9 posts tagged “food”

I admit it.  I'm a Chilis fan.  I just love the food they serve there.  I'm not one of those fancy-shmancy type people that need the fine dining experience.  I'm all about feeling good and having a being comfortable.  Hence, when my friend Rob from an old job started his first day at this job (he's lucky I got him the ins) and our mutual friend Kasey from that same old job wanted to have lunch, yup, we headed of to Chilis.  Nothing fancy, just good food and friends.

 

Here Kasey opted for the healthy choice of Salmon. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rob who said he was gonna start dieting after this got himself the apple wood bacon burger.  Now that looked really good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me, I'm sticking to a healthier meal.  got the turkey sandwhich.  Yah, yah, I didn't eat most of the fries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a kind of action shot of the two.  Kasey's looking to get her i.d. out for some drinks and Rob's just making a funny face I guess. LOL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a side note, here's Honolulu's finest about to arrest one of our security guards.  Yup, one of our "Security guards"...wtf is up with that?!  Who hired this guy?  What, no background checks?  BTW, check out what the cop on the grass is staring at.  Can we say "booty"?

It's potluck time!  Woo hoo!  Ever since our "fisherman" left to go to our town office we haven't had a good-food-get-together in a long time.  So here we are, the only difference is that fish is not the main food selection.  I must admit that the alternative isn't so bad though.

 

Here's the "potluck" organizers getting everthing set.  No, those 2 guys in the background are just vultures waiting to get into the food.

 

Edamame.  Although it was labeled spicy, it wasn't too bad.  I just wish I had some beer and a football game to watch.

Everyone loves sweet and sour pork.

Here's your local favorite, Zippy's chicken.  I gotta have at least 2 pieces of this.

Ahhh, my donation to the potluck, spinach rolls.  Good for every occasion.

Here's one of our catered items for those who donated money, meat jun.

Gotta thank Shane for bringing my other fave, sushi.

Oops, almost forgot the mandoo.  Extra crispy on the outside and oh so good on the inside.

Squash soup.  There's something about soup that makes you feel good and warm inside.

There's something about tofu salad that makes you feel all fresh inside too.  Here's a version done up with some Atlantic salmon.  Doesn't that look delish?

Oh, just thought I'd thow in P-ditty making sure here tofu salad was just perfect.  I also wanted to get another pick of the guys just standing around watching the ladies work.  Don't they look like like kids.  Hahahaha.

Here's one of our deserts.  Chocolate mousse.  I was so full that I didn't have the space for any, but heard it was good.

This was a very heavy lemon cake.  I've tried it before and know it's super good, but I was just so full.

So the rush begins to start the potluck.

Funny, we must be hiring more people because we actually ran out of chairs for everyone. 

So here it is, plate number one.  I ate two of these and that's why I couldn't down any desert.  Right now I'm feeling full just looking at it.  Wish you guys could have smelt all the good food.  Can't wait till next months potluck...

So this whole weeks been about going to classes in town.  Our instructor happend to be the Assessor for Cambridge out in Massachusetts and all he would talk about was the Boston Celtics.  Sorry but Hawaii folk favor LA Lakers.  Anyway I wanted to share some pictures of How beautiful the weather is on Hawaii and the places that we visited while on break or out for lunch.

 

I thought this was really cool.  Can you believe that this park is on the top of a six story building in downtown?  Isn't it a relaxing get away from the hustle and bustle of the concrete jungle?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the view from a top the University of Phoenix building.  How's that weather?  It's a great time to be in Hawaii.

 

 

Here's the place we went for lunch on Wednesday.  It's the Honolulu Cafe that sits Diamond Head side of the building we were in.  It looked really "yuppie" so we all decided to have lunch there.  I was pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere that reminded me of a Las Vegas type of eatery in Ceasar's Palace.  Maybe it was just the pillars and painted clouds on the ceiling.

 

 

 

 

 

Ahhhh, food.  I decided to go with their special of the day for $7.95.  It's basically a 1/2 of a deli-sliced turkey sandwich with a included mesculine salad and a bowl of freshly made cream of mushroom soup.  It was a perfect lunch for me, healthy and hearty.

 

While walking around town to burn off some of the calories we noticed some drums in the distance and decided to check it out.  They had a Taiko performance in the middle of one of downtown.  Not one of the best performances I've seen but entertaining none the less.  I love the sound of Taiko drums playing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we went to Fort Street Bar and Grill for lunch, which happens to be the "sister" restaurant of island famous Side Street Inn, mainly because it was right in the same building and the menu looked "outta site." 

