hawaii gathers

One of my mom's cousins had come over from the Big Island, so my Aunty M put together a gathering for all that could come for dinner.

Since no one wants to be slaving over a stove in these times, my Aunty M1 ordered some bento from Natsunoya Tea House.

I've never been to the tea house, but hear it is a great place for parties/gatherings up in Alewa Heights and is one of the last remaining Japanese tea houses in Hawaii.

The bento was filled with teriyaki beef, shrimp tempura, purple sweet potato tempura, fried chicken, curry croquette, namasu, nishime, tamagoyaki, rice and pickled ginger.

Way too much food, but most everything (except the nishime (too salty) and chicken (too bland) was delicious. (UPDATE: reheated the chicken for dinner next night and it was hard but tasted a little better)

We also had some 2009 A to Z Pinot Noir, light bodied and spicy.

For dessert my mom made an orange-pineapple cake, a very moist and refreshing cake topped with vanilla pudding, crushed pineapple and mandarin oranges.

And one of Mom's cousins brought a Ted's Bakery Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cream Pie, not as good as their Chocolate Haupia Pie but still delicious.

It was a great gathering, great conversation, lots of laughs and lots of food.

hawaii weather

Caught this tiny snail on a kalanchoe plant one rainy Hawaii morning.

This year, it's been a rather wet and cool summer here in Hawaii.

And I'm not complaining because everytime I chat with Satoshi he tells me how awfully hot and humid the weather is in Japan...ugh!

THAT is one thing I will never miss about Japan...the humid and hot summer weather.

I think I've told you that Osaka has often been compared to hot and humid places like Bangkok or Vietnam...sometimes Osaka is WAY hotter than those two places...yikes!

Anyway, if it is raining in Hawaii, then I get to see more of these rainbows, which is a total rarity in Osaka.

This one was taken the other day while riding on the freeway...the rainbow was very bright and very very large, stretching across the freeway and then some! this picture doesn't do it justice.

If you notice there is a reflection of the rainbow, which we call a "double rainbow".

How's the weather where you are?

foodie friday in hawaii

Friday I met up with Deb of Kahakai Kitchen.

She is a very busy person, like all my friends are, so I was happy she had some time to squeeze me in.

We met up at Fresh Catch in Kaimuki. My mom had eaten here previously and warned me about their "furikake on everything".

Their plates were rather big, so we opted for their sandwiches...

Deb ordered the Smokin' Hawaiian Sandwich which is made up of smoked meat, which kind of reminded me of pipikaula and or char siu, grilled onions & peppers, mushrooms and some cheese on a very soft roll...This was sinfully delicious with all of the smoked meat that was in there.

Deb also ordered the Special Fries...meh, it tasted like how curly fries taste, a little spicy, but there was so much mayo and furikake on there, it didn't thrill us and we kept wondering what made it so special.

I chose the Ahi Belly Sandwich.

It was a deep fried piece of ahi belly, grilled onions, some cheese and there was a sunny-side up egg.

This was messy and there were some hard parts in the fish...meh!

Overall, our favorite was the smoked meat sandwich.

After lunch, we checked out Glazer's Coffee.

It was both our first time and I was quite surprised...when you walk in you feel like you walked into the library...shh!

We chatted for a bit until the guy next to us (with earphones on) moved away...were we making too much noise?! I didn't think so.

Here's Deb's caramel latte with a cute bear...we were also surprised that our drinks were served in paper cups even though we ordered them "for here".

My cafe latte had a heart?! on it.

They didn't seem to have many sweets though we shared a biscotti, and it seemed like most people in there were working.

I think I would go back when I needed some "me" time, but would feel too uncomfortable chatting with a friend, it was just too quiet in there!

Which is weird because my gripe about going to cafes in Japan are that they are just too noisy...sigh!

Deb was also kind enough to share with me this Trader Joe's chocolate bar...70% dark chocolate with caramel and black sea salt....sweet + salty + dark chocolate = yum!...this is why we need a Trader Joe's in Hawaii (hint hint)

She also gave me some homemade tropical jams (mango and coconut pineapple)...I can't wait to share these with Satoshi.

