​Netflix’s ARCANE season 2, Act III is a masterpiece. A visually stunning and innovative animation. I knew I was watching something special 5 minutes into the first episode. Arcane tells the origin story of two sisters, Jinx – also known as Powder (played by Ella Purnell) and Vi (played by Hailee Steinfeld). They find themselves on rival sides of a brewing war between the utopian city Piltover and its oppressed underbelly, Zaun. Season 2 picks up in the aftermath of the explosive events of Season 1 after Jinx launches a stolen Hextech gemstone at the Piltover council. I was intrigued by the storytelling which explored the humane journey of these characters’ emotions - love, friendship, family, trauma and death.

“ARCANE is based on the popular multiplayer online battle arena game League of Legends, developed and released by Riot Games in 2009. The animated series was constructed by co-creators Linke and Alex Yee and was produced by the French animation studio Fortiche Production in partnership with Riot Games.”
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Arcane Season 2 is a must watch. Check out some of the visuals below…

I have mixed feelings about James Gunn’s rendition of Superman in this teaser trailer. Gunn is brilliant at introducing new comic characters and new worlds to the big screen. I just don’t think this Superman is from our Earth. Gunn’s Superman is from a totally unfamiliar world with new heroes like Guy Gardner-Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Mr. Terrific, Metamorpho and Superman’s dog Krypto. I also get the sense from the opening scene of this trailer that Superman can’t do this hero thing by himself. He needs help. He needs a team. He needs a Justice League.
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Let’s look at the trailer below and let me know if James Gunn is attempting to put together a team to help Superman with EARTH’S INFINITE CRISIS.

Latino food truck festival,
A quest for empanadas – amazing wines
Tasty foods and long lines.
Nothing but smiles playing corn hole.

Humid and hot,
We sat on a ledge next to the road
Eating ice cream;
And got lost talking.
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She leaned against me,
Listening to Pennington Station Band,
“And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know
Whoa, whoa, whoa…”

Delighted she was there,
In more ways than one.

Prepare yourself for a stunning, sweet and refreshing drink. This fruity delicious homemade cocktail is the go to drink for the summer. Let me share with you my recipe.

Serves: 1

Ingredients:
1/2 shot of prickly pear syrup
1/2 cup of mango twist juice
1 shot of spice or white rum
Ice cubes
Slice of lemon, squeezed (optional)


Directions:
Blend all 5 ingredients either into a cocktail shaker or stir.

Happy New Year!


This weekend, my wife was away on a family trip...
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…and while it was extremely difficult to function without her, I managed to put together Sunday dinner for my son and me. I made our favorite meal, oven broiled barbecue jerk chicken wings. The combination of flavors thrilled our taste buds. Along with my dry seasoning and blended fresh herbs, I used three main ingredients that were store-bought. (1) Spicy Jamaican jerk marinade, (2) mild Jamaican jerk seasoning and (3) Hickory Smoke barbecue sauce. Here are a few photos from the kitchen…

No leftovers, lol.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! This was my first time using a pressure cooker to make my oxtail stew. It was delicious, so I think I did ok, lol. I saved about 3 hours of cooking time using the cooker. It was easy to prepare the oxtail but once you close the pressure cooker lid, that's it, you can't taste or add anything until it’s done.


​Oxtail Stew Directions
​Served with rice and peas.
Serves 4.
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3 1/2 pounds of oxtail in lime and vinegar water, wash oxtail thoroughly then drain water. Season to taste, add to the oxtail (1 1/2 teaspoons each garlic salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, basil) along with 1/2 cup each chopped ingredients - onion, garlic, green pepper, red pepper, ginger and 2 stems thyme. Then add my recaito recipe mix of blended 1/2 onion, 1/2 green pepper, 1 scotch bonnet pepper, 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh ginger, 2 stem thyme, 5 pimento seeds, 2 stem cilantro, 3 garlic cloves. Add your secret ingredients, 2 tablespoons ketchup and 2 tablespoon Gravy Master Browning.
 
Put gloves on and mix everything together and place in the refrigerator overnight or 1 hour. Sear the oxtail - in a large nonstick pot over high heat, add a little olive oil then oxtail and cook, stirring, for about 2 to 3 minutes, until they are dark browned. 
 

Pressure Cooker Directions
Seasoned to taste, marinaded overnight and seared in a separate pot, I placed the oxtail in the pressure cooker and poured in 2 cups of water. Then added chopped carrots before closing the lid. I cooked the oxtail with all its juices in an Elite Platinum pressure cooker for 50 minutes and sat for about 20 minutes without releasing the pressure from the exhaust on the top of cooker. After 20 minutes release the rest of the pressure and carefully open the lid.