http://twitpic.com/2aa5s1 Negi Toro Don at Michinoku. みちのくのねぎとろ丼。

After a having a busy week of multiple closings, I needed to enjoy a good dinner.
We went to Michinoku, one of my favorite Japanese restaurants.  I have blogged about their new location before at http://ricknakama.posterous.com/michinoku-restaurant-relocated/. 

Tonight I went with the Negi Toro Don Combo with the Hot Udon ($18).  It is pictured here, but the chawan mushi is missing because it wasn't ready yet. 
We like to go to Michinoku early because it is a small restaurant and will be crowded later in the evening.  We got there a few minutes after opening (530p) and we were the first customers.
Very delicious!  おいしかった！
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Rick Nakama (R) GRI SFR SRES
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http://RickNakama.com

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http://twitpic.com/2aa5s1 Negi Toro Don at Michinoku. みちのくのねぎとろ丼。

After a having a busy week of multiple closings, I needed to enjoy a good dinner.

We went to Michinoku, one of my favorite Japanese restaurants.  I have blogged about their new location before at http://ricknakama.posterous.com/michinoku-restaurant-relocated/. 

Tonight I went with the Negi Toro Don Combo with the Hot Udon ($18).  It is pictured here, but the chawan mushi is missing because it wasn't ready yet. 

We like to go to Michinoku early because it is a small restaurant and will be crowded later in the evening.  We got there a few minutes after opening (530p) and we were the first customers.

Very delicious!  おいしかった！

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Rick Nakama (R) GRI SFR SRES
808.382.6761 M
http://RickNakama.com

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A Prime Rib Technique shared in the office.

Yesterday Edgar Miner, a fellow awesome Realtor at East Oahu Realty, was sharing his technique to perfect prime rib.  His instructions were so simple that it seemed amazing.  Here's how it was described.

1 ~13 lb piece of roast covered with more spices and desired flavorings that you could ever imagine being required.  Be sure to stick lots of garlic cloves into the meat too!

Then stick it in a 375° F preheated oven for 1 hour then turn off without ever opening the oven door.

Let it sit in the oven that remains closed for about 4 hours.

15-20 minutes prior to serving, turn the oven back on to 375° F. 

Remove, carve and serve.

The inside should be nice and pink while the outside is roasty hot!

He suggested serving some leftovers as a sandwich (pictured).  Spread some wasabi (Japanese horseradish) and mayonnaise on a toasted sweet roll garnished with a slice of island grown avocado.

This tasted deliciously awesome for lunch in the office today!  Now to try to make it at home to see if his super simple perfect instructions are real!

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Rick Nakama (R) GRI SFR SRES
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Finally made it to @V_Lounge for pizza & @DaSauceMan's Broke Da Face hot sauce.

After reading many tweets about the award winning pizzas at the V Lounge, I finally made it there tonight.  I must say that the interior of the V Lounge, the former location of Pachinko, is much nicer than it was back then.  It's finished with wood and reminds me of a Waikiki hotel lobby, but it's a bar.

One of the reasons it took me so long to try the pizza here is because I don't drink.  That tends to keep me from going into bars and lounges. 

I know Cody, @DaSauceMan, from way back.  "Hana bata days" (since elementary school).  I haven't seen him since high school (almost 20 years ago)!  We actually reconnected thanks to the evil world of Facebook and Twitter.  This is probably the most popular reason why Facebook is so widely used.   

Anyway, if you can't tell by his Twitter handle, @DaSauceMan makes a bunch of sauces.  His website is http://bdfsauces.com/.  Check it out and try some delicious hot sauce!

As for the pizza, we had the Prima Pizza.  I think that's what it was called.  It had nice big Hamakua Mushroom pieces on it with truffle oil.  The crust was nice and soft, but crisp.  Does that make any sense?  I don't know, but it's a good crust.  Good pizza for me is all about the crust.  It is served with a raw egg yolk in the center of the pizza.  The yolk breaks when you pick up the first slice then you dip your crust in the yolk and enjoy.  It reminds me of eating breakfast.  @DaSauceMan informed me that egg is the #1 topping on pizza in New Zealand!  I would've never guessed.

