Hot N' Juicy Crawfish

If you’re a Las Vegas local, I’m sure you’ve heard about HOT N’ JUICY CRAWFISH located at the Chinatown area. If you haven’t heard about it yet, not allergic to seafood, a shellfish lover just like me, and ready to get DOWN AND DIRTY, then put on your party dress (Well, you don’t really have to, to be honest. Ordinary clothes will do as long as you’re covered lol), don’t wait another minute and check, this place, out!!!

The Hot N’ Juicy Crawfish’s popularity is its crawfish (the name, duh!), yet it offers other seafood faves, such as king crabs, oysters, squids, shrimps, to name a few. What makes it unique from other places is how they make their sauces.  They have various seasonings to choose from: garlic-butter, juicy Cajun, lemon pepper, or the hot n juicy special, which is a combination of all three.  Personally, the special is my favorite. I just love the garlic taste of it mixed with its spiciness and juiciness that I love to lick through my fingers as I eat. Yummooo!!!

Okay, when I said down and dirty, don’t think of anything nasty or dirty-dirty. I’ll explain by picturing how it is to eat there. When you get there, ask for a table (you may have to wait for a while since it’s a first-come-first-serve policy, so no reservations). Once seated at a plastic-covered table, you are given a plastic bib that you tie on your neck, then you order your drinks, what you want (specialty crawfish, shrimp, corn, sausage, etc…no fish though), choose the seasoning (the ones I mentioned above), and specify its spiciness (mild, medium, spicy, or extra spicy). When the server comes back, your order will be in a transparent plastic bag, with no utensils or plates, but just a roll of paper towel for cleaning your hands. That’s what I meant about getting down and dirty because you’ll have to eat with your hands!  You don’t worry about the mess you make because all of that adds with its informal, feel-at-home, ambiance. For other people, they choose to ask for plastic gloves; yet, for me, I will dig through that bag with my two bare (and clean) hands. It’s definitely not a place for first dates or dinners with in-laws, but why not if everyone is aware of what they’re getting—well in this case, eating—into. Lol!

The food is delish and at a very reasonable price. Just watch how much you order, though, for it adds up in the end. On my first visit, I ordered the specialty crawfish that is steamed perfectly; yet, my favorite is their shrimp, seasoned with their hot n’ spicy special, level of spiciness, mild. I ordered the shrimp with spicy the last time I was there, just, you know, to try it, but man, did it burn my mouth! For someone like me who’s into spicy food and fairly handled ‘spicy,’ I wondered how extra spicy would be. That’ll probably put me to tears and get me water intoxicated for drinking too much (lol!), but yeah, if you can handle their extra spicy then go right ahead! Whatever that can make all of us happy, right? I love ordering oysters, too, but since the oil spill, I cut down on that and just stayed with my shrimp, and a few add-ons of corn and sausage and beer and my bill was just $38 bucks, and that was for two people already. Not bad huh?

The service was pretty good, too. The place is always packed and the wait for the food once seated is acceptable. It’s just that not being able to reserve is a bummer, but understandably, for a business as such, it’s a loss to keep tables empty just for reservation purposes. So there it is, an addition to Vegas’ Hot N’ Juicy spots, serving us every day,  Mondays thru Fridays from 12pm to 10pm, and weekends until 11pm.  

Hot N’ Juicy Crawfish is located at 4810 Spring Mountain Road Las Vegas, NV 89102-8783, telephone number (702) 891-8889.

1812—SARAH BARTMAN: La Belle Hottentot

I had to write a paper for my art class and I found a comic drawn about a lady named Sarah Bartman. I got curious on who she was so I decided to research some more about her. This was her tale.

Sarah Bartman, later referred to as the “Hottentot Venus,” was a young woman from Southern Africa whose body was the main attraction at public spectacles in England and France in the 1800s. She was 21 years old when she left Cape Town, South Africa, for London with an English surgeon, who publicly exhibited her genitalia, which, according to one authority, "were assumed to include uncommonly long labia, dangling down to form what scientists called the 'Hottentot apron' or 'tablier' . She was displayed in public shows throughout England. She was exhibited like a wild beast in a cage at Piccadilly, which prompted English abolitionists to take action. However, when interrogated, Bartman claimed to have come to Europe on her free will, and explained that her antics in a cage were all part of a show to acquire money. The spectacle of Sarah’s body continued even after her death at 26 years old. Scientists who were interested in investigating her ‘primitive sexuality’ dissected and cast her genitals in wax .

In relation to sexuality, Sarah was considered sexually desirable in Khoisan custom. As preparation for marriage, her buttocks are massaged with special ointment to make them swell, and her genitalia are stretched to produce the legendary ‘Hottentot apron,’ an exaggerated folds of skin, which is a product of childhood manipulation and not a feature of race. Due to such physique, she became a curiosity and a sexual fetish to the whites (Europeans) . The heart of her story was the struggle through slavery and racism. Inferiority due to race was a major dilemma in England during the early 19th century. Sarah’s story was one of those tales that presented how merciless the whites were and their lack of pity towards the inferior.

The “La Belle Hottentot” comic shown above depicts the Khosian woman standing with her buttocks exposed on a box-like pedestal, two Scots soldiers in kilts, a crouching woman inspecting Sarah’s behind, and a dog sniffing up the crotch of one of the soldiers. The cartoon illustrates the sensation generated by the spectacle of the “Hottentot Venus.”

