harbor pier 38

Got to meet up with my cousin, G, and his family at Harbor Pier 38 for lunch.

The interior of the restaurant is huge! I'm glad that they keep the windows open so that the noise from chatter doesn't linger.

Some restaurants are so noisy that it makes conversation inaudible.

My cousin and I had the ahi tuna melt (the name is a little redundant...ahi is tuna in Hawaiian).

You can choose how you wanted the fish cooked and we both got it medium rare.

The wasabi aioli that was on the bun had a lot of heat.

The cross cut potato chips were light and crispy! And they served it with what tasted like a clam dip...good stuff!

My cousin's wife had the soup of the day (asparagus) and their seafood skillet.

It was nice to catch up with them.

I hope to bring Satoshi here the next time.

Thanks G and family for lunch and for a great day!

Harbor Pier 38 (UPDATE: January 2018 closed)
next door to Nico's at Pier 38
1129 Nimitz Highway
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.550.3740
Hours: Lunch: 10:00-15:00, Happy Hour: 15:00-18:00, Dinner: 17:00-21:00

regal bakery

Finally got a chance to try Regal Bakery's maple bacon doughnut.

Their prices have gone up since the last time I was here.

I went to service my brother's car yesterday.

Since it was estimated to take about 2 hours, I walked to Regal Bakery, bought a maple bacon doughnut, then walked to Starbucks on Paiea Street.

They had seats inside by one of their windows, and since it was so grossly humid outside, I ate my doughnut inside with an iced coffee.

The doughnut was really soft, almost mushy, probably from the glaze and topping. The maple flavor seemed a bit fake to me and overall this was a bit too sweet.

But I'm glad they didn't skimp on the amount of bacon on there.

Don't think I would get this doughnut again but I'm glad I tried this.

sunday

Sunday the weather was quite summery, I think the high was 25C!

We packed a spam musubi bento and went to check out the roses at Aramaki Rose Park.

Arriving close to 9:00, we had the whole place to ourselves. It was nice, no one smoking or talking loudly. Just peace and quiet.

As the tour buses of people arrived, we left and went home to figure out what to do about lunch...

We ended up hanging out at the Itami airport (which is nearby where we live)...just gazing at the planes, dreaming of places to travel to.

The airport also has a huge furniture/interior store, so we did a little window shopping...I think we may change our dining table soon...whoo!

The weather was fabulous...to the point of being, HOT! At least it wasn't humid.

What did you do on the weekend?

cute

Sometimes Satoshi and I like to hang out at the Itami airport.

It isn't too far from where we live. Satoshi says he likes to go there just to "feel like he's going on a vacation".

Unlike most airports, this one is a great place to hang out because most of the shops and restaurants are outside of the security area.

A large observation deck on the rooftop is a great place to watch the planes land and take off.

There is a large interior shop which we like to ooh and aah over their furniture that will probably never fit into our apartment.

And I loved this cute planter that was outside of a garden shop there too.

Are you able to hang out at your airport?

big kahuna pizza

Back in July, BFF and I had wanted to eat at Big Kahuna Pizza but were disappointed by their lack of organization.

Luckily, the other day, they were open and ready for business.

We got there just before the lunch crowd.

BFF had their Sumo Special while I had their grilled eggplant pizza.

Grilled eggplant, sun dried tomatoes, caramelized onions, roasted red bell pepper, garlic and 5 kinds of cheese...I think they forgot the red bell pepper, and the crust was quite burnt.

Still, this pizza was delicious because of the sweet tangy mustard vinaigrette drizzled on top.

Oh and they gave us warm cookies though we'll forgive you for putting white chocolate chips in them (not a fan!)

We'll be back.

tatsuo's

We checked out Tatsuo's during one of our errand running.

Located at the beginning of Sand Island Access Road, turn right as soon as you see America Carpet One...or you'll have to U-turn and start all over...trust me, that's what happened to us.

A tiny hole-in-the-wall, Tatsuo's has a pretty extensive menu.

Mom chose the Tats Teri Plate...US$9.99 + tax, this came with a generous slice of teri beef (it is actually folded into thirds), 3 kalbi ribs, 1 chicken thigh & 1 pork steak.

All except the chicken were flavored well. A little on the sweeter side, but everything was moist and tender.

