Ginger and Mochi

Grandma and Grandpa dropped by our house the other morning, big plastic container in hand. Ginger and Mochi. Grandma makes this "good luck" sweet every Christmas, New Years, and on certain birthdays. Rounds of chewy pink and white mochi in a calming ginger syrup bath - pleasing to both the eye and tongue. I prefer this sweet chilled, straight out of the fridge. Mom and dad, however, like it warm, which actually does sound more appealing on this snowy NYC morning. Hope you have a Happy New Years!

Pa'ala'a Kai Bakery: Puffies

At family dinner the other night, Victor arrived with a bakery box. "A gift from my ex-girlfriend," he said. BAKERY BOX. My eyes widened. The top was stamped, "Pa'ala'a Kai Bakery, Waialua, Hawai'i." A box marked with that bakery name could only hold one thing: PUFFIES.

What is a Puffy?

It's very simple, and simple, after all this fancy NYC mishmash, is what you need sometimes. Puff pastry on the bottom. Puff pastry on the top. Custard sandwiched in the middle. Milk chocolate drizzled over the surface. Sugar dusted. Messy in the best way possible. Bite and the shell shatters everywhere before the remainder sinks into the mound of creamy custard. The surface chocolate never fails to melt away too quickly while you're busy contemplating how something so very basic can be so very wonderful. Honest and straightforward. It's absolutely beautiful :)

Pa'ala'a Kai Bakery
66-945 Kaukonahua Rd
Waialua, HI 96791
(808) 637-9795

Proving Once Again...

...that I have the sweetest apartment-mates ever. Just returned to NYC early this morning (with plenty Hawai'i posts to follow). Found this typed note from Shann on my bedroom door :)

Cinnamon's, Lanikai, and Island Snow

(Note: Just arrived back to NYC this morning, but there are plenty Hawai'i posts to come :)


Kelly picked a bunch of us all up Saturday morning, (while half the city was still without power), for a day of breakfast at Cinnamon's + Lanikai Beach + Shave Ice. Eating with Kelly is always a good time because she'll eat most things, and then eat a lot of it. All very enthusiastically! Cinnamon's is our go-to breakfast spot when we're all back home for summer/winter break. Mainly for carrot cake pancakes. Remember those?

But on this visit, we noticed a new (or to us at least) change on the menu. Guava Chiffon pancakes!! The sickly pink appearance was a slight turn off at first, they look sugary sweet, no? But appearances were thankfully deceiving in this case. The classic Cinnamon's pancakes - airy and near puffy light, were topped with a duo of guava chiffon sauces, one foamy and creamy light, another more tangy and sharp on the tongue. Together they worked well, especially when combined with the pancake itself, gave a feel not to far off from the classic guava chiffon cakes so popular on the island.

We also tried another new pancake: Blueberry & Corn. Local honey butter on the side. Marie remarked, "I don't know if I'm eating breakfast or lunch," as she speared a wedge with both ripe berries and corn kernels specked throughout. In the old days, Cinnamon's was known for their daily pancake specials (the lemon curd pancakes were ohmansotasty). But it seems they've done away with that and instead decided to expand the daily pancake menu.

We followed the sweets with two savoury dishes, the first being an order of Eggs Benedict, home fries on the side...

...and then, Loco Moco! I'm no loco moco expert, but this is one of my favourite versions on the island (second would be the one at Rainbow Drive In). At the base, a ton of white rice, followed by a hamburger patty, lots of gravy, two eggs over easy, and then mushrooms and sautéed onions. So long as the gravy is good, the rice well-cooked, the patty generous and the mushrooms and onions super buttery, you can do no wrong. I love how loco mocos fill you up in that incredibly satisfying, the-world-is-just-a-okay sort of way. You could be having the world's worst day, but eat a loco moco, and then everything is good and happy again. Like magic, I swear.

loco moco upskirt!

