this and that

Almost always on my first day in Hawaii, I visit Mom & Dad

Went to Waipio Big City Diner with Aunty...had a loco moco "for Satoshi"

The hamburger patty was a little hard, but I was glad the portion was on the smaller size 

BFF found a can of Hello Kitty Spam for me at Longs

FYI a can in Japan is close to 800 yen?!

saw See's dark chocolate scotchmallow on Instagram and wanted to try

A little too sweet but still glad I got to try this

Oceanside Bakery's banana bread...super huge & moist

Had about three breakfasts from this

shrinkflation at Liliha Bakery

Their cornbread has turned into corn muffin and is now sliced then grilled, actually only one piece was grilled

$6 kalua bowl at Foodland...delicious! and reasonable but too much rice (for me)

Uncle's Ube ice cream sandwich...1/2 is one serving!

made the petit block that Ms V gave me...this one was hard and so teeny! the head and tail can move!

Lunch with the Aunties, W & BFF

could've been more tender BBQ ribs! baked beans and really dry mac & cheese

Was nice to be able to spend time with them

Pad Thai with Greg at King of Thai Boat Noodles

Always nice to catch up with him!

Dinner with Steph and BFF at Olive Garden

We "braved" having salad...during this trip there was the scary ED (explosive d-thingy) I usually eat more salads when I am in Hawaii but this time I didn’t want to chance it...

omiyage from Steph! Thank you!

catch up with Gaye at Oh My Grill

Their bbq beef sandwich and fries were delicious, plus you can ask them to fry the fries super crispy!

Thank you for today Gaye! and for the omiyage!

made this mini building block sea otter for BFF...the whiskers were a challenge! had to bust out tools!

I think she has now put me in charge of making all the different sets that she has

El Charro's pork tamale with mole sauce...1st time having mole sauce (I think)…mouth.on.fire! 

1st time having The Alley's chocolate insanity cake! so rich 

My IG algorithm had chocolate cake in it so had to nix the craving!

Tried the mango sticky rice bowl from Down to Earth

I don't think there was actually sticky rice in there, just tapioca

Still, this was refreshing and delicious!

Flight was delayed coming to Hawaii as well as going back to Japan

Apparently no one submitted the paperwork for us to take off from Honolulu, so we drove around the runways for almost 1 hour?! while they waited for approval…I think I saw Diamond Head 2 or 3 times in between naps...

Lucky I had this venison stick and some snacks because it was way past my lunch time and I was kinda hangry

This trip was kinda short.

Thankful Satoshi let me go on vacation and for BFF who let me stay with her and drove me around.

Saw many rainbows, friends and some family

Thankful for everyone who made time to meet up, who drove me to and from Pearl  City and for all the omiyage!

Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

new and old

got to check out the new stations for the Skyline

This was the one at Middle Street, it is called Kahauiki 

Thought there were more riders especially with bicycles than when the rail first started running

This is the bus station at Middle Street that connects to the rail

Here on the sign are the upcoming stations that they plan to build

The Bus seemed to be better coordinated with Skyline. I only had to wait about 5 minutes for a bus instead of 20.

During this trip there were many new condos being built, sad that it is getting so crowded with these high rises

It was also sad seeing Aloha Stadium being torn down.

so much changes...

mille fete

Wanted to try Mille Fete, so I went after an errand in Downtown.

Loved the interior 

Chose their kim chee reuben hand pie, this had homemade corned beef, kim chee and cheese.

It was nice that they heated it up for me. The pastry was flaky.

I also tried their citrus olive oil cake, but this was a little too sweet for my liking

Their cold brew was strong and delicious

I'm glad I tried them and want to try their chocolate cake the next time I am nearby

Mille Fete

1113 Smith Street

Honolulu, Hawaii

Hours: 10:00-18:00

the penny

Not too sure when they got rid of the penny but it was my first time experiencing it since the amount in circulation has supposedly dwindled 

Some shops round up or down depending on what they have on hand and most usually tell you if they won’t be giving you back the right change

My worst experience was at Brug, my bill was $15.71, so I gave the cashier $20.01

She only saw the $20 and punched that into the register, BUT also put my penny into the register!

