pineapple room

My cousin, D is in town for a couple of days for a conference. Since she finished at about lunchtime and since her friend who she was supposed to meet up with had to cancel, my aunty called and asked if I would like to join them for lunch.

Since her conference was near the Ala Moana Shopping Center, we met there and went to the Pineapple Room.

The Pineapple Room is a somewhat casual restaurant by my favorite island chef, Alan Wong. (For those of you who may have watched this season's "Top Chef", he was a guest chef towards the final episodes--I only know this because I got to see the re-runs when I came back in January!)

Anyway, the Pineapple Room has been recognized for serving "the best burger in Hawaii"--so that is what D and I chose.

She chose "The Pineapple Room Burger"(US $13.08)--this one is huge! North Shore Cattle Company's Kiawe(mesquite) Grilled Burger with onion rings, thick bacon, cheddar cheese and an avocado salsa. If you like Tex-Mex, this one is definitely for you!

I chose "the Old Fashion" North Shore Cattle Company burger with sauteed onions and mushrooms, cheddar cheese, a mustard mayo all on an onion bun (US $13.08).

Both burgers came with a choice of fries, wasabi(Japanese horseradish) potato salad or tossed greens.

We cut our burgers in half and swapped to taste both! Delicious!

So, if ever you find yourself at the mall and hungry from all that shopping, stop by and try these burgers, definitely worth it!

Pineapple Room (UPDATE: 2018 no longer in business)
Ala Moana Shopping Center, inside of Macy's, 3rd floor
Phone: 808.945.6573

brusha brusha brusha

Check out these cute Hello Kitty toothbrushes that I recently found at a local Wal-Mart...They are made by Zooth.

I found two versions, an oriental one and a cowgirl one.

I'm bringing these back for my host-sister's and host-brother's kids...cute o-miyage (souvenir), yeah?!

we're jammin' and jellin' (part 2)

Yesterday, mom made some papaya-pineapple jam, she defrosted some papaya puree, added a couple of cans of crushed pineapple, sugar and lemon juice.

I usually don't like the smell of papaya cooking, but the house smelled pretty incredible.

Today, she got a chance to finish her original project--making strawberry guava jelly. She added lemon juice and sugar to the guava juice and although, there was a small mishap in the kitchen, everything turned out okay.

Hope your week is going well.

we're jammin' and jellin'

Remember I posted about the beginnings of making strawberry guava jelly here? Well, she hasn't had time to work on that jelly yet, but has done others.

After writing that post, mom received some regular guavas. She cut them and scooped out the seeds.

Then zapped them in a food processor.

She then cooked the puree with some sugar and lemon juice to get guava jam.

When sealing the jars, she always puts a layer of paraffin.

She also received some frozen surinam cherries. If you've never tasted these, they are quite tart.

After heating them, she strained them in a sieve.

The juice was then heated with some sugar and lemon juice.

And after it jelled, they were put into jars, ready for a layer of paraffin and are now awaiting to be sold at the Taste of Hongwanji.

Hope you are having a great weekend!

yummy's

On my last trip home, I helped my mom's church with selling tsukemono (pickles) in their booth for the Taste of Hongwanji.

Since this year's event is coming up in April, I helped them today to make the tsukemono.

We started at 7:30am with 300 lbs of daikon(long white radish) to peel and chop. There were about 20 of us and with everyone busy, we were able to finish by about 10:00am.

Afterwards, mom and I picked up lunch--She chose Chinese.

And I got a plate of bi bim kook soo from Yummy's--cold spicy noodles topped with different types of namul (pickled veggies) and some barbecued beef....only US$6.80, it was really tasty and filling.

I think I need a nap now...

Yummy's
850 Kamehameha Hwy.
Pearl City
Phone: 808.455.3288

"new" waikiki (part 3)

Today, I got together with several friends, Chad, Val & Greg for lunch at a new restaurant in Waikiki called Yard House. This restaurant is from the mainland. If you like beer and loud music, this is the place for you. They have tons of beer on tap, did someone mention 100?!

Anyway, I ordered the portobello burger (US $10.73), since I have never seen portobellos in Japan. And I love these guys in sandwiches! The sandwich (and the portions of the rest of the menu) was huge!

Tomatoes, basil, portobello mushroom, roasted red peppers, sauteed eggplant, feta cheese and a sun dried tomato mayo sandwiched between onion poppyseed buns....delicious!

Since I'm the only one "retired" (the others are still working)...we only had an hour for lunch. Still, it was a nice get together since I hadn't seen Chad for almost 5 years...thanks for lunch, Chad!

Yard House
226 Lewers Street
Honolulu
Phone: 808.923.9273

and then there was NO light

Last night, I was watching Oprah's Dream Academy Program when the lights flickered and went out.

It wasn't only our house, it was our residential area, plus neighboring areas too! We scrambled for candles and our hand-crank-solar cell-emergency radio.

No radio programs could give us any information on the power outage and the electric company was working on the problem.

I guess you really don't realize how much electricity rules your life until something like this happens.

And hour and a half later the power was restored, I'm thankful that we weren't in freezing conditions. I'm also thankful that they are re-broadcasting Oprah's program this weekend, so hopefully our local station will show it too and I'll be able to see it in its entirety.

Hope your week is going well.