Chopstick Holder

Finally, I found a chopstick holder!! I can't believe how difficult it was to find this simple plastic chopstick holder that is covered. I can find bamboo types or any cups to hold chopsticks, but those all aren't covered so dust falls onto them and into the holder. I've been searching for one for a couple of years now. I even asked my friend who is Japanese and lives in Japan to find me one. He had no idea what I was talking about. I told him I know we used to have one about 30 years ago so there must be such a thing. He still had no idea. So I thought maybe in recent years they may have phased out. He is a bit younger than I am. Anyway, the Marukai 99 Cents Store had this chopstick holder for about $8. I didn't see it right away and just happed to see it when we were about to leave. I was so excited and immediately grabbed it. At last, my chopsticks are protected...

Shochan Hiroshimayaki Restaurant しょうちゃん 広島やき レストラン

This past Saturday we went out looking for a late lunch. Really late. It was about 4pm. Anyway, I did not know this restaurant, but Kelli saw it before and suggested we try it so we did. It is a restaurant on University Avenue in the Puck's Alley complex. The front looks like this photo. When reading the sign, we (English thinking people) focus in on the "Japanese Healthy Foods" statement on the blue banner. To be quite honest, we had no idea what kind of food to expect until I walked into the restaurant. I didn't notice the colorful sign to the right of this photo with the Japanese writing that says "okonomiyaki" and photo of okonomiyaki or that black apron that says the same. I suppose if you are someone who thinks in Japanese, those would have been obvious. Another funny thing is Kelli read the sign. This photo was taken from inside the restaurant so it's backwards. When we were walking into the restaurant, she read outloud to me/us, "Japanese Healthy Foods Hiroshi Mayaki". As you can see in this photo, the slit in the banner just happens to be between ...SHI & MA... Therefore her vocalization of it sounded like Hiroshi Mayaki. Upon hearing that, I assumed (and so did she) that Hiroshi Mayaki was the chef's name. Perhaps this "Hiroshi Mayaki" fellow was a popular healthy foods chef from Japan?? Not until we entered the restaurant and were seated at a table did I realize that we were actually in a Hiroshima style okonomiyaki restaurant!! How hilarious! Long story shortened a little... ok I know this was long already, but anyway, I think the signage could be improved to attract a wider variety of customers. Luckily we were feeling adventurous and just decided to jump in not knowing what to expect. What risk takers we are... I thought it was very interesting that they had these instructional guides on how to eat okonomiyaki. If you don't know what okonomiyaki is, click for google results. The menu also explains what okonomiyaki is so anyone visiting this restaurant not knowing what they are about to eat has a very thorough explanation. It especially explains the difference between okonomiyaki in various areas of Japan and Hiroshima's style of okonomiyaki. My family is from Hiroshima so I am familiar with the Hiroshima style of okonomiyaki as well as the other Kansai area styles that are like pancakes. The main difference with the Hiroshima style or Hiroshimayaki is that it contains yakisoba (fried noodles) as the base rather than the pancake batter style. Kelli ordered the regular yakisoba (fried noodles). The basic has pork, bean sprouts, cabbage, seaweed flakes and this restaurant uses Mitsuwa Sauce to season their noodles. It was very nice tasting. Not too oily or mushy (overcooked) like yakisoba at many other restaurants. This is the lunch portion which is lower priced than the dinner menu. I had the Hiroshimayaki. It's the same yakisoba with a crepe style egg over it and the okonomiyaki sauce (Mitsuwa Sauce in this restaurant). It also has a couple slices of bacon. It comes served on a sizzling hot platter. Normally in Japan you eat this off a sizzling hot grill after watching the chef prepare it (similar to teppanyaki restaurants), but they couldn't re-create that here. I just had to take this picture because I thought it was so neat that the mayonnaise bottle dispensed the mayonnaise out of multiple holes. This was a very pleasing lunch. I'm happy we discovered a good casual Hiroshima style okonomiyaki restaurant in Honolulu. There is another okonomiyaki restaurant in Waikiki, but it's a major rip-off. Our lunch for 2 cost about $20. Dinner menu prices are slightly higher and begin at 5 or 530pm (I can't remember). It's a good thing we were willing to take a chance and try this restaurant. I recommend trying it if you like okonomiyaki or yakisoba. They also have fried rice or yakimeshi, but we didn't get to try that yet. How do you interpret the sign? Are you a Japanese thinker or English thinker? *Edit* This is what the stamp card looks like. It's pretty funny with the pig face stamps! :8)

Stimulating the Economy...

A few weeks ago, we decided to help do our share in "stimulating the economy". Everyone knows how badly the auto industry is affected by this situation. So what did we decide to do?? No, we didn't go out and buy a new car. I would think that is a foolish thing to do. We did decide to help support the home furnishing industry. We took advantage of "Red Tag Clearance Sale" that was going on at the Honolulu Design Center next to the Moana Pacific condominiums. Actually, a couple weeks before that we tried to find stuff at their warehouse sale in Kapolei. That was an experience we'd probably never try again. It was hectic and not really organized. They probably plan it out that way so that people can't really get more than one "deal" during the sale. To make a long story short, we didn't find anything we wanted there. This dark brown wooden cabinet that I am using for a t.v. stand with extra storage (much needed in a condo) is actually a buffet. It was a clearance item and when I saw it, I immediately pictured it working out for our living room entertainment center. It has three doors that enclose several cubic feet of storage and an open area above it with a built in light which I am using for the components of the entertainment center (dvd player, Nintendo Wii, etc.). What I haven't done yet is make some holes in the back of that area to run the wiring and cables out the back. That's why they are all hanging forward in this photo. The UPS Battery Back Up and my HP Printer will also call the cabinet space home soon. Another modification that I have already done to this buffet is remove the legs. This allows it to sit flush on the floor and also lowers it by about 6 inches creating a perfect height for the t.v. Another reason why we chose this buffet is that it matches the color of our recently purchased coffee table and side table. Believe it or not, we found the coffee table and side table at Marukai 99 Cent Store. Unfortunately, it wasn't 99 cents, but the pair was just a little over a hundred bucks on sale. We couldn't find anything we really liked at the Honolulu Design Center and we were so excited when we saw these at Marukai. You can't see the side table in this photo, but it's under the lamp to the left, which we purchased from Target in the mix-and-match section of lamps. Don't pay attention to the curtain (temporary), the white filing cabinet and black refrigerator. Those are only there until we figure out where to arrange them. The white leather sofa and chaise lounge sectional was actually our first furniture purchase a couple months ago. This is what led to the other purchases. These are the new bedroom furnitures that we just bought. It's a high chest and a wide dresser. The old furnitures we had were too low and narrow so we didn't have enough drawers for all of Kelli's... um our clothes and stuff. With these 2 pieces, we actually still have extra drawers with nothing in them... yet. What have you done to help support the struggling industries?