I guess I will be visiting V Lounge for pizza again.  Maybe next time I can go with a bunch of drunk friends as a DD and get them to order lots of different pizzas so I can try all the other specialty pizzas too!

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Hawaii Farm Fair #AGTASTIC Tweetup at Bishop Museum this morning.

*Edit* The photos didn't load via Posterous so I had to add them after.  See them at http://ricknakama.posterous.com/ :)

This morning Kelli & I went to our first Tweetup.  The Twitvite was tweeted by @Melissa808 yesterday, but when I checked it, it said it was full so I clicked the "wait list" button.  To my surprise, when I reached for my phone as soon as I woke up to check my Twitter, @Melissa808 Tweeted that a few spaces opened up.  I immediately responded!
It started by parking at HCC (my alma mater) & getting on a free shuttle to Bishop Museum.  Another benefit of the free parking & shuttle ride to the fair is the chance to enter to win a trip to Las Vegas!  The only way to get the entry form is by boarding the shuttle.
The Tweetup group met at the stairs near the front of the main entry to get our wrist bands.  We then entered & gathered at the Agtastic Booth to await our scavenger hunt instructions.  The event is being hash tagged as #AGTASTIC on Twitter.  @KSnews tweeted the scavenger hunt list.  It was papaya, avocado, coffee, mac nuts, chocolate, sweet potato, eggplant, tomato, banana & cucumber.  All we needed to do was to locate these foods throughout the Farm Fair, take a photo & send it to Twitpic.  The first one to send all these photos to Twitpic would win.  Today's winner was @Graf808.  Congratulations to @Graf808!
This was fun!  I'm looking forward to more scavenger hunt events like this.
Here are the photos that I Twitpic'd for my scavenger hunt finds.  Do you spot everything in my photos? 
Follow me on Twitter @RickNakama if you want to.  :)
Or you can just read my tweets if you're not a Tweeter at HTTP://twitter.com/RickNakama/.
The Farm Fair is on until 8p tonight & again tomorrow.  Don't forget that going to this Farm Fair also gets you into the Bishop Museum & the Planetarium! 
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Rick Nakama (R) GRI SFR SRES
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$15 RE Core B + Hawaii Prince Hotel Breakfast Buffet!!??

Now to see if the presentation is exciting and how long the "commercial" is going to be.  ;)

Their Twitter handle is weird.  Has a space in it.  I need to find out what that's about and how to log onto the wifi! 

TMobile why?  Why fail me now?? 
:-/

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Dinner's Ready - Sweet & Sour Beef w/ Mustard Cabbage. Time to watch #HellsKitchen *#-%-!!

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Having some homemade ice cream. :)

Enjoying some of my home made frozen vanilla mousse with dark chocolate chips and Andes Mint Chocolate flavored ice cream that I also made.

I made a small mistake when making the Andes version so it came out much denser than the light mousse.  I guess that's what happens when I try to cook stuff early in the morning before taking some espresso shots!  It still tastes good, but it's a little harder.

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If you're @ the Korean Festival, try these Magic Pops

I'm not sure how the short video will post because this is my first time emailing a video to Posterous.  I hope it works.

Anyway, we stopped by the Korean Festival at Kapiolani Park this afternoon.  We saw this stuff by the Palama Market tent.  It's called Magic Pop and it's a multi-grain popped giant chip.  And... it's being popped right there in front of your eyes in a truly magical machine!  See the video.

The chip is light, crispy and slightly sweet with a hint of cinnamon.   It's made with fresh ground grains so it's a healthy snack. 

Right next to it is another fresh made, sweet snack.  I asked the Guy several times what it is called and I could never hear or understand what he was saying.  Anyway it's also supposed to be healthy.  Seemed like a green leaf powder mixed in a rice flour paste that was being grilled there.  After it cooked, they put slightly sweetened red beans in it and folded it.  It tasted good.  Whatever it's called.  Anyone know?