I also love how there are never any greens. No greens in loco mocos. Ever :D

Bellies full, we headed to Lanikai Beach right afterwards. I'm not a fan of the sand, sun or water, but must return to the ocean once a year to reconfirm the fact that, yes, I'm just not the go-to-beach type of person. It's often assumed that because you're from Hawai'i, you love the beach, and of course, excel at surfing. So far from the truth, hehe. I like the look of the beach, but from a distance ^_^

Unfortunately/fortunately, the day proved too cold, windy, and rainy so we only stayed for a short bit before heading for (hooray!) more food at...

...Island Snow. Shave ice time! Waiola's has the best shave ice, but Island Snow earns bonus points because they don't charge for ice cream. There's nothing like breaking into your shave ice and finding a frozen mound of creamy happiness at the base. Almost as good as having a snow cap (condensed milk) ice top!

Flavours are aplenty as you can see here...

Everyone has personal preferences, I know Kelly loves Snazzleberry, and Tiff is a Banana fan. The other nice thing about Island Snow is that you can choose up to three flavours (most places only allow two). I went with Mango, Li Hing Mui, and Lychee. Ahhh, shave ice: one of the many local foodstuffs that NYC could never do justice ^_^

Cinnamon's Restaurant
315 Uluniu St
Kailua, Hawai'i 96734
(808) 261-8724

Island Snow
130 Kailua Rd
Kailua, Hawai'i 96734
(808) 263-6339

On Oahu.

Islandwide Blackout Yesterday...

...and Lanikai Beach Today!

Left to Right: Alicia, Tiff, Kelly (thanks for driving :), and Marie. Full post to follow. Hope you had a tasty Christmas!

Guilty Pleasure?

I have only one.

The Costco Food Court.

Some of you might be aware of my great affection for Costco, and more specifically, the Costco food court. The $1.95 pizzas, $1.50 hot dogs (comes with soda!), $3.95 Caesar Salad, and those Chicken Bakes. Oh, and don't forget $1.00 Churros, along with the Mocha/Latte Freeze and Very Berry Sundae. Man, those are tasty. I'm well aware that all this food is quite disgusting. Doesn't stop me from loving it.

Mom and I were at Iwelei Costco last night to purchase up some odds and ends. We had an early lunch that day and were quite famished as we waited in one line to pay. Then another line to check off our receipts. As we exited, mom asked, "What's for dinner?"

It's been two years since I last ate at Costco. And that is an awfully long dry spell from my old two times a week during those youthful Punahou days. Back when my metabolism worked at warp speed. I lusted after those thick crusted slices of pizza oozing cheese and glossy pools of oil, crisp pepperoni, and always finished with extra chili peppers, and sauerkraut! I love sauerkraut on pizza. Love, love, love.

And now, even after trips to Di Fara's and the likes and legends of NYC pizza, I still have a soft cuddly spot for Costco pizza. Nothing can change that.

In answer to mom's question, I pointed right, right at the Costco Food Court where the lines were long, the food cheap, and the crowds happy. Mom and I each had a Hot Dog and shared the Caesar Salad. I filled my soda cup with a horridly delicious mix of Coke, Fruit Punch, and Sprite, and the put every single topping possible on top of the hot dog. A purist, I am not ;)

75% through the hot dog, and with the salad demolished, I noticed the Japanese couple next to us splitting a slice of the pizza. Oooh The Costco Pizza. I got all weepy and weak in the knees. Oh why, oh why did I order hot dog instead of pizza? 22 years old and yet I make such silly mistakes.

I did the next logical thing, and shoved the remaining 25% hot dog in my mouth and told mom, "I'll be right back!" Then went to stand in line, with the biggest smile on my face, a perfect $2.08 neatly counted out, and hopped from foot to foot, giddy with excitement. Costco pizza! Costco pizza! Costco pizza!

I ran back to the table, with the pizza piping hot in on hand, and three packets of chili peppers in the other. A joyous moment indeed. Mom looked at me as if I were positively psycho, and then burst out laughing. I love my mom. The pizza was awesome, just as I remembered, with a sloppy doughy interior, and far too much cheese, the cheap kine super salty cheese, just enough black olives, pepperoni and green peppers to keep me happy.

