color

The past couple of days have been either rainy or overcast...so I've been craving color.

Saturday, while Satoshi went to a German class, I went to check out the farmer's market and these colorful radishes popped out at me along with these colorful carrots.

I also got some kale...whoo!

This virus thingy is kind of getting worse with someone contracting the virus close to where we live (eep!)...really hoping they can get this under control.

foodie saturday

Yesterday I went to check out the farmers market at the United Nations University.

I bought organic beets and carrots (love that both had the greens attached!)

Red cabbage and grapes.

So easy to overbuy!

They were also having a chocolate festival...so I picked up this dark chocolate blend by Ushio Chocolatl, which I've been wanting to try.

They are a bean to bar maker from Onomichi, Hiroshima.

Lunch was at a bakery I stumbled upon last week, Pain au Sourire.

I had their petit trio...pumpkin croquette, tuna walnut and sweet bean paste butter...delicious!

It was so warm that I had an iced coffee with lunch.

When I got home, I roasted the beets and carrots.

The greens I wilted in a non-stick pan.

I'll be back to shop at the farmers market & eat at the bakery!

Farmers Market at United Nations University
held every Saturday & Sunday
10:00-16:00

Pain au Sourire (2023: moved to another location)
1-4-6 Shibuya
Shibuya, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3406.3636
Closed Sunday, Monday
Hours: 8:00-20:00

hilo

Over the weekend, I visited Hilo with my Aunties.

The weather wasn't forecast to be nice, so we often got caught in passing showers....

I was able to get my hands on some lychee from the Farmer's Market...so good!

We got to try some fruit mochi from Two Ladies Kitchen (Rainier Cherry (top), Mandarin Cutie (middle) and Saturn Peach (below))...all so good!

We were impressed with the rainier cherry, as the stem was still attached to the cherry but the seed had been pitted! The flesh of the cherry wasn't disturbed...amazing pitting technique!

I tried two different loco moco (for Satoshi)...a keiki moco (top) from Ken's Pancakes...meh! the patty was hard.as.rock. And Cafe 100's loco moco...

Cafe 100 apparently created the loco moco, so you know their version had to be good! (and it was! and it was only $3.50!)

Brought flowers to the family graves...

And visited with friends and relatives.

our main reason for visiting Hilo was to attend the hatsubon service for my Grandma, if you remember, she passed away last December.

I've written about hatsubon before here.

I also picked up some omiyage (souvenirs) for Satoshi and I to try when I get back to Japan.

Despite the off and on rain, it was nice to visit Hilo and reconnect with family and friends.

Thanks Aunty M for inviting me.

foodie 4th of july weekend

Friday we went to Costco, since they close on the 4th of July, the place was packed with people picking up food/drinks for the long weekend.

While my mom stood in line at the checkout, I ran over to Fat Boy's to pick up our lunch...only to be greeted by a huge line there too.

I had read about Fat Boy's on Lori's blog last year and wanted to check them out. My mom was a bit leery because of their name (wouldn't you be too?).

But we were glad we checked them out. Their food was tasty and the portions very generous. I picked up their garlic chicken bento (US$5.25) 6 pieces of their garlic chicken, rice and furikake.

Their chicken tasted more like mochiko chicken, didn't have much garlic flavor, was crispy but not hard as rock as some deep fried chicken are.

Mom chose the BBQ Mix (US$8.95), this came with a salad, 2 scoops rice, a good sized piece of grilled teri chicken, lots of teri beef and a strip of teri short ribs. I gave my mom some of my chicken and she gave me some of her chicken and short ribs. The teri beef we saved for our lunch on Saturday.

Dad chose the mini beef curry (US$6.50). This came with salad, 1 scoop of rice and the curry. He liked the flavor of the curry but was disappointed at how little beef there was, how huge chunks of celery there was (probably one whole stalk chopped chunky!) and one piece of carrot.

I think Fat Boy's popular items are the grilled items and the garlic chicken. While we probably wouldn't get the garlic chicken again or the curry, we would definitely get the BBQ Mix.

Saturday, we got up early to check out the KCC Farmer's market...it was nice to see the market packed with locals and tourists.

I picked up a small bottle of Wililaiki (Christmas berry) honey from Big Island Bees, US$6. My friend introduced me to them awhile back and I was glad to see them at the market.

All around the island you can see these shower trees in bloom, my Aunty M said that they are late this year, they remind me of cherry blossoms.

Saturday evening we gathered at my Aunty M's in McCully. She has a pretty good view of the fireworks (well, there are a few buildings in the way), but it beats fighting the crowds and sitting in traffic.

