Eye Candy: Ulisses Williams (reprise)

Natural bodybuilder Ulisses Williams has been one of the most popular Eye Candy models on MadProfessah.com for years. So I decided that he should probably make a second appearance depicting his incredibly ripped physique and dark chocolate skin.

I can see why "y'all" like him, I do as well!

US OPEN 2011: DAY 6 Recap (What I Saw)

Italian tennis player Fabio Fognini, practicing shirtless on
the outer courts (photo credit: Ron Buckmire)

So, yes I was at the US Open yesterday. I had a grounds pass, so I was just walking around when I saw this incredibly hot guy, hitting balls, shirtless. Who did it turn out to be? None other than Italian stallion Fabio Fognini, who we last saw withdrawing from a quarterfinal match with Novak Djokovic at this year's french Open (and some say giving the Serbian 5 days off so that he then lost his first match of the year to Roger Federer).

Anyway, it was way out on Court 10 with some unknown female junior practicing with her coach on Court 9 next door. Fabio was hitting balls with his coach and playing some points with his doubles partner, Simone Bolelli (who is also gorgeous, but sadly was not shirtless). I was literally less than 10 feet from the players. The above picture was taken seconds before Fognini threw his racket into his bag and complained to his coach about his playing. There was quite a crowd around but almost nobody knew who the players were, except that they were speaking Italian. I recognized Fognini immediately and later figured out it was Bolelli he was hitting with. Leaving the court dazed, I literally walked into 80-year-old(?) Nick Bolleteri (watch where ya going, kid!) as he dashed off to another press interview I guess.

Oh, yeah what about the tennis?

I don't have more money than sense, so I didn't see the Serena Williams - Victoria Azarenka match in Ashe stadium, but you could literally hear it all over the grounds. Ashe is so big so that unless you are willing to spend 3 figures, you are better off watching the match on television. Bizarrely, the big screens around the grounds were mostly showing Mardy Fish's blase' dismissal of South African beanstalk Kevin Anderson in 3 sets. There was a huge line to get into Grand Stand to see the 3rd round match between Juan Monaco and Tommy Haas. Why, you ask? Because next on that court was Fernando Verdasco playing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and there are no assigned seats. First come, first served! About 5 thousand people sat patiently through Haas hitting some 71 unforced errors to lose to Roger Federer's next victim in order to experience the magic of Tsonga-Verdasco. Sadly, we didn't get to witness repeat magic of last year's incredible Verdasco-Ferrer match (with one of the greatest match points of all time). This time, Tsonga was just too good for 'Nando on the day. The Frenchman was routinely hitting serves into the 130s at will and showing incredible defensive skills. Still even with a scoreline of 6-3 7-5 6-4 it was two hours that were well worth the price of admission. I was in the 2nd courtside row, close enough to Tsonga I could see what color underwear he was wearing (brightly colored boxers). It was quite a treat to see two once and future Top 10 player in such a small stadium. I know there's a lot of hype about Mardy, but I suspect there's going to be another Federer-Tsonga grand slam quarterfinal. Surely he can't beat the Swiss great three times in a row?

30 Day Movie Challenge

Day 01- The best movie you saw during the last year - Incendies
Day 02 – The most underrated movie you saw in the last year- The Town
Day 03 – A movie that makes you really happy - Finding Nemo
Day 04 – A movie that makes you sad - Waiting for Superman
Day 05 – Favorite love story in a movie - Brokeback Mountain
Day 06 – Favorite made for TV movie - Too Big To Fail
Day 07 – The most surprising plot twist or ending - Incendies
Day 08 – A movie that you’ve seen countless times - The Incredibles
Day 09 – A movie with the best soundtrack - Gladiator, The Crying Game
Day 10 – Favorite classic movie - Gone With The Wind
Day 11 – A movie that changed your opinion about something - The Cove
Day 12 – A movie that you hate - Braveheart
Day 13 – A movie that is a guilty pleasure - The Fifth Element
Day 14 – A movie that no one would expect you to love - Kick-Ass
Day 15 – A character who you can relate to the most - Spock in Star Trek
Day 16 – A movie that you used to love but now hate - Lethal Weapon
Day 17 – A movie that disappointed you the most - All the X-Men movies
Day 18 – A movie that you wish more people would’ve seen - Incendies
Day 19 – Favorite movie based on a book/comic/etc. - Lord of the Rings
Day 20 – Favorite movie from your favorite actor/actress - Dangerous Liaisons
Day 21 – Favorite action movie - Avatar
Day 22 – Favorite documentary -  Food, Inc.
Day 23 – Favorite animation - The Incredibles (Spirited Away a close second)
Day 24 – That one awesome movie idea that still hasn’t been done yet - Turning Dan Simmons Hyperion Cantos into a movie; biopic of the life of Bayard Rustin
Day 25 – The most hilarious movie you’ve ever seen - The Princess Bride
Day 26 – A movie that you love but everyone else hates - Dreamgirls
Day 27 – A movie that you wish you had seen in theaters - Inglourious Basterds
Day 28 – Favorite movie from your favorite director - Memento
Day 29 – A movie from your childhood - Star Wars
Day 30 – Your favorite movie of all time - Dangerous Liaisons, with Lord of the Rings  a close second


Hat/tip to Daventry Blue.

