Obon Season Has Started

Obon season has officially started! Last night, Lisa, Devan, Brent, Dave and I went to a bon dance at the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin in Nuuanu. I like to go to these things because of the food... Of course, Lisa wanted to go there for the dancing. I didn't get to eat, but Lisa and Brent got to dance for about 30 minutes before we "closed the bon dance down."

Obon season is from June - August... about 30 bon dances total throughout the island... I wouldn't be surprised if we end up going to at least a couple more before the season is over. To check out the list of the upcoming bon dances go to http://starbulletin.com/2007/05/26/features/adamski.html

A Weekend of Firsts

View of Enchanted Lake from Wiliwilinui Ridge

This weekend was a weekend of firsts. On Friday night, I went to a party in Kahala, where a jazz band started playing at about 10. I originally went to the party to meet some friends between a dinner I went to earlier and party at the W, however, I had such a good time (and a little too much to drink) that I never actually made it to the W (sorry Lisa, I’ll make it up to you!) One of the guys in the band was hosting the party at his parents’ house. Anyway, according to some guys at the party, this particular band plays at 39 Hotel in downtown on Tuesday nights. I’ve heard jazz music before, but that was the first time that I heard a live jazz band. To my surprise, I really enjoyed the music and would definitely make it a point to go see them play one day. I'm not sure if it was the alcohol, but that night I felt a lot positive energy- everyone seemed to be having a great time…that is until the alcohol ran out. Just kidding. Actually, I had a blast. It was fun!

I also went hiking for the first time up Wiliwilinui Ridge with Dave. According to this book Dave had, it was a hike for novice and intermediate hikers. However with the decent incline, I would have to say that it was a hike for at least advanced-novice hikers. I am sure my quads got quite the workout... the verdict to come out tomorrow. It took us about five hours round trip… just like the book said. Once we got to the end of the trail the view from up top was so awesome that it completely took my breath away. I have to admit that I have never seen such a view! I was able to see Honolulu on one side and the entire windward side on the other! It was so awesome. I also learned a lot of different factoids from Dave. Thanks to Dave, I must say I have a much better appreciation for native Hawaiian plants, a different view of dolphins, learned about water polo, and now have a laundry list of “must see” movies. Oh yeah, I also learned a new term… if anyone knows where I live, my neighbors in the park across the way will now be referred to as “urban campers.” Haha.

Finally, I had dinner at Nobu’s for the first time. Nobu’s is located in the Waikiki Parc Hotel across from the Halekulani. Chef Nobuyuki “Nobu” Matsuhisa has been known as being the master in eclectic Japanese cuisine. The original Nobu restaurant is in New York and his Hawaii restaurant opened in May of this year. I love Japanese food, especially good sushi and sashimi. We had a variety of dishes: tuna tataki with ponzu sauce, lobster salad, seared ahi salad, rock shrimp tempura, black cod miso, duck, and a variety of sushi. It was delicious. My favorite was the tuna takaki with ponzu sauce. For dessert we tried a couple of dishes, which were all amazing. Both the dinner and company was awesome! I would definitely go there again. Highly recommended. Such an awesome weekend of firsts!

Friends and Dolphins

I can't believe it has been a month since my last entry! The past month flew by like watching a TV show in fast forward, everything is a blur. Let’s see, what have I been up to the last month? Well, I've started up classes again, moved offices, played a couple rounds of golf, saw my co-worker from Seattle whom I haven't seen since I moved back 2 years ago, went hiking, the usual partying, etc... That’s a lot! No wonder I haven’t been writing!

Last weekend I went to Donn and Steph's house for a BBQ. It has been a while since we all got together for dinner and poker so it was really nice seeing everyone. Unfortunately, I didn't win any money at poker, but I had a great time seeing everyone again. In July, Donn, Steph and Ashley will be moving to Tokyo for two years, so I can now add Japan to my list of places to visit! Although I am sad that they will be leaving, I'm very excited for them. I would absolutely love living in a foreign country for two years - exploring a new country, learning the customs, eating the delicious food, learning a new language, etc... Not to mention, they are going to a country where H.K. can be found in every department store! It will be an awesome experience!

Last weekend I also went to the north shore with Jeff. When we first got to Waimea it was cloudy and rainy, but by the end of the day it became clear and sunny. At first, I complained how rainy it was looking at my completely soaked Saturday paper. However, once the sun came out I was so hot that I found myself regretting how I had badly wished that it be sunny! I even got sunburn in places where I missed the SPF 50. Chalk it up to another instance to be careful what you wish for.

