espresso bar

Got to meet up with Mineko again

We had intended to meet at Honolulu Coffee, but there were no seats available, so we went over to Neiman Marcus' Espresso Bar

I don't recall ever eating here in the past.

They serve sandwiches, desserts, alcohol and other beverages.

Mineko had their tiramisu and an iced latte

I had their carrot cake and an iced coffee

The cream cheese frosting was a bit heavy for my liking but I enjoyed the cake part of this dessert.

The iced coffee was so-so

Mineko gave us this cute bag and a jar of guava jam

I'm glad we got to meet up again 

Thanks for today Mineko

Espresso Bar

inside Neiman Marcus 2F

Ala Moana Shopping Center

Open from 11:00-17:00

pho dynasty

Met up with friend Len for Vietnamese food at Pho Dynasty

He said this place was rather new and that he enjoyed the pho here

Another blazing day so I ordered the grilled pork with spring roll on rice noodles 

Too bad they put everything into a bowl, there was a lot of veggies and noodles that were hidden 

The pork was tasty and very tender 

A nice promotion that they had was if you ordered a pho that was under $25, they gave you 50% off

Was nice to catch up and appreciated Len bringing me back to Pearl City

Thanks for today Len

Pho Dynasty

1341 Kapiolani Blvd

Honolulu, Hawaii

Open daily: 10:00-22:00

goma tei

Met up with friend Greg

We had planned to check out the Makai Market food court in Ala Moana, but it had been many moons since I’d been here and wasn’t sure where to check out so we went to Goma Tei instead since that is where Greg usually goes.

I am a Goma Ichi fan but have gone to Goma Tei with Jalna & Mich in the past

It was too blazing for ramen, so I tried their cold chicken udon.

This was delicious BUT I wished they would cut the cucumber into bite sized pieces instead of thin long sticks.

It was nice catching up with Greg

Thanks for today Greg

ruscello

Lunched with Mineko at Ruscello

The chef’s special that day was this super tender braised beef sandwich!

with blueberry glaze, arugula, pickled onions and jalapeño aioli, so good!

Mineko had the lobster bisque and (I think) their burger

It was nice catching up with her

Thanks for today Mineko

hangang

Got to try Hangang with V

It was blazing, so I had the cold noodles with kalbi

The kalbi was so tender! and tasty 

The banchan was delicious too, so much variety

Even if it was blazing, V ordered the jjigae (I think), her lunch also came with the kalbi

V shared avocados and a HUGE Kamiya papaya

Always fun catching up with V.

Thanks for today V!

Hangang

1246 Waimanu Street

Honolulu, Hawaii

Open daily: 11:00-16:00 (lunch), 17:00-23:00 (dinner)

meeting jenny

We got to meet Maybe It's Jenny!

Since we'd never met her before, I thought something out in the open and casual would be good.

We met up at the Lanai Terrace near Macy's, Ala Moana.

I thought coffee or boba would be nice to meet up for the first time, but Jenny suggested lunch and then coffee/boba.

Lunch was musubi from Iyasume and I think V had some sandwiches from Mana Sandwich.

Afterwards we had Sharetea's strawberry lychee jelly drinks, so good! the lychee jelly was like lychee fruit pieces.

Jalna had honey lemon tea from Hi Tea.

BFF happened to be at the food court too and met Jenny and Jalna.

Afterwards, BFF said she had tried Sharetea's strawberry lychee jelly with ice cream before and it was super ono!

It was nice to meet Jenny, and she was kind to share these Trader Joe goodies with us.

That Mee Krob snack was so ono! sweet, a little spicy, savory.

I hope Jenny had a nice time too.

V shared more of her avocados and some other goodies with us

Jalna gave us these pickles, so ono!

I  brought this to one of our Sunday dinners and my aunty couldn't stop eating it.

It was nice to meet Jenny, she was easy to talk to and we all look forward to meeting up again next summer.

AND I'm glad Jalna came out too!

Thanks for today, Jenny, V & Jalna! 

assagio's

Got together with reader Ryan, his wife, S and Jalna!

