiah also gave me some gifts: the first three volumes of Naoki Urasawa’s Monster !

It was a great weekend for me overall, I’m content, I had a superb birthday, great friends, a great movie, excellent food and awesome gifts. Now I just have to wake up Monday morning and go to work . Thanks for reading y’all. Peace.

Memorial Day Weekend 2009

Comic Con 2008

This first installment is dedicated to my goddaughters:

From left to right they are: Latonya, Sylvia, Lenette (not my goddaughter, she’s their aunt), Destiny and Taquasha.

The little one in the bottom pic is my latest goddaughter, Deziyah.

These kids keep me sane when the rest of the world tries to drive me insane. There have been many a day when I felt weighed down and defeated by my own problems and self-doubts and even talking to my friends didn’t ease my mind and spirit.

Then the girls would come running up, each giving me a big hug and kiss . At that point all my troubles would begin to fade away with each hug. I’ve known the older girls since they were about 2 or 3 years old and I was there to hold Destiny after she was born, and recently little Deziyah. I’ll admit I spoil them rotten by always trying to get them what they want, but at the same time I tell them they have to work for it: Good grades, good behavior, respect of others, respect for themselves, etc.

Of course they do slip from time to time, but hey, what kid doesn’t? Overall they’re great kids and I’m proud to have a hand in raising them and I’m eager to see the type of young women they become in the future .