The highlight of my day was watching a school of at least 20-25 dolphins relaxing in the bay for almost an hour. It was awesome! I have never seen a school of dolphins before, and they were hanging out by themselves for at least for a good 20 minutes before a lifeguard made the announcement that there were dolphins in the bay and requested that they be left alone to relax in their natural environment. Naturally, no more than 5 minutes later at least 20 swimmers jumped in the water and were out in the bay swimming with the dolphins! It was hilarious. However, those probably were the smartest people on the beach, as it costs at least $200 to swim with 1-2 dolphins at the Hilton for an hour. Where else could you swim with 20-25 dolphins for free???

Anyway, that was a great weekend. Till next time!

Wine Tasting

Last night I went to a wine tasting at Vino's. It was what I would consider, a "crash course" in wine tasting. When I say "crash course" it was like tasting 7 wines and learning how to compare it to dishes in 45 minutes... literally. It was pretty cool though, I learned about how to pair wines with a shrimp dish and veal dish. I learned that acidity and lemony qualities are good, but bitterness is not-so-good. However, I don't think one needs a 45 minutes class to tell you that. Anyway, I learned that with shrimp, if a wine tastes "light" or "citrus-like" that it is good and that you do not want to drink a wine that overpowers the food.

Our second dish was a veal cheek, which was very tender and fatty but tasted really delicious. Some factoid, if the meat is soaked in wine overnight, the tannins breaks down the marbling of the meat, which makes it tender. For the pairing with the veal we had a bottle of Zinfandel, Pinot Noir and Riesling, my favorite. One would think that a red wine would compliment the veal the best, however, not so... my favorite, the Riesling stepped up to the plate and was by far the best pairing of the three wines. The wine was called CF, which was a Euro-Asian Riesling... delicious.

I learned with with a steak such as rib eye go with a red - Cabernet... with a less fattier meat such as a filet mignon, a lesser red such as a Zinfandel would work and finally, for pork and chicken a lighter white wine works best. A Riesling would work well with Asian cuisine such as kalbi.

It was very interesting as it was pointed out that in the beginning of the class, everyone was segmented into their own groups, but by the end of the class, we were all brought together... our commonality for the passion for the love of wine seemed to have brought everyone together. The class started at 6:00 and ended at 6:45, but we didn't leave there until 9... five of us sat there just talking about wine, traveling, life, etc... it was great.

SD part 2

Just got back from SD and it is great to be home. I was actually ready to leave once Isaac, Yasuko and Donn left, but I had to stay up a few more days for work. It was good though, I got to meet up with my friend Mia in Dana Point, which is in Orange County. Mia and I ate at Salt Creek Grill, which is right off of the Pacific Coast Highway. Mia had the grilled chicken penne and I had the stuffed Alaskan halibut. We also had the chocolate soufflé, which is similar to the one at Roy’s... my favorite. Yummy. We got to catch up over some glasses of wine and a great meal. We had a really good time.



Before I met up with Mia I went shopping in Carlsbad and went to the Carlsbad flower fields. Shopping was ok (I was all shopped out after Ikea and TJ's) but the flower garden was cool. The various colors of the flowers were really pretty and it reminded me of the tulip fields in Washington. After that I drove up to Laguna Beach while I waited to meet Mia for dinner. The beach looked like a mix between Alki beach (a beach in WA) and a Hawaiian beach - the sand had a brown/gray color like Alki, but the ocean/surf was similar to a beach in Hawaii... but it was nice nonetheless, especially at sunset.


On Monday I returned to Ikea and TJ's with my co-worker. I ended up buying more things, including this ceramic plate set that Isaac had successfully convinced me not to buy the day prior because 1) I had bought too much already and 2) it was heavy and fragile making it difficult to take back. However, because I was there again, I foolishly reasoned that I was destined to buy the plates... so I did, and then some... I also bought matching cereamic mugs. blah. Anyway, I had this grand plan that I would carefully hand-carry the plate set on the plane. The plan actually worked from the hotel to the rental car place... that was until the driver at Enterprise carelessly tried to load my bags on the mini-bus and DROPPED THEM. (instead of grabbing the handles on the bag like a normal person, he grabbed the bag by the hook that connected to my luggage.) Yeah, so now my plate set of 6 is now reduced to a set of 4. But I guess I can't complain all that much since Enterprise is going to reimburse me for the entire set... free plates.

So now I am home... going to unpack my things, wash some clothes, and go for a run... I ate too much in SD. Good to be home!

My Trip to San Diego

Hello from San Diego! I am in San Diego for work, but I met my friends Isaac, Donn and Yasuko here for the weekend. Donn was already here for work and Isaac and Yasuko flew in from San Francisco. I have only been here for about 30 hours but it feels like we have done so much!


