Quick, Easy and Inexpensive Meal-- Thai Style!

What's on the Menu: Thai Coconut Rice with Sesame Peanut Sauce!

This starchy goodness serves up to 8 people for about $12 Ingredients: (For Rice)

1 1/2 cups Jasmine rice (dry) 1 1/2 cups of carrots 1 clove garlic (minced) 3 tsp ginger (minced) 3/4 cup green onion lime wedges 1 red bell pepper 1 green bell pepper 1 yellow bell pepper 1/4 red cabbage 1 small onion 1 can Goya coconut milk (unsweetened) 2 tsp salt 1 tsp black pepper 2 tsp adobo seasoning 1 packet vegetable seasoning Sesame peanut sauce: 1/3 cup peanut butter 1 tbsp. honey 2 tbsp. champagne vinegar 2 tbsp. sesame oil

Finely chop onions, bell peppers and green onion. Shred cabbage and carrots and mince ginger and garlic.

Wash rice to remove excess starch. (optional) In a hot pan, add 2 tbsp. olive oil, then add chopped and minced seasonings. Sauté for a couple minutes.

Add rice while stirring continuously. Then add the can of coconut milk along with the dry seasonings.

Something about this vegetable seasoning will awaken the flavor-- and it just makes it taste delicious! When the rice comes to a boil, add 1/4 of chicken broth and turn the heat/fire on low. Cover the pot and allow the rice to steam (cook). This should take just about 20 mins!

Call me old school or just plain Jamaican-- but I cover my pot with foil along with the lid when steaming rice. It cooks the rice evenly and makes it "fluffy". After 20 mins, or when the rice is fully cooked-- add chopped green onion and shredded cabbage. Stir until evenly incorporated.

In a small container, add peanut butter, sesame oil, champagne vinegar and honey. Whisk until smooth. Add water to thin.

To serve: Place the serving amount of your choice in a bowl. Drizzle the sesame-peanut sauce on top. Add a few cilantro leaflet's and lime wedges to garnish!

This meal/recipe is seriously ADDICTING! Hope you guys enjoy this treat. Until next time, peace and love from your girl, AJ!

Quick, easy and inexpensive-- Mexican Style!

What's on the Menu: Pasta Enchilada!

This quick and easy meal only costs-- $14.53 and serves well over 8 people! Ingredients:

1 pk of ground beef 1 can of Goya black beans 1 can of Goya coconut milk 1 box of Angel Hair pasta 5 cloves of garlic (minced) 1 small onion (chopped) 1/2 cup of frozen corn 1/2 red bell pepper (chopped) 1/2 green bell pepper (chopped) 1/2 cup of cilantro (chopped) 2 tbsps.. Goya cilantro (Recaito) 2 tbsps. Goya Achiotina 2 tbsps. garlic powder 1 tbsp. salt 1 tbsp. black pepper 1 tbsp. cayenne pepper 2 tbsps. Adobo seasoning Let's get Cooking: Chop seasonings and vegetables into bite size pieces, or however big or small you like.

Next: Add oil to a medium skillet. Then, add ground beef allowing to brown. At this point, add all dry seasoning and stir contiuously.

Then add your chopped seasonings to the pot allowing them to saute' and flavor that groung beef.

After that, add the can of black beans and 1/2 of frozen corn to the pot. At this point you want to stir all the ingredients for about 2 minutes until the corn is heated.

Then, add the can of coconut milk and all the pot to come to a boil. It is at this point you can add more dry seasoning, to taste. Let pot simmer for a couple of minutes.

Finally, add cooked or uncooked angel hair pasta to the pot. If the pasta is uncooked, this last step should take no longer that 8-10 minutes to be completed. It should take no more than 6-8 minutes with cooked pasta. Plate and garnish with some fresh salsa, avocado, cilantro and Cheese!!!

I hope you guys enjoy this quick and easy spin on a Mexican classic. Hope you enjoy the meal, and the savings! Til' next time, peace and love from your gurl, AJ.

College Meals on a Budget, with a Cultured Twist!

What's on the Menu: Traditional Jamaican Jerk Chicken! This meal is definitely for the spicy tongue. In history, due to a lack of resources, preserversation of food posed a problem. Using salt for dehydration was a popular method of perserving food but using peppers and spices to season meats and cooking them over an open fire was the method invented by the Jamaicans. Ingredients: 1 whole or quarterd chicken 1/2 cup of jerk seasoning (bottled brand of your choice) 2 tblsp black pepper 1/2tblsp clove powder 2 tblsp garlic powder 2 tblsp onion podwer 1 tblsp salt 1 tblsp all spice 2 tblsp adobo seasoning 3 tblsp worchestshire sauce 1 tblsp goya cilantro Garnish: Assorted bell peppers Escallion Scotch Bonnet peppers

Step by Step: Remove raw chicken from package. Dismember chicken parts as you like. Wash cicken thoroughly with vinegar, limes, salt and water. Pat chicken dry, then add seasoinings. Let the seasoned chicken marinate for about 40-45 minutes. In this picture, I'm using 4 chickens (catering for a larger crowd), but for a serving size of 4-6, us college kids will only can can only afford 1 chicken which costs no more than $8 at your local grocery store.