 

Yes, as you may have noticed I got the spicy chicken just like the other day from Aloha Tower.  What can I say? I love this stuff.  I was quite surprised that these guys had a nice area to sit down in the back and eat while watching TV. BTW, this was just their mini-plate for $5.25.  What a deal? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, since Chinatown basically connected to downtown we decided to stroll through the area to check out the sites.  Here's what I got...

 

 

 

Might I add that these guys were still alive squirming in the box.

 

Anyone like head?

 

I was surprised to see a tour group walking through this area.  I thought every place had a Chinatown and that it was all the same.  I would have told the tour guide to take us to the beach instead.

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!

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.

Well with the return of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern on March 4th and the fact that I got something that the majority would think is extremely bizarre I thought it would be my duty to inform the world. 

 

Now most people from Hawaii would recognize this beast from the Waikiki Aquarium, torching at night, or maybe just messing around in the tide pools.  Yes!  It's your slow moving and gentle sea cucumber.  Now would you eat this?  Apparently their are some Hawaii people including myself that would.  Heres how....

 

 

 

 

 

 

First you capture the little suckers and gut them.  After that, you place them in vinegar.  What the vinegar does is stop them from melting away.  Now we can move on to the eating process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a look at how they should be cut.  They slice rather easily and should be cut into pupu size pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, you grate up some daikon radish and place them and the sea cucumber or as we in Hawaii call them "namako" (a Japanese term) into the bowl and grated radish.  Next add some shoyu and I like to add Shiracha sauce and your set.  Grab a beer and enjoy the game.  For reference points, it has the texture of ear cartilage and taste like opihi soaked in vinegar.  It's good, trust me.  Let's see if Andrew can stomach this one.

 

BTW, I'll post the answer to my Eienstein quiz next.  Did you get it?

Ever wanted to try some bizzare foods?  Ever watch Anthony Bourdain or Andrew Zimmern scarf down some nasty chow?  Well the Wall Street Journal has one for you.  Apparently due to the influx of the Bird Flu virus many Vietnamese countrymen have been getting their protein from other sources.  Of course with the high cost of fresh snake and the protection placed on cat meat there leaves only one alternative...RAT!  Ever walked into the pet store and thought, "wow, that rat looks absolutely yummy."  Me neither.  But if you were thinking about trying some out, here's some sure fire recipes to get you started.  Let me know how it taste.

GROUND RAT MEAT AND CHILI

Ingredients:
Two field rats, chopped into quarters
Two chopped cloves of garlic
Half cup of lemon leaves
Half a cup of dried chili peppers
Quarter cup of fish sauce
A dash of salt

• Mash up the chili peppers and add fish sauce to moisten the mixture. Then added the chopped garlic.

• Place the lemon leaves in a bowl of water to soak.

• Heat a frying pan over an open flame and add vegetable oil. Then add the chili pepper mixture. When sizzling, add the rat meat. Stir vigorously until cooked, and then add the lemon leaves. Simmer for five minutes, adding water as necessary to keep it moist.

• Serve with steamed rice.

RAT STEAMED WITH LEMON LEAVES 

Ingredients:
Two cleaned and gutted rats, chopped into quarters
A small bundle of lemongrass
Half a cup of fish sauce
One small onion

• Place the rat meat in a bamboo steamer. Place the steamer in a saucepan of boiling water. Add the lemongrass and onion, then brush the rat with fish sauce.

• Steam for approximately 20 minutes, or until the rat meat cooks thoroughly.

• Serve with steamed rice and spring onions.

RAT STIR SAUTEED WITH SPRING ONION AND HERBS

Ingredients:
2 cups fragrant khotweed
Several spring onions
Quarter cup of fish sauce
Two cleaned and gutted rats, chopped into chunks
Half cup of vegetable oil
Fresh basil

• Mix the rat chunks in a bowl with fragrant khotweed and spring onions. Add the fish sauce. Let stand for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to sink into the rat meat.

• Then, gently heat the vegetable oil over low heat and add the mixture, slowly stirring. Cook for ten minutes, stirring occasionally.

• Serve with steamed rice or rice noodles. Garnish with fresh basil.

 

I'm always looking for a cheap and easy way to fix things.  These are a few household items that you can use to solve some everyday problems.  Let me know if you want to add anything else to this list.

THINGS TO KNOW
1. Budweiser beer conditions the hair.
2. Pam cooking spray will dry finger nail polish
3. Cool whip will condition your hair in 15 minutes
4. Mayonnaise will KILL LICE, it will also condition your hair
5. Elmer's Glue - paint on your face, allow it to dry, peel off and see the dead skin and blackheads if any

6. Shiny Hair - use brewed Lipton Tea
7. Sunburn - empty a large size Nestea into your bath water
8. Minor burn - Colgate or Crest toothpaste
9. Burn your tongue? Put sugar on it!
10. Arthritis WD-40 Spray and rub in, kill insect stings too

11. Bee stings - meat tenderizer
12. Chigger bite - Preparation H
13. Puffy eyes - Preparation H
14. Paper cut - crazy glue or Chap Stick (glue is used instead of suture at most hospitals)
15. Stinky feet - Jello!