According to Stephen Jay Gould’s essay Hottentot Venus, the cartoon was a “satiric French print of 1812” published in Paris even before Sarah even got to Paris. Venus is the Roman goddess of love, who is a cruel reference to Bartman, who was an object of abuse. This represents Sarah Bartman’s place in the development of racism in nineteenth century Europe .

I would categorize “La Belle Hottentot” an ART rather than a pornography. It evidently defined the culture of 19th centuray Europe, where slavery and racism was very out of control. In England, they ridiculed the anatomy of Sarah and considered it as a physical curiosity, yet back home in Africa, Sarah’s body was considered sexually attractive, thus, defining culture. Also, Sarah being dark-skinned, female, and a foreigner identified a full meaning of a minority in an environment dominated by whites. Racism, slavery, and ridicule summed up the ill-fated life of Sarah.

The cartoon depicted a conflict that, sadly, is still a struggle for some people until the present times—racism. Being a minority in this country, I sympathize with Sarah even if I did not personally experience such oppression. Same as Sarah, I came from a culture that practiced certain traditions that were considered beautiful and respectable, which people from other places may not understand, or worse, find ridiculous. Sarah Bratman’s story pinched my heart because of man’s shameful lack of humanity that people knowingly followed and tolerated for the sake of a good show and a good laugh.

That Teeny Weeny Mattress Store

I know, this is not exactly the best bed in the world, but this is our FIRST bed as a couple; thus, it needs some recognition. For two months, my husband and I slept in an inflatable bed, delaying the purchase of a real bed since we did not have enough money to buy one, and that there are more important necessities in our newly-weds'-to-buy list. Moreover, we only have a six-month lease on the apartment we are currently staying at, and we thought it would be a hassle carrying the bed from one place to another knowing we'd be moving out soon anyway. However, on one of our day-offs together, we decided to check out some beds and see if we could find a good deal somewhere. We left the house having no real intentions of buying. We just wanted to see what our options were and how much we'd have to save for, if in case the money we had was not enough. We thought that a bed is an investment, thereby, we weren't just going to buy anything cheap for the sake of having one; we wanted something that can last us a long time. Thus, our quest for a bed begins.

On our search, we mutually liked the Dylan collection (as seen on the picture above). We wanted it low, black or dark colored, and in leather. When we saw this picture in one of the magazines, we fell in love with it and planned on buying that or at least something that would get as close to such collection.

To make the story short, we found the Dylan in one of the first stores we went to, but it was pricey and the owner said that it will take at least a week and a half to have it delivered to us. We talked about the price, which was out of our range at that time, but eventually, we agreed to go for it because it was what we really wanted. After checking out at least five stores, we decided to call it a day and was about to head to the mall to relax. On our way to the nearest freeway, I saw a small billboard sign saying, "MATTRESS" and told my husband about it and asked if he'd like to check it out. He hesitated initially saying that it looks like a small store that would probably not carry the bed we wanted. I was indifferent and did not really care if we checked it or not, since I was tired myself. Well, my husband had a change of heart and thought that maybe we could find something else that might be cheaper, hopefully a mattress or the bed case, so we drove back. When we parked right in front of the store, the lights were off already and we thought that we were too late since they had closed (See, this was about 8pm. Normally, stores close at 7pm.). We were about to get back in the car when the lights turned on. The person manning the store (who we later found out as the owner) greeted us and asked us to go ahead and have a look at what they have. It was, indeed, a small store, and there were not a lot of bed sets available for viewing. Low and behold, the Dylan collection was there! They did not have the complete collection, yet, they had the bed frame, mattress, and side table at a more affordable, bundled price compared to the other store we'd gone to. We asked what type of financing they had and after knowing that it suited us, my hubby gave the call and said, "We'll take it." At first I thought that it was very impetuous of us to purchase it right away, but it was really a good deal, and the best part of it was that they could deliver it immediately (like that same night)....for free! Contrary to what we planned before leaving the house, we ended up going home with a bed that day. The owner himself delivered the bed and actually put the bed together once we got home. He was really friendly and funny that he showed us some circus tricks that he learned from his old occupation as a circus performer. We did not only get a bed, but we also made a new friend.

In the future, if we have more funds, we intend to buy the rest of the set. We were glad that we made that u-turn because little did we know that the bed that we desired was in that puny mattress store just waiting for us. I guess that if it was really meant to be, it was meant to be; and that bed, was no question, meant for us. *big smile

This is our Dylan and we love it. It looks a little taller because our purchase included a bed box and we didn't know what to do with it so we decided to just keep it. It's just good to have a nice bed to lay on at the end of the day. : )

"The Crazies" and "Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief"

The movie trailers showed all the juicy suspense highlights it was pointless watching it on the big screen. The clips were just so intriguing I got in the bandwagon of seeing it. I should've read online reviews before watching it so I didn't have to waste time and money. Too late for that now.

It's funny that the war of the Greek gods in the movie happened in the United States. Is that how vast the world is? All in one country? Funny. Then again, I would choose this movie over "The Crazies" any day.

Early Morning Treat

I was awakened with kisses this morning and I had breakfast prepared for me before leaving for work. What a great way to start a day. I feel so loved. :)