After the chicken is marinated, place in a baking pan/dish of your choice and bake for an hour and 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

When the timer goes off-- let chicken rest for another 15 minutes. This will allow the juices to stay locked into the chicken which allows for a more tasty experience! To serve: Chop the chicken into bite size pieces and garnish!

If it's a bit too spicy and hott, you can cool down with a refresing limeade cooler. Super cheap and Super refreshing!

All together, this meal costed no more that $20. And if stored correctly can serve for more than 2 days, which is the perfect way to save some money! Hope you liked this weeks Traditional Jamaican Jerk Chicken-- until next time, Peace and Love from your girl, Ajhani!

"The Man inside the Truck" by: Ajhani Ayres

"The Man inside the Truck" from Ajhani Ayres on Vimeo.

Titanic: "Nearer my God to Thee"

"Scene Analysis": To say this scene is compelling would be an understatement. The violin sets the tone for the scene. It sets an extremely somber tone letting us (the viewers) know that grief is to be anticipated. Muting the background sounds and allowing only the musical instruments', made the scene superbly intense and thrilling. The flashback scenes were filled with joy and happiness, the lighting played a major part in contrasting the two emotions conveyed in the scene. The effect of contrasting two emotions through flashback and present scenes was a clever idea to allow the audience (viewers) to travel along the films timeline, being present in every scene.The brighter lighting in the flashbacks evokes how happy they once were and the darkness that hovers over the present scene evokes the tragedy that is taking place. The close-up shots of people faces showing their shock, painted just how intense it was when one is placed in an intense situation regarding life and death. The pan shot of the ship before its' sinking help viewers visualize what once was, in terms of the ship and what it is slowly becoming. The effects of the sinking ship, the water flooding the ship, people reminiscing and bravely staying on the ship instead of trying to save their lives, was properly depicted by the change in lighting sequences, from a soft shade of orange, to blue... from dim to bright. The particular scene where the musical instrumentation crescendos' when Rose was descending into the water on a separate smaller boat, looking up at Jack with a tearful stare, the lighting on her face become brighter while the instrumentation got much louder. This foreshowed that something crucial was about to happen and which it did.(Rose jumped back onto the ship to be with Jack. All the elements of sound, ,lighting, shots played a big role in completing the scene and making it as phenomenal as it is. -Ajhani Ayres.

Shhhh...this is my Job!

Museum of the Moving Image..

The Museum of the Moving Image is absolutely one of the coolest places I've visited. Located on one of  the most historic blocks in Astoria Queens, as I entered to Museum I was taken by the all white interior that immediately excited and enthused me, giving me a thrill of anticipation to get started with the tour. As the tour began we were brought back in time and shown some of the iconic actors and actresses that paved the way for television today. From Judy Garland, Charlie Chaplin and Anna May Wang. We had the chance to see the iconic masked character in television such as "The Mask" by Jim Carey, we also got the chance to see some of the things that are behind the scenes of  what we actually watch on t.v. We saw the hair pieces that are worn by some of the Hollywood's finest, also make that the actual actors/actresses wore, such as the make-up of Phillisca  Rashad bette known as Mrs.Clair Huxtable. Then we breezed through the costumes that were worn by the likes of Robin Williams a.k.a Mrs.Doubtfire, Bill Cosby, better known as Cliff Huxtable. We walked through an authentic theater that was reminiscent of the olden days with somewhat of an Egyptian twist. We then saw a Thimotrope, which gives the illusion of speed, a zeotrope, a wooden static camera, a techni-color which is used to accentuate colors. Then during small discussions we learned that in actuality it is the Cinematographers that works most closely to the directors of the films that we watch, they work on framing each scene that ends up in the final product. Also we learned about the "dolly grip" who is the person that directs the dolly on a set. Then were brought to a faux recording studio where we learned about the ADR (automated dialogue replacement) which is used in almost every movie, or what is better known as voice over. In this faux studio we were able to actually replace/voice over lines from some of our favorite movies. We were informed that the software used to edit movies is called Sound Track Pro, and that a Foley is used to make artificial sounds in a movie. For example, celery is used to make the "breaking of bones" sound in films etc. Then we were able to edit a scene from the Iconic film "Titanic". We edited the sound and realized just how much Sound Effects have a huge impact of the movies that we know and love. Sound Effects is what in actuality gives us those unforgettable feelings that our favorite movies gives to us. Finally we saw the amazing work of Jim Campbell who is famously known for his "Rhythm of Perception" pieces, he uses lighting to give off different illusions that are just amazing to say the very least. This visit to the museum was definitely informative and Fun, I will be going back on my own time.. love this place!