Ryan and S were nice to pick me up on their way to Assagio's in Ala Moana Shopping Center where we met up with Jalna.

Lunch started off with caesar salad

I ordered chicken assagio...potatoes, chicken, capers, garlic, red bell peppers and anchovies...delicious

S' father paints and used to sell at the zoo fence...so pretty, yeah?!
 

We also received homemade chili sauce and our favorite coffee from Ryan!

It was nice to catch up with Ryan, S and to see Jalna again!

Thanks for today!

update

Friday, some "me" time...I went to see this movie...(photo from wikipedia)

It was my first time in an IMAX theatre where the chairs reclined (glad I was the first one in the theatre so I could take some photos).

Late lunch...Tanioka's ahi patty musubi.

Dinner was a solo pupu party (boiled peanuts & mochiko chicken from Tanioka's, salad, ume arare & Waikiki Brewing's black strapp molasses porter)

When you first open the can, you can really smell the molasses.

Saturday, lunch with BFF and friend S at Assagio's...meatball sandwich (Thanks for lunch W)

It was nice spending some time with S and W.

Dinner was at the PC Bon Dance with Val...this was at the church that my mom used to be a member of.

Their congregation is getting older and smaller, so it was sad to see how little baked goods they had to sell and how small the crowd for the Bon Dance was.

Dinner was chili rice and some andagi.

Sunday, dinner at Aunty M's was an assortment of pupus and salad.

It was nice to see Aunty's friends, MJ and BJ.

Monday, the photographer and the realtor came to take photos of the house.

While the photographer took photos of the exterior of the house, the realtor and I opened the windows, shades, turned on the lights, prepping for the interior shots.

10 minutes or so and they were done.

Lunch was from The Elephant Shack, this time around I tried the Yum Pla...fried fish tossed in fresh chili-lime jus with cilantro, red onions, scallion, grape tomatoes served w/jasmine rice.

This was so good! The fish had a thin batter and was fried nicely.

I had this for 2 meals.

Wednesday, I have been sleeping in the living room because it has been humid and the living room has the ceiling fan.

Sleeping on the sofa next to a window is not good, especially when your "furry niece" decides to use you as a springboard to look out said window to check out the cats or mongoose?! roaming about outside at 4 a.m.!

And while I thought I was through purging, my brother and I whittled down some of the stuff that was still in the cupboards.

When my mom renovated the house, she definitely built her dream kitchen, filling it with her gadgets and containers.

She also made storage to fit EVERYTHING, so her cupboards went DEEP! and WIDE...she had a LOT of cupboards.

2 counter tops filled with things packed in the backseat and trunk of the car...

The guy working at Salvation Army was snarky, probably having a bad day...yelling at one person donating things to put their items onto the loading dock.

Yelling at me that I should've put everything into boxes because they will get injured because of all the glass items...geez.

Lunch was from Nanding's.

Chicken empanada and macapuno (coconut strings) ensamada.

How have I not known about macapuno?!

Though it is different from desiccated coconut...more gelatinous...a bit too sweet from the syrup the coconut strings are packed in.

Still, I'm glad I got to try it.

The realtor sent the photos of the house, it came out nice, if I do say so.

Since I cannot use the photographer's photos, check out my photos here.

Thursday, the house went on the market.

Open house this Sunday.

After that, the realtor gives us 1 day notice when he has an appointment to show and we need to be cleaned and ready...stress!

A trip to the library to bring in a few more items to donate.

Lunch with Aunty M and Aunty V at Hamada General Store.

When my cousin P saw my post, she commented, "Again? How many times have you been there?"

Yes, if you've been keeping track this is my third time there in the three weeks that this place has been open...

This time around I tried the Fried Ahi Katsu...this had heat, sweet and savory, they should make this into a sandwich!

V, also said she's been here a couple more times after we went last Thursday.

Hope this place will continue to succeed.

Basically this was my week...the humidity as well as the heat are still lingering, though we did get some rain Thursday night.

It's a holiday today, Admissions Day.

Oh, and if you were wondering, that missing troll was spotted in Aunty V's garden (hope this made you smile).