The plan was to eat half and THROW THE REST AWAY. But my good intentions were foiled as those lovely high school memories of hot Coscto pizza scarfed down post-beach, post-school, post-everything & anything, came tumbling back. The pizza was gone in just over a minute.

And then because I had the pizza, I needed to do the meal justice, and stood in line once more for the Very Berry Sundae. Don't worry, I didn't not eat all of it. Just under half.

I felt so good for the first few minutes. And then really disgusting as it all sank to the greasy dark pits of my stomach.

I suspect it'll be another few years before I have a Costco meal again, but when I do, you bet I'll be having a hot dog, half a salad, and a slice of pizza, and a bit of the sundae. Heck, I should throw in the Latte Freeze next time. Nothing like a complete meal ^_^

(Note: the goodness I describe about the Costco Food Court applies ONLY to Hawai'i Costco's. I've eaten at the Costco Food Courts on the mainland - totally NOT THE SAME :)

There's A New...

...baby in the family! My cousin Michel, gave birth to Madeline just over a year ago. Michel and husband Jonathan live up in the Bay area so it wasn't until this visit home, which coincided with Michel and Aunt Sylvia's visit to the islands, that I was finally able to meet Madeline.

Madeline's the first hapa baby in our family and she's just adorable. Absolutely, incredibly, over the top, adorable. She's staying with my grandma this visit. The same grandma who also takes care of Buddy. Remember Buddy? ;) He's going to make thirteen years in just a month. So fast.

He caught the doggie flu last week, but after a visit to the doctor (thank you, Vincent for bringing him to the vet!) and a quite a bit of medication, he's back to normal. The relationship between Madeline and Buddy is utterly hilarious. I suspect there's a touch of jealousy on Buddy's part. Understandable though, the little fellow is so used being the center of attention, it must be hard for him to comprehend why anyone would rather fawn over this little girl than himself, hehe.

Speaking of new members of the family, I was over at Kelly's house this afternnon playing with Lexi, the newest member of the Matayoshi family. Only four months old!

Kelly and Lexi in the backyard. I forget just how much energy puppies have at this age.

The relationship between Scout (on the left, Kelly's first dog) and Lexi is much akin to that of Buddy and Madeline. Learning to share, learning to share :)

P.S.
Congrats, Kelly on your acceptance into UC Hastings Law School! I'll miss having you on the east coast ^_^

Dinner with Ross @ Amuse Wine Bar

Ahi Carpaccio - Soy Wasabi & Chili Pepper Pearls, Concasse Tomatoes, Yuzu Avocado Puree, Babu Arare

The most rewarding moments that stem from keeping this blog are the occasions when I receive random, unexpected email. These emails can come from complete strangers, an old friend, a college professor who realizes that the quiet student in his accounting class is the same individual who write this blog he follows, or, in the case of this past week, someone who I've never spoken with before, but happen to share over a dozen friends in common. Such was discovered when Ross and I met at Amuse for dinner a few nights ago. We share the same high school alma mater, only a year apart, and quite a number of common friends.


"Salt & Pepper Shrimp" - Crispy Fried New Caledonia Farm Raised Shrimp, Lemon, Remoulade

It's funny how you can often get along so seamlessly with certain people, even though it's the first time you've met. Even better when you share the similar food tastes and obsessions (uni, anyone? ;) So, over three hours of cocktails, and more wine that I've drunken in a while, we grazed over a trio of heavy pupus and a generously portioned dessert sampler. For those unfamiliar with the Amuse system, the Wine Bar is situated inside the Honolulu Design Center, sharing a kitchen with Stage Restaurant, though with a completely seperate menu. It's a self-service wine bar, with 80 different bottles sold by the ounce. Buy a card with a dollar amount, slide it into the machine, and pick the wine of your fancy. Thank you, to Ross for buying all the wine that night :)

Oh, and yes, there's live music Wednesday, Friday, and Saturdays.


