17 posts tagged “culture”

Aren't they cute.  Good enough to eat yah?  Wait tick, are they real?  They're so small.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually these babies are made out of sugar.  The sugar is called "marzipan" and basically used for cake frosting.  Ever see "Ace of Cakes" on the Food Channel?  Let's see if they can do this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look how life like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This lady definitely has talent.

 

That's another person with exceptional vision to detail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now tell me. Would you be able to eat these?

Here's your  2 questions (since they're easy) for the weekend...

 

1.  How can you throw a ball as hard as you can and have it come back to you, even if it doesn't hit anything, there's nothing attached to it, and no one else catches or throws it????

 

2.  A girl who was just learning how to drive went down a one-way street in the wrong direction (let me clarify...)by herself, but didn't break the law.  How is that possible???

 

 

 

These should be easy ones... I'll give you the answer on Monday if you really can't figure these out.

 

 

So one of my fellow coworkers is an avid fisherman.  He's pretty good because everytime he goes out he usually bring in a good catch.  Today was no exception.  Since he had such a good catch, he decided to share the fruits of his labor with the whole office by preparing a seafood feast.

 

All he had to work with was the freshest of Pacific Ahi, seafood salad, imitation crab with mayonaise, tobiko, tofu, locally grown watercress and white rice.  The ahi was so fresh you could just eat it right of the fish, sashimi style (raw for those not in the know).

 

Of course, Craig had some help from some of the ladies in the office.  The ladies were in charge of everything else not to do with fish.  Here we have some hands attending to the fresh tofu salad.  On the right is the finished masterpiece of tofu, watercress, tomatos, salmon, and a delicious shoyu dressing.

 

Here's a shot of the fresh island poke with tobiko.  In the center is some pan fried ahi belly, a local favorite.  At the end is a Pan-Pacific classic called seared ahi.  Seared ahi is fresh ahi with seared on the outside and the middle still raw.  it offers a texture all it's own and a flavor out of this world.

 

Here's the final lunch spread.  Yes, this is at my work place.  I still can't believe that I was so lucky to get hired by the people.  It is in my mind the best job ever.  All this food, which happens almost once a month is an added bonus.  Oh yes, we had to add in the Napolean's Bakery deserts and some catered garlic chicken.

 

I leave you all with this picture in your mind.  Now that's what you call a lunch break and a local style top of the line plate lunch.  Damn, I'm hungry now. Lucky I live Hawaii!

That was an awsome episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations.  Even though their perceptions of Hawaii was a little skewd at times there were authentic moments.

 

Take for example the Ono Hawaiian Plate lunch place on Kapahulu Ave.  That is actually a pretty local spot.  Yes, they do recieve a bunch of tourist that have discovered the local eatery, but for the most part it remains a local icon for Hawaiian food.  All that good stuff they spoke about like the lau-lau (salt pork, salt fish, wrapped in taro leaves, wraaped in ti leaves) is "ono" or delicious.  The poi is something for foreigners to get used to because it is rather bland but like Tony mentioned it is more of a starch than anything.  Of course you have the lomi salmon, chicken long rice and haupia desert which rounds off the meal.

 

One of Tony's, I call him Tony because I don;t want to spell his whole name out, visits was not a local fave or mainstay of Hawaii.  It was...that Puka Dog place which originally started on Kauai but have recently opened a shop in Waikiki.  Not that their version of the hot dog isn't any good, only that they have been around for less than 8 years and should be considered a stop off and not a defining retaurant of Hawaii.

Another false-simili that Tony portrayed was the infamous "Aloha shirt".  Yes we locals do wear them pretty often, it is mainly used for business attire or for attending formal parties as we're not into the suit and tie thing over here.  To tell you the truth, most local cruise around in t-shirts and shorts when not working.  Hey this is Hawaii BTW.  Might I add that I have never seen or heard of that Aloha shirt shop that Tony went to which looked more like a tourist destination which is why he paid $3000 for a hideous shirt he could have got from the local swap meet for $5.  Here in the islands we either buy our really nice "aloha" attire from Hilo Hatties, Macy's, Sears, Mamo, Reyn's or the local surf shops.  They usually run from $30-$80, not no $3000!  Ripped off!  BTW yes, the big department stores carry a nice selection of aloha wear for the locals.