And when I questioned her about it, all she told me was “where?!”grr

I think shops should adjust their prices so that with tax there would not be a need for the penny or maybe notice when I give you one…

eep

During this trip, my Aunty had asked about the ukulele we have

I was shocked when I opened my dad's ukulele case

It was fixed once before though I can’t remember exactly what needed to be done that time

I guess where I store it, it might be humid and hot so the wood on the front and back is separating from the sides of the ukulele

What was cool though was there were also photos and music at the bottom of the case that my Dad had left

On my next trip back I will go to Kamaka and get an estimate for the ukulele to be fixed 

Still, I feel bad that I didn't take better care of his ukulele.

sorry Dad!

this and that

The do not eat list...at least "someone" kind of followed it this year.

Jessica's Kitchen, this restaurant is new, BFF saw it on IG and wanted to try.

The skin was super crispy, but the chicken seemed over cooked to me because it was hard.as.rock.

Weirdly when I heated the leftovers, the chicken became softer...

Mini chocolate peanut butter shake from Teddy's...it takes some time to make it and their flavors are kinda weak, but I was glad we got to try it.

Rainbow’s Drive In, I think they changed their bun and the BBQ beef seemed overly salty

Tsunami warning…we were actually supposed to meet up with family for dinner on this day, but one Aunty decided to cancel

We should’ve checked with my other Aunty to see if we could've eaten dinner with them since we were already on our way, but instead we turned around and was in traffic for two hours trying to get back to Pearl City!

I kept entertained in traffic by taking photos of the huge rainbow in the side mirror...luckily Oahu didn’t have any damage

We finally got to have dinner with family on my last Sunday in Hawaii

Where my aunty lives, it used to be sit down type but now it is buffet style 

My aunty and her husband moved last year so it was nice to see where they live now

One day, I had Sharetea's ice blended strawberry & lychee jelly...which I had the other summer, still delicious

Went to Tanioka's for mochiko chicken and spam musubi

Tried Asato Family's Li Hing Float since I saw people raving about it..wasn't too sure what this was supposed to taste like...it didn't have li hing flavor to me...hope the other two flavors were tasty because I bought them to give to Ryan and S.

Tried Uncle's Sea Salt Caramel Swirl : snickerdoodle cookie with sea salt caramel ice cream and fudge (took it out of tge trash since I forgot to take a photo of the package)

Visited Dad

Visited Mom

Went to Nanding's and had their pan de coco, lup cheong and portuguese sausage rolls.

Saw something on social media and thought this might be a Ken Edwards piece but it doesn't have the "KE" marking that his pieces are known to have.

Oceanside Bakery, thought I wrote up about this bakery last summer, but I did not.

I think this bakery is located where Otto cake used to be.

This year I tried their ham cheese pocket...heat in micro for 30 seconds then toast per the guy working there…so flaky! with lots of cheese inside 

Uncle's ice cream sandwiches...1/2 is one serving...

Shiro's saimin

and beef stick...the sauce was a little thick but this was delicious

Mangoes from Aunty V's neighbor

BFF made chili one night...mouth.on.fire.

Liliha Bakery with Ms V...I had portuguese sausage and 

mochi poi doughnut

It was nice catching up with Ms V

She gave me these Petit Blocks...I made one that day

and the other while waiting for the tsunami warning to clear

these were way easier than the first one she gave me last summer...

BFF also made these gau gee filling patties...delicious with fried saimin from Zippy's

Dinner with Steph at Olive Garden, always nice catching up with her

The best avocados from A

These cookies from Jalna were ono and so interesting, made by AB Krunch Cookies they are actually graham crackers topped with a caramel glaze and nuts...

This year was a shorter vacation, but I'm glad I was able to do most of the things I had wanted to.

There were some places I wanted to try eating at, but just ran out of time.

Thankful for everyone taking time out to meet up, for all the different omiyage and different meals.

Appreciate Satoshi letting me go on vacation and for BFF letting me stay with her.

Hope you had a nice summer...5 to 10 degrees really does make a difference...if you are interested in more videos and photos, please look here.