Burger - Avocado, Tomato, Bacon, Chili Aioli, Housemade Potato Roll, French Fries

We got around to the food a few glasses in, and started with a very lovely Ahi Carpaccio, livened by pops of chilled pops of pearls of chili pepper and soy wasabi. From there, we moved on a dish of peppery, extra crisp fried shrimp. I find it odd when you eat fried shrimp with someone and they leave the shrimp head or tail behind on the plate. It's fried! You can eat it all! Whole! I am often tempted to pick the head/tail off the plate and consume it for them. The only thing which stops me is public manners ;) You can thus imagine how happy/relieved I was when Ross wiped the shrimp out, head and tail. Eating with someone who likes to eat just as much is very...comfortable, I think that's the right word. Comfortable enough for me to double dip into the remoulade, heheheh.

They didn't ask how we wanted the burger cooked, so it wasn't a surprise when it arrived at the bar well-done. (A teeny tiny part of me hoped that they simply cooked it medium-rare by default). No matters, the plush house-made potato roll, and slather of local avocados proved to be highly redeeming components. Oooh, and the fries! Awesome little numbers, greaseless and heavily dusted with paprika.


No proper meal concludes without dessert as far as I'm concerned, and we did well. After a quick run through of the menu, involving Lilikoi-Mango Meringue Tarts and Cinnamon Creme Brulee with Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream, we concluded that the Dessert Samplers would be the most practical way to go about this. From top left: Marscapone Cheesecake, Apple Foster's, soft Gingerbread Cookies, Toasted Coconut Ice Cream, Chocolate Bombe, and Nutella Crunch. The nutella crunch was my favourite of the set, though the gingerbread cookies were a close second, when lavishly dipped into semi-melted coconut ice cream.

Halfway though dessert, we ran into two other fellows, one a friend of mine, and another, a friend of Ross'. It was quickly discovered that we all shared a common interest: food and wine. I was the most uneducated about wine in the group, but that simply means there's more opportunity for me to learn. Learning keeps things interesting :)

Amuse Wine Bar
Honolulu Design Center
1250 Kapiolani Blvd, 2nd Floor
Honolulu, Hawai'i 96814

Why Is Honolulu Whole Foods...

...so much more awesome than the ones in NYC? Case in point: Sweet Potato AND Red Bean Turnovers. Paradise indeed :)

Lunch with Mom: Mana Bu's, Palama Market, and Nisshodo Mochiya

In Hawai'i, there's no person I enjoy eating with more than my mom. I've mentioned her numerous times in past posts, but you have no idea how much fun she is to eat with. Yesterday, over a morning meal of local papayas and avocados, she asked, "what should we have for lunch?"

Ideas were bounced back and forth, a proper meal at Mariposa, pho in Chinatown, or a lunch of sweets from various bakeries. Nothing seemed appealing enough, till mom suggested "how about a little of everything from everywhere?"

Why, that sounds lovely!

So we drove around town, to old favourites, and new shops, turning "lunch" into a four-hour affair. You see why mom is so awesome?

First stop: Mana Bu's. I first read about this relatively new musubi shop (or "musubi temple" as some friends refer to it) in the Star Bulletin back in August.

The simple and clean aesthetics of the shop is unusually refreshing. An impressive variety of musubis are lined along the shelves, each with its own "name card" indicating the ingredients and their origin. Such a concept might not be new in, say, NYC, but it's a first for Hawai'i :)

Mom is a frequent customer, and a very loyal consumer of the Sekihan Okowa. This musubi is made from a mix of Hakubai sweet rice, and Tamanishiki rice, with local sea salt, red bean, and black sesame seeds.

We picked up a few of those, and one of the "10 Grains - Spicy Ahi" musubi. Prices are more than reasonable, with the musubis averaging $1.50 and desserts $2.00.

They were sold out of most sweets, including the strawberry mochi I've heard so much about. But oh well, that's simply another reason to make a return trip!