Mom says their mac salad was...meh!

Definitely a couple of meals from this plate lunch.

I chose their Kim Chee Burger...US$3.50 + tax.

A nicely charred burger with lots of kim chee (which I think was homemade) and a leaf of lettuce...delicious.

Despite being hard to find, we'll be back!

Tatsuo's
2224 Alahao Place
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.523.0142

thanks, eh?!

You know, with all the weight restrictions, and things you cannot bring onboard the plane these days...

Everything "liquidy" has to be packed into the bag that you check-in. Everything.

So, of course, mine is packed to the gills.

So intricately packed to the gills is my bag that I'm pretty sure everything would "fly out" if you unhooked those straps.

A rule I have is if you take something out, put it back where you found it...

"They" opened my suitcase, shuffled everything around, even opened my mango chutney.

WT?! mango chutney sauce all over my clean clothes because they didn't put the lid on properly...

I'm thankful nothing was confiscated.

And it could've been worse with broken bottle of mango chutney or mango chutney itself all over things...still hoping that the chutney is still edible though...

Like we say in Hawaii, "thanks, eh!"...sigh

time on my hands

Before catching the plane back to Osaka I had some time on my hands so I stopped in at Pinkberry.

The only shop on Oahu is located inside the International terminal of the Honolulu airport.

Since I had already had lunch, I ordered a small and with 3 toppings it cost US$7.49...probably the most expensive fro-yo I've had this summer...eep!

Chocolate fro-yo with dark chocolate crisps, brownie bites and a glob of hazelnut praline crunch.

Visually not too appetizing but really chocolicious, in fact I didn't finish it, it was really too sweet, but I'm happy I got to try this place.

On the plane, I watched 4 movies..."Rio", "Midnight in Paris", "The Back-up Plan" and "Kung Fu Panda 2".

The nice thing about this airplane was that you could stop and start the movie whenever you wanted, so if you needed to go to the bathroom you could.

Or if you fell asleep during the movie, you could rewind and go back to see where you left off.

Lunch (#2) was a choice of Kalua Pork Curry or Teriyaki Chicken...I think they've had this menu for awhile now (ahem)...I chose the chicken but it was really tough and the rice had dried out already...highlight of this meal was the dessert...Honolulu Cookie Company's coconut shortbread and chocolate dipped chocolate shortbread cookies with some sparkling wine.

Then before landing we had a really junk version of hiyashi chuuka (a chilled noodle with a soy-based sauce) and a really frozen Tropilicious vanilla bean ice cream.

The ice cream was overly sweet, I would've preferred Tropilicious' sorbet like their Haupialicious (coconut sorbet).

Besides lots of food...Watching all those movies really helped me pass the time, I was also able to get in several naps and some bathroom breaks.

How do you usually pass the time on a plane ride?

big kahuna pizza

Checked out Big Kahuna Pizza with BFF. We slipped in just before a huge lunch crowd and shared their garlic cheese balls.

These are buttery, garlicky, cheesy...yum!

I thought I had never eaten them before, but realized I had tried them so many moons ago that I had forgotten.

This is the menehune (which means tiny), it is supposed to be 6 cheese balls but we in fact got a little more in our order. (Thanks!)

We also shared a 7-inch Sumo Special which I've written up about here.

This was still delicious as ever.

And to make us feel special, the guy at the counter gave us 3 chocolate mac nut cookies to share.

We didn't order them and I noticed he passed them out to a couple of tables with no explanation as to why.

They tasted like they were freshly baked with the chocolate kinda melty and whole pieces of roasted macadamia nuts.

Totally full it was another great foodie day with a great friend.

food and culture

Let's start with the culture shock stuff because most were kind of gross. Whenever you go to the toilet, you will see these signs and a large trash can in the stall. I guess most toilets do not have good flushing or maybe it is to cut down the amount of waste that needs to be treated.

Another sign you will see is "no spitting or chewing of betelnut". The green nuts from the Areca palm are split and sprinkled with tobacco then wrapped in Betel vine leaves. When chewed it becomes a mild stimulant, and with continued chewing turns your gums and teeth red. Also, the liquid that is spit out stains, so you see red splats all over the place.

Most of the television programs are in English, though I think they are a week behind. I was just happy to be able to watch episodes of "Kitchen Nightmares", "Law and Order" and "The Starter Wife".