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Kabocha Pork

We're trying to transition our diet to include more vegetables.  In other words, I'm getting fat!!

After last night's SPAM and mayo dinner, I had to at least cook something that isn't processed meat.  I browned some sliced pork while I sliced up a kabocha pumpkin.  Then I add the kabocha into the pot with a part of sugar, a part of Kikkoman Shoyu, 2 parts sake, 2 parts water and a chopped round onion.  I covered it and let it simmer for about 45 minutes or when kabocha is soft.  Taste and add salt to taste at the end of cooking.

While the kabocha was cooking on the stove top, I heated the oven to 420F.  I placed all the kabocha seeds on a baking sheet with some salt and roasted them for about 20 minutes.  They became a nice snack to munch on while waiting for the kabocha to finish cooking.

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SPAM Peppered & Crisped w/ Shiso Mayo over Whole Grain Rice while watching #hellskitchen

Well I hope Chef Ramsey doesn't see this dinner I'm having.  But if he does, I hope he realizes this is what we're having so I can watch him yell and scream at his Hell's Kitchen Chefs.

Nothing like having SPAM for dinner.  I think it's probably only considered as food here, in Hawaii.

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JJ French Pastry - House Special Pizza Prix Fixe

For today's JJ French Pastry lunch I had the Prix Fixe at $15.95 and chose the House Special Pizza (Green Curry Sauce Chicken Pizza), Earl Grey Tea and a Strawberry something cake (I forget what it was called).  It's a pretty good deal because you can choose any vegetarian or chicken pizza or pasta for that price and most of those are around $7.95 and up.  Some are $11.  Most of the pastries are about $3.95.  The Prix Fixe also comes with a salad.

They have very tasty pastas and pizzas here as well as the delicious pastries.

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Spicy Ground Beef Eggplant w/ Enoki Mushrooms

Kelli's dinner request for tonight was Spicy Ground Beef Eggplant with Enoki Mushrooms.  She wanted something similar to the pasta dish at Kit 'n Kitchen, but over rice instead of pasta.

So here is my rendition of the Spicy Ground Beef Eggplant with Enoki Mushrooms.  I used the first red chili from my Thai chili plant that's been growing in my garden for about a month.

This was a tasty dish, but I think next time I'll use at least two chili peppers for more spice.

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Hey Jack (in the Box) I love your 99¢ 2 tacos deal...

Dear Jack,

I love your value menu.  Especially the 2 tacos for 99¢.  That has been my favorite for over a decade.  I often wonder how long this great deal can last considering that the price hasn't changed in so many years.  I did notice many years back that you changed your taco.  That probably helped offset the unchanged value menu pricing of 99¢.  I admit, I didn't like the different tacos at first, but now they've either changed again or I've gotten used to them so I continue to enjoy them.

The fact that I enjoy them so much, often even more than tacos at "authentic" Mexican restaurants, concerns me.  I am concerned about the potential of one day you will need to increase the price or reduce the quality of the product to remain profitable.  That being my main concern, I would like to share my experience at the Jack in the Box drive through. 

Yesterday, I pulled in to get a wonderful afternoon snack of your 2 tacos.  I paid the incredibly awesome low amount of $1.04 including the tax.  I then asked the person for hot sauce for my 2 tacos.  She looked in the bag then grabbed hot sauce and put them in the bag before handing it to me.  When I reached my destination to enjoy my tacos, I was puzzled.  I took out my 2 tacos and found that I also received 9 hot taco sauce packets.  I don't know about you, Mr. Box, but I can get by with 1 packet per taco.

Although I appreciate your generosity with the sauce, I think it is not cost effective.  I would rather continue to see the 2 tacos for 99¢ deal continue forever than to see it get changed do to a profit and loss audit.  Please don't waste your profits by giving out an unnecessary abundance of taco sauce for 1 order of 2 tacos.

I've attached a photo to assist with recognizing how ridiculous it is to receive 9 packets of delicious hot taco sauce for my 2 tacos.

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Rick Nakama (R) GRI SFR SRES
808.382.6761 M
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