 

This is a much better representation of what locals wear for work or parties.  It's usually the printed material which is sown inside out to give a faded appearance which became popularized by Reyn Spooner's designs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tony did hit a very local spot or 2 for that matter.  One I have been to many off times for after work beers and pupus(horsdeovers).  It was his visit to Side Street Inn that brought back drunken memories.

 

They serve the best "pupus" on Oahu in my opinion.  Add on the fact that they serve ice cold beer with karaoke and darts for added entertainment and you have one awsome sports bar.  It's not a place where you have a bunch of drunk 21 year olds dancing and getting silly.  It's a much older crowd or professionals and local personalities that fill the room with energy.  If you come to Oahu and want to try a real local ladi back bar then this is it.  Located right on the "side streets" of Ala Moana, it's a pit stop after your day of shopping.

 

The other local favorite that he went to was Uptown Fountain on N. School street.  I have never been to this place personally but have heard many great things about it.  In fact, after watching the show I plan on going there this weekend and get my fix of Spam, yes delicious Spam, and a big bowl of hot saimin.  Both being local favorites.  For you outsiders not understaning the Spam concept I'll try nad break it down into a nut shell.  As you know the cost of living in Hawaii is horendous.  Spam was a cheap alternative to creating meat dishes for a cheap price.  On top of that, locals like their sodium and therefore Spam became a houshold item.  Today, they hold Spam cooking contest judged by the highest of restaurant chefs in the islands.

Another really local thing I thought was key to the show was our other "pupu" varieties.  The raw seafood type.  Yumm.  If you like sushi and sashimi then these are dishes you must try when you come to the islands.

These raw seafood delights accompany most parties held within the islands and are great with beer, as you may have seen in my previous blogs.  Tony tried the one on the right calling it some sort of oyster when it's really like a snail.  It's called "opihi" and is becoming harder and harder to find due to over fishing.  Of course he tried the tako and the ahi poke which are local favorites that one can pick up at any supermarket.  They did fail to show the raw crab poke.  Yup, RAW crab.  I know it sounds yucky but believe me, it will blow your mind.  Ah, get drunk and you'll try anything.

As for the more touristy spots he did go to..

 

La Mariana which is a bar on Sand Island Access Rd. not quite what us locals would call next to the airport but I guess you could get there in 10 minutes if you drove.  This BTW, isn't a local spot that I know of.  It reminded me of your typical bar in Waikiki.  I would much rather go to Side Street Inn, the Row Bar, Ward Center or even the MaiTai bar in Ala Moana.  For those looking for a quiet out of the way touristy bar, this is for you.

 

 

 

 

Oh yes, the finally was at the ever popular Paradise Cove.  Might I add that the locals don't go here, onlywork here.  OK, I admit that I went there once, but it was to take my mainland cousins.  If you come to the islands and would like a much better picture of polynesian culture, I would suggest going to the Bishop Museum as well as the Polynesian Cultural Center.

 

 

 

 

In all Tony's visit was inspiring.  It reminded me of places I've been and places I have yet to see.  Being born and raised in the islands doesn't mean that you know everything there is about it.  It was a good eye openner to see how the Travel Channel's producers would percieve our little paradise state.  It makes me glad that Tony did visit some really local places and hope that he returns to visit more, yes, there is so much more that he didn't see.  Until next time I guess.

OK OK you waited for the answer to my little brain teaser long enuff.  Here it is...your gonna love it...your gonna kick yourself...your gonna say that it was too simple to figure out....your gonna realize why I said all laws of physics are present...OK....read on...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOLUTION:

1st, you should flip on one switch and wait for 10 minutes.  That bulb is going to heat up and get really hot.  Figured it out yet?

2nd, before you enter the room with the bulbs, turn off your frist switch that you had on all this time and turn on the second switch.

Now when you enter the room, look at the two lights that aren't on.  Feel for the bulb which is still warm and that is your first switch.  Your second is the light that is currently on.  Your third switch that you haven't switched on yet is the other bulb that is off and is cool to the touch.

 

Got it?  Hate that answer?  Kicking yourself for not figuring ot out?  Don't worry you can redeem your self on my next puzzle.  Maybe.

 

I remember when I first tried lamb at a friends party and wasn't too into the flavor.  It had a sort of gamey taste that I wasn't familiar with.  Of course as years went by and my palete grew more daring I began to like the different flavors that lamb provided.  Which brings me to my first shot at making lamb racks.

