Chilled Roasted Eggplant & Garden Tomato Appetizer

I finally prepared & enjoyed a tomato from my garden.  The disappointing thing is after all that anticipation of enjoying the 1st fully vine ripened tomato, the evil bird (or something) beat me to the tasting!!  Anyway, since these tomatoes are all due to my compost that is all thanks to my worms' hard work for the past year, I decided to sacrifice what was left of this special 1st tomato to the well deserving worms!  I'm sure they enjoyed it & will in return provide me with bountiful future crops via their nourishing compost. 

On to the featured dish...

I roasted a long Japanese eggplant in my toaster oven, set to broil at 450F for about 40 minutes.  (I know my toaster oven is wimpy & takes a long time!)  Then I peeled away the skin & sliced the inside to serving portions & chilled it.  The seasonings was a simple 1/3 part each of GOOD shoyu, mirin (sweet sake) & water.  The tomatoes are sliced & the dish is finished with a little katsuo (dried & shaved bonito) & a few thin slices of shishito pepper.

Yummm I certainly enjoyed this home grown tomato!

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Michinoku Restaurant Relocated

Kelli & I were sad when we discovered that Michinoku Restaurant closed
up their location on Kalakaua Avenue in the building with Waikiki
Realty.  We knew they were experiencing difficulties with parking lot
issues & that flood a few years ago that also flooded UH & Kahala
Mall, but the sudden close was not anticipated by us.  Maybe we were
surprised because we didn't realize they had found a new location.
Anyway, last week, thanks to a tip off from Kelli's co-worker, Lisa,
we learned that they re-opened at "935 835 Keeaumoku Street" across
McDonald's.  I put their address in quotes only because that's the
address that they give & it's the address that it shows up under in
Foursquare.  If you actually go there, I think you would agree with me
saying that the physical address seems to be more like 925 825 Keeaumoku
Street.  I took a picture of the corner of the building that they are
in as it appears looking Mauka (to mountain) from Keeaumoku Street.
They have lots of parking right in front now too!  :-)
I had the unagi tororo don set w/ hot udon & Kelli had her usual,
magurozuke don set w/cold udon.
We ate there on Friday at about 535p.  They open at 530p & half the
restaurant was reserved & almost all the other seats were occupied
when we got there.  Luckily we got a table for 2 right away.  By the
time we were leaving, the whole restaurant was full, including the
sushi counter seats.  Of course it is still a small restaurant. It
probably seats the same number that it did back at Kalakaua Ave (22?).
We're pleased to know they are open again in what seems to be a better
location despite it's tricky address.  After all, good little
restaurants like this usually do well hidden away in secret spots
anyway.
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Chinese Chamber of Commerce Banquet

I was asked to join a dinner that was at Empress Restaurant in the Chinese Cultural Center last night.  When I was invited, I didn't really know what I was going to.  As far as I knew, I was going to meet, interact with & provide Japanese translation for the 2 cooks that are here to train for the opening of their Shibuya L&L Hawaiian Barbecue Restaurant. 

I showed up at about 6p to see the parking lot was getting jam packed & there was a "special event" parking rate rather than the usual hourly rate.  I found a parking almost all the way at the top. 

As I approached the restaurant entry, I noticed the KHON2 news crew was there interviewing several men in suits & lots of leis!  I began to wonder what this dinner was for.  Here I was wearing a casual Tori Richard "Aloha Wear" & khakis looking at all these guys that appeared to be celebrating a special event.  I looked in the entry & saw a poster board with table assignments.  Hehe Eddie just told me to ask for the 2 L&L tables.  I thought he just reserved 2 tables in the restaurant, not expecting to see a chart with a whole bunch of tables reserved by respective groups.  I quickly saw which 2 tables were the ones I was supposed to get to.