And lastly, Whole Foods was having a great sale on cherries and she also shared these with me too...so good!

A great foodie day spent with a great foodie friend. Thank you for spending time with me Deb, I hope you had fun too.

Fresh Catch
3109 Waialae Avenue
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.735.7653
Closed Mondays

Glazer's Coffee
2700 South King Street (kitty corner from Kokua Market)
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.391.6548

liliha bakery

The other day, I got to meet up with my friend Len for lunch.

Last year when we met up I wanted to go to Liliha Bakery, but they were closed so we ended up going to Pancakes & Waffles.

This year, we planned things better and went to Liliha Bakery.

The line for a seat at their counter was rather short and we both ordered the loco moco.

First up was their butter roll which was toasted. This came with a fluorescent pink jelly (Not sure as to what fruit makes this jelly but I loved the color of this! It looks red in the photo but it is actually pink!)

The roll is so soft and really REALLY buttery...yummy! Toasted, it is many times better too because of the crisp parts.

The loco moco comes with a large mound of rice, a charred hamburger patty, then smothered with some grilled onions, gravy and then topped with two eggs done as you like.

We both chose over-easy.

Some tabasco and some ketchup and we were good to go.

This was good. I loved the char on the burger. I only wished they came with a little more grilled onions though.

As this is one of Satoshi's favorites, I think he would approve, I need to bring him here the next time we are in Hawaii at the same time.

And before we left I picked up some cocoa puffs to bring home to my parents (one for me too).

It was a great place for lunch and I'm glad I got to try it.

Thanks for a great lunch, Len! it was fun catching up with you.

Liliha Bakery
515 North Kuakini Street
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone:808.531.1651

hawaii drinks

Recently tried this Chocolate Stout (6% alcohol) by Rogue Ales with my Aunty M.

It smelled deliciously chocolatey, not fake like some can smell.

It tasted smoky, there was even a little bitterness to it.

My grandma who I think only heard "chocolate" or maybe just "beer" took a sip then scrunched her face...must've been too bitter for her.

This went nicely with the baked beans and rotisserie chicken we had for dinner.

I liked this, just wished they sold it in smaller single bottles, this one was 650 ml.

the fourth

So how was your 4th of July?

If you celebrated, I hope you all had a blast.

We got together for dinner at my Aunty M's so that we could watch the fireworks from her place afterwards.

Dinner was picnic foods...musubi, tamagoyaki (rolled omlette), teriyaki beef, chicken apple sausage, watercress salad, potato salad and fresh pineapple.

As appetizers, we also had store-bought spanakopita which is spinach and cheese (?) wrapped in phyllo...yum!

I also had a glass of 2009 Cupcake Red Velvet wine...a spicy red with some vanilla in it...loved the name and taste of it!

Here's my plate, 1st round...ahem! (the pineapple was so sweet and juicy! mmm!)

Dessert was apple pie with vanilla ice cream.

And then the fireworks show...thought this one looked like a hibiscus...so pretty.

Another great 4th of July, hope yours was filled with family, fun and food!

mailboxes

In Japan, everyone's mailbox is either built into the exterior gate of their home or in the case of our apartment, we have a huge mailbox at our entrance with individual apartment mailboxes in it.

In Hawaii though, for your home, you can pretty much do what you want and put up a mailbox to your liking...

Like this airbrushed turtle...

This one looked like they used an old stump and painted it.

This one was made of metal and looked like a house.

At this house, the mailbox wasn't fancy but I liked their decorations...now you know what to do when your kids outgrow their Crocs...

An airbrushed bird of paradise....nice and bright.

This one looked like they used all sorts of metal parts.

The newspaper chute looked to be made of a pipe or something.

Airbrushed dolphins.

This one looked like a monument or statue, with the rocks encasing the mailbox.

Airbrushed plumerias.

Pretty interesting all the diversity.

What type of mailbox do you have?

p.s. make your wishes...today is Tanabata in Japan.