As soon as I got off the plane on Friday, Donn and I ate at In and Out Burger while we waited for Isaac and Yasuko to fly in from San Francisco. After we picked up Isaac and Yasuko at the airport we met up with Cherise and her husband at Coyote Cafe in Old Town. Since it was still relatively early, after Coyote Cafe we drove out to Viejas casino, which is on an Indian reservation approximately 30 minutes away from downtown San Diego. I regret to report that Isaac, Donn and I each made a deposit in the Viejas Retirement/Scholarship Fund. We returned from Viejas at about 4:00 a.m. to discover that we were homeless... the hotel did not have our reservation... So at 4:00 in the morning we were in search of a place to sleep for the night. Fortunately it worked out, we eventually found a hotel closer to Donn's hotel.

On Saturday we went to eat ramen. Yasuko's brother recommended that we eat ramen at a place called Tajima. The ramen was delicious. Outside of the restaurant I stumbled across this gumball-like machine with "I Love Egg" trinkets. check it out - www.iloveegg.co.uk I got the the bunny egg... it was not Hello Kitty, but I still thought it was pretty cool.

After eating ramen, we went to the San Diego Zoo where we saw lots of animals, including panda bears, tigers, lions, koala bears, polar bears, monkeys, clawless otters, meerkats, pigs, takins, zebras, flamingos, etc... My favorite was the koala bear exhibit. Overall I thought it was pretty cool and I took lots of pictures. I took a picture of Donn, Isaac and Yasuko at the camel exhibit because unlike the other animals, this camel was awake and almost close enough where we could pet it... so funny though as I was taking the picture Donn was stressing out rushing me to take the picture saying "the camels spit, the camels spit!" haha. As you can see, I got the picture. By the way, the camel didn't spit.


After the zoo, we went to Ikea. I wanted to go to Ikea to get a comforter cover for my bed. One hour and $$ later, I ended up with two large bags with place mats, garment bags, an ice cream scooper, a serving plate, a candle plate, straws, etc... Yeah, I know straws... but they were really cool - blue and green ones... Oh yeah, we also ate the famous Ikea meatballs.

Next stop, Trader Joe's. At Trader Joe's I bought omiyage for friends and family back home. I wish they had one in Hawaii. One thing I miss from living Seattle is being able to go to Trader Joe's.

Tonight we went back to Old Town for Cinco De Mayo. It was pretty happening there, lots of music, people walking in the streets, and every Mexican restaurant was packed, people practically overflowing to the streets. It was a fiesta. Some of the restaurants, including the one we ate at, were making their tortillas right there in the restaurant. As we were waiting for our food we all agreed that this was the closest we were going to get to authentic Mexican food without crossing the border... Pretty crazy though, we ate at 11:00 p.m. and by the time we left the restaurant at 1230 a.m. everything had shut down... it was dark and empty, like a ghost town. After dinner, we went back to our hotel and walked to the Gas Lamp District, which is approximately 2 blocks away from our hotel. We had a couple of drinks and as we were leaving at about 2:00 a.m. it was still pretty happening. Lots of people still soliciting the streets and lining up to get into the bars.

So tomorrow everyone is returning home. It was a fun trip! Till next time!

Brothers Cazimero Concert

Tonight I went to the 30th Annual May Day Concert with the Brothers Cazimero at the Waikiki Shell. I went with my friend Lisa and her friends. The last concert I went to on the lawn at the Shell was the Birthday Bash during undergrad. I remember having a blast at those concerts! It is a much different experience now 10 years later and sober. I will actually remember the concert itself for once. haha.

Anyway, because it was May Day today, a lot of people were wearing leis. The smell of the various scents of leis reminded me of graduation. In sticking with the Hawaiian theme, Lisa's friend James brought Hawaiian food, which consisted of kalua pig, lau lau, lomi salmon, poi, chicken long rice, and haupia. Some other friends brought poke, sushi, and fruits. The food was ono. Shortly after we ate Hawaiian food, Lisa and I decided we were still hungry, so we ended up buying nachos, stew, chili and M&M's.

The concert was great, it was a full moon and besides the brief rain shower the weather was great, breezy and cool. I enjoyed the entertainment as well, the music was good and I enjoyed watching the hula dancers, most of which were winners from this past Merrie Monarch. I have to admit that watching them dance made me want to start dancing hula again. (I danced hula for 8 years.) Even Don Ho's wife, Haumea Ho came on stage to dance a song written by Don Ho. I think everyone there will agree that it was a concert we will remember for a very long time. Thanks Lisa!