On My Way To DC Today

Today is National HIV Testing Day: 30 Reasons To Get Tested

Today, June 27th, is National HIV Testing Day. 2011 is also the 30th year of the AIDS epidemic, which was first identified in Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles County Department of Health has distributed "30 Years. 30 Reasons To Get Tested" on a website called EraseDoubt

1.      I didn’t use a condom.

2.      I thought we were monogamous, but I was wrong.

3.      My boyfriend and I want to share our results with each other.

4.      If I know my status, I can move on with my life.

5.      I know what I did last summer. I just don’t remember who.

6.      I’ve had an STD and I’m more vulnerable to contracting HIV.

7.      I want to have kids and need to know how to protect my baby.

8.      I respect myself. I respect my partner.

9.      I’d be lying if I told you that I normally don’t hook up.

10.  I shared needles back in my party days.   

11.  I’ve had multiple sex partners.

12.  I thought he would be more than a one night stand, but he wasn’t.

13.  I can no longer use my fear of needles as an excuse not to get tested because there are needle free options now. 

14.  We should have talked about it and not just assumed we were both HIV negative.

15.  Just because.

16.  My husband had an affair and I just need to be sure.

17.  My blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, and diet aren’t the only things I should be worried about.

18.  It would bother me if I gave someone HIV.

19.  I don’t remember his name and who knows what else I don’t know about him.

20.  He said the condom wasn’t big enough and I believed him, so we didn’t use it.

21.  I shared needles getting my tattoos and piercings.

22.  I’m out, proud and sexually active.

23.  In about 20 minutes or so, I can finally stop worrying and just know.

24.  One thing led to another and another…

25.  I love him enough to know my status.

26.  He said using a condom would ruin the mood.

27.  It’s been 6 months since my last test, so it’s time.

28.  Too many margaritas, a few more tequila shots, sneaking out of the club with what’s his name, and a night I don’t really remember.

29.  My boyfriend said he would get one too.

30.  Whatever the HIV test result, I know that I’ll be okay.

Get Tested. Know Your Status. Erase Doubt!

FOOD REVIEW: Yujean Kang's (Pasadena, CA)

exterior of Yujean Kang's restaurant

Steamed dumpling with green onion, egg, pork and vegetable

A combination of three dishes: string beans, chicken with cashew nuts
and scallops with cucumber

Chicken with Glazed Cashew Nuts

Sauteed Blue Lake Green Beans with Roasted Pork

Mandarin Orange Cheesecake with
Fresh Fruit in Raspberry and Passion Fruit Sauce

For my birthday on May 21, I had dinner with my husband at one of my favorite restaurants in Los Angeles, Yujean Kang's a gourmet Chinese restaurant. They do not serve you typical Szechuan Chinese cuisine, but instead use high-quality ingredients to produce gourmet-level entrees at non-gourmet prices.

Although it is one of my favorite restaurants, I haven't actually eaten at Yujean Kang's for awhile. They have two dishes on their menu which I absolutely adore. They are: 1) crispy beef with chinese baby bok choi, szechuan style; and 2) chicken with glazed cashew nuts. In fact, I almost always order these two items whenever I go there.

We started with a very interesting steamed dumpling stuffed with four interesting ingredients (cooked egg, green onions, smoked pork and some vegetable whose name I forget. Unfortunately a single order of these only included 3 dumplings so I was forced to eat 2, after taking the close up picture seen above. They were quite small, but very yummy.

Since it had been awhile since I had eaten there we only ordered one of my favorites, the chicken with glazed cashew nuts (sliced chicken breast with assorted mushrooms, fresh snow peas and vanilla beans, served with sesame seed and glazed cashew nuts). This is a truly astonishing dish. The chicken is very, very tender, melting in your mouth, but incredibly flavorful thanks to the presence of vanilla beans and a yummy slightly sweet sauce. The dish has very interesting competing textures, with sweet, crunchy glazed walnuts and very smooth, slippery mushrooms and the aforementioned chicken. Additionally, there are bright green, crunchy snow peas which provide contrasting color and another interesting texture. The pictures above do not do it justice!

In addition to the Chicken with Glazed Walnuts, we ordered the Sauteed Green Beans with Pork, primarily to compare Yujeans Kang's version of this typical Szechuan dish with the same dish I've often ordered at Yang Chow restaurant. Honestly, I found Yujean Kang's version of the dish slightly inferior to Yang Chow's. The greens were not crunchy enough at Yujean's, although the dish was a nice contrast to the chicken. However, it was intended to be a light vegetable dish because the other two dishes contained protein and the addition of smoked pork made it seem a bit too substantial.

The third dish we ordered was one of the most expensive things on the menu, a $23 entree: the fresh spicy sea scallops with cucumber and jellyfish. The dish came with Szechuan peppercorn sauce on the side. My husband was very interested in ordering this because Szechuan peppercorns were banned for import into the United States for years (ban ended in 2005) and the spice is supposed to have an almost pharmacological effect on the tastebuds.

Hubby had dropped the knowledge that this was my birthday dinner so they insisted on providing a dessert for free. While I ran out to feed the meter (even on an early Saturday evening it is not wise to defy the Parking God in Pasadena) and when I returned there was a lovely (complementary) mandarin orange cheesecake with kiwi, grapefruit and tangerine artfully arranged around the plate. Amazingly, there was even mandarin inside the cheesecake itself, and this did not clash with the dairy-laden sweet.

All in all, Yujean Kang's is an excellent dining experience, one I would like to repeat soon, but next time I will make sure to order both of my favorite dishes!

Name: Yujean Kang's.

Location: 67 North Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91103.

Contact: 626-585-0855.

Visit: May 21, 2011.

AMBIANCE: A-.

SERVICE: A.

VALUE: B.

FOOD: A. 

OVERALL: A- (3.667/4.0).