We picked up some grilled KFC (did you know they only serve drumsticks and thighs for their chicken pieces and use the breast for something else? my mom said that when we were kids a bucket of KFC meant getting a whole chicken.)

Anyway, my mom also made baked beans w/portuguese sausage, 3-bean salad, potato salad and grandma bought some sushi. We all agreed that grandma's homemade sushi tasted better than the bought.

Dessert was apple pie and some manju.

Grandma got this ripe mango from a friend and gave it to me. It was my first time peeling a mango and gnawing on the seed (gosh, have I lead a sheltered foodie life or what??) The mango was perfectly ripe, juicy and delicious. I shared it with my parents during lunch.

Sunday dinner was at our house, my mom made my favorite shrimp with pineapple. And we also had leftover salads from the night before.

Dessert was an apple pie from Costco, these pies are huge! but the crust was a disappointment, it seemed raw in some areas. We agreed that the pie the night before was better.

The weekend ended with this beautiful sunset.

It was a great foodie weekend, hope you have a great week!

Fat Boy's
94-1201 Ka Uka Blvd.
Laniakea Plaza
Waipahu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.680.7520

aloha & mahalo

Yesterday, I said "Aloha" to an old friend...(In Hawaii, "Aloha" can mean different things--hello, good-bye, love).

My friend helped me finish the 1998 Honolulu Marathon, as well as many other walking and running events that year. And in recent years, helped me take early morning walks whenever I came home.

"Mahalo" (thank you!) dear friend.

Changing the subject, on my recent trip to Hilo, we found these purple sweet potato at the Farmer's Market. A whole bag (with about 5 or 6 in it) for only US$1.00! Before steaming them, they were a light lavender color, and afterwards became this vibrant blueish-purple color. Super sweet and delicious!

hilo (part 2)

One of the fun things I like to do in Hilo is to visit the Farmer's Market downtown. There are many vendors selling organic fruits, vegetables, flowers and other food items.

The flower vendors are there everyday. On Wednesdays, some of the fruit and veggie vendors come out, but Saturdays are the best days to go--packed with vendors and buyers there is excitement in the air as you wander the little market. Parking is tight, so go early!

Shark's Nuts not only sells homegrown coffee and mac nuts, but also hand roasted or raw cacao. I got 8 oz. for US $10.

This is the best place to buy papayas too--6 for US$1.00! You won't find this price anywhere.

This woman was choosing a pineapple.

Here, another woman was picking out warabi (fern fiddleheads)

There was also mangoes and fresh organic rambutan--inside these prickly red compartments are juicy white fruits.

If you plan to visit Hilo, make sure to visit on either a Wednesday or Saturday! It is a nice place just to wander, you may even run into someone you know or make a new friend!

okinawa (day 3)

Day 3 started off really early. We left our hotel at 8 am...our first stop was Himeyuri no to. This is a memorial in the Itoman area where 200 school girls committed suicide rather than be captured by the Americans during the war. Here we said a prayer.

We then went to Okinawa World. This is a park with a very l-o-n-g cave called gyokusendo. Inside the cave are stalactite and stalagmite over 300,000 years old.

And then we were off to Kokusai-dori for lunch. I had So-ki soba (this is Okinawa's soba (like udon (wheat noodles) with spareribs with soup). Satoshi had Okinawa soba (slices of su-chika-(pork shoulder cooked in salt and stock until soft) on Okinawa's soba with soup).

Some interesting sites: Ishiganto, these are good luck rocks placed in front of homes.

Akagawara (red tile roofing), found on most traditional homes in Okinawa.

Face of a shisa (lion) at the Churaumi Aquarium.

One place to visit is the farmer's market, just off Kokusai-dori. A lively area with lots of vegetables, fruits, pork and fish. A lot of vendors weren't open on Sunday, but I was able to get a photo of a pork vendor. Okinawan don't eat much beef except for Ishigaki beef, they mainly eat pork, chicken and fish.

A basket of Okinawan vegetables near the buffet at Mahaina: from the top clockwise, pumpkin, ginger root, green papaya, beni-imo (purple sweet potato), beni-jagaimo (red potato), onions.

Dessert with dinner at the Okinawa Miyako hotel. Beni-imo kintoki (mashed and sweetened purple sweet potato) and kuri-kinton with black bean (mashed and sweetened chestnuts with black bean in the middle)

We made it safely back to Osaka and Satoshi's parents had a nice time. We're back to the cold weather, in fact, we had some flurries this morning! (isn't it March??)

Hope you enjoyed this journey as much as we did!