hawaii culture

Saturday evening, my Grandma wanted to go to the Pearl City Hongwanji's O-bon service so I took her.

We got there a little before 18:00 and there were a LOT of people sitting, eating and chatting, and waiting for the Bon Dance to start (at 19:30).

After the service we came out and it seemed like the amount of people had grown, there were more people sitting on the church's front lawn, some had brought their own chairs, it almost seemed like there was going to be some kind of concert or something.

I overheard that most of the food was sold out by about 19:00!

Luckily, my grandma and I had eaten dinner before going to the service.

I did manage to pick up some andagi (Okinawan donut) made by DA ANDAGI GUY, a local shop that you can find sometimes in front of Pearl City Don Quijote (a local supermarket)...4 golf ball sized andagi for US$1 in plain or cinnamon.

Since Grandma didn't want any, I bought 8 plain to take home to share with my Mom and Dad.

It was nice to see this bon dance, a little different atmosphere from the one last week. It was also nice to spend some time with my Grandma.

Have a nice week.

around the house

Some of the flowers blooming around our house...

I really like this orchid (I think it is an orchid). So different from the ones I have usually seen around our house.

This one is a really deep purple.

And I think these pink flowers are called Penta because they look like pentagons.

Have a great week!

chocolate finds

Some chocolate finds...Most of them were from R. Field which is a gourmet shop located inside of some of the Foodland supermarkets.

This time home, I was surprised to find a lot of American made chocolates.

Which is nice because when in the U.S. we should try to buy more "American" if possible, right??

One brand in particular, TCHO which makes their chocolate "from scratch" (the cocoa beans), had an excellent selection.

Hagensborg's Dark Truffle Pig is made in Canada and is very silky. (How cute are the piggies?)

Mari's NYC caramel sea salt brownies.

Apparently she is from Hawaii...these were sweet, salty and gooey...delicious.

John Kelly's Fudge Truffles...dark chocolate, some have walnuts, one had peanut butter, another had caramel...decadent! (Thanks BFF!)

Frango's dark chocolates.

I have tried their dark chocolate covered mints before and these were just as delicious.

B.T. McElrath's salty dog bites.

Bits of toffee, sea salt and dark chocolate...yum!

Figamajigs are a cocoa and fig mixture covered with dark chocolate.

These were good but I wish they were more "figgy".

The TCHO dark chocolate drenched cashews were really delicious.

The pieces of cashew were HUGE and coated with a salty/sweet glaze matching nicely with the dark chocolate.

I also bought a Vosges Organic Peanut Butter Bonbon bar. This is delicious, like a peanut butter cup only with more peanut butter in it.

I also received a nice Lindt dark with sea salt from Deb, which I'm sure my parents and I will devour in a couple of days. (Thanks Deb!)

Also amazing was that with all this humidity and heat most of these didn't melt.

What are you enjoying?

odds & ends

Some random shots...saw this cool Harley parked in front of Waiola Shave Ice, the biker guy looked kinda scary, though I thought it was neat that he stopped in for some shave ice.

Who knew that Nutella came in little to-go packets?! I sure didn't and found these at Price Busters.

This has got to be the most scary form of transportation yet. I think it is a moped engine but seats two. I think people who rent this should wear helmets (at least!).

If you look carefully at the back of the vehicle there is a Christian verse, I am not too familiar with these verses hopefully it is praying for their safety!

Saw this sticker while waiting at a traffic light. "Aloha Served Daily", made me smile.

And how cool is this Mini? Decorated for Crazy Shirts.

This new Thunderbird has a retro feel to it and was so shiny that it stood out in the open parking lot at Ala Moana Shopping Center, so I followed it and luckily the lady driving it went shopping on the other side of the mall and parked there, so I could take its picture.

It is Friday here, hope you have a great weekend.

peace cafe

Deb of Kahakai Kitchen and I had planned to meet up and try a Taco Truck that I had seen on Twitter.

But it seems that in the time we had planned this, they went out of business, so Deb suggested we try the Peace Cafe instead.

I had read about them on Jalna's blog and was interested in trying this place also.

Deb ordered the Moroccan Stew, this came with a salad, pickles and a flavorful chickpea stew (and some brown rice).

I chose the Cilantro Hummus sandwich. This came on a soft ciabatta with lots of alfalfa, cucumber & tomato. Definitely not something to eat while driving.

We intended to share the stew but they don't have "plates" (and we didn't want to waste another take-out box) so we ended up eating dipping our spoons in every so often.

Deb also tried their Iced Kinako Latte, this was really nutty, almost like peanut butter.

I tried their Hot Grain Mocha Latte, which was chocolatey but not sweet.

Of course we also tried their desserts...The Cocoa Berry mochi cake wasn't sweet and there was a LOT of berries and walnuts.

We also tried their Kinako cookies which we've read about here and there.

When I think of kinako, I envision something with a chalky texture but these were good and nutty flavor from the soy beans.

I was full from all those different veggies and desserts. It was nice seeing Deb again and we had a nice catch-up. Thanks for a great day Deb!

Peace Cafe
2239 S. King
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.951.7555
Open Monday-Friday 11:00-19:00
Saturday-Sunday 12:00-16:00

daydream

When the wintry months come rolling around, I know I'll definitely be gazing at this photo.

How about you?

hawaii gathers

A couple of weeks ago, we got together with my father's side of the family.

Besides re-connecting with aunties and uncles, it was great because we hadn't seen our cousins or their children in ages!

As most potluck parties in Hawaii go, there was tons of food.

Not to mention, almost every member of our family brought their ukuleles to sing!

It was a great gathering, lots of catching up, singing and laughter.