The next dilemma was at the entry all the men in suits & leis were at the door to greet everyone walking in.  Well I obviously over heard others enter & say congratulations to them as they introduced themselves.  Still I didn't know what they were being congratulated for.  I had to just go in & wing it.  :p I introduced myself & congratulated them as I met & shook each of their hands.  (Now that I do know... Congratulations!  Really...  ;-) )

Anyway, I found my table & was seated as expected with the cooks from Japan.  This is where I also found the banquet program & the profiles of the people being honored.  I was at the "Installation Banquet" of the new officers in the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii.

The Narcissus Queen & her court were present as the banquet began with a loud drumming & lion dance.

The Governor spoke for a few minutes acknowledging how important the relationship between China & Hawaii is for the economy.  She kept it brief because she knew everyone wanted dinner to be served.

The dinner was several courses, but it started out with a dish of chicken, char siu & a surprise.  I wasn't sure what the surprises were & neither did the Japanese cooks.  It was my first experience eating pig's feet & sea cucumbers!  They both were delicious!  The sea cucumbers seemed like I was eating very big jelly fish.  The Japanese cooks & I thought it resembled jelly fish, but it was so big.  Then Raymond, the L&L chef informed me that it was sea cucumber.  Anyway, it was good!  More sea cucumbers for me please... 

In 1 of my photos I see I actually caught a shot of Prosecutor Peter Carlisle's back.  He was dressed in a slick Chinese outfit that was black with a red dragon on the back.  All those criminals better not mess with him!  He looked ready to prosecute anyone Kung Fu Theatre style.  Forget a trial! 

Well that was quite a dinner & ceremony.  I really enjoyed it.  To the new Shibuya L&L cooks, "Andy" & "Tiger" (the nicknames given to them by the Hawaii cooks because they weren't able to pronounce Ando or Takuya), good luck with your grand opening & new jobs!  Congratulations to all the new officers of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii! 

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Chestnuts roasting on a glass top stove...

Actually, these were already roasted & purchased at Shirokiya.  I just thought I'd try to reheat them prior to eating.  I had them in the refrigerator.

Mmmmm... just like fresh roasted chestnuts!  Haha.
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Mr. Mandoo, Mandoo!

Picked up some Mr. Mandoo for Kelli & her fellow UH office people.

Yum yum.

I got myself a 4 piece side of spicy fried mandoo & a vegetable king mandoo!

Here's my past post about Mr. Mandoo.  http://nakama-m-photos.blogspot.com/2010/03/lunch-at-mr-mandoo.html

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The Garden Tomato

I took this photo of the 1st tomato to ripen early this morning.  It's looking good to pick & eat, but I decided to let it vine ripen 1 more day.  I hope no evil bird decides to come & take my 1st born away!

Funny thing about all these tomato plants is that I am not even sure what kind of tomatoes are growing here because it wasn't even my intent to plant tomatoes!  I actually sowed basil seeds into the window planter back at the condo.  The Basil sprouted & you may be able to see some beneath all the tomatoes.  The next thing I noticed was that tomato seedlings started to sprout in greater numbers than my basil!  These tomatoes are sprouting from all the assorted tomato seeds & old tomatoes that I added to our worm compost bin!  It's kind of neat how seeds sprout so easily in the compost bin & compost that I mix into soil when doing plantings. 

Anyway, I'm not sure what kind these are.  It may be a small conventional tomato or really big cherry tomato.  I know I recognize some nice Roma tomatoes on another plant.  There may also be grape tomatoes in this tomato variety patch that wasn't even planned! 

Bonus!  =)

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Honolulu Star-Bulletin June 21, 1937

Here's a photo of a copy of Honolulu Star-Bulletin's June 21, 1937 edition.

I think it's an interesting front page story because it's titled, "Lithography Now One of Hawaii's Modern Industries".  The timing of me finding this stashed away now as the 2 local daily printed newspapers have become one seems like a sign.  It's like it wanted me to publish it in today's "modern" form of media, digital & on the web.

Anyway, I hope my newspaper industry friends enjoy this photo.  Keep up your good work as long as you can!  =)

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Fendu Boulangerie's Hamakua Mushroom Pizza.

