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

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

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

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