16. Athletes feet - cornstarch
17. Fungus on toenails or fingernails - Vicks vapor rub
18. Kool aid to clean dishwasher pipes. Just put in the detergent section and run a   cycle, it will also clean a toilet. (Wow, and we drink this stuff)
19. Kool Aid can be used as a dye in paint also Kool Aid in Dannon plain yogurt as a finger paint, your kids will love it and it won't hurt them if they eat it!
20. Peanut butter - will get scratches out of CD's! Wipe off with a coffee filter paper

21. Sticking bicycle chain - Pam no-stick cooking spray
22. Pam will also remove paint, and grease from your hands!? Keep a can in your garage for your hubby
23. Peanut butter will remove ink from the face of dolls
24. When the doll clothes are hard to put on, sprinkle with corn starch and watch them slide on
25. Heavy dandruff - pour on the vinegar!

26. Body paint - Crisco mixed with food coloring. Heat the Crisco in the microwave,  pour in to an empty film container and mix with the food color of your choice!
27. Tie Dye T-shirt - mix a solution of Kool Aid in a container, tie a rubber band around   a section of the T-shirt and soak
28. Preserving a newspaper clipping - large bottle of club soda and cup of milk of magnesia , soak for 20 min. and let dry, will last for many years!
29. A Slinky will hold toast and CD's!
30. To keep goggles and glasses from fogging, coat with Colgate toothpaste

31. Wine stains, pour on the Morton salt and watch it absorb into the salt.
32. To remove wax - Take a paper towel and iron it over the wax stain, it will absorb  into the towel.
33. Remove labels off glassware etc. rub with Peanut butter!
34. Baked on food - fill container with water, get a Bounce paper softener and the   static from the Bounce towel will cause the baked on food to adhere to it. Soak overnight. Also; you can use 2 Efferdent tablets, soak overnight!
35. Crayon on the wall - Colgate toothpaste and brush it!

36. Dirty grout - Listerine
37. Stains on clothes - Colgate
38. Grass stains - Karo Syrup
39. Grease Stains - Coca Cola, it will also remove grease stains from the driveway overnight. We know it will take corrosion from car batteries!
40. Fleas in your carpet 20 Mule Team Borax- sprinkle and let stand for 24 hours.  Maybe this will work if you get them back again.
41. To keep FRESH FLOWERS longer Add a little Clorox! , or 2 Bayer aspirin, or just use 7-up instead of water.

42. When you go to buy bread in the grocery store, have you ever wondered which is the freshest, so you 'squeeze' for freshness or softness Did you know th at bread is delivered fresh to the stores five days a week Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Each day has a different color twist tie. They are:
Monday = Blue, Tuesday = Green, Thursday = Red Friday = White and Saturday = Yellow.
So if today was Thursday, you would want red twist tie; not white which is Fridays (almost a week old)! The colors go alphabetically by color Blue - Green - Red - White -yellow , Monday through Saturday. Very easy to remember. I thought this was interesting. I looked in the grocery store and the bread wrappers DO have different twist ties, and even the ones with the plastic clips have different colors. You learn something new everyday! Enjoy fresh bread when you buy bread with the right color on the day you are shopping.

Yah, so if you read my previous blog i was really bummed about the whole Cholos thing.  I was craving some good Mexican and luckily we had some more work on the road.  Next stop for lunch...Maui Tacos in Mililani.

 

 

Here's the menu.  Sorry that the words are too small but the words were really small.  Just gotta go there to see it.  Anyhow, this is the back of my coworker Emil,  I told him I'd make him famous. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just thought this was way cool.  The utensils are made of some kind of potato left overs.  So these suckers are totally biodegradble.  Yup, eat with it and dump it in the trash...60 days later, it's compost.  Way to stay greeen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whoa.  check out my serious chicken enchilada with beans, rice and nachos.  I must admit that my most favorite part of this place is the variety of salsas.  That green one I'm using is my fav.  I think it's called "Maui Wowwee."  I forgot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How's this giant veggie burrito.  This is what my coworker Emil ate.  Massive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How's Sammy's tacos.  She likes dashing it up with celantro.  Can't blame her.  Hoooo da onolishious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK this has nothing to do with Tacos or any other kind of food.  I just thought it was cool seeing these wild pescocks cruising around.  BTW, Maui Tacos is not on my high list of favorite Mexcian places but it gets the job done in Mililani, at least for now till Cholos reopens.