The phone book doesn't give any addresses just the area and phone number.

You will see many progressive poker places as well as hostess bars (many dress scantily and stand at the entrances of their establishments) and prostitutes approaching men walking on the sidewalks. There are also people who will call out to you to lure you into their shops for a massage or cheap dinner...Just use your judgement, if it looks sketchy it probably is.

Many business, restaurants and shops are 24 hours.

You will see this character all around Saipan. He is called Saipanda. Apparently he was created by a Japanese. His name is a play on words. Saipan-da means "this is Saipan". Sai also means rhino in Japanese and Panda is well, panda in Japanese, if you notice he is a cross between the two animals.

You will also see these two coconut like dolls entwined with each other. These are called "bo-jo-bo" dolls. I couldn't find much info on them but depending how they are entwined (e.g. holding hands, hugging, holding both hands and facing each other) they bring good luck for things like love, money and other things. You can find these all over the island it is just a matter of how much you want to pay for one!

One funny thing that constantly happened was that I would speak English wherever we went and people would automatically say, "Hey, your English is awesome, are you Korean?...Chinese?...where are you from?" Somehow I think we got a little better service speaking English rather than Japanese. Though I think if I knew Chamorro, Carolinian or Filipino we may have gotten even better service at various places.

Okay, let's move onto food....
In Nagoya before we left, while I was waiting to meet Satoshi at the airport, I had some delicious gelato at Babbi--biscokrok (crunchy biscuits in rich dark chocolate gelato) & stracciatella (dark chocolate bits in vanilla gelato). They only sell their gelato in twos so I HAD to get two flavors (682 yen about US$6.82).

While waiting to check-in, we had miso katsu sandwiches for dinner from Yabaton (840 yen each about US$8.40). Miso katsu is a famous food in Nagoya. The miso that they use is a red miso. It was kind of dry to me but still something different to try.

We also had some curry flavored okara (soy lees) chips from Muji (157 yen (about US$1.57) (according to my cousin, they have a store in NYC)....delicious.At Moby Dick's, we had creamy clam chowder in a bowl, a seafood salad, seafood pasta and fried calamari, with and iced tea and coffee....Total with tip: $29.00...portions way too large.

I don't think Saipan has sales tax because all of our bills were exactly as the menus or price tags stated.
The cocktails on the Club floor included champagne, wines and lots of great pupus (appetizers). We also had a great teppanyaki dinner at the Hyatt...price too high to mention. And delicious donuts (apple fritter and chocolate donut) from Winchell's. The donuts were only $.99 each...so cheap and good!
Dinner at Bobby Cadillac's one night was delicious. It was my first time trying a reuben (I loved it!) (UPDATE: Actually, I surfed my blog and it was my 2nd time trying a reuben), Satoshi trying their seafood pizza...with sodas (total:$25.90). Lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe located in the Duty Free shop. Satoshi had their humongous nachos and I had the pulled pork sandwich (how I miss bbq sauce!!)--(total with tip: $34.96).
Shopping at the ABC store, we saw (but didn't buy) spam musubi. And at the Joeten Hafa Adai shopping center, we found a supermarket with all kinds of US candies and chips as well as local chicharon (pork rinds)--if you want reasonably priced "omiyage" (souvenirs) shop here. At the Guam airport, we found a Burger King and Satoshi got his fix for portuguese sausage, eggs and rice ($6.25) and I had french toast sticks with tater tots ($4.30).

We I had LOTS of comfort foods on this trip. The portions were huge...and I think we I gained LOTS of weight and our my cholesterol must be high too. While the Japanese travel to Guam as a substitute to Hawaii, Saipan is a different place. Relaxing, laid back, don't expect to do much. Just go to relax, have a good time and eat plenty. I hope you enjoyed our trip to Saipan.

Moby Dick's
Garapan
Phone: 233.1910

Bobby Cadillac's
Garapan
Phone: 233.1180

Winchell's
Garapan
Phone: 234.5566

Hard Rock Cafe
2nd Floor Duty Free
Garapan
Phone: 233.7625

p.s. as I was re-capping this trip, the weather in Osaka has dropped into the single Celsius digits over the past couple of days...brr (though I still look forward to snow...)

nagoya-guam-saipan

Satoshi has some mileage on Continental airlines. I didn't realize it, but I do too. He got word from a newsletter that there was a special campaign on Continental travelling from Nagoya to Guam or Nagoya to Saipan going through Guam. The outrageous oil surcharge would also be waived AND you could go using half the needed mileage. (I think a regular flight would have been 30,000 miles for one person but we went for 15,000 each instead). So, Satoshi seeing this, just couldn't pass it up.