The small size.

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Mother's Circus Animal Cookies

Is it just us or have size size & quality consistency of Mother's Circus Animal Cookies decreased?

They must have changed things because the bag says, "your favorites are back!"  I think they're awfully tiny now.  Look at it in comparison to the Oreo.  The coating seems different too & lots of them are stuck together! 

Maybe we should just buy the cheaper copies of these cookies already.

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Another Saturday Morning Brunch at Cream Pot Restaurant

Yesterday, we asked our friends Lianne, Daryl & baby Leighton to join
us for brunch at Cream Pot in Waikiki. We wanted to thank them for
helping us move from our condominium, a couple blocks away from Cream
Pot, up to St. Louis Heights. We couldn't have accomplished so much
in 1 day without their help!

The items ordered were the Original Omelet Set, Beef Stew Omelet Set &
Strawberry Waffle Set. The omelet sets come with a drink & mini
desert crepes. I had the waffle set which comes with a Kahuku Banana
Shake.

As always the food was great & the atmosphere was pleasant for a
Saturday morning brunch even with a very large party there that
appeared to be celebration a baby shower!

My previous post about Cream Pot is here
HTTP://nakama-m-photos.blogspot.com/2010/01/cream-pot-restaurant-444-niu-street.html
. Please take a look because I typed out that whole link very
carefully! :P Haha!

Thanks Lianne, Daryl & Leighton! I hope you enjoyed Cream Pot! :-)
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Pongo's Kitchen Lunches

Early this morning I headed out to the Ko Olina Hillside Villas & Seascape at Makakilo.  On my way back toward the office I stopped by at Pongo's Kitchen again & picked up a few plates for whoever was back in the office.  I did this because the last time I picked up lunch from Pongo's Kitchen & ate in the office everyone was ooohhhing & ahhhhing.

Today I had the chef's recommended grilled pork with the wasabi drizzle!  It was great!  Good recommendation Candace!  The other plates I brought back included mahi mahi w/ capers & lemon sauce, opakapaka w/ spicy drizzle & a roast turkey w/ stuffing!  They all were beautiful even after the 10 mile drive back to Hawaii Kai.  I even got a great deal because I was at Pongo's Kitchen before 10am, in time for the 15% off early bird lunch special!

I've already accumulated a high demand for additional plates the next time I pick up lunch from Pongo's Kitchen.  I wish they were closer to my office. 

They're at:
     414 Mokauea Street
     Honolulu, Hawaii 96819
     HTTP://twitter.com/PongosKitchen
     HTTP://PongosKitchen.net
     808-847-2291

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Super Mario 3-Dees Gummy

Apparently some one can't get enough of my Super Mario ringtones on my phone so she talks about it at work.

Anyway, Kelli's coworker brought this to work for us because she couldn't get Super Mario sounds out of her head last night (according to FB).

These are pretty neat.  They aren't kidding around when they describe it as "3-Dees"!  They're like gummy Mario character chess pieces.

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Photos of my Kit Kat Collection from Japan.

After hearing NPR's Morning Edition cover Japanese Kit Kat & their unusual flavors, I couldn't wait to get home & snack on some exotic flavors of Kit Kat!

I had many varieties to choose from including: wasabi (horseradish), strawberry, shoyu (soy sauce), roasted soy bean, ichimi (chili), sakura (cherry blossom), royal milk tea & a special "tochiotome" strawberry.  I snacked on the chili pepper one because out of all of these, it's the only one that is chocolate!  All the others are a white chocolate type of base.  I prefer dark chocolate.

This flavor has a nice spice to it.  You can taste the heat, but still taste the bitter sweet chocolate.

The link to NPR's Morning Edition is in an earlier post on my blog this morning.  It's kind of funny!  And yes, I always listen to Hawaii Public Radio, National Public Radio's local station.  88.1FM rules!!  ;-) 

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