Boots & Kimo, Kailua, Hawaii

Boots & Kimo, Saturday Morning Breakfast... In preparation to watch the Blue Angels air show, Kelli and I woke up pretty early on Saturday morning. It wasn't planned, but I think some noisy garbage trucks woke us and kept us up from about 5am! One of the issues to deal with living in Waikiki. Although I don't believe they are allowed to do the trash pick up so early in the morning. Anyway, since we were awake, hungry and planning on being at Kaneohe Marine Corps Base early enough for the air show, I suggested we just head out to Kailua and try Boots & Kimo. We left Waikiki about 645am, early enough to have a nice breakfast and be at the show before 10am like I planned. When we arrived at Boots & Kimo at about 720am. There were already 4 people (2 parties of 2) waiting outside. I went in and registered my name for a party of 2. Immediately after, I noticed the other 2 parties of 2 coming in to register. They didn't read the sign that said to register. Of course, I was called 1st so we asked the other parties if they wanted to go ahead, but they declined since they had "all day" and didn't read the proceedures. They were all very nice people! =) So were we I suppose. Anyway, don't forget to sign in at the cashier! We ordered the "specialty", Macadamia Nut Sauce Hotcakes and a "Maui Wowee Omelet" with 2 mugs of hot coffee. Our food came out in about 10 minutes or so. Quite quickly for a packed restaurant that seats about 20-30 at max(??). The special Macadamia Nut Sauce on the hotcakes was very delicious! It wasn't too sweet, had a nice buttery creamy consistency and a well balanced Macadamia Nut flavor. The hotcakes were pretty much standard (good) hotcakes. The sauce makes it all worth the trip. I might try to make a macadamia nut sauce of my own some day after my kitchen renovation is completed. The "Maui Wowee" omelet is a vegetarian omelet. All their omelets are made with 3.5 eggs! They have options for egg whites only, etc at an extra cost. I chose the standard with the fried rice option for $1+. This omelet had "charcoal roasted mild jalepenos" in it with some mushrooms, tomatoes and swiss cheese. The jalapenos is what caught my appetite. As you can see, the omelet is very nicely folded and almost resembles a burrito. The fried rice and omelet were tasty and neatly presented, but pretty much tastes like the things in it. Of course it tasted great, but nothing that can't be whipped up on your own stove as long as you have some charcoal roasted jalapenos ready. Again, the main selling point for me. Boots & Kimo is located at 131 Hekili Street in Kailua <-Google Map. Related Links: Boots & Kimo Googled, 131 Hekili Street in Kailua <-Google Map.

Home Coffee Roasting - Sulawesi Grade One Toraja & Rwanda Butare Bourbon.

Sulawesi Grade One Toraja - "At Full City". My Sulawesi Grade One Toraja roasted to a "Full City" roast has a flavor in there that I can't quite point out, but if it's too strong, I might not like it. Sweet Maria's desription is, "At Full City or darker; deep-toned character, low-acicity, syrupy body, funky foresty note." I'm wondering if the description that I don't care much for is the "deep-toned character" or "syrupy body". I think I recognize the "funky foresty note" and I enjoy that flavor. Maybe it's just the roast. I'll be trying to test different roasts on this to see if I can get more of the "funky foresty note" out of it without making that other flavor too strong. Rwanda Butare Bourbon - "At City+". I roasted this to the suggested "city+" just after 1st crack and I think I began to hear some 2nd cracks pretty quickly. These green beans are smaller than most of the other beans which could explain the quick progression from 1st crack to 2nd. Sweet Maria's describes it as, "at City+ Mandarin and Lemon Citrus brightness, bittersweet chocolate undertones and balanced coffee flavor". My tastes recognize the "mandarin and lemon brightness" as well as the "chocolate undertones". It's a great tasting coffee on the lighter side. It could be due to the lighter than usual roast for my preferences. Next time, I might try to roast this to a Full City+ or something and see if I can get a bolder flavor. Related Links: Guatemala Fraijanes- Finca Aqua Tibia to Vienna, Sulawesi Grade One Toraja & Rwanda Butare Bourbon, Mexico FTO Oaxaca Pluma - "At City+" & Sumatra Classic Mandheling - "Full City+", Guatemala Fraijanes, Brasil FTO Poco Fundo, 1st Home Roasting Post, Zimbabwe AA -Dandoni Estate Full City + Roast, CoffeeGeek.com, Sweet Maria's Coffee, Sweet Maria's Roasting Guide.

Art of Bonsai with Master Walter Liew - Lesson 3... receiving our tree and Dragon Garden tour.

Art of Bonsai - Lesson 3 I've been so busy since my last post last week. Sorry, I haven't been able to post to my blog more frequently. I hope everyone's still reading. I had a new listing to work on and then a bunch of showing appointments, then offers to present and now we've opened escrow. A bit of relief for a little while. Lesson 3 was held at Master Walter Liew's bonsai nursery, Dragon Garden Bonsai Culture Center. I took so many pictures and want to share them. Not all are great pictures, but the fastest and easiest way to share them is to just embed the picasa photo album here. So that's how it's displayed below. The class runs short of time because there are so many styles of bonsai to go over. We briefed over 3 styles that evening. Master Liew showed us how to "stretch" the branches of the trees, similar to how we would stretch before excercising. Then selecting which branches would be used. Finally, we learned how to wire the trees. Our homework from this lesson is to bring home our first trees (supplied with the course, hand picked by Master Liew), stretch and wire them. These are our first bonsai trees. They aren't exactly bonsai right now. They are just trees in pots. My tree is the left and Kelli's is on the right. They are trees with longer branches so they should be suitable for semi or full cascade style of bonsai. I believe we have what is called a "Hackberry Tree" <--click for Wikipedia. Interestingly, after reading Wikipedia, I now realize I am growing a type of hemp. Well, at least it is a legal type. Master Liew chose this type of tree as one of the starter trees because it's very hearty. He says it will not die even if we don't know what we are doing. I hope he's right. It's also fast growing and has a soft trunk that can be styled as artistic bonsai. These are saplings so they are young trees and not cuttings from a mature tree. I will have to post again after Kelli and I get to our homework and wire our trees. For now, please enjoy looking at some of Master Liew's bonsai. Click to see photo album. Related Links: Master Walter Liew Googled, Google Maps of Dragon Garden, Yellowpages Dragon Garden Listing, Full Size Photo Album, My Bonsai Posts.