Have a nice weekend.

this week

Oh em gee this week was so hot and humid, it was pretty miserable.

But, that didn't stop me from enjoying all sorts of different foods.

Friday, I had my solo pupu party...chicken lumpia from Ba-le, furikake popcorn from Island Popper, Down to Earth Salad Bar & Underwood Rose.

Island Popper, who had a food truck, recently opened a shop in Kalihi.

Their parking is horrendous. Dunno that I would go back to that shop, would probably look for some of their other vendors who sell their product instead.

Saturday lunch at Ruscello with Mineko-san!

She too is going through some danshari (purging), it was nice to get together with her and share our experiences.

She had the seared ahi salad and steak barley soup.

I ordered the Shrimp Polenta salad (wild shrimp, petite tomatoes, warm polenta croutons,
parmesan cheese crisp, creamy garlic vinaigrette).

So good!

We also had dessert.

Mineko had their Creme Brulee.

I had their chocolate chip cookie topped with gelato.

I had envisioned a firmer cookie...this was super chocolatey!

Mineko-san also gave me all these chocolate goodies from Pierre Marcolini.

Thank you Mineko-san for lunch, the chocolates and just for a great day!

Saturday night dinner was with BFF at Cheesecake Factory in Kapolei.

Our orders took an hour!

This avocado toast was HUGE but really delicious, I think it was all the lemon squeezed on top that made it tasty!

Some mix up in the kitchen and with the servers...BFF got a free dessert to take home!

Sunday brunch was with blog reader Ryan and his wife S at Piggy Smalls.

We shared the LFC (Laotian Fried Chicken)...sour, sweet, spicy...so good!

I ordered the Burmese Tea Salad.

I have been seeing Burmese Tea Salad here and there on the internet and wanted to try.

It was nice to watch the wait staff explain and mix all the various ingredients in.

Green papaya, tomato, garlic, sesame, sprouting seeds, preserved lemon, serrano chili, fermented lahpet (tea leaves) dressing...the sprouting seeds were hard.as.rock. like eating unpopped popcorn, I would have preferred this to be ground a bit, but overall I loved trying this, it was puckery and perfect for the heat and humidity we've been having.

I also ordered the Go Get 'Em Tiger drink which was turmeric, lemon, ginger and soda water (no photo)...super refreshing, I would love to recreate this!

S had their Truffle Katsu Burger.

Portobello stuffed with truffle shuffle, american cheese, sriracha-lime onions, lettuce, tomato, awesome mustard sauce, brioche bun...it looked good and S also added an egg to her burger!

Ryan had their Brisket Banh Mi with Pho Dip.

Smoked brisket, pickled mustard seeds, sriracha-lime onions, awesome sauce, on La Tour baguette with a side of our signature pho broth & farm salad.

The sandwich was massive (but looked delicious), nice thick cuts of brisket...Ryan also added some noodles to his pho broth.

Dessert was churro french toast that S & I shared.

It kind of reminded us of a cinnamon sugar malasadas.

Sweet bread soaked in kona coffee custard, tossed in cinnamon brown sugar, white chocolate yogurt cremeaux, toasted cacao nib

Not too sweet, very delicious.

Not only did Ryan and S treat me to brunch, but they also gave me all these foodie goodies...a lettuce assortment with edible flowers, lychee, mamaki tea, granola, honey, dressing and avocados from Ryan's mom's house.

It was so nice catching up with them, I hope they'll travel to Japan soon!

Aunty V sent photos of Mom's orchids.

So happy they are adapting and that she adopted them...thank you Aunty!

Huge red onion I bought at Target...only $.99!

It was me and my brother in charge of Sunday dinner this past week.

Let me tell you, it is not easy cooking for more than 2 people!

We had make your own taco salad.

I mixed in some butternut squash with the ground beef to "stretch" it out a bit.

Aunty M1 also brought some of her baby leaf mixed greens. (Thank you!)

I made a cherry clafoutis and Aunty M1 also brought an Ube (purple sweet potato) coconut upside down cake which was a promotion item going on at Foodland.

We were kind of disappointed that there wasn't more "ube" flavor...