We took the 20:30 flight from Nagoya to Guam. It is only 3 hours to Guam. (A lot of Japanese choose Guam as a place to vacation, because it is like going to Hawaii without having to travel for 8 hours to get there.) We arrived there at about 0:40. (The time difference is about an hour ahead of Japan)

At that time of night, no one is around--well, just the immigrations/customs and security. (Satoshi loves travelling with me especially when we can go through the U.S. Citizens line and he doesn't have to stand in the long Foreigners line.) After going through Immigrations, we had to be escorted back around to the Security line to check-in for our flight to Saipan.

Our flight to Saipan was at 2:40 (yes, in the morning). There were 2 people waiting at the gate, which turned out to be the only other passengers besides us on our flight. As soon as the staff realized we were all accounted for, they boarded us and we took off about 15 minutes earlier.

It was kind of funny because they passed out water and cookies just before we boarded. The plane was a 30 or 40 seater with propellers--too small to have a cart running down the aisleway, plus there were only 4 of us. What was also funny was that the stewardess ran through the speech about sitting by the exit and how you would need to help in case of an emergency--it was funny because none of us were sitting there.

The ride was noisy and kind of bumpy. This was my second time riding this type of plane. The other 2 passengers wanted to sit other than where they were assigned, but the stewardess said they have the weight thing all figured out so they should sit where they were assigned.

Landing in Saipan reminded me of the outer island airports in Hawaii. After going through Immigrations and Customs, a taxi was waiting to take us to our hotel, Hyatt Regency Saipan. From the airport, it is about a 10 minute ride to a town called Garapan, where the Hyatt Regency is located.

The property is well kept and is is near the ocean. They have several restaurants, a spa, fitness room and pool. The staff is also friendly and knowledgeable--many speak more than one language.

We stayed on the Regency Club floor. Staying on this floor gave us priviledges to use the Club lounge.

The lounge serves a continental breakfast every morning, ice tea and cookies during the daytime and cocktails every evening.

I was quite impressed with their continental breakfast. My idea of a continental breakfast was just some pastries, juice and coffee, but their service in the lounge included salads, different sausages, cheeses, fruit, as well as pastries, breads, cereals and coffee/tea--this kind of life is something one could really get used to.


Hyatt Regency Saipan
Garapan
Phone: +1.670.234.1234

osaka international airport

It is Sunday, it is also Father's Day. Happy Father's Day to all of you. Hope you get to do something you'd like to do today.

Satoshi had Thursday and Friday off, so he worked yesterday, is working today and won't be off until next Saturday. We went to stay with his mom on Thursday and Friday, to help out with the preparations for the 100-day service coming up at the end of the month. I think she was happy just to have us around.

On a lazy weekend, what better thing to do then to head to the airport.

The Osaka International Airport is located about 10 minutes by train or 40 minutes on foot or 5 minutes by car from where we live.

When I studied in Japan (some many moons ago), this was the airport I flew in and out of.

The international flights stopped when the Kansai International Airport was built in 1994 and now, only domestic flights come and go through Osaka International Airport, or Itami airport as some call it.

With the loss of business after the international flights stopped, the airport has gone under major renovations to improve their appearance and have put in several shops and restaurants to lure people, "to just hang out at the airport".

There is a huge observation deck up top, on the weekday that we were there, there were many people (though you can't see them) eating their breakfast, having some coffee or just relaxing (maybe daydreaming of going on vacation?).

I was surprised how neat they line everything up down below.


Another thing that surprised me was the workers bowing and waving "goodbye" to the planes.

Usually for our summer vacations, we use our miles for a domestic trip, or go abroad, but with the continuing rise in gas/oil prices and food items, we are looking into using the trains for our summer vacation this year.

What are you planning to do this Summer?

Hope you have a great week, my week looks to be filled with all kinds of events, hope to be able to share them with you soon.