We ate the musubis in the car, on the way to my favourite Korean plate lunch spot, Palama Market. Yummy's used to be our family go-to place for Korean takeout, but since Palama Market opened up a few years back, we've taken our business here. Better food, lower prices, what more could you ask for? My dad loves the Korean fried chicken, and I'm a fan of the fish jun, but somehow my mom managed to convert us all over to the Bi Bim Kook Soo, which we now order 90% of the time.

Cold slippery somen noodles, a little sweet, a touch vinegary, and lot spicy. This is the one dish I should have been eating throughout the hot NYC summer. With one eye on the noodles, I couldn't help but keep the other eye on some pancake flipping action at the counter just a few feet away from the table.

It was a husband and wife operation. The wife would pull sticky, borderline slimy, dough from a big plastic bowl, form it into a ball, make a dent and pour in a spoonful of a powdery substance. Then she rolled it back into a ball, and plopped it onto a well greased griddle.

The husband took over from there, browning both sides and taking orders from a soon to be gradual line up of customers.

My mom caught me looking and commented, "ooo, that looks good. Should we get? Let's get it." Always the obedient daughter, I walked up and returned with a single griddled ho duk. Success!

I was a bit too eager, and burnt my tongue and finger, upon biting into the hot ho duk. The mochi esque exterior breaks into this marvelously hot syrupy filling of honey, brown sugar, cinnamon and toasted sesame seeds. SO DELICIOUS. Life is good when you have dessert :)

Soon afterwards, we took a stroll inside the market, picking up various groceries and ingredients for dad's oxtail soup (post to come :) At the entrance to the market were two ladies handing out samples of "Magic Rice Pop." Every thirty seconds or so, a loud ::POP:: would go off, and a single rice cake would fly out of the metal contraption and into a plastic bin. I swear, it was mesmerizing to watch.

We bought a fifteen pack for $2.99 - a pretty nice deal. The crackers are made from a slightly sweetened (just a tiny, tiny bit!) flour mix of corn, rice, wheat, barley, and millet. They're a bit boring at first. And then they grow on you. And before you realize it, you dip your hand into the bag, and (shamefully) realize that the entire bag is gone.

Next we headed to Nisshodo Mochiya in Kalihi for some post-dessert, dessert. It was mom's idea. My sweet tooth didn't stem out of nowhere ;)

I've been back for four days, and have gone to Nisshodo three times. I've been suffering from mochi deprivation on the east coast. What we desperately need in NYC is not another overpriced tapas bar, or underground cocktail spot, but a MOCHI HAVEN. Is that really so much to ask for?

As usual, I could not decide what to have, so took the most efficient route and ordered one of every mochi left in stock for the day...

...and then a half pound of kinako dusted Chi Chi Dango for my sister. Never hurts to have extra ^_^

Let's break the mochi down, shall we?

Tsunami Mochi - Lima Bean Filling

Coconut Mochi

Peanut Butter Mochi

I sadly cannot recall the name of this one - but it's filled with azuki beans.

Habutai Mochi

Daifuku Mochi

Uguisu Mochi

This last one isn't a mochi creation, but curiousity got the best of me and I didn't want to pass it up. A thin sugar dusted cake with soft sakura jelly - very, very lovely, but in the end, I'd pick mochi over this any day.

It's been busier than expected on this "relaxing" vacation. But it's the good sort of busy. Plenty of family time, hanging out with old friends, and meeting great new ones. The rain has lightened up, I managed to drive without any major accident, had a fantastic dinner with Ross at Amuse just this evening, and am lunching with my favourite Punahou home ec teacher tomorrow.

It's a wonderful week indeed.

Mana Bu's
1618 King St
Honolulu, Hawai'i 96813
(808) 945-2323

Palama Market
1670 Makaloa Street
(808) 447-7705
Honolulu, Hawai'i 96814

Nisshodo Mochiya
1095 Dillingham Blvd Ste I5
Honolulu, Hawai'i 96817
(808) 847-1244