Even though our dining area was so so hot, I'm glad we were able to have dinner there together, as it is probably the last time before the house goes on the market.

Monday was my Mom's 7 year memorial (actually 6 years by regular calendar, 7 by Japanese calendar).

It seems so long ago yet it doesn't.

I also visited my Dad at Punchbowl.

Since I was in the area, I went to check out Satoshi's favorite view spot.

I had "lunch" at Chubbies Burgers.

They recently posted that they got an outdoor umbrella to sit under...well, it didn't really help with the heat and humidity, but at least I wasn't getting the direct sun rays.

I had their chubb fries..crinkle cut fries topped with cheddar cheese, grilled onions and their fry sauce (kind of like a spicy 1000 island)...these were sinfully rich.

I would get their plain next time though.

Since I was nearby, I stopped into the Ward location of Whole Foods...I picked up some local porters to try as well as this ice cream sandwich.

I should've known that driving home (in traffic) would result in a melted ice cream sandwich...but, this was so good after those fries...eep!

AND a great way to take my mind off of this awful heat!

Since I totally indulged, dinner was a pretty salad using the edible flower and lettuce assortment from Mari's Gardens. (Thanks Ryan & S!)

The lychee also from Mari's Gardens was super sweet and juicy!

Tuesday I made another trip to the Salvation Army.

Afterwards, I bought a mixed plate to be divided into 2 meals.

BBQ beef, fried chicken and mahi mahi...I opted for "slaw" which turned out to be just shredded cabbage.

Next time I'll try their mac salad.

Lunch was their chili (rice) bowl.

The humidity has been so brutal that a slush was necessary too...

Wednesday, I caught The Bus in to Waikiki to lunch with Greg and Val.

Since the last time I rode The Bus, they've changed their system.

You cannot transfer on one fare anymore...the fare itself went up from $2.50 to $2.75...the best deal is to get their "one day pass" which lets you ride all day for $5.50.

I plan to get the monthly bus pass ($70) the next time I'm here.

Whenever I have lunch with Greg and Val, we have a time limit (only an hour), so the place we eat at has to be fast and close by to the office.

We like Ginza Bairin because the food is good, relatively fast and they also give a Kama'aina (local) discount.

I always get the tonkatsu sandwich because it doesn't come with miso soup, only a salad. (I don't like to drink miso soup too much in Hawaii (the weather is too blazing to be drinking soup!))

The heat and humidity had me craving foods that were sour...I tried Musubi Iyasume's ume musubi for dinner.

They put so much ume paste in there...love!

Thursday, I met up with V.

She had more avocados to share.

Bummer the place we had intended on lunching at was closed.

I introduced her to Hamada General Store, which was close by.

She had their Kimchee Rueben (Pastrami, Marbled Rye, Swiss Cheese, Kimchi, Garlic Aioli)...it looked huge but good!

And I had their Tonkatsu Sandwich (Breaded Pork Loin, Asian Slaw, Tsukemono Aioli, Toasted Brioche Bun, Tonkatsu Sauce, Hot Mustard)...shh! I had tonkatsu 2 days in a row...

Their katsu is thin like schnitzel...delicious on the brioche bun.

V shared her avocados as well as some skincare items and arare! (Thank you V!)

After lunch, I went to Kahala Whole Foods.

I picked up some items from their salad bar...it was my 1st time trying their salad bar and I would definitely get it again.

I also picked up Grandpa Mui's Li Hing Powder, this is supposed to be "healthier" with no artificial sweeteners or colorings...looking forward to try this.

And to round out the week...I have been waiting for a sunset like this....link to see other photos here

Makes me appreciate Hawaii, the day, the week, friends and family.

Have a nice weekend.

Mari's Gardens
94-415 Makapipipi Street
Mililani, Hawaii
Phone: 808.625.2800
Closed Sundays
Hours: 9:00-17:00 (Mondays-Fridays) 8:00-16:00 (Saturdays)

The Cheesecake Factory
Ka Makana Ali'i Shopping Center
Kapolei, Hawaii
Phone: 808.670.2666