 

Now I'm not a pro chef or claim to be one.  I'm your everyday backyard barbeque specialist that loves the smell of cooking meat outdoors. 

Anyway, this is my garlic-lemon grass-rosemary-hawaiian salt encrusted rack of lamb.  I don't have a fancy name so that's what I call it.

So I threw this puppy in the fire for about 10 minutes per side and moved the carcass over to the back for some indirect heating until my thermometer said 145 degrees, which might have been too much since I like my meats rather rare.

 

 

 

 

So...here's the finished product.  Look at that lovely brown.  Yumm.  I must admit that most of my toppings came off and stuck to my grill so if anybody has anytips please let me know.  BTW, if anyone has any good rack of lamb recipes let me know that too.  In all, it turned out rather well and I plan on making it again for our next Hawaiian-kine barbeque.

I know how a good foot massage feels.  I won tickets to a local massage shop on Oahu.  No, no, no, I know what you local readers are thinking, it was "The Lomi Lomi shop" in Windward mall.  Yah, they don't do the "happy ending".  Anyway, it was 10 minutes of ticklish but relaxing pleasure.  I happened to feel a little more pep in my step.  What am I getting at?  Well, I recently saw an episode of Anthony Bourdain No Resertions where he was getting a foot massage or scietifically known as "reflexology" from either Malaysia or Singapore, I forget.  Okay, before he entered the shop he was complaining of lower back pain.  The guy oiled up and applied certain pressure points on Anthony's foot and "viola" he was cured.  Maybe not for life, but he admitted that his back pain was gone, in fact so was a shoulder injury that he had incured in the past.  So what does "reflexology" look like?  Take a glance...

 

As you can see on this diagram, each part of the foot is connected to some major organ or vital part of the body.  Basically, practitioners of reflexology claim that they can solve a variety of aches and pains by massaging the specific reflex"" points on the foot. It is said that reflexology can cure problems such as migraine headaches and relieve sinus problems. It can reset the sytems harmony,hormonal imbalances, cure breathing disorders and digestive problems. If you have some kind of back problem, a massage on the right spot on the right foot or left for that matter, can alleviate your pain. Suffering from circulatory problems or have a lot of tension and stress, reflexology promises relief.  It's something that's available to all of us.  Well, it would be a whole bunch better if we had a partner that could do it for us.

Here's some good info to use for your household items and problem solvers that you can do yourself.  BTW, I tried the banana thing and it does kinda work.

 

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little 'stringy things' off of it. That's how the primates do it.

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simple chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yum

1. Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

2. Easy Deviled Eggs
Put cooked egg yol ks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

3. Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

4. Reheating refrigerated bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

5. Newspaper weeds away
Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will g et through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

6. Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

7. No More Mosquitoes
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

8. Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

9. Flexible vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

10. Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta da! -- static is gone.

11. Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

12. Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

13. Reopening envelope
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

14. Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair...

15. Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

16. Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it
'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

17. INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS
The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.)
He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like.

Well if you look at the math by trying to break up everything evenly it won't seem to make any sense, but if you work backward it will come together.  Take the boys $2 and add that to each of the $1 given to the three guests then add that to the $25 given to the manager and you have $30.  OK, I know what your saying, it still doesn't solve the problem of each of the guest paid $9 dollars which equals $27 and the boy only took $2.  Well if you think of it, you can't equally divide the$25 room rate into 3.  So in the scheme of things, their extra dollar gets mixed in with the $25 because 3x8=24 and not $25.  So they technically paid $8.33333333 cents.  Haha.  Did you get it?

 

Xeyli was on the right track.

Well being Friday and all, and since I don't usually post over the weekend I leave you all with another brain stumper.  It's not as intense as the Eienstein puzzle but still fun and baffling to figure out.  In some ways it sounds familiar like I heard this one before but I still couldn't answer it on my own.  My hint to you...think out of the box.  Good luck Voxers, I'll post the answer on Monday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You have three people who check into a nice Italian Hotel.  They give the manager $30 and proceed to their room.  The manager finds that he can offer them a discount and that they only needed to pay $25.  The manager then gives $5 to the bellboy to return to the guests.  On the way to the room, the bellboy figures that he can't split $5 among the three people so he pockets $2 and therefore gives $1 to each person.  Now each person paid $10 and got back $1.  So they ended up paying $9 each, totally $27.  The bellboy has $2, making the total $29.  Where did the remaining dollar go?  Is it even possible?  Anyone have an answer?